The Soileaus

Thanksgiving Fun

2009-01-10T09:26:00.006-06:00

Finally getting around to posting some more holiday fun and frivolity.

The girls always have so much fun at Jeremy's parents' house. There is so much room to run around with their cousins and just be kids. My brother-in-law Steve borrowed a friend's 4-wheeler this year, and very generously he and my sister-in-law, Tricia, gave all the kids endless rides while I sat inside and read a book. Did I mention that I love vacations at the in-laws, too?!?!?

Here is a snippet of one such 4 wheeler ride, in two parts.

Yes, you are correct, the children are sitting on pillows, strapped in with bungee cords. If that concerns you, too bad. These are not your children.

See, Steve is a very safe driver.

Christmas

2009-01-08T19:49:00.003-06:00

I had a million things to do last night (including taking down the tree), but instead I decided to play around with Windows Movie Maker. I thought it would be fun to put all the pictures together that the girls took. I always love seeing what's on the camera after they have had a turn with it. I will try to post some more Christmas pictures soon, and I also told my nieces that I would post their web show "Cooking Cousins" that they made at Thanksgiving. I must do that.

So, anyway, here is the link for the video of Olivia reading "In the Bleak Midwinter" at church as well as the Christmas pictures Harper Lee and Olivia took.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=849053228585085994&hl=en

Does anyone know how to change the volume of the background music at different points during the video using Movie Maker? (You'll find out why I'm asking in just a sec.)

The Best Christmas Ever

2008-11-26T16:15:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

We are in Henderson, and the girls are enjoying playing with their cousins. I have had a great vacation, myself. I have been SOO lazy so far this trip, and loving it. We had a great visit with my grandmother and Jeremy's oldest sister and fam in Lake Charles, but no pics (see aforementioned laziness). Today, however, the kids decided to make a movie and asked me to record it, so I had to move from my place on the couch. I had to record it in two parts because of the different scenes. Sorry for the shakiness. It's hard to walk and record at the same time. :) It works best if you click on the Google video icon in the corner of the screen and watch it in original size.

Click on the capital "T":

The Best Christmas Ever - Act One

The Best Christmas Ever - Act Two

Halloween

2008-11-16T06:33:00.004-06:00

I'm lagging behind again. At least I got these posted before Thanksgiving! Here are some pictures Virginia sent me of the kids. We went trick-or-treating with Emerson, Atticus, and Sabriel (not pictured). We worked hard for the candy this year, folks!! You do a lot of walking when 1 out of every 4 people are at home. More of you should be at home on Halloween!!! :)

Harper Lee was a "Spanish princess" and Olivia was a vampire. I have no idea what made Olivia latch on to the vampire idea. About a month before Halloween we were in the car together and out of the blue she said, "Mom, do you know what really ties the whole vampire thing together? The teeth. Without that, it's just a costume."

Thanks to Virginia for sending me these pictures.

The Tradition Continues

2008-10-26T18:48:00.003-05:00

I don't know how many years now that we've carved pumpkins at my mom's house. William was quite small when we started, I know that. It has elevated in status to right behind dying Easter eggs (which if you know my mom, you know is a HUGE deal at her house). We had a great time today because the girls both did a great job and really did almost all of the work themselves, so it was fun to watch.

For some reason, slide.com cut off some of the jack-o-lantern pictures (which I had a hard time getting anyway). Anyway, you get the idea!

Career Day

2008-10-11T20:53:00.002-05:00

Both girls were chefs this year. This is the "Iron Chef" pose.

MORE October Fun!

2008-10-11T17:26:00.002-05:00

After weeks of construction, our foam haunted house is finally complete!!! The girls and I had a blast working on this. I think because you could only do small, easily completed steps and then you had to wait on the glue to dry. It was perfect for my attention span. :)

October Fun

2008-10-08T21:08:00.006-05:00

Halloween has been all the talk at our house lately. Tonight the girls made fairy wing costumes for some of their favorite stuffed animals.

They were both so funny. They were such proud "parents" of all their animals, going on and on about how adorable they are.

What to do on a Saturday in Leeds, Alabama

2008-10-06T19:55:00.006-05:00

One thing you can do is to walk around the Antiques Mall / Flea Market and find nightmare-inducing junk.

Jeremy, the girls, and I spent a couple of hours there this past Saturday and here are our top finds:

Bronze Medal:

I don't know what's scarier, my sweet youngest daughter's face being replaced with a frightening tortured face, or the diseases that probably lurk in the mask that she is inhaling.

Silver Medal:

I don't really know what to say about this one. Can you imagine having this hanging on your wall? I personally thought this little beauty was a close call for the gold medal, but Jeremy fought hard for the gold medalist. He said it was by far the creepiest.

Gold Medal:

Why?

You Cannot Raise Children Around Their Dad

2008-09-30T18:43:00.005-05:00

Actually, that's a favorite saying of a good friend of mine, but I think it might be true.

Seriously, chasing kids with a riding lawn mower can't be safe.

I'm So Lucky!!

