Oh so Big!

Here are the three oldest kid's school pictures (not taken at the school of course. I find ordering the high priced low quality pictures they take at the school silly, so we do our own and always get good ones.) Every time I see photos of the kids I can't believe how old they look (and cute too).


Mishonne Maryann
Logan James
Haley Renee

Believe to Receive

Notice how Aliyah is the "jolly" one.

Aliyah is so cute in her little Santa Dress.
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Denton would only get near the Santa at our church party if we all came with him.

Trimming the Tree.

We ended up getting a real tree this year since our artificial one was wimpy and broken. I was so excited that it was only $25 and it is really pretty. It is a fir tree and it takes lot of watering, but it sure smells good.



Logan is very meticulous placing his ornaments from Aunt Janel on the tree.



Haley is as cheerful as ever.




THis is Denton's first year really grasping the lelebration of Christmas traditions. He kept saying wow and jumping up and down when we did the lights.



Mishonne got to hang up the angel on the tree this year.

Our littlest snow Baby turns 6 Months.

Aliyah turned 6 months on the same day Mishonne turned 11yrs.. Aliyah is starting to sit up by herself and roll around the floor. Her latest craze is sweet potatoes. MMM..


Mishonne got a pogo stick for her birthday and lots of fun cards from family. It is hard to believe she will be a teenager in 2 years. Wow, do I feel old.

Snow in Louisiana!!

Yes it is true, a once in a life time event has occurred in Louisiana. It snowed! Baton Rouge has had snow flurries in the past but this time it stuck to the ground for a few hours. The kids were outside making a snowman and having snow ball fights at 7:30 this morning. Okay so they started making the snow man with me and I finished it. I had just as much fun as they did. We all came in for hot chocolate afterwards just in time for the power to go out for a few hours. It ended up being a fun late Birthday present for Mishonne who turned 11 yesterday.
THe kids gathering snow for the snow man.
Mishonne, Logan, and two neighborhood girls posing in front of the snowman.
Our front yard that just had a rose in bloom 2 days ago in it.
Denton, me, and Haley playing in the snow.

La Petite Village

Logan was in his school production of a tiny cajun village. Each year the third grade and kindergarteners get to perform the play. It shows how things were when the cajun settlers first came to Louisiana. Doesn't Logan make a cute little cajun boy?

The Cajun Village

I took Mom to the little Cajun Village while she was here. We saw their huge alligator and had a binet (kind of like funnel cake). It was fun to get some alone time with her since the kids demand Grandma's attention when she is here.

Yum Yum!

Aliyah explores a whole new world of food. Grandma let her have a sip of lemonade and Aliyah figured if one sip is good than the whole cup is better. Check out that toungue.

Loren and I got to go on a date while my Mom was here and Grandma realized Aliyah could hold her own bottle.

Grandma also got to feed Aliyah her first baby cereal. Aliyah thought it was hilarious.


Her newest thing to suck on is her feet. It is so cute to see this fat little thing reach her toes so easily.

A visit from Grandma

Grandma Maryann is here visiting. I have proof because the AC is on and it is 68 degrees in my house even though it is only 70 degrees outside. I am sitting here in my Grandma sweater, pants and socks while Mom is in her shorts and T-shirt. Although she comes with thyroid problems and quirks we would not give her up for the world. The kids love having family here. Mom helped me build shelves in my shed and we got an old desk that we made into a work bench for me. Now I can use my power tools in style.

Here is little Aliyah playing on Grandma. These are special moments that we wish we had all year long.

Halloween Fun

I am a week late getting our cute Halloween pics up. We had fun looking at all of y'alls Halloween pics as well.
Aliyah was the cutest baby tinkerbell in the whole world. It worked out that Uncle Chris' Birthday is close to Halloween so we could send him a fun e-card.



Logan was a tough fighting ninja, Mishonne was an indian girl which she finally said was Pocahontas because everyone kept asking "who" she was, Haley was the sweetest little Minnie MOuse, and Denton was none other than BAtman.

