They are here!!!

Today my parents aka Nana and Papaw drove up to Nashville to escape Gustav!  They had a mandatory evacuation so thankfully they got out in time.  They lived through Rita three years ago which completely ripped up our home town.  It didn't get the publicity that Katrina did, but the destruction was extensive!  It is scary to think that it may happen again, but we are hopeful that it won't.  If you think about it, please say a prayer for my family.  My sister and her family stayed in Baton Rouge, and my Aunt, Uncle and cousins all stayed in Lake Charles (my cousin Laurie is due with her third child any minute now!).  We are worried about them, but feel confidant that they will be well taken care of.  

Anyway, now that we have the depressing part out of the way...whooo hooo, NANA AND PAPAW ARE HERE!!!  The kids are so excited, and it couldn't happen at a better time for me.  Jase will be out of town most of the week so it will be nice to have the company!  Jake and Jonah have been playing non-stop with them since they walked through the door.  They are now ending the evening with jammies on and watching the movie Cars.  Can it get any better?  Aren't grandparents the best!  

**notice the lovely pictures in the background that Jason drew with Jake.  Isn't it wonderful to have a huge art easel in your living room! lol! Now that I have seen it in a picture, it is definitely going up in the bonus room tomorrow! 

Geaux Tigers!

Football season has begun, and the boys are pumped!  Well, mommy and daddy are pumped...they just have to wear the clothing and cheer on the Tigers!  I have been an LSU fan all of my life.  I didn't really have  a choice since my dad played for the Tigers in college.  I have wonderful memories of going to Tiger stadium and watching countless games on TV.  Sometimes it is more fun watching my dad watch the game than actually watching it myself!  It can get pretty intense!  We call Jason the adopted LSU fan.  He didn't have a choice either when he married into my family.  After we took him to his first game, he was hooked!  If you have never been to a LSU football game, I highly recommend it!  The crowd (known to be one of the loudest in the SEC), the band, the friends, and the fighting Tigers...it doesn't get much better than that!  Hopefully Jake and Jonah will have the same love for the Tigers that we do.  Living in Tennessee and being so close to Alabama is not helping our cause, but we will press on! :)  

He has joined the club!

My husband Jason has decided to join the blog world!  This is a person who used to say "no way will I ever do that, who cares what I have to say".  Well, after a weekend with the Lee's in Atlanta (which I will post about later) he has decided to twitter and blog.  I am cracking up!  He has already posted 2 or 3 times, and they are great!  As I have said before, I think Jase is an amazingly talented person.  I know...I am a little biased, so I think you should check him out for yourself! www.jasonbarton33.blogspot.com.  

My soccer boy!

Jake had his first soccer practice last night.  Hilarious is one word to describe it.  He had no idea what was going on, but he had so much fun.  It was so funny to watch him run in his little cleats.  He would run with his arms straight down by his side and his head down.  He was a fast little sucker though.  It was hard for me and Jase to keep our mouths shut because of our competitive nature, but we did it.  We just want him to have a blast!  We can't wait to see what the season holds.  I'm sure I will update often!

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...

What is up with fire alarms in houses?  One beeps, they all beep.  They start beeping, then stop beeping for a while.  I know the batteries need to be changed, but it is hard to do that at 2:00 in the morning while the kids are sleeping, and the husband is out of town.  Last night this was me.  12am is when the beeping started waking me out of a dead sleep.  Every five minutes....BEEP!  So, I decided to try the reset button on the one that is in Jakes room.  See, the other two alarms that were beeping were in the rooms with like 12 foot ceilings!  Anyway, so I proceeded to grab the first thing I saw to STOP THE BEEPING.  That just happened to be Jakes Star Wars light saber (wow, it's good for something other than fighting his brother!).  I pressed the reset button, which woke Jake up, and headed back to my bed with my fussy boy in tow.  What happened next...30min. later...BEEP!  Oh my!  What am I going to do about these stinking things?  Finally my brain learned how to sleep through it like my precious Jonah bear did, and I woke up to the beautiful noise this morning.  My sweet hubby got to listen to me rant this morning, and then he called one of our friends to come help out before I completely lost my mind.  Hopefully tonight there will be no more beeping!

Me time!

