Shopping for Shoe boxes

In our home, we do a Samaritan's purse shoebox each year. Laura Beth calls it the present for "the little girl." Well, this year (as well as other youth in recent years) I had the privilege of shopping for more shoeboxes with some of the wonderful youth 7th, 8th, and 9th grade girls below from KBC. They were so much fun! We are blessed to know them. 

Tea for Two

First, let me preface this post. I have seen some of my photographer mom friends take pics of their children and I copied some of their ideas. :)

Second, I only got these few shots that turned out okay out of like a BAZILLION other shots. ha!

Now, to tell you about our Tea Time.

My neighbor's yard is GORGEOUS...I mean really, it's just beautiful. I look out my window after a cool snap and Wah Lah, Beautiful yellow tree! I'm thinking...I need a photo of this. Then, I remembered that the girl's Christmas dresses are brown :) Sweet. PHOTO OPPORTUNITY!

I KNEW when I took this picture that I would cherish it forever. 

This picture is cute, but could have been better if I had taken my husband's advice (that he gave in previous photo sessions), to WAIT until the sun was not straight overhead. :( Shadows, squints, ugh.

More shadows in the photo below, but I feel like "mother photographer of the year" since I single handedly (literally) got this 6 -month- barely- sitting- up- on- her- own child to sit in that chair and not bite the dirt...AND I got her to smile. ha!

It was a fun time. However, I must admit here for the world to know... it ended in tears. Laura Beth was crazy cranky about the sun being in her eyes (Hence, not so many photos of Laura Beth on here). Furthermore, Julie Ann was sitting on a pine cone (we live in PineVille) during one shot. Ouch. Then, Laura Beth didn't want the Tea Party to go inside. Oh Bother. Photography is hard. I should stick to speech therapy and cleaning the house.

Our Wabee and Jill

When Wabee and Jill come to town, Laura Beth gets SOOOO excited! Mainly because Wabee usually has a "surprise" for Laura Beth. ha! BUT ALSO, because Wabee and Jill play with Laura Beth the WHOLE weekend. I also LOVE IT when they come to town, because they offer GREAT adult conversation, fun, AND they help me with my house in some of way (clean, unpack, Vacuum, etc. Who doesn't love that?)

Our first adventure was the Safari. It was a chilly day, but we loved it! Look at Wabee sporting the bjourn.

Bruiser the camel is my personal favorite of the Safari. Here he is finding his way to the food.

After the Safari we headed off to Sweet Frog, a self serve Yogurt place in Pineville. WE LOVE THAT PLACE!!!

Of course we had to go to Chuck E Cheese too. Laura Beth doesn't like the "Flash" on the camera...so hence the crazy face.

This picture cracks me up! It's Laura Beth's impression of Hannah Claire on this "roller coaster" ride at Chuck E CHeese. Too funny!

All in all, we ALWAYS have a GREAT time when Wabee and Jill come to town. We miss them every day in between the visits. However, we LOVE to "FaceTime" them. PLEASE COME BACK AGAIN SOON Wabee and Jill!

Pumpkin Patch!

The Mears Family

The Colvin Family. 

(Hollie, BJ, James, and Kathryn)

Hollie made those shirts. Aren't they adorable?!

 Picking our favorite pumpkin.

So Sweet!

James Colvin. 2 weeks older than Julie Ann. Serious cutest in that little guy!

Julie Ann. She's pretty cute herself.

Petting zoo.

KK the pumpkin.

Laura Beth the pumpkin.

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN AT THE PUMPKIN PATCH.

Mother's Day Out Fall Party

Mother's Day Out friends. KK, Brooke, and Laura Beth.

I know she is thinking "Daddy please take this picture without flash." She hates the flash...my little hyper- sensitive-child to ALL 5 senses!!! (Note: "Mother of the Year" right here...I made that cookie. ha!)

This picture below is funny because KK, Laura Beth, and Matthew (note: boy transformer) are sitting together. KK and Laura Beth always play with Matthew and talk about him a lot at home too. hmmmm.

Oh October!

 Last year, we were in Fort Worth, TX for October. This is a picture of Laura Beth from a year ago.

This year, we are in Louisiana! However, this picture was taken in TN. We went to my best friends wedding and visited the Zoo while in Memphis. 

 It was "boo at the zoo" weekend, so there were lots of Halloween Decorations.

 Family Photo! We had a great time with Gran and Papaw.

Laura Beth looks a little discouraged by Chloe, the sea lion, being behind us. 

Laura Beth loves carousels...all carousels.

Julie Ann was tired.

Playing on the playground at the zoo.

We also had a GREAT time at the Children's Museum of Memphis.

Shopping!

 Cutest Firegirl EVER!

This was a movie dress up place. Laura Beth was the dragon. Then, the movie screen put her into a movie.

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Family photo at Jennifer's wedding.

Julie Ann and Steve.

Laura Beth seriously posing at her music performance at church when we returned from Memphis. Thats her best friend Katherine on her right. 

We are ready for this weekend. Tomorrow is "Cookies and Characters"at the Merry Market in Alex. (Don't worry, you know I will post pics.) Today, Laura Beth got a flu shot. She was very brave. Julie Ann sleeps...yes, read that again. Julie Ann sleeps ALL night. I don't get up...not once. Well, that is until she teethes...which should be any day now. Ah hmm. Thank you God for bringing me through the last 6 month of sleep deprivation. 

More pics and movies of October to come....

Cajun Cooking

Okay, so maybe it isn't EXACTLY "Cajun" cooking...but it is definitely a Louisiana staple. ha!