What a week!

I've been typing and erasing, typing and erasing, trying to come up with a cute little blog post that would melt your heart. But sadly, I can find no words that will do this week justice. You're just going to have to check out these adorable photos.

Here's this week's play by play...

Wednesday: A halloween story time at the library

Thursday: Feeding the horse at Landon and Oliver's house and trick-or-treating at the sorority houses on campus (apparently Snow White was in Phi Mu...)

Friday: trunk-or-treating at St. Joseph's and trick-or-treating at the shops on Main St. during Pumpkinpalooza

Saturday: tailgating and watching State beat Kentucky

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Dangit.

Of course a few days after I start bragging about how I'm gonna make this Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day special this year, I forget that it's St. Jude's feast day. You'd think I'd be used to the bitter taste of humility by now, but I'm not.


Thanks Kaitlin, for reminding me that today indeed celebrates my husband's patron saint. 


Join in prayer with me:

Most Holy Apostle, St. Jude Thaddeus, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor who delivered your beloved Master into the hands of his enemies has caused you to be forgotten by many. But the Church honors you, and I invoke you as the special advocate of those who are in trouble and almost without hope. Help me to realize that through our faith we triumph over lifes difficulties by the power of Jesus who gave his life for us. Come to my assistance that I may receive the consolation and succor of heaven in all my needs, trials, and sufferings, particularly (here make your request) and that I may praise God with you and all the saints forever.

St. Jude, apostle of the Word of God, pray for us.
St. Jude, follower of the Son of God, pray for us.
St. Jude, preacher of the love of God, pray for us.
St. Jude, intercessor before God, pray for us.
St. Jude, friend of all in need, pray for us.
St. Jude, pray for us, and all who invoke your aid.

I also want to wish my lovely parents a very special anniversary - 32 years, I think! We are all so privileged to witness your marriage and may God continue to bring you many more happy years!

Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day

For one of the first times as a mother, I feel prepared for a holiday. I've been so motivated over the last few months to take a better look at the calendar and prepare my girls for the celebration (or reflection) to come. I haven't done a great job yet, but I'm trying. 

Joan's at that age where she remembers what she did and heard, and I don't want the rest of the world to be the only voice she hears. I'm not naive in thinking that I can shield my kids from everything secular, especially when I live a pretty secular life by most standards. But we can teach them to find Christ in all things and we can instill in them a desire for more, more than anything the world can offer. And we'll pray that they'll seek that fulfillment in Christ alone. 

So while Halloween will still be celebrated by Those Landrys with candy and costumes, the Communion of Saints, the Church Triumphant and the Church Penitent, will not be forgotten. I'm using this article here as a guide in making this weekend a holy weekend. 

And in the meantime, you should prepare yourselves for two of the most adorable, costumed little girls on the planet... Pictures coming soon.

Quick from the kitchen

So, I learned this amazing tip from my mother-in-law and she probably doesn't even know that I got this from her... until now (thanks Tootsie!). When pouring sauces or leftovers into a ziplock bag, she folds the top rim over so that none of the food gets on the seal. Maybe this is obvious to you reading this, but it was an Aha! moment for me.

In this particular bag is our leftover red beans and rice. I can't tell you how happy I am to make this because Jude always says that it's the best he's ever had - which is a big deal when you've grown up in the Landry home where every meal is delicious and authentically cajun. And I know he's "not just telling me it" - he really means it!

On a side note, I got these diner chairs from the antique store in town because our two bistro chairs were recalled. Splitting wood is apparently a safety hazard. But it's cool, we like the new look.

Pumpkin Patch

I know what you're thinking - two posts in one day?! Well, I'm just trying to make up for staying in my PJs all day for 3 straight days and letting Joan watch so many movies that I'm ashamed to admit. I got a cold that kind of wiped me out and two small cases of mastitis that thankfully cleared up on its own. I guess three weekends in a row with really big events finally took its toll on Those Landrys.

By Thursday I was feeling well enough to bring the girls to a pumpkin patch with their friends from the library and park. (Thanks Laura and Mandi for taking photos for me - I promise we'll get a camera eventually...)

Joan ate it up - though not literally. She'll probably never try pumpkin anything! We went on a hay-ride, played in a huge box of corn, rode miniature tractors, and went through a rather scary maze of haystacks (who puts a plywood roof over a maze intended for 2-7 year olds? It was pitch black in there.). After eating our packed lunch, Joan picked out pumpkins for our family - I'm not sure why mine was the biggest...

