Priceless........

Ice Cream..........$2.00

Dump Trucks..........$30.00

Neighbors that are best friends..........PRICELESS

Fall at the Lake

We went to the lake the first weekend in November. It was absolutely beautiful....as always. If there was a Walmart closer (or jobs), I would live there. It is my most favorite place to be. Sunsets......I have never seen a prettier sunset than over Lake Bruin.
Cousins sharing a bath.

The "Moose" - he is only 10 weeks older and 10 pounds heavier than Kate.

He really does love her.

Trying to get a good Christmas card for NeNe.

Our Trip to the Zoo

The day after Halloween was not busy and beautiful, so Ryan and I decided to take the kids to the zoo. It was not crowded at all. We had a great time and so did the kids :) Cole playing on a great new playground the zoo just put in for the kids.

We are thinking about getting an Annual Pass to the zoo for next year just for the playground!

Cole favorite part of the zoo trip..... the train ride!

Kate's favorite part of the zoo trip.....digging through her diaper bag :)

Halloween Pictures before Thanksgiving Pictures

As you can see, I did not get a lot of good pictures from Halloween. We had a party at our house for about 50 people. I guess I must have gotten too busy hosting instead of taking pictures! Minnie Mouse... without the ears. She had ears, but they were a little too tight for her big head. Spiderman was too busy fighting his other super hero friends to take pictures for mommy!

While I was trying to get pictures of Kate, Cole was loading our wagon with pumpkins. I think we came home with 6 or 7 pumpkins (that was after I took a few out :)

Kate did not have a good trip to the pumpkin patch. While posing for a picture with her brother at this great set up for pictures, she fell off the bench and out of the pretend house after I told Cole to let go of her neck (not her whole body)! She had a bruised forehead and a scratched cheek to show for our trip for a week! What a bad mommy she has!

October Beach Trip

Finally.....I wanted to share our pictures from our October beach trip to Martinique (a neat little community right outside of Gulf Shores). The weather was beautiful and the company was great! We are hoping to do it again next year!

Kate hated the sand............. We had to lug a stroller everytime we went down to the beach!

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Happy Birthday, my love..... I love you so much and cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am to be your wife. God truly did bless me immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine when He gave me you. You are an amazing husband and daddy. I love you always!

Catching up......

OK..... Where do I start? How about at the end of summer?

At the end of July, my dad retired after working for Exxon for 36 years! We had a retirement dinner at Ralph and Kacoo's. Dad, thank you for teaching me about loyalty, honesty, and working hard. I love you!!!

Next, we went to Gatlinburg with Ryan's family to celebrate Ryan's parents 60th birthdays. The entire Metz crew was there. Ryan, Cole, Kate and I went to Chattanooga for a few days before meeting up with the rest of the family. We were able to do the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls, Rock City, and a train ride though the beautiful Tennesee countryside. We also ran out of gas there, but that is another story altogether :) While in Gatlinburg, we were able to enjoy Cade's Cove, Dollywood, Dixie Stampede, and Laurel Falls. Cole was even selected to chase the chickens at the Dixie Stampded. We had so much fun, especially all of the "girl talks" in the outside hot tub every evening. Oh yeah, we saw a few deer and a bear while in Cade's Cove!!!!

Next, it was time to get into the swing of things with the start of school... Cole started his first year in a five day a week K4 program in a school close to our house, and Kate started her two days a week Mother's Day Our program at a church close to home. Oh, they grow up too fast.

Then, at the end of August, we celebrated Kate's first birthday and my Grandmother's 100th birthday and Hurricane Gustav all in one weekend! How is that for some major milestones?

Kate is such a sweet baby. She started walking right after her first birthday. She has a big brother that she has to keep up with. She is also getting about 8 teeth all at once right now. She is a busy body. She loves to walk around the house and collect things (hangers, shoes, bubble bath). She is so proud of herself when she brings them to you. She doesn't like her naps. She likes to swing her arms and clap when music comes on. She LOVES pancakes, Ritz crackers, and fruit (and nursing)!!!! I am just now weaning her. She will NOT take formula, milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, or vanilla milk. We have tried everything. Happy 1st Birthday, bug! Mommy loves you so much!

Yes, it is a homemade cake. Don't laugh.

My grandmother was born in Iowa, Louisiana, on September 5, 1908. She still lives at home (with the help of sitters). Every day of the year, you will find her with a dress, slip, and hose on under a "mountain"of blankets in her chair. I guess she is "old school" Baptist that way. I have never seen her in anything but a dress. We celebrated her birthday at a local hotel with all of my aunts and uncles and cousins and most of their families. I was surprised at the turnout since most of my cousins live so far away and since there was a hurricane heading straight towards us. I love you, Ma Ma, and am blessed to have such a wonderful, loving grandmother.

Finally, Hurricane Gustav hit Lafayette on September 1st. We evacuated to Baton Rouge, but probably should have stayed in Lafayette. Baton Rouge was hit pretty hard. Jason lost 18 trees in his yard. We lost about 5 shingles at our house. I guess there are a few good things about not having trees :) We spend several weekends afterwards going back to Baton Rouge to help with the clean up.

I will have to catch you up on our great fall beach trip later! Bran and Jenn, I hope you are happy!