Throw Me Something Mister!!

02/13/10
My good friend Wendy invited us out to New Orleans to enjoy the Endymion Parade. She lives just 10 blocks away from the start of the parade which made it an ideal location! Joe wasn't so sure about packing up the kids and going to an actual Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans but I convinced him it would be fun so off we went! Things couldn't have worked out more perfectly. Wendy (probably annoying so many people) parked in the middle of two driveways in front of her house to save us a spot. It was so nice not having to drive around for hours looking for one on our own. In true Wendy fashion she had so many yummy foods that we were able to enjoy and snack on before heading out to the parade where her Dad and cousin where saving us a spot. The kids did great on the walk and we tried keeping them out of the wagon (which was a life saver-thank you Lisa!!) as much as possible since they would be in it most of the time once we got there. We made the walk and just enjoyed the beautiful day-man was it gorgeous! I brought extra jackets for me and the kids but didn't think we'd need them b/c it was just so pleasant outside. But once the sun set it got cold and fast! I wished I had brought beanies and gloves for the kiddos, and for me!
The kids really enjoyed the atmosphere and all the things going on. We couldn't have asked for a better spot. We parked the wagon right along the gate. There were so many people behind us I couldn't imagine having to stand back there and watch the parade b/c you really couldn't see anything! So big thanks to the Ragan Crewe for getting out early and saving seats! The kids, mainly Kalli, started getting antsy waiting for the parade and Wendy's Aunt Beth kept her very well entertained which was so nice for me and Joe. Once the parade started she was fine but then it started going so slllllooooowww! The floats kept having to stop and usually didn't throw anything while they were stopped. Kaiden would get so intense and yell (very angrily) "Throw me something mister! over and over. He finally chilled out a bit and realized he wasn't going to catch something every time. There were also a million bands or dance teams that kept having to stop in front of us which was lame b/c they didn't do anything while standing directly in front of us. After about an hour or longer only 5 floats had past (there is usually around 30 floats in this parade!), it was getting pretty cold and Kalli was having some constipation issues and kept whining about her bum hurting. If a float would go by she was fine but after it passed she would cry out again. And the parade was still just moving so slow! Of course there were no bathrooms or port-a-potties around so me, Kal, Wendy and her dad made the trek back to Wendy's apartment, Kalli being carried by Mr. Danny the entire way.
Once we each had a bathroom break, in which Kal just cried instead of relieving herself, we made some yummy hot chocolate to bring back and headed towards the parade. While we were gone the parade finally started moving and Joe and Kaiden caught so much stuff! Kaiden had 7 swords (two of which were light up swords), beads galore and lots of little stuffed animals. Kal was in a much better mood and was able to enjoy the tail end of the parade where Joe caught her a few things including her Mardi Gras Dragon which she loves. And that was it so we packed up and our Endymion Crewe started heading back towards Wendy's apartment. Kalli was very shy and scared around Mr. Danny at first(she does this every time we don't see them for a while) but now couldn't stop worrying about him on our walk back. She had so much fun having him carry her for the potty break I think she fell in love. Every few minutes she'd ask, "But where's Mr. Danny?" or "Is Wendy's Dad with us? I don't see him." It was really cute. I guess we need to go visit soon before she forgets how much she actually likes him!
Once at Wendy's we ate even more food including Mrs. Karin's crab and corn bisque-YumO and lots and lots of King Cake! We were able to visit with everyone while eating and the kids watched part of a movie and then it was time to head home. We were all so tired I'm not sure how Joe stayed awake on the drive home but he did (I didn't) and we made it home just after 11. We put the kids in bed and we went straight to bed as well. I wasn't so excited about 9 o'clock church the next morning. It's no fun when the kids sleep in and you can't enjoy it b/c you have to get up and get dressed! In all it was a great day and we had so much fun and even Joe said he was glad we went! :)

Aunt Beth (Wendy's Aunt) and Kalli. She was nice enough to share her seat with Kalli and they loved playing together.Love this picture! My boys are so handsome!

