Kisses Straight To The Heart

Every night, Julia gives me a kiss goodnight. After a kiss, she usually tells me, "Mom, this one went straight to the heart."

Tonight was only a little different.

I had been trying REEEEEEEEALY hard to get the kids to go to bed. It wasn't an easy task. They had "this" to do and "that" to do next. I was a tad bit frustrated when I gave Julia her goodnight kiss.

After I kissed her, Julia said, "Mom, that kiss went straight to my heart............the dark side of my heart."

WTH?? I gave her an evil look at that point. She responded to my look of death with, "Well Mom, you have been acting a little mean tonight."

OMG...THAT GIRL!!!!

Kamron's Cereal Shakes

So Kamron like his milk REALLLLLLLY cold. He adds ice to it just like Poppy does. That's nothing new. I grew up with my dad drinking his milk with ice in it. It's actually really good that way...with a slice of warm cake too....OMG YUMMMM!

Anyway, once Kamron figured out that he loved milk really cold, he took it to the extremes (as my kids usually do). He started adding ice to his cereal! At first I thought it was gross, then I realized that it was no different than adding ice to a glass of milk.

The other morning, Kamron was having his usual breakfast: Chocolate O' Mateys (aka nonamebrand chocolate Lucky Charms) with milk and ice. (My kids aren't strange much). And then he had an epiphany!

Kamron: "Mom, what if I took this bowl of cereal with ice in it and dumped it in a blender with more ice and made a SHAKE. Wouldn't that be awesome!"

Me: "Ummm no Kamron, that would be disgusti.........hang on.....that's ACTUALLY not such a bad idea."

I mean, really....what is a shake? Milk. Ice. Flavoring of some sort. This "sort" just happens to be "Chocolate O' Mateys". So we gave it a try. I HAD to see what this would taste like.

If anyone would like to duplicate this recipe, here it is:

STEP 1: First make your bowl of cereal (any kind of cereal will do).

STEP 2: Put cereal and milk in blender. (Isn't your mouth watering already)

STEP 3: Add 8-10 cubes of ice. (Well, technically, mine aren't cubes, they're more like half-moons. Ya know, the kind of ice that you never want to drink out of a round cup because they block all of the liquid that is heading for your mouth so you have to shake the ice all around and hope that the liquid makes it in your mouth before the ice forms a Diet Coke Dam again.....{ahem}. Yeah, that kind.)

STEP 4: Blend till your heart's content.

STEP 5: Enjoy your cereal shake. The breakfast of CHAMPIONS! DELICIOUS!!

Who says your can't have your ice and eat it too? LOL! Great invention Kam!

PHS Jamboree!!!

GO #63!!! GO JAY!!!

I am so excited and so full of pride today. Everyday after school, Jay goes to Pickering Jr. High football practice. He also plays for Ft. Polk simultaneously. He is an extremely busy boy. Today was a little different though. It was a short, "light" practice because tomorrow is the Jamboree. He's never played sports for his school before. It is very different. It is so much more serious and yet so much more rewarding.

He said that practice would end at 4:30. So I was there....at 4:30. And I waited. And I waited some more. Good Lord! Where were they? What was taking so long? And then I saw him. Finally, there he was, #63 was walking towards me with a sense of pride in every step. He was strutting through the parking lot wearing his most awesome, brand spankin' new PHS football jersy!



Omg, it was definitely a moment to remember. My thoughts were, "How the heck did this happen? How did my 'busy' little 3 year old turn into a 13 year old and how did I manage to miss that?" No seriously. It's really a question that I would like someone to answer for me.






He got into the truck and was so excited and proud. I was proud of him. I asked him for details such as what time he needed to be at the game tomorrow. His response was, "I don't even leave school tomorrow. We ride the bus there." WHAT??? I forgot totally that the football players all go together on the bus.

Wow. For some reason, that just hit me hard. He's getting all grown up and before I know it, this will all just be memories and stories and "remember when's".



Could time just stop please? Really? No seriously, this is going by way too fast and I'm not buckled up.



I'm so so so proud of #63. I love you Jay and good luck tomorrow night!

Words With The Ending Sound "-le"

We always have the most interesting car rides. With four kids with four VERY different points of view, conversations are NEVER boring. At least to me they're not. Most of the time they are annoying and infuriating, usually ending with me saying something along the lines of "Seriously! Enough!". Yep. That's how it usually ends. Sometimes they end up all getting a gag order imposed on them, in which NO ONE is allowed to speak. Trust me. It's necessary-for my own sanity. And I have an unusual amount of tolerance most of the time.

