A New Orleans Wedding (pt 1)

At the beginning of this month, our family took a short getaway to New Orleans, Louisiana to watch my "not so baby anymore" cousin marry his love! His (then) fiancé (now wife) asked for Dannika and Mattis to be a part of their wedding, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a part of their special day! My kids were over the moon that they could be in a wedding, and my sweet Dannika, at 9 years old, finally got asked to be in a wedding.

We were not disappointed about making the trip to New Orleans either. I had been there as a kid with my family, but hadn't been back since, so I was really excited. Nick has only driven through there, so it was cool to get to experience "the birthplace of jazz" as a family. I took over 230 photos during our short stay there, so I decided to break it up into the 3 separate posts from each day that we were there.

Below are photos from day 1.

Here is a photo of some of my cousins and me on a family vacay to Jamaica.

My cousin that got married is the third kid from the left (sitting next to me).

Obviously, this photo has nothing to do with our trip to New Orleans, but just to give you context of who in my family was getting married.

He really was "the baby".

The Mercedes Benz Super Dome where the Saints play.

Are Uber pics obligatory?

And because we were in LSU territory, we had to rep our Fighting' Texas Aggies!

After all, we DID win this year in a historic 7 overtime game!

We met up for lunch with a dear friend of mine at a New Orleans hotspot, Cafe Pontalba (in the French Quarter)

Dannika and I split the most delicious plate of red beans and rice with a side of authentic gumbo.

Nick had a traditional po boy and he gave it a 10 out of 10!

We highly recommend you check it out!

It a small cafe, so seating is tough to get, so prepare for a wait!

My friend Kelley and her son Waylon! 

I met Kelley through a small group at our church when we were all stationed in California.

Thanks to social media, we've managed to stay in touch!

It was such a treat to get to meet up with her and meet her sweet son!

I mean, can you say you've been to New Orleans without listening to some street musicians playing "When the Saints Come Marching In" in the middle of the French Quarter???!!!

Our kids had a blast dancing in the street listening to this awesome band play jazz music.

We popped into a seedy liquor store in the French Quarter because we wanted to show our kids a wholesome good time...

They really enjoyed the festive Mardi Gras masks.

Our kids had a blast there the first day. We got to walk around the French Quarter, dance to jazz music, have authentic New Orleans cuisine, meet up with old friends, and soak in the city. 

My cousin's wedding rehearsal dinner was at the House of Blues. I'll post about that tomorrow!

Flying Solo

Welp....
I am on week 4(ish) of being a "solo parent". I have a solid routine down, and most days seem to fly by. I love routine. I am a creature of habit, and a good routine always makes me happy and less anxious. I feel more in control. People always ask me how I'm doing, and I tell them things are great. I feel like sometimes, they don't believe me when I say that. But seriously, things are great. Are there days when I'm absolutely frustrated because my kids aren't listening to me, and I am desperately wishing my partner in crime were here to "take care of it" for me? Absolutely. But honestly, even if Nick were here, I would still have days like that. I really just miss having another adult in the house most evenings when I am winding down. I miss having a glass of wine, and having someone to talk to. When people ask me how I'm doing, I also always mention that it sucks more for Nick than me. I truly believe that. I have a life here. I have a home, our children, our family and friends, and familiarity. Nick, on the other hand, is living in a barracks room with two other roommates. When he's not training, boredom sets in, and he literally has nothing to do. He's found ways to make himself busy. Marine Corps life has blessed us with friends all over the country, and on weekends, he finds himself in one of the homes of the many friends we have in Virginia. I am so grateful for our friends who have opened up their homes to Nick to feed him home cooked meals, and allow him to relax and hang out outside of the confines of the tiny room he is living in.

Pic of his room...

Quite the adjustment from our modest little home in a nice subdivision here in good ole' Aggieland...lol.

I especially love the luxurious plastic matresses...

Only the best for our Marine Corps Officers!

One of my FAVORITE things about Marine Corps life are the friendships that I have with people all over the world. When you are forced to live far away from home, you're forced to make friends...fast...with the people that are around you. You always know which friendships are the most meaningful, because those friends actually come and visit you when you move. 

This weekend, my sweet friend Ashley flew to Texas from Orange County to visit us (just for the weekend). I met her while I was on recruiting duty when I was in the process of trying to put her "then" boyfriend into the Marine Corps. She was only in high school then, and I have watched her grow up from a 17 year old high school girl to a 24 year old woman. She actually complimented my Vince Camuto, patent leather heels....and the rest is history. I texted her right before Nick left, and told her how I'd love for her to come visit once Nick was gone. It's always nice to have visitors to help break up the monotony of solo parenting life, and she did not even hesitate. I am so grateful for her friendship. My kids had SUCH a blast this weekend with her! The weekend was too short, but much needed, and our short time together was priceless.

Our family has an annual pumpkin carving tradition.

