Aunt Michelle's visit

My sister and I talk on the phone several times a week -- sometimes it's just for a few minutes, sometimes it's for an hour, but it's absolutely no replacement for getting to see each other in person. Aunt Michelle came to see us over the extended MLK Jr. weekend and we had such a great time! She was absolutely instrumental in helping us finally get all the Christmas decorations put away and was a fantastic babysitter, which allowed me & Andrew to have our first date night in a long time. 

We did some mall shopping thanks to our holiday gift cards, went to a movie ("It's Complicated" -- hilarious), inhaled ate some delicious beignets and played with Lucy in the park, and took a day trip to the always stunning Oak Alley plantation (partly to get Lucy to take a nap in the car, but mostly to get out of the house on a pretty day). We crammed a lot of fun and laughter into three days and we can't wait for "Chelle" to come back again soon!

  

Please won't you be my neighbor?

Some pictures from our post-Christmas trip to the New Orleans Children's Museum.  Lucy napped on the way down, played her little heart out (the toddler area and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood were some favorites), and then crashed on the way home... which led to a very relaxing and enjoyable day for all three of us! 

We were able to catch up with our friends Jeff and Rebecca for a visit and some pizza before we drove back. They're expecting their first baby next month, and Lucy did a great job of showing them all the places in their house they still need to baby-proof.  :)  We ♥ our NOLA day trips!

In Excelsis Deo

"In Excelsis Deo" was the message of this year's Christmas Eve service at church and the theme of the our holiday celebration as well.  We have a beautiful daughter who fills our lives daily with joy and another family member on the way, we are blessed with steady jobs that provide us abundant food, shelter, and clothing, we have friends and family who love and support us... And the most important gift of Christmas -- we have been given a Savior who delights in us despite our (immense) imperfections and who catches us when we fall.  Glory to God in the highest, indeed.

I spent most of the holiday in the kitchen and loved every minute of it.  I hardly ever get the opportunity to make a big batch of stuff from scratch anymore, but with some time off of work and some babysitting reinforcements, I got to play hostess again!  Boogie and PopPop, Uncle Mike, and Pop all made their way down to BR from Shreveport/Arkansas, and we were so grateful to wake up in our own home on Christmas morning.  Lucy had an absolute blast getting acquanited with all the "big girl" toys Santa left her, and we all ate, laughed, and napped way too much.  I hope this is the start of a new family tradition!

Trying to get a coherent family picture after church... Oh well.

Enjoying the snow globe in a neighbors yard

Whee!  The look on her face when Lucy saw this treehouse slide on Christmas morning was priceless -- something akin to: "Is this for me?  For real?"

Our new Elmo-watching chair

Cooking up some trouble in the pint-sized kitchen.  Thanks Nana and PawPaw -- it's a big hit!

It's like rain on your wedding day

Jill, my long-time friend/former roommate and partner in crime, finally got the chance to marry her knight in shining armor (aka Jeff) on Saturday, December 12, in New Orleans.  And let's just say it's a very good thing that these two are crazy in love and were so committed to joining their lives together, because the wedding day quickly turned into a case of Murphy's law so severe that it resembled the screwball ending of a bad romantic comedy!

For those of you who don't live in Louisiana, we experienced day after day after day of wet, soggy, cold dreariness that eventually resulted in record rainfall levels for December.  The morning of the wedding was drizzly and overcast (normal) while we went to get our hair and make-up done, but  by the time the photographer arrived at the hotel suite to take pictures that afternoon there were severe flash flood warnings on the radio.  Long story short, the entire town of New Orleans (especially the downtown area where we were located) had become almost completely submerged with water within just a few short hours...

The interstate exits were all full of water, so the limos were stuck and were almost two hours late picking us up.  We passed the time by taking pictures in the hotel lobby, and bringing Jill some desperately needed wine and champagne.

Once the limos got there, everyone had to take off their shoes and hike up their dresses to get in.  We had a police escort down St. Charles Avenue to get to the church since cars were stalled out all along the sides of the road. You could hear the water rushing underneath the car on the way there. Not fun.

The church ladies were furious about our tardiness, the flower girl didn't make it down the aisle, the ceremony started about an hour and a half late, many of the guests couldn't make it to the church due to the storm, and Jill almost passed out during her vows.  (Note: Methodist women are not used to having to kneel all the way through a Catholic mass!).  But in the end, it was beautiful and sweet and romantic -- everything a wedding should be.  :)  Jill handled the whole scene with a composure and grace I undoubtedly would not have possessed if the roles were reversed. 

And... at the end of that crazy day, we finally had a bride and a groom!  Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Waltz!!! We wish you a lifetime of love, friendship, and happiness!

P.S.  The lobby of the newly-renovated Roosevelt Hotel was just stunning! Can't wait to bring Lucy back there next year to see the gorgeous Christmas decorations and to have "Holiday Tea with Santa."

P.P.S.  Apologies to my husband who drove all the way down to NOLA only to have to turn around and drive back home because the car wouldn't make it through the flood waters. I appreciate the effort and can only imagine how handsome you looked in your suit!

