Story Time

I LOVE it when Andi tells me stories...she is such a great storyteller!  I love all the drama involved with her stories.  This is a story about Ariel.  She told me the whole story first & then I asked her if she would tell it to me again while I videoed her and she agreed! 

Little league Opening Day

Little league opening day...the day the kids look forward to for weeks & the day I dread every year.  I really just hate parades.  Especially small town parades where the only people watching are the parents of the kids in the parade.  It just seems like so much work for something so silly...okay, done with my ranting, because my kiddos absolutely loved it! It was Dawson's 3rd tball parade, but Andi's 1st and she was mesmerized by the whole thing!

How cute!  Posing for Mom really early in the morning before we met to decorate the floats.

 Dawson's team float

 The tigers growling

 Andi's team float, which actually won 3rd place, obviously this was not the float I helped decorate!

 Both floats going by..'Hi Mom!'

And here are the kids pennants for this season!  Geaux Tigers AND Go Beavers!

Kickety Kickball Tournament

At the first of March, our live group from church had a super fun evening competing in a Kickball Tournament.  It was such a gorgeous evening with perfect weather. Just slightly chilly...then COLD when the sun went down.

 Here's us!  We were the black team.

 The Hunt's were the blue team.

 And the Jones's were the red team. (Maggie still does not like her picture taken)

 Here is Cameron ALMOST getting Andi out at second base.

And Dawson turn 'at bat'.

What a fun evening with wonderful friends!

Go Western Day!

Go Western Day 2012

Luckily, for my kids, their schools had go western day on different days.  I say luckily because Andi had outgrown her boots & had to wear Dawsons!

 Andi was super excited because her American Girl doll has a matching western dress.  She even made me french braid her dolls hair.

And, here's my little cowboy.  He is so funny when he wears a cowboy hat because he likes to pull it way down pushing his ears out...that's Dawson!

Yehaw!

Father / Daughter Banquet 2012

Every year, our church hosts the most adorable Father/ Daughter banquet.  After I signed them up, the church mailed the banquet tickets to Andi...boy was she ever excited!  She kept the tickets in her room & started asking weeks in advance 'When is my date with Daddy?'  When the big day finally arrived, she was beyond adorable.  She decided all by herself that Daddy could not see her until she was completely ready.  I rolled her hair, painted her nails really special, and she got to wear her new Easter dress.  Then for her BIG reveal, she had Derek stand in the middle of the living room so he could see her as she walked in!  It was priceless.  And of course it made me cry.  She ate up every minute of it.

 Derek literally drove ALL OVER looking for the perfect corsage.

 But you can tell it was totally worth all the effort...look at that face!

 Close up of the corsage & the special butterfly nails

Daddy escorting her to the car.

Adorable right?

But, you know what was equally adorable?  My sweet husband stressing & concentrating SO hard to write her a perfect letter.  The Dad's were asked to bring their little girls a letter about how much they love them & there was a special time during the evening that Derek got to read the letter to her.  He wrote several drafts & I remember him calling out to me 'Do you think she will understand the words 'creative nature'?'  So cute.

During the banquet, she was even chosen to go up on stage to participate in a Father/Daughter questionnaire game.  (similar to the Newly Wed game) The daughters answered a few questions & then the Dad's had to guess what their daughters answers were.  I have no idea if Derek guessed correctly, but here were Andi's responses:

Question: What is Dad's full name?

Andi said: I don't remember

Question: What are Dad's favorite things to eat?

Andi said: Green beans

Question: What does Dad do for fun?

Andi said: play with me

Question: What does Dad do at work?

Andi said: He told me he did pictures at work. (I think she got her parents confused)

Question: How old is Dad

Andi said: I dunno (with a big shoulder shrug)

Question: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

Andi said: Sometimes I like to play by myslef.

Question: How long have you known Dad?

Andi said: I wasn't born when I met him.

Question: Where did you and Dad meet?

Andi said: At the store

Other favorite memories from the night...Miss Emma Porter coloring the walls all the way around the worship center with crayon & Miss Jordan Kirksey telling everyone that her Dad's favorite place to go was 'the drink store.'  Ryan claims she meant Sonic.

That night when I put her to bed, I asked her 'What was your favorite part of the banquet?'  She said 'Going with Daddy because he was just SO handsome.'

Spring T-Ball

There is nothing more exciting than watching your kids play t-ball!  And, this season, we are doing double duty...both of my munchkins are playing!  I keep saying we should just pitch a tent & live at the ballpark for the next few months.  For the first time ever, the league printed a little league program and each team had to submit a team ad to go in it.  Well, I was SUPER excited, because designing program ads are one of my most favorite things to do as a graphic designer!  Here are the ads I layed out for the program.

 Andi's team ad

 Dawson's team ad

The kids personal ad from all the family...I know I am way biased, both those kiddos sure are cute.

Visiting GG

Here are some cute pics of Andi & my Grandma.  My kiddos call her GG, which is short for Great Grandma. She just turned 94!  Andi was totally in her element this day, and entertained GG by singing, dancing, telling stories & then playing beauty salon.  My Grandma loved every minute of it and was a great sport while her hair was being done!

