I'm back once again

  

For many months I kept an online journal.  However after a computer crash last week I have been unable to retrieve it.  So all those thoughts and insights have been lost, except in the recesses of my mind.  I'm going to give it another try so someday I can look back and see how life was treating me in the past.  So here goes.....

I am just about SICK of COVID...not sick WITH COVID, but sick OF COVID.  For six months we have basically been limited on where we can go and what we can do.  That part really hasn't been too bad because we don't do much most of the time anyway.  But school has been a different situation.  Since March Emily has been doing virtual school.  It really hasn't been difficult since she is a good student.  When the governor announced that we would be moving into Phase 3 of reopening, I was sure the schools would transition back to in school learning.  However, that's not the way it is going to happen.  Those students who have been going to school on alternating days will move into a daily routine.  Those, like Emily, who have been doing virtual learning will stay that way until October 14.  Even thought she is a good student, she needs to be in school.  She lacks the motivation to do well at home.  And she needs to interact with other kids.  I am tired of "sitting on her" to get everything done that needs to be done.  October 14 won't come soon enough for me...or for her.

This has been the most active hurricane season I can remember.  A few weeks ago Hurricane Laura destroyed the Lake Charles area.  Thousands are still without electricity almost four weeks later.  Now another storm is headed their way.  It won't be a hurricane when it gets there, but it will have strong winds and lots of rain.  My heart goes out to those people who are trying to put their lives back together only to have another storm hit them.  We are expected to get lots of rain, but nothing else.  I can deal with rain not to have what Lake Charles has.

Today is the first day I'm trying to make Emily become more responsible.  I have always gone into her room when her alarm went off to bring her medicine and wake her up gently.  Today she will have to do that by herself.  I really hate it.  The grandmother part of me wants to make everything easy and smooth for her.  The mother part of me knows she needs to do things herself.  The alarm sounded about 45 minutes ago.  She did come out to take her medicine after I called to her several times.  Then she went back to bed.  She is finally moving around.  I hope this is the start of a good thing, but right now I'm thinking it will take a few days (I hope that's all) for her to get into the new habit.

So starts another week of virtual learning.  I'm going to say it will be a great week.  Positive thoughts never hurt!!!  

Busy weekend

Wow! This has been a busy weekend!  Friday night went to Jump N Jive for their Fall Festival.  We met Amy and Brantley there, and Emily invited her friend Kali too.   The festival lasted three hours and Emily, Kali, and Brantley all three ran, jumped, played on slides, and had a blast the entire time.  I have to say Emily was the cutest Supergirl and Brantley made a precious Marshall from Paw Patrol. 

 

Yesterday Emily's friend, Caroline, had a birthday party at Painting With a Twist.  Emily had such a great time there.

 

  

 

She REALLY got into it! And she did a great job on her painting! 

 

They played a game and she won!  The prize was this pumpkin painting and they personalized it for her!

I had a chance to meet some of her friends.  It is nice to be able to put faces with the people she talks about when she comes home from school.  I also got to meet some of the moms.

All of the girls had a great time painting.  I hope we get a chance to go back there soon.

Percy Quin State Park

Emily was out of school Monday and Tuesday, so we went to Percy Quin State Park in McComb for two nights. 

We stayed in a great cabin right on the lake.  It sat on a hill, with the front door on what seemed to be level ground, but the back was downhill.  Emily got pretty good at going up and down the hill with her bike and skates!!

The park had a great playground.  We spent lots of time there.  The only bad thing about it was that we had to drive to get there.  I wish it had been closer to our cabin!

Our view was awesome!  The cabin faced west, so we watched the sunset each night.  Sunset is my favorite part of being on a lake.  It really makes me stop and realize and appreciate the beautiful world God created.

We only made a campfire one night.  We all enjoyed sitting around it!  Emily loved adding sticks to it and had a "poking stick" that she kept using.  We had to make her stop poking because it made so many embers fly and with everything so dry we were afraid of setting something on fire.

The weather was perfect for camping!!  We all had a great time, but I think Emily had the best time of all!  I can't wait until we get a chance to go back!  It was a perfect getaway!

