Phoebe's first claw machine win!

She won this from the claw machine at Fuddruckers today. It was the first quarter she tried. I walked over to the change machine, prepared to spend $5 on trying to get that thing, and she walked over to me showing me she won!

Family Portrait by Phoebe

Phoebe was home sick last Monday, April 15th. Mommy had to work from home and Phoebe worked on this all on her own while I worked. Its absolutely perfect... just like her.

Happy Mommy's Day 2013

I received an early mother's day gift from my girl today. :) My lil' artist. Love this kid, so so much.

Cousins' soccer game

Jack's Fortune

So we decided to let Jack have more space during the day and see if he behaves. I came home at lunch & noticed he ate a fortune cookie. He knew he did wrong but then I found his fortune & couldn't help but laugh!

Spring Break 2013

Phoebe is spending Spring Break at MawMaw & PawPaw Gioia's. Her first day there they picked up Kinleigh & headed to the aquarium. :) PawPaw sent me pictures & the girls looked so happy!

Phoebe's busted lip ='(

Phoebe's school called me today to come pick her up. She slid on a puddle of water in the restroom & busted her mouth & chipped one of her permanent teeth :(

100 Days of 1st Grade

Orange Leaf - Phoebe earned it :)

Phoebe slept in her room the entire night on Sunday, Tuesday & Wednesday this week. And she was excellent at the dentist for her 6 month cleaning & checkup. So the reward she chose was a trip to Orange Leaf.

How I Became Supermom Article

http://www.circleofmoms.com/article/how-i-became-supermom-04547?trk=digest_editorial_5997_title#

Happy New Year!

We rung in the New Year with the Philibert's last night. MiMi was there and so were Wayne & Melissa. We had a good time and the kids had a blast together. They were so happy just hanging out with each other, they barely noticed us adults. :) The Philibert's usually host New Years Eve bash and we host the New Years meal. They all came over today, Mikey cooked the ham (which was delish!), I cooked the black eyed peas and cabbage, Tammy brought the corny cornbread. And let's not forget the white chocolate pretzels, vanilla cake and andes mint brownie bites that me & Phoe made. YUM! It was a nice little feast and we had a lovely time. What a way to start the New Year! AND they voted to extend the tax cuts, so that was certainly an added bonus, woohoo! We all head back to work tomorrow, which normally wouldn't bother me, but since I was sick up until yesterday, I would not mind another week off. :)

It was a very Merry Christmas!

We went back home for Christmas this year, which was a wonderful choice. It may be hard to make the 6 hour drive, but its worth it to spend the holidays with our crazy, loud, fun families. I just wish I wouldn't have been sick. :(

We drove in on Saturday, stopped by Aggie's and spent a few hours there. Then we drove out to Picayune. On Sunday, we went to the French Quarter with Mikey's parents, Christian, Kelli & Kinleigh. We had hot chocolate & beignets at Cafe du Monde, then we headed over to Fulton Street to see the lights. We had dinner and the kids got to see it snow on Fulton. The snow is scheduled to start every hour on the hour. The kids enjoyed it.

On Christmas Eve we went to my mom's.

Headed back to Picayune around 1am.

Had Christmas meal with the Gioia's, then around 5 we headed to mom's for dinner.

Slept by mom's and hit the road around 11 to head home.

Our 1st Thanksgiving at Home

I cooked the following for our first Thanksgiving dinner... Turkey (first time ever attempting to cook a turkey)! Rice & Gravy Green Bean Casserole Sweet Potato Casserole Crescent Rolls Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, Apple Pie & Autumn Cookies for dessert choices. We ended up eating at noon, then Phoebe wanted to decorate for Christmas, so we spent the next few hours doing that. :) It was a nice Thanksgiving, but I think I prefer the crazy chaos and loud sounds of laughter when we're with the family back home. I don't think we'll be skipping again. But at least we made it through this year. :)

She makes it all better :)

I finally started my vacation from work today and I've been stuck in bed the past 2 hours with a migraine. I just sat up and found this note on my nightstand. This kid does my heart good. Needless to say, I'm going to push through this and go hang out with my girl some more.

