Carly performs at Showcase

Dutchtown Sound - blurry picture....I wasn't supposed to be taking pictures, so I couldn't use the flash...

Carly's marching season is coming to an end (for this year at least). She's had an awesome year and I think she's really had fun marching with her High School band. They are amazing and I'm so proud of her. I struggled with being a Band Mom, but it all seemed to work out in the end. If she marches next year, I might even volunteer to work concessions....

Pictures from last night at Cajun Field, Lafayette, LA....

Me and Carly before they performed

Carly's best friend, Lily

Carly and her boyfriend, Philip

What keeps me busy...

I guess it's not enough that school is back in session and I'm back at work, but the kids all have extra curricular activities. That's what keeps me busy.

Samantha goes half days and works at a local bakery to gain hours in her field of interest. Some days I get the amazing priviledge to pick her up from school and take her home. I cherish that time with her! She makes me smile.

Me dropping Sam off at work (on her birthday....this pic is a little old)

Carly has marching band practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after school until 5:30pm and Navy JROTC marching practice BEFORE band practice on Tuesdays. Then Friday evenings are high school football games until late. She's very busy but thrives on chaos, so it works for her.

Philip and Carly after an away game

Carly in her summer JROTC uniform

CJ is playing football and loving every minute of it. He's starting to figure out that if you hit them it doesn't hurt as bad as if they hit you. He's a huge fan of scoring touchdowns so he does that as much as possible and it seems to work. Saturday he recovered a fumble and ran it 80 yds for the td. Then scored on a trick play which he is still talking about. Sunday he repeated his 80 yd run to score. Monday started the "extension" where they get some training in specific areas and not just an overall concept of the game.

CJ #20

Mike works alot and travels alot so I'm busy with juggling the kids schedule and making sure the house is taken care of. Especially the dogs....

Moose, so proud of himself for destroying a pillow from one of the chairs outside..

I'm looking forward to seeing the family at Thanksgiving and spending time at home with my Mom and sister. My brothers are cool, but I miss my Mom and sis the most. They are awesome!

I'll try to post more pics of Carly and Sam later. They both have some competitions coming up....until then.....much love!

Carly's band hosts the marching festival

The Dutchtown Sound....Dutchtown High School Marching Band - hosts the 2009 Marching festival at their high school field and it's Carly's first experience at festival. She helped all day, picking up trash, taking care of all sorts of things and then performing at the end of the night. They did an amazing job! Here's their performance from Youtube....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04zLa49lZoc

Carly's in there somewhere...she can't even pick herself out, but I'm still proud of her!

CJ's first football game this season!

CJ sports the #20 for the Allstars.....his first game was football from beginning to end! It started out muddy and the kids were playing hard, then shortly after half time, it started to rain....That's when the fun started!

CJ's coach told CJ it was football that he wasn't supposed to smile. CJ replied, "I know, Coach, but I'm having fun!"

Thumbs up for the second half! He loves football!

Samantha gets her license

Today, I took Sam to the Office of Motor Vehicles to get her drivers license. We were both SO nervous. She was nervous that the instructor would be mean and she wouldn't pass the test. I was nervous that she was so nervous she was going to wreck my car! Neither of which happened and we walked, achem...I mean, drove away with an Official Drivers License.

So proud of her!

CJ spent the night with a friend. It rained the whole time, so they decided to bake a cake. His mom helped them bake two layers. CJ got one to decorate and his friend got the other. This was CJ's. It's chocolate cake with chocolate icing, sprinkles, and an umbrella. He calls it "Hawaii's natural disaster". He says the chocolate chunks on top are lava rocks! I'm proud of him, too! Watch out Ace of Cakes!

Carly's first Homecoming

This weekend was a milestone for our home. Carly went to her first homecoming dance.

It took weeks to prepare, searching for the perfect dress, the perfect shoe, hair, makeup, nails....but it was well worth it. She looked amazing, her boyfriend, Philip, looked handsome and they had so much fun....

Philip picked her up here and we took pictures. They went back to his parents house and took pictures there, then went to a friend's house that was hosting a 'Pre-party' and then later an 'After-party'.

The weather was humid, but turned out perfect (considering all the rain during the week and that morning). Pictures to share...

Carly and CJ

Happy Birthday, Carly!

I can't believe it, but today Carly turns 15! We have so much to be thankful for this year. This same time, last year, we were sitting in the dark with a yard full of shingles and eating a cake that my friend Paula brought back from Arkansas for Carly's birthday. All thanks to Gustav. It's been an awesome year and she's such an amazing young lady! She's a good student in school, plays clarinet in the marching band, in the Naval JROTC program at her school, active in the church and is an awesome daughter! I am so proud of her and all she has become. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for her! Love you, Carly!

Carly's first half time show

A quick picture of us before she takes the field....

Carly marched her first half time show this past Friday night for her high school. She was great. She marched onto, off of and all over the field without falling. That's huge! =)

Some pictures from the night.

