Cille's Latest Developments

Cille has started to use anything that she can get her hands on to try to stand...

It's fun to watch her explore, but she's growing up a little too fast for my taste!

Superbowl Party

The Safley family was kind (and brave) enough to offer up their home as a place for our Sunday school class to watch the Superbowl. Here are Talia, Cille, and the menfolk enjoying the big game...

The ladies enjoying the great company and yummy food...(good job, Katie!)

The kiddos enjoying the baby jail, I mean, playroom...

This was going to be such a cute picture if it was in focus...(I accidentally left all the good cameras in Erwinville, so most of the photos you will see over the next few posts are all from my phone)

I guess Cille was cheering on the Packers with that bib.  Can that kid pick 'em, or what?

Thanks for your hospitality, Safleys! It was a great time of fun and fellowship.

Imagination Movers

Last Saturday we took Stella to see the Imagination Movers in concert!  Our friend Lilly is a big Movers fan, and she got to see their show the last time they were in town and told us all about how much fun she had.  After her great review, we couldn't wait to experience it for ourselves.  Mrs. Kelly, Emma, Sadie, and Talia met us there for a foot-stomping good time!

To get ready for the show, we created some cheese-inspired art for Warehouse Mouse.  Here are Daddy and Stella painting our blue cheese poster...

 At the arena, we waited patiently for the show to begin.  As an added bonus, D.C. and Genevieve from Choo-Choo Soul were there, too!

 Stella is not normally allowed to have popcorn because of the choking hazard.  When her daddy gave her the nod to try some of Emma's, she dove into the box face-first.  Literally.  I missed that picture, but I got this one...

 Mover Rich came into the audience during the show.  See him behind Stella?  Stella and Sadie even got to shake Mover Dave's hand during the performance!

 Unfortunately, Stella did not get a nap in before the concert.  This led to an idea emergency, as we noticed she was getting a little drowsy waiting for the show to start.  I headed to the concession stand and came back with as much sugar as I could find.  We kept her awake for most of the concert by plying her with Starburst and cookies.  Eventually, she would rest on Daddy's lap between songs...

 When the guys left the stage, she finally succumbed...

 By the time they started rocking out for the encore, she was totally limp...

 She didn't wake up until we got to the car!

Watch this video to see how much fun Stella had and why she was so tired after the concert.  I told Damon it was like a rock concert for little kids, and he replied, "What are you talking about?  It's like a rock concert for me!"  I now think that there may be a hidden reason that we DVR the show.  Is Damon jamming with the Movers while he gets ready in the morning?  Who knows?  Let's just say that we give the Imagination Movers: In a Big Warehouse Tour 5 stars.  If it pulls into your city, you must go!  We can't wait until they come back to the Big Easy!

Cille's 6 Month Portraits

On the day that Stella turned 6 months old, Damon and I took her to Portraits by Susie here in LaPlace and subjected her to a grueling hour of coaxing and cajoling in a daring attempt to keep her from crying and achieve the perfect 6 month photo.  The result of this gargantuan effort was one beautiful shot that we had to have a toy chicken digitally removed from.  When the 6 month mark approached for Cille, I called Susie, but she was already booked up.  I resigned myself to the fact that we would not be able to do the photos on the specific day, which was really kind of what I was expecting, since it was the day before Christmas Eve.  The day before it was time for me to go back to school, I finally took the girls into town and we went to Sears for Cille's pictures...

Poor Stella really did not understand why Cille was getting her picture taken and Stella was not.  I explained as best I could, and promised Stella next time would be her turn.  She was a very good helper for me and the photographer, and I think most of these smiles were aimed right at big sister...

Cille is such a happy baby and has such a sweet disposition that the photographer really had an easy job...

Since we waited a few days after the 6 month mark, she was also sitting up on her own...

She loves to smile!

It was hard to choose just one pose, which made me super glad that Sears was running a special and I was able to get the CD of all the images for 30 bucks!  Score!

This is the photo that we had printed.  I love my brown-eyed girl!

Cille's First Word...

Was "Mama!"  This morning she was cuddling in the bed with Damon and me and babbling along.  Most of her sounds were "ba, ba, ba," but then an actual "Mama" came out!  She totally did not know what she was saying, but I am counting this as her first word anyway, mostly because Stella's first word was "Dada."

Those that didn't make the cut...

Those accustomed to producing greeting cards involving pictures of kids probably know that it takes many, many attempts to snag that perfect photo. While this year's Christmas photos don't really fall into the "perfect" category (we had a hard time coordinating our schedule with Dara's and had to resort to Sears at the last minute), there were still several cute shots that got left on the cutting room floor. Here they are, in random order...

This is my absolute favorite of Cille!  It was so hard not to put this on the card...

Why You Should Visit a Louisiana State Park

Mostly because they rock.  When Damon said he rented a "cabin," I pictured something rustic.  Very rustic.  You know, rough hewn bunk beds, straw mattresses, and communal bathhouses rustic.  Boy, was I surprised when we opened the door of our "cabin" and found leather furniture and HD DirecTV...

A girl could get used to this.  The kitchen even included a dishwasher.  Score!

This was one of the bedrooms.  Sleeps 4 with linens provided...

The master bedroom had a great view.  In an earlier post I talked about forgetting to take my camera on this trip.  These pictures would have been more impressive if I had taken them before we wreaked two days of Pourciau-style havoc on this place, but oh, well.  You can still get the general idea...

Bathroom.  Very spacious.  I'm not sure why...

During warmer months I am sure we would have really enjoyed this fantastic screened-in porch, but on this trip it was just a nice idea...

So the next time that you are hankering for a quick weekend getaway with the family, check out a Louisiana state park. The one at Bogue Chitto features all these amenities as well as a waterpark, miles of scenic trails, and a beach area!