SHARON!!

In the past 9 days, I think I have spontaneously broken out in tears more than I have in YEARS.

WHY, you might ask?

I don't know if it was the pain medicine for my knee, not being able to hop up and do everything that I wanted, the rain (dear lord, I now know that I would not last a month in Seattle:), the lack of sun, the fact that my kids were home all week and there was not much I could do, or the fact that everyone here (during this Fall break) either went somewhere or had family in town. And there I sat on my sofa, with line indention's forming on the backs of my thighs, playing yet ANOTHER game of UNO with my daughter.

The fact is I'm home sick, I haven't been back to Louisiana since February and my heart is hurting. We don't get very many visitors here. The first year, we had lots and every year since, it has dwindled down to, having to dust the sheets in the guest bedroom more than washing them.

All my family back home work full time and pretty much if I want to see everyone, I have to make the 8 hour trip back.

I mean , it makes since right, I am the one who left??
But sometimes I would like to feel like me and my family here in Georgia are worth someone else making the 8 hour trip. Ya know??

I'm rambling, I know and I'm sorry.

I realized this morning as I watched a You Tube clip that one of my friends posted on Facebook about Drew Brees (the New Orleans Saints quarterback) giving a pep talk before the game, that I am in need of visiting South East Louisiana ASAP, he (Drew Brees) ended the pep talk with them all screaming WE ARE NEW ORLEANS and I cried like a baby!

Snot filled, gasping for air, sobbing, that I didn't even feel coming on. And then I couldn't understand why those words hurt so bad.
For goodness sake, I DON'T EVEN LIKE FOOTBALL! I like to cook for it and watch my boys watch it, but that about as far as my love affair will ever go, THE FOOD :)

I am a true New Orleans woman honey, it's ALWAYS all about the food!

So I'm planning my next road trip, probably November.

I've been looking up new music to download to my MP3 player, so when I start my rehab on my knee, I have some fresh tunes to exercise to.

I'm thinking a little Ozzy, will be a good one to start with.

Sing it with me........

Times have changed and times are strange
Here I come, but I aint the same
Mama, I'm coming home

214 of 365 memories...were gonna need a bigger boat!

Last Wednesday we started with some really bad rain storms. The weather people were predicting rain for our WHOLE area for the next 7 days. A part of me was like, HMMM really, 7 days. These are the same people that give you a 50 % chance of storms (somewhere) in the metro area :)






Well this time they were right.






We had rain EVERYDAY for over 7 days. And on Monday this week, the flood gates were opened . After having rain for so many days in a row, by Monday when we received 15 inches in less than 24 hours, it made for some not so pretty situations. Thank god, everyone we know did not have any major flooding but some areas had water over their roof tops. Sit back and think about that for a minute, COVERING THEIR whole house.






After the devastation we witnessed first hand in August 2005 in Louisiana, I never wanted to have to hear about rising water in an area that I was in. But mother nature, gave our family a refresher course.






At the end of the day, it made for some CRAZY traffic and once again a reminder to our family how lucky we are EVERY DAY of our lives.






These are some pictures from our house after the first couple of days....

our drains couldn't take anymore

it rained in sheets for 5 straight hours, it really was unbelievable

we have a creek behind our house and at one point it started pouring over into our yard

look to the left of the tree and you can see the water rushing from the creek. It is usually a very shallow creek that the kids play in.

These next pictures are from my in laws house. My father in law projected their creek behind their house rose OVER 6 feet. And it poured into their yard, taking everything with it!!

This is looking down into their yard. There was a swing set here and a glider swing, it's all gone!

The shed was holding on by a thread.

This is the latest project the kids and my father in law were working on. This is an off the ground club house. I'm 5'8 and I usually meet that blue peg on the climbing wall at eye level.

Utterly AMAZING!!!

213 of 365 memories...look mom, I'm a STAR!!

Last Friday Hannah came home and proudly announced

she was the "shining star" for her class this month.

We told her proud we were.

I secretly wanted to tell her that I WILL NEVER

need a piece of paper to remind me of how

"shining of a star" she is, but I didn't.

Some thoughts I just keep for myself :)

212 of 365 memories....SUNDAYS

After Friday's, Sunday's are my favorite day of the week. It is truly the one day that EVERYONE in the house just seems to relax. We usually attend noon mass and by that time, we either know what were cooking when we get home or what were picking up for dinner when we get home. After the boys, flip through all the sports stations and watch every conceivable moment of ESPN, the afternoon usually goes a little like this.....

a little race watching,

a little football watching,

and a lot of relaxing....

that's what I LOVE about Sundays!!

