Christmas Fun

So far we've had a fun, festive week:

Visiting Santa - Monday Night

Ladies Christmas Dinner - Tuesday Night

Making a Gingerbread House - Wednesday Night

Tomorrow is Alyssa and Dillon's last day of school. Alyssa has her Christmas program that we are all going to. Then on Christmas Eve we will be going to a friend's house for dinner. Christmas morning we will open presents, go to church, and head up to Virginia to see Tommy's parents. After that we head to Maryland to see my parents and go to my friend's house for a New Year's party. Then we will head back to NC, but we will leave Dillon in Maryland to spend time with my parents while he is off school. Then my parents will bring him down here for my birthday (January 10). Needless to say, it will be a busy couple of weeks, but I love every minute of it! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! To see more pictures of the above stuff click here.

Happy 4th Birthday Alyssa

Alyssa turned 4 this past week. We made cupcakes to bring to school the day before her birthday, but unfortunately, she was sick on her real birthday. It was nothing major--just a low grade fever and she slept all day. By dinner time she was feeling much better and she was up for cake and ice cream.

Then yesterday we had a party with some family and friends. I think she had fun. If you would like to see more pictures from this month click on the picture of Alyssa in her birthday crown.

On another note, those of you that have been in my kitchen may have seen the pictures I have of Dillon and Alyssa climbing in the dishwasher. I only had 2 frames like that, and the pictures look perfect where they are, so for Amelia, I decided to take a picture of her in the bathroom sink to put on the wall there. The one you see is the best one I got.


I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season.

Happy Thanksgiving

Picture Day...

Today when I asked Alyssa to get dressed, she came down in shorts. Well, it wasn't shorts weather, so I told her she should probably wear pants. The stripped shorts are her favorite, so I told her that she could wear them with tights underneath. I figured that would be a good compromise. She came downstairs so proud because she got her pink tights with white hearts on by herself. As her shirt, she is wearing a white cardigan with a boys corvette shirt underneath. To top the ensemble off, she is wearing puppy-dog clogs and Hello Kitty barrettes. I thought the outfit looked so silly that it was cute, so I took a picture of her before I dropped her off at school. As we were getting out of the car, I noticed a little girl wearing a cute Christmas dress. Then I opened the door to her school and saw the poster--oops! It was picture day today! I totally forgot. At least she was wearing a sweater, so the close up picture might look semi-cute. Although, I might have to buy the full body pose just for the memories!

Winter is Approaching

I love the way children look when they are bundled up!

Have a Good Halloween!

5 Months Old

Here is a picture of the kids when they were each 5 months old. (Amelia's was taken this morning.) Some people say Amelia looks like Dillon. Others say Alyssa. I think she is a good mix. What do you think?

I Love Newborns!

Eddie (my brother), Gabrielle, and me

If you knew me 1 year ago, I would have never uttered these words, "I love newborns!" However, since Amelia was born, I have really learned to cherish those first few months of a human being's life. When I was a kid, I always liked babies, but I thought that they were a bit boring during those first months. As a first time parent with Dillon, I ate those thoughts because any new parent will tell you that newborns are anything but boring. I couldn't wait for that stage to end--it is a hard and scary time. As a second time parent of two only 17 1/2 months apart, those first few months with Alyssa were a blur--I was just surviving with two children under 2.

Then Amelia came along and changed my whole perspective on those tiny humans. I LOVE THAT STAGE! They are so cute and cuddly. With the exception of a few babies, they cry simply to tell you to meet one of their needs. They do not have any of the selfishness or materialism that is sure to come just a couple years down the road. Sometimes with Amelia I found myself wishing that she would stay small just a little longer, but of course this cannot be.

I do not miss the sleepless nights, but I already miss those special moments you can only have with a newborn. The reason for these random thoughts is because my new niece was just born and she makes Amelia look huge!

My new niece's name is Gabrielle Ryan King, and she is sweet as pie. She reminds me of Alyssa when she was small because of all that hair! I might be crazy, but I'm already catching the newborn itch, but thankfully, I'm not crazy enough to scratch it--yet!

