Noah the farm boy

 

It's official . . . Noah is a true farm boy--ok, so that is not a surprise to most of you. He even has the tshirt to prove it--a John Deere shirt that says "I'd Rather Be Farming." He learned to rake hay this summer and LOVES it. I bet it makes him feel so good. You know, I remember when I was a kid, getting to do those "grown-up" things and oh how good it felt especially if I knew that I was helping my mama or daddy. I never drove the tractor for Daddy but I did drive a truck at about 5 or 6 years of age so that he could pick up or put out hay from the bed of the truck. That was sooooooo cool! Anyway, Noah is really proving some maturity when it comes to farm work and really helping Jimmy out. Of course, Andrew and Asa think it's not fair that Noah gets to do it, yada, yada, yada! All of the boys LOVE helping Jimmy on the farm. As their parents, I am hoping that we can help them find a healthy balance between helping out on the farm and just being a kid. 

it's beginning to look a lot like . . . . . .

a bathroom!!!


  

update on the bathroom. . . . .

Some of you have asked for an update on the bathroom and while I had planned to blog about it yesterday, I wan unable to do so fearing that my explicatives would get me booted off of blogspot! Yes, that's right--it was a bit of a frustrating day. First of all, the electrician arrived at 7 am--ok, isn't that a bit early???--and then only to tell us that there was extensive electrical work that needed to be done before installing ONE light!!!!!!!! (our wiring is original from 1942--that's a story for another day). Then the electrician's helper FELL THROUGH THE CEILING IN THE FRONT BEDROOM! leaving about a six foot square hole! No kidding!!!!!!!!! And finally while the carpenter's helper was repairing the crater in the ceiling, his ladder fell against the bedroom window and broke it!!!!!! No kidding!!!!!!!

But today has been better and I am starting to see progress. The bathtub/shower unit is in and the sheetrock is going up as I type. Jimmy and I went to Lowe's this morning and got the sink top, faucets, light fixtures, flooring, etc. Now the question is what color to paint . . . . . at first I wanted a light blue with chocolate brown trim and cabinets but then I changed to light aqua with the chocolate brown but now I am thinking of just brown--lighter on the walls of course. Any suggestions or comments on the paint color would be appreciated.

The completion date has been moved back a bit especially since the ceiling in the bedroom incident and the removing and replacing of three door facings to get the shower unit in, etc. But I am hoping that in another week, we can atleast use the bathtub and toilet. Six people using one toilet--well, let's just say we are all on the same poop schedule! ok, I know--too much information!

it's been a HI HO CHERRY-O weekend!

 

I can't believe it but we have NEVER owned this cute game--HI HO CHERRY-O!!!! I bought it for Luke but all of the boys and I have had fun playing it. Plus a new deck of LSU cards and Luke whipped my butt playing BATTLE--the first time ever that I ran out of cards in a game of BATTLE and no cheating. Really it happend! You know, usually the game just goes on and on and on and so I start a little "cheating" to hurry the game up. But this time, it really happend. And I was thrilled. One can only take so much of BATTLE, you know!

We've had a GREAT weekend. We spent Friday afternoon at the pool although it was cloudy and thundering so we left. Then we got up on Saturday morning and headed to BR to shop for fabric. Noah went with Jimmy and Asa went bowling with a friend so only Andrew and Luke had to endure the torture! I didn't find anything so I was dissapointed but the search is still on. We visited with my parents for a bit and then went to a birth day party for Howie and Aly's baby girl, Katie--she is one year old ALREADY!!!! boy how time flies! so HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET KATIE GIRL! Off to church this morning and then a sweet two-hour nap for me! woohoo! for those of you who know me well, a nap to me ranks up there with chocolate and diamonds!!! the boys and the BIG boy (JWA) never understand it but I say a nap is good for the soul. Red beans and rice for supper now and the smell is summoning me.

Hope you had a nice weekend as well. Here's to a GREAT week! 

gotta LOVE free stuff!

 

We had a whirlwind of a day in Baton Rouge, running errands, visiting my parents, Asa bowling with a friend, NOT enjoying traffic, searching for the perfect fabric for a shower curtain for the bathroom, etc but the BEST part for me was using a gift card that I won at Scrap N on the River about a month ago. Nothing better than shopping for scrapbooking stuff, unless of course someone else is paying for it. So thanks to Pam Frank for the gift card that I won. It made my day!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. We sure are. 

