Yesterday and Today

This is more the day before yesterday and yesterday...it's Hump Day people. I didn't get to post yesterday, only post pictures. Plus, I have to be "in the mood" to blog. Well, I think I'm finally in the mood. (Lucky you!) Monday I watched my friend Tracey's kids, Tyler and Taylor, and met my friend, Beth, and her kids, Nick and Alex, at Ducky Joe's. (I think that previous sentence had way too many commas....)

Anyways, it was craziness and the kids loved it. Imagine walking into a room (it was pretty large) of 50-60 kids all under the age of 6 probably and running around screaming and playing. Everyone loved Ducky Joe's and I'm sure we will return. It's one of the only places to take the kids INDOORS since we do reside in the hottest region known to man....

3 hours later we hop in the car and head home. My nerves are fried. I click the radio off and request everyone to be silent on the way home. I needed to regain......something. My nerves? My thought process mechanism? I don't know. But I'll do it again, and with a smile on my face. It was actually a good social environment for me too...I got to make small talk with other moms and ya know, talk about, what else, our children.

Charlie found this green car and fell in love with it. He fell off several times but was a trooper and hopped right back on.

Jackson, Tyler and Taylor playing in the um, play thingy. They had too much fun!

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We are going to Destin in 6 days with my mom so she sent the boys a "beach care package" yesterday!

We ripped open the boxes and found some cool stuff....Jackson dropped the box and immediately sported his new beach flip flops.

I whipped out my camera manual yesterday and was playing with it...I don't think I even know the potential of the pictures I COULD be taking. I've been sticking to the "automatic focus, automatic everything" button and decided it was time to venture out a little and educate myself on this complicated contraption....

I guess you could say I did ok, But I think I need to buy that book "Photography for Dummies." My subjects were exceptionally cute though, don't you think?



Jackson lying in submission to his baby brother....Charlie is like, "I got him right where I want him."

Jackson was trying to kiss Charlie's belly, but Charlie wouldn't have it..."cut that girly stuff out man..."

Sportin' his new haircut today, and a lovely cowlick right up front!

Then came bathtime...and Charlie loves his baths. He now crawls up to the faucet and turns the water on all by himself. If I misplace him during the day, I can always head towards my bathroom and find him crawling towards the tub....

Someone's got some junk in their trunk...

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Champers. He puts up with so much and still loves us anyways. Yes, he's tried running away more times that I can count, but we always find him and bring him home. (He's probably cussing us the whole way back home.) I'd probably be stressed out too if a 3 year old and 11 month old crawl all over me and pull my ears and poke my eyes. Yet he just lays there and takes it like a "Champ." We think the kids have aged him. Look at that white beard appearing under his snout. We love you Champers :)

The Preacher's Wife

Our preacher, Tim Hines, has been in Honduras most of the summer with his mission groups so our church has asked numerous speakers to preach on Sunday mornings. Our church is new and is relatively small still and not all of the men are up for some public speaking. Well....James was asked...and he didn't say no! All week leading up to the "big day" he was nervous and stressed out. Saturday evening, with kids running around and playing, we sat down at the kitchen table and wrote a sermon together. It was awesome. His topic was "Planting a Seed." As in planting God's word in our hearts and the hearts of others and watching it grow. It was the perfect topic for James (he picked it). After we got it all typed up, he headed to the bathroom to sit in front of the mirror and rehearse (this was a trick I learned in college in my public speaking class...and it works). Sunday morning comes...and he is so ready. We had to pick his shirt accordingly due to the massive amounts of sweat that pour from his body during public speaking. I was not aware of this problem, he told me he remembered it from his college days too. Anyways, James did GREAT and looked so natural up there! I was so proud of him and he hopefully will inspire other men of our congregation to step out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves.

Side note: After church was over, James said, "that wasn't so bad....I could do that again." uh-oh...do we have a budding preacher in the making???

The Joys of Motherhood...oh and who could forget Bastille Day!

There's a few (ok, a lot) of funny things that my kids do or I do that just make me laugh. What else can you do really? To a "non-mother" these funny things may seem gross or disgusting but a mom can handle anything...and I mean anything, and do it with a smile on her face!

1. We went to the gym yesterday and the kids go with me because they have a kidscare room and get to play while I workout. Charlie pooed in the car on the way to the gym. I knew because I could smell it from the front seat...and the air flow was going back. I knew it was going to be a doozy. So I get in the gym to where Charlie stays and as I lift him from my hip I discover I am covered in poo and so is Charlie's outfit. Great! At least I had brought another outfit for him, I know him. He's the hefty man pooer type. But my shirt? I scrubbed and scrubbed the poo off...it all came off, but the stench certainly didn't come off. I proceeded to work out anyways...is this gross? I didn't care. I wanted to work out and I wasn't going to let the stench of my son's poo on my shirt stop me. It was nasty and I didn't breathe much during my workout nor did I get too close to another person for fear they'd think I did something of the sort myself. Oh the horror! Ohhhhh the joys of motherhood!