Anyway, this morning the kid's conversation wasn't annoying. It was hilarious and kept me laughing all the way to school. Guess who started this one off?.........Julia. Here is how this went:

Julia: "Mom, people can usually tell when I'm lying because my circles get big."

               {Thanks for the tip Julia}

Me: "Circles? What's that?"

Julia: "You know...the black circles in my eyes."

Seth (annoyed): "Oh JULIA, those are not circles. They are pimples."

                {Oh yeah, you heard right...he said pimples}

Me (laughing): "SETH, they are not pimples....."

Julia (on her high horse interupted me to say): "Yeah SETH! They aren't PIMPLES. Pimples aren't on your eye. Pimples are on your BOOBS."

Me: "Oh My God!!!" HAAAAAHAAAAA

I then proceeded to explain the difference between "pimples", "pupils", and "nipples".

They get it now. We seriously laughed all the way to school. I wonder if Julia explained this anatomy lesson to her teacher? Probably.

June Bugs....Who Knew?

It is TOTALLY June Bug season right now. Those gross needless things are EVERYWHERE! I sweep up a dozen a day. What are they here for and why do they feel the need to invade every nook and cranny of my little space that we call home???? I don't know. Maybe I'll Google what their purpose is later and let y'all know.

Anywho, earlier in the week, we came home from a super fun weekend in Lake Charles. But after having been gone for a few days, the June Bugs had taken over the kitchen floor. Gross. I know. Soooo, I was cleaning and sweeping and complaining about them. While I was doing that, Seth says, "Hey Mom, is the reason that June Bugs are called June Bugs is because they are here in June?" I stopped sweeping. Huh? What? I never thought about it before.

I Googled it (cause that's how I roll) and sure enough, that's why they are called June Bugs! Who knew? Not me! I have called them that my entire life and never once stopped to think about why they were called that. I love his brain and how it works :)

Soooo funny!

Well, I haven't blogged in a while but with Johnnie being gone (sniff, sniff) I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write the hilarious, crazy, rediculous things that have been going on around here. But this story has GOT to make the blog.

The past few nights, Julia has been in Lake Charles with Meemaw. Meemaw has had the pleasure of having Julia all to herself. I'm SURE that she is soaking up every minute of it and totally enjoying the captivating conversations that Julia is creating with her (cough, cough). I needed a break, not from Julia, but from talking...to Julia...constantly. She is a WONDERFUL conversationalist, to say the least. She can chit and chat and chit and chat like nobody's business. I don't ever get the chance to feel alone when she is home. That is a wonderful thing, trust me. But my vocal chords needed a lil' R&R...lol.

Although, I am SO ready for her to come home. Vocal chords are well rested and rejuvenated. Ahhhh. Nice.

Anyway, earlier today, Meemaw and Nanna went to the doctor for Reese and then shopping with Reese and Julia. Why did they go to the doctor for Reese you might ask? WELLLLLL, Reese had been having an ear ache, in his own words, "since he was like 4". It had actually only been a couple of weeks of complaining on and off. Thinking it was probably swimmers ear, Kelli finally decided to take him to the doctor. To her surprise, the doctor could actually see something in his ear. Wax maybe?? Confused, the doctor tried to flush it out with water. This, however, failed to release the object. So gathering his special doctorish tools and special lights, he maneuvered a small, spikey, freaking tightly wedged COCKLEBUR out of his ear! OMG! Seriously. I swear, we don't make these things up. When asked why the cocklebur was in his ear, Reese replied, "I wanted to see what it felt like in there." HAAA! I guess he knows now.

After leaving, they then proceded to go shopping and well, you see, since the two of them have been around each other quite a lot lately, they have been getting on each other's nerves (Reese and Julia, not Meemaw and Nanna...HA). So they had been arguing....a lot. Meemaw had had enough of that and told them that she had heard enough and they needed to be nice to each other.

She told them that they each needed to say something nice about the other one. The conversation went something like this:

Meemaw: "Reese, say something nice about Julia."

Reese: "I can't think of anything."

Meemaw: "OK, then Julia say something nice about Reese."

Julia: "Well, Reese is kind." (who says "kind"?)
          "Oh, and he has cute little rosy red cheeks."

(she continued to go on listing many things nice about Reese)

Reese interruped her: "OK OK OK I know something nice about Julia."

Nanna: "Oh yeah, what's that?"

Reese: "She's good at saying nice things about other people."

PHAAAAAAA HAAAAAA!!!! I love that boy!!!!

Julia's "Diamond's Are Goin' Home"

Laundry Room Debut "Stepped On My Heart"

She sang a song about her dad leaving and being gone in Iraq. I love listening to her dramatic songs! HA!

