Our Royal Highness

Our first big Mardi Gras event was not even a parade, it was our very own Mardi Gras Royalty ceremony.  To explain...Tyler brought home a list of events that would be happening for Mardi Gras and one of them was the coronation ceremony for the 1st grades dukes & maids.  I knew it would be going on while Todd & Hillary were in town, but I figured it wouldn't be something we would need to attend since I was SURE Tyler wouldn't be involved.  But then came the day they drew names out of a hat...Tyler got off the bus that day and came running full force saying "Mom!  I got picked to be a duke for Mardi Gras royalty!".  I couldn't believe it!  There was a Duke and Maid from every class and our very own Tyler was officially royal, which makes us royal too, right?!  So, one of the big events we took the Kirwan family to was the elementary school royalty assembly!  I'm sure it wasn't the top thing on their list of things to see & do in New Orleans, but it was so fun for us to have some family members attend!

They introduced Tyler and his maid Lindsay.  I thought she was one of the cutest girls there.  :)  And Tyler was looking as handsome as ever!  I truly loved this whole thing.  It is times like this that I am reminded just how much fun there is to be had here.  It is an experience you just couldn't possibly get anywhere else!  When they introduced Tyler, they read a bio all about him--his family, his favorite foods (oysters), what he wants to be when he grows up (an aquarium owner), etc.  It was so cute!

They all paraded around the gym and then went back on stage.

The proud "royal" family!

So...we tried to get a cousin picture (this is a common theme from the week!).

And our special out of town guests.  :)

Seriously...so handsome, if I do say so myself!

Our very own Duke Tyler.

And then that afternoon, we headed across the lake to our first parades of the season!  We fought the traffic, found parking spots, hauled our ladder boxes (thankfully we rounded up a second, it was perfect!), and found our spot for the night.  And we quickly taught Pierce and Cash how to yell "throw me something, mister!" and we were good to go!

There is no experience quite like Mardi Gras!

And of course, this is where Hillary and I took post for the night.  We were catching lots of good stuff for those kids!  The things we do, I tell ya!

We finished the night with Muses, one of my all time favs!  We got some of the BEST throws!

The Kirwans Come to Town!

We had a super special treat for Mardi Gras this year when Todd, Hillary, Cash, & Pierce came to visit us for the week.  We could NOT wait for them to come!  We love showing our friends & family how much fun Mardi Gras can be.  We hit up lots and lots of parades and gave them quite a taste of the Mardi Gras madness! But before I get to that, I will post pictures of their first day here.  We headed across the lake to the aquarium.  We checked Tyler out of school a little bit early, which he was very happy about.  That was probably the hardest part is that he had school for a lot of the days that they were here, so we had to make some decisions about just how much school he could miss so he wouldn't have to miss out on all the action.  :)  I think it all worked out just about right!

All of these wild boys had such a great time being together!

We were exited to show Cash and Pierce the new parakeet exhibit, but as it turns out, they weren't too fond of it.  :)  But the birds were definitely being friendly that day!  We'd never seen them quite so fond of us!

And Todd really and truly was the bird whisperer that day.  This picture cracks me up just looking at it!

Oh...so many more pictures of their visit coming soon!  So happy to look through these pictures again, remembering such a fun week!

Run on the Bayou

Back in February, my dear friend Becky and I signed up to do a 10k, which also offered a kids' 1/2 mile race just like the one we did last September.  I was super excited and so were the boys.  They loved doing the race the first time so I was excited for them to do another one.  The race was scheduled for Saturday, February 11th.  We woke up WAY early that morning to get there in time and it was COLD!  We had been so spoiled with warm weather this winter, we were not prepared!  And the thing that made it feel SO cold was that the wind was blowing so hard.  I felt like I was in Idaho again!  So we got out there and you can see the boys were a big chilled as we waited to start.  And as we were waiting for them to blow the horn, Sam started getting super nervous and I couldn't figure out why and then realized it was because he was scared of the horn being blown.  He HATES loud noises and he remembered it from last time.  If he doesn't know they're coming, he's fine.  But once he knows, it's all downhill from there!  So he got all nervous about it and they blew the horn and he got off to a shaky start, but he got off and that's all that matters!

And then we got to wait for the boys to come back!  I must say this race felt a little more confusing as to where they were supposed to run exactly and how it was supposed to go, since it was an out & back.  They had cones and girls were supposed to go on one side and boys on another or something and honestly, it was just confusing once they started getting close to the finish line.  But we were glad to see Tyler coming in and looking strong!

 Way to go, bud!

 And then...along comes Sam!  He was looking cold and confused but he was coming at least!

 And you can see no one knew where he was supposed to go and so he went the wrong way!  So with that and a shaky start, he definitely didn't improve his time from the last race.  But at that point, they all just wanted to be done and go warm up!

 And he finished!

So with the results in, Tyler finished with a time of 4:47 which put him in 3rd place for the 7 year old age group (he moved up an age group from the last time he raced), and almost 30 seconds off his time from the last race!  And Sam finished with a time of 6:13 and 3rd place for the 4-5 year olds.  With all the chaos, and him stopping for a moment to warm up his hands, he was about 30 seconds slower than his last race.  But he was just thrilled to get a medal!  Because really that's all that matters!  They loved it and I love that they loved it.  Now we just need to find another one to run in!

And Becky and I survived the 10k portion.  It was cold, which we got used to after a while, but the wind was brutal!  At one point we were running right along an open bayou and the wind was coming right off the water and it was just piercing.  I kind of wanted to cry at that point, I think!  But one way or another, I finished.  And really...that's all the matters!  Ha!

A Nod to January 2012

Well, there really isn't much to report on for January of this year.  It was a very mild month in many ways.  The post-holiday slump had hit us, I guess.  And January around here means the start of Mardi Gras season...we just jump from one big season to the next.  So my king cake making festivities got off to a quick start.  And no one complained about it, that's for sure!

January also brought on the most insanely warm winter weather ever.  Obviously we had a more mild winter than most states, but it's usually still cold enough to wear jeans and a jacket and turn the heat on.  But not this year.  It was SOOO crazy warm, it was weird!  Our yard had hot pink blooming flowers on every tree and bush in the property and it felt far from the month of January.  I'm sure these flowers are all winter/spring blooms anyways, but it sure did make it feel like late Spring instead of the middle of Winter!

This one particular tree at the front of the house was so heavy with these pink/white mix flowers and it started shedding them and the petals were everywhere.

Shorts & short sleeves to school in January...isn't this how everyone does it?!

 And one random Sunday afternoon, the boys came to me looking like this telling me they were 'tough guys'.  I'm not so sure how tough they are, but it did make me laugh.  They insisted on some pictures.

Trying so hard not to crack the "tough" persona...not doing so well with it!

Looking reeeeeal tough, huh, Sam?

 Yeah, this one doesn't fool me...that tough guy act didn't last long at all!

And last, but not least, January found ourselves with a student of the week in the house.  Here is his poster he had to fill out.

I am 7 year old

What I want to be when I grow up:  and aquarium owner

My Pet:  I wish I had a fish

My friends are: Trevor, Thomas, Knox, my brother

Favorite color:  green

Favorite book:  Ghost Town at Sundown

As you can imagine, this boy felt pretty special with this title!

And that's about it for January 2012!