Happy New Year!

We made it back safely from Louisiana on Wednesday evening. We didn't drive through the night coming back. Instead we left around 4:45 am and it actually worked out fine. We stopped a few times and Jacob slept more than he did driving through the night. Since being back home, there have been piles of mail to go through, banking, laundry, groceries, etc. Whew....We did use up one of our gift cards last night for dinner. We just go a new Chili's in town so we tried it out.

Other stuff.....We officially own Hank's car now. We got the title in the mail yesterday:) One car note now YAY! I am putting Jacob in a "Wednesday Morning Out" program next week. He'll go to the Methodist church every Wednesday from 9-1. I think he will have fun with the other kids and it will give me a break once a week.

Oh!! While we were in Louisiana, my mom gave me my Aunt's sewing machine. My Aunt Becky and her family were Katrina refugees for about two months. They lived with my parents during that time. For some reason Aunt Becky got a new sewing machine but never used it. So, mom said it should be put to use so I have a brand new Singer to learn. I can't wait to use it. Hopefully I can self-teach myself.

Looking forward to this year. We plan to find a house this summer. We also plan to try and visit Aunt Phyllis in PA. We might travel there for Spring Break. We also have the annual band trip. This year we are going to Gatlinburg, TN. Should be fun. And Jacob will be 2 years old in 4 months!!! I can't believe it. He sure is growing fast.

Until next time!

Still in LSUiana

Some thoughts for today...

LSU - in case you have been living under a rock (if you live in this state at least) LSU is playing for the national title in a few days. Purple and Gold everywhere!!! Hank is about to throw up - but he'll just have to get over it I guess. Yes - we did get Jacob a t-shirt (I insisted) to support the home state :)

My parent's house - yes it's on piers - but most houses around here are. We plan to take some pics tomorrow of the swamp that surrounds it when it rains. There are crawfish/rice fields all around it and the ground in these parts is mostly swampy so houses built like this are quite common, especially in the farm areas. Stay tuned for more pics.

Jacob - he's been having a blast running around with his Elmo slippers that he got for Christmas. Today, however, he puked twice. No fever - we just realized that the milk was on it's way to "bad" and I think he got some of it. So -he smells real nice and so does his room. PB&J I'm sure you can relate to the "smell"! He's better tonight and we hope it was just the milk and not some illness coming on.

Strawberry Date Cookies - not sure what "the big deal" is - all I know is they are yucky to me. Don't like dates and cloves!! that's my opinon on them. But, my dad, and two uncles (and now Jacob) seem to enjoy them. And yes, they eat 3 or 4 smushed together - Hank says that's how you should eat em :)

Me - having fun being lazy and cooking in mom's new kitchen. Love all the NEW appliances and gadgets she has gotten lately. We did some after-Christmas shopping last night and went out for steak. It was a good day :) I've enjoyed seeing my cousins and family here. hmmm. what else. oh - it was interesting to watch dad's old trailer get hauled off yesterday. Hank made a video for him of it all - that was the excitement for yesterday.

Cajun people - All I can say is that I so enjoy watching Hank try to understand when people talk around here. I know he's not getting 1/2 of what they say :) It's pretty funny to hear him try to immitate the accent - he's not so good with accents :) I translate daily for him.

Hank - Hank and my dad sang 2 songs last Sunday and Hank is singing a solo tomorrow.

Stay tuned for a blog from Hank later today I guess. That's it from me!

Mom & Dad Spell's New House

Mom and Dad just moved into their new dream house a few weeks ago. Dad designed it and supervised the construction every day. Their gift shop "Between Friends Gifts" sits behind the house. The trailer they lived in for the past 3 years was moved off today. I just LOVE the front porch, don't you? :)

Safe arrival in Louisiana

After a night on the road, we arrived safely at Tammy's parents' house this morning a little before 10 a.m. local time. We left a little later than we intended -- about 1 a.m. -- but we made good time once we got rolling. Stay tuned to the blog for pictures!

Reindeer Cookies

Since the Turkey cookies were such a hit, I decided to make these for Christmas. I think they came out real cute :) We're off to Louisiana tomorrow to visit my parents. Today is laundry and packing day - ugg.

Awesome Birthday Present

On Friday, I got another great birthday present. This one is special because about 20 band members pooled their funds together. They bought me an XBox 360!!!!! Oh yeah, and they gave me Guitar Hero II to go with it! How cool is that???!?!!

Here's how it happened: Last year, I was talking to one of my band members; his name is Matt. We weren't talking about anything important, just shooting the breeze. We got to talking about video games, and I told him I had been asking for an XBox for Christmas for the past few years. I never really expected to get one, though, because I knew if I had one I'd never get any work done at home!

Then, at band camp back in July, one of the "fun night" activities we did was a Guitar Hero tournament. Well, it was supposed to be a tournament, but it ended up being just a bunch of people playing Guitar Hero. It was great, and everyone had a lot of fun - including me!

So, fast forward to Friday. With about 10 minutes left in the school day, our principal came on the intercom and asked for some students to report to the front office. It was a long list, but after about 5 or 6 names I noticed that ALL of them were in band! The band room is right across the hall from the front office, and I was suspicious, so I headed to the hall. I was quickly redirected back to the band room! A few minutes later, they came in and asked me to come out into the hall. When I got there, all the kids were in an arc (which looked really good - definitely marching band kids). At the apex (?) of the arc was a present. Matt came up and told me that everyone here had contributed to the gift. I opened it -- it was Guitar Hero II for XBox! I thought, "Wow, this is great ... too bad I don't have an XBox." But I tried not to let on.

I started to thank them when Matt said, "You have an XBox, right?"

"Uh....no."

"Oh, really? Hang on a sec..." Matt walked over to a door to a nearby room and knocked on it. Another student came out with ANOTHER wrapped box. It looked like it was about the right size for an XBox. Sure enough, it was!

I was speechless. I think I said "wow" a few times. This is easily the coolest birthday or Christmas gift I have gotten from students. We brought everything into the band room and set it up right away using the projector in the band room. Everyone got a chance to play. It was awesome!

So, for those of you who aren't sure what to get me for Christmas, let me suggest NCAA Football '08 for XBox!!!!!! :)

ooops!

Since tomorrow is Hank's birthday - I thought I'd better get his cake made. I was so excited. Had this great from scratch chocolate cake recipe with chocolate icing - just as requested. I have never made a 3 layer cake before, so it was a challenge baking all three layers in our oven. They came out very uneven. But - I watch enough Food Network to know that you should "level" your cake. Tried to level the bottom layer and it was a disaster - so I decided it would be fun to just leave it all lumpy and hilly. Well........After I was done, I headed for the couch to relax. Came back into the kitchen some time later to find this.....

but then I "fixed" it with wooden skewers

Hey... it's tastes great!!!!! Hank calls it the earthquake cake
Happy Birthday to Hank tomorrow!!