Saturday, August 30, 2008

What'cha gonna do??

Our weekend plans have taken a little detour and the detours name is Gustav!

We are cleaning and getting sheets clean for our family that will becoming to stay with us.



Yesterday I tried not to let my brain go to far into remembering Katrina 3 years ago, that was easier said than done.....I did that Katrina post a little over a week ago, so I could kind of get those feelings out of my system.

But they were still there on yesterday.

Watching something that you love being ripped apart and not being able to do anything about it, is such a sickening feeling. It's even worse when YOU PRAY AND PRAY, that hopefully some how it will feel the same after and it doesn't.

With all of those feelings so fresh, mother nature has decided to come and RIP of that band aid a little to early for me....

I was hoping last night as I turned the Weather Channel off that when we woke up this morning maybe, hopefully the path would of changed a little. As of right now, it doesn't look good for Louisiana at all. Tomorrow we will know more and we are praying to dodge a HUGE bullet. Louisiana has done it many times before, we BELIEVE and have FAITH.
Most people also know when enough is enough and I think were all calling MERCY!!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Is that like a chat room??

Yesterday at work after we did carpool in the lovely rain, we were all talking about different things and I mention something that I had seen on a blog recently. A few of the girls look at me with eyes like I was crazy!

Heidi what's a Blog??

One girl said, oh is that like one of those websites that you can vent about your husband and stuff like that?

Another one said is that like a CHAT ROOM?!

UUUMMMM I don't know I've never been in a chat room before (well maybe the one time when I was trying to get through the Michael Phelps withdrawals :):):)

No girls, its your own personal blog. You can blog (like writing in a journal) about anything you want to. Some people use them for their business, or for the families to keep up with their kids, some people use them just to keep their thoughts straight and to at least have some pictures somewhere of their children because SHE might be a little to lazy to put pictures in a book....that would be me :):)


If I had to describe a BLOG in one word, it would be THERAPY!

I remember Emily Lipani (one of my blogging buddies) telling me about starting a blog and I thought, ME and COMPUTERS not really a good mix! I looked into it and thought, well I will give it a try! When I started this blogging thing in November 2005, I was only doing it, so that my Louisiana people could see what was going on in our lives. My kids are cute and AWESOME, who wouldn't want to know what was going on with them!(The Johnson children will have no problem with their own image :):):):)
I didn't post very often and it was mostly just pictures of the kids.
In the last year or so I have found that I enjoy sharing our stories with all of you guys. As do I enjoying reading all of you all's stories....

I've learned things about my transplanted Louisiana family(my blogging buddies) through the blogs, I've shared heart break and pain with complete strangers through this crazy blog thing.
As a mother I have loved sharing our GOOD times and our NOT SO GOOD times.
I have gotten some really nice emails from friends and a few from people that I don't know, saying how certain stories they have read on here has made them laugh or just brighten their day.
A few people have shared that there, so happy to hear my crazy and sometimes overly protective thoughts about my children, they thought they were the only ones that felt that way!! CRAZY MOTHERS UNITE!!

My daddy still thinks I'm crazy for posting some of the things that I do......I've never claimed to not be crazy :):):)

As long as I have a story to post, I will.
Sometimes there not very interesting for you guys but they just feel good to get out.
I looked back through my DRAFTS and I have 32 items that I haven't posted, some of them are just pure evil that has come out of my mind, some of them just little things that I don't want to EVER forget.
This truly has become an open diary for me, well as open as I want it to be!

I hope you guys keep on sharing, as will I.....

SERIOUSLY who doesn't like FREE therapy!!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Do You Believe!

Out of the thousands upon thousands and I do mean MILLIONS of questions my children have asked through the years, the one that I always dread more than anything is the......so momma, do you believe in Santa?
It always seems to come right about this time every year.
You know right when your still sweating and wearing flip flops and shorts but the stores have all ready started getting ready for "The holidays".
Alex has been a believer in the "spirit of Santa Claus" for 2 years now, one day he came home and told me "mom, we need to talk and you might want to sit down".... and there my son told me about THINGS he had seen me doing on certain days when a certain tooth fairy was suppose to be visiting. And with that he said " I guess Santa is you too?" My only response to him was, son what do you want to believe. Because momma believes in the spirit of Santa, that's how we keep it alive. No, I have never seen Santa but I've also never seen Jesus, Mary or Joseph. But I know that I'm not questioning that, NO SIR, NOT ME!!
We don't always have to see things to make them real, as long as we feel it in our hearts that's all that matters! And with that, Alex and I have never talked about it again. He is a believer as am I. ( Now the question of mom, I think I like this girl at school, yeah that one right there, almost killed me!!)

