A Very Merry Fortenberry Christmas

The Becnels' decided to trek once agin to North Louisiana for the Fortenberry Christmas party. I would just like to say that Natalie travels quite well...she sleeps most of the time and if you give her a sippy cup of milk she is pretty satisfied. Steven, however, does not travel well and usually abandons me for a nap and is grumpy that I won't let him listen to football on the radio. If Natalie starts fussing he tells her to "Quiet down" in his loud booming voice which usually makes it worse! I love him for his efforts though :)

Steven - always thrilled to be there!

Natalie is ALWAYS happy to be here!

We went up on a Friday, much to Nanna and Papa's delight! We spent that evening attempting to make treats for the party the next day. I found out that I am NOT a baker for numerous reasons...example...I have no patience. However the good thing about baking is that even if its ugly most of the time it still tastes good! We traveled to Transylvania, LA (yes there is such a place, and yes there is a bat on their water tower!) for the Christmas celebration. I was personally looking forward to Aunt Debbie's shrimp dip as well as the bruschetta that my mom was making. We were also having a little birthday party for Natalie since my dad couldn't be at Natalie's actual birthday party. We ate, we visited, we opened some gifts, and Natalie got mad when I took the little smash cake away from her (who wants to clean up yellow icing baby throw up? NOT this woman!)

Natalie's Smash Cake Before the smashing commenced

Natalie's Birthday cake for the day!

After everything my cousin Katie Grady took Natalie outside and did a little photo shoot with her! The pictures turned out so great! If anyone in the Tallulah/Lake Providence area needs a photographer she is your girl!

We had a great day that day full of shrimp dip and gumbo and it really got us in the spirit for the holidays!

After that we went to Monroe to try to catch a quick dinner....little did we know that was the plan for everyone else within a 100 mile radius! We finally got a table...had a crappy/expensive dinner and Mama and I went shopping while everyone else went home to watch the Saints Game!

We headed home the next day a little tired, a little queasy (probably from all of the junk the day before), and a little cranky! By golly we were in the Christmas spirit though!

Thanksgiving 2009

It has been a super long time since I have posted! I fully intended on lovingly documenting Natalie's first year with witty and entertaining entries like the famous mommy blog dooce.com. However life happened and I didn't do that....plus I am lazy...so there you go! Anyway.....I am going to try to catch up in the next couple of blogs and then maybe in 2010 I will due better. However I have a bad habit of reading other people's blogs more than I write my own so....we shall see! Anyway on with the blog!

We decided since Steven was going on a hunting trip to Tennesee we would go with my parents to St. Louis to visit my family. This was a good idea in many ways however it was also scary...1. Because we would be making a 12 hour trip with a baby and 2. We would be stuffing 4 full sized adults and 1 infant seat in a Chevrolet Impala....it was a tight fit but we made it! Plus I got to sit in the front seat due to my HORRIBLE car sickness.

Thanks to the evil virus you can read about HERE my sister was sick so our first day of the trip was only 4 hours. Silver lining.....that long ride was broken up a little bit. When we finally made it to my uncle's house Natalie was totally over the car!

My cousin Adrian, her husband Nick and their daughter Charlotte (who I like to call in a loud obnoxious voice "Charli Bohn" were able to come that evening and we had a great time catching up and watching the girls play. Charli did a great job with Natalie...which is a good thing since she is going to be a big sister soon. This kid is hilarious and I hope that Natalie is that funny when she gets to be that age. She kept looking back at Natalie says "COME ON" expecting her to follow...but since Natalie could only crawl it was a slow going process. Another favorite Charli moment was when Charlie kept tellin Phil the dog to "EAT IT" trying to force feed him a stuffed bone! I am glad Charli I get to see Charli videos and pictures because I have a sneaking suspicion that it is a glimpse into my not so distant future!

ANYWAY...Thanksgiving Day was full of lots of food and lots of Provelle Cheese (a St. Louis cheese that is just about my favorite). We were also quite entertained by the Gillett Trio that afternoon. The next day was a relax/shopping day and then Saturday we headed home. We miraculously made it all the way in one day...even though Natalie "quit" right around Delhi. I was so glad we made the trip and I can't wait to go back to visit my Gillett roots!

Natalie and Me on Thanksgiving Day!

CHARLI BOHN
Charli, GheeGhee (Aunt Dana) and Natalie reading a book!