Stomach Flu-4/Brooks-0

Last Saturday a stomach bug and took down each member of my household one by one. Karis came down with the bug on Sunday. Thia woke up sick on Monday. I was able to hold off until the girls got over the worst of there sickness and came down with the bug on Wednesday. I think the girls must have had a 48 hour version of the bug and I only had a 24 hour version. But this bug really took us out for a ride.

On Thursday, us girls took a ride up to Hattiesburg to be ready for the departure ceremony for the 256th Brigade (the brigade Page is deploying with). We spent the night with our sweet friends, the Meridas. Bright and early Friday morning we got up and headed to the base. I was still not eating very much, but I was feeling much better than before. I wish you could have seen Karis all day. She was stuck to her daddy's side. She cried during the hour of the Pass and Review. She wanted to "go march on the field with my daddy." Page had to either hold her hand or carry her the entire day. She asked him when he was coming back when he walked away from her for 2 seconds. She watched his every move. When he came off the field from the Review she told him, "We are going to take you home."

Saturday began as a beautiful day. We got up, got dressed, and headed to the zoo. We got there as it opened and had a wonderful time because all the animals were out and doing something. The weather was in the 60's and absolutely clear. We were surprised by our friends Jason and Braci who came out to the zoo around lunch time. We all ate lunch together. They stayed at the zoo while we headed home to put the girls down for a nap. After naps, we took the girls over to Jason and Braci's for them to spend the night while Page and I had an extra long date night.

Page and I went to eat at Redfish Grill (one of our favorite places to go) and then we came home to watch a movie. Right after the movie Page begin to complain that his stomach was not feeling so well. Yep, you guessed it. Somehow, someway (even through a cleaned house), that stomach bug found a way to take out Page too. He spent all last night in the bathroom. I think he may have had it worse than we did.

To be very honest with you, I spent a long time last night in tears. Even today I am up rather upset that God allowed the stomach bug to attack Page. I will keep you posted on how I am doing with that as the next few days unfold. Our Sunday plans with Page have definitley changed, but I am praying that he mends quickly and that our family time is not harmed significantly. I am posting this today so that y'all can pray with us that he regains his strength, no one else is affected by this bug, and that our time with Page over the next 2.5 days continues to be special and fun.

Mardi Gras in the Snow

I decided, since Page was not here with me to go to the Mardi Gras parades, the girls and I would take a trip. I have some very dear friends, the Littletons, that I met in Rome, GA while in college. I babysat for their son, Caleb, who was 1 at the time. He is now 13.

Anyway, they are now living in Sevierville, TN. Eric, Julie, and Caleb had not met Thia yet, so I decided this would be a great opportunity for us to go see them and for them to meet Thia. The girls did great! We split up the trip by spending the night in Montgomery with Page's parents which is almost exactly half way. We left on Thursday, before Mardi Gras and got to Montgomery that night. As we were going to bed, the weather reports were predicting that we would wake up to several inches of snow. I was a little nervous about that and decided to wait to see what the next day would bring. When we woke up there was no snow, but as we were leaving it had just started snowing. I was so excited that the snow had held off until I could get out of town. Little did I know that it would snow on me the entire way up to TN. I decided that I would much rather drive through snow than rain any day. The snow kept the girls entertained as we drove.

As soon as we got to Sevierville, the girls climbed up in Julie's lap and made themselves at home. Julie has already planned for grandchildren by thinking to keep the toys Caleb had when he was little. The girls thought they were great!

The girls had some really fun opportunities while in TN. They got to see some snow. They were able to go sledding, which I did not get any pics of because I was taking a shower at the time. They were trying to get in the sledding before the snow melted and apparently Grandma Julie used it as a distraction while I was taking a shower. I do have pictures of them getting ready to go sledding.

After the sledding craziness, we realized that the girls do not have any clothes warm enough for this type of weather. So we decided to try to find them some in expensive snow gear. We were very blessed to find this outlet with really cute clothes having a HUGE sale on their winter gear. We got the girls snow suits which will last them this season and next (we got them a little too big). Karis was very excited about her suit because it had gloves and a hat that matched. I thought I had a picture of these suits, but I couldn't find it. If I do, I will put it up later.

The girls loved getting to spend time with the Littletons and their dogs, Hobbs and Louise. This is Hobbs in this picture laying on the kitchen floor next to Karis.

Grandma Julie gave Karis her first Oreo and taught her how to twist it and lick out the middle. No one realized that since Karis does not get much sugar that we were in for a real treat later that night as the sugar kicked in.

Julie also made her famous chocolate chip cookies with Karis, which EVERYONE enjoyed too many of.

Caleb enjoyed playing with the girls too. I think he enjoyed Thia the most though. She attached herself to him and forced him to walk her around the house a number of times. She started standing up by herself for the first time while we were there. She has not started walking yet, but I am expecting it any day.

We had a wonderful time renewing friendships and watching the girls get loved on by this sweet family that I love very much.

Dressing Up

A few weeks ago we had dinner with a few other moms and kids whose husbands are either in class or studying on Monday nights. The moms really enjoy the fellowship and the experience is a great form of community. We all bring food for dinner and watch as the kids are too excited to eat. Here are some pictures of the fun.

Ava helped all of the girls into one of her many princess dresses she had just received for her birthday. Ava helped Karis into her Sleeping Beauty ball gown.

Here are all of the girls in their gowns. Beginning on the left, Lillian LePointe (Tinker Bell), Ava Robert (Bell from Beauty & the Beast), and Karis (Aurora from Sleeping Beauty).