The believe conversation was brought up by Jakob today.....(not in front of Hannah)
He told me that some kids at school were talking about their moms being Santa and how its STUPID to believe in him!
So I asked him what did he think about what they said. He said he told them that he believes because its fun to believe and that he didn't really care what they thought (have I told you all lately how awesome my children's brains are??)
And of course, the next thing out of his mouth, with his beautiful green eyes looking right into mine......momma you believe right? (without skipping a beat) Yes baby I do, just like I believe in Jesus, Mary and Joseph (at some point I know I'm going to need to go to confession for using Jesus, Mary and Joseph as pawns in my parenting skills but if it works then don't fix it, RIGHT!)

I know that Jakob in the next year or two, will join Alex in the "spirit of Santa" believer's club. And that's fine, I just don't want him to not believe because someone else said not too.....You know what I mean??

I will do all these same things when Hannah starts to ask questions, I know that the boys will back me up and keep the spirit alive.....

Were big believers in this house, I've been telling all 3 of them they can do anything they want to and I do mean anything as long as they just believe in it......hmmm, maybe I should take my own advice :):):):):)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

10 random Myspace questions!

A friend of mine from Myspace (yes I am almost 33 years old and I have a Myspace page, laugh all you want, I often laugh at myself.) She sends these fill in the blank questions to you on the eve of your birthday.....some of the answers need to be labeled "Too much information". But this is blogger so the answers are PG. It's all in good fun and I thought I would share it with you all......



1. I am.... always late!! Not like hours late but always at least 5 minutes or more :):)

2. I can not stand..... strings hanging off of clothes. I have pulled things off of people that I don't even know before.

3. I love to..... vacuum, it relaxes me. I especially love to make the lines in the carpet!!

4. I have never seen..... the Sound Of Music, Gone With The Wind or Casablanca. Someone at work told me I'm not human if I haven't seen one of these. Call me what you want, I still haven't seen them.

5. I love the way.... Brian (my husband) smells. I know its a little weird but I love to smell his pillow. He has a very nice natural smell....I told you it might be a little to much info!!

6. I hate my..... teeth, that's the one thing I would change today about myself if I could!!

7. If I could eat one thing for the rest of my life...... (and not gain weight) it would be a McKenzie's King Cake, the one with the icing not the plain one. OOOHHHH MY WORD, that is a little slice of New Orleans heaven!

8. The place I would love to be right now........would be Natchez, Ms with Brian. We found this wonderful Bed and Breakfast place, that used to be a Cotton Mill. It looks out at the Mississippi River. Brian and I have been there twice. Hopefully we will visit it again one day....

9. The best family vacation....we have ever had was when we went to North Carolina. My kids always talk about it. We all had a blast!!

10. If I die tomorrow, the 4 things I would want you all to know is..... (seriously who asks these questions?)
I would want my husband and children to know they have given me more love and joy than I ever thought was possible. My life has only gotten better each day because I got to live life with them. And I am beyond grateful to have been their wife and mother.

I would want my brothers to know that they mean the world to me, even though we have lots of years in between us, they are my boys and I love them more than they will ever know.

I would want my parents to know that I understand the sacrifice they made for me. And I could never tell them in words how proud I am to be their daughter, they are my strength and my light at the end of the tunnel. I can only hope to be to my kids, what they are to me.

I would want to thank my girls for being my journal, diary and secret keeper. My everyday life would never be the same without my friends. My voice of reason, when I thought there was none. The person to laugh with me or at me, just to make my day better. To let me know when I'm looking not so cute!! And to say, girlllll you look good today! To share a phone call in the middle of the night with (HMMMM) or to share a sweet tea therapy with (HMMMM), I LOVE MY GIRLS!

The Present...











