they're back . . .

happy weekend!

all good things must come to an end . . .

life the past 2 weeks has been a breeze. little miss and buddy are at their nana and pops. when you are used to life with 4 . . . 2 is like a walk in the park. there has been less fighting, screaming, crying. cleaning the house is easy. going to a restaurant is easy. going to the store is easy. getting out of the house is easy.

today we are going to meet nana, little miss, and buddy 1/2 way between here and there.

image from nana's iphone

it really has been a good week and a half. but when your are used to life with 4 . . . walking in the park with 2 is quite lonely! we miss our big sister and our baby brother a lot. even though this good thing has come to an end . . . being all together again will be great!

the best i could get . . .

i tried to get a really cute pic of the girls in their new and funky patriotic dresses. but this is what i got . . .

a grumpy brown eyed girl . . .

with very little of her dress in the picture.

and a sleeping beauty . . .

with her arm covering up the cutest part of the dress.

yes . . . she slept in her clothes from the day before.
and no . . . it wasn't the first time that has happened.

day dreams . . .

someday . . .

i want to live in a beautiful old house. in a small town. close to the beach.

i want to drive an old car. a cool old car.
sean will want an old car too. an old classic pickup.

our children will want to participate in the neighborhood parades. we will decorate their bikes and wagon for the parade.

i will spend my free time shopping. in quirky antique stores. to furnish our beautiful old house.
sean and i will share loft space. above the quirky antique store. he will have his office space.
and i will have mine. mine will be a photography studio. and a community art center for kids.
someday all of this might come true . . . but for now it's just what i day dream about.

what do you day dream about?

all photos via flickr
house. wagon. truck. parade. store. office. studio.

he would definitely get my vote . . .

after all . . . we did go to the same high school!

you can read the article here.

a late lunch . . .

sometimes sean will eat a late lunch because of his unpredictable work schedule. after learning about late lunches . . . our little shrimp loves to have a late lunch herself. friday, sean and i took the 2 little ones that are home with us on a {late} lunch date to superior grill. it was delish!

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we thought they would enjoy a kiddie pina colada . . .
but we were wrong and i got to enjoy 2 kiddie pina colodas!

but this little brown eyed girl sure did enjoy using the cherry as a spoon for the whipped topping!

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sleeping beauty . . .

let freedom ring . . .

chalk drawing on sidewalk at the magic house
happy
fourth
of
july!

seeing stars {and stripes} . . .

i have a little something in the works for our 2 little sparklers that are home for the 4th . . .

stay tuned!

shrimp is famous . . .

. . . check it

and while your there . . . check out all of the adorable things paperlili has to offer!! i am a big fan of paperlili shirts . . . shrimp's glitter glam shirt is her go to shirt! we have several paperlili shirts between shrimp and buddy . . . and are about to have one more as a starting big school gift for little miss!

this pretty much sums it all up . . .

a recap . . .

here is a quick recap of our wonderful weekend in st. louis . . .

we celebrated a special 3 yr old's birthday!

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we went to the magic house!

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and the zoo!

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and ted drewes!

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and then we headed back to new orleans . . . with only little shrimp and our brown eyed girl!

i can't take credit for the idea . . .

but i sure do love how it turned out!

we waited to give my dad his father's day present until we were together in st. louis this weekend . . .

and i'm pretty sure he loved it too!

(i found my inspiration for this somewhere on the www . . . but i can't remember where!)

the {perfect} weekend . . .

we made a quick trip to st. louis this weekend to see my family! all of us getting together doesn't happen very often. we are in new orleans . . . my oldest brother is in st. louis, mo . . . and my parents and other big brother are in springfield, mo . . . so it's hard to get us all in one spot at the same time. so this weekend we made the trip to st. louis and the springfield people made the trip . . . and we spent the whole weekend together. it doesn't get any better than that! and to top it off . . . we came home with only 2 of the little ones. little miss and our little buddy man are at their nana and pops for a week or so getting really spoiled having a lot of fun!

i have a bunch of photos from the weekend that i will be posting . . . hopefully sooner than later!

oh . . . and we had family pictures taken while we were there! my family hasn't had a family picture taken since i was about 1 or 2-ish years old! my parents have been wanting to get a family picture for a long . . . long . . . long time! and it finally happend! i cannot wait to see them!

little miss couture . . .

big ideas in the works . . .

she has a vision . . .

making measurements . . .

adding the finishing touches . . .

and a couture dress by little miss is complete!

start to finish . . . this was all little miss!

miss wants shrimp to wear this to VBS today . . .

shrimp said, "do i have to?"

did your mother actually let you out of the house looking like that . . .

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well actually she did let them out of the house looking like that . . .


and actually . . .

