I Can Remember a Time When......

....Friday nights meant being anywhere but HOME...it meant a movie date in Baton Rouge, a football game or a party in a field with a bottle of Strawberry Hill (sorry Mom and Dad!!). Now, as I look around my house, laundry all over my couch, toys all over my living room floor and the sweet faces of my two babies...I find that there is no where in this world I would rather be!

Looking Up

Last week, I mentioned in one of my blogs that our family was going thru some tough times and to please keep us in your prayers. Well, prayers answered! Things started looking up for our family yesterday, with not only ONE but TWO GREAT THINGS!!! I told my friend Michelle yesterday that sometimes I don't understand why God challenges us the way that He does...her response was something very powerful and I will always remember...she said, "I believe God challenges us to keep us grounded, close to Him. Other wise we may never call on Him". Well said Michelle!

Hoping everyone has a great weekend! As for me and my family, we definitely will!!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day Weekend. Saturday, we all went to New Orleans to the Aquarium. Luke absolutely loved it!
Luke and Jeff with the McCall birds in the Amazon at the Aquarium

We had ice cream sundaes on the outside deck overlooking the Mississippi River

Luke and the Giant Frog



Sunday and Monday, we spent the day in New Roads on the river at Uncle Kenny and Aunt Lou's house. Luke loves to go to their house...as Renee' says, its like his own personal amusement park! And lets not forget Zach, he got held soo much, he is still suffering from arm-itis and Ms. Mable wanted to know who to blame for spoiling him this weekend....(MeMe, Nannie, Aunt Lou and Aunt Cindy, I gave her your phone numbers!! HAHA).

Luke's First Ride in the tube behind the boat (going realllllly slow at first) in False River (and its safe to say....he is now HOOKED!!!!)

Coolest little man on the river!

Jeff and Luke chillin' in the river


Of course, I can't put every picture taken from this weekend on here, so copy and paste the link below into your browser bar and it will take you to my photo album from my facebook page and you can see the others!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=254567&id=831130206&l=e583dad965

Ice Cream Sundaes

Today, Luke had his end of the "school" year party. He will now be moving to a new classroom with Ms. Deanna, but just for the summer. He will be starting Pre-K in August at "big school" and he is sooooo excited!! I think that he and I both are going to miss Ms. Karen. She was such a great teacher, very kind hearted and super to those kids. Today, she had each kid bring a ingredient for Ice Cream Sundaes and each kid got to pick out what they wanted on their sundaes. They had it all, gummies, oreos, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, whipped cream, bananas (supplied by yours truly), sprinkles and cherries and of course the famous Capri Suns to drink. She also had a special gift for each child. They each got a sand bucket with their names on it, bubbles, a coloring book, colors and I am not sure what the girls got, but the boys got a monster truck!

Swappin' Germs

Everyone here at the Hubbard house has a cold!! Today, I took Luke and Zach to see Dr. Pat for their colds. 1 draining eye, 2 snotty noses, 3 red ears, 4 prescriptions and $72.00 later, we are on our way to recovery (at least they are, Jeff and I have to fend for ourselves with OTC meds). Luke picks up everything from St. Patricks and shares it with everyone in the house. As much as I try to keep him from Zach, its just inevitable that he is going to get it too! Dr. Pat is such a great doctor (she even lets me call her on her cell phone whenever I need to---how great is that???!!!) and she takes extra good care of my babies when they are sick.

Yesterday, I took Luke for his 6 month check up at the dentist...if anyone who reads this talks to him this week, be sure to ask him all about it! He will very proudly tell you that he has 20 teeth, 10 on the top, 10 on the bottom and NO cavities!! He was excellent at the dentist, which was a great relief for me!

I hope that everyone is having a great week. I do have one request, when you say your prayers this week, please mention a special intention for our family. I will not go into details, but I know that each and every prayer counts! :)

Luke's Birthday Weekend

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE!! Today was Luke's 4th Birthday! He had a great weekend celebrating at school on Friday and again today at home with a big party. I am posting lots of pictures, so I will keep the writing short...

