Garynation

My new job!

2012-01-24T17:47:00.001-06:00

As of January 9th, 2012, I am in charge of this guy

(cutest guy EVER) on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Oh and do I love it!! This is the cutest little man ever!! My sister comes over just before 7, feeds him his first bottle and heads to work. Then he’s here with is until about 5ish. She is only working M-T-W and it’s really perfect! It’s a great balance for both of us, I still get 2 weekdays with just my girls and we get to sleep in and snuggle in our bed. It’s great!!

I hate that I have not taken any “real” pictures of Griffin yet, but my camera is broken so I sent if off to be fixed. I am missing it terribly and I only have iPhone pics of us and Griffin to share. Excuse the picture quality…

Isn’t he so freaking cute??!!

My girls are totally in love with him too.

He does everything with us…goes on walks, grocery, swingset, even watches Rapunzel…

And he’s a really good baby. Eat, poop, play, sleep. In that order, and on his little schedule. And lucky him, he gets to use all of my girls old bibs and blankets. That’s why he sometimes has on pink bibs and uses a red and pink blanket. Sorry buddy, I hope we’re not destroying your manhood!!

Cute or what?

Christmas 2011

2012-01-24T12:40:00.001-06:00

This year, we celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas day, and Jon’s family on New Years Day. It was nice this year because we didn’t have to split either day and could spend as much time as we wanted at each respective family’s house.

It was a big deal this year on my side because every single person from my moms side of the family came. My mom, her mom, her sister, her brother, and all of their kids and families were there. Even my dad’s parents were there. It was about 38 people total including all this kids. It was at my mom’s house and I think we all had a good time visiting and catching up and having our kids play together.

Here is EVERYONE!!

My mom really wanted some family pictures taken, so I brought my camera, tripod and remote. This way everyone was able to be in it and I must say, I think it came out really well. I also took pictures of each individual family and sent them all home with memory cards with all the pics on it.

Opening presents was wild and I think the kids had lots of fun. Everyone just sat down and went to town!

My parents gave Marielle and Aliza their gifts Christmas Eve night and the first thing they brought out was this see-saw. It stole the show!!

Until Marielle got this microphone. Santa’s gifts couldn’t even top the microphone!

I gotta say, it was our best year yet. Marielle remembered last year and was into it. She really “got it”. Aliza didn’t get it, but she followed Marielle’s footsteps and played along like she really did know what was going on. Christmas morning was lots of fun and it was so beautiful to see my girls light up and see their presents.

First was putting out the reindeer food and cookies and milk.

Then Christmas morning

Jon showed the girls how the cookies were eaten, and Santa left some soot from the chimney near the fire place.

Yay, a bike and a bunch of movies!!!

Gary Christmas, on New Years Day

Tickle time with Grandy and Uncle Ray and Kingston

The Hungovers. As I said, it was New Years Day and these kids are all 20-somethings…

Aliza got a helmet and a babydoll with a stroller and playpen, and an alphabet block.

Marielle got several “Rapunzel” accessories. Her most favorite princess ever!!

I wish I had taken more pictures at the Gary Christmas, but it was just hectic!! Maybe next year!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!! It sure was a good one for us!!

2 Christmas Crafts

2012-01-20T15:23:00.001-06:00

I am trying really hard to be some-what crafty. It’s hard for me to just sit down and set up some kind of craft for the kids and me to do. I dread the huge mess for me to clean up afterwards, and I always think my kids are too young to do crafts. I know it will just be me doing the craft with them watching and messing it all up. Positive thinking, right? Anyway, I attempted 2 Christmas crafts towards the end of December.

The snow globes, from Design Mom. Great blog for all types of things…

First, print out a few pics and cut them small enough to fit in the jars that will be your snow globes. I used babyfood jars, then I found some bigger mason jars and used those too. “Laminate” them between 2 pieces of packing tape to seal them. This is why this craft did not work for me. I did not have a good seal and the pictures wound up getting wet and ruined. But whatever, the kids loves showing them off anyway.

I grated a piece of plastic with my cheese grater for the “snow” in the snow globe.

Then you fill your jar with water and glycerin (which helps the snow “float”), put your pictures in and seal.

Then turn upside down! There you have it – your very own personal snow globe. Until it gets ruined from being in water…

Cone Trees

Our next craft was just these cone trees with numbers on them to countdown the days until Christmas. A lot of people have calendars and things to countdown the days until Santa comes. Since my girls are so little, I wasn’t sure they would understand that perspective. I found this online and thought it might help. This way, we could take a cone away everyday and they could count the cones to see how many days are left. I did this around the 19th, so we didn’t have many days to count. I am thinking this can be an annual craft for us to set up every year.

December 2011

2012-01-20T14:54:00.001-06:00

It was a busy month, getting ready for Christmas, decorating and wrapping and trying to make memories and traditions.

My girls are usually sweet with each other, they were rolling all over the floor hugging and kissing this day. I had to get my camera out for it.

This guy made a few appearances. More like 30 or so! He came just after Thanksgiving, so I know he was tired of finding places to be EVERY morning! We had a disagreement naming him, but eventually “Nerf” stuck. That wasn’t my choice, but oh well, I guess it’s ok for Aliza to name him…

Nanny Ally was on maternity leave all of December, so we had lots of visits from her and baby Griffin. We all loved having them over. Marielle especially liked burying Nanny Ally and Aliza in stuffed animals…

We had a kids party at our house early in December. It was a pajama gift exchange for the kids and we also did some cookie decorating. If you do a gift exchange with friends, I totally recommend a pajama exchange. It was easy to buy for them, and the kids had a ton of fun opening new pj’s. Who needs toys when you can get kids new cute pj’s!!??

This is Grace. Isn’t she so adorable??!!

Here are pics of my girls just being themselves, which is silly, silly, silly!

A long day at home, means someone gets COVERED in books.

And it also means mom is scrambling to find something to entertain the kids – even for a little while. They ran through this paper mache for 2 days screaming “boom shaka lacka”. I have no idea where it came from, but they loved it!

All in all it was a December to remember! I can only hope the years to come are so fun!!

November 2011

2011-12-16T17:26:00.001-06:00

As I did for October, I will fly through the month of November with pictures and captions. Enjoy!

A little creative crafting!! Yep, that’s a flip-flop made from a cracker box! They lasted about 2 hours, but it burned up some time in the day. (Ignore those 3 freakishly long toes.) (Actually, how can you ignore them now? Look at them and know that I am a total klutz, and I blame those 3 freakish toes, on each foot. Sorry Marielle, I couldn’t not pass them on.)

A little snuggling with baby Griffin.

More crafting – I made a “Go Fish” game from another cracker box. It is really helping Marielle learn some numbers, 1-12.

She’s got her poker face DOWN!!!

Wow, I didn’t realize we were so crafty in November! Here are more of us making cards for their Daddy’s birthday. NAKED FINGER PAINTING!

And these are just too irresistible!

A little one night trip to New Orleans, for just me and Jon. We checked out the WWII Museum, a little French Quarter, a wonderful dinner, and of course, Pat O’s piano bar.

A rainy day movie and nap in mommy’s bed. SO fun!!

Thanksgiving day, homemade Cinnamon Breakfast Bites. Yum!! Then some fun times at Aunt Deidre’s house.

No turkey for us, crabmeat au gratin, gumbo, and oysters!

Awe!!

And some real tailgating, like in a tailgate!!

It was really a good month. Lots of fun, crafts and family. Hope you enjoyed our month in pictures!

Going back a bit…

2011-12-16T15:23:00.001-06:00

I have been so bad at blogging and sharing pictures, I decided to go back the last few months and just do a quick pictorial of what we have been doing with just a few captions. Keep up, this is gonna go pretty fast.

