Here she is...

the newest addition. In finding a home for Ozzie, now Ralph with his new family, we ended in a trade! Cat for dog. We took a beautiful 6 month old pup off their hands and they took the cat Maisy loved to hate off ours. Gracie is a black lab, Chesapeake Bay Retriever mix. She is sweet as she can be and so smart its a little overwhelming. She's already crate and house trained as well as commands for sit, down, out, in and house. Daisy and the cat are still adjusting, I think mostly to her size. Its a very happy house and Laura is in love.

Hmm...

Must think of something to write on here! I know we're more exciting then this! There must be updates... (crickets) wow this is sad. But wait! There are a few...

Laura is having a grand ol' time with school. Ms. Young said she judged by her size that Laura would be quiet and reserved...wrong. She said she's right in the middle of everything, very vocal and generally the life of the party. She's great with going to breakfast and lunch line all by herself and is joined at the hip to her apparent BFF Savannah. She's also neat as a pin and follows all rules to a 't'. That's my girl!

As for dance, her teacher, Miss Susan declared her love for Laura after only 2 lessons. She picks up quick and is eager to do everything. Also follows directions and rules perfectly. (Wish some of the parents in the waiting room had the discipline of my 4 year old. That room is an exercise in my patience level and Andy's blood pressure.)

Andy is getting into the college state of mind, as long as I turn off all TVs, games, music... I think he'll do just fine, he's capable of a lot more than he thinks he is.

I'm enjoying my time at home. Doing crafty things and planning projects for Christmas gifts. I even decorated the joint for the fall, kind of a "if I build it, it will come." All it brought was a hurricane.

In some sad/happy news. Ozzie has found a new wonderful home. He is now Ralph and has a wonderful family that fell in love with him really fast. Even the husband who spent a week saying he didn't want a cat, then said only if he's an outside cat, loves him. The cat didn't even spend one night, nary one HOUR outside. Now he plays with the husband and sleeps at the end of their sons bed. He's found his home and he's happy and they adore him and that is all that matters to me.

In conclusion, things remain the same and perhaps that is the hardest thing of all, to maintain the same. To keep up the love, the happy, the peace, a clean house....

Laura's First Day of School...

Went wonderful. Her teacher said she had a great day. I was a mess. They have them eat breakfast so the teacher suggested that we walk her through the line and sit with her a minute to make it a bit easier for all 3 of us. Let's just say Laura handled like a pro, I acted more like the 4 year old! I started crying before I left the building and even made the teacher cry! I guess I'm a memorable parent now! They do "curb side service" for pick up and drop off which is wonderful. Just stuff her in and off we go. Laura had a lot of fun but didn't care for lunch because it was "Tacos. I don't like tacos, Mom. Yuck." She apparently did eat some of it which goes to show hammering in "do what your teacher tells you" weeks before school starts really helps. She even laid down and rested but didn't "close my eyes, not yet...maybe later." I'm very proud of her and she can't wait to go back.

This Week In Louisiana...

Monday: Is it sad that I don't remember? Wait, watched Olympics!

Tuesday: Andy finally met with his advisor and signed up for his classes. He has English Wednesdays 6PM - 9Pm and Speech Thursdays 6PM - 9PM. He got his school ID and did all the paperwork for his G.I. Bill and Tuition exempt which of course he forgot to sign and we didn't find out until we got home.

Wednesday: Andy had his first day back at work. No kids, just getting to know the files on them, refresher courses and changing light bulbs. Lots of light bulbs. Laura was officially registered at school. She will start on August 25th. She'll be going to Union Elementary in Doyline, her teacher is Miss Young and is very nice. I cry my eyes out every time I think about it so moving on!

Thursday: Andy went to work and screwed in more light bulbs, no I'm not kidding or exaggerating. I stabbed myself no less then 2,865 times while sewing and glued my fingers together with 'Fray Check' while trying to make big uniform bottoms fit a very tiny girl.

Friday: Andy went to LSUS and signed the paperwork so now he's officially enrolled and we would be officially in debt but we're not! Thank you National Guard!