After the girls were dressed, they put on music and spent a long time twirling in the living room. They had a blast and they all slept well that night.

Drew Bree's Testimony

I am really sorry I have not made any posts in a while. I am taking lots of pics and have a lot to tell you about how we are doing. I wanted to share this clip with you in light of the Saints victory in the Superbowl. I am very proud of our team, but I extremely proud of our quarterback and the example he lives on and off the field. I thought that y'all would like to see this as well. I am having trouble getting the YouTube video to embed, so I am going to leave you with the URL address. Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0buCfbFuHw

Sleeping Issues: Day 26

Overall, or family's transition to Page being gone has been smooth. Last year when Page was gone for several months, Karis acted out and expressed anger in other ways. This time, she has not had the anger, but she is having trouble sleeping by herself.

For the first few nights, Karis would wake up around 1:30 am crying out until I came in to reassure her. This would continue almost every hour. This problem only lasted a few nights....thank goodness. She quickly moved to wanting to come sleep with me. She would start out in her bed, but around 1:30 am she would wake up and either climb in bed with me or call me to come get her.

I soon gave her permission to come to sleep with me if she woke up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep. After I gave her permission, she quit wanting to sleep with me. I thought we were through the sleeping woes until I walked in the girls room one night to check on them. This is what I found.....

Karis is sleeping on the floor in front of the gate blocking their door. I put the gate up until I go to bed so that she does not get up and play in the bathroom or my room (which she has a tendency to do when she "can't sleep.")

A few days later I walked in the room and could not find Karis anywhere. She was not in her bed. She was not in the floor. Nor was she in my room. I finally went back in their room and looked in the bed with Thia. There they both were, curled up next to one another.

She has climbed in Thia's bed almost every night since then. On most nights Thia yells at her and I have to come get Karis out. However, somehow Karis climbs back into the crib after Thia is asleep and falls asleep next to her. I fought this for about a week and then realized... they are both sleeping well and I am getting a full nights sleep. Why am I fighting it?

Saints Championship Football Game: Day 25

I will have to admit that I have not been a Saints fan for very long. We came into the fan club this season. As I have watched them play and then watched the interviews with the players after the games, I am not only cheering them on.... I am very proud to be a Saints fan. They work as a team and have done SO much for this city.

Last Sunday we watched them play in the championship game. We ate dinner with our friends, Jason and Braci Lawson. The girls were dressed for bed before I walked over to the Lawson's apartment. I knew that the night would be late, so I decided having them dressed for bed would be one step closer to getting them there when we walked in the door after the game.

Karis watched the game for the first 3 quarters. She was finished after that and wanted to have a pillow fight with Jason. They fought for about 10 minutes. Jason was amazed at how tough she was. Karis would get knocked down and come back for more.

Thia enjoyed all the attention she received as well. She went from lap to lap hugging, laying, and crawling all over each one. She cruised and crawled all over the apartment. She even talked Braci into reading her a book during the game. I don't think Braci minded due to the fact that she was not all that invested in the game. :-)

We are very excited about watching the Saints play in the Superbowl. I think this is the first time ever I have even cared about an NFL team not the mention the SuperBowl. We are headed out this week to get the girls and I some Saints outfits to wear on Sunday. We decided we were not going to be the only ones not to wear black and gold to church on Sunday. Yes, 95% of the church had on black and gold the week of the championship game. I have never seen anything like it. Different culture here, but I have to say....I kinda like it. Hope you help us cheer on the Saints this coming weekend!!

NOLA Children's Museum: Day 18

On Saturday I took the girls to the New Orleans Children's Museum. Karis had a great time. We met some friends there and Karis, Rachel, and Foster played for over 3 hours. Here are some pics from our fun day.

The kids went immediately to the bubble room when we got to the museum. You can see the huge table filled with bubble making equipment and soapy bubbles. There was also a round truck tire that was sliced open. The ring held the bubbles and the kids could get in the middle and pull down on a lever which lifted huge ring around them to create a bubble around them. It was really cool.

They also had an area to get your face painted. Karis has never wanted to get her face painted before, but when she saw her friends do it, she decided she wanted to as well. She waited her turn in line and then told the lady painting, "I want a rainbow." She sat very still while the rainbow was painted on her face.

The museum had houses that were kid sized. This particular house was set in the 1800's with furniture, dishes, and appliances one might see during that time. Karis enjoyed sweeping with a straw broom and loved pumping the water to wash dishes.

Rachel's dad (Thomas Covington) is a contractor. He and his family (Jennifer (Mom), Foster, & Rachel) are missionaries here in New Orleans. They are working with families in the Hollygrove area to help them rebuild their homes. Here Rachel is showing Karis how to use the tools and put the piece of wood on the frame. Karis enjoyed wearing the hat and apron.

The museum was having puppet shows on the day we went, so we attended on of the shows before lunch. The show we attended was featuring stories from the Hispanic culture. My favorite was the story about a sneaky possum who tricked the coyote out of eating him. The story was very similar to our cultures "Briar Rabbit" stories.

After the puppet show, we ate our packed lunch in the eating area of the museum. The kids enjoyed sharing their lunches with each other. I took a picture of Thia so that y'all would believe she was with us.

After lunch the kids played with hoola hoops for several minutes before packing up and heading home.

Later on that afternoon we were able to talk to Page online. Karis acted a tad bit shy at first, but after the first few minutes she warmed up and started telling Page about her day at the museum. We were so glad to see him. I was glad we had a day that wore them both slap out!