Miss You Mondays

Today I miss family dinner with you.

We had dinner at your Aunt Erin's tonight for her birthday.  Daddy cooked his famous pizzas, that we all love so much, on Aunt Erin's birthday present from us...her new gas grill!  It's orange and I know it's the exact one you would have picked out too.  I miss you helping me with the dishes, stacking the forks and spoons directly on top of each other...and your frustrated sighs when your Dad closes the drawer to hard and you have to start over.  I miss you "MMMMM-ing" each bite and telling your Dad what a great cook you think he is.  No one, not even I, can bring a smile to his face like you do.  He hangs on your every word and your compliments fill his heart with pride and so much joy.  I miss convincing you to try something new and watching the expressions that follow.  I must admit, some things I know you won't like but your faces are too hilarious to pass up the opportunity.  I miss listening to your prayers over dinner as you pray for the things that are most important to you at the time:  stickers, frogs, Angry Birds, Dad's iPad  I know God enjoys them even more than your Dad and I do.  I miss that fellowship time when we talk about our day both the good and the bad, the bad seems so much less important when you tell it to a 6 year old.

I miss you like peanut butter would miss jelly...or mayonnaise.

A Labor Day Weekend of Love

So as most of you already know, since Drew and I were running around on cloud 9, Andrew was home this past weekend!  Drew flew to Nashville Thursday and escorted our most precious cargo back to the Bayou for the holiday weekend.

Thursday night we went to the last preseason Saints game and guess who they played the Titans!  Bud's two favorite teams, he couldn't lose.  Of course the Saints did, but they did so without a single starter stepping onto the field. I can't wait to see some Brees action this Thursday against the Packers!
Who dat?!

Friday we woke up to a rainy day, so we asked Andrew what he wanted to do.  He had quite the list:  Go to Cole's, Go to Brady's, play Donkey Kong with his Daddy, and if we had time some arts and crafts.  Cole and Brady were of course in school, so we started with Donkey Kong.  Then made a trip to the store for some arts and crafts supplies...which is also where we found:

Poppy and Willie met us for lunch at our house where the Angry Birds building, launching, and destroying commenced!

Willie made a pretty good Angry Bird!

Tropical Storm Lee wasn't going to rain on our parade:  Arts and Crafts!

 Most of our ideas were inspirations from Pinterest.com (my latest obsession!)

 He's pretty meticulous...wonder where he get's that from?

Maybe this guy?!

 Daddy Day-O working on his own artwork.

 Daddy and Do-Da made this for him :)

 Finished projects! :)

 Nobody likes an overachiever, Drew! ;)

(Except me and Bud, we love you soooo very much!)

Saturday morning while I was brushing my teeth I heard this terrible noise, like some sort of bird was dying a terrible death...nope it was Andrew on his duck call...he was calling in some Oregon Ducks for Tiger Bait!! 

 Love that kid so much!  

 While we were at the store we started talking about birthdays and Andrew wanted to know if he would be here for his Daddy's birthday.  Sadly, I told him he would not.  "Well then I want to sing Happy Birthday to my Daddy before I gotta go back to TN."  So of course we did just that.  Drew teared up, his son loves him so much. :)

 I can't believe he's 30!  From time to time we relive the first day we met, he had just turned 20!

 Our handsome little Day.

 Here we Geaux Tigers!

 Here we Geaux!

(Thanks for the cupcakes Aunt Erin!)

 Halftime snack and dress up time! 

Sunday we had a house full of family and friends!  Willie, Poppy, Aunt Erin, Mimi, Aunt Syd, Uncle Bryan, Carrie Addis, Denny, Sandy, and Brady all came by to spend some time with Andrew.  Yes, he is loved by so so many!

 Andrew practicing his big brother skills

 Sweet, sweet Carrie!  She's crawling, pulling up, and trying so hard to stand!

And finally, I have saved the best for last!  My two favorite Angry Birds making their very best Angry Bird faces.  I absolutely love this picture!  Andrew nailed his look.  His Daddy, I think may be making more of a green pig face??

Despite being on call for work, a tropical storm, and our camp taking on water it was the perfect weekend.  We enjoy our time together so much, every moment is precious and we make the most of each one. 

Showering a Bride

A few weekends ago I played hostess to a wedding party made up of some of my nearest and dearest friends.  The bridesmaids did a great job planning and and executing a wonderful lingerie shower.  Lacey did an amazing job on the invitations, which she hand-made.  Check her out on Etsy.com here!  I can't wait to see Nikki and Daniel tying the knot at Hemingbough Plantation in October.  I wish them all the wedding bliss in the world!

 The Glowing Bride :)

Thanks to Erin Day for the White Russian & Strawberry Champagne cupcakes.  

They were to die for!

Did I mention they were to die for?!...

 Get your grub on!

 Scrap Booking!

Nikki is scrap booking all of her wedding memories, so the girls each contributed a page or two.

 Now, all Nikki has to do is glue in her favorite wedding memories. :)

All of the lovely ladies!

Another great function brought to you from the Day Home.  I'm so proud that we can be apart of so many epic moments in our friends' and families' lives. :)  Love you all dearly!

Lovin' It

 I have a lot on my list of things I'm loving today so I'll dive right in...

