Chuck E Cheese - Lilly's Bday Party

Phoebe was invited to Lilly's 4th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. The kids had a great time, Phoebe did really well at the basketball game, she has her daddy's b-ball skills. :) We had 3 sketches made in the photo booth, since the only options were 1 or 2 people. I was surprised that the booth was open with no one waiting!





This morning Phoebe got up with me at 6:50, we played for a while then made breakfast, then got dressed and headed to church. Nanny showed up for church and she invited me and Phoe to go have lunch with her and Aidan. We went to Arby's in Atascocita, I haven't had it in such a long time! Then we stopped at Party City to pick up some Valentine treat bags for the Valentines we're making for her class. It was a nice, relaxing day. No rushing around, nothing else planned, it was nice!

Just blogging....

Today we went to church, Phoebe went to her Sunday school class and I helped out in Aidan & Evan's class since Tammy couldn't make it. After church we went home, grabbed Dadda and headed to Kids in Action for Lilah's birthday party. Phoebe had a great time.

She asked us to turn on the Karate Kid with Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, this is her favorite movie right now and Turn on the Radio by Reba is her favorite song.

"The Chart" Comes Into Play Again...

Ever since Phoebe turned 5, she seems to be going backwards. The child never put anything strange in her mouth as a baby or toddler, but she decided to try tasting sand in the backyard not long ago. And she's been acting kind of pouty and whiney. If she wants to do something, or stay up past 8, and we say no, she puts her head down. I always made it a point not to buy things for Phoebe at the store if she was with me, I didn't want her to begin to expect something each time we went somewhere. Well she did great with that but lately she wants to get something, not toys or anything huge, just candy at the checkout line. I don't get much pouting out of her, but she tries with the "but Mom"... which she never used to do. So with these little changes, and a few others, I'm trying out "the Chart" again, before things get out of control. We set a goal of 10 stars, once she gets 10 stars, she gets a reward. She chose "family outing" as her reward. Well she took it very seriously all week and she got her 10 stars by Friday night, she even lost the 2 stars she earned on Monday. So let's hope we can keep this going! And if I know my girl, we will!

Girl's Day Out

Me & Phoebe had a mommy/daughter day. We went to see Tangled at the show, then met up with Nanny for a manicure. Phoebe chose 2 colors to have her nails painted. Nanny read "Lady and the Tramp" to her while she was getting a pedicure. Then we headed to the grocery store. We had a great day together.

Phoebe's 5th Birthday Party - Jan 8, 2011

Pictures from the party -


Videos from the party -

Happy Birthday Phoebe Jean!

I'd like to wish our girl a Happy Birthday! She has been a blessing to us since she arrived in this world 5 years ago today. We love you Phoebe Jean and we're thankful for you, each and every day!  

Today was a vacation day for me. I took Phoebe to school then went shopping at Target, came home and took care of a few things from work, then went and picked Phoebe up early. 

We let her choose where she wanted to have dinner and we all headed to Pei Wei (Mommy, Daddy, TeTe, MawMaw Jeannie, Nanny, Uncle Ruby, Aidan & Evan). After dinner, all of us, except Dadda, went to Second Baptist Church for the Kids Crazy Christmas Show. We had a wonderful time! 

 

Then we headed back to the house to sing happy birthday, eat cake and open presents. We unfortunately had to say our goodbyes to TeTe & MawMaw since they'll be heading back home in the morning. :( But it was great to have them here for a visit. 

All in all Phoebe's birthday was a perfect day! 

As of today, she weighs 33 lbs and is 38" tall.

LaKay's Voice

Please help spread the word. This is for a friend whose daughter has cerebral palsy.

Joyful Noise Choir Concert (Phoebe, Aidan, Evan)

The kids sang in the choir concert at Kingwood First Baptist today. After the program was over, we all headed to Sharky's to congratulate them on a job well done! They were great! But Aidan stood behind Evan so we couldn't get many pictures or video of him. At Sharky's the kids got a rice krispie treat in the shape of a shark, they were given food coloring, paint brushes and sprinkles to decorate their shark. It was really cute & the treat was tasty too!

Celebration in the Oaks

Ms Tess & Mr Mike took us to Celebration in the Oaks on Friday, Nov 26, 2010. This was Phoebe's first visit, and mine as well. We went there after having Thanksgiving dinner, we expected to do the drive thru to see the lights. Well little did we know, they haven't had that since Katrina! It was freezing outside and we weren't prepared, but we roughed it since we were all so excited to go. We had a lovely time! Phoebe got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas and we took a group picture with Santa. We drank lots of hot chocolate (thanks for the recommendation Agg!).

Planning Phoebe's 5th Birthday Party

9/5/10 - I'm trying to get a head start and begin planning Phoebe's birthday party. We're thinking of doing it after Christmas so it's not so crazy for everyone. We asked her what kind of party she wanted and she's been saying Tinkerbell. So I'm thinking we can do a Tinkerbell and pirates party, so the boys can enjoy it too. We asked where she wanted to have it and she said "at my home". We offered several ideas but she kept saying home. So we are considering having it at the house and renting a Tinkerbell space walk. If you have any suggestions or ideas on party ideas and favor ideas, I'm all ears! She'll be 5, her friends from school are 4 and 5.

10/10/10 - Update on Party Ideas - For the Tinkerbell/Pirates party, we're thinking of getting fairy wings and pirate hats or swords for the kids to decorate themselves. (these haven't been easy to find so let me know if you know a place I can buy these at a decent price) We can also do face painting and paint pirate patches on the boys and maybe put pixie dust / body glitter on the girls. We can spray everyone's hair different colors.