Kaiden taking pictures. Mr. Danny (Wendy's dad) is in the background and Mrs. Karin (Wendy's mom) is right behind me. Sadly this is the only picture we have of them.

The kids patiently waiting for the parade to start

Ancient firetruck/wagon. It was pretty cool.

Me and my girl

Budweiser truck pulled by the Budweiser Clydesdales-those things are massive!

Kal and Joe

Me and Wendy with our antennas

One of the maids. I couldn't imagine how awful this would be! Her headdress thing is so heavy it has to be hooked to a pole behind her making it impossible to move more than a few inches to each side. The gentleman in the tux is there to hand her beads since she can't bend down. Plus she had to befreezing by the end of the parade. Totally not worth it to me!

Kaiden (or Dad) caught an Endymion Football

WHO DAT?! We were able to see the Vince Lombardi Trophy!! Geaux Saints!

Kalli and Aunt Beth again, she was a life saver in entertaining Kalli!

The music was so loud at times we had to help Kalli cover her ears

One of the floats. I forget how creepy they look with their masks on

Me and my honey. I don't know what I'm doing in this picture but the other picture of me and Joe he has a lazy eye and it looks likes he's on drugs but I looked great...so I decided to be selfless and post the not so cute picture of me but very cute one of him. I know I'm the best wife ever!

Wendy, Me and Erin (and some annoying drunk girl behind us)

Mrs. Sandra (Kevin's mom) and Aunt Beth (she is just hilarious!)

Erin (Wendy's cousin) caught an old school Saints football helmet and gave it to Kaiden (he looks so dorky here-I love it!)

Our first New Orleans Mardi Gras Parade as a family!

(The dragon has since been washed. :) )

Kevin was able to get off of work early and met us there along with two of their friends Alan and Lindsay
Aunt Wendy and Kalli O'Malley

Kalli taking the easy route home and riding in the wagon with all of our junk...I mean loot

Bring a friend!

02/09/10
At Kalli's gymnastics class they had Val Pals Week where you could invite a friend to come to class with you. I mentioned it to Katie and Tyler was more than excited to come ,but was just a little shy when first getting there. Kalli has a little boy in her class but he didn't make it that week so Tyler was stuck to defend himself from all the crazy girls...notice how he doesn't even want to sit next to them here. :) They are watching their teacher show them how and what to do in each station.

Kalli and Tyler playing on the bars

Kal doing some tricks

I don't think she remembers exactly what to do at this station

Here comes her teacher, Ms Lynn, to help out.
I think she was trying to be a monkey here.

Now she's got it!

Tyler doing his roll off the beam over the big wheel thingy

What a fun class! Glad you could come Tyler!

Look at all the space between them! They are too funny!

Cell Phone Pics

Since getting my IPhone, as a surprise from my sweet hubby on my birthday, I take millions of pictures. So I decided I'll post a few at the end of every month since I might not always have my camera but I always, ALWAYS have my phone! :)

These are all from January.
Kal loves putting on her rubber boots and going for a walk in the mud. She almost always gets a foot or two stuck and then falls down which then defeats the purpose of even wearing the boots.

Me and the kids rode out to LSU so Joe could get a few books before the semester started up. Mike was out and about on this cold day.
The was Kalli after seeing Mike the Tiger. She had had a very busy afternoon!

We spent the afternoon at our great friends Katie and Philip's houe and my kids loved playing their wii. I think they were racing bikes here.

Kids playing out in the leaves

Kal's first day of gymnastics. We were trying on leotards and she wanted me to take a picture so she could send it to her dad and she decided to stick out her tounge. I think she looks so funny here.

Trying the bars out for the first time.



Kaiden at his first soccer practice. He wore his Argentina soccer shirt Grandma and Grandpa got for him all the way from...you guessed it Argentina!

