November News

Nanny's visit came to a close on the second day of November. She found a cheap flight out of New Orleans and therefore gave us an excuse to go exploring since none of us had been there.  We started off the day at Cafe Du Monde for beignets. 

A little anxious for "doughnuts" to arrive= not so cooperative for pictures.

In front of the St Louis Cathedral. When I backed away to take this picture (in an attempt to capture the whole building), two guys passed by me "hitting on me". That is an overly nice description for the not so nice things they were saying.  Needless to say we headed back to the main street. Eww.

We were about finished walking around and then we happened upon the French Market. This is probably the best selection of little shops but it was still a small selection. The French Market did offer some amazing food though!

Cajun Cafe at the Market
This place was amazing! The gumbo was by far the best I've ever had AND the prices were great!!

We had a good time walking around and experiencing New Orleans. We were not overly impressed but we were glad to add it to our list of places we've been.

The next two weeks were focused on gearing up for Miss Addison's Pinkalicious Party.  I try to make the girls' birthdays as special as possible on their actual birth day. When I asked Addison what she wanted for her special breakfast, she exclaimed "cupcakes!!" Apparently last year's breakfast was a hit ;)  The cupcake was only the beginning of a fun, all about Addison day.

Cupcakes she wanted, so a cupcake she had!

Addison decided she wanted her party at the park so that's where we had it! She and her friends had a great time but I did a horrible job of capturing the party :/

Play time! Park parties are so easy ;)

Present time! Thank you everyone :)

 Late afternoon on the day of Addison's party, Grammy came! Yay!! The girls were super excited AND Grammy even brought presents! (surprise, surprise- hehe)

Birthday present time!

Although Thanksgiving week comes with plenty of distractions, we managed to still find a fun outing :) It was our first time at the botanical gardens and we had a great time looking around at all the flowers and trees. 

Addison and her BFF, Briana

Grammy and her girls

This water fountain was probably their favorite part ;)

Handprint Turkeys for Thanksgiving!! Too bad we never really finished them, we just have cute hand prints.

They sure had fun though!

Playing a game with Grammy

We had so much fun with Grammy but her trip came and went entirely too quickly! 

It was a fun month but it sure was busy!

Grammy's Visit

Ok, I lied, I mean I didn't intend to but I'm not finished catching up yet!! I forgot I hadn't posted about Tammy coming to visit! Boy was I behind. It was a great week with lots of relaxing, yummy food, and some great shopping! haha. No really, we found some great deals while she was here ;) Here are some pictures... I apologize for the insane number of them... I'll catch up eventually!

I was so proud of Addison for doing this! She has really been breaking out of her self-imposed box lately!

Tire Swing (sorry for the funny angle, I had the ride the opposite side to keep it balanced)

Kaitlyn had a good ole time swinging with Grammy ;)

And must never be left out of anything Addison does ;)

Checking out her sticker decorating... stickers courtesy of Grammy :)

Addison LOVES to play cards and drink "hot chocwit." She remembered we did this last time Grammy visited so we had to do it again.

She thinks she's hot stuff. (Partly because it's a secret and we don't talk about it until after K is in bed)

More fun at a different park

Yay for pictures with Mommy ;)

Excuse those chipmunk cheeks the girls have ;)

I just love him :)

They had a blast at the wading pool!

We love it when Grammy comes to visit! 

Vacation!!! Part 7 (Fun Times)

So... vacation (you know the one 2 months ago, haha!) started to wind down...

But we had to get in a playdate!

and even Daddy came!

a fun day was had by all

New parks are fun...

but old parks are too!! 

Mommy played on this playground many times 

while growing up!

Kinda cool to see the girls playing on it now :)

Way off in the distance...

Gordon was working out 

(doing sit-ups on the picnic table)

The girls liked "the big cheese" too

AND, what vacation could be complete without

a trip in to the donut shop?

There is just nothing like a hometown shop :)

Other donuts just aren't the same

Addison made this bed for Aunt Ronda.

Aunt Ronda never did sleep in it... strange.

Little more fun in the sun...

And a little more time with Grammy

Vacation!!! Part 1

This vacation is going to take a few posts, hehe :) It was a super fun 3 weeks and even though there were many things that I have no pictures from, I still have tons of pictures! Please excuse my nonsensical rambling today- I have the WORST headache that just will NOT go away...

Anyway, back to vacation...

The girls love being spoiled while we are home, imagine that ;) 

Nanny got some really cool paints last time we were there and they continued to be Addison's favorite throughout this trip too. 

Grammy is great about coming over while we are home and visiting and playing with the girls :)

Carting them around non-stop for two weeks is too much so we really appreciate her coming to us!

Papa bought Addison her very first bike a while back to keep at "Texas" and

Kaitlyn has become quite jealous so we were all in agreement that Kaitlyn needed one too :)

Yay Papa for coming to the rescue! This trike is supposed to last through age 5 so

we should get tons of use out of it!

While we were home, Wendy and the girls came down to visit and then,

as it turned out, Richard got to come too! Avery and Olivia have struck up

a great friendship with the boys so we had them come over too :) 

Addison LOVES playing with all the big kids and they were very sweet

and tried to include her in their games.

In this picture Zane was playing iPhone or DSi games with her and generally just being SUPER sweet.

We turned around and she had her arm around him and was leaning on his shoulder :))

I just love all the memories they get to make on our trips home!!

That same day it had been raining off and on all day (yay!!) and when I looked out the window,

there was a gorgeous double rainbow that stretched all the way across the sky.

Everyone made fun of me because of this video but it was an amazing sight nonetheless ;)

More to come...