Andrew's 8th Birthday Party

As I said in a earlier post it seems so surreal that Andrew turned 8 years old this year.  It seems more realistic that I was changing his diapers only a few months ago...but alas that is not the case and our little boy is growing up before our eyes much, much too quickly!  It's bittersweet to say the least...but we celebrated in fantastic "Here Comes the Boom" style!

We did a little pre-game boxing.

  

 Aunt Erin of course made the cutest ninja cookies ever!

 I was so proud of Andrew, he took the time to read each card outloud.

Allie girl.

 Hannah Banana

 Andrew was taking too long to unwrap Allie's gift to him so she decided to help out! :)

 Making wishes!

 Sweetie Pie AJ

 Silly Brady

Jax found a nice cozy lap to relax on.

 Cuz Tristen

Our birthday boy said he had the best 8th brithday ever! 

We had a great time too! 

 

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving is one of my favoirte holidays, the reflection spent on all of the blessings God has sent our way really fills my heart with love, pride, and above all gratitude!  He is so good to us!  I'm also so very thankful that we get to spend this holiday with Andrew each year!  His presence adds so much more to the holiday cheer. :)

 Someone wasn't too excited about his Daddy swinging him "too high"!

 We love our Willie!

 Carrie enjoying her red swing!

 Drews 2, 3, and 4!



And in traditional fashion we ate ourselves into a wonderful Thanksgiving coma!

 Told ya, coma! 

Next up Andrew's Birthday Party! 



Geaux to Hell Ole Miss!

My Mama and my sister Paula came down a few weekends ago to go to the LSU vs. Ole Miss game.  My neice and nephew, Emily and Jacob, had never been to a game in Tiger Stadium!  It was the perfect weekend for us all to get together, Drew was out of town on our friend JJ's bachelor party, so the girls (poor Jacob) had the house to ourselves!  We had so much fun hanging out cooking Christmas goodies, arguing like sisters, and laughing a lot!

 Maw T passing on her cooking expertise to Afton.

 My poor kitchen!

 Stacie and Paula

Super sweet Divininty!

 Our Thanksgiving table was never complete without my Mom's Giblet Gravy yuck!  Since my mom wasn't going to be here for Thanksgiving, Stacie wanted her to teach her how to make it.  For those of you who don't know what "giblets" are it is a delicious combo of chicken or turkey neck, livers, hearts, and gizzards...like a said yuck yummy!

 I love the look on Stacie's face here!

 Just keep stirring, just keep stirring...

Thankfully I was giving the job of stirring the peanut brittle.

Now that looks yummy!

We had a great weekend ate tons of delicious Louisiana food.  I can't wait to spend Christmas with my Mom and Dad!

The Great Eight

Today our Bud turns EIGHT YEARS OLD!  We can't even wrap our minds around him being 8.  It just doesn't seem like he's been around that long.  He brings a special light into our lives and we can't wait to celebrate his 8th birthday when he's home for Thanksgving.  His birthday celebrations add even more wonderful memories to the holiday each year.  You can visit some past memories here, here, oh and here!

Better Than We Deserve

So lately I have been working my tail off at work!  My boss was recently promoted and the supervisor of my unit left for an opportunity at another chemical plant.  So with the help of the engineer in my department we have been running the show all by ourselves.  I'm not going to lie it's been pretty tough at times but man have I learned a lot.  Long story short, all of that hard work paid off because while we were in Philly management called to offer me the Superintendent position (my boss' old job) over my entire department!  Needless to say I was exstatic and I wish I could have had a picture of Drew's face when I hung up the phone and told him.  It was the proudest expression I've ever seen on his face, which in turn makes me so grateful that he stands behind me and supports my growing career.  Before we left for Philly I had the feeling that I had a pretty good shot at the supervisor position but superintendent is something I saw as a career goal at least five years out.  As the old cliche goes, being in the right place at the right time is half the battle.  And now Drew is convinced he's going to be a stay at home Daddy...we'll see about that!

Drew has also started building our dear friends, Matt and Brittnay's, home in the town where we all grew up Watson.  We were pretty bummed when they moved out of our neighborhood last year.  While Drew was working on their lot he noticed there was a house down the road a little ways that had burned down.  Matt who is a realtor took to finding out what the story was on it...and turns out the owners were looking to sell it.  Another long story short Drew and I signed a purchase agreement on the five acres down the road from Matt and Britt's!  It's beautiful with an acre pond that is full of bass for my Andrew to fish in, right in our back yard!  I can't wait for him to see it!  We're keeping our fingers crossed that it all works out!  Friday after work we flew over the property to get an areial view of it.

And on top of all of that Drew and I leave for Hawaii in 27 days!! Does life get any better?!

God has once again truly blessed our family this year, we have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Season...as Dave Ramsey says, "We're doing better than we deserve!"

At all times and for everything give thanks to God!

Ephesians 5:20