We all go to a pumpkin patch, pick out pumpkins and carve them

It's one of Nick's favorite traditions,

Since he's not here this year for the fall, we just went to our local HEB and bought pumpkins.

Instead of carving them, I bought craft supplies and paint, so we could decorate them.

We had such a blast, and it was a perfect way to end our weekend with Ashley!

*Dannika's pumpkin says "Rey", because thats who she's gonna be for Halloween!

(I don't know who Rey is. I just know she's a Star Wars character. I've never seen a single Star Wars movie, but my kids have with Nick.....)

Dannika, Me, and Mattis...

Mattis, Dannika, Me, and Ashley

It's clearly obvious which pumpkin was made by the "OC girl".

Ashley was such a blessing to us this weekend!

With Nick being gone, I really enjoyed having another grown up in the house.

Most importantly, the kids were thrilled to have someone visit them, and give them attention and spend time with them.

True friends pick each other's boogers...

Ashley left early this morning before the kids woke up for school.

Not gonna lie, the house felt a little lonelier this morning, and the mood was a little sad.

That just means that our weekend was full of love and laughter.

Oh, and it's Red Ribbon Week at D's school!

Today was Crazy Sock Day....

We did not prepare....

Thank goodness we just happened to have these random "Elsa/Anna" socks laying around for her!

So...

Life is good. The kids and are I happy, healthy, and busy. We miss Nick terribly, but we are always reminded that we made the right choice to stay put while Nick is at TBS. Our family and friends are so amazing, and have truly been such an amazing support system for us! 

They Say 8 is GREAT

My first born...my angel...my baby girl just turned EIGHT this week! I think I've said this a million times, and I've worn the saying out, but "they really do grow up so fast"...in the blink of an eye. Every year, I end up reminiscing about my baby girl on my blog. I go on and on about how it feels just like yesterday when we brought her home from the hospital, and how I still remember her first birthday party. I'm sure everyone is tired of me saying the same things every year. I'm not gonna do that this time.

Nick posted on his Facebook that I always get sad when our kids turn a year older, because they'll no longer be "babies" (they'll ALWAYS be MY babies...but they won't be little). However, Nick wrote that he is happy that she is a little older because it means there are more things they can do together. 

I love his outlook. He truly enjoys every precious moment he has with our kids, and I am so grateful that our kids have such a strong dad (both physically and emotionally) to look up to. 

As for Dannika, year 7 was full of love. You still have the same positive outlook on life. You see the good in EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. I feel like I am too hard on you sometimes, and ask too much of you. I hope you know that I only do that, because I know that you are capable of so much more than you realize. You still have a sensitive soul, and you wear your heart on your sleeve. Your daddy and I laugh at you when we joke around with you, because you take what we say so literally (when we're just joking). You love people unconditionally. You're an amazing big sister to Mattis, and even though he can really be a pesky little brother, thanks for always stepping up when it counts as his big sister. Thanks for still letting me pick out your clothes, and put ridiculously large bows in your hair (although we have toned it down a bit). You're loyal....fiercely loyal to your close group of friends, and I love that you know the importance of that at such a young age. Thanks for teaching me and reminding me every single day to be a little kinder, be humbler, and see all that is good in everything and everyone....even when it's bad. Never lose your positive energy, and never let anyone steal that from you. I don't care if you're the smartest or the fastest or the best at anything, but I do care that you stay true to yourself. You keep doing you, baby girl! God has AMAZING plans for you, and I can't wait to see that plan unfold.

Last night as a 7 year old!

Morning of her birthday! Shipley's donuts of course!

I had class on her birthday, but my sweet mama friends got cupcakes and gifts for my sweet girl.

As soon as I got done with class, I rushed over to my friend's house where the girls had been swimming all morning, and we had a mini birthday celebration for her!

I am so blessed by "my village".

Dannika's sweet friend Ava came back from Indiana for a short visit.

It was perfect timing with her birthday, and the perfect birthday surprise!

#squadgoals

Thanks to everyone who gave Dannika well wishes and "happy birthdays"! 

She is one lucky gal to have all y'all in her life!

Things I Wish I Had Thought About Before Having Kids

There's actually a LOT of things I wish I would have thought about before having kids. But seeing as how neither of my kids were truly planned, I didn't get much time to think about it. But aside from thinking about how much childcare costs, the late nights, the early mornings, or the massive amounts of food a three-year-old can actually consume in a day (seriously, my son is a bottomless pit), there is one thing I wish I could change. I wish I would have planned to have my kids between the months of January-May or Mid September-December. Do you notice that all the summer months are absent from the months? Out of ALL the things that parents think about before having a child, parents don't think about the timing. Both of my kids have summer birthdays. My sweet Dannika was born in July, and my rowdy Mattis was born in August. Why is this a problem? Aside from the fact that I spent both of my third trimesters of pregnancy in the sweltering months of summer dealing with swamp butt and all sorts of other pregnancy unpleasantness, my kids are eternally screwed with birthdays. Ok, maybe I'm being totally dramatic about being "eternally screwed", but it still isn't ideal! Here are my two reasons:

1. Summer birthday kids are always the youngest in the classroom when they start school. At age 5 (when they normally start Kindergarten), summer birthday kids are usually smaller, and slightly developmentally behind some of their peers (some whom are almost a year older than them). There is a HUGE difference between a 5 year old and a 5 and a half year old when it comes to size and development.

