Long Day!

Where did this past week go? And why can't the weeks go by this fast when we are in school? Oh well! Our last Saturday of the holiday was spent waking up at 6am to Jake crying for his mommy. After putting him in bed with us, he finally fell back asleep just in time for Landry to start her whimpering(that was around 7). So I was able to sneak out of bed without waking Jake up and get Landry before her whimpers turned into wails. We were able to spend some quality time playing with toys without her brother snatching them from her:).

And she even got to play with the walker I bought her yesterday at Wal-Mart for $10. Black Friday deal and I did not get there early for it. They still had some at 6pm so I guess we just got lucky!

Shortly after this the whole family was up and ready to eat. We got everyone fed and the house in decent shape. Then I had to quickly get ready for a baby shower that was in Bossier for a friend. So I hopped in the car and went to Bossier, stayed for an hour, then headed BACK to Ruston so that Matt could make a 1:30 Tech football kickoff. He wanted to take the kids and I didn't think that was a good idea. It was damp and cool outside, not to mention Landry hadn't been in the best mood except for when she first woke up. So when I got home I fell into this:

She must have cried ALL afternoon! Jake was wanting to put all her bows in his hair and I thought WHY NOT! She just pulls the bows out every time I put them in. We did manage to get a few in her hair but she could care less about participating in our party. She wanted me to hold her...and I did all afternoon. And Jake was totally enthralled and I was laughing SO hard. He had them on the back of his head as well and was in heaven.

And so was Landry as long as she was in my lap!

Things are still going good with the house deal. The plan is to close on Dec.8. Matt got most of what I boxed up earlier in the week yesterday and we still have to head back over to Benton after church tomorrow to get some last minute things. I still don't have my Christmas tree and decorations so that is top priority. We had our cleaning lady get the house good and clean yesterday so I am anxious to see what it looks like empty AND clean:). We had a lot of fond memories in that house and we will miss it a lot.... but not the house note. Matt and I have already begin looking at houses in Ruston just because it is fun to look! We are going to stay put for a while though, I need a break from packing up boxes.

Landry and Jake's birthday party is this coming Saturday in Shreveport at Gymboree play and music. I took Jake to classes there this summer and he had a BLAST! It isn't the ideal place for a first birthday for Landry, but considering the circumstances I figured it would be the easiest thing. So we are hoping to have a great time and see some of our friends we've been missing. Have a great week!

Thanksgiving Day Pictures

I took WAY too many pictures and I thought I would post them for you to enjoy! We ate too much but who cares! If you choose to shop on Black Friday(which I don't just yet!), have fun and good luck at getting some good deals.

Welcoming Analeigh Joye

Matt's best friend from childhood/high school, Jay Turner and his wife Ashley, welcomed their third little girl on Monday morning, Analeigh Joye. Mama and baby are doing great and we are so excited for them! Emma and Ella will be great big sisters!! Congrats Ashley and Jay.

Pictures from the past few days

Tyler Fried Turkeys

When I first met Matt 7 years ago I learned that people cook Cajun fried turkeys. To me they sounded gross because I pictured it like I would a piece of fried chicken. Well people, I was wrong! Every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas, Matt, Mark, and their dad cook these turkeys and it is a MAJOR undertaking. Matt's dad got a recipe for a Cajun dope from a man in south Louisiana about 20 years ago and told him he would never tell anyone the ingredients. So as of 2008 they have been doing these turkeys for about that long. They started out frying about 14 of them for close friends and relatives. In 1993 they burned their entire house down cooking these turkeys and lost everything. True story-Matt was a junior in high school at the time and Mark was a freshman.
Now they cook the turkeys with gas instead of butane and have 5 oblong cookers(each holds 4 turkeys) and are able to cook 20 at a time and they take an hour to cook. They inject these turkeys with the "secret" Cajun dope on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and cook them the Tuesday and Wednesday before. Currently they have sold out at 490 turkeys folks! That is A LOT of turkeys and YES they are FABULOUS!! It is a very big task and Matt had to get up at 4:30 am this morning to start cooking. And they are still cooking as I type. They will finish cooking 300 turkeys today and will finish the rest tomorrow.
They usually only sell around 300-350 for Thanksgiving. So this is my story for tonight! Sorry to bore you but I am have nothing else to post.
I did put a big dent into boxing up our house. I think we have more dishes than Wal-Mart-seriously! And so I spent about 5 hours packing and boxing things up today. Tomorrow I will try to get started early so that we can get back to Ruston. My entire family is coming in and I am really looking forward to an exciting year. My sister, Laura, will be in from Atlanta, and my brothers Brian and Darrell will be in from Dallas. All the grand kids will be in with them and I know Jake will have a blast entertaining them! I will post some pictures from our visit later. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have SO much to be thankful for and I will save that for the next post.

Priceless Memories

Money spent on toys for the kids: $500
Money spent at Baby Gap: $133
Money spent on the Baby Gap bag that they played in and giggled together: PRICELESS

After shopping in Shreveport and Bossier yesterday,we got home last night and they had a ball with this bag. I wish I could post a video of this! They giggled up a storm! It was so cute:). I had to post this before church!!! Have a great day.

Thanksgiving Holidays!!!!

The absolute best thing about being a school teacher is having the entire week off from school! I am so looking forward to next week. Not that I get to sleep in or anything:), but I will get to relax a little-maybe!
We do have some REALLY GOOD NEWS(and no I am not pregnant): we are in the process of selling our house! Praise God and his perfect timing. The lady that is buying it is a family friend form Ruston. She will be working at the Methodist church in Benton, which is .2 miles from our house! She wants to be in it within the next 2 weeks. It works out great that I have the break to get things packed up. And we have A LOT to pack up! Although we have stuff over here, we still have all of our wall decor up, tons of things in the cabinet, all of our wedding china, etc. So maybe I won't get to relax much...but that is OK!
So now you may be wondering if we are going to move right away from the home we are living in here in Ruston. Nope! I don't want to move right now anywho! The PLAN(but who is really in control!?) is to buy something larger this summer and have this house ready to rent when school starts in August. That we way we can take our time. I am SO thankful this worked out(although the papers have not been signed just yet)!
As for running I am taking this week off for sure! Next week will be based in my time management. I plan to start training for Boston shortly after Christmas. Any running before that will be just because.
I have a friend in Shreveport, Emily Norton Pruitt(who owns a marathon PR of 3:15!!) who is doing Boston and that is comforting to know I can run with her on the 20+ mile long runs.
Have a great weekend and I will be in touch!