Going Out With A Bang!

2010 has been a crazy year for us. It has been a year of "breakage". So many things have broken at our house this year, almost to the point of being funny at times. I said almost. No, really, we have laughed at times, because that's all we could do. And it kept me from crying instead. So we should have known that today would be no different. In fact I guess we should have expected something to break since that has been so typical for this year. But we didn't. The girls and I were trying to get the Christmas stuff put away and the house cleaned up for their New Year's Eve party. Aaron was working on our toilet. I didn't know what had happened. I just saw him run out of the house and grab something and run out by the road. I followed to ask him what was going on. That's when he told me that while he was trying to tighten something that he heard a pipe burst under the house. He was working frantically to get the water turned off, but to no avail. It was probably at least five minutes before he finally got it off. So my dear husband spent the better part of the afternoon in a huge mud puddle under our house trying to fix it. Did I mention that he was at the doctor's office yesterday with a sinus infection/flu? Poor guy. A few hours and about three trips to Lowe's later, he came out from under the house I almost didn't recognize him. I wanted to take a picture, but wasn't sure if that would upset him. This was the only one I was able to sneak while he was hosing himself off after it was all done.



I'm so grateful for this hard working man, and all he does for our family, even half sick. And to 2010--GOOD RIDDANCE! Here's hoping for a much less broken 2011!

Dear Letter P,

I'm sorry to single you out, but I am so not happy with you right now. I really don't like some of the words that you make, such as pee, poop, and puke. I have seen entirely too much of these three P words the last couple of days. So much that I think I am about to lose my sanity, what little bit I do have left, that is. So I decided to leave my house, where all of the above P words have been congregating, and take a break in the park. Hey, now there's a P word that I do like.



This little cutie is the main cause of my letter P anxieties.



Cute, right?!



But it wears off fast when too many letter P's are involved.



Really fast!



Not with this little girl though.



Not even when I made her clean up the letter P.



So the park was the perfect place to escape for her to make all of the letter P that she needed to and for me to find some peace--another good P word. So I guess you aren't all bad letter P. I guess I'll give you another chance.
Sincerely,
Lynetta Young



P. S. I guess I'll give her another chance too.



Lucky for her I'm a sucker for cuteness!

Mire Family Reunion 2010

Today was the Mire Family Reunion. It was supposed to be out at Camp Edgewood, but since it was forecast to rain all day, it was moved to the church instead. We started out taking pictures of Maw Maw with all of her kids while we were waiting for everyone to arrive.



Then this little stinker tried to sneak in the picture.



He was in rare form right from the start.



He wanted to go outside and play in the rain.



And he wanted to rip the stickers off of the brand new hula hoops that Aunt Brenda had bought for some games. He had at least three good tantrums before we even got started.



When everyone finally arrived, Aunt Brenda had some games for us to play.



John really got into it.



And the next game he liked even more. There was a huge bowl of candy in the middle of the circle, and Aunt Brenda would say different things like "If you were born in Louisiana" or "If you can speak French" and if you "qualified" you could go get a piece of candy.



Funny thing.....John David seemed to "qualify" every time.



He was having a blast.



Then he got a little carried away.



And he got "disqualified" from the game.



He didn't appreciate that too much.

So Paw Paw took him and got him down for a badly needed nap. And then we played some super fun "Minute to Win it" games.

*Cookie Monster


*Merry Fishmas


*Cliffhanger


*Lollipop--If Katie's arm wasn't in the way, you could see Uncle Dave trying to blow Aunt Renee's lollipops down. So funny!


*Nosedive


*Nutstacker


*Christmas in the Balance--Love Sarah's expression!


*Hot Air Balloon


*Snowball Fight--Much harder than it looks!


*Spudnick


So much fun to watch. Then we had free time, and I tried to learn to play "Settlers of Catan".



For dinner we had Johnice's delicious seafood gumbo and boudin balls.



Then we had a little talent show. Aunt Brenda, JJ, Tiffany, and Katie played the piano, Austin and Gavin sang a song, and Austin showed us some of his awesome magic tricks.



We all had a great time, but by the end of the day, we were pooped. It's tiring having so much fun!



Can't wait til next time!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning we woke up to find evidence that Santa had indeed made a stop by our house. See? He drank his milk and ate most of his treats.



And he left us some presents for the kids.



And some gifts for the family.



And even a few for me and Aaron.



I love how excited this girl was.



She was all smiles.



I think Sarah was still trying to wake up.



It didn't take them long to rip into everything.



And then they moved on to open up the family gifts. We are all so excited about the basketball goal. Fun times ahead!



And then there was a knock at the door. Who could it be at 7am on Christmas morning? It was our friend Vicki who "just happened" to be driving by and found something on the door step for Sarah. I love the look on her face! She was so surprised she couldn't even say anything. It was priceless!



It was the dog that she had asked Santa for. He must have left her outside so the barking wouldn't wake us up. That Santa is so thoughtful. Thank goodness Vicki came by when she did though because little Bailey was getting cold.



Sarah was a little nervous to begin with, but she quickly warmed up to Bailey, and Bailey to her.



Vicki also found a letter from Santa with Bailey, so Katie read it to us. He told us that Bailey came from a home where she was loved, but the family just didn't have time to take care of her anymore. So he had brought her to Sarah knowing that she would take good care of sweet little Bailey. Sarah kept saying, "It's a miracle Mom! I knew Santa would bring me a dog this year!"



Then Sarah and Daddy took her out for a quick potty break. Sarah still looks like she's in shock in this picture.



And then John David finally woke up. He wasn't interested in the dog or the presents to begin with. He just wanted to sit with Daddy and wake up.



I love how he's watching the dog and looks like he's trying to figure out where the dog came from in this picture.



He finally decided he would open up his presents after a few minutes.



He immediately fell in love with his drill. Santa knew that he really likes his Dad's drill, and figured he would love one of his own. He fixed a lot of stuff with that drill this morning.



He was scared of his little quad when he first saw it, but he finally decided to give it a try and take it for a spin.



And he's off.



And when he came back he was all smiles.



He was lovin' it!



He also loved all of the cars that Santa brought, and had a great time playing with them too. But he did take a quick minute to eat a healthy breakfast of M&Ms.



This little girl pretty much just played with one thing all morning. Can you guess what it was?



Yep, she's seriously attached already. And who wouldn't be? Look at how cute little Bailey is?! She is so adorable, and so sweet too. And she's very mellow. Not an annoying barking or licking dog like some are.



Even the toughest critics--like me and Katie--are pretty smitten with her too, which is saying a lot.



Sarah did a great job taking Bailey out for potty breaks all day. She didn't have any accidents.



And John David did a great job of helping Bailey find her food and water bowls, even showing her at times just exactly how to eat and drink from them. What a great little helper, right?!



We really enjoyed hanging out all morning.



And we may have even snuck in a little Christmas Day nap.



Tonight we headed over to Vidor to visit Amy and her family. John David had a great time playing on Clayton's toys since he wasn't there.



The whole Cameron crew got bikes from Santa. So we talked about planning some family rides together.



And we all fell in love with Jarrett's new puppy too. Since she's asleep, you can't see her eyes. But trust me--they are a beautiful blue. She is adorable!



And when Shane had to make a quick trip to Walgreens, he picked up these Santa snuggies for Aaron, Kent, and himself, and we all had a good laugh over them.



Hey there Santa baby!



Then the girls wanted to try them out.



And then John David had to try it out too.

We've had a fabulous Christmas with our family, and hope you have too!