Life At The Irvins

I'M BAAAAAAACK!!!!

2012-01-22T17:18:00.004-06:00

Okay, so I found my old blog today while on the internet and looking back at it made me smile and kinda sad at the same time. I'm so glad I have all this to remember things by but I'm sad because I didn't keep up with it. So I have decided to start it back up again. ALOT has changed since my last blog which was in 2008. We have moved back to Louisiana and we have added a precious addition to our family, Annalyse! She joined our family in April 2010 and has been a blessing ever since. Connor is now 7 and in the 2nd grade. He is doing soccer, basketball and karate. He keeps us really busy. He's doing TERRIFIC in school and we couldn't be prouder of our little guy. Shyanne is now 4 and in Pre-K! She is involved in dance and is currently working on her first dance revue! She wants to play T-Ball so we are looking forward to the summer time and getting her signed up for that. I mentioned we are back in Louisiana. We aren't in Slidell but we are in Lafayette! We love it here! We have a ton of old friends here and have met some really nice new ones. Recently Jude and I made the big turn into our 30s! YIKES! I must say it hasn't been as bad as I thought. Someone long ago told me that her 30s were so much better than her 20s and so far so good! Well, I look forward to keeing up with my blog. I will try to update it as much as possible. Until I "talk" to you again......

Broken Computer

2008-12-11T14:52:00.003-06:00

This is a short post but just to let you know where I have been. Our computer crashed a few weeks ago and quite honestly we have just been too busy to repair it. Between Thanksgiving, Christmas the remodeling and everything else going on life has just been real hetic. Everyone is fine and I can't wait to come back to post all our pictures from the holidays! "Talk" to you soon:)

remodeling 101

2008-11-02T16:20:00.007-06:00

So as many of you know we had a pipe bust in our kitchen not too long ago flooding our house. It has been a mess and a blessing all in one. We had orginally had plans to remodel but because of many different things we were going alot slower than planned so when the pipe busted the remodeling was something that HAD to happen. We decided to do the work ourselves so that we could have all the fun of picking out whatever we wanted plus I have a husband that is stubborn and swears he can do everything. We decided to do one room at a time and just live in a disaster area because we wanted to make sure we did things exactly how we liked them. So the kitchen was first since it was our biggest remodel. In the kitchen we decided to redo the floors to ceramic tile, get new cabinets (which for some reason we chose white), new countertops, tile backsplash, crown molding and new appliances. Let me show you what our kitchen looked like when we first moved in

Not the best looking kitchen but it is our first house and something we are very proud of. I took these photos because we had decided to paint the cabinets white and change the wall color to green. I thought it looked good but of course it got changed again with all new stuff. Our new cabinets are hung and our new tile floors are done but my kitchen still looks like this

we are currently waiting on our new countertops which were ordered last weekend so we have a few more weeks until they should be here. Since Jude says there is nothing that can be done until then we decided to go forwarded with the dining room. The only thing that we are doing in there is new floors, we are removing the carpet and putting down the same tile that is in the kitchen, repainting to match the kitchen, new baseboards and crown molding. This is a picture of Jude pulling up the baseboards and carpet so you can kinda see what it looked like before

This past weekend we put some paint up and Jude started laying down the tile so this afternoon it is currently looking like this

it's slowly coming along but it's taking really long. Next weekend we hope to have the tile finished and the painting finished. The following weekend the countertops should be in and once those come in we can start with the backsplash and put in our new microwave and sink. I can't wait for it to be done only for us to want to move I'm sure!

Trick Or Treat...Smell My Feet!

2008-11-01T11:32:00.005-05:00

So Halloween has come and gone! This past year was so much fun. Acutally, the best Halloween we have had in a long time. With it being on a Friday it gave Jude the opportunity to actually enjoy being up at night without having to go to work the next day. Connor was Stitch from Lilo & Stitch the movie.

Shyanne was JoJo from JoJo's Circus

She was orginally supposed to be Minnie Mouse but it was too cold so we had to change plans and go with our backup outfit which I think worked better. Yesterday, the kids had their Halloween party at school and got to wear their costumes all day so getting ready was really easy last night. We were invited over to some friend's house for a party and hayride. I'm so glad that we went because the kids had a blast! Connor is at the perfect age where he totally understood the entire trick or treating thing. Shyanne on the other hand didn't quite understand it at first but the towards the end of the night she was walking right up to the houses and asking for candy. It was a blast and makes me excited about next year!

NKOTB!

2008-10-28T08:53:00.004-05:00

Oh.....to be Mrs. Jordan Knight! That is what I had always dreamed growing up. If you were alive during the late 80s early 90s then you totally understand what I'm talking about. So as expected when New Kids On The Block announced last year that they were getting back together I felt like I was 9 years old all over again. Immediately my friends and I decided that if they were to tour and even come close to any of the areas that we lived then we would definitly be there. Well guess what???? THEY CAME TO NEW ORLEANS!!!!!!! So as soon as tickets were on sale we purchased our seats and waited until October 18 came. Before the concert my awesome husband surprised me with their new CD and their greatest hits CD. I don't think Jude knew the extent of my love for New Kids On The Block but he sure did learn quick. After months of listening to their CD over and over again so I could learn all the new songs (I still knew the old ones!) my night finally came! Now....I had been in Atlanta for the past 3 weeks so when I accepted this job I had to start out right and tell the VP of the region about my little plan to go see NKOTB and he told me it wouldn't be a problem I would just have to drive that weekend. So what was alittle 7 hour drive? Heck, I would have driven 20 hours! That day my parents took the kids and I went to my friend Shannon's parents' house. We got ready there and had all planned on getting dressed alike

I must say I thought we looked AWESOME! I don't think our husbands knew what to do with us but we didn't care. Shannon's husband Rick drove us so we could jam to the CD the entire way to the concert and the guys went to watch the LSU game somewhere while we enjoyed the concert. I must say that it was truly the best concert ever! Those guys danced for over 2 hours straight not ever taking a break! We danced, sang, screamed and acted like 8 year old little girls the entire time. At the end they said that they would be back and I guarantee you that we will be there again! Now I must wait my year.......SIGH!

hello atlanta!

2008-10-26T13:51:00.006-05:00

As I'm sure you noticed it's been almost a month since my last post. I have a good excuse I swear.....I had no computer! I have been in Atlanta, Ga for the past 3 weeks for training for my new job. The good news is that I am done and offically start my first day tomorrow. I'm so excited and can't wait because I know this is good for me but I'm nervous all at the same time. I missed my babies like crazy but I know they were in good hands. The first weekend I was there Jude brought the kids up to see me so that I wouldn't have to make that trip all weekends and I wouldn't have to go without seeing them during the weekend. I was excited because I have been wanting to bring the kids to Stone Mountain and the aquarium since Atlanta has the world's largest one. So why not take this opportunity for another mini vacation? They got there late Friday afternoon since it's a 5 hour drive we went to a famous "fast food" joint called the Varisty on Georgia Tech's campus. It was so good and something I enjoyed. The next day was spectacular we brought the kids to Stone Mountain!

It was absoultely beautiful and something I have been dying to do again. We lucked out because they were having some pumpkin festival the day we were there so it was decorated beautiful and there was lots of fun things for the kids to do.

We really wanted to stay to watch the laser show but of course it interfered with the LSU-Florida game and the kids were getting cranky so we decided to go back to the hotel, order pizza and watch the game. Of course, had we known how bad the game would have turned out I think we would have rathered dealt with cranky kids and watch the laser show.
The next morning Jude was trying to decide if he should leave or not because it was Sunday but because he had vacation the following week he decided to stay one more day and we went to the aquarium. I loved this place. It was awesome and it really is huge!

The thing I enjoyed the most was the Titanic exhibit. They gave us each boarding passes before we entered and at the end of the exhibit we were told whether or not we survived. Unfortunately for Connor he was the only one that didn't survive. The neat thing was that Shyanne was a 9 week old baby who was in 3rd class and she survived! Since it took all day we didn't have enough time to go see the Coca-Cola exhibit which was right next to the aquarium but we did get enough time for the kids to enjoy the playground at the Olympic Centinennal Park.

The next morning came too soon. I was so sad to see the kids leave but I knew I was there for a reason. I really enjoyed these past few weeks in Atlanta. I do think I will be making another trip sometime soon with the kids because there was just too much to see and do that we didn't get a chance to do.

Day 10

2008-10-05T06:47:00.005-05:00

Well the day that I had been dreading had finally come. When we woke up that morning it was so quite and somber in the room because we all knew we were leaving. I had packed the night before so all we had to do was get up, eat and leave.

This trip was so much fun. I feel blessed that we were able to bring the kids to Disney World. It was worth every penny to see the faces of the kids light up when another character would come around or they were able to see the parades and fireworks. I would say that Kristen Lynn and Connor were the perfect ages! Poor Shyanne was alittle too young. She didn't really understand the characters, or lines or really anything. We are going back next December though and by then she will be 2 1/2 so I think it will be much better. When we go next time we are not telling the kids until we wake up that morning. What a surprise that will be! Connor has only talked about going back to Disney World every single day. But you know, I'm with him on that. If I could I would go as much as possible. It's amazing how no matter what mood you are in walking into the park as soon as you get there you seem to turn into a kid again. So since I can't tell Connor when we are going again I guess you will have to countdown with me........................

Free Disney Tickers
While there I took lots of pictures of the hotel that I would love to share. We stayed at the Pop Century hotel. It was perfect with the kids! It was decorated like different decades. We were lucky enough to stay almost right near the pools and food court so I didn't get much chance to walk around and see the other buildings but I did get to see some cool stuff around our building.

I hope you enjoyed my break down of the trip as much as I enjoyed reliving it!

