EASTER!

So I was a little disappointed in Boston's first Easter but as Kent said to me over and over "It's about celebrating Christ's resurrection and not about the easter basket, outfit or treats!" Which is the truth and I'm guilty of concentrating on the wrong thing this year. I promised myself that I will be better about this next year and years to come.

I was a little late in getting the whole "EASTER" thing put together hence my disappointment of not getting the right outfit, the right easter basket resulting in not getting our easter eggs dyed on time. Oh well, it all turned out just fine and so here are a few pictures of our short lived Easter Sunday.

Dying the eggs before church (we have church at 12:30 so we have time to do stuff like this)

And the Easter shoot begins....

Boston didn't want to sit still (like always) so we handed him his pacifier & bottle and on the count of 3 we were going to take it away and get a quick shot. Well, every time on the count of three Boston was gone too!

Peace out ya'll!

Found the "just for looks not for Boston to eat" candy in his basket and sat there VERY content until I realized what he had!

I let him suck on it a little bit longer so I could atleast get ONE shot of him and his basket of goodies the Easter bunny brought!

PAPA CAME TO VISIT!

My dad called me earlier this week to inform me that he was headed to Houston Saturday/Sunday but wanted to come to Dallas Friday night/SaturDAY to visit! Of course we jumped at the chance to have him come and we are so glad that he came! He treated us to a nice dinner at La Hacienda Ranch (MEXICAN) Friday night and then took us to Cracker Barrel breakfast Saturday morning! I love having my dad around and being able to talk to him about life, the gospel, politics, and sports! Whether or not he's right or not, in my mind ever since I was a little girl, I always believe and trust the advice or knowledge he tells me! Thanks for coming to visit dad! Boston was SOOO glad you came and ALWAYS thrilled to see his PAPA!

See the resemblance?

Papa reading to Boston!

OUR SUNDAY AFTERNOONS!

On Sunday, Boston was walking around doing his on thing when Kent randomly made a "fart" noise. All the sudden Boston stopped in his tracks and repeated the same "fart" noise Kent made. He wasn't even facing Kent and didn't even turn to face him when he did it. He just made the noise and kept going. We thought this was HILARIOUS and did it again and once again he did it! We captured this hilarious moment on camera and had to post it! You may not think it's that funny but I guess being a parent the weirdest things your child does makes you laugh!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIDNEY!

The BIRTHDAY GIRL dressed in her new "skinny" dress Grandma gave her and with one of the presents we got her.

Saturday was Sidney's 7th BIRTHDAY! We were so happy to be able to celebrate it with her since Leslie and her just barely made the move to Dallas to work in Source's office! Saturday was Sidney's day to pick whatever she wanted to do. So what does a 7 year old want to do on her birthday?! Go to a SCIENCE MUSEUM! It was not as great as we expected it to be but Kent took her on a swan ride aka paddle boats, then we ate SUSHI (yes it was my FIRST experience and I actually liked it-thanks Leslie for picking out some good options and YES this is what this 7 year old wanted for her birthday dinner!), went to a place called "BONKERS" for Sid to run around and play in this huge play place then we headed back to our place for cake and ice cream! It really was a fun day and hopefully Sid had a good time even though it wasn't with all her friends and family! We love you Sid and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

This was Sidney's bday cake Leslie and her made---we found out that not using vegtable oil in cake batter makes it not so fluffly but it tasted GREAT! Sidney decorated it herself!

TOUGH TIMES FOR OUR LITTLE GUY

Boston officially has the WORST diaper rash EVER! Last night when I was changing his diaper he started SCREAMING the instant I wiped his bum. It was so hard to change his diaper but luckily we got through it. Every time he needs to be changed, it literally is a team effort between Kent and I to change and put desitin on him because he screams, flexis his legs, tries to roll over and lifts his butt up in the air! He must be in SOO much pain and I feel terrible! I just wish he would stop pooping so much. He literally has about 7-8 poopy diapers a day! It's terrible and I KNOW that's why he has a diaper rash. I bought a different kind of pamper's "SWIPER" wipes and hopefully it will help...we'll see! Any advice for TERRIBLE diaper rash or how do you stop him for doodooing so much!??

