Meet Newt

On March 24th, Louisiana held primaries for the presedential nomination. I was at work when I found out one of the nominees was right down the street from my office and would be there when I got off. Of course, I had to go meet him! Newt said all the right things to us Bible belt folks; but he still didn't get my vote. I want so badly to believe that we can win. But if I was betting on it, I'd say that Mitt will get the nomination and lose to Obama. And only by the grace of God will that man not turn this country into an absolute mess. I think he is a great role model to young men. A good father, husband, etc and seems to have high moral values in that respect. And I don't think he is an evil mastermind created by Satan to bring down this great land. I just think we are on 2 different spectrums, ideologically.  As much as I believe with everything in me that the government owes us very little that WE have the right to PURSUE happiness and not to have it delivered to our doorstep...as much as I believe abortion is murder and no national government should ever force any citizen to purchase any product...as much as I believe so deeply in all of those, he believes just the opposite. He believes the government has the responsibility to feed people, clothe people, house people, give people monthly allowances to live on. He believes the government should force those, who like myself are by no means rich, to take care of those how have not because they work not. He believes abortion is a women's choice and not a crime of murder. He believes he can force every person in America to buy a product (health insurance) or pay the penalty or go to jail. He truly believes it, y'all. And THAT is the scariest part!

Dance, dance and more dance!

I can't believe we are wrapping up Avery's first year in dance. The recital is about a month away and i cannot wait. This has been a precious experience and it is the best 10 minutes of my week. I have caught sneak peeks of the dances and they are SO cute. I hope she enjoys this for many years to come!

Tis the Season

Well, I finally became a true Louisianan this year and participated in a crawfish boil! Tance and Charlie decided it was time and went around town gathering everything we needed to eat those things that I swear look like some kind of lobster-roach! But I put my brave face on and learned how to peel it, what to pull out and what to eat. And ya know what? They weren't half bad. And the corn was SPICY but equally delicious! It was a fun time and I guess if you live here, it just comes with the territory! So, we deemed this our First Annual Easter Weekend Crawfish Boil. Next year, I vow to peel more than one!

Wordless Wednesday

St. Patty's Day

We had a fun time on St. Paddy's day. We took an early morning trip to Munchkin Market and then to breakfast at Chick Fil A. Everyone loved Avery's leprechaun. I loved it until it was time to take it off - WOW! I explained St. Patrick's Day tradition, that everyone is supposed to wear green. I left out the pinching part. In my book, it's never a smart idea to give a 4 year old a reason to pinch anyone! But she was very adament about pointing out anyone not wearing green that day (and very loudly I might add!). She is a 'follow-the-rules' kind of girl (like her mom!). After breakfast we cleaned and worked in the yard. That seems to be a common theme on weekends at home lately, and as long as the weather stays so nice, you won't hear me complaining!

Free ice cream at Chick fil A (even during breakfast) because she was following the green rule!

That night, Avery and her daddy watched the stars dance around the sky...

And cooked us one delicious supper!

Spring Break 2012

Avery took her first Spring Break trip this year. Nonna had planned to keep her while she was on Spring Break and then decided to go see Grandma (her mom) in Tennessee. Avery had a great time. Nonna texted me this picture of her shopping, but she had lots more stories and pictures, so check out her post about their whole adventure.

A Weekend of 'Firsts'

Another post I missed from 2008? Wow!

Charlie took off this weekend and I took off Monday so we could spend a 3 day weekend in Vidalia! It was great! Its so nice to get away every once in a while and its been a long time since Charlie could come since he works weekends. We went to church for the first time at Cornerstone, the church that my dad preaches at, and introduced Avery to a lot of the people that spent many days praying for her. I just realized that of all the pictures I took this weekend, I took none of her first time at church! I hate it when I forget to photograph important events! Oh well, one important event I did photograph, and even took a video, was Avery eating from a spoon! Apparently, you aren't supposed to give a baby rice cereal through a bottle. We tried that this week for weight gain and it kept Avery up half the night screaming, it was not pleasant! After speaking to other moms about it online, apparently you're supposed to start the rice cereal with a spoon! So this morning we got brave and tried it! It went great! We mixed 2 Tbsp of cereal with 4 Tbsp of milk and got it a little warm and fed her about half of it. I'm sure she would've eaten all of it but I didn't want to push it after my experience with feeding it through the bottle. I am very excited about that and I'm going to start trying it every other day. We have follow up appointments with the pediatric neurologist and pediatric cardiologist on Wednesday. I'm not really nervous about these because at the 1st appts both Dr.'s seemed to think these were very common preemie problems that would go away on their own (she had a possible small bleed in her brain and a heart murmur). Well, I guess thats all for now, I have lots of pics from the wkend...none which include me or Charlie...how did that happen!?!

"Hey lady, get that thing outta my face, can't ya see I'm spending quality time with my nonna!"

Chillin with Uncle Mark


This is one cool chick!


Laughing at Poppa


Nonna had to get in on the action, too!


Learning to hold her own ba-ba, like a big girl!


Nonna bought her a silver spoon w/ her name engraved on it


Avery Grace


My favorite scripture for Avery...she is wonderfully made!


Lovin her first meal from a spoon

Bowling

I'm not sure why it took us so long to take Avery bowling. But we finally took her and she.is.hooked!

I don't think there has been a 3 day period go by yet that she hasn't asked me if we could go bowling. Usually it is her first sentence of the day. She had a blast and her favorite people were there! Mark, Josh, Nonna, Poppa, me, Charlie, Adam, Tance and her favorite person - Lesley all came with us. We all had fun but no one as much as Avery!

Our 2nd bowling trip...

4 Month Old Pics

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVERY!

Here are some 4 month old pics and a video!











Avery holding her maraca's...what a big girl!