Flat Stanley visits Iraq

This is Flat Stanley. He has been traveling all over the U.S (and Iraq) starting from a 3rd grade class in Massachusetts. Rob took him with when he left for Iraq. I put up a few of the pictures he sent.

~~~~THANKS ROB~~~~Flat Stanley standing Guard duty with a couple of Army Soldiers.
Flat Stanley getting ready to go out on Patrol.

For more information on who Flat Stanley is visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley

Just a picture of Emma

Just a picture of Emma. No special occassion. She was just being her cute little self.

Emma's New Swing Set

I finally went and bought Emma her swing set last weekend and put it together Wednesday night. Yesterday we went out side and played in just a diaper as it was 77 degrees out at 5:30p.m.

Emma is big enough now to sit on a big girls swing and be able to hang on while she is swinging. (So glad I didn't bother to buy the baby swing)

Going down the slide... wwwhhhheeeee!!!!

Completed projects

Our yard is back. This shows how Rob redid the front landscaping by adding a retaining wall around our bushes.

Here is one of the patios and part of the back driveway we had done. It is so nice to have these. Our 5th wheel fits perfectly.

See! Behind the fifth wheel we will eventually be putting in a new garage. (maybe turning our current one into an entertainment room.)

This used to be our open back patio. We extended the slab that was there and had this sunroom put it. I love it.

Inside of the sunroom. The nice thing was that the lamp, plant and rug was the only thing I had to buy. Sweet.
Even Ceiba approves.

Construction pics #1 - before and during.

HERE ARE A FEW PICS OF WHAT A DISASTER THE YARD WAS LIKE DURING THE CONSTRUCTION.

End of March 2008

Can't believe that it is the end of March already. Before you know it there will be Christmas music playing on the radio and in the stores. (although for me that's not such a bad thing).
So Rob is still at home. We are on some much needed borrowed time. But the word is he won't be around for long. (that's about all I can say on this kind of forum) The time we have had him for has been very well spent. (I will be posting pictures this week) I have had him very busy at the house. He put in a new border wall around the front of the house that houses our shrubs and plants. He also put a matching one in around the mailbox so I can plant my flowers when they come in. He dug up and replaced our walk way between the backdoor and garage. He planted some new plants for me too.

Our contractor has the new driveway finished and it looks awesome. I love having so much parking space. The back patio slabs have been poured also. The back yard has been levelled and the new sod was laid.

Only two more things to do to complete our major projects: the sunroom (which will be done as soon as my sunroom contractor gets us into his schedule - within a week or so) and our deck. (the deck I may be putting in myself to save a little).

I plan on spending lots of time outside with Emma this summer. Hopefully I can find her little tykes clubhouse swingset at a discounted price as she loves to play on the swings and slides. I also plan on setting up a little pool for her to cool off on those hot Louisiana summer days.
Our oasis is almost finished... finally!!! YEAH.

We are all very busy but well. Emma is doing really great. And Rob is anxiously waiting to leave.
Hope this finds that all of you are keeping your chins up and smiling as the sun shines down on you.

Daddy's Little Helper - March 9th 2008

Rob was moving our small shed to make room for the start of our construction. Miss Emma wanted to be out helping him. She was his nail girl. Rob said he put in extra nails just because she kept bringing them over to him.

Swanton Vermont 2008 Part III

Little Miss Biker Chick - Emma "binky" Leigh

"I think its almost time to give those things away to the binky fairy"

Emma's cousins - Silvia and Sophia (well the back of Sophia)
Gone are the days of playing hide and seek or freeze tag.
Now its Ipods and Gameboys (or something similar)

Rob, Dorkus, Sheila, Scott and Emma all watching Rob's video show.Rob and his cousin Kevin

Uncle Mike and Rob catching up a bit.

So that's all for the pictures I have from our trip to Vermont. I hope you all have enjoyed them. Sorry it took me so long to get them uploaded. (our internet is down at the house due to our construction - so I have to find the time at work to slip this in). More on the web soon.

Swanton Vermont 2008

Rob, Emma and myself ventured on a very short trip up to Rob's home town of Swanton Vermont. This blog entry is in three parts. First part is my journalling, and the second and third will have pictures. (Part 3 has not been completed yet but should be up tonight).

Although the trip started very rocky on Thursday morning, we finally made it to the hotel late that night. Up early the next morning and out the door to start our whirlwind of visits.

We had dinner that night with Scott, Kylie, Haley and Rob's friend Sean Chaney (Shawn). Nice little get together. I think Rob really enjoyed catching up with Sean (Shawn). (sorry not sure how he spells it) It truly seemed like we were in and out of houses and restaurants from about 10am til 10pm and then climbing back into our bed at the hotel. A very long and exhausting day.

