Anderson Farms 2012

It’s not Fall until we have made our annual trip to Anderson Farms in Leesville, LA with Granny. This year the weather was PERFECT for some pumpkin picking and family fun.

It is so fun to go back and compare the pictures from year to year. This year the girls seemed to have a little more “spunk” in their pictures!

Anna picked up a piece of corn and started singing like it was a microphone. I love her personality!

Anderson Farms is such a fun place, offering a Hay Maze, Corn Maze, Hayrides and TONS of photo ops!

My girls have learned from the second they were born, when Granny says “smile”-they look and smile…they are EXPERTS! But sometimes, you just gotta have some FUN!

Navarre Beach 2012

We were thrilled-and that’s putting it mildly-to get to spend 2 weeks in Navarre Beach, Florida this summer with my parents and my Aunt Lisa. Little did we know that our relaxing vacation would be cut short… About 2 hours into the trip, Maddie started coughing. No biggie. We made it to the beach and enjoyed a day of beach time.

By day 2, she was coughing her head off. Since she had not had to use her inhaler or any breathing treatments in over a year, I had not packed either-BIG mistake! I quickly called Ryan and asked him to overnight her meds. By this point she was coughing nonstop and we had gotten NO sleep. After 3 calls to her pediatrician, I was convinced to find an urgent care to take her to. Her pediatrician was convinced that she had pneumonia…

Diagnosis- strep & her lungs are clear. After a breathing treatment at the Urgent Care, she seemed to be doing better. She started an antibiotic and I was convinced we had dodged a bullet. Relaxing beach vacation…here we come! Somewhere in the middle of the night, my knight in shining armor surprised us by showing up with Maddie’s meds from home (LOVE that man!). We were thrilled that Ryan was going to get to spend a few days at the beach with us after all!

All seemed to be looking up…we even tried to take a few family photos…

Can you see Tropical Storm Sandy in the background? She was not helping my hair at all. We were literally about to blow away in these pictures!

Unfortunately, Maddie started going downhill after this and after another trip to another Urgent Care (she needs steroids, lungs are clear), we decided to pack it up and head home. At this point we were on a first-name basis with the pharmacist at the Navarre Beach Walmart. We were at the pediatrician’s office before 8:00 am the next morning. We were immediately sent for chest x-rays. Diagnosis-pneumonia with effusion (translation-your little girl is really, really sick. Her lungs had not been clear the whole time, rather they were so full of fluid there was no air moving at all!). Thankfully, she quickly responded to the 3 antibiotics her amazing pediatrician prescribed and she was back to her old self within a few days. Unfortunately, she passed along her pneumonia to her little sister and her daddy! I guess us Momma’s have to have immune systems of steel!

Better luck next summer!

Dance Recital 2012

This year was an “off” year for dance recital…translation-less expensive costumes and less stress for Mommy. On “off” years, the girls just wear their black leotards, and change their tutus for the different dances. The girls still have a blast and love dancing on stage. We were thrilled that Grandmother came and brought Emalyne and Lizzy with her!

 

Love these little ballerinas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then it was time for tap…Anna was really feeling the music in this one!

Blessed.

 

 

Mrs. Liz                                       Miss Desiree

Sweet cousins

Easter 2012

I am a sucker for family traditions, and one of my favorites is the annual Easter Egg hunt in Ruston. I have no idea when it started, but I know it has been going on since before I was born. I’m pretty sure my grandma looked forward to the hunt every year almost more than Christmas! I am so thankful that even though Grandma now celebrates Easter with Jesus, the tradition continues. Friends that I used to hunt eggs with every year, now bring their kiddos to hunt eggs with my kiddos…and the tradition continues.

The cousins dying eggs with Grandmother.

Anna’s finds.

Me & Stephanie ~ one of my besties growing up!

 

After church on Easter Sunday, we ran over to DeRidder to spend some time with Granny & Papa. The girls hunted eggs, and we also celebrated Maddie’s birthday while we were there. We are so blessed to have Granny & Papa live close by!

