Maternity Pictures

This was my second session for pictures, but they were taken by my cousin, Tanya Pabor, so she was able to get them to be yesterday at Thanksgiving dinner. She did a great job! We had a blast. This is my favorite picture from the session.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my niece Annelise's first birthday. We celebrated last weekend with a party since her birthday is always going to be right around Thanksgiving. (She was a "Turkey Baby" last year). Maybe I'm just biased, but she is just the sweetest and cutest baby out there! Here's to a wonderful first year and to many many more to come! :)

Book Worm

Yes, I have turned into one. I finished book #2 of my list of Mitch Albom's books to read. Although I disagree on the theology basis of the book, it was still amazing and I highly recommend it. It makes you stop and think about how you interact with the people around you and makes you wonder who's lives you may have touched without ever knowing it.

"Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from the inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves."

"Life has to end, love doesn't."

"Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else."

YES!!!!

...It's about time! We have a date for the LOST premiere! February 2, 2010 will kick off the 6th and final season. It will be a bitter sweet day!

http://www.docarzt.com/lost/we-have-a-premiere-date/

Happy Birthday...

... A little late! To Daniel, Hannah's boyfriend! His birthday was on the 20th, but since I am notoriously late at these things... here I am. He's a big soccer fan so we got him a Houston Dynamo's jersey.

Actually, I just noticed that it is his golden birthday this year... He is 20 on the 20th! :P

Shower #4

This shower was given by my sister Emily and a dear family friend Rita Elrod. It was a "Bath Time" theme. They are some awesome shower planners! They had 2 games (which I lost misearably at), lots of bath toys as decorations, and Emily made a very cute diaper cake. Oh! and there were rubber duckies floating in the punch!

There were about 25 people that were able to make it. All of them are long time friends that I have not seen in a very long time, so it was great to get to see them. Another friend of mine, Ryane, (whom I grew up with and lived with in college for a year) just found out that she is pregnant, too! I think this makes #7, of friends who are due after me! Whoa! Anyways, here are a few pictures:

Emily and Rita

The pretty table

The Cake

Lauren made the cookies! Sooo cute and yummy :)

Diaper Cake

So True!

Dose of Laughter

Baby Shower #2

Baby Shower #2 was in Nederland for the Gribnau side of the family. Aunt Julie and Aunt RuthAnne always throw such beautiful showers. Thank you again for opening your house for us and all of the beautiful gifts!

Aunt Julie and RuthAnne


The Spread! Yum!!


Auntie Em and Aunt Hannah


Nana and Meemy

Baby Daddy Shower

Jeff's guy friends are some of the best men I have ever met. They are wonderful friends and co-workers for him. Tim decided that he needed to have a "Baby Daddy Shower" for all of the men to celebrate Jeff becoming a dad. What do you do at a man baby shower?? Well, I have to say that I was impressed with how well it turned out. I couldn't be there to witness, but I know there was lots of beer, football, horseshoes, and poker. They also, in good fun, made Jeff sit in front of all of them to open presents! The fact that they brought presents, organized food, etc, was very impressive! It sounds like they had a lot of fun. Thanks Tim and Allyson for opening your house for all those boys! :)

Baby Shower #1

I have been so blessed with some wonderful friends here in Louisiana. Moving to a new place can be scary, but God puts people in your life that make you realise that He has a plan for everyone. Thank you Tisha, Allyson, Stori, Elysha, and Emily for throwing me this shower in Hammond. I got some wonderful gifts! I can not wait for December 11 to get my 4D ultrasound done that Allyson got us. Laura knitted a beautiful pink blanket, Kelley is going to take Avery's newborn pictures for free (!!!), and everyone pitched in to pay for my maternity pictures I got done next week. This list goes on and on, but this is for sure: Avery is truly blessed!

Happy Birthday, Jeffrey!

Ok, so I'm a day late. I actually did not sit down at my computer ALL DAY yesterday! I spent the morning with Tisha buying beauty products at Armstrong McCall's and then had lunch with Elysha. The rest of the day, Literally, I was in the kitchen! I made Jeffrey fried back-strap, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and a German Chocolate Cake for his birthday; all from scratch (the only way to go in my book!). I was going to do a salad, too, but since it was his birthday I figured I wouldn't make him eat his veggies if he didn't want to. lol.
Let me tell you, I don't think I have ever had so many set backs backing a cake before!
~First, I opened the bar of baking chocolate and it was growing hair! GROSS! It still had until April 2011 before it expired, but something was seriously wrong with it. So, I had to run out to the store and get some more chocolate.
~Next, I added too much butter. I was not paying attention and put 1 cup instead of 3/4 c. I'm sure it still would have tasted good, a little extra butter never hurt, right?? lol. I feared that it would not have baked right, since this was a new recipe, so I tried to take a little out.
~Then, I was adding the eggs (1 at a time, like you are supposed to) and when I got to the last one, I cracked it open and there was a baby chick inside!!! (is that good luck or bad luck, I can't remember) It was all bloody and disgusting. There was no saving that egg. So, at the risk of getting Salmonella, I threw the whole cake batter out and started over completely.
~Finally, the coconut pecan icing would not thicken like the recipe said, so I added a bit of cornstarch and more coconut flakes and that did the trick
Once everything started to cooperate, it turned out beautifully. Jeff really liked it, so I guess if the birthday boy is happy, that's all that matters, right? lol
Here is a picture of the cake after we dove in:

Cheers!

These will be projects of mine in my future:

Fabric Flowers

This is from the blog greenisthenewblue.blogspot.com. I love finding new blogs to follow!!


Yarn Wreath

These lovely goodies I found on Etsy in the KnockKnocking shop but I want to give it a go. Check it out... she has some adorable stuff on there. I really like the one with the penguin :)



Glass Etching

Here is a tutorial from another blog that I follow

Great Read!

Once again, Allyson has done me right and suggested another wonderful book. If you want to read something that will inspire you, this is the one to read! It is pretty short and super easy to read but has some great life lessons in it. Now I understand why she has "Tuesdays with Morrie" posts on her blog. Here is a great quote from the book:

"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning." -Morrie

I'm going to get Mitch Albom's other books ASAP!!

26 weeks!

Well, 1 day away anyways... I went to get another ultrasound to check on some things today but I was super excited to be able to see my little girl again! She is so beautiful! She is already 2 lbs and has one really round belly!! I was a very plump baby but was saving it all up for later in life for my growth spurts. I wonder if she is going to be tall.... :) Apparently, I do not have a thumb sucker, but a hand sucker! lol She had every finger except her thumb in her mouth.

I know I live in Louisiana...

...When I see things like this:

This family parked their truck in front of the Raiford's driveway where we were handing out candy. Is the truck for sale, or does it have sails??? At first we thought that maybe the "E" was just messed up, but no, it is definitely spelled "S-A-I-L". This was the highlight of my Halloween night. Needless to say, we could not stop laughing. "You know you're a redneck when..."