March 2015

Started out the month a bit rough.  I had a terrible stomach ache heading to church so I went to lay down in one of the rooms, since Ellia was supposed to be in time out she came with me. Instead she drew this really cute playground!

Celebrating Dr. Suess's birthday at the Library with Quincy.

I could hardly get her to look away from the cake for the picture..is that some drool I see?

Watching Ashlyn during her gymnastics at Tiny Tumblers.

All this little girl want to do is go back to swim class.

You can't see it, but Ashlyn made herself a snack.  Two huge marshmallows inside a graham cracker crust. I don't think she could even get her mouth around it.

Taking advantage of nice weather to upgrade the yard a bit. Before

Improvement number 1

Improvement number 2

Ellia brought this poster home from school and said she was one of 3 school winners in a dental drawing contest...cool!

Another beautiful soccer Saturday.

The masterpeices made by Ellia and Jer after playing in the mud/clay.

 ?? picture taken beginning of Feb with jer's camera?

 

 

 After about four days without any guests, Sara and Anna arrived. Our first venture was the San Francisco Plantation house. We chose that one because it was the Frisco fest, so there were vendors and food and other entertainment.  Ellia chose the house tour, and Ashlyn, Quincy and Jer enjoyed the petting zoo.

 

 

Ashlyn trying to talk to Anna over the noise of the live band.

 

Such a fun setting!

Off to the swamp!  No really big alligators, but still a lot to see. Smaller alligators, turtles, heron's and even an airborne fish fight between an osprey and a bald eagle.

 

The next day we were off to anther first for me, the World War II museum. It was very well done and had a great feature where you were assigned a person to follow through the war. You could check in with their position and progress throughout the museum geographical displays and as time elapsed.

. 

Of course the gift shop was a favorite among the little girls.

The scenery was awesome, complete with realistic snowing specific effects all the way down to the concrete texture on the ground.

Despite not really liking war stuff, I really like learning about carrier pigeons.  They had these trailers for their homes for awhile but since trailers were in short supply it didn't last long.

Lot's of huge planes hanging above.

Cute cousins.

 

Our next adventure was geared more toward the kids.  Global Wildlife! While I have had good luck with the giraffes one other time, this time was by far the best!  They were following the wagons after we left their normal area!  It was so cool to watch them run after us...so graceful.  Ashlyn and Quincy were a little leery of feeding some of the animals by hand but by the end Ashlyn was very brave at feeding the lama and even tried with one of the cows. She picked out her favorite and would only feed that one...Patches.

There was a selfie contest with the giraffes going on so I decided to participate. While I don't love how I look in these slightly obnoxious pictures, I love how my expression changes as the giraffe gets closer and closer to me!

Three hour old zebra!! (ok maybe three days but I swear it was super new)

Nice tongue!

Caught her sizing herself up!

Lunch at Chimes, and checking on the goats.

 

Ashlyn getting dolled up at the Abita Mystery house gift shop.  Best memory of this trip (besides tromping through the rain between buildings) was the mask.  There was a huge mask laying on a piano around the corner from Sara, Anna, and Quincy. I slipped it on and Quincy silently backed away behind another wall, clearly terrified. I wanted to scare Sara, but she caught sight of Quincy before turning to see me and it was Anna who jumped and screamed in Sara's arms.

Checking out the turtles.

 

Even though we were exhausted, we couldn't resist an impromptu Mardi Gras parade. Ana was quite the little dancer, not one bit shy!

 

 

Our day in the French Quarter. We actually went into some of the shops I've been wanting to find...they weren't that impressive though. I did find another Christmas shop near St. Phillips and the French Market that might be good for ornament hunters in the future.

 

We stopped just for a picture of this little sidewalk park near the French Market but Anna did not want Ellia in the picture.

Made a full circle back to Jackson Square where I tried to explain the story of Jean Lafitte to Sara, but got all the names mixed up.

Quick walk through the Insectarium, and we got to try the bugs just before heading to our Steamboat tour. Only they didn't have the chocolate chirp cookies this time.

About to set sail!

Enjoying the Chalmette Battlefield Visitor Center.

There was a lot of fog and it made the other boats look pretty cool, like they were floating. I couldn't quite capture it....

Another worn out girl.

 

We rushed back home and Sara kept Ashlyn and Quincy so I could watch Ellia perform at the PTA meeting.

Back to normal after so many guests.  A day off school and this is how we start out...3 girls at the dentist.  We actually did pretty well.

