Before Church :-)

I realized Kinley and I had dressed alike that morning so of course I had to have some pictures. Landon assumed he was suppose to be in there too :-). So, we let him and then took another one. Look how tall Kinley is getting! WHEN did that happen?? I have no doubt she will get as tall as Kaylyn, if not taller. I guess I did give these kids something :-).

Pictures

As promised, here are the pictures of our new pool and patio furniture. Jose' and Deano put it up pretty fast but it's still filling with water. We'll let it run all night. The kids played in it while it was filling up. I don't think I should have let Landon since he's been running some fever with an ear infection but I just didn't have the heart to tell him no. He's on the couch now not feeling so good so maybe it was the wrong thing to do :-(. Anyway, it was a fun day. Jose' cooked on the grill for us, of course. That man loves to cook!! It was so HOT today...definitely felt like summer. I even got a sunburn on my back and arms.

Landon helping us get the ground ready.

Landon and Uncle Deano

Here is our new patio furniture.
This picture shows the color better.
And here are the new rocking chairs for my front porch. Jose' sprayed them with some water seal and had them drying. They are solid oak and will hold up in the weather better than my other ones did, I hope.

I'm So Excited :-)

Today will be a fun day! Last night Jose' came home with new patio furniture and a new POOL :-). He got them the big 20 across 4 feet deep one. It's going to look so great back there! He also got me two new rocking chairs for my front porch.

My sister, Lori, and her husband are coming over to help us put it up and Jose' is going to cook outside for us. I think Lori and I are going to get plants for my patio and front porch and shrubs to plant in my front yard in front of the bedroom windows.

I told the kids the pool won't actually be ready to swim in today and they are fine with that. Landon can't anyway since he's had fever and an ear ache. He probably shouldn't even be outside but I can't keep him inside on such a beautiful day. The fresh air can't hurt him.

I'll have pictures later when we get it all up :-).

A Fun Weekend

We had a very nice weekend and a lot of fun family time. Stephen came home Thursday night and was here until Sunday. Friday night he and Kaylyn were both with friends and Jose' and I and the two little ones had our regular pizza night. Saturday we went shopping in Monroe and all four kids went with us. That hasn't happened in a very long time and will probably not happen again for a long time, if ever. It was almost strange having them all with us...and loud. First we went to Old Navy to get summer clothes for the kids. Kinley got 3 pair of shorts and some flip flops. We couldn't find any shirts for her because she's in between children's sizes and adult sizes. They don't have her size in the store in the kids' department and all the adult shirts look too mature for her. Kaylyn got 3 pair of shorts, 2 pair of flop flops and a bathing suit bottom and Landon got the cutest pair of brown plaid shorts, a shirt and flip flops. Then we went in the mall. I had hoped not to have to since Landon does not do well in there but we needed to and he did better than I expected. I could tell he was overwhelmed and even Stephen said it makes him very nervous having him there because he wanders off so bad so he was constantly helping me keep an eye on him. He is so good with Landon!! In the mall we went to Aeropostale where Stephen got some shorts and two shirts and Kaylyn got two shirts. We ate lunch at the food court and then got out of there.

Next stop was Petco :-). Kinley has been saving money for a hamster and we told her we would get the cage and stuff for her. She got a teddy bear hamster and a super cool cage. Landon had a fit over all the animals but especially loved the little mice :-o. We decided it would be good to also get him something so he wouldn't be bugging Kinley wanting to play with her hamster all the time. So, we got him a little brown mouse and small cage. Because he got something too we didn't let Kinley pay for her hamster...it was only fair. They were so SO excited and I guess I was too LOL. On the way home I put them in their balls so the kids could hold them and watch them on the way home and so the poor things wouldn't be stuck in those boxes for so long.

This is Jerry's cage in Kinley's room. I was afraid he would keep her awake running in that wheel all night but she said it puts her to sleep and she doesn't hear it at night. I don't see how she can't because I can hear it from my room!
Sandy's cage.

I didn't think I'd ever think a mouse was pretty but, she's pretty! Look at shiny she is! She's so friendly, too.

I love seeing them so happy :-) It was hard to get them to go to school this morning and leave their new pets. I promised to take care of them.

Sunday morning we all, but Stephen, made it to Church. We've missed the past two Sundays because of having get togethers at our house and so many people here. After Church we went to Pizza Hut for lunch and then to Lori's for her MIL's birthday cookout. It was her family, her MIL and FIL, Lori's friend Teresa, us and Daddy and Lynn. The food was good and Landon had a ball, as usual, on her trampoline.

