Look who lost his two front teeth?
He is quite excited about this development,
though he is even more thrilled about a new trick he acquired as a result of the loss.
Now I always know where he is in the house since all I have to do is follow the whistling.
Happy Mardi Gras!
I have so many wonderful memories of Mardi Gras from growing up in New Orleans. I remember some of the costumes I wore, the ladder seats we sat in, scavenging the ground for beads, watching the St. Aug band play, and eating Popeye’s chicken.
Those memories spurred me into having our own little Mardi Gras party despite the fact that we are 600 miles from the real event.
Like most parties I host, I was planning on decorating and cleaning right up to the minute when guests walk in the front door.
This time that plan backfired on me.
Our party was set for 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon. I thought…plenty of time to cook and work on things. That’s a great plan exept that I became sick at 6:00pm the night before the party. I mean, I went down quick and was in bed by 8:15.
In came my superhero husband. He cleaned and cooked up a storm. Without him there would have been no party. I was still in bed when it was only one hour until the party and went back to bed about an hour after the party.
So, our decorations were minimal. Not my best work but it is what it is. After all, I’m pretty sure everyone was there for the crawfish pasta and king cake, anyway.
My mom sent the adorable mask along with Mardi Gras plates, napkins, and shirts for the party. The mask was placed in a flower vase filled with purple beads. I added the gold signs which read, “Let the Good Times Roll,” and the same in french,”Laissez Le Bons Temps Rouler.”
The only other decoration I put up for the party was the “Parades” sign. I actually wasn’t able to finish the sign since I got sick so the last parade, Crescent City, has a lighter coat of paint than the others.
And no I haven’t gone back to complete the sign. I got things to do.
I remember getting up early on Mardi Gras day to get to our spot on the parade route. First came Zulu and the thrill of them throwing decorated coconuts, Rex with the huge cow float, and then the truck parades, Elks and Crescent City, which each had over 120 floats in a row.
Steps in creating the sign:
1) Paint large board purple
2) Print out the names of the parades and arrange on the board.
3) Take the slip of paper with the parade name on it and turn it over. Color the letters with a white crayon (you are coloring on the back of the paper).
4) Turn the paper over so that the crayon will make contact with the board.
5) Trace the letters with a pen onto the board.
6) Lift the paper up and you will see a faint outline of the parade name.
7) Color inside the letters with paint.
Go here to see our Mardi Gras wreath.
Do you have any favorite Mardi Gras memories?
What I thought was just being tired from visiting with a friend turned out to be pneumonia today for my 9 year old.
One trip to the doctor’s office, one trip to the lab for blood work, one trip to the hospital for x-rays, one drive thru trip to McDonald’s, a second trip back to the doctor, and finally a trip to the pharmacist resulted in two very cranky children.
Just like them, I was tired and a bit frustrated while trying to get dinner made.
Little did I know that right after dinner we would all be laughing uncontrollably.
My nine year old was recalling for my husband how he had blood taken from his finger earlier in the day. “I even had the finger prick. That’s the most painful way to give blood.”
My husband said, “Well, I think giving blood intravenously would be more painful.”
With a scrunched up face my son said, “Intrapenisly?”
We all started to chuckle.
“No, intravenously is usually through your arm.”
“Oh, because I was thinking intrapenisly would really hurt.”
We all lost it at that point.
Of course, things quickly went downhill when our six year old had to stand up and demonstrate what giving blood intrapenisly might look like (with his clothes still on, thank goodness).
What’s the worst part of this?
For the next twenty years we will never be able to go to the emergency room with each other for fear that we will burst out laughing while the doctor is giving orders.
There is a kissy girl in kindergarten.
Normally I wouldn’t care.
But my son is in kindergarten, so I do.
My sweet innocent loving boy is in kindergarten WITH A KISSY GIRL!
The other day he came home saying, “Bambi kissed me on the lips.”
No her name is not really Bambi but I think it fits her nicely.
What do you mean Bambi kissed you on the lips?
“I was playing at recess and she walked up and kissed me.”
Do not let him see the steam rising from your head. Keep it together. Do not walk over to the school right now.
We then had a discussion about telling the teacher if something like this happens…and then I ran as fast as I could to my computer. My email was calm and clear, “Not sure if this really happened but wanted to make you aware of what my son is saying.”
About two hours later I took my children to the grocery store. As we walked passed the deli counter my son said, “That’s her.”
“What?”
“That’s Bambi over there.”
Cue my wide eyed glare and robotic head turn.
Cue the western music.
There’s going to be a showdown in the middle of Kroger.
“That’s her?”
“Yes.”
