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 :)

October iPhone Pictures

Rather than have ten separate posts for the month of October I've now entered that point in blogging where it's just easier to dump all the random photos I've taken during month into one giant post. It's a photo lovers dream! October was busy, busy, busy and lots of fun! I love October because it's my birthday month, it's balloon festival month, the weather usually starts to cool down, and there are a lot of fun activities we get to do around town. Here is some of the fun we had during October. 

Our balloon festival weekend didn't go as I had originally planned. Hot air balloons are so dependent on good weather and this year it was just way too windy. It made me kind of sad because I really do look forward to this weekend as soon as October arrives. I did get a great birthday surprise in the form of balloons though. Josh and Eli got me brand new rocking chairs for our front porch and Eli remembered that I wanted twirling hot air balloons as well. I literally squealed when I saw my balloons hanging and my chairs. It was such a great birthday present! 

Eli and I enjoying the new chairs one afternoon.

My chairs before and after I stained them. I love how they turned out!

The first night of the balloon festival is the balloon glow. This year some friends invited us to watch the glow with them on the bluff overlooking the river. It was a spectacular view! Eli found some friends from school to play with so he ran around the entire time with them. It was a very small area so he was very safe and I didn't worry at all (well, maybe just a tad because I'm slightly overprotective). The bridge at night was beautiful and we had the perfect seats for the fireworks show. Even though I only got to see one balloon the entire weekend we still had lots of fun. 

Our picture before the balloon glow.

The bridge at dusk.

The bridge at night. 

The only balloon I saw all weekend because of the strong winds. 

Maybe we'll have better luck next year!

Since we didn't get to see balloons that weekend, Eli and I planned other fun events instead. We rode our bikes to Sonic for a delicious happy hour snack. You can tell from the picture how strong the wind was that day. 

October is also a fun month for us in the garden because we get to dig up our sweet potatoes. This year we weren't even sure if we'd have sweet potato crop because we didn't get the potato slips planted until really late in the summer. It ended up working out though and we harvested a good crop to get us through the year. 

Sarah and I took our fourth graders on the first field trip of the year. It was a beautiful day at the Indian Village and the kids had a blast! This trip was also good because it gave me the idea to have Eli's 7th birthday party here :) I love when things work out like that!

Josh sent me this picture one day from work. A couple of his employees were rocking high waist belts and Josh felt left out so he did this to make fun of them. He's such a goober but his employees love that about him. 

Our school had their annual Fall Festival. Each class auctions off a piece of art during the festival and it's usually done by a room mom. For some strange reason no one volunteered from my class so I ended up doing it myself. I had my students paint their hands and then I cut them out, mod-podged them to a canvas, and wrote this quote in the middle. I think for a quick project it turned out really sweet.

I posted this picture on Instagram. This was popcorn seed from our garden two years ago that I've been drying out. I scraped it off the cob and decided to see if it would pop and it did!!

Eli was super excited one day to come home to a present from his daddy. He got a brand new youth basketball so he can play basketball this winter. He's been practicing with it ever since. We can't wait for basketball season!

Our family's super exciting news is that I'm getting another sister-in-law! My youngest brother, Caleb, popped the question to his girlfriend of 5 years, Kailey. We're so excited! Their wedding is in January and Eli is the ring bearer. We can't wait to celebrate with them :)

My birthday finally arrived and the present I gave myself showed up at my doorstep. I love The Pioneer Woman and all of her recipes. 

My gift from my parents also came in the mail that day and I'm now on the adult coloring book band wagon. I have to admit it is very relaxing at night and I love the beautiful pictures I get to create :)

When I got to school that day I saw that a couple of my students' moms had decorated my door and my classroom with Happy Birthday banners and balloons. They made me feel really special that day!

Josh took me out for sushi (my choice) for my birthday dinner and on our way back home we rode down the hill to look at the river. The sky that night was simply breathtaking and I made Josh stop so I could take a picture. This is it, completely raw and no filter. What a beautiful sight created by our great God!