• First and foremost, our little boy will be here Thursday for the Labor Day weekend!!!  I don't think I need to go into detail as to how excited Drew and I are!  We've gone grocery shopping and picked up all of his favorite foods and stocked up on chocolate milk.  Put his favorite sheets on his bed.  Drug out all of his bathtub toys.  We love getting ready for his trips home, it's sort of like getting ready for Christmas morning.  We're just giddy and we can barely stand it! :)

• LSU FOOTBALL!!!  After all the drama over the last few weeks surrounding JJ, I'm so ready to see our guys pound it out on the field this weekend against the Ducks.  I know I guys have had a lot on their minds and I hope they can direct all of their frustrations into winning on Saturday in Dallas!  On a side note LSU fans really are the best around, read all about it here.   

• I scream, you scream, we all scream for New Orleans ice cream!  Thanks to Matt and Britt I recently discovered New Orleans Ice Cream Co.  I recommend the Vanilla Bean and the Cheesecake...ahhhh I die.

Next I have a few movies and TV shows I'm loving:

• Hunger Games movie!  The trailer premiered on the VMAs last night, oh my gosh I'm so excited!  The books were phenomenal and I know the movies won't be as good, but I can't wait to see it on the big screen.

• The Temple Grandin HBO movie.  This is a fabulous movie about perseverance and overcoming the obstacles life has put before you.  Temple is an amazing autistic woman, who changed the livestock industry.  She became a doctor of animal science and is a professor at Colorado State University.  Her story is definitely one you should check out.

•  Lifetime's series Against the Wall.  The main character is a IA detective with three brothers who are cops, a mom who wants to open her own bakery, and she has no time for a relationship...which of course means she's in complicated "relationships" with quite a few cute guys. :)  It's good, mindless TV.

• Project Runway.  The Klum of Doom and the contestants are never a disappointment.  I am loving Anya Ayoung-Chee's designs.  Plus her hair cut is amazing...amazingly ballsy that is.  But she rocks it and I like that about her.  

• And finally a two of my favorite guilty pleasures:  True Blood and Jersey Shore...Okay so I only watch True Blood because I loved the Sookie Stackhouse novels and I must admit it has gotten pretty dumb, but now I'm vested and DVR let's me watch it when nothing else is on.  And let's face it Jersey Shore is like a train wreck...you just can't help looking at it. 

Miss You Monday

I miss my mornings with you.

On weekdays when I leave for work you are still fast asleep and you don't even know you are a big part of my morning routine.  Every morning before I leave I tip-toe into your room and I wonder what you may be dreaming about, I rub your little jaws if you're gritting your teeth until you stop (this is what your Daddy does to me when I wake him up grinding my teeth), I kiss your little cheek, tuck your covers in tight, and say a little prayer that you have a terrific day.  When your gone I still say a prayer for you every morning and while I know God hears every word, it means so much more to me when I can hear your peaceful, sleepy breathing as I pray.

On weekends your Daddy lets me wake you up.  He knows how much I love to be the first person you see as you leave dreamland.  I rub your back and tell you it's another fabulous morning at our house simply because you are here.  Sometimes I kiss your face until you finally open your baby-blue eyes.  You grin that sleepy, happy grin that reminds me so much of your Dad, you wrap your arms arounds my neck, and say "Good morning."  Sometimes you tell me about your dreams, sometimes we don't talk at all...at least not until we've had our coffee milk, which you have every morning just like I did growing up.  Some mornings when you don't feel like being a morning person, I bring your coffee milk to you, despite your Daddy shaking his head with that "you're spoiling him" look.  (Like he has any room to talk!)  We sip our coffee and plan our day, we watch cartoons, and sometimes hope the plans don't catch up with us.  Our mornings together are so precious to me and I miss them so much.

I miss you my little Day dreamer.

Spice Up Your Tuesday...

with a little salsa!

Drew and I share love for lots of things, and one of those things is salsa!  We planted our first garden this year with all of the ingredients for...you guessed it SALSA.  It's so much more fun to make when you can walk into your back yard and gather all of your ingredients, it just can't get much fresher than that.  If you don't have a garden of your own I recommend supporting your local farmers market or fruit stand for fresh produce. 

That said, I love corn and bean salsa too!  No we didn't plant corn this year but my sister has an awesome recipe and I thought I would share.  This salsa is bright and refreshing, I also recommend making it the night before you plan on eating it to allow the ingredients to marinate together.  Enjoy!

From the kitchen of Paula Gould:

1 can of black bean, rinsed
1 can of Shoepeg corn
2 1/2 TBS of olive oil
2 TBS of fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp of cumin
2-3 green onions chopped
3 chopped Roma tomatoes
1-2 jalapenos, no seeds 
1 clove garlic minced
cilantro to taste, this is one of my favorite herbs and easy to grow!
salt to taste

Miss You Mondays

I miss your masterpieces.

Your artwork means so much more to us than the art work we can buy at a store or gallery.  The meaning you give each stroke of a crayon, a maker, a pen, or a pencil is truly priceless.  It cheers my heart on the grayest of days, I walk into our office and see your handwriting and your drawings.  And I feel a little closer to you in my heart.  There your feelings are right there on paper, your dreams, your imagination's wildest visions, for us to enjoy even when you're miles away.  Who knew a piece of paper could be transformed into so much...all thanks to you.

I miss you my little Picasso. 

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. ~Pablo Picasso