house stuff

Okay, so I said I would share deets. (details!)


... as long as we've been in Natchitoches, I have been looking online at houses. Knowing that Kelly's mom was joining here, we knew we'd need a bit more room and we were ready to be homeowners again.

Claire & I went to look at a smallish house in a great neighborhood where many of our friends now live. We looked very casually, and decided that it was just too small for us. A friend told me about a house she walked by on her "route" each day with a For Sale sign out front. She didn't know much about it, other than the fact that it had 4 bedrooms and a saltwater pool. After stalking the property online, Kelly & I decided that we needed to see it in person. We were sold.

After some time, an offer was accepted. The process was a bit slower than usual since we were negotiating with a relocation company out of California. But our patience and persistence paid off! We are so excited! It does have a saltwater pool, a large yard, 4 bedrooms, 2 living areas with fireplaces and a large covered patio. It needs a lot of love. New paint. Carpet. Counter tops. Appliances. Like I said, lots of love. But we see ourselves on Tahoe Drive for many, many years to come.

Welcome Home!

So, I know I have more to share... I'll promise, I'll be back!!

merry!

Hello Friends! I know - it's been FOREVER. My last post was on my last day at Northwestern. SO much has happened since that day. I won't cram it all into this one post, but I will give you a quick update:

NEW JOB: I love being an elementary school secretary! Especially at our school. It sounds so cliche, but it's a school with amazing, talented teachers and staff (not to mention incredible kids). My days have actually slowed down a bit, with the exception of an emergency school closing and the occasional tornado warning. My day starts earlier, but it ends earlier too, all with Claire & Nolan in tow.

Nolan visits me and says hello each time he gets a drink of water or heads upstairs to Art. Claire's teacher often sends her on errands which usually involve making a stop at my desk. I truly, truly love it.

THANKSGIVING: Wait. Back up a week. The weekend before Thanksgiving Kelly drove to Florida to pick up his mom, who has relocated to Natchitoches. We brought her here permanently with the notion of placing her in a nursing home. After much talk, prayer and doctor's visits, it's been determined that she can try to live on her own with some part-time assistance. She would stay with us until an apartment opened up for her. She's still with us.

Later in the week, Aunt Pam, Uncle Roy and Nana joined us for Turkey Day. We ate, shopped and enjoyed their company!

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas SOAR BY without much time to catch a breath. Christmas parties at church and school (for kids and adults, alike), tests, doctor's appointments, karate and basketball are just a few of the things that keep us spinning. And in the midst of it all, we managed to place an offer on a house for sale. An offer that was finally accepted and finalized on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

We are thrilled!!

I'm dying to share details, but it'll just have to wait. Christmas stuff, too. Tomorrow? Until then, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

every new begininng...

...comes from some other beginning's end.

Today is my last day in the office I've been a part of for 1.7 years (according to human resources!). It doesn't seem like a long time in the grand scheme of things, but I started shortly after we moved to Louisiana, and it often feels like we've lived here for a very long time.

I have so enjoyed my time here - but it is entirely due to the people who make up this place. I have made friendships that have seeped beyond the edges of the office and will carry throughout my lifetime. I have had the joy of being "second mama" to the students who work for me as well as those that I work for.

This week I have been treated to parties and lunches and I hope to make a quiet (early) exit today. I am a very blessed woman.

To New Beginnings!

rainy day

Yesterday was Columbus Day. Also known as "Professional Staff Development Day" for the area schools. Also known as "Mom Stays Home With the Kids Day". It was great. I cooked, baked, cleaned, washed, organized, folded, put away, wiped down and caught up with the many things that I have let slide over the past few weeks.

The view from our very wet front porch

Homemade Soup

Chocolate Chip Granola - Pre-baking

Chocolate-Chip Banana Muffins

Twister-Movie Watching-GranolaEating-ChillingOut

I know, I'm a total dork. I can't help myself. Just be thankful that I didn't post pictures of the 10 loads of laundry, the spice cabinet I cleared out and the dozens of pairs of socks that I paid the kids to fold!

extra, extra! read all about it!

I love having news. Fortunately for me, our family has news to share more often than not. What can I say, we abide by the old adage, "the only constant is change".

But I also love giving little hints and trying to make you guess just what my news may be! Any takers??

Okay, I won't drag it out...

I got a new job. Yes! My news is "job news" and it's NOT about Kelly! My last day at Northwestern State will be Friday, October 16th (pretty soon, if you didn't notice). Monday the 19th will be my first day at NSU Elementary Lab School. I have been offered the position of school secretary (and I accepted, duh). Yes, this is Claire & Nolan's school. I will have 8 weeks off in the summer and share my children's school schedule & holidays (oh, Kelly's too!).

