Just a momma bragging about her babies!

My kids never seem to stop amazing me. Sometimes it's just the little things that they do or say with each other (which believe me is not always pretty, so when its a moment of genuine sibling love, I eat it up) and then the times, their own mind guides them into the right thing to say.

Just a few tearful moments (not the ugly cry, just a little mist in your eye) I would like to share with you all.....

Alex and Hannah sitting at the table doing homework.

Alex- man this year homework is hard.
Hannah- I know you have a lot of books there.
Alex- How about you do some of my work for me?
Hannah- (she stands up, puts her hand on his shoulder) and says, brother if I could I would but I'm only on plus signs!


Jakob and Alex sitting on the sofa, trying to loosen the buckles on Jakob's football helmet.

Jakob- this helmet is so hard, I can't get the chin guard to work.
Alex- maybe you should try the neosprin like dad did.
Jakob- (with a devilish grin) can you get it for me?
Alex- no, I'll hold your helmet and you get it.
Jakob- OK but will you put the stuff on the snaps for me, while I push them in?
Alex- yep
Jakob- thanks
Alex- yep
this might not seem like it is super sweet but they worked together and got it done TOGETHER! It's not always this huge kissy kissy moment, it's just nice to see them work things out, with their brothers help....

Alex- (there is a boy on Alex's bus who has a brother named Jacob, Jacob is in 8th grade and has severe learning disability's. Too many to mention here. This boys lives by Alex's best friend Blake, which is just 2 blocks from us. The boys are always playing together. They include Jacob in everything, when he is outside)
Monday, Alex came home and told me this story....
Alex- Mom I think I almost had a fight on the bus!
Me- what did you just say to me???
Alex- Jacob's brother did not ride the bus home today, so Jacob was sitting by himself. Me and Blake told him to sit by us in the back, so he did. This kid, who mom, he is a big jerk. he started making fun of the way Jacob talks. And me and Blake told him to stop, he wouldn't stop and started to say, why can't he (Jacob) tell me to stop.
So I told him he wasn't funny and he sounded dumb, making fun of someone else. (OK so now I'm ugly crying, with JOY)
The boy said what are you going to do about it?
Alex- (MY BOY) said what do you want me to do about it? (YOU GO BOY!!) I just want you to leave my friend alone!
The kid said man I was just joking, Blake said well its not funny!

I told Alex that if he would of had a fight, it would of been OK. I was SOOOO proud of him. He did the right thing, every step of the way. Even avoiding a fight!

Jakob- At Jakob's jamboree on Saturday, there was a child out there who was a teenager and he was in a wheelchair. He had MAJOR problems. I found out, after he was born he was not even suppose to live a day let alone 14 years. There is basically no activity going on in him but his family just keeps on going and doing everything with him in tow!

When we were leaving the jamboree, one of Jakob's football buddies comes up and starts talking to Jakob about this boy.
Jakob's friend- hey did you see that kid back there, he was drooling all over himself and he can't even talk or anything.
Jakob- (looking at his friend, like are you crazy) says DUDE, you don't make fun of that kid just because he is different, he has something wrong with him!
And he turned around and just kept on walking.

I told him how SOOOO very proud of him I was! Trying not to CRY!!

These 2 incidents with the boys this past week, has shown me the kind of kids they are. I already knew how wonderful they were but seeing them in action, just gives me joy beyond anything I could ever express.
My kids are blessed to have such good heads on their shoulders and to have each other. As they grow and all 3 of them do their own things, I always want them to be proud of each other and be their for each other. And to STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN!!
I think were off to a good start!

Wikipedia's Story......

Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.[3] It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest hurricane on record that made landfall in the United States. Katrina formed on August 23 during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast. The most severe loss of life and property damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland.[4] The hurricane caused severe destruction across the entire Mississippi coast and into Alabama, as far as 100 miles (160 km) from the storm's center. In the 2005 Atlantic season, Katrina was the eleventh tropical storm, fifth hurricane, third major hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane.
It formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there, before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico and becoming one of the strongest hurricanes on record while at sea. The storm weakened before making its second and third landfalls as a Category 3 storm on the morning of August 29 in southeast Louisiana and at the Louisiana/Mississippi state line, respectively.
The storm surge caused severe damage along the Gulf Coast, devastating the Mississippi cities of Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, Biloxi, D'Iberville, Ocean Springs, Gautier, Moss Point, and Pascagoula. In Louisiana, the federal flood protection system in New Orleans failed in more than fifty places. Nearly every levee in metro New Orleans breached as Hurricane Katrina passed east of the city, subsequently flooding 80% of the city and many areas of neighboring parishes for weeks.[4]
At least 1,836 people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. The storm is estimated to have been responsible for $81.2 billion (2005 U.S. dollars) in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. The catastrophic failure of the flood protection in New Orleans prompted immediate review of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has, by congressional mandate, sole responsibility for design and construction of the flood protection and levee systems. There was also widespread criticism of the federal, state and local governments' reaction to the storm, which resulted in an investigation by the U.S. Congress, and the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael D. Brown. Conversely, the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service were widely commended for accurate forecasts and abundant lead time.[5]

OUR STORY....

