Home again, home again...

Jiggity jig! We weren't gone that long, but it sure did feel like we did a full tour of Louisiana! Last Tuesday, we got our last-minute Christmas stuff done and headed up to Many, where my sister and I baked our little hearts out!! I have made cake pops 3 times in the past 2 weeks, and I can promise you it will be a VERY long time before I make them again!! Bakerella inspired me so I made them for school, my sister-in-law's Christmas party, and then again on Christmas Eve. I am all popped out! (Literally, too...my belly is ridiculous, but more on that later.) Mine weren't one tenth as cute as Bakerella's, but I'm an amateur. Here's a sample of the pops and the other stuff Katie and I baked and dipped! We also did Snickerdoodles.

Yummmmm. Sadly, all this has helped to contribute to my growing waistline. I'm afraid Kamden just isn't as big as my belly makes him out to be. I am going to start back to the gym this week, though. I am miserable!!

We spent Tuesday through Friday with my family in Many, and it was wonderful!!! On Friday, we got Ella, came back to my parents' so she could open her presents from them, then went down to Starks to Kaleb's parents' so she could open her gifts from them. We spent the night there and finally headed back to our house Saturday evening when Ella finally opened her gifts from us and the gift that Santa had left at her Beaumont for her. So, Christmas was quite prolonged for the Breaux family!! On Sunday, our choir was doing an encore presentation of our cantata, so my mom came in to see it and she got to stay for a couple of nights. It was so nice to have her here to hang out and relax for a few days!! Now it's Tuesday, and everyone's gone home, and it's just our little family. After being around so many people for so many days, it felt pretty lonely this afternoon! But Kaleb took off all this week, so I am really excited about spending my last week off with him and Ella!

I'm thoroughly enjoying finally being able to feel Kamden moving around!!! I don't feel many straight kicks (although Kaleb swears he kicked his hand a couple nights ago), but I can feel him fluttering around. It's very hard for me to believe that I'm already 21 weeks tomorrow...halfway there! Some of my family shocked us by buying him gifts. We didn't even buy him anything yet!! This kid is getting spoiled already.

Ella is getting really excited about being a big sister. She got a puppy for Christmas at Kaleb's parents' house (it stays there because our landlord doesn't allow pets) and named him Tyler (actually, Tyler Goose Breaux) and Kaleb was telling her tonight about how we were going to their house tomorrow for New Year's and she could see Tyler. She got SO excited, which we just attributed to the fact that she could see her puppy again. But she was puzzled and kept asking him, "I really get to see him tomorrow?? Are you sure??" I'd already discussed it with her, so I was confused. Then she said, "The baby's coming out of Jenni's belly tomorrow??" It was so sweet, especially seeing how genuinely excited she was. Tyler was her choice for a baby name for Kamden, and she just got a little confused on the names. I just love that girl!!

Well, my husband is snoring on the couch and Ella is watching her second 30 half hour of Batman, so I'm going to go put her to bed. I hope all of your Christmases were as wonderful as ours was!! Happy New Year's!

Oh, and proof of my huge belly:

It's a............

BOY!!! Now presenting, Kamden Alce Breaux at 18 wks in his mama's belly! The first shot is, well, definitive proof that he is, in fact, a boy. The last two are of his little profile. We are SO EXCITED!!!

Wonderful Weekend!

This was the best weekend I've had in such a long time! We had a change of plans...we still went to the ballet Friday night (Ella loved it!!), but Kaleb's family was going up to Natchitoches for the Christmas Festival on Saturday, and we decided to make the trip up, too. As far as I know, Ella had never been to the main festival before, just the fireworks, and we hadn't been in a couple years, so we got up Saturday morning and headed up to Nack-town in time for the parade. Katie (my sister) was hosting at her house, which is conveniently located on 2nd street, on the parade route and close enough to walk to any of the festivities. It was such a great time with family and friends, some that I hadn't seen in more than a year! The fireworks were beautiful, as always. Ella was bored about 5 minutes into the show, but it really was impressive! I have lots of pictures on my facebook and myspaces, but I'll post a few here. The only bad thing about going was the LONGEST DRIVE HOME EVER. My amazing, sweet husband drove, for which I am so very thankful. I nodded off so much that I actually questioned whether or not I was driving and freaked out at one point thinking I'd fallen asleep behind the wheel. Other than that, it was wonderful, though!! And church today was awesome, the perfect end to a pretty perfect weekend.

I'll leave you with some pictures before I fall asleep at the computer. I hate Monday mornings, and tomorrow's will come way too soon!!

My husband takes great firework shots!!



Sweet Ella!

My sweet man!

My sweet family=)

Christmastime Is Here...

Oh, I love this time of year!! We had a great Thanksgiving...my sister came and spent some time with us the weekend before (and we got to see Twilight again:) ) and then we got Ella, came back to the Thanksgiving Coleman Reunion in Starks, jetted back to our house to clean, rearrange, and decorate our house for Christmas AND Ella's birthday party, which we celebrated on Kaleb's birthday! It was quite the busy time, but it was WONDERFUL. This was our first real party at our house, so it was big for us:) I think it went very well. Ella had a GREAT time and it was so wonderful to get to spend the day with all our friends and family. Plus, I have apparently discovered the secret to flipping awesome chili--make it just like my Dad's but not as watery.

This week has been less than exciting. I gave a mock TAKS test to my kids today and was severely disappointed in the results. To make things even worse, I'd marked out all the stuff I hadn't covered yet, so the questions they had to do were things that I'd already taught them. Or at least I thought I had. We have a lot of work to do.

I am really looking forward to this weekend. The Southeast Texas Ballet is doing "Babes in Toyland" tomorrow night in Beaumont! We're hopefully going to be able to take Ella to her first ballet! (Psst! I think it'll be my first, too!) I am soooooo excited about this. And then Saturday they're doing stuff at the Civic Center for Christmas that I'm hoping we'll be able to take her to. I love being able to do Christmas stuff with her...she has such a great time and makes everything so fun!!

The kiddo is still kicking it, though I'm still feeling NOTHING. I'm so ready to be able to feel him moving around. Yes, I think it's a him. We find out for sure on Tuesday, but won't be making any announcements until we've told our families in person next weekend! So exciting!!! I wanted to wait until Christmas, but quickly realized there is NO way I can keep my big mouth shut.

In closing, because I feel like I have to close with something other than that, I hope to see Four Christmases soon!