Speaking of the pain Boston is going through, I finally went today to get his blood drawn (I was supposed to go like 2 weeks ago!) to check for diabetes, anemia and one other thing but I forgot. Initially when we got there, everything was fine, Boston was happy and smiling at the nurses. Then they put the rubber band around his arm and restrained his arm to look for a vein. Well, number one Boston HATES having his arm restrained or even moved by anyone anyway and number two they tried it in BOTH arms and couldn't find a vein (must be like his mom because they always have a hard time finding my veins too) so they moved on to the finger prick! So now Boston has his arm restrained AND his fingers/hand restrained. By now he's screaming because just having himself restrained like that KILLS him. He's so strong and is trying to pull away that they nurse dropped the blood collector thing 3 times! Finally, she pricked him (which to him wasn't even the worse part he just hates people holding his arms/hands), got all the blood she needed, then Boston got lose and blood went EVERYWHERE! She finally got back a hold of him and was able to put this HUGE bandage over 2 of his fingers and by the time we were in the car he it ripped it off with blood getting every where! So when we got home, I put a bandage on which probably lasted 5 minutes but at least it was on long enough for the blood to stop! I feel bad for the little guy but I'm just glad it's over and now all we have to focus on is getting rid of the HORRIBLE rash!

NAME UPDATE!

Kristin and Chad FINALLY decided on a name for my nephew! They pulled one out of left field and didn't even choose from the list they had!

CHARLIE JOSEPH WITHERS!

Welcome to the world CHARLIE!

*sorry I have no more pictures to help me brag about how cute he is. Things have been a little busy in the Withers household and I haven't gotten any new pictures emailed to me yet!

BABY BOY IS BORN...and no NOT mine!

I just wanted to congratulate Kristin and Chad on the newest member of their family---BABY BOY (they don't have a name for him just yet--Max Joseph Withers or Samuel(sam) Joseph Withers)!!

DATE: March 11, 2008

TIME: 6:29 PM

WEIGHT: 8 lbs 10 oz (yes he already has rolls on his body!)
HEIGHT: 19.5 inches

I'm so excited and happy for them! Kristin went in yesterday around 10 am to be induced, her water was broke around noon and at 6:29 pm after 4 pushes the little guy (well rather LARGE) guy came right out! She makes it all seem sooooo easy! Rylee is THRILLED to be a big sister to her new little brother and I think Sophie is still too little to care as much! Kristin you look great and so happy! I personally think he looks more like Chad with a Bluth nose! I just want to hold him and kiss his chubby cheeks! CONGRATS YA'LL WE CAN'T WAIT TO MEET HIM IN A FEW WEEKS!!!!...oh and hurry up with that name!

INDIAN EGGS?

Yesterday, Kent said he wants to start a new tradition in our house that on Sundays he will make some kind of desert! He has SUCH a sweet tooth--me not so much so his sweet tooth doesn't get satisfied that often--so I think he finally decided to take matters into his own hands! Well, I am in the need to go grocery shopping (I always wait until I'm down to like NOTHING in the house before I go) so Kent didn't have alot of options yesterday. The one ingredient he needed in just about every recipe was EGGS and of course we had none. Kent being the optimist that he is goes and borrows eggs from our Indian neighbor....he only needed one but they insisted he take the rest of what they had---4 eggs total. Long story short, he made the cookies, they tasted great and we probably had one too many! Well at about 5 this morning, I wake up and Kent asks me what time it is and tells me that he is feeling AWFUL! He is shaking (literally the entire bed was moving from being so cold), aching and said that if he concentrated hard enough he could throw up! I wasn't feeling too hot myself! So I grab Kent a THIRD blanket on top of the down comforter and quilt he's already using, turn up the heat, grab the hot pad for him and turn off the fan. His shaking somewhat subsides, I'm feeling nauseous but finally roll back over and fall asleep hoping this mess would pass. Well this morning, Kent is laying on the couch still not wanting to move from feeling SOOO terrible, I'm weak and nauseous and Boston now ONCE AGAIN has ANOTHER runny nose! Honestly, Kent and I both agree we were poisoned by our neighbors EGGS and that's why they wanted to give us all four!!! They must have something different in those eggs that are making us feel this way! We were so appreciative they let us have some eggs but now not so much! These are the days I wish someone was here to tend to us and baby us and most of all watch Boston so we don't have to chase him around all day! But I guess that's part of being a parent--even when you're sick you never get a break!