Well, today marks the fifth day my hubby has been out on the road.  Since we try to keep our limit without daddy to five days, you can imagine I needed some "me" time.  This morning when I woke up I almost had forgotten that I had scheduled someone last week to come and watch the kiddos for a couple of hours today.  "Almost" being the key word here!  We have had a pretty uneventful week up until yesterday.  The boys decided to declare yesterday "whine and cry day".  It was lots of fun! Ms. Tara arrived this morning at 9:30 am with a smile on her face.  I was already feeling better!  The boys LOVE Ms. Tara.  She is the kind of girl that gets down on the floor and plays with them.  Anyway, I decided to take some "me" time instead of running errands like I usually do.  I went running, got a pedicure, and had lunch by myself at the park.  It was LOVELY!!!  I realize now more than ever that I need to take time more often to just stop.  I always seem to fill up my days with the kids, the hubby, the computer, the TV, and I don't take much time to just listen.  I might be able to hear God a little better if life wasn't so crazy all of the time.  Hello, I have heard sermon after sermon about this, but haven't applied it very much.  I guess now is a good time to start!

My Big Boy!

For the past few days I have been trying to go through all of Jake and Jonah's toys.  This is a task that I dread, but must do!  I can't stand having too much stuff in my house, and since the boys just had their birthdays the toys have become the majority of that stuff.  Can I say "I hate toys!".  Somedays I really do.  I know, I know they love them, and it makes them happy blah, blah, blah! It just makes me crazy some days to see so many tiny little cars, trucks, airplanes, etc. laying around!  

So, anyway enough of my ranting.  Last night before bedtime it was time to "pick up, pick up" in Jake's (4 yrs.) room.  To my surprise he was actually helping a lot this time.  Usually he becomes a very slow moving child during pick up time while his brother (2 yrs.) does most of the work.  Crazy, I know!  Well, while I was putting Jonah to bed Jake decided to start picking up the bonus room, my bedroom, and the toys downstairs.  I was in total shock!  He was pumped about it, and was like "mommy look I picked up ALL the toys!".  What, is it finally clicking or is this a one time thing?  We will see!  All I know is that my baby is growing up.  I can't believe he is four!  It is a whole new day with him, and I am loving every minute of it!!!  He is a big boy now.  Just ask him!

The last 2 weeks...

The last 2 weeks have ranged from work and exhaustion to vacation and fun!  Our adventure began in Shreveport, LA.  Our trip there was pretty uneventful aside from Jonah taking a little while to figure out that he was going to be stuck in his car seat for 9-10 hours.  There were lots of "up" and "out" words shouted for the first hour or so.  Shreveport consisted of Jake falling of the bed during his nap, trying to keep the kids quiet in the hotel, and a 33Miles concert.  It was scary and fun all in one day.  Fun times!  Then we headed to good ole Gilbert, LA (Jason's hometown).  We left the kids with Jason's parents for a couple of days while I went on the road with Jase.  We had fun traveling, talking, and I always love watching my man do his thing on stage.  It was a crazy schedule, and I once again realized that his life is not easy!  I said more than once "I don't know how you do this every week".  It always gives me a new appreciation for him and the calling that is on our life.  God gives them some serious sustaining power to do what they do!  Once we were done with the road, we headed back to Gilbert and spent some time with the fam before heading down to my parents house in Lake Charles, LA.  The kids and I dropped Jase off at the airport in Lafayette then headed to Nana and Papaw's.  It was a blast as always!  We kept busy by swimming, going back to the airport to get Jase, spending time with our favorite dentist Dr. Bryan, and playing with all of the cousins.  We even managed to throw a surprise 60th birthday party for my dad.  I think he was pretty surprised!!!  After Louisiana, we headed to the beach for some relaxation.  Jason's parents and his sister met us there.  It was beyond amazing!  Can I say, WE LOVE THE BEACH!!!  We also celebrated all of the families July and August birthdays there.  We were on the beach for Jason's actual birthday too which made it even better!  The boys LOVED the sand, and Jake rode a few waves too!  Jason's parents and sister helped a ton with the boys so we were able to really get some good relaxation time.  Thanks Mimi, Pop Pop, and Kris...We love you!!!  All in all it was a great couple of weeks!  We loved having so much time together as a family!  It made it a little harder to say goodbye to daddy today as he headed back out on the road, but he will be home soon!