2008-09-19T08:15:00.003-05:00

A lot of mornings, Harper Lee fixes Olivia's hair before I even have to trouble myself with it. I don't know what we would do without her help!

Recipes Around the World

2008-09-14T22:58:00.004-05:00

Anyone who knows Harper Lee very well knows that she loves the Food Network. She knows all the chefs, and she has her favorites. From time to time she tapes her own food show here at our house. It's called Recipes Around the World. I haven't posted any of them here because they are usually quite long. I finally uploaded one to Google Videos:

Recipes Around the World

Even if this is too long for you, be sure to fast forward to the end to catch Harper breaking down her theme song. I might should post a poll here to ask if you think we have allowed her to watch too many hours of Food Network, but I'm afraid to see the results.

Rehearsal Dinner

2008-09-14T21:00:00.002-05:00

I finally got around to posting some pictures of the rehearsal dinner.

Both my mom and my dad have fairly big families, so I had a lot of cousins that I grew up being close to. So now that equals lots of second cousins that we are close to. I gave each picture a cliff's notes label for those that don't know who these people are. It's so fun to see my cousins now and watch our kids play together like we all used to do.

We're So Proud!

2008-08-08T22:49:00.005-05:00

All those casting calls and auditions finally paid off. Harper's first print ad. We're so proud!

First Day of School

2008-08-07T21:11:00.011-05:00

The girls had a great first day of school. Both of them love their teachers. Per our yearly tradition, I let them pick out a new outfit for the first day. That is all the back to school clothes shopping that we do because it is SOOOOO hot for the first part of the school year. I try to let them do this totally on their own, within reason. I love the differences in their personality that this highlights.

Harper Lee's ensemble includes the girliest outfit she could find, and she refused to let me touch her hair.

Olivia, on the other hand, chose the most comfortable pants she could find, and put them with a 4th of July top she found because "her Aunt Jana would love it." Additionally, she and her dad ganged up on me to let her keep the exceedingly visible Pop-tarts tattoo on her arm. Did I mention this was the FIRST day of school? I am wondering what her teacher thought about me.

My regret from today is that I missed the best photo op of the day. For the first time, this year the girls will both go to the gym each morning to await the start of the day. I think Harper Lee was really excited about that, because she took Liv's hand and they walked down the hall together. It was soOOOoo cute. Oh well, I definitely froze it in my mind. I can't believe I have a 3rd and 1st grader this year!!!

This is definitely my favorite memento from today:

The buses are all named so that the children can remember what bus they ride. The girls ride the turkey bus. I often wondered last year how their bus got its name. I imagined that they let the drivers name them, because our bus driver is the best. I can totally imagine her teasing the kids and saying, "Let's call mine the turkey bus because you guys are a bunch of turkeys!!"

Anyway, I love the Hello my Name is Turkey. Too funny.

Before and After

2008-07-23T20:50:00.044-05:00

Okay, you asked for it (or some of you did, anyway) . . .

front of house
before: after: inside front door, looking down the hall
before: after: living room
before: after:

not entirely happy with the faux finish (for lack of a better term) on the fireplace wall. it'll do for now, though. i am, however, exceedingly happy with the red and light blue combo.
looking into dining room from living room
before: after:
if anyone is interested, trying to stencil letters on your wall sucks. vinyl letters, however, from greatlettering.com, do not. you can order anything you want, in a lot of different fonts, and they are very easy to apply. i am trying very hard to resist the urge to order every quotation that i can think of that i love and putting words all over my house.

dining room
before: after:
my amazingly talented sister-in-law, Rhonda, made these curtains. she is fabulous!

guest bathroom
before:

after:

guest bathroom sink
before:
now you see a goobered up chunk of molding on the right that's missing . . .

after:
. . . now you don't!

stairs
before:
after:

kitchen
before:

after:

laundry room
before:
after:
(now the back porch)

back of house
before (minus the missing windows and the holes that the tornado made in the back wall):

after

This seems like a good time to thank everyone who helped us with the house or watched the girls while we worked on the house. I don't know what we would do without friends and family who are willing to help us, even though we are the ones who got ourselves in to this mess to begin with :).

And most of all of course, thank you, Jeremy, for the many, many hours of hard work that you put in to the house. You are our family's superhero!!!!

Wedding Videos

2008-07-23T20:38:00.002-05:00

I tried to get some short videos of the kids at the reception. They were having such a good time dancing. It was so cool that as they danced on all the rose petals, the smell was awesome. I think I will forever associate the smell of roses with Jana's wedding.

The videos are really dark unfortunately. Sorry they're so random. I was just trying to get a sample of all the action.

Here is Harper Lee and her friend Alyssa, and then Olivia dancing with her friend Haley.

Some adults did get in on the fun, this is Jon's mom and Jon's co-worker. (I wish I would have gotten a video of my parents doing the twist. William's quote: "At least it's not at my school.")

My cousin's daughter, Brooke. I loved the serious expression she had the time she was dancing!

Jeremy and Olivia:

Jon and Jana - July 4, 2008

2008-07-23T18:51:00.007-05:00

I will post more about the wedding soon. I feel like we are just now recovering. We all had a great time, and it was wonderful to have so much family together to celebrate with Jon and Jana.