In a little over a week most of us on this blog will be remembering (not like we ever forget!) something that happened, that has in some way big or small changed our lives and our families lives forever......Hurricane Katrina.

For those of you who weren't Louisiana citizens when this BEAST came knocking on our doors, let me try to put into words how it felt. Imagine being in one of those water globes, (of course our globe was filled with a Catholic church, crawfish, beer and beignets, what else do you need in life?) Imagine that globe, being your life and all of a sudden some little snot nose brat comes and picks up YOUR globe and turns it over and starts shaking it and shaking it and then all of a sudden they put it back down. That was what it felt like for me, it was that SUDDEN and that INTENSE!

Obviously being born in raised in Southeast Louisiana, hurricanes are just a part of life. Where are we evacuating to this summer? That's just as much a part of your summer plans as where are we going on vacation? My birthday being at the end of August, I could always count on 2 things. School was going to start ON my birthday or there was going to be some kind of system in the Gulf to talk about.

Honestly, I can say that I never thought a major storm would hurt our state, let alone devastate it. Maybe that's ignorant to say but its the truth! We had dodged so many bullets.

On the morning of Monday, August 29th, 2005 our lives would all change in ways we never imagined....

The whole week before the storm, I was making plans for a birthday celebration. I was turning 30 on the 25th and we were going to CELEBRATE! We made plans with all of our friends to meet up on Saturday night (the 27th).

The news was talking about the hurricane all week, most of us didn't even really think anything about it. We said oh well, we will leave on Sunday morning, if we really need to go. By Thursday, my daddy was in full HURRICANE mode. He wanted us to make sure we had rooms booked just in case and gased up our cars. My family is all about leaving for any hurricane, category 1 and over. Brian's family didn't really leave for anything. So it was always a battle to get my husband to leave with me. We were both used to what our parents did. And us Leibfritz's....we get out of dodge! One of our neighbors had family in Sulfur, Louisiana about 3 hours away. So decided if we were going to leave we would go there. Saturday morning I went and got my hair cut, ready for a night out on the town. While I was there, the radio was on. And the weather man said something I have never heard them say before. He said, guys this is not a test. We have potential for multiple deaths and severe flooding. Stacey was at the hairdressers with me and we both decided we should cancel the plans, we would just do it NEXT WEEKEND. Little did I know I wouldn't see my very best friend for months after that day and there wouldn't be a next weekend. The next weekend we were starting a life in Georgia. THAT JUST SOUNDS CRAZY!

Brian and I were suppose to be moving in October or November. We had already excepted a job to move to Georgia.

I drove home (45 minutes) from the hairdresser, the roads were already packed. The gridlock, had just started. I argued with Brian on the phone the whole way home about leaving. WE DO NOT HAVE TO LEAVE, Heidi! It is not coming. It is a waste of gas and money!! Those were his words.

Usually I love to say that my husband was wrong, this time I wish I could of said he wasn't wrong.

We left our home Saturday afternoon, my husband wouldn't help me pack and was basically acting like an (excuse my french) ASS the whole time. What was suppose to be a 3 hour drive, turned into almost 8. If you have never been in an evacuation situation, at 36 hours before the hurricane is suppose to make landfall, they close your interstates down. You can only use them to go out of the state. It's called contraflow (I think) and it is NOT FUN!

People that wait until the last minute to leave, will sit in traffic for hours upon hours. They will run out of gas, cars will over heat. It really is crazy!

We made it to Sulfur at 1:00 in the morning. We had a nice Sunday with our neighbors and spent the day, hoping that Monday was going to be some bad rain and wind and on Tuesday we could go home.

Sunday the 28th was also my little brother Patrick's birthday. I am 21 years and 3 days older than him, there are lots of things that because of the age difference he and I will never share. But we do get to have hurricanes RUIN our birthdays together!!

Brian and I didn't really sleep that Sunday night. I woke up at about 5 and started watching the events unfold.

Now looking back, it was like one of those dreams that you just want to wake up from so badly but you can't.....no matter how many times you try you just can't stop it from happening!

Little by little that day we watched and heard the story's of the CITY'S, STREETS and PLACES we loved been torn apart or flooded!

By that afternoon the levee's hadn't yet broke, it still didn't look good but the worse was yet to come!

We knew by Monday evening we couldn't get back to our house for a few weeks. We didn't know if we even had a house to go back to. Brian's WHOLE family ended up having to stay at OUR HOUSE. It was considered higher ground. We didn't know if they were OK, we knew nothing.

