April 2012

This month our kids had their first experience with eating crawfish. The Greens hosted a few friends in their backyard for a crawfish boil. All of the kids tried it. None of them hated it, but it definitely isn't their first love.

After that gathering, we headed over to the Kent's to have a joint Sunday School Easter Egg hunt.  We provided the inflatable, they provided the food!  Lots of kids = lots of fun that day.  Beautiful weather!!!

Ok, so I'm realizing it is difficult to remember details and make blog posts interesting if you wait a whole year to do it......sorry.  I'm sure some really great and memorable things happened that I am forgetting.  Oh well, learn from it and move on. 

One Day

Life is soooo busy and with me working more now, some things have had to slide by the wayside. I do intend to blog again, one day! I have a years worth of memories to catch up on and the task is a bit daunting!!! Lots of things to blog about soon! Conner's Baptism Starting a new school year Great Wolf Lodge Trip Business adventures New job Beach Trip New Dog Disney Trip I'm sure there are other things to note, but that is all I can think of at this hour. Don't give up on me yet!!

Bellingrath Gardens/Spring Break

My mother gives a whole new meaning to Spring Break. Not only is it a break for the kids from school, but she takes them all for a few days so we get a break also. I miss them terribly, but it has been so nice!! We have watched alot of movies and gone for a long bike ride. Slept in, just relaxed.

We dropped the kids off with Nana at Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile on Saturday. Ben and I had not been back there since we were married there nearly 12 years ago. It was such a great experience to share it with the kids. I brought our wedding pictures for them to look at on the way down. They got a kick out of it. We met April and Ava there as well. They all love to be together. The flowers were gorgeous and it was a perfect weather day to be there. The kids loved just exploring and we got some great shots!!!





Here we all are standing in the spot where it all began.

Little Cobras

Conner played Upward basketball for the first time this year. I think his favorite thing about it was the fact that Ben was his coach. It was great for the 2 of them to have that to share together. Conner's skills improved alot over the course of the season. He had never played so he had nowhere to go but up. They had a really great team and great assisstant coaches. We will definitely be doing this again! Cutest thing ever to watch.

Sidney's 4th Birthday

So apparently we didn't learn from last year, and we went back to Chuck-E-Cheese. Bless her, she just loves that place so how could we say no? She did tell me that this would be the last birthday she has there...here's hoping she meant it. We let her open a few gifts from us on her actual birthday. Then Ben took Sidney and Linlee to a daddy daughter princess dinner at church on the 3rd. They had a WONDERFUL time and even got to ride in a PINK Hummer limo!!! Sidney still talks about that. Such great memories.
When I booked the party at Chuck-E-Cheese, one thing I did learn from last year was NOT to book it on a Fri or Sat night! So we opted for Sunday afternoon since more people could make it then. What I didn't realize was that it was Super Bowl Sunday. The guys weren't too thrilled with that but were troopers and came anyway. The kids had a fantastic time. We are so lucky to be blessed with great family and friends!

Gift list for her future reference: Stroller, twinkle toes shoes, elephant purse, rapunzel dolls and horse, light sprite, Find It game, Shirley Temple movie set, Pinkalicious sticker book, cupcake necklace, Princess sleeping bag, money. (hope I didn't forget anything) Very blessed indeed.

Linlee's big girl birthday.

So, I dont' know when we reached this stage, but Linlee wanted to have a family steak dinner at home, have a friend sleep over and then have an outing at the mall for her birthday. I was all for going simple, so that is what we did. Holiday birthdays are difficult to plan anyway. The grandparents, Bailey family and Gardner family all came. Apparently the bows were the hit of the night. Linlee was seranaded by the Fish family singers, and then we were off to the mall. The girls had a great time being all grown up.



A pedicure set was one of Linlee's presents and so since she had gotten a professional one earlier that day, she treated Sidney and I to one that evening. It was fabulous!!

Holiday Events

What a busy holiday season!!! We kicked off the events with the Berteau clan. We had a wonderful dinner at the in-laws house. They were taking one of their many Gatlinburg trips over the holidays so we did our family gift giving a little early. Ben and I showed up dressed and ready for the occasion....

I have to take every opportunity to wear this shirt, since there is a chance I won't be able to next week.
Conner got a real bow and arrow set that he obviously was excited about!

Sidney got a scooter that everyone "helped" put together.

Linlee and I both got a Kindle each. One of the best gifts ever!!


We had the unfortunate experience of saying goodbye to my grandfather during this season. He had a long hard battle with health issues and in a way, it was a relief not to see him suffer anymore. I am glad that family had time to visit with him and really talk before he was gone. He will be missed!


