The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

OK, so can you guess which is which? The good news is that there are only one bad and one ugly (at least in this collage!). The top left is the bad. You should see the mess that is EVERYWHERE! Richard was there late today trying to get things cleaned up so people can work. Next would be the middle, top. Can you say U-G-L-Y?! That is MY bedroom! The picture really makes is look a little better than it does in person. It is so bright, it looks like it should be in a 10 year old girl's bedroom. They will be repainting it soon! The next two pics are of the color I chose for the dining room and the entry. I LOVE this color! It is such a gorgeous shade of turquoise. It totally makes up for the ugly green choice! Next is all the old doors lined up. They were all sealed over the holidays. The middle, right is the beginnings of Cade's built-in bunk beds. They are going to be so cool. The guy is going to use some wooden bats in the design. I can't wait to see it! Bottom, right is the built-in's that are in the children's den. Next is the state balcony. Doesn't it look awesome? It's not finished yet, but I love it! And, finally, maybe my most favorite feature of the whole house: the lockers! Every child has one, and there is plenty of space for jackets, backpacks, shoes, and whatever else they are throwing all over my floor now. They are in the laundry room which opens to the garage. All the cabinets in there are painted this awesome olive green color (the picture doesn't really show the color well). Well, that's the update. There has been alot of work done, but there is still SO much to do. The builder told me today that he doesn't see us being ready for the Christmas party. I had actually given up on that a few days ago, but now I just want to be in for Christmas. I hate not having a Christmas tree up, or any decorations! We'll see which workers show up tomorrow.

Our Weekend

All the boys heading out to hunt in the afternoon.

One of the food plots.

A deer Richard saw.

We had a campfire Friday night. The boys love to chop
up bamboo and watch it burn. We also have a family tradition
of having a marshmallow fight. None of us like to eat them,
so instead of roasting them, we throw them at each other.
Sounds crazy, but it's actually alot of fun!

Well, we ended up all being well enough to have Thanksgiving on Thursday. Thankfully, I am the only one in our house who got the stomach bug. We left Thanksgiving evening to spend some time at the camp. We had a great day yesterday, but then Braden started crying saying his ear hurt, and Cade has been coughing horribly. We came home today so I could bring Braden to the doctor. Sure enough, he has an ear infection. Cade is still coughing, but I am hoping he will get better now that we're home. It has been such a cold, rainy day today, and we have enjoyed having a cozy afternoon at home. One more day until school starts. I am hoping we can all take advantage of it and sleep late!

They're Back!

Well, Bryce and PawPaw made it back safe and sound. He was so excited to share all his souveniers and show the other boys what he got them. He brought me a Christmas ornament filled with shredded dollar bills. He is so cute. Here are a few pictures from their many adventures. There are a couple where they are wearing bicycle helments. They took a bike tour of the city and ended up being the only two. I think it was one of the highlights.

 

 

 

 

The best thing about having him back is seeing how excited they all are to see each other. I don't think they realize how much they miss each other until they are back together again. They have been playing together all afternoon. I'm sure the fighting will start again, but for now, I'm enjoying the brotherly love!

What a Week

This week has been crazy so far! Saturday night, my nephew, who is 10 months old, had a febrile seizure while my brother and SIL were in their car. They called me and told me they were driving straight to the hospital. All they knew was that he was shaking, his eyes were rolling back in his head, and he was unresponsive. Scared us all to death. I ran to the hospital to meet them there. My mom was there too. Ends up, he had a horrible stomach virus that made his fever rise quickly, and caused the seizure. Those seizures don't cause any damage, but scare you to death. Well, you can imagine what happened next: My brother got the virus, then my mom, and then me! I am trying to wash hands and spray lysol as much as possible because I don't want my whole family to get sick.

My dad and Bryce come home today. They have had a great trip. I can't wait to see all the pictures. Hopefully, they don't catch this virus either.

The house is moving along. There were so many people in there yesterday, I didn't even go in (besides that I didn't want to throw up on anyone). I need those workers healthy!

Hope everyone's having a great week. We are still waiting to see if anyone gets sick to know whether we will be having a "feast" or not.

Well, Here They Are

The columns are finally finished. I think the stucco guys have been working at my house (on all the stucco) for at least a month. I love the way they turned out. I can't wait to have the front doors painted and the landscaping in.

The painters were there Saturday priming all the trim, and hopefully are there today painting a couple of the bathrooms because the tile guys are coming tomorrow to start tiling them. We also start forming up the driveway this week, so if everyone shows up like they're supposed to, we might have a chance to make it for the Christmas party. Keep your fingers crossed!! Or better yet, PRAY!!!

Off They Go...

My dad is taking Bryce on a trip to Washington DC this week. They just left for the airport a few minutes ago. Bryce has been so excited about this trip for weeks. I am so excited for him. The fact that he gets to go with Paw Paw and all by himself makes it that much better! I can't wait to hear all about it.

So Cute!

After the kids had gone to bed last night, I was laid out in my own bed. Cade came in and said that his feet were SO cold. I told him to let me sit on them. He stuck his feet under my behind and says "Ooohhh, warm...Mom, you're a seat heater". Yep, there's plenty of "seat" to heat.
Here's my cutie at about 2. I love this picture, it makes me laugh everytime I see it. That is so Cade's personality - a total ham!

They're FINALLY Up!!

I have had these massive 12X12 old pine beams on my back porch for months just waiting to be hung in the house. They are VERY heavy, and to be honest, everyone has been scared of them. My builder has been taking his own sweet time because he needed to figure out the best way to get them up. Well today was the day. The trim guys were mad because they didn't want to have any part of it. Everyone tried to convince me that people don't put these beams up in houses (which I know that they do). I don't know if they do that much where you live, but here, they're pretty common in bigger houses. I have books filled with pictures of big beams hung in houses. I almost let them talk me out of it and let them build a "fake" one instead, but I stuck to my guns. Besides, I already paid for them, and don't want them on my porch forever. The builder also insisted that they were too big, and would not look right. Again, very stubborn, I told him that I would take that chance. So the moment of truth arrived, and I was there to see it!
They had to get every person who was at the house to carry the beam inside. We had stucco guys, painters, trim guys, etc. I wasn't there for that, but would have loved to get a picture of it. Here they are starting to lift it:

Going up:

So the big one is up, and the second one is being supported by the lifts. They'll put a third one up tomorrow. I think they look GREAT! The best part was the builder admitted that he was wrong, and the size looks great! I love it when I'm right!!!LOL


And as a bonus, all the columns are now up, and they have put the first coat of stucco on them. I think they'll be ready for the color coat tomorrow! I'll update then.

Braden's First Deer

Richard took Bryce, Braden and a couple of their friends (and another dad) hunting this weekend. It was a youth weekend, so it was all about the boys. Braden got to shoot his first deer and was so excited. Here he is in the stand. Isn't he the cutest?

Bryce and his friend Hunter got to hunt together without an adult. Makes me very nervous, but they seem to have done ok. Bryce shot a 6 point, but got in big trouble because he wasn't supposed to kill a deer that small. We were proud of him for making the shot all by himself, though.

I have to post these pictures of them with the deer because they are so proud. I know some of you might not like them, but I hope you'll still love me.
Here is Braden with his first deer. Richard said he was so excited that as soon as he shot, he hugged Richard and wouldn't let go. So sweet.

And here are the brothers together with their deer.

The One Column'd Monster

So here it is! Aren't you impressed? This one column has been up for a week now. It was funny at first, now it's just annoying. Did you know that the inside of a column is styrofoam? These massive, strong-looking things could be destroyed by my boys in a heartbeat. They'll be stronger after they stucco them, but styrofoam? They have almost finished the paint color, though, and the doors have been primed. They also finally brought the kitchen island in today. I'll take pictures of the kitchen with cabinets tomorrow.


Just for clarification, the invitations going out was not brave on my part. Richard's office sent them out. I asked him yesterday if we had a back-up plan, and he said, "Well, the invitations went out yesterday". Whoo Hoo!!!

Oh, and by the way, you are all invited!! However, if I were you, I'd come in the summer when the pool is in.

I'm Still Here

I'm here, I promise! I have been swamped lately with life. Between the kids school and the new house, I have been running like crazy. Nothing really blog-worthy though. I have been trying to check-in on all of you as much as possible. I'm addicted to seeing all those cutie pies everyday. We should be getting the rest of our cabinets in today, and I've had 1, yes 1, of my six columns on the front of the house for about a week now. It's actually pretty funny. I'm getting really nervous about the move-in date, though. The Christmas party is on the 14th, and the invitations have already gone out with my new house as the party place!! YIKES!! At this rate, I'll be lucky if I have two days in the house before the party. Can you say STRESS!! Not to mention that the 14th is 11 days before Christmas. Oh well, it will all work out - one way or another!

Better Late Than Never

Oh well, I have one picture of Halloween to post. Our friends Candice and Kiva came over with their 4 kids (the baby was 1 week old). I actually cooked a meal for us all which included blackberry cobbler for dessert! It was SO good I should have taken a picture of it! After dinner, the dads took all the kids trick or treating while Candice and I hung out at the house. It was great! Here is a picture of all the kids heading out:

What A Weekend!

Well, in case you didn't hear, LSU won! By the skin of their teeth. They tried really hard to lose that game, but pulled it out in the end. I enjoyed the game, but enjoyed spending some time with Richard and my friend Rachel. Rachel and I went to kindergarten together and were best friends, but we moved to a different part of town and didn't see each other for years. When we were in high school, we ended up at the same little private school, and have been inseparable ever since. We haven't lived in the same town for 10 years, so when we do get together, we have lots of catching up to do. She has three children who are the same ages as mine, so they love to be together. Her husband couldn't come, so Richard was both of our dates. He was a very good date! It was nice to get a little break from the kiddos. We have another friend from high school who lives in AL and happened to be going to the game. We were able to catch up with her before the game started. Here are me, Fran, and Rachel. We love Fran regardless of her Alabama colors.

Here are Rachel and I after the tigers won:


So, now back to reality, in other words: laundry!! I don't know exactly what my dad did with the kids this weekend, but they sure wore alot of clothes doing it! At least I have an extra hour to get another load in!

Well, today we leave to go see the tigers play Alabama. It is a HUGE game, and I wasn't supposed to go until a couple of days ago. Ends up, one of my best friends is coming with us too. I can't wait! And my kids get to have some quality time with Paw Paw!

I have been SO swamped with the house lately that I have not had any time for the computer. This week has been crazy busy there (which is awesome), but I don't see it letting up until we move in. I will post some updated pictures next week.

I hope I will be able to catch up with everyone soon.

I'm off to pick up this crazy house we live in, so my kids and my dad won't be tripping over dirty clothes all weekend. Which makes me wonder - if I only wash clothes on the weekend, and I'm going to be gone all weekend...hmmmm....

Have a great weekend everyone! GEAUX TIGERS!!!!