First Haircut :(

Today my baby girl got her first haircut. :( She was such a big girl. Her hair was growing in such different lengths that it looked silly if it wasn't in a ponytail. So we talked her into getting her haircut. We went to the mall first because I had to exchange a jacket. The salon in the mall had a 30 minute wait so we left and went to eat. After lunch, there was a Wonder Cuts right next to the restaurant, so we just went in there. There was a little boy in one seat already screaming like they were cutting his ears off. He was squirming and kicking like nobody's business. I think this put the fear of God in her. She got in the seat like a big girl, put the cape on, and sat very still while the lady cut her hair. They even gave her a certificate with her first lock of hair in it showing her first haircut. Her hair is now all one length and it looks much better. She says she wants her hair to grow long and pretty like Ms. Mandy's hair so she will get it cut so it can grow faster.

Christmas Day!!!!

This was an exciting Christmas. It was Landon's first Christmas and Elena's first that she will remember. Santa was good to everyone. He brought the kids lots of good stuff. All Elena asked for was a car seat for her babydoll. Santa brought that plus a stroller, high chair, baby swing, and bouncy seat. She loved it. It all looks exactly like Landon's. Everytime Landon is in one of his seats, she puts her baby in its seat. Landon got lots of things as well. One of them was a ride-on giraffe for his bedroom. He even sat on it this morning for a picture. After we opened Santa gifts, we went to grandma's house to do Christmas over there. Of course, they went all out. The kids got all kinds of great things over there. Elena's best was the Leapster. She has been carrying that thing all over since then. Landon got a big bouncy horse seat. He looks like he is lost in it but he likes it. We got really great stuff as well. I FINALLY got my Wii and Wii Fit (Aunt Colleen, you need one of these. It is awesome.) We also got a bunch of games to go with it. One of them was Wii Ski and on the back of it was a note saying "Practice up. We hit the slopes on Feb. 22"!!!! How awesome is that. We are going skiing. Moma and daddy are bringing all of us skiing over Mardi Gras. I am so excited. I have never been skiing before. I also got a bunch of other great stuff like a Coach purse and wallet as well. Great Christmas as usual. After that, we went over to Ms. Paula's house to do Christmas over there. The kids got great stuff over there too. Elena and Grayson played outside most of the morning shooting silly string at each other and anyone else who happened to come out. I got some great framed pictures to hang in Elena's bathroom. They match it perfect! I don't know how they found them to match so well.

Anyway, after all of the opening was finally done, we went back to moma's for lunch and then we hooked up the Wii and Wii Fit and played until about 8pm. Aunt Patricia, Aunt Brenda and everyone came over to play it. Then I brought it back home and played until about 1.30 am. I am so sore. I knew I was out of shape but I didn't realize how badly out of shape I am. Anyway, I have played it pretty much nonstop since then. This is so much fun, I don't even realize I am exercising. Great Christmas. We are way to spoiled rotten.

Christmas on the Oalmann Side

Tonight was Christmas Eve and we went to Aunt Linda's house to do Christmas with moma's side of the Family. Everyone was there and we all had a great time. The kids got lots of great stuff. Of course we had too much food as usual. Elena didn't want to leave. She loves being around everybody. She is so afraid that if we leave we will miss something exciting. Our family seems to get bigger and bigger every year. We have more children there now than we know what to do with. It seems like everyone is having babies. I did bring my camera tonight and got some shots of everyone acting up and playing around. We didn't take family photos this year in front of the tree like we always do. I think this is the first year we missed that. I was looking forward to it. I had both of the kids all dressed up and ready. Even Landon had on his suit and tie. He looked like a little man. We had a great night and everyone had a ball. Either or was fun tonight. Everyone must have bought really good stuff because a lot of the presents were stolen and gone. We played a card game with all of the siblings children and grandchildren and girlfriends. Aunt Cathy and Uncle EJ brought cards for everyone. They had money in them ranging from 5-100 dollars. We all picked an envelope and then we passed them to the left and then we got to open them. It was fun and everyone was excited. Kristin, Krissy, Austin, and Jennifer got $100 dollars. The people who passed to them were good sports about losing there money. It was a good way to kick off the night. It got

