wordless wednesday...

we LOVE miss shreveport...

let me just say that in my opinion...we now live on the best street in america! it feels like a little slice of old town america...and what mostly makes it feel that way are the fabulous, incredible, amazing neighbors!!!!!

one of the families that lives on this block is the "apple clan"! cindy, my fifth grade teacher, and her three children live down the street...and her mom lives right across from us! we have had SO many fun times in the short time that we have lived here...including almost pulling an all nighter including popcorn and keyboard playing!!!!!!

cindy's oldest daughter, mary jane, is stunningly beautiful...and i'm not just talking about her outward appearance...she is gorgeous on the inside. in fact, ALL THREE of her children are simply amazing. ella told her youngest daughter the other day - "you're my best friend" - my girls LUUUUUV her...and the rest of the family for that matter!!!!!

anyway, mary jane participated in the miss shreveport pageant on saturday night. we knew we would never miss this opportunity to support some of our dearest friends...so all the prices, complete with honey & grandpa, headed out to cheer for our girl!!! there was no doubt from the start that mary jane was a front runner...but after the talent competition was complete...we were certain that she should be the winner!!!!!

and that is just what happened...SHE WON!!!! she definitely had the largest fan club...and we are so very proud of her! we can hardly wait to head to monroe next june to support her in the miss louisiana pageant...we're even planning on heading to vegas for miss america!!!!

of course, the girls were in awe of all the pretty girls in their pretty dresses...but no one compares to "mawy jane" (in madelinese!!!)...the most beautiful miss shreveport there ever was!

we are so proud of you, mary jane! i can remember babysitting for you when you were just a tiny baby...to think how far you have come! what a treasure that your beauty shines from the inside...and what a blessing to all those that have the privilege of knowing you! the prices are some of your biggest fans...and we'll be with you every step of the way!

say "cheese"!!!!!

as jeffrey could tell you...my favorite part of any beach vacation are the pictures!!!! i love the backdrop...and LOVE capturing my sweet peas on "film"! i will probably at some point and time share most of the pictures that we took...but for now, i just wanted to give a sneak peak!!!! HA!
i can hardly wait to see what our family of five will look like next year...when #3 is not just being photographed in my tummy!!!!!

beach bums...if only for a couple days!!!!

since the move was going to be taking up the vast majority of our summer, we decided to push our beach vacation to august...which left very little "wiggle room" due to ella starting school and my days of allowed travel being numbered. the kids were so super excited to head to the beach...and i'll have to admit...i think i may have been more excited than they were.

unfortunately, jeffrey's sweet mema passed away the day before we were supposed to leave...so of course, we needed to be with the family in louisiana and texas. the funeral wasn't until saturday afternoon in wilmer texas...so i kept telling jeffrey that we just shouldn't worry about the beach this year. my husband, being nothing short of amazing, insisted that we make everything work (he's a fixer and a pleaser!!!)...so we loaded up the girls at 8 o'clock saturday night and headed off for mobile, alabama. we figured that would at least give us a couple of full days on the beach!

i could not be happier that we (with lots of convincing from hubby) decided to go ahead with our vacation...WE HAD A BLAST!!!!! the tucker family joined us sunday afternoon and both families had an amazing time! the weather was absolutely perfect, the kids L.o.V.e.d. the beach as well as the ocean, swam in the pool for countless hours, and had such a fun time in the evenings riding go karts and bungy jumping!!!!! it was extremely quick and i certainly wasn't ready to leave tuesday morning...but it was SO worth it...and i was able to sneak in a measly 650 pictures or so...

these memories made with our children and family are priceless to me...i treasure so many of the vacations i went on as a child. i can only hope that ella & maddie look back on these times with happy hearts...and know that we did all of this because we love them so much.

and we're off...

to a great start this new school year! ella's half day on thursday went very well...and the "boo hoo" breakfast for all the new mommies was a success as well! they handed out kleenex to all of the moms and talked to us about separation anxiety...on OUR part mainly!!!!

ella had a F.a.B.U.l.o.U.s. first full day of kindergarten on friday...and was sporting the biggest smile you have ever seen when i picked her up (i was the second car in the carpool line - couldn't wait to see her!!!)! she immediately said "i don't ever want to move again, mommy"...

after lots of prodding, i was able to obtain the following information from her:
1) her favorite part of the day was lunch
2) she got to go to art
3) she played with sarah and madelyn...and madelyn has diabetes and has to have her "blood pressure" checked with a friend
4) she actually fell asleep during nap time and was one of the last to wake up
5) one of the little girls in her class got a warning...but not her...and we certainly hope it stays that way
6) she wants to know if she can go to school on saturdays!!!!!!!

we could not be happier that she seems to love it so much! i think i'm going to love it just as much as she does too...of course, i eagerly signed up to be one of the room mothers - jeffrey thinks i am such a dork...but i LOVE that kind of stuff!!!! i can only imagine what this year will hold...and i hope that each day only seems to be more fun and exciting than the first...because if so, it just couldn't get any better!!!!!! here are a few pics of our little "smith's super star"!