HOUSE HUNTING
So now that we officially backed out of our house this week, we are once again on the search for a new home. Today we went out to get some more ideas of what is available to us. We found this house and we made an appointment to go look at it with the realtor on Monday!

TAGGING IT UP!

10 years ago:

• Let's see, I was 14. We had just moved back to Louisiana (which at the time I was SOO upset about) and I started school up at Parkview Baptist where I would be the next 5 years! I was struggling getting back into the swing of things in a new social environment. My 1st soccer season on the high school varsity had just ended (I think we lost in the state semi-finals that year) and I was looking forward to going to church dances and getting out of beehives...FINALLY!

5 Things on my to-do list today:

• Read to Boston
• Clean Dishes from last night since the drain was clogged AGAIN!
• Buy Boston some learning toys
• Finish cleaning down comforter
• Update Blog

5 Snacks I enjoy:

• Popcorn
• Chips and Guacamole
• Chips and Velveeta Dip
• Chips and 7 layer dip
• Anything Mexican

What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:

• I would be the good church goer that I am and pay my tithing--now taxes that's a different story! =) I would have my dad invest a huge chunk, buy a mansion and higher Kari to come decorate my house, buy vacation homes and other real estate in Mexico, Florida, Park City, Italy, New York City and Louisiana, buy fun toys like 4 wheelers, a boat, jet skis, etc. Donate money to a good cause, travel and go on an African safari......oh yeah and buy my range rover/escalade!

3 of my bad habits:

• Impatient
• Spending too much time blogging
• Addicted to TV

Places I've Lived:

• Colorado Springs, CO
• Columbus, Ohio
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Prospect (Louisville), Kentucky
• Provo, Utah
• Rexburg, Idaho
• Carrollton (Dallas), Texas
• Charlotte, North Carolina

Jobs that I have had:

• Babysitter back in the day
• Working for my dad at Hancock Bank
• Waitress at Cheeburger Cheeburger
• Western Watts
• Source Pest Control office girl

5 Things people don't know about me:

• I now play Halo with Kent at night.
• I love CHANGE--except for moving and meeting new people kinda change. I get sick of the same old house decor and want to buy all new or want to get a new car and I can't even imagine living in one house for YEARS on end! I just like to see something new and fresh for a change!
• I have a HUGE problem with sweaty palms and feet! Even when I'm freezing my hands will have water droplets on them--sick I know! I've heard you can get botox to stop the sweat and whenever we get that BILLION dollars as mentioned above, I'll have to get that done!
• My bed HAS to be made before I get in it at night even if for some reason it doesn't get made that day (which I can't STAND), I will make it right before we get into bed. I also hate it when Kent lays on the bed after I've already made it and moves the pillows or wrinkles the bedding!
• I hate clutter and if I've had something for a long time and never use it, no matter WHAT it is, I'll just toss it in the trash and I'll never think twice about it again. If you only KNEW the things I've thrown away!

I tag: Kiersten, Jamie, Ciara, Cassie, and Jennifer

SNOWED IN!

So once again, for the SECOND time this week it SNOWED! I don't understand where all this is coming from (so much for global warming Al Gore). I decided that this would just be a day of snuggling up and staying cozy! I let Boston stay in his pajamas all day and we read books
and watched movies (Baby Einstein...not much into Batman Begins yet) while cuddled up in blankets! Later, Kiers and Taylor dared the roads (which by the way the snow was TEN times worse by your house...so sorry to make you take the trip) and I whipped up crawfish fettuccine and brownies after the chillins were put to bed as we HALOED it up! Yes, Kiers and I attempted to join our husbands' online game playin---which I must say I think we enjoyed it more than they did. Kiers was the strong silent type while I just talked smack. Although we lost about every game, I would venture to say that by the last game of the night we had improved...and also maybe a little ADDICTED! GOOO ZELDA AND XENA (gamer names...you wouldn't understand)!