Christmas on the Adams' side

This weekend we had Christmas with Daddy's side of the family. Of course, I forgot my camera, so no pics. The kids all had a great time. This was Landon's first official Christmas kickoff party. He got lots of great gifts. I was a bad mom though and didn't even let him open one. Maybe next time :) Elena had a lot of fun. She didn't want to leave when it was time. Jennifer and Melissa taught the kids how to roll Aunt Laura's house. They must have spent an hour at least out there wrapping one of her trees with toilet paper. They had it looking pretty good by the time we left. Aunt Laura's neighbors probably won't be very happy though. The wind was blowing so bad that most of the toilet paper kept blowing into their yard. Oh well, all in good fun. Anyway, it was a great day. We had lots of good food, good company, and good fun. (all except Aunt Laura's party game she picked to play). She decided we should play a toilet paper and plunger game. She held the plunger between her legs and Aunt Mel held the toilet paper between hers. The object was to get the plunger into the toilet paper. This probably would not have looked so dirty if they were opposite. Aunt Laura is so much taller than Aunt Mel that it just looked really nasty!! Obviously we were all laughing so hard, noone else could play (or would play) after that. We had fun though and both kids crashed in the car as soon as we pulled out of the driveway.

More Snow Pics

More Snow Pictures

SNOW DAY!!!

What an awesome, beautiful day. We had snow today. REAL snow. Most of us stayed home and let the kids play in it. I would guess that we probably had about 4 inches that actually stayed on the ground and is still there today (or it was when I left the house). I don't remember it ever snowing like this here. It was beautiful. I am glad we don't get this every year, but every once in a while would be nice. The kids and the adults all had a ball yesterday. We all got to moma's house about 7:30 am to start playing. The kids and grandpa immediately went outside to build a snowman. Grandpa said it was the first snowman he had ever built before. It was UGLY!! He was in a real rush to get it done though. I guess none of really knew how long the snow was going to last for. Krissy had to go home about 9 to get snowsuits for all of the kids. It snowed steadily until about 11:30am and then started raining a little about 2:30pm. It was cloudy outside so most of the pictures are a little dark but we had a ball. All of the kids rode the knee board behind the four-wheeler. Some of them even rode the intertube. We had so much fun. Hailey built snowmen all day long. She was only getting better and better at it. She was doing great at making giant balls. Elena ate snow all day. She didn't eat any lunch and hardly any dinner but it was probably because she was full of ice. None of them wanted to stop playing. They all wanted to keep playing. Even Landon looked like he enjoyed himself. He loved watching the snow but he would get really cranky when he got in it. The snow kept falling on his face and it was making him angry. We dressed him up in his new camoflauge snow suit that Aunt Trina bought for him. I didn't think he would have a chance to use it, but two days later, it is snowing. Go figure. Barrett missed the whole day. He had to work and by the time he came home, we were all pooped out and ready for a nap. By the time we woke up from nap, it was almost dark so we didn't get to play again. Anyway, it was a great day. One we will probably not experience in this area for another 20 years. Here are some pictures of all of us enjoying our experience.

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend and I didn't bring the camera so I have no pics. Saturday we had a birthday party for Evan. Evan turned 2 today. He had a space walk and a clown at his party. Elena loved it. Barrett did not. He will probably hate me for this, but he was totally freaked out by this clown. It was a girl clown with bright pink hair and a cute little dress on. Elena thought she was great. She did magic tricks with the kids and made balloon animals. Evan did not like her at all either. I have never seen Barrett move so fast. When she came out of the house into the back yard, Barrett jumped up, grabbed Landon and took off. He literally looked like he was being backed into a corner by this woman. I will never let him live this one down. Anyway, Elena didn't want to leave because she was having so much fun playing with all of the kids. There were a ton of children her own age and her own size there to play with. After we left, we went to Kohl's to try to do a little more Christmas shopping. Elena was exhausted by this point so of course she tried to show her butt in the store. We were not there long before we left. Landon and Elena both fell asleep on the way home because they were just beat. Sunday we got up bright and early and went to the Saints game. My boss gave me his tickets and boy did he have great seats. We left Landon with Krissy because we didn't think he should be there but Elena did come with us. We rode with moma and daddy because they were going anyway. We had a great time. Elena loved it. She didn't understand that the game was happening on the field. She kept watching the televisions. I guess she knows thats how we watch it at home, that must be how we watch it here as well. She danced and cheered the whole time. She loved the mascots and the Saintsations. That was all she was worried about. We had a great weekend. Busy, but great. Can't wait to have another one like this one.

