6th Anniversary

Our anniversary actually fell on a Saturday this year so we truly reminisced about what we were doing on the rehearsal dinner day as well as the day of the wedding and the day after.

On Friday night, the 18th, I went shopping all by myself and got a new pair of shoes! Mama needed some new shoes. I actually wasn't completely by myself as I talked to my mom on my cell the entire time I shopped so we "shopped together". Gosh, we need to live closer!!!
On Saturday, the 19th, I went and got a pedicure with my neighbor, Danielle. It felt nice and I felt pampered....the pedicure was so needed.

Later in the day, E's mom came over to watch the kids. We then headed out to see The King's Speech which we LOVED!!!! We highly recommend this movie. We went at 4:00 to the movie so we were the youngest in the theater by about 30 years and the people in the theater kept talking and moving seats...it was a little distracting but also funny...I felt like we were in a theater full of teenagers.
Here we are before our date-

We then went to eat at a restaurant called The Cajun Experience. We highly recommend this place!!

 My crawfish mac and cheese...spicy but delish-

Our dessert-beignets-

Us celebrating 6 years together-

St. Patrick's Day Cuisine and Crafts

We had a fun photography day on St. Patrick's Day and thankfully, Miss A still fit into her shirt from last year. We just stayed home but had a fun day.

Last year's photo with FJ's monk look from losing his newborn hair-

This year's photo (way more hair for FJ!)-

The hat in the above pics was given to me for my bachelorette party. It was on March 17, 2005 and my matron of honor, Scarlett, bought it for me to wear out. I don't think I ended up wearing it out but it's been a fun hat to have around!

Cooking up some corned beef and cabbage with carrots and potatoes...Miss A helped me put it all in the Crock Pot that morning-

Some crafting (idea from No Time For Flash Cards blog)...it's a shamrock surrounded by marshmallows...this kept Miss A quite busy...she enjoyed gluing them on as much as she enjoyed eating some too!

We had green eggs...we don't usually eat ham so there was no ham but we improvised and had green milk instead!
Miss A helped make the green eggs-

Our St. Patrick's Day napkins from Wegman's-

And of course Irish Spring soap!

Mardi Gras

My dear husband was out of town for Mardi Gras this year but I didn't let that stop us from celebrating the best we could not being in Louisiana.
I bought a King Cake at Wegman's for $12. (I don't know if that's a good price or not but if you can get one around here, it's a miracle!) Do you know how excited I was that they sold them this year? They haven't sold them in years!!! The last two years I made a knockoff version using canned cinnamon rolls and I've even ordered one online from kingcakes.com!
So, here's a photo of it...in case anyone in my area is wondering what it looks like:

My friend, Linds, invited us out to her house on Fat Tuesday because her husband was also out of town. Linds is a southern girl from Tennessee and her dad was born in Napoleonville, LA so who better to celebrate with in the area?
I made some jambalaya with my handy dandy Zatarain's mix and cut up some turkey sausage and added that to the rice.

Then I opened up a can of Margaret Holmes okra and tomatoes...I had to have some sort of southern veggies and Margaret Holmes is a southern brand of food that is sold in the regional/international part of Wegman's! So that worked out perfectly!

The the kids got to have King Cake and we matched up their slices with their clothing...I had Miss A wear yellow and FJ wear green...I didn't have any purple on but L did! In fact, this was Linds' first time to have a slice of King Cake...I should have gotten a photo of her!
FJ and his slice-

Miss A, Z and K-

FJ enjoying his slice-

Why I started this blog...

I started this blog to keep family members (who don't live locally) updated about what was happening in our lives and as a way to "scrapbook" and remember these crazy, fun times. A grand baby book of sorts!
Now, we have more readers and many of them are local and some of them are even local family!

But lately I've felt convicted about something and I want to put this out there to those moms of young children:
I hope that my blog has never made anyone feel bad about the choices they make for their family regarding food, toys, being a SAHM, clothing, raising your children, diapering, nursing, childbirth, etc. I also hope that no one has ever read my blog and thought "wow, my child isn't doing that yet" or "why hasn't my child hit that milestone yet".  Although I doubt that last one as my children tend to do things at the average time frame and even late time frame! :-) (See FJ's walking!) In fact, I hope I can help those whose children have walked later to feel a little better and worry a little less.

I hope no one has ever felt jealous over things we are doing as I try to keep things simple around here and try to not overdo things for parties and holidays. I do love celebrating each holiday but I try to keep it more to the activities and the time together than the decorations and gifts. I don't think anyone has ever been jealous but...

I have to be honest that I have felt jealousy when reading other blogs and worried about my children's milestones and so that is what has brought about this post. Because I've realized I've been a little jealous over some blog posts, I've chosen to not put myself in that position to get jealous anymore and I have chosen to filter out what blog posts I read. That may be a wimpy way of doing things...I should be stronger than that, shouldn't I?? But it's something I need to do right now till I can conquer this jealousy thing. Gosh what a millstone that is around my neck sometimes!!

So there it is...my honesty...raw and out there for you to read...but just wanted to let moms know that I hope I have never made anyone feel badly and I only try to keep things simple, easy, and God-honoring in our house.

Conversations with Miss A

These conversations were held last week-
Me: Can I have a smile, Miss A?
Miss A: I lost my smile.
Me: Oh No! Where did you lose it?
Miss A: At Sharon and Rob's house
Me: Oh wow! We were there a month ago! Maybe they can find it for you!

Miss A and I were making dinner-
Miss A: Mama, you are my best friend.
Me: Awww, thank you!! I love you!
Miss A: I love you too! You smell like gum.

E's Birthday

E's birthday was Feb. 24th and Miss A and I made him his favorite cupcakes and we kept it simple and ordered pizza! Miss A did a really good job of putting on the sprinkles on the cupcakes. I was really impressed.

E blowing out the candle on his cupcake-

Happy Birthday, E!
You are such an understanding husband and father. You patiently listen to me and to your children tell you stories about our day. You lovingly help clean up our house and tidy it up each night and/or bathe the children when I want to clean the kitchen so I can have a little time for myself.
Your prayers for our children each night are so sweet and I know the Lord delights in hearing them.
The way you lead the dads group at our church is inspiring and I know many dads are blessed by your perseverance and dedication to the group.
Now for the superficial-you are so handsome and hot and I know I have a great catch! How do you manage to wake up each morning looking just as good as when you went to bed but I managed to deteriorate over night?? How is that fair??
Okay, I digress. This is not about me...this is about you!
Thanks for being you...funny you...witty you...grace-giving you!
We love you!
 XOXO,
L, A, and FJ

Oh Valentine!

Yet another belated post...this one of Valentine's Day:
Miss A opening her valentines-

Eating a delicious waffle with sprinkles-

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FJ waving...not his first Valentine's Day...just wearing the bib for the holiday-

Opening his valentines-

Miss A opening a little gift from mommy and daddy-

With all her goodies-

We made some funfetti Valentine cupcakes-

E and I had a date the night of Valentine's Day which was a nice way to start off the week!
A pic of us at the restaurant-