TOUCHDOWN!!!

Yesterday, we went to the BYU vs Tulane game!

We had a lot of fun! Bethany went to sit with her friend, Faith and her family! They were sitting in the middle section full of all the BYU fans! A bunch of people from our ward were sitting over in the middle section.

Edd and I and the rest of the kids had fun over by the BYU end zone.

We were just a few rows up from the field, which was fun! Edd took the kids down to the wall to see Cosmo.

By half time, we were turning into popcicles!!! They had the A/C cranked down really low to cool off the Superdome for the Saints' game they have today. I was even getting cold!

To keep warm, Aimee pulled her arms into her shirt. Mattie did the same for a little while, but said they said they were still cold.

Well, Thomas decided to be like his big sisters. He started playing around with his arm, pulling them in and out of his shirt. Before he knew it, he had his shirt and arms all tangled up! It took a little help to get his shirt straightened out!

We had fun watching BYU kick a couple of field goals and make a ton of touchdowns!

This touchdown was at the end of the 3rd quarter! It was cool to see it right infront of us!

At the beginning of the 4th quarter, Thomas was ready to go home. He was thirsty and cold.

He started walking up the stairs and wouldn't come back, so we had to go with him.

When we left BYU had like 40 pts and they were starting to put the second string players in.

On our way home, Thomas crashed! Aimee said she wasn't going to because she took a nap on the way, but a few minutes later, I looked back and this is what I found! :)

Bethany was having too much fun to leave early with us. So she stayed to see the very end of the game and came home with the Bishop's family. When she got home, she told us the final was: 54-3!

August Highlights...

Bethany is in the Northshore Philharmonia Orchestra!

Bethany tried out for the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra. She was pretty nervous. Her audition was at Loyola University, Saturday, August 15th.

Finally, it was Bethany's moment of glory! Bethany played the piece that she'd prepared, which sounded great...through the door, I had to stay out in the hall. Bethany also had to do some sight reading. Bethany said the sight reading piece was SUPER HARD!!!

When Bethany was done, she walked out with the orchestra's artistic director, Jean Montes. He told me that she was "a keeper!"

About a week later, we got the official call, Bethany has been accepted in to the Northshore Philharmonia! She is so excited!!! This orchestra is just under the Youth Symphony, which played in in Carnegie Hall this summer! Maybe Bethany will be playing there soon! Her first rehersal is this weekend.

CHECK OUT THE COOL DINOS!
After the audition, B & I joined up with Edd and the kids, who had been out exploring.

We went to the Audubon zoo to see their dinosaur exhibit! It was so much fun!







Thomas was pretty nervous around all the dinosaurs. They seemed pretty real to him! He was excited to see T-Rex, but wouldn't get too close so he wouldn't get eaten! :)






















ELEPHANTS!!

Another hightlight of the day was seeing the elephants!

We got to their exhibit right before their daily demonstration! It was fun to see the elephants take their bath and do tricks!

The best part was that we actually got to touch one of the elephants!!! That was really cool!!!














BEST BUDDIES!

Andrew and Thomas have become best buddies! Andrew is such a great big brother! When it is time for bed, he helps Thomas get ready, then off to their room they go.

One night when I went to check on them, this is how I found them!!! :)

The other night, while we were talking about how alike Andrew and Thomas are, Edd said, "They are like identical twins born 6 years apart!"

So true!!! :)























A NEW SMILE x's 2!
Aimee has been busy working on her smile this month! She lost a tooth on the 17th! But just a few days later, on the 23rd, she lost another one! Cute "pumpkin smile" just in time for Halloween! :)

PLAY DAYS

Thomas has been busy making some friends. A few of the moms from church with little kids have been getting together once a week.


Our first outing was at the Abita Springs park. Right after we got there, it started to rain!


Fortunately, we came prepared to get wet...the have an area where the water squirts out everywhere for the kids to play in.


The boys had fun playing in the rain, with the wet sand, and running around the squirting water!


Our second outing was at the "park beach" at Fontianbleau state park which is right next to Lake Pontchartrain.


The kids had so much fun running up and down the beach and playing in the water!



The best part, Thomas to a LONG nap afterwards!!! He fell asleep on the way home and slept until 3:30!!!