Cheesin it up for the camera...I finally got a picture that shows his 4 teeth up top that have been trying to come in for the past few months!

Dazed while watching Baby Einstein!

BUSY DAY!

I've been somewhat of a slacker lately when it comes to keeping the house up to par. I'm usually a freak when it comes to keeping the house clean and having everything in it's place. It literally stresses me out knowing things are a mess! So today, I finally decided it was time for me to get to work! Here's a list of things accomplished today:

Unloading Dishwasher

Loading Dishes

Cleaning BOTH bathrooms

Vacuuming entire apt.

Vacuuming bathrooms free from Stella hair and MY hair

Washing/Drying laundry

FOLDING laundry (approximately 5 loads...I HATE laundry)

Putting away clutter

Maybe looking at that list it doesn't seem too busy but trust me, I feel like I didn't get a break today-from playing with Boston while he's awake to cleaning up while he's napping! I've finally put him to bed and I have another load or two to take care of then I'll be able to feel a little bit better about my house! Maybe staying busy will bring Kent home faster tonight--he has been gone all day working and as soon as he got home tonight he walked right back out the door to go to a Dallas Stars hockey game! LUCKY GUY!

SSOOOO BIG!

Okay, I've been trying to get Boston on camera while walking with this toy for SOO long! He can do it just fine but whenever I turn on the camera he gets really excited and can't perform for me. He's obsessed with the camera and when he hears it turn on he smiles SOO big and tries to come towards it and loses all concentration on what he WAS doing. Anyway, I FINALLY got him walking with this toy today after 3 different takes! This first video is from like a month ago and I know maybe I'm a mean mom for showing this but this is what it's been like EVERYTIME I've recorded! ENJOY!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S......SNOWING?

There was all this talk about possible snow yesterday and of course I totally thought it was a far off guess! Since when are weather men right anyway? Well, sure enough I was proved wrong last night! Kent and I went to the mall last night and there was a little hail coming down. Well, about an hour or so later after we came out of the mall, sure enough there was snow on the ground! No, this was no Rexburg winter snow AT ALL but it did stick for a few hours and was really coming down on our drive home last night! A little bizarre to think of snow in Dallas first of all and then on top of the fact that we were having BEAUTIFUL 70 degree weather all weekend and then on Monday..BAM IT SNOWS! CRAZY! It was fun for last night but I'm ready to get back to that 70 degree weather again!

WIPING OUR HANDS FREE!

We officially backed out as of yesterday on our house! No turning back now!

ME? CRAFTY?

So if you know me, you know that I don't have a crafty bone in my body! I just truly don't have a knack for being creative nor do I have the patience to sit and scrapbook, sew (I've broken 3 sewing machines), redoing furniture or anything else along those lines. It's just NOT ME! I've come to terms with that and instead of the stress of making or fixing something--and trust me when I say it STRESSES ME OUT--I'd rather just spend more money and buy it. SO MUCH EASIER! So now that you understand that about me, you will understand why I'm so proud of myself with my little project these past few days while Kent's been gone. Kiersten came over on Tuesday, we went to Hobby Lobby, got our supplies and headed home to get to work! Okay, now once I show you what we did, don't laugh because of the NON-difficult level of work that some may think it is but to a NON CREATIVE/CRAFTY person this was really impressive!

WE PAINTED BOSTON'S AND ISABEL'S NAMES TO PUT IN THEIR ROOMS! NOW THAT'S HARD WORK! HA!

I PAINTED THESE BLOCKS TO PUT ON SOME SHELVES IN BOSTON'S ROOM--honestly, this wasn't the quickest, easiest thing to do--maybe for you pro's but not someone like me!

