Throw me something, Mister!

We got to celebrate our first Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and boy, it was exciting and fun. I've never been to Mardi Gras celebrations anywhere else, but I can't imagine that anyone can do it better. If you're like me when you think New Orleans and Mardi Gras, you think indecent exposure, inebriation, and all things not meant for families with young children. However, that's not the case. Sure, if you found yourself in the middle of the French Quarter strolling down Bourbon Street, then Mardi Gras would be rated R. There are soooo many parades that are great for families, and now my children may never enjoy another parade outside of NOLA again.

Mardi Gras is a huge deal in NOLA. The carnival season begins on January 6th, 12th night of Christmas, and from that time until Fat Tuesday the evidence of the celebration is all over. King cakes in stores, aisles at Walmart devoted to all kinds of Mardi Gras decor, and houses decked out in purple, green, and gold. The two and half weeks (although this year it was three weeks because the Super Bowl fell in between) before Mardi Gras day are packed full of parades. Each Krewe has their own parade and there are a lot of Krewes.

I had the chance to go to some parades with some other ladies the Thursday before Fat Tuesday. We went mainly for the Krewe of Muses parade, but enjoyed a couple others that rolled before. The Krewe of Muses is more of a PG-13 parade so that's why I went without the kids plus it was past their bedtime. The Muses have a special throw of sparkly, decked out shoes. You have to work really hard beg a Muse to hand you a shoe and make sure that the throngs of other people around you don't get what was intended for you. I didn't get a shoe, but got some other neat throws and had a lot of fun on my girls night out.

There was a lull in the parade so people just filled the street and started dancing. I learned the wobble (I know I may be a little late on that).

 



My throws from the Muses, not including a few magnetic dry erase message boards and some doubloons.

 

 

 

 

The Saturday before Fat Tuesday the whole family went to some parades. Our original intentions was to go to the Krewe of Iris and stay for the parade that followed, the Krewe of Tucks. We ended up skipping out on the Krewe of Tucks as it was delayed for a while and made our way to the Krewe of Endymion. Endymion is a very popular parade. It has a lot of riders that send out a lot of throws. Having some cute kids and getting the attention of the riders is key to getting some good throws.

People get to the parade route and set up there spots early hours before it is scheduled to roll. Many people have retrofitted ladders with seats on top for the kids to sit in for ultimate parade watching and throw catching.

Motorized Cooler-cycle. You never know what you are going to see.

We are so going to have to get one of these for Parker and Ellis.

Ellis and I worked together to get some great throws.

Paul and Parker made a great team. Paul is such a good dad. He had some very sore shoulders at the end of the day.

This one is just for Uncle Michael.

Isn't she cute with her beads?

People were everywhere.

Budweiser Clydesdales



The parades are not just floats, but there are sooo many marching bands and other groups mixed in.

In the parades that roll at night or into the night, they have the city's homeless carry flambeauxs as a way to pay tribute to how the parades used to be lit. The homeless take tips from the revelers as they pass.

 

This guy just stopped at this man and took the spoon from him and helped himself to a bite of jambalaya. I would have thrown it away after that, but he kept on eating his supper.

Endymion has such pretty floats.

Our beads- approximately 60 lbs of them! Yes, there are some unopened bags of them that they would just chunck at you. And yes, you have to watch out because they are chuncked at you and do hurt if you get hit with them.

The toys we got- plush animals, balls, frisbees, cups. Some toys didn't make it in this picture. That's what happens when you have little ones.

More of the throws. Notice the light saber, Parker's favorite. Sadly, it has already broken. We also got a t-shirt that's not pictured. You never know what you're gonna get.

Not all the beads are the generic kind. There are some special beads and these are what we got.

 

 We were planning on taking in some parades on Fat Tuesday, but since both cars were broken down and Ellis was sick we watched some of the parades on tv. We had so much fun. We look forward to many more years of celebrating the carnival season in New Orleans.

Where Food Goes

Parker: My food goes in my throat.
Me: Yes then it goes into your belly.
Parker: Then in my leg.
Me: No, it stays in you stomach and your body gets the good stuff it needs and the rest goes out in your pee or poop.

We've had conversations about where food goes in our bodies when we eat at least one meal a day. He just very interested in the whole digestion process. Usually it's accompanied with a lot of whys.

A couple of days ago we had this conversation over Sunday lunch.

Parker: My food goes in my throat (He puts in a bite and shows me how he swallows.)
Me: Yes, it does.
Parker: It goes in my belly
Me: Uh huh
Parker: It goes in my penis and my bottom.

At that point, Paul and I lost it. The boy is right.

My baby boy is growing up

Part of me wants Parker to stay little forever and the other part enjoys watching him grow up. Tonight when he was getting ready for bed I was just watching him in amazement at what he can do on his own. I recently realized I was doing way too much for him. I was doing things for him that he could do himself. Therefore, I was taking the chance for him to build his self-confidence.