Day 9

2008-10-03T08:34:00.007-05:00

Well we had finally come to our last full day at Disney World. It's one that I dreaded coming. This morning was also my mom's birthday so when I woke up I looked forward to celebrating it with her but little did I know what the day would bring. Over night both my mom and Kristen Lynn got very sick. So sick that they couldn't even leave the room. So Jude and I packed up our kids and went to enjoy our last day minus Nana, Pop Pop and Kristen Lynn. We went back to Hollywood Studios to finish doing what we had missed from the first day. We immediately went to do Muppet's 3D. I don't know what has happened but it wasn't quite as enjoyable as I remembered it but I do think it's a must do. After the show we saw Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater from the movie Cars!

Connor was so confused because they weren't "real" but he still wanted to take a picture with them. Right after we saw what would be Connor's favorite part of the day....THE POWER RANGERS!

I must say I was alittle disappointed with them because they only would stay out for 10 minutes at a time and then would go inside to "fight the bad guys" for 45 minute breaks. So we only got to see the yellow one and the red one because the lines were so dang long. But most importantly, Connor got to see the Power Rangers and that is all that mattered to him. He was truly ready to leave after this but we still had some things that we wanted to do. One the way to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground we saw Kim Possible. Connor really didn't know who she was but since there was a line for her he wanted to stand in it and get her autograph. Then it was on to the playground. Finally something Shyanne could enjoy!

After playing for alittle while and releasing some energy Connor wanted to ride the Toy Story ride 1 more time. This time we were not so lucky with the line and waited for 90 minutes to ride it again. But again, this ride did not disappoint. It was worth it. Before leaving we rode the famous Great American Movie Ride. It's a long ride about all the older movies but it was great and it was a 20 minute sit down ride in air conditioning which made it perfect. When the ride was over it was time to get back to the hotel for naps and some enjoyment of the pools. Now I must say on our way out Jude was "attacked" by some Auburn fans. You see this happened to be the day of the LSU/Auburn game. So of course Jude was dressed to the nines with his LSU gear

These little kids couldn't have been older than Connor but they were following us out the park yelling "WAR EAGLE!" It was in all fun and games and was actually quite amusing. Especially when you know who won that evening......GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!

Day 8

2008-10-01T19:57:00.016-05:00

The Friday that we were looking forward to had finally come! Why were we looking forward to it so much? Because it was our break day with no parks but lots of shopping in Downtown Disney!

Now, for anybody who has never been there it's a treat! It's a strip of stores that are filled with Disney stuff! We had decided that we were not going to purchase souvenirs the entire week because you could get the same stuff in Downtown Disney so of course I was so excited about this day! We immediately went into the Christmas store where we bought our annual Christmas ornament. We were lucky enough to get a 2008 one to remember our vacation and Connor, who swears he isn't spoiled, picked out some crazy ornament that his Nana and Pop Pop bought for him. So out of that store we walked away with 2 ornaments and 1 pair of adorable mickey earrings for Shyanne. The next store was the kitchen store which is one of my favorites! While I could have seriously bought everything in there we walked away with only a mickey shaped pancake and egg cutter. Now on Saturday mornings when Jude makes his special pancakes he can make the kids in Mickey shapes! The next store was the kids favorite....

Goofy's Candy Shoppe! I must say I completely understand why it was their favorite. It smelled awesome in there. Of course we didn't leave this shop without a few goodies; Shyanne's Minnie Mouse cup, Connor's Stitch cup and his make your own Mickey Gingerbread man

Believe it or not, after all these treats we went to eat lunch at my favorite spot in Downtown Disney.

Wolfgang Pucks! Yeap, I love this place:) I love it so much that we ate here twice in the one week that we were there. Now if you are to ever go here make sure you order the Chinos Chicken Salad or the BBQ Chicken Quesdillas. I got the salad and Jude got the Quesadillas and I must say that I would go back in a heartbeat to eat both of these again! After lunch we went into the World Of Disney where seriously EVERYTHING is Disney. I could spend a fortune in that store but luckily for me, or should I say Jude, we only got a "couple" of things;) We didn't stay long in Downtown Disney because we had a busy night ahead of us so we went back to the hotel to hang out by the pool and nap. What was ahead of us that night? Well.......

This is a MUST do! They closed the park down and you have to buy special tickets to get in. The kids dressed up; Connor like Stitch, Shyanne like Minnie Mouse and Kristen Lynn like Snow White.

The idea of the party is from 7pm-midnight you can go around and see the characters in their Halloween costumes then you can trick or treat with them. The cool thing was that besides the normal characters out in front of the castle this evening it was the villains from all the movies. They were able to see Captain Hook, Cruilla Deville, and Jafira (or however you spell it!)

These characters were great! They totally played up their characters and the kids were not bothered by it. After seeing the villains we were able to go see Stitch's dance party which was really neat. Stitch saw Connor, who was dressed like him, and pointed to Connor from the stage to let him know that he saw him. Connor is still talking about that:) We got lots of candy and was able to see a few other characters.

There was a special fireworks show that was simply breathtaking along with an awesome parade that was lead by a Headless Horseman. I unfortunately was not able to get my camera out before he came by but all I can say is that it was a sight to see. We didn't stay till midnight because the kids were pooped but we did stay until a good 11:15 and believe it or not the only kid awake was Shyanne. Connor looked like this the entire way back to the hotel.

Day 7

2008-09-30T09:00:00.014-05:00

This day started out bright and early because we had breakfast reservations for 8:30. While that doesn't seem early, try getting 4 adults and 3 kids ready and at a bus stop for 7:15am. Our breakfast reservations was one that Connor looked forward too almost the entire trip. We were finally eating with Lilo and Stitch! Stitch is Connor's absolute favorite! As a matter of fact he is dressing up like him for Halloween. So anyways, we were at the bus stop bright and early because we had to catch a monorail over to the Polyenisan Resort, which by the way is beautiful and I really hope we can afford to stay there one day! As soon as we walked in were we given the traditional Hawaiian lays. Although Shyanne choose to were hers the nontraditional way:)

At breakfast we were not given an option of food which was okay with me because it was delicious. We were served a huge basket of wonderful breads, along with a big bowl of fresh Hawaiian fruit. Then came the platter (yes I said platter) of food. All I have to say is YUMMY!

I had to show off the adorable Mickey head waffles that were great! At the breakfast we saw Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. As always the kids faces were so cute to see when each character came to our table!

Before we left the kids were able to participate in a "parade" around the room where they could dance with all the characters and shake maracas! Would I do this again? Sure! The kids had a great time so if they wanted to do this again I would. I do believe that everyone should experience this once! After breakfast it was off to the last park that we hadn't seen yet which was.....

ANIMAL KINGDOM! I must say that I loved this park for the first time. I had been there a couple of times and hadn't enjoyed it as much but for some reason I really liked it this time around. I must take a moment to brag about my little man though. He had walked this entire week without a stroller and without complaining one time until this day. He actually asked for a stroller and because I knew he had to be exhausted from his busy week we rented one from the park.

I must also take a moment to brag about those strollers. They were the best and if I could have bought one I would have. For some reason they "drove" better and were just awesome all the way around. Anyways, the first thing we did was "A Bugs Life" which is a 3D movie that was really enjoyable. It can be scary at some times for kids if they don't like bugs but luckily for me I have a boy that isn't scared of much. So we were able to enjoy the show! After the show we were able to catch an awesome bird show that I'm sure my dad enjoyed because of his love for birds. I can tell you that I think I liked the show more because I knew it made my dad happy to watch it. It was something he could enjoy which made me enjoy it! While walking towards the safari we ran into Baloo and the Monkey (what's his name?)

After that character stop we happen to see a face painting section. Connor of course wanted his face painted like a cheetah so that he could be like the cheetahs on the safari. I must say that his face looked awesome! He started looking like this.....

and ended up looking like this...........

After the guy got done painting Connor's face he also painted alittle Minnie Mouse on Shyanne's face for FREE! Which I thought was so nice. Then again it didn't last long because Shyanne rubbed it off almost immediately but not before I could get a picture!

We then went and rode the safari and looked at a bunch more animals. Again this park is beautiful! At the end of the day, the park closes at 5pm, my mom, Jude and Connor all found their most favorite ride....RIVER RAPIDS! I didn't get a picture but I wish you could have seen them when they came off the ride. They were soaked. Although it didn't help that they rode is 3 times in a row because there was no line. I truly believe that they would still be there had the park not closed. While they rode that ride I was able to watch over the nappers

The park closed and it was time to go back to the hotel. I must say I was sad to leave but at the same time I knew that since the park closed early enough it gave us the opportunity to go wind down and hang out at the pool for the rest of the evening which was great because we still had 2 more days left and a long day ahead of us:)

Day 6

2008-09-27T09:10:00.011-05:00

This day was actually my favorite! We had two different reservations both at Magic Kingdom so back to that park we went. Our first reservation was very special and something that I looked forward too since back in April when I made the reservations. We were lucky enough to get a 10am brunch reservation at Cinderella's castle to eat with all the princesses!

Yes, THE CINDERELLA'S CASTLE! We first walked in only to be immediately called prince and princesses and we were given a special wand. The first place we went to was a line for special photograph opportunity with Cinderella herself! You can see the family photo at the top of my page. But Connor on the other hand got a special moment alone with Cinderella that he actually loved. He was so fascinated with her and it was so cute to see.

After our photo shoot we were directed upstairs to a beautiful room with stained glass windows and breathtaking decorations, just as you would picture Cinderella's castle to be like. We were seated and immediately treated like we were somebody special. We were not given an option of what we wanted to eat we were told but that was okay with me because the food was delicious!

Yes, I took a picture of the plate only because it looked so good:) While there we were greeted by Snow White, Princess Jasmine, Princess Aurora (from Sleeping Beauty) and Belle. Kristen Lynn was adorable seeing her with all the princesses and of course Connor acted like a typical boy seeing princesses.

Before we left they surprised Connor with a birthday cake since he was still wearing his button and all the princesses came around and sung happy birthday to him.

