The Attic

 

When we bought our house 6 years ago, one of the biggest things we wanted to do was to take in the attic.  Our house’s roof has a very very high pitch and the attic is HUGE or huge to us!  We had a friend give us a quote on doing it and it was more than we paid for our first house.  (You know it had to be bad because we aren’t really old enough to say that!!) 

We found another contractor and when he gave us his quote, I almost passed out…it was sooo much cheaper than the first one.  Now to be fair, the first quote had us having two bedrooms and baths, and bumping out the roof to add a window.  This new quote was for just one big room, closet and bathroom.

To say we are excited is an understatement!!  He should be done by the end of next week!!  I have been a little stressed trying to pick out some of the things.  Thank goodness it’s not much!  But I have had fun too!  I’ve never had a chance to do this before. 

I took some pictures today to show what we’ve done.  I didn’t include the before pics….just picture your attic, big open and dark!! 

This was probably the hardest decision.  The picture above is in the bathroom.  The drywall on the bottom will be mirror up to the board, so that angled part will have to be where the light goes.  I had the hardest time trying to figure out what kind of light to put there!  Should I do the eyeball cans? Or a long fluorescent type?  So off to Home Depot I go!  I found a track light that has a very lazy *S* shape.  I hope it works!  I just thought I could move the lights however I needed to with that kind of fixture. 

  

This picture is a view when you walk up the stairs.  The bathroom is on the far end.  Not very exciting looking but it’s come soooo far!!

This is my next dilemma!  How in the world do I paint the stairs?  And I don’t mean ME paint them!!  But color-wise.  I’m not carrying the brown from the room below up to this room.  It would be too dark.  So do I leave the brown where it is on the right hand side and paint the left the color of the new room?  Or paint both the walls the brown and let that be an accent wall??  See on the right hand side where the wires are hanging out?  Above that will be a short bookcase.  He was going to put a handrail but I found a picture where they put a bookcase there and LOVED it!  There’s enough room there  to put a chair and lamp and make a reading nook.  Gotta love that!

I hope all this made sense and you can get a feel for what we have done.  I have more pictures that I took from different angles all around the room, but I didn’t want to bore you! 

If you have any advice or ideas, please let me know!  I am not a decorator at all!  I’m much more of a cook… speaking of which, I have Chocolate Amish Bread in the oven right now!  Better go check on it!!

National Honor Society

I was soooo proud and excited when I found out that Jake had been accepted into the NHS!  He has probably 250 kids in his class and he was one of 25(ish) that were inducted this year.  What an honor!!  His dad and I are VERY VERY proud of the young man he is growing into.  Here are some pics from that night.

He looks so grown up!!  But I guess he is growing up! 

He has decided he is interested in pharmacy as a career.  So this summer he is going to hang out with my dad at his drugstore and learn the ropes.  Since my dad lives an hour from us, Jake will stay with them some too!  Poor daddy!!  Think he’s ready for a 16y/o again?!!

This is a great opportunity for Jake.  I think he’s excited and nervous.  Daddy did say that he had to wear khakis and get a haircut……poor Jake!  He loves his hair!

Backyard badminton tournament!

One of Jonah’s birthday presents was a badminton set.  The boys have had a blast playing and decided to have a tournament Saturday (2 weeks ago).  Poor Brad had just flown from FL at lunch.  The boys let him eat lunch and then started the tournament.

First up was Jake and Brad.  Josh was the line judge and Jonah the score keeper.  Then we just traded out and everybody played everybody.  Jake was the best and I was the worst!!

Here are a lot pictures from the day!

This was a perfect day!  To make it up to me for being the WORST badminton player ever, Brad took me to Copeland's for supper.  It made me feel better….. ;)

Birthday party pictures, finally!!

Jonah wanted a scavenger hunt birthday party.  Well, I’m not very creative that way, so to Google I went!!  Found this site and my problems were solved!  YAY!  For $19.95 I had the hunt, invitations to print out and all the hints I needed.  One part of the hunt was to take photos doing different things and the other part was collecting things.  I set the party for 2 hours and we should have done 3.  It was easy and fun! 

