What it takes to be...beautiful!

I went and got my hair did, for the first time in two years....I guess my priorities are elsewhere! I did the whole shebang....highlights, new cut, and style! I think the last time I had highlights was in high school....maybe once in college....needless to say, its been a while. So I arrive....about 10 minutes early and read a few magazines, look around at products, look at a few more magazines, then the fun begins. We go back to decide what the outcome will be and she mixes the highlights, then proceeds to brush this goop in strands of my hair and cover them in tin foil. I feel like I am at a carnival, getting ready for my act. I look around hoping someone else has the foil wrappers in their hair too....ah ha....I'm not alone! Then finally I am finished with step one and now I wait....and wait....and wait. After about 10 minutes, I realize that my body is incapable of just sitting and relaxing. I have no kids and I cannot enjoy myself. I read a few more magazines, call my sister, scan the products for the second time, walk around, sit, read, walk around, call my sister...all in that order. Finally, she opens one of those foil wrappers to see if I'm done....nope, lets put you under the dryer....great! Now I get to sweat, and I really have no choice but to sit. Finally step two is complete and I head on over to that bowl. She pulls each wrapper out individually, and I try very hard not to squint....I feel like my scalp will rip off any minute, finally we rinse and wash, and head over to complete the third step...cut. My hair is down to my mid back, and I decide that I want to do layers...shes got a lot of cutting to do. Finally step three is complete....my head feels 10 pounds lighter, and as I look at the floor below me, I understand why! That is 2 years of hair on the floor! At this point I am really getting antsy....its t-minus 3 hours and counting....I figured I'd be in and out in an hour! And I feel terrible for leaving my kids with my sister on her last day off before school. I convince her to skip step four...styling...my stomach is growling, and I am way past due to pick my kids up! After 4 hours...a wet head....a bag full of products....and half of my husbands pay check gone.......I'm a new woman....I guess! I'm looking forward to 2012!

Fontainebleau State Park

I sat down this morning at the computer, with my coffee, and took a big deep breath....something I've been unable to do for the past week. It felt good to browse facebook, and make my daily to do list...its very long today...and its funny now that I think about it, blogging is not anywhere on the list! We have had busy weekends for the past month....but who can complain about vacations! Last weekend we stayed with my parents at Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville, LA. It was beautiful and so relaxing....its like a whole other state in Mandeville! Our cabin sat over lake Pontchartrain, with a huge porch and big rocking chairs that you could sit endlessly watching all the sailboats go by. They also had a large beach and a splash area, that the kids loved to play in. The park is known for its beautiful Oak trees draped with Spanish moss, and for its remains of an old Sugar Mill. Jackson discovered fishing, and spent endless hours dropping his rubber worm into the lake, only to reel it right back in. Avie wanted to take part in fishing too, so we had to make her one. We ate some great food, including Morton's, which is along side the Tchefuncte River and N'Tini's. We had a great time, and it was so nice to have a mini vacation! It's always nice to have grandparents around, because I can have some time to relax too!

Percy Quin 2010 Reunion

We had a wonderful time at Percy Quin this past weekend.....any gathering involving 17 kids equals fun times! The cabins were very nice....with big screened in porches. My favorite part of the day was grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting on the porch to watch the sun come up....and in the evening to watch it set. The kids mostly enjoyed riding in the boat, knee boarding and tubing. We had some great food, played lots of games, enjoyed telling stories, and most of all, we enjoyed watching all the kids play!

Here are lots of pics....

Playing on the beach

Avie liked the waves...made by the boats!

Daddy and Jack going for a canoe ride.

Avie helping daddy cook

Pawpaw and Avie

Mawmaw and Avie

This is my favorite picture....it's a special moment when you can catch

a family together and the sun setting at the same time!

Jack and Tommy trying to catch some fish!

The sunset

A little Monkey...

What a face....not sure what he's saying.

Miss Attitude!

Ally & Avie

Jack & Tommy=Best Buds

Will, Eric, and Wyatt

Will & Wyatt

Sam & Eric

Tori & her momma

Sean & Abby

Jack & his momma....I felt like I was 16 again!

You'll have to click on these to see the full picture....

Family Picture....I have two children that refuse to smile...not to mention

my hair looks like its just been through an electric chair.

Everyone....again my child is the only one playing in the grass!

Can I vent....just a little....

I often ponder the reasoning that, because I am such a laid back person, that in turn, my kids run rampant, or, God has made me a laid back person so that I can handle rampant children....not real sure which one, but I'd like to think that God has given me an easy going personality so that I can handle my high strung children.

Avie is a climber, and this is a first for me, because Jackson was pretty much immobile for the first year of his life, and by the time he was able to climb, he was well past the age for climbing...But Avie, she is my dare-devil! No 15 month old should be able to climb up a bar stool, onto the counter top, open my cabinets and pull coffee mugs onto the floor...And this is all within a 1 minute time period...if thats even a "time period"! I find her on top of the table, typing on the computer....on top of the coffee table, throwing magazines on the floor, on top of my bed, then on to my nightstand digging her fingernails into my lip gloss! She gets into anything and everything! And yes I do try the pop on the bottom, but that doesn't phase her...she'd rather take the pop on her bottom any day over giving up climbing! It's gotten to the point that when she is "caught" she prepares herself for the pop!

We have also entered the sibling rivalry stage! I thought that I would be spared a few more years until it got intense, but I think we hit that mark a little early. Avie wants everything Jack has and Jack wants everything Avie has, and if Avie doesn't get it, she does this high pitch wail....that works really good, and if Jack wants it, he just takes it! If Avie really wants to get even, she climbs on top of Jacks train table...while Jack is pushing around tractors on the floor...and throws train tracks at him below...shes got a pretty good aim too! So...I've been reteaching sharing all over, and other values that go along with brotherly and sisterly love...but that seems to just blow right out the window. I just know that I am going to be coined as "the neighbor yeller", because lately thats all I do is yell at my kids!

I guess I need to end on a happy note....We were shopping in home depot today, and the kids usually ride in the "race car buggy," because they think its cool to have a steering wheel and pretend to drive around the store.....but I do have to admit, that I feel like a sumo wrestler trying to push that thing around the store....especially when its loaded down! The other day I ran into a ceiling fan display and thought the whole thing was going to come down on us...luckily we were spared....I just smiled at on lookers and ducked my head down thinking...."I am such an idiot!" Anyway....I was looking at the paint, and Jackson is hard at work steering the buggy...and to add to the experience, it seems he thought that his race car needed some tunes. So, not completely paying attention, I hear him, and his new beat he's got going. I grab a can of paint and walk back over to the buggy to hear Jack bust out with..."Smile for me momma, lemme see ya grill"! I tried to hold back the laughter, but just couldn't! Where in the world did you hear that?....Daddy taught me that song! A special thanks goes to my husband for letting him listen to secular music! Way to go daddy-o, now our son is going to be asking his sunday school teacher to show him her grill!

We are heading out tomorrow for Percy Quinn. We are going for Brandon's family reunion...so say a little prayer for me....I'm just kidding....I couldn't choose a better group of in-laws!

Playin in the Rain....

yes...I do notice Avie sucking on the hose...

Cake I made for sister in law's baby shower.