From the Mouths of Babes

Malachi has been sick for the last 2 or 3 days. It's his asthma again. So he and I were sitting on the couch watching t.v. He started coughing a little but exaggerated it. I looked down at him, smiled, and asked him what was wrong with him. He responded, "I have asthma, duh!"

Thanksgiving

We decided to go back to Mississippi for Thanksgiving to see Ray's family again. Ray's mom, sister and niece were going too. They were leaving before we were. They asked if they could take Samara with them and we would just meet up with them when we got there. Hey, works for us! That way Samara and Jada (neice) could entertain each other during the trip. It was a great idea so I was surprised at how uncomfortable it was having Samara that far away from me. She's spent the night with family before, but it was always close enough that I could go pick her up if needed. As far as I can tell, she didn't have the same discomfort.

After Samara left, we took the boys fishing. There's a nice little pond we like to go to that has a walking trail around it as well as a basketball court nearby. After fishing for a while we walked over to the basketball court and played for a while.

The next day Ray and the boys left for Mississippi. I had to work that day as well as Thanksgiving day so I stayed behind. Ray's sister left her SUV for me to drive while she was gone, she's so nice! Anyway, talk about weird! I haven't been home alone in so long I can't remember! I had planned on doing some extensive housework since I had an empty house but opted instead to spend time with my mom and Rich. We went out to eat and then I went home with them. We stayed up late talking and watching t.v. It was so relaxing. I realized I really needed the break.

On the day after Thanksgiving, my mom took me to the airport at 5:45 in the morning. Crazy that people are up that early! I flew to New Orleans where Ray, Nehemiah and Billy Ray were waiting for me. We went straight to Mrs. Harper's house to visit and meet up with Rachel, Yvette, Jada, and Samara. The rest of the boys were there too. We had breakfast of grits, eggs, and sausage, Yummy! After visiting for a while, it was time to go get the hotel room. We were staying in Gulfport. The hotel had an indoor swimming pool and I was so disappointed that I didn't bring our swimsuits. I didn't have the heart to tell the kids that there was an indoor pool. Malachi started getting sick. Ray stayed on top of his breathing treatments every 2 hours. We were really concerned and considered taking him to the hospital. Thank God we didn't have to. He probably wouldn't have been able to go swimming after all.

The next day we went to Pascagoula. We stopped at Pizza Hut to eat. Then visited the Scranton Nature Center. They had several diaramas, some live snakes, a live baby alligator, and some birds and rabbits. The tour guide took the baby alligator out of the cage and let the kids pet it. After the tour, we went outside to play on the playground. There was a walking trail but we didn't get a chance to walk it.

That night, we drove to Wiggins to visit with Ray's dad's family. They cooked a big meal and there were lots of other family members there to share it with. Ray's sister Brittney, Ray's brother Bryan and his girlfriend and her two kids, Ray's sister Ernestine and her daughter were all there. Of course Scoop came over too. We stayed late, playing cards and putting up the Christmas tree. All the while, Malachi getting his breathing treatments every 2 hours. Poor guy. We played outside a little bit, but it was a little too cold. But the kids had to spend some time playing in the bus. Here's a picture of Seth on the bus. The next picture shows Malachi "driving" the bus and if you look really close you can see Samara's hair right next to Malachi.

Back at the hotel, we relaxed, watched t.v. and played on the laptop. Ray bought snacks for all of us. Nehemiah got a bottle of root beer and I took a picture of him drinking it...

We had planned on making our trip home an adventure. We were going to stop by a zoo, go to a childrens museum, and stop at anything that looks interesting. But the weather was cold and Malachi was just too sick to do any of those things. We did stop in Vicksburg and took a minitour of the town. It was really cool! Lots of steep roadways that lead right down to the river. We stopped at the Coca-Cola Museum where Coke was first bottled. Isaiah found an antique baby high chair and he was amazed!

On the way home from Vicksburg, we stopped at a gas station with a Whataburger attached. We were already in Texas but I can't remember the city. Anyway, it was the coolest Whataburger I've ever been to. They had a real Harley Davidson on display, as well as a full set of drums, and guitars and records hanging on the walls. Ray got our Coke out of a really cool soda fountain next to the register. If you look closely at the guitars that the kids are standing to you can see that they are actually signs for the Mens or Womens restrooms. Cool, huh?

Most Recent Events

A week ago Wednesday, we took the family to go see my dad while Nehemiah was in school. It was a great visit. Celeste and Dustin were there too. I wish Nehemiah could've gone with us. Though we weren't there long, it was a lot of fun. I've decided we need to do this more often!

Last Tuesday we took the 4 little ones to the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound. I took some great pictures but my camera's memory card has since gone "Ka-Put" so I don't have any to share. Anyway, they had several bounce houses/slides, a hay maze, a hayride, a playground area, a pig and tortoise to observe, and of course pumpkins. The kids had a blast. And to top it all off, it was FREE! But we did purchase some of the tiniest pumpkins ever. The kids decorated them with markers when we got home.