Then we decided to meet up with a few friends at IHOP...the kids were CRAZY, then toward the end they climbed aboard these chairs and pretended they were a train.  So fun.

Jeremy has now discovered what he considers the "Best Festival Ever."  I don't entirely disagree.  This was an event called Sun Belt Saturday. The girls got free T-shirts, basketballs and swag. Jeremy and I got free samples of TONS of different Jambalaya, chair massages and we all went to the college basketball tournament!  Fun day.

I also discovered the reason I haven't been able to hula hoop lately is because I wasn't using one that was big enough.  I totally dominated with this large hula hoop!

The scariest thing at the festival.

First crawfish boil!  Our little Quincy is somewhat of a Southern Girl. She isn't bothered by spicy foods like the older girls and she LOVES crawfish. Jeremy couldn't peel them fast enough for her.

Poor girl had a tiny scab under her eye and just couldn't resist picking at it over and over. This is what I saw when I went to get her out of the car after church.  She tried to explain to me that her finger was bloody.

When it starts warming up and the girls go in and out, we often find these little guys have snuck in.

Quincy is really into this Bella Ballerina DVD and playset.  She is constantly wanting to wear dance clothes and follow along...she does a pretty good job too.

Getting used to the sunshine again. Happy St. Patricks Day.

Jeremy's birthday "cake." I only had to leave the house to get ONE thing, Diet Coke. I found it at the dollar store and they must have thought I was going to drink it because they didn't put it in the bags and I got home without it.  I was able to scrounge a can of sprite in the pantry and they turned out pretty much the same.  

I think Quincy was trying to help by adding another candle.

I left the girls in charge of cleaning the bowl and was surprised how much they were able to scrape out!

Quincy kept hollering at me from the backseat and when I finally got a chance to look I got a good laugh. Silly girl.

A beautiful night for soccer practice.

 

Birthday time!

A fun surprise at the Reruns children's consignment sale.

I took the plunge and joined a gym...they are a little different here in the South, more like a country club.  The first few times I felt like I was on vacation in a Spa.  You pay the price but it does feel nice.

She's into sunglasses too.

Easter Craft.

These girls ate their Pelican Palooza hot dogs super fast after playing hard at their morning soccer games.

The picture that Ellia's class made for the silent auction. This was fun for me too since I volunteered twice in her art class while they painted it.

Ashlyn had everyone lined up waiting for the pool to open. (Waiting for me to come play)

Everyone nice and cool. Although I think the tiger and cheetah may have scared off all the people from actually swimming.

Easter Party for Tiny Tumblers. Ashlyn was sure a great big sister, teaching Quincy about egg hunts.

A little afternoon fishing trip to the neighborhood pond. Ashlyn fell in.

So they decided they might as well test the water in the pool too.

 Enjoying some short lived PERFECT weather.

Ashlyn really getting into the Easter spirit and taking care of all the little critters. She has been begging to try to hatch an egg from the grocery store. I keep trying to explain that once they get cold, they will NOT hatch...EVER.

The morning snack she fixed herself.

Love the days she dressed herself and picks out boots! Such a skinny cutey.

Ellia's class Easter party.

Quincy playing with Logan at her new "school." Childcare at the gym.

Soccer girl!

A last minute decision that turned into such a fun time!  We met up with the Breedlove's (and the Hewitt's came later) for a free outdoor concert.  The girls had a blast dancing with each other and of course I enjoyed Melissa's company.  We also went to the Mandeville Middle School play this month and the girls did really well and liked it a lot. Ellia asked, "are there plays every night?"

A quick easter egg hunt before soccer games. This one was sponsored by the activity day girls. I'm super excited for Ellia to start participating with them in a few months!

Ashlyn is usually a bit distracted at her games.  The coach has to say her name several times to get her attention, and then usually repeat his request once or twice before she responds.  Poor guy. He is super patient with her though!

In between our games this week we got to visit the Kids and Family Expo...and came home with way too much swag.

 Quincy was totally happy laying facedown in the grass, on purpose, and enjoying it.

Our first backyard smore's of the year.

 

 Starting spring break stay-cation off right with a trip to the lake.

She went to throw the mud and it landed right on her face!

Later that night we hosted the missionaries for dinner and some Easter cookie decorating.

Prk playdate. They sure look like they are having fun!

and then there's Quincy. Who wanted to put her goggles on. I was surprised she kept them on the entire time we played at the park. When she finally took them off in the car she had little sweaty eyeballs!  (note her black church shoes - she wears these EVERYWHERE lately).

 In a school event, Ellia got to hold a kangaroo...she said it was really stinky.