So that was my project! I know it might seem little but I'm happy and proud that I didn't go and buy his letters from PBK for $10 a piece! I think a spent just a little bit more than that for supplies, letters, and blocks! MARTHA STEWART HERE I COME! Actually, I'm done in the creative department for awhile.....

P.S. Hobby Lobby isn't a place that I've ever really been to and shopped around. I've been their a few times but just briefly and I never realized how much home decor they have. I got really excited to go back and pick up some things for my house! If you've never been (I'm sure most of you have and have known this FOREVER) go and take a look, there's some really cute stuff!

ON THE GO!
Boston was the BEST baby today! Lately it has been very difficult for me to leave the room while he's awake because Boston just wants to climb up on me or have me in his sight. But today, he just wanted to ROAM FREE! I would leave the room and come back and he'd be in the most random places--he was just going and going!

Chillin in Stella's bed

Peace out ya'll, I've got more to explore!

VITAMINS? YUCK!

So with this new "Best Life Diet," I'm supposed to take daily supplements. I have ALWAYS hated taking vitamins because my whole life, I've always gotten sick after taking them. I decided to give it another shot because I'm really trying hard to do everything it says to make sure it works as much as it can! Well, I bought vitamins yesterday, took one today, and again it didn't fail because within 20 minutes of taking it I felt nauseous! I don't know why this happens, probably because my body needs the vitamins and it isn't used to having such healthy things, but I don't know if I can do this! But I've decided to hold out for a week or so and see if things begin to change. Does this happen to anyone else?

CRAVING!!

Why is it that after my hard workouts everyday, that all I want afterwards is to stop at Jack and the Box on the way home and get an egg, sausage, and cheese croissant?!? I NEVER crave them ANY OTHER TIME ACCEPT when I get done with my workout! That's like 580 calories!!!

ALONE AGAIN!

Boston LOVED playing in Kent's suitcase today while he was packing!

We sent Kent off today for his monthly recruiting trip to Utah/Idaho! I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I hate it when he goes out of town! Seriously, at night I have SUCH a hard time sleeping and I always have my eyes and ears peeled for anything strange going on! I'm trying to get myself to relax more but I don't know if that's going to happen anytime soon!

AND IT BEGINS.....again

You may remember a previous post last year about me starting on "The Best Life Diet." Well, I did it for about 1 month...lost about 4 pounds and then with the holidays it messed me all up. So after my workout today, I told Kent that it is time to start up again and this time I'm making him do it with me for support and motivation. I'm a major advocate for this diet because it's not really a "DIET" it's more of a change of lifestyle to help you lose weight and keep it off and live a happier, healthier life. I've read alot of the book and I totally agree with everything Bob Greene has to say! If any of you are trying to lose weight, I highly reccommend trying this.

Anyway, there are 3 stages that you go through with this "diet" and I'm starting back over at the FIRST PHASE since I was such a slacker the past month+. I'm blogging this because it helps me stay more committed to it. So here are Kent and mine's first few steps for the next 4 weeks:

WEIGHT IN: Weight yourself for starting weight; no weighing in until atleast 4 weeks.
FOCUS: Moving more and changing your meal patterns
OBJECTIVES:

• Increase activity level
• Stop eating atleast two hours before bedtime (we've set this for 9:00 pm)
• Eat three meals, INCLUDING BREAKFAST (hard for me), plus atleast on snack daily
• Stay hydrated--48 ounces of water a day
• Eliminate alcohol (SOOO HARD! HA!)
• Bolster you diet with daily supplments

So there you have it, our new change of lifestyle is just beginning. Swimsuit season is JUST around the corner!!!!

LEARNING MORE EVERYDAY!

Boston can officially pull himself up on furniture....or anything for that matter! I think since it's a newly learned skill, that that is ALL he wants to do now. It cracks me up. If I'm just standing there he'll slowly pull himself up on my leg! Most of the time when I go in to get Boston from his naps, he's standing up on the side of his crib. Now that he's pulling himself up so much, he LOVES walking around on the furniture that much more. It's so funny because I think he thinks that he is able to walk all by himself but he's not quite there yet and he'll let go of the furniture, take one step then fall straight on his face! Is it bad that I think that this is funny? He never cries after, he'll just crawl to whatever he was trying to go towards and pull himself back up on it. It is crazy how fast they learn new skills at this age! Before I know it, he'll be walking!!! AHH!