2. Also yesterday, (yesterday was an eventful day)...I roasted a chicken for dinner. Charlie was in his walker and jetting all over the place. I put the chicken wrapper in the trash (the trash was rather full, so I put it on top and pressed the trash down til I could take the trash out). I prepare the chicken for the oven and put it in. I turn around and Charlie has his back to me from across the kitchen. I see he has something on his walker tray and in his mouth. I walked up to him and see he has pulled the RAW chicken wrapper from the trash and is eating it. I FREAKED OUT!!! I start screaming and Charlie starts crying because I am screaming. I don't know what to do. All that is running through my head is that my child is going to get salmonella poisoning and die. I called the pediatrician and she said there's nothing I can do now, just watch his diapers and make sure there is no blood in his stool...Great. So far, he's fine. I have prayed over and over again that he doesn't get poisoned and observed him to the point that I am a little stalker like. When changing his diapers I take a deep breath and hold it, then get real close to survey the poo for any traces of blood. It's gross. But so far.....nothing. Isn't that awful? Jackson was never into anything like Charlie is. They are SO different and I am just going to have to adjust to that! Charlie is like a bull in a china shop. He just barrels through and takes everything down with him leaving a resemblance of a house tornado. Poor Jackson gets beat up all the time because my 10 1/2 month old likes to pull hair, bite, and hit his older, bigger brother....oh the joys of motherhood! Or should I say, "oh the joys of being a mother to boys!

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We went with my cousin, Steph and her family, and the Pierce's, to Bastille Day Celebration on Saturday night in downtown Covington. The men protested, but us women proclaimed we needed some "culture" in our lives. American's have the Fourth of July and the French have Bastille Day. I don't know why the town decided to celebrate this foreign holiday...but it was different and fun. All of the art galleries were open and we got to walk through them. The kids didn't have much to do, but it was better than sitting at home and staring at the walls on a Saturday night!

Just a pretty balcony we saw from the street. It's typical New Orleans style...I love it

The kids waving their "Bastille Day" fans....it was dreadfully hot that evening.


Charlie waving. It's his new favorite thing to do (besides eat raw chicken juice ;)

Don't mind my crazy hairdo..it was the end of the day...enough said!

I cropped myself out of this picture. He was staring at me and I just thought it was the cutest face...my face would have ruined the whole picture. He's so sweet!

Jackson looking into the camera

Going for a bike ride...

New York = Good Times

Sorry it's taken so long to post...I seem to find something to do at all hours of the day, not to mention the housing situation we've been faced with...more on that later!

We got back from New York last Monday and had a great, relaxing time! The weather was rather unpleasant, but we made the best of it. We only got 1 1/2 days at the beach because it was cloudy or rainy or chilly. So on those days we hit up the outlet mall only a few miles down the road or went antiqueing (sp?) which is lots of fun to me! There are lots of little shops on Long Island to get lost in and wander around. We enjoyed the fruits of the land at their freshest...everyday! Long Island consists of roadside farmstands, vineyards and antique shops. We always eat so good when we go there. The corn, blueberries, strawberries, squash, watermelons and other produce/veggies were at our disposal everyday. They were delicious!

Jackson learned how to wink one day and thought it was pretty cool he could do that!

We went to a local vineyard on Saturday afternoon with Rob and a bunch of his cousins. It was fun! This particular vineyard had a petting barnyard for the kids so of course, they enjoyed that!


The kids played football, baseball, soccer...you name it. It was a great day!


Charlie and Melissa. (She is Rob's cousin and is getting married in September in New York.) For those who don't know who Rob is, he's James' friend from college. He was James' best man at our wedding if that helps...

Charlie and Daddy biting each other's fingers.

It was so overcast this day and the picture didn't turn out that great, but the view was beautiful where we were.

It began to rain and the local water fountain aided in Jackson getting soaked.

This is Rob's girlfriend, Tara. Jackson was wooing her with a flower he picked for her. What a ladies man already!

Rob and Tara :)

This picture may look like it's sideways but it's not. Charlie finished his bottle in his stroller and was then proceeding to escape out the back of it...notice the milk "beard."

Jackson playing on the beach. It was chilly that day, but it didn't stop him from wanting to go to the beach!

Mr. Gilmore :)

It's so cool, we have this same exact picture of Jackson on his first trip to Long Island. Jackson was 3 months old but it's cute...I'll have to post them side by side and see the similarities!

Charlie playing in the sand. The water was rather cold so I'm sure that's what that face is all about!

Rob and the boys playing on the beach. Notice what's missing from these pictures? It's Mr. SUN!!

We had a great visit and as always, it's nice to visit with Rob and his family. This was James' 10th year of going up there for the Fourth! What a fun tradition!

So the housing situation...blah. As you know, we are renting a home in Mandeville. We decided we wanted to stay here a little longer, we love the house, location, etc. So we extended the lease. Last Monday, on return from our vacation, the lady that owns the house calls me and tells me that she has defaulted on her mortgage and will be losing the house (the one we call home) to foreclosure. The house will go to auction on August 20th. We have to be out before that. So now we are searching for a new place to call home. And I'm about ready to pull my hair out. We've had such bad luck with housing choices lately....remember the hasty move we pulled last December? So I don't know what we're going to do yet. I do know that God is on our side and won't let us be homeless!! So I'll keep you updated as we figure some stuff out!