Where has the time gone????

I hope I haven't lost everyone....hello? Hello? Is anyone out there?!

I guess it's way past time to update this blog. A lot has happened since September. Let me fill you in...



OCTOBER:
I attended a local pumpkin patch with Anna Elise's class. We went on a hay ride, picked a small pumpkin from the vine to take home, ate lunch and just enjoyed a wonderful sunny afternoon playing and visiting with friends.








Our local Mommy & Me group had a Halloween parade for the children. They bobbed for apples, climbed aboard a fire truck, had refreshments, and went trick or treating. Joseph wasn't able to attend as he was napping, but Anna Elise had a blast!








I guess I need to include what Jason and I were able to do as well. We attended the New Orleans Saints vs. Oakland Raiders game in the Big Easy. We met some good friends there and had a nice weekend watching football, eating and drinking.


At Luke's, a game day favorite!


These helmets got lots of compliments!!


Had to take a picture of #55, Scott Fujita!!



And of course, the AR boy...McFadden.


We ended October with trick or treating at a friend's house. The kiddos had a blast. Thank you, Myerskis, for opening your home (and neighborhood) to us!











NOVEMBER:
Ahhh, this month revolved around food, doctors and football. What a great combination, eh?!



November 4th was our 8th wedding anniversary, so went out to dinner to celebrate. Our friends, the Johnsons, had ordered us a bottle of wine and it was waiting for us when we arrived at the restaurant. I was in good spirits....






I also took the kids to Firefly Pottery (with the Mommy group) to make Christmas gifts for grandparents and wound up getting some extras just to keep them occupied while I decorated. It was fun, but also nerve wracking...Joseph was like a bull in a china shop!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we traveled to Hattiesburg, MS and New Orleans, LA. Jacq watched AE and Jobo, while Jason and I met our friends, the Burkhalters, in the Big Easy for another long weekend. We shopped, ate at some fabulous places, and attended the Monday Night game...the Saints vs. the Packers. Needless to say, we had an awesome weekend. :)
I should have some pictures to document that weekend, but there is a long story regarding my camera and I don't have any. :(

About the doctors...Joseph developed double ear infections while we were gone (poor thing!) and had to be taken to an immediate care place on Sunday. Antibiotics and a decongestant later, and he is a much happier person! No wonder he was so miserable on our car ride to MS!! Well, after 7 days of antibiotics, he's still pulling at his right ear and screaming when you touch it, so off we go back to the doctor's office. Apparently his right ear had developed a hole in it and then rehealed itself, but it was still infected and he needed a different antibiotic to treat it. Round 2 of antibiotics!! And then, in between these two visits, he cut the back of his heel (near his Achilles' tendon) so badly he had to be taken to the E.R. for stitches (8 of 'em!). He had an X-ray done, some numbing stuff put on that didn't work, so he still have to have a local anesthetic injected, and then 8 stitches sewn in! Oh, my baby!! I was out in the car with AE...Jason was the brave Daddy who had to watch all that.

DECEMBER:

AE, Jobo, and I went to see the Peabody Ducks with a few of the moms from the Mommy group. It was my first time to see them as well. Joseph really liked the glass elevators and we all had to go for a ride up and then down in one. It was neat to see the ducks come down from the 2nd floor and then walk the red carpet to the fountain.

The Mommy group held their annual Christmas party at the local Community Center. Jason, the kids and I attended. Santa and Mrs. Claus were also there and they handed out books to all of the children. It was a lengthy process, but a lot of fun!

Jason turned 35 this month. In fact, he and my dad share the same birthday, but I won't mention my dad's age. :) Happy Birthday, hubby and Dad!! I hope you both had great days!

Jason's Mom got here last Friday, so I've been doing last-minute shopping, gift wrapping and trying to get the house in some kind of order for the holidays. Oh yeah, did I mention Joseph has another round of ear infections (Round 3, is it?)?

Happy Holidays...Merry Christmas...Happy New Year!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSEPH!!

Okay, so I'm a little late (2 days) posting this particular entry...I hope I'll be forgiven.

