I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I would at least try to throw some things up here. Our summer is so incredibly busy always. It seems that we hole up in the house to endure the winter (I know, we don't really have a winter in MS but it is pretty cold to us) and then we never stay home in the summer. We are having a really good summer so far filled with lots of time in the pool and mini vacations to my parent's house. My little monkeys adore their Papa and Dee and have so much fun when we visit them. We have several more trips planned for the summer including "camping" (in a cabin) with the Baxley's (my boys ADORE their boys even though they are much older) and then a Holt family vacation in SC at the BEACH and I AM SO READY to be at THE BEACH!

I just got back from Natitoches, LA. I went there with my two sisters and my mom in celebration for my oldest sister's 40th birthday. It was A BLAST! First of all, we haven't been anywhere in so long with just the 4 of us and it was long overdue and too much fun! Also, Steel Magnolias was filmed in this tiny charming town and we had so much fun "living" the movie by visiting the sites of everything. Steel Magnolias captures the essence of southern women in a very special way and I adore the dynamic that all of the characters have with each other. Here are some pictures of the trip.


This lady was in Steel Magnolias and was hilarious and a fantastic tour guide, I wanted to bring her home with me.

My mom is beautiful, fun, and hilarious!

So, she probably hates this picture having sweated all of her make up off but it is one of the few that isn't featuring my double chin and it is my blog after all....love you mama.


This picture shows perfectly how quaint and adorable Natitoches is.

Can you believe she is 40? It is crazy ridiculous, she looks 30, also, we forced her to wear the "birthday princess" sash and the "Its my B'Day" ribbon!

These are the bags I made for them before the trip.

Ciao!
Debbi/Leigh (yes it still has come to this)

Well it has happened. The youngest of my two boys is now 2 years old. I no longer have a "baby". It is a little sad for me, I have to admit and I would say "where has all the time gone", but I know the answer to that question, I was there for just about every single moment. I am eternally greatful for my little rugrat. He is awesome and hilarious

Here is Elijah Stephen Holt in pictures...words can't express how insanely adorable and funny this little guy is so I thought I would share Eli with you this way:


I still can't believe how dark his hair was


Lovin those feet....

1 year old Eli, what a cutie, I can't believe this was a year ago.....

Such a little goofball, he LOVES sunglasses and hats!

I love this little man, my little snuggle monkey!

Stay tuned for pics of my new throw pillow covers I made!

Happy Mother's Day

So, it is Mother's Day and while I relished in my omelet that my three men provided for me, in bed this morning, I couldn't help but think of how much of a rookie mom I am. Yesterday was an extremely busy day for us and we were constantly surrounded by parents with children around the same ages as ours. It is so funny to be in the midst of these situations and watch how many different parenting styles there are. I mean, it varied from oblivion, to micromanagement. Who am I to say how to do this thing right? I am a rookie. I've been at this for a little over 3 years now and it seems to get easier and harder all at the same time. I can not admire more, the work my mom put into being the best homemaker to ever walk the planet. She set a tremendous example but sometimes I wish she would have had just one boy, so that she would have advice for me in certain situations.

For instance, yesterday, while at a state park for a crawfish boil/going away party for some of our friends, my oldest child was playing in the sand with three girls. I looked over every few minutes to make sure he was still there and playing nicely. Well, at one point, I look over and there are three little girls between the ages of 4 and 6 sitting in the sand watching as Parker (3 years old) pulls down his pants and is working on his underwear, facing them, nonetheless. I of course start running over and screaming, "Parker pull your pants up" while all the ladies I was standing with are doubled over laughing. I had to explain to him that, not only do you not pee in public, you definitely don't pull your pants down in front of three little girls. I think the conversation included "pee pee sand is no fun to play in". The irony in this story is that I did not take my child to the restroom, I pulled him behind a tree. I know, I know, that is not the ideal process in which to teach your child not to pee in public but, the bathroom was not immediately accessible and I was really scared that since I cut him off right before the act, he wouldn't be able to make it. My husband, who was not reared in the backwoods of Mississippi, says to me and the onlookers, "that's what happens when you teach your child that the backyard is their toilet". Ahhh, the joys of parenting boys! This would have ended with much less embarrassment had all of these people been from the south but since we are military dwellers, they are from all over and most of them see this as totally appalling behavior!