“Did she really kiss you on the lips?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to ask you for the last time, did she really kiss you on the lips? Because I’m going to walk over there and speak to her mommy and you better be telling me the truth.”
“Yes, she did.”
I slowly turned around and envisioned my near future. I’m going to be the crazy mom on the playground from now on. My son has probably made up this lie and now I’m going to look like a freak confronting someone who is holding 2 pounds of ham.
“Excuse me. Hi. I am Andrew’s mom and he told me something which I’m not really sure is true or not. He said Bambi kissed him on the lips on the playground.”
She turned to Bambi, “Did you kiss him on the lips?”
“No.”
Liar. You little liar. You kissed my son, you two bit tramp!
“You better tell me the truth. Did you kiss him?”
“No.”
“We will talk about this when we get home.”
“Like I said, I don’t know if it’s true or not.”
I felt awful the rest of the day and questioned my choice of approaching the mom. But I quickly felt vindicated when I received an email from his teacher the following day.
Apparently, “the kissing incident,” did happen. Andrew didn’t tell the teacher on duty because it wasn’t his teacher. It was corroborated by others. Andrew and Bambi have been informed that they need to stay away from each other and there should be no touching of any kind.
I can see the school playground from my house but have decided to wait on the purchase of high powered binoculars.
I may change my mind though since I will have more time on my hands.
My husband is now in charge of all grocery shopping.
You never know who I might see, and more importantly, what I might say.
Done!
I am done with the half marathon.
Praise the lord 0 Hallelijah!
I’m happy to report my sisters and I all completed the race.
In case you don’t remember, my sister Kelly asked me and our sister Amanda to run a half marathon for a sisters’ weekend.
Amazingly, we agreed.
Here’s a quick look at our race.
Hi hotel lady – Would you mind taking our picture? Yes, we know it’s 6 AM and 40 degrees outside but we are dreading eagerly anticipating our run this morning.
Kelly, me, Amanda
(You may notice the stained shirts – during the race, as you get hot, you toss your outer layers to the ground – the race director stated that all the clothing collected from the ground goes to a homeless center – How wonderful for the homeless to receive stinky clothing, snot covered gloves, and dirty hats )
Look how freakin’ dark it is! We are insane!
This is all your fault anyway. You’re the one who wanted to do this.
Thank you for pointing out that fact for the millionth time Jennifer.
Good times. Good times.
It was quite cold at the starting line so I felt justified in complaining until I noticed the soldier who planned to run the entire race in his combat boots. Hmmm, perhaps I should just be grateful I can choose to do this run. Yes, I’m thankful but I’m still freezing.
Once the gun when off all three of us stayed together for a total of four minutes. Amanda took off and left us in the dust. Keep in mind she didn’t even train a total of 13 miles for this race and it’s all the more impressive. I ran over 140 miles in training and was tired at mile nine. Amanda kept telling us she would die but we never bought it.
My sister Kelly and I stayed together for the first 5 miles but then separated after that.
I hate this song, not motivating at all, why did I put it on here?
This song isn’t helping either.
I’ll just pretend I’m listening to music and eaves drop on theses other runners for a bit.
At mile six I stopped at an aid station since my hands were swelling. I made the mistake to leave my gloves in the hotel and as a result my hands were painfully cold the entire race. I asked the nurse at the aid station if it was okay that my hands had turned into giant man hands. She seemed to think it was perfectly fine so I went on my way. After all, only 7 more miles to go.
The race was extremely well run with water stops, cheer groups, and plenty of support. The cheer groups had signs that said, “You did this to yourself,” “Beat Oprah,” and, “Pretend you’re a Kenyan.”
I was able to give those cheer groups something to laugh at as well.
When asked what name I would like to show on my bib number, let’s just say I didn’t write down Jennifer.
At the eleven mile mark the lead marathoner passed me. In the same time it took me to run 11 miles, he had run 24 miles. 24 MILES! It was unbelievable to watch. Of course, I only watched for a minute since he was quickly out of my sight.
I was incredibly happy to see the finish line when I rounded the final corner.
Many people report having a runners high when completing a long run.
Not me.
I was just relieved to be finished and was desperate for a pair of gloves.
I need a picture of us at the finish line.
This is not going on your blog.
Oh yes it is.
Can’t we go back to the hotel and change first?
No, the final picture has to be us at the finish line. Now let’s take the picture.
Fine. Let’s put our hands on our hips so our arms will look less flabby.
Amanda (2:17), me (2:40), Kelly (2:45)
Amanda and I have informed Kelly that we will be planning the next sisters’ weekend and there won’t be a tennis shoe insight.
So for now I’m hanging up my sports bra and calling my running career over.
