December 2014

We had a December to remember this year. And the majority of it revolved around the Christmas season. We started off with Santa pictures on December 7th.

I love the crying Santa pictures. Poor Alexa freaked out as soon as we sat her down. The following weekend I was put on call from work on a Friday night, so we used that opportunity to see a live Nativity at Mandeville First Baptist Church and a huge light display at our local park. I didn't take any pictures but it was a great night.

 Avery's school Christmas play was December 19th. This little bit was being a ham before we left.

 Avery got to be Gabriel the angel. She was so beautiful and proud of her important role in the play (momma was too!)

 God bless their teachers, its like herding cats to get them all in some semblance of orders.

 I had to work Christmas Eve, but Josh took the girls to Christmas Mass at his parents church. I thought they looked so beautiful before they left.

 those eyes!

 Avery was up and ready to go at 4am, but had to wait till I got home from work at 7:30 to open presents. They were ready to go!

 Santa ate some of his gingerbread house.

 Alexa got all kinds of new stuff to play with!

 They probably would have been just as happy with the candy in their stockings. I had to make them stop eating to open presents!

 Avery was so excited about her rainbow loom kit.

 Christmas aftermath...

Avery also got a trampoline and spent most of Christmas morning jumping on that while momma took a nap from working all night. That afternoon, we headed down to Josh's grandparents house to celebrate with his family.

We had 9 kiddos ranging in age from 11 years old to 2 months. The house was bursting with kids and noise but love and family as well! The men fried some amazing turkeys and we had lots of sides and sweets to go with it. It was a great day and we are so blessed to have such a close knit loving family.



Family Pictures Fall 2014

Since Josh has opened his own business, we have learned the art of bartering. People love to help people out. We have gotten yard eggs, bakery goods, and now family portraits. We met at Camp Salmen in Slidell, it was so pretty out there. The girls were very patient and I think we got some winners.

November 2014

Looking back at November pictures it seems like the girls instantly became so much more grown up this month. Avery is an absolute joy. She is so kind to her sister, so sweet and thoughtful with everyone. Josh and I are constantly in awe with the stuff she comes up with. Seriously a 40 year old in a 4 year old's body.

 

Alexa is starting to get easier. She is able to communicate more, not with words, but with elaborate hand signals, pointing and shaking her head yes or no. She is very opinionated and lets you know what she wants. She is also a little teaser and maybe even a little mischievous. She listens, but is always testing her limits. She also has a smile that lets her get away with a lot.

 

 

 

November 8th Josh and I were able to get dressed up and head to the city for a friends wedding.

It was one of the guys that we went to high school with, so it was nice to see all of our good friends who we don't get to see as often.

Josh and I also enjoyed a nice night out.

 

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Danford's this year. On Wednesday night Jake, Angela, Josh, JL and all the kids stayed at our house. It was fun for all of us to hang out and play games and enjoy each other company.



 

 We headed to the Danielle Inn for our Thanksgiving feast/Christmas Celebration. With Josh and Jonnilin leaving in early December, we decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. It was a great day, except for the fact that poor Julian was sick and ended up in the ER getting IV fluids.

 So much to be thankful for.

 We ended the month of November with the tummy bug that Julian had. It hit our house hard, Josh, Avery and Alexa all had it. Poor Aver was sick on and off for 4 days. But by the beginning of December we were all healthy and ready to start the Christmas Season.

October 2014

October is the month for pumpkin patches and Halloween!

 We visited a new pumpkin patch this year called Liuzza's Farm. Its a beautiful place with lots of animals and educational areas for kids to learn where their food comes from and how people lived in the 1800's.

 But the best part was the goats and pigs. There was corn cobs that you could take the kernels off and feed the animals. They loved it and were so friendly you could feed and pet them all.

 There was a corn maze, tire swings and a huge hill slide.

 The kids were hot, sweaty messes when we left, but it was great memories made.

 

We ended the month with Halloween! Avery had the BEST costume. She had been saying for weeks that she wanted to be Spiderman. Not Spidergirl and a pink Spiderman. She wanted to be the real, muscle Spiderman. Our neighbor Andrew had the costume that we borrowed and she finally let me girly it up a little with a tutu.

How cute is she?!

 

We hosted our 7th annual Halloween Party. With Chili and hot dogs in the garage, lots of friends and kids and fun. Josh and Jonnlin were able to come in with the kids. Avery was so happy to see her cousins. They held hand trick or treating all night.

 

Sissy was a PJ Spiderman. She wasn't really sure what was going on, but she enjoyed the candy!

 Most of the crew.

Sugar!

 

The other events of October included Josh and I starting Foster Parent Certification as well as an Art of Marriage class. Both things brought us closer together and strengthened us to continue to serve God's will for us.

Alexa quit nursing in October as well. I nursed her much longer than I anticipated, but she was not ready to stop at 1 year and with her being so slow to gain weight, we needed to do something where we knew she was taking in calories. But at 15 months, she was taking adequate cows milk and was becoming way to demanding. It was not as easy of a transition as it was for Avery, but she is doing fine.

Disney Day 4: Magic Kingdom

We had originally planned to come home from Disney Sunday evening, but flights were so expensive, it was actually cheaper for us to stay another night and fly home Monday.

So lucky for us, we got another day at the Magic Kingdom. By this time, we figured out the whole touring thing and really utilized our time well.

 Avery got to meet a few more characters, we enjoyed a fruit and nutella stuffed waffle for breakfast, then it was on to the roller coasters!

 We weren't sure how Avery would do with the roller coasters. So we started off on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train ride, its a roller coaster, but not too fast or too many drops.

 She LOVED it! Hands up the whole time, ended up riding 3 times with all of us.

 

 

We stopped to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel, then it was off for more rides.

 She did Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. It was so fun!

 We got the classic Dole Whip for a snack and ended our trip with a family style Thanksgiving Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. The food was phenomenal and we had a free dining plan, so that made it all the more sweeter.

We ended the day in fairy hollow with Tinkerbell then made our way back to the resort. Josh and the girls swam while I packed up our things. We flew out at around 7 am Monday morning. It was an exhausting trip, Josh hated the crowds, but honestly it was one of the best vacations I have ever been on. It was officially my first real trip to Disney World and everything was perfect. Avery is ready to go back anytime, momma and daddy may need a little more time to rest and mentally prepare :)