Then even better while we were walking out we stopped for a family photo and look who snuck in the picture with us...

the kids had no clue that Princess Aurora was in the picture with us. After brunch all the kids started getting really cranky so my parents volunteered to go back to the hotel to let them nap before our dinner reservations which gave Jude and I time to go do whatever we wanted to. We actually decided to park hop and were able to ride all the "good" rides. We originally stayed at Magic Kingdom and rode Splash Mountain and then we went back to Epcot to ride Mission Space, which by the way scared the heck out of me, then we went to Animal Kingdom to ride Everest, which was AWESOME! We really enjoyed this afternoon and are thankful to my parents for taking the kids. We were also able to ride the monorail around and the ferry where we captured a few pictures of ourselves.

Before dinner we were able to catch the "Dreams Come True Show" in front of Cinderella's castle which was awesome as always.

As soon as that show was over it was time to go to dinner at the Crystal Palace. Now, Jude and I have eaten here several times so we were really looking forward to this but for some reason this past time I did not enjoy it and I probably will no be eating there again. While it was great to see Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet I just don't think it was worth it.

Now, you might realize that Connor is not in a picture with Piglet or Winnie The Pooh but the reason is that after dinner Connor got extremely sick and was in the bathroom throwing up. Little did we know that this would soon have a rolling affect on everybody. That night not only was Connor sick but so was I. Maybe that is the reason why I have such a bad taste in my mouth about the Crystal Palace.

Day 5

2008-09-26T11:50:00.006-05:00

Today was another day based off of reservations. We had dinner reservations at 6:30 that evening so we did the park that had the least amount of things that we wanted to do.

Yeap...Epcot! Now some people love this park but I on the other hand would be okay completely missing this park all together. But since it was the kids first time we decided to bring them to it. We didn't get a chance to see any characters while we were there but we were able to enjoy a couple of different rides and shows. The first thing we did was the new Finding Nemo ride that Connor loved! After the ride we were able to go see Crush's, the turtle from Finding Nemo, show. It was neat because the kids were able to sit upfront and ask whatever questions they wanted to and Crush answered whatever they asked. It's amazing what they can do these days:) While waiting for the show we were able to visit the fish exhibit where Shyanne was not impressed and could care less about anything. Let's just say she was very challenging to watch during this waiting period!

These pictures were taken while waiting for Crush's show. After the show we went to Honey I Shrunk The Audience 3D show which as always entertained us. Since we didn't have much time left my parents took Kristen Lynn and Shyanne back to the hotel for naps while we kept Connor at the park to entertain him alittle bit more. We also were able to do the Fast Track. Now you had to be 40 inches tall to ride it and again Connor is EXACTLY 40 inches tall. As a matter of fact he was measured 3 different times because I guess they thought he might have been cheating. Let's just say that Connor loved this ride. Imagine a little boy riding on a "race car" that is racing around a track going 70 mph. Of course he loved it!

After riding the ride it was 4:45 and we thought we had plenty of time left until we asked someone what was the quickest way to our reservations at Mickey's Backyard BBQ. The man freaked us out a bit when he asked if we had our tickets yet and why hadn't we left yet. The answer was NO because we had no clue you needed tickets with a reservation...just a hint if you do the BBQ you need to pick up your tickets in advance! So then the race was on!!! Jude, Connor and I took off running through Epcot so that we could catch the monorail which would then bring us to Magic Kingdom then we had to catch a boat that would bring us to Fort Wilderness where the BBQ was taking place at. Yes, this was the quickest way. Luckily we made it just in time. Literally with about 1 minute to spare. The BBQ was awesome! Good music, all you can eat BBQ, dancing with Mickey, Minnie, Chip N Dale, Goofy and the commentators who I have no clue who they were. We were there until about 9pm and the dancing and music was still going on. Would I do this again! ABSOLUTELY! Of course since it was outside I would do it again in the fall or winter seasons.

Day 4

2008-09-25T18:52:00.005-05:00

Day 4 brought no reservations anywhere so of course we got our choice of parks. So what park did we choose?

That's right the beautiful Magic Kingdom or the Place Cinderella lives as Connor called it. Connor and Kristen Lynn were so excited to see Cinderella's castle I think they would have been okay to leave right after we walked in. Of course when we walked in we were immediately bombarded with characters. Since we had already seen the majority of them we stood in line for Chip N' Dale and Gheppto, or however you spell it.

We then went to where it seemed everybody in the park was...the mickey ear shop so that each of us could get "our ears." My parents were nice enough to get everybody they own ears with their name on the back.

Now...I did not get the princess one it was a joke that Jude asked me to take a picture with it but I did get the same Minnie Mouse hat that Kristen Lynn got. Unfortunately, I went to bed the night before and forgot to charge my camera battery so right after Jude took that picture of me in the princess hat my camera died and I had no camera for the rest of the day. The day was incredible though. We spent the majority of it in Fantasyland where the kids rode Dumbo, Peter Pan, Snow White, Winnie The Pooh, The Teacups and It's A Small World. We then hung out and rode the Haunted Mansion, which Connor loved and then we moved to Tomorrowland where we rode the new Stitch ride, Buzz Lightyear ride and watch the Monsters Inc show. After a long day of rides and lines we hung out on Main Street till the light parade came. Because it's Magic Kingdom we sat on the side of the street for almost 2 hours keeping our spot right in the front. The thing I can say about Disney is that there was plenty of entertainment that you would have never known it was a 2 hour wait. Connor actually volunteered to go jump rope in the middle of the street with the big kids and for it being his first time he did pretty good. Shyanne chased down the balloon man. That was a sight to see and since she had been so good all day and her daddy is a sucker for giving her what she wants she got a nice 10 dollar Disney balloon. YES I DID SAY 10 DOLLARS! But that balloon is still around and she still plays with it everyday after school. The parade was BEAUTIFUL and a sight to see. That was the moment that I noticed how awesome this trip was. To see both Connor and Shyanne's faces when the lighted floats came by made my entire trip and made me realize how magical Disney World truly is. After the parade we went back to the hotel because it was sometime after 10pm and we had another big day ahead of us!

Day 3

2008-09-25T10:15:00.010-05:00

This day was our first full day at the park! Because of our lunch reservations we decided to do MGM Studios or as Disney has renamed it Hollywood Studios.

We actually enjoyed this park. Unfortunately the main thing Jude wanted to do was shut down for repairs which was the stunt show but there was plenty of other things to do. The very first thing we did was ride the new Toy Story Mania ride. We were prepared for a 90+ minute wait but because we went there bright and early in the morning there was only a 10 minute wait. The ride was an awesome 4D shooting ride. I believe it was Connor's favorite ride of the day.

After the ride was were lucky to catch another short line to see Buzz Lightyear and Woody from the movie Toy Story!

Because of our lunch reservations we weren't able to ride anymore rides but we were able to see lots of characters like Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Handy Mandy, and Quincy.

We then had lunch at the new Play N' Dine with Playhouse Disney characters. While the kids had a blast I wouldn't really recommend this again. The food wasn't great and Connor wasn't nearly as impressed with these characters like he was with other ones. Here at this lunch we saw JoJo, Goliath, June and Leo.

After a long lunch we talked Connor into riding the Tower Of Terror. It didn't take much convincing because poor little guy didn't really know what the ride was. In order to ride it you had to be 40 inches tall and lucky for Connor he is exactly 40 inches tall! My dad got some great pictures of little man on the ride which I haven't gotten yet but we did purchase the picture that I will eventually scan into my computer. All I can say is that Connor said he will NOT ride this ride again until he is 6 years old:) Everybody was starting to get tired and we were heading back to the hotel when we happen to catch the block party on the street. We got perfect seating so that the kids could see everything and Connor even got picked from the crowd to dance in the middle of the street with one of the dancers!

I was honestly so surprised that Connor went out there because he usually acts alittle shy but he was a true champ! After the parade we went back to the hotel for some swimming and relaxation before our next big day also because the kids looked like this

Day 2

2008-09-24T20:17:00.007-05:00

Early morning on day 2 brought a special surprise for Connor!

A special phone call from Mickey Mouse! Incase you are wondering how it happened visit this website... https://secure.uvoxnetworks.com/disney/affhome.html?affno=66/a>
I had a phone call scheduled for Connor to tell him about his special trip. He was so happy and shocked it was wonderful to see. So we got up early in the morning and headed the rest of the way to Orlando. We ended up getting there before check in and around lunch so we headed to downtown disney for some shopping and to get a taste of all the mickey mouse stuff before we hit up the actual parks. After several hours of wasting time it was time to get to our hotel which was awesome and perfect for anybody with kids.

After a day of relaxing at the hotel and getting all checked in we had reservations at Chef Mickeys. I had heard alot about this place and it was almost sold out when we were making reservations so my expectations were high. All I can say is that it didn't disappoint me at all! Connor and Kristen Lynn were great with the characters, Shyanne on the other hand had a different reaction

We were able to see Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck. The food was not the best but what do you expect with a buffet? But would I do it again? ABSOULTELY! Also, Connor was given a birthday boy button to wear since I told them this was his birthday present. So after dinner Mickey Mouse brought over a cupcake and sung happy birthday to him which I'm sure made his entire night!

Dinner finished at about 9:30pm and people were still piling in there. So after dinner we headed back to the hotel because we knew we had a long day ahead of us but there was still one surprise that was totally unexpected! From our room we could see the fireworks shows! I didn't get any pictures because when they were going off I was so happy to be able to see them from my room I forgot to take pictures!

Day 1

2008-09-24T18:54:00.003-05:00

So we are offically back and I figured I will give you a run down of each and everyday of our trip. Since I took so many pictures I thought this might be the easiest way to show most of them. Of course we had a blast and we are already counting down until we go again.
Well, our trip started out on Friday, September 12. We decided to drive half way since we had the kids and didn't know how well they would react to being in the car for 8 hours straight. So as soon as Jude got home from work Friday afternoon we were off and headed to Tallahassee, Fl!

It only took us 3 1/2 hours to get there and we actually got there way to early. Our orginal plans were to leave after I got off of work but since I was laid off earlier in the week we left after lunch on Friday. So we sat around alot on Friday and could have driven alittle bit more but you live and learn right?

and we're off!

