Celebration in the Oaks

Sunday afternoon we made a mad dash for City Park in a valiant effort to not be late for our second annual Celebration in the Oaks Fun Run. We made it with 15 minutes to spare, and even though Tab, the Zeringues, and Matt were unable to join us this year, Stella still rounded out her entourage nicely with the addition of Jace, Emily, and Jace's mom and dad. Here are Stella and Grandmere sitting on a wall with Humpty Dumpty postrace... Little Bo Peep had managed to keep track of at least one of her sheep and Stella gave it a friendly pat...

Teamwork is a big part of grandparenting...

Our whole crew (minus our photographer, Grandmere) getting ready for our carousel ride...

Soooo excited! "This is just like Mary Poppins!" she thought.

"Whoa, Horsey!"

A flashback to last year's carousel ride...

Checking a giant Claude for loose teeth...

Taking a ride in Cinderella's pumpkin coach. Besides being passengers, Grandmere and Stella also both taste-tested the pumpkin...

Grandpa wanted a ride, too. He missed the memo that the pumpkin coach is for princesses only...

Stella, Grandpa, and Daddy in the belly of the whale. As you can see, Drew Brees could not wait for his turn and came barging into the picture. Good grief. That guy acts like he's some kind of local celebrity. Geez...

Gleefully running out of the old woman's shoe. Guess all those children were just too much for her...

Peeping out of Mary's schoolhouse...

Jamie and Stella in King Cole's castle. If you were wondering where Jamie was up to now, she actually abandoned us during the run because she refused to be last, which we were not. We were next to last.

Daddy and Stella after their first trip down the fire-breathing dragon slide. I am very kindly not posting the picture of all of our friends laughing at Damon for leaving a large portion of his hide on the concrete at the bottom of the slide.

You should enlarge this picture to see just how much Stella enjoyed trip #2...

Imagine with me, for a moment, the sound made when a grown man slides very swiftly down a slide and uses his bare legs as brakes on rough concrete. You will notice he used about a foot and a half of flesh before coming to a complete stop. Or, for those of you who were there, relive the fun in your mind with this visual.

This is what a good dad's backside looks like...

2009 cow jumping over the moon...

2008 cow jumping over the moon...one year and 40 degrees of change...

Stella tried turning this frog into a prince to no avail...

She was not real sure about the wolf in Grandma's house...

She wanted another ride in that pumpkin...

And by the time we made it to the car, she was completely worn out...

Mark your calendars for next year! Sharbonos, this means YOU!!

The Family Christmas Party

Saturday night was our annual family Christmas party and this year it was Grandpa and Grandmere's turn to host. Here are Chad and Alaina arriving at the soiree looking cute as buttons... Stella and Grandmere surrounded by cousins and fun. Stella loved all the attention she got from the "big girls."

Sweet Anna helping Stella drink her juice in the middle of the festivities...

Grandpa and Daddy plotting something...guess Stella comes by it honestly...

Stella was mesmerized by Jeremy's annual reading of the Christmas story...

She was also very excited about her gifts. She liked the first one so much, in fact, that after she opened it she was more interested in playing with it than in opening the rest. Good pick, Anna!

This is the face that I got when I asked Stella to pause from her unwrapping to say, "Cheese!"

While I am not very fond of my personal look in this picture, Stella looks so cute that I am posting it anyway...

Chad and three of his four favorite ladies....the fourth, of course, is taking the picture. Obviously!

We had a great time seeing the family, praying, laughing, and playing together. The Christmas party has become one of our favorite events of the season, and one that we look forward to all year. Each and every family member is so special to us, and we are so thankful that God gave us you to love!

Fun Around the House

Thursday night Stella was lucky enough to have three friends come for a visit. Here she is with the Guillory girls in her room. She is not in the bed because she was being anti-social...she is in the bed because she wanted to pretend that she was going to sleep. Stella's favorite time of the visit came when she got to play in the bathtub with all of her friends. That was a full tub, I guarantee! I have some cute pics from their bathtime hijinks, but I'm not posting them since I don't want to cause any scandal trouble in the future. They are all "Miss America" hopefuls and it's never too early to start thinking about your reputation, you know.

Last night Stella made good use of the tub that Randie and I snagged for her during our day of shopping fun at the jewelry show....

This tub was supposed to hold toys, but Stella had other plans for it...

This is the face of a child who is plotting something...

Perhaps she was planning the menu for her next cooking show: Alligator Head Stew...

I am sure Grandma Crane never envisioned her double boiler being used for that.

Christmas Cards

Back at the end of October, our good friend and fabulous photographer Dara met up with us in City Park to take Stella's picture for our Christmas cards. The cards are almost in the mail, but since we only used one out of so many great photos, I wanted to share some of the runners-up with you. Enjoy!

One of my favorite things about Dara's photography is how authentically she captures her subject's personality. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this next one speaks volumes about the mischievous glint in my sweet baby's eyes.


Visit daramayphotography.com for more outstanding photos! Thanks, Dara! We love you and your sweet assistant!

Christmas Tree Farm Video

Turkey Trot Video

As promised...

You will notice that Stella is more interested in bopping to the country tunes than in running.

O Christmas Tree!

This past Saturday, we loaded up the truck and headed to Independence, Louisiana, and the Yawn Station Christmas Tree Farm. When we got to the farm, we realized there was a lot more to see than just trees. Stella especially enjoyed the little piggies... Grandpa and Stella had fun leaping out from behind trees and surprising the rest of us...

Stella had a chance to ride Thomas! Okay, maybe it wasn't really Thomas. Maybe it was actually a lawnmower pulling a makeshift trailer, but she enjoyed it anyway.

The family in front of our tree. In spite of the fact that we went to a "choose and cut" Christmas tree farm, we still bought a pre-cut tree shipped in from California. It's a pretty young farm, and most of their trees were not really what we had in mind, but the extracurricular activities were a blast for Stella and by next year some of their trees should be ready. It is also important to note that Grandmere is holding Stella in this picture because she refused to go to either one of her parents. And, yes, Damon wore shorts and a polo to buy our Christmas tree. Gotta love South Louisiana weather.

One of the side attractions was a half-sunken motorboat that Stella drove a little recklessly...

Still loving the boat...

A better angle...(note Thomas in background)

Petting one of the friendly chickens. The young man holding the chicken was one of the young farmers. He was so sweet to Stella, driving her endlessly on the train and allowing her to boss him around about setting the chicken free to, "Fly again!" as she put it.

Stella even took a few turns on the tire swing...

The face says it all. In spite of the little trees, I think we'll be visiting Yawn Station again next year...