Transformations

Do you remember this? This mantle has been the bane of my existance ever since we moved into our house. I love it because it is gorgeous and tall and everything you could want from a mantle but what the pictures don't represent is the grand scale of this thing. It is a beast. I know it doesn't look big, but let me tell you it is a mammoth when you see it in person.

The only time we ever got it to look halfway descent was in October when we had candles and pumpkins and a fall leaf arrangement up there. Christmas was marginally better than its blank state but not by much. It just looked, well, ackward. Nothing fit.

Finally, FINALLY, I like and even LOVE my mantle. We spruced up the living room and now here's how it looks today:

Much better, right?!

On the mantle from left to right are pictures of the French Quarter, the Natchez Steamboat, Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral and another French Quarter view. These were all pictures we took on our recent trip there. We had no idea that we'd be framing pictures from our trip so the quality perhaps isn't the best but it's a start and we can always go back and take better pictures since we'd have a purpose to next time.

These silhouettes were a one-afternoon project.

I took profile pictures of the entire family in the morning, uploaded them to Target's photo page (Shutterfly) and had them developing while I went to Michael's to pick up the frames, paper and spray adhesive.

Once I picked up the pictures and got back home, I attached the photos to the red paper with tape (just in little loops so each side would stick together). I only taped the areas inside the faces that I wanted to keep because I needed my project to stay still while I cut it out.

Then I got out a cutting mat and my Xacto knife and went to work cutting out the profiles. When I was done, I removed the tape from the red paper, took it in the backyard and sprayed the back with adhesive and attached to the white paper. 

After that was done, I used the paper insert from the frames to trace out what I would need to cut to make the silhouettes fit their frame. 

Viola! Easy peasy fun project! Chloe's is super cute and Troy's profile is spot on! Which one do you like? I think next time I do this I will wear a pony tail to give my profile a little more definition. The plan is to do this once a year so I can see how we're growing! 

Troy still needs to hang the curtains in the office and the kitchen so it still looks like it's missing SOMETHING in this picture. If you look closely, I've added an old friend to one of our kitchen windows. Peyton's room used to have red, yellow and green paper stars hanging above his crib when he was still a baby and not climbing the walls. Now it's impossible to decorate his room at all. It literally has only a bed in it because he kept ripping down his decorations and pulling the dresser down on himself. So I found a new home for my star. Maybe it will stay a while; who knows?

Troy teases me for this, but now at night, I light up the mantle because I think it so fun to look at.

We're getting close to having our downstairs all fixed up! We just need our paintings from New Orleans in the dining room and it will be perfect. Those won't come until later in the year so for now it is still empty and barren in there. :-(

It's coming along though!

Sunshine on my Shoulders

We sent out invitations that said, 'Our sunny girl is turning one, please join us for cake and fun! The party begins at one on the dot, so come and laugh & play a lot!'

We had the party yesterday on Saturday, June 5th, even though her actual birthday is June 1st. We figured more people would show up on a Saturday afternoon than a Tuesday night. :-)

Here comes the sun!

It was the perfect party for such a cheery, sunny girl.

There were chocolate covered strawberries, lemon cookies, lemonade, Sunkist (we couldn't resist) as well as other bottled juices and artichoke jalapeno spread with slices of italian bread.

Nope, that wasn't all; there was fruit salad, mini chicken salad croissants, and salt and pepper kettle chips.

Yum.

Add some great friends and it was a birthday bash!

This wasn't the cake we initially chose. When I went to go pick up her cake that morning at the grocery store, there were about 10 other graduation cakes that they were in the process of making. One lady had ordered a cake that was supposed to be ready for 10:00. At 11:30, it was still not done. I walked out of the store and sent Troy on an errand to find a new cake, pronto! I never did get a call from the first store about the initial cake we had ordered. Good thing we made do! It was the only hiccup we had the whole day-- everything else went smoothly and turned out beautifully.

Speaking of cake... I think Chloe is a fan of it! She sucked on a handful of cake for the longest time after Troy showed her that she could eat it!

We had to throw that dirty girl in the tub after her cake introduction so she had wet piggeties the rest of the afternoon. :-)

After cake, we opened presents. Chloe is such a girly girl! She smiled at all of the outfits she got and loved on all of her new stuffed animals.

Here's what Mom and Dad {Troy and I} got her: a new walker to help her with those baby steps!

I think it's a hit!

Chloe had a fun day 'pigging' out and playing with all her new things. Here she is loving on her pink pig that her Mimzy and Sir Grandpa sent her.

We're so happy that Chloe was able to have some of her baby friends over.

Here Chloe is adoring Audelia's headband and was trying to steal it!

Her other friend Isabella was drinking a bottle and poor Kendall was at home sick and missed the party but her Mom was able to come in her stead. Peyton was also thrilled to have buddies his age to play with too- he had fun with Darien and Brooke and older friends Wyatt, Alyssa and Madi.

Thanks to everyone who made Chloe's first birthday so very special! I'm sure she'll love looking back at pictures of it one day.

Speaking of good ol' friends...

While we were still in New Orleans, we tried calling our friends, the Roberts, who still live in Metairie. Funnily enough, they were in DALLAS while we were in NEW ORLEANS! We had swapped places! When we got back, they were still in Dallas for another day or two visiting family so we met up and had dinner at Scott's parent's house. 

