Nicholson & Ward Family

Elise Marching (9/23/11)

2011-09-23T19:34:00.001-07:00

Cell Cake

2011-09-19T13:10:00.001-07:00

"New" 1966 Mustang

2011-01-12T05:26:00.001-08:00

Almost anyone who has ever had a car conversation with me knows that I've always wanted a classic mustang convertible. Well here it is.

The previous owner used it as a parade vehicle and custom built a seat for the riders, we are removing it this weekend and will put the original rear seat back in.

They also added a few extras, GT Fog lights and hood scoop

New Years Eve

2011-01-02T10:08:00.001-08:00

Christmas Morning 2010

2011-01-02T09:48:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve 2010

2010-12-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

Rusty & Alex were making faces

Christmas Concert 12/07/10

2010-12-10T10:45:00.001-08:00

Leann before the concert

Christmas Tree Decorating

2010-12-03T19:39:00.001-08:00

Halloween

2010-11-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

Leann & I at our Church's Harvest Festival

Me & Todd

Leann

Leann dresses as the Greek goddess Athena giving a lecture to Elise the prisoner

Elise in cuffs

The girls dressed and ready for the Halloween dance at school

Trip to Colorado - Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

2010-10-30T08:00:00.001-07:00

The pictures are all out of order, I didn't have the energy to fix them, but as you can see I had a great time my first trip back to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in about 10 years.

Crabs!!!!!

2010-10-13T11:18:00.001-07:00

Solar Website

2010-08-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

http://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/kc9Z6849

Check out this link to our Solar Production page

Solar Project

2010-08-21T19:08:00.001-07:00

Panel Monitor inside, this shot shows collection of 19,964W from 111 panels (the final panel will be delivered on Monday & hooked up along with two others that are currently offline for a total of 114 panels)

View from the street

Another street shot

Pool Heating/Cooling collectors (1st time we turned it on we were able to cool the pool 3 degrees overnight)

Solar Project (Finally, sorry it took so long Dad)

2010-08-04T11:13:00.001-07:00

The rails that hold the panels (the small squares attached to the rails are the inverters that turn the solar energy into electricity)

The section of roof over the office with all of the panels installed, the racks on the patio cover will also have panels.

The new panels and meter, can't wait to see it all hooked up and the meter running backwards

Colorado Trip - July 11, 2010

2010-07-12T21:20:00.001-07:00

Leann & Jason

Me & Jason

Mariah in the pool

Mariah convinced Dad to get in with her, Leann checking the temp

Dad splashing Mariah

Mariah splashing back

Mariah chasing Dad around the pool

Leann decided to brave the chilly water to play too

Dad splashing Leann

Apparently splashing with his hands wasn't enough

"I'm cold"

Leann "dunks" herself

Leann tries the kick splash

Best buds

Mac told me he didn't smile in pictures, so I had to try to catch a smile

I guess that's a smile (ish)

Jake kept trying to hide from the flash so I had to take his picture over my shoulder

Leann trying to "fix" Jake's hair

She gave up on the pony tail and tried for a mohawk like Jason

Mac's turn for a Leann do

Looked like fun so Mariah joined in

"Sure, I'd be happy to lick the Cool Whip spoon"

This is one of those you had to be there to truly understand pictures

Blue Bayou Water Park

2010-07-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

We spent the day at Blue Bayou in Baton Rouge. It was cloudy and a little rainy which made for no lines, we were able to ride everything, some 4 or 5 times. We had a great time.

Jason Andrew Decker

2010-05-11T20:29:00.001-07:00

Proud Daddy (Andy) bringing Jason to meet the family

Jason going to meet Mommy (Jessica) in recovery

Mommy coming out of recovery

Jason waiting to meet big sister (Mariah)

Mariah running to Daddy, ready to meet baby brother

Mariah's first look at Jason

All the important details

Sweet baby Jason

Mariah holding Jason for the 1st time, with a little help from Grandma

A kiss for baby brother

Grandma and Jason

Mariah wanted to hold him some more

Grandma holding Jason

Jason was getting hungry, started rooting while Grandma was holding him

He has lots of hair

Aunt Nickie's turn to hold him

Grandma & Grandpa with Jason

Grandpa gets a turn to hold Jason

Finally a picture with his eyes wide open, he has the Decker blue eyes

My turn!! We propped him up with pillows so I could have a turn without hurting myself

Uncle Charlie with Jason

Grandpa giving Jason a big kiss

Mommy attempting to eat a little

Talking with Uncle Todd, had to turn my hat around Grandma was taking pictures and emailing them from her phone

Danny Loving on the Dogs

2010-05-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Sydney

2010-05-03T19:23:00.001-07:00

Danny Playing Soccer

2010-05-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Chasing after the ball

Winding up to run

Stopping the ball, Good save Danny

A little coaching from Dan

Happy Birthday Leann!