Saturday (pending): We're headed to see Wall-E on Barksdale. Which translates to cheap. We saw it in the theater when it came out and paid the big ticket price and Laura loved it so much we're going to see it again. Just like we did for Horton (3 times total) and Kung Fu Panda (2 times). There's something refreshing about a military base theater. Every person standing when they play the National Anthem. Its just so cool. Best part is seeing Laura standing perfectly straight, perfectly still, hand on heart for the whole song. Makes me cry every time (Her during the National Anthem, not having to see only "G" rated movies.)

Wait! I almost forgot the best moment of the week.

Thursday night: Andy serenading me with a rousing chorus of "What would you do-o-o for a Klondike bar?" At 2 AM. While asleep. Him, not me. Married couples, separate bedrooms, I'm starting to get that concept.

We're Baaack...

and mostly settled back in. We had to do a big shopping trip because we were on scraps in the kitchen. For some reason 4 days away seemed like too long for me so I didn't go to the store much before we left. Phew, those were some skinny days when we got back. I was exhausted and slept for about 36 hours straight. I was awake a bit in there though. Andy and Laura did some quality laying around. The cats made it unscathed. Ozzie ate his weight in food. He has an eating problem, the problem being he loves food too much. By the pile of white fur on the couch and empty food bowls it doesn't look like Maisy did anything but sleep in that spot and eat. We picked up Daisy today from the vet. They didn't just board her she also had to have her rabies vacc (we warned them she bites, they didn't listen). Plus they gave her a regular vet visit. They were shocked. The old girl, she's 12-13, is in great shape. No arthritis, no cataracts, nothing but a healthy Chihuahua. Yay! So San Antonio was wonderful. We really had a great time being together as a family. Our first family vacation was a huge success and Laura's still talking about it to anyone who will listen (assorted family members on the phone, the MP at the gate, the checkers at Walmart....) She loved the dolphins at Sea World the most, Shamu is on her list because we were inadvertently in the "splash zone" and Laura wasn't so pleased with the result (if your seat is painted "splash zone" in neon yellow, take it under advisement, they aren't kidding). We also went to the SA Zoo which was huge and really awesome. The best part was the newest addition (because it was indoors and air conditioned) called Africa Live. They had my beloved hippos and Laura's favorites zebras, lions, tigers and Andy loved the bears (Oh My!). We also went in the boat tours along the Riverwalk. Had appetizers at Hard Rock Cafe (I'm cheap) dessert at the Rainforest Cafe (again, I'm cheap) and wandered around the Alamo and got lost downtown (Who wants to walk 30 minutes in the wrong direction? At night? We do! I blame Andy.). We stopped and visited the Texas capital on the way home. All in all it was wonderful and we made a ton of fantastic memories. I'll try and get pictures emailed but I'm having trouble getting them to load. I'll post some up here (as you have seen since I posted the pictures when I finished writing this, so why not delete the sentence? Part of my mysterious-ness) so you all can at least see some. In the mean time love you all! Hope you're having wonderful summers, hopefully not as hot as ours (104 everyday, dang you Louisiana). Laura starts school next week, Andy goes back to work next week then starts college the 25th, and I, well I stay the same and sometimes that's the hardest work of all.

*Pictures: Us at the zoo, Laura and I in front of the Shamu theater, Andy and Laura feeding dolphins (yeah you read that right, how cool is that?), Andy and Laura at the Capital in Austin, Laura and I at the Bowie side of the fountain at the Alamo, Laura and Dolly the Dolphin, Shamu doing a twirly, twisty thingy (yes, I think that's the trainer term for it.)

San Antonio or Bust

It's getting to be bedtime and we're more or less ready to go. Adults are packed yet but that's because I procrastinated on laundry. That's what happens when you only own 4 good t-shirts I guess. Daisy is at the vet/boarder. She did fine when Andy dropped her off. Ozzie aka Pigpen is all settled in with an auto feeder and waterer, enough toys and an unobstructed view. We'll get Maisy situated in the morning with food and water. That pretty much covers it! We're hoping for a 7AM start but let's be honest we'll be lucky if we're out of here by 8. I discovered a pretty cool map thing. If you go to googlemaps put in San Antonio, click on a street and click the button that says street view it takes you to real time on that street. You can move up and down the streets and look at everything. We found our hotel and it looks fine. Just a typical straight off the interstate road of convenient hotels. We're really excited. I'd say Laura is the most excited but I'm pretty sure its actually Andy.
Love you all, looking forward to sending you pictures and stories from our very first family vacation!

Feel the Heat Baby!