And the WINNER IS!!!

The winner of the $100.00 Visa gift card from BlogHer and AT&T Family Map is......

oh I'm sorry, you have to click here to find out :)

Thanks to everyone who commented and I hope to have some new reviews to share with you all very soon!!

20% of something ='s nothing!

How do I know that title statement is true? Because I my friends made a 100% on my very first Algebra test!!

Oh yes ma'am I did!

I worked more practice problems and had more dreams about positive and negative signs and exponents that make something negative and LORD HELP ME the Motrin that I consumed, but I did it!!

Yes, I know that some of you could do those problems with your brains tied behind your back. But I'm not one of you and I was on cloud 9 last Thursday because I had worked for something SO hard and I did it!!

I took a sneak peek at the review sheets for my next test and that wasn't such a good idea! But just like the last one, I will practice and practice and pop Motrin and see what happens :)

The title of this post is coming from an ongoing joke in my house. I'm having knee surgery tomorrow (PRAYERS ARE APPRECIATED!!) and for the last week, all I've heard at the pre op appointments and phone calls from the surgery center and nurses, is my 20%, that's our portion to pay.

20% to this one and 20% to that one and don't forget about that one over there!!

So my joke now is (because I'm so very gifted in my mathematical skills:)

what is 20% of broke equaled to, BROKE!!

I have been in the "nesting" mode the last few days. Cleaning, cooking and trying to get my brain ready for my surgery. Being the person that "handles" the majority of things around our house, I'm trying to prepare my brain and soul to let things go for a few days.

(Have you finished laughing at me yet?)

I told my girlfriend yesterday on the phone, I know why I'm going a little nutty about this whole sticking contractions and scopes and scraping my knee cap thing. It's not that I'm afraid of the pain after, it's the idea that I HAVE NO CONTROL over what they are doing to me!

And that my blogging friends is the part that I REALLY don't like.

I am excited to think that in a few weeks I will be able to go up and down the stairs in my house and not have my knee completely give out on me or lock up, that I'm loving. But the letting the doctor's have their way with me part and my hubby taking care of me part, NOT SO MUCH!!

So if you don't hear from me for awhile just know that I'm sitting on my sofa, with an ice pack wrapped around my knee, watching T.V. and eating bon bons.

Isn't that what us "stay at home moms" are suppose to be doing anyway??

time is a ticking!!

Have you commented yet??

Click here to enter to win a $100.00 Visa gift card!

Contest ends September 20th!

211 of 365 memories....learning lessons and losing teeth

On Monday Labor day, my daughter lost her first tooth. She has had a few wiggly ones for a couple of weeks but she refuses to wiggle them, jiggle them, whatever it takes to get them to fall out, she wants NO part of it.

"They will fall out when their ready", she says.

And while, yes that's true, they also need some direction. Some (pushing) if you will. But my daughter is not a pusher and so we have been WAITING. And WAITING! Weeks people!!

Monday before the tooth popped out into my hands :) my daughter revealed a "secret".

A "secret" that she was keeping all weekend long.

A "secret" that was the answer to my question a few days early of.....Little girl what's the matter with you??

She had been an emotional wreck all weekend. At one point I thought, "should I google PMS in 7 year old?" Afraid at what I might unearth, I decided to ride out the storm. Surely she's just having a bad day, weekend, Monday.

And then came along Monday, early afternoon.

On Friday Hannah had to pull a stick for talking in her classroom.

And when she finally told us about it, it was like she just revealed that she had killed one of her brothers on purpose (not accident).

It was snot filled, tears pouring and a screaming voice, that I can only imagine sounded a lot like when I was passing my kidney stone.

She was distraught and my heart was hurt.

Not because she pulled a stick, because my little girl had had a stomach ache and was an emotional disaster for 4 days and did not tell me why!

Haven't we said we talk about EVERYTHING. No matter what, killing brothers on purpose and EVERYTHING!

But she chose not too, until it burst out of her like the 17th street canal.

After the break down was over, we talked and we talked and we cried.

She explained to me that she was upset and didn't want me to be upset. And I explained to her that not telling me something, upsets me more than the "whatever it was that she did thing".

