Lafayette

We are in Lafayette for the wedding of a good friend. They are one of those couples that really compliment each other and make each other happy. I'm thinking it's going to be a pretty good wedding.

For those of you who have never visited southern Louisiana, let me just tell you that it is a country by itself. There are weird things here and very different from the other parts of the United States. It can be a HUGE culture shock if you are not prepared.

So here is my east texan traveling to southern louisiana travel guide:

1. Alligators are not everywhere. You will find more alligators at miniature zoos that offer alligators or on people's plates at dinner time.
2. Speak french poorly and you will get along here.  I don't know what these cajun people are saying half the time but maybe that's because I took spanish in school. I have learned that "ya get enough yah," means... "did you have enough to eat?" In the same way that you put O on the end of all spanish words, just put the word "yeah" at the end of every sentence and you can now speak cajun!
3. Add cajun seasoning to everything, even the bath water.
4. Every road goes the opposite way than it appears to go. be aware.
5. Wildlife is a cajun's best friend but they do not discriminate! Hang it on the wall or let it free in a pasture, it's all the same down here.
6. It is Mardi Gras 364 days a year. Fat Tuesday shall remain sacred but the other days are wild and and invitation to have a party.
7. If someone is speaking about the crew, they are not talking about their friends and family or even the pit crew for Nascar, they are talking about the Mardis Gras group or society that they belong to.
8. You will find Mardis Gras beads in areas of your body that you did not know existed after a visit to southern Louisiana. It's like sand after the beach, but worse.
9.Anything that moved at one time can and will be stuffed into a chicken and sold for human consumption.
10.  Shocks are not necessary for your car.  The road will just open up and swallow your tires anyway. Why go to the expense of adding shocks to lessen the blow? not worth it. Save your money for french lessons.
11. The Saints won the Super Bowl. What else matters?

Bluebonnets

Some of you have already seen these pictures but we're leaving to go out of town tomorrow (again) so I am really too busy to take pictures of the project that I am currently working on. I was only home for Mon, Tues, and today and have completed a ton of major tasks this week including setting some appointments, interviewing concrete contractors, signing the girls up for swim lessons, etc.... I am tired.

I knew I really wanted to take the princesses pictures in the bluebonnets that pepper the highways of south texas this time of year. I also knew that I wanted the girls to all be wearing matching white dresses but I didn't want to spend a lot of money to do so and I really didn't have time to make a complicated dress pattern. The simplest thing to do was to make white pillowcase (also known as bandana) dresses. I used white broadcloth that was on sale for .99 cents a yard and then used crocheted trim (store bought, not made) around the bottom hem to fancy it up a bit. The dresses turned out really really cute. I used a different color ribbon for each girl. The sewing technique would make any seamstress scream but I was working as quickly as I could so I cut a lot of corners. I have the dresses put up to use again for another photo opp. so no one will ever see the messy seams. The total for all three dresses was only about $8. Not bad huh?

I think the pictures turned out great even though Princess Goofy was refusing to smile and Princess Newbie was teething and extremely moody. The bluebonnets were beautiful and such a great lesson for the girls in Texas pride, not that anyone from Texas would ever need more pride...

Here is a link to a tutorial for bandana dresses. You could easily use the white bandana's or just cut broadcloth down to the same size.

I told you Princess Newbie was moody. Do you believe me now?

sadness

french fries after getting her ears pierced

I was going to post tonight about Princess Newbie's big day today. We had great milestones today such as cutting off her baby mullet and piercing her ears. She got so mad at me for piercing her ears but that's another story for another day.

Tonight I learned sad news and it's just news that's hard to take.  I have a small group of people that have spoken into my life or changed my life in some way that I hold so extremely dear to my heart. Tonight I learned that two of these people are hurting badly and saying goodbye to a time in their lives. I'm not going to go into further details because they deserve privacy but this is something we had a feeling was going on but the confirmation tonight was painful to us. It hurts me and I'm sad.

One of these people shined light into my life during an extremely dark period and that person is now going through the same struggles. I am devestated for them. I know that hurt, I know that pain, and yet they have to walk through it after helping me out of it.

Smile, though your heart is aching,

Smile, even though it's breaking.

When there are clouds in the sky-

You'll get by.

If you smile through your pain and sorrow,

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You'll see the sun come shining through

For you.

Light up your face with gladness,

Hide every trace of sadness.

Although a tear may be ever so near,

That's the time you must keep on trying,

Smile, what's the use of crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile,

If you just smile.

                       

                                       Charlie Chaplain

 

Baby Mullet hair, the party is over...

I'm out of town and forgot my laptop at home so I'll just post a picture. It's an overload of cuteness.


Oh and then there's this one....



I left the cupcakes on the oven to cool and princess Gorky girl decided to decorate them with strawberries and whipped cream. "they look beautiful."

And last but not least, princess goofy on her birthday. I'm not sure what she's doing with that plastic lizard.... She takes after her daddy.