The rehearsal dinner was at our house, and although it seemed like we would never get all the projects done in time, Jeremy pulled it off! We have had remodeling going on in one form or another since we moved in, and it feels SO, SO good to have the majority of the house "done."

If you are interested in seeing wedding pictures, and I somehow missed emailing you the link, here it is:

Jon and Jana
Just click on Photos.

Harper Lee's Piano Recital

2008-05-26T23:48:00.003-05:00

I have been watching the videos Harper Lee has on our camera. I only wish the girl had more confidence in herself . . .

Another School Year Draws to a Close

2008-05-18T16:28:00.008-05:00

We had Awards Day at Harper and Liv's school on Friday. I am so proud of both the girls and the year they have had. They are extremely easy to parent when it comes to school. Honestly, they both simply go to school and do what is expected of them. I am amazed at how much they have both learned and grown this year. And, I am so thankful that the girls had such wonderful, caring teachers this year. It will be hard to say good bye to both of them.

Harper was recognized at the awards ceremony for receiving straight A's, but more importantly her teacher tells me that she is a kind-hearted member of her class who shows love to the other kids in the class. I don't tell her nearly often enough how proud I am of her.

I struggled with guilt because Olivia's kindergarten experience was so different from Harper Lee's small private school kindergarten experience. However, Olivia had a wonderful teacher and I loved the short program we attended in her classroom on Friday. Mrs. Phillips had an award for each child and gave a short speech about what made that child special. Unfortunately, I didn't realize I had our camera set on the lowest resolution. I really hate that because the kids were so cute, and Liv even worked some dance moves when she got bored with her teacher's talking.

Since Harper Lee's awards were given as part of the school program, I don't have any video of that. Just a few pics.

View from the Backseat

2008-04-06T18:56:00.004-05:00

Here's another video I just found, also from Easter morning. It's so sad that I don't even pay attention to what the girls are doing so much of the time. Here they were, being cute and creative and I had no idea what was going on. The music on this video is so loud that you might not be able to make out some of what they are saying (sorry - Jeremy and I probably listen to the radio too loud). If you listen closely, you'll even hear a confession from yours truly! :)

Easter

2008-04-06T17:44:00.004-05:00

Just now posting pics of Easter. The girls were not happy with me -- they had no desire to take a picture due mainly to the cold temperature that day. I finally gave up because I know we'll get a good family portrait at Jana's wedding this summer.

As I was finally trying to get a ton of pictures organized today, I found this video. Apparently, I wasn't the only one whose Easter morning was not going the way I would have liked.

Dining on Crow

2008-03-18T18:55:00.008-05:00

I try to reserve this here blog for cute stories about my hubby and kids, but I did want to let everyone in on the adventure I had Saturday night.

Have you ever thought you knew what you were talking about on a given subject and then found out you had it all wrong? That's what I found out Saturday night.

Jeremy and I went to see Ani DiFranco at workplay Saturday night, and I was NOT excited about it. I was planning on "suffering" through it to see Over the Rhine open. When OtR sadly had to cancel because of a death in their family, I was even more ready to walk away. I was grumpy about the fact that it was $43.00 per ticket!!!!, that it was at the Soundstage area (which meant we would be standing for the whole show), and mainly I was grumpy about the fact that for the most part I could not stand listening to Ani DiFranco's music. Jeremy raves about her guitar-playing all the time. I found her songs to be angry rants and I just didn't get what was so great about her.

Then, she walked out onto the stage and ROCKED the frickin' roof off of that place. It was awesome!!!!!!!! I truly don't even know how to describe her guitar-playing. It sounds like there are two people playing with her sometimes. Amazing. BUT, the main thing that changed my mind about her music is that she didn't come across bitter at all. She seemed sweet and even a little goofy. I expected her to scream "I HATE MEN!!!" between every song, or something along those lines. I guess that's a wee bit extreme looking back on it, but, like I said, I hadn't take much time to actually listen to her music. This video on youtube sums up her concert persona (at least for the one concert I saw) - a sweet song, but with a little Ani spunk. :)

Now, obviously, I do have to consider that I have only seen one of her shows, have only two of her CDs, and know virtually nothing else about her, but I have at least seen enough to say I am now a fan.

Just felt like I needed to make a public retraction for some reason.

And the Legend Begins . . .

2008-03-09T22:10:00.000-05:00

I tried to post this weeks ago, but I was having trouble with the slide show web site. Anyway, better late than never . . .

Harper Lee has been asking for a guitar for at least a couple of years now. Saturday, her dad finally gave in. He took her to Fretted Instruments in Homewood, and got a lot of good advice from the friendly folks there. She used her own money and was SO proud.
Here are a few snapshots from her first session. Abbey, don't let Anderson see these. He'll probably be frustrated by how she's holding the guitar wrong :).

( I apologize for theses fuzzy pictures. I am afraid our camera is on its last leg.)

