Where all I have lived

Lately The kids have been asking lots of questions about where I and David grew up. It got me thinking of writing it all down due to I had to take a minute to think about it myself. I have lived all over the place in my 32 years on this earth it seems ☺️ I'm a natural gypsy!

When I was born till about 4 (that might be a little off due to I was young and really don't remember) I lived in Hammond, La. I lived with my grandparents mostly. When I was 4 or around that age we moved to Kiln, Ms. This is where I call home if someone asks. When it was time for me to start school I moved back to Hammond to live with my Mom. I went to kindergarten/5th grade there. Midway elementary and Natablany Middle. Fun fact about Natablany Middle* My mawmaw and pawpaw went there also and countless others in my family. It was called Natablany I believe but it was for all grades lower and upper. 

When I was in 5th grade after Dare graduation very close to Mid February my mom pulled me out and I went to stay the remainder of the school year with my aunt and her family in Irving, Tx. So February/May. 4 months at the most. My grandmother was going to homeschool me the following year due to some personal reasons. My aunt homeschooled her kids already and they where equipped already. Once May hit and I remember that very well (she had just had a surgery around this time frame) I was HOME bound back to Hammond. Of course during the summer I visited my maw maw and pawpaw!  My grandma Turk homeschooled me for 6th maybe a little of 7th grade. I remember this time as the best educational experience I ever had. We learned about history and music. I could go on for days about what she and I learned. I can still say all the presidents, states, capitals, the Gettiesbrug address! The list could go on and on. She was the one that nurtured me with my love for history. 

If I remember correctly I went back to public school from 7/8 at Nesom. I hated this school and this time in my life. Plain and simply!!!! Once I finished up there I moved BACK to the Kiln. It was my 15th birthday! I started at Hancock High. I loved it there too!!! * I met David this year 9/19/98

I went my 9th grade year there. 10th grade I went to a private school near Poplarville, Ms. I got married that October and had Kaylee the following February and took my 11th grade off to get settled. We moved back to Hammond and I finished my senior year at St Amant. During that time we moved a few times. We lived in our family rent home first, then we moved to Albany, then back to our family rent home. We then moved to Tickfaw (had Kaylee's 1st bday there). We then moved near my mom and grandparents by the airport until David got back from boot camp. 

We then moved to Colorado Springs , Co aka Ft Carson. When we first moved there we lived in an apartment near base and once we got housing we moved on post. I did move off post when David went over seas and moved into a town home and realized that was a bad mistake and decided to move back on post. 

When he got medically discharged we first went to Hammond. I had Dj and then we moved to Ponchatoula. We lived there a short time before going home to the Kiln. We lived there until hurricane Katrina. We moved to Tn until we found housing and a job due to being misplaced (horrible time BTW)

We moved to Magee and lived there about 2 years. David's job laid everyone off and we moved to Hahnville for another job. We lived there for a short time and moved across the lake (Mandeville) for better schools. We decided then that we wanted to homeschool and we moved to Pearl. David was working off in Shreveport and we wanted him to be able to have a shorter drive. It really didn't work out there so we moved back to Hahnville . 

My Granny was having some health issues and we moved to Franklinton help. We lived right down the road from her for about 2 years. Maybe a tad less. 

We bought our land in Franklinton early 2011! (Best time ever!)

We have been at this address for 5 years now!!! 5! It's the longest I have ever lived in one place! We are never moving from here this is our dream it just took us a while to find it. We have 12 acres in the country ❤️ beautiful stary nights and I can have a garden, chickens and smelly compost piles lol 

Good things come to those who wait! God has truly blessed our little family. We started a little early but that's what makes us who we are today. 

There is a lot that contributes to us moving, job mainly, hurricane! Family health issues etc but I wouldn't change our journey one bit. 

 

Till next time-Val 

Trying something new

Technology has been the worst thing that has hit my family. I'm sure many people can say the same thing. Don't get me wrong I LOVE to play on my phone, tablet or watch tv at times but for the most part it's a time waster. We realized that we spent to much time tuned into to technology. I couldn't sit and have a coversation with Kaylee without her having her phone in her hand or Emilee havin to have her iPad to read. Like I said, there is good things about it. Like being able to read in the dark and not having to turn on your desk lamp. So we decided to cut back our hours of usage. We have tried this many times and nothing really stuck but I think we have come up on something that might work for us. We put the devices up at 10 pm. We didn't turn anything on or let the kids have their "technology" until after dinner which was 6 pm! They did amazing today. They played cards, did school work of course, Kaylee broke out her violin, Emilee and DJ helped with dinner, chores where done without being forced and we even went outside in the cold weather to fix my compost bin!!! 