Going Pumpkin Picking…

I am a sucker for traditions-especially family traditions. One of my favorite family traditions is our yearly trip to Anderson Farms in Leesville, LA with Granny (Ryan’s mom). We always have a great time and take tons of great pictures. If you live anywhere near Leesville, I would definitely recommend you go! There is a hayride that you get to ride out to the pumpkin patches-where you get to pick out your very own pumpkin. The girls’ favorite part of the hayride is getting to ring the cow bell. I’m not sure what the fascination is with the cow bell, but it definitely requires “taking turns.”

They also have a hay maze that is fun to go through. Anna Katherine found this after making a wrong turn…

Silly girl!

And of course, there are LOTS of photo ops! These are just a few…

We LOVE Granny!

After going to the pumpkin patch, we went back to DeRidder and had lunch. The girls’ favorite part was the chocolate ice cream for dessert!

And no pumpkin patch day would be complete without a picture with the scarecrow on Granny’s front porch!

Playing Catch Up!

 

I cannot believe it has been almost 8 months since I last posted. Where did the time go? To catch up…

August 2011: Maddie started 3rd grade and was thrilled to get Mrs. Williams and Ms. Dougharty as her teachers. She has a lot of friends in her class and is doing great! Anna started her second year at PELE (the lab preschool at our high school for district employee’s kids). She absolutely loves her teachers and all of the high school students that work at PELE.

September 2011: The girls are “Cheer Pups” and enjoy cheering during the pregame at the home games. They have a cheer clinic at the beginning of the season.

October 2011: One of our favorite fall activities is our annual trip to Anderson Farms with Granny. The girls love the hayride and getting to pick out their pumpkin. This year Anna took FOREVER to pick out the perfect pumpkin!

November 2011: We spent Thanksgiving in Ruston with my family. It is always nice to stop and remember just how blessed we are. Thanksgiving Day marked 9 years since Ryan’s last chemo treatment.

December 2011: Our intent this year was to keep it simple and not over-book our calendar so we could focus on the reason for the season…and were quickly reminded that God is in control and often has plans that aren’t on our calendar. We had an offer on our house (that had been on the market for 18 months!) and quickly went into moving mode. This was one of those times I was so thankful to be a teacher and have 2 weeks off from school to pack! Fortunately we were still able to spend all the time with our family that we had originally planned. Oh-and we somehow managed to squeeze an anniversary trip to San Antonio for me and Ryan in there, too! Eleven years and counting!

January 2012: After weeks of packing, I really wanted to crawl under a rock and just stay there. However, there was too much to do! Maddie started her Upward basketball season (Ryan coached)…so there went every Saturday morning. We are thankful she enjoys playing basketball, even if she is the only girl on her team! She is actually quite good at making baskets, but poor thing doesn’t have an aggressive bone in her body! Anna is very excited about being old enough next year to get to start Upwards…she has informed us that she will NOT be playing basketball-she will be a cheerleader. She is so spunky! Somewhere in the middle of January, Ryan and I packed our bags and headed to Hollywood for a work thing for him. It was a much needed break and I was extremely thankful for the opportunity! The last week of January we closed on our house and moved into our “temporary housing”. Whew…that was a long month!

February 2012: I honestly don’t remember a lot about February…I know it rained A LOT! The last weekend of the month, Ryan had to work at Bass Pro during the Bass Master Classic. The girls and I decided we needed a “vacation”, so we tagged along. We dropped Ryan off at Bass Pro and we went shopping! We made sure to book a hotel that had an indoor pool, and the girls thought it was super cool to swim during the winter. Of course, since our life is in boxes while we build our new house, I couldn’t find the girls’ swimming suits, but they didn’t mind buying new ones. I was so thankful that it warmed up a bit this weekend, which made shopping at the Boardwalk very enjoyable!