October 2011

Lots of outside-ness

Lots of Rosie and Sophia Grace. I swear we watched the Ellen episodes with these girls on it about 1,000 times. And sometimes Marielle and Aliza had to dress up, too!

Aliza’s birthday and party.

A haunted “house” made by yours truly!! Hardly haunted, but so much fun to run through!!

Aliza’s new Minnie mouse dress that she wears all but daily.

It’s gotta be Minnie!!

A field trip to sing and dance at a nursing home.

A new cousin, of course!

Halloween party at school day.

For some reason, a haircut…

…in the bathtub…

…by mom. While I love Marielle’s long hair, it was getting a little stringy. I was hoping it would still curl at the ends, but it really doesn’t anymore . I miss her curls!!

A terrifying performance at her schools fair. I had to pull her off the stage! she hated every second of it!

She was fine after…

Halloween Day at school.

Halloween night at home, with family and neighbors.

Feeding Daddy a sucker on the way back from trick-or-treating.

October was a pretty great month!!

Up next, November!

Happy Birthday Deidre!

2011-11-22T15:55:00.001-06:00

Today is Deidre’s 50th and I was enlisted by my sister-in-law Dawn to decorate her office with 50th garb. With the help of my sister-in-law Paige, I snuck into her office while she was at lunch with Jon and Jared and ransacked it with decorative “50” stuff! It was a success!! She was surprised – yet again, for her 50th birthday! She was surprised on Sunday with cake and ice cream at Jared and Paige’s house and some family from Lafayette travelled in. This post is mainly and easy way to share the photos with our family so they can see how it all went down.

Happy Birthday Deidre! I hope it’s a great one!!

Marielle’s first day of school

2011-11-07T14:01:00.001-06:00

Marielle’s first day was just after labor day, but I’ve been such a bad blogger I never posted anything about it. I hope to make time to blog more from now on!

The best part of the first day was when she came home and we were talking about her day. She is eating a snack and says, “Mom, they call me ‘Mar-rielle’ (as in ‘Mar’ rhyming with ‘far’), not Marielle (‘Mary-elle’ how we pronounce it).” I grabbed my phone and tried to make her say it again on video, but it wasn’t as good as the first time. Here is our re-enactment:

also go here.

The next school day, she did ask her teacher to pronounce it correctly. I was so proud of her going up to her teacher and correcting her. Mrs. Rachael put her in the car the next day and apologized for saying it wrong. I told her it was no big deal, I just wanted Marielle to tell her instead of me doing it for her. 2 points for Marielle!!

New Nephew Griffin

2011-11-07T06:51:00.001-06:00

So my sister had her baby, and I am an Aunt! I couldn’t be more excited or proud to finally have that title, for a real nephew. I have been called Aunt KK for about 9 years now, but now it’s for real. I am a real nanny to the cutest little boy ever.

I took some maternity pictures of Ally and Billy, but never posted them. I’ll show you a few now, then I’ll tell you more about baby Griffin.

Allison was the most beautiful pregnant woman ever. She was really radiant, and had a beautiful smile on her face all throughout her pregnancy.

The above pictures can finally be revealed!! They kept the baby’s name a secret until the birth, so no one has seen those last 2 pics. Cute nursery, right?!

On October 25, Ally went in to have her little baby boy. It was a really long day for her, starting with being at the hospital at 3 am. She got her epidural at about 7:30, so by the time 6 pm came around and she wasn’t progressing very quickly, she and her doctor decided to go in and have a c-section. It was a hard decision for her, but they felt it was time to go in there and get that baby out.

I was privileged enough to be let into the c-section operating room. We knew from the beginning that Billy, my mom and I would be in the birthing room since they allow 3 people in there. Well, for a c-section, they only allow 2. My mom and I bickered about it for a little while when there was talk of a section in the afternoon. But once the decision was made to really have the section, my mom gave in and let me be in the operating room. She knew I needed to be there to capture all of it through my camera and she didn’t put up a hard fight…

I suddenly started to get really nervous and scared. I do not like blood and guts and the thought of surgery freaks me out a little. I had a little cry beforehand, then Billy and I named ourselves “team Griffin” and I found a strength inside me that allowed me to be very calm the entire time. I really wanted to do a good job of capturing this for Allison. She filmed and took pictures of the births of both my girls and I really wanted to return the favor.

I could see more surgery things that I really cared to while in the operating room, but like I said, there was a weird calm that came over me, and it was like I had done this over and over. Billy and I decided that I was on baby duty and he was on Ally duty. I would follow the baby and snap (what wound up being a little over 200) pictures, and he would stay and hold Ally’s hand and make sure she was doing ok. It was a perfect arrangement.

You ready? Here we go…

Team Griffin

Momma is ready to go!

There are even closer pictures of him the second he came out of his momma, but we’ll save those for just his momma and daddy. He was just perfect, a few little cries and he was really good while he was getting weighed and measured and cleaned up.

His first few minutes…

His measurements…

Footprints…

A daddy’s first hold!!!

Momma’s first look and kiss!

A brand new family!!!!!!!

An adorable new face.

All of TEAM GRIFFIN!!!

A proud new aunt!

One sweet boy!! Griffin Michael Toups!

I can’t wait for more time with this little sweet one. You’ll be seeing lots of him in the months to come!!

Apple dipped pancakes

2011-10-06T09:13:00.001-05:00

There is this new show on daytime TV called “The Chew”. A new show about healthy cooking and easy recipes? Sign me up!! I tapped the first show last week and watched it a few days ago and have been waiting to try this recipe.

Apple dipped pancakes. Not difficult. I didn’t even look up the recipe on the website, you just dip cut apples into regular pancake batter and fry up like regular pancakes. Easy.

Sad to say, my girls didn’t care for them . But to be honest, neither did I. I’m really not a hot fruit type of person. I like apples and pancakes, but not together. Maybe next time.

Try these if you like some warm fruit and pancakes!!

2011 Race for the Cure in Houston

2011-10-04T14:59:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, Jon and I went to Houston to run in the Race for the Cure. I had decided to run a few weeks ago and just last Thursday, I decided that I really wanted Jon to be there with me. I was worried the race, and being around so many people either with cancer or families that had a member pass because of cancer or survivors, would be really sad, on top of already having a good friend with cancer that I was running for. I know there were a lot of our friends there, but I just didn’t want to be by myself. At the last minute, my mom graciously offered to keep the girls so Jon could come with me. What would I do without my wonderful parents? I would probably do absolutely nothing because I wouldn’t get a break from these kids very often.

Anyway, Jaime had tons of support this weekend with her team – PARTY ROCKERS FOR JAIME’S KNOCKERS. Jaime’s boyfriend said he counted 80 people in this picture all wearing our team gray party rockers shirts.

I know she has to be proud of all that support. It was so awesome to see so many people I didn’t know wearing the same shirt as me, all to support Jaime and her continued fight against cancer. I blogged about it before, but in case you missed it, our theme was Party Rockers for Jaime’s Knockers, themed after this song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8. Everyone dressed in 80’s fashion and totally rocked this race. Jaime’s brother Jon was Beatz and Rob Frye (who is as close to Jaime as a brother) was the shufflebot.

These guys were a sight to see and never broke character all day. Rob never took the shufflebot box off and Jon carried that jambox the entire 3.2 miles. They had to stop countless times for pictures with strangers that I’m sure were shared all over facebook.

Here are Jaime and her brothers, Jaime and her sister, and Jaime and her sister and brothers.

Here are other pictures from the race and a video from when the entire team crossed the starting line. (P.S. I stole most of these pictures off of facebook. I took a few with my phone, but I copied a bunch from all the posts on facebook. I’m not sure which pictures came from where, sorry about that!!)