Click picture of my brother for more pictures of what's been going on the past few months. Just to warn you there are a lot! :)

My Wonderful Family

This picture pretty much sums up our family: Alyssa not cooperating, Dillon getting annoyed by Alyssa, Amelia just being her laid-back self, and Tommy and I trying to smile through all the chaos.

PS--You may be wondering why I've been working on my blog so much lately. Tommy is out of town tonight, so this has been my form of relaxation. I still need to upload recent pictures, but my computer is upstairs and my camera is downstairs....that would require exercise. :)

To Trick or not to Treat....that is the question

I love living in North Carolina on most days, but there are some days where being a part of the "Bible Belt" gets on my nerves--during the Halloween season is one of them. Being from the North, I had never heard of anyone not celebrating Halloween due to religious reasons. Down here, many Christians don't celebrate it at all, and some celebrate it, but call it a Harvest Festival. I don't know why, but this annoys me!

Halloween means Holy Evening, so to be a Christian and rename it something less Christian doesn't make sense to me. Yes, Halloween has pagan roots, but so do a lot of Christian holidays. The Christmas tree and the Easter Bunny both have its roots in paganism. Christians were trying to convert pagans, so they used the symbols of pagans and changed their meanings to try and entice them.

Halloween is the day before All Saints Day, and Christians told the pagans to dress up to try and scare evil spirits before All Saints Day--the real holiday they were trying to get the pagans to celebrate. Anyway, sorry to get on my soap box, but what better place than on my own blog? :) Besides, there are better ways to spread the gospel than turning off your lights and pretending you're not home when a child dressed as a vampire rings your doorbell. I promise he won't suck your blood--the kid just wants free candy.

What have I learned? Hmmm.....

I'm sitting here tired as can be, yet I feel the urge to post a somewhat stream-of-consciousness blog. I've learned so much in my short 30 years, and I know there is so much more to learn that my tiny brain will not understand it all in this life. However, here's a list of random thoughts that I want to share: (in no particular order)

1) There will always be people who are too lazy to return their shopping cart.
2) When you are in a hurry, you will catch every red light.
3) Usually, you are not as funny as you think.
4) If you can't say something nice, zip it! (Easier said than done.)
5) Your spouse should be someone that helps you see your flaws, but loves you anyways.
6) When you are pregnant or with a newborn, be ready for unwanted advice.
7) Be gracious when you receive aforementioned advice because you will find yourself doing the same thing once you are an "experienced" parent.
8) The things that annoy us the most are usually things that we do ourselves. (I can't stand know-it-alls....oh wait.)
9) Did God give me my children for me to teach them or was it for them to teach me? (Most days it's the latter)
10) The more babies I am given, the more I realize they will all be different. Because of this...
11) It's not possible to treat each child the same, which leads me to...
12) Life's not fair. (My dad's favorite words when I was growing up.)
13) Give people the benefit of the doubt--they may be having a bad day.
14) God won't give us more than we can handle....but some days I wish He didn't trust me so much. (I have to thank my neighbor for telling me that last part.)

Carolina Beach

click picture for more

Yes, I know that it has been 2 months since we went on vacation, but I'm just now posting pictures of it. I have a lot more pictures that are on my camera that I need to upload, and I was waiting until I felt motivated to do those also, but 2 months is long enough.

We had a great time at the beach. Dillon and Alyssa loved playing with their big cousins, and Amelia adjusted fine. As you'll see from the pictures, she slept most of the time. :)

Dillon loves Kindergarten, although, he is worn out by the end of the day. Here's a picture of his first day of school:

Alyssa is in preschool again this year, and she seems to like it a lot.

Amelia is smiling and laughing a lot now. She is still a very laid back baby.

I'll try to post more some other time, but right now is my alone time/kid's rest time, and I only have 30 minutes left so I'm going to relax. (Can you tell that I cherish these moments?) :)

"I love Amelia..."

...even more than my tank truck." Out of the blue, Dillon said those exact words yesterday. That's a big deal for a 5 year old boy! Alyssa has named all her baby dolls Amelia, and she mothers them. "Right now they are all taking a nap--shhh."

