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!

We Be Festin'

Today's lesson for the girls - the fine art of enjoying live music.  One of the many reasons that we put up with hurricane evacuations, ridiculously high homeowner's insurance, and the knowledge that we push to the back of our brain, that the possibility that next hurricane season our house may be under twenty feet of water is not very far-fetched.

While throughout most of the U.S., October means falling leaves, and picking apples, in New Orleans it means festival season.  That means lots of great live music and lots of delicious festival food.  A couple of weeks ago, we had the Gretna Fest, which has gotten pretty big in the last few years and it's great because it is within walking distance from our house.  One of our favorite performers was Trombone Shorty, a young trombone player from New Orleans, who had a rockin performance, complete with second line.

Another great happening is the free concerts at the river in Gretna.  On Friday evenings on the banks of the Mississippi, Gretna hosts a different performer each week.  It's a great place to hang out with the family and enjoy some good music.

Marley had a blast listening to Bag of Doughnuts and she looks forward to "dancing at the fest with papa" again soon!

Uncle Jessie joined us for some good food and so he could get in some good practice since he and Aunt Amanda are expecting their own little bundle of joy in June!  Congratulations you guys!

Things from all over

Mackenzie has been using her "I'm the baby" status as well as trickery to work her way into our bed occasionally - usually by begging for food at 5:30 in the am.  Usually after we have gotten up to help Mars to the potty at least twice.  I know it's terrible but you know you would like to wake up next to this little snugglebug too!  We have been working on breaking her of this bad habit that we have let her develop - she is not happy about this and is quite persistent - usually crying for at least an hour.  She is getting better though.  That tricky baby!

Marley is LOVING school, just this morning she was begging me to take her even though she doesn't have school today.  She must miss me desperately when she's there!  Last weekend the school had a Family Fun Day and the kids performed on stage some of the new things that they are learning.  They sang Jesus Loves Me and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and danced the Chicken Dance as well as several others.  Mars did great and we were so surprised that she wasn't nervous at all.  It really made us happy that we got her in the program.  It's amazing how proud you can be of the chicken dance - our little superstar!  Startin early!

Wednesday was Tre's little brother Wesley's 30th birthday.  Yes I said little brother, Tre' is getting up there! His wife, Heidi threw him a surprise party on Saturday complete with Dunk Tank.  I recommend the dunk tank for any occasion, birthdays, anniversary, weddings - whatever.  It was a blast!  They are internet shy so here's a pic of Tre' at the party - I just love this one.  Happy Birthday Wes - your youth is gone!  I hope you enjoyed it!!!

Finally, Mackenzie is getting old enough to really interact with Marley and since she has been training since the first day of her life, she can hold up pretty well to Marley's roughness.  Anyway, they are just starting to really play together and it is awesome to watch!  Marley has been doing really well with sharing and she usually makes sure that Macks has something to play with, especially when she takes her current toy and wants to stop the crying before she gets busted!  These girls make my heart super happy!  Muah!