Sealy's Shower

Our birthday group got together to host a bridal shower for Sealy today.  I have known Sealy my whole life and couldn't be more excited for her on her big day!

The glowing soon to be bride!



The hostesses.



Sealy's  family.

Looking forward to her big day...it's just around the corner now!

Tacos!

Not often in the last two years have I been able to eat a meal ALL by myself with Sarah around.  Well tonight we went to a local Mexican restaurant and we had a breakthrough!! I asked Sarah what she wanted. This was a first as well...her telling me what she wanted to eat.

 Me: "Sarah do you want a taco or a corn dog?" (yeah, I know corn dog?!)

Sarah: "Tacoooo Mommmmyy!" (yes, she drags out every pronunciation)

Ok, easy enough.  And then....wait for it....SHE ATE ALL BY HERSELF!! She even stayed in her OWN seat...the whole time!! I didn't know what to do with myself.  I know I have just jinxed this by making this public, but it will be a reminder to me that she has and can eat while sitting by herself!

Mardi Gras 2012

Andy's mom drove down from Oklahoma to be with him and Sarah while I was away at Disney.  Ms. Peggy had never been to Mardi Gras and to be honest, don't think she really "got it" until she saw it for herself...like most people. Saturday it stormed in Lousiana, so they missed out on the parades, but Sunday the weather cooperated and they headed to St. Charles street in Uptown New Orleans to catch the Krewe of  Iris and the Krewe of Okeanos parades.  I was really bummed that I missed Sarah's first New Orleans parades, but thrilled that she had a great time! I can't wait to go back with her next year!

Sarah on Daddy's shoulders watching the parade.



Sarah and her Daddy! Love this pic! They look like they are having so much fun!

 

Mardi Gras!!



Sarah and Grammy! They racked up on beads and lots of stuffed animals...12 in all I think!

 

Ms. Peggy getting in to the spirit!

 

My little parade goer!

 Monday they all headed to the BR zoo.  The weather I hear was georgous!


Sarah and Grammy checking out the wildlife.

 

Such a big girl!



Play time in the kids zoo.



Yea, she's missing her mommy!


 Sarah did great while I was gone.  I got to talk to her a few times on the phone and she really talked! Normally she just nods her head when she talks to people on the phone, but our conversation consisted of lots of "Mommmmmyyyyy....babble, babble, Outside Mommmmyyy, babble, babble, OK Mommmyyy, babble, babble, OK BYE!"
I got back from my trip early Tuesday morning, which happened to be Ms. Peggy's birthday.  That night, we went out to dinner to celebrate.  Sarah sporting her grammy made Mardi Gras shirt.

Happy to be with my girl!

 

Happy Mardi Gras Y'all!!

Disney World - DSHS 2012

I have the privilege of working with a great friend who loves Disney as much as I do (to be honest, she makes me look like a novice at the whole Disney thing)!  This is the third year that she and I have taken our students to Disney World for their Y.E.S. (Youth Education Series) program.  Disney as with everything it does, does an exceptional job with bringing education to the happiest place on Earth.  Our students were allowed access to the parks before they opened, backstage privileges and then on top of that added some great math and science learning to the experience.  So we packed up 35 sophomores and 7 chaperones and headed to Orlando for another great trip!  Now, I took a total of 322 pics; however, I had to limit my public pics to just us. 

We stayed at All Star Sports.  Our rooms were in the basketball section.



Love being greeted by the mouse!

  Day one started bright and early in Magic Kingdom.  Our kids got to ride Space Mountain with the lights on!! And then again with the lights off!! The made hypothesis about the speed and height of the roller coaster and then tied in all kinds of science-y stuff.  They then headed to Splash Mountain where they used similar triangles to find the height of the mountain.  And last but not least rode Pirates of the Caribbean to tie in animatronics!  It was a great program!!


Law breaker I am! I just had to get a sneak pic of the park empty with the exception of us!!



Yes, were are the crazy people willing to travel four state lines with teenagers on a charter bus for 12 hours!!

Our Louisiana princess: Tiana.

 I LOVE the characters at Disney World!! Really, I can't say that enough.  This trip I had Missy's daughter Katie to tag along with me so I didn't look so ridiculous.  This was the first year that Katie was allowed to go with us.

Tigger and Pooh!

 We then headed to Hollywood Studios for the late afternoon, evening.

Tired, but still smiling!

Stylin' in our 3D glasses for Muppet Vision.

Phineas and Ferb!!!

Fantasmic!

 Day two started in Epcot where our kids got behind the scenes tours of the aquarium facility at the aquarium at the Living Seas.  Again, another great program! They were able to see the diets of the animals, go behind the "closed doors" of the aquarium and see the dolphins, learned about the water filtration system and a whole lot more.  And then we dispersed onto Epcot!

Waited in line for 2 hours for Soarin'.  Well worth the wait!! The crowds overall were not bad.

 Missy schedule a character dinner for all of us at the Garden Grill.  Missy's sister Kim and her husband Richard were also chaperones on this trip.

Waiting on our characters!

YEA!! Mickey!!

EPCOT!! So much cooler now than when I was a kid!!

 After Epcot, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom so the kids to fit in anything they didn't get to do the first time we were there and to see the electric parade and fireworks. The park was open until 2am this night, but there was no way we were swinging that...we were all pooped!

Katie being taken away by the balloons!!