Lucky for us, Dannika is actually tall for her age, and developmentally has exceeded many of her peers. Teachers tell us it's a "girl thing". Girls tend to mature faster than little boys (is what we're told at least). Mattis hasn't started school yet, but he is small for his age, and he is definitely not where Dannika was intellectually or developmentally at this age.

2. The most important reason why summer birthdays can stink is BIRTHDAY PARTIES! With Dannika's birthday in July, by the time July rolls around after schools gets out in May, we've lost touch with classmates. Many have gone on vacations, camp, grandma's, etc. Getting a class together after losing touch for almost a month and a half is impossible. As for Mattis, his birthday is at the end of August. When he starts school, his classmates will be foreign to him by August. It also stinks for him, because school usually starts right after his birthday, so even if he wanted to do a party with his new classmates, he has the daunting task of befriending them (in like a week).

Dannika's school has been really great with acknowledging her "inconvenient" summer birthday! Her first grade teacher celebrated half birthdays for her summer kids, and her Kindergarten and 2nd grade teacher let us choose a day the last two weeks of schools to celebrate her birthday at school. We have found a pretty awesome way to celebrate Dannika's birthday as well. We throw her a party in June as soon as school gets out. We send out invites before the last day of school, and we've always had a great turnout! 

So despite the "inconvenience", we have managed to make it work out, and Dannika has celebrated 8 glorious birthdays. The birthday I'm not looking forward to is the year all her friends turn 16 before her. Sorry baby girl, you'll be "the one"...the one that is always bumming rides with her friends because you'll be the last one to get your license. 

But still, if I could have planned when I'd give birth, I would have preferred not to to have babies in the summer...

Dannika recently had her 8th birthday party just last week! Her and her friend had a joint party at a local "water park" (term used loosely). They had a blast, and it was absolutely memorable!

The Birthday gals!

Thanks to everyone who came out to make our girls feel special!

Life These Days

I don't blog a lot these day. Heck, I hardly have any time to read my favorite blogs that I used to frequent daily. Thanks to Instagram, however, I get to keep up with most of the bloggers I love through wonderful filtered photos. I want to get back into blogging a lot more. But things like school, kids, school, life, happiness, Texas, school....they all seem to take precedence over blogging. I do post a lot on social media, so if you follow me there, you get a pretty good idea of what is going on in my life. Here's just a little recap for those of you who don't follow my IG.

 Dannika is having an early birthday celebration tonight with a joint birthday party with one of her besties at our local pool. Joint birthday party = best idea ever. The other family and I split the cost of everything right down the middle, and it is so much less stress! Hassle free! Nick is relieved, because I tend to go into super party planning mode when it comes to my kids' parties. I turn into a bit of a momzilla.

We did a cute Evite photo shoot.

Look how adorable it turned out!

Sweet nanny Rachel came for a quick, short visit!

We made our Summer bucket list.

Fingers crossed we get through all of it!

We've done some frog catching at night.

I've woken up in the mornings a few times to find these two cuddled in bed together.

*insert melting heart*

Random morning doughnut dates

Playing outside in the rain

Dannika attended a Christian day camp last week called "Pine Cove in the City". Pine Cove actually has  two locations in Columbus and Tyler Texas where they host their overnight camps. Pine Cove in the City are satellite day camps they do all around Texas. They give kids the fun camp experience without the over night part. This is the first year Dannika has done Pine Cove, and she had an absolute blast! Dannika will be attending Carolina Creek Christian Camp for their overnight camp again this year (for the full week this time!). So Pine Cove was the warm up! I was so impressed by the staff, the camp counselors, and the activities that they had planned for the kids each day. They made learning about Jesus fun and interactive. Dannika actually came home from camp each day excited to read her bible and dig into the word. It was really exciting for me to see her willingly want to do that! I highly recommend this camp! It's especially great for parents who are not ready to send their kids away for overnight camp!

Dannika and her camp counselor "Boom". 

Dannika was described as selfless, compassionate, and trustworthy by her camp counselor!

What amazing words of affirmation for a 7 year old girl!

 We've done lots of swimming at the neighborhood pool!

Mattis started gymnastics this summer!

It's been a great way to wear him out, and also start building some strength, agility, flexibility, and balance!

We're hoping it pays off when he starts to play sports!

And of course, lots of sprinkler fun!

Summer has been busy so far!!

But we've been having a lot of fun! 

Prayers for Nick and I to finish classes this summer strong so that we can graduate in AUGUST!