Parents 1st Visit

This past Saturday my Mom & Dad, from Lufkin, Texas, came for their first visit to New Orleans. God gave us a wonderful gift... there was a 70% chance of rain for all weekend - but it didn't rain a drop every time we went out to show them the city! Thank you God!

They were here all weekend - but this is the only picture we got of them while they were here... right before they pulled away to go home Monday morning.

They enjoyed getting to meet all our new friends at Journey Christian Church as well as seeing fun things around town. They brought a birthday gift for Jordan - a huge Littlest Pet Shop House and some fun new books. They brought a little ambulance for JP that even came with a little EMS man. However, my Dad picked up these cute little flyshooters from Bass Pro Shop and these were the hit of the weekend! Imagine that! No worries Mom & Dad... the big toys were picked back up once you left! LOL!!!

We really are enjoying visits from our friends and family from Texas. This week our dear friend Christiana is coming and then Lynette in June and my sister and her family in July! Yeah! We can't wait to see you all!!!

Yes, we're still here!

Hello Friends & Family!
I know it's been a while since my last entry - we are still here, we are still enjoying our life in New Orleans and we are still experiencing new and wonderful things.

On Mother's Day weekend we went with some new friends to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. What a great time we had! They have have a beautiful waterfront home there. We enjoyed a great time watching the kids swim, a nice boat ride, and awesome food! JP & John even got to enjoy a nice ATV ride around the neighborhood. Thanks Ben & Liz Licata, & your great kids - Nick, Zach, Ann Marie & Emily - for sharing your incredible home with us! We had a great time! I should also share with everyone that this gorgeous home is brand new! They had just bought their lakefront home just 7 weeks before Katrina hit. They found the roof of this home (version 1) at the front of the neighborhood. They had to rebuild after only enjoying their weekend home for 7 weeks! The resilience of this place and the people here still amazes me!

I still can't believe that we are so close to such pretty places. It only took us an hour to get there!













Recently I had the extreme honor of getting to serve in our church's nursery. What a great group of kids we have in the 1-2 year old class! Not than I'm biased or anything. But watching JP, Natalie and Griffin play together was truly a joy & a delight! Natalie is so sweet to share all the toys, and JP just wants to explore every part of the room and it's contents and Griffin, has such a sweet spirit that you can't help but smile when you're around him.









This next week my oldest child is turning 5! I just can't believe it! I really seems like yesterday I was giving birth to Jordan at West Houston Memorial (in a really small delivery room!). Just today she told me that "day after tomorrow she was going to wake up and look in the mirror so she could see what a 5 year old looked like". Is that cute or what?!

We love you all dearly!

A Day at the Zoo!

On Thursday morning we decided we would load up and try out the zoo. We had a pretty light schedule at home and I couldn't imagine us spending the entire day at home. So we packed some juices and snacks and headed to Audobon Zoo! What a fun day it was! Jordan and JP alike really enjoyed all the animals. Nothing bored them and they never once got cranky! We enjoyed a ride on the carousel and the train - both were nice ways to get out of the sun! We ended the day with a nice lunch at the zoo.

Jordan said her favorites of the day were the Bengal White Tigers and the Flamingos - JP, well he really really enjoyed every animal and bird. As we would leave each area he would yell "Bye Bye" to them. They were really a great kids today. I think we've found their passion!






CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES FROM OUR DAY AT THE ZOO!

My First Open House!

I had the wonderful pleasure and honor of hosting the ladies of Journey in my home yesterday! It was such a great morning. We had tons of wonderful food and lots of great conversations. I got to know so many ladies much better. We had time to just visit and it was really nice. Some of the ladies even sat down with our wedding album and got to see a whole different side of me and John. I look forward to so many more events like this!

There were so many cars there - that my neighbor - a sweet little lady next door who has lived there since the 50's - came over to see what was going on! She talked for a while at the back door with Michelle and I! She even thought Michelle and I were sisters! What a compliment for me!

Of course I did a major faux pax when it comes to cooking! I made 3 things that I had never made before for ladies that have never had my cooking! Danger Danger! However, the fruit dip came out great! The Armadillo Eggs - were a hit even though I made them way to early on Friday, and the Monkey Bread was nice too - even though I burned it a little! Thanks to my Mom, Berdie, and a nice online recipe for helping me make the food part a hit! I couldn't have done it without you!

If you weren't able to come - don't worry! I'll be having more things at my house and would even love to just have a cup of coffee with you! Please feel free to call me anytime!

Here are some photos from the day:

The Best Day Yet!!!

I love how God changes my mindset sometimes! Today, I woke up very early after having a less than a peaceful evening. Jordan took a long time to go to sleep last night, and just when I thought we had that "put to bed" no pun intended - JP started waking up! He woke up crying several times throughout the night. So I woke up this morning with heavy eyes - totally not ready to "take on the day".

But God stepped in and redeemed my day and my spirit. I had the wonderful pleasure of getting to visit with another new friend today! She has a little girl - Natalie - she is the same age as JP. All three kids played great together, while Michelle and I had a great time getting to know one another better. Then after JP's nap (Thank you Lord!) we picked up a little swimming pool for the kids and they had an afternoon of great summer fun!

Then... I got to cook a healthy dinner for my family - which I just LOVE to do!!! While cooking the kids played peacefully and without arguing in the backyard! Does this sort of thing really get to happen? I just love days like this!

Here are some pictures to enjoy... the kids playing in the water!

A Day at the Quarter

Saturday we took the kids to the French Quarter for the very first time. We got up early, not by design, but because the kids just LOVE to rise with the sun - and decided to treat the kids to beneigts at Cafe Du Monde - guess we had to get this out of our system. We were thinking if we got there by 8:30am we would miss the long line and crowds. We were wrong! But the line moved relatively fast and the kids enjoyed watching the horse & buggy carriages arrive - they thought it was a parade!





We got to our seat and the kids dove right into the fun breakfast foods. Well, let me rephrase that... Jordan said they were yummy but tasted them with caution. I think she was concerned about getting too much of the powdered sugar on her clothes - not the case with JP. He took right to them!!!






After that we let the kids play in the park area of the French Quarter. They LOVED playing in the trees and even found a few flowers to bring to us. I can totally see us spending weekend mornings here often. They are so easily amused!





Of course we couldn't leave this are without getting their picture taken with General Andrew Jackson! Jordan LOVED this statue! JP just wanted to climb or scale it and did his best to do so!



After this we went across the street to see the Mississippi. They had to do some climbing to get there... and the entire time I'm thinking - "this is good for them and good for us - surely this will allow them both to take a nice long nap when we get home!"


Once we got to the top they wanted to go down the few little steps to actually put their feet in the water. John of course keeping a tight grip on JP - otherwise I think he would have jumped right in for a "swim" - smart Daddy!






We enjoyed the many of street entertainers along the walk. We also saw several people getting married in this same area! Way too cool!


The kids certainly had a blast! We ended a day with each of the kids getting a book about the French Quarter. I think this picture shows everyone just how much fun they had... JP was indeed ready for a nap upon arriving home!