November

Whew!  Only four months left to catch up on!  I can do this!!  Hope you're hanging in there with me.

Let's grab some pictures from November!

Luke kept on growing in there - I was getting bigger and bigger.

Gracie and I made some Christmas cookies for the freezer.

James voted in the presidential election (or any election) for the first time.  

Guess who we voted for.  Guess.  

I was still taking Alyssa to LSU for classes.

Jon and I messed around at Target while picking up groceries.

I called Brian from Albertson's to verify that we won't dress in the exact same shirt when we get older.  We both agreed we won't.  

I saw a car that was sewn together.

We had Thanksgiving dinner together.

We decorated for Christmas.

Including a nice tree.

And a Matthew ornament.

December up next!

October

And here we are in October already.  Time sure flies when you're trying to catch up on blog posts.

Let me grab some photos because, honestly, I don't really remember October . . .

It looks like we went to "the walking park" which is the big, open park by our house.  We like to go there in the evenings sometimes.



There is a big sundial in the middle of the park where you can tell time by your shadow, but the sun was too far down for it to work this day.

We also went to a picnic at the church pavilion for Salvation Station workers.



Grace had a lot on her plate that day.

Matthew was there in October.



Grace graduated from something amazing.



Looks like it was cookie school.  Not really, she's wearing Matthew's cap from graduating from Sunday School.


Matthew and Grace got ready for the cold weather that wasn't coming.



We took the kids to LSU to see a volleyball game.

Because Mike The Tiger had recently died, there were lots of pictures and cards stuck on his enclosure.




We had a fun time inside the PMAC cheering on the Tigers.



We saw Mike inside, but Gracie wasn't getting too close.



Selfie at the PMAC




Very soon after that, Brian took me to my very first LSU football game in Death Valley!



It was so much walking from the car and up into the stadium, but the excitement of the crowds and the people there was a lot of fun!

And we'll end with Gracie!

September

I know, I know, but I'm trying to update this blog and hopefully I can get all these posts done today.

So, here is what we did in September!

I failed my glucose tolerance test with Baby Luke so I had to return to the lab and spend THREE HOURS drink a horrible sugar drink and get stuck in the arm 52 times.  (it was only 3 or 4 but it felt like 52)



James texted me this photo from the gas station wondering if he should swipe his card in a gas pump where the card swipe thing was completely tampered with.  I told him no - but it was too late.



He then changed his pin number at my urging.

James headed to LSU to pick up Alyssa from class and took this photo for memories.



Brian and I went out to dinner again :)



We ate at Firehouse Subs (I think) and then went across the street for a turtle sundae at Fredies.



Because Yum!

We got groceries in September once or twice - or maybe 5 times.





We took Andrew out for a Smith Burger at Burgersmith.




And those were some of the highlights from September!

October to come!

August 2016

So, remember I said I was gonna post a whole bunch of catch up posts?  Well, I always do what I say - unless I don't, which is not what we're talking about here, right?

So, August was another busy month for us.  Let me go find some photos to share with ya . . . .

Andrew and I did a fantastic hotdog and strawberry puzzle.  It's not easy taking a selfie with a puzzle.



Gracie got some letters to make - kind of a craft/learning thing, but she wanted to do them all fast so it didn't quite work out the way I planned.



But she was really cute holding her A for Alligator.

Brian and I went out to Albasha to celebrate our 20 year anniversary and eat my favorite food in BR.
Schwarma and gyro!!!



And I got a big bouquet of my favorite flowers!!




And then, like the next day, it started to rain and rain and rain, and lots of our city flooded.  Some of our friends were rescued from their homes in the middle of the night by kind hearted citizens called the Cajun Navy.  Lots of people lost everything.  Thankfully, we were safe and dry in our house.

This is a flooded apartment complex just north of our house.



Also during this time the Rio olympics were going strong.  We loved watching the events together and cheering for the USA. The olympic hype carried over into James' room as well.  (aka the green room)  Some of the kids were reenacting olympic events and the wall took damage.



No, it wasn't Usain Bolt who did this to the wall, it was this guy.



Usain Smith

We also celebrated Jon's 11th birthday - Can't find any pictures of him with his cake, but I know they are somewhere.



The kids took selfies with my phone.




A rare and unusual sighting of the girls there.

Alyssa started LSU which meant that we had to drive her to class.



And then we had to pick her up as well.



Brian and I went out again and had dinner in front of a chicken rotisserie.



It was good.

And, finally, James and Faith got together for a photo.



Stay tuned for September.  :)

July 2016

Since I'm so very far behind on this blog, I'm going to publish a whole bunch of "catch up" posts.  July was a fun month for us.

Here are some of the highlights from July.



We hired some guys to take down a very large palm tree in our backyard.

After the tree came down, a few bats flew out of the mess.  

The boys were thrilled at their new playground.

I kept getting bigger and bigger with baby Luke.

We played lots of one of our favorite games - Catan!



Brian and I went to the Birth Center to have an ultrasound and see Baby Luke for the first time.




We went shopping for a new washing machine after ours gave up on us after nine years. The nerve, right??

Jon took my phone to IYC youth conference at church.  We got some interesting shots out of it




Peter lost his two front teeth and, in the middle of that, looked a bit like a hillbilly.




And that was July - Stay tuned for more!