Another House Update

2008-03-09T07:31:00.006-05:00

Yesterday my sister and my mom took the girls to look for dresses for the girls to wear to Jana's wedding. Jeremy and I had a hard time deciding what project on our to-do list would be the best one to work on during our "kid-free" time. We finally decided to cut a hole in the living room wall just to see if it would be possible to remove the fireplace wall sheet rock and leave it the tongue and groove board exposed. We were afraid there might have been too much repair to be done for this to work. We were going to move on to some outside work after that, but we should have known, once you start something like that, you just have to finish it. (Or, rather, your husband has to finish it.) :)

I was really excited about the results. Jeremy was, too, and especially excited that there is zero repair work to be done. Now, all "we" have to do is remove the remnants of wallpaper and decide whether or not "we" want to paint it!

Storm Victims

2008-03-02T19:42:00.002-06:00

I have started calling myself a storm victim, partially as a joke, but also because I have been overwhelmed with the number of friends and family who have offered to help us after we were affected by a "small" tornado in the wee hours of last Tuesday morning.

I am so thankful for God's protection. I don't think I have ever realized so clearly that I have zero control over most of what happens to me and my family. Sometimes it's easy for me to convince myself that I am the one in charge of my life and that I can protect the girls from danger. The tornado was definitely a loud and clear reminder that I am not the one in control!!! The fact that God saw fit to bring us through the storm with relatively little damage to our home and no injuries was definite cause to stop and give thanks. Now that I say that, it sounds like an understatement. I don't know how else to put it, though. We truly are thankful for God's mercy. In fact, that's really all I could think about during the storm, was to ask God for mercy. And, I am so thankful that He chose to answer that prayer.

I think most of you have seen our pictures, but just in case you haven't, here are a few. (I also added a few new pictures.)

The Soileaus' Excellent Adventure

2008-02-18T10:19:00.001-06:00

Karen's post the a while back reminded me that I had promised myself last spring that we would try our hand at letterboxing with the girls. If you are unfamiliar with this hobby, basically you find clues on the internet to boxes hidden in your area with a stamp and booklet inside. You find the box and stamp the hidden stamp in your book and stamp your personal stamp in the booklet in the box. I don't know if that explanation made sense, but at any rate, we decided to give it a try today. We took the girls to Michael's and let them pick out the stamp they liked the best and I bought them each a notebook to record their finds. And, it actually turned out to be more fun than we thought it was going to be. We found one box and the girls, especially Harper Lee, were really excited by the idea of it being a secret that not everyone knew was there.

We decided to try right away to find another box, but as often happens with two girls ages 8 and 5, the situation quickly deteriorated and we decided to head home. BUT, we had a blast and we will definitely try it again as soon as weather and schedule permit!

Dance All Night

2008-02-16T21:25:00.003-06:00

My name is Christa, and I am addicted to DDR (otherwise known as Dance Dance Revolution).

I was looking for a fun way to get exercise and I found it! This game is SO much fun. We have a blast as a family playing together. Come on over and we can challenge you to dance-off! (har, har) Here is a sample of Liv's moves. I will post some of Harper's soon. Their "styles" are completely different. I will even try to sneak and post some of Jeremy's dancing skills, but I wil NEVER, NEVER post any of my dancing, so don't ask!!!

Wisdom from Harper and Liv-o

2008-02-16T20:55:00.007-06:00

We have had a lot going on lately. Mostly, we have been sick. But, sprinkled in amongst all the snot and sick days there have been some really funny and sweet moments.

Liv came up with a new swear word. She likes to exclaim "Holy Mercy!" when she is impressed with something.

I often think that stories about Harper Lee are lost in translation because her facial expressions are so hard to explain. The first night that we had the Wii game "Dance Dance Revolution" in our house (much, much more on that later) the narrating voice all the game sang out "dance all night," and Harper said almost reverently, "I sure wish I could." Liv, on the other hand, gets extremely, and I do mean, extremely, irate at the narrator for insulting her and especially her dad's dancing ability. She screams at Jeremy, "He doesn't even know you!! He doesn't know anything about you!"

The other day Liv was sitting in the living room and told Jeremy, "The living room looks different." And then, in a voice of wonder, "It's clean or something."

Harper made us an "anivshery" card. She illustrated the poem, "Jeremy and Christa, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." She "mailed" it to us by putting it in the mailbox.

Liv expressed our desire for spring the other day when she found some scraggly dandelions in the yard. She picked them and exclaimed, "Welcome to the earth!"

Wiily Tired

2008-02-16T20:47:00.007-06:00

Have you ever asked yourself what would a kid look like who checked out of school sick with a bad cold, was begged by her father to take a nap, but kept insisting she wanted to play Wii and that she was NOT tired and did not need a nap? A little something like this . . .

Don't worry, she's alive, I promise. :)

Harper's Birthday

2008-02-05T20:56:00.000-06:00

It's been weeks since Harper Lee's birthday and I still haven't had her "real" party. In the meantime, here is a video of her opening her present from Jeremy's parents at the bowling alley when we got together when my family.

Update to Stair Crisis

2008-02-05T17:53:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to update the hundreds of you who were fascinated by our stair problems. Jeremy was able to add a "floor additive" to the paint (basically sand) and repaint the stairs. They look just as good as they did, and now there is a lot less risk of broken bones or other deadly injury. YAY! Now, on to the next project!