On Friday we took Joan to State because they were having a family frenzy event with a band and fun jumps - Joan can tear up some fun jumps, even though she's a toothpick. And on Saturday we tailgated and took both girls in with us to the football game. It was the best game to take Joan to because we were playing the Dragons and their mascot intrigued Joan for 3 quarters (so did a box of Skittles). And they had "princesses" and "queens" at halftime for the homecoming festivities. It wasn't Disney Princesses on Ice, but it was close.

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Add one to the pew!

(Thanks Ted, for that clever line. I hope you don't mind that I stole it...)

Charlotte was baptized October 17th at St. Joseph's in Starkville and it was such a beautiful occasion. What a sacred moment, watching our little girl enter into the door of the Church, surrounded by family and friends. And it was such a blessing to have everyone join us in our home and at our home church. Special thanks go out to Charlotte's god-parents, Art and Chloe Busch (Jude's sister and brother-in-law), who flew in from Ohio to be present. And we appreciate our family members that drove in from Louisiana to be there, also. We know the drive is hard and we are so grateful that you were accommodating to our needs. 

And to our Starkville community, you people are so gracious! When we started looking for a new job a year ago and discerning where God was leading us, we began praying for good holy friends. Please know that God has answered our prayers in you and we don't go a day without being thankful for your friendships! At the same time, we deeply miss our friends back in Illinois (you know who you are!) and in Louisiana. You are often on our minds, too!

Please enjoy the photos from Charlotte's baptism, (thank you Kaitlin for sharing your camera and taking the photos!)

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Short and Sweet

I have lots of blog post ideas that I'll be working on (including Charlotte's beautiful baptism), but right now I'm a little under the weather so this'll be quick.

A few nights ago Jude and I were dealing with two little girls who weren't sleeping well through the night. We were woken up again and again, and it felt like we had just gotten home from the hospital all over again. For a moment I thought (and said to Jude), "I'm just not cut out for this - I'm not a good mom when I don't get any sleep."

Tired and frustrated, I tried to remind myself of my vocation's primary responsibility: to get my children to heaven. I could only sigh, and think, right now they're getting me to heaven.

Our second honeymoom (aka, My husband is a famous designer)

It's true. Jude is such a great designer, so much so, that he was selected as a winner in the Art Director's Club Young Gun competition. This award features designers under 30 years of age from all over the world with really great work. Only 50 are chosen and my handsome husband got one! (Sick of me bragging? Here's more.)

Because he got this, Mississippi State paid for his flight and two nights in a hotel in Manhattan to accept the award! Sounds like a great deal, right? That's why we extended the trip, flew me up, and called it a second honeymoon! When else will half the trip be paid for?

By the way, to check out Jude's portfolio, go here, or to put change back in our pockets, visit our store here.

New York was just what we needed! And we were so blessed by the generosity of my parents and his parents who gave us spending money while we were there. (We only had to eat Burger King once...) And thank you to my mom, who took care of our girls while we were away!

So here's what we did - and don't be looking for the photos to go along with it... our camera was lost in transit on the way back (We won't be turning down any prayers to St. Anthony on our behalf if you'd so like - or maybe even St. Jude because it's kind of a hopeless case by now...)

Thursday the 7th:
We arrived at our swanky hotel in Midtown in the afternoon and grabbed a bite to eat at an Irish pub. The sweet potato fries are blog worthy. After freshening up, (I tried not to look too much like a mother of two small ones from the south...I realize now I should have worn black) we walked about 15 blocks to the gallery opening at the Art Director's Club. Here's one of our only pieces of proof that we were ever in New York,

And we're on the front row on the right side of the crowd here

We also have one copy of us in a photo booth at the party that I'll have to scan and post later. Jude's award was a cube of wood from Coney Island that he had to finish sawing off.

After the show we walked through Times Square and bought Jude some chicken from Burger King (he didn't enjoy the crazy pizzas at the party - the most normal one had cauliflower on it...).

Friday the 8th:

We ate granola bars for breakfast from the pharmacy next door and walked 35 blocks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For lunch we ate NY hotdogs from a street vendor in Central Park. Very New Yorker. We finished some exhibits up at the museum and headed back. For dinner we ate amazing brick oven pizzas and attended a comedy show. ("Get off my face..." That's for you, Jude.)