Another day at gym

We've had a really cold winter this year with several days cancelled from school b/c of snow. School wasn't cancelled on this day but it did get below freezing the night before. Even after we picked up Kaiden several puddles where still frozen and the water from a neighbor's boat still had large chunks of ice in it. We let the kids slip and slide on the ice puddles for a while then starting thwoing the ice from the boat on the street. The kids had so much fun..until Kaiden threw a pick chunk of ice and it went straight up therefore coming straight down, right onto his back. He didn't think to move out the way just curl in a ball and cover his head! Too bad I didn't get that on video!

Aaron and baby Grey
Kalli looking through the ice

Kaiden

I think the reason why Kaiden was screaming or whining "Nooooo" at the beginning was b/c he was worried Joe was going to hit Greyson with the ice and he knew just how bad it hurt! Lol I love how excited Kaiden is at the end

Let the celebrations begin!

February 6, 2010
We (or I) decided to do a joint birthday party for the kids this year. And we (or I) was crazy enough to think that Chuck-E-Cheese on a Saturday was a good idea!! To give myself some credit this particular location was just recently renovated and use to be way ghetto so I was banking on the fact that most people weren't aware of its newness and going to the 'nicer/cleaner' CEC. Well no such luck b/c this place was packed!! There was a line at the door and they were even turning people away!! Nonetheless we had so much fun and let me tell you the kids were spoiled rotten by all of their friends! I couldn't believe all the really nice and expensive toys these two kids got!

Kalli is very excited to start opening all of her presents!

This isn't a very good picture but I wanted to just show how cute Kalli's gymnastics bag is that she got from Auntie Autumn.
Do you see all of those gifts?!?! Believe me when I say they racked up!

I still don't understand how he can get so excited by getting yet another Cars car

Kalli got a cute Dora Birthday Doll from her best friend, Jude (Kaiden's school friend)

He looks pretty excited about this one! Thanks again Auntie Autumn!

Kalli loves her little baby from mom and dad

Looks like Kalli likes this one, thanks Tyler and Kayleigh!

John John and Jude giving a helping hand

Ready to tear into some cake!

Kaiden says he used his hand b/c he didn't have a fork. But if you notice both Brooklyn and Jude have forks and it seems like there's one lonely fork on his plate...hmmm I don't think he looked too hard! Gotta love black icing!

Kal sat there by herself long after all the other kids were done eating slowly finishing her cake and ice cream. Then once she was done she said, "okay I can go play now!" Oh i just love her!

Isn't Autumn just too cute? Ugh she just makes me sick how beautiful she is and dressed to the T all the time...yea so what I might be a just little jealous. :)

Joe & Matt (Mr Ken to Mrs Barbie in the previous picture)

I think Greyson was a little distracted here. I love both of these girls!

My handsome little 5 year old!

My cute kiddos and the Stone's

Our family

Kaiden playing one of his favorite games . (He likes both the IPhone and real life version)

Papa with the Birthday Kids

Kalli giving Gege one of her ever so 'soft' hugs

Kal with her and Kaiden's best friend, Jude. :)

Kaiden got this massive automatic Nerf gun from Brooklyn. To be honest it came more from her Dad, Mark. :) Joe was ever so anxious to put this gun together. He was so fun to watch while setting it all up and then letting the kids take their turns trying it out.

Here Kaiden is with his tough pose.

Kalli showing her stuff

Kids showing off their cool Super Hero capes that I got them. They're both reversible which is really cool They love 'flying' around the house in them. They get to choose between Batman/Batgirl or Superman/Supergirl

Lisa and Aaron got the kids skates and boy were they excited to try them out! Wish I had someone taking pictures or video for me while I was helping them try the skates out for the first time, I'm sure we were a sight!

The kids had a wonderful time at their party and we want to thank all who came. It was a very hectic day and I'm SO glad its all over with! I will never in a million years have another birthday at CEC on a Saturday again! And this will probably be the last year for a joint party so I'm glad we did something they both would really enjoy. I love you Kaiden and Kalli!!