April iPhone Pictures

April was a very busy month for our family-Kailey's baby shower, my trip to San Francisco, Kaelyn's birth, and much more.  Here are pictures from the rest of our month in April that all get wrapped up in this post :)

Jeff and Finley came to eat supper with us one night.

I ran the LSU Dental Dash 5K with my running buddies, Carrie and Angela. We had lots of fun and even got some new toothbrushes. Haha :)

Angela's daughter, Taylor, is in the pre-dental program at LSU so she was there to help with our registration and hand out goody bags at the end. 

Eli's first treat from the ice cream truck this year. 

Front porch sitting with this cute puppy. 

My new wooden planter my dad built full of my beautiful snapdragons.

My new door hanger that I made for spring. 

I can't even tell you how many of these I made for friends and family. 

March iPhone Pictures

March was here before we knew it. Truthfully, we were all very happy to welcome March because (a) Eli was getting his cast off around the middle of March (b) March brought spring weather and it started to warm up (c) Spring Break (HALLELUJAH!!) and (d) baseball season was about to begin. Hooray for March! Here are some of the pictures I took with my phone during the month of March. 

Eli lost his 8th tooth in March. I can't believe how many teeth he's lost already! 

His looks have changed so much over the past year and it all has to do with his mouth :)

He looks so big now because of his big grown up teeth!

We were at Sonic when he lost it and I took some quick pictures of him with his tooth.

He couldn't wait to put it under his pillow that night for the Tooth Fairy.

Our school always plans their Field Day the day we get out for Spring Break. The kids have fun all morning playing games and then we dismiss at noon. It's a great way to welcome Spring Break. After a morning spent playing lots of fun games, Eli and I had lunch with the Atkins family at Johnny's Pizza and then headed home. We were happy to get our Spring Break started! Hooray for a week of NO SCHOOL!!

The celebration continued for me that night. Josh and I had to attend the annual Chamber of Commerce dinner. I love getting dressed up to go out with my guy. We took a couple of selfies with my phone and then got his mom to take some of us before we left. It's not often we have to get dressed up so when we do I always feel like we have to take a picture. I love this man so much! 

We normally go to the beach during the summer, but the original dates we picked this year didn't work out so we had to change them to coincide with our Spring Break. The new beach dates put us leaving Sunday and returning Friday. Even though we were leaving Easter Sunday we still had to dye Easter Eggs :) Eli and I also did the Resurrection Eggs together in the days leading up to Easter Sunday. I bought them from Lifeway years ago when they were 90% off!! (I still can't believe the amazing deal I got on them!) This year Eli chose to do Spiderman Easter eggs so that's what we did :) I felt crazy because I was trying to pack everything for the beach in the midst of egg dyeing but we still had fun. 

We finished the eggs and then it was time for Eli to go to bed. We were leaving for the beach the next day and couldn't wait! The next morning Eli woke up and found that the Easter Bunny had left Eli some Easter gifts that were going to be perfect for the beach. They were just what he needed! Now it was time to load up and make our way to the ocean for some fun in the sun! 

February iPhone Pictures

Here are some snippets from our life in February...it was full of running, gardening, injuries, baking and several fun celebrations! 

Eli took a box from one of our latest Amazon Prime deliveries and made a costume for himself. 

Now I had my very own Box Troll!

I grew Brussels sprouts this year and these were from my first harvest. 

I probably won't grow them again simply because no one in the family is crazy about them. 

They were fun to try though!

While training for the New Orleans Rock and Roll Half Marathon, I accidentally injured myself. 

I wasn't paying attention and tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk. The part that really stunk was that I was about a mile from my house so I still had to run back AND it ripped my new workout pants my mom gave me for Christmas! Oh well, now I have a battle scar to talk about. 

Eli and I visited our favorite yogurt place after school one afternoon. What a great Friday treat!

When we were in town after Eli's arm injury (the first visit) he and Tinsley found some cool shades at Target. 

We spent a nice quiet afternoon at the library and Eli even got his own library card!

He was so excited to put it in his wallet!

Bread day always makes me happy :)

I spent a rainy Saturday afternoon making Valentine treat suckers for Eli's first grade class. 

I found these treats at The Idea Room several years ago and finally made them!

Lego look-a-like erasers from Target added the perfect touch to Eli's Valentine cards this year. 

Running down by the river is one of my favorite things. 

Sunsets from our backyard are also one of my favorite things. 

On February 20th, we celebrated Reve and Brian's wedding. 

Josh set them up a few years ago and the rest is history. We had so much fun at their wedding! 