There was a girl team and a boy team.  Only 2 of his little girl friends showed up, so one of the older girls filled in.  She was a GREAT sport about it. 

Here’s some of the girl pictures:

The girls hanging upside down on the hammock, girls showing off their muscles and the girls (with Josh and Bruno) working on the hunt!

 

 

Now the boys’ pictures:

The boys showing off their muscles!  (The girls were much more creative showing theirs off!) T and Jonah checking the list. Don’t you love how Bruno works his way in the pictures?!

These are the items the had to collect.  The blue cards are the girls and the red are the boys (red is Jonah’s fav color!)

The last part of the party, each team had to take foil, toilet tissue and garland and decorate the team leader.  The girls made G like a Greek goddess, complete with a necklace, bracelet and rings!!  Lovely!!  And Jonah was a robot.  Too cute!

I wish there was a better way to show/tell you how much fun they had!  Jonah said it was the best party ever!

This is the cake.  It was soooo delicious!!

And here’s the whole group on the trampoline watching Jonah open his presents.

Thanks for reading this LONG post!!  Hope y’all have a great week!  Hopefully my next post will be pictures of our badminton tournament we had in our backyard Saturday…..fun fun fun!

Happy Birthday 10th Birthday Jonah!!

My sweet sweet boys!  I LOVE this picture!! Jake was 6, Josh was 3 and Jonah is just 2 days.

Jonah has had a birthday weekend.  Starting Friday night, we went to a Japanese steak house.  They loved it!!

Then Saturday morning he wanted pancakes with a candle in it!

Saturday afternoon was his party!

 

Happy Birthday Jonah!!  You are an amazing young man!  So sure of yourself.  So helpful.  So smart!!  I love you so very much and am very blessed to have you as my son!!

Where to start?

I left on a jet plane with Laura a LONG LONG time ago!  What a trip we had!!  It was one of the best trips I have ever been on. 

After that trip, a lot happened.  My family went to New Orleans and the beach.  On the way home from the beach, they threw me out in Shreveport at a bead retreat!  Oh what fun!

Then just 3 weeks later, my sweet mother-in-law had a huge hemorrhagic stoke.  She had just gone parasailing with our middle son while we were at the beach.  Carol, my MIL, was on her way to Austin to see Wicked, with her daughter.  She was on the phone with her son (my husband) and her left arm went numb.  She is on the interstate going 65 – 70 mph, was able to get off and get to the Wal-mart parking lot.  Someone saw her erratic driving and alerted the security guard.  Carol was able to press the On-Star button and had them on the phone when the guard got to her.  The ambulance came and took her about a block to the hospital. 

That hospital didn’t have a neurosurgeon and the hospital I work for was on diversion for any new neuro patients.  I called every one I knew to try to keep her here in town, but was not successful. So they found her a bed in a Shreveport hospital. 

She had the bleed evacuated the next day and we were told she would wake up soon and taken off the ventilator by Wednesday.  This was Saturday. 

Wednesday came and went.  The next Wednesday came and went.  She is still not awake.  Every time they would take her off the sedation meds, her blood pressure would shoot up and she would get very agitated.  That Thursday she had to have a feeding tube put in and the next day a tracheotomy done.  I can’t even tell you the stress we had those 2 weeks.  Trying to handle our the boys and their schedules and our jobs and the hospital.  I ended up just taking a leave from work and making many trips to Shreveport.

After they put the trach in, we were able to transfer her back to Monroe.  She is sedated and not even close to being herself.  Even sedated, she had almost constant motion on her right side.  We joked that she was going to be Rockette because of all the high kicks she was doing!  The left side is totally motionless. 

Slowly, they were able to wean her off the sedation meds and off the vent.  One morning I walked in and she knew who I was!!  She was back!  Still paralyzed but she was herself. 

We started talking about what to do next with her and the best place for her to rehab was in New Orleans at Touro. 