Happy 29th Birthday Andy!

Yeah, We're Still Here...

Things have just been a little hectic lately! Andy is in the last week of this cycle and believe me the end can't come soon enough. For any of us! He's been working his usual 12 hour days but he's been working every day. He has one day off (tomorrow) in 2 weeks. That's a lot of time at work. Needless to say he's exhausted and sick of these kids who seem to only get worse every day. He won't have his birthday off (don't forget it, it's Thursday) so we're going to celebrate it on the Sunday after instead which works double well because the kids graduate on Saturday. So we'll celebrate them being gone too! I do have a request for all of you to send out some extra prayers for CSM Hemphill, Andy's boss and a very close friend. He had a stroke yesterday and is in the hospital in Minden. I'm not sure how he's doing but Andy is going to go by tonight to see him.

Laura had dance camp this past week and really loved it. She did really well and kept up with the older kids. I'll get pictures sent and posted soon, promise! She'll start tap and ballet in September. Monday night for one and Wednesday night for the other. I can't keep which is when straight! We're in the process of getting all necessary items for both classes, and there's a lot, on top of getting school supplies and uniforms. Yep, all Louisiana public schools wear uniforms and yep, she looks adorable in it. They have some pretty specific guidelines and as soon as I get the skirts and pants taken in (she's so tiny!) I'll send some pictures of her in her uniform. As well as her decked out in both ballet and tap garb. I'm going to be doing a lot of waiting to pick up and drop off real soon!

So far the San Antonio trip is still on. I keep finding problems with the hotel, problem being that I keep trying to find reviews on the internet and don't like what I read then usually find out I'm reading about the wrong hotel. I guess its pretty much a toss up on hotel and location when its a new city and you can't afford a 4 star place. This is the first time we've ever planned for a vacation and booked a hotel and all that so its really scary for me. I have trust issues with hotels! I'm just afraid of getting there and being disappointed/upset with the place.

That pretty much brings you up to date. I haven't been doing as much emailing as like I'd like to, busy with Laura and *CFS is rearing its ugly head and I've just been exhausted more than usual lately.

Also...

Happy Birthday (July 17th) to Meghan! Hope it was a good one!

Wishing love and luck to my darling in-laws, Kate, Josh and Sophia, on their upcoming HUGE move across country. I hope we get to make it to MO for a few days to see them when they're there.

*Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (link)

Happy 4th of July!

We went to Harrah's Louisiana Downs and watched the fireworks tonight. It was good. No traffic going in, we watched from the car and it took no time getting out. All of that is wonderful compared to the chaos that was the Red River fireworks last year.

I even caved and let Andy buy a few and set them off here. They let us do it on Camp Minden, in one of the parking lots but who's complaining its better than nothing. You know how Andy is with fireworks.

Happy 4th to all of you. Hope you all had a wonderful day and said a prayer for all our troops. Thanks to all of you for supporting Andy being a soldier and our family. We love you.

Hey

Hey all. Just wondering if anyone is actually reading this. If not I'm going to stop doing it but if no one is reading this I guess that's a pointless statement! If you are, please let me know by clicking the word comments under this entry. Please feel free to do this anytime you read any of the entries. After all I did this in order to stay better in touch with family! Thanks

Just Another Day

Not much going on 'round these parts. It is so dang hot and humid we can't hardly go outside. Laura is pretty sensitive to the heat, pretty obvious given who her parents are, so any time outside has to be evening or just a few minutes at a time. We'll see how that works for us in San Antonio! Could be interesting. We have booked our hotel for San Antonio, we're going the 29th thru the 1st. We're excited because it will be our first family vacation! So far Daisy will be boarded at our vet. Maisy will be fine on her own. She doesn't get on or in anything and she doesn't scarf down food. Which brings us to Oz. We are in debate. If he's fixed and declawed before we go we may leave him to his own devices. He has a tendency to scarf his food down so Andy thinks we shouldn't leave him. Plus Maisy is still not his biggest fan, or any fan at all. The hissing has died down but its still tense for her.

So far no big plans for the 4th. Andy will have a few days off from work because the kids will go home on pass. Probably will go to the fireworks again this year at the Boardwalk and hope we don't have to wait 45 minutes to get out of the parking garage again.