I can't believe my baby baby is now 2 years old!! It seems like only yesterday that he was born.

I've included a couple of pictures that were taken a couple of weeks and then a month after his birth. I never got any pictures of him with my digital camera while he was still in the hospital. As he came 10 days early, I was a little unprepared. We did manage to purchase a disposable camera, so all was not lost. :)

Here a few pictures of the birthday boy on his big day....

We spent his birthday watching football with some good friends. The kids had a blast playing and the grown-ups got to watch some football and catch up. Joseph was playing with one of the balloons that was left over from the party we had thrown for him and his sister on Saturday. He kept releasing the balloons outside, saying "bye, bye boon." On Sunday, he proceeded to sit on the remaining balloons until they popped, to which he would reply, "boon pop."

The second picture shows how crafty the boy is. I walked into the office and found his standing on the computer desk. He hurriedly threw the camera down and acted like he wasn't doing anything. I checked the camera and could have sworn that it was off. Well, when I was downloading the pictures to the PC, I discovered about 10 or so of these "self-portraits" that Joseph had obviously taken of himself as he stood on top of the computer desk. This was the only one which captured his entire face, the rest are of his nose down! Ha!

For Anna Elise and Joseph's birthdays, we decided to have a party at our house. We invited gobs of children, rented a bouncy house, ordered pizza and ate cake. I think everyone had a blast! Joseph and Anna Elise (not to mention good ole' Mom & Dad and Jacq) were exhausted come Saturday night. But so worth it! Take a look....

I'll include some more snippets about Joseph in another post.

School Days

Well, Tuesday officially started the 2008 school year for the Polk Family. AE was sleepy, but excited about her first day. Joseph was a-okay with everything...picture taking, backpack wearing, walking into the building...until we ventured into his classroom. He lost it!! There were tears, clinging, a lot of drawn out "Mama"s. We walked around the room, I got him seated at his spot at the table, showed him his snack and then tried to leave. He wasn't having it! The teacher's aid finally had to pull him from my arms as I walked out with tears in my eyes. I then snuck a peek at him through a window and I got busted! So, the tears and Mama-calling started all over again. I ventured down the hall aways and waited a few more minutes. One of the other mommies from the classroom rounded the corner and let me know things had quietened down in the classroom. Whew! I could now breathe normally and leave the building. I didn't realize how much having my youngest away from me for even a short amount of time would affect me, but it has. Bittersweet!

I somehow managed to skip getting a picture of Anna Elise in her classroom (probably because Joseph was all over the place and I was trying to keep him from disrupting her room!). Sorry, babe!

So, I pick them up Tuesday afternoon and AE has had a wonderful day. Great! Joseph, on the other hand, refused to take a nap (which he LOVES doing) and is somewhat sleepy. No problem, he'll just go to bed early and I'll remember to tell the teachers about his pacy in his backpack. YES...I forgot to mention that he needs his pacy when he sleeps! Am I horrible mom or what?! All in all, though, the teachers said he did great. He ate well, played well, no problems. Terrific!

Fast forward to this evening for a recap of today's events, and well, there's not much to report. AE had another terrific day and was in great spirits when I arrived to get her. Joseph had received his pacy for nap time and had actually slept some (an improvement), but still appeared a little sleepy when I picked him up. So, I guess this Mother's Day Out is treating him okay (and as a bonus, I have some free time to get things done that would have been extremely more difficult to do with children in tow).

Hope everyone is having a great week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNA ELISE!!!!

I can't believe my firstborn is now four years old! As of 5:33am, September 4, my baby turned 4! Here are a couple of pictures from her first few days with us!




We really had a family day, as Jason was home sick with the Flu (yes, Flu, in September...imagine that!). We started the day by singing Happy Birthday to AE, letting her open a couple of presents, and then doing whatever she wanted the rest of the day.

Except....