These are from Friday at school...




"Hannah Banana"


All of Luke's Classmates and his teacher, Mrs. Karen


Friday after the rain, Luke had a blast in the mud puddle outside


Spiderman Birthday-Sunday at our house




Luke and his Papa in their Spiderman masks




His John Deere tractor from his MeMe, Aunt Lou and Uncle Kenny


Turning 4 is very hard work...


So you can see Luke had a great Birthday weekend! Thanks to everyone who came to his party today and for the special presents!

Projects

So tonight, I had a couple of projects to do. I did cheat though...read on...

Tomorrow is Luke's birthday party at school with his little classmates. (Here is where I cheated)...I ordered red and blue cupcakes from Wal-Mart and I sent my sweet brother-in-law all over Baton Rouge in search of the Spiderman toppers since Wal-Mart was out of Spiderman EVERYTHING!! And the greatest Nannie ever saved the day by bringing them to me!


Also, I had everyone I know save me toilet paper rolls that I stuffed with Luke's favorite candy...suckers, starburst and tootsie rolls and wrapped them in red tissue with red and blue ribbon and a Spiderman sticker and a cute label that reads "Thank you for celebrating my 4th Birthday with me---Luke" for all of his little classmates. He has already asked me if he can be the one to pass them out to his friends!!


Then lastly I made a 7-layer salad for the Teacher's Appreciation Lunch tomorrow at Luke's school. All of the teachers at his school are so nice and I almost sympathize with them for the job that they do, so me making a salad for them was the least I could do.


So now I am off to do dishes and bottles. I didn't officially teach Luke this week about the "Birth Week", so instead I guess we will do a "Birth Weekend", starting tomorrow and ending Sunday with his big party at home! Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

2 Happy Things!

Happy 14th Birthday to Burke today!! Burke is our nephew (Jeff's Godchild) and we wish him a very happy and special day today!!

Also, if you read last week, I asked you to pray for Noah(www.noahsroad.com) and this weekend, he got to go home from the hospital!! Praise God! Please continue to keep him and his mommy and daddy in your prayers though, it seems they still have a long road ahead of them.

Have a great Wednesday!!

Father and Son Time

Luke got a big surprise today when Jeff picked him up from school...he was going to his very first LSU baseball game!! Jeff said that he was super excited!! They are still at the game at this time, but I am sure to hear all about it in the morning when he wakes up!! Luke is a very lucky little boy to have such a great Daddy!!

I got Jeff to send me a picture of the two of them together tonight at the game...decked out in their LSU gear!! Geaux Tigers!!!

2 Months Old

Today, Zach turned 2 months old! We spent the morning at Dr. Pat's getting 3 shots in his little legs and a dropper of meds to protect him from the Rotavirus. He cried, turned red and held his breath during the shots, but was easily calmed after I was able to hold him again. He now weighs 12 pounds exactly and is 24 inches long. He is in the 90 percentile for height (which means he is going to be very tall), 50 percentile for weight (which means he is right on target) and his little head (which is adorably perfectly round) is in the 50 percentile as well. He is on a 4 month old level with the things that he is doing at this age.

I am posting a picture of Zach at 1 month old and one from today so everyone can see how he is growing and changing. I did this with Luke, every month on the day he was born, I took a picture of him to see the changes he made from month to month. It was amazing to see how much he had grown and changed in a years time.
April 11, 2009-1 Month Old


May 11, 2009-2 Months Old


At 2 months old now, Zach loves to lay in his bed and watch his mobile spin, he enjoys sitting in his chair and looking at his little hanging toys too. He is following our voices, turning his head towards us when we talk to him. He loves for Luke to talk to him, giving huge smiles (and Luke gets sooo excited when he smiles at him). He doesn't spend too much time on his tummy, but when he does, he is able to push up a little on his arms and hold his head up. He is wiggling all over the place, putting him to sleep, hours later, he might be wiggled down the bed to the other side!! He is still talking, cooing, ohhhh'ing, awwww'ing. I have also given him his "lovey" now and he loves it as much as Luke loves his. He seems to find lots of comfort with it if I lay it beside him when he wants to go to sleep. He is now taking 5 ounces of milk and 2 tablespoons of cereal.