All in all, it was a great weekend. If you don’t know me, I am a crier. I can’t help myself. I cry easily that’s why I wanted Jon with me. I got choked up a few times during the race and when Jaime came across the finish line. There were so many people around, I couldn’t help but feel all the love and hope. I hope Jaime had fun and felt all the love too! Keep saying your prayers, she still needs them!

Naptime, Schnaptime…

2011-09-27T15:52:00.001-05:00

Oh, kids and the napping phenomenon. It’s a constantly changing struggle. It will be going great for months at a time, then all of a sudden, one kid decides they don’t want to nap. Or wakes up crying waking up the other kid. Or wants to play instead of sleep.

You may have seen this video that I posted on facebook last week.

It’s hard to even explain the trouble we have been having with Aliza. Since she was born, this girl has loved her bed and sleeping. I could easily just drop her in the bed and she’d got to sleep, at naptime and bedtime. When she was old enough to walk, we’d say, “ready to go night-night?” and she’d run to her bed so fast we couldn’t keep up with her. And she slept until 8 am!!! It was WONDERFUL I tell you! And if you’re a mom, I know you are totally jealous of that.

Well, about 6 weeks or maybe 2 months ago, she stopped liking her bed. She stopped wanting to sleep, she started screaming and crying in her bed. She started waking up several times at night and was up for good at 6 am. It has been horrible, heartbreaking and totally baffling. I called her doctor, took her in and I couldn’t really get an answer as to what is happening…

On the other hand, during the middle of the summer, Marielle started really fighting her nap. I was completely devastated. What would I do without a nap???!! I get so much done at this time! It’s my only break!! Well, after a while of us fighting about it, I gave up. I told her, “fine, you don’t have to nap, but you have to stay in your room and be quiet. Read, play, stare out the window, whatever, just stay in your room and be quiet.” I was so nervous about this. But day after day, this is what I found

Sleeping, everyday. Finally, we just went back to our regular nap routine and I put her in her bed after reading a book. Now it’s kind of back and forth and she naps sometimes and sometimes she just plays in her room.

Then, Aliza started having her sleeping troubles. I just knew that she was not ready to just give up her nap. She’s not even 2 yet, I just don’t think she could possibly give it up, and Marielle who is 16 months older, is still sleeping at least sometimes. One day I just had enough and I let her cry and cry and cry for 2 hours. I felt so bad about it, but I thought she had to give it up eventually. She never did, but I finally got her out of her bed and not 5 minutes later, this is her

She was so obviously tired. And this kept happening. She would not take a nap, and was so difficult to put down at night, but she was falling asleep everywhere during the day. I couldn’t understand it, I would fight and fight and fight her to stay awake in the car, so she would sleep in her bed. It wasn’t working. I was at my wit’s end and I took her to the doctor as a last straw. I just needed help with this. I really had no other idea what to do.

Our doctor told us to put her back on Zyrtec. It takes a few days for Zyrtec to start working, but by 3 days after we started it, she was sleeping better. She’s not back to her old self, but she’s not so hard to put down and she’s sleeping later in the morning. I feel so bad. Poor little girl couldn’t breathe well and couldn’t tell me .

Nevertheless, we are sleeping more over here and I am so happy about that. I just hope we keep this schedule for a little while longer!!

I have to share…

2011-09-25T18:54:00.001-05:00

…these pictures from Sunday morning, in bed. It was really dark and I my camera wouldn’t focus, so I had to use the manual focus. Since it was so dark, I could hardly see anything to focus it myself. So I did the best I could, and this is what I got. I gotta say – I’m happy with these!! These are not edited.

P.S. – I have a flash attachment called a Lightscope. It can only be used inside with something to reflect off of, but it works really well in the right conditions.

Everyday I’m shufflin’

2011-09-15T13:48:00.001-05:00

Ok, not really. I’m running. Well, not everyday, but 3 days a week. Anyway, let me start at the beginning.

Several months ago, I was feeling tired of my workout routine (or lack thereof), and I went for a run outside. The next day, I was horribly sore from head to toe. I had been burnt out on working out in my living room before the kids got up (and they are waking up earlier and earlier these days), and realized running might be something I should be doing to get into shape. But there was a little problem – I hate running and have never been a good runner. A friend told me about the iPhone App Couch to 5K. I started the next week. It gradually works you up to a 5K with a voice telling you when to “Run now” and “Walk now”, in different intervals everyday, and running 3 days a week.

Soon after I started couch to 5K, my favorite non-profit organization, Donate Life Louisiana, released information that they will be hosting a 5K November 5. So that became my goal – to run a 5K non-stop – in November. The race is called “Rabalais Run for Life”. Please consider doing this with me. You actually have time to start Couch to 5K, and almost finish it in time for the race. I can’t believe I am about to say this, but I am loving running now. I think it has a lot to do with this goal of mine, but after couch to 5K I plan to start “bridge to 10K”, obviously a trainer for a 10K. Ouch!! We’ll see about that one!!

Then, when I went to visit my friend Jaime in Houston, there was talk of the Race for the Cure coming up, October 1. They already had a team started and I thought about it, and thought that maybe I could go back to Houston for that race. I have already been “training” for it, so why not just move my goal up a month and get ready for October 1. I’m all signed up for that one too, click here to sign up!! This race is obviously for breast cancer, so Jaime’s sister cleverly came up with a theme for Jaime’s team – PARTY ROCKERS FOR JAIME’S KNOCKERS!! Love it!! If you are unfamiliar with the song “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO, check it out here. I think this team will be doing a lot of “shuffling” come October 1.

About 3 weeks ago, I told Jon I didn’t think I could do it. I could make it 2 miles, but that last one was SSSOOOOOO hard. But I have kept going and kept trying. I have to say, the weather has been on my side the last 2 weeks. It makes a lot of difference if the humidity is less than about 70%.

Today I did it – I ran 3.1 miles without stopping!! It took about 33 minutes, and I had to push and push and push myself. I wanted to stop several times, but my desire to make it all the way to 3.1 miles kept me going. I’m going to keep running at 3.1 miles at least 3 times a week until Rabalais Run for Life, maybe longer

Please join me in one of these races!! They are both great causes and both of these organizations have hit me close to home. Quite frankly, too close for comfort. Wish me luck – better yet, do it with me and I’ll wish you luck too!!

My visit with Jaime

2011-09-13T13:03:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, I got to go visit my friend Jaime and catch up with all that is going on. It was a really good, but short visit. We talked about her cancer, the treatment, and the possibility of remission. It sounds like she and her doctor are both very positive and optimistic. Now it is just a waiting game to see how the tumors react to her chemo treatments. Keep those positive thoughts and prayers coming!! She still needs them!!

I only took a few pics on this trip, and here they are.

I want to sincerely thank everyone who read my first blog about Jaime and responded with prayers and the want to help. It means a lot to Jaime and her family to know that she has so much support. Let me know if you are still interested in helping, I can point you in the right direction.

Thanks again to all of you!!!

A Baby Shower!

2011-09-08T09:53:00.001-05:00

I have tons to catch up on, and I’ll start here. A few weeks ago, a few of my sisters friends and I hosted a baby shower for her. I have to say, I think it was a great success! It was a good turn out, and Ally got lots of stuff for mini-Toups.

The food:

The invite and favors:

Some décor:

The happy soon-to-be new momma!!

Some items from mini-Toups room:

Ally with Dad, and Ally with Mom:

Ally with Billy’s mom and with our Aunt Janis:

Ally with me and mom, and ally with both our grandma’s:

Ally with other guests:

And a pic with all the hosts!!

I hope Ally enjoyed it as much as I did!!

A friend in need.

