NEXT MILESTONE REACHED

Grey reached another Milestone this week. He was getting really good pulling himself up to his knees...

but finally, on Tuesday, he pulled himself all the way to his feet. This picture is of his first time. I didn't actually see him do it, but I was able to capture the moment. The second time he did it, was a little later that morning when he was supposed to be napping. He had been in his room for maybe 15 minutes, when I heard a blood-curtling scream. I though he was seriously in pain, so I go bursting into his room to find him standing there. I guess he got scared once he as up, and didn't know how to get down.

In the past week, we've come to learn that he pretty much uses the blood-curtling scream for EVERYTHING, no matter how small or big. Needless to say, it is a little unnerving.

CRAFT PROJECT

To keep my mind off "things" this week, I decided to get a little crafty. I saw a tutorial for these barrettes on the internet, and had to try to make a few of my own. Very Easy, Very Fun, and Very Cute!! The tutorial said it was for "Little" girls, but why can't "40 Something" girls wear them too?

However, I do know a few "Little" girls, and maybe their Mommies too, who might like one of their own, so I plan to get busy next week whipping up a bunch. I'll be sure to post pictures of all my creations.

YUMMY!!!!

We're having dinner with friends tonight, and I offered to bring Dessert. So, I whipped up my trusty and YUMMY standby...

Better than Sex Cake

It is SOOOOOOOOOOO delicious. Thought everyone might like the recipe.

Box of Devil's Food Cake

1/4 cup of Kahlua (optional)

(2) Packages of Instant Chocolate Pudding

8oz. container of Cool Whip

Crushed Toffee Pieces

1). The night before, bake cake per box's instructions. Once cooled, break up into pieces and put into bowl. Let sit out over night uncovered.

(I left this next step out for this particular occasion due to their being children present)

2). A little while before putting whole thing together, pour Kahlua over cake and let sit.

3). Make Instant pudding, but use only 3 cups of milk instead of 4

4). In a Trifle dish, layer ingredients as follows:

Cake, Pudding, Cool Whip, Toffee Pieces, Cake, Pudding, Cool Whip, Toffee Pieces

5). ENJOY!!

Being that these friends are from our new church, I'm going to have to come up with a different name for this delicious treat.

KITCHEN HELPER

Just like his older brother, Grey likes to help Mommy in the kitchen.

POWDERED SUGAR

Introduced Luke to the yumminess of Powdered Doughnuts this morning.

IMPATIENCE

Yesterday, while feeding Porkchop his lunch, I put the spoon down for a second so I could use the remote and look for something to watch on TV. When I turned back to him, he was trying desperately to feed himself. I guess he hasn't learned how to be patient yet, however, I was very impressed with his initiative to try for himself. After being shocked and then laughing, I took the spoon back, loaded it up and handed it to him. He knew exactly what to do.

AAAAHHHH... THE CARRIBEAN

As I sit here and look out the window at Snow, Snow and more Snow, I can't help but do a little reminiscing about the trip to Jamaica Marc and I took, some years ago, when we got married. Along with our good friends Matt & Amber Rudacille, we stayed at the Couples Resort at Ocho Rios.

Come this August, we will be celebrating our 5 year Wedding Anniversary. We're thinking about renewing our vows. Unfortunately, we won't be able to do it on a Carribean Beach like we did the first time, but our little Beach here at Lake Anna will be just as Romantic.

CRAWLING... THE OTHER VERSION

As you all have seen before, Grey has started crawling. The previous video that I posted a couple of weeks ago showed Grey crawling in the "Traditional" style. Since then, we've come to learn, that he only preforms that particular style of crawling when on a rug or carpet. Here is a video, which displays the style of crawling he preforms when on hard flooring.

We call it the "Slither".

TABLE FOOD

Porkchop can now start eating table food. So far, he's not really a big fan. We've tried bananas to no avail. We've tried mashed potatoes with a little bit more luck, and we've tried Gerber's Fruit Puffs. He's trying the Fruit Puff here. He ate three of them before gagging himself and throwing up. Yeah for me!!

A BOY TRAPPED

And no, he didn't climb in there by himself. I put him in the cubby for the photo op.