We left Sulfur on Tuesday and decided to go to Georgia. Brian had meetings there and that meant at least we had a hotel. We met with my parents (I don't even remember where now) about 4 hours away before we started on our 8 hour drive to Georgia. THAT WAS A FUN TRIP!

We didn't have "the beast" we had all of us and our stuff in our Intrepid. We had no CD players or DVD players and we are all still alive to tell this story :):):) I HAD TO SEE MY FAMILY, I would of driven an extra 8 hours just to see them.

Early Wednesday morning we made it into Georgia. Brian got about 3 hours of sleep and got up and went to his meetings and I just waited to hear any news about my in laws, my friends, my house.

When something like this happens, you try and keep everything as normal as possible for your kids. So my kids were splashing in the pool, excited because they were off of school and the whole time I just kept thinking, can this be real??

This has already gone a lot longer than I ever expected it to go, but to finish off the story the fastest way. We stayed in 2 hotels for about 9 days. We met up with the Lipani's at some point. They had gotten an apartment and were gracious enough to let us stay with them for a few days, while our rental house was getting furnished. We rented for a month and in that time found our house here. And here I sit almost 3 years later on my computer, crying (I know, I know, what else is new?) telling you guys "OUR STORY". Everyone has one, from that crazy time.......

In the end, everyone that we loved was OK. Lots of damage, lots of items lost, lots of material things gone but all of OUR PEOPLE were safe. And I thank GOD everyday for that!

New Orleans, Louisiana is, what it is. Lots of people think all sorts of different things about it. But it is my birth place, my 3 babies birth place and it is "MY HOME". No matter where in life my husband's wonderful career takes me, it will always be "HOME". And I am PROUD to say that, Y'ALL!!

Just a Thought....

Why can't someone make a bar of soap or shaving gel that turns colors or sticks to the part of your leg that you forgot to shave, kind of like the mouthwashes that stick to the funk on your teeth, they have made for kids.

For us that are SHAVING CHALLENGED, this would be wonderful!!

Instead while I'm sitting in a meeting yesterday, freezing my patooties off, I rub my hand down my leg to warm it up and I have little cactus fields on my knee the side of my leg and my ankle.
This morning I try and remember all the little land mines I left behind and some new ones that have grown in but I'll be darn if I didn't miss some more!!

Ladies can I get an AMEN??

I wanted to name this post....You know your a red neck when...

The truth is though, I don't have any red neck in me. I know that's hard for you non-Louisiana people to understand. Were mostly made up of Cajun, Italian, French, German and a little bit of Iris sprinkled in there. I do say ain't and y'all but that's just proper etiquette where I come from.

I'm sorry I am completely off of my subject.....IT'S MONDAY PEOPLE!

Jakob's jamboree was on Saturday. Thank you for the well wishes, he is feeling a lot better! He wouldn't of missed it for the world. He did really well and had a really good time!

I, on the other hand, turned into one of THOSE PARENTS.....

Which brings me to my post title. Every time he would go after one of the kids he was suppose to be going after, I would think to myself, GET HIM BABY, KNOCK HIM TO THE GROUND and felt as though I should be growling or smashing a beer can on my head...OOOOOO the horror!

I feel like I should explain myself, I only wanted him to do the knocking to the ground, so he wasn't being knocked to the ground. The growling and beer can, okay that was all for my own entertainment!

He "sacked" more people than he got "sacked". I'm using the big dog words now, Alex TRIED to explain everything to me. TRIED being the KEY word here...

Oh and he also "sacked" the quarterback and made him drop the ball, which I learned is a HUGE DEAL! I felt bad because the other boy started to cry.

Hey, don't judge me, I wanted Jakob to knock his block off but I didn't want the child to cry!!

Give me a break, I'M TRYING PEOPLE!

Do they have a rehab program for Michael Phelps watchers?...

Hi my name is Heidi Johnson and I'm addicted to watching Michael Phelps break an Olympic record. Now that he has done it and its over, I'm looking for something to hold me over until my next hit the next Olympics!! Last week, each night I told myself I wasn't going to stay up and watch but I started to get the cold sweats and I couldn't help myself.
Now he is gone and now I am left with BEACH VOLLEYBALL....YEPPEE!

All kidding aside, Brian and I are really sad that its over. We have enjoyed watching this young man carve his name in the record books, one gold medal at a time. He seems to have his head on straight and credits his mother for much of his accomplishments (that's why I really like him :):):)

WHEN if any of my children ever make it to the Olympics, I hope our family can represent our great country the way the Phelps have, with dignity, honor and true family values!!

Continue of Six Flags!

Goliath here we come!
Caleb and Jakob
Schyler and Alex
time to go home!

These are the pictures to go with the Six Flags post from a few weeks ago. I took the pictures with my phone and forgot all about them!