Christmas tree

We went shopping for our Christmas tree yesterday. Elena had so much fun running through all of the trees. We finally picked one after about 1/2 an hour of looking. There wasn't much of a selection this year so we had to settle. We picked a 9' very fat tree. Elena even got to cut it down with her daddy. We put the tree in the house and started decorating last night. It smells so good. Can't wait to get it finished.

First Santa Pictures of the Year

We were shopping with the kids at Walmart today and Santa was in the store. We were not dressed for this but there was no line at all so we let the kids take Santa pictures this morning. Hailey went first. She is not scared of anything. Anthony wouldn't take a picture without Hailey and Ashleigh wouldn't get close. So then they took a picture with all three of them. Elena went next and she wasn't scared at all either. We took her picture first and then we added Landon. We tried to then get a picture with all of the kids but that didn't fly with Ashleigh. Krissy and I had to jump in with them just to get her to sit in the picture. They came out cute even though we weren't prepared for them at all.

Black Friday 2008

Today was the official kick off of the holiday shopping season (at least for most of us). We all left this morning at 2:30am for our shopping trip. There were 12 of us this year. There should have been 13 but Aunt Colleen backed out. It was me, moma, Krissy, Aunt Brenda, Katie, Tina, Aunt Linda, Aunt Trina, Aunt Deedee, Meghan, Suzanne & Mrs. Kathy. We all loaded into ours cars and headed for breakfast. We stopped at Waffle House in Covington before we even got going good. After we left breakfast, we headed for Baton Rouge. We got to Walmart about 4:30 am and got ready for that crazy sale. This year it was a little ridiculous. People were everywhere. We are usually in and out of Walmart by 5:30. This year the lines were so bad, we didn't get out until about 6.30. We went to Kohl's after that. They always have great prices on everything! We can't wait until the Kohl's opens up closer to us. After leaving Kohl's we went to the mall, then lunch, then, Target then Toysrus, Target again, and Circuit city before heading home. This was an early year. We got home about 6:30. We had a good day. We filled the van twice. We had to make one load to Katie's apartment just so we could finish our shopping day. Everywhere we went, we got stopped by people asking about our shirts. They were very cute this year. Aunt Deedee did a great job making them. People were taking our pictures and everything. Here are some pictures of us having a good time. We can't wait until next year now!!!

First Weekend Away!!

I let Elena go to the camp with Barrett this weekend. It is the first time I have ever been away from her for more than a day. I dropped her off at school Friday morning and that was it. Barrett picked her up before I even got off of work and they left to go to the camp. They were gone all weekend and came home Sunday afternoon. She had a ball. She talked ninety miles an hour after she got home. She was telling me everything. Jamie and Grayson went with them so she had plenty to talk about. She has scratch marks all over her. She said that her and Grayson were riding in cars and crashed into each other and then they both fell off into the gravel. She didn't care though. She had so much fun. I sure missed her though. It was hard to be away from her like that. I know Barrett takes good care of her(sometimes better than me) but it still worries me to death that she is up there without me. Anyway, I don't have any pics to post because Barrett didn't bring his camera. Maybe next time he will grab one when he goes.

Zoo Day

We had a good family day today. We got an early start. Our first stop was in the French Quarter to have beignets at Cafe' Du Monde'. Elena loved it. She couldn't eat more than one beignet because they were so big. I guess I don't go that way enough, but I could not believe how busy they were. We had to wait about 20 minutes just to be seated. By the time we left, Elena had powder sugar all over, none on her face oddly, but all over her clothes. We left Cafe' Du Monde' and went to the zoo. It was such a nice day for that. The weather was cool enough and the crowds were not too bad this early in the day. We were able to go through and get out just as the big crowds started coming in. Landon got to ride in his big boy stroller today with no car seat attached. He loved it. I don't think he slept 10 minutes the whole time we were there. He loved being in that stroller and he loves being outside. He was just watching everything. After we came home, they both slept for about two hours. Then we loaded in the car again and left to go to Uncle Jamie's house for some burgers. Elena and Grayson played all night until we were all exhausted. They went out to the chicken coop and collected the chicken eggs. Elena was scared of the chickens but she finally got brave enough to get an egg out. Grayson is a pro though. He knew exactly where to go and what to do. When we got home, everybody crashed. This was a busy but fun day.

