Mr. & Mrs. Thornton

On Friday, Don & Vonny got married in their home with family and friends looking on. We could not be happier for two people, and are so excited for their future as a married couple. We are overjoyed that they both found each other and bring such happiness to each other's lives. We are also very fortunate to now have Molly, BeBe, and Don Sr. as family. Our family is growing, and we are so happy to have new members to love. 

Santa Comes to Monroe

We were so excited to travel to north Louisiana to see Vonny's new house, celebrate Christmas, and see Vonny & Don get married. Oscar was excited to see Lilya, Stuart, & Maddie and have some playmates for the week. We were also really happy to get to spend more time with Molly (Don's daughter) and his parents, BeBe and Don Sr. I love our blended north Louisiana family and all the wonderful, loving people who are a part of our lives. 

On Wednesday we had Christmas at Vonny & Don's and also celebrated Don's birthday.  We had a great afternoon lunch and then we opened presents. Watching the children open presents was so much fun, and it is great that Oscar will have these memories of Christmas with his family. It was such a wonderful time filled with great food, laughter, and family. 

"Pudding Gate"

Christmas with the Thompsons

I rarely get to see Valerie and her wonderful family, but by fate we are from hometowns twenty minutes from each other, so sometimes the holidays allow us to get together. I have not seen Leah, her daughter, in almost a year and she is just the cutest girl and looks just like her daddy (except the blond hair). Oscar was really interested in all her girl toys such as hair blow dryers and make up things. They were so cute together and it was great seeing our kids playing and laughing. Unfortunately, our visit was short, but it was great to see the whole Thompson gang and hopefully we will get together for a longer time soon. 

Learning from Aunt Tara' & Uncle Billy

Aunt Valerie put him to work.

Santa Comes to Ponchatoula

After the drama that was getting to Louisiana (short version: you can fly without an ID, but they are going to pat you down), we were happy to be in New Orleans with our family. On Christmas Eve we went to mass, and my Aunt Barbara had all the Van Vranckens over for a wonderful dinner, laughs, and Oscar's first presents. Luckily she bought him some pajamas so he could look super cute for his Christmas morning photos. 

Christmas morning was all about Oscar and I could not believe he waited for Aunt Tara' & Uncle Billy to come up from New Orleans. What child waits to open presents? He must really love his Aunt TT & Uncle Billy. We ate baklava and other pastries from O'Delice and drank coffee- it was a great morning and I was happy to be home.  Oscar was happy to start opening his presents and loved having an audience. He received so many wonderful things and he was so happy Santa remembered he would be in Louisiana this Christmas.

We had Christmas dinner and to say the food was great would be an understatement. Food in south Louisiana is just ridiculous, and of course, everyone ate way too much. It was wonderful to be home and a blessing that everyone gets to be together. 

Apparently one of us is too cool to act crazy. :)

Our Jauberry Gingerbread House

Our neighbor Jess gave us a Gingerbread House Kit for Christmas. Oscar & Chris had to put together the house without me since I was baking cookies. I feel for this gingerbread family because one snow storm and their roof is going to be caved in. Please don't sue us Mr. & Mrs Gingerbread, I am sure the icing will hold..........

3rd Birthday- Louisiana Style

On Oscar's birthday, we had some friends over for Red Beans & Rice and Five Flavor Cake. Red Beans & Rice is a wonderful Louisiana dish and Five Flavor Cake is my great-grandmother's signature cake.  There was something wonderful about having that cake for his birthday, it was like having my great-grandmother there. Everyone loved the food- of course! It is Louisiana food, you cannot go wrong. 

Happy 3rd Birthday Oscar

Three years old. Seems like three months ago you were born and today you are turning three. This year you have grown into a little toddler boy, and my little baby is just a memory. You display characteristics that are completely inherited from your mom; stubbornness, bossiness, a love of reading and art supplies. You also display characteristics that are completely inherited from your dad; your ability to make people laugh, your love of cars, your love of tools, and your good nature towards everyone you meet. The more I get to know you, the prouder I am of the boy and man I know you will become.
I am amazed that three years ago you were just staring at Christmas lights and now we have conversations and you are becoming so independent. You continue to bring so much joy to our lives. We could not be more proud of you; our friend, our buddy, our partner in crime, our happiness, our son.

