Snapshots from January

This year so far has been amazing. We have been spending most of our weekends home and we had so many great opportunities for date nights! I also went to this amazing woman's conference that focused on letting go of your hurtful/painful past so you can truly experience Gods full potential for your life. I was and still am so pumped about refocusing my goals and dreams to reflect what God has in plan for my life. I am really excited to see what 2016 has to offer for the mccloudfive! 

Snapshots:

Power rangers DINO CHARGE TO THE RESCUE! 

Axel pushing Eliana down the block. This little moose is so strong!

How sweet is this of all the babes in the back seat?? And look at Sebastian and Eliana holding hands! Ahh I just love it!! 

Playing doc mcstuffins pet vet. These two get into the funniest things! 

When you stay home from school with an ear infection momm takes you to run errands. He was rewarded heavily with pizza and a huge coke icee. 

My very own rapunzel. So my all time favorite princess is ariel, big shocker, but my second is Rapunzel! I am so happy eliana loves tangled as much as I do. It is a family favorite in our house! 

 

Puzzle time with my girl. 

Dress up play at Gigi and Ppaws house! 

Things we are looking forward to:

-Mardi gras

-Valentine's Day

-some fun game nights 

- planning Elianas third birthday (eeeekk)

-having this nasty cold leave our house! It feels like everyone has been sick for so long! 

-house renovations and updates! #mccloudfarmhouse. So j have become slightly obsessed with Joanna and Chip Gaines from fixer upper. If my friends and family would move to Waco Texas with us my house would be on the market tomorrow! 

It's carnival time!

Holy cow this year is going full speed ahead. I am just starting to recover from christmas ( let's not even talk about New Years) and another holiday season is upon us. MARDI GRAS! Can I be honest for a minute? I used to hate Mardi Gras. Like really hate it. Beads thrown at your head, unpredictable weather, rude drunks and not to mention crowds. Ehh. Why bother?! But let me tell you that quickly changed once I had kids. To see the way they look at the floats and bands and dancers and costumes and people laughing having a great time is amazing. I am so glad that we got to kick off this season with some music at one of our favorite family spots and with our closest friends and my wonderful in-laws. 

Chowing down on some food drunk food truck (try saying that five times fast) crab and crawfish Mac and cheese!

Pony rides!

Face painting! 

With my second god daughter and Eliana with her bestie Sailorbell snacking on some cotton candy.

Dancing with ppaw. How sweet is this. So happy I got to capture this sweet moment between Eliana and her grandfather:) 

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Saying goodbye

My grandmother wasn't one for being the center of attention. She was a provider. She was a giver. She would put others needs before her own. I pray that I can somewhat get just a little bit of her gift of loving on people. Even the people that are hard to love. The least of these if you will. She was an incredible, passionate, creative, tell it like it is woman. I can still hear her raspy, heavy accented voice telling me how big my ass is  but in the same breath complaining because I didn't fill my plate up with her beans and rice. She was a funny tiny framed Puerto Rican woman that wasn't afraid to speak up for her family or friends. Oh man how I would have loved to seen her when she was my age. I like to think that Eliana got her spit-fire fight from her. 

 Cancer sucks. It fucking sucks. I don't know what else to say. It's a horrible feeling to watch someone so strong and such a fighter go through something like lung cancer. It is all still to fresh and new in my mind and even though we knew this was coming it doesn't make it any easier.   Saying goodbye is hard. 

As a family we came together and as she wanted had a small intimate remembrance. It was beautiful. Perfect. Everything that she was. Beautiful Simple and to the point.

 Because our babies are on the younger side we decided that we would do something to honor and remember their great grandmother in a way they could relate to. Like I've mentioned before Tuesday doughnuts somehow became our thing and so that's what we did. We bought doughnuts,  ate them on napkins, got three balloons(one for each of them) said a thank you prayer, kissed the balloons and sent our prayers and kisses to maw maw in heaven. I know she would have loved it! 

My heart still aches for you and it will continue too until we meet again, but I pray you keep an eye on my journey as I navigate motherhood and beyond. I love you forever and always Mawmaw. 

The end of 2015

Snapshots of our last couple of months:

 

Snow day at the park.

Tuesday doughnuts with Mawmaw

For the last few months I would bring the babies over to my grandmothers to play and cook and we would occasionally bring doughnuts( lemon was her favorite).  My grandmother lost her battle with lung cancer on Wednesday December 23. I am so thankful I was able to be with her Tuesday and spend some time with her before she went to be in her forever home in heaven. The first Tuesday without her was incredibly hard but I'm glad we got to go get beignets and spend some time together as a family. Oh, I will miss how she always spoke her mind and how much she loved on my babies. She was the greatest grandmother I could have ever hoped for. 

New Year's Eve countdown at the zoo! 

We counted down the new year(7pm) with apple juice in fancy glasses, glow sticks and a Mccloud dance party. 

 

We ended our night with our amazing group of friends where things got way out of control and for some reason I have grass in my hair and splinters in my butt. I went out hard and I am thankful for my man of mine for putting up with all my crazy antics.