 

The remains of the bathroom--it never looked better!

We just got home from the pool and the carpenter had an emergency--she busted a water pipe. After about 1 1/2 hours w/o water, we are back in business. Can't wait to see what she gets done tomorrow. Stay tuned. 

 

Making the bathroom bigger so I am taking the picture from inside the front bedroom looking into the bathroom at that cute little boy! For any of you who have ever had the pleasure of using the toilet at my house, you will sure appreciate the fact that we are making it bigger. Give me a few weeks, and you can come take a pee and check it out! Sorry, I couldn't resist. 

 

After the demolition . . . . 

We are FINALLY under construction!!!!

 


This was my bathroom Tuesday night before the demolition on Wednesday morning. 

Goodbye Mr. Oose--We will miss you!

  
Mr. Ourso giving Asa his Kindergarten diploma last May.


We just received the sad news that the elementary principal at the boys' school has passed away. Mr. Ourso was an elderly man who LOVED all kids and my boys LOVED him too. He was always there to give a hug to those who were having a bad day or give a piece of candy out of his pocket to cheer you up. He did this on more than one occassion when Andrew was having trouble adjusting to big school a few years back. He always went out of his way to speak to Luke, always saying the same thing, "He's ready, I bet he can't wait to come to big school." We spoke to him last week leaving the hospital downtown while Luke and I were walking down Main Street. We heard someone toot their horn at us and it was Mr. Ourso. He rolled down his window and told us how he goes to the hospital everyday to eat because it was better for him--referring to the school cafeteria food, I guess. And of course, he spoke sweetly to Luke, always making him feel special. I've heard that he didn't have any close family so I suppose that the students were his family. They affectionately called him, "Mr. Oose" unless you had gotten a paddling from him, maybe you that is not what you called him! After hearing of the news tonight, Jimmy said that just the other day that he told him that he wished that all kids were like our three oldest boys (referring to Noah, Andrew, and Asa only because they were students of him). Wow, that means a lot to us at a time like this. Anyway, he will forever have a place in our heart. Goodbye Mr. Ourso, We Love you!

It's a Boy . . . Congrats to Joelle & Scott!!!

 

My dearest friend, Joelle and her sweet hubby, Scott just had their first child, Landon Edward born at 2:59 pm, weighing 7 pounds 11 ounces. Joelle and I have been friends since the 10th grade--that's 20 years! She is Noah's godmother and "Aunt Joelle" to all of my children. Does that tell you how I feel about this girl? I am sooooooo happy for her that I am beaming. I sure hope she doesn't mind my posting a pic of her beautiful,pregnant body on the internet. She looked too damn good not to--and besides she just gave birth--I don't think she is up to a fight! Anyway, BIG woohoo! to Joelle and Scott. Love ya and can't wait to meet baby Landon. 

and here's Noah . . . . a SIXTH GRADER!!!!!!

  

Here's another one . . . . .Asa is now in the first grade!

  

Replacing pics of the boys from first day of school

  

My sweet friend, Jodi Furr sent me a link to picasso--a photo editing program--that is very easy to use with blogger. So I am reposting pics of my oldest boys from the first day of school. They are much lighter, however blurry. I give up! This one is of Andrew--the big third grader!

BTW . . . .

my yard man showed up today! Remember I just cut it a few days ago and it took me THREE days--it takes him about two hours! I let him cut it so that I wouldn't have to this weekend.

From a four-year old . . . .

While outside in the barn today, Luke picked up a very long--about 6 feet--piece of thin molding and put it between his legs and said, "Look, Mama, I'm teeing!" To which I replied, "That is some tee-er!" It amazes me that even at age four, they are obsessed--even if not consciously--of SIZE!

Also, dear Lukee is now in school and saying and doing all kinds of cool things --like he can't for the life of himself understand why Ms. Denise makes them keep their hands in their laps or push their chairs under the table when they get up. And he swears every morning that he is not going to school unless he gets to be the line leader. Once again today, he was NOT the leader so here's hoping for tomorrow. There are only 8 in his class so atleast he gets a chance every 8 days--unlike Noah and Andrew's class with 21. Try explaining that to him--doesn't work.

