Mardi Gras

In Louisiana, we have this strange time of year called Mardi Gras ... people spend an inordinate amount of time building platforms on top of trailers that can hold a dozen people who then spend thousands of dollars on things they throw at people standing on the edge of streets. Like I said, strange.

This year, I took Eden Brooks to the Southdowns parade on Friday night - we went with some friends from Sunday School and had a blast watching all the kids catch beads and stuffed animals.

And the next day we had to have several parades of our own, in the house with the 47 dozen beads EB caught  (my face also caught a few dozen as she was on my shoulders leaving me completely defenseless). Here she is "playing Mardi Gras," pretending to be riding in a float and throwing out beads ...

Our plan was to go to church on Sunday and leave from there to go to Jackson to visit with Ashley's sister and parents and with John Winters. The weather changed our plans. We woke up Sunday morning with the radar looking very iffy. So, we packed the car and left by 9:00. Good thing too ... not 15 minutes after we landed in Jackson the bottom fell out - and by 5:00 that afternoon a tornado ripped through Hattiesburg taking out entire neighborhoods and part of campus.

Here is Lydia at the Mississippi Welcome Center during our drive up
...

And the happy grandparents and cousin...

EB showing off her new school uniform ...

Notice the two little ones doing exactly what EB is doing ... things to come ...

And here is little John Winters trying his hardest to start crawling!

Ashley was kind enough to parade around town with the girls while I caught up on some reading for work. It was nice being away and having a relaxing dinner with everyone. Jackson is a nice get away! Yay 147.

Flat Stanley

A few weeks ago, EB had an assignment at her old school - send Flat Stanley somewhere so he could have an adventure and everyone could learn about somewhere new. EB wanted to send him far away, so we came up with Finland. I have a colleague at University of Tampere, and she was thrilled to help.

Here is Mr. Stanley at the University ...

,

...at the Dom ...

... palling around downtown ...

... hanging out with the Mookies ...

... and likely freezing in several feet of snow (notice the top of the house in the left of the picture ... scary).

We got a report today that Flat Stanley is on his way back to the States. We can't wait to see his adventures!!!! Thanks, Tuula-Riitta!!!!!

around the house

We spend a lot of time around the house, and here are some things we like to do ...

Make art ... Lydia is really starting to enjoy drawing with her sister, and EB is getting good at helping Lydia feel good about her creations ... Lydia will draw something and after every new mark will hold it up so her sister can say, "Good job, Lydia!"

 

 Lydia likes to sit next to EB for a few minutes in the morning to watch a show ... after about 5 minutes or so, Lydia gets bored and finds something else to do, but it's cute while it lasts.

The girls like to eat breakfast and snack at their table. Ashley made these slipcovers out of some material she had ...she was working under her new motto, "Use What You Have" and found the exact amount of material she needed in the bin under our bed ...

Keeping with the use what you have theme - Ashley reorganized and revamped the kitchen recently. Bulletin boards previously in the dining room, now where we will actually look at them and remember deadlines.

And the family pictures we got for Christmas are up in a new place where we can enjoy them even more ...

HELP!!!! A TIGER IN OUR HOUSE!

Ashley's inspiration for when we buy a house ...

a new PreK

The Thursday after Mardi Gras, Eden Brooks started her new Pre-K ... thumbs up!!

In addition to getting snazzy new clothes, she also gets a set of new experiences ... two breakfasts, carpool, fruit-in-a-bag, and purchasing milk. More importantly, she is around kids that think like her.  Ashley went with EB to visit the class the week before in order to make a final decision about whether or not to switch schools to this Gifted PreK class. They played a game called "Secret Share" - one student brings a secret share item and writes 5 clues so the class can try to guess what it is. The first clue was "The Letter B". After everyone guessed, the second clue was given: "It flies". One boy said "Frog" to which the teacher asked "Do frogs fly?" The class responded "Nooooo!" and lauged. Then the teacher (Ms. Jeannie) asked "Well, how could frogs fly?" The first response: "If it was in an airplane." Wow. That's exactly what EB does - tries to figure out ways that something which does not fit can fit. Her kind of thinking.

The room is different from her old room - stuff everywhere, really kind of crazy but likely lots of fun ... musical instruments, blocks, an art station, play sand, 40 dress up costumes and animal ears, you name it and they have it. They wear clothespins with their names on them on their collars, and the clothespins are taken away when they do something wrong (being mean to a friend, not listening to the teacher, etc.) and can earn them back later. We are blessed that a spot opened up (and her good friend Rebekah was already in the class, which is how we found out about the opening).

So, we are getting to test out the BR Public School System before we make a decision about Kindergarten for next year. And EB is REALLY enjoying it (she asks to go in the morning and gets super excited for Monday to roll around again). We think that's a pretty good sign!

Miss Lela

Here are some recent iphone photos of our cutie!

This little one could eat all day long!

checking out Mike the Tiger at LSU while Sissy was at gymnastics

Just like her sister, she rolls to her side when she's really ready to fall asleep

She is getting so big and wants to do everything by herself -- her latest obsessions are sliding her feet into boots while standing up, drinking from the water fountain, and changing her baby dolls dirty diapers. Fun times.

- ashley

cut, cut

A few weeks ago, I decided that EB's hair could use a little trim. After coming across a pair of hair scissors at Target and remembering all the times my daddy cut my hair, it was an easy decision of what to do next ...

A few snip, snips later and the little one had a fresh new cut, just a few inches shorter.

Now I'm wondering if I can handle the shorter summer cut she's been saying she wants when the weather gets hot. Guess we'll see about that one.

- ashley

today

Whitney and Winters

So, let's see. A few weeks ago when the semester first began, we were blessed to have my sis and little Winters visit us in Baton Rouge!

Let's just say these cousins loved having each other around. For Lydia, it was definitely a back-and-forth (and back and forth) type of relationship. One minute crying, "baby! baby! baby!" wanting Winters around and the next crying because I was paying him too much attention. Regardless, I know she had just as much fun as we all did having Aunt Whit and Winters in our house for the week! If only they could visit us every week. A girl can dream, right?

first ride at Target

Over the weekend, Whit, Winters, EB, and I snuck out for a little shopping at Target. This was the first of many "firsts" for JW that week ...

... his first time riding in the front of the cart and not his car seat ...

Of course we had to do a little "window shopping" ...

And treated ourselves to coffee. EB had a "latte" (an empty kids cup we filled up with water) and had the absolute best time whispering to me frantically when people got near "Here. Mom, take this!" She'd hand me her cup and then loudly say, "Um, excuse me, Momma. Can I have my LATTE, please?!" This pleased her to no end.