Ayden's Baptism

Ayden was baptized this morning.  It was just our nuclear family, but the church made it extra special (probably because it was so unexpected).  Ayden wore my brother's baptism outfit and the same little hankie hat that Jack and Audrey wore.  The candle that we used was Bryan's candle.  We also used the candle for Audrey.  The bib that he has on in this picture was a gift from one of the ladies in church.  It it embroidered with the fleur de lis and his name.

 My lovely posture in this picture does nothing with this gorgeous dress that my sister gave me.  Audrey is getting heavy!

 Pastor just loves the kids, he is amazing with them.  He has three little ones of his own.  His blessings during communion are so much fun to watch because they are completely personalized and from the heart.

So many generous people brought refreshments for after the service, including this beautiful and delicious cake.  The woman that made this cake has 4 children of her own and she works a crazy schedule as a nurse!

Let me finish this post with a picture of my shoes.  These shoes are sooo my sister, so they went perfectly with the dress.  They are black patent leather peep toe, platform heels.  They are the tallest shoes I have ever worn, at 4 inches.  Oh, and I didn't kill myself today.  For killer shoes, they aren't too painful, but I did take them off after church!  It's weird to look my husband in the eye. . .

Another Older Find

Sometime in late December, the kids and I went orange picking with Spencer and his parents, Cristi and Freddi.  Freddi's sister has a large grove of citrus, just below the base. We had a lot of fun and picked enough oranges and grapefruit to literally fill my trunk!  And my oh my, the grapefruit were the best I've EVER had!!!  I have been dreaming of those grapefruit ever since.  They also have a pecan tree, and I got a large grocery bag full of pecans!  I thought I had developed an allergy to pecans (I am allergic to walnuts), but I can eat these without any problems.  Evidently, my walnut allergy has worsened and I can't eat nuts that have been processed on equipment where walnuts have been processed.  Sorry, you probably are here to hear about the kids, not my weird ailments.

Audrey and Cristi

Crafting Once Again!

Yay!!! I've been able to use my sewing machine again!  I made this cute dress for Audrey Wednesday morning from a white tee shirt and some fabric left over from an apron that I made.  It's a little loose on her waist, so I need to figure out a way to add some elastic to the waist.  I free handed the lady bug applique for the shirt!

Next, I made this awesome "quilt." It took much longer than I expected, but it was definitely worth the time.  I found the tutorial on the site "Made."  She has such neat stuff!  The only problem with this quilt, is my satin blanket binding.  I highly respect those of you who have mastered this art!  It probably didn't help that I rounded the corners.  I am pretty good at making square corners, but this "easing" around the edges was definitely a challenge.  Hmmm, now which one of you will receive this quilt.  (The ruffly side will look neater over time.  Each time it is washed and dried, it will fray more.)

How We Roll

Living in Louisiana, you really don't want to send the kids out to play bare footed.  We have friends that live on the bayou, so the kids needed boots to be really protected.  Trouble is, it is pretty much impossible to find boots for toddlers in stores.  I found these boots on amazon, and they are sooo cute!  Sorry the picture is kind of far away, Bryan was wielding the camera.

This week was "Living Literature" again with the homeschool group.  The kids pick a book to read, and then prepare a 2 minute speech about a character or scene from that book.  They are also encouraged to dress up and bring a snack that fits the theme of their book.  Jack read The Magic Tree House, Day of the Dragon King.  It is about the first emperor of China.  His hat is supposed to be a straw hat.  Our snack was birds nest cookies made with chinese noodles.

And to end this rolling post, here is a picture of our gorgeous little lady.  We had chili for dinner tonight, and goodness did she love it!!!!  The only thing she loved better than the chili was the toppings.  When she finished her chili, she was eating just heaps of cheese and sour cream.  Ohhh, pictures to save to show her boyfriends!

1 Month Old!

I month ago, I had just had this little guy!  What a day.  As you can tell, he has already grown quite a bit.  How much, I am not sure.  But he is starting to fill out.  You can't tell from this picture, but he has the smallest bit of pudge on his upper arm and wrist.  