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

Baby Powers ultrasound #1 ~ December 15

Since I found out I was pregnant in mid-October, I have most definitely experienced the full gamut of early pregnancy symptoms -- extreme fatigue, nauseau, headaches, heartburn, and other gastrointestional unpleasantness (which shall not be described further here)...  We saw the bright pink plus sign on the pregnancy test, but there is absolutely nothing in this world that makes the reality of a new life being formed inside your body a reality like seeing the baby during the first ultrasound.  Absolutely, positively breathtaking.  Hearing that strong heartbeat and seeing the formation of those precious limbs is so amazingly reassuring when you can't know what's going on inside your womb.

Apparently Baby Powers is happy and right at home in there -- she was kicking and floating around with a beautiful ease.  At one point the baby was face down and brought a hand up close to its face which disturbed its equilibrium and quickly brought her right side up again.  We both smiled and laughed at getting to see this little one performing gymnastics in all his comic glory.  :)   

When we saw Lucy's first ultrasound, she was only around 8 weeks old and she was tiny.  You could hardly make out any features at all and she looked more like than a peanut than a human being. The ultrasound for this baby happened between 12-13 weeks, and the amount of development that occurs within just this short time span is remarkable.  We could see the heart and a nose and lips and arms and legs. And by now it has fingernails and fingerprints and kidneys...  Did I mention how amazing the miracle of life is?

As we were leaving the appointment, I turned to Andrew and asked him what this baby's nickname was going to be (Lucy's was "Peanut").  His immediate response: "Peanut II."  Duh. Of course.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Powers!

I had the honor of attending the annual Tara High School Christmas concert last week to see Mr. Powers and his students in action. After our babysitter got to the house (thanks again, Amy!), I rushed like a crazy person across town through the cold, rainy night to get there on time, only to find that I first had to sit through the following -- the beginning, intermediate, and advanced orchestras, the hand bell choir, the show choir, the ladies ensemble choir, etc. -- in order to hear the band's performance.

I tried to remind myself that all these people were stuffed into an overheated and crowded auditorium full of screaming babies waiting patiently just to see their child perform, and settled in to enjoy the show. One of the ten choirs sang a slow, sort of wistful holiday tune called "Somewhere in My Memory" while their baby pictures flashed on the screen behind them. I'm telling you, I completely lost it and started bawling thinking about how one day WAY TOO SOON it will be us watching Lucy in a similar program with her baby picture smiling out at the audience. I chalked it up to the pregnancy hormones and tried to pull myself together since: (1) I was sitting in between two complete strangers, and (2) I remembered that my child is only 18 months old.

Once the band finally started playing, Andrew surprised me by joining in with his jazz band ensemble to play the guitar. They were so cute up there and you could tell that these boys thought they were way cool to be part of such a group. The band played classics like "The Christmas Song" (they sang the last line a capella) and "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer".

Side note ~ don't you just love the "teacher look" Mr. Powers is shooting them in this picture?

Then he took the stage and directed the entire Trojan band in some holiday tunes like "Silent Night" and "The Ultimate Christmas Sing-a-long" (a duet with the choir). I love to watch him conduct. :)

You can tell the kids really love and appreciate Andrew for all of his hard work, and despite the occasional grumblings to the contrary, I can tell that the feeling is mutual. Many of the parents and grandparents came up to the stage after the show to compliment him on his dedication and on the progress the kids have made this year. Great job, Mr. Powers! We are so very proud of you.

Thanksgiving road trip, parts III & IV

This post is outrageously late, but as my mother likes to say, "Better late than never." So... we continued our road trip by pulling into the Big D on Wednesday afternoon where Mom (Nana) and Glen (PawPaw) treated us to a really yummy Mexican dinner -- Lucy's favorite!

Part III

Aunt Michelle held down the fort while we waited for a table.


Getting Lucy to hold still for a proper picture these days is like trying to wrestle a deranged and highly pissed off monkey. At least Nana & I were having a good time!

We had cabin fever after our delicious feast on Thanksgiving (featuring Glenn's amazing smoked turkey and ham and my pumpkin cheesecake), so we headed to Breckinridge Park in Richardson to let off some steam. Uncle Allan volunteered to accompany Lucy down the "big slide" and realized that he'd have to take her through the tunnel to get there.

Lucy went plowing straight down the hill in order to get to the ducks. She spent the whole time we were there yelling, "Quack, quack!". Of course, this resulted in the ducks flying away as fast as they could... which led to a major pouting/crying session. :)

We headed back to the park the next day for PawPaw to take pictures for the Powers Christmas card -- this was by far my favorite outtake.

Part IV

On Saturday, we began our journey back home and made an overnight visit to see Honey in Natchitoches. Lucky for us the annual Christmas Festival was already in full effect! We strolled the river to see all the lights, enjoyed some meat pies and crawfish pies, and visited some of the truly unique downtown merchants.

This psychedelic Christmas tree was gigantic and really interesting to watch -- we hung out under its branches while watching Lucy doing the "toddler butt dump" dance to the local band performing on a nearby stage.

Honey made us a delicious breakfast the next morning while Andrew and Lucy checked out all her old picture albums. So precious to see her point to pictures of Andrew when he was little and exclaim, "baby!". She called all the pictures of PopPop "Daddy" -- to be fair, he did have brown hair and a constant beard at that age!

We finally made it home on Sunday afternoon (after a speeding ticket fiasco) and Ella was beyond thrilled to see us! We have so incredibly much to be thankful for this year -- most notably our large, extended family who loves us without fault and the promise of new life.

P.S. Did I mention that we're really, really looking forward to staying home for Christmas?