2010-03-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

Leann was so excited to get New Moon, she is crazy about Twilight

Glow in the dark markers!

3D sidewalk chalk, just in time for Spring Break!

Leann was a bit silly, she put a scrap of wrapping paper from each gift she received

Leann didn't want to leave Elise out, she taped some paper to her face, too, with a bow on top!

She even hung a gift bag on her ear, such a silly girl!

We had a small Birthday celebration for Leann this weekend, she has decided to wait until its warmer and have a pool party.

Pool: Day 4, 5 & 6

2010-03-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days, but we finally have water in the pool. We had some weather related issues which caused the time line to slide a bit, but it is almost finished.

Day 3

2010-03-18T18:57:00.001-07:00

Pool: Day 2

2010-03-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

The weather was much more cooperative today. We had some issues with hauling the dirt, but we ended up giving it to our neighbor, their yard was extremely low. They have finished digging and I am looking forward to watching to pool start coming together tomorrow.

Pool: Day 1

2010-03-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of work on the pool. The day began with one of the pool guys ringing the doorbell to let me know that they busted a water pipe when the removed a section of the fence. It got worse when they drove their equipment into the backyard and broke it some more along the side. So I went most of the day without water, until they were able to make the necessary repairs. Thankfully everything is back to normal now. They were a little behind schedule because of some rain this afternoon, but they were able to get all of the shallow end dug and the cut outs for the steps and spa. Will post more tomorrow.

Backyard

2010-03-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

The time has finally come. The backyard has been prepped. The materials have been delivered. The pool area has been layed out. Here are some before pictures. Digging starts tomorrow!!!!

Alex's 17th Birthday

2010-03-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

Leann DARE Graduation

2010-03-07T11:22:00.001-08:00

Family Photos

2009-11-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

Homecoming

2009-10-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the Homecoming dance for Alex & his girlfriend Brittany. These are a few of the shots I took before they headed to dinner.

Paintball

2009-08-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

The boys went with the church youth group on the 15th to play paintball. They had a great time. I enjoyed being out of the house and sitting with the other non-players visiting.

Mini Fridge

2009-07-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Alex & Brittany helped me go up to my old office and pick up my mini fridge. We weren't sure if we were going to hook it up or store it at first, but then Alex and I decided to use it for cans of soda. We got it home and he went straight to work. He removed everything from the inside except the shelves and started loading all the cans he could. If you are wondering how many it holds....90.

Busy Day

2009-06-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

Elise & I had a very busy day today. She had a doctor's appointment mid-morning & I had some errands to run in Lake Charles, so we decided to spend some extra time together. We went to the doctor then several stores that I needed to return items to. Since we were out at lunch time, we decided to stop at the Olive Garden and eat. We had a great time, but now I am exhausted. Elise brought he new word search book in to entertain herself while we waited for our food and of course to keep her busy while she waited on me to finish eating, apparently I slow these days.

Cookies?

2009-06-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon Leann and I decided to bake some cookies. Keep in mind that I am pretty useless in the kitchen these days, so Leann had to do all the work. Thankfully the school has a fundraiser every year that sells frozen cookie dough in individual cookies so it wasn't too bad for her. She is so silly, she kept pointing at me with her spatula and demolishing the cookies when she removed them from the cookie sheet. Such a silly girl. We had a great time. Leann has been very helpful in the kitchen the last few weeks, she has learned to make omelets, grill steaks, macaroni and cheese, corn, and her favorite: tacos.

Leann's Camera

2009-05-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I downloaded some pictures from the camera Leann received for Christmas. For the most part the pictures were silly, like the pictures of her stuffed animals, her computer monitor, and herself. Here are a few of the pictures I downloaded recently.
I was kinda surprised when I was scrolling through the pictures and found this one. I think this is my new favorite picture. This was taken when Janiel and Danny came to visit us in January.

FINALLY!!!!!

2009-03-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Leann has been asking to get her ears pierced since she was 5 years old. Every time she has asked, I have always put her off telling her that she could get them pierced when she turned 10. Well, she did not forget. Here she is with newly pierced ears. She was quite funny about the whole thing. I wanted to take her yesterday (the day before her birthday) so that we wouldn't be too rushed, but she insisted that we go on her birthday since I had always told her that she had to be 10. She was so excited.

Leann & Dalton

2009-03-29T20:07:00.001-07:00

Here is the latest picture of Leann and her "buddy" Dalton. Dalton's mom, Paulette and I have been taking pictures of the two of them together and attaching them to the same Teletubbies gift bag since they turned one. It is amazing to see how much they have grown over the years.

The big 10!!!

