More pics of Night Out-part two

Me and Jesse


James and Sarah



Katie and I

Night Out-Part Two-Baker's Street

Sandy

Missi and Steve

Peace, Sarah.

Me and Sarah

Missi's Hot shoes!

Night Out

I am so happy to say that I have some of the greatest friends ever! Last Saturday we had a friend who lives far from us come to town, and we all got together to see her and hang out for the holidays. Hubbies went too, how else would we get a good picture taken? Just kidding! It was so fun seeing all my gals! I love you all!

Christmas

This year we celebrated Christmas eve at My sister's house. There were so many gifts all over the place and tons of yummy food. Jesse had to work so his presence was truly missed. Olivia was the star of the show, as usual, and everytime she received a new piece of clothing she would rip off whatever she had on to try the new item on. It was hilarious. I can't wait to see the pictures Dixie took. Merry Christmas to all

P.S. My Santa came through with a new camera and a 42 inch flat screen plasma! YAY SANTA!

Abi's Birthday

As many of you know, Olivia calls my dad Abi, and last Sunday (the 14th) was his birthday. He has a close friend who shares his birthday and this year that friend turned 60 so the party was at his house. Olivia and I went to celebrate and we had a great time. Happy Birthday to the best grandpa ever!

Santa-Please bring me a camera!

So-I know that I have not posted anything in a while, but I have an excuse. My camera broke, the screen is all messed up. Jesse claims that I can still take pictures with it, but what good is a digital camera if I can't delete and retake again as many times as I want to? Anyway-it is on my Santa wish list, and my Santa always comes through! Just a few updates: Thanksgiving was great! We ate dinner here with my family and then made the four hour drive to Jesse's dad's in the Mansfiled/Arlington area that same night. We spent the rest of the weekend there and Olivia had a blast with all of them. Next, Olivia got a nasty stomach bug this past Thursday and she threw up a total of ten times (that's alot for a 2 year old) and now she has the runs. She managed to pass it along to my grandparents and me, but my folks and Jesse have been spared thus far. We will have to wait and see what the remainder of the weekend has in store for them. I have two more full weeks of work and then I am off for two for the holidays. I can't wait. I love Chritmas! I will try to borrow my sister's camera before then and take some shots of the house inside and out with all its decorations. Till next time (and hopefully with pictures)-Mel

Dancing Queen!

Olivia loves to dance! I mean she gets down, the ryhthm and the beat of music move her to shake her hips like no other two year old I have ever seen. Just watch and you will see.

Kitty Cats for Halloween

We went to my sister's Halloween party last weekend and Olivia was a kitty cat. It was not a good idea to paint her face just yet, she smeared it instantly and then everyone who hugged her got some too. Other folks had some really good costumes as well. I was Ugly Betty, and I won the costume contest.

Crazy girl

I can't get Olivia to stop going through my drawer in the bathroom and putting on every head band she finds. Then she finds my sunglasses and it becomes a whole new look. Check her out.

Princess

Olivia loved dressing up as a princess for Jackson's party. Here are a couple of shots before we left because once we got there it was off with everything so she could jump comfortably. She wants to wear the dress everyday!

Morning Hair!

This is what our little princess looks like first thing in the morning! I crack up everyday! She reminds me so much of my sister in these shots! Good thing her tia is so pretty!

Our Pretty girl!

I know, I shouldn't toot my own horn, but I just think she is the prettiest ever! She is getting so big, and I am wanting another little baby so badly, but I think I will have to wait until next summer! I just hope the second one looks just like the first!

Happy times: Milkshakes

Olivia is a sucker for a good milkshake. Her daddy made himself a vanilla one the other night, but he ended up having to share quite a bit of it, with you know who! She loved it.

IKE

So, this big bad nasty hurricane "Ike" blew through Houston and all its surrounding areas, after destroying parts of Galveston, this past Saturday, September 13. Olivia and I, believe it or not, slept right through the entire thing! Jesse was up and pacing most of the evening. We lost power around 1:00am Saturday and we were some of the lucky few whose power came back the same afternoon. Unfortunately, there are many poeple all around us who are still with out power, 5 DAYS LATER! I can not even imagine. My grandparents and my sister's in-laws are still without power, thank goodness we are all close by to help. We feel very fortunate to have everyone safe, but this was quite a humbling experience. Here are a few pictures of some before and after shots of our neighborhood and some surrounding places. Have you ever seen Wal-Mart shelves like this?

A worthy cause!

This past weekend I participated in an event that is absoultely wonderful. "Reach out to Drop-outs" was an amazingly rewarding experience. For those of you who may have never heard of it, it is an event in which volunteers sign up to participate in teams of 6-8 people and go knock on the doors of the last known addresses of students who at some point quit school. I realize that many of you reading this are not school district employees, and kids dropping out of school every year is by no means a staggering number, but that unfortunatley is not the case. We lost over 650 students last year in Alief alone. I don't know about you, but that is way too many people in neighborhoods next door to us struggling and reliving a sad cycle of life! It makes me want to ask every kid I see out on the street if they are in school or graduated. We had over 260 volunteers this year in Alief and I am pretty sure each and everyone of them plus more will be back next year. We brought back over thirty kids that same day, ready and wanting to come back to school to better their lives and futures! We made contact with hundreds and hope they will come see us soon! I would like to thank my wonderful husband, who ironically enough was the only man on his team, which I am sure made the ladies feel a bit more secure:), my dad, my sister, and our family friend Victor for waking up early on Saturday morning, and giving of themselves to better serve out community! WAY TO REACH OUT!!!!!

Tata and Luke

As many of you know, Jason Boulette has been a part of our family for over 18 years now, in a way an adopted brother to me. Well, when Jason and Megan got married she became part of the family as well, and now they have Luke. He is adorable and my grandpa is crazy about him. I wanted to share some pictures of how much fun my "Tata" had with Luke at Olivia's birthday party. The Boulette's make it a point to attend any function we have for Olivia, and we can't wait for little Luke to be big enough to play!

Party Hats!

I had to get some pictures of all the kiddos wearing their party hats!

Olivia's 2nd Birthday

Last Sunday was Olivia's birthday and I can't believe she is already 2! We had a pool party for her and so many little and grown up friends came to celebrate with her! Tia mana made her an amazing cupcake cake and many more little cup cakes for all the guests. Everyone had a blast! Next year I am hoping she will tell me she wants her brithday celebrated somwhere air conditioned! August is HOT!!! Here are some pictures, Enjoy!