Daddy's Girls

Lillian has been having a rough time about always being home lately. Katie doesn’t seem phased but Lillian is missing people. She was “little miss Apollo” (I called her that)  in school and in all the clubs and all the committees. So it’s been more of a struggle for her. The first few months of homeschooling went great. The weather was nice and they’d swim everyday. Lily Jordan was doing virtual so we’d see her at least twice a week. But looking back at my blog, since November, we can easily go 3 weeks without seeing other kids outside of art. They didn’t even get the long weekends on holidays with cousins. So last week’s snow storm was the last straw for her and there were lots of tears at night. This Mama decided it was time to step out of my comfort zone for her and I organized a play date with a bunch of other homeschooling families today. We went to the new Bossier park and it was packed with homeschool groups! I think there were 4 or 5 of them and I didn’t even realize that many

Our yard is a muddy mess right now and it is one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen!  The top pictures were about 7:20 this morning and the bottom one was just now (5:15 PM) We can finally see grass today! And the tops ones were even after 2 afternoons of some melting. It froze again at night Friday and Saturday so today was the first time we’d had over 24 hours above freezing in a long time! The roads are clearing and I told the girls we’d go out tomorrow, even if just to Target or something. We have officially not left in 9 days. It’s been 11 for Lillian and me and KatieJane’s outing 9 days ago was only allergy shots so we need out! We sure have enjoyed our lazy days but it’s time. Matt left today for a few hours to check on some leases and the deer camp. While he was out he stopped at the store and I swear he is my hero! I have real coffee creamer for tomorrow, lol. And I now have a list in my phone notes titled snow storm grocery so this doesn’t happen again. 😉 Kelli and

What a weird few days it’s been. That 2nd storm that I talked about the other day came through with a vengeance. We have been very fortunate to have power and water but we did lose it for a couple of hours during a rolling blackout and everyone in Shreveport/Bossier is under a boil advisory, if they have water at all. I think most of Shreveport is out and all of Benton. People are melting snow to flush toilets. Luckily we always have a good bit of water in the garage so we’ve had plenty to drink/cook with without having to boil. And that few hours without power was enough to freeze the pool pump so it will be next week before we can turn that back on. But we really have been lucky. So many people have major damage from this storm and we made it through with mostly only inconveniences if the pool thaws out ok. We’ve been able to stay warm by the fire and go out for fun here and there. But not for long because my ears are freezing within minutes. And even though we are all going stir cra

ALL last year everyone was talking about how bad 2020 was, but I hope 2021 isn’t trying to compete. I have seen a meme that says “I’m getting tired of living through historical events,” and this is very true. We’ve owned this house less than 10 months and so far it’s seen a “record” hail storm, a category 1 hurricane and not one, but TWO snowstorms. With another coming Wednesday/Thursday. The first one was fun! But this one not so much. We’ve been out a handful of times  but only for minutes at a time because it’s about 18°. The next storm is going to bring more ice than snow and it won’t get above freezing until Friday or Saturday. With the lowest temps in 91 years tonight. So that means roads are a mess and the ice and snow aren’t going anywhere for a few days so there is a real risk of having issues from it. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful and we’ve been able to stay in so nothing to complain about right now. Just hoping it stays that way!!  It was a good Valentine’s yesterda

Valentine’s Day is always a fun day at public school and I didn’t want the girls to feel like this was yet another thing they were missing. They hadn’t even mentioned it, but I knew they would think about it eventually so we put together Valentines to mail last week. I secretly asked some friends and family to send some to us too so they could have some to open at the  “class” party. Several friends dropped bags throughout the week and I managed to keep it a secret so the party was a total surprise  I decorated after they went to bed and they had no idea. So after a little bit of reading to start the day, I brought them in to the dining room for the fun. It wasn’t quite as elaborate as what I did at Christmas but I found a few decorations at Dollar Tree and had enough planned to last about an hour and a half. We did a few science experiments  Played a few “minute to win it” type games. Lillian won all 3 but I told her not to brag too much when her competition is 3 years younger 😉  And

Timehop has got to be my favorite app that I have. I love looking back at pictures and knowing what I was doing on this date through the years. Friday was apparently a very busy day 11 years ago. Lillian was about 10 days old and we had so many people visit to meet her.  The top one is not that same weekend but it came up too. I guess I posted it on that day at some point and it is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Nana, Papa and Lilli all cracking up at each other. ❤️ No pics of my Mom but I’m sure she was the picture taker. On top of pics of my tiny Lillian, it’s so crazy that 3 people there that day are no longer with us. Life sure changes...  These got me too. Just a few years makes them look so different. They are so little! I love the trips down memory lane I get to take everyday.  Not too much has gone on this week since we went to the zoo except Lane had a birthday and we got to surprise him at his house after school! The kids all played a few hours and we were happy to

I called Rachel about a week ago and told her I was wanting to take the girls to the Caldwell Zoo and it looked like the next clear day to do it would be Austin’s birthday, and asked if they’d want to go. I knew they had school so I was very surprised when she said that they would skip and meet us there! He had no idea that were going and was very surprised when we were there with Yaya with gifts from us and Josh and Hailey.  It ended up being a perfect day. it was cool but not too cold and sunny so all of the animals that were out were active. The white tiger, bears, zebras, mountains lions, bobcat, giraffe, and even the snakes were all moving around  and we even go to hear the lion roar (my first time to hear live and I was excited!) and watch the elephants playing while we ate our picnic lunch. But the best part of the day was being together. We missed Case and Lane though!  We went a couple of times altogether when the kids were little but it had been awhile.  I think they were 4 a