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

Boston went in today for his 9 month checkup! Gosh I can't believe our little guy is 9 months already! I'm excited that Boston can officially eat meats (okay, maybe not quite a full steak yet) now and it's something new that he gets to try! No shots today!!!! I was SOO happy about that although we do have to go this week and get his blood taken. Here is where our guy stands right now:

WEIGHT: 22 lbs 73%

HEIGHT: 28 inches 50%

HEAD: 17.5 cm 45%

Boston hasn't gained as much weight as I thought he had! Maybe that's because he's becoming mobile and is now burning those calories! He is still staying about average with his height and his head has FINALLY started to get bigger! It was always in the 20th percentile and now it's almost average! I'm so proud of be little growing guy!

A FEW RANDOM SHOTS:

Auntie Kristin and Uncle Chad were SO sweet to let us borrow this fun little toy for a little while which Boston LOVES!

Boston is going through a "stage" (I hope it's a stage anyway) where he can not STAND it when I leave the room. I have to be able to be seen or else he cries! Sometimes I think it's kinda cute but other times it really does get stressful and annoying. Well, on this day I was really trying hard to finish all our laundry and everytime I'd walk away, he'd start crying. So I got creative and sat Boston in the clothes basket, slid him across the floor to the drier, piled all the clothes in his lap, and slid him back to the family room! He LOVED it!!

By the way his nose is really red in this picture..Kent says he gets that from me but I disagree!

Lovin on his footballs! He also HATES wearing clothes so after church I took off his sweater and pants and let him go...He LOVED the FREEDOM!

On Sunday, Kent lowered Boston's mattress because he's slowly trying to pull himself up on things and we thought it was about that time.

And once again...loving on his football! I promise I'm not lying when I say that whenever he eyes them in his room he crawls over to them and does just what he is doing in this picture. Future football player? Guess we'll see!

HOUSE UPDATE:

I haven't posted pictures of our house in awhile, maybe that's because we haven't been out there in awhile and maybe THAT'S because we are officially backing out.....

Crazy I know! LONG STORY! So about 2 or 3 weeks ago, I had really been contemplating our move out to Keller. I kept thinking I was just getting the jitters because we were set to close in about 6 weeks. But it kept coming back to my mind, so finally I went to Kent to talk about it and shared my feelings with him. I was just having serious doubts about settling out that way. I don't know who is familiar with Dallas (it's HUGE) but the area we were building in (Keller) is on the west side of Dallas or technically more north Ft. Worth. It's not a very central location for us since Kent works in Carrollton which is about 15 min north of downtown Dallas. Keller would be about a 30 minute+ drive NOT including the crazy traffic for Kent everyday. I knew this from the beginning, yes, but ignored that part of the issue and justified it. I would have to say the MAIN reason we chose to move out that way is because we have friends out there. It's always nice to have friends close by and that was really our deciding factor. If we didn't have friends out that way we would have NEVER even THOUGHT about moving out there. Kent and I are planning on spending the rest of our lives in Dallas, his job right now will never require us to move and he is planning on starting his own company here in about 2 years. Who knows how long our friends in Keller will be here---it could be 2, 5 or 10 years but WHO KNOWS! So for us, we are settling and I really feel strongly about settling in an area that I can still see us loving and living in for the rest of our lives and that side of Dallas isn't it for us. We started to go search for houses elsewhere and it felt like we were starting from the beginning all over again. But after much thought, prayer and fasting we really feel good about staying in this area for now. Houses are a little bit pricier here because it's closer to downtown Dallas but we stumbled across these cute homes (patio homes) on the border of Lewiville and Coppell which is about 10 minutes from Kent's work and much more central for us. Our plan now is to start building this home in a few months (we can't run our credit again right now or else it will get docked since we have already had it ran from our pre-approval and approval so we have to be patient and wait) and are hoping to be in by fall unless we get a good deal on a prebuilt....and as long as we don't change our minds again...HA!

