The LeBlancs

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Danford Family Vacation 2013

In the beginning of November the Danford clan took a trip to Gatlinburg. I have been wanting to visit since before Josh and I got married. We have been planning this trip for over and year. We got a great deal on the cabin and everyone was in!

It was a 13 hour drive with 2 kids! There were lots of potty stops and thank the Lord for portable DVD players! This was at our breakfast stop at Cracker Barrel.

The cabin was BEAUTIFUL, the views were AMAZING, but the drive up to the cabin was TERRIFYING! There were hairpin turns and ridiculously steep roads. But we all made it up in one piece and were ready to relax!

Leslie, Joey and Lydia came up to visit when we got there. It was so nice to be able to spend some time with them, drink some moonshine :) and watch the Saints game. They left Monday morning and we relaxed all day. We went out to eat at the Old Mill restaurant that afternoon. On Tuesday it SNOWED! It was so exciting! There wasn't very much and didn't stick to the wet ground, but it was a fun experience for all of us.

We made a friend on our porch. The kids named him Pete and my brother Josh fed him Doritos. Thankfully nobody contracted rabies during our trip.

It was so cold outside, that we spend a lot of time just cuddling and relaxing. I don't think anyone got cabin fever too badly.

These girls enjoyed hanging out with each other.

One of our big outings was to Cade's Cove. It was so picturesque. We did the driving tour and got to see the old churches and cemeteries.

Look at that view!

Our little family.

We got to see plenty of deer. The bears and turkeys were no where to be seen though.

We got to go inside the old houses. It's amazing that they are still standing.

The kids in one of the outbuildings.

Our last day there we went to WonderWorks. Avery had a wonderful time (so did the grownups!)

When we checked out of the cabin, we drove about 2 hours to Leslie and Bo's house. We spend two days there and relaxed the whole time. It was so nice! Avery and Lydia were BFF's and Leslie spoiled Alexa the whole time. Josh got to play XBOX and I got to catch up on some reading. It was so nice to be to recuperate from vacation.

We also took family pictures on the balcony of our cabin.

Here is our "official LeBlanc photo for 2013"

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Alexa Claire 4 months old!

Alexa Claire you are 4 months old!

You weigh 14 pounds 14 ounces (75%)

You are 25 1/4 inches long (88%)

Your 4 month check up went great, except for the shots :(

We had a little bump in your schedule this month.

You were waking up so much!!!

Momma was not ready for crying it out,

so there have been lots of late night nursing and cuddling sessions.

You have also been eating 3 ounces every 2-3 hours.

You started playing in your excersaucer this month and the johnny jumper.

You rolled over from your belly to your back this month on October 14.

You also celebrated Halloween this month and went to the pumpkin patch for the first time.

You are such a sweet addition to our family.

We love you so much!

Alexa's Baby Dedication

October 27th, we dedicated Alexa to the Lord.

I am so happy that we have such a loving and supportive church to raise her up.

Jeff spoke a great word over her and we had all of our parents and Corey and Jessica there to be a part of it. It is amazing watching Avery grow in her knowledge of God and His love, I can't wait to teach Alexa and watch her grow.

We told Avery about the dedication and explained to her that we were giving Alexa to the Lord.

For some reason, she had an image of the Lion King in her head. She kept asking us if we were going to raise her up for the Lord. Everyone thought it was so funny, so after Jeff did her dedication, we raised her up :)

Halloween 2013

We had a great Halloween!

Avery finally decided on Lalaloopsy. It was a close race between her, Hello Kitty and Ariel.

I love how colorful her costume is.

Alexa had some pajamas that look like one of the characters.

I found this crocheted wig on Etsy. They turned out so cute!

Josh had Ashley DePalma paint his face. It came out awesome.

Halloween night we invited everyone from church and our neighborhood over to the house.

It was actually our 7th year hosting Halloween.

We had a great turn out, but it was so rainy! We made it to about 5 houses in between rain showers.

Some of the braver older kids went throughout the neighborhood,

but we mostly hung out in the garage.

Pumpkin Patch 2013

We headed out to Mrs. Heather's Pumpkin Patch at the beginning of October to play and pick out our Halloween pumpkins.

It was our 3rd year going there, and we love it.

This is Avery's favorite part, she could spend hours playing in the corn!

Little bit was along for the ride, she is so laid back. She is so used to running the roads with Avery and me, she naps very well in her car seat and just hangs out looking around when she is awake.

Josh and Avery had a blast on the zip line. Avery is getting so brave.

She is always very willing to try new things, even if she is scared.

I love her face in this picture. She was having a blast!

Happy Fall Y'all from our two little pumpkins!

3 months old!

Alexa Claire you are 3 months old!!!!

I know, I can't believe it either!

You are still wearing 0-3 month clothes, they are getting snug!

You are almost out of size 1 diapers.

We have a pretty good scheduled right now:

Every evening you take a bath with you big sister,

we get you in bed around 7:30pm, you wake up to nurse around 12:30 and 3:30.

I usually bring you in bed when you wake up around 6am to snuggle.

During the day, we still follow Eat, Play, Sleep routine.

You love your lovey, you hold it with both hands and rub it over your face.

You can grasp things that are in front of your face.

You are getting much more responsive when we talk to you .

Mommy went back to work this month, your Grandma and Mimi watch you during the week.

You spend the weekends with your daddy while I am at work.

The first few weeks were rough, but you are doing well with everyone else.

You and your sister are so sweet.

Avery loves to talk and sing to you, you always smile and watch her closely.

We love watching you grow and change.

You are so happy and laid back.

We love you so much and thank God every day for sending you to us.

September Happenings

The month of September flew by in the blink of an eye!

I went back to work this month, we celebrated a bunch of birthday, and just continued to get into to the swing of the school year and 2 kids. Here are the girls before church one Sunday. I am seriously loving that our church meets at 12:30 right now. We have time to wake up, eat a nice family breakfast and get ready for church without rushing.

Football is BACK!!! I loved dressing these two to cheer on our tigers, I am looking forward to MANY more matching outfits in our future.

On September 10, after Avery's gymnastic class, we loaded up the car and I took the girls to the zoo. The Doc McStuffin's DocMobile was there. Avery LOVES Doc! For some reason I thought that it wasn't going to be too crowded since it was a school day. Boy was I wrong. There were about 1000 people there! It was super hot and we had to wait in line to get to the DocMobile.

But it was totally worth it to see my sweet girl have fun. Inside the DocMobile, they had little stations where you could give your toy a check-up.

You can tell she is the daughter of 2 medical professionals, because she was doing an accurate, thorough exam :)

We even got to see Doc! Of course my child goes "That's not the real Doc, she was just dressed up like her" Nothing gets past this kid.

That evening we went up to the Danielle Inn to cook Mom dinner and celebrate her birthday. I am so thankful she is close enough for us to pop in and do things like this on the weeknights.

We celebrated Julian's 5th birthday at a splash pad/park. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time swinging, playing in the sand and splashing in the water.