So as you can see he is growing like a little weed and I have to admit, I don't like it one little bit!!

Weekend Events

Whewww...time for Monday already?? Weekends just don't last long enough for me! Saturday, Luke and I got up early and left Jeff and Zach sleeping and went all over town running errands. We got breakfast at McDonalds and then went to the post office, Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree, gas station, the pharmacy and Bu-Boncs (Le-Blancs) for flowers. Luke was great and was a big help in picking out flowers with me!! We spent the rest of the day cleaning house, planting our flowers and playing.

Sunday, we went to church and then out to lunch for Mother's Day. After, I took the best afternoon nap ever!!


This week, we will be very busy. Its Teacher's Appreciation Week at Luke's school. We got Ms. Karen as special gift yesterday from Luke. I have volunteered to make a salad for the teacher's lunch on Friday and also on Friday, I will be bringing treat rolls, cupcakes and juice boxes to Luke's school to celebrate his 4th Birthday with his classmates!! I guess I could also say that this week starts Luke's Birth Week! I know he is still too young to know what that is, but I do and I plan on teaching him all about it!! Tomorrow, Zach will be 2 months old. I am not sure where the time has gone, but its just passing right by me. He and I will be visiting Dr. Pat tomorrow for a check-up and 4 shots.

Hope everyone has a great week! Tomorrow I am going to do a special little post for Zach turning 2 months old!

Happy Mothers Day

The picture above was taken just moments after Zach was born. I can well remember how I felt holding my new born baby and giving sweet kisses to my first born baby. It was the one of the most precious and bittersweet moments in my life and I will never ever forget it.

Being a Mom has become one of the most important jobs that I have ever had in my life. I love it more than anything in this world. I am very lucky to have the Mom that I have to instill the values of being a good Mom in me! I owe a lot to her. She formed me into the person that I am today and the Mom that I have become. Every girl should be so lucky!!

I wish every Mom in my life a very very Happy Mothers Day tomorrow. I am planning to spend my day right where my heart belongs...with my 3 Men!!

I end this with one of my favorite quotes about motherhood. I think that it really sums how it feels to be a Mom...

Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
- Elizabeth Stone

Happy Birthday Nana!!

Today, we wish Nana very Happy Birthday!!
We love you and hope you had a great day!!!

My Mothers Day Recipe

Today, Luke brought me a very special Mothers Day gift home from school. It was all wrapped in pretty pink and white polka-dotted paper and had a very special card that he made just for me. He opened it for me and it is a very special cookbook that includes recipes from each Mom in his class. It also includes a "special" recipe that Luke told Ms. Karen that I made for him. It was just too cute not to share...

Chicken Nuggets and Eggplant

"My mom goes to McDonalds to buy me Chicken Nuggets with fries and BBQ sauce. We leave and go home and eat. At home she cooks eggplant on the stove she puts it in a pan with salt and sugar mixes it up for 10 minutes then we eat it. I love it"

Is that not the cutest??? I have to say though, one little girl...her Mom can make Jelly Beans...she definitely must be Super Mom!!

Just for Nannie

For some reason, Nannie (aka Renee') has this thing about my children wearing only a diaper. When Luke was a baby, she always wanted to undress him. And now, she does the same with Zach. So today when I changed Zach's diaper earlier, I took his clothes off and took a picture of him just for Nannie!!



Of course, what would my blog be without a picture of Luke too. Here he is outside on his bike.