Sorry if this is so long, complicating and boring. I tried to explain myself the best I could!

MY GROWING LITTLE GUY!

It's crazy how much babies grow and change over such a small period of time! On Monday, I was looking in Boston's mouth and I saw THREE MORE teeth that had broken through his top gums! It seems like he JUST got his 2 bottom teeth! He's getting SO big, SO fast!

I'm also a little sad because Boston was saying "Mama" for a few weeks (not addressing me but he could say it!) and now he has just suddenly stopped! Every now and then he'll hear him say "dada" but he mainly just says "baba!" He cracks me up because I KNOW he knows how to say it and I'll sit and say "MAMA MAMA" and he just looks and me and smiles and says "BABA BABA." It's like he's purposely not saying it! I guess I'll just have to sit and be patient...this isn't a sign of autism is it?!?

MARDI GRAS MAMBO, MAMBO!

Today is FAT TUESDAY or as most of you know it as MARDI GRAS!!! I'm a little upset that for the fourth year in a row, we are unable to go back home and be apart of these festivities (Kent and I were SO excited to be so close to home to go back home for this...maybe next year!). But since most of you don't know much about Mardi Gras, I decided to give you some fun facts about this fun, crazy celebration!

• The term Mardi Gras literally means "fat Tuesday" the day before Ash Wednesday (the day Catholics decide on something to give up or "fast" from until Easter--Lent).


• KREWES (organizations) were formed in the 1850's to preserve Mardi Gras through organizing, planning and management. These krewes continue to host a multitude of parades, balls and other Mardi Gras events--keeping traditions of beautiful floats, colorful throwing beads, and tasty king cakes alive as well.


• Official colors of Mardi Gras are purple (justice), green (faith), and gold (power).


• The carnival of Mardi Gras is celebrated throughout Louisiana.


• Mardi Gras attracts half a million visitors to the New Orleans area.

My mom sent us a king cake, like she does every year, on Friday and I really wanted to try to hold off eating most of it until Tuesday so we could have a little bit of Mardi Gras in our home on fat Tuesday. Well, we each had one piece and I think that it was down hill from there...we finished it that night!

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!

ATTACKED AGAIN!

I swear I'm the queen of getting PINK EYE! Two summers ago, I got pink eye not once, not twice, NOT three times BUT FOUR yes FOUR times!!! I was SO frustrated. I would clean EVERYTHING, steralize door knobs, wash sheets/pillows...I mean EVERYTHING but I'd still get it again and again! If anyone around me I know gets it, I'm BOUND to get it. Well at Christmas time, Boston got it probably from Kristin's girls who had it a week before. He must have touched toys or something that had it on it (this stuff is a killer and will attack over and over!). I was worried and had no DOUBT in my mind I'd get it. Well SURE ENOUGH I did! I thought I was in the clear because it had been about 2 1/2 weeks since I had it but I was COMPLETELY wrong! Last Saturday, I woke up and noticed that my eye wasn't blood shot from being so tired but that it was PINK EYE AGAIN with gunk all in my eye! UGH! This is the most FRUSTRATING thing ever. I hope this doesn't end up like my life 2 summers ago...I think I'm going to die with pink eye!

TO KANSAS AND BACK!

Kent went out of town again this past week for recruiting (more like snowboarding and fun with the recruits) and it just happened to be the same weekend Kristin was having her babyshower for her little guy and she also held off having Rylee's birthday party that same weekend! It worked out PERFECT! So of course, instead of sitting around lonely for a week, my mom flew to Dallas then SO KINDLY drove up with Boston and me to Kansas City (I was going to fly but Kristin found Boston's rug for his room 50% off at the PBK outlet so I had to have a way to get it back). It was a fun weekend spent with the family although I must admit I don't think I'll be driving anywhere soon with Boston---life in driving long distance in the car with Boston isn't always so pleasant anymore!