New Year's Eve

We once again went to mom's house to pop fireworks or as we like to say "blow stuff up".  Mom was out of town, but Jeff was home and so we joined him in our need to make things go pop.  Sarah is a huge fan of fireworks, so it makes the event even more exciting.  I spent most of the evening in the house with Leah due to the cold and rainy weather.  But once I had her asleep for a little nap, I headed outside. 

And it's a good thing a I did!!  Look at my child on the tailgate of the truck with a sparkler with ALL of the fireworks in the back of the truck with her!! Ummmm hello boys!!  Glad they didn't tell me about this until after the fact.  Jeff took this pic with his new camera...again, my child is sitting next to explosives with a sparkler and y'all think to take her picture!?! 

Mommy - Sarah...my little hot mess fahionista.

Bundled up with Leah for her first New Year's.

Taking cover from the rain under Uncle Mike's truck bed cover.  Thanks for leaving your truck here Mike while your in England... we've put it to good use. ;)

Out of control dinosaur tries to take over....tanks come in to save the day!!

Fun night blowin' stuff up!

Goodbye 2013...Look out 2014 here we come!

Frozen...again!

We enjoyed Disney's Frozen the first time so much that we made a date with the Carroll girls to go see it again. Oh and we needed to see those first 15 minutes that we missed the first time due a misreading if movie times. ;)

Sarah "reading" some of her new pop up books to Leah while mommy tries to get ready for us to head out the house.  She is a super sweet big sister!



To add to our fun outing, Ms Tiffany joined us... Only the best babysitter in the world and we are lucky enough to have the Carroll's share her with us.


The photo booth has become a fun movie tradition that the Carroll's introduced us to the first time we went to a movie with them. Sarah looks forward to photo booth pics...and so do I.

 

And did I mention Leah joined us for the movie!  Andy had to work today, so if we were going, Leah was going to join us.  I filled her up before we left with a nice sized bottle and then once we got in the theatre, I rocked her to sleep and she actually slept.  Let's just say, I would have NEVER tried this with Sarah when she was this age...I mean let's face it- Sarah's first movie was just this summer!  Funny how things change with a second child.

Who Dat!

The Saints played in the final game of the regular season today.  The outcome would determine their fate in the playoffs.  Just before the game started, Sarah insisted we all get in our Saints gear.  So as we usually do, we took orders from our three year old. ;)  And you know momma loves a photo shoot opportunity!

The Saints won today and will be a wildcard in the playoffs.  Crossing our fingers they go far in the postseason.  Who Dat!!

Thumb Sucker!

Over the past few nights when I've gone into Leah's room to check on her, I would find her little fist very close to her mouth.  Andy and I had discussed whether or not we thought she was sucking her thumb to go to sleep.  We've both seen her during the day go for her fist, either sucking on the whole thing or even trying to get to her thumb...but that was while she was awake. 

See...really close to the mouth.

Yep!  I'd say that's thumb sucking alright!  All in!

So now the dilemma...what to do about it.  Leah has never been a fan of the pacifier and now we know why.  It does work out nicely during the night.  Apparently she finds her thumb and goes right back to sleep, because at almost three months old, she is sleeping  9-10 hours at night without waking...which is nice. 

 

But how am I going to take this thumb away later?!?!  Hmmmm. 

 

Maybe it's just a phase.  Aunt Katie (Andy's sister) said cousin Annie did the same thing for a few months and then took to her pacifier.  I just don't know, Leah looks pretty attached to her thumb in the picture...both of them in fact.

 

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd be wanting my kid to take a pacifier...especially after the love/hate relationship we had with the stupid thing when Sarah used one.

Christmas Day 2013

Woohoo!! It's Christmas Day!!

Look Santa came to our house!!  Even brought Leah diapers and wipes!

Mooooommmm...I'm trying to look through my stocking!  Enough pictures already!

Hello Kitty pink bike!!

Santa ate all of the cookies!!

Ahhh, Prince Eric!! He's so handsome!!

A box!! Sarah was too funny with boxes.  Every time she had to open a present in a box she'd say, "Ha! I got a box for Christmas!" Silly kid.

Early morning family Christmas day family pic.

After we played with our Santa gifts and finished opening up presents, we got cleaned up and dressed for our Christmas lunch with the Dumestre's/Crockers.