Have a great weekend!

Life with Three

I've posted some pictures with captions if you're interested in what's been going on with us lately--just click the picture.

We finally got a new computer, so I thought I'd update you on what's been going on around here. So far things have been going great being a mom of 3. The transition has been easy--thank God! Dillon and Alyssa love their little sister so much, and there really hasn't been any jealousy. Amelia has been a wonderful baby so far; I have really enjoyed the newborn phase with her. I don't know if it's because I know how much harder it gets, or if I've realized how quickly they grow up. (Dillon in kindergarten this year--crazy!) Either way, I'm enjoying having a baby as much as possible! She makes me want another one already...well...not quite yet!

Quick Post

I just wanted to let everyone know that the transition to having 3 kids has been great this far. I couldn't ask for a better baby...she has been going between 7 and 9 hours between feeds at night--thank God! I think He knows that I need my sleep to be a good Mommy! :) Dillon and Alyssa are still loving her all the time! I had to make a rule of not touching the baby when she is sleeping just so they don't wake her up all the time with their hugs and kisses! I couldn't ask for a smoother transition, and I'll try to post pictures soon. Our good computer is broken, so I have to do it from Tommy's work laptop in the evenings. By that time I'm ready to relax, so I don't know when you'll next see what Amelia looks like! ;)

Amelia Faith Arboneaux

Amelia Faith Arboneaux

April 28, 2008

7 lbs 10 oz

19 3/4 "

Well, I promised to post some pictures, so here they are. (Click on the above picture to see them.)

Random Pictures from Winter

Click picture to see more

Well, winter came and went and I realized that I haven't really posted much. Lately, because of the pregnancy, I've been napping whenever the kids go down for their rest time. Usually that is my email/computer time, so I've been a bit of a slacker lately. To the 2 of you who actually read our blog, I apologize. :) I was going through some pictures, and I think I touched on the highlights of the past few months. I tried something new and put descriptions under the pictures, so if you are curious as to what something is read below the picture.

The picture above is one of my favorites, not because it is the best picture in the world, but because of the moment it was taken. Tommy was gone for a business trip all week, and as soon as the kids saw him walking down the hallway in the airport, they ran to him yelling "Daddy" and gave him big hugs. Of course, Mommy did not have her camera ready for that Kodak moment, so I had to have them recreate it. Oh well! I hope all is well with you!

Happy Easter!

I know this is late, but it's still the Easter season. Hope you had a good one and remembered what is truly important about this holiday!

PS--The pregnancy is going well--Less than 4 weeks until the baby will be here! (I should have the baby by the 28th.)

thirtysomething

Well, I turned 30 this past week, and I have to say that it feels pretty good. We had a little party with friends to celebrate, and several people kept asking me if I was upset or depressed about my age. I can honestly say that I am not. I look forward to getting older for some reason. Maybe it's because I am married with kids, but I don't know. I always said when I was younger that I would never lie about my age. Age is nothing to be ashamed of or proud of; it's just a way to remember to be grateful for another year God has given you. The little guys busy watching a moving during my party (in the picture above) make it a lot easier to remember that!

Happy New Year!

click picture for more

Hopefully, everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. Ours was good. We went to Maryland for Christmas to see my parents. Then we came back to NC for a good friend's wedding. The wedding was on New Year's Eve. The kids got to be in the wedding--Dillon was the ring bearer and Alyssa was the flower girl. Dillon had no trouble at all, but Alyssa took a little more convincing. The rehearsal was not the best, but they both made it down the aisle at the wedding with no problems! They even behaved during the pictures afterwards. I have to say I was pleased with them. We took the above family photo at the hotel where the reception was. I realized that we hadn't taken one in a year and a half, so we were due. I intended to take one during our various Christmas parties, but I never did. I finally got one in the last hours of 2007--yeah! Tommy's parents were nice enough to come to the reception to pick up the kids, so we could stay longer. Then, on New Years Day we celebrated Christmas with them. We had a great ending to 2007!