-- Post From My iPhone

4

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
                                                           e.e. cummings

Happy Birthday Princess Goofy... you are my heart.

No Starbucks For You!

Oh what a day. I seriously don't even know where to start.

First thing this morning I put Princess Newbie down in the office to play while I checked my email. I had not even glanced in the mirror or brushed my teeth yet. I got up from the desk and walked to the hall for one second to tell the older princesses something. When I came back I noticed a huge brown spot on the floor. It took me a minute but I quickly realized that Princess Newbie's diaper had exploded. Good thing that I keep carpet cleaner close by at all times. I cleaned up the spot and went to the bathroom to wash my hands. It was then that I first glanced in the mirror for the day and realized that sometime during the night Princess Newbie had thrown her dinner up all over my shirt and it was now a nice dry brown noodlish patch all over my shirt. Oh joy. I hadn't even had my coffee yet.

As I was in the bathroom, washing my hands and every other part that had touched the dried brown stuff, one of the older princesses started rattling the wooden baby gate that we have at the top of our stairs. She had gone downstairs and gotten stuck there when I closed the gate so Princess Newbie wouldn't fall down the stairs. She never told me she needed up, she was just rattling it back and forth. I told her to wait a minute and I would be right there. Apparently she was experiencing a bathroom emergency and had less than that minute because I quickly got to use that carpet cleaner on the top stair of the house. really? yes, really and it wasn't pretty.

I figure that this day is a wash so far so I better get dressed and get going so that it can come to an end faster than it had begun. So I slip on clothes and run downstairs to round everyone up so we can go to the store. That's when I found the fountain of anti youth. Also known as my older dog had peed a puddle the size of Lake Travis on the kitchen floor. This time I had to get out the hardwood cleaner.  At this point I am seconds away from needing a straight jacket and figure the faster I can get out and the door and get to the starbucks drive thru, the happier we would all be. Or so I thought, if only I hadn't had to leave the house via the front door and find the pile of cat poop on the front porch from my neighbors cat. At least I didn't step in it.

At this point I just sit and ponder if the world is trying to send me a message such as, "You are crap..." or maybe just a little "crap of the mornin' to ya". I have no idea but I decide to be positive and be thankful that the only body fluid I have not cleaned up is blood since that is usually a worse situation than the other body fluids.

I finally did reach starbucks but my drink was too hot to drink so I only took one sip and then decided to let it sit in the van while I was in the store and I would drink it when I came out. But Princess Girly Girl noticed too quickly that the store we were going to was actually the toy store and in her excitement she knocked over my coffee and never noticed that it was spilling all over my car's console. I could not even make this stuff up. In my last ditch attempt to get some form of caffeine, of which I am slightly addicted, I ran thru the taco place on the way home to snag myself a little caffeine inhanced pick me up. It wasn't until I got almost all the way home and realized that I had gotten the Princess' caffeine free drinks but they had forgotten to give me mine.  Still not joking.

The day did improve greatly. I was able to finish sewing a dress for Princess Goofy that I started two months ago before my sewing machine broke and the girls were absolute angels today. It turned out to be a pretty good day after all.

But His Royal Highness did say that my day should be turned into a made for TV movie. I agree but only in Julia Roberts could play me.  I look like her right? right? hello?

Super Busy...

Missing me? I'm still here. I promise.

Life has been hectic. Princess Newbie slept through the night for the first time ever last night. Yes, she is eight months old now... The days that I have been able to stay awake and alert we have been busy.

First we built this playground for the princesses. It took six days! There were no labeled parts and a thousand boards/ pieces. Our families are still laughing about how long it took us but every minute of it has been worth it! They have been playing outside for hours and hours a day. The nightime struggle to get them to be quiet and go to sleep is over. They literally fall asleep out of pure exhaustion.  I did take me at least a week to get back on track after a week of working out in the yard putting the swingset together at every free moment.

I was finally back into the swing of things when I was time to go out of town for a wedding shower. It was a really quick trip and the princesses stayed with my inlaws while we were gone. But it took a few days for me to prepare for and a few more days to recover from.

Then this weekend my dad came to help us with a home improvement project and we seriously went non stop the entire weekend. We are so very tired but our new baseboards downstairs look fabulous.

But it doesn't stop there. This week I am getting kicked out of our home for a few days while His Royal Highness hosts his best friend and future groom, Keith, for a little last guys night out before the big day. Don't worry, they are just going to a baseball game. We've already had a talk about that.... but I don't have to worry about it. His Royal Highness has never disrespected me or treated me less than a queen.

I'll be traveling to the DFW area on thursday and returning on sunday. I'll be home for three days before I pack up and we head to Lafayette for Keith and Misty's wedding. We will be in Lafayette for four days.

Busy, busy, busy... and in between I have to find time to use my new sewing machine....

Busy but blessed.