To all of you seasoned parents out there, please feel free to give me advice, especially on the raising of these rowdy boys because I feel like I need every possible resource to make this job turn out the way its supposed to.

Happy Mama's Day to all of you who sometimes feel that going to the dentist is a nice, quiet break from the day to day craziness of parenting!

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" Proverbs 22:6

Haiti

These pictures are just a few of the ones taken by my friend Joel who has been going over and doing relief work in Haiti. This little boy was orphaned by the earthquake and now lives in a squatter camp.

Hello readers, all 7 of you! I wanted to tell you something that has been on my heart very heavily lately and see if any of you feel compelled to help me in this mission. I have a friend who is an amazing guy and leads a fabulous life that I could only dream of. He was a missionary to South Africa for several years, got married, came back to live in D.C. He does all sorts of exciting things from there too and still does lots of mission work. Well, he has been going to Haiti and helping the people try to get out of the complete desolation that the earthquake has left them in. He posts pictures on the internet of orphaned children and families living on the streets under sheets. While my heart just wants to go over there and adopt as many orphaned children as I can, my head tells me I should probably just do something feasible like send tents. There are several families living literally on the side of the road with sheets over them. Haiti is entering their rainy season and for a lot of these families that just makes their already hopeless reality seem even more desolate. I am on a quest to send as many tents as I can. Alot of these family have 7-8 members so we need big tents that cost about $250 a peice. All I am asking of you is to pray that these people will find Christ in the midst of their situation and get the hope and help that only He provides. Oh, and if you have a few extra dollars you want to send my way to help buy tents, that would be awesome too. My friend Joel will actually take the tents to Haiti and give them to people. Please join me in prayer for all of these people and as much support as God puts on your heart to give.



If you have any questions, please e-mail me at: Leighbluiz@yahoo.com (it would help if the title read "Haiti relief")

I am a SEWING MACHINE! :-)

So recently I have been sewing, sewing sewing! It is so much fun and has just confirmed my need for a little girl! I am only posting the pictures of my 2 latest Masterpieces. OK, so they don't QUITE live up to that title but I AM very proud of them. I have also been sewing petticoats for the Spring Pilgrimage that we have in my town. A lot of the old houses are open to the public for tours and there are docents dressed in period dresses to show you around. It is a fantastic time and I was a docent last year and decided to help out on sewing as well as be a docent this year.

This is my first tote bag I made. It is lined with chocolate fabric. Cute eh?
The dress is just a t-shirt I bought on SUPER SALE at gymboree for my niece and then sewed the skirt on it. It is not perfect and taught me a very valuable lesson about sewing with knit (wow, I actually know the names of fabrics now, this makes me laugh): do not do it in front of your children unless you would like them to say words not fit for a 2 and 3 year old! It did turn out pretty cute though.





Oh yea, the kids are kinda tired of my sewing adventures because they don't really see it as adventure and more like a reason why we aren't playing outside so we did rake some leaves and let them play in them. If only I could sew outside while the kids played. That would be IDEAL.





Oh, Eli helped daddy rake and Parker mostly carried around huge handfuls of leaves and threw them onto Eli. Such is our life. And, I KNOW there is a HUGE amount of leaves here, we pretty much waited until the trees were completely bare before raking because, really whats the point in doing it before then!

Until next time.....