Julia's Laundry Room Debut

Ohhh how she LOVES LOVES LOVES to sing. I only wish that I had started recording these originals earlier. Yes, she writes all her own songs. LOL!

This is a song that she wrote/made-up about her having two boyfriends. They both want to marry her and she has to decide which proposal to accept. I love the deciding factor. Oh I hope that you enjoy this half as much as Kelli and I did...haha!

A Mouth Full

Yay! Jay finally got his full set of braces...






Who Dat!!!!


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One Step Forward...Two Steps Backward

You would THINK that my children, ages 13, 11, 8, and 7, would be able to dress themselves by now. Apparently not. After getting dressed, Kamron and Julia were ready to fix their hair and brush their teeth. This is what I found...






Seriously??? You don't realize that a POLO style shirt...and the undershirt too (look at Kam's undershirt..HA!)...is on backwards??? LOL!

Parents, let this be a lesson. Spend more time teaching them to put their shirts on the right way. Apparently I failed. ((sigh))

Funny Without Even Trying To Be Funny.....That's Kamron

Oh Kamron. I love him so much. His eleven year-old brain and unintentional sense of humor never disappoint. Just like this post is titled, he is funny without ever trying to be funny. He makes me laugh on a daily basis.

Today, he was talking about how during P.E. they were shooting targets with bows and arrows. Yes, they do archery in P.E. It is kind of awesome. Anyway, he missed his first shot. But on his second try, he shot just a tiny bit closer to the bullseye than his friend and his friend was not happy about it. They are just a little bit competitive but Kamron doesn't usually get mad when he loses at something. With Jay as a big brother, he's gotten used to it...lol.

Soooooo they exchanged a few words to the tune of "Well at least I didn't MISS the whole thing when I shot." To which Kamron responded, "So, I still shot closer than YOU the second time." This apparently didn't sit well. This is what Kamron said happened next:

Kamron: "Yeah mom, he got mad and jumped up and shoved me with BOTH hands."

Me: "What did you do?"

Kamron: "I shoved him back EXACTLY as hard as he shoved me."

Me: "Really?"

Kamron: "Yeah mom, I mean, it's just like Newton's Law."

Me: "Huh?"

Kamron: "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I had to do it. I mean, it's just life."

BWAAAAAA PHAAAA HAAAAA! He was dead serious when he told me that. Who said that that kid doesn't pay attention? I guess I need to talk to his Science teacher and have her explain again what that law actually means (since he never believes anything I really say).

Oh how I do love Kamron :)

As Julia's World Turns: Episode 1

This is possibly the BEST soap opera of them all. Seriously.  She’s got more drama in her beautiful 7 year old little head of hers than any CBS writer could possibly create. Free time to think, such as in the car, gives her time to create dramatic hypothetical situations in her mind. Most of the time, these situations can, and do, lead to a full meltdown.

Example:  A couple weeks ago, she was brushing/pulling-the-crap-out-of my hair (ahem). I was sick with the flu. She was quietly yanking away. Suddenly, she starts to cry. I ask what’s wrong. I probably should ignore these things, but strangely enough, I thoroughly enjoy how her mind works. She then cries and says that she doesn’t want to die with her eyes closed. WTH??? I, of course, ask why she’s saying that. She says, “Because if I die with my eyes closed, then my spirit won’t be able to find its way to heaven.” She’s got a point. So I consoled her and convinced her that her spirit will find its way just fine.

These types of stories happen all the time. And need to be documented. So here we go….

Washing your mouth out with soap--

On our way home from school today, this was our conversation:

Julia: “Mom, would you ever wash our mouths out with soap?”

Me:  “I might.”

Julia: “WHAT! MOM, you can’t do that to us!”

Me: “Well, if you say bad words, I just might.”

Julia: “MOM, THAT’S POISON!”

Me: “Well, don’t say bad words.”

Julia: “And besides, if you did that then we would be brainwashed!”

Me: “Huh? How would you be brainwashed?”

Julia: “Because, a little piece of soap could break off and go all the way up to your brain and just wash it all over.”

Awesome. Just awesome! After lots of secret laughter between Jay and I, the conversation turned towards curse words and which ones would give a soap-in-the-mouth sentence.  We all agreed that the “N” word would definitely be one of them. Discussion of the horrible disgusting “N” word began a back-and-forth on African Americans and people’s skin color. Last school year, Julia told a little boy in her class that he needed to stop going to the tanning bed so much so that his skin could be the color of hers. OMG…I was mortified. So we then had yet another discussion on how God made everyone different and it wasn’t tanning beds that caused his skin to be darker than hers.