Jauberry in the Mail

Last year I blogged about our drive by Christmas photo which I slapped in a Christmas card and sent on its merry way. This year I finally did my jauberry Christmas card! The most wonderful thing about taking all those graphic design classes at LA Tech is the money I have saved knowing Photoshop, Illustrator, and In Design. Printing these at our local mom & pop camera store and buying envelopes at our local paper store  cost me a grand total of $30 for sixty Christmas Cards. I looked around other sites with photo cards that you place photos in already made ones and they were $135 - $250 for sixty. These are better because they are custom and made with jauberry love, can't you tell?

Letter from Santa!!

You know you are a good little boy when Santa sends you a personal letter. On Tuesday night, as we were opening the mail, I saw an envelope from North Pole, Alaska. I called Oscar over, and told him that he received a letter from Santa. He was so excited and sat on the sofa with his dad while I read the letter. He was so excited and he could not believe that Santa wrote him a letter telling him what a good boy he had been and that he would be visiting him soon. Santa also included a sticker, a photo, and one Santa dollar in the letter. 

What is the exchange rate on that Santa dollar? Can it buy one of those Lexus cars with a bow on it? That seems like a fair exchange rate.

I love that Oscar is really starting to believe in Santa this year. It really makes Christmas so much more magical to see it through the eyes of a child who believes. It reminds you of so many wonderful memories, it also reminds you of how you use to wake up at 6:00am on Christmas morning....... I might not be looking forward to that part so much- mom, you better program the coffee machine for an early morning because I am going to need coffee.

A special thank you to Elizabeth for arranging Oscar to receive this letter, you really made his day!

Holiday Party Rescue

Holiday parties seem to be every other day in the jauberry house right now. Between work parties and the organizations we belong to, our calendar is overflowing with holiday parties. Most of these parties ask that you bring an appetizer or dessert to share. This task always falls on me because Chris' idea of bringing his own appetizer is heating up some Totino's Pizza Rolls and putting toothpicks in them. Which, much to my dismay, would probably be the hit of the party- especially if there are men there. I found this article, 101 Simple Appetizers in 20 Minutes or Less, in the NY Times a couple years ago, and it has been a life saver. For anyone that has to bring something to a holiday party, I highly recommend saving this article. If you cannot find something in their 101 recipes....... you can always bring Totino's Pizza Rolls. 

BirLhday Party

Oscar's 3rd birthday party was Saturday. We had to have it early because that Saturday was the only day left in December when you could have the bouncy castle at the rec center. Oscar loved the bouncy castle at the Wilson Fall Festival, so I knew it would be the perfect thing to have at his party. So many of his friends came and they had a great time in the bouncy castle, running around, and playing with the basketballs. It was nice to get all the kids out of the house because Saturday was really cold, and there is not too much to do outside when you are two or three. 

I do not think anyone noticed, but on the way to his party, I looked down at the cake I made and realized I did not cross the "t" in birthday. So, Happy BirLhday Oscar. 

Next Best Thing

Last Christmas Paw Paw Roger & Kelly sent us a "Record a Story" book as part of Oscar's Christmas presents. These are books were you can record your voice reading a story. This year we took the book out of our Christmas storage and Oscar has been listening to it every night before bed. It is such a wonderful way to be close by even when you are 2100 miles away. 

Napa Know How...... How to Drive Parents Crazy

Chris and Oscar listen to the radio while driving to school everyday. Well there is one radio ad that he loves- the Napa Know How song. He LOVES it, do not ask me why, apparently the most annoying things naturally attract children (i.e. Barney). He kept asking us to play "Napa Know How" and could not understand why that was not a song we could just pull out. Well one night recently, after Oscar had been such a good boy, I thought I would see if the commercials were on YouTube to reward him. It was a moment of temporary insanity, and now I am watching Napa Know How commercials every night as part of our bed time routine.  Why me? Oh yeah, I created this monster by showing them to him on the computer. Way to go Jessica, way to go.