During our bedtime routine, he told me he wanted to sleep in his underware instead of a pull up. We talked about if he felt his body telling him that he needed to go pee pee then he needed to get up and go potty and go back to sleep. Since his room was a landmine field of toys, I told him we needed to make a clear path for him so he wouldn't get hurt. I planned on just sweeping the toys to the side and straightening up his room tomorrow, but he decided he wanted to clean his room all the way. I watched as he put toys in containers in no particular way. No like toys together. Just a jumbled mess of toys. He worked so hard at finding a place for each container. I tried to convince him just to push it to the side, but he had to find the perfect place. He wanted his floor clear, and he worked hard to do it. I just watched in amazement.

I've been the one who cleans his room. I put like things in their correct containers and tuck them away on the shelves or wherever they belong. I like things organized and in their place. I like things to look neat. So watching Parker clean his room wasn't so easy because he didn't do it the way I would have. But I kept my mouth shut and just watched him work so hard. He did it by himself. In the end, his floor was clear just like he wanted. The best part of all was he was so proud of himself. He squealed, "I did it!" Yes, he did. I'm so glad I let him take on this big task by himself, even if it meant a little later bedtime and not so perfectly organized toys. I'm so glad that I didn't take this moment for him to fill good about himself and what he can do.  I'm learning.

Girls Just Love to Talk

I've always been told that girls learn to talk before boys, and although I know each child is different, that has been true with my children. Ellis quickly started talking and her vocabulary just keeps expanding. She copys what we say, puts sentences together, and just contantly jibber jabbers all the time. I wanted to record some of what she is saying so when I'm old and she asks me how she talked when she was a baby I can look back here and tell her.

Some of the things she says:

• baaabee (baby)
• pay (play)
• I eat
• miiilllk -she draws it out like a true southern girl
• caa-ker (crackers)
• I unnn... ( I want ....)
• I unnn dat (I want that)
• kitty (cat or squirrels or anything small and furry)
• I wing (I swing)
• I unn owt (I want out)
• wa wa (water)
• choo choo (train)
• chiiiiyups (chips)- notice the nice southern draw she has
• no - one of her favs; it's her answer to almost every question
• mine - another toddler fav
• ca-car (Parker)
• ca (car)
• no (nose)
• i-ya (eye)
• eh-r (ear)

She will say more, but that is just what she uses most. I just love when she looks me in the eye and just jibber jabbers away like I know exactly what she's saying or when she has "conversations" with other little kids her age. She is soaking up so much of the world around her.

Family Update

I just wanted to give a little update for our family and friends far away. We are pretty much settled in. Boxes, with the exception of a few, are unpacked. Things are put in a place, and our home is livable. I still need to go through and really get things organized, but that will come with time.
  After the first couple of weeks of rainy days, we finally were blessed with some sunshine. The weather has been amazing, 70s and sunny. Therefore, we have spent a lot of time outside playing. I figured the home organing can wait until it's raining or during the hot and humid summer days, so for now will soak up all the lovely weather.
   Paul started classes last week. He's taking 3 classes, all psychology classes. He has a lot reading to do and memorizing. If he's not in class, he's working. If he's not working, he's studying. The psychology stuff is new to him since he was a Youth Ministry major in college, so he's working really hard. Things are going well for him at Chickfila. At some point in time, he will be able to move up into a management position and will be able to use the skills he learned as a manager before we moved. He is learning how this store works and getting to know the people he works with. He's even seen some of the NO Saints players come through.
   Parker also started "classes" last week too. There is a home school group on campus, and they offer classess like P.E., art, storytime, and science for the young ones. They also go on field trips once a month. Parker has been really enjoying them as well as Ellis who gets to tag along (they have something for younger ones to do, too).
   I have started working for First Baptist New Orleans for their Wednesday night's child care. I will also have the opportunity to provide childcare for their women's Bible studies and other special occasions. I'm so excited about this because it provides us with a little extra income, and I get to bring the kids along with me.
   We have enjoyed getting to know the families around us. We have all made friends and enjoy the great community here on the seminary campus.
   The city of New Orleans has a lot going on with Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl. We are so excited about being part of our first Mardi Gras. Paul actually has Mardi Gras Day (Fat Tuesday) off from both work and school. It's so crazy that the whole city shuts down. Everyone is off. The schools are closed for the whole week. There have already been parades going on, but we haven't been to any yet. I finally ventured out and drove on my own. I didn't go anywhere I hadn't been to already, but I'm just so proud that I did it.
  We are so thankful for all the prayers that have been made on our behalf. Keep them coming. It's hard being away from family and what is familiar. But that being said, it is exciting to be here, living on faith as the Lord makes our way. It has quickly began to feel like home.
 

