mock rush

yesterday was mock rush at the kd house. of course i took olivia! it was her first trip to the lodge but definately not her last! each year the chapter invites alums back to see the rush slideshows and skit. kd does the wizard of oz. it's wonderful! at the end of the skit the characters invite all the children there to come up and get a teddy bear that was made the prior year on philanthropy day. olivia got her first one! there was an 8 year old there that's never missed a year; so she has 8 bears now.... i'm hoping to start a little collection!

please excuse my expression - the sun was beating in my eyes and it was HOT outside!

the cast of oz with a few of the kids there

scarecrow and olivia

i want nothing more right now than to put a bow in my daughter's hair. it's just not working out for us... this was rett's first attempt at a bow - i'm calling it the mo-bow (instead of mohawk!)

friday night rett and i went on a date to celebrate his bday. we went to the bistro here in town. it was our first time and we will go back! soooo good! we had drinks, ahi tartare & 3 sushi rolls - spicy lady (tuna); spicy sake (salmon) & the ruston maki (shrimp - it was ok but we won't get it again - we prefer the spicy raw ones!) except for the ruston roll, everything was spot on! i can't believe it took us this long to go there.

i just love a good sale!

today was the local baby/kids consignment sale. lordy. this thing is like one big baby/kids garage sale. it's a great place to find anything you could possibly ever need - for CHEAP! this was my second sale to particiapte in. i volunteer to help with the sale (4 hours each go round) and i get to be in the first group to shop. here's just a sampling of what all i got!

olivia's thanksgiving dress for this year - $6!

her christmas dress for next year - $10!

18 pairs of footie jammies - not all the same size! she'll have to grow into half of them!

i also got a jogging stroller for $32, an activity table (for when she can pull up and stand) for $10, and a johnny jump up thingy for $4!

rett loves it when i'm frugal; he is a cpa after all!

patty cake, patty cake

you know the nursery rhyme....

patty cake, patty cake

baker's man

bake me a cake as fast as you can

roll it up

...............

throw it in the pan!

what the heck is the next to last line??? i've been doing this with olivia and just can't seem to remember it.

speaking of baking... this is what jackie and i did last night. to be fair, this is pretty much what jackie did last night! rett and i only helped ice the suckers!

we made approximately 125 cupcakes. it only took 4 hours! this week is "spirit week" (the week leading up to rush) at tech. since jackie and i are in charge of the kd alumnae assoc we made cupcakes for the chapter from the alumnae assoc. they better love these things!

and, while we're on the topic of nursery rhymes - does anyone know the whole "this little piggy"? i can't remember this one either. i guess i just need to go out and buy a book of these classics...

happy 32 bday, rett!

my baby daddy is 32 today! happy birthday rett! we started the day by giving him his present and cards. this year he gets comfy chairback seats at all home tech football games! it's the gift that keeps on giving!

we had a jaycee meeting today at lunch and surprised him with a cake to share with everyone there!

and here is the birthday boy getting birthday kisses from his baby girl!

we're going on a date friday night to celebrate the big 3-2!

wedding in the boro

olivia and i got up early saturday morning and went to the 'boro. my mom's best friend was getting married. i grew up with her three kids; sarah and i were besties since birth and reconnected again after college. so glad we did! she's expecting her first child (a boy!) at thanksgiving. anyway... here are a few pics we took!

mrs. shiela feeding olivia at the reception
me, sarah & rachel

me, mrs. sherry & sarah

lots to talk about!

we had a really busy week around here! on tuesday we celebrated my dad's bday at our house. mom, dad, jenny, john, jackie, brock, me, rett & olivia. i didn't take any pics but jackie did a great job cooking - chicken fajitas...YUM!

one day last week rett was driving and saw this...look closely at the blue building in front of the truck hauling the trailer...

what a sad day! i knew they were taking down the "dawg house" ticket booths at the joe but it didn't really sink in until i saw this picture. these ticket booths have been around forever (well, at least as long as i can remember!) i started going to tech football games around 1981 and these have always been there! but, i guess we have to move ahead with the times! it was time for them to go...

thursday was super busy! after work i went and set up the jaycee's booth at the lincoln parish back to school bash. we raffled off two backpacks full of school supplies. it was really fun!then, ran home and set up for bunco that night. i served chicken salad, pasta salad & broccoli salad. hey, it's too hot to cook!and, what's a post without a picture of our precious baby girl??? she loves her tummy time! (j/k...)

yesterday olivia and i headed to the 'boro for a wedding...post and pics coming soon!