I am so happy that this sweet girl found love again :)

The end of February brought bad news for me. The Monday before my half-marathon I started feeling badly at work one morning. I barely made it through the rest of the day and when I got home from school I had already started running fever. I immediately quarantined myself in our bedroom and wouldn't let Eli or Josh in to check on me. I ran fever all through the night and the next day as well so I had to call in a substitute teacher for my classes. After two visits to the doctor I found out I had the FLU! The doctor told me no school for the rest of the week and definitely no race on Sunday. All that training and no reward! Talk about MAJOR BUMMER! I spent the rest of the week in bed sleeping, taking Tamiflu, and binge watching the final season of Parenthood. It took a full week for me to feel normal again and I hope that's the last time I get the flu. I'm so thankful that Eli and Josh didn't get it. That would have been even worse! It wasn't the way I wanted the end of February to go, but I'm thankful it didn't last long! 

January iPhone Pictures

I'm finding myself using my camera phone more and more to capture every day moments in our lives rather than lugging my big camera around.  I still LOVE my big digital camera, but for everyday use you really can't beat the camera on your phone. Here are some pictures from January. 

On January 3, Josh and I celebrated 14 years of marriage. We've been through a lot together over the past 14 years, a lot of good times and some not so good. We've seen each other at our worst and at our best. We've loved each other on days when neither one of us were very lovable. We've laughed, cried, argued, celebrated, and much more, but we've done it all together. There is no one else with whom I'd rather do life. I thank God everyday for putting us together. I love this man more and more with each passing day and I can't wait to celebrate many more anniversaries with him!

One day after school, Eli and I had a hot chocolate date at the local coffee shop. He also whooped my bootie in checkers while we were there. I love these precious moments with Eli and I hope that they continue even as he gets older.

One of my student's parents gave me a bread starter and I began my journey of baking homemade bread every week. I bake three loaves of bread a week and we use it for everything-French toast, sandwiches, grilled cheese, garlic toast, breakfast foods, rolls, cinnamon rolls, and much more. Even with using the bread all those different ways, we still had multiple loaves in our freezer each week so I started I to give it away. It ended up being a great little "happy" for Eli's teachers this year. They looked forward to "bread day" just as much as I did! Baking bread is a three day process but I truly enjoy each second. I always feel such a sense of accomplishment when I take those three, golden brown loaves of bread out of the oven each week. Plus, there is just nothing better than fresh bread from the oven smothered in butter and local honey. Oh my word, get in my belly! 

Eli chose to forego soccer this year and play basketball instead. He loves shooting basketball at our house and was really looking forward to playing with a team. This was a quick picture I managed to grab before his first game. He couldn't wait to play!

Here in Louisiana, Mardi Gras season is so much fun to celebrate-parades, beads, and yummy food galore, especially king cakes! I can't tell you how many king cakes my students brought to school this month, but it was a lot! It's a good thing I was still training for my Rock and Roll half-marathon or else I would've been in big trouble with all those yummy treats. I decided to try my hand at making a king cake this year and it turned out okay! I made a cream cheese filled king cake and this was the result. I thought it looked and tasted pretty good for my first attempt. Next year, I'll definitely make this again :)

That was our January! It was a fun month filled with lots of happy moments :)

September iPhone Pictures

I'm finding myself taking more and more pictures with my phone on a daily basis than with my real camera. Here are some of our daily highlights from September. They capture sweet moments of our family and our life. I'm thankful for the portability of my phone because it makes remembering these moments so easy. 

Tinsley and Eli checking on Caleb's lizard thingys. 

Eli was chosen as the Super Student the first week in September. 

He loved being the line leader every day for his class. 

This was the poster we decorated to go in the hall. 

Seeing the dentist for his six-month check-up. He LOVES our dentist!

Eli wrote me a note for my lunchbox.

It made my heart so happy :)

Picture of the bridges on one of my early morning long runs. 

The last harvest of the bell peppers. We had them coming out of our ears!

"Shaving" like Daddy in the bathtub one night. 

Eli and I went by the co-op one morning for gardening supplies.

We were in the right place at the right time and got to see a HUGE alligator that had just been caught.

It was HUGE!

Eli loved getting to see an alligator up close!

Bike ride down to the river later on that evening with Daddy. 

We celebrated Mom's 54th birthday.

Dinner at Zue-Zue's house

My sweet boy and me after school one day. 

The fall burlap banner I made for our house with the velvet pumpkins 

I picked up at Hobby Lobby last year for 75% off. Score!

When we were visiting my Mom and Dad Josh called to let me know late one night that he was in the ER because he sliced his finger to the bone trying to take down a pop-up tent at a festival in town. Thankfully, Reve, his secretary and our soon-to-be cousin, was able to take him to the ER. 

I hated not being there to take care of him! Multiple stitches later he was better.

Eli's journal from school the Monday after Josh hurt his finger. 

It made me smile and it was definitely a keeper!