Mardi Gras...

I never knew what Mardi Gras was until I moved here. I still can't believe my kids get off from school for 3 days either. This year we decided to be a little more festive. The girls helped me make a king cake, which looks ugly but oh so tasty. We didn't have a miniature plastic baby to hide inside of it so we used a plastic ballerina instead. Kaitlyn ended up getting that piece of course! Then we made masks, put on our beads and saw a parade. It's so funny because we've lived here for 3 years now, which is half of Kaitlyn's life, most of Lexie's life and all of Greyson's life. My children are becoming true Louisianians. Kaitlyn will come home from school and put her "book sack" on the counter. Yep that's right, it's not a "back pack", but a "book sack". She says "yes ma'am" all the time, even though I didn't teach her that. I'll ask her what she had for lunch at school and here are some of her favorites: gumbo, jambalaya, poboys and craw-fish. What ever happened to the traditional chicken nuggets or pasta! Too funny.

Lulu's first hair cut...

Lexie got her first hair cut today. I honestly didn't think she'd let a stranger with scissors get anywhere near her, but as soon as she saw the airplane chair she didn't care at all. We walked in and before the hairdresser even said hello Lexie ran up and climbed into the chair and said "can I have my treat now". Silly girl. She really didn't need a haircut, but I thought it was time to clean up the ends with a little trim. The name of the place I took her is called Pigtails and Crewcuts. I take Kaitlyn there sometimes too. First haircuts are always a big deal for me. It's kind of a right of passage.

Before the haircut

They took this picture after the haircut. They also gave me a lock of her hair in a cute bag.


All done!

Moments...

What a privilege and blessing it is to be a full time mom. I'm so thankful that I'm able to stay at home with my babies. I love that I'm the one who gets to comfort them when they fall, sing to them before nap time and cuddle up with them all day long. If I were working, I would have missed this...

She's such a busy girl, she never falls asleep on the couch!

Half Marathon...

I ran the Baton Rouge Beach Half Marathon this last weekend. I hadn't done a big race for 6 years and thought it would be fun to see if I could still do it. My sister happened to be in town that weekend so it was fun to have her and my family cheering me on at the finish line. My realistic goal was 2 hours and 10 minutes (about a 10 minute mile). My dream goal was 2 hours flat. I ran it in 2 hours 3 minutes and 15 seconds (about a 9 minute 25 second mile). Dang it. Now I have to run another one since I was so close to what I thought was an unrealistic goal. Anyway here are the highlights from my race...

Miles 1 - 3 I feel like I'm running in a herd of cows because there are so many people
Mile 4 I look at my running app on my iPhone and realize I'm running way faster than usual
Mile 5 I passed a man who was running in a full sized trash bag. Really weird. I made sure I passed him up real fast.
Mile 7 Accidentally swallowed my gum and started hyperventilating
Miles 9-13 Wanted to die!
Finish Line Seeing the Family
Post Race They had free beer and jambalaya for the runners. Does anyone else think that's weird?

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do another one so I can beat my 2 hour goal! This time I might try to do some speed training.

Greyson Brock...

My sweet little man is one today. Where has the time gone? My little buddy is the sweetest guy ever and loves to cuddle with his mamma. He's so low key, at least compared to my girls. I love coming in his room in the morning to find him standing in his crib with a grin from ear to ear. He recently fell in love with one of Lexie's many stuffed animals and loves to cuddle with this little puppy every night. Greyson loves to clap, give high fives, play in his big sisters' room, pull ornaments off the Christmas tree, walk while holding our hands and play. He's awesome. If I could clone him I would seriously have another child. Unfortunately, I can't. That sums up how much I love this kiddo =)

Play Dirty...

I ran in the Play Dirty 5K this weekend in Baton Rouge. It was so much fun! I love to run, but I don't love getting dirty. Luckily, I did it with a bunch of girls, otherwise I would probably have never signed up for this. It was basically a 5K with about 12 obstacles throughout the course. It really was a blast.

This was our team - We were called the "Run Amucks"

That huge guy in the overalls was shaking the rope the whole time which made it really difficult to climb!

This was so disgusting! My shoes were so squishy the rest of the run.

These two cuties watched the whole thing! I can't believe Lexie is only 5 pounds more than Greyson when they're two years apart!

A Rapunzel party...

Our sweet Kaitlyn is now 5! The day she turned 5 she kept asking "do I look bigger" or "do I look like I'm 5 now"? Katy loves art, music, dance, books and bugs. Every teacher she's had so far has commented on what a good artist she is and how good she is for her age. Maybe this will be her talent (she's about as talented at sports as I am). She also loves picking out her clothes and telling me how to fix her hair. I really need to learn some cool hair styles, because she's getting bored with the 3 hair do's I know. This year Kaitlyn requested a Rapunzel birthday party. We're just a little obsessed with the movie over here =) Here are some pics from her party.

Rapunzel's braid was hanging on our front door (I had to crop the picture so it wouldn't show our address)

Each kid got to take a picture in Rapunzel's tower. Nana painted it just for the party =)

Lexie just got up from her nap and wasn't quite ready to smile yet

We made Pascal party blowers. This is the best picture I have of the finished product.

Here's one of the sun banners I made.

Katy and I made the cupcake toppers. It was so easy and the kids liked picking out who they got to eat.We played pin the nose on Flynn Rider. Jared made a whole bunch of funny noses so each kid had a different silly nose to "pin" on Flynn.