2008-09-12T09:33:00.002-05:00

that's right we are finally leaving for our much awaited trip! we are traveling halfway today and will arrive in orlando tomorrow! the first thing connor said when he woke up this morning is "mommy is TODAY the day we are leaving?" i guess after so long of counting down he was starting to give up! i will make sure to post lots of pictures when we get back!

New Beginnings

2008-09-10T15:49:00.003-05:00

Well I have only been counting down to this week for the past 6 months because of our trip to Disney World but had I known what this week would have brought I would have totally wanted to postpone it as long as I could. As you know I worked for a huge company selling both yellowpage and online advertising for the past 3 1/2 years and on Monday right after we wrapped everything up for the Mobile directory they held a meeting telling us that they were closing down the office. Letting all of us were let go. After much investigation....because I couldn't just let it go (I mean I had done nothing wrong) I think I have found out the reason for this "closure" and I think it's totally bogus. But what's so great is how my stress level has completely gone down and I have actually been getting good sleep. The good news is that on Tuesday I got 2 phone calls for 2 different companies asking for my resume and I have an interview tomorrow morning. So I am really seeing this as a blessing! To start off my new search and my new beginning today I went and got my hair cut and feel like a whole new person. We are still leaving for Disney on Friday and I feel like I haven't been this happy or relieved in a long long long time. So here is to new beginnings...................................

4 Years Ago Today!!!!!

2008-09-05T04:22:00.007-05:00

It's hard to imagine but my little man is offically 4 years old today and all I have to say is WOW! It seems like yesterday I was sitting in my bathroom finding out I was pregnant not knowing what I was going to do with myself because I was living in South Carolina and Jude was about to leave for 7 months! Connor was quite alittle surprise for Jude and I but one we welcomed with open arms. Connor Thomas was born on Saturday September 5, 2004 at Beaufort Memorial Hospital in Beaufort, SC. His delivery was quite an adventure with my water breaking at 2am and my parents having to drive through Hurricane Francis just to get there in time. He was a tiny baby, as a matter of fact the smallest of our entire family so far, weighing in at 6lbs and
5ozs and only 19 inches long. Which by the way he is still the smallest of the bunch and even his class! Throughout the past 4 years Connor has actually taught Jude and I alot, one thing is how too appreciate things even more and for that I am thankful to him. Connor is really into coloring and drawing things these days and his imagination is unreal! I truly think he is going to be alittle artist. I look forward to the boy he is going to become but at the same time I don't want him to grow up too fast so if anybody knows a way to slow this down please let me know! In the mean time please enjoy some baby pictures of Connor that I still have left.....his baby photos were destroyed in Katrina so I only have a few left.

Now...I don't know if you noticed this or not but I have already mentioned 2 hurricanes in this blog. Connor's birthday seems to be in the peak season of hurricane season so unfortunately for my little guy he has yet to have a birthday party. So this year we are celebrating really big. Next week we are taking him to Disney World, that is if hurricane Ike doesn't have other plans, and tonight we are going to his favorite place in the world to eat Mellow Mushroom. We are going to have about 20 people there for pizza and cake and then he is having a big bash on October 4 after we get back from our trip with all his friends from school. Not only do we have all this going on but we have already had cake at my parents house and today at school they are giving him a party. I'm sure he is going to be confused as to why he keeps getting cake and celebrating his birthday but I believe it's much overdue!

Where Have I Been?

2008-08-23T02:15:00.010-05:00

I'm sure you noticed it's been well over a month since my last blog and I do apologize but I promise it's because of very good reasons. First I will start with my last blog...it you read the end you will see that I mentioned alittle bit about Connor man being sick and we thought he got better. Little did I know that soon after that post would start another 2 weeks of fever, headaches, vomiting and a little boy who had a hard time being responsive because he just wanted to sleep all the time. We brought him in and out the doctor doing CT scans, blood work and any other type of test you can imagine. The weird thing about all of this is Connor would get better and then sick all over again. The mornings he would be fine but my mid afternoon would be horrible. The end finally came when one afternoon after being better for a few days he got sick again at school all of a sudden without any signs. So back to the doctor we went. We had to see another doctor that afternoon because our regular doctor was full. This doctor suggested to me, while Connor was running a fever and throwing up all over me, that Connor was making all of this up and that there could be a bully at school so he was learning that if he was sick he would get alot of attention and be sent home. He also told me, right after I was thrown up on in the office and I was rubbing his back to see if he needed to throw up again, that I needed to not ask him "buddy do you think you are going to throw up again" because I was putting in his mind that he did have to throw up. After giving us an antibiotic for some infection, which I still have no clue why you would give me an antibiotic if nothing was wrong, I left the doctor's office and went straight to a Women's & Children's Hospital. After being at the hospital all night with IVs in the poor little man's hand and taking lots more test we realized that Connor had backed up bowls (or however you spell it!) Which was causing all the problems. So Connor was put on an antibiotic to treat his problem and sent home. I still to this day have no clue what could have caused everything to be backed up but he seems to be doing better. The doctor at the hospital recommends that if he complains again or we notice that he is not going to the bathroom then we must take him to a pediatric intestine doctor. Hopefully we won't have that problem!

As soon as we thought Connor was getting better one night I woke up in extreme pain. I thought it was just some cramps so I got up took some Tylenol and tried to go back to sleep which is when I seriously started to think I was going to die! It was so painful that I decided to wake Jude up and tell him that I thought I needed to go to the hospital. Now...I have a habit of being alittle dramatic so of course Jude was not the happiest camper to be woken up in the middle of the night for this but we packed up the kids, dropped them off at the sitter and on the way to the hospital we went. After being there for what seemed like an eternity they found out I had a gallbladder full of gallstones. I don't know if any of you have ever had the pleasure of feeling a gallstone but I really wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy....well maybe:) So yesterday, a few weeks after my first attack, I had my surgery and had my gallbladder removed. I am doing pretty good actually. Yesterday it hurt to breathe, walk, talk, raise my hand or do anything. Now today I only have pain in my stomach but the doctor was nice enough to give me good drugs for that! I need to take some time to thank a couple of people. First is Jude because he was so cute yesterday trying to take care of me. Yesterday he set me up a pallet on the bed, gave me a bell to ring (which was taken away after the first ring!), went and got me movies and ice cream and then laid in bed with me all evening so I didn't have to be alone in the bedroom since I was pretty much confined there. He has been awesome in all of this....except when he accidentally threw the remote in my direction and it landed on my belly. Which is okay I totally made him pay for it! Next I really need to thank my mom! She drove all the way up here yesterday to be with me and I was so happy to have her here. There was something about having her there which made me feel better. She also took the kids home with her so Jude and I have the house to ourselves for the entire weekend that way I can sit and relax and Jude can focus his helping 100% on me and then I really need to thank the Smith family because they were the ones who took the kids in the middle of the night and have been extremely helpful with bringing them to and from school and also helping us out in many other ways! In case you are wondering why my dad wasn't with my mom...he was out of town but I know it was killing him not to be there and he did call to check on me after the surgery and for that I thank you too daddy! The picture below is of me with Ms. Brittani, Gidget's daughter, the evening before the surgery.

If we thought it couldn't get worse....it did. On August 8 Jude came from work only to find our house flooded! Apparently, one of our pipes busted in the kitchen and completely flooded our kitchen, living room and dining room. It has been a huge mess but thankfully we have great insurance with USAA! I would recommend that insurance to anybody but unfortunately it's only for military! They have been wonderful. We have already had an adjuster come out to our home where he made the conclusion we need new walls behind the cabinets (which is where the pipe busted), new kitchen cabinets and counter tops, new floors throughout the kitchen, living room, dining room, hallway and foyer. While I am okay with this because we are going to get new things I'm really unhappy with this because we haven't been able to begin work just yet and my house looks like a catastrophe! Hopefully soon we can begin work on it and my house will be looking beautiful again! But until then this is what I have to live with (minus the floors because we finally finished pulling those up).....

Then just when you thought bad things happen in threes right? WRONG! Shyanne woke up this week with her little legs looking like a spider had attacked her. Poor thing had the back of one of her legs were so swollen she couldn't been her knee so off to the doctor we went....again! While there he discovered she had impentigo (or however you spell it!) It is an infection of some sort that caused her little body to break out with a rash, which is did, and made her little bug bites look worse then they really were. If not treated immediately it could cause the bites to get a staph infection so she is currently on an antibotic. Her legs are really looking better with the medicine but I have to try to keep a 1 year old from scratching which has been difficult because it's 1000 degrees outside and I am putting her in pants that she keeps trying to take off because it's hot. This is what her legs looked like

Finally in other family news....Connor is turning 4 in two weeks! It's unbelieveable how fast time has gone by. He is turning into such alittle man and it amazes me the things he comes up with. We are still taking him on his birthday trip to Disney World in 3 weeks and we can't wait to go! If you want to know why we are still going with everything going on....well it's already paid for and little man has been counting down since we booked the trip back in April! We were going to have his birthday party the week before we went but with everything going on we pushed it back to October 4. He also has alittle girlfriend named Tommie-Lynn. She goes to school and church with Connor and she also happens to be the Smith's little girl. So we spend alot of time with her. Its really cute actually Connor has been calling her his girlfriend for several months now and they are really cute with each other. Just recently Connor told me that he can only kiss Tommie-Lynn, Shyanne, Mommy, Nana and Liz because all other girls have coodies! I swear I am going to have my hands full in a few years! Here is a picture of Connor and Tommie-Lynn at the baseball game the other evening.

it's tooooooooooo quite!