She and Joseph had Open House at their school, so we had to visit with their new teachers, see their classrooms, and talk to other classmates and their parents. It was a little stressful for Joseph, but he warmed up as the time passed. We then went to the library, where the birthday girl checked out a couple of books, but no movies since we had met our quota on DVDs. After that, we went to Kroger to purchase cakes for their upcoming combined birthday party (as Joseph will turn 2 on September 14th), but then realized the cakes I wanted to purchase (Ariel and Thomas) were at Wal-Mart. Ugh!!! So, I get to Wally World, have the two kiddos in the back of the buggy, and proceed to order 2 cakes. They are bouncing up and down in the buggy and screaming at the top of their lungs as I'm trying to tell the very patient lady behind the counter which cakes I wanted to purchase and when I needed them. She looked at me and said we have a 24-hour turnover on our cakes, maybe you want to come back next week, when it's quieter? She wasn't being a smart-aleck, she was actually throwing me a bone, and I thank her dearly. So, I will go back to Wal-Mart either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of this next week, because as Jason has so eloquently said, time and time again..."the dream begins September 9th, 9am through 2pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday...you're living the dream stay-at-home mom." But, as he also says, "it has been a four year, 24/7, pledeship."


Had a nice visit with Pawpaw and Nenie. Came home and had some cake (that AE had picked out earlier at our visit to Kroger), sang Happy Birthday again, and played around the house. It was a good day!!

We did something small on AE's actual birthday, because we are going to have a combined birthday party for both of them a week later. Not sure how many more years we'll be able to do that, but it's kind of nice not having to worry about two different parties!

Hope everyone has had a good week and will have a great weekend!!

Geaux Tigers!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Well, it was overdue, but AE and I finally got our hair cut. And we are now "stylish," as she likes to say! Take a look...





Joseph has been enjoying all of the construction that is happening in our neighborhood right now. They are currently building a house on one side of us and are about to start on the opposite side next week. Right now, he has the best view from his sister's window. Check it out...






We just found out that some very good friends of ours will be building right next to us, so we are very excited about our future neighbors!!!!



Hope you all are having a great week!

So Much To Say...

here's a quick synopsis of what we've been up to since the last post...


*Splashing around in the backyard due to the extreme heat (notice that Joseph has placed a chair in the pool and is about to jump from it!)



*Anna Elise getting to see her first stage performance of the The Backyardigans (her awesome Daddy took her and they had sooo much fun!) Notice the title is 'Tale of the Mighty Knights' and AE keeps calling it, "The Tale of the Nighty Nights!" Too cute.













*Games of chase before winding down for the evening





*Getting ready for Pre-Season Football (Geaux Saints!), which means lots of Who Dat?! and Tiger Roars are ahead

*Sneaking onto the kitchen counters and creatively eating our snacks (that would be a soft potty seat topper that he is sitting and scooting around on!)















*Attending a birthday party at a local gymnastics facility (what a blast!!)





*Quick family beach trip to Gulf Shores, AL. Joseph was so scared of the sand at first, but he got over his fears and was soon dumping buckets of it on his head and running straight to the ocean. AE fell in love with the beach last year and kept asking when we were going back this year...she got her way! We met a couple from Georgia (north of Atlanta, actually) who had two kids the same ages as ours and they all got along swimmingly. Their son, Preston is pictured with Anna Elise, but I don't have a really good picture of their, daughter Vivienne (please forgive my spelling!), who was adorable and so smart and well-behaved! The woman pictured with AE and Jobo was their nanny on the nights Jason and I went out to dinner. Her name is Glenda and she's the best!! She played with the kids and even bought them a little stuffed pelican and seal. Thank you, Ms. Glenda!! The last picture in this set is of all of the jellyfish that people kept catching. They were really bad this time of year and so many kids kept getting stung. Made you just want to stay in the pool, which was great because it was only 2 ft. deep (perfect for the young ones).

*Shopping for school supplies and being filmed on the local news (thank goodness there were no interviews done!) Okay, so my daughter and I are famous now, what can we say?! :)

http://arkansasmatters.com/media_player.php?media_id=86531


Thank goodness they didn't get us on camera once we had passed the school supplies section. AE had found a Bratz doll that she refused to let go of and had to be carried out of the store screaming. It was NOT pleasant!!

Later Tater!!