Around this time....

..TEN years ago today, David drove up to my appt in Jackson from Baton Rouge to pick me up for the Ole Miss/LSU game...he walked in the door with roses and this little pumpkin box with an extra special treat inside for me...As he handed it to me, he got down on one knee.....and the rest is history!
Looking back we were so young, but I think I must have been pretty smart because I picked well! There is no one else I would have rather spent the last 12 years with! Couldn't let this special day go unmentioned. Love you DP!

Two little pumpkins...

Thought I would post some pics of Bennett and Lila in their festive attire! They had a great day at school yesterday! Every day more and more of their little personalities are revealed, and they are both such blessings. The biggest thing that I have noticed lately is that they are starting to display a lot more feelings- especially empathy and compassion- and especially towards each other. As I have mentioned before, all three kids are very attached to their blabla dolls. Lately, when Bennett or Lila notice that someone is upset, they rush to bring them their doll..It is so sweet! I also went to check on them in their "corral" yesterday (I needed to change clothes!) and Bennett was laying down with his head resting on Lila's lap. Almost brought tears to my eyes...
I am just so happy to see almost as much love being shared as fights these days!!





Putting the finishing touches on their little costumes..Hope they come together! Looking forward to tomorrow night!
Happy Halloween Eve!
Nicole

Elise meets Mitchell

Elise was thrilled today to get to meet Mitchell Plauche. He is a week old today and is absolutely precious. He is such a sweet little guy! As you can see, she loved getting to see him and pat his little belly. We had a nice little visit!

Pumpkin Carving

After we put Lila and Bennett to bed last night, David had the idea to spend some fun one on one time with Elise and carve a pumpkin. She was so excited! He decided to let her pick what she wanted on the pumpkin, and she chose Elmo!! (Not exactly what I had in mind, but it made her happy!)

So, I attempted the best Elmo I could....Then David scooped out the insides.....

He worked really hard, getting it just right....

As Elise would say....TAH-DAH!

Not bad, right??

Looking forward to Halloween....speaking of, I've got to get to work on the costumes...

Fall is FUN!

I am a couple of days behind, but I wanted to make sure I included this little story about Elise so that I don't forget about it!! Monique always wants to talk to her on the phone, and for the most part, she doesn't want to. Well, Thursday night, after dance class, she announced that she wanted, "to call some people"! I said, sure, and her first request was Aunt Mo. Mo didn't answer, so she left a voicemail (hilarious) and then said she wanted to call my Dad ("G"). So I call him and put it on speaker. I hear him answer and she goes, "hey G, what have you been doing?"
It was so fun to hear the surprise in his voice when he realized it was Elise calling! She told him that she had tried to call Mo and didn't get her, and wondered if he had Howie's (Mo's dog!!!) phone number. We were cracking up! As she was wrapping up with G, Mo called her back and they chatted for a while. Funniest part of the call was when she told Mo that G was busy doing dishes. Who know where she gets this stuff! My Dad does a lot, but dishes aren't exactly his specialty!



Laid back and enjoying her phone calls....



Saturday morning we went to watch David play tennis...Elise wanted to take a picture, and I am pretty sure that this is the one she took! She was so proud to watch him play! We actually were able to stay about 30 whole minutes before it seemed like Lila and Bennett were planning a way to escape the wagon I had them in! The weather has been so beautiful we have been taking every opportunity we can to be outside...




We continued our Saturday by attending our first ever "Monster Mash"- a local Halloween themed fair put on by one of the hospitals...We had a great time, although it is pretty exhausting keeping up with the three little ones! I had to take a nap after!



I have to admit, I see alot of myself in this picture of Lila...



The kiddos ready to go in their deluxe wagon from Emmy and Pop! We love this thing!



Bennett can whistle! I am still not sure if it is on purpose or not, but every once in a while he does it. He makes me smile! My little man...



Elise has really come out of her shell over the past few months...In the past she would have never done a big slide like this! She was loving all of the big jumpers and slides! She would have done this over and over all day if we would have let her! Our little girl is growing up!



They had a little village set up where the kids could go trick or treating...here is Bennett trying to figure out what is going on, and Lila taking her turn. She loves anything that resembles a purse, so she did great carrying her bag!






Elise (very seriously) decorating her cookie at the cookie decorating booth!