It was a busy weekend...a really good weekend :-)

Rare Moments

It's not often I get to enjoy all four of my kids being home. Stephen comes home every few weekends and Kaylyn, like most teenagers, is just gone a lot. Lately we feel like we only have two kids, especially on the weekends. So, moments like these are meaning more and more to me :-).

First Place :-)

Kinley was in an art contest at school. They had to draw Louisiana themed things. When they judged them at school Kinley came in third place in the higher elementary division. I was just so happy she placed at all. Her picture, along with all the first, second and third places moved on to District. I forgot about it until Kinley came out to the car after school carrying this :-). I was SO HAPPY!! I think this meant more to me than it did even to her...First Place in District/Higher Elementary division. Way to go Kinley!!

Easter 09

Easter is not my favorite holiday and I usually dread it but I really enjoyed it all this year. Even shopping for their basket stuff and clothes was fun.

We had Easter at our house this year. It was suppose to be Jose's family and mine but ended up being only my family. Jose's sisters all had other plans and his mom and dad didn't come. We had close to 20 people here, mostly family plus Kaylyn's boyfriend and my niece's boyfriend.

We dyed our four dozen eggs Saturday. I've always done a dozen per child and even though Stephen wasn't here we still did a dozen for him. Kaylyn wasn't here either so it was just the three of us doing them.

Easter morning Landon woke us up around 8:00 telling us the Easter Bunny had come and he was so excited. We woke Kinley up but let Kaylyn sleep. I do not wake up teenagers! She didn't get up for another hour or so. They got their baskets and hunted the four dozen eggs that were hid in the house.
Jose' cooked on the grill. He made burgers, ribs, sausage and boudain and I made baked beans and the kids and I made Easter cookies. My stepmother brought banana pudding and a frozen coconut/pecan pie for Stephen because it's his favorite. Everyone got here around 1:00. We hid the eggs for the kids before they got here because we wanted to do it before it started raining. Not long after eating our lights went out and stayed out for a couple of hours. So, we played Apples to Apples in the playroom floor. There were 10 of us playing...it was fun. After the lights came back on we played the Wii.

Kinley and PawPaw Byron
And with MawMaw Lynn

My two beautiful sons :-)
Stephen and my niece, Jessica.
When the lights were out we couldn't find Landon. This is where we found him..in Kaylyn's room :-).

What a fun day!! I always love how it feels after we've had a really big get together at our house and it was a success. Even with losing our lights for two hours, we still had fun.

Crawfish Boil

It's that time of year again...crawfish. It's been a while since we've had any so decided to have a big crawfish boil at our house. We couldn't have asked for better weather, it was beautiful. We were suppose to have scattered showers and possible severe thunderstorms but didn't get any rain :-). The sun was shining and there was even a cool breeze blowing. We had 21 people here and still had a little crawfish left over.

Landon spent the whole day playing with the live crawfish. He would carry them around and play in the mud with them. But, when it came time to cook them he had no problem throwing them in the pot. I was worried he would have a problem with seeing them cooked but he was okay. Kinley liked playing with them too but not as much as he did.

Jose' did most of the cooking but the other men helped him. Jose' is never happier than when he's cooking outside.

It happened to be my stepmother's sister's birthday so I made her a cake and we surprised her with that and some gifts. She was so happy! I made a huge cake and was so proud of it until it split all the way down the middle. So, it was ugly but sure tasted good!
Stephen and his college room mate stopped by on their way home from Gulf Shores. They were here for a couple of hours and then had to go back. I was so happy to see him!!

It was just a perfect day...so much fun!

Cookout

Last Sunday my family went to my sister, Lori's, house for a barbque. It was sort of a last minute, throw together thing...which is usually the kind that turns out the best :-). It was Jose', me, Kinley, Landon, Lori, Deano, Erica, her boyfriend and Lori's best friend, Teresa, and her daughter. Deano cooked on their new grill and Jose' tried to step back and let him LOL. Landon spent most of the time we were there either on the trampoline or begging someone to go jump with him. Erica and her boyfriend played with him a lot. It was just a really good day/evening. I loved getting to spend time with them like that.

We are having another cookout this weekend but this time at our house. We are having a crawfish boil and expecting close to 20 people to come. I am really looking forward to it :-). I hope we have nice weather but even if it rains some we have a covered patio so it will still be okay.