Happy Bachelorette Weekend Lauren!

One of our dearest and oldest friends, Lauren, is getting married in March.

(Lauren is on the left and her sister, Kristen, is on the right.)
This weekend was her bachelorette party in Austin. I went down on Thursday for an Apraxia conference (which was pretty awesome... you know, if you're into that sort of thing) and met up with the ladies at the Driskell on Friday evening. Here are the ladies:
I've never done Austin for a bachelorette weekend before, and I have to say that it was a GREAT place for a mini-vacation. Lots to see and do... really for all ages. Friday night we went to Moonshine for dinner and back to the hotel bar for a nightcap.
Saturday was spent eating at Trudy's and milling around downtown shopping. We had dinner at Kenichi and then went to a bar to see Paula Nelson (dughter of Willie Nelson) play.
It was such a fun weekend all the way around! Congrats Lauren! We can't wait for the wedding!

What's Cookin?

I love this time of year... where it's cold outside and all you want to do is cozy up inside and eat a bowl of hot soup. We have been cooking at least one type of soup per week in our household lately.

Cheeseburger Soup- to make it a bit more healthy, I used cauliflower rather than potatoes, turkey meat rather than beef, and low-fat shredded chedder cheese instead of the cubed type.

Tortilla Soup- I pretty much followed this recipe spot on... it turned out really well, especially with a squeeze of lime added to it!

Roasted Butternut Chowder with Apples and Bacon... it is really soooo good!

Enjoy!

Happy 2nd Birthday to the Triplets!

So, Patrick and I have deicided to copy this theme for Charlie's upcoming birthday party. It's just so cute, easy, and fun for all. "Pancakes and PJ's".... perfect!



And a couple of videos:
Yummy!

The fish was a hit!

Geaux Tigers!!

LSU came in full force to play against the A&M Aggies at the Cotton Bowl, which this year was at Jerry-World. Along with LSU came Julie, the triplets, my mom, and my brother (all who stayed at our house) and many other friends. We celebrated the day with the babies (can I still call them babies now that they are all 2):



Thanks to my mom and my Aunt Jennifer who watched the kiddos, the rest of us got to go to the game. We had awesome seats and came away with an even more awesome win!! Way to geaux Tigers!



Before LSU was in the Cotton Bowl, Patrick and I had arranged to have a shower for Michael and Tandra at our house that same weekend. Cotton Bowl Friday, shower Saturday. Full weeekend! Unfortunatly, I woke up with considerable fever Saturday morning... I powered through getting the house ready for the party, but couldn't stay for it considering my fever and sore throat. Woke up on Sunday with 102.6 and headed straight to the doctor. Strep... ugh! I was down and out for 3 days, but the worst part was missing my brother-in-laws and future sister-in-laws shower. I felt really horrible for that!! I'll make it up, though... one way or another.

Playing Catch Up

I know, I know... I've been MIA for a while. Between OKC, Shreveport, Cotton Bowl, back to OKC for the triplets birthday, me getting strep throat and now Charlie having RSV life has been crazy around here. Where to start with the blog? I guess I will just dive right in with a little back-blogging.

This is how our front entrance looked a week after Christmas. I LOVE this time of year for this very reason. I love getting Christmas cards from family and friends... especially when a photograph is included! It's a small way of letting others know that you are thinking of them.




Sadly, now they are all taken down and in a large bowl by the front door just in case I need to look through them to get my fix of seeing my family and friends!

Shreveport Time

The week after Christmas was spent in Shreveport. Julie and I and the foursome all drove in together.

As you can see, it was a fun ride!

We mostly just hung around the house and had vistors over or went to other friends houses. But, we did get out and hit up a park with the kids:




At the house, the little ones loved playing in this chair:
And bath time:


For New Years Eve day we had a lovely dinner at home. My dad made an awesome beef tenderloin and fabulous champagne to go along with it. The kids got dressed up for the day:


And thanks to my parents for babysitting every night! Juls and I got to enjoy a night out with our camp girlfriends and a night out with our high school girlfriends. And for New Year's Eve Juls, Patrick and I enjoyed a fabulous party put on by our friends, the Alexander's! It was such a fun week in Shreveport spending time with friends and family!