Early Birthday

In loo of the parade route, we celebrated Nick's birthday a few days early on Monday. We had ordered a Sucré king cake (mmm, mmm tasty and pretty) for Nick's birthday cake. 

Nick in is full Mardi Gras regalia, complete with crown.

We decided to save the king cake for breakfast and had cupcakes for dessert instead. It was also much more entertaining to watch Nick eat a cupcake.

Tuesday morning we dug into the super tasty king cake. Nick was a fan!

Play Time at the Park

A little play time at the park with Grandma

Parading Time!

So the original idea for Sunday parading was to celebrate Nick's birthday, dress up like garden gnomes (group theme) and have a good time. Well, the stomach virus had other ideas. Sarah, my mom and I took the boys down to St Charles for the Uptown parades on Sunday while Adam and my dad were home sick. We had the boy's ladder set up and ready to go thanks to Sarah's awesome friends. Nick was cooperative and wore his gnome costume and sat in the ladder seat. Ben wanted nothing to do with either one...The boys lasted about a parade and a half and then they were done. Nick was tired and hungry and Ben was in need of sleep as well. The boys got a few throws, including a spear and tomahawk for Ben (grrrreat, just what he needs) and although it wasn't exactly according to plan, it was still fun!

Endymion

Well, I will start by saying, it was not the greatest of Mardi Gras's, thanks to the norovirus-esque virus we all got. I got sick on the plane on Friday, Adam and my mom got it Saturday night, my dad got it Sunday and Sarah had it Monday. It was super awesome. But between all the illness, we still managed to have a little fun.

Saturday Adam and I left the boys home with grandma and grandpa and hit the Endymion parade route. Donnie had his motor home (aka MoHo) on the route, and it was glorious, particularly during the torrential downpour an hour before the parade started to roll. We stayed nice and comfy with the (electric) fireplace, hot chocolate and satellite tv. I still wasn't feeling well, so without the convenience and comfort of the MoHo, I probably wouldn't have been able to parade.

Despite the rain, Endyimon still rolled! And a few of the bands were super troopers and marched! The rain ended about 30 or 45 minutes into the parade, so it wasn't too bad.

We got some crazy good throws! Adam caught a boa, some giant Saints beads, glow sticks, cups, roses and footballs.

A Tub For Two...Or More

Ahhh, room to move, swim, do a couple of laps and no way for babies to crawl out!

Welcoming Committee

Friday morning we headed out for New Orleans - the day Ben has been waiting for! Unfortunately, I woke up with the stomach virus the boys had had earlier in the week. Awesome. Well, long story short, with the miracle of drugs I survived the flight but not without getting sick on the plane. Super Awesome.

Anyways, once we got off the plane, we were greeted by the NOLA Welcoming Committee and Grandma. The Welcoming Committee was giving out beads and throws. The boys both got beads and stuffed animals. Ben got a big stuffed dog and Nick got a Sock Monkey.

I went straight to bed once we got to the house while Ben went to the Quarter with Grandpa and Adam. They decided it was best not to have photographic evidence of Ben's experience (or they just forgot the camera) but Ben had a good time. He came home with more beads and stuffed animals and got to ride the ferry. What more could a 3 year old ask for??

Prepping

In order to get Ben truly in the Mardi Gras spirit, I gave him a bag of beads to take to day care on Thursday. For the past week, as soon as he wakes up he asks if we are going to Mardi Gras yet. 'Mommy, we go to Mardi Gras today?' And I had to keep telling him, no, not until Friday.

Happy Valentine's Day!

For Valentine's Day this year, we made alligator valentine's for the kids at daycare. I found the printables on a blog I came across called Skip To My Lou. I printed the alligators, cut them out and assembled them, then Ben decorated them. I bought some stickers and dug up some heart stamps. He had a good time decorating them, though I feel like we need to work on the crafting skills. Or maybe I have unrealistic expectations of a 3 year old's crafting abilities. We also made some neon pink rice krispy treats in the shape of hearts (but I forgot to take a picture of those).

Just Look at The Dynamics Here

Just look at these two. Nick is totally the instigator. He's like stalking Ben, waiting for the perfect time to make him the most upset and then laughs manically. Really? Ugh, I'm so screwed.

New Shoes!

Nick officially has his first pair of shoes. And it was when I bought Nick's first pair of shoes that I realized just how gianormous Ben's feet are (if the fact that he was out of toddler shoes at the ripe ol' age of 23 months hadn't already given it away). Both boys got shoes at the same age - 12 months. Nick got a size 4.5 wide. Ben's first pair of shoes was a 5.5 wide. That is two whole sizes. And Nick is bigger than Ben was at this age.

Nick isn't quite sure what to think of his new shoes yet. Funny story: When I took him to Striderite, there was  another family in the store with a little girl the same age as Nick. They had already been there for a while, doing what I'm not sure. It appeared that the little girl was either picking out her own shoes and was very sad they were fresh out of Malono Blahniks or had to walk a few miles in her shoes before they could buy her a pair (or maybe two). The mother made some comment to the affect that it was going to take all afternoon to buy her shoes. Nick and I, in and out of the store in 7 minutes. Walk in, size his foot, pick out shoes, try them on, he cried, I said that'll work, paid and left. It would have been less if they had had the first two pairs I picked in his size. 

Are You Kidding Me?

Those were my exact words as I walked into the living room to witness this:

Apparently Nick witnessed Ben climbing into the walker yesterday and, well, monkey see, monkey do. Grrrrreat. You'd think he would have learned to stop climbing into the walker after falling off a few times, but, nope.

Little Drummer Boy