Many coats--

Apparently, I didn’t quite clarify the issue.

Julia: “Mom, I know why some people have brown skin.”

Me: “Oh yeah, why’s that.”

Julia:  “Because Jesus just put more coats of light skin on them.”

Me: (very confused) “How would more coats of light skin make anyone’s skin darker?”

Julia: “Well, it’s just like my fingernail polish… the more coats you put, the darker it gets.”

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! They take our words so literally sometimes. I did tell her that about nail polish, so I had to explain that that theory only applies to paint, not skin.

This girl's mind never stops. I love her so much :)

To be continued……..

Mardi Gras 2011~Laissez les bon temps rouler!!

What a wild Mardi Gras this was! Johnnie is in Baghdad and we miss him so much. I especially missed him this holiday with myself and the kids in Ft. Polk. BUT Mardi Gras used to be very different for us. It used to be something that we looked forward to every year, the entire year, from Ash Wednesday to Fat Tuesday the very next year. It was almost better than Christmas. Ahhhh the parties, the beads, New Orleans, and the parades! Mardi Gras changed a few years back for us. We began going snow skiing every year for the holiday and Mardi Gras became...family oriented. I like it that way (less of a headache the next morning..lol). I actually love it this way.

But this year was even more unique. First Cathy (my sister) came and spent the night with me. Then Kelli and Shantell, along with our TEN, yes you heard me right, TEN children spent the holiday at my house. It was crazy. There was so much laughter. There was bike riding and baseball playing. Kamron missed a pop fly and it hit him straight on the nose. There were tears. There were arguments and comradery.

WWE and Bieber Fever

First, Cathy took Jay and Kamron to Alexandria to see WWE Raw-Road to Wrestlemania! They had so much fun. They love wrestling more than anything and I ummmmmm can't stand to even hear the music. Sorry. So she took them. They bought souvenirs and T-shirts to remember the night. Ohhhhhh the glasses that Jay bought. My mother taught me that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all so I'm going to zip it. But OMG....just sayin'.


Anyway, while they were watching grown men in their underwear roll and jump around on each other (Sorry honey, that's really what it is...ahem), I had a date with Seth and Julia at a very respectable establishment. We went to Chuck E Cheese, had pizza, and played games. It was a blast!


After dinner we went to the movies. We LOVE the movies so much. Movie popcorn is the bomb! Yay! They had been waiting to see Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never" movie for a long time. And it didn't disappoint!





I just THOUGHT that I had Bieber Fever before this movie. I want to adopt him now and keep him forever. Can I? Please?

The next day, after church, ccd, and a little shopping for hot chocolate K cups, Cathy, Austin, and Jace went back home :( Later that afternoon, Kelli and the kiddos arrived. Woo hoo!!!! We love when they come visit :)

Cow Tongue and a "Real Live Mexican"

My neighbor, Kristina, is great. Actually, she's amazing...five kids, an English teacher (insert vomit sounds here...I'm a Math person not English, as you can probably tell by the terrible grammer, punctuation, and spelling), a coupon master, and a great neighbor. She has been so helpful and a great friend through this deployment. Our kids get along great. Julia loves her girls and is so happy to finally have other girls to play with. She and her husband (aka: the real live Mexican...she calls him that not me..lol) cooked real Mexican food for us. We were so excited and grateful. We began eating this delicious food. There was salsa verde, amazing homemade pico, lime chips, beans, rice, and beef tacos. As we were eating, I say that the beef is really good...it was like chopped up roast. She proceeds to say to us that it is beef tongue. Wth??WHAAAAT??????? It was very tasty and although I could get past the idea of chomping on a cow tongue, Kelli couldn't. HAAAA!!! Her face was priceless!!! It was awesome! Kristina, we still very much appreciated supper. Thank you so much :)

Girl Power

The power of estrogen truely amazes me. Aly, Jay, Branson, Bryce, and Kamron usually hang together most of the time. Aly, being the only girl (age 12), managed to teach a cheerleading dance to Branson and Jay. And they performed it for us oh so well in the middle of our living room. HA! That was awesome! They performed their routine each individually, as well as together in a group. It was hilarious! It amazes me that instead of the boys getting Aly to do boy things, she managed to get all of them to cheer and dance! Really?? Seriously?? Truely amazing.

Fire! Fire!

I "thought" that having a campfire would occupy the older kids so that the adults could relax and enjoy some wine. So I bought them a campfire ring. All the kids worked so hard collecting wood for the fire. They made s'mores and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows with our neighbor, Kristina's, 3 girls. It was great. However, fire + 12 kids = no relaxation for the mommies. We needed daddies here to supervise. Wait, we needed the men outside, drinking beer, and pretending to watch the kids is what I meant to say...lol. We really missed the men. The kids had a blast though and I guess that's what counts :) I, on the other hand, drank a bottle of wine and walked around with a mop and broom most of the night...haha.