Happy Birthday, Harper Lee!!!!

2008-01-19T10:30:00.000-06:00

We really outdid ourselves this year. For Harper Lee's birthday we planned a nice little snow storm!

I just took these pictures about a half an hour ago, and already the ground has changed dramatically. Everything is covered in white now. I will definitely post more pictures later today. I love the picture of Harper Lee tasting the snow. The best part is that it wasn't staged at all -- just pure joy on her face at finally seeing snow!

Happy Birthday, baby girl! You are so old that we didn't even have digital cameras when you were born, so I don't have any pictures I can post of the day you were born :).

For Those of You Playing Along at Home . . .

2008-01-14T19:46:00.000-06:00

The Soileau home renovations took two steps forward and one step back this week. I don't have pictures of the repaired fence, but I will soon. Jeremy is almost done with it and it looks spectacular! I am SOOOOO excited!

The project that I posted about a while back that I thought would be simple but has turned out to be quite the headache for Jeremy was the stairs. We have had many setbacks on this one, including Jeremy having to pull down all the sheet rock surrounding the stairs and put up crown molding. Now, you might be tempted to think that after we painstakingly selected the perfect red for the stairs, and got the expert advice of the helpful guys at Benjamin Moore, and Jeremy primed the stairs according to direction, and Jeremy painted the stairs Friday afternoon, and the entire family camped out downstairs all weekend, and one coat of paint covered the stairs perfectly, that we are just about to say we are done with this particular project. But, if you thought that, you would be leaving out one simple thing: oil-based paint on stairs is about the slickest surface you could think of! When we walked on the stairs for the first time last night, we found out very quickly that they were not for the faint of heart. Trust me, if you hit the first step in sock feet and you would find yourself in a world of hurt. So, for poor Jeremy, this project goes on. He has to add a floor additive to the paint and . . . paint them again!!! Sorry, sweetheart. Thanks for all you do - you are the best!

Play-doh Factory

2008-01-07T23:57:00.000-06:00

Jeremy and I despise Play-doh. Actually, we have good reason to despise it. We have a really bad track record with the stuff. It has been ground into our carpets and our girls' clothes many times. Anyway, my mom had mercy on her grandchildren and bought a big set for them to play with at her house. These are just a few pics of Olivia and her cousin Matthew playing on Sunday.

Spotted at Leeds Elementary School

2008-01-06T21:46:00.001-06:00

I am sailing out to Jupiter to see the big red storm.

I just love that. Is it just me or is this anonymous kid a poet in the making?

Plagiarized Blog Entry

2008-01-06T21:14:00.000-06:00

I was going to re-write the story of this picture, but then I thought, "Hey, my sister sent me this photo, and she worded the story behind it so well, why not rip the whole thing off instead of just the pic?"

So, here you are . . .

"My little brother, William, has a "friend"(right now, this is all he refers to her as) that taught him how to knit. He didn't have any knitting needles so he found some scrap dowels in Dad's workshop and used Dad's grinder to make him to knitting needles. He then took his money and went to our local craft store and bought yarn. He knitted Harper Lee, Olivia, Avery, and me each a scarf for Christmas. I had no idea. He somehow managed to do all of this without me knowing and I was so surprised on Christmas when I opened the present from him that he even wrapped himself. He even made each of the scarves size appropriate with Avery's being no more then 2 feet long. I have attached a picture of all of us with our scarves. It's a little dark... sorry, but I think you can at least see some of them. He used this fury yarn material and so I think they kind of resemble caterpillars. Anyway, I love it. One of my most favorite Christmas presents to date."

I do have to add to Jana's story that William also got me my favorite Christmas present this year. He found an edition of Many Waters by Madeline L'Engle that I had been looking for, but had been unable to find. What made it such a cool gift was that it wasn't even on my list. He just heard me talking about it and took it upon himself to find. Really I think my favorite present last year, too, was from William - a book light that, again, I hadn't thought to ask for, and yet I have used innumerable times. The funny thing is, we always tease him about being spoiled because he is so much younger than the rest of us siblings, but he is the sweetest little brother imaginable. Thanks for being such an awesome guy, William. I am so proud of how you are growing up.

(yes, his shirt does read "I fart in your general direction." I said growing up, not grown up.

My Girls

2008-01-02T21:32:00.001-06:00

I began to trust the world again, not to give me what I wanted, for I saw that it could not be trusted to do that, but to give unforeseen goods and pleasures that I had not thought to want.
----------- from Wendell Berry's Hannah Coulter

A Merry Little Christmas

2007-12-26T07:44:00.000-06:00

We had a great Christmas and I was too busy having fun to take pictures!!