BIG TEASE!!!
Thomas has become quite the big tease! His favorite target: ANDREW!
Thomas loves to take anything of Andrew's and wave it infront of him. Once he has Andrew's attention, Thomas takes off running to get away! Sometimes it will be Andrew's book that he's reading and Thomas will take out the bookmark too!





One morning, Thomas was licking his big sucker when he decided to tease Andrew with it. It was pretty funny to see Thomas in action!
So much fun! :)

We as a family are adjusting well to our new life down here in Louisiana.

It is definitely quite a cultural change from Houston. But mostly in a fun way!


Last Sunday, we were at the dinner table when Edd asked the kids what they had learned about at church.


When it was Mattie's turn, she said that they had talked about the Last Supper. Then Mattie told us that she actually learned something!!! She learned that bread and wine actually came from Louisiana!!! Hmmm... :)

Sqeaky Clean!!! :)

The day after school started, Edd and I were working around the house and yard doing Saturday stuff. At some point, I went inside and found my kids were...

SQUEAKY CLEAN!!! :)

I don't think I've seen so many bubble in my life!!! They were all having so much fun! So I got some pictures and then had them hop out of the tub. They'd been in for quite a while!

What a great way to unwind after the first day of school! :)

We survived our first week of school!

Our summer was short lived...2 months after we got out for summer, it was time to start again. Of course none of us were quite ready, but at least Aimee & Mattie were excited about it!

The day after we got back from our Utah vacation, July 28th, it was time to register the kids for school. A few days later, it was time to meet the teachers!

Tues ~ August a 4th, Bethany went to her orientation, with Sue, a foreign exchange student from Spain, who lives across the street with her aunt. Bethany is officially a "SKIPPER" at Mandeville High School now! When Bethany got home from orientation, she was afraid that she was going to get lost trying to get to class the first day!

Wed ~ August 5th, the kids and I went to meet Andrew's teachers. He's got 2 this year, his homeroom teacher is Mrs Peschlow and his math & science teacher is Mrs Rutledge. Andrew was glad that his rooms were down the first hallway! Andrew is an "EAGLE" at Madisonville Jr High now!

Thursday ~ August 6th, Aimee and Mattie and I went to check out Madisonville Elementary. Bethany was watching the boys for me! YEAH! :) Their mascot is the MINNOW!

Mattie's teacher is Mrs Hanagriff! She is a very nice teacher!

Madisonville Elementary is made up of about 6 different building areas! Mattie's building is in one corner and Aimee's is across the street...in a brand new portable room. As we walked over to Aimee's room, we ended up joining 3 other kids and they all ended up sitting at the same table with Aimee! Aimee's teacher is Mrs Dronet. She is super nice!

August 7th ~ The 1st Day of School!

After being able to sleep in all summer long, our first day of school started super early! This is Bethany's freshman year of high school and first year of seminary!!!

She was out the door on her way by 5:45. Aimee, Mattie & Andrew were up at 6!





Edd was able to say good-bye to Bethany when she left for seminary, then he was on his way to work. He usually leaves around 6am each day.

Edd had just gotten back the night before from a business trip to Mexico City. So he missed some of the back to school jitters, but we filled him in as well as we could!

A few minutes after 6, Andrew, Aimee, & Mattie all emerged from their rooms all dressed in their school uniforms. Andrew was not happy at all. He is very particular about the clothes he likes to wear and uniforms are not included!!! But he did smile for me! :)

Aimee and Mattie were both nervous and excited for their first day!

Aimee requested eggs and bacon for breakfast so we had a yummy breakfast!

We had just a few minutes to get some pictures...

When it was time to go out to meet the bus, Thomas came along. He couldn't understand why he couldn't go on the bus. He kept insisting that he was big enough!!!

The nice thing about our new neighborhood is that the bus comes right to our driveway! Aimee & Mattie leave first. Their bus comes at 7am! Mattie was so excited to go, that I barely got a picture before she was all the way on the bus!

After the girls left, Andrew & Thomas goofed off on the driveway until Andrew's bus came. We were supposed to be out waiting at 7:15, but Andrew's bus didn't show up until almost 7:40! Once the first day wrinkles were smoothed out, his bus comes at 7:25.

After the kids leave, Thomas and I usually take Missy for a walk around the neighborhood, if we don't have to rush off to do something. Sometimes we see the Bishop's wife walking. They live in the neighborhood across Brewster Road from ours. Her neighborhood only has 3 houses. Ours has a big loop that is about a mile long so she comes over her to walk.