All A's

The kids just finished up their first quarter at school. Here they are in their lovely uniforms. It was crazy with the hurricane right in the middle of it. There are about 460+ students in their school and only 13 of them got all A’s. Mishonne, Logan, and Haley happened to be three of them. I am proud of them for being such good students. Logan had a low B on his progress report a month ago and so I went to talk to him about what was up with that. I told him it will turn into a C if he forgets to turn in homework or anything else. He said, “ Oh, don’t worry Mom. C’s are not that bad. They just mean average.” I am sure my eyes popped out of my head. I calmly replied with gritted teeth, “That is right Logan for most children. You are capable of much better. Besides you only get a dollar for the A’s, not the C’s.” I am not sure if it was the money or my wonderful prep talk but he obviously stepped it up and got an A. There was a Mom at the award ceremony that came up to me afterward and said that I should have gotten an award for raising such bright children. I did not have the heart to tell her that they are just wonderful kids and I only help them if they ask for it. I am a believer that having taught them to read at 3 and 4 years old was the key to help them learn to love learning and reading. I am blessed to have such wonderful kids.

Happy Fall Y'all

Our weather has just turned from a sticky high 80's to a cool low 80's with lower night temps and so we can finally call it fall. I got to take Denton and Aliyah to pumpking patch on Friday for our playgroup.


When we pulled up Denton says, "Mom, look there is 5 pumpkins!" He was so excited to see all the pumpkins even if he is an under exaggerator. We just trained him that a pumpkin is a "pumpkin" and not a "pumpkin pie" I guess all he remembered from last year is that we made pumpkin pie with a real pumpkin. He is his Daddy's Boy.

Denton is contantly asking me if he can hold "it" meaning Aliyah. ONce she fusses on his lap he says, "Okay. Done. She wants Mommy's milk."

Aliyah turns 4 months!

Aliyah just turned 4 months old. Boy how the time flies by. I had fun taking self portraits with Aliyah. It took about ten times to get a good one beause as soon as I would get her to smile there would still be a few seconds left on the timer and she would turn her head. Aliyah is allready teething and so she drools like crazy and wants to chew on everything. Mishonne got her firt teeth at 4 1/2 months and so she probably will too. Motherhood has been a joy with Aliyah. I am excited for my Mom to see her in a few weeks.

My Wall Art

Some people have pretty paintings on their wall for decoration, not me. My walls are decorated with my kids. I have the same pose of all my kids at 2 months old and so I had to get the same pose of Aliyah. I had to take her 2 times because she just wanted to suck on her fist the first time. It is fun to see the similarities between her and the other kids. They are all so darn cute! So here is the infamous pose.

Denton Boy Goes to Pre-K

Wow, I can't believe our little boy is old enough for Pre-K. He loves it and is so excited to pack a luch every day in his cars lunch box. To him that is what school is all about since he has watched the big kids take their lunch boxes to school for 3 years. It is fun to see the crafts and papers he brings home. I am trying to enjoy these fun years before I blink and he is a teenager.

Roxanne

Well, we finally gave into letting the kids have a pet. Loren found Roxanne in our yard and we felt we needed to save her. The kids were overjoyed. I had a box turtle when I was a kid and her name was Roxanne. I have talked about her and so the kids wanted this one to be Roxanne 11. I researched box turtles on the net and they are actually quite involved, not like you normally think. Our first temporary dwelling for her was a box which she escaped from quite easily and would hide under Mishonne's bed. We have upgraded to a huge rubber made box. We have to feed her a balanced diet of fruit, vegies, and protein. the kids have fun digging for worms to feed her. She may not be cuddly but she is cute! This is Roxanne escaping her box.

Aliyah turns 3 months old

The kids wanted to make cupcakes for Aliyah's 3 month old day. Kids will do anything for a cupcake. Mishonne made them all by herself. Aliyah is so sweet. She started giggling and is getting ticklish on her thighs. She loves her swing and baths or showers. She is sleeping through the night as well. Yeah!