On Sunday, we had a wonderful service. Harper Lee did a short reading. Sorry for the poor video quality. Mom was a little nervous. :)

We had a glorious Christmas Eve. I don't think it is how I would want to spend every Christmas Eve, but for this year it was absolutely perfect. We took the girls to see Enchanted in the afternoon and then we went home and relaxed together. On Christmas, Jeremy and I woke up before the girls and they finally got up at about 7:30. The Wii turned out to be as fun (or even more so) than we thought it would be. (A big shout out to my brother William for helping Santa locate a high-demand toy.) After the present-opening, we went to Waffle House to eat breakfast. Later on in the day, we went to my mom's house for present exchanging there and Christmas dinner. We had an insane amount of food. I should have taken pictures of all the desserts my sister made this year!

Another Christmas season has come to an end, and all we have is the memories, and not nearly enough pictures of the fun. Here are a few that I have, starting with the Leeds Christmas Parade, and going through yesterday.

Here are the girls opening the Wii.

And, finally, a video that gives you an idea of what we did all day Christmas. :)

Happy Birthday to Me! (and Sam Daspit)

2007-12-13T20:21:00.000-06:00

Well, about the only wish I didn't get for my birthday this year was for Sabriel to be born today -- actually there are still a few hours left if Virginia will hurry up!! ;)

I had a great day. I should have taken more pictures.

Actually, my birthday started Sunday. My mom had a birthday party for me and fixed my favorite cake, Hummingbird Cake. If you've never had it, think of pumped up banana nut bread with cream cheese icing. mmmmmmm, good! And, I got a great robe from my sister (how did she know my old one was looking so sad?) My family got me so beautiful holiday dishes. I tried to get a good picture of them, but to no avail. I'll have to get the table all set and try again. I love them!!!!

Today, I . . .

. . . got a new 'do! Don't worry, Kari Ann - I had to use my gift certificate to the spa. I am a Kari Ann customer for life :).

I got to shop with my Mom and then she took me, my sister, and Jeremy to lunch. It was delicious and I had a blast hanging out with them. I don't usually get to just sit and chat with them without the girls around (pesky grandchildren get all the attention!!!).

Jeremy and the girls gave me . . .

. . . desperately needed new shoes! Virginia - hope you don't mind me copying your footwear!

Jeremy's family gave me my favorite things, a great CD and a gift card to Lowe's!

We also got to go to Olivia's Christmas program, which of course was wonderful. The kids all did great. Of course, Olivia was the best!
Here is a short clip. The girl with a white bow in her hair almost directly in front of Olivia is Kaela, and the girl with the beautiful blonde hair in front of Kaela is Donna. Olivia, Kaela, and Donna are really good friends. They are the two we hear the most about at home.

And, the biggest surprise of the day would have to be Jeremy's . . .

. . . tattoo!!!! I am still in shock, actually. It was a very, very unexpected surprise. And, a very sweet thing for Jeremy to do. If you can't tell in the picture, the tattoo is on his wrist.

I am so thankful for him today and every day, for the wonderful and kind things he does for me and the girls.

I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.

(but don't expect to see any tattoos on me any time soon ;)

Random Soileau Girl Cuteness for Grandmothers and Anyone Else Who Cares to Wade Through It

2007-12-06T21:35:00.000-06:00

Last Spring we hosted our church's Sunday night meetings in our home.
The kids stayed upstairs while the adults had a Bible study downstairs.
I guess that explains why Olivia told my friend Virginia the other day
that the baby gate was in place upstairs so that the babies would not
bother the humans during church.

When we got the Christmas tree in place in our living room, Olivia
looked at the twinkling lights and said that they were like the stars
the night that Jesus was born. They twinkled because they were so
happy. All together now -- "Awwwww."

Olivia was telling me recently that she had been hit and pushed down on
the playground. (She frequently exaggerates stories of her abuse at the
hands of others at school, so I was not extremely worried.) I asked her
who hit her, she said with a knowing shake of her head, "Jasmine. That
is one evil little girl."

We had two really heartfelt prayers last night. Olivia found an old
sticker from the first of the school year that said "Olivia Walker" on
it. This designated her as a child whose parents walk to pick them up.
We have since changed the girls to riding the bus home for convenience
(They are not too fond of the bus.) When she found the sticker she
prayed, "God, make me Olivia Walker again." Harper Lee prayed that
today would be Friday, so we talked about God not being like a slot
machine that you expect to dispense whatever you want. She sighed, "I
know, but this week feels like a month to me."

And, tonight, Harper Lee lost another tooth. This is the second tooth she actually lost, as in, gone never to be found. I asked her to read her note to the tooth fairy to me since the note will be gone tomorrow morning. :) Please forgive her idiot mother for turning the camera the wrong direction to video her. I couldn't find an easy way to rotate the video.

You Can't Handle the Truth!

2007-11-27T20:52:00.000-06:00

I didn't think anyone would believe me if I told them how messy our house is right now so I decided to prove it. Jeremy is in the middle of re-doing our stairs and it has turned into quite a project. He has been working on it since Saturday evening (almost immediately after walking in the door from an 8 hour trip from Louisiana) and he spent all day Monday and Tuesday on it. To make matters worse, when the girls get home from school, they feel free to frolic around the house and make as big a mess as possible while Jeremy is quite understandably distracted with the stair project.