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the mother and father went out of the house looking like that too!

and of course they couldn't leave this little one out of the fun . . .

he had to sport a faux hawk to get in on the silly sunday hair day!

are you wondering why we had crazy hair and actually left the house?

well this is how it all came about . . .

brown eyes wanted crazy hair . . .

that turned into shrimp wanting crazy hair too . . .

and that turned into little miss wanting crazy hair too . . .

we were about to leave for lunch on father's day and . . .

the 3 crazy girls said . . .

"mommy and daddy . . . you have to have crazy hair too!"

and when you have 3 little girls that are as cute as ours . . .

it's hard to say "no!"

and when you live in new orleans . . .

you can pretty much wear whatever you want . . .

and look as crazy as you want . . .

and never get looked at like you are crazy!

so we let our hair down made our hair crazy . . .

and enjoyed our lunch on frenchman street!

the magical adventure . . .

last week, little miss went to an all day camp at one of our favorite places . . . the louisiana children's museum! the camp was all about acting and production. i was so proud of her because she didn't know one person at the camp but each morning she went in with a smile on her face! the last day of camp they showed off what they had worked on all week. the kids put on the entire production . . . set design, script, program design, costumes! their play was called the magical adventure . . . a classroom goes on a field trip to the zoo and their imagination takes them into the tiger cage as pirates and fairies. it was so cute . . . and really great considering the campers did it pretty much all on their own!

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lots of love letters . . .

little girls always have a special kind of love for their daddy . . . and these little girls are no different! their hearts are filled full with love for their daddy and their pops, and papa!

i am so excited to see the bonds that develop between our little buddy and the big guys in his life!

dear daddy, pops, and papa,
i can't wait to get a little bigger so i can do 'guy' things with you! my sisters are fun . . . but i'm ready for some boy time!
love,
s (little buddy)

*********

dear daddy,
i love you.
love,
o (brown eyes)

dear pops,
i love you. i miss you.
love,
o (brown eyes)

dear papa,
i love you.
love,
o (brown eyes)

*********

dear daddy,
i love you. you're the best cooker. happy father's day.
i love you,
i (little shrimp)

dear pops,
i love when you make pancakes. i love you. i miss you. i love you.
love,
i (little shrimp)

dear papa,
i love you. i love coming to your house.
love,
i (little shrimp)

*********

dear daddy,
i love you daddy. i love you so much. i like going to the park with you. you're a good daddy because you love me.
love,
d (little miss)

dear pops,
i love you and miss you 100! i can't wait to come to your house and swing with you.
love,
d (little miss)

dear papa,
i love to sleep over at your house. i love you.
love,
d (little miss)

*********

dear dad,
we are so blessed to have a father like you! you always have shown us love, patience, and understanding . . . and of course you have taught us that you can never have too much fun! i wish we could spend father's day together . . . but next weekend will be here before we know it! i hope you have a wonderful day and get some r&r! you deserve a day full of relaxation! thank you for being such a great dad and a awesome pops to all the grandkids!! they couldn't ask for a better pops!
i love and miss you!
em

dear sean,
thank you for being such a wonderful daddy to our little ones. my favorite part of the day is when i hear you pull up from work, tell the kids you are home, and see the sparkle in their eye as they run to see who can open the door for you first! thank you for providing us with so much. you are one hard working man and we are so thankful for that! our children are so fortunate to have you as their daddy . . . and i am so blessed to have you as my husband! happy father's day!
love forever and always,
em

dear mr. neil,
thank you so much for raising sean to be such a wonderful man! we couldn't ask for a better daddy or husband! our children love their papa so much and are so fortunate to have you! happy father's day! we hope you have a wonderful dad's day!
love,
em

happy father's day dads!

21 questions with daddy . . .

i did this little interview with the girls about me and wanted to do the same for their daddy.

o - brown eyes (2 yrs 10 1/2 months)
i - shrimp (4 years 1 month)
d - little miss (5 years 9 1/2 months)

what is something that daddy always says to you?
o - be nice
i - stop eating your boogers
d - i love you

what makes daddy happy?
o - nuffing
i - when we play with each other
d - saying i love you

what makes daddy sad?
o - nuffing
i - when we don't play with each other
d - saying i don't love you

what does daddy do to make you laugh?
o - nuffing
i - shows us a silly face
d - make funny faces

what your daddy like as a child?
o - nuffing
i - a rock star
d - a movie start

how old is your daddy?
o - i don't know
i - 32
d - 23

how tall is your daddy?
o - big
i - SO big!
d - large

what is your daddy's favorite thing to do?
o - nuffing
i - work
d - watch football