2011-08-21T22:12:00.001-05:00

I have a friend. An old friend. A funny friend. A favorite friend. Her name is Jaime Marrs. She was one of my 5 friends at my actual wedding and has been such a fun part of my life.

I met Jaime just before my sophomore year in high school, probably in the summertime when we started practicing volleyball. She was a freshman who made the team, but man, what I remember most about her was her attitude. It's not so much that she had a bad attitude, it was that she always had a scowl on her face. I didn't like her. She didn’t talk much and didn’t smile. And she was dating one of the hottest seniors. How dare her? Anyway, one day she didn't have a ride home from volleyball practice. I was riding home with Jill, and Jill offered her a ride. On this ride we talked and laughed and I realized that this scowled-faced girl was pretty funny. I guess the rest is history because Jaime became one of my best friends throughout the rest of high school, through college, through kids, and still is now.

Jaime is nothing short of a riot, she's quick witted, not at all shy, and smart enough to keep a joke going for hours. She would write the longest, most ridiculous, non sensicle notes I had ever read. I loved getting notes from her because they made absolutely no sense at all and had me laughing out loud every time I read them. I went through some of my high school memorabilia and have an excerpt for you,

“So red is the word, grass is lumpy cows in field of purple ants attacking China and Asia is advancing toward Australia where kangaroos give birth to 5 pocketed jeans in which everybody overlooks the 5th pocket since 1654 and it has that key to cloud 9 where god shoots lightening bolts at horses all day that gallop in blue rivers that flow like honey to Pooh bears bag that Lisa is gonna give to her baby.”

Then she signs it,

“Bye, Me. P.S. srutkimlaop (hey but don’t tell anyone.)”

I know. WHAT??? But that’s the way this girls mind works.

I wish I could count the amount of laughs I have had with this girl. If I could count the actual laughs, it would easily be in the millions. We would laugh about how much we would laugh. We would laugh because we'd go to a party and start talking to people and then the people would walk away and just Jaime and me would be left together. Then we'd go talk to other people and somehow we'd be left alone again, laughing at ourselves. This is a longstanding joke between us, that no one wanted to hang around us, but us. The funny part was, we were fine with it.

******I know you don’t believe me, so I went to my senior book and found proof!!*********

It says, “we always laugh at”, I hand wrote, “me and Jaime in the corner” and put this picture!

Even my mom also had a soft spot for Jaime. Once during volleyball season, someone had cheeseballs. Jaime declared that cheeseballs were 'the shit'. I told my mom about “the shit” and made her buy me 'shit' for snacks. My mom actually let me call it 'the shit' in front of her - and my mom did not let us cuss. Ever. Jaime’s humor is irresistible.

After high school, Jaime chose to go to Texas A&M, and move far, far, away from me. We kept in touch and I made sure to head to College Station to party with her a few times. Jaime has 2 older brothers and a younger sister, all of whom share this humor. They are all hilarious and it’s a ton of fun to be around each and every one. Eventually, she and all her family moved to Houston, where they all live now. I’ve made several trips there to see her, and her daughter Faith.

These are old, Faith is 8 now.

Why am I telling everyone who reads my little family blog about one of my oldest and bestest friends? Because my friend needs prayers and lots of them. She called me last week with bad news. Breast cancer. She’s only 31. I was crying within seconds, but Jaime seemed optimistic. Mastectomy and chemo followed by remission. She was waiting on results of a fully body scan, but she was hopeful that this was just one chapter of her life.

But not so fast. Those results came back. Worse news. Stage IV, in her liver. I don’t know many details of her particular situation, but Stage IV is not good. Chemo starts this Wednesday. I’m hoping to make it to Houston this week to be with her and to help any way I can. Jaime’s mom lost her battle to cancer several years ago, and it sucks to say that her family is familiar with all this.

So, I’m asking you – any of you reading this – say some Prayers. Send good karma. Think good thoughts. Call in some favors to the big guy upstairs if you believe in him and he owes you. Pass this on to your friends. My friend needs each and every person who reads this to be positive and say prayers.

Contact me if you would like to help in other ways. Groceries, restaurant gift cards, itunes gift cards for movies while undergoing treatment, greeting cards, or other things. I can put you in touch with the right people.

Thanks in advance. I know I’ve got a big, caring, and faithful circle of family and friends who are willing to help.

Photoshoot

2011-08-16T08:40:00.001-05:00

I need a picture of Marielle for preschool. Since I don’t take enough pictures of the kids (sarcasm), I had to set up a photoshoot to get one of Marielle. This is what I got. 100 pictures. Hello – OVERBOARD!! You can click anywhere on the album to see all of them .(None of these are edited.)

MBS photo shoot

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

This is the one I am sending in.

Aliza’s hand and the burner…they don’t mix

2011-08-14T21:51:00.001-05:00

So, I briefly blogged about Aliza’s hand the other day, and today we are pretty much wrapping up that little mishap. The day after bringing her to the after hours clinic (Tuesday), we went back to have her bandage changed. This is what I saw

OUCH!! I was so hoping for no blisters, but hoping didn’t help. There was that big fat one in the middle and another one close to her wrist that looked like it had already formed and popped. It didn’t seem to hurt her because she was putting pressure on it while the bandage was on. She screamed and cried when the guy changed the bandage, but she was fine after. We were sent home and told to wash it and change the bandage daily, don’t pop the blister, and only to come back if there was infection.

Saturday night, we took off the bandage to clean it, and this is what we saw:

It popped!! Yay!! We are still covering it with some antibacterial cream and the bandage, just in case the skin breaks.

And to further follow up, we have made a new rule in the kitchen – NO STOOLS!! They don’t like that rule too much, but I’m not risking it.

Marielle’s laugh

2011-08-14T20:35:00.001-05:00

I love watching this video. Marielle’s current favorite book is a small, short Strawberry Shortcake book. We read it a lot, so much that she can “read” it to us, since she memorized it. This video is Jon reading it to her, but mixing up all the words. She thinks it’s the funniest thing ever and corrects him everytime, laughing her head off the whole time. I love this girls laugh!

Oh, and she poots about 30 seconds in…

If you can’t see the video, click http://youtu.be/KT6AuzN7i90.

Quick rundown…

2011-08-08T21:46:00.001-05:00

I have been slacking on my blogging!! I’ll just go ahead with a quick rundown of what’s with us as of late…

Today – an early morning trip to the Lake after Hours clinic. Aliza had tried to get on a stool near the stove and put her hand up on the stove to pull herself up. I had just finished making oatmeal and had turned off it probably only 5 minutes before she tried to get up on the stool. She put her hand directly on the burner and burned the palm of her right hand. As soon as she started screaming, I got a glass of ice water and stuck her hand in it. That helped some, but not much. I went to my parents house because I knew they had some burn medicine. I put the kids in the car, all of us in our pajamas, and got there as fast as we could. When my mom saw it, she said I should take her in to be sure. She fell asleep on the way to Lake After Hours, and stopped crying after that.

We put her hand with the ointment my mom had, in a ziplock bag, secured with tape so she wouldn’t rub it off or wipe her face with it.

She cried again when they bandaged her, but other than that, she’s fine. We have to go back in the morning to see if there are blisters. I really hope there aren’t, but we’ll see. This is her after her bandage…

Too sweet…

Last week - splash park. I didn’t take many pictures, but I have a few. I edited this picture with Instagram, an app I love!! I love the way it came out!

Two weeks ago - Marielle started a regular gymnastics class. It’s one day a week for an hour. I am so excited, I think this is the sport for her. So far, she loves it!

Last week - we were invited to go see Yogi Bear at the theater with one of Marielle’s classmates, Dylan.

My mom watched Aliza so Marielle and I could go together. Marielle got a little restless in this movie, I think it was a little over her head. We only went to the bathroom once, but she kept getting up and wanting to move around, sit on me, walk down the aisle, etc. We made it through, and this girl loves her some popcorn!! I think it’s her favorite part of going to the movies!