Which is probably why we didn't get as early of a start the next morning. Although there were many promises made to stop by families houses we only made it to Uncle Tommy and Aunt Bonnie's house. (Sorry about that everyone) Its one of my favorites places to visit. They have always been so kind to me and have really been great to Emma. Bonnie makes Emma the cutest things throughout the year. (Bonnie... Thank you again - Tommy... your are in my prayers every night)

After that we headed over to the Swanton Community Multiplex where the family had a little get together for us. This was great. It made the short amount of time we had really functional (for a lack of a better word). We got to see more people than I think I have ever met on any of the other trips up North. Rob even got to see his old friend Chad.

Rob gave the family a little computer show to give them all an idea of what he does for a living, (it actually choked me up a bit as he is going to be doing a lot of what he showed very soon). Once the show was over we all sat down to eat. (Probably everyones' favorite part of a good party.) Then we all took pictures. (which will follow)

I think all in all everyone had a good time. It was nice to see so many faces smiling.
Emma had a great time meeting her dad's side of the family for the first time. Of course I think everyone fell in love with the little cutie. (I mean how could you not after seeing her - especially when she is able to melt your heart with her little smiles and girly giggles).

That night we went out to dinner with Scott, Kylie, Paul and Malette. It was a great time. Listening to Rob, Scott and Paul reminisce about their childhood was hilarious. Emma got to be a biker chic too. (You'll see on the picture blog) I didn't think we were ever going to get her off of the bike. It has been a long time since Rob and I laughed as hard as we did that night. Thanks guys!

Sunday morning we went over Andy's house (Grandpa Andy to Emma) and played scrabble for a couple of hours with the gang. I have to say, Andy is a Scrabble King. I think he has the entire scrabble dictionary memorized. Scott's not bad either. Rob... well we'll just say Rob played the game. :) While we played scrabbled, Emma played with Sophia and Haley. I think even Grandma Sheila got involved with their play for a little while.

Once the last game of Scrabble was over, we had to bid our farewells as we needed to catch our plane home to Louisiana. We had a great time everyone. And as always, you are all invited to come visit us down here anytime.

Hopefully the next trip we make up that way won't be years to come, and will last a little longer that 72 hours. (not to mention be in the warmer time of year so that we all don't come home with strep.)

SWANTON VERMONT 2008 part II

Chad and Rob

MONKEY CHEEKS

Yesterday morning, I said to Emma as she was eating half of a banana - "Em, hurry and finish eating that banana, so I can put your jacket on.' She took the entire 1/2 banana and stuffed it into her mouth. I laughed so hard as this was not what I meant. Its funny how kids interpret things you say.

EMMA'S NEW CAR FROM HER PAPA & NANA

Sorry Dad, I know its not the best... but I wanted to share how you put Emma's first car together without hesitation for Mom on Sunday night. Thanks!!!
by the way, Nana did say this was Emma's Easter present... All I can say is... can't wait to see what she gets for Christmas this year. :)

Monday night, after Emma and I got home, I let her ride the car around the house for about an hour or so.
She LOVED IT!!!

Here she is racing through the kitchen.

I think this one will be Daddy's NASCAR buddy.

Can you say "beep, beep" ?

Nana & Papa's New Baby ~ LOLA ~

Introducing our newest family member ~ LOLA~

She is actually my parents new little addition. Rob and I got this little freebie on a trip to PETSMART. (it seems we are always picking up barkers from there.)

Isn't she cute?
Mom and Dad came down and picked Lola up this past weekend.

I had Emma and Lola outside with me one afternoon and the two of them were thick as thieves. Em now refers to all of the dogs as "puppy". It's very cute.

Now for some reason, my daughter is always sneaking over to Casper and Ceibas' bowls to grab a handful of their dog food (Beneful). She then quietly walks through the house eating it. It is so gross. But she likes it.

Here she and Lola were bowl-blocking for each other so they could both eat the food they are not suppose to be eating, and as you can see by the look on Emma's face she was busted.

That's right little girl - "uh-oh"

February 20th, 2008 - Emma's surgery

Morning of Emma's ear surgery. She was in really great spirits that morning.

The nurse was getting Emma all ready for her procedure. She even gave Emma some "happy" juice to relax her before going into the back.

Emma wanted me to take a picture of her ankle "bracelet".

Happy juice has kicked in. She was feeling no pain.

Keep the back closed up Emma. (she was playing run away from Mommy here and was haing a blast doing it)

I call this one "DROOPY EYES" Hey man that is some good stuff.

I'm all ready to go....

Nurse Barbara has come to take me back. Mommy is really nervous, but Emma had not a care in the world. Hmm, I wonder why?Post Op - Emma had a really hadr time coming out of the anesthesia. She was trully angry about this and literallly screamed and screamed for about two hours after she was rolled into the recovery area. The only person she calmed down for was Rob with the help of a little dermerol.

Home that afternoon. Emma was quite the tired little tyke. She slept pretty much the entire afternoon and evening.

Papa and Nana Conklin sent Emma this super cute bear and aballoons which Emma has been playing with the past couple of days.