William's 4th Birthday...Part 2!

(Ok...so this posting is a little behind the times...sorry! We've been super busy. Read on!)


So we threw William a second birthday party on August the 13th for all of his friends. We rented out a local indoor jumping playland, called "Jumping Kids." We also made it a pirate-themed party, and everyone was invited to wear pirate clothes. It was so much fun, even for the adults! Here are some pictures from the party:

This is William and Natalie before the party started. William dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, of course! I had ordered a piratess costume for Natalie, but what I received in the mail was a bag of shredded costume...thanks US Postal service! So, we improvised and my neighbor Alonna helped me put something together for Natalie.

This is my neighbor Alonna and her daughter Chloe', all dressed up for the pirate party!

Tom got into the party by throwing balls at anyone who dared enter the ball pit!

This is William's buddy Michael about to jump from the top of the bouncing boat, and that's his Aunt Jenn saying, "Michael, be careful or you'll break your foot!" Well, I'm not sure if he broke his foot, but he ended up hurting it pretty bad!

This is me and Emily (Michael's mom), probably up to no good!

Yum! William's cake looked like the deck of the Black Pearl pirate ship. One funny part that happened here; all the kids gathered around to sing "Happy Birthday" and William's friend Michael leaned over and blew out a few of the candles. Most kids would be bothered by this, but William turned to him and was so excited he yelled, "Thank you Michael!" Phew...crisis averted!

It was a fun party!! Hooray!

William's 4th birthday: Part 1

Mr. William turned four (or as they say in Louisiana "made four") today! We had a small little family party for him. I made his favorite foods(lasagna and broccoli) and then we had our neighbors over for birthday cake (part 1). And, of course, he got to open his presents from us.

Tomorrow night is his birthday party with all of his friends. This will be Willliam's first big birthday party and we're pretty excited! It has a pirate theme (William's really big into pirates right now) so hopefully some other kids will come dressed as pirates besides William and Natalie!

Please note: Natalie and William are normally fully dressed. But again, it was just too hot today, even inside, and the kids stripped down to their comfort level!!

Balloon Launch in Baton Rouge

Some friends of ours told us about this huge hot air balloon launch that was going to take place on Saturday (yesterday). It all sounded pretty cool so we loaded up the kids and made the two hour trek to Baton Rouge. Although it all did sound good in theory, there was one big negative: the weather!

It was April 1st when we left Ohio to move to Louisiana. We were still in coats and long sleeves. Not thinking to clearly, I only packed long sleves and pants for everyone. Everything else was packed up by the movers and in storage until we closed on our house. Bad idea. When we arrived in Louisiana, I had to go out and buy summer clothes for everyone. Whenever anyone asked how I liked it here, my response usually had something to do with how hot it was compared to anywhere else I had ever lived. And every person's response was, "well, if you think this is hot, just wait till August!" I didn't know what that really meant, until I experienced my first August in southern Louisiana. It is just miserable. No winds blowing up out of the Gulf, not even regular rainstorms to cool the temperatures a bit. No, it really is miserably hot come August.

Well, ladies and gentlemen...it is August! When we decided to go to Baton Rouge for the balloon launch, Tom checked the weather and saw that it was going to be HOT!!! When we got there (at 6:30 pm) it was 104 degrees with a heat index of 115 degrees. HOT HOT HOT!!! You can bet we didn't stay till the fireworks!

A Saturday Night in New Orleans

Most of you know that the last Harry Potter book came out on Saturday at midnight. Seeing that I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, I got my book at midnight and read till about 1:30 am, woke up about 8 and started reading again. I spent the morning in Natalie's room (comfortable rocking chair!) reading while Tom was so graciously watching the kids so I could have some quite time. At 1 I had to take William to the church primary swim party while Tom took Natalie to the local war museaum to drop off his motorcycle (it's normally on display there.) By the time I got back from the party, all I wanted to do was lock myself in a room and keep reading! But, Tom had had enough of the "missing mommy" that I'd become, so we decided to take off for New Orleans for the night and have a good time. I'm glad we went, cause the family had a blast!




This picture is of Tom and the kids in front of the cathedral at Jackson's Square. This is where President Bush made his speech following Hurricane Katrina.

This is Tom and the kids waiting at Cafe' Du'Monde in the French Quarter for Beignets. The line turned out to be too long, so we decided to get the car and then get them to go in the car. Bad idea, especially since I had just cleaned my car! Powdered Sugar was EVERYWHERE! Thank heavens for leather seats-they just wipe right up!


On the way back to getting the car we stopped at a little spot where we could sit on the Mississippi River and watch the riverboats and barges go by. The kids really enjoyed the big boats!

William:Missionary/Weatherman

William has really been thinking about his future lately! There are two things he wants to be when he grows up, simultaneously that is: a missionary and a weatherman. He loves to see the missionaries at church in their suits and ties and little black tags. And he loves to watch the weatherman on tv do his forecasts, and then he tries to recreate them for us. It's really quite fun actually! He always has a way of making everyday just a little more exciting!

Natalie the dancer.

This is an old post from YouTube, but we always enjoy watching it, so feel free to check it out! I was driving somewhere and had put the soundtrack from "Lord of the Dance" on to listen to. I glanced back in my rearview mirror to see Natalie's legs flying! Either that girl is going to be a dancer or one heck of a swimmer! I caught it all on video with my cell phone, which is why the video is a little unclear.

A trip with Janice

We took a trip into New Orleans on Friday (July 13th) with our friend Janice. She had never been to the Aquarium there and since we are members we can get her in for free. I can't speak for her, but I know we had a great time! After the aquarium, we walked along the riverwalk and then got hot chocolate (in 90 degree weather-stupid, I know!) and beignets on the Mississippi. For those of you not from this area, beignets (pronounced "been-yea') are basically fried dough covered in powdered sugar. The kids love 'em! We got them from Cafe' Du Monde', which I guess is famous for their coffee and beignets. The original shop was in the French Quarter, but we prefer the shop on the Mississippi. Then we did a little shopping in the Riverwalk stores and headed home. It's always a blast with our friend Janice!