We were down there for 7 weeks.  Just me and her!  Brad stayed here with the boys and his job.  In fact, the day we left for NO, he was in Missouri for work.  If you know me, I don’t do anything without Brad.  So, I had to pack for Carol and me and figure out what to do with the boys.  I never drive anywhere, Brad does.  I had to drive to NO and drive in NO!!  That itself is a miracle!  I was SCARED TO DEATH! 

But it was soooo worth it.  She was able to have the trach removed and the feeding tube removed.  Her left leg started coming to!  Before we left to come home, she was walking with a quad cane, slowly but walking!

I have left out  a lot of the story.  Like how all of our friends took care of my family while I was gone.  They cooked 3 nights a week for them.  They brought them home from school.  They hauled them around.  The love we felt is just indescribable.  (I’m crying now thinking about it). 

I will finish the story later this week.  Carol is a true miracle!!  She is one amazing woman and what a testimony she has!!  God is Good!!

Leaving on a jet plane…..

Tomorrow morning, my BFF Laura and I are leaving on a jet plane going to the Big Apple!!  Woohoo!! 

Back in April, we were sitting in Sunday School rocking our bed babies and I made the comment that I really wanted to go see Wicked.  Well, Laura’s hubbie went home and found us cheap tickets to NYC.  And it just grew from there!  We were just going up to see the play and come home.  But that wasn’t enough!!  We would be in NYC!!!  We’d have to see another play, Momma Mia.  And we’d have to go to the top of the Empire State building, go to Ground Zero, go to the Statue of Liberty…..our list just grew! 

We’ve got 3 full days to sightsee and eat as much cheesecake as we want!!  So much for the 10 pounds I just lost!!  lol 

The weather is just perfect according to weather.com.  It’s not supposed to be above 80.  Laura and I will probably freeze since it’s been in the 100’s here!! 

Wish you could see the smile on my face!! 

So proud!

I know I’m waayy behind so this will probably be long and picture-full!! 

Where to start??  I think the first thing was the children’s choir musical.  Jonah had a speaking part.  He loves to act and sing!

Jonah got to learn how to use a lasso – that was his favorite part!  The cutie pie is my niece Callie.  I’m proud of her too.  She just cut her hair and donated it to locks of love!  This is her second time to donate and she’s only 7!!

This gorgeous girl is my niece too, Emma Beth.  She’s Callie’s sister.  What a sweetie!  My dad got to come to the musical too.  He was so proud of his grandkids!  Emma and Jonah both had speaking parts.  Callie sang in the choir.  She was too cute.  At one point during the song *All Things* while everyone else was doing the motions they were supposed to do, she did cute movements showing off her muscles, showing how strong her God is! 

 

Here’s the whole cast!  They were so good!  I don’t think any of them forgot any of their lines!  I think it was the best one yet!  (I say that every year though!!)

 

 

Now to Josh!  This is the end of school awards.  He was a Cub Scholar.  He had all A’s and one B every 6 weeks!!  Math was a killer!!  The others in the picture are his principal (lady in white shirt) and assistant principals.   They love Josh.  He’s so outgoing and funny!  He keeps everyone laughing!!

I don’t have a picture of Jake at the end of school.  He’s in high school you know!  They’re too cool for that!!  But he played soccer, division one and school league, and football.  He lettered for school soccer and we ordered that jacket!!  What an honor!  He has tried out for the division one team again and made it!  Oh, back to his grades!  He did great for his freshman year!  All A’s and one B.  Math is not good to my boys!! 

 

     

 

Here is Jonah at his end of school awards.  He got the trophy for having the longest jump rope record, 3 minutes 14 seconds!!  And he got the math award!   That’s Mrs. Dee Dee trying to kiss him!  She wasn’t his teacher (she wasn’t able to be there that day ):   )  so Dee Dee stood in!  We love her!!

 

These are his bestest buddies!  What a great group of kids!  Smart and cute!!  He had such a great year!  Third grade rocked!! 

