pizza party

the wednesday nights that brandon has his bowling league are pizza party nights @ the house :)  the kids LOVE it.  i give the older 2 their own dough and let them do the entire thing on their own.  emery gets some dough to play with/eat as well.  

as you can see in this picture, she had also been eating markers...

mine

ellis'

beckett's...as if you couldn't figure that out :)

emery thinks beckett's pizza is also her pizza...he is sweet enough to let her "help"

so gross.  look how many pepperoni he has on there!

finished product...deelish!

Mardi Gras part II

parade time!!  sooo much fun!!  we got hooked up w/ a great spot to watch from...up high away from the crowds...food, booze, etc.  

ellis has about 10 new stuffed animals to add to her collection.  beckett loaded up on footballs...

aunt ursula had these HUGE bags made for the kids to put all of their goodies in!!  monogrammed of course :)

she could barely carry her bag!

brandon's cousin natalie and her husband todd...so sweet and so fun.  they were our tour guides :)  

the next morning they hooked us up again!!  while the krewe was loading the floats for another parade w/ beads & goodies, we went and let the kids explore...they keep them all in a big warehouse until parade time...

look @ all of the stuff to be thrown!!!  crazy!!

ellis took her own pics...

waaay up there!

todd and natalie have baby julia.  she is adorable and the kids loved her....she played lots of piano with them :)

our home away from home for the weekend...SUCH a gorgeous house.  we can't thank aunt ursula (natalie's mom) enough for bring the best hostess EVER!!!  she may very well be the most thoughtful person i know.  the kids adore her and so do we!  did i mention that after we brought home frozen white russians from the drive thru, a GALLON of them appeared in her freezer the next day :)  yum!!!
 

we did so many fun things but i was lacking as usual in my picture taking :(  first mudbugs of the season were consumed!!

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!

Mardi Gras!!! from my iphone

we left friday around 11:30 a.m...and made it to our destination (houma, LA) at 7:30 p.m.  that's right, 8 hours for what is supposed to be a less than 5 hour trip.  thrilled to not have emery with us on this road trip! (thanks bebe and bo for letting her tag along to austin).  ellis and beckett were great...i pods, movies, colors...etc.

he looks so grown up w/ the ear buds...

ellis got her first beads at a gas station along the way...my mom's family would be so proud...LSU

i needed this...

and this.  how cute, right??  mardi gras bud light!!!  it's the little things :)

we made it to the parade just in time!!  they LOVED it.  ellis said it was the best day of her life :)

one of my most favorite things about louisiana- drive thru drinks.  LOVE.

brandon's aunt ursula is TOO SWEET FOR WORDS.  she had toothpaste and toothbrushes wrapped up for the kids waiting in the bathroom upstairs...they were thrilled...

we drove ellis and beckett by the house brandon lived in as a child :)

went and visited uncle scotty @ the gas station.  he told them to pick anything they wanted.  slushees and candy...beckett was in heaven....

better pics on next post!!!

please don't tell her dad about this picture...

she is often naked.  but on top of spiderman was a first....

 there were a few that were WAY worse than this...i probably could have been arrested for posting :)

a little segment i like to call skip it or hit it...(humble civic center edition)

we attended 2 different events @ the humble civic center over the past 5 days...

picadilly circus: skip it

OMG.  i have no words (almost).  it was the most amazing thing i have ever seen (in a bad, but really funny way).  i am pretty sure if someone gave me a week or two, i could put on a better circus.  maybe i should change my review to "hit it".  because really, you just have to see it to understand.  i am not sure if you can tell from the picture below, but there was barely anyone there!!  how did i miss the memo? oh...and those seats in the dirt?  VIP section.  lucky, lucky people.

paid $20 for ellis and beckett to ride that elephant...

paid $10 for ellis to take a picture with those ponies (colored hair!)

paid $35 (ok...bebe bought these)....

 and the best part of the WHOLE circus happened in the parking lot.  as we were leaving, cars were taking turns getting out of the parking lot...you know how you take turns merging into one line kinda thing??  hopefully you have it pictured in your head??  well, this biatch wasn't going to let me in even though it was my turn.  she made eye contact with me and shook her head "no" at me.  she was riding the car in front of her SOOO close to make sure i couldn't nudge in there.  a little too close because she HIT THE CAR IN FRONT OF HER.  truly one of the best moments of my life :)  the car in front of her threw it in park and got out to exchange information. hahahahahahhaha!!!  i kicked it into reverse and went around them both.  oh the pleasure.

humble rodeo: hit it!!!

pat green played this year!!  so awesome.  the kids loved it last year so we knew we would go again...just an extra bonus that we happened to LOVE the entertainer.  the kids stayed till 10:30 or 11.  it is such a small arena so the kids get to see all of the action up close.  bull riding, horse tricks, calf scramble, etc.  i think we had 14 kids with us....SO MUCH FUN!! they were entertained the whole time...and so were we :)  totally worth it...and so much easier than the houston rodeo...kids are free too!