When all the kids got home, Bethany informed us of what she learned at school! "If you live in a neighborhood that is close by you are close neighbors!" So the Bishop's family are almost next door neighbors! The have a daughter, Amber, who is a year older than Bethany.

Bethany and Amber do a lot together! We take turns driving each week to Seminary, they ride the bus home from school together, and spend almost every afternoon together! Sometimes, Amber will come over and Bethany will run around the neighborhood together. When they get done, the hop into toe pool to cool off.

I'm glad that Bethany has found someone to hang out with. B also does stuff with Sue, the foreign exchange student from Spain who lives across the street from us. Last night, it's August 20th now, Bethany & Amber invited Sue to go to YW with them! They played water softball and Sue had a really good time!

The rest of the kids have made a few friend and are adjusting finally to school! The all have a long bus ride home from school. Bethany gets home first at about 3:17, then Aimee & Mattie at around 3:35. Andrew gets home a little after 4pm. Sometimes, Mattie says that she falls asleep on her ride home! I think their bus ride is the longest, about an hour long. Edd went to Open House for Mattie Tues night and reported that they had over 400 card in the car line that day...they've got a lot of kids! They are encouraging folks to let the kids take the bus!!!

Thomas and I are adjusting too. Thomas misses the kids and wants me to play with him all day long! I miss the kids too! Well, we've almost got two weeks of school under our belt...it is starting to feel normal again, can't wait for FRIDAY!!! :)

For those who want to see my post about our vacation, it is under the post about Thomas or can be found on the right hand side. :)

Life according to my 3 year old~at least for tonight!

So I'm sitting at the computer trying to work on my vacation blog entry when Thomas comes up to me...each kid had come at least once with one reason or another why they couldn't go to bed!



Thomas said, "Give me some scgoose bumps!" So we went over to the couch and snuggled up. While I gave him some goose bumps this is how our conversation went...


THOMAS: I need something to chew with Andrew. (That's what it sounded like to me.)

ME: Like what? Some gum?

THOMAS: No! Like a GUN! So I can shoot bullets at him!!!


ME: Ohhh!

Andrew has been shooting everyone with his nerf guns all summer long!




THOMAS: What's in grass?

ME: Grass, dirt, bugs...

THOMAS interrupts: NO!! FROGS!!! Bugs wive up in the sky! They fly up and dey wive dere. As Thomas moves his hand up into the air and waves his fingers!

THOMAS again: Bugs are too big to wive in the grass!


Lately we've found some HUGE grasshoppers that are as big as the palm of my hand!!!

This is a grasshopper that Thomas found for me in our backyard before we left for Utah! And I thought the bugs in TEXAS were BIG!!! WOW!!!


BACK TO THOMAS:


THOMAS: The river is getting wittle! The water will go away!

He and Andrew made a river out under the tree...they connected one big hole in the dirt with another hole, thus a wittle river! :) It's rained here nearly every day since we've been home so there is plenty of mud and water around!




STORY TIME:

THOMAS: We saw a wizard. And den we chased it. And den it knocked the house. And den a toad was under der!!!

Some time, today maybe, I guess Thomas (and Andrew ?) saw a lizard and chased it. I guess the lizard bumped the bird house we have outside under the big oak where the kids like to play. Under the birdhouse there must have been a toad hiding!

I know I'm forgetting a few of the details here and there but this is the jist of it! :)


Some other funny things Thomas has said this weekend:

"He's still real!!!" ~ The frog/toad is still alive!!! :)

"It's raining the wrong way!" ~ It was raining out our front door, but not out our back door. So Thomas opened the backdoor and went out to play! :)



So I wonder what else goes on in Thomas' little head all day long??? Pretty entertaining, that's for sure!!! :)

This is how I left him, except he was still awake. I used the old trick, "Gotta go Potty" to get away. If I hadn't, I'd probably be still giving him scgoose bumps!!!

Oh, when he came downstairs and asked me to give him "scgoose bumps," he reported to me:

"Aimee calls them 'scratch bumps'!"

Probably because instead of just doing goose bumps the whole time you have to stop and scratch too! Hmmm, maybe that's where Thomas gets the "SC" for his "scgoose bumps"???

Well, it's getting late and the vacation entry will have to wait! Maybe I'll get it done tomorrow!