Jon had to go out of town last week, so I had some extra time after baths with the girls. Perfect time for a dance party – I’ll leave you with a video!! Enjoy!

Gymnastics camp

2011-07-25T15:07:00.001-05:00

It’s that time. She’s 3 now and ready for some action. I put Marielle in a gymnastics camp last week at LSU. I have been dying to put her in gymnastics. I looked for a camp for the summer so I could kind of “feel her out” and see how much she liked it. I was praying she loved it, because I would LOVE for her to do gymnastics. Turns out, she did really well this week. She followed direction really well and she really did all the exercises correctly!! I think I’m going to find something for her to continue on in the future.

The camp was for one week, from 9-12 everyday. This is the night before the first day, trying on her leotard…

And this is day one.

I was prepared to have to peel her crying body off me to get her to go with these gymnast strangers. I was way off, because she couldn’t wait until they opened the doors. She took her shoes off and ran to the mat, with barely a look back in our direction. “Bye!!”

She was very excited when we picked her up, but she couldn’t tell me what she had been doing. It was really hard to get a clear answer out of her about what was going on there. I would say, “did you do a roll?” She’d say, “No.” Did you do a cartwheel?” “No”, I’d say, “Who are your friends?” She’d think, “I don’t know their names, mommy.” “who are your teachers?” She said – “I can understand them mommy, but I don’t know their names.” That was hilarious!!

The camp was really cute and every day was a different theme. The second day was “favorite color day” and she just wore a pink leotard. I don’t have any pictures from that. Wednesday was “inside out day”. They wore their clothes inside out, it was cute…

Then was “CRAZY hair day”. I did a bunch of buns all over Marielle’s head.

Crazy, huh??!!

The last day was crazy LSU day – hair, clothes and face. She wore the shirt/dress that I made and that huge tu-tu over it. I had picked out her LSU cheerleader uniform, but she picked this outfit out herself, boots and all. I’m glad she did – It was totally her!!

At the very end of the last class, we (the parents, grandparents and aunts) got to watch what they had been up to all week. Marielle was SOO excited to see us there, and her little sister.

Marielle grabbed Aliza and hugged her for 5 minutes. It was so cute!

Then they got started on their “show off”. First was a roll, walk across a beam, jump into the foam blocks, then 2 cartwheels.

Then – how cute is this – a caterpillar to the next “event”. They loved walking in this line!

Balance beam. They did it 3 times, dragging their foot, kicking forward and walking sideways. Marielle did it perfectly!

On to the trampoline!

They went all the way down this long trampoline twice. First with their hands up just jumping down it, and second with their arms straight out while lifting their legs all the way up.

And last to the bar. They hung from the bar, slid with their arms one way, back the other way, then had to pull their legs up and hold a foam square on the top of their legs.

Then…right back to her sissy!!

I really wish this one would have come out!

After it was over, I could tell Aliza really wanted to try out the foam pit. They both got a few extra minutes to play around and burn off some energy…

Can’t wait for next year!!

A few pics from my bday

2011-07-22T15:53:00.001-05:00

My birthday was on Monday. Since that would be just a regular day for me, we did our celebrating Sunday. Breakfast in bed (not really, but it was breakfast by request, and I didn’t have to lift a finger), and lots of lazy. After laying around for about 2 hours, Jon suggested we go have a picnic on the levee downtown. We got ready quickly and made it down there to eat and barely miss the rain. I was really happy to come home to find a few good pics of me and my girls.

I didn’t get any good ones of Aliza by herself, but I did really like this one of Marielle…

Other than that, my birthday was really low-key this year. No big celebrations and no big deal. And that’s fine with me, all I need is a day to be lazy and I’m happy. I guess that’s what happens when as the years go on!!!

Winnie the Pooh in theatres

2011-07-20T17:43:00.001-05:00

Marielle had been asking about Tigger and Pooh, and I didn’t really know why. Then I noticed the commercials for it on tv and I guess she picked it up there because we don’t have any Pooh books or movies. Since she is now 3 and familiar with movies, I thought it would be a good time to introduce her to the theatre. My sister was available to watch Aliza, so off to the movies we went, for a girls only date!

I know – you don’t have to tell me. I am totally the crazy picture taking mom, but I can’t help it. I feel compelled to take pictures of EVERYTHING all the time. I like the pictures to tell the whole story so I can really document it and remember it. Anyway, she did great in the movie! We ate popcorn and I brought some M & M’s for her. She loved the eating popcorn part and tells everyone about it. It’s too cute! I think we’ll be going back to the movies soon!!

You know what? I did a little more than sew a few scrunchies.

2011-07-14T15:36:00.001-05:00

After my last post, a friend reminded me about a purse I sewed while in college. I had to go dig it up and everything else I made with the same fabric.

Here’s the backstory. I was living in an apartment with a friend, and I wanted to spice things up a little in my room. So, I painted pink stripes on 2 the walls.

Wow, right?? I only did 2 walls, but it was fun and gave my room some character. (BTW, that green chest is now painted white and is used as a changing table/dresser for Aliza. The fun part about that – it’s not even mine!! I hope Aimee wanted me to keep that after “borrowing” it in college!!)

Then I wanted some curtains to go in there. I thought it would be fun to make them myself for some reason. It was a lot of work and I had a few friends help me get it all done.

I started with these 4 swatches. I picked the last one on the right and bought a ton of fabric. I made these (fully lined) curtains on the floor of my apartment.

The finished product!!

I had so much fabric leftover, I made 2 pillows, a purse, and these file cabinet cover things. I obviously LOVED the fabric and was willing to take it everywhere!

More on the purse later, but after making all that, I moved. I wanted to use my curtains again and wanted to get REALLY crazy with wall colors. I picked out 5 paint colors that were colors in the curtains, and bought a pint of each, got my sister, and we went to work.

Ready for this?

Oh yes I did. I can hardly believe it either. How tacky!!?? It took my sister and I about 10 hours to finish it. I totally loved it. You can even see from the picture – I really used that purse and the pillows too! The best thing about this room is that I didn’t even have to paint over it when I left!! The apartment complex did it!!

Now these same curtains of inspiration, are in my daughters bedroom and I hope they stay for a long time. I’m pretty proud of those curtains and all the crazy ideas it gave me to do with my rooms.

Fully lined and heavy duty!!

Now, to the purse.

I didn’t want to just sew the 2 bottom pieces together and make a skinny bag. I had big ideas back then too. I wanted it to have a flat bottom. I had to enlist one of my friends’ sisters to help me sewing that – I really can’t take credit. I think she was in fashion merchandising or something and had to take a sewing class. But it was my idea to cut the plastic top of a notebook to size and glue it into the bottom so the purse would stand up. I has been in there for years until this morning when Aliza ripped it out.

So, that’s the real truth behind my sewing. But it might not be the end of it. I just saw THIS and think I might get started again!!

My stab at sewing

2011-07-12T22:07:00.001-05:00

I’ll be honest, I have some experience with sewing. When we were in middle school, my sister and I desperately wanted to have a sewing machine to make scrunchies. Our mom made a deal with us that if she got a sewing machine, we had to take a class to learn how to use it. And that we did. And oh the scrunchies that were made. We spent tons of time picking out fabric at Wal-mart and made tons of fabric filled with elastic circles to wrap in our hair.