what does daddy do when your not around?
o - i don't know
i - clean (little miss' response to that . . . "bella . . . he does NOT clean!!)
d - go to work

if your daddy becomes famous, what will it be for?
o - i don't know
i - i don't know
d - be a famous star

what is daddy really good at?
o - i don't know
i - playing the kuitar (aka guitar)
d - football

what is daddy not really good at?
o - nuffing
i - make food
d - driving

what does your daddy do for his job?
o - nuffin'
i - make money
d - construction worker

what is daddy's favorite food?
o - not yogurt. just banilla yogurt. not ice cream yogurt.
i - salad
d - green beans

what makes daddy proud?
o - nuffing
i - when we make him a picture
d - when i say please can i have water

if daddy were a cartoon character, who would he be?
o - nuffing
i - elmo
d - spongebob

what do you and your daddy do together?
o - nuffing. i don't know.
i - play at the park
d - goin' on a bike ride

how are you daddy the same?
o - ummmm . . . nuffing
i - we play hide and go seek
d - eyes

how are you and daddy different?
o - nuffing
i - we don't have the same hair
d - his feet are bigger and my feet are smaller

how do you know your daddy loves you?
o - uhhhh . . . i don't know
i - because we play with each other
d - be he makes me happy

where is daddy's favorit place to go?
o - um restaurant
i - not mcdonald's
d - go to the park with me

happy weekend . . .

i know i'm a wee bit biased . . .
but is our little buddy not the cutest little thing ever!

seriously . . .
i could eat him up.
all in one piece!

our little dancing queen . . .

this girl loves to dance . . .

and i love to watch her dance!

2 fridays ago . . .

sean and i were kid free, so we hopped on our bikes and rode from lakeview to the french quarter to the bywater area to the faubourg marigny and all the way back down esplanade avenue back to lakeview. it was a perfectly lovely day with sean while we enjoyed all the beautiful architecture in the city. most of these pictures were taken as i was riding and i didn't look thru the view finder . . . it was so fun to come home and see what kind of photographs i was able to get!
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one house at a time . . .

the area of new orleans that we live in was devastated by hurricane katrina. we still lived in missouri when katrina hit . . . but it wasn't long after that we moved down here so sean could get in on the work to help rebuild his city. the house we live in is a house that sean, his brother, and his father started remodeling together as an investment property. we ended up falling in love with the house . . . and buying them out on the project and finished the remodel on our own. we love our house . . . it is one of the original houses in the lakeview area . . . but we have outgrown it.

so . . . we are selling and going to remodel another katrina devasted home! we are so excited about this one. it has so much potential and the end result is going to be fantastic! of course i will post updates as progress is made. here is the house in it's current condition . . .

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only in new orleans is a house that looks like this something to be excited about!

we're not going to the beach . . .

but the little ones have new cute beach towels if the opportunity arises!

a black eyed pea . . .

our little brown eyed girl got into it with the window and she has a pretty nasty battle wound. poor little thing . . . i'm not exactly sure how it happened but i do know it had something to do with jumping on the sofa! her lovely black eye has earned her the temporary name of black eyed pea at our house. and she consistently reminds us . . . "i don't have black eyes . . . i have brown eyes!"

who wouldn't mind waking up at 6 everyday . . .

when this is what you wake up to!

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all she wanted was her very own cupcake maker . . .

so a birthday party at the kupcake factory seemed to be the perfect party place for shrimp's 4th birthday! and yes . . . she did get her very own cupcake maker from her nana and pops!

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trying to stay sane . . .

i came across a great idea and had to let the girls try it out! we are looking for anything that will keep us busy this summer!

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#3 and #4 . . .

#3 is out and #4 just broke through and they are big!

reality is setting in . . .

uniforms have been bought and it won't be long until little miss is officially a school girl!

why i don't mind cleaning . . .

you never know what you will find!
happy people by my big 4 year old!

2 for 1 . . .

little buddy got his first mama-made outfit this morning!
easy to make . . . reversible . . . and so cute on him!

life with 3 sisters . . .

how cute is this . . .

i just got home from my 'at the crack of dawn' bootcamp and found shrimp sound asleep with buddy man! so cute!

a herbal remedy that really works . . .

poor little brown eyes woke up crying at 10pm because her ear was hurting. she kept crying . . . and crying . . . and crying. i did a warm wet wash cloth on her ear and that helped for a minute max. next i googled home remedies for ear infections and read about some pretty crazy things that people have tried . . . including 1 remedy that had to do with urine. so gross!!!!

one of the remedies that i kept seeing was garic and olive oil. so i put a little olive oil in a small bowl with a little minced garlic that i have in the fridge and warmed it up a bit in the microwave. i used a spoon to get a couple of drops of the warm oil into her ear. she stopped crying the very instant the oil touched her ear . . . no joke.