I'm back!

I decided to get back to writing my blog.  I realized I was spending (wasting) WAY too much time looking at Facebook, so I decided to give it up, at least for a while.  There are good things about Facebook that I will miss.  I'll miss knowing what people are doing day to day.  And I'll really miss seeing pictures my family.  But I'm tired of feeling like I can't start my day without checking Facebook to see if the world is still turning. 

The downside of not posting on Facebook is the daily account of what's going on in my life.  I won't be able to go into my account to see just what's been going on, or look back to see what I did months ago.  So I'm going to keep that account here, so that some day I can look back on it and remember and relive these days. 

Today we are going camping.  Not tent camping, but staying in a cabin.  We are going to Percy Quin in McComb.  Emily is out of school tomorrow and Tuesday for fall break, so this is a perfect time for us to go.  It's funny how you have to pack almost your entire house just to spend a couple of days away!  I've got bins packed with everything I can think of that we may need.  I'm not really sure how we'll get all of it in the car and still have room for us, but it's better to have more than is needed than to get there and find out something important was left home!

It's cool outside this morning.  The weather has been so hot, the cool crisp air feels great.  And cool air makes for great camping weather!  I can't wait to have a campfire tonight!!!  I'm hoping that it will still be warm enough this afternoon for Emily to swim, but even if it's not, I'm sure we will have  great time.

Flat Stanley

Hollywood.....

....ain't got nuthin on this sleeping beauty!

Guess who learned to tie her shoes!

Avery Island

Tuesday was Mardi Gras and Andy didn't have school at the training center.  So we took Grace to Avery Island.  It was so nice.  The weather was beautiful, and so was the scenery on the Island.

Avery Island is the only place in the world that makes Tobasco sauce.  They make 700,000 bottles a day.  We toured the factory, which was very interesting.  Unfortunately since Mardi Gras is a holiday, they weren't bottling sauce that day. 



After the factory, we went into the Jungle Gardens.  The Live Oak trees were just gorgeous. 

I loved the scenery, but Grace was more excited about the wildlife.  There were lots of birds, turtles, and more than just a few alligators.  Some were too close for comfort.



It was a great day for a great field trip.  I'm already thinking of where we can go next!

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Andy is at training today so I don't get to share Valentine's Day with him.  He is my number one Valentine no matter where he is.  I love him so much.

I have another Valentine.  Katie is precious to me.  But today Katie had to have oral surgery.  She is swollen and hurting badly, so she's taking meds that make her sleep.  I love her so much, but she's not much of a Valentine today.

So today I had this precious little girl to be my Valentine.  She's so sweet and loving.  What a great person to have for a special Valentine!





Sisters make the best friends

I am so lucky to have my sisters.  They are my very best friends.  Gail lives in Boston and I don't see her very often.  And even though Amy lives in Denham Springs, I don't see her nearly as much as I should. 

Denise lives in the Dallas area.  She is the sister I spend the most time with, even though she lives far away.  I'm lucky enough that flights to DFW are often very reasonable and I can fly there quite often. 
Another very fortunate thing is that the drive isn't a bad one, even though it is long.  We usually see each other at least once a month if not more.

This weekend Denise, Angie, and Angie's children are in town.  I enjoy sharing grandma time with Denise.  Her grandchildren are so cute.

Adam was trying to have to "quiet" time at Mamaw's yesterday.  He was in the back room watching TV.  He's so sweet and cute.


Sara is the princess.  She just bubbles when she talks.  And she doesn't have any problem at all being the center of attention.



And little Chase.  Not only is he a sweetheart and the cutest baby, but he looks so much like my daddy that it is uncanty.  Every glance from him is like looking into Daddy's eyes again.  What an extra special blessing this little boy brings to all of us.



Changes

Andy's eyesight is getting worse so we gave careful consideration to how we could best prepare him for the time that he can't see anymore.  We still pray for the miracle of improved eyesight, but we also know that God has a plan and is going to use this in a way He has already determined.

