Sparring Practice

The boys were excited to try out their new sparring equipment. Chad has sparred before, but Evan is relatively new to the sport and is just starting to learn. They looked cute in their outfits, but the practice only lasted a few minutes as I was afraid of injury since they are so unevenly matched.

My cuties!

Posing like they are ready for action.

Chad looking all grown up in his uniform.

Flat Stanley

This weekend it was Evan's turn to entertain Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley is a character from a book and every weekend, a different child in Evan's class gets to take him home. Then, during their time together, the child takes pictures and documents the adventures that he/she and Flat Stanley have in Flat Stanley's journal. We had a blast just looking at the journal and seeing everything that Flat Stanley has already done this year. You can see why Evan loves school. They are always doing something fun.


In the midst of picture taking, Chad grabbed the camera and took a couple of photos of himself. Check these out:

Flat Stanley eating ice cream with Evan at Dairy Queen.

Flat Stanley playing video games.

Flat Stanley helping with the guinea pigs.

Self-photo #1.

Self-photo #2.

T.V. Mounting

We continue to work on getting our living room furnished. This weekend Todd finished mounting the t.v. on top of the fireplace. It took about a week because the first mounting kit that we got had a defect and wasn't straight. 

I was sweating bullets as Todd and I lifted the t.v. up onto the mount. My sweaty hands didn't really help the situation as the t.v. is pretty heavy. I could just imaging it crashing to the floor as we were trying to get it high enough to latch onto the mount.

Nevertheless, we got it up and Todd was able to watch the exciting Saints game on it Sunday afternoon. Of course, we haven't gotten our sofa in, so he had to stand (he was cooking at the time, so basically just went back and forth between the kitchen and t.v.). What a guy!

Todd showing off his t.v. mounting skills.

The t.v. is up; now for the rest of the room....

Saints Tailgating

On Sunday afternoon we all went to a tailgating party in preparation for the Saints game. We feasted on barbecue and ice cream and played football and frisbee with the boys. The weather was so nice it was impossible not to have a great time.

Evan getting his face painted.

Even I got in the Saints spirit.

-- Posted from my iPhone

Crafty Evan

Last night Evan was in a crafting mood. He decided that it would be fun to make some bracelets.


I got out a box of beads and he immediately started picking out beads and designing a pattern. He made an orange and black one with a cute pumpkin bead and flower charm for his teacher.


He then made a cute Christmas one for himself:



He really loves the character beads.

-- Posted from my iPhone

School Festival

On Saturday afternoon Evan and I headed out to his annual school festival. They had lots of fun booths for children of all ages.

Shooting a paintball gun.

It wouldn't be fall without a painted mini-pumpkin!

-- Posted from my iPhone

Evan's Flag Football Game

On Saturday morning I took Evan to his flag foot ball game. Todd usually takes him, but had other things to do, so I jumped at the chance to see my boy in action on the field. He had a blast. For me, however, it was a comedy of errors. 


First of all, the weather had turned cooler. It was very sunny outside, so I wore jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt and made the assumption that I would be warm enough. Mistake #1...it was freezing out on the football field. Other parents were huddled in winter coats and under blankets and I was there freezing my tush off.


Misunderstanding number two: Todd said that Evan's games are 30 minutes. "No problem," I thought. We got there at 9:30 for some warm up practice, the game was supposed to start at 10:00...we would be out of there by 10:30 or so, right? No, I was wrong again. The game didn't start until 10:15 and the 30 minutes is start and stop game time, not 30 minutes continuous time.


Well, here I am taking photos of Evan, freezing and realizing that I am going to be here a lot longer than I thought. I eventually noticed that all of the other parents had brought lawn chairs to sit in. Did Todd tell me that I would need a chair? No, he helps coach the team, so he never uses a chair. I did have a mini-ice chest with two drinks in it, so I ended up using that to sit on as the ground was wet.


Eventually, it is 11:15 and the game is over. I am still freezing, my legs are killing me from sitting on the little ice chest and now we finally get to go home, right? No, not exactly. Then I find out that Evan's team has TWO games to play that morning. Fortunately, the second game is right after the first with no break in between. The games are finally over at, get this, 1:00 p.m. Talk about change of plans.


Anyway, Evan had a great time and I had lots of fun watching him and taking pictures. It all worked out in the end!

Evan getting instructions from his coach.

Geared up and ready to play!

"I think we can take them!"

Evan is ready to play ball!

Fun Friday

Both boys were at home on Friday. We did some homeschooling in the morning. Chad worked on his lessons from school while Evan did some worksheets, practiced his handwriting and memorized his number eight times tables.


