6 years and counting

Please do excuse the Duggar pun as we are a good 13 years shy of even breaking their total number of offspring!

We did, however, kick off the weekend with our anniversary dinner on Friday night as our actual anniversary was, and always seems to be, smack in the middle of opening weekend of dove season.

And just because Daddy Buck so enjoys posing for pictures, here you have the……

”I can’t believe she’s making me pose for these silly pictures to document our 6th anniversary as all the neighbors are outside hooting and hollering at us….so I’m gonna make her feel incredibly uncomfortable while our neighbor photographs us by acting all seductive, eyes closed, breathing down her neck”!!

Thanks Kimber for taking our pictures.....check out her blog here!

While Daddy Buck was hunting for the holiday weekend, the boys and I headed to Alexandria for an extended stay with my parents. It was three days of enjoying grandparents and greatgrandparents, playing Dominoes and Spades, watching football, hitting golf balls, homemade milkshakes,

playing at the park, lots of wrestling, tee-teeing in pants, quarreling brothers, hours of bickering in the car…..(oh wait seems that I’ve gotten off track here)!!

and a stop at the local Dairy Queen that went a bit like this….

Welcome to Dairy Queen, may I take your order please:

“I’ll have a kiddie size chocolate dipped ice cream cone; hold the chocolate, can the cone, with a spoon on the side please”

“And, I’ll have a kiddie size red slush, cuz I don’t like ice cream puhlease”

{oh, really!}

Finally….to answer the question, Are we excited about LSU Football?

INDEED

WE

ARE!!

Put me in coach...I'm ready to play...today...look at me...I can be...CENTERFIELD!

Mam (Daddy Buck's mother) gave the boys each a baseball in their Easter baskets. The baseball had a purpose....to take to the LSU baseball game and have the players sign it. Tuesday night, we did just that!!



The boys had a fantastic time as the players passed by to autograph their baseballs. Frank-o's favorite player even signed his and he was astonished to see that he was "real".



For weekday games, they allow all children to enter the outfield for the singing of the National Anthem. Buck-a-roo refused saying, "I play Tball already and don't need to play here" and was brought to tears when all was said and done and he wished he had gone through with it.

Frank-o, on the other hand, busted through the gates requesting his glove and ran right past the right fielder (where he was instructed by the "Bat Girls" to STOP) and headed to center field.

Note in the picture, he is the short-for-his-age, runs-as-fast-as-a-snail-with-a-hare's-mentality, lone 2 year old, amidst 8-12 year olds, in the outfield.



You could literally hear the "oohs" and "awws" amongst the 5000+ crowd as he entered the field and then stood motionless for the National Anthem. It was a sweet, adorable, proud moment documented by our handy-dandy iPhone, seeing as it was the one&only game that I didn't have my fancy-schmancy zooming camera tucked away in the diaper bag.

Baseball at the Box

We are well into the swing (no pun intended) of and are enjoying cheering on, our now 5-0, LSU baseball team. We took the boys to a game this week and boy-howdy did they have a blast!!

Here's a collage of puctures to prove it...

By the way~~call me lazy if you would like; but Picasa makes it so cotton-pickin easy to create a collage and Blogger is so darn slow at uploading photos, that I have decided...collages are the way to go. You can also click on them to enlarge.

I will be back at the Box tomorrow for more baseball. Have a great weekend everybody!

prayers needed

The details are sketchy at this point, but I am asking for your prayers for my dear friend, Jocelyn's, mother. Apparently my friend had to travel to Alabama in the middle of the night last night because her mother had a brain aneurysm and may have to undergo brain surgery in the near future.



Please pray for God to work through the doctors and nurses at her side and for her complete recovery.





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Let us not forget that our LSU Tigers are playing tonight in the Chick-fil-A bowl in Atlanta, Georgia. GEAUX Tigers!! Beat Georgia Tech!!

Wordless Wednesday w/ Weekend Wrap-up and a recipe

Wordless Wednesday

since we are giving THANKS this week....here's the two people Daddy Buck and I are most THANKful for:

(they are both about 1 month old in these pictures)

{Buck-a-roo}


{Frank-o}







Weekend Wrap-up

I have been a little slow posting about last weekend's happenings, but here it is...