The Giles Christmas Eve Extravaganza kicked off at my grandmother's house. We always have lots of food to eat! The kids provide the spontaneous entertainment as you can see. I think Eric topped us all in the gift giving department with a new car for his wife Michelle. She was suprised!

We finished the day off with a candelight service at First Baptist Church. Bittersweet.

Christmas morning we had our family gift giving


Then on to the Smith family craziness:

Lucy - Our Firstborn

As many of you know, we lost our dog of 11 years earlier this week. I am not one to get all crazy about pets, but I did think that Lucy deserved more than just a facebook post and so I thought I would write a little tribute here to help me remember some of the more memorable moments. We adopted Lucy in July of 2000 from the Memphis animal shelter. Ben picked her out. Our intent was to save the several hundred dollars that we would have spent on an English bulldog and rescue a dog in need. Little did we know that Lucy was sick and scheduled to be put down the next day. We quickly discovered this after we brought her home, took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with distemper. About half the dogs with this don't make it, but we were already emotionally attached to her so we spent the money ($1000 total) to nurse her back to health. Maybe her name should have been Lucky instead. So from that day on, she was living on borrowed time. I think we did the right thing. She was the best dog we have ever known. Very well behaved, not yappy, house trained, obedient, SMART, good climber (the day she scaled 2 stacked baby gates was the day we knew we couldn't keep her locked in the bathroom) and loving. We taught her to sit, stay, turn around, crawl, roll over, speak and sing (she loved who let the dogs out). She hated baths and always went nuts running around and rubbing her hears on the carpet when they were over. I will never forget the time she was sleeping on top of the covers and I flung her off the bed in the middle of the night when I pulled the covers up closer. Probably scared the mess out of her. She got me back though. One morning I got out of bed and stepped right in a pile of dog doo. Not the best wake up call.... I will also never forget the time she paid my brother back for all the markings left in our new house by Harry. She never pottied in the house except the one time he kept her in his. I told you she was smart! She loved to be with her people and took change well. She adapted with the addition of each child, another psycho dog that briefly graced our house and most recently Cali-co. Those 2 animals loved each other and it really made the last few months of Lucy's life more enjoyable. I have never seen a dog and cat chase each other and tussle like they did.

I am constantly reminded of her absence when she isn't following me into every room just to be there, chasing and biting the vacuum and scrounging for table scraps that may happen to fall during meals. She loved to bite fish when we caught some and to chase and bite waves. She was a constant companion to the children and helped a few of them make it through the scared of the dark phases in life. We will always remember her fondly. We love you Lucy. Thanks for choosing us.

Outdoor fun, Haloween and a quick visit.

Our first official camp out in the back yard. The weather finally cooperated even though Ben sneaked a heater in during the night. The kids were super excited. We all actually got a little sleep out of it. Definitely something we will be doing more often. Such great memories!



Styling while working, that's how we roll


Linlee's class took a field trip to Mitchell Farms that I got to attend as well. I just love that place and watching the kids have fun is part of the fun for me. We have a great group of kids and for the most part, were well behaved. The highlights for me were the funniest chicken I have ever seen and the huge pipe swing.






I also went the the Laurel fair grounds with Conner's class. He said this was one of his favorite things to do ever, even though the rides weren't open. I was amused by the animal feeding area (especially the long tounge of that calf!!). My most favorite part was by far the dog show!!






We attended the Pumpkin Party at church for Halloween. We have never really done trick or treating so I am trhilled that these options are out there so the kids can still have fun. they loved the pony rides and all the little games. I thought it was very well done. We even got to bring a few inflatables so good for our business as well! The kids all looked great in there costumes. My favorite was the Jedi though, I thought he looked pretty authentic!






We love suprises and so when the Fish family told us they were planning a stop in Petal on their way back from Disney, we were thrilled. If only for 1 night, it was soo good to see our friends. I think they fit a weeks worth of fun into 24 hrs! (we skipped school that day, it was worth it!)

Fall catch up.

We had the Marlars come down for a weekend visit around Ben and Alecia's birthdays, thus the birthday cake picture. We took the girls fishing and just kind of hung out. It was so good to see them again. I really hope we can make the effort to keep up with our close friends. Distance and life gets in the way but I intend to make the effort.

On our way to the first home PCS game. They all had to make their best bobcat face. All I see is braces in the future...

This little guy really seemed to like us. I mean he just wouldn't fly away. after a while the kids got over the coolness of carrying around a butterfly and he just wouldn't leave. We finally got him to get on a flower. Really strange.