11/13/10 - Another update - I received a great idea of doing Message in a Bottle invitations! (thank you Ms Tess!) I was thinking of making them myself, but I know I really won't have the time, so I'll probably just purchase the kits. I found sword and eye patch packages at a decent price online, so I think we've got that covered. I just need to think of some activities to keep the kids happy and busy!

And we set the date! We're going to have her party on Saturday, January 8th... so mark your calendars!

Aidan & Evan's Fall Festival

Aidan & Evan's school held a Fall Festival last night. We met up with Tammy, Rudy and the boys there and the kids had a blast! They played games, went on an inflatable titanic, got their hair sprayed different colors, had their faces painted, and then danced for about an hour!

Phoebe's 2010 Class Pictures

Taken September 24, 2010 at Little Friends Preschool.

Learning to Talk to Him

Mike and I say prayers together every night with Phoebe, but we recently agreed that we need to change it up. She should learn to pray, so she's comfortable talking to God. So in my Mom2Mom class at church Wednesday, I brought it up and got some pointers. No matter how much I want to pray, I could never find the words. I do pray, just not the way I would like to. I want to learn more and get more comfortable talking to God, so I can share this with Phoebe. We started off by asking Phoebe to say her usual "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer and then asked her to tell God what she is thankful for. Here was her first shot at it "Thank you for my friends and family, my health, thank you for Jesus and God and the children, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen".

And today we started a thankfulness journal. I asked her to write down some things she's thankful for. Here is what she was thankful for today: fruit, house, swing, chairs, Jesus, God.   =)

Thanks Connie from Mom2Mom for sending me the info on praying with your children. And thanks to Sally W. for the prayer parent book, it will certainly come in handy! I really appreciate that you ladies thought of us!

Finally, after 33 years, I will be baptized!

I will be joined into the love and grace of God's family through baptism on Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 10:45am.

Tammy surprised me with a bible, the NIV version.

My hubby surprised me with my first cross necklace, which I have always wanted!

Kelsey Call - Camera Class 10.9.10

I attended Kelsey's camera class today and learned lots about our camera and lighting! Here are some shots that I took of our "model" today. =) She was awesome! The pic above is one of my faves of her.

Click on the slideshow below to view the rest!

RIP Benjamin Moreno V

My cousin's son, that just turned 21 on September 29, 2010, died in a car wreck this morning. Please pray for the Moreno's and Ben's friends. Such a tragic loss.



Benjamin Joseph Ben Moreno V Obituary: View Benjamin Moreno's Obituary by The Times-Picayune

Benjamin Joseph "Ben" Moreno V
| Visit Guest Book

MORENO Benjamin "Ben" Joseph Moreno V passed away on Friday, October 08, 2010, at the age of 21. Ben was a native of Kenner, LA and a resident of Covington, LA. Beloved son of Amie Drolla Moreno and Benjamin J. Moreno IV. Brother of Jessica Ann Moreno and Justin Daniel Moreno. Grandson of Liz Lightell Ancalade and Larry Ancalade, Daniel Drolla, Benjamin Moreno III, and the late Cheryl Ann Moreno. Great-grandson of Anna Bea Lightell and the late Joe Lightell. Ben attended Archbishop Rummel High School his freshman year. He was a 2007 graduate of Covington High School and was attending Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Service in the Chapel of Bagnell & Son Funeral Home, 75212 Lee Road, Covington, LA 70435 on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. Visitation from 10:00 am until service time. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ben J. Moreno Memorial Fund at any Capital One Bank. To view and sign the family guest book, please visit www.bagnellfuneralhome.com.


Covington_man_killed_four_others injured.html

 

Phoebe's 1st Visit to City Park & Storyland (and mine too!) 9-25-10

We were in town for Mikey's 15yr high school reunion, which we attended on Friday night in New Orleans. His parents had plans for us to go on the peddle boats in City Park on Saturday. When we got there, it was raining with some lightening, so we decided to drive through the park until the rain stopped. It was then that everyone discovered I had never been to City Park, or Storyland. Mrs. Tess and Mr. Mike were determined to show me everything, it ended up being like a family vacation, in New Orleans! Phoebe loved the park and the trees, then she loved seeing everything in Storyland! It was certainly a memorable trip.

Here are some pictures from our trip/vacation. :) Mikey took some good pictures at City Park. (clicking on the slideshow will take you to the album for a better view)

Crown Making and Costume Ordering Weekend =)

Saturday morning we made princess crowns for Phoebe, me, Lightning and Minnie.. using the make your own tiara kit. We had fun making them.





Phoebe decided to wear hers to Sunday school, but she also decided to take Minnie and Lightning for a ride to church and ended up losing their crowns.

We ordered Phoebe's Halloween costume. We let her pick it out and she chose Princess Jasmine from Aladdin (that's her favorite movie right now). I love getting these things taken care of before the last minute! And hopefully we'll be able to take a good picture of her wearing it so we can send out Halloween cards again this year! :)

Wand Making and Move Watching Weekend =)

Saturday morning we made Phoebe's wand, using a make it yourself kit that Nanny got for her. It came out great and we had fun making it!



She just wanted to pose for this one ;)



We went to the movies Sunday, to see Cats vs Dogs, the revenge of Kitty Galore. We were about an hour and a half into it when Phoebe said she was ready to go. She gets so excited to go to the movies, but she never wants to sit through an entire show. She'd rather have it on at home in the background while she chases after Jack or draws her artwork. :)

I truly love him so...

I love my husband, he's such a selfless, loving, caring man and don't get me started on how great of a father he is. I really do have it made. And I am thankful everyday for this wonderful family of mine. Just had to take a moment to share that. :)