Drum roll, please...

As if one blog wasn't enough...


now I have two!


Check us (Aubrey-my absolute best girlfriend since all the way back at Stillwater High and me-obviously) out at Hot Chocolate Talk. We'll be talking about anything and everything, because that's what girlfriends do.

ps-Who among us doesn't loooove free bows? Heaven knows, I do (and with two little girlies needing John Denver hair help, I sure need 'em). The cutest little bow shop is having a fabulous free giveaway here.

Gotta love a place that fries a vegetable...

Sorry guys, but it looks like we're in for another big catch up post...

First off, the critters and I just got back from lovely, warm, humid Alabama where we were visiting my sister in Mobile. I gotta say, I just love the South. How can one not love a place where every third person says something like, "Bless your heart, honey," have deep fried foods as a staple in their diet, and have a Lynyrd Skynyrd song written about them? If Spencer found a job in the deeper South, I'd move there in a second (yes, it's even worth the summer heat). At least I still have a little bit of the culture here in Oklahoma with our fried okra (gotta love a place that fries a vegetable), hand over heart exclamations, and biscuits and gravy.

My cute sister Liberty and Scarlett

Little Miss Ella, all ready for bed

Gunnison checking out Scarlett (she loved all the attention she got from Lib's beasties)

Georgia showing off her big girl panties
(no, she's not completely potty trained, but she's on her way and verrry excited about it)

MiMi and Josiah showing off his composition he wrote for Grandparent's Day
Jos even got to recite it in front of the entire school!

This would be the one and only picture I got of Gavin the entire trip
(he's a hard one to catch)

Our King Cake

My brother in law, Kit, was a doll and bought us a King Cake when our Mardi Gras parade got rained out. It really was more appetizing than it looks. I promise.

Georgia enjoying her own little slice
(I've got to take a moment to brag-don't ya just love what the humidity does to her naturally curly hair)

New Orleans

The Saint Louis Cathedral, oldest continuously operating cathedral in the United States

MiMi, Georgia, and Jos waitin' out the rain

All of us in front of a 'gator statue in New Orleans
I love how a woman (my mom) so obviously took this photo. If it was a guy the entire alligator would be in the picture but we'd all look like ants. Since it's a woman taking it, you can see all the people clearly, but the focal point-the statue-has it's head cut off.

Ezra, Auntie Libby, Gunner, and Georgia digging into their beignets

Overall, we had an absolutely fabulous time with Liberty and her brood (and of course her hubby too!). I wish we could get out there more often, but I'll take what I can get and be oh-so-grateful for it!


Georgia's new favorite food is yogurt. To most moms, that'd be no big deal, but to me, that's huge. Ginormous. Paramount. Georgia passed both her soy and dairy challenges and she can now officially eat basically anything (well, except for nuts. We're still waiting on those). I can't even begin to tell you how exciting that is. I've never known what it's like to give my child ice cream at a party, a spoonful of my cream-based soup, or any random piece of candy the nice old lady next door gives her. It's seriously one of the biggest milestones in her short little life.

I snapped this picture the other day and I believe there's only one word for it...

Diva.

If you still have the time, here's a quick video of us eating beignets and dancing to the music at the famous Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. Have a fabulous day!

A Bug Is Born

I don't know if you've been to Chick-fil-A recently, but I feel the need to warn you: do not, under any circumstances, buy the kid's meal.

It all started with an innocent lunch out last week. We're big fans of Chick-fil-A around here as it includes a nice play place that isn't dirty, overrun with mowgli children (other than my own), or inviting to any suspicious lurkers. Stephanie, my sister, had an extra toy left over from her daughter's meal, as Ella's still too young to appreciate it (I don't typically buy Chick-fil-A's kid's meals because of milk allergy issues). Usually we're all very excited when Ezra gets Chick-fil-A toys because they're educational *and* entertaining (which believe you me, is very hard to find). Most boys collect baseball cards, but not Ezra, Ezra collects Chick-fil-A cards on space, bugs, and other educational topics (even the more eyebrow-raising because he's three and can't yet even read what's on the cards).

Back to the topic at hand...right now, the kid's meal includes cardboard cut-outs of different bug body parts (in this particular case, a bee). You're supposed to pop the parts out of the cardboard and follow the directions while folding and tucking the parts together. Then Vualah!: A Bug Is Born. Simple, right?

Wrong.

These are the instructions:

This is the end product:


This little beauty took me just over 45 minutes to make. That's right, just a quarter shy of a entire hour. I put Georgia's entire wood doll cradle together faster than I did a measly cardboard bee. Not only was it time consuming, it was hard. Really, REALLY hard. I almost gave up half a dozen times, but Ezra's poor little excited face was just more than I could handle. He kept checking up on me to see if his stupid bee was done. So there I was, sitting in the middle of the living room at 9:30am in my pajamas with scraggly hair, glasses on, and no end in sight.

After the ridiculously complex origami was over and the bee was done, Ezra gleefully began flying it around in the air while shouting, "Mom, I'm buzzing Georgia, I'm buzzing Georgia!"

Was it worth it?

Not at all. Avoid it like the friggin' plague.

ps-the bug lasted approximately 20 minutes before it fell to pieces. I can't say I'm all that suprised. Are you?