In other news, I'm now a bread baking machine! A lady at work gave me a bread starter that I keep in my refrigerator and now every 7-10 days I'm baking homemade fresh bread. It's so wonderful to eat, especially straight from the oven with honey and butter. Josh and I are addicted! A few of our friends and neighbors have lucked out as well with a couple of fresh loaves. 

That was our October, full of wonderful memories, an engagement, a great 34th birthday, and yummy baked goods. 

Eli's REAL 5th Birthday

The night before Eli's birthday I decorated the chair where he sits at the table with balloons and streamers and put a little birthday gift there for him to find when he woke up in the morning. The gift wasn't much because he had already gotten his big gift from us and Josh's dad. Since it was a regular school day, he had to get ready for school after he opened his gift. Normally, that would be a bummer but he was so excited about getting to share his birthday cupcakes with his class that he got ready in record time. 

The night before he and I had baked and decorated superhero cupcakes that I was going to take to his school after lunch time. I had actually planned on just doing the store bought route, but I visited two bakeries inside our grocery stores and did not see a single superhero cupcake. I realized then my cupcakes were going to have to be homemade. Luckily, I went by a local craft store and found bags of superhero rings that were going to work out perfectly on top of the cupcakes. Eli loved getting to put the rings in the cupcakes. 

We snapped a couple of pictures in front of his birthday balloon wreath out front but his allergies started bothering him so the pictures aren't that great. His poor little eyes were watering like crazy, so this is as good as it gets. 

I dropped him off at school and then went on to work. At lunch time, I left my school and went to his to eat lunch with him and to bring cupcakes to his class. Eli was so excited!

Eli and his teacher Mrs. Rosemary

He got a little embarrased when the kids started singing "Happy Birthday" to him. 

Eli and Mrs. Rachelle (his teacher's helper)

The kids loved the cupcakes, but they loved the superhero rings most of all. After lunch I checked Eli out of school and we went home to help his Daddy finish assembling Eli's BIG birthday gift from us and Josh's dad-a basketball goal! I don't know who was more excited...Josh or Eli :) After six hours (not even lying), the basketball goal was finished. It was most definitely NOT the easiest thing to assemble. I think there are special places in heaven for people who can assemble things like this and not get frustrated and utter words that shouldn't be uttered. I think at one point Josh and I both wanted to just scrap the whole thing. Long story short, don't call us to assemble any gifts ;) On the plus side, Eli LOVED his basketball goal and before church that night they were able to play a little bit. I foresee many memories being made in our driveway and that makes me really happy.

It was a great day (minus the assembling frustrations) celebrating this special little person who came into our lives 5 years ago. We are over the moon in love with him and can't wait to celebrate many, many more birthdays with him :) Happy Birthday, Eli! 

Marlie's Basketball Game

Back in February, Josh, Eli, and I went to watch our little friend, Marlie, play in one of her basketball games. Her mom, Diane, was the coach so we wanted to see her in action as well. We got there right as the game started and it was quite a sight! Those little girls were really trying their hardest to shoot the basketball and dribble the ball. The opposing team was coached by our friend Ms. Jennifer from Daddy's work. All the girls played a great game, and we really enjoyed watching all of them play!

I quickly realized that at this age the coaches were as much a part of the game as the players. After every shot, the coaches were out there rearranging the girls and showing them where they needed to be for the next play.

Josh and I loved watching Diane coach. She got a little aggressive at times :)

This was probably my favorite picture from the game. Diane was promising the little girl that she had Blow Pops in her purse if they did well after the game. Josh and I laughed and laughed after we heard that exchange!

Marlie's team ended up winning and all the girls walked away with their Blow Pop! Woo Hoo!

Way to go, Diane and Marlie! You both did a great job!

Eli made sure to give Marlie a big hug before we left to go home. Before I know it, he's going to be out there playing! He's growing up so big right before my eyes...