Renee and her Giggles!!!!

Monday Afternoon and Renee and Mommy having a blast!

"Do What It Takes"

Equipment

By Edgar A. Guest

Figure it out for yourself, my lad,

You've all that the greatest of men have had,

Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes

And a brain to use if you would be wise.

With this equipment they all began,

So start for the top and say, "I can."

Look them over, the wise and great
They take their food from a common plate,
And similar knives and forks they use,
With similar laces they tie their shoes.
The world considers them brave and smart,
But you've all they had when they made their start.



You can triumph and come to skill,

You can be great if you only will.

You're well equipped for what fight you choose,

You have legs and arms and a brain to use,

And the man who has risen great deeds to do

Began his life with no more than you.

You are the handicap you must face,

You are the one who must choose your place,

You must say where you want to go,

How much you will study the truth to know.

God has equipped you for life, but He

Lets you decide what you want to be.

Courage must come from the soul within,

The man must furnish the will to win.

So figure it out for yourself, my lad.

You were born with all that the great have had,

With your equipment they all began,

Get hold of yourself and say: "I can."

Renee's 1st Birthday Party!

What a great day with friends, family and lots of cake!

Celebrating Renee's first pirthday in Southern Louisiana!

Renee is 1

Has it been a year all ready?

It is hard to believe that this little bundle of joy, and I mean little, came into this world and changed my life forever! You always hear people say "I can't remember life before my children" and I always thought that what is so great about it! They cost money, POOP, and cry! NOW....... I can't remember what my life was about before my daughter! Yes she cost money, but it is so fun to buy her new things, for her learning and development and to dress her up in! I do dress her better than myself! She does POOP a lot, and it is especially messy now with her new teeth trying to peek through! And to answer every one's question of "Does she EVER cry?" YES she does, but it doesn't happen very often and it is usually cause she is hungry, in pain of some sorts, or is very tired!

But what people don't tell you, is how children warm your hearts! I didn't sleep very well last night, cause I was anticipating waking up with her and singing Happy Birthday to her! I've been thinking back through the year and all of the things she went through! It is amazing, and she has come so far! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE BUG!

Fun in the sun!

The weather down here has been pretty hot and humid! Renee is used to being inside with me doing house work, but we took a day off this past weekend and played outside in her little blow up pool! I knew that she would love it, because she loves to play in the bathtub.

Her first expression of touching that cool water was priceless. Her toes went in, and then it was a halt! every muscle in her body tensed up, which I could feel as I'm holding this 20 pound little girl in the pool with only her toes touching the water! Then I lowered her in. She was so confused, because she saw her bath toys and the water was not as warm as a bath! but once she got used to it, she was all over in it! Loving every minute of it, and even tyring to dirty it up by leaning over the side to pull some grass into the pool! We had a good time, and thank you Jenny for her first swimsuit! A 2T and it fits her perfect as a 10 month old. I had to put a barrette in the back to keep the straps tighter, but it couldn't have been more perfect!

Wisker Giggles!!

The Corah Roller Coaster

The Decorah Roller coaster!!!!!

Corah is such a good girl!!!! wish I had a ton of her around, because she would defnetily be a great babysitter!

She is taking over the HOUSE!

by: Corah



Well , you all know that my little sister is getting bigger and takes all of the attention away from me and Jack and we now have to stay outside more often! It isn't that bad, but she is now all over us or following us around the house and we have no privacy! I love her, but my skin only stretches so far. I'm just getting to old for this. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures and video!!!!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!!!
Thank you for teaching me how to be the best mother I can be to my beautiful little girl!!!
You all know who you are!!!

XOXO

My High Chair!!!

Christmas 2009, Grandma Jo and Grandpa Steve, from Minnesota bought this beautiful high chair. It was packaged and sent down to us not long after we left there by plane. It has been sitting in our kitchen for quite a while and we hadn't gotten around to use it, because we need to add some straps for Renee's legs and body, so she doesn't slip out. Well we decided to use it without the straps, so she learns that she needs to eat in the kitchen, and she has been great!



She does so well, as long as we are shoveling the food into her mouth!!! As you can tell she is not in want in the food department. We visited the Occupational Therapist for the last time April 19th. We would visit Miss Coleen to check on Renee's overall development and we all decided that she has caught up enough for us not to see her again. She gave me a lot of great pointers on feeding Renee and when and what to start her on for table foods. Coleen also said that we could use her adjusted age, 2 months younger than her real age, for up to 2 years, if need be. But, Renee is growing so fast and really moving along well, I don't think we will have to.





