my baby's growing up.

we took down the crib thursday.

cj's "new" bed is his crib mattress on the floor--with bubba's old tigger and pooh bear bedding. he even has a pillow now.

he seems to be enjoying it...especially the freedom it gives him. however, to protect our youngest son from potentially falling down the stairs (and to give his parents a small semblance of sanity), we are, for now, blocking his doorway with a removable gate at night and during naptime.

kids grow up way too fast!

new orleans trip (day 3)

friday the 13th.

T had more classes in the morning. after lunch (which i cannot remember at the moment), we walked back to the French Quarter and did some daytime touring.

Jackson Square (note the statue of Andrew Jackson in the center and the Basilica in the background is the Cathedral of St. Louis)

inside the cathedral

there were several of these "statue" guys. they set up on the street corner with a bucket for monetary donations. some just pretended to be statues, however this guy had a boombox and was lip-syncing to a song. there were also musicians that would play their instruments wherever they deemed a good location for getting money from appreciative listeners...on the sidewalks, along the riverwalk, or by the cathedral in jackson square. i couldn't believe the variety...soloists, duets, whole bands, you name it!

not something you'd find in northern minnesota!

an interesting old building we walked past. i think it might have been a home, but couldn't tell for sure if anyone lived there currently or not.

after walking around a while, we headed (the long way around) to the Insectarium on Canal Street.

Canal Street

at the Audubon Insectarium we saw and learned more about insects, of course. this was particularly interesting to me, since bubba and i had just recently finished a science unit on insects. a small part of me wished bubba could have taken the tour with us since it was so educational!

an oblong-winged katydid. ya gotta love the pink color for valentine's day!

one of MANY displays.

inside the insectarium is a large room with butterflies flying about. it's very japanese garden-esque. lots of pretty butterflies fluttering about too.

T checking out the flutterbys in the butterfly garden

a few different specimens i photographed in the garden room. poor blue one had a portion of its wing missing.

another display of the beautiful variety of butterflies

after touring the insectarium, we headed back to check out the TechAdvantage floor show. food was provided. T had his first taste of gumbo (he liked it!) and i started my collection of Mardi Gras beads from the different vendors.

only 4 more days of the trip left to blog about! and hopefully, i'll get it done soon!

new orleans trip (days 1 and 2)

flew in on wed, feb. 11.
got checked into the Hilton Riverside and ate dinner at the hotel's (expensive!) restaurant. good meal but i think i was too tired to appreciate it. had a yummy creme brulee for dessert.

thursday, feb. 12.
T attended his TechAdvantage classes. we met for lunch at the Riverwalk (a little mall connected to the Hilton). there's a pretty decent food court in there and we ate a salad, pizza-by-the-slice and pizza roll thingys. i splurged and got a mango smoothie from haagen daas too. yum!

entering Riverwalk from the street side:


outside on the Riverwalk (on the other side of the building):


while T went back for more TechAdvantage classes, i treated myself to my first ever mani/pedi. i had never before had a pedicure. my tootsies were in some pretty desperate need of attention too! and the only other time i've had a manicure was a few weeks before my wedding. it was good to be pampered a bit. i would have preferred going to a spa, but didn't know where one was or how much it would cost. there was a nail salon at the Riverwalk and so i decided to just get 'em done there.

my pretty toes (picture taken after we got back home):

that evening i got all dressed up in skirt and my strappy heels (i just had to show off my newly polished tootsies!) for a TechAdvantage reception. we literally walked in, looked around and left. too many people, too small of a space and not much for "real" food. so we went for a walk (with me still in my heels!) to the French Quarter which is only a couple blocks away, but we ended up walking a lot farther since we didn't know where we wanted to go for dinner. (a plan would have probably been wiser...)

ended up here:

and had one of the best meals of our entire trip! i chose their chicken marsala. it was delicious! for dessert we shared a piece of cheesecake. sooo good!

we chose to enjoy our meal out on the balcony. the locals thought we were nuts. it was a tad chilly, but not cold. and since we'd come from below zero weather, 60 degrees was nice.

after dinner, we walked a few more blocks till we found Jackson Square, and then headed back to our hotel. (by then, both of us had severely sore feet!)

on the way back, T took this pic of the mississippi river--notice the real steamboat on the right side (the Natchez), and a nicely lit-up bridge just upstream from our hotel:

we got back to our room and my left foot even had a small bruise where one of my shoe's straps comes around by my toes. yikes! so, the next time i decide to try and walk around town with high heels on, i hope my hubby reminds me of the pain i endured in new orleans because of my vanity!

i'm happy to be home

there's so much i want to blog about. i don't even know where to start.

our trip to new orleans was nice. i will wait and post more details about it later when i'm not so tired (and when i get my pics on my computer).

getting away for a few days was so good for us. i've discovered that our kiddos are really quite funny. i guess it's a whole lot easier to be entertained by our boys since i've had some time "off" from being mom, teacher, doctor, etc. so now a lot more of what they say and do seems funny instead of annoying or irritating. that's just proof that moms (and dads) need a break from their children every now and then.

shana has been blogging about uninvited mice. although i cannot compare to the horror of having mice in my house right now (thank goodness!), we did spot a rascally rodent in our garage a couple days before we left on our trip. T put out a trap with a little peanut butter on a piece of cracker and sure enough, the trap caught a mouse while we were away. hopefully, it was the only mouse living in our garage and we won't be bothered by any more.

well, it's good to be home. i'm even nearly done doing up all the laundry we had afterwards! woohoo! like i said, i'll be posting more about the trip in the next few days after i get my pics and thoughts organized. for now, i'm gonna go listen to an audiobook and knit!

getting ready...

...for a trip to new orleans next week! i've never been to louisiana, so this will be a new place to experience.

i really don't have time to blog but i want to post something so here's a few pics.

first, my "frogparty" socks. finished at last. (sigh of relief.) *smile* now what to do?

and yes, if you look close, my legs were slightly hairy when i took the pic. what can i say? i didn't shave that day. and my leg hairs grow way too fast if you ask me.

next we have T and cj sitting and veggin' together after getting haircuts. cj has been practicing scowling at us lately too. i'm not exactly sure what face he has on in the pic. it's not quite a scowl, but not a smile either.

and finally, there's bubba. being a goofy 9 year old.

don't look too close to his teeth. they're yellow. again. can't seem to get him to brush enough. amazingly he's never had a cavity (yet). we have dental appointments next month. i wonder what he'll do if (and when) he has to get a tooth filled. (actually, i know what: he'll freak out.)

my crazy 2 year old is screaming in his crib cuz he doesn't wanna nap. too bad. momma says it's naptime. no arguing. but i'd better go calm him down and tell him so.