Leah's first Christmas and "over the top" outfit as Andy likes to call it.  I like to call it cuteness overload!

Sarah ready to head out to Suzette's with all of her new Christmas gear.

We had a lovely time once again at Suzette and Donnie's for Christmas dinner. 

We had a wonderful Christmas and Christmas season this year.  As the old saying goes...my cup runneth over.

Bye Bye Dooty

We really enjoyed having Dooty visit our house this Christmas season!  She was all over the place and very well behaved, because after all, she didn't want mommy to have to clean up her mess.

 

Not the best picture, because I was trying to take it with my phone without Sarah noticing.  Daily she would talk to Dooty...tell her good morning, or just stop by to say hi and I would over hear her have conversations about telling Santa that she loves him.  Always getting close to her, but never to close that she may touch Dooty...making sure to not mess with Dooty's magic.

Tonight Dooty went back home to the North Pole to be with the rest of her elf friends, but we look forward to her return visit next year!

Christmas Eve 2013

We attended Christmas Eve service tonight and then headed to mom's for dinner, presents and fireworks!  Uncle Eddie joined us this year for Christmas and we were very excited to have him with us!

Mom's beautifully set table.

 After dinner it was time for pictures...lots of pictures.  Which I love..others, not so much.

Daddy's girl for sure!!!

Our little family...Leah's first Christmas!

Three generations.

Group pic..thank you self-timer. 

 On a side note...I'm still trying to get the hang of getting us all packed and ready to leave the house for events.  Apparently, tonight I was so excited about Christmas and the night's festivities, that I forgot to plan for an infants attendance.  I completely forgot to pack the diaper bag!  So much so that as we were leaving the driveway, I had to get Andy to run back in the house to get it....which he really could have just left on the counter because there was nothing in it.  No diapers.  No wipes. No bottle.  No burp cloths.  Guess it was on my "to do" list and just didn't get done.  And around 8:00, Leah wasn't finding any amusement in the fact that mommy failed big time!  Everyone else, however, found it quite funny.  UGH!!!  Oh well... Leah survived with some TLC from grandma and she forgave me quickly.  Now, time to open presents!!

Sweet, sweet face.  Sarah was thanking us for presents before she even opened them.  She also was in charge of handing out the presents....she had a great time.

Ahhhhh.....Uncle Eddie got Sarah a pink BB gun!!  It's a redneck Christmas y'all!!

Playing with Uncle Jeff's pinball game machine before we pop fireworks.

Outside in the cold watching the Chrismas Eve fireworks display put on my Daddy and Uncle Jeff.

Back home and ready for Santa.  Sarah sporting her new Minnie Mouse jammies and slippers from Grandma and her new BIG Minnie Mouse from Uncle Eddie.  C'mon Santa, we're ready!!
 

Tonight as Andy was helping Sarah get ready for bed, she told him that she needed to wear a pull up tonight (we are trying to be pull up free ...a work in progress).  Andy asked her why and she said, "Well if I need to get up to go potty, I might see Santa and he won't leave me any presents!"  Well duh!! Smart girl!

Christmas Cookies with Grandma

After church us girls headed to Grandma's house while daddy ran some errands.  Our mission today was to make Christmas cookies.  Mom has been waiting for this day, when she and Sarah can bake and play in the kitchen.  We were all excited for cookies...well most of us, Leah again slept through it all. ;)

Getting the the cookie mix ready.

 

Rolling pin fun!

Cutting cookies.

Uncle Jeff joined in on the fun as well.

This kid loves to decorate cookies!!  Many of our cookies had a wide variety of sprinkles and icings on them. 

Big smiles.

Time for taste testing.  Yummy!!

Baby Dedication

Today we presented the girls at the church's baby dedication.  This dedication is a promise as parents to give our children a home life and church experience that will lead them to a relationship with Christ. 

 

Our pastor, Bro. Leo Miller.

The girls recieved bibles with their names on them from the church.

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward." Psalm 127:3

Uncle Jeff Makes the Grade

Tonight we celebrated with Uncle Jeff for his "good" grades this semester...his toughest one yet.  We are all so proud of him and all of his hard work.  Only one semester left!!! Woohoo!!