Wildflowers still going WILD!

Inspiration..........

My spring project is to transform Gus' room from a 'nursery' to a 'toddler's' room!! I have been perusing the internet for pictures and ideas and today I had my ah-ha moment of inspiration! I happened upon this woman's blog, her name is Lauren and she has a son about Gus' age and her taste are very similar to my own (looks like she has a much, much bigger budget) but, I have to start somewhere. Not to mention she decorated his room with the Little Golden Book, The Saggy Baggy Elephant, which is one of the pictures I have framed in Gus' room!!! I can't wait to get started with this project! First things first, convert the crib to a toddler bed and out with the changing table then we will take it one step at a time!! I will make sure to post pictures of my progress!

Visit with family in pictures

The Monday that Jake's brother and his family were here visiting we took them sight seeing despite the snow! Gusley and Canon started their day with a little rehearsal...Gus on guitar, like his daddy and Canon on drums, like his daddy!









Then we headed out to Nashville. They opted to get out and go souvenir shopping, we stayed in the warm, dry car and drove around the city. I was so peaceful because it was President's Day so the government buildings were closed. Not much traffic and lots of beautiful scenery. Here is the capital covered in snow.

Then we headed to Opryland Hotel. We take all of our guests here because it is just so beautiful. So, if you come for a visit and you have never been....you will go!!!

Gus smelling the flowers.

Getting just a little closer.

Now, that is how you smell a flower folks!!

Lily and the pink flowers!

Gus going in for another sniff!

Matt, Sandy, Canon and Lily with the horses at Opryland!

Gus enjoying some of Jake's ice cream while watching the fountain!

Then we took them out to Lieper's Fork and this was our view on the way home.

And we were greeted by this! Our little house was so warm, cozy and inviting after a long day on the road.

And Gus went straight to the circus!!

We had a great day with the family showing them around our neck of the woods and we hope they enjoyed it too!!

Day 2 of the Cajun snow experience

Today was a pajama day for us cajuns! We did not leave the house except to get Buttercup out to do her business. We had a little more snow and freezing temps with no sun in sight. The ground is like a plank of ice. We can walk on it and it does not break in most parts. Jake walked to the mailbox and you could barely see any of his foot prints!! I have posted pictures of our day. Buttercup is still not too brave, but she is so cute in her sherpa!! We are hoping to get out and about for a little while tomorrow as we all have serious cabin fever!! Will be sure to post some pictures. We did have a little excitement....a few cars fishtailed in the curve on our street because they were driving to fast. Also, I guess folks were not able to get their cars out of their driveways because at least 30 people walked by going to Kroger which is about 3/4th of a mile or so from the house. One poor sole must have been desperate...we could see in his bag Dr. Pepper and Potato Chips!! He will be able to tell his kids/grandkids that he walked a mile in the snow for DP and chips!!!! Happy Snow Day!!

Cajuns experience snow....

Today was the day of the BIG SNOW. The meteorologists were going bananas in anticipation of the Winter Snow Storm 2010! Jake headed down to the city for work and Gus and I held down the fort. Jake called us every so often to see if it was snowing yet. No, honey, not yet was my reply for the first 2 or 3 calls and texts. By 11am the storm had arrived and within an hour and a half the ground was covered. As it continued to snow the toys in the back yard got shorter and shorter. Buttercup had to go out but has a very strong aversion to getting her paws wet and would not get off the stoop. I had to go out and put her in the yard. She did her business and within an hour the snow had covered her paw prints and her package. We will have to stay away from the vicinity if we make a snow angel or a snowman tomorrow!! It stopped snowing around 5:30ish and turned into freezing rain/sleet which is what it is still doing as I type (12:12am). More snow is expected overnight (another 1-4 inches).

We did a little experiment to see how fast the sleet was falling...we put a cup out on our railing and within an hour it was 3/4 full. It is really coming down. This is the first big snow these Louisianains see. It is so peaceful watching the snowfall. This afternoon as Gus took his nap I just vegged out and watched out the windows as the snow fell to the ground. It is nearly impossible to follow one particular snowflake to the ground, but I tried over and over again until I got dizzy!!

This is totally opposite of a hurricane, but at the same time exactly alike. Everyone rushes to the stores for last minute groceries, the stores shut down early, the news stations are out and about the towns, everyone hunkers down in their homes and simply wait the storm out. The only difference is you don't board up your windows. During hurricanes if you lose power, yes it is hot, but you can at least open the windows to get a draft. During a winter storm if you lose power, you bundle up with jackets, blankets, etc and stay as warm as possible. The thought of this scares me...we do not have a gas range or a fireplace so how would we keep warm is something I am praying we do not have to figure out. I can't say that I prefer one over the other because I prefer neither! Below are a few pictures from the day. I will be posting more tomorrow! Enjoy!!

Snow Day Saturday

This is what was happening outside of our house on Saturday.......



And this is what was happening on the inside.............................

Snow, what snow!!

Starting at the beginning of the week the news channels have been pumping up the area that we were going to get 2-4inches if snow today. Just about every county in the state of TN closed the schools and had a snow day. Jake took the day off because his commute is a bit of a haul and we figured it was better for him to play it safe than to get on the road and we have this torrential down pour of snow and he be stuck in Nashville or on the road for 4-5 hours trying to get home like last year when this happened. Well we did not get near the amount of snow they predicted, but we did get some and we got lots of black ice to go with it. That being said all the counties have declared tomorrow a snow day as well because of the road conditions. At 10pm we looked out on our thermometer outside and it was 11 degrees!! It is suppose to get down to 4 during the night and the wind chill is somewhere around -10, YES NEGATIVE TEN. We may become shut-ins until it warms up a little! We all really enjoyed watching the snow fall. It is so beautiful and peaceful. We had all the window shades up and Gus ran from the kitchen to the living room looking out the windows watching the snow fall. Too cute!

This was our driveway when the snow began to fall early this morning. You can see it starting to collect on the across the street neighbors house.

Gus' turtle sandbox....he would smile so big every time he noticed his turtle covered in snow!

The playhouse!
Too bad it was entirely too cold to even think about going out to play in the snow.

Our house around 4:30pm......

This is as 'deep' as it got........

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree......

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we headed to the local tree farm being run by the Boy Scouts to get our Christmas Tree. It was cold and we knew what we wanted so we went straight to that section and found the perfect tree in a matter of 2 minutes, I kid you not!!!! It took longer for them to take it down than it did for us to pick it out. Gus really enjoyed himself at the farm. He went from tree to tree pulling on the price tags.

No Mommy, let's get this one too!!

Or maybe this one?

Our nice light display! Thank you, Jake!

Next year he will go all Clark Griswold on us...stay tuned!!

As a side note to all our friends back home, do you remember how the people on Prevost Drive used to decorate/light up? (they may still do it, but it has been a while since I have seen it) Well rest assured that we feel like we are right back down there! The street around the bend from us is ALL lit up! I will post pictures for y'all to see!!

Trying to get a picture of Gus in front of our tree...this is a two person job and I was attempting it alone!

I don't think he cared to much for Buttercup's Christmas collar...what do you think?



We are really looking forward to Christmas this year! It is going to be so much fun for all of us!