I am not even close to having the house ready for decorating for Christmas, and this coming weekend will be just as busy as last weekend. I feel like it's all I can do to try to make sure everyone has clean clothes to wear each day. I am so jealous reading everyone's Christmas-y posts. I just have to keep reminding myself that this is temporary, and when it is done I will have wonderful new stairs that hopefully will not scare our guests when they try to walk down them :). And really, please don't misunderstand me. I am not complaining AT ALL about Jeremy doing this project. I have been wanting to get it done forever and we finally collected enough gift cards to Lowe's to get started :). I am so thankful to have 1) a super-handyman husband and 2) a husband who gets to household projects as quickly as humanly possible. What a guy! My whining just has to do with wanting my house to be clean and life being too busy to do anything about it.

I will post pictures of the stairs when Jeremy is done with them. And, Kim's post reminded me, at least going to church on Sunday will help me start celebrating the Advent season even if my house is not decorated yet.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

Jeremy told me that Olivia started asking him how to spell different words tonight and he realized after a few minutes that she was making a list of things she was thankful for. I had to share her list because I thought it was so sweet that this was what she thought to do with her free time, and a good reminder to me that I have SO much to be thankful for.

In case you need a translation, her paper reads:
Olivia Soileau
I am thankful for
bananas
turkey
corn
bread
pie
cake
parents
dog
sister
world

In the "not as spiritual" department, here is a good pic of Harper Lee with bottle caps for eyes. Hey - we can't all be theologians!

My Bilingual Child

2007-11-08T07:27:00.001-06:00

I have told most of you this story already, because it cracked me up, but for those of you I haven't seen this week:

Sunday night on the way to eat at Panera Bread:
Harper Lee: What do they have at Panera?
Me: Sandwiches and salads.
HL: Can I try a sandwich?
Me: No, I am bringing a Lunchable for you because you don't even like the sandwiches at Subway, and Panera is more expensive than Subway. I don't want to waste money on a sandwich that you don't like.
HL: Is Panera Spanish for Subway?
Me: speechless

Too Much Halloween Candy?

2007-11-06T04:23:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted pictures of Halloween yet, because I didn't get any really great shots. I do have this short video of Olivia after we got home. Nothing fancy, nothing I am sure that your kids haven't done from time to time, but the pumpkin on her head just makes for good entertainment.

My Boys

2007-11-06T03:57:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I posted about my third child and only boy. Here he is snuggling with Jeremy on the recliner Sunday afternoon.

(News flash: pigs are flying and hell has frozen over or I would not be talking about a dog in this way!)

Don't You Just Love Mornings?

2007-11-05T20:20:00.000-06:00

I thought I would give you a taste of our normal morning routine. I thought about filming Harper Lee crying as she thudded down the stairs this morning, but I opted for a picture instead.

Here you see a fairly typical breakfast table. Harper Lee and Olivia both put their blankets over their heads some mornings so as to avoid talking to us, or anyone. Olivia is the only one who went for the blanket option this morning. (She is actually much more of a morning person than Harper Lee, but it still takes her a while to wake up for school.) Harper Lee is pictured here with her normal morning smile.

I Guess This Really Is the Great Pumpkin

2007-11-01T20:43:00.000-05:00

What you are looking at here, folks, is not just any decorated pumpkin, this is the pumpkin that won the Mrs. Darabaris' 2nd Grade Class Pumpkin Decorating Contest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to go, Harper Lee! Yesterday, at about 7:50 (yes that's 10 minutes before school starts), Harper Lee reminded me that she needed to bring "stuff" to school with which to decorate her pumpkin (which was taken to school on Tuesday). I quickly dug up some things, almost none of which made it on to her pumpkin.

(One of these days I am going to post a blog about a week in the life of Harper Lee's wardrobe. You would not believe the outfits that she comes up with. And, she is very serious about it, too!)

Olivia Funny for the Day

2007-10-30T20:38:00.000-05:00

The conversation at dinner tonight:

Liv: Why is Dad sharing his onion rings with you and not with me?
Mom: Because you don't eat the onion, you only eat the breading and leave the onion on your plate.
Liv: (incredulously) Mom, do you realize what onions taste like?!??

To put away, or wait for one more warm snap, that is the question

2007-10-29T12:36:00.000-05:00

Has everyone else already put away the summer clothes? (assuming you, like me, don't have room to put all of your children's clothes in their dressers at the same time)
Well? Have you?????

hmmmm. . .
no immediate responses . . . .

I think I'm going for it.

The Great Pumpkins

2007-10-29T07:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we created this year's batch of jack-o-lanterns at my mom's house. We have a tradition of doing this every year with my little brother. For the past five or six years now, we also have roasted the pumpkin seeds. This year, Olivia really got into it. She loved the whole process. Actually, she and Harper Lee both were real troopers when it came to cleaning out their pumpkins. They both worked really hard on that. HL picked out a really intricate pattern, but William came to her rescue and so in the end, both jack-o-lanterns turned out really cute.

