St. Jude Benefit

Baby Brooklyn was in a St Jude Benefit Pageant. As her pawpaw says, "she doesn't care if she wins or not at her age right now." So right now it's all about her mom's wants.

All proceeds from this pageant went to St. Jude's. So a little fun and pagentry for us and a way to care and help and give to other children. It's a win win for all.

St Jude's unique mission ...

… to find cures for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases through research and treatment. And no family ever pays St. Jude for anything.

Today was her second pageant in her short little age of 8 months.

You can see her first one here.

Today she got 2nd Runner Up and Prettiest Eyes.

There were 8 in her age division.

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She is clapping for her win.
Yayy Brooklyn

Enough pictures.
Let's go.

She is still a Princess in my eyes.

gin

Fathers Day

One day is set aside to celebrate fathers for the year.  Our day was Saturday, not Sunday. With our celebration, we also added other milestones to the dads' day of celebration.

First we stopped at the cematary to place flowers on my father's grave in remembrance and celebration of his life as a dad.

We met for lunch for the routine birthday lunch for Jennifer's birthday and included honoring the fathers in the celebratory lunch. So one birthday and 3 fathers get their recognition.

Of course there is cake. We split the cake up in several ways to honor other milestones for the day.
First, for the birthday girl.  And then the fathers, Larry, Brandon, and Chris  for father's day. Then for Julie as a congratulatory for her first job after her masters degree in counseling. She starts July 24. We included Cohen for recovery from a medical procedure for tubes in his ears that he had on Friday. Trent was included just for being there after 5 nights of 16 hour shifts that ended Saturday morning at 7 am.  Brooklyn was celebrated for just being herself at the moment which was her screaming as loud as she could for attention we guessed, because nothing was actually wrong with her.

The only picture I have of the day:

gin

The Role of the Mawmaw

Mawmaw to the rescue.. I kept Cohen all day long while his parents were at the lake and Brooklyn joined us for a few hours while her parents took in a movie date and dinner

Breakfast, lunch, and supper. Bottles, naps, and snacks. Playtime, squeals, and fussyness. Stroller rides, rocking chair, and lullabyes. Bath time and bed time.

A full day that was non-stop and I think I actually wore them out.

     

gin

Summer Starts

The end of May starts the official beginning of summer, or so "they" say. So the end of May, pool, BBQ, and family is all synonymous with summer.

We didn't spend the holiday with family (sniff sniff). I opted to work in exchange for another day off.

But, fun must go on.

It's never too early to teach the youngest ones how to begin the summer. These cell pictures were texted to me so I could be in on the fun.

More Birthday Cake

May came with Brandon's Birthday. The oldest of the grown up children. He's a son, a brother, a husband, a father. And since he has been an adult we have done his birthday and Mother's Day on the same day. Not necessarily on his birthday. And not necessarily on Mother's Day. Because his birthday may not be on a week-end when we can all get together. And because mother's day should be all the time not just on 1 day out of the year. We shared the birthday cake with flowers for mother's day.




Happy Birthday Brandon

gin

The Days of March And April

March and April are long months with  a lot going on. There was a birthday for Julie. There was the preparation and celebration of our Risen Savior for the Easter holiday, And the beginning of spring that brings on new things to do.

Julie's birthday in the beginning of March and mine in the end of February. Julie's birthday shared a cake with me for my belated birthday. It was made special with cards and gifts to celebrate her day.

Happy Birthday Julie!

I participated in a 5K race (fast pace walk for us) with family. It was on the chilly side for the day. But was fun for our first 5k.

The crafty side of me made an Easter hopping bunny banner. I gathered baskets and goodies and dyed eggs waiting for the little ones to come and take pictures of eggs and green grass and Easter doings.  Not happening. One little one was sick and they didn't come. The other little one was fussy and not interested in my Easter agenda. 

I played photographer and created a pink Easter collection of pictures for Brooklyn while I was baby sitting one day. 

I got the picture pose idea from Pinterest of the one with the stuffed animals all lined up with the baby. 

So cute. But not as easy as it looks. 

And Cohen's Easter pictures taken by his mommy.

Perfect pictures outside with the green lilly leaves. 

Spring brings on new things to do. 

Cohen gets his first boat ride on the river. He takes after my love for the water. It'll be an all summer outing for him and his daddy.

                  

        

Brooklyn entered her first beauty pageant "2013 Children's Easter Pageant". It was her special day as she placed 1st runner up, Most Beautiful, Pretties Eyes, and People's Choice Queen.

The last of the month found us with a crawfish boil. And a few days left to spare till April arrives.

                                                

       

                                                                    

And of course me and the babies. 

                                               

       

                                                 

Can't get enough of them!

The Littles

A quick photo show of the little ones.

gin

January Honors

I've been waiting all month for the January family birthday party. It's getting pretty close to the last day of the month. Birthday honorees for the month of January took a little seafood hit. Seafood always hits the spot.

Two honorees for this month's outing were Larry and Chris. A stop at the restaurant and then back to the house for Gambino's cake. Can I say full, ate too much, oh I am stuffed.

Then a girl's walk around the block. It was mainly to look at the new houses being built. Some were just about finished and they were left unlocked. So a nosey tour inside to see the new builds and a walk and talk and ended back for some baby time.

Baby Time Again

ChristmasTakes

After each family had their own Christmas morning together, we gathered together for the Christmas Story, the Christmas Meal, and The Christmas gift exchange.

Christmas pictures come alive. Some with heads cut off.
Some with eyes all on one person with a gift. 

Babies looking face to face

and several tries for a group picture. Of which several people will be mad at me if they see this post with them included. But, hey, all you have to do is co-operate for a few seconds of self-timer camera clicks, and it will all be over. Right?