9 MONTH CHECK-UP

Last Friday, Grey had his 9 month check-up. Dr. Wiley says he's looking good, but that I need to feed him more.

He is 28.5" tall, which is in the 59%, but he only weighs 17lbs., 6oz., which is in the 7%. So basically, he's not as much of a Porkchop as we thought. We immediately started the "more food" routine which he took to like gang-busters. He never complained before that he was still hungry, so how were we to know? Hopefully at his 1 year checkup the 7% will be significantly raised.

These are some pics I snapped of him last week. Gotta love the "Cry Face". Totally gets that from Nan Faucheux.

TV WATCHING

Do you think they're close enough?

Thank God our TV is hanging on the wall.

Can you imagine how close they would be if it was on the ground?

...AND THE SAINTS WIN!! ...AND THE SAINTS WIN!!

Since the NFC Championship playoffs started four weeks ago, all four of us have worn the SAME clothing every week - without being washed - with the exception of underware. Also, to keep the positive Gris Gris going, Marc began working this afternoon on his Gumbo. He made Gumbo two weeks ago when the Saints won the NFC Championship, so it had to also be made today.

Here he is stirring the ever so important Roux. It has to be the color of a shiny copper penny.

Some of the ingredients waiting to be added to the Gumbo.

MMMMM.... Gumbo

Marc worked hard on this Gumbo, but was worried about messing up the Gris Gris because he didn't add oysters like he did two weeks ago, and he thought he had burnt the Roux. I thought it tasted just as good as two weeks ago.

We got the boys all fired up and ready for the game. Grey has learned early the all important "Touchdown" gesture.

Luke loves yelling... "GEAUX, GEAUX, GEAUX!!!"

The first quarter had all of us a little worried,

... so to change the Gris Gris, Marc turned Luke's Saints jersey inside out.

...and it WORKED. The second quarter got us 6 points and brought us back from the 10-0 deficit. And THEN... it all turned around at the START of the 2nd Half. ONSIDE KICK... AND SAINTS DRIVE TO SCORE!!!!!

From then on, Marc, pretty much, watched the entire second half on his feet.

After many tense and stressful minutes, my husband's dream and all of the City of New Orleans dream, finally came true

SAINTS WIN THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!

31-17 over the Indianapolis Colts

Those are tears of Pure Joy!!!!!

Marc shares this very special moment with his number one fan, Luke.

This day, Sunday, February 7, 2010, will forever be remembered in this house.

GEAUX SAINTS!!!!!!!

WE ARE SO PROUD!!!!!!

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW, AND MORE SNOW

As I'm sure most of you know, the Mid-Atlantic was hit pretty hard by a winter storm. It started on Friday morning and held on strong until Saturday evening. We ALMOST made it through the whole thing without losing power, but yesterday afternoon at 4:30 the lights flickered and then were out. Fortunately, we were only without for 3 hours, but it didn't come back on before we had fully prepared to spend the night in the cold and dark. Marc got the fire going and we filled up coolers with essentials we would need from the fridge. The day before we had already filled the bathtub for toilet flushing water and filled every pitcher we had with water for brushing teeth and doing essential dishes (i.e. baby bottles). We then moved the dining room table up against the sliding glass door and put Luke and Grey's mattresses on the living room floor. Marc was to sleep on Luke's mattress, Luke on Grey's, and me on the couch. We set up the playpen and put it closest to the fire since Grey can't sleep with a blanket. We were all snuggled in and trying to get the boys to sleep when the power came back on - YEAH!!!

This is what it looked like outside Friday evening.

This is the view of outside from inside on Saturday morning.

While Grey napped on Saturday morning, we bundled Luke up and took him outside. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Charles for the snow boots. They sure came in handy.

Luke's first Snow Angel.

I showed him how to make snow balls, so that was all he wanted to do.

This is how it looked on Saturday evening. The sun was trying desperately to peek through the clouds, so the sky was a light shade of pink. This picture doesn't quite do it justice.

And this is what it looked like this beautiful sunny Sunday morning.

Hopefully this is the last of the winter storms for this year. As beautiful as it is coming down, once it gets here, we are ready for it to make a quick exit.