I promised to take the boys out for lunch which is something they love to do. After some negotiating, they decided on IHOP. Evan really loves the pancakes there.


In the afternoon the weather was very pleasant so we spent some time outside. I am loving the cooler weather!

Chad sitting in front of Evan's huge pancakes.

Evan ducking from the camera.

-- Posted from my iPhone

Brothers Working Together

One of Evan's homework assignments yesterday was to invent a new compound word and then come up with a convincing argument of why it should be included in the dictionary. His word was shindell (shin + dell). The definition of shindell is the little bits of food that are left in your teeth after you eat. For example, "You may want to look in the mirror when you go to the bathroom because you have shindell."

I printed out some pictures of teeth and Evan made a poster to help convince the dictionary representative that his word really belongs in the dictionary. He ran into some problems with the glue that we have, so Chad pitched in right away and helped him complete his poster. I love it when the boys help each other out. Way to go! 

Chad trying to get the glue to come out.

"Maybe taking the cap off will help get this stuff out!"

"I love working on projects, especially when they involve glue!"

Growing Guinea Pigs

Riku and Leon are eating like crazing and growing bigger. Instead of being babies, they are more like teenagers now.


The boys spend time with them every day and I have noticed that the guinea pigs are less skittish and more comfortable around them than they were when we first got them. Evan used to be afraid to hold them, but walked around half the day with Leon in his arms yesterday. 

Riku and Leon under Chad's leg.

Evan relaxing with the guinea pigs.

Evan with Leon on his back and Riku at his head.

Brotherly Love!

One Down, Many More to Go

We have had a pretty typical week. One bit of good news is that we finally made a decision on what sofa to get for our living room. It is on order and should be here in about three weeks. Once we have that, the rest of the decorating should be easy, right? Luckily, I have a good friend who is a decorating diva. Once decision down, one million more to go.


Evan went on a field trip to the Acadian Village in Lafayette today. It is a recreation of what a typical Cajun village looked like in 1800. He had a good time. His favorite part of the trip was the gift shop. He bought a mini deck of playing cards and two ceramic rocks that look like alligator eggs with mini alligators coming out of them. Oh, he also liked that the bus they rode on had a bathroom and that they got to watch movies there and back.

Football, Haircuts and Furniture Weekend

It seemed like we spent the whole weekend running. Evan started playing flag football and had his second practice on Saturday morning. After that, I was determined to take the boys for a haircut as they had been looking pretty shaggy for the past couple of weeks.


After the haircuts, I took the boys out to eat. While in the restaurant, we saw a young man a few years older than Chad who looked like his twin. Since Todd wasn't with us, we decided it would be a good idea to take his picture so that we could show him. We had the best time trying to figure out how to take the picture and be inconspicuous at the same time. I got one shot that ended up very blurry. Chad got one also, but it only showed the back of the young man's head. Needless to say, we weren't able to show Todd Chad's twin, but we did have a lot of fun trying.



We continue looking at furniture for our living room, but have yet to make any final decisions. There are just so many stores and choices. We have looked online and are also considering looking in New Orleans. With even more choices, I fear that we may have an empty room for a long time.


In addition to all of these activities, there was also a LSU game and a Saints game this weekend. Both teams won, so Todd is happy!

Evan post haircut...looking good.

Evan insisted on taking a photo of himself. This is the result.

Evan once again turning the camera on me.

Chad trying out a mini chair while furniture shopping.

Evan acting silly in another mini chair.

Evan the Photographer

On Friday night I was feeding Riku some lettuce and Evan turned the tables on me by becoming the photographer. He was very careful with my camera (under the threat of bodily injury) and got some good shots.

Joan and Riku

Riku munching down on some lettuce.

Welcome Clark Rudolph!

Congratulations to Amy and Brian (my brother) on the birth of their son Clark on Monday. He is a cutie patootie and we are all so excited to have him in our family!

Baby Clark

Brian and Clark

Amy and Clark

I Was a Cutie!

I have been working on my personal autobiography for my EFM group at SMEC. Our assignment is to recount our spiritual journey through photos and then share it with the group as a way to get to know one another. I will give you a sneak peak at my first set of photos. Shhh...don't tell anyone in my group.


It was really fun to gather the photos and reflect on my life. Both Chad and Evan had the same comment, "Mom, none of these pictures look like you."

Joan's baby/childhood photos.

Furniture Search

Now that our living room ceiling is completed, we are on the hunt for some furniture to fill it. We went looking at sofas and were very overwhelmed. So many sofas, so little time. We all had a great time checking all of the choices out.

Chad looking comfortable.

"This one looks comfy, mom."

Todd looks ready to watch the game in this chair!