Craft Night

2007-10-26T21:25:00.000-05:00

Tired of constant fighting between our two sweet girls, and tired of hearing ourselves yell at them for yelling at each other, Jeremy and I tried a new discipline system for the past couple of weeks. We had a jar on the table in which they received a styrofoam peanut for any good behavior that was worthy of recognition and a peanut was taken out of the jar for rule-breaking. The girls knew that when they got to 20 peanuts, they would get to do a craft, which is a big deal to them.

We experienced a lot of ups and downs with this system, but overall it helped. Today the girls met their goal so I let them paint some Halloween signs I bought last year (Hobby Lobby. 90% off clearance. It's a good thing.)

Anyway, they had a really good time, and I think they were encouraged enough by meeting their goal to try again.

Hamster Ashes

2007-10-26T21:12:00.000-05:00

Olivia wants to be Lucy Pevensie (from the Chronicles of Narnia) for Halloween, and so as part of her costume I found a small, pretty container at the thrift store to hold the healing cordial that Lucy carries with her. I asked Jeremy what he thought the container was originally meant to hold. He said . . . .

. . . an urn to hold hamster ashes.

Sorry to bore everyone with that. I just found it hilarious and I have been laughing at it all night.

By Popular Demand

2007-10-24T19:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, maybe not popular demand exactly, but I told Michelle about this video and she wanted to see it. That should be good enough for the rest of you losers!! :)

From the Children's Museum . . .

Our Trip

2007-10-23T07:32:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday we went to New Orleans to see our friends Doug and Crystal Daspit. The main purpose of the trip was for Jeremy and Doug to go to the LSU / Auburn game on Saturday. But, the girls were out of school Friday through today so we thought we would make a fun weekend of it. We stayed with Doug's mom Thursday and Friday night, who lives less than a mile from Doug and Crystal and graciously offered us her two extra rooms (although the girls ended up on the floor in the same room with us :)).

On Friday, we had a real treat, because Doug took off work and we all got to hang out together. We visited the Louisiana Children's Museum. It was the girls' second trip, but with it being a weekday, there was hardly anyone there. They loved getting a chance at all the exhibits, without having to wait for a turn. I have to admit I loved the "uncrowdedness" myself!

On Saturday, I took the girls to Henderson to see Jeremy's family. We had a wonderful visit. The weather was gorgeous and we sat outside and chatted and sat some more. It was great, and so, so relaxing. Too relaxing, in fact. I don't have a single picture of the girls playing with their cousins, which is terrible. They all get along so well. I cannot get over how little arguing and bickering there is when they all get together. I have to get some good pictures of them all playing together at Thanksgiving to make up for my lack of pics this weekend. I just couldn't make myself get up out of that chair . . .

We were all worn out Sunday (after a very stressful LSU game Saturday night), so I planned on letting the girls sleep in and making a leisurely trip back to New Orleans (with a stop at a neat looking outlet mall on the way). However, Jeremy called me at 9:30 and said that he and I could go to the Saints game FOR FREE if I could get back to New Orleans in time. The game started at 12:00, which did not leave much time, but as a lifelong Saints fan I was not about to let this opportunity pass me by. I almost literally threw the girls in the car with some breakfast and I hopped on the road. I met Jeremy at Doug and Crystal's and we got to the game as quickly as we could. We only missed half of the first quarter and it was SO MUCH FUN! It felt unreal, and now I still can't believe that I was there. The seats were amazing.

It was a huge surprise and a really fun way to end the weekend!

This might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen

2007-10-22T16:13:00.000-05:00

Here I am. I started this post to keep everyone updated on the girls and this is my second post about this stupid dog. Am I really becoming a dog person?

Sirius follows Jeremy everywhere. He cries when Jeremy goes outside without him. Here he is looking out the window at Jeremy. (He wasn't allowed out on the porch today while it was being painted.)

I don't know which is more ridiculous: this dog or me taking the time to blog about this dog!!!

Daddy's Little Girl

2007-10-22T15:54:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful trip to Louisiana this weekend. We ate so much good food and had really good visits with friends and family. More about that later.

Today, though, I took off work so that Jeremy and I could get the front porch painted. Jeremy and I work really well together around the house. That is due to his being a good and tremendously patient teacher, and does not have anything to do with my handywoman skills. :)

He agreed to let Harper Lee help today and they were so sweet together I just had to snap a few pictures.

Another man in the house . . . finally

2007-10-17T21:55:00.002-05:00

Our biggest news lately is that Jeremy finally got another boy in the house. One week ago today Jeremy went to the Humane Society and adopted Sirius Albert Black. He is an extremely sweet dog. The first day he was home alone, however, he tore the plastic around the girls' window a/c and sat on the roof for a bit. Our neighbors, who did not even know we had gotten a dog, were quite confused. They said a few cars even stopped to look at the dog on the roof. I wish I had a picture of it, but I'll just settle for these right now.

Trying to get this blog thing figured out . . .

2007-10-17T21:17:00.000-05:00

Just trying to keep everyone updated on our crazy girls!
This is an old video of Liv, but I figured, let's start this thing off right! I figured you can't miss with this hit. Here is the now-famous (in our circle anyway) video of Olivia dancing at the folk music festival we attended in May.