Saturday the 9th:

Granola again. We walked through the farmer's market, just outside our hotel, and took a double decker bus tour through the city. It brought us to Times Square, Macy's, The Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, The World Trade Center Site, Wall Street, The Statue of Liberty and the Ferry to Staten Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, China town (we got off here and ate Chinese at a hole in the wall and walked through their markets and then on to Little Italy), The United Nations Building, Soho, Greenich Village, and off at Rockefeller Plaza. We went shopping around here - The Lego Store, Anthropologie, The M&M store, and Hershey's store. Ice skating was up and running at Rockefeller Plaza, but we opted out. We grabbed greek food and ice cream at the farmer's market and ate it in Bryant Park. (Project Runway fans, I also had a picture of Parsons... oh well.) And of course, we watched LSU beat Florida in the hotel after this.

Sunday the 10th:

More granola. We attended mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, lighting candles for baby James. The cathedral was both beautiful and crowded. On the way back, Jude hit up a Kinkos computer lab to catch up on his fantasy football account... I love this man. We walked 12 blocks to the Empire State building and ate crab cakes and shrimp wontons at the brewery underneath it. We went up to the observatory, taking all the photos you're supposed to, but it was so crowded - more than St. Patrick's which is kind of sad... We went to a matinee performance of Memphis, the Tony award winner for Best Musical of 2010. Our evening wasn't complete until we made it to an Irish sports pub to watch the Saints lose. 

And we flew back on Monday. 

Again, I'm just so proud of Jude for his achievements and I'm honored to stand beside him as he works. Now I'm just trying to get him to win an award that he has to accept over seas... Oh yeah, he's teaching in Italy this summer. Can you say, "ciao?"

Ladies in Lafayette

I haven't had much time to blog lately, and a tiny fear is lingering somewhere in my mind that at any moment my drive to keep blogging will suddenly go kaput. The same is true of my exercising - it's been almost a week since I put on my Kick Box Boot Camp on Instant Netflix... 


But now I'm here and those fears are put to rest for the time being.


I spent a weekend in Lafayette with the ladies from my dad's side of the family. It was so much fun and a well-needed trip for me. I took Charlotte with me (after all, she is a lady... and I hadn't pumped enough milk for both Lafayette and New York) and Joan stayed with Jude at his parent's house. We did what you'd expect, laughing and talking, sharing and joking, eating and shopping. Women are great. I love being a woman. Isn't it a privilege and an honor, ladies? 


We went to this great little Acadian village portraying cajun/creole life in the late 1700s and 1800s. We ate great food and dessert, listened to an impromptu French band - equipped with fiddles and accordions. We shopped at a city wide garage sale and cute little antique shops and boutiques. We finished with cajun food at The Blue Dog Cafe and great stories from the past. The only thing better than being a woman on this trip was being a cajun woman on this trip. 


Just picture us there, three generations of women at a dimly lit round table with jazz music in the background, seafood on our plates and smiles on our faces. Beautiful, just beautiful. It would only have been better if every lady from that side could have made it... we missed you, Amy, Claire, Leslie, Kelli, Cindy, and Stacey!

Sweet Tooth

Well, the novelty of the princess heart stickers are gone. Joan is no longer motivated to poop on the potty - in fact, she's been terrified. So, we stopped making such a big deal about it. 

I casually mentioned on Sunday, "Joan, when you need to poop, just go to the bathroom and do it by yourself." I was just trying to get her in the bathroom, so that we could work on the transition to the potty later. She ran giggling to the bathroom and I waited outside the door. I figured she was just playing around. When she called, "I'm done," I opened the door to a full potty of poop. It was beautiful, well, sort of...

We gave her a piece of a hershey bar and told her that we'd keep giving her chocolate if she continued to go on the potty. On Monday we took her to buy some M&Ms and we made the mistake of giving her the bag while she was sitting inside the buggy.

She kept whining and whining for us to give her some right then. She tried to convince us that she needed to go poop on the potty - she just wouldn't stop. Realizing she had been defeated, she gave up. I was about to turn around and praise her for stopping the whining, and what do I find...

A bag of M&Ms, with a hole in them, several pieces missing, and chocolate on Joan's face.