Happy New Year

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! We did. I was very ill with a stomach bug, and unfortunately Cole now has it. I'm praying the rest stay well. But on the bright side, it should keep me from gaining the usual 5 or so pounds...

I will try to post pictures soon.

I just finished reading an awesome book. My friend Vicki gave it to us for Christmas and it was the best gift ever! It is powerful and I recommend it to everyone...The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. I hope it will transform my relationships and life. It is a fiction book but I believe it gives true insight into the character of God.

We are trying to catch up on the house stuff and recover from the virus. Hope all of you have a hope filled New Year!

life with 2 toddlers if VERY BUSY

We made it to church today. I feel like I accomplished something! We all went to Walmart on the way home, I accomplished 2 things! God is so good, even when I am so bad. We haven't been to church for the past 3 weeks. Of course we had reasons, but I managed to find time those weekends to watch LSU football, so did I really not have time for church/God, or did I choose other things (the world) in stead? Not that I'm implying that you have to go to church to be Godly or saved or good. But I seem to be more Christ like when I am plugged in to HIM. For me that means, going to church, listening to Praise and Worship, spending time reading His Word (the bible). It's true, when life gets busy, you better make time to pray first. Lets hope I can put these "truths" into practice with more regularity.

Life has gotten a bit overwhelming with 2 toddlers. They can so mess up faster than I can clean up. It is a rare gift that they are playing by themselves in the play yard. Of coure at any second, one may hit or bite the other and it is ON! Now I hear Cole and Quinn fighting in the yard. I will ignore it, until one is bleeding. not only must I fight the minute by minute battles of raising 2 toddlers, but I must wage the war against the world for my teenager! Thank God Cole is a Godly kid on his way to becoming a Godly man, but I must not forget to pray and battle for him daily, and many times the battle is against his self!!!! His teenage it's all about me...me...me...

Parenting is exhausting. At times I feel like a total failure. Maybe that is why I am a nurse. I am so angry at a few of the mom's whose babies I see in home health. I came home Friday so full of FIGHT!!! REady to bring home 5 children I know are neglected (1 8/0 boy, 1 4 y/0 boy, 1 2y/o boy, 1 15 m/o girl, and a 5 m/o infant) they are underweight. The mother yells and makes the 8 y/o care for the 3 middle children. Her youngest infant just came home from the NICU and she refuses to feed him as the MD ordered and in a few days he has dropped over 1/2 pound. So, I guess I'm not that bad a mother. I have another mom, of 7 (5 under 4) and she is precious, tired, overwhelmed, but so trying to do her best. I pray for her and am so thankful to have the support I have from Beau, Cole, Denise, Nonna! I can so get on my pitty pot about not having 3 sisters, a mom, a Mother-in-law, etc. etc to help. But I am so blessed.

I will try to post more pictures soon. Beau and I are both working alot more. Trying to pay for car repairs, clothes for the kids, the hight cost of food, Christmas, and our big family trip to Disney. We are available much, so forgive us if we don't call more. I will cut back on my hours after the holidays. We've almost paid off the truck and that will give us a little more breathing room.

oh and Geaux Tigers. We are not fairweather fans. WE LOVE LSU!!!

Hurricaine Gustav

Wow, what a week it has been! We survived the storm just fine. A few trees down, lots of debris, but no structural damage. The aftermath was not so "fine". 3 hour gas lines, no power, no running water. 4 hot cranky kids, 2 hot irritable parents....need I go on. I had no idea what a wimp I am. I am totally dependent on air conditioning. the humidity was the straw that put us over. We broke down on day 3 without power, and bought a generator. We still didn't have running water because we are on a well with a pump. But at least we were cool in the camper. Of course with gas over $4 a gallon, we could only afford to run the generator for 12 hours a day. We were blessed to have power back on day 4 at about 7 pm. The twins were so excited to be back in the house with the lights and air on. The ran around with their arms above their heads squealing and laughing, it was just too cute. There are still hundreds of thousands of people with out power in southern Louisiana. Baton Rouge is still under a mandatory curfew until 65% of the households get power. It isn't being reported in the national news, but it has been very hard for the people here. Many homes have been destroyed by fallen trees in our area. This is the worse disaster in Baton Rouge history. Our children will return to school tomorrow, but BR will be out at least another week. Please be in prayer for the people of Louisiana, especially as Ike threatens the Gulf Coast.