Elise petting an Alligator! So brave!!

Not to long after this we caught a glimpse of our good friend Boyd (extremely tall!) in the crowd and so David went and got he and his family so that we could spend some fun time with the Kitchens! We had totally under estimated how crowded the fair would be and just thought we would easily find all of our friends that were there...That was not the case! It was packed!

Mary Miller wanted to climb right in with Lila and Bennett...Luckily, she is a tough cookie and used to playing rough with Will...Bennett is in a rough phase and I was worried about him hitting her. If he did, she didn't seem to notice!

Will and Elise just love each other. It is so sweet. I don't think they have ever had a fight, and they love to hold hands and hug when they play. It is really cute!

Elise with the Halloween Hippo!

David and Bennett watching the clowns...

It was a great day! Fun memories!!

In addition, today we had a great visit with the Adams! They came to watch the Saints game with us, and I guess they brought good luck! GO Saints! We all loved spending time with them and are so thankful that they made the trip over!

What a great weekend of fun! Hope this great fall weather sticks around!

Goodnight everyone!
Love, Nicole

Double Blessings

We are so thankful tonight as two sets of our children's Godparents have welcomed their own healthy babies into the world!
Yesterday, around 4:30 p.m. Brad and Lissa (Lila's Godparents) welcomed their healthy 8lb 3oz baby boy, Tyndale Locke.
This morning, around 8:12 a.m. Aimee and Michael Plauche (one set of Elise's Godparents) welcome their healthy 6lb 7oz baby boy, Mitchell Rue.
Everyone is doing well! We are so happy to welcome these members into our extended family!
What blessings!

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Our Grandpa Ray is 82 today! Happy Birthday!
Our family got together on Sunday to celebrate...It was great to see everyone! My uncle fried fish and pickles, and my Mom made yummy sides and dessert. Needless to say, it was not a healthy day, but it was great to spend time with family...

Below you can see Elise hanging out with my cousin Jeff and his girlfriend, Ashley. Elise asked Jeff to catch some fish for her, so he gave it a try! He is the fisherman of the family...




Uncle Steve and David getting the fish fry going!



Steph, Daniel, Mimi and Grandpa... Steph was recently honored at a Saints game for being an outstanding teacher! Yeah Steph!



The birthday "boy"!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa! We love you!

Blast from the past, still hanging tough

I must digress from my usual children focused blogging to talk about my exciting mom's night out last night! Like alot of almost 32 year olds, I was a huge New Kids on the Block fan in middle school and jr. high. It was the first concert I went to, and I remember my friend Annie and I crying when they came onto the stage. Embarassing, but true. So, how could I, and two of my best friends from that time (that I am lucky enough to still live close to), pass up the opportunity to see NKOTB again?? Had to be there. Unfortunately, Casey ended up having to go to a wedding out of town, so she was not actually physically there...but, she was with us in spirit! She and Suzanne had gone to the concert together back in the 7th grade when Annie and I went! Suzanne and I were SOO excited. I have even been listening to their tape (yes, my car still has a tape player) so that I could refresh myself with some of the songs....We had floor tickets that we got at a great deal, and we were all set! I must admit, we were a little disappointed when we realized we were actually the very LAST row on the floor, but, hey, we were there! Su has a 12 week old, and then I have my three, so we were just pumped about a night out sans kids!
Well, a little while into the show, we can figure out that something is going on..the girl next to us told me that they were going to be performing on the floor and they might have to move us. We kind of blew her off, but then a few minutes later, the security team came and had everyone from our row and the row in front of us move into this small little area in front of a platform. Next thing we know, we are FRONT ROW!!!!! I have to admit, it was really fun! We were laughing at how funny it was, but we were also both excited- no matter who is in concert, how cool to be that close???! I have never experienced anything like that. I mean, I touched their hands!!!!!!! YIPPEEE....
Needless to say, it was so much fun to reminisce about being 13 again! I am so lucky that I have friendships that have lasted this long, and that we still can have as much fun as we did back then...Does kind of make me sentimental that we used to talk about the days when our kids would play together, and now those hypothetical conversations are coming true..But, meanwhile, we are still going to NKOTB concerts!! :)
I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to go last night! It was a great experience, a great time spent with a wonderful friend, and something I'll be talking about for a while!