In order for him to get training (I call it going to learn to be blind school), Andy started a program at
Affiliated Blind of Louisiana last month.  It is located in Lafayette, so he is staying there weekdays.  I take him early Monday mornings and pick him up at noon on Friday.  He's a quick study, so I don't think he will be there the nine months it takes most people to get the training they need.  And hopefully he will never need the training, but it's much better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

I'm so proud of him.  He is taking the bull by the horns and doing what needs to be done to prepare for the future.  But then, what else would I expect from Andy.

It's been a long time....

I don't know why I let the blog go for so long.  Maybe it was because of Facebook...it seems I shared all my "news" there.  But I'm no longer on Facebook, so hopefully I'll be better about updating here.

I was all geared up to start again, posts, pictures, etc., but this morning Emily was using my camera to take a picture of her mama sleeping and she dropped it.  Sad to say, it's broken...happy to say I'll be getting a new one tomorrow!

A Rare Sweet Treat!

Today was our lucky day!  We had both Grace and Emily come to visit.  It isn't very often that both girls are here.  They were so sweet together.  They played long and hard, and we watched every single minute of it.  It's so great to see them together!

Grace had a special surprise for us!  She got her ears pierced.  She's such a little lady!

We had snowballs...can you guess what color Emily had?

new look

It has been a battle to brush Emily's hair for a long time.  And after it's brushed and in a pony tail, she insists on taking the pony out.  She ends up with a nasty, stringy mess of hair.  So today she got a haircut.

Before

After

So much cuter and easier!

Diva

I haven't been a good blogger lately so I thought I'd get back into the swing of things with this picture.  What a diva!

Sister time

I spent the last few days in Dallas visiting Denise.  She is not only my sister, but my best friend.  We always, always have a good time when we're together.  I got there on Sunday and Mark took us to Chef Point Cafe.  It is a very unique place.  It's a five star restaurant located in a gas station!  It's even been featured on the Food Network.  The food is absolutely delicious, and we really enjoyed it.  

Monday we went to a conference featuring Thelma Wells.  Every speaker and performer was great.  I can't decide which was my favorite; Lisa Smith who signed the songs, the harpist who played beautiful music on her harp, or Thelma Wells who inspired us with a wonderful message mixed with joy and laughter.

Tuesday we went to visit Angie.  I was so eager to see her new house, meet her sweet baby, Chase, and visit with Sarah and Adam.  Unfortunately, Adam was at school, so I didn't get to see him.  But I had a great time visiting with Angie, Sarah, and Chase.

Tuesday night Sammy came to visit.  He is one smart cookie and he wanted to play board games.  He beat me at Trouble, Quirkle, and SpongeBob.  I was the banker while he played Monopoly with Denise and Mark.  He really understood the concept of buying property, paying (and collecting) rent, and managing money.  I guess he'll have his priorities in order as far as money is concerned when he grows up.

Wednesday, Denise and I spent the whole day crafting.  We made several things that were really cute.  And the best part was that our investment was very small because we "repurposed" things she had around the house.  

It was just a wonderful visit.  I can't wait to go there again.  And maybe next time I'll remember to take some pictures!

consolation prize

For a while, Emily was getting reds and yellows for her behavior at school.  A few weeks ago, she got boots for staying on green for five days.  She was so proud.  So now, every day when I go to pick her up, she quickly reports whether or not she's on green.  And most days she is, which makes both of us proud. 

Sometimes when she's on green we do something special, like go to the library.  Yesterday I had a great bribe reward for her.  I promised to take her to Jump N Jive.  It's a great place with lots of indoor inflatable jumpy things, a ball pit, and lots of other things for kids to do.  They were having a benefit for the handicapped children's playground, so I thought I'd take Emily there and benefit the cause (theirs as well as mine).  When I picked her up from school and found out she was on green I really, really played up going to Jump N Jive after dinner.  And Emily was really, really excited to go there.  When we got there, they were closed :(  I had the wrong date for the benefit.

So I thought it only fair to take her to Wal Mart as a second choice.  She shopped in the movies for a long time before she chose two to take home.  I know she was disappointed not getting to go to Jump N Jive, but I think she liked her consolation prize.

cuteness

papaw would be so proud!

What a cutie patootie!