Showering

My younger sister, Emilie (Mimi to the boys), is getting married later this year. She has chosen to keep the wedding small, and I have been privileged to get to be a part of a lot of the planning (mostly by default of being one of two bridesmaids that lives in town, but I'm not complaining!).

This past Sunday our Aunt Darlene hostessed a bridal shower for Emilie. Aunt Darlene's home is simply beautiful and is perfect for holding parties. Plus, she knows how to put on a party! :) The food was delicious - spinach dip, crab dip, crawfish pasta, roasted pork for sandwiches, and pretty little petit fours.

We had a great time, and Emilie got some wonderful gifts!

Me with Emilie and our mom


Emilie with Aunt Darlene


Aunt Darlene, Emilie, me, Mom

Never Forget - Exclusive Benjamin Version

Benjamin, dropping EVERYTHING, to dance to Gitchie Gitchie Goo by Phineas and Ferb no matter where he is.

Walking up to Mimi's fiance, Uncle Mike, when they arrived tonight and saying, "Hi, Mite!"

At dinner tonight, Benjamin smeared his chili all over his face, hair, and arms. He kept rubbing his eyes and we couldn't believe that he wasn't screaming from getting chili sauce in his eyes.

Holding up his Nemo play phone and saying "Cheeeeeese" while pressing the "camera" button.

Saying, "Dink doo!", usually around a mouthful of sippy cup, when I give him his juice or milk.

And one Mimi "Never Forget": never forget Mimi rushing to the sink to wash her hands and arms because she definitely felt something "wet and warm" from Benjamin's bottom...and it was obvious that what was wet and warm wasn't something anyone would want on their hands and arms. Makes me glad I was washing dishes and so Mark had to deal with that prize diaper. Oh, and Mimi might have gagged a couple of times, too.

Busy, Busy Beavers

On Saturday Mark and I took the kids to pick blueberries. Benjamin wasn't too impressed; Anthony collected tons of blueberries. We got about 26 cups of blueberries, most of which are now frozen and ready to be baked into delicious muffins, cakes and yummy other treats.

Of course, on Sunday morning I made homemade blueberry muffins. Anthony suffered through eating one (he does not love blueberries) and Ben mauled his.





Also on Sunday: Mark, Anthony, Benjamin, Nana, Grandpa and I took a drive out to Folsom, Louisiana to the Global Wildlife Center. It was a great experience; I can't believe we haven't gone before! We had a good time feeding the animals, looking at the giraffes and zebras, and shopping in the gift store. I got a gorgeous giraffe wind chime! I loooove giraffes.


















After all of that fun, the kids jumped in the pool at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's (with Mimi) and cooled off. Anthony jumped in before putting on his swimsuit - that's why he's in his underwear instead of a proper swimsuit!






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We will close on both our current home and our new home on June 12! We will move in that weekend and hopefully have the house in good enough order to have a pool party for Ben's first (OMG!) birthday on June 20.

Once we're moved in and settled in, I'll take some pictures to post here.

For now, though, I'm immersed in packing and cleaning...save me...

Hangin' Tough

On Saturday Emilie, her friend Lacy, my friend Danette, and I went to New Orleans to see New Kids on the Block in concert. All four of us LOVED them when they were a young boy band, and so we were really excited to see them in concert as adults.

The concert was AWESOME. AWE. SOME. They totally rocked the arena, and it was fun to relive a little bit of my childhood.

Before going to the concert, we shopped in the French Market and had dinner in a sidewalk cafe.

Danette and Laurie at dinner



Emilie, Lacy, Danette and Laurie - ready for the concert!



Joey, Jordan, Donnie, Jonathan, and Danny singing "Dirty Dancing" on Stage B:



Singing "Please Don't Go Girl" (one of their old songs)





They sang quite a few songs from their new album The Block, and many from their old albums, too.

If I could, I would find a way to attend this concert again.

Who was YOUR favorite New Kid? Mine was JOEY!!

