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!

Tis the Season

for being sick!

Please excuse my absence as I have spent the last three weeks cleaning up vomit from a large variety of surfaces.  Including but not limited to the post office, the playpen, the rugs, many outfits, and last but not least - my shoes.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now though, albeit with a runny nose and sore throat!

Unfortunately Marley missed her Thanksgiving Pow-Wow at school due to her stomach flu and it's a shame because she would have been one cute Pocahontas!

Kenzie's first birthday is quickly approaching and she is still completely uninterested in walking.  I think it is because she is too impatient to try to figure it out when she can crawl there faster - at least she got something from me, though I don't know if that's a good thing.  I'm not complaining though, there is nothing more precarious than a teetering toddler - her face is safe for at least a little bit longer!

Our Shelby Lou is doing wonderful - she has gained eight pounds since we brought her home a month ago and she looks beautiful.  We really lucked out with her, as she fits in seamlessly with our crazy little family.  Yesterday she started her heart worm treatment which will make for a difficult two months but the vet said that they saw barely any damage at all so they are very optimistic about her making a full recovery.

I painted Marley's nails for the very first time which was pretty cute.  She wasn't sure at first, but after the first nail was coated in a very girly bright pink a look of amazement came across her face and she whispered "do the rest!"  Then she begged me to paint her toes to match, ahhh - a girly girl is born!  I don't know if that is good or bad, but it is cute!

Do not fear though - she will always be Papa's hot rod honey - tattoo hat, pink fingers and all!

We hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving full of family, love, thanks, and obscene amounts of food!  Word to ya motha.

Marleyisms

A few favorite culinary delights 

Flat Cheese - One slice of American Cheese

White Egg - A boiled egg, preferably with no yolk

Heart Sandwich - Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly Sandwich usually cut into a heart shape, though any other shape qualifies

NPO- Oatmeal

Kenzie Cake - Mackenzie Kate

The Effalant Growth Chart

The Butterfly Kisses Her Little Flower

When I asked Marley what she thought her and Kenzie should dress up as for Halloween this year she said that she wanted to be a butterfly and that Kenzie should should be a flower.  She also said that Papa should be a gate and Momma should be the grass, and while I didn't get around to figuring out the latter I did churn out these two costumes.

We spent the beginning of Kenzie's 1st Halloween at the Children's Museum with the girl's favorite cousin Brody for thier annual Halloween celebration.  Nonnie, Aunt Heidi, Grammy, and Aunt Kris came along and we saw lots of adorable trick or treaters!

Kenzie was definitely feeling the Halloween spirit and even tried out a Harry Potter look - maybe next year but this year she was a lovely daisy - my favorite flower!

Marley was so beautiful as a monarch butterfly!

The first version of her costume didn't work out quite like I hoped, this was supposed to be a headband but she wasn't feeling it, so during naptime I made a whole new costume, making and sewing  petals directly to her green dress.  

That evening we made the rounds collecting lots of goodies along the way, and Marley even found the time to do a little fluttering!

Our Latest Addition

Introducing Shelby Lou - our newest family member!

We have been wanting to get the girls a big dog for quite some time now since our little guys are easily broken and hard to catch.  We wanted them to grow up with a big sweet girl who would watch over them and stand a fair chance against all of their roughness.  Also,  Tre' has been carrying on now for months about the boxer that he was getting for his birthday.  So . . . I decided to kill two birds with one stone (though not literally).  I was, however against getting a brand new, unhousebroken, house chewing, puppy when there were so many wonderful dogs without homes.  Tre' wasn't to keen on the whole thing but decided to appease me, he said if I could find a female boxer at the animal shelter that he would consider it.  So I did just that.  I went to our local SPCA to check out the adoptable pups, I found so many amazing dogs but none that fit the bill.  As I was leaving one of the volunteers asked me if we had found anything and my mom said that we were looking for a female boxer -  "hold on" she said.  They had one in the back that wasn't out because she had kennel cough and they didn't want to spread it to the other dogs.  Well she was beautiful and so sweet, a little skinny, but perfect nonetheless.  They put a hold on her so that Tre' could meet her and the whole way there he was all "I'm not making a decision about this dog today" - until she laid it on him all sugary sweet and they fell in love!  So needless to say Shelby found herself a forever home and Tre' found himself a new lady - as if he didn't have enough!  She fits in perfectly, gets along with the boys and is just fine with the girls poking and pulling.  And the best part is that she's house trained, not teething, and already knows how to walk on a leash.  Welcome home Shelby Lou and Happy Birthday to greatest guy that all of us girls could ever hope for!