Hurricane Gustav

Well, to say the least, the last 2 weeks have been a whirl wind. Life has been anything but ordinary for the folks down here in Louisiana. We knew 2 weeks ago that Hurricane Gustav was coming our way and did everything we could to get prepared. We assumed that we would be without power and so we had sufficient batteries, flashlights, candles, food that could be cooked on the grill, etc. We lived through Hurricane Katrina and Rita so we figured we knew what to expect. What we did not expect was the extent of damage Gustav could really cause. It was bad with Katrina, but nothing like this. Katrina mainly affected us because we got all of the overflow of people from New Orleans which caused shortages of food and gas. There simply was not a great enough supply to meet the demand. This time it was the huge and prolonged power outages that caused the problems. Every single block has at least 2 huge trees down. Some fell on houses, others blocked streets. Some parts of Baton Rouge are still without power and with the humidity and heat down here that makes for a very uncomfortable situation. Gas was in short supply because people were using all the gas for their generators. We had lots of shingles from the roof fly off and that caused a small leak in our roof. Loren and our neighbor put a arp on it for now and our fence is now leaning pretty good. Our. neighborhood was without power from Monday to Saturday night. Fortunately our friends in Gonzaled got power on thursday so we went to stay with them. Our nieghbors had a generator so we got to keep our frdge stuff cold but lost most of our freezer food. What made things miserable for us was that the kids kept waking up because it was too hot to sleep. Denton developed a heat rash on his chest and back. Cooking was tricky because we only had a small propane grill. I wish we had a gas stove like some people do.

We also had no hot water and with a spit- uppy baby and a 3 year old who is still potty training it was difficult to clean well. The house was starting to get really damp from the humidity, the tile sweat and our carpet was damp. Not good. It was a bit cooler outside but the mosquitos are so bad after a storm that we got eaten alive. By 3 days without power and not much sleep we were getting cranky and so were the kids. WE tried to keep them occupied with games and driving to friends houses, and helping the neighbord clean up fallen limbs and branches. That was one positive thing, the neighbors all pulled together and helped out.

We had 2 missionaries from down south stay with us for 4 days. They helped in the clean up and helped to entertain our kids. They both talked star wars and video games with Logan. Last Saturday and Sunday were huricane relief days where groups of men and boys went to members homes from church and chain sawed fallen trees off of roofs, etc.

We still dont have much food in the freezer sections or fresh produce sections at the stores. After the hurricane any stores that were open accepted cash only and would only let in a few people at time. Lines were blocks long for both grocery stores and gas. Luckily we were prepared so we did not have to stand in line. The only thing I forgot to stock up on was nursing pads and since I couldn't wash with hot water I had to go out on day 3 to get some. There were still long lines and no pwer. The kids finally went back to school today and are not sure how the kids are going to make up the school days. In retrospect I am grateful we did not have a tree fall on our roof, grateful for good neighbors, grateful we had enough to eat and drink, and grateful for all of your prayers on our behalf. Here are a few photos just from our street. The first is across the street, the second is our front yard and the third is our back yard. Many streets had it a lot worse. We saw houses in two because of trees falling on them. Crazy what nature can do

All Smiles!

Aliyah is a little one after my own heart. She knows when to smile for the camera even at 2 months old. She is starting to coo and try to talk when you talk to her. It just melts my heart. I'm not a proud mama or anything

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I'm a Big Boy Now

Yup, Denton is a big boy now. We have been atempting potty training for almost 2 weeks now. He picked out his own big boy underpants and chose batman ones. Okay, can I tell you how much I just love potting training. Oh ya, I just love washing and washing over and over again the same "big boy underwear" everytime our little "big boy now" forgets and pees all over the floor. I have gone through quite a few disposable gloves washing up messes. The good news is that Denton actually made it over the "fear of going stinky in the toilet" hurdle. He really is doing well over all.

Back to the Grind

I went back to the club for the first time yesterday and am feeling the pain today. When it is all said and done, it is worth the sacrifice of having my kids... but this is the most frustrating stage. I have 13 pounds to go before I can fit into my previous wardrobe. Now my wardrobe consists of 3 t-shirts, a pair of capris I bought at Fred Meyer, 2 pairs of Maternity capris (they are a size small though), and a few church outfits. I refuse to buy any more clothes until I can buy my old size. I do see how many women have a hard time losing the pregnancy weight though. It takes a LOT of hard work. You need to exercise and eat healthy which is the last thing you feel like doing when your life schedule and sleep is out of balance. I have posted a few photos so you can see how cute Aliyah still is and how worth it she is.