Overall, he is a good baby.  He has his moments of crankiness, like now, which is why the picture of him is on my lap.  I wanted to take his picture on this quilt that I am working on, but he would have been screaming.  It is true that God only gives you what you can handle.  Jack was my easiest baby, but I was alone.  Now that I have this wonderful husband, God gives me children to test our nerves.  

Audrey is now sleeping in her big girl bed.  We let her choose where to sleep and she chooses the big girl bed at night and her crib for naps.  It's funny to see her get up by herself.  This morning I heard her door open and there was her cute little face peeking out with that adorable smile.  Yesterday, I heard a child reading books on the couch while I was still in bed.  I assumed it was Jack.  But no, it was Audrey.   It is these moments that keep her alive because goodness, she sure is good at pushing my buttons. She isn't even 2 and she already gets in trouble!  Jack didn't pull these tricks until he was 3.

Favors for Friends

My girlfriend texted me Sunday night "where can I get a dress, apron, and bonnet for the Boston Tea Party."  Nornally, you could find plenty of costumes online, but the kicker was that she needed it by Monday night.  So I told her the easiest thing would be for me to make something for her.  Here is what I came up with. . .

The long skirt is just part of a sheet.  I cut a VERY rough rectangle of fabric from the sheet and put elastic in the waist.  I think it took me about 5-10 minutes to make!  The apron was the easiest part.  I just cut a pillowcase and hemmed the cut edge.  I used ribbon to make the ties.  That took maybe 5 minutes!  The hardest part was the bonnet.  The main cap part is a rectangle with elastic at the nape of the neck and the remaining 3 sides gathered and sewed to the brim.  I used the remaining part of the pillow case to make the cap and ties.  For the brim, I found a coordinating fabric in my stash of scraps. 

By the way, this is Jordyn.  Jack professes his love to her daily and will unashamedly to anyone that she is his girlfriend.  I think I am in for a lifetime of trouble with this boy.  She is 11!  She has a younger sister, Carissa, who is 7.  She is the cutest little thing.  Of course, Jack has little more than a friendship with her. . . she must be too young :o)

Baby Love

sooo proud

Jack is pretending to sleep, like Poppy does

Can you tell that he loves his little brother? He is constantly asking to hold him.  He sat on the couch for close to an hour, holding his sleeping brother.  As you can see, Jack even managed to hold a sleeping baby and read a book.

Ready for Easter!

One of the fun parts of having kids, in my opinion, is holidays.  I have so much fun putting gifts together for them.  I have their Easter baskets ready already!  I kept them pretty simple, used baskets left from last year.  Jack's basket has chalk, bubbles, new water shoes, a new floaty, nerf guns, and animal crackers.  Audrey is obsessed with Elmo, so she has an elmo doll, elmo spoon and fork, new water shoes, a nerf gun, some little books, and gold fish crackers.  Ayden was the hardest.  What do you give a newborn with too much stuff already?  He's getting a swimsuit, a stuffed dog/blankie, a soft book, rings, and a pacifier clip.  I am just so happy with the way they turned out!

Audrey's Basket

Jack's, Ayden's, and Audrey's Baskets

Ayden's basket

I also finished Audrey's Easter dress.  I used the same pattern that I used to make Elizabeth a dress.  It is "The Party Dress."

Jack Learns to Ride a Bike!

It has been a long, arduous process, but Jack has finally learned how to ride a bike! Bryan has spent many weekends building Jack's skills, and this weekend, Jack mastered starting on his own!  He is even doing pretty good steering, and can go in a circle and do u turns. 

He is still a little hesitant, but it was so great to see the looks of satisfaction and triumph on his face!  He even rode his bike across the street to ride back and forth on the sidewalk with one of the neighbor girls.  

Now, I guess we just practice, practice, practice.

We learned one big lesson-- don't let your kids ride bikes with training wheels! It teaches them to steer the bike wrong.  Instead, take the pedals off the bike and let them push it with their feet.

