NO Day 2

The next day we headed out for some fresh air to find some gators.  It was a success, we saw several.  The air boat did a good job of waking everyone up and getting us ready for another long night...

We celebrated again with the wedding party at the rehearsal dinner.  What and amazing dinner.  I must say the food in New Orleans is pretty amazing.  Good, hearty, fattening, and delish.  Maybe we just aren't used to food like that because we really don't head out to dinner much any more or maybe the food in AZ just isn't that southern style delishishness (is that a word?).  We had amazing wine with a 5 course dinner, all while being super dressed up in suits, dresses and heels.  As you can see from the smile on my face we were having a great time.  I also was trying my best to not have my droopy left eye in the picture (perhaps I overcompensated in this one).

Here is a beautiful picture of my amazing parents.  They hosted this wonderful night.

Here's my family.  I am so thankful of such wonderful people in my life.

New Orleans day 1

So we, as in Aaron and I and our entire family, headed out to New Orleans for the big celebration.  Little Matty is GETTING MARRIED.  And what a fun time it was.  Our first evening there we headed out for an awesome dinner and of course met up with everyone on Bourbon Street for some old fashioned partying.  We sure made the best of it staying out until 2.  Then the boys headed out for the bachelor party.  

Yes, you read it right they started it at 2am.

Here's me and my little bro.  Isn't he awesome.  Not so little but still my little bro.  It was nice to get to have some drinks and enjoy each others company even though there were thousands of people with us.

Here's some of the family and friends we got to spend some time with.  

Halloween 2011

Boy, looking back I really didn't get many pictures from Halloween this year.  I guess I just enjoyed the time with our friends and family.  For the past 4 years we have been having our wonderful family over to sit in the driveway, eat pizza, and take the kids trick or treating.  The last 2 years Shannon and I have made this a little bigger with a small block party.  And each year it seems to get bigger.  I love these evenings with all of our kids playing in the street and us adults visiting and watching them all play.  We have so much fun together and all our kids get along so well.  I am so blessed with such wonderful friends and family.

Pre Halloween

Here is a couple of things we did to celebrate Halloween.  I made some ghost pancakes from Pinterest of course and the boys each decorated a haunted house and truly enjoyed eating the decorations.  

This is such a fun time of year.

6 Months

Well she is 6 months...sitting and growing up way too fast.  Man I love this little angel.  What an amazing baby she is.  She just started sitting, again without much practice, I sat her up one day and she just stayed.  She continues to be so sweet, she spends her days playing, sleeping, eating, and being happy.  I can't say it enough she is so incredibly good.  She eats well, sleeps insanely well, and is so laid back, she just goes with the flow.  I can't ask for a more precious little girl.  I get more obsessed everyday.

She weighs 16 lbs (running average for weight)
She is 26 inches tall (average) I so used to having the giant baby boys, she seems so tiny to me.

She is such a little doll!

Pumpkin Chili Fest

We headed out to Schnepf Farms again this year for the annual Pumpkin Chili Festival.  I look forward to it every year.  The kids have so much fun and we get to spend time with our good friends.  

This cracks me up.  Our attempt at a family picture.  This pretty much sums up my life lately.  Wrangling my children.

Zackary was being some sort of animal...its kind of his thing.

3 Favorite Things: Cosmetic Products

I haven't done a post like this in a long time.  I have to share some of my favorite cosmetic products.  This one was had because there was a lot to choose from but these made the top 3 list (at least for now). 

This first one is Jane Iredale Powder Me SPF.  This mineral sunscreen is AMAZING.  We used to sell it at our shop and I became hooked several years ago.  It is SPF 30, goes on dry and WORKS.  I put it all over my babies, myself, and Aaron.  They don't mind the powder and it doesn't burn your eyes.  It is easy to apply and carry around.  You will usually find one in my diaper bag and purse.  I prefer the translucent color the other makes us look orange.  This is fantastic stuff.


Next is this Sephora nail strengthener.  I discovered this one about 6 months ago and use it every week.  I get so many complements on my nails, everyone thinks they are gel.  I just put 2 coats on every Sunday night while Aaron and I watch a show on TV and it lasts all week.  Its pretty amazing because I am pretty neurotic about washing my hands and use hand sanitizer about 50,000 times during my shifts at work.  I love this stuff. 


Lastly, Colorescience Line Tamer.  Again we used to sell this at our shop and I got hooked then.  This super soft primer again is mineral, has SPF and gives an amazing base for makeup.  It brightens, conceals, and fills.

These are just a few of my favs.  Let me know if you try any of them.

Sitting

I managed to capture the first sitting!  We were all ready for bed and I sat Chloe up to see if she could do it...and she did.  She doesn't spend much time practicing.  She just does things.  I even had time to run and grab the camera before she tipped.  My sweet baby is growing up too fast.  

Yummm

Our little Chloe is becoming such a good little eater.  I just had to show one of my favorite baby feeding inventions.  I'm not sure what it is called but it has a little mesh bag that you can fill with anything and they can go to town on it.  She loves it!  Love the messy baby eating face.

Mexico

We finally took a family vacation that wasn't just a weekend up north.  We headed down to Rocky Point for some awesome weather and beautiful beach time.  We went with Laura, Glen, and Lauren and stayed in a beautiful 3 bedroom house right on the beach.  We could just walk right out the back door to the water.  All the kids were amazing little travelers and got along so well (but who wouldn't on the beach).  We hunted the tide pools in the morning and evening and swam in the water during the day. 

The kids were in sand heaven. 

Chloe lounging in her little beach tent, watching everyone play.

These are the great times, creating memories with our families.  We have officially decided to make it an annual vacation with our family. 

Spice It Up

Another fun Pinterest project.  Our little tiny thermostat hangs sadly all by itself, right smack dab in the middle of a perfect decorating wall.  For this reason I haven't been able to find anything to put here.  I always sit and ponder what might be perfect here with the little thermostat (I really don't have a ton of extra pondering time right now, but it is in such a noticeable area I can't help but to see it or walk by it about 20,000 times a day).  So I found this little idea, spice up this sad little baby with an awesome frame.  It actually started out bright fuchsia pink with sparkles (yes, it did hang there like that for about a week until I had time to paint it).  It looks really cute, and I'm considering putting a small gallery of white frames around it.  I think it might work...

Crayon Melt

So I'm totally into this Pinterest thing.  Really I'm obsessed and can't get enough.  There are so many cute and fun ideas to do with the boys (and for our house etc.).  So here is one of our first projects together.
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I picked up a huge box of crayons and dug this fabric covered canvas out from under our stairs.  It was the perfect size for where I wanted to hang this master piece.  I cut part of the fabric off so when we were sorting the crayons and gluing them on, the canvas didn't accidentally get tagged by a 2 year old. 

We sorted all the different colors and decided what order to put them in.

I hot glued the crayons on then pulled off the rest of the fabric and headed outside to heat it up.  It was really hot outside I probably could have just let it sit for the day.  But we busted out the blow dryer and whipped this baby out in no time.

How awesome did this turn out?  I love it!  We hung it in the play room and it fits perfect in the octagon shaped room above Big Mouth Billy Bass.