Krystal's Kent House Field Trip

Today I had the opportunity to spend time with Krystal. She always loves it when she gets one on one attention from David or I. I was so excited to get the chance to spoil her a little.

We went to the Kent House which was built in the early 1800's. We were able to walk through a see what life would have been like back then.

The Back of the Kent House, see how it is up off the ground. That was because the Bayou Rapides would flood and they needed to keep the house up out of the water.

Krystal smiling pretty.
Krystal and a friend posing.

Krystal and her teacher Mrs. Crawford. Mrs. Crawford has taught all of my girls so far. She is very fun but strict. When they get out of her class they always do super well in the 5th grade.

Krystal and several of her classmates.

They were able to learn how to make several things before they went on the tour. Here Krystal is watching a nice woman dressed in period clothes making a yarn doll.

One of the yarn dolls. I took a picture so we could remember how they were made. I thought it might be a fun summer project for the girls.

They also made sand art.

Krystal has started liking the LSU colors, I'm not sure why but it is cute.

Here the lady is showing them how to make corn husk dolls. It is the same idea as the yarn dolls only you use corn husks that are soaked overnight.

The Black Smith Shop

The Barn

This is where they make sugar. The doors open up to a huge fire place! The fire is used to boil the sugar cane.

There are 4 large bowls like this that are used in the process.

This was our tour guide. He was quite a cantankerous old man but he was very knowledgeable.

I just really like this tree.

Krystal listening to the tour guide.

The milk house. Can you imagine having to make butter by churning it? Nope I just don't think that life is for me. I'm so glad that I was born when I could go to the store to get my butter.

The mild bucket and other milking tools.

The bottle tree. This tree is used to help ward off evil spirits. If someone got sick they would breathe into a bottle cap it and then throw it into the river. They believed that the evil spirits liked color so it would go to the bottle. Hmmm

An herb garden was a very important part of a plantation. It was used for medicine, seasoning and of course the scent for soaps.

Krystal smelling a root beer plant the kids thought it really smelled like root beer. LOL

French Lavender was a favorite smell for soaps.

How would you like to have to cook in this kitchen. YIKES

Krystal and a friend.

Bethany's Baton Rouge Field Trip

Bethany's 3rd Grade class had a field trip to Baton Rouge to visit the Old State Capital and the Science Museum. I volunteered to go as a chaperon and had a wonderful time with my little girl! It is always fun to be able to focus on just one of the kids for a little while. This doesn't happen a whole lot so when it does I try to make the most of it.

The Louisiana State Capital

Bethany and her best friend Lauren. They have been in the same class since Kindergarten and Lauren lives right behind our house so they get to play together almost every day.
Bethany and some of her class mates with Miss LSU.

After the tour of the capitol, we had a picnic lunch under some trees close by.

We traveled to the Science museum and Bethany really like this castle looking building in the background.

We couldn't take pictures in the main part of the Museum but the kids got to see a real mummy. Bethany said mommy the mummy's head is rotten. I couldn't believe that they actually had the head showing. It kind of scared a few of the little ones, but not my Bethany nope she was fascinated. After looking at the mummy and getting some good facts about salt filled bodies and x-rays the kids were able to go to an area that they could touch and play with things. Bethany is such a ham, she loves to pose for pictures so I took a lot.

Bethany and a friend at the whispering post.

Bethany investigating some snakes. Yikes!!

Bethany was looking at this fur and asked what it was and I told her it was a coyote. This was her expression when she found out. It's so precious.

Of course than she wanted to pose with a red fox. LOL

Digging for fossils.

Learning fun facts.

Acting silly with teeth. I just love this picture it shows Bethany's quirky side. LOL

Showing of the chompers.

Looking at tree stuff.

Sitting by Dino bones.

Posing with a turtle shell but I just got her because she is just too cute. Hehehe

Bethany with some friends in her class.

After having fun in the play area we went to a planetarium show. It was amazing!!! I really enjoyed the information given. They told us we were going on a tour of the universe and then took us to each planet. I think the kids really enjoyed it too. I also took a much needed break.