Thank goodness, I (Daddy Buck had to work and the boys were at home with a babysitter) was in good company for the last LSU football home game; otherwise, the day would have been a total loss. Yes, the LSU Tigers lost to the Ole Miss Rebels; but, I was able to spend the day with our dear friends, the Gipsons, from our old hometown of Jackson, MS. Aside from the team's loss, the day was great fun.



S (on the left in the picture) is a huge follower of this blog....Thanks S & A for coming to Baton Rouge, I had a great time at the game with you!!





On Sunday we went to church followed by lunch at TJ Ribs, the boys then skipped their naps and we went to our niece, Grace's, 6th birthday party. Happy Birthday Grace!!! The boys had an excellent time. After the party, the boys and Daddy Buck headed home for a much needed nap while I ventured to Wal-Mart to tackle grocery shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Imagine this....I wasn't the only person with that idea :) The store was a chaotic nightmare!!





Recipe
here's a party pleaser/finger food/sweet treat that's so is super-simple.....only 3 ingredients!!



Oreo Cookie "Clumps"

1 package of Oreos
1 package of cream cheese
1 package white/vanilla almond bark

crush Oreos in Ziploc bag first, cream cream cheese and slowly mix with Oreos, roll mixture into balls and dip in melted almond bark, allow them to "set-up" in refrigerator and enjoy!!

GEAUX Tigers...Beat those Rebels!!

Gameday shout-out for our team!!

Buck-a-roo took this pic of Frank-o...

To get us into the gameday spirit....check out our hair!! Buck-a-roo has a "bo-hawk" and Frank-o has "tilly hair"!!

GEAUX Tigers....Beat those Rebels!!!

Tigers nearing the end, Thanksgiving almost here, Christmas will be here soon

Our LSU Tigers play their last home game tomorrow against the Rebels from Ole Miss. GEAUX Tigers!!!








Thanksgiving is less than a week away and boy, how I do enjoy the holiday season. Once again, we will host Thanksgiving dinner at our house complete with a fried turkey. In an effort to get a jumpstart, I set the dinner table for our Thanksgiving meal today (the four of us eat daily at the bar in the kitchen) and I thought I would share it here and now (who says paper plates can't replace fine china for holiday gatherings).








Speaking of Thanksgiving meals, Buck-a-roo had his Thanksgiving feast at school today. I wonder where we get the concept of turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, cranberries.....in the minds of preschoolers, the pilgrims and indians feasted on chicken strips, macaroni and cheese, and sugar cookies with turkey icing, which is exactly what we did today!!













And, speaking of jumpstarts....I am most certain you have noticed my impatience by now. I couldn't wait another day to reconstruct my blog and put everyone in the holiday spirit. As far as Buck-a-roo was concerned, Thanksgiving was today!! And, as far as I am concerned....bring on the holiday season!!!

Weekend Wrap-up

Friday evening..... I attended a party for the Imaging Services Department at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. The party started on a slow note seeing as there was a mid-afternoon wreck on the interstate that caused a city-wide gridlock for Friday afternoon/evening traffic. Once the guests began to trickle in, after traveling double the normal time it should have taken them to arrive, the party was a very nice event. I went as a guest of Mama Olive, whom I am sure you are all getting to know well as she is mentioned often on this blog. Food, beverages, music, and many friends from work.

Saturday.....was a fun-filled and tiring day that ended in heartbreak for our LSU Tigers. Daddy Buck and I tailgated all day for the widely anticipated LSU-Alabama football game.

Our neighbors tailgated and came to the game with us. They are huge Alabama (and one Auburn) fans.

It was a well-played fight to the end (overtime). Following the blocked field goal attempt with 3 seconds left on the clock, Daddy Buck and I just knew our team would pull it through. By this point, I had lost all hearing in my left ear because of Daddy Buck's screaming and had a knot in my stomach the size of Lake Ponchatrain. It was all over, in what seemed to be seconds, after our QB threw and interception in the endzone and AL scored in overtime. I guess, Saban has still NEVER lost in OT in Tiger Stadium.