At least for now.
After all, you never know when a sister is going to need you.
I am the world’s worst person when it comes to remembering birthdays or anniversaries.
My entire family and group of friends are all nodding their head in agreement right now.
I have two friends who I have known since birth and I only know that their birthdays are at the beginning of November. The 6th? The 12th? The 14th?
I don’t even know my sister-in-laws anniversary. I know it was sometime in the summer since I was wearing a sleeveless dress at the ceremony – July? August?
Sad. I know.
Well friends, I’m going to remedy that situation in 2012.
I created a celebrations page which allows me to write down everyone’s birthday and have them all in one place. Yes, this is something that could be on a computer but I wanted a hard copy to keep by the fridge. After all, I go by the fridge 16 – 20 times a day, I’m bound to see it.
For those of you who have a birthday on the 29th, 30th, or 31st let’s just get your feelings out there. Yes, I had to combine some dates in order for all 365 days to appear. That’s just the way it is. Would you have preferred I take them off completely :)?
If you’d like a copy of this 2 sided document, click here.
Please consider becoming a follower of Big D & Me if you decide to download
Now to friends & family – EMAIL ME YOUR BIRTHDAY & ANNIVERSARY INFO NOW!
My husband and I are trying to raise our children to be well mannered, considerate, and respectable young people.
Emphasis on the trying.
They’re not walking around wearing white undershirts and smoking but some days I worry if we’re making any progress.
Thank you cards are big in our house.
I believe it’s important for kids to learn how to write them and send them each time they receive a gift.
So everyday for the past week, our kids have written a thank you card to someone who gave a present to them over the holidays.
I’m fairly sure my 6 year old’s thank you card proves we’re not succeeding in our goal.
Our family has a history of silly gifts on Christmas day, from my Dad’s t-shirts, to wrapping a present in multiple boxes, to the matching pants my sisters and I received (not an intentional gag gift but one which occurred since apparently JCrew’s sizes run waaaaaay small).
So I figured this Christmas it was my turn to be the ring leader.
Browsing through etsy in September I came across some crocheted beards and I knew this was it.
Laura was wonderful to work with and created 7 beards for me to give as gifts for the family.
Feast your eyes on this awesomeness!
Top row:
My brother the hairy beast (I’m sure this look will be a hit on the college scene)
My dad (gray to match his current stache)
My husband (just what he needs, more hair 🙂
My brother-in-law (Very stylish and practical for shoveling snow in Michigan)Yes, I said seven but there are only six beards in the picture.
Where’s the 7th beard you ask?
Introducing Princess Grizzly …..
Her hat and beard were created by Laura.
Outside playtime this winter will probably lead the neighbors to think we’ve adopted three middle aged munchkins.
Check out Laura’s site here and have your own hairy fun.
One of my favorite family Christmas traditions occurs on Christmas Eve.
Every December 24th, usually in the afternoon, Santa’s elves deliver a holiday book (or two) and leave it at our door.
Once everyone has showered and put on pajamas we get into bed and read the book.
The kids love receiving the book and I’m pretty sure Santa loves giving it just as much.
Over the years we have built up quite a collection of holiday books.
Here’s a peek at some of our favorites:
The Berenstain Bears Christmas by Stan & Jan Berenstain
The Berenstain Bears’ Christmas Tree by Stan & Jan Berenstain
This is an amazing book, just gorgeous illustrations and just magical for kids 5 – 10 yrs old.
Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson
Santa’s Reindeer by Rod Green
Another unbelievable Christmas book. Tells all about Santa’s reindeer, where they sleep, how they fly, and more. This one will not disappoint.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Cajun Night Before Christmas by “Trosclair”
Just a few lines of the beginning to give you the gist of this favorite of mine – lay on a thick french/country accent as you read it 🙂
‘Twas the night before Christmas
An’ all t’ru de house
Dey don’t a t’ing pass
Not even a mouse.
De chirren been nezzle
Good snug on de flo’
An’ Mama pass de pepper
T’ru de crack on de do’.
Do you have any family traditions or holiday books that are special to you?
“This is going to be so exciting kids.”
“Let’s race, Mom.”
“OK, but this is just for fun.”
Here we go….
I’m ahead right now, yes!
Nice tactic Alex but leaning will get you no where when you’re racing me. You might as well pack it in right now suckas’.
Man, I’ve got skills – I might have been a professional luger had we lived in the right climate.
Ha! They are slowing down and my body keeps going – God knew what he was doing when he created this winning machine.
Oh, oh, oh, my legs are clearly across first.
Yes! I AM THE WINNER!
I mean, wasn’t that so much fun kids.