I am thrilled. Over the moon. Quite excited! It will be tough leaving my beloved co-workers and college students, but my new role will be THE perfect fit. Quite divine, actually.

So, there you have it. Just picture me at the desk, saying "Welcome to our school!". Yay!

Our Christmas Angel

It's official. We're southerners.

And to drive that point home, Claire participated in her first pageant this weekend. If you didn't already realize, southerners hold a pageant for EVERYTHING. Seriously. Just our little town is known to have a Meat Pie Queen, a City of Lights Queen, Miss Merry Christmas and Miss Teen Natchitoches. We like to celebrate. We have festivals. Lots of them. Every festival has a pageant. And every pageant has a queen.

This weekend was the Natchitoches Christmas Angels Pageant. One queen is chosen for pre-k through 8th grade, and Claire was a participant this year. She donned a snazzy black & white dress with a hot pink sash and made her way across the stage (with a pivot turn in the middle, of course). Miss Merry Christmas (the high school equivalent of this pageant's queen) announced Claire's hobbies, favorite food & color, her ambitions and Christmas list (plus more!).

Claire did great! She was a nervous wreck the evening before at the rehearsal, not knowing what to expect. I think we both regretted signing up for this thing on Saturday night. But Sunday afternoon, about halfway through the 2 1/2 hour (!) long event, she made her appearance. She was lovely and graceful, confident and poised. Our big downfall was the lack of pantyhose. Yeah, I know! But as I watched girl after girl make their entrance, there was not one bare leg in sight! Oops. Okay, so I'm not that southern. I don't even own pantyhose!

Ultimately, Claire was awarded 2nd runner up for the 3rd grade division, and we couldn't be prouder! The nerves passed and Claire declared that she wants to participate again next year!

Our Angel and her trophy

I don't have more photos because I lost our camera last Christmas and have been using an old one of my moms (hence the blurry pic above!). Argh! Hopefully I can find someone who took pictures at the event!!

bad blogger

What can I say? Life has been busy. I know, I know, I ALWAYS say that. And it's always true. But never more so than this past month. The fact that we can't get internet at our house because we're set too far back in the woods (yes, I know, don't even get me started) doesn't help either. So, enough of the excuses, I'll give you the lowdown.

Kelly is loving his high school gig. He's doing a great job at keeping a positive attitude with his students and players. They suffered a heartbreaking loss this past Friday night 21-20, but experienced a great win just last night at a JV game. This week's game is on Thursday night and we're hoping for a BIG WIN.

Claire is student extraordinaire, as always. She's enjoying school and was "Wrangler of the Week" recently. (The school has a western theme this year). She's been attending a softball clinic at the high school, going to travel ball practice and all the hard work is paying off. She gets a hearty workout at first base and is hitting the ball harder than we've ever seen before. She gets to sneak in fun stuff too, sleepovers, birthday parties and time with friends. She loves going to Chief football games and cheers her heart out.

Nolan can now be seen perfecting his karate moves. He attends classes twice a week and loves it. For the first time, he looks forward to an activity. I'm convinced that the fact that karate is done inside an air-conditioned building has something to do with it. He's also doing great in school. First grade has proven to be a challenge, but he's stepped up. He's adjusting to the large amount of homework and is reading like a champ.

I'm just, well, trying to keep it all going. Our activities take us all over town, but we've got a system down. Work is finally starting to let up a bit, thanks to my wonderful director who has rerouted some of my duties to lighten my load. I love picking the kids up everyday and can't imagine doing it any other way. I'm keeping busy with activities of my own. I recently joined Les Amies, a women's service organization and we have a great event this weekend. Claire and I will attend while the boys take off on a camping trip. I was down with some kind of sickness last week. No, not H1N1, but an achy, head, stuffy thing that I'm still trying to totally shake. We're all fighting colds and hope to be breathing clearly soon.

The kids and I are also enjoying a new Wednesday night program at church called S.L.A.M. I'm teaching a small portion of a really cool line-up of activities that we all enjoy.

We have the delight of seeing Kelly so much more often these days. He's home every Saturday. Every single Saturday. This hasn't happened in... well, since my kids have been born! We're visiting the dentist quite regularly these days, as Claire had an abscessed tooth that needed to be pulled and the kids have four cavities between them. Yikes.

It's fall in Louisiana which means we've had a TON of rain, it's super humid and 90 degrees. I'm ready for winter.

Life is good. The details aren't thrilling, but it's what we do. More to come, I promise.