Since I have been home, I’ve seen a few blogs about making pillowcase dresses and simple clothes like that. I also have 3 LSU t-shirts that don’t fit me anymore and I wanted to make them into dresses for the girls. I got the old sewing machine from my mom, bought some fabric, and proceeded to do absolutely nothing with it. Big plans, no follow-through. Soon after I got all that stuff, I realized that you really need a room and time to do those kinds of crafts. It’s a lot of materials and small pieces that need to be left out in order to keep doing it. I don’t have that place and with the 2 little ones running around, I don’t really have that much time to ignore them. They can only be ignored for so long before there is trouble.

Which leads me to last week and me seeing this tutorial on Pinterest. I got a little re-invigorated and thought, wow, I can do that, and maybe I won’t have to get out the sewing machine at all! So I got my LSU shirts out and got started.

The first yellow one was way too big around the neck for the girls, so I did nothing to that one. I started with the second yellow one.

Gotta have a helper!!

I cut the side, then made the little cuts, and started tying. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that that would take FOREVER and maybe I should try and get that sewing machine out.

This was much faster.

It’s a little crocked, but hey, it’s my first time!!

Then my model wouldn’t cooperate, so I had to go with my 2nd model. I didn’t really make it for her, but really, my 16 months apart girls are almost the same size!! I didn’t take any more pictures of this shirt, but I took in the arms a little more too. It’s not great, but it’ll work to watch an LSU game!

I also just took this one in on the sides and the top. Then my model cooperated. Gotta love that belly!!

Not too bad!! Whatcha think??!!

A finished GaryArt

2011-07-10T09:46:00.001-05:00

Wow! That is about all I can say for the art work that Jon’s dad did in my parents office. Wow! Grandy spent a lot of time on this and lots of hard work. He drove in early Tuesday morning and worked until about 2 on Friday. He stayed at our house and the girls had a great time having Grandy for a few sleepovers.

My mom had originally wanted just a few things on the wall, some ABC’s, a zoo animal or 2 and a saying she picked out. I had printed out a few pictures of zoo animals and mom had her saying “Bloom where God Plants You” ready for Grandy. Grandy had much bigger plans than just a few letters and animals. Again, WOW! Here are the pics, so you can see the WOW for yourself…

1st wall - the ABC wall

It started out simple…

Then it got a little more and more elaborate…

I LOVE the giraffe!!

And the monkey!

There was a small issue with the Alphabet. Grandy forgot the “W”. When the mistake was caught, he had already drawn the monkey on that limb and the bananas, so it was not feasible to erase the XYZ and draw in the W, so Grandy improvised, and added the W like this:

I love it! It shows that everyone makes mistakes, and you do what you gotta do to fix them…

Then, the Do Re Mi Wall

I love, love, love this wall! I found a cute picture of these birds on a limb with a duck. Grandy reproduced it perfectly. Then he added frogs, a crawfish and some beautiful trees. Jon even got to draw on this wall – he drew the smaller tree on his lunch break one day. “do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, QUACK!” LOL!!

Next, the Nemo wall:

He used a picture from the DVD. He did a GREAT job on this!!

Lastly, the Bloom wall:

The bottom portion of this wall will be painted with magnetic primer and chalkboard paint. So the girls will get to be creative, too – just like their Grandy!!

Thank you, Grandy, so much for taking a few days of your time to come and paint this playroom for us!! It is much more than we expected and absolutely perfect for our girls – and soon to be mini-toups. We love you!!

Here is a video of the whole thing…

Enjoy!!

Gary Art

2011-07-06T16:37:00.001-05:00

Jon’s dad is an artist. He does all kinds of art. Canvas’, storefront windows, greeting cards, posters. Anything you ask him to do, he can pretty much do. So, my parents moved into their new office a few weeks ago, and they have a lot of space. So much, that my kids and Ally’s Mini-Toups”, get to have a playroom there. It’s a small room off the kitchen that my parents decided to make “fun” for the kids.

Mom thought about getting some decals or paint it fun or do something else, but since we have an artist in the family, we asked him to do some wall painting for us. I printed out some animals and ideas for him and my mom had a few things she wanted on the walls. He’s here for a few days staying with us while he paints. I’ll give you a sneak peek for now, more to come in a few days.

Fried Dinner Tonight…

2011-07-04T21:50:00.001-05:00

I have to share. I have a blogger friend, Sarah, and she turned me on to this website Pinterest. I now am constantly checking this website for updated pictures and ideas. Ideas for nothing in particular, just ideas.

There are a lot of recipes and gorgeous pictures of these delicious recipes. We had some friends over Sunday and I decided to try this. Instead of the big wonton shells, I got small ones and cut each string cheese into 3 equal pieces. Also, I wanted to make it a little healthier so I tired to bake instead of fry. We don’t fry often here in Garynation. That was a bad decision. While the cheese that melted out of them and baked on the cookie sheet tasted yummy, it was somewhat unappetizing to look at. I had anticipated that that might happen, but I didn’t have a back up, so we ate the melty cheese and enjoyed what we could. The leftovers went in the trash.

Jon was frying fish last night, and he has some leftover oil. I re-made these and let him fry them up. YUM!!

I failed to take pictures of ours, but mine were just like these, only smaller. Served with marinara sauce from Monjuni’s = perfection!!!

I also thought, while we’re frying – let’s go all out. Are you ready for this?

AVOCADO FRIES!!
I had one avocado and decided we had to try these. These. Were. So. Good. A soft, warm avocado under a crunchy, panko crust. Mmmmmm. Our only thing was a dipping sauce. My first thought was ranch. Then Jon said something about a sweet sauce. I immediately said honey. OMG – so, so perfect.

I don’t see us eating either of these often, but I’m so glad we tried it!! Now, it’s back to healthy eating and a poolside summer!!

3 year old in the HOUSE!!

2011-06-29T17:24:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday, June 25th, Marielle turned 3. She is such a fun little girl. She’s silly, quirky, and usually plays well with other kids. She’s inquisitive, curious, social (not too shy, after she warms up), she loves to watch tv and movies, she LOVES her sister, she wants to help, she loves to color…The list goes on. She melts my heart daily, and I’m super proud to be her mommy.

But with the age of 3, there comes lots of new things. Some things I’ve just heard about and some of these things I’m already seeing. Like the questions!! There are more and more questions everyday. More “why’s”, more “how’s”, more “why’s” again, and then more “where are you going mommy” and “what are you doing mommy”, every few minutes. I’m glad she’s curious, but geez – can I get a moment of SILENCE??!! Not anymore! LOL!

Then there are the “new” tantrums. I have seen a difference already, starting a few weeks ago. It’s amazing how she can transform into this new crazy tantrum thrower, and then just stop when she done. Then she turns into her sweet little self again. It’s reminds me a little of what I think bi-polar is, except that she’s a toddler. I told my mom and sister that you can see it coming and it kind of spirals out of control. I warned them the other day. Marielle started whining and it started getting worse and I could see it being a full on tantrum – I said, “3 year old tantrum coming! 3 year old tantrum coming!! It’s a about to spiral!!” Ally and I were giggling about it, but I had to pick up Marielle and take to another room to calm her down.

I have also noticed that I have to really control myself when one of these new tantrums strike. I have gotten so mad, and I’ve already learned that does nothing to help. If she’s throwing a tantrum, I can either try and argue and reason (ha!) with her, or I can just ignore it, put her in her room and wait for her to finish. She usually will calm down and ask for a hug after a while. But it’s still so very frustrating. I hate to hear her screaming and crying, but if I give in and give it attention, I believe that will make it worse the next time. Right??

Anyway, we had a swimming party at our house for her birthday. She was very excited for her friends and cousins to come over and swim with her at her house. The party wound up being a little smaller than expected at the last minute, but there was still a lot of people here. Here are pics:

Got to have a Princess cake!

Happy Birthday to you!

Presents, presents, presents!

SURPRISE PRESENT!!

She liked that little motorcycle…at first!! Now she won’t ride it!! Who knows – she’s a 3 year old.