Laura has dance camp July 14th - 17th. They will be doing a bit of all dance styles. At the end of the week, if she wants, and you know she'll want, to take any classes this fall we'll sign her up. She wants to continue with gymnastics (she LOVED watching the Olympic trials) and so far she's hung up on ballet.

Preschool starts on August 14th. I'll be sure and send out pictures of her first day. She'll be so sweet in her uniform. Yep, she'll wear a uniform. Most schools in Louisiana require uniforms. Usually navy or khaki pants and polo shirts. I'm not sure if there are shoe or backpack guidelines for her school but some of them do have those. She's excited, I'm not. She keeps telling me to not be sad, she'll come home everyday and see me.

Andy's excelling on days. Tougher than he's ever been! They LOVE him. The teachers adore him especially after he saved one from being attacked by a kid the other day (the kid was removed from the program).

Well, I guess that covers it. Laura is up from her nap and is ready to play. This morning she told me I was "Super sweet and gorgeous. Oh, and super cool too."

If We Hadn't Told You...

Andy is working day shift now. So far so good. He leaves at 4:20 am and is usually home around 5:00 pm. Its not bad but it's really an adjustment for Laura and I. This cycle ends sometime near the end of July, I believe the 26th or around there. Then he'll be off for a few weeks.

We're excited for the off time because we are going to take out first family vacation! Yay! We're going to go to San Antonio for 3-4 days. We are so excited! We are going to hit SeaWorld, the Zoo and Aquarium, the Alamo, Riverwalk, a cave, and we have a few restaurants picked out. We're trying not to tell Laura too much because she latches on and gets disappointed when we don't do it "right now".

First she has dance camp in June. Its an hour a day for a week. They do a bit of everything plus some modeling. She's going to love it! She keeps asking if today is time for dancing. So far she is loving, loving, loving gymnastics and is the best one there, not just a mother's opinion, she really knows how to do most of it and she loves doing those things so much, she picks up quick! We will be starting dance classes in the fall for her and continuing gymnastics. Andy has it in his head she needs Karate lessons but she has to be 5 for that! She did love Kung-Fu Panda though! She was karate chopping the seats in front of us, luckily it was an empty theatre pretty much!
She is also starting preschool, real preschool, in the fall. She'll go to Union Elementary in Doyline, weird I know, I figured Minden. Yes, it is all day 8-3, yes its awful! Oh and yes Moms I will be driving her there and picking her up everyday. Major reason being because the bus carries kids from preschool age on up through High School. I just don't think so!! She starts on August 14th and its going to be a rough day. She's starting school a year earlier than I had planned!

That about covers everything. Things are pretty peaceful around here for now. Unless both cats are out together then its every man for himself. Or cat anyway. Surprisingly Daisy actually likes the intruder (Ozzie) and she hates all other animals. Weird.

Sick Again.

Ms. Laura was sick again yesterday. Same thing with the throwing up. Luckily the second round of Phenegren started working before we had to take her to the ER. It was getting close though. She drank and ate plenty last night and is back to her old self today. She's feeling her oats and I'm exhausted. Seems about right.

Happy Father's Day!

I never thought I'd marry the perfect man who would be the perfect dad for our perfect girl. They truly are 2 of a kind and that's 2 against 1 but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Father's Day.

The Great and Powerful Oz

As most of you know we added a very obnoxious kitten to our family a week or so ago. I tried sending pictures but they didn't get to anyone. Ozzie is full of it to say the least. He is named for Cardinal's ballplayer Ozzie Smith but mainly because its the only name out of about 75 that Laura agreed to. He's very lovable but he lives to play and play and play. So far he likes to eat cake off the table when I'm not looking, trip me when I'm walking, walk on the keyboard when I'm trying to type, attack Maisy, who HATES him, when she's not looking and best of all loves to play with Laura.

Trying A Bit Of Something New

Hi everyone! I decided we'd try something new to stay in touch. This will be any easy way to update everyone and post pictures without having to send out a bunch of emails! For those of you unfamiliar with blogs this one is completely private. I have to send out an invite for people to view it. This way I feel safe posting pictures of Laura. We'll see how this works, hopefully it will be successful! This will be an easy and fun way to keep everyone up to date on things and I'll cover some past things like Andy's trip to Japan, Laura's 4th birthday and how gymnastics is going! Also under each "blog" entry there is a comment button. Feel free to click and say Hi!