 

 

This is my baby brother!  He is the store director for Super1 in Ruston. He and his store were honored with an award for their partnership in education.  They donate a lot of time and money for the children in Ruston.  I’m so proud of him!!   It is quite an honor for him!! 

22 Years!!

 

 

Twenty-two years  ago today I married my best friend!  He is a wonderful man and I am very blessed to have him.  He has worked very hard to take of me so I could stay home to take care of our boys. I think have always been together.  We started dating the end of our junior year in high school!!  I got him to go out with me by telling him I had a *vette*.  He loves cars.  Imagine how disappointed he was when he got to my house and found out it was a Che-vette instead of a Corvette! 

I pulled out our wedding album to get this picture.  I haven’t looked at it in a very long time!  Oh the memories!   I think my favorite one is while I was getting ready in the back of the church, Daddy came in and said that everything was fine now.  I looked at him puzzled.  He said that they had found my ring.  I had NO idea my ring was lost!  Brad had put his keys in the box with my ring so he wouldn’t forget it.  When he opened the box to get the keys, unknown to him, he dropped my ring.   So when he gets to the church he starts looking for it.  His house is 15 minutes from our church.  Luckily one of his sweet neighbors went looking for my ring in the GRAVEL driveway.  She found it and brought it to him.   I’m so glad they didn’t tell me until it was found!!

Some of the memories looking at pictures were sad.  Grandparents that are no longer with us.  Brad’s dad that is no longer here.  But I am so glad that we have the pictures to remember! 

We all look so young!  (and skinny!!)

Happy Anniversary Brad!  I love you!  Thanks for sharing your life with me!!

Please pray

 

Yesterday was a horrible day in our family.  My brother and his wife found out during an ultrasound that their sweet baby boy no longer had a heart beat.  We’ve known for a couple of weeks that there were some problems but we were ever so hopeful.  She was around 22 weeks.  They admitted her and induced labor.  Around midnight Christopher Claude was born.  Christopher is my brother’s name and Claude was my paternal grandfather’s name.  

To say we’re heartbroken is such an understatement.  They have 3 precious little girls and to add a boy was just a dream come true for them. 

Please pray for them!  The only way they are going to get through this is with God guiding them.  Thank you!

(this picture is of Chris and Nancy and 2 of their girls.  The one in Chris’s hand is a friend of theirs.)

Life in Texas!

We decided to spend spring break in Dallas again this year. We only have 2 things we HAVE to do. The first is the Great Wolf Lodge and the second is the King Tut exhibit. We are at the Lodge right now and it is WONDERFUL! It's a huge indoor water park. Now the thought of me in a swimsuit is horrible. I did not stick to my diet and exercise plan like my BFF Laura! So I ordered me a swimsuit with a cute little skirt so I would feel more comfortable. So far so good! Now if I only had a tan.....lol

We made our first stop in Longview at the coolest gas station ever! We got out to get gas but not only could you get gas, you could order Sonic while you waited!! A dream come true. We decided to go in and check out the inside. There was a billboard earlier that advertised 25 flavors of beef jerky. In a truckfull of boys, that was very interesting!! Inside was not only the jerky, but a Sonic, a bakery, a BBQ eatery and the normal candy and drinks!! I had no idea gas stations could be so nice!!

Did I mention that both of our mothers are with us?? This should be a very interesting trip!! I hope they can survive us...

I do have some pictures but not many yet. I promise to take more today to show the lodge but I'm telling, pictures will not do it justice! This place is made for kids and more kids!

Well, I just tried to upload the pictures, but I can't seem to do it. Sorry! I'm on Brad's computer and it just doesn't work like mine.

Guess I'll go float in the lazy river instead!!

Happy Birthday Jonah!

 

Today Jonah is 9!  My baby boy is growing up.   Could it be that 9 years ago he was (or it seemed!) always crying?  I bounced that baby boy more than the other 2 boys put together!  He wouldn’t let me out of his sight!  And now he is very independent.  Who would have thought??

                                                                       

 I love you Jonah!!  I’m very proud of the boy you are!