We all had better attitudes which was mainly what I was going for. I found myself out of boredom checking my phone or bank. Why? Because I had formed a habit. A bad habit. I want to break this cycle and I want my kids to not be dependent on social media or a phone. I'll post in about a week with an update. Pray for us all 😉 

Till next time-Val

Masquerade Ball 2016

The kids signed up for a masquerade ball at the local theater. The swan☺️ 

Funny story that goes with this is....

I had violin lessons Friday morning. So I told the kids to be ready and I would do their hair when I got home. We would leave around five to pick up Grace and head to the ball. Mom met us with the masks.  Once we were there for a few minutes I noticed no one else was walking in which was very odd. Then I decided to look at The ball invite. I realize I had gotten the kids ready a day early! So we jumped back in the van and went to eat at Raising Canes and headed home. We then got ready the following day and finally went to the masquerade ball! The kids had a wonderful time and met new friends. Emilee and Dj especially enjoyed themselves because they danced all night long, well from 6:30 to 10:30. 

New year brings....

I have been getting my garden stuff ready  and tonight I talked David into drilling holes into my compost bin. This is the first time that I will be making my own and I can't wait for the good results with my plants.

I have really been eager to try a green smoothie and I finally broke down and bought the stuff. Funny thing is I bought collard greens instead of a kale the first time but it tastes the same to me! 

Dj approved! 

Today I made our first smoothie with kale and by far it's my favorite! My dad loved it too! 

Here is the recipe- 

We also have been loving the videos on Facebook of the quick tips to cook different things. I LOVE pretzels and I just had to make this. 

Pizza dough out of a can makes 3.

Shredded mozzarella cheese and turkey pepperoni! It was delicious and we will be making it again 😍

I am kind of behind on my meal prep but I made a few extra so we have been eating them. I ate the last of the shrimp, squash and zucchini today which was my favorite one! 

Till next time-Val 

Meal prep

I started something new this week. We are going to give this meal prep thing a try. I really hope that they freeze well. I got this idea off of Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/323414816965936763/

I plan on doing chicken chucks and freeze veggies next week. It was honestly  a lot of work BUT I really liked it. I had to was everything, cut etc. I think I was in the kitchen for at least 2 hours! Mainly because brown rice takes a minimum of 45 minutes to cook.

I baked tilipia on one. Steamed veggies for all and made the homemade dirty rice for the others. 

Orange is for me and purple is for David.

In the freezer they go! It says you can take out that morning and when ready to eat just zap in the microwave!!!

David made snack bags with a mini salad to go with each meal. 

Of course I cleaned all of our fruit like I always do with one cup of Vinager and the rest cold water. It cleans the fruit or veggies and gets rid of all the pestasides.  I made snack bags of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries! 

For breakfast I have cereal, homemade egg mcmuffins, grits oatmeal.

Dinner I have plans for weight watchers meals. Mainly crockpot meals. Chicken stroganoff, Catalina chicken and homemade chicken noodle soup. We are going to have the usual southern thing and make red beans on Mondays and tacos on Tuesday! Aka taco Tuesday 😍 

Praying this week goes by smoothly! 

Till next time -Val

Recap from the past few days

Today was the first day back at dance. The kids loved it as usual! DJ mainly because he loves his hip hop class and LOVES that they are doing Michael Jackson music!!! Kaylee decided she wasn't gonna do dance anymore. Sad, I must say but I will get over it. We do get to spend extra alone time together while the other two are dancing their booty's off! So that's a plus 😍

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures today and that's really unlike me. I think I was just so busy.

On another note-We picked my cousin up today. He is staying the week with us. DJ is very excited for his visit because that means he has a boy to hang out with and they both LOVE video games.

Friday of this week I will be starting violin lessons back! I'm very excited about this. I don't really know how it is going to work out being the lessons are in Slidell but we will see how far it is and how long it takes me to get home before I make a final decision on contuining them there.

I am looking forward to some other awesome things happening in the next month. One is co op! Again Kaylee isn't going to do this but the other two are. 

Then there is a garden club coming up soon and we get our visit from my friend Kelly!!!! The Bacchus ball is approaching fast along with Mardi Gras parades! Busy busy. We go to our first parade of the season Sunday. Which I am super excited for. I love watch the bands! It's why I go in the first place. Anywho-it's time for bed for this Momma.

Till next time-Val

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