We love trying to get to the eggs on the tray!!!!



She is now crawling all over the house and chasing me and the dogs. It is so fun to watch her discover new things and to get into new things. She is definitely learning the word NO!!!

She crawled!!!!!!

My first day to come home early with Renee, and she crawled, and is now pooped!!!! Between her sniffles and her new found movements she is out like a light, and so is her daddy!!!!

Thought I'd share that information with all of you and some new pictures of her in her Easter dress and with her horse Drew!!!

How amazing it is!!!

How amazing it is.....

to create a beautiful baby!

to walk through a journey of worry and pain!

to bring her home and share her with the rest of the world!

to watch her grow and learn!

to watch her discover and recover!

to watch her love and be loved!

to be a Mother!



Today, Renee was weighed in at 18 lbs. 2 oz. and a length of 17 1/2 inches! She is growing like a weed. I've been working on a photo album through Shutterfly of her first year of life! I've sat here and cried to see her with all of those wires on and I've sat here and laughed at her corky little ways! She has come so far, I mean we as a family have come so far in the past 2 years! Trials, pain, loss of faith, but NOW when you look at her, everything bad is gone and the good only remains. I only hope now that I can learn from my Mom, Aunt, Sisters and of course my students about how to be the best MOM to Renee I can!!! here are some of her best moments in the past couple of months that I haven't been able to share!




Love you all and have a great day!

WHO DAT!

Well, I've been staying true to my roots, until tonight, and it was a little bit of being forced, but it was well worth it! I was born and raised in Northern Minnesota and now live in Southern Louisiana. So the Vikings vs. Saints was a big night and sorry to say Minnesota lost........ but I guess I've got it pretty good now that I got to cheer for another team close to the heart, since My husbands family are HUGE Saints fans, I had to cheer and since my husband bought me a Saints t-shirt.......

So off to Mike and Toot's (Cotina) house. Gumbo cooking, decorations going up, and beers starting to crack open. The game was awesome, being down 0 to 10 at one point, I knew that the Saints are a second half team, so I knew they would come out strong. I just figured that the game would have been closer, but right after the interception and touch down for the Saints, the

"WHO DAT" song was being played on repeat and I would be all right if I never here that song again, but what a victory for the Saints. First time in the Super Bowl and Taking the whole thing!!!!! GO SAINTS!

Grandparent's Day

It is Catholic Schools week, at the school I teach and coach at! Each day of the week we honor a different person for Catholic School's week and today was Grandparent's Day!!! I have been so busy and so caught up in the politics and work at school, that I forgot to really be grateful and thankful for the people in my life this week!

One of my 7th graders asked me today,"Coach Freddie, are your grandparents coming to the assembly?" I took and deep breathe and said, "Well Ali, they are with us here everyday!" Right there I took the time to remember the past when I would walk into the farm house and yell, "HELLO GORGEOUS!" And it never failed that my Grandmother would tell me to get my eyes checked. Or when Grandpa would ACCIDENTALLY turn one of the dice over when he thought we weren't looking just to get himself a few more points! I shared some of my very fond memories with my student Ali and then thought about how this conversation will happen when Renee gets to be this age (12) and I know that both grandparents will be there for her.

So a big thank you to all of you Grandparents out there, we love you and appreciate everything you do!!!!

Motivation

I just joined my sister's blog group of "Being Accountable". I had a beautiful little girl in July and had been on Bed rest since Feb 2009 up until I had her! See, I ate better during the pregnancy than I do now. The only motivation I had at that time was to keep my beautiful baby and myself healthy for this pregnancy since we had lost one not too long before! Now I can use my sister, who is 1500 miles away, as motivation to move and eat better!

I titled my blog motivation, because I have a lack of it at this moment! No motivation to do my job at my best, and no motivation to help myself feel better about the way I look. This in turn hurts my students and my players. I am a coach and Basketball is the longest season I know. I have been trying and trying to motivate my players to work hard, play hard and be successful. See, I didn't say win, because that is not what we need, well we need some wins, but In order for my girls to feel successful right now we need to just play hard ALL 4 quarters.

I've questioned if they are getting everything they need as far as fundamentals.......my assistant has been going over fundamentals since last June, if we are running the correct plays or if they are too hard........ but it is the basic plays that we can add more too, or if they just don't want to work for me! I lost a lot of my confidence in my coaching ability since I was out for so long, but I need some Motivation to get that back!