 Day Three: No programs this day, just fun!  We made our last park stop at Animal Kingdom and would finish the night at Downtown Disney where our bus driver would pick us up and we would drive through the night to get back home on Tuesday...Mardi Gras Day!

Tree of Life!

Eeyore! Did I mention I love characters!?!?

Katie is 11.  She is beautiful, funny, smart, but a roller coaster rider...she is NOT!  I can't blame her really, at her age, I was the same way!! So she agreed to ride Primevel Whirl in Dinoland.  This ride as a few dips in it and yes, you whirl around sometimes going down a dip backwards.  She sat by me because Missy wanted to video the ride experience.  Katie was good for most of the ride...until the "big" dip!! I think I still have fingernail imprints on my arm from her squeezing it so hard and a little ringing in my ears from her screaming.  We all laughed so hard after it was over!! Katie survived the ride....and so did I. ;)

Me: Ready for some fun.  Katie: Not quite sure why we call this "fun".

Expedition Everest!  We we went in 2006 with our school group this ride had just opened.  It is still just as awesome!

 Missy schedule us another character lunch at Tusker House.  This menu had an African flare to it and was very good!! Annnnd we got to see the Ducks!!

Meeting Donald before we went inside.

Ahhh Daisy!  Isn't she beautiful!!

And of course The Man! Mickey Mouse!

I really can't explain my love of Disney....magical just doesn't seem to do it justice.  We went so many times as kids that I can't even give you a count.  I am really looking forward to the first time I get to bring Sarah.  There were many times on this trip that I got a little teary eyed seeing all of the little girls visit with the princesses and characters and seeing their pure joy and thinking of the day I get to bring Sarah!

Valentine's Day 2012

LOVE, KISSES, and HUGS!



Valentine's candy to start the morning off with smiles!



Be Mine!

Sarah is having a Valentine's Day party at school on Tuesday, so tonight we made Valentine's for her classmates.

Placing stickers on her friends' cards.

"Writing" a special note on each card.

Very intense work station going on here.

"I LOVE STICKERS!!!"

Denham Springs Mardi Gras Parade

YEA!  It's parade day!  I just LOVE Mardi Gras season in south Louisiana...nothing else like it!  Since Sarah had such a great time at the Christmas parade, we decided to let her ride in the Mardi Gras parade too!  She was a great sport...considering she went without a nap all day and it was super cold and windy! 

Getting ready to go to the parade!

Clay getting all of his throws in order.

Sarah and Mommy!

The theme this year was "Louisiana Living".  I just loved this float from a local elementary 4-H club.

I am a huge fan of the show "Swamp People".  This season there is a local connection to two of the newest cast members, Austyn and Blake.  We know Austyn's stepmother and Blake is from Livingston Parish.  So of course I took the opportunity to get pics with both of these guys!  One day Sarah will thank me getting these pics for her...well maybe. ;)

Blake, Me and Sarah.  She how thrilled Sarah is?!?!

Me, Sarah and Austyn hanging out on our float.  Again, Sarah's enthusiasm is contagious.

Mike looking on as Shelly decorates.

Mike had decided to go light on the decorations for this parade....like none! Ha! The only thing he had to decorate with was his banner.  Shelly, was not having it...she headed to the party store and gave the float a little attention and it turned out to be very festive! 

Andy, Mike, Clay and Justin.

Yank and his girls: Carmen, Jillian, Josie, Taylor and Sophie

Kyliegh with her bracelet from Mr. Clay.

You can only hang out on a non-moving float for so long...so one of our activities of the day is to walk the street and see all of the floats.  Shelly and I had already left to got see the beginning of the parade and on our way back found these two strolling the street.

Sarah and Daddy enjoying the floats.  Notice Sarah has scooped up some parade loot from a float!

Sarah and her "Mardi Gras" puppy!

Sarah and Kyleigh hanging out before the parade...how cute and festive are these two!!

Clay, Ben, Mike and Andy.

Clay was celebrating his birthday today, so Michelle got him his favorite cake....Whole Foods Berry Chantilly Cake! YUMMY!!

"Happy Birthday to YOU! Happy Birthday to YOU!"....

Sarah and Kyleigh taking some time for cake.

"Thanks Mr. Clay for having a birthday....we love the cake!!"

Birthday Boy!!

Jeff called me around 2:15..."What time does the parade roll?" I said "3! C'mon!!!" If you've ever rode in a parade....you know they never start on time! 

Jeff, Me, Sarah and Andy.

Sarah helping Uncle Jeff get his throws ready.

Sibling love...Mike and Shelly.

Girls ready to roll!

Krew of Carlton!

Justin and Shelly.

So while we are all starting to line up to leave, Sarah notices this Dora doll on the float opposite us!  I didn't even see it at first, but Sarah is a like a crazy person when it comes to Dora lately.  Andy yells across to the other float and the guy offers it to Sarah!  How awesome was that?!?

Yea Daddy!! Super happy child!!

Sarah talking things over with Dora: "Babble, babble, babble...BEEEEEADS DORA!!!"

And we are rolling!  Did I mention what a trooper Sarah was for this parade??? No nap and freezing cold wind!! At one point she got down from her ladder and just played on the floor of the float while we were throwing beads. 

Sarah had about ten dum-dum suckers while on the float...she'd suck on a flavor for a little bit then ask for a new one!  I think the suckers kept her going today!



"Mista" throwing something!



Nearing the end of the parade...Sarah and Daddy waving to on-lookers.

The Krew of Big Mike's! Mardi Gras 2012!