I take a lot of pictures.
And I'm not talking cell phone pictures. I'm old school. I lug around a giant camera and camera bag to just about every special event. In fact, just the other day, as I pulled my camera out from its mammoth, protective case, someone mentioned, "Wow, I haven't seen one of those in a while!" Even with three kids,
a diaper bag, a colossal "mom purse" and usually some type of dinosaur, transformer toy and at least 6 hot wheels in tow, I still bring my camera with me whenever I can. I do
this for one reason. Well, three, depending on how you look at it. I want you
to remember your childhood and everyone that is a part of it. I want you to see
the fun we had together as a family. I want you to know how loved you are by grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. I want you to keep those captured moments
in your memory, and I want each happy image to take you back to a happy time in
your life because we have a lot of fun together, the five of us. I want you to be as thankful as I am to God, because we have a really good life.
We have a pretty busy lifestyle now. Between having a
one-year-old, and all of the activities that Jasper and Sam are part of, I
can't even pretend to keep up anymore. But what's great is how much fun we're
having with you three. I want you to remember that. I want the boys to remember
Bianca's first snoball, and the faces she made. I want you all to remember the
things we did on vacation that made us laugh. I want you to remember how much
fun we had dressing up in family costumes at Mardi Gras. I want you to remember
the family members that came to support you, Jasper at your first piano
recital, and then at your baseball games. I want you to know, without a doubt,
how loved you are by our support system. And hopefully, a very long time from
now, when we're gone, you have these pictures of us and they make you smile.
I have some catching up to do when it comes to my
family blogging. Luckily, I have the pictures to remind me.
Mardi Gras wasn't quite the same this year. Don't get
me wrong, it was fun, and our costumes were fabulous as usual. Granny and Sammy even made the front page of the newspaper on Lundi Gras Day! But I definitely
missed my original Mardi Gras partner in crime; the only person willing to camp
out with me for Endymion back in the 90s, before it was the popular thing to
do. We missed you Aunt Carol, but there's always next year, and I expect you'll
be back in the game for Mardi Gras 2019. I hope that our Mardi Gras preparation
and follow-through made you proud when looking at our pictures!
You gotta love these goofballs. Happy 6 months to Bianca!
The St. Patrick's Day Metairie Road Parade was not for the feint of heart this year. I say this because the morning consisted of a torrential downpour, one in which a tent and several golf umbrellas STILL could not keep us all dry, most likely because of the 22 mph winds that came out of nowhere. But once the storm passed, the parade rolled, and fun was had by all. Cabbages, carrots and stuffed animals GALORE!!
Our "Adult Day" didn't exactly go as planned this year, meaning we brought all three kiddos to the Irish Channel Parade. Luckily, Uncle Trey and Aunt Jess supplied the donuts, the cookie cake and the bouncy balls, and this year's Adult Day was fun for ALL ages. Bianca's Nanny and Parran came too, and supplied Bianca with enough hugs and kisses to last her for a year!
On Good Friday, Jeremy took us all to Jean Lafitte National Park. Y'all. There were so many snakes and alligators! What an awesome place! We were doing great up until Sam fell in the water. Luckily, the alligators wanted nothing to do with him. Despite Sam getting soaked, we all loved the trip out there and the weather was perfect. We need to make this a family tradition, minus Sam falling in swamp water of course.
We hosted another fantastic Easter Egg Hunt on Florida Blvd., with several hundred eggs, bunny hop races and the Easter Bunny himself! Uncle Kevin couldn't wait to relive his mascot days and dress up as the Easter Bunny for us. He hopped all over the place and all the kids were excited to see him. I'm not sure who had more fun--the kids or Uncle Kevin.
Bianca enjoyed her first snoball on 3/10/18 at Sal's on Metairie Road. It was Nectar Cream. Since then, we've visited Sal's probably a dozen times and we've learned that she loves all flavors equally, especially the ice cream stuffed snoballs. And sh gives Daddy dirty looks when he doesn't share. That's my girl!
