2008 In Pictures

As I went through the pictures from this past year, I was reminded how lucky I am to have such an incredible family!  I can't believe how much the girls have grown in the past year and how much joy they have brought to our lives.  And to Tre', my amazing husband, although life may be hectic sometimes - there is no one else that I would rather lose my sanity with!  Without you, this wonderful life would not be possible.  I love you!

I hope you all had a lovely 2008 and that 2009 proves to be an even better part of your journey!

2008 in pictures from Sam Lanier on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Wow!  This past year has really flown by!  When I look at pictures from one year ago I can't believe how much my sweet little girls have grown.  Time really flies when you're having fun!

We celebrated our little Kenzie Cake's first birthday with a cupcake celebration.

As is the norm for birthday weeks, I was up till about two every morning the week prior to the party getting ready.  Making decorations and loads of cutie cupcakes - a LOT of cupcakes, with sprinkles, sparkles, and pearls.

Nonnie decorated her yard like a birthday wonderland, complete with sparkly ornaments hanging in the trees, pink poinsettias, and sparkly garland everywhere!

Grammy made Kenzie an adorable cake, complete with a giant cupcake just for the birthday girl!

Cheese!  Our little family!

When everyone started singing Happy Birthday to you - Kenzie got this funny little grin.  She knew it was her moment!
And when we handed her the cupcake she knew just what to do - I guess she had been eyeing it up and she had big plans for it!
Face first - mouth open wide!
She devoured it!

Thanks Papa - this is AWESOME!

The Aftermath
Thanks Nanny and Parran for the Princess Car!  She a had a blast opening all of her wonderful gifts and thank you to everyone who came to share this great day with us.  The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and the company was awesome!
The next morning (her actual birth day) she got to open her Teddy Ruxpin (aww yeah - old school) and she loved it!
That night we went to the Gretna Tree Lighting and there was Christmas caroling and even the big guy - S. Claus - was there!

It was truly a wonderful first birthday celebration and thank you so much to all of you who made it possible!

Baby's First Thanksgiving

Ooooo Mom - you are waaaaayyyy behind on posting!

Thanksgiving was Kenzie's last first holiday as time has refused to stand still and apparently she will not be staying a baby forever - I suppose we must move forward!  Here we are Thanksgiving morning baking yummy tarts.  You may notice that Tre' is not present in this picture because A - he isn't a very big tart baker and B - on the most important eating holiday of the year, he was lucky enough to have a 24 hour stomach bug and spent the entire day in bed!

Marley, however, enjoyed three different slices of pie along with the pink whipped cream that she requested I make.  I think that the pumpkin was her fav.

Kenzie really enjoyed her first Thanksgiving feast - especially the stuffing and the baby corn.

That weekend Tre' was feeling MUCH better and we put up our Christmas tree.  Here is Marley getting ready to put the new star that she picked out on top of the finished tree.  We hope you all had a wonderful day full of thanks, family, and food!  

It's SNOWING - In New Orleans!!!

This morning as we were getting ready for the day something wonderful happened - a little snow flurry!  Then some more and by the time we left for school is was full blown real, fluffy snow.  Some of you may say - so . . .  But this is New Orleans, it NEVER snows here.  And on the rare occasion that we do have some freezing precipitation it is more like slush.  But today we had actual snow!

Marley was beside her self!  She screamed snow, Snow, SNOW!!!  For at least ten minutes.  Then she said "IT'S WINTER - TODAY IS CHRISTMAS!"  She has been going on for weeks that Santa couldn't come because there was no snow, so I'm sure she is stoked that the big guy can come now!

We got to enjoy the snow for a few minutes before loading our freezing soggy selves into the car where we found this:

The windshield was coated in a layer of snow.

We got about an inch or two at the most - but everyone was so excited!  See when it does snow in New Orleans everything shuts down - roads, buisnesses, even some schools.  I know this seems crazy to those of you who live with the snow for many months out of the year but we do not know how to drive in the snow and ice.  We can board up our house and pack up our entire lives in hours to evacuate for a hurricane - but snow - we CAN NOT handle SNOW!

Kenzie agrees that this is awesome!  Though the snow has stopped it was wonderful while it lasted - maybe we'll get some more before the day is out!