p.s. There have been many "heroes" here. Our National Guard (along with many nearby states National Guard) have been a huge presence handing out supplies and keeping our streets safe, many other states and federal law enforcement officers have also come to help our local law enforcement keep order (than have been fight in the gas lines and people stealing generators off of front porches). Many churches, especially ours, Healing Place, have stepped up and been the hands and feet of Jesus. Giving out food, water, ice, and even free gas. Sending out crews to help clear trees and debris. It has been a long week with many life lessons. I for one, found that I was not spiritually prepared for this storm/trial. I will be making some personal changes, so that I will hopefully be more Christ like during the next trial. I had no idea my attitude was so closely tied to a/c and running water... lesson learned, I hope!

Kade has a shoe fetish (these are mine, but he tried to take every shoe on the beach)
Elizabeth's footprints (in middle walking towards the right)
Isn't she a beautiful baby.....

1st Oreo, she learned to open them right away

Yes, Quinn's hair is blue (it's blond now). Look at Baby Faye hang on!
This is the norm at dinner...we have a little picnic table we feed them on, but they climb on that too.

Itsy bitsy teeny weeny pink polkadot bikini. Isnt that a cute suit! She loved the water, and kade prefered to wander the beach stealing shoes! We had a great time, but it was so non stop. Cole had swimmer's ear and his canal was almost swollen shut (poor guy). So I didn't have my usual help. Beau went home for 4 nights in the middle of the 10 night trip. I won't do that again!!!

We took these March 17th, just before their birthday and Easter at Babycakes photography.

It has been a busy few months for me! I didn't even take the twins for their 12m check up (bad mommy). Partly because I was busy, but mostly because I hate watching them get shots. I know, I'm a nurse and give babies shots all the time, but it is different when they are yours! Plus there is all that controversy over immunizations, and mercury and other heavy metal toxicity and autism. So I put it off. I did finally take them at 15 months.

Kade is just over 20 pounds. He is in the 55% for height and 5% for weight. Elizabeth is just under 20 pounds. she is in the 25% for height and 10% for weight. I've really tried to make them fat. Maybe they are just destined to be thin (for their whole life). Wouldn't that be grand! Considering that most of my family has battled obesity (including myself) I think it would be wonderful.

But I truly think fat babies are the best, and my and not fat. I call Kade Skinny man. I've even made a little song up about mama's little Skinny man.... Elizabeth isn't quite as skinny, at least you can't count her ribs and spine... The pediatrician assures me they are fine! They both eat so well. They eat everything. Elizabeth even likes fresh tomatoes. The only thing I've found that they both will not eat is asparagus. Their new favorite food is fresh blueberries. They like them more than chocolate (i shudder at the thought of anything being better than chocolate). Blueberries make for very interesting poop. Beau called my in a panic. Kade's poop is black...I said what does it smell like and he's like ..."poop" I reply "smell it again" then he tells me it smells sweet and I say..."like blueberry's" he says yes and gross. I must say, nobody else likes them as much as we used to after smelly blueberry poop... But they are so good tasting and for you, that we let them eat them everyday. They will only be in season a little while longer.

We will going camping for 10 days at the end of this week. I'm not sure how that will work. They won't have beds to be put down for naps and sleep. I don't think they will just lay quietly and go to sleep, when they will be able to crawl out and find us... we will see.

We are having so much fun with these two blessings!!! Cole and Quinn may not survive the summer (sibling rivalry is a curse of Satan dating back to Cain and Able, why am I surprised that Cole and Quinn are experiencing it as well...).

Baby Faye pushing Kade

Look at that. It's hard to believe that she likes to hit him too...