Fire What?!?!

Well, we learned about fire ants the hard way shortly after we moved into the new house.  Poor little Noah was in the back yard standing on what looked like a patch of dirt and within a few second his poor little feet (he was only wearing crocs) and legs were covered, and I mean COVERED, in fire ants.  Apparently they are all over the place in Louisiana and they are terrible.  Once one ant bites they send out some signal to the other ants and they all start attacking.  I got bit in the process of smacking them off of him and it seriously burns like fire, hence the name.  I quickly stripped him down and got him into a bath.  The pain quickly subsided and this is what was left behind (sorry about the poor picture quality):

After a day they all become puss filled blisters and looked like nasty whitehead pimples.  So gross.  It took them almost two weeks to completely heal and the poor little guys still has scars from them.  So sad!

Fortunately we got some Fire Ant killer and the little guys have moved out.  After a thorough yard inspection I discovered three more ant mounds and they have since left too.  You don't really kill all the ants just the queen and then after she has died the rest of the ants "move out" and find a new home.  So you basically just chase them into someone else's yard and hope that they don't get chased back into your yard.  So, every couple of days I walk the yard to make sure that no new mounds have formed.  So far, so good.  But I am sure it will only be a matter of time.

Before We Moved In

Here are a few pictures of the house we are renting before we moved in.  Our house is old and a little outdated but it works for us and our for our budget :)  So far we have really loved living in a detached house.  Our first in all of our married life! :)  I'll post some pictures soon of how we set it up and decorated a little.

Dining Room:

 Kitchen with the Living Room behind:

 Living Room:

 Different view of the Kitchen:

 2 Car Garage:

 Noah's favorite hiding spot:

 Front Door/Entry:

 Hall Bath with the sweet sink!:

 Hall Tub:

 Master Bedroom:

 Master Bath:

 Master Bedroom:

I hate the dark trim and the crazy linoleum, but I can live with it!

Alexandria Zoo

We love going to zoo's.  We have been to numerous zoos all over the country. From the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah to the Atlanta Zoo in Atlanta, Georgia to the National Zoo in Washington DC, plus lots of other zoos all along the way.  The more that I have gone to zoos the more I realize that I like going to smaller zoos much more than larger ones.  I think our trip to the Alexandria, LA zoo was my favorite one yet.  It was small enough for the children to walk all over without getting too worn out but big enough to have all the animals we wanted to see.  They also had a fun playground, allowed you to bring in outside food, and were really quite cheap!  Here are some pictures of the children at the zoo.  I didn't take very many animal pictures and for some reason Noah seems to have been in way more pictures than the other two children.  They were probably too busy checking out the animals to be bothered with boring pictures.

 These fish were out of control trying to get fish food! 

 Don't you love that little grin!

Louisiana Apartment

When we first arrived in Louisiana we lived in a small two bedroom apartment.  It was nice because it was month to month and it was only like a mile from Heath's work.  It was not so nice because it didn't have a dishwasher, was WAY too small, had tile floors everywhere (literally the whole place was tiled and I don't recommend this for a family with small children), and was geared toward single military men as residents.  However, it served it's purpose nicely and we managed to squeeze all of our essentials in there and we survived.  Moving proved pretty stressful and I didn't take too many pictures.  I really took no pictures of the actual apartment and only a few of the children while we were there. 

These are most of the ones from while we were in the apartment.

Here was my sad attempt to make the children's room a little more inviting.  I got these wall stickers at the Dollar Store since I knew we were moving in just a few weeks.

Another Year Older...

And wiser too! 

(Sydney wrapped her present all by herself!)

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy 38th birthday Heath!  We love you!

Just Before We Left...

Just a few days before we left Virginia one of my dad's goats had twins.  Everyone was surprised since we had NO idea that the goat was even pregnant.  Sydney and Logan were extremely excited (especially Sydney).  One of the goats was much smaller and seem to be rejected by it's mother.  My dad and Sydney put forth great efforts to save this little goat.  There were dropper feedings, blanket rubdowns, and petting galore!  Sydney was in HEAVEN!  

That first night my father and I had to hold down that poor mother goat and let the baby nurse.  I am so glad no one had to physically restrain me to get me to feed my newborn.  I am sure we were a hilarious sight.

This little goat, later named "Sparkles" was the highlight of Sydney's year!  She was quite a good and conscientious little mommy.  It was very hard for her to say goodbye when we pulled away a few days later.  "Sparkles" and "Buckwheat" (the other baby goat) have been sorely missed and have been inquired about virtually everyday since we got here to Louisiana.

Sadly, Sparkles died about two weeks after we moved.  I have yet to tell Sydney, she just doesn't need to know that yet.  I guess that momma goat  knew something we didn't.

Moved In

Well, we have finally found, rented, and moved into our new place here in Louisiana.  We moved to the little town of Deridder about 30 minutes away from Heath's work.  We really like the area - it is much more family friendly and the schools seem to be a little better.  So, hopefully I will unpack the camera's cord soon and I can start posting some pictures. 

My favorite thing about Louisiana so far is the winter weather - about 70 degrees each day and my least favorite thing has to be the FIRE ants and the fact that we discovered this danger as they bit poor little Noah all over his legs - lots and lots of times!  I'll post pictures soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Here's a picture of the Valentine's Day cake we make.  Each child and myself got a section to decorate.  I had to help Noah but it was fun.  Sydney and Logan each had fun and they really enjoyed eating their own part for dessert.

We Made It!

We've made it to Louisiana and are starting to settle in a little bit.  We have been here a little over a week and the weather is really awesome!  It is in the 50s and 60s most days and just so pleasant outside.  However, I hear that in just a month or two that nice, pleasant weather turns to scorching heat and skyrocketing humidity.  I don't normally like heat so we shall see how that goes.  I bet we have the highest power bills this summer! 

We are just in a temporary two bedroom apartment which is a little crowded but is working OK for now.  We have looked at a few rentals but so far we haven't found the right one.  Most of our stuff is in storage, including the cord for downloading pictures so no pictures for now. 

We love and miss all of our family and are excited to start making new friends here in Louisiana. 

Family Pictures 2010

  

Back in October we had my sister-in-law take some family photos for us.  We figured it was time.  Of course, Heath and I dislike any pictures that we are in but that is nothing new.  The children look super cute, that is, they look super cute when they are looking at the camera.  Anyways, here are a few of my favorites. 

Thanks Amanda!