A walk in the park

I picked up the boys this afternoon and the weather was way too pretty to head home.

We made a little pit stop to our local park.

(ahem Satch... I may have an alterior motive here)

*Doesn't this park look like a LOVELY place for a birthday party?!?*

Anyway, the boys had a ball and ran off a lot little energy.

As usual they were a hot mess by the time we got back to the car.

Once home it was straight to the shower before dinner.

This was not the simple job of just washing the hands.

They were both in need of a full body scrub!

Oh how I love that spring is just around the corner!

Here we are on the swing.

They loved swinging with me because we went high in the sky.

I guess the smiles make it pretty obvious...

My big boy was in heaven.

"Higher Mama, HIGHER, HIGHER!"

The boys made some friends along the way.

Griff wanted to show his friends how much fun it was to swing with his Momma.

Gotta love when your kid still thinks that you are the coolest!  

Baby Bear  loves swinging high in the sky too!

Glad I captured these moments.

I will keep them in my brain forever.

They also really enjoyed chasing each other through the tunnels.

Here he comes!

Sliding down the slide together.

The boy with the $1,000,000 smile.

Oh how I adore both of these little people...

Mardi Gras Day~ Throw me something Mister!

Mardi Gras...

you either do or you don't.

Many may be surprised that Mardi Gras for my family is not what you see on the news.

Sure if you are looking you for Girls gone wild you can find it, but that is not how the locals roll.

Many local families vacation this week and it has more to do with not wanting to fight the crowds and less to do with being afraid that your children will witness lewd sights.

Mardi Gras for us is about hanging out on St Charles avenue with friends and family.

We enjoy the music, sights, floats, and revelry that come with this fun time.  

This year my littles were good for about 2 hours.

We went.

We saw.

We left.

All in all we had lots of fun!

Here we are waiting on Rex to roll by.

My boys with their buddy Noah.

Some of our favorite friends.

I laugh every time I look at this picture.  :)

Me and Baby Bear trying out the ladder.

We were only up here for a few minutes.

He preferred the view from my hip.

Next year with 1 more little should be very interesting....

These are the sights that you see on St Charles Avenue.

Mardi Gras day is a day to costume with your family.

Entire tribes of people pick a theme and dress for the occasion.

Griff took this picture of Noah.

He was trained well!

My guys waiting on some beads.

Mardi Grasing is hard work.

Time for a juice break.

What'cha talking about Willis?

Here are a few of my favorite sights from our morning.

I love this photo.

You can see the reflection of the hotel that we were standing in front of in his horn.

Very cool...

I love the elaborate details in the floats.

Rex signature float- the boeuf gras

Here they are folks:

The Golden Band from Tigerland

No place else he would rather be!

Griff's favorite spot.

Riding high with his Daddy in the front row.

This was my view of my little guy once his feet finally hit the ground.

It's a NOLA thing...

After we left the parade we stopped for a little lunch.

Love that chicken from Popeyes.

Here are the boys at home checking out each others loot.

Once home we took pictures with Uncle Al.

Uncle Al~ our first son used to come to all of the parades with us when we lived on the parade route.

Happy Mardi Gras y'all! 

Hey Mardi Gras!

We took the boys out on Monday evening to watch the Orpheus parade uptown.

This is the first time that we tried a night parade with our little people.

To this point we had not seen a parade yet 

and wanted to make sure that we got at least 1 good one in for the year.

We always go out on Mardi Gras day, but you just can't count on February southern Louisiana weather.

We parked in our usual spot and enjoyed a few hours of fun.

Here is Roman wide eyed when the first float approached us. 

Can you imagine what goes through the mind of a 22 month old?

Lights, noise, and tons of strangers.

Baby Bear did great.

He pretty much stayed on my hip for 2 hours.

Nights parade are so beautiful.

Especially if you catch one of the super krewes.

Baby Bear's feet finally hit the ground.

He was content with a bead and a cup.

He insisted on saying cheese for the camera.

"Hey Ma.... look what I got!"

We tried Griff out in a ladder.

It was not his thing.

His parading preference:

held by Daddy and walking to the front for each float.

Likes: to catch something

Dislikes: to walk away from a float empty handed

3 year old problems...

On a Monday night here we are NOLA style dancing in the streets.

The rest of the country fast asleep...

610 Stompers:

Coaching short wearing, mustache lovin', dancin' machine troop of guys.

Gotta love 'em!

Reasons that I smile...

Reasons that I smile

as seen through my iphone.

Enjoying a chilly afternoon outside with my boys.

Chillin' top down in the jeep. 

The transition is naturally taking place.

Roman moved from the baby seat to the back seat while big brother Griff pushes.

Baby Bear busting a move on his bros girl.

Gotta watch this sneaky little heart breaker!

Our family Chaplin, Griff leading us in prayer.

Peeking in on Baby Bear reading a book before nap time.

I find this hysterical.

After they get out of the shower their Daddy wraps them in a hand towel.

Yes, those are hand towels wrapped around their little bodies!

For some reason every time I walk into this room it looks like I just missed

them partying like it was 1999.

Seriously, check out the blinds. 

Brothers hugging it out after a minor "altercation."

Trying to teach the words 

"I'm sorry" and "I forgive you" to come naturally and from the heart.

America's next top chef.

No... I don't mind washing and rewashing my pots.

ALL. DAY. LONG.

I am so proud of this big guy.

He has come a long way from earlier haircuts.

Remember when we used to leave the salon a crying, snotty, lollipop sticky, hairy mess?

Two boys enjoying a little sweet goodness.

I planned to share my yogurt with Baby Bear.

He had other plans.