With support from our family and good friends, Jasper and Sam won Vice Principal for the day for selling the second most raffle tickets in the entire school. Along with our friend, Principal Jackson, they had a great day, being in charge, making big decisions for the school, eating Cane's for lunch, and basically doing whatever they wanted all day, all while looking very dapper in the seer suckers.
I have a feeling these, along with Mardi Gras, are the first of MANY pictures of Sam and his friend, Patrick. They've become inseparable this year! Both Jasper and Sam performed at Old Metairie Fest, 4/15/18. Sam sang and Jasper played the drums. The day was super long and exhausting, and I was sick most of the following week, including my birthday. But it was fun family and friend time. We really love being part of our St. Francis Community.
The more kids we have, the more Jeremy and I are having to split up. Jasper is now "a big kid on the 2nd floor" at SFX, which means he goes to Pontiff Playground for Field Day. So Sam and I stayed back at school with his Pre-K buddies while Jeremy went with Jasper's class. Sam didn't miss Brother at all...
Cub Scouts. Insert eye roll here. All I can say, without causing my blood pressure to spike is, I'm really, really glad Tiger Scouts den meetings are over. Jasper, I am all about camping and hiking and building things with you, but I will NEVER, I repeat, NEVER be a den leader EVER again. There's a reason I'm not a teacher. In fact, thank you to all the teachers out there. I am AMAZED at the amount of patience you have. I'm sorry son, but I am just not made for that kind of work.
With that said, Pinewood Derby Day was actually a lot of fun. You and Grandpa did a great job on your car. I loved watching both of you cheer as your car raced down the track. You won 5th place among the Tigers. We were so proud!
Jasper, you crossed over from Tiger Scout to Wolf on May 12th. You earned a ton of loops, along with your Tiger Badge. As chaotic as scouts was for us this year, I hope you'll stick with it moving forward, make and keep good friends, and learn good life lessons from it. Your Dad and I look forward to many more camping trips with you, Sam and Bianca.
About a year ago, I booked one of the cabins in Fountainbleu State Park for us to spend the weekend on the water as a birthday present for both Jeremy and me. What a nice getaway! We basically went out to eat for every meal, and took the boys fishing and crabbing while Bianca relaxed in her stroller. If I remember correctly, we caught a total of 19 crabs, albeit, tiny ones, but a crab's a crab! Daddy's crab traps and turkey necks worked great! It was really nice being, for the most part, unplugged.
Mother's Day was pretty perfect. Jeremy cooked a fantastic breakfast for all of us. After a nice, quiet morning with Mom, Aunt Carol and Aunt Debbie, we drove the kiddos to Popp's Fountain in City Park. The boys circled the Fountain on their scooters while Jeremy, Bianca and I sat and enjoyed the view and the breeze.
Added bonus: He bought me a new camera!
So much happens in April. We have birthdays, fairs, parties, festivals, etc. Every weekend was jam packed. So we put off all birthday celebrations til late May, but we still did it big by going to Commander's Palace. This was Bianca's first time at Commander's.
Jasper had his first piano recital at Lafargue on 6/2/18. The recital room was overcrowded and hot, but our wonderful family still came out to see our boy. He played great. And how lucky he is to have such supportive people in his life. His teacher says "he's a natural."
With three kids, "flying" to vacation is not really financially possible right now, so we improvise, and find interesting places to visit that aren't too far from home. In June, we took the kids to Hot Springs, Arkansas for our family vacation. And while it was A LOT of work, it was also A LOT of fun. We visited a splash park, rented a pontoon boat and rode the Big Bubba, took in a magic show where Jasper got invited on stage, went to an alligator farm and held alligators, toured a science museum that featured a dinosaur exhibit, took a tour on the duck boat and drove to Little Missouri Falls to splash around in the waterfalls. Jeremy and I did as much relaxing as we could with three kids--which lasted about 5 minutes whilethe boys swam and Bianca sat still, and while "vacations" aren't quite like they used to be, we couldn't have asked for a better family experience.
Girls' nights with my girlfriends have become few and far between. With so many kids between 4 of the 6 of us, sometimes, it's easier to just take a day and get together with everyone. And I'm so glad we did! Granny supplied the pool and popsicles, and all we had to do was show up!
