Cute Kids

Here are just a few random pictures of the kids.

Saint Patircks Day 2011

I must admit that I am pretty lame when it comes to Saint Patrick's Day celebrations.  I have learned that little leprechauns visit some families and leave little tricks and treats behind.  Many children apparently make traps to catch these sneaky leprechauns.  Not at my house, at least not yet.  They don't visit and frankly I am just fine with that.  This is as festive as we got this year. 

Sydney was dying to do an "arts and crafts" project and this is what I came up with.  So, there you have it...Happy Saint Patty's Day!

A Kindly Deed

The other day there was an unexpected knock on my door.  There was Logan's primary teacher with a handmade quilt for him!  I couldn't believe it!  She had made him a quilt with a picture of the Salt Lake Temple on it.  The bottom was embroidered with his name, the date, the name of the quilt ("I'm Gong There Someday"), and her name.  It was so nice of her and Logan loves it!  He has spent many naps and nights sleeping with it.  It must have taken her so long and she has made one for each child in her class (she has several).  Here are a few pictures of Logan we took to include in a Thank-You card for her.  

Thanks Sister Green, He loves it! 

A New Family Addition!

No, Not that kind of addition!  This kind:

The children have been asking for a pet for a while.  And since everyone seems to be allergic to cats and dogs we (gladly) told them that pets were out of the question.  Sydney got the idea that we should get a fish since they weren't allergic to those.  So, we made a deal.  If the children saved their money and could pay for at least half of it then we would get one.  So, they have been saving since we moved and they finally pulled together $10 to pay for the fish, his bowl, and food.  (I added $2 to boost them over the top)  So we are now the proud new owners of "Jellybean" the Beta fish.  Sydney loves him and the boys love poking his bowl.  They have now decided they want another fish and are saving their money for a friend for "Jellybean."  The tank they got can hold two Beta's if you put in the divider piece.  So, don't be surprised if we make another "addition" announcement soon.

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.