Driving

Driving lessons start early in our family. :) Brady had a blast steering the wheel. He did a pretty good job! Impressive...... for a 3-year-old. :)


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Snaggle

Snaggle-tooth pancake for my sweet snaggle-tooth little girl. :)


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Front tooth = two hour ordeal

It took two hours.... lots of tears... three paper towels soaked by slobber and a little blood.... and several pep talks -- BUT her fifth tooth (and first tooth on the top row) finally came out. And SHE pulled it herself!!!


This time, she wouldn't let me touch it. I tried a few times, but she kept having a panic attack. So I told her we should wait and let it get looser. The she'd cry. She reeeeeeeeally wanted it to come out. So then she'd wiggle it. We went round and round for TWO hours. But when it finally came out, her face lit up in sheer pride of doing it herself.

Mama was super proud, too.

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Slurping Spaghetti Night!!

I had a wild idea up my sleeve tonight. And what an awesome dinner it turned out to be! Slurping Spaghetti night at the LaPierre house....officially a new tradition.


The kids literally dug right in as soon as I put their plates down. It was AWESOME.



The only rule? All spaghetti noodles must be slurped. Messes allowed. :)


Mom and dad got in the action a little bit --- but photos of the kids were WAY cuter. :)


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Halloween 2011

It's not Halloween without some crazy outfit or costume. This year, I threw on this hysterical mohawk (courtesy of Mr. Orman, Susie's sweet daddy). We have this running joke about my hair.


Of course Chris decided to try it on, too. HAHAHAAA!


Deanna, her sister-in-law Amber, and the girls came over for trick or treating fun. Our wigs are fabulous!


And the house looked fun, too! A little "caution" tape to give it a crime scene feel.





And WHAT is Halloween without a trip down to Aunt Susie and Uncle Ford's house?


The kids collected 9 pounds of candy. NINE POUNDS!? We threw out half of it. Funny how the candy we used to eat as kids seems so gross now. I used to love sweet tarts and sour candies. Blech!!! It's a good thing the kids' bags of candy weren't full of chocolate!!

My little dragon and the vampire princess had a great time!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


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Hahahahahaaaaaa!!!!!!

SNEEZE! :)


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Cousins!

What a great little evening with my kids and my nieces. I say "little evening" cause it was less than an hour! My sweet sister went on her first date night since the birth of her FIRST child. Bless her heart. When she was in Little Rock, she didn't trust anyone to keep Lauren. (I don't blame her...). And then Catherine came along about six months ago.

So Aunt Jen decided it was time for a date! (I was not taking "no" for an answer).

Corn dogs, Capri Sun drinks, skittles and The Lion King. What more could they ask for? :)

Looking forward to many more date nights.


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Kennedy's First Concert

I knew she was extremely excited about going to the Taylor Swift concert when I found a note when I was in her room. ((Speak Now is the name of her tour))


See, I wasn't so sure she wanted to go when we gave her the tickets for her birthday this summer. Her reaction was honestly kind of disappointing. I thought she would jump up and down, scream with that high-pitched sound I know she's very capable of.


But instead, we got a lackluster reaction. More of a... "Oh, ok thanks."


I explained what a concert was, but still - a blank look on her face.


Fast forward nearly two months..... and she's talking about the concert with her friends, planning her outfit, listening to her Taylor CD regularly. And just a few hours before the big event.... I found this:

Now THAT is the kind of excitement I was hoping for. Her best friend came with us, so it was girls night out.

We (somewhat) patiently stood in two separate lines to get their souvenir t-shirts in the right style, color, and the minute they had those shirts in their hands, they threw them on over their perfectly-styled outfits. Who cares, right? IT'S TAYLOR SWIIIIIIIIFT! I can't remember how many times I heard them scream that. :) 

Just when I get bogged down in the daily routine, something happens that makes me fall in love with my daughter all over again. This.Was.That.Night. She stood in her chair the ENTIRE concert and sand EVERY word to EVERY song. She was so happy. And you couldn't wipe the smile off my face either.

Summer 2011

I have so much to catch up on from the summer. I cannot believe how fast time flies!! It was a crazy, busy, fun-filled summer and now Christmas is just two months away! First, birthdays for my sweet babies!

We celebrated Brady's birthday with an outdoor park party with a train theme. To say that my sweet son loves trains would be a huge understatement. He LOOOOOOOVES trains. Every time we see one on the tracks, he yells: "Momeeeeeeeee! It's a traaaaaaaaaaain! Choo choo! All aboard!"

We played in the water park, slid on all the slides, had snacks, opened presents (the overwhelming hit was the "Mater" bubble blower from Aunt Dee). Do you see that face? My child loves trains.... AND Cars. :)

 ...and of course -- CAKE! Isn't this an adorable cake? Scratch that. Isn't this an ABSOLUTELY adorable little boy and his adorable cake? ;)

 I just can't believe that he's already three. As a two year old, he has been the most loving, snugly, adoring little boy. (Side note: Since he's almost 3 1/2 now, I will say that those sweet tendencies are being taken over by rambunctious and rough behaviors. More on that later).

Happy 3rd Birthday Baby Boy!

 And then there's this sweetie pie. Wow... 7 years old. SEVEN!? How is it possible that seven years have passed? I blinked and she started second grade this year. I think her birthday this summer was just what she wanted:

Girly.

Skating.

Friends.

Pink & purple.

Perfect.

We spent an afternoon "practicing" for her skating party because she wanted to be able to go around the rink without any fear. I don't blame her. I thought I was 13 again putting those skates back on. WRONG. I immediately fell flat on my butt and COULD.NOT.GET.UP. I little teenage kid had to help me. 

Thankfully -- since it was just me and Kennedy practicing, she wasn't embarrassed by me. But she did laugh hysterically. I laughed, too. 

I looked like an idiot. 

On PARTY day, however, we were both prepared. Her closest friends from school, summer camp, and the neighborhood came to her party. And you know Kennedy doesn't shy away from attention. She enjoyed being in the spotlight.

Even her sweet cousin Lauren (assisted by Nina and Aunt Tracy) joined in on the skating fun! Thankfully, they live in Louisiana now, so we'll be able to see them more often. Yay!!

And it's not a birthday party until we sing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girl! Cake, pizza, party favors and more skating. 

What an awesome day she had.

 Even Aunt Susie came to skate! I am so grateful that Kennedy doesn't get embarrassed by me (or my friends)... YET. I know it's coming, but I'm enjoying being able to act silly until then. 

 

 The big gift for her? Her new BIKE! Purple, of course. Her sweet daddy went with her and picked it out with her. 

I think he had just as much fun as she did.

And THIS picture -- I'm just throwing in for fun... cause it was the BEST picture of the summer. My with my niece on my shoulders. Kennedy on her Aunt Kelly's shoulders. We had an AWESOME time with our Maine family this summer. :)