Bethany and I had a great time and I am very glad that I had this opportunity!

Birthday Girls!

Today we Celebrated Momma, Alecia and Lauren's birthdays. It was very fun!! I always love going to visit my family. I am very thankful that I have been blessed to be around them for so long. Momma's Birthday was April 19, Alecia's April 24, and Lauren's is May 1.

Here is a picture of the birthday girls!!Alecia posing with her cousin Victoria.

While the Adults talked inside, Ryan took the kids for a ride on his 4 wheeler. They were having an awesome time. Here the girls are waiting for a turn.

Ryan with Krystal.

Ryan with Jessica.

Ryan and Katie.

Ryan and Bethany.

While the girls were riding the boys were having a nerf gun war.

Jared posing for a pic.

Cousins having a blast! LOL

Alecia's Sweet 16 At Home

My how time flies!! Sixteen years ago today I was at Rapides Regional getting ready to have a precious little boy. (Opps that would be girl but we thought she was a boy) I can't believe that my sweet little girl is now 16. It doesn't seem possible. It seems like only yesterday that she was toddling around. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter. She makes my world light up. For her birthday I decided to find a new recipe since she really likes to try new things. This is a picture of what we had. They are called gordita's. It seems kind of like a tortilla only thicker. Then I made a super yummy chicken concoction to put on top and added toppings. Yummy. Alecia liked it!!

Alecia with Krystal, Bethany, Jessica and Jared. Jessica decided she needed to wear a princess crown and went and found one of hers. Isn't that just the cutest!
Alecia likes to mix things up and her favorite dessert is peach cobbler so instead of cake we had cobbler for dessert. I still put in candles and here is the sequence I managed to get of her blowing out the candles. Hmm I impress myself sometimes LOL

Getting ready!

Now Blow!!!!

KIdnapping!!!

For a fun Sweet 16 activity, Donna and I decided to kidnap our two daughters. Their birthdays are only 4 days apart so we thought it would be fun to have a combined mother/daughter fun night. It was so much fun!!! We managed to keep it a complete secret until we loaded them in the van to take them on a little road trip. I think that it was an awesome success. Of course since there was no warning we had to give the girls time to primp a little at the hotel before taking them to dinner.

Alecia getting ready. Isn't she just beautiful?My smiling 16 year old. She thinks she might get to drive LOL.
We had dinner at the Olive Garden. I really enjoyed the salad and dinner.
Here's a pic of all of us together.

Alecia had Chicken Marsala the potatoes were yummy.

I had the chicken fonduta, I'd been seeing commercials for it and it really looked good.

Alecia and Carly after dinner before going to the Mall. Every girls favorite place.

Alecia thought these shoes looked like goddess shoes.

Alecia's favorite thing to shop for...... Shoes!!!!!

And of course Jewelry!!!!

All in all we had a wonderful time and I think the girls will remember it for the rest of their lives. We were also supposed to take some professional pictures but the girls wanted to have a little more warning before going to take them so we will do that later. We also had talked about pedicures but didn't fit that in. Boy can those girls shop!

The end of something!!!

David is driving! David is driving! David is DRIVING!!!! Ooooo I'm sooooo excited. If you can't guess that already. Whew it's has been a long time of me doing all the driving in this family (not a small feet even if my darling husband doesn't understand that LOL) I am ecstatic YIPPEEE. Hmmmm maybe I better end this post because I can't think of anything else to say.LOL

Appointments, Appointments Everywhere

Uggg!!! I am sooo tired of appointments. Thank goodness I had last week off because I think if I didn't I would be completely insane by now. Between David's Doctor Appointments for his leg, his cardiology appointments, Brandon's podiatrist appointment, Katie's doctor appointments and everyone's dentist appointments, I haven't really had a chance to breathe. I have had appointments 2 to 3 times every week for the past 2 months. Somebody Save me. Well I'd write more but you guessed it, Brandon and Jared have a dentist appointment today. Help!!!!!!