Christening!

today was olivia's christening. we vowed in front of our families/church family to raise olivia according to God's plan. what a day! we were so happy our families could be with us. rett's dad, my parents; sisters; grandmother & great aunt. afterwards we had lunch at our house. it was crowded but so worth it! there's gonna be lots of pics here so bear with me. i'm documenting olivia's life and want lots of pics!

table in living room - gerber daisies with photos of olivia

kitchen table - same as above
olivia wore my christening gown - how special!

family of three
with rett's dad
with my parents
four generations - olivia, me, mamamack, dad
with my sisters
cousins at trinity - jennifer's little boy is only 8 wks old and weighs more than olivia!
3 j's with mamamack, aunt linda & dad
playing with olivia after lunch

thanks to all of you for coming today! it meant the world to us!

meet mamamack

olivia got to meet her other great grandmother this weekend. my dad's mom (aka mamamack) and sister (aunt linda) came to town for olivia's christening (post coming soon). it was such a special day! here's a pic of olivia with her great grandmother, mamamack!

3 months!

yesterday olivia turned 3 months old! it's sooo cliche but i seriously can't believe she's already 3 months. time is flying by. these have been 3 of the most stressful yet happy months of our lives! happy 3 months, olivia jane; momma and daddy love you!

wedding fun!

ok...i can't get the pics in the order i want them...this is the best i can do!

i've been a stalker of kelly's korner for a while now. she's been doing a fabulous tour of weddings over the past few weeks. this is me playing catch up. wedding, reception, honeymoon-all in one!

we did a 7 day cruise for our honeymoon...

at a restaurant in mexico...

getting ready to snorkle in the cayman islands
on a beach in jamaica

i don't have my professional wedding shots on our computer b/c 5 years ago when we got married no one did that! these are just snapshots taken by family and friends - i realize they aren't that great. i wish i had a scanner to show you my favs!

here's how our wedding went down - normal church wedding with about 3x too many people! our church only holds about 250 and we sent out over 500 invitations! what were we thinking??? anyway, the reception was suppose to be at my parents house but the 30 day flood came the entire 30 days before my wedding. no kidding - it rained for 28 days out of the 30 leading up to our wedding. needless to say the reception had to be moved. but, i'm from a small town and there was no other place to hold everyone and everything. so, our solution.... the traveling reception. we started in the church fellowship hall for cake and food and punch. and then drove down the road for the band, beer and belly dancing (j/k about the belly dancing!) but, it turned out great! we had food and cake at both places. the "young" folks hurridly made it down to the 2nd location while the "older" crowed hung out at the church. we stayed at the church for about an hour or so and then headed down to the 2nd location! we partied there for another 2-3 hours and then headed out.

this was our first dance at the 2nd reception - i guess i was playing with my necklace? you can see here i changed into a shorter veil for the reception...

this is the best view i have of me and my bridesmaids dresses - theirs v'd in the front and back... mine was as simple as simple comes. no beeding, lace, etc...

my ceremony veil was cathedrial length with lace going about a 1/4 of the way up

mr. and mrs. rett hamby!

i loved everything about our wedding! except for the flood, i wouldn't change a thing!

still sick...

olivia is still sick. i took her to the doctor today and she is definately congested. she quit eating last night and wouldn't take her bottle this morning so that's when i decided to call the doc. she didn't want to give her medicine just yet b/c she's still so young so she told me to put her by the humidifier and to keep suctioning.... she also told me to give her pedialite to keep her from dehydrating. so, that's where we stand. she did start eating tonight though. i have to call the doc in the morning and give her my assessment and she will decide if i need to take her in again in the morning. hope she gets better soon!

here is our first picture of her smiling. rett took it wednesday night with his cell phone so the quality is not that great but you get the idea!

tmrw i am "spring" cleaning my house. it's not gonna be fun but has to get done!

yuck...:(

olivia is sick. not real sick but sick enough. she started coughing & sneezing last night and her breathing sounded "snotty". however, she wasn't running a fever, she was eating fine, sleeping fine, no runny nose, etc. so, i called the doc this afternoon. she's too little to give medicine so they told me to just squirt some infant saline up her nose and to suction before every meal and nap. we started tonight. i also bought a humidifier to put in her room. now, i just have to make sure she continues to eat and sleep well and if not then she goes to the doctor. i think she "feels" fine b/c she acts fine but i still hate that she's sick...

yum...

you must all run out and buy these ingredients:

2 cans black beans
2 cans mexican corn
1 can rotel
1/2 red onion
cilantro
2 avocados
1 jalepeno
2 limes
1 cup grape tomatoes

and then run home and do this with them...

drain all of the can goods. dump into a bowl. chop everything else except limes. dump into same bowl. juice both limes into bowl. mix. serve with corn chips or just eat it with a spoon.

this is heaven!

black bean summer salad

talking

here is just a snippit of the talking olivia's been doing lately! she coos and smiles all the time now! sooo cute!

i hate that we didn't take more video in the beginning - we have just random videos of her and not very many...we're trying to do better!

busy, busy...

this past week or so we've been pretty busy...

we cooked lots of dinners (i prefer to put the laptop on the counter with the recipe - it's easier than reading from a cookbook!)

daddy insisted that we try the exersaucer - still a little to big!her feet didn't even touch!we've been on walks around the block...while daddy rode his bike.have a great week!