And I let her know that me and daddy's trust is only there because she has earned it. And once it's gone, it's about as hard to get it back as it would be to swim up a stream after running 20 miles. Not impossible, but pretty darn hard.

As my daughter was pouring out her soul, I wrapped my arms and legs around her and put her into the mommy cocoon. And she just talked away. She was looking up at me and her voice was as sweet as warm honey. I absorbed every word of what she said, ever eye flutter and every exaggerated breath.

And then her tooth popped out.

For a quick second, I thought about using the Pinocchio method and saying, if you keep something from us, your teeth will fall out :)

And then I remembered that somewhere along the way, her father and I had taught her to read and to be super smart and that it probably wouldn't work.

My daughter learned her first real lesson of disappointing someone you love and she lost her first tooth all in the same afternoon.

It was like a lesson from Growing Pains, only my boys ARE SO much cuter than those Seaver boys were and my mascara was not waterproof like TV moms.

We got over it and my girl (hopefully) learned the "secret" is so much worse than the "act".

Then we had ice cream and played UNO.......

Just another day in paradise!!

210 of 365 memories...just to see her smile

My hubby's creation for Hannah, just because :) At least I know if the whole corporate world thing doesn't work out for him, he could always go work for IHOP!!

209 of 365 memories....well if the shoe fits!

I have a group project do on Friday in my Communications class. We've been learning all about the dynamics of a group and all the different parts that people play with out even really realizing it. We all assigned each other a "title". I was assigned quite a few (all really nice) but the one that was repeated in our group of 8, was the energizer.

Apparently I can "PUMP YOU UP!"



Over the weekend we had to get a picture of ourselves doing whatever our "title" was.
I thought.....ENERGIZER BUNNY!!

We had to go to the music store anyway to get Alex a new Tuba book. So what a perfect time to get a picture with a drum!!



We left with 2 new books and my picture. The workers got a good chuckle when I explained WHY I needed the picture (I don't know if the young lads were chuckling at the old lady in school or the old lady posing with a drum :) either way I don't care because I got my picture!!

We present the power point project tomorrow, wish us luck!!

208 of 365 memories....Happy Birthday Ms. Maren!!

the birthday girl!!

REALLY, can't I just HAVE the cake already!!

He loves those DeFusco children :)

a sweet moment between brother and sister!

Emily singing to her girl!

The Lipani's

sweet Mason was ENJOYING that cupcake!

hey, I know those 2!!

Is there REALLY anything Sweeter than this!!

207 of 365 memories...maybe it was the S'MORES!!

Last weekend Jakob tackled one of his hardest hurdles.....he slept at a friends (without his brother) for the first time. He doesn't like to sleep out at friends. We always have his friends sleep by us. He has turned down quite a few invites before. But this time it was different. He was excited and ready to go. The boys were camping (with the parents of course) at a near by campground right on lake Allatoona. And my boy was PUMPED! Maybe it was the idea of sleeping outside, maybe it was the idea of tubing on a boat or maybe it was the aroma of s'mores that filled his head. Whatever it was, he was proud and I was teary eyed :)

206 of 354 memories...the JONAS BROTHERS!!

My daughter LOVES the Disney channel. She doesn't really have a favorite person on there, she just (in 7 year old style) loves it all!! So when Brian was offered tickets to SEE the Jonas Brothers (in case you live under a rock or else you really have a life, they are a HUGELY popular kids group, that is 3 really talented brothers) Hannah was SO excited. Her brothers wanted NO part of that concert. We invited her best bud Chloe and after an early afternoon birthday party (Emily's 3rd) and then dropping off the boys at Brian's parents (thanks Ms. C and Mr. J) we were CONCERT BOUND!!

they were just a little excited!

I love their silliness!

were here!!

cracking the glow sticks (yes I'm cheap and bring my own in :)

as you can see, they didn't care where the sticks came from!

2 sweet little girls!

me and my baby!

Jordan Sparks (the American Idol) was one of the opening acts.

go Chloe go!!

yes, he NOW officially wins "Father of the year"

I love moments like this.

me and Ms. Chloe

they decorated Brian :)

a really cool part, when the stage went up and over the crowd!!

at one part, 2 of the brothers are lifted on this rotating thing and they spray bubbles all over the crowd.

I was really impressed with Nick Jonas. He played 4 different instruments through out the show. They really are 3 very talented young men.

Hannah and Chloe had a blast and must of thanked us about a dozen times each!

Anything to see those smiles :)