Christmas Card Outtakes

Oh man, I knew that I should have thought twice about posting the blog address on our Christmas cards!  This would mean that I'd have to catch up a little bit on my lag in posting.

Thank you, to those of you who have ventured over here (and that's not just Nonnie!  Hurray!), and thank you for reminding me to post our moments before they are far too distant memories!

I can hardly stand the cuteness and the craziness of trying to get these three little ducks in a row and get universal SMILES!  Needless to say it took many, many takes...

 Two-ish out of three isn't bad...

 Until that one-third starts to spread dissent... 

 Alright then...

Let's try some bribery! 

Suckers! 

 And, let's see how the sugar affects our shoot... 

 Great Smiles!

 Crazy Smiles!

 Alright, let's dial down the smile...

Finally, we found the best way to get a picture 

was to make our little stinkerpot Charley as happy as a clam,

and to jump in on her shot,

and Voila!

Merry Christmas from the Akls!

(and three cheers for Charley's long-suffering sisters

and mommy!)

Louisiana: Lake Emfred

There's something special about Louisiana.

There are lots of things I don't miss --

primarily the humidity and the mosquitoes,

but I want for my girls to grow up knowing

about all of the beauty, culture and charm that are unique to Louisiana.

Nola and Rhys throwing rocks off of the same docks we used to fish off of as kids.

My mom and dad still live there (when they're not out in California), 

as do my sister and her three kids: Declan, Emma, and Rhys.

We decided to pay them a very long visit this Spring,

and we had such a wonderful time!

Papa helping Nola on the monkey bars near the lake.

I could easily tow this load several miles each day.

Not only is the cuteness level enough to lighten the burden,

but the load sure does feel lighter when there are no hills --

and it's February, so no humidity or mosquitoes!

Papa photobombing Charley's swing time

No photobomb here!  

Nola and Payton welcome him over, as long as he does all the hard work.

We loved Lake Emfred and the park,

but most especially, we loved going with our family.

Charley's One!

My mom: What are you going to do for Charley's Birthday?

Me: Oh, probably nothing.

-silence-

My mom: Why don't you all come up here?

(In fairness to me, Nola just got over pneumonia, 

and we just started a massive project on the house)

I promise, I did not intend to shirk my mommy duties, Charley,

but I have to hand it to your Nonnie and Aunties,

because if not for them,

your birthday would have consisted of a cupcake 

and a shaky i-phone picture commemorating it.

Instead, we have a "Charley's One!" Bug-themed birthday

with cousins, signs, grab bags and all the necessary awesomeness

that makes any old event a Nonnie-sponsored one.

Thank you all for the awesome giraffe!

It only took two-hours for my sisters to confiscate it,

which tells me it's a prized possession!

The only reason Charley would pass up any food

is if it had a gigantic bug on it.

We managed to move past that pretty quickly.

And even found some room for petri dish jello slime!

Slurp!

New Year's Beach Day

The Lockwood cousins were in town for a little while longer,

so it was very nice for the weather to gift

them one more trip to the beach.

 Charley's not so sure the hat is necessary, 

especially since her sisters aren't wearing any!

While the bigger kids played in the waves,

the beach was a far safer place for the wee ones

and a much better spot to get some great pictures.

Thanks, as always, Nonnie!

Happy New Year's Birthday Cookoff!

 We are still trying to see what else we can squeeze into New Year's Day to

draw our family back in to our house.

Payton's birthday is really all they needed.

Sweet Payton was born the day after Christmas, 

so we give it about a week before we celebrate

(plus, she has two other cousins whose birthdays fall within that same week).

I'm guessing something there's always something worth celebrating, 

but nine months before Christmas... must be a special time for my family.

Because it's New Year's Day, 

we have started a Black-eyed Peas and Cabbage Cookoff as well,

There's a little bit of an Iron Chef element to it, 

as no sensible meal wants to highlight black-eyed peas or cabbage.

 But when you make a black-eyed pea salsa,

and put in three black-eyed peas,

you certainly increase your odds of winning

the coveted prize.

Congratulations, Jaimee.

Enjoy your victory while it lasts.

I should note that even though Nick's cabbage entry 

looked like this by the end:

He didn't even get an honorable mention.

Oh well, you can't win them all.

I really wanted to add this picture for Charley's "I'm gonna punch the paparazzi" face.

And moments later, tries to draw her photographer back in...

Happy New Year!  Wishing both of my blog readers the happiest of New Years!