Dutchtown Sound enters the stadium....Carly is 2nd clarinet....Carly marching into the stadium...(sorry its blurry)Carly marching in...Carly and her boyfriend, Philip.....

Dinner out...

Mike and I on the roof at Tsunami downtown. What a view....

40th Birthday....

Me and Mike at PF Changs for my birthday dinner. (no, he's not drunk)

Me and CJ outside.....

Carly and Me

I celebrated my 40th birthday yesterday. It's been a crazy weekend and this week has not shown any signs of slowing down. Friday night was Carly's band preseason performance. They were amazing. Carly is the brunette, right in the center of the picture (the prettiest one there!)

This is Carly's friend, Philip - back row, second from the right (sax)Carly and Philip playing volleyball at the after party....Had a wonderful birthday weekend that ran over into Tuesday. My actual 40th birthday! I'm waaayyy too young to be 40!

CJ's new ambition...

....is to be a pumpkin farmer. For ever, he's had a heart for animals. Ever since he could answer the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up" his answer has been, "A veternarian". Until yesterday...As we were driving and talking, CJ blurted out, "Mom, I want to be a pumpkin farmer." You all know how random he can be, so to keep his thoughts clear and the conversation going, I said, "Oh yeah? Why?"....keep up with me while I try to put down his response.....

"You see, vampires are mostly scared of pumpkins. Not just vampires, but all of the creatures of the night are scared of pumpkins. Everyone thinks they are scared of garlic, but that's not true. That's why people put out pumpkins at Halloween and not garlic! Besides, have you ever seen a vampire or even a bat in a pumpkin patch?"

hmmmmm...he's random but so convincing. CJ may very well be a pumpkin farmer.

Trip to Georgia

Me and the kids (including Carly's bff, Lily) made a quick trip back to Georgia last week to see my Mom before school started back. Here are some pictures of our trip...
Carly and Lily Cathy (my sister) and me

CJ's first trip to Dairy Queen....

Mom and me

Michael (my brother) and me

The girls got bored on the drive back to Louisiana, so CJ filmed them killing time and tunes....

Part 1 of song 1

Part 2 of song 1

Take CJ to Work Day

Not all of you know, but I am the new Marketing Director for our local Chick-fil-A. So, now that I've started back to work and Carly started band camp, CJ is displaced. I only work a few hours in the store, so I thought there would be no harm in bringing him in just for a few hours. I was in the office working on some different projects and when I came back through the kitchen, this is what I found. Apparently CJ had been recruited by a couple of the guys for free labor. He had already helped make the famous Chick-fil-A lemonade....I caught him helping Brad with preparing the chicken for the fryer. Hmmm.....maybe tomorrow he can go to work with Mike! =)

Mexico video

As promised, I'm posting pics from our trip to Mexico. Thank you, Cathy and Paula, for such an awesome gift! It was a great early birthday!

Check this out....

My bff Becky is moving to Africa! She's living the dream! I'm so excited to see what God has in store for her. It's going to be amazing.

You can see her story and follow her journey at www.wheresbecky.blogspot.com

Its going to be so sad to see her go, but so exciting to see the fruits of her labor!

Today's good...

....for a cruise to Mexico! My sister and my friend Paula, got together behind my back and surprised me with a 5 day cruise to Cozumel. We leave today (in a few hours) and will be back on Thursday.

Pictures will come later.....

CJ vs. Wasp

The wasps won this time....CJ was over at a friends house Saturday and they decided to swing. Somewhere on the swing set was a giant wasp nest. CJ started to swing and got smacked by at least 3 wasps, but ended up with about 6 stings. Mostly on his head and face. Three stings to his ear and 2 on his cheek. One stung him on his forearm. He's fine now and back to "normal" (whatever that is for CJ) but only after a visit to the urgent care center for a shot and the pharmacy for some steroids and benadryl. Some pics for the curious...

Alligator Bayou

Last night, we visited our dear friend, Jim over at Alligator Bayou Tours. Its so sad. Iberville Parish decided to open the locks for the canal that feeds Alligator Bayou and the Spanish Lake basin and have completely drained the bayou. Its left the place a waste land. Almost completely putting Alligator Bayou tours out of business. http://www.alligatorbayou.com/

I wish there was something more we could do to help save this beautiful, natural, wildlife preserve, but it looks bleak. Of course, there are pics.....

Bayou less than 1ft deep....will not sustain life for fish much longer.CJ and Jim trying to come up with a plan to save Alligator Bayou....

Roots of the Cypress trees are exposed and fish just fight in the low water level to survive.Jim feeding Hannibal. Jim calls the gators up by name and hand feeds them, each one. So amazing to see the love they have for this place and these "dragons". Simply beautiful.

CJ learning the ropes. Hannibal is one of the largest gators in the preserve and he is no 'gentle giant'. He can move fast and is unbelievably huge. He got CJ and Jim back over the fence pretty quickly. (note the picture of CJ and Jim from the back, CJ's shirt is ripped because of his quick retreat over the fence)Love Jim, Frank and Alligator Bayou. Praying for a quick resolution and recovery.