3 years old

Well, I know what ya'll are thinking....she QUIT THE BLOG TOO! ALAS, I am here blogging. Its been a rough little while for us full of ruptured ear drums (Elijah), fever and coughing (Parker) and cross-countrys (Stephen). Those were the bad things that I won't blog about. The good things are that I finished 2 pillowcases thus far in my sewing adventures and let me just tell you, when you have a 3 year old and almost 2 year old, its nearly impossible to sew. The few times i've done it at home was when I was in the mindset of, "i'll never be able to have a hobby and live in a clean house, so oh well, the house goes today". So basically I have sewn a few things and then missed 2 sewing classes in a row because Stephen went Cross-Country and my babysitter flew to New Mexico to see her grandmother, and then for Parker's 3rd birthday.

Parker, my very organized, smart, adorable first born turned 3. I shed a few tears and felt a little depressed. I did not, however, get baby fever. When my boys, who are 15 months apart, are both sick at the same time, I tend to leap right over baby-fever straight to longing for days when they are too big to hold...and then of course I slap myself for even thinking such things because I want to hold them everyday until I die. Oh man, I just realized what a trail I went on...whoa! Yea, so back to Parker's birthday. Well, it was a roller coaster. We went to the doctor on the eve of his birthday, it was an event for the whole family. Yep, even Stephen went, he in fact took leave so he could be a part of the doctor visit. Parker was supposed to get the MMR and frankly if he cries and says no, i'm like, "Ok, lets not do it today", partly because I don't want him to feel pain and partly because the MMR freaks me out. So Daddy came to be the one to say, "its ok, you can do this", to me of course, as they torture my poor baby. But no shot this time, I actually breathed a sigh of relief, he had a cough and I have a strict rule that my children get no shots when they are the least bit sick, it really cuts down on me having to be brave and endure those horrible things.

After the doctor's visit we went to Jackson to have his party at my parent's house. It was a party but he was missing his best friend and cousin Olivia who had the flu and his older cousins Noah, and Luke, who he thinks are awesome and play with him and give him things. It seemed that my entire family had come down with some sort of crud and just spread it around to each other. He still had a great time though and got way too much stuff like always. We had a Madagascar theme and it turned out really cute and I was really proud of the cake my mom and I did. We are an awesome team.

Now, post 3rd birthday, I find myself signing up for T-ball, flag football and preschool, all of which gives me excitment and makes me want to cry. I can't believe that these 3 years have just zoomed right on by and I have this tall skinny kid (not baby) to show for it, along with a lesser in stature rugrat. My cup overflows......

Title and address of blog has changed...

So, it was brought to my attention that "Debbi Does Dallas" was, in fact, an actual pornographic film in the 70's. I did not know that. I thought it was a movie but not THAT kind of movie. SO, as it is offensive to people, mostly my mom, I decided to change the name. Sorry mom, I agree, your daughter doesn't need to be affiliated with that kind of "stuff"! So, my NEW blog title:

I had never read "Where the Wild Things Are" until I had children. I MIGHT have when I was younger but I don't remember. Stephen said it was one of his favorite books as a child so I bought it for Parker and Eli. Well, they LOVE IT, especially Eli who is MY little "wild thing". I love the line, "and then cried Max, 'Let the wild RUMPUS start', so I decided that my life was a bit of a WILD RUMPUS and felt it fitting to make that my blog title thus ensuing the happiness of my mother which everyone knows makes life much more pleasant.

Nothing super new to write about except that I drove to a neighboring town today to sign up and pay for my sewing class! I am SUPER EXCITED! Tonight I am going to get my sewing machine out and actually make sure that it WORKS! Thanks Aunt Susan, you are the greatest!

Peace and love to all my blog readers, all 6 of you! I feel honored that you read my ramblings. I will keep em coming as long as you keep reading.

PS. Naomi, one of the greatest friends a girl could ask for, got a new puppy due to the tragic loss of "spence", her previous doggie, and now I HAVE PUPPY FEVER! Don't worry, I'm not getting another dog, but they tempt me with e-mails full of pictures of these cute pups needing a new home and it just breaks my heart. So, I want to run over to the pound and grab up a dog, then fly over to Haiti and grab up a child. Oh, if only I were Madonna!