On Sunday......after much-needed naps by Buck-a-roo, Frank-o, and myself while Daddy Buck watched the New Orleans Saints football game, we headed to Bass Pro Shop for the unveiling of Santa's workshop.

I had great intentions of capturing excellent holiday pictures of the boys early in the season. Maybe, just perhaps, even getting lucky enough to snag that ONE perfect snapshot for the annual Christmas card. Let me preface by saying that Buck-a-roo was having nothing to do with Santa Claus and in no way, shape, or form was he going to take a picture anywhere near him.

These two little elves were having no part of cooperation for poor ole Mom.

This is as close as any member of the Vaughn Family got to the large, round guy in the red suit with the white beard.

These two little guys would much rather be hanging from the bridge in the shoe department

scaling the rocks in front of the aquarium

or identifying every horned/antlered animal in the store

than posing for an incredible picture for their mom. Hey, they are cute regardless; so, I'll take what I can get. As their shirts read, they ARE my favorite presents of the season and year-round!!

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Our family portrait gallery is now online and available for viewing for the next five days. Click here...Kimberly Meng Photography. Click on clients and our password is....vaughn1023.

GEaUX Tigers....Beat Bama!!

Click on the link below to see our friend, David St. Romain's, new video for the GEaUX Tigers....Beat Bama 2008 version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lkYdlLJ810

Pause the music player below and watch closely....Daddy Buck is in the video!!

a lazy, restful, uneventful weekend...I THINK NOT!!

**UPDATE: The mystery pumpkin is a vampire sucking on a woman's neck. Kudos to Kristan at Cover Family Chaos for the correct guess.

Alternately titled: Let's see how many planned events we can cram into a weekend!!


Friday night, Daddy Buck and I went to a Halloween costume party hosted by our friends at Monistere Maddness. Buck-a-roo and Frank-o had a babysitter and they were thrilled about that {sniff, sniff}.

We went the homemade costume route. What can you make from these items (four brown bath towels, heavy duty aluminum foil, safety pins):



{drumroll please}





Here's the final product. Not exactly figure-flattering!!




Saturday morning, the boys had a birthday party for their close friend from across the street. The party was a pirate-themed party at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum. It was a terrific birthday party!!

Check out his birthday cake -- YUMMO!!




My MIL picked the boys up from the birthday party so I could meet my girlfriends for the LSU football game. The only good thing I can say about the game is that I was in good company. Let's not speak of how my team got stomped on by the Bulldogs from Georgia. It was a beautiful day for football in Tiger Stadium.


My friends from work and myself watching LSU try to pull it out in Death Valley.


College Football Did You Know: When the guy in the red cap is on the field during the game, the television broadcast of the game is taking a commercial break. Play resumes when the televised commercial is over and Mr. Red Cap returns to the sidelines. You learn something new everyday.




Saturday night, we went across the street to the neighbors house for grilled hamburgers, sausage, hot dogs and the annual pumpkin carving.


Buck-a-roo was really into pumpkin carving this year and immediately chose his pattern for his pumpkin for ME to carve. Not too difficult, not too simple either He fell in love with it because of the "hanging-upside-down spider". The very dangling, "hanging-upside-down" spider that Frank-o ripped off this afternoon.


After spending 1 hour carving Buck-a-roo's masterpiece, here's the less difficult, less intricate complexity super-creative masterpiece that I carved for Frank-o.

He's the only kid with a 360 degree pumpkin design!!

75 "Vaughn Family Chaos Bonus Points" for the first person to comment with the correct description of this pumpkin's carving:




Today (Sunday) we went to our neighborhood fall festival. Playground fun, games, chili-cheese nachos, and candy!!



We do not know this child...I just thought he was far too cute not to photograph.




Just before heading indoors this evening for baths and bedtime...this flew overhead.

The man flying this ultra-light airplane actually gave my kids a "Dukes of Hazard" toot of the horn as they waved to him!!





In store this week: Trick-or-Treat Trail at my hospital on Monday, Fall Festival at school on Wednesday, ENT appointment for Buck-a-roo on Friday, Trick-or-Treating on Friday night, LSU vs. Tulane on Saturday


We had another excellent, exhilarating, exhausting Fall weekend!!


G'nite zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!