2008-07-20T09:39:00.003-05:00

Well the weekend is here and my house is so incredibly quite I can't stand it! At work we have to start working Saturdays until we finish up this book we are working on which means every Saturday from here until September I will be busy working. Anyways, we have some friends of ours that are getting married August 30 and the wedding festivies have begun. Yesterday was the bachelor party in New Orleans. Since of course Jude went we had nobody here to watch the kids so off to Nana and Pop Pop's house they went which means I had the whole house to myself all night last night! You would think I would have enjoyed it but I really got quite bored. I thought that I would lay around and do nothing and I was really looking forward to sleeping in but of course I ended up cleaning, getting up early and have actually begun getting things together for our disney trip that is 8 weeks away! Having this weekend brings me to the question of what did I do before Connor and Shyanne came around? I have no clue!

In other family news I think Connor is finally all better! In case you don't know, Connor has been running a fever for over 2 weeks now. We have been in and out of the doctor's office trying to figure out what is wrong. He has had CT scans, blood work and urine test all ran and nothing has come back showing anything wrong. We still don't know what happened to him but all I know is that we are thankful he is much better!

A Girl & Her Shoes

2008-07-14T21:00:00.005-05:00

As I have said in many other post Shyanne is a true girl who loves her shoes. Well tonight proved my point even more. Before she went to bed she walked up to me and gave me her new disney crocs. She then sat on the floor and refused to go to bed until I placed them on her feet. After I put them on she walked to her room for bed and then was content as I laid her down in her bed with them on. I thought she would take them off as she was falling asleep but boy was I wrong! This is how I found her:)

Tonight is also our first night off of the pacifier! She doesn't take one at school so I thought we would try to not have one here at home! Let's see if we make it through the night without one!
*the wet spot on her bed is from her head after her bath....NO nana and pop pop we didn't make that poor girl cry herself to sleep!

Little Artist

2008-07-06T11:43:00.002-05:00

I have to use this weekly post to brag about my little man! Earlier in the week when I picked him up from school his teacher brought me aside and showed me his "picnic table cloth" that they colored that day at school. To me it was nothing unusual Connor had colored each box a different bright color and stayed inside the lines. Not only had he done this but he had some sort of pattern to it all. I looked at her and asked if something was wrong because I have seen Connor color like this his entire life. She said "NO!" as a matter of fact she was telling me how good he was at being artistic. She showed me the other colorings that were turned in that day from the rest of the 3 year old classroom and that is when I noticed why she was so impressed! Not only was Connor the only one to stay completely in the lines but he was the only one to use multiple colors! So this past weekend we went camping with my family and we decided to have lunch on Friday at the Mellow Mushroom Pizza joint here. They passed out the typical kids menus with crayons and Connor seemed to get into some zone and began coloring his masterpiece! Not only did we make a big deal but the people at the Mellow Mushroom also put it up on the wall! I had never been so proud of my little man so what if t-ball wasn't for him I think we have found his niche!
*the picture above is of Connor next to his coloring!

And This Year's DIVA Award Goes To......

2008-06-29T19:32:00.003-05:00

That's right my sweet little girl has turned into 100% DIVA! It's kinda scary really. Too see her now at 1 year old imagine her at 16! YIKES! I am totally seeing what everybody said when they said there is a huge difference in raising little girls verses boys. Connor didn't care about many things and while he wanted to copy me Shyanne seems to do it worst! She is totally into doing EVERYTHING I do espically when it comes to makeup or anything with my purse. She also LOVES to shop. It's fun and all but if she sees me put anything into the cart without letting her see it or touch it the temper tantrum begins! She loves her shoes and really loves my shoes! But her true DIVA showed today when I told her "NO" to opening the kitchen cabinets and she threw the biggest temper tantrum ever! She would cry and cry and then when I would walk out of the room she would stop and follow me into the other room. When she noticed I looked at her she would throw herself onto the floor and begin crying again. This crying wasn't any typical crying she was sobing like that was the worse thing to ever happen to her. Of course after I didn't pay attention to her it didn't get any better...she decided to get back at me and give me the silent treatment for several hours. I mean she ignored me and would only go to her brother. If I would walk near her she would run, or run as good as Shyanne can, and would scream like I was hurting her. Oh how I can't wait for the teenage years:)

I wear my sunglasses at night!

2008-06-22T06:28:00.003-05:00

Connor is FINALLY at that age where he will actually wear his sunglasses when we are out and about without taking them off. I know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal but I have been trying to get him to wear some since he has been born. The Easter Bunny brought Connor some "cool dude shades" (as Connor calls them) but it wasn't until recently when he saw Jude wearing his everywhere that he decided that he needed to actually wear them and that they actually do something to get he sun out of his eyes! Actually these sunglasses have become quite a hassel because he thinks he needs to wear them everywhere including school and inside places but the biggest hassel has come with little Miss Priss because of course Connor can't have something without her so

she now has her own pair and does quite well with them. I'm pretty sure she is only wearing them because Connor does. Now if I can only get bows and hats to stay on her head....maybe I should put one on Connor!
*Yes that really is lipgloss she is trying to put on...I have a true DIVA on my hands!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

2008-06-15T16:39:00.003-05:00

wanted to give alittle shout out to all the daddys out there on their special day! hope you had a great day and did the things you wanted to do. we didn't do much here except grill out for lunch and i completely cleaned out jude's truck. trust me, if you would have seen it you would think it's a big deal:)i'm sad because i don't live close enough to slidell to go see my dad today but i did call him this morning and i know i was first to tell him. woohoo!!!!! so...happy fathers day daddy and jude and whoever else reads this!

beach bums

2008-06-08T18:17:00.004-05:00

Last year Jude thought it would be a great idea to watch "shark week" on the Discovery Channel with Connor. It was a good thing because Connor enjoyed watching it with his daddy but what it did do was put the fear of water in my little man's eyes. Last year Connor REFUSED to go into any sort of water except his bathtub so this year I was really hestiant about taking him back to the beach over Memorial Day weekend. To my surprise all fears of sharks were gone! Connor would have stayed there all day and actually went into the water without any help! I'm thinking this summer will be a beach filled one:)

BFF Forever!

2008-06-01T10:45:00.004-05:00

Over Memorial Day weekend my friend Becky drove all the way from Lafayette with her 4 year old Noah for the 4 day weekend. We thought the two boys would have a great time and become the best of friends. While I believe they both had a good time it was quite interesting seeing these two play together. Let me give you alittle background....about 1 month before the weekend we met Becky and Noah in Slidell for lunch and a play date at the park. Everything was perfect and the boys got along great. I guess we didn't think it was because they were only spending a few hours together and had nothing to fight over because as soon as we got them together for 4 full days the fights began! Now I know the fights were about sharing toys and it's difficult for little kids to understand sharing but it was nothing like we expected. The boys really did get along for the most part until it came to toys. It was really all quite amusing. What's so funny is Connor is still talking about Noah and how he can't wait for him to come back to his house. I swear I will never understand boys!

we did capture some cute photos:)

Shyanne's Birthday Party

2008-05-31T08:18:00.007-05:00

Shyanne's first birthday was May 11 but because of other parties we scheduled her party for May 24 which worked out terrific because it was Memorial Day weekend. So because of the long weekend we had some guest come in for the party which I am so thankful for.

We ended up having her party at the Eastern Shore Center. In case you don't know that is the local mall which has a fountain in the center that you could rent out. It was perfect! The kids wanted nothing to do with cake or presents they wanted to play in the water the entire time. Her theme was of course ladybugs so Shyanne wore her ladybug flip flops, dress and bikini. We then had a white cake with black polka dots and red writing it was adorable and really good too!

Since the party was at 2pm and only 1 1/2 hours we didn't have any food and we didn't get a chance to open presents so after the party we invited a few people over to grill hamburgers and hot dogs and then we finally opened her gifts. She received lots of fun things that both Connor and her have been fighting over all week. I guess Connor didn't understand it was Shyanne's birthday party. She wasn't that interested in opening the gifts so I opened all of them while see sat in a chair and played with whatever I gave her.

While we were grilling Jude decided to pull out Connor's spacewalk and pool so the kids would have something to do. Connor and Noah, his new best friend, decided to slide from the spacewalk into the pool. They were out there all evening and had a blast!

throw me something.....connor?

2008-05-22T05:23:00.004-05:00

here in daphne every year they have a crawfish festival and over the past two years they have kicked it off with a small parade through downtown daphne. this year connor's school decided to have a "float" in the parade and name it "just kid'n around is just fish'n around" (the theme of the parade was fishing)! of course we decided to sign connor up to be on the float. connor's class tye-dyed shirts and even worked on the float at school. so when last saturday came around connor could not wait to ride on the float and throw beads at people. my parents drove from slidell to watch the parade and brought kristen lynn and elizabeth with them so that we could all see connor on the float. jude and i brought our camera out to take lots of pictures of course when the float past this is what you got.....

we got so excited we forgot to take pictures so the only pictures we have of connor's first parade is the one of the float coming and the one of the float leaving. we got bombarded with things from his school. connor didn't throw us beads he threw us his fishing pole prop from the float. we didn't tell him his nana and pop pop were coming so when he past them he was so surprised! connor said he had a good time so that is all that matters. next year hopefully we will actually get a picture and hopefully connor will actually throw some beads because we hear he spent most of his time eating the candy that he was supposed to throw!

here we bow!