A few videos...

2011-06-22T09:17:00.001-05:00

I love to listen to Aliza talk. I try and get her on video as much as possible. Even though she’s still pretty hard to understand, it’s hilarious!

do you have poopoo? aliza from kasey gary on Vimeo.

Aliza poopoo 2 from kasey gary on Vimeo.

Here are some from swimming at home

swimming at the house from kasey gary on Vimeo.

Aliza swimming at home from kasey gary on Vimeo.

Aunt K-K, I’m going to have a……

2011-06-21T11:13:00.001-05:00

NEPHEW!!!

Wha-hoo!!! I am so excited about Ally’s baby. I kinda mentioned a few blogs ago that my sister, Allison, is pregnant. She is due on Halloween, and last Friday she had her ultrasound and found out it’s a boy. We are all so excited, and to be honest, a little clueless!! We all really only have experience with little girls.

Allison and I have talked a lot about this since she found out she was pregnant, and since I am already home everyday, I have offered to keep the baby for her. If you know me and my sister, you would probably know that I kinda worship her. Since we were kids, I have always followed her around and copied her (much like my own kids do now!). I have gone to her with all my problems and she has always been there for me. I know that she has done much more for me than I have ever done for her – until now, I hope! Ally works 4 days a week and her Thursdays are over at 2. So starting at the beginning of next year, for 3 and 1/2 days a week, we’ll have an extra little boy around this house!! I can’t wait for our new adventure!!

Ally had her ultrasound last Friday and she and Billy were totally mean and made us all wait until AFTER dinner when they had us over to tell us the sex. I’ll show you how they did it through the pictures:

A little explanation. They made a cake and colored the batter blue. We couldn’t see if it was a boy or girl until it was cut into, or until someone stuck there hand in there to see. Which is what my dad planned to do. So Billy decided to protect the cake with mouse traps…silly Billy!!

Also, a little explanation about “Mini-Toups”. Since Billy has been previously married, when Ally and Billy started dating, their friends started calling them, “The New Toups”. Now since they are pregnant, they came up with a clever name for the baby - “Mini Toups”. We love the term “Mini Toups” and I think it’s going to stick for a long time.

The happy couple!

BLUE CAKE = MINI TOUPS IS A BOY!!!!

Mini Toups first jammies – with “Mini Toups” embroidered. It was from my mom, and she had a blue and pink one ready.

We are so excited for my sister and Billy and we can’t wait to get some BOY energy around here!!

Naptime

2011-06-07T13:44:00.001-05:00

Sometimes at naptime, Marielle will ask me to lay with her. I try not to do it everyday so she doesn’t need me to go bed, but I gotta give in sometimes. I crawl in her toddler bed with her, she asks me to snuggle her, tell her story and then she’ll try to close her eyes really tight, like she’s sleeping but she’s not fooling me!!

Well, today, I was thinking about how cute this is and how I hope I remember that my close-to-three-year-old wants me to cuddle her and tell her a story, later in life. Today I told her to lay there while I went to get my camera. I had to capture what I get to see when she asks me to lay with her.

Marielle’s end of the year program

2011-06-07T13:30:00.001-05:00

Marielle has graduated from the 2 year-old class at Most Blessed Sacrament. When they sent home information for the last day and that there would be a “program”, I was really wondering what kind of program a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds could put on. Well, all they did was say the Pledge of Allegiance and sang about 7 or 8 songs, but it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. They were so excited to be up there, they watched the teachers lead them in their dances, and THEY GOT INTO IT!!

Here are pics and video’s will be after:

Marielle is in the center.

Marielle getting her “certificate” from Mrs. Tara. She LOVES Mrs. Tara and Mrs. Andree. See?

And I thought these pictures of Marielle were just cute:

Some of the videos are a little long, but so cute. I hope you can tell which one Marielle is. She’s in the middle most of the time…

The Pledge of Allegence

2 year old Pledge of Allegence from kasey gary on Vimeo.

The Wheels on the Bus

2 year old Wheels on the Bus from kasey gary on Vimeo.

The Hokey Pokey

2 year old hokey pokey from kasey gary on Vimeo.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and Bop til you Drop, this one is long, but Bop til you Drop is funny. It starts at about 1:00 in…

2 year old Head, shoulders...and Bop til you drop from kasey gary on Vimeo.

And all of the class saying their names

2 year olds saying names from kasey gary on Vimeo.

Sorry it took me so long to post this!! I had it in my “drafts” folder and forgot about it!!

1 year!!

2011-06-01T08:15:00.001-05:00

I made it!! I made it through my first year as a stay at home mom!! I know that sounds funny, but when I quit working to stay at home, I really wasn’t sure I would. I was scared to death just wondering what I would do with a 7 month old and an almost 2 year old all day, everyday. It was an adjustment, a big adjustment. For several months, I was scared to actually stay home. That would mean I would have to entertain all day, and I wasn’t really sure what that meant. Do I focus on teaching them new things everyday? Do I just let them play in the playroom? Do I try and take them outside in 100 degree weather? I didn’t know. I knew I was doing this for a reason, but I really wasn’t sure how I would get through it.

My reason to quit wasn’t what you would think. I didn’t always want to be a stay at home mom. I liked working, I liked my co-workers, and I liked my scheduled day. I actually never wanted to be a stay at home mom. But when I looked at our finances, and figured I wasn’t taking home tons of money, maybe I should try it. In the end, it was a little bit of guilt, which I’m sure every working mother has, and a fear of regret that ultimately made my decision to stay home. I felt guilty and selfish that I wanted to work because I liked it, and I was putting my kids in daycare because, really, I wanted to. Because I felt the responsibility of staying home was bigger than working and I was scared of it. But I was also scared that I’d wake up one day and my girls would be 18 and 19, going off to college and what if I didn’t make that scary decision years before? I think I might have regretted working in the long run. So I did it, I quit my job last year, May 31. I blogged about it here and here and here.

So, now I’m here a year after this big decision, and I can truly say that I know I made the right decision for our family. It was a rough start, and like I said, we were out and about almost everyday, just finding things to do. I found a lot of things to do, but eventually we started staying home more often and it wasn’t so bad. Marielle started preschool in September, going 2 days a week and that helped break up our week a little. It took about 6 months for me to really get the hang of this and feel comfortable just staying home and doing housework. It’s a lot of housework, and I hate cleaning. I guess it’s a trade off. Jon and I have had a maid since we got married. I hadn’t had to clean in a very long time. We kept the maid for a while after I quit, but eventually it was more hassle to work around and I saw that we really needed to save the money we spent on her.

But even with that as one negative aspect of staying at home, it’s still worth it for us. I don’t have to clean or wash on the weekends, I don’t have to go to the store on the weekends, I don’t worry about those things or picking up the house until Monday, and I have all week to do it. Things are slower around the house. It’s easier on the whole family. The girls get up slowly, I get to make elaborate breakfasts and dinners; which I like to do. We aren’t so rushed. And even though I have 2 toddlers at my feet almost 24/7, it’s really a nice, relaxed feel around the house.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all sunshine and flowers over here. It’s a hard job and there are still times when I raise my voice (I’m working on that), and there are time outs and crying and fighting. There are times (a lot of times, really) when I just don’t know what to do. I wonder if I’m disciplining them right; am I too hard on them, am I too soft? Am I too rigid or WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING??!! I might go into psycho-mom mode and throw my own tantrum every once in a while. It’s a struggle. I just want to do right by them, and I don’t know when you become really sure of yourself and confident that you know what you are doing as a parent. I don’t claim to know what I am doing, but I try to do what I feel is right. And I believe that’s all I can do.

So all in all, after one year, I can say that I am happy I gave up the extra few dollars I was making to stay home with these two. They really make me happy – most of the time!!