Emily and Peyton were long overdue for a visit. Now if we could just get Peyton, Emily and Calyn all together again it would be like the three Amigos all over again. Chloe and Madison have yet to become as tight as these little buddies used to be, but they're working on it. Here Emily is showing me her skills with the hula hoop. 

Baby chain! 

Check out those BLUE eyes! I always hoped our kids would have cool eyes, but Peyton's eyes are now just brown. There for a while, he had these cool slate grayish blue eyes that were awesome. He had them up to a year and then they turned hazel. Today at dinner, Troy noticed that his eyes are now more brown than hazel.  I guess they are going to stay that way. :(  

While the babies were playing, there was a great bustle in the kitchen to get dinner underway. Aimee is making a fabulous salad with blackberries, mandarin oranges, red onions and pecans and Anita is making chocolate covered strawberries. The strawberries were so good that I craved them for a week and ended up making some for Chloe's birthday party. 

Silly 'Beans'. :) 

Chloe was having a time. She really was not happy with us after the long excursion in the car to N.O. and back and then being there for dinner past her bed time. That night she was anti-sunshine girl. :) 

Meanwhile, 'Beans' got to lick the spoon from the chocolate and was as happy as a clam, can't you tell? ;-0 Really, she was happy; I think I just startled her here when the flash went off.  

Almost the whole gang {Madi and Chloe were in bed at this point}. From left to right: Troy, Peyton, me, Emily, Aimee and Scott.

Thanks for having us over guys! The food was great but the time spent together was even better. Let us know when you're back in town and we'll cook YOU dinner. ;-)

Mang-oue Reunion

We had a great time on our spur of the moment road trip to N.O. but the highlight of the trip was definitely meeting up with some of our very dear friends, the Mangum's. They gave us the green light to crash at their place on the way back home so after four hours in the car, we took a brief detour off the main strip and visited our buds in Northern Louisiana!

These two were finally reunited after a year apart. Calyn and Peyton have some good memories together when they were babies and toddlers and are no strangers to playing in the water together; like this old post. 

While Jeni was inside making a salad and the guys were throwing some ribs on the grill, these two were having a wet and wild time in the backyard.

This picture makes me giggle.

It didn't take long before they had established a game of sorts without speaking. They'd run to the fence, turn around and race to the pool. Going full force, they'd jump into the pool and laugh hysterically at each other. Notice that both of our kids have succumbed to movie merchandise fever-- Peyton is wearing 'Cars' swimming trunks, Calyn a Disney Princess swimsuit.

Let's do it AGAIN! :-)

A few times, Peyton ate it and inhaled a mouthful of water.

By the time they were done they'd given the lawn a good watering!

While there were swimming dives going on in the background, this was going on simultaneously. Check out those ribs! They were go-o-o-o-d. Jeni has a 'secret recipe' that she used and they were awesome. Aaron did a great job firing them up.

Leave it to Troy to jump in and lend a hand. I don't think I've ever begun and finished cooking a meal without Troy altering or fiddling with what I'm doing. I think he might have missed his calling in life as a chef. ;-) He's a pretty good lawyer though so I think it worked out.

Jeni was smart and knew that the kids probably wouldn't enjoy ribs like the rest of us would so she hooked them up with mac and cheese. I love that Peyton is wearing Calyn's sunglasses; upside down. Right in the middle of me taking this picture, Calyn was asking if I was going to take her picture too. Got ya, Wags!

It was hard to say goodbye the next morning. We decided to take some pictures before we headed out and I'm glad we did. It made me smile that Jeni who usually has dark hair went lighter and I went darker with my hair {even though I usually keep my hair lighter}. So we played opposites this go around! 

Jeni had to tell them, 'Hug each other like you like each other." because Aaron and Troy were really far apart in the picture before. Guys are so funny about hugging.

It was great seeing these guys again. Four hours isn't too far, but it sure seems that way. I wish the Mangum's were closer. :( We'll have to plan more visits with each other and soon! Luckily, we get to see these guys in July when they'll come down to catch a soccer game. I guess that's the only way we'll 'lure' them down! ;-)

Second Line Wedding

As we were walking towards Jackson Square to get to Muriel's {having finished dinner at Bacco}, we heard the bells of St. Louis Cathedral ringing out wildly. Normally, the bells chime the hour but this was a great cacophony of noise. I turned to Troy and said, "They normally only ring the bells like that for funerals or weddings, right?!" Troy told me that he thought so and I started quickening my pace.

Sure enough, we saw a whole wedding party outside in front of Jackson Square beautifully dressed and dancing with parasols to a jazz band that was cheerily playing. I asked Troy if he had ever seen anything like it {since he grew up in New Orleans} and he never had! So we stayed and watched a while.

Here come the Bride and Groom! They were positively gleaming-- it was the cutest thing ever. Talk about a party in the streets! Everyone that was a part of the wedding was dancing along with the band and there were plenty of onlookers like us who were snapping pictures of the whole parade.

I wish I had video to show you, but in this picture, the bride and groom are dancing too! In fact, I think the groom was getting down more than the bride. :-)

Off they go... can you see some of the band at the helm?

We had time to kill before we went to Muriel's so we walked around and when we came back to Jackson Square, the bridal party was just making their way down the street in front of Muriel's. Look at that enthusiasm! They look like fun people to know.

FYI: a second line in New Orleans is usually the party after the main parade. That's where all the people follow behind and either walk or dance to the music waving handkerchiefs or twirling parasols. It's considered a jazz funeral without the body.  

I was so glad we got to witness this. How often do you see a wedding parade in the streets?!