2009-03-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today was Leann's 10th birthday. Yesterday, she celebrated with a swimming party at a local indoor swimming pool. She had a great turn out at the party and she and her friends had a fun time in the pool.

There were lots of pool toys to play with and ride on.

After spending over an hour playing in the swimming pool, it was time for pizza, cake, and presents.

She Shoots, She Scores

2009-02-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

Here is some footage of Elise playing basketball.

Elise's Basketball Game

2009-01-24T18:43:00.000-08:00

Elise has been playing Upward Basketball this year. Unfortunately all of the clips are too large to upload. I will take some shorter videos next week so everyone can see her play.

Leann's Cheerleading Debut

2009-01-24T16:24:00.000-08:00

Well Nicole, this one is for you. Here is a look at Leann and her cheer squad.

A visit from Noah

2009-01-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas, Todd & I had every intention of being lazy and staying in bed most of the day. Our plan was however derailed when we found out that our friend Laura's day care was closed and needed some one to watch her 2 boys. So a little after 7 am we opened our door to almost 3 year old Noah and his baby brother Cameron. Needless to say our house is no longer "baby proof" and we had so maneuvering to do to make sure Noah wasn't able to get into anything that could hurt him. While we were picking up in the Kids Living Room, Noah decided to try his had at Rock Band. Check out this future Rock Star.

Nicole this is for you

2009-01-04T17:34:00.000-08:00

I spoke to Nicki on Christmas Day and she gave me a great deal of grief over not posting any pictures from our trip to Colorado. So, here you go Nicki, here is the proof........

The wait is almost over

2008-11-19T07:55:00.001-08:00

Finally, we are only 2 days from heading to Colorado for our Thanksgiving Vacation. We are heading out on Friday once the kids get out of school and plan to be in Colorado Springs Saturday afternoon. We are all looking forward to seeing the family. We are all looking forward to the few days we will spend in Breckenridge, we are all going to give snowboarding a try. I will try to post some picks while we are gone. Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone.

Halloween

2008-10-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our annual Halloween Event at church. Leann was dressed as a cheerleader & Elise went as a pile of leaves. They had a great time. We had a special visitor this evening, Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, Mom & I just had to get our picture taken with her. Don't forget to get out and vote. on November 4th.

Homecoming

2008-10-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Sulphur High School's Homecoming. Here are some pictures of Alex and his girlfriend Brittney.

Elise's Birthday Party

2008-10-04T13:57:00.001-07:00

Three times the charm. After two hurricane's we were finally able to have Elise's birthday party. They had a great time at the indoor swimming pool.

Westlake v. St. Louis

2008-09-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

Time for Thursday Night Football again. This week the Westlake Ram's took on the St. Louis Saints. The JV team is 2-0 for the season following tonight's 14-2 win. Alex got a lot more playing time this week and did a fantastic job. Check out the videos he made some really good plays (he is number 34). Way to go Rams!

2008-09-21T15:09:00.001-07:00

Leann opted not to play soccer this year, which turned out to be a good thing because she would have missed a lot of time after her surgery. She is all healed up and doing well. She was my video helper at the games this week, she worked the camera at Elise's game so my arm could rest. I will make sure to get some pics of her up this week.

Soccer

2008-09-21T15:05:00.001-07:00

On the same night as Alex's first football game, Elise had her first soccer game. Leann and I were able to catch the 1st half of her game before heading to Alex's game. Because of all the Hurricane activity we don't have uniforms yet, but they had fun anyway.

Are you ready for some football?

2008-09-21T14:54:00.001-07:00

We sure were. With all of the craziness of the last few weeks with Hurricanes the 1st two of Alex's football games were cancelled. Finally on Thursday night we were able to watch as the Westlake Rams took on Sam Houston High Broncos. Alex was able to get in some playing time and we all enjoyed watching him. Alex is playing linebacker (he's number 34 in the photo).

All is well

2008-09-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. Everything is fine at our house. We had some strong winds last night but nothing too bad. We lost power for a while but everything is up and running now. The kids handled their waking hours without power very well. Looks like the only damage for us is some tree debris in the yard and we may have lost a small tree in the back yard. All in all we are fine.

Video Footage - Hurricane Ike

2008-09-12T17:37:00.001-07:00

Ok here is my attempt to upload the video. I recorded this for Dad so he could see what conditions are like so the commentary is directed to him. It is too dark now to get further video, but I will get more in the morning, although everything should be about over by then.

Hurricane Website

2008-09-12T17:33:00.001-07:00

Check out Stormpulse.com for the latest tracking on Ike.

Hurrican Ike

2008-09-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. All is well here. We have had some wind today but nothing major. We had a little rain around 4 pm but it was not very heavy. I am trying to upload a video of what it looks like outside and will post it soon.