Don’t you just want to eat them up??!!

Mother’s day

2011-05-24T14:47:00.001-05:00

Wow – it has taken me a while to post this! I hope you enjoy our mother’s day!

How sweet! This is what Marielle came home with the Thursday before Mother’s Day. My heart melted!!

I had told Jon before Mother’s Day that all I wanted was chocolate chip pancakes that I found on Whole Foods website, and an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins. I got what I wanted and had breakfast in bed with my girls! It was messy, but I just said I would wash the sheets and forget about it. I wanted my breakfast in bed, and if my girls wanted to join me, I wasn’t going to refuse! Please pay no attention to my “just woke up” face and hair. I’m just excited Jon took pics!!!

I volunteered to host Mother’s Day for my family at our house. I like to get people together at my house and include everyone, so I extended the invite to Billy’s parents, that’s my sister’s in-laws. They are great and my sister loves them and since Ally and Billy had a destination wedding, my grand parents had never met them. I was surprised and excited when they accepted. I am excited for them to see our house and see our girls, and see where their soon-to-be grandbaby will be 4 days a week. If you didn’t already know, my sister is pregnant, due on Halloween, and I will be watching the baby starting in January. More on that later, but I was glad Billy’s parents were able to see where we lived and tell them they were welcome to come by anytime to love on their grandbaby.

So, back to Mother’s Day, while I failed at getting a picture of me, my sis and my mom, I got some of everyone mingling and getting to know each other…

My girls looked so cute, but they are so active these days, it’s hard to get a good steady picture of them. These are their outfits for the day. Fun stuff!!

During the day, Marielle got my dad to go to her room with her. Somehow, she got him to change her skirt and put on these leggings. With nothing on top. Um, I’m not really sure about my dad dressing my girls anymore. I’ll leave that to my mom…

I did get an ice cream cake that I wanted, but it wasn’t the prettiest cake out there. Who wrote that on there?? Who cares – it tasted yummy!!!

These girls are my heart!! Right now, Marielle mostly a joy to be around. She’s fun, funny, and has a really great laugh. I get tons of complements on her beautiful hair and she is one strong little girl. She speaks very clearly, and I am finding myself recording funny and smart things she says more and more. I am really proud of her for saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, ‘yes ma’am’, ‘no ma’am’, ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’. She does pick fights with her sister, she whines, and she refuses to cooperate sometimes, but all in all, she is an easy, loving sweetheart, that’s also almost 3 years old!

Aliza on the other hand, is still my more high maintenance child. While she is undeniably so, so, so cute, she is moody, a little difficult to figure out, and she’s kind of shy sometimes. Despite all that, she will flirt with strangers, laugh and giggle, and she can get anyone she looks at to smile, but don’t try and take her from her mama!! This girls is stuck to me like glue. I am rarely away from her and it is one of those things that I love/hate. She loves me so much and most of the time, if she’s upset, I can just pick her up and she’ll stop. It sounds easy, and it is. But then I have to hold her and it’s hard to put her down again. I love that she loves me so much, it is so comforting. But then again, there’s all that maintenance… She’s starting to talk a lot more and saying phrases. The cute thing about her phrases, is that she says “mama” after EVERYTHING!!! “I want juice, mama” “swing me, mama” “nite-nite, mama” “I hungry, mama” – you get the drift. She probably says “mama” 1,000 times a day. I love it!! Jon and I commented recently that we would like to hit the “freeze” button on her and have her the way she is right now, forever, high maintenance and all!!

And one last thing. This is my grandpa and Jon

My grandpa “pop” LOVES Jon. I know it’s easy to love Jon, he’s a great guy! But really, my grandfather has told me several times how much he likes Jon and how happy he is that I found him. And on Mother’s day, just before my grandparents were leaving, my grandfather grabbed my arm. He looked at me and said, “he is a good one”, gesturing towards Jon. As always, I say, “oh I know, he’s great!” But Pop wasn’t finished. He looked at me real serious and said, “You make SURE you keep him!!” I had to giggle at his comment. I guess that’s his way of telling me to be on my best behavior!!! LOL!! It’s nice to know my family loves Jon just like I do!!

Beach trip…and a surprise!

2011-05-16T15:53:00.001-05:00

I took a short beach trip with my sister and one of our friends from grade school and high school. Funny how we all still live here and keep up with each other!! My friend, Kelly’s parents have a condo in Perdido Key, FL and she invited me and my kids and my sister for a short weekend getaway, with her and her kids. We left Friday about noon and got there at about 4:30 or so. As soon as we walked in, the kids ran to the balcony and were running back and forth and just being silly. I think they were excited, you think so?

Kelly’s kids are Riley (2 1/2) and Bobby (5). Our kids had never met, but as soon as they got together, they were the best of friends. Riley was just a few months younger than Marielle, so it worked out perfect. And just look at sweet Riley…

so sweet.

It started raining and after they settled down, so we had snack time, then playtime, then bath time and bed time.

All of those things went well, except bed time. We had trouble getting all the kids to bed and finally I had to sleep with Marielle, in a twin bed, with bed rails. I did not get much sleep. Mine were both up in the middle of the night a few times and that was a pretty uncomfortable sleeping situation.

Anyway, after coffee, we hit the beach!!

I tried to console this little one, but she wasn’t very easily consoled. I had to sit with her in a chair for a long time, while my sister played with Marielle. She finally started playing in the sand, putting it on my leg and exfoliating it…

Marielle on the other hand, was ready for the sand and the water. She loved every second of the beach…Thank goodness my great sister Ally was there to help out and play with her.

I gotta say – THANKS KELLY FOR THE BEACH TRIP!! We had a great time!!

When we got home, there was a great surprise waiting for us!!

A new homemade from blood, sweat and tears, swingset!! I have been wanting one for the girls for a while and I was so surprised to see it finished in the backyard when we drove up. We started playing immediately and they didn’t want to stop!!

Jon had his brother Jared, my dad, and his friend Adam come and work on this all day Saturday. Jon started planning this surprise for me last week and I couldn’t be happier!! Thanks Jon!! and thanks to his helpers – Jared, Dad, and Adam!! Y’all are the best!!

Our first beach vacation…

2011-05-11T14:48:00.001-05:00

Aaaahhhh….looks nice, doesn’t it?

It was – It was really great. A friend of mine rents out her condo in Panama City. She offered it to us for a great deal that we couldn’t pass up. She told me about it on Wednesday and we were there on Monday after Easter. It was a really spacious one bedroom condo on the 14th floor of a beautiful resort. The girls slept on the bunk bed in the hall and loved every second of sleep on there. I was nervous about them sleeping, but they did great, and we had an awesome vacation, just the 4 of us. We didn’t do much, I cooked and we went out for ice cream. Marielle really enjoyed the sand on the beach, Aliza not so much. She cried the first several days and we had to separate and I went to the pool with her while Jon did the beach with Marielle. Finally on the last day, we were tired of that and took Aliza to the beach. She eventually warmed up to it and stopped fussing about it. She even got in the water a little!!

I have tons of pics so I’ll get right to it…

Hey – I’m in a picture!!

On Wednesday afternoon of our trip, we went to visit some of our friends that live in Santa Rosa beach. It took us about 40 minutes to drive there and the girls has a great time. They devoured the fruit tray that Carol brought out, Marielle tore into Gracie’s makeup, they loved the trampoline, their electric car and the bay was also a hit. It was a great visit and I’m really glad we got to see some old friends.

After our visit, we had some rain and some cloudy weather the next morning. So we opened up the couch bed and watched a little Shrek. It was a nice and relaxing morning.

To sum up our little vacation – we had a great time together! I already can’t wait for the next beach vacation with my little family!!