Quarantined

We have been in our house one week now and it has been crazy!!!  Between Christmas shopping and parties, unpacking, and illness I haven't really had time to finish anything!  Leigh had strep on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thankfully she got the strep shot on Wednesday morning and by the afternoon she was good to go!  Thursday Sara Beth got puny and by Friday she was all out sick.  She tested positive for the flu!  A chunk of change later (tamiflu is expensive!) and several days she is beginning to feel better. She still hasn't gotten off of the sofa, but hopefully by Christmas day she will be good to go and no one else will have gotten it! Both girls managed to miss the Christmas party at school!  The worst part about it is that we missed celebrating Christmas with Zeb's family.  It was yesterday and today after church! Zeb went to church this morning, but we weren't confident enough to send Sam and Leigh.  Even though they have been good so far, we would HATE to give anyone else the flu at Christmas!

Last night we watched The Polar Express! We are trying to make the most of it and have some good family time!

thanksgiving and more

we spent thanksgiving week at the hensons.  we had a really fun time--in fact, so much fun that i rarely picked up my camera.  chase and laura came down for several days and we all piled in upstairs.  since we live in town, we don't usually stay at our parent's house when cousins come.  we did go to the children's museum one day and all of the kids had lots of play time outside.  there were also many golf cart rides with g...

this is how we found the girls one night

and that's about all i have from thanksgiving.  i might have one or two more on my big camera that i haven't uploaded.

sam and jake banging away on the piano

sara and i took the girls ice skating one day!  the girls had so much fun! we will most definitely do it again before it ends.

the skating hurt all of our ankles...but the slide did not!  we went at a time that was not crowded.  the girls easily did the slide 20 times!

mom and sara are big idol fans, so when skylar laine was doing a fundraiser for children with muscular disabilities my mom quickly bought us tickets! we decided not to take my girls and just have some adult time!  it was a good decision! :)

house progress

our house renovations has gone amazingly smooth (thanks to g). really besides the granite place selling the countertops that i have picked out we really haven't had any issues.  our kitchen goes in this week--i really hope it is smooth so that we can move in sometime next week.  

all of these pictures were taken about two weeks ago.  all of the painting is finished now.

 sara beth's room

leigh's room

sam's room

dining room

zeb's office

living room

kitchen

you can scroll down to see where we started.  i will be sure to post some finished pictures soon!

home

In March we put our house of 5 years on the market so that we could move into town to be near schools, church, and work.  It took a little over 6 months to sell and in God's perfect timing, we sold our house to the first people that looked back in March.  We loved our house and knew it was perfect for a family like us.  When we bought it in November 2007, I was pregnant with our second and due in March.  The couple that bought our house this November is expecting their second child in March.  That makes me happy.  I feel like they will love it as much as we did!

If we had sold our house in March when they looked the first time, we would not have bought the house we did.  We would not have been willing to buy a "fixer-upper" and it wasn't even on the market!  After we closed on the houses last Thursday I had a "what in the world were we thinking" few days.  However, I am over that now and very excited!  We could not be more excited that Zeb's dad is spearheading the renovations!  Zeb and I are both sentimental and we will really cherish the work he is doing in this house!  Also, we know it will be done correctly!  Work began this week and I can't believe the progress already! Most of the wallpaper is down and everything that had to be ripped out is out!  I hope (even tho G would never say) to be in the house in about another month. If not, it's no big deal, but we will be spending Christmas Eve in the house even if we are sleeping on the floor and eating doughnuts and bottled water!  We have been living with my parents the last two weeks and it has been so good!  They have gone out of the way to make the 5 of us, plus our crazy dog, feel comfortable and welcome!  We obviously could not do it without our parents!

The house was built in 1986 and was owned by an elderly couple who is now deceased!  It is in immaculate condition, but it is very out of date.  It is in the perfect location for us.  I feel so safe and tucked away!  Most of the house has floral wallpaper--which we found out this week is two layers deep in most places! Here are some before pictures.  I had one friend say "boy, Anna, you have vision".  That made me laugh and then I realized by her comment how much there was to do.  But the thing is, I have NO sense of style when decorating!  I had all the paint picked out and had to start over and it completely stressed me out!  I wasn't sure if I could do it again! ha!  Painting starts Monday and I hope I like the colors because they will be there for MANY years! Thankfully, I have a mom who will sit and listen to me talk about gray undertones for entirely too long!

The screened porch--my favorite part!

 master

The next two pics are both in the girls' bathroom--yes, two different wallpapers--one room!

Sam's room

and bath

SB's Tribute Week

This poem is for the class

Of terrific Mrs. Nowell;

It’s about Miss Sara Beth,

Our special Henson owl.

So sit back in your desks

And listen up to me,

‘cause I’m about to tell you

some facts about SB.

She’s a precious little girl,

You’ll know right when you meet her;

But be careful if you’re cooking,

‘cause she’s a picky, little eater.

She likes her food groups separate

And would rather them not touch;

She usually eats quite well,

But if it’s mixed—not much!

She loves the game of soccer,

And plays it with such zeal!

Did you know that she’s a gymnast

And does a great cartwheel?

Bikes and dolls and hula hoops

Are things that give her glee;

But what she’s really best at

Is caring for sam and leigh.

Helpful, kind, and tender—

She always thinks of others.

In fact, just tonight

She shared her candy with her mother.

She loves God, church, and Sunday school

And pays attention to the preacher.

I think she also likes her school,--

She’s always talking about her teacher!

I probably could go on and on

And tell you more and more,

But if you know my sweet SB,

She’s running for the door!

Another thing about this girl

You may not have realized yet,

Is that all this talk about her

Has embarrassed her to death.

So, I’ll conclude this tribute poem

With one thing left to do,

“Sara Beth I must confess

straight from me to you;

I’m proud of everything you are

And the things you say and do

And me and mom and Sam and Leigh

We all love you.”

Zeb wrote this poem because SB was the star student at her class this week.  I know she can't fully appreciate it now, but I know she will later!  

I made some owl cupcakes for her class and went and read a book to her class on Tuesday!  Her teacher makes this week so special for each child!  She had a blast!

Her Thanksgiving party was also today!

Birthday Fun

My Mom's birthday was the 11th and my Dad's was the 14th.  To celebrate, my grandmother took us all to AJ's for dinner.  

This was a big one for Mom so the kids are telling her that Bo Bo was going to take us all to New Orleans on Saturday!  She was so surprised!  He figured what she wanted most was for everyone to just hang out!  To do that, we really have to get out of town--where there would be no farming, errand running, napping, or phone talking--just fun family time!

Bo Bo's turn---Sam looked up at Bo Bo and said "I brrood it, Bo Bo".

Saturday morning we headed out in the 15 passenger van very early so that we could eat some breakfast down there!

Then we walked around the French Quarter--this REALLY grossed us out-but the kids had a blast!

Transformer 

We picked up Johnny's po-boys and headed for the river.

The plan was to go to the zoo.  However, the parking lot was packed so we opted for a trolley ride!

Then headed to the park for some playtime!

Mom kept Sam occupied on the way home by looking at pictures!  All 5 kids were EXCELLENT travelers!