We went to see Rise of the Guardians this morning. Such a great movie!

Jack watching Dog with a Blog

Watch "Jack watching dog with a blog" on YouTube

Hang in there Mrs. Laura

I found out yesterday that Mrs. Laura at Rowland Ballard was beginning radiation for brain cancer. She won her fight about 2 years ago with breast cancer, so we are sure she'll stomp out this cancer too! She's a great person and my thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.

We learned this past weekend the devastating news that Laura Brown was diagnosed with brain cancer. Laura is an incredible person and has been a part of the Rowland/Ballard family for many years. All 3 of her children participated in our programs and she has served as our Kingwood office manager for the past several years. As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for Laura, her husband Larry, her daughters Jill and Ryan, and her extended family. Laura has been a fixture at our Kingwood location and all the kids, parents, and staff love her. Laura is a fighter and has vowed to fight the cancer as long as possible. She begins radiation treatment today. This is her second battle with cancer as she was diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago. Laura is a wonderful person with a deep sense of family and faith. We have set up a donation opportunity at our front desk to help offset some of the random expenses as she undergoes radiation treatment. You can write a check (made out to Laura Brown) or you can donate cash. Please keep Laura and the family in your prayers. Sincerely, David Ballard

RIP Melissa "Missy" Wells 10/21/1976 - 11/1/2012

I found out yesterday that a friend from school lost her battle with stomach cancer. From what I've read, she was a fighter. My heart goes out to her family. She leaves behind a husband and 3 boys. I can't begin to imagine what they're feeling. Watch over them Missy, and rest in peace. Melissa Wells "Missy" Walle Obituary Guest Book A loving mother and wife she passed away at her home in Gonzales on Thursday, November 1, 2012 after a brief, but courageous battle with cancer. She was 36 and native of St. Bernard Parish. She is survived by her husband, Ryan Walle; her three beloved sons, Kaleb, Derek, and Corey; father, Jeff Wells and his wife Tina; mother, Juanita Wells; brothers, Charles J. Wells, Jr., Mark, Luke, and Matthew Voebel; grandmother, Nina Selvage; and numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, a niece, and a nephew. She served as a den leader for Cub Scouts, and spent her time loving and taking care of her three boys. Visiting will be at Ourso Funeral Home, Gonzales on Friday, November 2 from 5 pm to 9 pm and will resume on Saturday from 9 am until religious services at 11 am. Burial to follow in Hope Haven Cemetery, Gonzales. Please visit our memorial at www.oursofh.com to offer your condolences. Guest Book for Melissa Walle – Online Guest Book by The Advocate and Legacy.com.

MawMaw & PawPaw's Surprise Visit

I wrote out a to-do list while doodling with Phoebe 2 weeks ago, well she added "let MawMaw & PawPaw come over" to the list. I sent it to MawMaw & PawPaw and they wanted to help mark that item off her list. :) So they came in last night. They pulled up blaring the music and PawPaw was hanging his head out the window while dancing and wearing crazy eye glasses. We were cracking up. The video isn't great quality, but still worth watching! See below. Phoebe was thrilled that MawMaw & PawPaw got to make it to her soccer game Saturday. After the game we headed to Sharky's for lunch, then home and we all worked out in the yard, MawMaw brought some plastic pumpkin buckets and we hung them in the trees out front for decoration. Came out super cute! Phoebe was so excited! It was a wonderful visit and we hated to see them go. Hopefully we'll get to see them when we go in for Brittanie & Chris' wedding.

Optimist Creed

Now if I could just reprogram myself to think/act this way, that would be great! :)

Phoebe singing Teenage Dream

Watch "Karaoke Time with Phoebe" on YouTube

MawMaw Jeannie gave Phoebe a karaoke machine when we went in for Brittanie's bridal shower September 17, 2012. We got home and realized it didn't have a power cord, and of course it was a 2 pin odd connection. We had to order a replacement through singingmachine.com, the maker of the karaoke machine. Well it finally arrived in the mail today and she was super excited and ready to sing. Here's her first song on her machine. Listen to the excitement in the voice at the very end. Made my heart smile! :)