So any ideas on how to Motivate 16 very different young ladies to play their hardest for the last 7 games would be great!

BLOW OUT!!!!

Everyone keeps telling me about the blow outs when the kids start teething! I didn't really know what to think, but now I do!!! It has been 2 mornings in a row where my cute little girl has blown out her diaper, from the side, front and the back. I was fortunate enough to be gone for the first one and left Floyd to tend to her diaper and dirty clothes, but not this morning!

I was on the computer getting my practice plans ready for this morning's basketball practice when all I hear from the other room is "BABY". So I got up to see the problem. Floyd had her in her room and stripped down ready to change the diaper, but didn't quite know what to do with her and her clothes!!!! He suggested to just put her in the tub and bather her AGAIN! Great idea, but we definitely have to soak her clothes in some water and wash them right away!!!

Well as soon as Renee heard "BATH" a big grin came across her face and she was so excited! She better not get any ideas and start pooing everywhere just to take a bath, but you never know!

Is there anything else anyone can warn us about? I'll definitely take people more seriously and be prepared the best I can!

My first Christmas!

by, Renee

Jesus' birthday is coming up, that's what mommy says! We celebrated Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's here in Louisiana yesterday and I got presents. Mommy will have to explain to me why I get presents when it is Jesus' birthday, but I'll take 'em!!!!!Down south, it is a tradition to shoot off fire works for Christmas and I got to experience it. I jumped once, but Mommy had me so bundled up that I fell asleep through most of them. The lights were pretty as far as I can remember! We had fun at Grandma Sandra and Grandpa Hoa's house! I got to play with all of my aunts and uncles and cousins.

My new cousin Trae'lyn

My next Christmas adventure is flying in an airplane to Minnesota. Mommy has told me lots of stories about living up there. She says it is really cold, but it can't be that bad. knowing her, she will have me so bundled up I might be able to see!!!!! Well I can't wait to see and meet everyone up north!

2 DAYS

My car is home!

This is what our house looks like after a hard rain!!!!! Is it a house boat? Maybe we need pontoons!!!!!

Tuesday Dec. 8th at 12:30 am I woke up, because I knew that something was wrong. I checked on my baby girl and my husband, who falls asleep in his chair every night before coming to bed, then I checked outside. See it had been raining since Sunday night and when we get a lot of rain our property floods, and I don't mean SOME water in the yard, 2 feet of water in our yard our house looks like a house boat in the middle of a pond! Anyway, I looked out the back door and the water was up to the 2nd step and I knew that my car had water in it all ready.

After waking my husband up, I went out and tried to catch things before they started to float away. My husband's rubber boots had all ready disappeared, but mine were floating by the house. The water was about 2 inches from my knees, past the bottom of my car doors and almost to the step sides of the company truck. We decided to get our daughter out of there and went across the road to the neighbors house, which had a little standing water in the yard. They welcomed us in with open arms and my husband started working on getting the car out of the water.

Luckily it started fine, but there was about 8 inches of water INSIDE the car. Soaked in the seats and carpet and damaged a module for the electric system that was located under the carpet. Thankfully that was all that happened. The house is fine and we may have lost a few things that were under the water in our shed, but we have our family and our belongings in the house!!!! Just got to remember that it could always be worse!!!!!

If anyone knows how to go about lifting a house and property, could you please give us an idea on where to start?

Happy Holidays!

The Holidays

So many new things and this year will be the most fun, because it is all new for our little girl Renee. She is 5 months old tomorrow and we celebrated her first Thanksgiving with her Grandparents here in Louisiana and other relatives, and we will be heading to Northern Minnesota for Christmas.

Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays, because of the great food. Since I've been with my husband, I have spent Thanksgiving with his family and it is a different type of food down here. To tell you the truth, I LOVE IT. I eat raw and grilled oysters, stuffed pork chops, rice (instead of potatoes) and gravy, and many other foods. Floyd's daddy gets the best liquor out and we celebrate all of the things we are thankful for!!!! Renee didn't get to taste the foods this year, but she definitely celebrated with us, napped with us and laughed with us!!!!!

One thing I have wanted to do since she was born was take a picture of her and her Great Grandpa. He was 99 on July 2nd and Renee was born. He is the cutest little Vietnamese man and he knows "Hi, and thank you" in English. He also knows that I will always give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Happy Holidays to all and we are so looking forward to coming up north for Christmas!