Halloween 2008

Tonight was Halloween. Elena dressed up as Jasmine (one of the Disney Princesses for those of you out of the loop) and Landon was an army man. This was the only thing we could find to even come close to fitting his little butt. I wasn't going to dress Landon up at first and then I started feeling bad so I ran out at the last minute and bought him a costume. Here are some pictures of them all dressed up. We all met at Tina's house at about sunset. We all loaded up into the trailer and went on a hayride. The kids had a ball. Everytime we would get back in the hayride after a stop, Elena would start eating 90 miles an hour. She looked like a little rat. Open, eat, open eat. I bet she ate half of the candy just on the hayride. Afterwards, we went back to Tina's house and had a bonfire with hotdogs and all kinds of stuff. The kids were so wired on candy that they just ran around to warm up. Elena crashed when we got home because she was just exhausted. We had fun and they already can't wait for next year.

Our First Halloween Pumpkin

Barrett and Elena went to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday. They went to get our first pumpkins to carve. Elena picked out one pumpkin for her and one for Landon. She picked out a GIANT pumpkin for her; one almost as big as her, and then she picks a teeny tiny one for Landon. She had so much fun carving her pumpkin last night. She had no problem putting her arms and head in the pumpkin to clean it out. After it was done, we took some pictures. We put it on the picnic table on the porch and we faced the pumpkin in towards the house. All night last night she would go to the window to check it out. We kept the lights off most of the night so she could really look at it. Her and her daddy did a good job on our first pumpkin. We ended up painting Landon's pumpkin since it was too small to carve. We painted it white last night and tonight we will paint a black face on it.

Ship Island

We went to Ship Island this weekend. It was really nice. The weather was great for this. It was nice and cool and a little breezy. A perfect day for a boat ride and the beach. The kids loved going. It was like practically having the beach to yourself. The kids got to explore and go all over. We didn't have to worry about people or highways. We brought a picnic lunch with us so after a little morning exploring, we sat and had lunch on the beach. Grandpa took a nap after that although he swears he didn't. Here is the picture to prove it though. Anthony built sand castles and I took the girls down the beach to find seashells. There were shipping boats off the coast and the kids just thought it was so great that we were on an island and pirate ships were there too.

Ashleigh kept eating sand. I don't know what she thought it was but she would just put loads of it in her mouth. Elena, Ashleigh and Anthony all got burned. I guess because it was breezy we took advantage and didn't slather them up with sunscreen. None of them are complaining about it though which just proves that kids are tougher than adults. I would have already been whining.

Anyway, this was a fun day and hopefully we will do it again.

BACK TO WORK :(

OK. Today was D-Day. I officially had to start coming back to work today. It wasn't as hard as I thought coming to the office. I dropped Elena off bright and early this morning and then made the gut wrenching drive to Landon's daycare. I dropped him off at about 8. I only made it until 11 am before I drove down there to check on him. He looked like he was doing good. He was wide awake. He was clean and smiling so that made me feel a little better. He is the only one in his class until the end of November so he will get plenty of one on one time. The other classes were outside so his teacher had him outside with them. He was all wrapped up. I feel much better after this visit than I did after dropping him off.

Disney World Again

Ok. So this was our last chance to take a little vacation before I had to return to work. Moma, Krissy, me and all of the kids took the van to Disney World for four days. This was a great trip. The kids were on their best behavior. The weather was beautiful. And the best part, there were no lines. The kids got to ride everything that they wanted to ride and we didn't wait for anything. Landon did great on this trip. He got fussy the last couple of days because of the antibiotic he was on. Other than that, he seemed to enjoy himself as well.

On our first day there, we didn't think Elena would be tall enough to ride the roller coaster in Toon Town so we put her Minnie Mouse high heels on. She would not take them off the entire day. Everybody stopped us to ask where they came from. She loved it. She made sure if people didn't ask about them, she stopped to show them her shoes. She even took a picture with Minnie Mouse so that they could show their shoes off together.

Landon's first ride at Disney World was the Winnie the Pooh Ride. He was looking all around almost like he knew what was going on. He really liked all of the neon colors on that ride. I finally talked Hailey into riding Space Mountain even though Krissy objected. We rode it twice she loved it so much. Before this trip we couldn't get her off of Big Thunder Mountain and now we won't be able to get her off of Space Mountain. She says it is now her favorite ride.

This was such a good trip that I am already ready to go again. I think we are going to plan another short trip before the end of the year just me, Barrett & the kids. I think we would have a good time going just us. I guess I am just as big a Disney fan as the kids are.