Anthony, Mimi and Santa

Whew! My sister, Emilie, had a fun conversation with Anthony about Santa. Click here to read all about it. God help us once Thanksgiving is over. He's hoarding the Wal-Mart and Toys R Us ads so he can compile his list for Santa.

Mimi Never Looked So Good!

Anthony's an artist!

Mimi's Blog

My sister, Emilie, works for a local radio station , and they've just started a blog on their website. Go check it out, and read the sweet post she wrote about Anthony.

Happy Birthday, Mimi!

Even though the "big day" isn't until tomorrow, we celebrated Mimi's birthday this evening. Salad, steak and potatoes. Yummy! The first words out of Anthony's mouth when we got to my parent's house this afternoon? "Happy Birthday, Mimi! Where's the cake?" That's my boy!

Mimi's present from us was a balloon with money in it. The effect would have been much better if I had been able to find a clear balloon like I wanted to (the only one I could find said, "Get Well Soon!" on it...not really appropriate!). Anyway, here's Mimi using a knife to pop the balloon. Or is she going to stab boyfriend Mike in the heart?


"WHERE'S MY CAKE???"


Godzilla (aka: George the Monkey); Anthony's most favorite stuffed animal (of course, it's a monkey!)

Mimi Coulda Dyed

Last night my family came over to dye eggs with Anthony. At first he wasn't so interested, and so Mimi and I had a fun time making LSU and Atlanta Braves colored eggs.

Finally, Anthony got interested and Mimi gathered him onto her lap to help dye eggs. Her face alone was worth the mess. And as usual, pictures will tell the story:


It all started innocently enough...Mimi helping Anthony carefully place the eggs in the dye.


And then Anthony decided to drop the eggs in from a height high enough to splash the dye out of the cup. Mimi tried to stop it, but she was unsuccessful in her efforts.


An egg has been dropped. And we were all sure it was going to break. It didn't.


And then I told Emilie she was going to have children one day, and that I was going to laugh, laugh, laugh at her trying to keep everything nice and neat.


And she told me I could blog that picture over another one that I wanted to put up. I thought the other one was a little more, um, tame, but she felt this was the lesser evil of the two. Ain't she lovely? :) Love you, Mimi. I'm so glad you were there last night to have fun dying eggs with Anthony!

The antibiotic seems to be doing it's job. Anthony's wound is healing nicely with the help of Bacitracin (medicated Neosporin, basically). As usual, he's our crazy little two-year old dude...running from one thing to the next, never letting anything slow him down!

Love, Laurie

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Saturday: an Easter egg hunt!
Sunday: to Mommy's great-uncle's house for a family reunion
Monday: back to daycare!

He Ain't a Baby No More.

Anthony looked like a big kid yesterday. There are some times when I think he still looks like my little baby. Yesterday certainly wasn't one of those times. Well, except for when he slept on either me or Mimi while Mimi and I were having lunch. He zonked out in the car while we were on the way to Rocco's to have a shrimp po-boy for lunch (yes, Friday's during Lent are SO HARD to bear here in the south.). Normally Anthony won't sleep in noisy places, and Rocco's was pretty loud. I guess Ms. Heather (his speech therapist) wore him out yesterday morning!

Anyway, after lunch we went to my parents' house to bring Paw Paw a shrimp po-boy. We played outside for a while before leaving to hit Wal-Mart up for some groceries.

Enjoy the pictures! Anthony has labs on Monday, so I'll update then with the great labs I'm sure he'll have.

Playing with Maw Maw Peck and Ta the dog:


Snoota face:


Hangin' with Paw Paw in the hammock:


What. I'm 2. I can have meat on Fridays:


Love, Laurie, Mark and Anthony

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Saturday: Parrain has a lacrosse game and we're going!
Sunday: um. hm. no clue!
Monday: Labs, and the start of Mommy's Spring Break week!
Tuesday and beyond: stay tuned!

Bloggin' 'n' Stuff

God, I have never been so busy that I couldn't blog! A lot has happened in the past week, and I've got pictures to share!