40 Bags Update

I have been very productive this week with my purge.  I am not sure how many bags I have so far, since a lot of the stuff is in piles or boxes instead of bags.  But here are my two piles as of this morning.  The garage pile has actually grown by about 4 bags.  I went through all of the clothes that I kept from Jack and got rid of clothes that weren't my favorites.  We still have more than enough for Ayden. . . when he eventually grows into the larger sizes.  That seems like it's ages away, but I know that I will open my eyes here in a "couple" days and wonder where my baby went.

Here is what I estimate to have so far. . . 3 bags from my master closet, 1 bag of books and movies, 1 bag of kids toys, 1 bag of slipcovers, 1 bag of maternity clothes (1 other bag ready to go to my sister WHEN she gets pregnant), 1 bag of Christmas decorations, 4 bags of kids clothes, roughly 1 bag of trash, and a vacuum.  That would be 15 bags!  My house is feeling so nice and clean!  This is addicting.  Bryan better be careful, I might accidently purge him :o)

And speaking of Ayden, he lost his stub this week! His belly button looks like the mouth of a thingamajig.  As you can see, he is also wearing the rumparooz now. They fit great and really aren't bulky.

 She hated this seat as a baby! Now she loves it. She bounces in it and lays in it and says bye bye, night night!

For some reason, she loves this onesie.  It is a 0-3 month, and she pulls it out of Ayden's drawer whenever she can.  I can even get it snapped, but it is quite stretched when it is snapped.

Audrey's Moments

I decided to upload a couple videos to You Tube.  Bryan works out at home quite a bit.  When he does, the kids both like to work out with him.  Here is a video of Audrey working out with Bryan.  I also have a video of Jack and Audrey working out with him, but it is pretty dark so the quality isn't very good.

Audrey has also taken a keen interest in music.  She loves to sing and dance.  Here is a video of Audrey dancing to the Imagination Movers.  She was dancing through their whole concert.  This is a hawaiian song, she is attempting to hula with them.  At the end, she gives Ayden some love, and says "gentle, gentle."  She also sings in church, and it is quite funny, because she definitely makes a joyful noise to the Lord.  I am sure he and all the angels can hear her clearly!

Audrey Gets a New Bed!

Safety First!

Audrey helping Daddy make her bed

Bryan built Audrey a big girl bed this weekend.  This is the first project for us that wasn't copied from an internet source!  I had this idea to make a bed platform from two storage units, so if we ever get tired of the bed, we can turn it into two storage benches!  The entire unit has an edge, so the mattress doesn't slip off.  Bryan did a great job building it, and I think it looks quite professional!

The finished product

Lent Challenge

40 bags in 40 days.  I hate clutter, and want to live a cleaner, simpler life.  So I am going to join Ann Marie at White House Black Shutters on her quest.  You can read all about it on her blog, here.

Mardi Gras

Jack and Spencer, see the parade in the background

My girlfriend took Jack to the Mardi Gras parade across the river.  This is such a different culture here.  The amount of stuff that is thrown from the floats is massive.  And evidently, a lot of it is collected and coveted. There are of course, beads like crazy, and certain types are collected.  Each krewe throws custom stuffed animals and doubloons.

Evidently, if you dress up, they will throw more stuff to you.  Jack and Spencer (Cristi's son) dressed up as knights.

This is the beginning of the parade route.  It is pretty much all local families.  Cristi said these people set up tents and grills and leave their stuff set up for the entire parade season.  The madness occurs downtown in the French Quarter.

The boys up on a ladder.  This is a plain 'ol normal ladder.  You should see some of the extravagent ladders that people make.

The traditional colors: purple (justice), green (faith), and gold (power).  Evidently chosen by Rex.  Why the masks? From what I can tell, it's a Disney type thing, where the krewes are creating a sort of magic by concealing their identity.  It is actually illegal to wear masks here at all other times of year.

Jack and all of his loot

Jack with MOST of the beads on

Beads, Doubloons, Rex, and the Rex Cow

As I was layering all of the beads on, I neglected to figure in the difficulty in removing.  It took a little while, but I managed to get some to fall off his shoulders and the others I just starting flipping from the back of his head to the front.  Good thing he has good sphincter control, because he laughed enough that he could have peed himself :o)