Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday at Mike Anderson's in Gonzales. It was great to see everyone and the kids were very well behaved. When the kids got antsy Peter, Bridget, Brian, and I gave them our iPhones and they were A-OK.

Beignets

We met Betsy's buds Maddie and Evy and Maddie's family for breakfast at New Orleans Coffee & Beignet Company. I had tried the beignets a few weeks ago and they were OK, but this time they were super delicious. Betsy and her friends had a ball!

Cotton Bowl

The Carvilles and the Ascanis came over to watch LSU win the Cotton Bowl. The girls stayed up waaaaay too late, but they had lots of fun. We ate sandwiches from St. James Cheese Company, a delicious salad courtesy of the Ascanis, and a kingcake from Sucre courtesy of the Carvilles. My girls wore their precious LSU dresses from Momma Lady and Grandpa. What a fun night!

Christmas Part ?

Catching up again...I lost track of how many Christmas celebrations we have had this year. We had a bonus Christmas celebration with Gumbo, Bee, and the Carvilles at the Ascani house. Thanks for the hospitality, folks!

It may be a cliche, but it's true. The kids loved this box more than anything else.

Gumbo's new hunting bag with Gumbo monogrammed on it, of course:

Toys, toys, toys!

After the girls returned from Vacherie they were glad to see their Christmas toys. They LOVE the Lincoln Logs Santa brought them. I wasn't sure they'd like this Classic Toy--so glad they do!

Bedtime:

News Flash: Betsy just said that she couldn't finish her dinner because, "I don't want to get fat. If I eat all of my dinner I'll get fat and I want to be skinny." Huh? She's 4. Was she just trying to get out of eating her grape tomatoes? I want to think so.

News Flash 2: Betsy and Sadie have been in the bathroom for a while and B said Sadie was on the potty and she would wipe her. Um, Sadie has NEVER showed the slightest interest in potty training. Maybe Betsy will teach her--go, Bets!

New Bedroom

The girls' bedroom has been a work in progress for the last few months. Momma Lady and Grandpa bought the girls beautiful white iron beds and repainted Maggie's childhood desk and chests of drawers and Peter's childhood toy chest. Momma Lady and Grandpa also bought the girls new bedding for Christmas. Their room looks like a room for two big girls now! Oops--need to take pics of the desk, and the chests of drawers.

B's reaction when she saw her new bedding--so excited!

Happy New Year!!!

The girls spent nearly a week in Vacherie after Christmas. Thanks soooo much, Momma Lady and Grandpa!!! It was perfect, because I was down with a killer cold and not having to care for two little ones was nice. Peter and I did manage to have one date while the girls were away. We went to dinner at Dominique's last Wednesday. It was delicious and the atmosphere was great--dim lighting, beautiful fireplaces, cool and high ceilings. The staff was funny and nice and not snooty/annoying. Our dinner was so good and our dessert came with a precious big, fluffy plaintain-flavored puff of cotton candy on a bamboo stick. Adorable!

Momma Lady and Grandpa bought the girls precious new bedding for Christmas to go with the adorable iron beds they bought them. We set the beds up and their room is now finished and they love it. [When B saw it she said, "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!!" And I completely agree]. By the time they came home on Thursday I was really missing my girls. On Friday morning P took the girls to get beignets while I went to the gym. They went to the new New Orleans Coffee & Beignet Co., which is in the back of the new New Orleans Hamburger & Seafood Co. that has taken the place of Cannon's on St. Charles. It is waaaay more convenient than going to the Quarter or to Metairie. B is totally thrilled. Betsy and I attended a Noon Year's Eve Party at the Lauschas and she was so glad to see two of her school buddies--they really missed each other!

For our crazy, wild New Year's Eve P picked up Whole Foods for dinner. After dinner we went downstairs and ate Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and watched Toy Story 3 on the comfy, gigantic sofa. It was exactly what I wanted to do.

On New Year's Day we de-Christmased the house and today we went to Mass at Holy Name. One of my top New Year's resolutions is to start going to Mass again. The girls did OK at best. I had brought a couple of books, but Sadie was super chatty and Betsy kept asking when we were going home. I know I had to have been really good at Mass at their ages, right??? Next week I'm bringing crayons. We ate lunch at Houston's then home to watch the Saints game then a fabulous early evening dinner at Katie and Peter's. Lots of yummy food was provided by Katie, Peter, and Bee. And New York Pizza. :) We exchanged presents with Gumbo--we like to spread out our Christmas celebrating, huh? The girls go back to school tomorrow. I am off so I am finishing up the 1000 projects I wanted to get done over the holidays. Pics soon.

Happy New Year!!!