Then on Tuesday night, Nehemiah played his last 8th grade football game. My dad even made it to the game! We lost again, but the Eagles put up a good fight. Nehemiah didn't play as much as he usually does. I couldn't figure out why. But after the game, Nehemiah told me that his coach selected him to be Eagle of the Year. Actually about 5 kids are selected throughout the year. Anyway, Friday night he and another student will be going with the coach to the Smith-Turner high school football game. They will get a chance to meet the high school coaches and get a tour of the facilities.

Wednesday night was HALLOWEEN! Samara went as a beautiful princess. She was so proud of her painted nails, makeup and body glitter. All of the boys became scary monsters. Each boy picked out a mask and a fake knife at the store. Ray bought a jar of fake blood to add character. Then we went home and found some old clothes. We let Isaiah, Malachi and Seth cut some holes in the old clothes, then they went outside and painted blood on the clothing. They looked so great when they were done. And it was special because they each made their own costume.

Isaiah lost his first tooth!

Tonight while we were at Nehemiah's football game, Isaiah lost his tooth! It's one of the bottom teeth. The one right next to it is very loose too.

He was shocked that he was bleeding and was amazed at how small the tooth was. He asked me to carefully place it in my coat pocket so he could put it under his pillow tonight. And he wanted to know if the tooth fairy has wings.

Isaiah thinks he's kinda ugly now. He's been worried about losing his teeth because he likes to look good. I think he's an adorable snaggle tooth boy!

Can't wait to see what she brings!

Parents Nite Out!

Ray had a great but simple idea. We should sometimes go out WITHOUT the kids. Good thought, sometimes difficult to accomplish. Anyway, Saturday night when I got off work, Ray had everything arranged. Ray's mom watched the kids while we went bowling with some friends. Our friend Tina and her fiance Sean, my brother Dustin and another friend of ours named Vanessa came with us. I had my first Long Island Iced Tea. It was pretty good, but strong, I only needed one drink! Anyway, I rarely drink, so though I wasn't drunk, everything was extremely funny. So this is why people like to drink! It was a blast. I told Ray we need to do this at least once a month. Here's some pics:

Eisenhower State Park

On Saturday, October 13, after Malachi and Isaiah played their football games, we headed north to Eisenhower State Park. We already had the trailer rented and packed so we were able to go immediately after the game. We rented a screened in shelter since we tore up our tent this summer at Rocky Ridge when we were out riding 4 wheelers. It was a good thing too since it poured down rain the last day we were there and due to the shelter we stayed dry and comfortable. Ray thought ahead and brought the microwave so we just heated up our leftover hamburgers, hot dogs and hot links and had a delicious meal. We had a picnic table in the shelter too. We played Uno, talked, laughed, listened to the rain, hung out and just did nothing. It was great. We had fun before the rain too. We went fishing, rode bikes, played at the playground, rode 4 wheelers, and found spiders. Isaiah hooked his own worms and caught several fish. One of the perch he caught was big enough to bring home and eat. Trent caught the tiniest fish I've ever seen on a hook, it looked like a fishing lure. I think he was mad. I rode Nehemiah's bike for a short time. Malachi told me I looked funny on a bike. I slowed down to stop and talk to him and when I leaned over to put my foot down, my jeans got caught on the pedal and I fell to the ground. How embarrassing.
We met another family with small children when we were fishing at the pier. Samara, being the social butterfly, walked right up to the other kids and made friends with them. She introduced them to me as her "brothers". I guess in her world, all her closest friends are her brothers. Anyway, Ray overheard her telling them that they are her friends but they "can't come to our house because we live in a porch"! She was referring to the screened shelter! How funny.
I guess everyone liked the shelter. When we were packing up to leave, Malachi told me he didn't want to go. He said he liked it here in the "stick house" and thought it would be ok if we were to move to another "stick house". Funny how they like things like that, even without t.v. or video games or computer.

Samara gets her ears pierced!!!

On October 9, Samara chose to get her ears pierced! She was so excited and eagerly walked around the store picking out all kinds of dangling earrings. I had to explain to her that she wouldn't be able to wear that kind of earring yet. I also explained that the actual piercing may hurt a little. But she didn't back down. She boldly sat in the chair and hugged the Claire's boutique bear. She chose the pink earrings which represented the October birthstone. (I thought it was perfect, knowing how much she loves pink and how she unknowingly chose the earrings that stood for the month in which her ears were pierced.) When the first ear was pierced, she jumped a little and then slowly reached up to feel the earring. She didn't cry or move and wasn't afraid to get the 2nd one pierced. I am so proud.

The rest of the Mississippi Trip

I apologize for taking "forever" to post the rest of our trip. Believe it or not, our trip was only 2 days! We left Texas on Sunday, September 30 and came back home Wednesday October 3.