2008-05-18T15:11:00.003-05:00

okay so i know this picture is alittle blurry but i couldn't resist posting it. yesterday we went out and about to do weekend things and i had a sudden urge to put a bow in shyanne's hair. we all know that she hasn't had any hair since she was born but she is slowly but surely getting some. it's funny how much she has changed me because before she was born i wanted nothing pink (which is why i painted her room green & white) or any bows but now that she is here i can't wait to dress her in dresses in any shade of pink and i definitly can't wait to put a big fat bow in her hair! so saturday when i brought out the bow jude looked at me like i was crazy but i think it made her look cuter than she is, if that is even possible. the bow didn't last long as a matter of fact we lost it because when i noticed that it was gone we were at the park and finding a bow there was nearly impossible. bottom line is shyanne will definitly leave the house everyday with a bow on because now that she has some hair she needs to accessorize it:)

relay for life

2008-05-16T21:02:00.005-05:00

well i'm always updating what the kids are doing but i wanted to tell you what jude and i did a few weekends ago. we did a relay for life with some great friends of ours in honor of mr. larry custer. he was not only a father but a husband and grandfather to some of the best people in the world! many of you don't know but i have a friend named becky who lost her father this past november to the worst disease in the world....cancer! mr. larry fought long and hard for 18 months but unfortunately god felt like he needed him alittle more up in heaven so that is where mr. larry went. many people each and every year lose their life to this battle and leave behind many family members. i will tell you the truth when becky asked jude and i to do this we immediately said yes but in the back of both our minds was the fact that we were going to have to stay up all night from 6pm-6am and how bad that would suck. when we got there i saw all the tents with different teams along with family members who lost loved ones and even cancer survivors. i wondered how selfish could i have been complaining about staying up all night when there were people battling cancer walking around the track staying up all night in order to raise money to find a cure! all bad thoughts of staying up late went to the back of my head because i had NOTHING to complain about. unfortunately jude and i couldn't stay all night because jude had a business trip the next day he had to go to but we did stay until 2:30am and had a blast. i wish there were more of these relays so that we could do this again soon. i know we will be doing it next year and we will have a big strong team! so be prepared for me to hit you up for you to join our team or give a donation. eventually there will be a cure for all types of cancer so there won't be as many people like the custer family out there having to walk in memory of someone...that someone will be walking next to them!

happy mother's day!

2008-05-14T19:29:00.005-05:00

well i'm alittle late but i wanted to give all the mothers out there a shot out! being a mother is the most difficult but rewarding thing i have ever done and i would recommend it to anyone! shyanne's first birthday was on mother's day so "my" day was kinda out done by her birthday but of course i didn't mind. my mother's day wish came yesterday when shyanne took off walking!!!!!!!!!! i think she is already trying to run:) she starts off so fast and can't keep up so she falls right on her face but she gets up and continues to do it over and over again until she gets to her destination. today jude also surprised us with a new pet kitten. he found it this morning at work and didn't want to leave it so he brought it home. we have already brought her, yes it's a girl!, to the vet and had her checked out so she is fine. connor decided to name her daisy after daisy duck on mickey mouse clubhouse which is fine with me because i love the name daisy! i will post pictures as soon as i can. she is alittle freaked out right now due to all the changes going on with the new environment and i guess two kids pulling on her especially shyanne since she doesn't understand being careful.
in other news....i forgot to mention the lady with whom i got shyanne's name from on shyanne's birthday. while sunday was a joyous occasion it was also a day to remember my grandma shirley or "shy" as my grandpa called her. she passed away one year to the day shyanne was born and shyanne was almost born around the same time too. while i'm sad shyanne will never meet my grandma i truly believe she was sent to jude and i from our "angel" so in a way i believe shyanne has met her. so please enjoy this photo of my grandma it's a photo from a long time ago when connor was first born but it's one of my only photos and one of the last photos i have of my grandma. please enjoy!

1 year ago today!

2008-05-11T06:08:00.003-05:00

so today is the day....shyanne's FIRST birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't believe how fast this past year has gone by. it's amazing how much she has changed our lives. with connor our lives changed drastically because we went from having no children to one but with shyanne we went from having one little boy who we spent day and night with to having two children and having to share our time. while it's been alittle tuff adjusting to two it's also been very rewarding. over the past year i have discovered many different things but my favorite thing has been to watch how much shyanne has changed jude. she is a daddy's girl and jude just crumbles to pieces if she looks at him and says "dada"! today i don't really know if we are doing much for her birthday. i know we are having cake but we are saving the celebration for her birthday party in two weeks. our gift to her is the trip to disney world but since she doesn't quite understand that i'm sure we will have alittle something for her at her party. we haven't started walking....YET! she is so close but she just needs to get more confidence but when she does she is going to be alittle firecracker walking all over the place. her words are mama, dada, nana, poppop, noner (for connor), stop (she says that with force!), no (although she shakes her head and says no no no no it's never just one no), baba (for juice) buh bye, hi and yeah! she thinks she says dog but what comes out of her mouth is nothing close. i'm sure next year she will have plenty of new words!

what chocolate?

2008-04-22T10:11:00.003-05:00

i would like help trying to solve a mystery. i picked up some candy for the house the other day and it seems to have gone missing. nobody in the house knows where it went, especially connor and shyanne. i left it on the counter while i went to change and came back to it being gone. if anybody can help or has any information on where it might be please let me know. connor seems to think that the booger man came and took it so if you know the whereabouts of the booger man that would be helpful so i can get our candy back! hehe!

general update!

2008-04-13T15:25:00.003-05:00

so i think i'm offically done updating my blog. i'm sure you can see that we have been so busy and that is why this got way behind. i'm making myself this promise that i will never do this to myself again because i have spent the entire weekend updating his. so what else is new??? well i'll start with jude....he has taken on a new job as assistant coach of connor's t-ball team. (well kinda!) let me explain jude already works his job at southeastern freight and so when we signed connor up we discussed that it would be too difficult for jude to coach so connor got put on coach sloans team but coach sloan had no help. after the first practice jude told coach that he would help and of course the next practice we were already late (about 20 minutes) so i don't know if jude still has that job anymore! with me, sara, i am still working selling advertising and i love it more and more each day. we have an entire new team which as made my day 100% more enjoyable. my diet is going well in total i have lost 25 pounds which is a total of 2 dress sizes which is great but of course the week before i started my diet jude and i donated all of our clothes that we hadn't wore in over a year so that we can reorganize everything! so that just means that i HAVE to go shopping so i'm always looking for a shopping buddy in case anybody wants to go! with connor well lets see.....he has started t-ball and plays on the pirates. he is number 9 and his games are so enjoyable. since they are 3 and 4 year olds they don't really have outs. each team bats through their line ups and then the games are over. which works out perfectly because by the middle of the game you have kids doing cart wheels on the field and picking flowers or even playing chase...i'm not going to lie connor is one of the main ones! also connor is a learning machine. just this week he has learned how to spell his name! i am so proud of my little man and the person he is growing in to. i can seriously brag about him everyday. then there is shyanne, she is almost 1 year old and i can't believe it! she will be turning 1 on may 11 but we will be having her party during memorial day weekend. i am currently looking for a place to have her party at. she still has no hair and only 2 teeth. i wish the teeth would just come through because the teething process isn't the best! yesterday we went to the strawberry festival and there was a tent there with lots of bows. i can't wait for her to get some hair because every bow i brought to jude he would look at me like i was stupid and say "what hair are you going to put that in?" daddy is her main man and everything is better with him. we haven't started walking yet but i'm sure that will come when she is ready. she is walking all over the place holding on to things but she is too afraid to let go. her new words are ball, up, stop and she is really trying to say connor. i really think she is going to be our "problem child" because she is already alittle DIVA! anyways, we finally got our fence up around our house! jude and my dad did a great job and the dogs really love it. now we are looking for a playground set to put in the backyard. our next project in the house is the floors. we are putting in new floors throughout the house but that is a next year project. this year we are hoping to finish painting, putting up the molding throughout the house and the panel boards in the dining room. so of course the house is still keeping us busy. we are also planning our first family vacation!!!! we are going to disney world in september for connor's birthday present! i think he has asked for this since he could talk so we have decided that we are finally going to take him. the problem now is having to wake up for the next 4 months telling connor "no today isn't the day we are going to disney world!"

but i'm not!

2008-04-13T15:19:00.004-05:00

this picture is the proof jude and i are going to show when we have dhr call us concerning connor and why he keeps getting put in the hospital! if you can't tell this is a picture of connor jumping from the coffee table to the couch right after we told him not too. of course he swore he wan't doing it! just remember this picture...this is what is going to save us one day!

yee haw!

2008-04-13T14:51:00.003-05:00

this past friday was cowboy/cowgirl day at school. they had bbq sandwiches and baked beans with macaroni and cheese along with cake for dessert. that day they had a pig named "eco" come to school and play with the kids. the kids were given the option to wear whatever cowboy thing they wanted to so of course i got out everything we had. connor luckily had a cowboy hat that the easter bunny got him along with a cowboy shirt my aunt maggie had given him while shyanne wore a red cowgirl vest that i had actually purchased for connor when he was a baby. i had planned on getting connor's picture in that vest which had a matching hat but i couldn't find. ms. melanie (one of the directors) said the kids had a blast and that connor ran around all day pretending to be on a horse yelling "giddy up!" so i'm sure you can guess what they are learning about during the month of april......animals! have i mentioned how much i love this school?

*the picture above was the best one i could get with the two of them friday morning. shyanne did not want to sit still!

look at all the airplanes!

2008-04-13T14:31:00.003-05:00

since connor is getting bigger and always wanting to do things jude and i are constantly looking for things to do in the area. just recently (we have only lived here 2 years now) we discovered that in pensacola there is a naval museum that is free to the public. we thought that it would be neat to take connor there so that he could look at all the planes from the past. let me first tell you that when you have a toddler and you go somewhere that is free that never means free! it still cost us lunch because of course everybody gets hungry as soon as we get there, and then we had to do the imax and of course connor just had to have a shirt along with some sort of special ice cream that only astronuts eat. besides all that it was a blast! when we got there we discovered that they were having a scavenger hunt to win some prizes so we joined that. i think we spent more time looking for stamps for the hunt besides actually looking at the airplanes but i'm also glad they had the hunt going on because it made it alittle bit more fun for connor. i really think his attention would have been gone halfway through had it not been for him searching for the stamps so he could win a prize. i would recommend to anyone this museum. i am pretty sure we will be going back soon!

MR. POLICE OFFER!