He also said to me today, "Mama, do you know why God made me?" " For His own glory!" Boy that melted my heart. He has learned his first bible verse--John 14:14 and got a sticker for saying it in class.

And lastly, as he was running back to the house from the barn, the dog, Pinkey ran ahead of him and Luke shouted, "hey, no cutting in line." Yep, he is a full-fledged school-boy now!

New Layouts to share . . . .

For all my scrapbooking buddies, these are for you--just a few that I've done in the last few days. The one of Luke in the tube on the water is a scraplift of Stacey from Snap & Scrap and the words are a cool Heidi Swapp rub-on that says "That Was Totally Wicked Dude!" The black and white pics were taken by Maureen at Snap & Scrap--Enjoy!

My new best friend . . . .

Isn't she a beauty? After many years of having a yard man, "I" am now the yard man! Thanks to my inlaws who so graciously gave us their old mower--I am ever so thankful that it is not a push mower--I am not too fond of pushing although I remember us having a push mower when we lived in Baton Rouge and our yard was much smaller, but I still didn't like pushing and I believe that we paid my cousin to cut it. I think that our yard would be more of a priority if my husband didn't cut "grass" for a living. Can you imagine being a hay farmer and then coming home to cutting a yard. Just doesn't float his boat--can't say I blame him either. Having a yard man all these years seems like such a waste of money however it has been one luxury that we have indulged in over the years. So anyway, the yard is now one more thing to add to my list. It only took me THREE days to get it done--of course, it had not been cut in FIVE weeks--that's right! Our yard man who would come every 5 days when he needed money, only came 5 times this entire summer (since he owes us money--that's another story that I won't bore you with).

Also, here are some pics of Noah and Andrew and Asa from their first day of school (I didn't realize they were so dark when I took them--sorry). School seems to being going good for everyone (especially ME!).






P.S. Won't you please leave me a comment--only two people have so far--I'll even give away something to the first person who does--like . . . . . an autographed pic of me!!!!!!!!!!!! (isn't that what the celebrity bloggers do?--haha!)

I'm learning . . . .

Well, I've spent part of the day trying to get my profile pic in the right place--still can't do it. So I've decided to post pics of Luke's first day of school. Isn't he just the cutest thing?







Luke was sooooo excited about going to school--counting the days down and asking everyday "Is today when I go to school?" So he woke up on Monday morning, got dressed by himself and couldn't wait to leave. So we took the other boys to school and off to TP Playschool we went. As we walked in the door, he got a bit overwhelmed and grabbed my leg and started crying. I wanted to cry too because I know he was scared and didn't want to cry but just couldn't hold it in. But this being my fourth child, I knew how to handle it (compared to the first child--Noah's first day of Playschool is another story for another day). So I reassured him, told him he would have a good day, that Ms. Denise would take care of him, and that I'd be back soon. And then I couldn't get to my van fast enough--then my tears came. I sat and had a big ole blubbering cry. I can't believe that my babies are growing and my last one is big enough to go to school. If I remember correctly, my dear beloved husband made fun of me! He says he wasn't but I think he was. He knew that I would cry and was just waiting for it. Crazy man! So anyway, Luke had a GREAT week! He woke up on Friday morning and said, "when do I graduate?" Guess he thought "been there, done that!"

Hope you and yours are having a GREAT weekend!

I have no idea what I am doing!

Ok, so this is a trial run. Some of you have suggested that I make a blog so here it is. And I have no idea what I am doing. Just take a look--my profile pic is in the wrong place--HELP! Guess I will figure it out as I go along.

I had planned on sleeping late this morning--one of my fav things to do--but the boys had other plans. Jimmy, Andrew, and Noah just left to take Noah's new horse to a trainer and then on to visit Jimmy's parents in New Iberia and to pick up a lawnmower--we'll be putting the boys to work tomorrow to get our yard in shape. Asa and Luke have made a camp in my bed and it sounds like a bunch of Indians have invaded so I must go. As soon as I figure out this blog thing, I'll post more. Stay tuned.