Random iPhone pictures

-- Post From My iPhone

Best Song Ever!!

Now I'm craving Sweet Tea and fries dipped in Polynesian sauce

Domestic Queen Day

Today I woke up inspired to be a Domestic Queen for the day. I set my sights high, in hopes of dethroning Martha Stewart. Overall making this decision the night after I was up the entire night with a baby was a poor choice. So far my morning is:

7:30 - Up to change the babies diaper and find Princess Girly Girl twirling around in the office. She looked totally busted when she saw me but cracked a smile when I gave her a hug. She's such a nut.
8:00 - breakfast and tried to give a fussy, tired baby some cereal. no luck, she won't eat today.
8-9 am- no clue, I think I stared at the wall until I got the idea to make some coffee
9- Started the laundry using my homemade laundry detergent. (round one against Martha Stewart - I won!)
10- napped laying on the couch while the baby was asleep and the older girls sat on top of me watching a cartoon. ( I think Martha was victorious on that one. I'm sure she's not a napper)
11- watched The Pioneer Woman on the View, it made me hungry so I got up and got out her cookbook. Decided to make some homemade bread using a recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day. It is seriously the easiest bread recipe I've ever seen in my life. I'm in love with it and it puts Martha to shame since it has easy simple ingredients and is quick. Any recipe from Martha Stewart has crazy expensive ingredients and will take you the entire day just to read the recipe. I once made her apple spice cake recipe and I think it cost me upwards of 40$ just for the ingredients. (win- me)
12- Princess Girly Girl washed the dishes in the sink for me while I prepared lunch. I'll have to rewash them when she's not around. Plus I tried using my own recipe to make soba noodles with an asian dressing. I undercooked the noodles and burned the dressing. No one ate it. (Martha wins again)
1- Now trying to calm a still fussing baby who really needs to go back to sleep. The only time she has been happy so far is when she was playing in the kitchen cabinets or stealing her sister's baby doll.

Hopefully the rest of the day continues to be productive. I will have to clean out two closets, fold laundry, clean and start dinner before His Royal Highness gets home. He might find me passed out underneath the pile of clothes.

Words

Words hurt
Words heal
Words love
Words hope

Words stay sometimes forever. Things that are said cannot always be forgotten, no matter how hard we try and try... and try...

Words can be devestating even when they are not meant to be.

Words that others consider trivial can be deathly to others.

Words that people consider fun are many times offensive and leaving me running for my children's ears.

Words can also breathe life into a soul. The simple words of a wedding vow give two the right to exist and become one.

Words can bring hope when it seems like there is none.

Words are sometimes more comforting than grandma's cooking.

Words can tear my children down or can build them up.

Words sometimes destroy me and sometimes encourrage me. Words give me the strength to pursue the road less traveled in my journey for success.

Words are more powerful than nuclear weapons or natural disasters.

Words spoken or unspoken have no limit to their impact.

Words are..................lasting

How are you going to speak today?

Easter Picture

Our church has a tradition of decorating a wooden cross with flowers that every member brings from their home during the Easter service. It makes a beautiful cross and families always pose with the cross after the service for family pictures. We've done this the past five years and it's become a small tradition to see our family picture with the flower covered cross.

This year's pictures didn't come out at well. Does anyone think that it looks like Princess Girly Girl is ready to bolt?

Oops... I think Princess Goofy is bolting

Well let's just give up on that family picture and take a picture of just the three princesses

hmm...

one more try....

ok, I give.

How about just a picture with the oldest and youngest family members?

perfect. They also happen to be the only ones that don't talk back to me! ha!

I hope your family had a wonderful Easter.

Easter Cake

Here's a few pictures of my newest cake April Fool's Day joke.

Looks like a cake but tastes like meatloaf with mashed potato frosting.

I even fooled His Royal Highness. He really thought that I was serving him cake for dinner. We only have cake for dinner in my dreams.

It was really easy to make. I just baked two meatloafs in cake pans with ketchup in the middle of the layers. Finally I used whipped mashed potatos as frosting and decorated it with mashed potatos and ketchup mix to make the peach colors.

8 Months

It's been 8 months since this little bundle of joy came into our lives. I can't believe it has gone by that quickly.

Princess Newbie is NOT sleeping through the night, she prefers infant sleep schedules. However, that's the only thing I would change about this Princess.

She is inquisitive, loveable, loves to giggle, and a dog lover.

Her newest accomplishments are:
3 teeth with one more on the way
clapping her hands all the time
opening and closing kitchen cabinet doors
climbing the stairs
pulling up and walking holding onto things

She's eight months today and I would be suprised if she's not walking by the time she's nine months. With two sisters to chase and follow, walking is a priority to her.

Don't worry about those two sisters... they are taking to her well. And on the days that she gets on their nerves, they just pick her up and put her in the backyard (seriously).  So if you come over, call first so I can go get her out of the yard.

(markers and crayons)

Isn't she adorable?