 I didn't have my camera with me, so I had to use my cell phone to take pics...and this was when I still had my OLD cell phone and it didn't take very good pictures.  But at least I was still able to capture it.

 Look GG...isn't it beautiful?

Dawson starts tennis lessons!

Courtesy of Granna & Gramps, Dawson started taking tennis lessons!  He LOVES it!  And, he is really going to be a good little player.  He will be following in his Daddy's footsteps because Derek is a great tennis player.  Granna is also a great tennis player & she still plays at the downtown racquet club.  The best part is that Dawson is taking tennis lessons from the same guy that Derek took lessons from!

 Dawson & David during a lesson

Practicing his backhand!

 So cute!

Church Christmas Musical

This year, my boy was old enough to participate in the children's musical at church.  If were up to him, he WOULD NOT have done it.  He is just so shy about being on stage.  But, I made him do it anyway!  He really did enjoy doing it, even if he was a nervous wreck.  Hopefully, each year he will get less nervous.

 The whole group singing one of the songs (Dawson is on the far left)

 Another shot of the whole group on stage (Dawson is on the far right)

And, here are some individual shots of him during the show!  For some reason, I can't find any of the videos we took that night...but I will post one later if I find it.

Christmas Performance

Andi's dance studio, Chara Christian Dance Academy, does Christmas performances every year at all the local nursing homes.  Andi had two different performances this year at two different nursing homes, but I just wanted to post this video of her super cute tap performance!  

Playing in the MUD

The kids had been playing outside one afternoon, when Dawson came in & asked if they could play outside in just their undies.  He wouldn't tell my why...but I just said something like 'Uh...okay...I guess...it's a little cold outside for that...oh well.'  A few minutes later I found out what they were up to, when I saw this out the kitchen window!  I know, I know...they will kill me for posting these someday.  But they are just so funny! I snapped all of these first few through the window so that they wouldn't know I was there.

 BIG mud puddle under the swing, turned into afternoon art project.

 It's all fun & games until your brother throws mud in your eye.

 'I'm going to tell Mom!'

 'Okay, nevermind.  I'm over it.'

Once I went outside, Andi was ALL ABOUT me taking her pic in really weird poses.  I felt like it was a photo shoot for the show America's Next Top Model because they are always doing really weird shoots.  My Andi girl is so crazy!  And cleaning them up was a complete disaster.  It was way too cold to hose them off outside, so my poor bathtub got the brunt of it.  Fun times at the Jeanes residence.

Batgirl

Here is a funny video of Batgirl protecting our house!

Magic Elf mischeif 2011

Here are a few pictures showing my favorite things the magic elves did this year!

 They decorated the living room & hung upside down one night.

 They moved all of Andi's doll furniture under the Christmas tree & had hot cocoa with some friends.

 They dyed our milk green.

 They unrolled wrapping paper & made a big mess.

They got out the kids gloves and played baseball.

 And then on Christmas Eve, they wrapped our tree in toilet paper...gotta love those crazy elves!

3 days of Christmas 2011

My kids are SO spoiled...every year they get THREE full days of Christmas! DAY ONE: Christmas Eve. My side of the family came over and spent the day with us, here are the cousins (minus Darin) waiting to start opening presents.

The BABY ALIVE SAGA: she was so excited to get this doll...she gave the baby a bottle, fed her some food, and then checked her diaper...YUP it was dirty!  So, she decided to smell it (it has no odor), but it made her gag anyway!  We all could not stop laughing about this doll, but Dawson thought it was extrememly hilarious!

I was trying to take a picture of the boys on the couch, but she kept jumping in front of my camera!

Can you feel the music?  Of course, they all dressed up & Andi did a special Christmas performance.

The boys always love to dress up as super heros & fight

 Mamaw & Mark

 Papaw & Ann

 Us girls making cookies for Santa

 Opening a present early on Christmas Eve from under the tree

 reading books with Hettie the night before Christmas

putting out their milk & cookies

 The loot from Santa

 DAY TWO: Christmas Day.  The kiddos LOVED the Rudolph noses that were in their stockings, and they loved wearing their Elf jammies...my kiddos just love dressing up. We hung out at our house all day Christmas and we had Hettie and Brett with us.

Uncle Brett stayed over really late on Christmas Eve (we put him to work putting stuff together :-), so he just crashed in the manroom...the animals enjoyed it!

 Since Dawson can read now, I sent the kiddos on their first scavenger hunt!  They loved it, so fun. At the end of their scavenger hunt, they found their new cameras in the microwave.  (Ignore my messy freezer!)

Here is a crazy video of Derek chasing them around the house during the hunt!

 Taking Dad's picture...the cameras were hilarious!  They have taken some really funny pictures & videos that I need to download off their cameras. (That could be a blog post all in itself!)

 Goofing off with Uncle Brett

 Chef Andi with her new kitchen.  DAY THREE: That night we spent the night at Granna & Gramps house so we could have a Christmas morning all over again at their house!

Sweet kiddos in their Christmas jammies!  I love Christmas jammies, and I am usually guilty of buying 2 or 3 different ones each year! 

 Dawson got a new tennis racquet!

 Dawson & Hettie

Granna opening her Ipad!

 A little family Twister time...gift from Hettie

And, playing outside with their new scooters.  What a super GREAT Christmas!