I'm Five

Jacob was so proud to turn five. He talked about it for weeks before and I am sure will talk about it for weeks after. He tells people in his selective southern accent, "I'm fauv." The Saturday before he turned 5 instead of having a big party Jacob chose to invite Dylan to the Louisiana Museum of Arts and Science (aka Science Center) and out for lunch. I found these cool matching shirts at Target for cheap and the boys loved being twins! After the museum we took them to McDonald's to eat and play and then home for about 3 hours to play with his new toys. Highlights of the day included Jacob being terrified and then being brave enough to see the mummy exhibit in the 'cave', people thinking Jacob was my child and Dylan was Max's, and too much fun playing with his Ninjago Legos. The day was memorable especially since there was little preparation and stress on my part.

Jacob with his best buddy watching a science show.

Lunch at McDonald's Playland

On the day of Jacob's Birthday I took him Burger King and ate with him. I have to revel in this time in his life that he is actually happy to see me at his school and holds my hand as we walk in line. Awww! We enjoyed eating together at our own little end of the table. When Dylan's pre-k class came in he was able to sit and eat with us. Both were overjoyed! They never see each other at school, let alone get to sit together! It was a birthday miracle!

 

I picked Jacob and his friend, Kaitlyn, after school. We decided he needed a friend for dinner, to open presents, and to have cake and ice cream. When they first got home she read him a book. It was so sweet both of them sitting together on the couch. (She is the one that wants to marry him.) They played a little and then we ate dinner when Max came home. Totino's frozen pizzas were Jacob's choice for dinner. (Sooo easy for me!) Then we opened presents and had cake and ice cream. The highlight of the evening is Kaitlyn and Jacob beating up his new punching bag.

Day Date

Max and I went on a much needed day date while Jacob was in school. We headed off to the other side of the Mississippi to Nottoway Plantation in White Castle. It was beautiful and I was fascinated by the history and the renovation of this old home. The grounds also had new buildings added to the many old and the plantation is used for weddings, events, and overnight stays. We recommended it to our friends and they booked it for their anniversary.

Our tour guide. She fit right in.

Lounging on the full porch outside
the master bedroom. The owner
had many special things built into
the plantation for his wife. One being
a slightly slanted porch so the rain
wouldn't puddle and get his wife's
feet wet. Awwww!

 

It was a beautiful 70 degree day, considering we were still in summertime. The very next day ended up being 90 degrees. 

The Mississippi River is in the back ground. There is a thin island in the top left hand corner. When the plantation was built the river flowed on the other side of that island. Over time, the river meandered wider and became much closer to the home. The highway is just down from the levee and runs right in front of the plantation. Max is standing about 5 feet down from the top of the levee. Amazingly, this is where the water was last year when the river was flooded. (Max took Annalisa to tour the plantation when she came to visit and they took pictures of the high river.)

I really wanted to climb one of the many old live oaks on the grounds, but this low branch was as far as I got. Maybe next time :)

 

After we tore ourselves away from the plantation we decided to take a drive to Bayou Corne. Max had never really gone into Bayou country and we enjoyed the scenic drive. He says we wants to live in a small town on the Bayou. I don't really think we would fit in :)

While I was getting out of the car to take this picture I caught a huge black and yellow grasshopper to take home for Jacob. Needless to say, he was not to happy when he learned his surprise was an ugly 3 inch bug. Even though he freaked out, he did warm up to the thing and ended up taking it to school to share with his gifted class.

 

Max and I ended our day date with a lunch at Mason's Grill. It was good to get away since we hadn't had a date in over three months. We took a lot more pictures but I won't bore you with a slide show :)

Already?

Jacob comes up to me and says that his tooth hurts. My first reaction was, "oh great! He has a cavity!" he shows me that it is his front bottom tooth and I notice it looks crooked. Yep, his first loose tooth and he is so excited! He wants tooth fairy money. I didn't think age four was when they start loosing teeth.

I met one of Jacob's friends that is in his gifted class. Ava Grace was exited to see him and stated to me in her darling southern accent, "I just love Jacob! He is soooo cute! (swoon, swoon)"

Jacob's friend, kaitlyn said since she can't marry her dad then she'll marry Jacob. When her mom asked why she would want to marry Jacob she said "well he's nice and I think he'll be a good dad. But he has to be Jacob Hickman". Awwww! They are such cute friends but she swoons over him sometimes but Jacob is oblivious.

Tid Bits

Some of the things Jacob has been saying just crack us up. When he 'fought' his dad with his noodle swords last night, towards the end he exclaimed, "Is that all you got?" Of course, after Max chuckled a little on the outside and a lot on the inside he lam blasted him with sword fighting!

On Saturday, Jacob was doing an art project with tissue paper. He explained that he knew how to use regular glue. "Watch and learn!" he exclaimed.

I have communicated with his Gifted teacher a few times and this is what she wrote in her last email.
"Jacob is great. I love that he smiles ALL the time! He is such a cutie and also very bright. I am enjoying him as a student."

My Sunshine

Being silly with Jacob, I spoke the words to this popular song: "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You never know, dear, how much I love you. Please, don't take my sunshine away." He loved how I just spoke to him instead of singing. His response was, "But mama! I might grow up!" Yep, I guess then he won't be my sunshine anymore. ;)

Despite being bored the last few days, Jacob was nervous and didn't want to go back to school. As we pulled up he started feeling a little better when he saw familiar faces. He excitedly stated, "Hey, there's my 'bon jour teacher'!!" At least we know that he is learning from his french teacher. It was cute!

Hurricane Isaac

Getting ready for hurricane Isaac was mentally and physically draining for me. For Jacob it was nerve racking and boring. For Max it was stressful and dreadful. At home I prepared all that we would need in case of a power outage or loss of water. Jacob went to school Monday so I was able to get a little shopping done and a ton of preparations. We had arranged ahead of time to head to a friend's house in Ft Worth if we were advised to be evacuated. School was cancelled on Tuesday until further notice so I did my best to keep Jacob entertained. Along with taking Max Pizza Hut for lunch, we played Lego's, played games, and I made Jacob a tent with our kitchen table.

By 5pm, Jacob was bored, I was anxious, Max was stressed, and Isaac was moving waaaaaaaay toooooo slooooooow! Max had a room at his hotel so he could take care of things there as needed. We decided that Jacob and I would stay at the apartment because it was the most comfortable place for us and we had things to keep us busy. Jacob was worried about the hurricane coming at night so we had a fitful night sleeping in my bed. The wind had picked up at night and Jacob kept getting scared of the tree shadows moving.

 

By morning it decided to start raining a little but it didn't start pouring until about noon. Thank goodness Isaac had downgraded himself to a very lethargic tropical storm. At around one o'clock our power went out. I convinced Jacob that we should take a nice long nap! After a peaceful almost 3 hours we woke to a hot, dark house, a stronger storm, and increased anxiety. After talking to Max and listening to the radio I convinced Jacob that we should pack up some things and drive through the storm to the hotel where there was electricity, air conditioning, and our loved one waiting.

 

On the drive Jacob talked incessantly, I drove white knuckled, and the storm raged on. It really wasn't that bad but I just had to drive slow, watch out for debris, and try to tune Jacob out. (He was just excited about the adventure but it wasn't helping my nerves.) I actually felt safer than I have when driving in a snow storm in Idaho.

 

We made it safe and sound to the hotel, settled in, and calmed down. We all had a pretty good night's sleep and by morning the rain and wind had died down. The storm was over with little damage in Baton Rouge. We had survived our first hurricane scare. And I decided this week had been a horrible one to try a new depression medication. I would not have been so anxious!!! Augh!