In July, we welcomed the newest Starr to the family, Dakota Michael-Nelson Starr.
Congrats Uncle Neil and Aunt Tia.
We've been LOVING hanging out with the Nolans. In July, we got together to celebrate Patrick's 4th birthday and enjoy a fun Sunday, swimming at Granny's yet again. Lucky for us, she doesn't get tired of us and all of our friends! Happy Birthday Patrick!
How has it already been a year? We celebrated Bianca's first birthday at Casey's snoball stand. She ate most of Daddy's and Granny's snoballs, but neither seemed to mind too much. We also practiced our walking skills. Considering that she only started crawling at 11 months, I have a feeling we have a ways to go when it comes to walking. I'm in no rush.
Birthday pics of our birthday girl and her flamingo party! Happy first birthday Bianca!
And just like that, it's the start of another new school year. Jasper started 2nd Grade in Mrs. Batt's class on 8/16/18 and Sam started PK4 in Mrs. Jane's class on 8/20/18. So far, so good. But we're still less than a month in...
I wish I had more time to write as much as I did when we had just one, to describe each of Sam's silly expressions one by one, to mention all of Bianca's firsts, from teething to talking. I just don't have enough time to reflect on those things like I did when we were a smaller family. At a glance though, I'll try.
Jasper, you are the light of our family. Sure, you make mistakes and you're not perfect, but everybody makes mistakes and nobody is perfect. Your kindness is admirable. You have such a positive and optimistic spirit, and it makes me appreciate life more. Your constant silliness and laughter lifts us up more often than you realize. Sometimes it drives us nuts too, but we wouldn't want you to be any other way. You made me so proud last week after church when one of the kids threw toys all over the cry room and you immediately went into action picking them up before I could even ask. I told you how proud I was of you and you responded, "Just because my friends aren't listening and behaving doesn't mean I can't. I can choose to do the right thing." Buddy, you earned some major points in that moment. It's finally sinking in!
Sam. Oh my hilarious, moody little night-owl. When you smile, our hearts melt. What's scary about this is that you know exactly what looks to give to get what you want. Whether it's another piece of candy, or a coke when it's already 8pm, I'm a sucker for that pouty little face. It's getting harder and harder to pick you up and hold you, but I still do it when you ask. You are still keeping Jasper up late every night. You refuse to sleep in your own bunk bed, so the two of you sleep in the top bunk together. I know I should probably separate the two of you, but I love that you're close. As loud as I yell when it's 10pm on a Tuesday night and you're still giggling and talking, I secretly love hearing those giggles.You move at your own pace. Slow. And as hard as that is for me to adjust to, you force me to stop and appreciate more moments with you. I love that you ask for kisses so often and want extra hugs, even if it's to avoid bedtime. Every once in a while, when I look back at you in the car, you tell me, "Mommy, you're pretty." I promise to soak up your love and hugs as much as I can because I'm not sure if or when they'll dissipate. Hopefully, never.
Bianca, I'm sure I've already said this, but you fit so perfectly into our family. Your brothers adore you. Every morning, they still rush in with us to help pick out your socks. They love to play with you and pull out ALL of your toys. I especially love that they pick up your toys when you drop them, because, let's be honest, I was over that game when Jasper was your age. You are still such an easy baby. You ride around in your stroller as if you're the queen of the Mardi Gras, sitting up straight and smiling at everyone. You love your sleep, especially on Saturday mornings. You love being held, particularly by Daddy. He's your favorite. You pretty much still only say dada and dad-ee. You've got four teeth so far, and you're still not quite walking. But you've been taking several steps. You crawled right around 10 months, then you took your first steps a few weeks later, with help from Daddy. You like standing up and marching in place, but you don't quite get the concept of walking yet. You are crawling all over the place though, trying to catch up with Sam and Jasper wherever they're going. You weigh 24 lbs. and I'm so sorry, but you definitely have my thighs.
We love you three.
Football Season is next. GEAUX TIGERS!