couldn't have asked for anything better . . .

i don't know how we got so lucky when i found the girls school 2 years ago . . . but we did! i was so worried about sending the girls to school in new orleans. but i honestly couldn't be any happier with their little nursery school. the girls last day was bitter sweet for me. bitter because this was little miss' last year there. sweet because shimp and brown eyes will be back for more next year!


this was little brown eyes' first year in school and she loved it so much! her teachers were wonderful! they are actually friends of mine. they referred to brown eyes as their pepper . . . and they couldn't be more right! she is full of spunk!!

little shrimp has been with her teachers since we came to this school . . . 2 years ago. so she has grown quite attached to them. she.loves.her.teachers. i mean she really loves them! she loves school too . . . she is still asking every morning if it's a school day. she really can't wait for school to start again . . . so she can be in the big kid class!

just like shrimp . . . little miss has been with her teachers for the past 2 years. it was an emotional last day of school. not only for me . . . but for her teachers too! little miss and her teachers were very close. she loved them and they loved her. most of the children in her class had been in that class for 2 years . . . so the teachers had become very close with them. just like a lot of the moms . . . her teachers were a little teary eyed too! i'm excited for the new chapter in her life . . . but so sad that it means the chapter at her nursery school has come to an end.

every morning for the past 2 years we have been greeted at the door with a big welcome from the nursery school director. she is wonderful!


i have lots of pics from their program . . . and video too. so hopefully i will get them posted soon! there is so much to catch up on . . . birthday party, end of the year party, greek fest . . .

great and not so great . . .

popcorn popped right on the stove is great!

washing dishes by hand because our dishwasher is broken is not so great!

they might fight a lot . . .

but at the end of the day the quarrels are forgotten!
and this is what they will remember the most . . .
sister slumber parties in the playroom!

i can't believe it . . .

but our little buddy is 8 months old today!

i can't believe that this little man is mr. commando . . . army crawling where he needs to be!
i can't believe that this little man is pulling himself up!
i can't believe that this little man is so close to having teeth #3 and #4!

at 8 months old our little buddy loves his sisters . . . most of the time!
at 8 months old our little buddy is still so cuddly!
at 8 months old our little buddy loves when we sing to him!
at 8 months old our little buddy doesn't like to be left in the room by himself!

at 8 months old our little buddy is the sweetest little buddy i know!

busy is good . . .

when it's fun things like birthday parties . . . end of the school year parties . . . picnics to meet new friends at little miss' new school . . . and of course the day to day with a family of six . . . i'm sure you can imagine that there is very little time for blogging right now!

i will be back soon with lots of pictures to prove that we have been oh so busy!

the big four year old . . .

the first thing i heard out of little shrimp's mouth this morning was, "daddy . . . i'm already four years old!" i heard her tell him that upstairs . . . as i was in the kitchen making her breakfast of choice!

the excitement didn't fade when she made it downstairs . . .

"the big four year old is ready to eat!"
"mom . . . we need to measure. i'm four now and i've grown!"
"the big four year old is ready for school!"
"we don't have a three year old in this house anymore . . . because i'm a big four year old now!"

happy birthday little shrimp . . . i hope you have a wonderful, magical, beautiful birthday! your sassy-ness . . . love for all things glitter and girl . . . hugs and loves . . . and exquisite fashion expertise . . . make you a very special little girl to us! we love you to the moon and back! happy 4th birthday!

dear spring . . .

it's hot! and we miss you!

p.s. please tell your friend, summer, to be easy on us!

one of a kind . . .

it seems like i always have a hard time coming up with really great mother's day gifts. this year wasn't so hard. when you have a one of a kind mother and a one of a kind mother in law . . . the greatest gift should be one that is one of a kind. right? yeah . . . i thought so too!

so this year the girls created one 0f a kind masterpieces for 2 of the most special women in our lives. when you have a nana that will drive 660-some miles all by herself just to see 4 (out of 7) of the most important little people in her life . . . then it's obvious that only a one of a kind gift will do! and when you have a granny that loves sleepovers and pajama parties as much as my girls do . . . then it's obvious that only a one of a kind gift will do!

mom . . . i hope you have a wonderful mother's day! i wish there weren't so many miles between us . . . but it's good know our hearts are always close! i have big shoes to fill when it comes to mothering my own children . . . but if i can come close to the one of a kind person that you are then i am doing just fine!ms. barbara . . . i wish you a very happy mother's day too! because of you . . . i have a one of a kind man in my life that has given me 4 little one of kind gifts from god and now i get to have the most important job in the world . . . being a mother myself!

happy mother's day!