Merry Christmas

Yay, Christmas Day has finally come.

The boys were a trip this morning! Both slept in longer than I expected- Both hungrier than hippos, but nothing seemed to slow them down! Jai' stood in awe, and Julian tore through his presents, and Jai's! haha I think jai might have attempted opening 1 of his-- but none the less.. he enjoyed himself. But not nearly as much as he enjoyed Santa's left over cookies, Hershey kisses from his stocking, and pancakes for breakfast!!! 
Julian got a Leap Pad Ultrabook & 5 games.. he also got a Energized Optimus Prime, with trailer, Playdoh icecream, legos, and two different lego containers. As well as movies, undies, and other stocken fillers. Jai' got a potty chair, a potty book and movie, a play kitchen, and a lego table.  Both boys were more than thrilled with their gifts!

The day was spent in our jammies eating Wayyyyy to much food- OH speaking of food! I made my very first Pastalya!( and it was AMAZING!) 

I think after eating lunch I fell into a food coma, because I then fell asleep until much later that night, and was woken by my neighbor bringing dinner for my family!  
But that is our Christmas in a nut shell.... so low key!!

Holiday Festivities!

To kick start holiday festivities, Julian's school hosted the cutest little performance! Julian so excited about the whole thing, but even more so after Maw Maw and Murphy showed up to spend the day with us! On Fridays, we ALWAYS do something special.. rather it be getting a cupcake, doughnut or McDonalds. I told him we were having a treat early, and secretly met my mom and murphy at Pizza hut as his surprise!

 

We had to be at Ju's school for 6:15, and his performance started at 6:30.( our normal dinner time) Jai was not happy about skipping a meal, or having a late dinner should I say. So he fussed most of the play and I stood outside with him. The Tree was huge! But Ju being the BIGGEST kid in his school( height and weight wise) stuck out easily! He was the cutest thing, making all types of faces during the songs.

The Friday following Ju's Christmas Presentation, his class hosted a party. It was all about gift giving, and creating gingerbread houses! Josh was able to stay home with Jai' so I could go spend some QT time with my big boy! It was a lot of fun too!...

 

 

as you can tell, Ju was sneaking some icing lol!! love himmmm!

Picking up where I left off...

Following my birthday came October 23rd. I was laying on the sofa, editing pictures while watching American Horror Story, when my phone rang. It was beside me how it rang in the first place, because it was on 'do not disturb' & was currently being used as a noise maker(rain sounds) for Jai', because the one we'd been using since I was pregnant with Julian, finally gave out. When I got to my phone, I had missed the call, but immediately saw I had 10 missed calls, from my mom, brother, and Ashley Wade. I called my mom back first, because out of the tree, she was the first. The news I got following made my heart stop...drop...roll...my mom on the other end telling that my brother was killed in a car accident. I don't recall much after that point, just know that I was in new Orleans and in the matter of a few hours and the rest of that week was just like chaotic chicken scratch in my brain.

The week following was Halloween, and the weather was indeed not in the southern states favor. Thankfully the sky held up long enough for me and my ninja turtle crew to trick or treat and get home with dry shells.
The week following was all about prepping for our JDRF walk & vacation to GatlinBerg,TN. So much going on in so little time, with editing squeezed in-between as well as my school work. from November 7-17, we were out of town! on Saturday the 9th was Julian's JDRF walk and we had such a awesome turn out! We are truly blessed to have such great friends and family as support! On the 10th, we left for TN at 4:30 am... It was a very long drive, but our boys did fantastic! The drive up the mountain to the cabin was stomach turning, cabin was beautiful, the views were breath taking. Overall, it was a nice get away, but was not quite what I'd call relaxing..haha. The change from 2 children - 5 children is a BIG change!

Coming back to the south- we drove straight back to NOLA, as we had a special package to pick up! The boy's were given the heads up, but truthfully had no idea what we were taking on..
The day following our return to the south, we drove to Raceland to pick up our new family member, Otis' Danford.
He was found by in her neighborhood, and had been posting pictures of him for weeks. Cuter than a button, he tugged my heart strings. After hearing nothing but good report, and having josh on board we decided to adopt him, which turned out to be the best decision we've made(with dogs). Otis' has been a complete angel, and true blessing. He LOVES to ride in the car, is so tolerable with the boys, very playful with them, house broken, rarely barks, excellent listener, doesn't mind his bath's and enjoys getting brushed.. OH & is the best cuddlier. He has totally won our hearts, and became a big part of our family.