Noah's Road (A Special Request)

Several months ago, I was looking at my sister-in-law, Teresa, blog. She had a link on it to a Mom in Arkansas that had a baby in NICU and it asked that you please keep this family in your prayers. So I went to Kelly's blog and read it. It was so very sad. Her little girl was very sick and spent 3 weeks in NICU (if you would like to read her story, go to kellyskornerblog.com). After reading about her, I started keeping up with her blog, reading it almost daily. Almost each day, she has a request on there for another child to pray for. Last week, it was Noah. Noah is a 5 month old baby who on April 20th, was shaken by his babysitter. My heart just broke right then. I went to Noah's blog and read about him. I cried and cried thinking about this poor little innocent child and his parents and what they must be going through. Noah is in NICU and they are waiting on test results to determine the extent of any brain damage and if he will have his vision.

I am not sure what it is about this baby...I dont know if it is because I have a little baby, if it is because I have a baby boy that has beautiful blue eyes or if it is because I know how it feels to walk into the NICU and see your baby laying there...but I have become obsessed with this child. I think about him, pray for him and his Mom and Dad all of the time. I just can not imagine what they are going through and it just breaks my heart.

I am asking you to please visit his site, its www.noahsroad.com and please pray for him and his parents.

Conversations with Luke

I want to share a few of the conversations that Luke and I share. I think that you will find them as funny as I do:

On the way to Ms. Mable's house in the mornings:

Luke: "Mom, whats that tractor called?"
Me: "I dont know, Luke, maybe its the street paver"
Luke: "oh"
Luke (same breath): "Mom, what are those worker builders doing?"
Me: "they are working on the road"
Luke: "Mom, what are their names?"
Me: (wondering if Luke thinks that I know everyone on earth), "umm, I dont know, Luke, maybe his name is Joe..."
Luke: "Joe?"

Shopping, in line with at least 20 people on Saturday:
Luke: "MeMe, whats that smell?"
MeMe: "I dont know, Luke, I dont smell anything..."
Luke: "Well, I do!!!"
(this is one of those earth please swallow me moments)

In the car this afternoon after school:
Luke: "Mom, can I go to work with you tomorrow?"
Me: "No, you have to go to school tomorrow..."
Luke: "But I want to watch you make money..."
(Jeff and I tell him that we have to go to work to "make money" so he can have and do all of the fun things that he gets and does)

Each day is a new day with Luke. He keeps me on my toes with his 100 questions a day, I try hard to answer each one with a good answer (even if I have to make something up!!)

Our Fun, Busy, Sad Its Already Over Weekend...

Is it already time for Monday again?? Weekends just go by too fast. We had a great weekend!!

Friday, we had a visit from Daddy and Ms. Debra. We cooked a delicious dinner and visited.

Luke, Papa and Zach


Saturday, Luke, Zach and I went to Baton Rouge to do some shopping with Mom and Renee. We had lunch and we also went to see Renee's new apartment! It is very nice and she is just sooo excited! And I got to do one of my favorite things...help her pick out things to decorate with!!

Luke and his Nannie


Zach and his MeMe


Saturday night, Luke got to go night fishing with his Daddy. He was very excited. And as you can see from the stinger, they did very well!


I am including a picture of Luke and Zach from Saturday morning. Zach likes to lay in his bed and have the mobile on. He loves to look at the animals, giving huge smiles as they slowly spin around. Well, monkey see, monkey do and here comes Luke getting in the bed with him!




And that's a wrap on the weekend at our house. I am sad that Monday is here already. Hope everyone has a great week!

Happy Friday!

I don't think that I have ever been so ready to see a Friday come! The week has been great, but I am sooo ready for the weekend. Luke and Zach have had a great week at school and with Ms. Mable. We all seem to be adjusting well to the new routine and I am settling back into work a little more each day. John and Wendy have been great to me, I am very thankful for a great boss and friend!!

I hope to get some "honey-do's" done at the house over the weekend. We have Luke's 4th Birthday coming up and if you know me, you know that I love love love a birthday party. I make a huge deal about birthday parties! I love everything about a birthday party-- the picking out the perfect theme, the cute invitations with the catchy wording and espically finding the one special thing that will make my party unique! So I am getting my list ready for Jeff and myself!

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!