There was a huge group of girls in front of us that went all out...They crimped their hair, wore side pony tails, made t-shirts with the neon puff paint (remember that stuff??), etc...It was funny...



Seriously. Look how close we were! FUN!



Above you can see Suzanne's boyfriend, Jordan. He was her favorite back in "the day". (These days, we think he has been keeping BOTOX in business.)





Joey was always my favorite. I must say, he is still pretty cute!



This is my favorite picture of the night!!



Me, waving to the new kids!




Joey again. They were on a spinning stage, so it was neat because you could see everyone. I really thought we were going to get crushed to death, some girls behind us were going crazy!

It was a great night! Now, back to the world of diapers and biting! :)
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Love , Nicole

More thanks!

Thanks to my fabulous sister, Mo, for creating our new fall blog header! Now, if we could only get some nice, cool, fall weather to go along with it!! Can ya'll believe that she "drew" this with a computer mouse? Blows me away....

Thanks Davis!

Davis (of Southern Accents Photography), Elise's Godfather, took some pictures last weekend of the kids playing in my parents backyard. He got some great pics! Considering the mood that Lila was in, I was especially impressed with the pictures! THANKS DAVIS!!

Terrible Twos (squared)????

Lila and Bennett have been hitting most developmental milestones a little late (not abnormal for babies born a month early) , but I have a feeling we are hitting the terrible twos a little early!! In the past few weeks we have started tantrums, biting, and all sorts of other fun things that I thought were AT LEAST had 6 more months away...It is very interesting, and challenging, to watch two go through this at the same time. Their frustration levels are unbelieveably low! I just pray that God gives me extra patience and tolerance during this time, and that I am able to help them learn how to deal with their frustrations! It is crazy how they can be giving each other hugs and kisses one minute, and then fighting like crazy the next! I have a feeling I am entering into a whole new world.....
But even tonight, as I am recovering from a very challenging afternoon (at least 3 bite attacks, including Bennett getting "written up" at Mother's Day Out, not to mention Elise using her ability to throw-up easily as a way to get out of bedtime) I still find myself counting my blessings. They may have driven me crazy today, but at least they are here in their adorable little bodies to do so!
Goodnight!
Nic

two you

As most of you know, my sister and I have been working on stationery on the "side" for several years now. With the twin pregnancy and the FUN that has followed, I have not been able to devote as much time to the business. Now that I am getting into the swing of things, and the kids are going to mother's day out, we are refocusing! Please check out our new blog that Monique has worked so hard on. I think she is a very talented designer- most of the things you will see are her vision- and I love working with her! It is our fun way to work "two-gether" even across states! We love it, and it keeps our creative juices flowing!

Fun Filled Weekend!

We had such a nice weekend spending time with friends a family...
Friday night we had some fun playing outside at Su Su and G's and enjoyed some bbq chicken sandwiches. Yum! Saturday morning we went to watch Ella perform at her school fair, and then the kids had lots of fun doing fun fair-type things- like milking pretend cows!




Camille and Lila playing!



Elise and Ella "milked" the cow, and then got chocolate milk as a treat!



Saturday night we had a laid back night with the Mills. I did not do so great taking pictures (battling a cold and do NOT have my A-game!) so check out their blog for some cute pics and GREAT video of Myrt trying out the johnny jump up for the first time! Those things saved me with Lila and Bennett...it looks like Myrt is going to love it as much as they did! Too bad the Tigers didn't win for us!

Sunday we had a great time at church and then spent the day watching football! Yeah! At least the Saints came through for us!! Sunday evening we had a great visit with Emmy and Pop! They are getting ready to go to Europe for a month or so, and so they wanted to get some time in with the kids before they left...We found this picture on their memory card...I can't even remember when Elise looked like this!!! I feel like she looks a little like Bennett, a little like Lila, but mostly just like herself- our sweet little first born!



Emmy and Pop brought along 16 year old Boris, their sweet dog, and the kids loved playing with him! I don't know how excited he was! Here is a pic of all of them with Boris...



Someone was getting a little sleepy....



Little Lila, full of mischief!



Loves her "babies"!



Pop took Bennett on several walks to and from the mailbox! He did not want to come in!!



And, then as the night came to an end, one more round of ring-around-the-rosy!



We are so thankful for all of our family and friends! They FILL up our lives and our hearts!