Handprints

Last night was a rough night for Ellis and therefore me as well. Ellis woke up just as I was getting ready for bed (I admit that it was really late like 1:30. I was waiting on Paul to go to bed.) She would not go back to sleep. She screamed and screamed when I put her back in her crib. I finally gave up and put her in the bed with me which meant I "slept" with Ellis on top of me practically all up on my head. At 3 am, I had enough of the uncomfortable sleeping condition and I put her back in her crib. Again, she screamed. I angrily told Paul, who had gotten some sleep during all this, "it's 3 o'clock and I haven't gotten any sleep if you don't want to hear her scream then you can go get her because I'm done." He groggily goes to get her and claims that she has a poopy diaper and angrily asks where all the diaper changing stuff is. So I angrily get up, get Ellis from him, get the diaper changing stuff, and change what turned out to be just a pee pee diaper. I hand her screaming back to him. Two minutes later he brings her into the room to try to get her to sleep in the bed with us. As he walks into the room, I angrily think to myself, "I know how this will go. I guess I will be sleeping with a baby on my face." Sure enough. Ellis ended up on me all nuzzled up on my face. At 4 o'clock, she was finally restful enough to lay her beside me in the bed to sleep. So, I got about 3 hours of sleep, but the kind of sleep where you feel like you are sitting on pins and needles because your nervous about the child in the bed with you.

You may be thinking, "what does this story have to do with handprints as the title suggests?" I said all that to understand the fatigued state this mama and her husband were in this morning. After feeding the kids, because you have to keep your children alive no matter how tired you are, I crawled back in bed. Paul got up and was taking care of the children. I don't know what happened the next couple hours, but at some point in time Paul came and crawled back in bed with me for a few minutes. Just a few minutes. That's when it happened because a few minutes later we had two precious children come in our room proudly showing off their colorful hands. Parker's hands looked like he had smacked a smurf and Ellis hands were black (although after further exploration, they were actually a deep purple). That's enough to spring a fatigued mama into action. I jumped up looked down the hall the finger paints looked untouched. I was just thinking, "did he get ahold of a marker and break it?" Then, it hit me. I let out a gasp and ran into the kitchen and found it. There lay a puddle of food coloring where four bottles of color had been emptied and mixed. Paul got to work on that clean up, and I put the kids in the bath tub really just to contain them to a single spot. After getting them in the bath, I noticed that Parker must have tried cleaning his hands off because my pretty hand towel had blue stains all over it. I got to work using the trusty rubbing alcohol to get the hand print marks off the walls. It really could have been worse. The hand prints were mostly contained to the bathroom and the sheets of our bed. For the most part the evidence has been wiped away, although a few marks still remain. I guess we are going to have to do a handprint art project so I can show the children the proper way to leave their mark.

Ellis's handprints on my bed. I was in panick mode so I didn't think to take pictures until I got to this.

What I've Learned So Far

Life is a learning experience. We are constantly learning. However, when we face big changes, it seems that our learning experience is brought to a whole new level. Because of that, I've been learning a lot of new things and I decided to share some with you.

1. Moving 600 miles is a lot of work and it is very helpful to have wonderful in-laws coming alongside to help. (Thanks Arden and Elise! We couldn't have done it without you.)
2. Even though you get rid of a lot of stuff before you move, you still have too much stuff.
3. Pocket shoe organizers are wonderful little organizers and space saving solutions.
4. Seminary families are wonderful. It is such a great community. When we pulled up with the moving truck, people just came out and started helping unload the moving truck.
5. I'm going to have to learn to love washing dishes. With no dishwasher and little counter space, washing dishes after every meal is a must.
6. Changing timezones even just with one hour difference is not easy especially for little bits.
7. New Orleans may just be the new Seattle. It has rained or been a misty, cloudy day almost every day since we have been here.
8. Waiting in line a while to check out at any store is the norm.
9. I really kind of like living in an apartment. I like being able to hear children playing outside and seeing people walk by.
10. I've never been so excited about getting plastic beads. I'm excited about going to the Mardi Gras parades. I never thought that I would be a part of Mardi Gras in NO, but I've learned that it's not all like what you see on tv.
11. I'm going to have to learn how to drive in city traffic. I still have not braved driving on my own, but since Paul is starting classes in a week, that will soon change.
12. I've learned that when classes start it will be like kissing my husband goodbye until the end of the semester. Please pray for Paul and for us as Paul works, goes to school, and studies and for us as we adjust to having only small amounts of time with him.

I could sit here all night and think of more things that I've learned, but I'm not going to bore you. Thanks everyone for your prayers! I can't put in to words how much it means to us for people to take the time to lift us up in prayer.