2008-04-13T13:47:00.003-05:00

well connor and shyanne had safety month the entire month of march at school. the first week was fire safety week where they had a firefighter come to the school and explain how to call 911 and to stop drop and roll. the entire week we had to stop connor from calling 911 or even setting the house on fire. he thought it would be BIG FUN if we set the house on fire so that firefighter tom would come to our house. i am guessing everybody else at connor's school went home and tried to set their parent's house on fire because the kids are now learning when to call 911 and when not to call 911 along with how you don't want to catch your house on fire! so the next week was police saftey week. a policeman (or TJ's dad as connor called him) came to the school and taught them about how not to talk to strangers and they practiced running away screaming from strangers (which by the way we had to hear the correct way to scream all night!). connor was so impressed by the police officer that he decided that they were his heros! well at easter we went home and got together with my family at my grandparent's house. my cousin von is a sheriff for the st. tammany police department and happened to come over after work with his uniform on. connor didn't know what to do! he kept following von around calling him "mr. police offer" it was the cutest thing. everything connor did he wanted von to do. i don't know if von knows this or not but according to connor he doesn't have a real name his name is "mr. police offer!" the pictures at the bottom are of the fire truck that my uncle danny brought over. connor really didn't know what to do with himself because not only did he get to see a police officer but a fireman too!

oh yeah....did you know that both the police and the fire department have the same number of 911! connor is still trying to figure that out:)

city egg hunt

2008-04-13T13:32:00.004-05:00

this group of photos comes from our city egg hunt. this was our first year going to it and i'm glad we did. there was an egg hunt, pony rides, space walk, slides, music, food & drinks, face painting and a petting farm all for FREE! shyanne was alittle young to be able to enjoy herself but connor had a blast. jude got to help connor go look for eggs and connor found a total of 10 eggs! we also saw many of connor's friends from school. speaking of connor's school we have enrolled the kids in a new school and if i haven't already told you about it i love it! it's great and both connor and shyanne have a blast going to it everyday. connor already knows the pledge of alligence, how to count to 20, how to draw the letters of the alphabet, what makes plants grow, what is the different types of clouds and even alittle bit of spanish! shyanne is also learning the same type of things but in a more "baby" way. like i said........I LOVE IT!

Kristen Lynn is 2!

2008-04-13T07:22:00.004-05:00

So she turned 2 on March 4 but I am alittle behind and feel like to needed to share some pictures of my beautiful niece. Kristen Lynn joined our family on March 4, 2005 and has been a true blessing ever since. She has grown so much over the past 2 years and even more so over the past few months. Her and Connor are truly best buds and have a blast everytime they get together. We had Kristen alittle birthday get together at my parents house recently and had some Hannah Montana cake and ice cream. Kristen LOVES Hannah Montana! Recently Kristen started going to "big girl school" and can now sing her ABCs! Starting big girl school was kinda difficult at first because she was so used to being home all the time but now she seems to be doing very well and making lots of new friends! Anyways, the pictures up at the top are one of Kristen and I minutes after she was born and the other one is of us at her 2nd birthday party. I also put at the bottom some Wii pictures because what's a birthday party without the Wii. I added a picture of Jude playing my Aunt Mary Ann in boxing, Jude playing my mom in some shooting game and then a picture of me boxing my Uncle Steve who has been the first and only person to ever beat me! It's okay though because I'm practicing!

where does the time go?

2008-04-12T09:48:00.001-05:00

so i realize it has been over a month now since i last posted! having two kids makes me wonder how the heck any parents ever have time for themselves. so my plan is to sit here and make several blog post about our past month. please give me some time because we all know that i will probably have to get up several times to go help a 3 year old or a 11 month old do something!

MIA

2008-02-25T09:33:00.001-06:00

i know it's been forever since my last post but i promise i have a good excuse and i will definitly make up for it in pictures! at work we have started a new book, in case you don't know i sell advertising for the local phonebook, we have two books in this area and the start to one and the close of the other is a big pain in the you know where! at home jude and my dad has been busy building a fence in our backyard! it's only taken 2 years to save up for it but finally it's done! now the kids will be able to go out back without me having to worry too much. then in other news...connor has offically started "big boy school" well he hasn't started yet his first day was supposed to be today and of course we woke up sick as a dog this morning. it isn't really school school but it's more of a learning center for little kids. shyanne is also going to start there and she will be in the wiggle worm room which is a room only for crawlers. connor will be in the 3 year old room and will have 5 classes. he will have drama, science, math, reading and art. at the center the kids go to a home room class and they call roll by asking each kid to say their full name, address and phone number. they want them to know this information in case of emergency. then throughtout the day they will go to each class, yes they switch classes throughout the day, they are there for 1 hour. 30 minutes is learning and the other 30 minutes is playing with the information they just learned. outside play does happen but is not as much as before and the best part is there is no television! i knew we had a problem with our old school when connor could recite the words to almost every cartoon on the cartoon network and we definitly don't watch that here at the house. while i was really sad to leave the teachers at the other school i truly feel this is the best thing for the kids. i think shyanne will have a problem in the beginning adjusting but the good news is shyanne is a "go with the flow" type of baby so i'm sure after a few days or even maybe hours she will be fine. so as you can see things these past few weeks have been hetic. in other news with the family....i have offically lost 16 pounds!!!! i feel like a whole new person! it's amazing how much more energy i have and the better part....i now need to go clothes shopping and i actually have an excuse! shyanne FINALLY has a tooth! it just broke through the gums this weekend. i truly thought we would never get one. oh...and we still don't have any hair! connor is growing like a weed. he is talking so much and acting so much like a little boy besides my toddler it's amazing to see him each and everyday. then we have jude....he is still busy working. poor thing has a great job but not the best schedule. so he isn't with us as often as we like and then when he is home he is trying to do things around the house that we need done! i think we all need a vacation!

skater boy!

2008-02-02T17:03:00.001-06:00

wow what a day! besides having horrible cold weather like we have been experiencing we had a spring like day that felt wonderful. after running our normal saturday errands connor decided that he wanted to try out his spiderman skates that santa clause left for him. we knew this would be a disaster but we gave it a try. while shyanne was napping we took connor outside and gave it a try. needless to say it didn't last very long. connor thought that the skates that santa brought him were broken because they kept making him fall down. so after about 15 minutes connor decided he was done! i don't we will be bringing those out again anytime soon!

sugar high

2008-01-28T20:33:00.003-06:00

when connor was younger my mom started a tradition that has turned into a BIG deal almost every saturday morning. my mom or dad and connor would get up every saturday morning and go get donuts. connor would talk about it all week if he knew we were going to visit my parents. well recently the tradition has come to a halt due to many circumstances but connor seems to be a kid that NEVER forgets anything. recently he told me "mommy i'm sad because i haven't had donuts in a long time and i really need some donuts to make me happy!" so this past saturday morning i mentioned to jude about the donuts and connor's eye lit up and he said "i be so happy if i get my donuts mommy! please please please!" so jude and him drove to krispy kreme and came back with an assortment of donuts (both good and bad). since shyanne is trying all sorts of new foods we let her have her first donut and i have never seen a baby eat anything so fast. she ate an entire donut and was mad at connor because he wouldn't let her have his. she even looked underneath the plate to make sure there wasn't anymore (which is what the picture is above) and then licked the plate clean. i believe the donuts are the reason she didn't nap the entire morning and was "talking" up a storm. she and connor were laughing all morning! i'm guessing this will now be a tradition at our house too now that connor has realized there is a donut shop down the street because he is now talking about next saturday!

5 years ago today

2008-01-18T22:45:00.001-06:00

So we made it! 5 whole years!!! Today Jude and I are celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary. It's so weird to think that we have been married this long. My parents took the kids this weekend so Jude and I could go on this big elaborate date and then this evening after dropping the kids off we decided to just order take out and sit at home watching movies. While it wasn't what we planned it ended up being so much fun and relaxing being able to watch a movie and eat dinner at home without having to get up to clean a kid off or put to bed. It's amazing to see how much our lives have changed over the past 5 years. It seems like we were babies getting married when I look back at the picture I posted. In case you don't know Jude and I have two wedding ceremonies and we celebrate the first one which is what today is. We celebrate the wedding by the Justice of the Peace that we had only 5 days before Jude left for Kuwait. So that picture is of us in our hotel room right before the ceremony. I'll never forget getting the phone call from Jude telling me he was being deployed with only 4 months till our big wedding then me having to call my parents heuristically crying trying to figure out what to do. We literally packed up overnight and my family along with some close friends drove up to Beaufort, SC and got married there before he left. So what's have we done in 5 years....well the most important thing is that we now have a full size family with 2 kids, Connor who is 3 and Shyanne who is 8 months! They have truly lighten up our lives. Jude is now out of the Marine Corps and we have moved to Daphne, Al. We both have full time successful jobs with bills to pay which is a huge switch from 5 years ago. I could seriously go on for days about it. But what really matters is that over the past 5 years I think Jude and I have grown closer and learned so much together. We have been each other's rock and support through the hard times and have been each other's shoulder to cry on when we have had depressing times and of course we have been there to make one another laugh. So what does another 5 years bring us??? I don't know but if the past 5 years are any clue I am excited and can't wait. Who knows who will be in our family by then and gosh knows where we will be living. So stay tuned...

simonela poisoning???