Seeing as it's not only Christmas Eve but my mom's birthday today, too (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!) , I figure I'd better blog about the stuff that's happened so I can blog later about Christmas Eve, Birthday and Christmas Day. It's going to be a busy few days coming up!

There's a family near where I live that always goes all-out with Christmas decorations. They've been doing this since the 1960s at least, and have made a new Christmas display every year. The booths they make each year get more and more imaginative, and the mechanical stuff involved blows my mind. I'm sure it's not greatly difficult stuff to do, but, well...it involves motors and moving things and that's just way above me. We took Anthony to see the display, and he was entranced by one that has a bubble blower blowing bubbles out of the chimney of the display. He ran around saying "Bubboo!" and trying to pop the bubbles. He wasn't the only kid doing this, and it was really cute to see SOME of the older kids backing off to let the little ones get some.





They have a "North Pole", too!


Then on Sunday, we celebrated my sister's upcoming graduation.
The three sisters (Emilie, who graduated, is in the middle):


And Anthony had fun playing outside that night with "Bubboos!"




On Monday, Emilie's graduation ceremony was held and we all had lunch afterwards to celebrate some more.

Emilie not paying attention to the speaker and instead making a pretty smile for me:




Emilie and one of our grandmothers:


The lunch group:


So that's what's been going on here. Also, I have a part-time job! Mark's cousin's boyfriend owns the franchise for the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory here, and needed some part-time help. Since I won't be in school on Monday and Friday during the upcoming semester I am glad to have something to do! I've worked a few days so far, and they have been BUSY! The shop sells caramel apples with different types of candy, cookies, nuts and other things on top of the caramel. I haven't tasted an apple yet, but Mike and Margaret bought two for a treat on Sunday (as if Santa isn't bringing enough candy!), so I'll be able to sample them then.

We're headed to my parents' house for my mom's birthday, Christmas mass and then presents today and tonight. We'll spend most of the day with Mark's family tomorrow with a short stop by my parents' house again since family we haven't seen in a while will be there.

Hope you are all having a wonderful and safe Holiday Season. I'll have pictures of Christmas soon!

Love, Laurie, Mark and Anthony

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Saturday: Birthday! Christmas! Lots of presents!
Sunday: Birthday! Christmas! Lots of presents!
Monday: chillin' with Daddy since Mama's working
Tuesday and Wednesday: back to day care, but only for two days because...
Thursday: off to Georgia to visit with Uncle Matt for four days!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some pictures from today's celebration. Anthony enjoyed the wonderful weather (slightly breezy, mid-70s) and took advantage of the day by vacuuming my uncle's backyard.

Coming to inspect the Cajun oven:


Cool dude:


Silly Anthony:




Vacuuming:


Teaching my Aunt Mary how to vacuum:


Swinging with Mimi:


Some of the things I'm most grateful for:
1. My family (from my son to my husband to my parents and sisters to my in-laws).
2. A wonderful pediatrician who didn't blow off Anthony's slightly elevated bilirubin as infant jaundice.
3. A wonderful pediatric surgeon who did everything he could to get us the best doctors available.
4. A wonderful gastroenterologist who put his pride aside and recommended we go elsewhere for transplant.
5. A wonderful transplant team who took such great care of my precious son, and who understood me when I spoke my mind.
6. The technology that allowed Mark to be able to donate a portion of his liver to Anthony.
7. Anthony's health.
8. Mark's health.
9. MY health.
10. A supportive family who has encouraged me to continue my education.
11. Only about a million other things!

Love, Laurie, Mark and Anthony
Coming up in Anthony-land:
Friday: Digging in the dirt with Daddy and Grandpa while Mommy and Nana SHOP!
Saturday: To Maw Maw and Paw Paw's, only if everyone is NOT SICK
Sunday: Back to Nana and Grandpa's
Monday: Back to "normal" life while Mommy feverishly prepares for FINALS.

Party Pics!

With his Godparents, Mimi and Parrain:


Grandpa, Nana, Mama, Anthony, Daddy, Maw Maw, Paw Paw: