Jonathan is 4!

We went to Chuck E. Cheese and had a family party. I never knew Chuck E. Cheese was so fun! I loved trying to win all those tickets so the kids could get a cool prize. Of course I figured out the prizes are pretty cheap, and the kids will take 20 minutes figuring out whether they want the candy or the plastic spider ring or why can't they have that 1,000 ticket doll on the top shelf?
Phillip made the batman cake. Our first experiment with fondant! And it was a success.

  

Louisiana pics

Our camera is back from Canon! They were a lot quicker than I thought they would be (since they were fixing it for free!). The picture of the plantation home we tried to see, but was closed for renovations:

The pictures of the home I lived in from age 5 to 12. It was much better kept then, of course. I have lots of good memories in that house: climbing the trees, climbing on the roof (our bedroom window opened up to the roof), picking figs and pecans whenever we were hungry, stepping on those mushy figs when they fell of the tree (we went barefoot unless we were going to a public place like the store or library), riding bikes around the block, riding bikes while reading books, reading books anywhere outside (we would each get our limit of books from the library, so we'd have like 40 books in the house, and then we'd read each other's books), building forts, making "food" out of mud and leaves, playing in the mud and getting hosed off before going to the tub, playing on the porch with torrents of rain pouring down..... lots of good memories.

A Saturday Evening Post

Still no camera! So I'll have to regale you with my prose.

Mr. Gerald and Mrs. Elaine took the kids today! (Yea!!!) So Phillip and I went to Jacksonville Beaches and ate at KFC, drove around a bit, stopped at a Starbucks which was freezing, the lid to Phillip's cup didn't fit properly, so he kept spilling Iced Mocha on his white shirt. I read while he worked on his sermon. Then I took a nap in the warm car (Yes, I try to go to bed early and not get up too early and I STILL like to take my nap!) We then went to the beach which has nice white sands and walked along the shore even though it was raining a bit. We came back home and I went through all the kids' toys: got rid of two bags to garbage and one bag to Goodwill and one bag went in my closet so they wouldn't have too many toys out at once. I can't believe we've collected that many toys!

The kids are back home and in bed, but not sleeping. They're a little crazy with no naps and a lot of excitement. Tomorrow we have lunch and supper at the church (different events going on), so more excitement! Yea. Anyway, today was a lot of fun to spend with just Phillip, and I feel productive having gone through the toys.

Baby Shower for Grandma

We did the funnest thing in small group tonight. One of the ladies in our small group has had us praying for her son and daughter-in-law who were pregnant. This is their third, and the first two pregnancies were hard and the girl had to stay in bed for most of them. So we prayed all along for this one, and she had the baby last week right on time (not early like the first two)! Everyone's healthy and happy. So we had a little baby shower for the grandma tonight. She brought the cake and we had punch and everyone gave boy gifts (their first boy!). I love showers, but I've never been to one for grandma. It was fun!

News and Such

Taddy is dead. He was changing into a frog and then he started floating around upside down, but his mouth was still moving and he would swim if we poked him, but he wasn't eating. This morning the tank smelled and he has algae growing on his body and he is not moving. So I think we'll have a burial for him this afternoon.

Our camera is on the way to Canon to get fixed. So no more pictures for a while. I had taken more pictures of my old house and the camera ate those. Phillip and I took the day on Saturday to spend time without the kids in Louisiana. We drove to my old house first of all so he could see it. Then we ate KFC and drove to a plantation home that turned out to be closed for renovations. But we walked to the sugar cane field across the road from it and took a look at that. (We also saw lots of rice fields as we drove around.) Then we found a free museum that played a video about how the Cajuns came down to Louisiana from Canada and saw a lot of Cajun culture and history. We went to the mall in Lafayette and Starbucks (I know, real Cajun of us!). Then we stopped at Don's Specialty Meats to get some boudin!! That's a rice and pork mixture stuffed into a skin. It looks like sausage, but you don't eat the skin. You kind of squeeze the mixture out and eat it. Phillip calls it Jambalaya To Go. He didn't try any, but I really enjoyed it!! So I got to have 3 Cajun dishes that I've been missing: Crawfish Ettoufee, Jambalaya, and Boudin.

We left Sunday morning and went to a little church that was 3 hours away which we found on the internet. Then drove home with a mishap or two and finally arrived at our doorstep at 2:30 am on Monday. I enjoyed visiting with family and friends although it wasn't long enough! I suppose it never is. I'm so glad the kids got to see my Momo and my parents and make some friendships with my cousin's and best friend's kids.

Debates with Elizabeth

Taelor (a neighbor girl across the street) and Elizabeth often get into... disagreements, shall we say. Yesterday Elizabeth came running into the house asking for the Hymn book. She looked around frantically for it, and I asked her why she wanted it. As she was running out of the house with it in her hands, she called, "Taelor said that God killed Jesus and I want to show her that the soldiers killed Jesus!" We've been singing the hymn "He Could Have Called 10,000 Angels", and I'm guessing she was going to use that "text" to prove a point to Taelor.

4th of July

Well, we had another family get-together out in the country with my extended family. I recognized some of them, but didn't know very many very well. We had some good jumbalaya (rice and sausage and pork with seasonings made outside in a big cauldron and stirred with a big paddle). I sprayed lots of Off on myself and the kids so we wouldn't get redbugs which was a given when I was growing up. I hate redbugs! They itch forever.

Here are the kids standing in front of an old Farmall tractor.


I drove to my old home. It was empty and looking very run down. My camera didn't keep the pictures I took, but it did keep the pictures of the fig tree (the figs are ripe!) and the pecan tree in our backyard. I met the neighbors that we lived by. It was good to see them. We used to go watch cartoons at their house.



That night Elizabeth and I watched fireworks with my mom and dad and childhood best friend, Teressa. She has two children now also. The fireworks were beautiful... though the mosquitos put a damper on things. The other kids slept in the motel with Phillip. They were so tired!!!

Today we are off to drop the kids with my parents and Phillip and I will go find something fun to do!

Louisiana

We left at 4:30 in the morning to drive 13 hours (including stops) to Crowley, Louisiana.

We unpacked at the Days Inn and found our way to Momo's (I haven't been here for 12 years, so I'm feeling my way around while trying to tell Phillip where to go since he's driving.)

Momo and family and friends sit out under the carport in lawn chairs and visit. A cool wind was blowing, but it was still pretty sweaty and the kids enjoyed playing in the dirt, so it brought back many memories from childhood. Only without the authenticity of barefeet. I hardly ever wore shoes as a kid. But I was sweaty and dirty a lot. My aunt used to call us Animals!

Elizabeth climbed up in a tree that I used to climb in and my mom and her brothers used to climb. Elizabeth told me later, "Hey, we have a family tree!"



That night we went to the Rice Palace and had some good Cajun cooking! Well, Phillip had a club sandwich and I had Crawfish Etouffee! It was so good.


The kids with Momo (my mom's mom).


Here's my Uncle Terry. My mom has 4 brothers (1 has passed away) and 2 sisters.


Well, we're off to a 4th of July celebration at a cousin's house!