Operation Emmy Clean Up!

Emmy is absolutely adorable. She is independent and knows exactly what she wants. BUT she apparently doesn't appreciate a poopy diaper. The split second after she dirties the diaper, she proceeds to take it off herself (she's very independent) and play in it a bit..(ahem). This does not go over too well with everyone else. About an hour after she was asleep for the night. Kelli found her, half-naked, COVERED in poop, along with the sheets, clothes, pillow case, pillow (which I just threw away), and pack-n-play. HA!!!! It was not a pretty site! Trust me. We women had to divide and conquer. Shantell chaperoned the bonfire kids while Kelli woke Emmy up from her sound slumber and plopped her dirty butt in the bathtub. I took apart the bed and hauled it outside to be hosed off (yes it was that bad...OMG!) and Kristina, thankfully, brought a clean pack-n-play over from her house. After new clean sheets, new pj's, and a bath, Emmy went right back to sleep. Ahhhhhhh, all done! Except that she did it again bright and early the next morning. WHAT????? Yep, I'm serious. Round two of Operation Emmy Clean Up began all over again. I love that girl!

Emmy on Landon's Diaper Patrol

Those two babies are so so so cute! I can't wait until they can talk because GOOD LORD they would have a lot to say to each other. HA! Probably starting with "Leave me the H#ll Alone!" Once, Emmy felt it necessary to "check" Landon's diaper. He spread 'um like he was getting arrested on the side of the road and gettin' a pat down while she thoroughly checked to see if he poo-poo'd or tee-tee'd. LOL! He didn't and she was satisfied and let him resume normal activity. HA!!!

Why Boys Shouldn't Hit Girls

Reese hit Julia and Kelli made Reese write a letter stating what he did and why it was wrong. This is his letter. OMG! This is classic!

"Reese, I am not writing exactly why. But I am writing something.I know something though. You should not hit a girl because. They will tell on you."

Phaaaaaa Haaaaaaa!!!!!!!

It was a very eventful Mardi Gras this year. But not in the way that it used to be. It's a different kind of eventful. The kind that leaves you feeling thankful, grateful, appreciative, and just puts a smile on your face from all of the memories that were made.Mardi Gras used to be full of bands, parades, music and dancing. Now it's our kids doing the dancing and singing the music. It really is amazing.  Happy Mardi GRAS Everyone! Laissez les bon temps rouler!!

Location:Fort Polk, LA

Wow! This is my first blog entry EVER. I decided to do this blog so that I could create a yearbook, so to speak, for my family. I loved the idea of journaling all of our crazy stories to look back on, laugh at, and cherish the memories. I can't wait to see how this will turn out!

Rodeo! YeeHaww!!!

We went to the Rodeo in Alexandria. It was so much fun! We are cherishing every single minute that we have with Johnnie before he leaves :-( Julia was more impressed with the baby calves than the actual rodeo. They were so cute! When the calf roping began, she protested LOUDLY (Is there any other way with her?)

Julia's favorite part of the rodeo was also singing the National Anthem at the beginning of the night.

Singing her little heart out :)

We did have a great time!

They saw a "Cowgirl" and ran and asked her if they could take a picture with her...lol

My Little Gymnasts~

Seth and Julia are doing so great in gymnastics. They both love it so much. Well, let me rephrase that. They both love MOST of it. Julia hates the whole stretching part...lol. She complains nearly the entire time that they are stretching.

"Ooooooowwwwwwww....this HURTS!"

"Julia, shhhhhhhh! Get back to stretching."

"But it H-U-R-T-S SOOOOOO bad."

"Shhhhhh"

Ahhhh, she'll eventually get used to it right?

They are the cutest babies at the gym :)

Social Studies Fair Time!!

Both Jay and Kam's projects placed in the school Social Studies Fair. They both moved on to the Parish SS Fair. The fair was literally days before their Daddy left for Iraq. It was a bitter sweet celebration.

Jay did his project on the Ring of Fire. I am so proud of him. He did amazing.

Kam and AJ did their project on the Atomic Bomb. It was a great project! They moved on to the Regional SS Fair in Natchidotches, LA. They placed 4th there but it wasn't enough to move on to the state fair. It is the farthest that any of my kids have ever gotten. It was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

This is what they did while they waited for the judges decisions. Nervous much? lol

1ST PLACE!!!