2008-01-17T05:37:00.001-06:00

well last wednesday shyanne woke up a happy baby and went along to daycare like any normal day. when i picked her up that evening her teacher mentioned to me that she had become really cranky that afternoon and had broken out with a rash on her bottom. that evening shyanne was really cranky and fussy and the rash looked really bad. i think we slept a total of about 2 hours that entire evening because she just cried and cried all night along with having nasty diapers about every hour or so. so the next morning i called the doctor and they said bring her in and we will look at her. the doctor originally looked shyanne over and said that he couldn't explain the fever or the nasty diapers but he could see that she did have a horrible yeast infection. he said that it could be hurting her when you put on the butt paste because it is stinging her which is why she is probably crying, talk about making me feel horrible. the only thing he could think about with the fever is that she looks like she is cutting a tooth. needless to say later that afternoon her diapers began to have blood in them so back to the doctor we went. this time i brought the diaper up there for them to see and the doctor said based off of the color of the diaper, i know this sounds crazy and disgusting, that it looks like simonela poisoning. immediately i said.."WHAT???? HOW THE HECK WOULD SHE GET THAT????" this child isn't eating any solid table foods yet so how would this happen. so the doctor drew some blood and sent us home with some prescriptions and told us that if she didn't get better to call the next day. well the next day the fever went away but the blood got worse. back to the doctor we went. this time the doctor took a look at shyanne and realized that she looked alot better and said we have two options. one is admit her to women's and children's hospital to run some test or we can wait until next week with the medicine for our test results. we decided to wait since that is what the doctor said was her recommendation. it seems that right after that appointment shyanne got 100% better with no fever and no nasty diapers but we did get our test results back yesterday and sure enough it was simonela posioning. it blows my mind how she could possibly have gotten that but all i really care about is that she is so much better and we are lucky it didn't get anymore serious. i want to thank everyone for their prayers and support last week. we have the best family and friends we could ask for! i put this picture up because i say the child doesn't eat anything out of the ordinary but this proves opposite maybe the simonela came from this? just kidding!

my little "pimp"

2008-01-08T18:54:00.002-06:00

this past weekend connor was a groomsmen in my sister's wedding. i was so proud of him that of course i had to show him off! it seems that as soon as jude put on that tuxedo connor became a little man. he thought he was so tuff! he walked his cousin, kristen lynn, down the aisle because she refused to go without him. connor just totally filled the shoes. he acted like an angel! he smiled for pictures, he walked down the aisle without hesitation, and even danced the night away. the last picture i had to add in because i had to show off shyanne because of course she looked really cute too!

here's to the new year

2008-01-08T18:48:00.002-06:00

IT'S 2008! happy new year to everybody! i hope everyone ate their black eye peas and cabbage for lots of good luck and money. over the past week i have thought about how much life has changed over the past year. the major change came when we welcomed little shyanne danielle irvin into our lives. it's hard to believe at this time last year she wasn't here. now i can't even think about what life was without her. life must have been so boring! i'm thankful for her, i'm thankful for my family and i'm thankful that i have learned so much over this year. while it's been a tuff one it's also been very rewarding (if that makes any since at all)! as this year comes to an end i hope that 2008 is a better one and one that is full of making lots of fun memories!

alone time

2007-12-29T06:27:00.001-06:00

well my parents have taken connor off again for another fun filled trip. so that gave me and jude plenty of time to spend with and spoil shyanne! she got to also try new things as you can see in the pictures her first "big girl" meal was spagehtti. she loved it but it also made a huge mess! it was so much fun though and worth every bit of cleaning up! i don't think the child will ever want to go back to baby food. we are also working really hard with her to say mama or dada. jude of course is working harder on the dada (i guess it wasn't good enough that was connor's first word) but i really think her first word is going to be bye bye. she is into waving and saying baba baba. so i think she is going to perfect that first. connor comes back today and of course i'm thrilled. i missed the little guy like crazy but i know he had a blast at his aunt tina and aunt maggies house with all the animals. hopefully my dad took lots of pictures so i can post those when they get back. if i don't post before the tuesday...i hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!

birthday pie

2007-12-25T18:03:00.002-06:00

First off I should start my post by saying....HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDE! Anyways, so Monday was Jude's birthday and besides the typical birthday cake he asked me to bake him a pecan pie because that is what his grandma used to do. I should warn you that I have NEVER in my life baked a pecan pie! But since it was his birthday and it wasn't such an off the wall request I thought I would do that. Connor and I got up really early Monday morning and began baking this pie. I don't know how you can mess it up since the directions are really easy but if there is anyway you can mess something up by cooking or baking I WILL FIND A WAY! Jude, bless his heart ate it but I know it was hard and he was only doing it because Connor and I were so proud. I hope you enjoy our pictures of the pie and I do hope next year Jude knows he will be getting the typical birthday cake...this baking stuff isn't for me:) The first picture is of Jude eating the cake..hehe

merry christmas!

2007-12-25T17:46:00.001-06:00

So today is Christmas day!!!! It's crazy to think that this year has already come and gone but what a year it has been. All day today while opening presents i couldn't help but think of this time last year. Shyanne wasn't born, Connor was just becoming alittle toddler and we were home visiting my parents. Jude and I decided that this year we would do Christmas at our house since Connor is really starting to understand Santa and we didn't want any questions asked. So this morning unlike all my Christmas mornings I spent it away from my parents. It sadden because I knew my parents were spending it alone but at the same time it was wonderful because we were starting our own tradition! All Connor talked about was his Shrek puzzle, Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. Of course when we opened those gifts he had no clue as to what they were. I think he heard older kids talking about them and thought he wanted it too. He loved all of his Lightning McQueen (from Disney Cars) stuff and he loved all of his spiderman stuff. Although again his Nana and Pop Pop showed Santa up and brought him a spacewalk for football. NOTHING could beat that. Shyanne got the typical baby stuff and she did the typical baby thing....didn't care about any presents. All she wanted was the wrapping paper and to sleep. Jude made a killer chili that I am sure we will all be regretting tomorrow. So as today comes to an end I sit back and think that this years Christmas was a successful one! I worried all week about not being with my parents and how the kids would like their Santa gifts and I even worried about the chili jude was making, you would have worried too if you would have seen what he was putting into it. I'm thrilled to say that my Christmas was wonderful and I can not wait until next year to see what the new year will bring the Irvin family!

Oh Christmas Tree!

2007-12-18T08:34:00.001-06:00

So Christmas is almost here and life at the Irvins is hectic as always. Every year we have enjoyed going out the the Christmas tree farm and cutting down our own tree. But this year since we had Shyanne as a baby we thought it would be easier to take down our old artificial tree from college. It was a breeze to put up because it was already pre-lit so all we had to do was put up the ornaments. We don't have many yet but I'm sure as the years go by we will accumulate many of them. We started a tradition this year and brought Connor to Hallmark to pick out an ornament of his choice. Each year we will allow the kids to pick out their own so that way in 10 plus years we will have a story as to why they choose that ornament. Connor chose the Bob the Builder ornament. I truly don't know why he would choose that one since they had a spiderman one that Connor seemed to love but once he saw Bob the Builder he was determined to get that one. Shyanne of course got the typical Baby's 1st Christmas ornament. We are really looking forward to Christmas morning since Connor really seems to truly understand Santa this year. Earlier in the year his list consisted of a refrigerator, television and phone for his bedroom but he has since forgotten about that (thank god) and is now determined to get a shrek puzzle, candy land and chuttes and ladders. I'm sure Santa will be able to get those items taken care of for him;) As for the other picture in this post it's the snowman cake my mom, Connor and Kristen Lynn (my niece) made. They had so much fun making that cake and it was pretty good too!

the holidays are here!!!!!

2007-11-26T20:03:00.001-06:00

so we had a wonderful thanksgiving and it's looking like christmas will be even better! this year we went home to louisiana and had some family join us at my parents house. this past weekend was a blast and of course went by way too fast. the week started out slow because it was just jude and i because my parents took the kids for the week. while it was nice we missed them like crazy. then on wednesday we went home to my parents house and met up with my grandpa and aunt tina and maggie. it was great to see them and it was the first time they meet shyanne! thursday was of course turkey day at my aunt and uncle's house. we played in the jump a roo and took a boat ride. it was so relaxing. then friday was my favorite day.....SHOPPING!!!!! jude decided to go with me for the first time this year and he was able to see the madness. i'm not sure he will ever go with me again. saturday we went to new orleans where connor was able to ride the street car, eat beignets, tried octopus, sat on santa's lap and got to see it "snow" in new orleans. shyanne was also along for the ride but didn't quite understand what was going on. i was sad to see it become sunday but i knew the weekend had to end sometime soon! we had a blast and connor is still talking about riding the street car! i hope everyone else had as great of a thanksgiving as we did. i don't think we could have had a better weekend with better weather.

the zoo

2007-11-19T19:07:00.001-06:00

this past sunday we took the kids to the zoo. connor and kristen love animals so my parents, jude and i decided to fight all three and bring them to the zoo. i must say it was so fun and the kids were terrific!!!!!!! connor didn't want to leave and would have touched everything if we would have allowed him. shyanne didn't quite enjoy it as much but she did stay awake pretty much the entire time! we ran down monkey hill, did the petting zoo and connor even "purchased" (or gave the guy nana and pop pop's money) us some of the taffy. we couldn't have asked for a better day the weather was great and i truly think that if we didn't have to drive back to daphne that night then we would have been there all day long! i took lots of pictures so i hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

happy birthday to me:)

2007-11-19T18:54:00.001-06:00

so my 26th birthday was this past weekend and i must say it was one of the best birthday's ever! all year connor talked about me having a princess birthday cake so my mom and him decorated me a beautiful cake that was great. according to connor it had tomatoes on it that made it even better. he took the roses and placed them upside down because it looked like tomatoes and that would make the cake even better. i wish i had taken a picture but at the time i couldn't find my camera and everybody wanted a piece. it was so special and was the best cake a mommy could ask for. the better part came when my mom and i went shopping and when i had come back connor walked up to me with a paper cup full of dead flowers telling me he had picked me some pretty flowers for my birthday. the funnier part.....they were poisonous. so from connor i got a cake with tomatoes along with a cup full of deadly poisonous flowers. WHAT A BIRTHDAY!

ps. i tried to flip the picture but it wouldn't let me but you can see how proud he was of my flowers:)

I think I have figured this out!

2007-11-12T17:49:00.001-06:00

So we have tried several different websites but they eventually want to charge or they are too difficult to keep up with. I have a cousin that does this and I truly enjoy reading up and checking up on her kids so I thought this would be a great idea! This site will be kept up with the daily or weekly things that the kids have done. But for starts....Connor has just turned 3 and Shyanne is offically 6 months old! Life has changed drastically but in a good way. Shyanne has been a true light here. Connor loves being a big brother and actually wants to help with EVERYTHING. Anyways, I will try to update this each and everyday so please keep checking back.