Anyway, the second day, we went to visit Ray's paternal grandmother, Mrs. Laura. She suffers from Alzheimers and did not recognize Ray and was not able to talk to him. But she was willing to pose for this picture. Sorry about the quality of the pic, it came from my cell phone and I didn't realize that I was able to change white balance, etc on the camera phone.

Several other family members were there. Aunt Mae, her daughter Sheeka and Sheeka's twin daughters. We also saw Uncle Jimmy Dale and Aunt Laura. Here's Ray with his Uncle Jimmy Dale. One of his dad's brothers and the one who looks most like Ray.

Here's a picture of Aunt Mae and Sheekas twin girls sitting on the porch with Samara.

After visiting with Ray's family, we headed to the coast to ride on a shrimping boat. Ray's sister Brittney came with us. It was cool because there were only 2 other visitors on the boat. So we got an up close and personal tour! Here's Nehemiah, Isaiah, Malachi and Samara on the upper deck of the shrimp boat.

Here's a picture of our shrimping guide. He explained everything you ever wanted to know about shrimping. He had lots of pictures on the boat of things they've caught over the years, including a sea turtle. He also had before and after pictures of the area due to Hurricane Katrina.

We were disappointed that we only caught a handful of shrimp. There were a few other fish and lots of jellyfish and "sea sourcrout". Here's a picture of one the shrimp we caught and threw in a tank.

But the good news was, we caught some small non-stinging jellyfish and the fisherman gave one to each kid to hold.

The twins posed for a silly picture while sitting on the back of the shrimping boat.

Here's Ray sitting on the lower deck of the boat.

Next we headed to the beach. Here's Brittney and the twins walking along the beach.

Then we rented jet skis. Brittney did not want to ride. She said she can't swim and didn't feel comfortable riding out in the ocean. We tried to convince her but to no avail. We rented two 3 seater jetskis. They let us put 4 on each jetski since we had little ones. Trent, Isaiah, Malachi and Nehemiah rode on the first one. Ray, Seth, Samara and I rode on the second one. The twins were having a blast, laughing and carrying on, until Ray tried to turn the jetski and we flipped over. Then they were both terrified and screaming. The lifeguard guy rode his jetski over and helped Ray to flip our jetski back over while I held onto the twins. Ray climbed on first, Samara hesitated but was convinced to get back on. Seth refused to get back on, instead crying and clinging to me. I finally pushed him back up with the help of the lifeguard. We headed back to shore and Ray and the twins got off. I got to ride alone for the rest of the trip. Trent was able to keep his jetski from capsizing, but rode too fast on the waves and knocked Nehemiah off the back! Of course Isaiah and Malachi were terrified that they just lost their brother in the ocean! Nehemiah was able to climb back on before the lifeguard guy was able to rescue him. Here's Trent and Nehemiah after they dropped Isaiah and Malachi off on the shore.
Me on the jet ski.

Here's a picture of the bridge that crosses over the Mississippi River. We took this pic on the way home. Goodbye Mississippi! We'll be back soon!


While on our way home, Ray saw his dream bike so I took a picture of it. A picture of the stretched Hayabusa for all to enjoy. Thank you stranger for letting us take your picture!!!

More of the Mississippi Trip

After visiting Mrs. Harper and Rev, we stopped by Ray's dad's house. We visited and went outside to ride 4 wheelers and bikes. Here's a picture of Ray's sister Brittany, step-mom Faye, and Ray sitting on the tail-gate.

Here's a picture of Isaiah riding his bike in Grandpa's front yard. See the bus in the back yard? Grandma Faye drives the school bus and gets to park it in her front yard each and every day! Is that cool or what?
Of course, Malachi and the twins played in the bus for hours on end. They pretended to go to school. They had to climb on and off the bus to get "lunch money" and pick up their "homework", etc. They took turns being the bus driver and Malachi observed that he could not see if kids were walking in front of the bus! How cool is that? Seeing things from another perspective is really educational! Here's a pic of Malachi and Samara standing on the bus.

Here's Samara and Aunt Brittney.
Samara and Grandpa Billy Ray.






Seth and Grandpa Billy Ray.

Nehemiah learned to ride the Raptor. Here's Nehemiah taking Malachi for a ride.





Trent taking Isaiah for a ride.


With all the motorized vehicles moving about, Grandpa pulled out his "zero turn" lawnmower. Ray and Nehemiah took the mower for a ride. Difficult to navigate but fun once you learn how.


There were little bugs everywhere! Faye said they were called Love Bugs. Seth caught some and wanted to take a picture.

That evening, we went out to eat at the "Western Sizzlin" Restaurant. Dinner was delicious. Ray's other sister, Ernestine, also showed up. Here's a pic of Faye and Ernestine's daughter.