Unfortunatly 3 years after the storm there are parts of Louisiana (New Orleans) that are just a heart breaking sight...
The last 3 pictures, just kill me to see. When we were teenagers everyone "hung out" at the lake. This lighthouse above (or whats left of it) was something that I have spent many of hours sitting and talking in front of. Brian and I had many of IMPORTANT conversations (among other things:) there....
The top pictures, my father in law summed it up best with his description he sent me with the pictures.....
Good morning Heidi. Here are the pictures I have of New Orleans. I have some more recent one I took on our last visit showing some of the city around UNO and in central N.O. A couple of pictures are of a tent city under the I-10 at Canal St. and Claiborne Ave. Sad sight of the city after almost three years since the hurricane hit.
Right now that is the present, hopefully the future will look differently..... please God let there be HOPE!!

The Past...



















My (ever so patient with me father in law) took these pictures for me last year when they went back to Louisiana. I told him I would like to put some "New Orleans" pictures in my dining room and he said he would get some for me. He got a lot of good ones and it was hard for me to decide. These pictures were taken after the hurricane but these things didn't change, I can't say that for other parts. I wanted pictures that are the REAL New Orleans, the place I remembered and he got just that for me!
At the end of last year when our computer died and I lost ALL of my pictures (I'm in therapy and hoping that one day my hard drive will give me back my YEARS of pictures) I forgot all about those pictures.
Until a couple of weeks ago when I found a simple beautiful frame and thought "oh those pictures would be perfect in here".
My father in law sent them to me again and I truly do thank him for all that he did to help me bring a little bit of our past into our future!!
Here are some of the ones that he got, if you would like to see the ones I used, your going to have to, come on over.
The doors always open!!

Happy 2nd b-day Emily!

Mel and her birthday girl!!

Emily and Jack!!
2 of the Johnson cuties!! (yes that is sweat on Jakob, he was schooling the dads in football)
give me those candles!!
OK, they were a little hot!
Alex always makes it all better!!


Rona and Gracie
She wanted no part of that cake!!

Will proudly showing off his daddy's hard work!!


My kids are all about cake!!

the 2 Emily's!!
The Hillman men and Alex
Hannah and Gracie!
Hannah, Gracie and Will
baby Jack.....SOOOO cute!




all 19 of us, thank GOD Mel and Mike have a big house!!
Rona, Gracie and Ron Dinsmore
Brian, Mason and Catrina Hillman
Mel, Jack, Mike and Emily DeFusco
go girls go!!




So if your keeping track, that's 2 Emily's , 2 Brian's and 2 Michael's ( one known as Mike). And 19 people that can make each other laugh and cry all in the same sentence, we are Louisiana people after all!!



After the football game, we dropped Alex's friend off and headed over to the DeFusco's house for their daughters birthday party.



We were very excited to help them celebrate her 2ND birthday. (this is our Louisiana group, that we have the game nights with)



We all have become each others extended family's here. Kind of like no matter what is going on, you make it work, so we can all be together. That's what you do for your family and that's what we do for each other.



Whenever were all together you can always count on good conversation (the inside girl talk is soooo much better than the outside boy talk) and OF COURSE GOOD FOOD!!



We all wanted to get pictures of the whole group of us, last time the kids were not in it. We did manage to get it!!



I also wanted to get individual pictures of the families, I got everyone but us and the Lipani's. Next weekend we have Maren's 1st birthday (man, where has the time gone!) so I will try again!



Thanks guys we had a great time, were so happy to get to watch all of these babies grow!!



We will see you next weekend....(Note to Lipani, I will be declining my invite if Saturday is not a win or we will be breaking open the fancy stuff on your counter! :):):):)



















GO EAGLES!!

waiting to go in, it was really windy and actually CHILLY!!
Jakob coming out of the tunnel!
Hi mom!!
OK, that's enough!!
SERIOUSLY WOMAN!!
waiting for the game to start!
Here comes our team!!

momma and her girl!
2 of my cute boys!
after the first 10 minutes, this is what I saw...

Final score, Starrs Mill 21 - Etowah 47!!



Our high school team the Etowah Eagles, was chosen to play in the Corky Kell Classic this Saturday. It took place in the Georgia Dome, which is where the Falcons play. I know, big deal to most of you but this is like what the Super Dome is to New Orleans people! It's big time for these kids!!



The team that Jakob plays on is the Jr. Eagles team. The boys were invited to go down on the field and watch the high school boys warm up before the game. We played against the Starrs Mill Panthers. The Etowah boys played really well, its amazing to me to see these young men (9Th -12Th graders) play this well.



Check out the final score......