Stuff to do when in Louisiana

Dance to an annoying Christmas noise maker. Over and over and over again. She played that thing maybe ... 30 times. 30 very annoying times.


Go the children's museum. I decided to forgo the museum, but I missed this rather amusing sight:


Sing to the dog about how much you love him and hope he isn't dead next time you visit. Really.

Christmas miscellany

We walked along Lake Pontchartrain in Mandeville. It was windy and chilly, but not so bad.


For some strange reason Q4 was FREAKED OUT by the water and the seawall ... she did not like any of us walking on the wall, down the steps or even on the sidewalk by the water. She was crying, pulling us, rather upset for the first half of the walk. When C41 stopped to take a photo she sat on his foot so he wouldn't fall in the water (he was on the sidewalk).



Eventually it got better, Q4 walked along the path that wasn't so close to the water, and we stopped to say hi to every puppy along the way, which was fine.





After our walk we headed to get Beignets. Yum. You can see that C6 was kind of sick after enjoying hers.





You'd think all this sugar wasn't good for us or our teeth, but it didn't matter so much because C6 had already lost a tooth on Sunday, the 26th. Her third tooth, actually. he tooth fairy made it to Louisiana. We weren't sure if the toothfairy would have any golden dollars on a Sunday in Louisiana, but luckily she did.

Christmas with friends & family

Q4 and A4 got along quite well at Christmas, even talking over the Skype after Christmas.



We had an evening with a LOT of second cousins and friends that I can't identify, and one with just two special second cousins.



After all these evenings with friends and families the girls really were exhausted.

Christmas Day, 2010

Santa, grandparents, and parents were all good to the girls.

For C6 it was a book year. We gave her books, Santa gave her books, Ninoo and Papa gave her books, and Meme and Pep gave her books. Most anticipated book was Magic Tree House number 41. But she's been pouring over the Peru stuff in bed since Christmas Day, and has read ALL of the Magic Tree House books once, twice, multiple times. And the knock knock jokes book. Oh, the knock knock jokes. The less said about those the better.
She loves all the books.


For Q4 (ahem, 4 and 3/4) her Christmas was mostly about princesses. Princess books, princess dress, giant princess TENT.



Q4 also got a spinny light thing that she brought to Louisiana, and was upset to find out that I'd taken it out of the luggage only to find out when we returned home that it was buried under C41's stuff -- in the suitcase -- the whole time.

Just a wee bit slow on the summary

So, this won't be extensive.

We flew to Louisiana. The flight down on Christmas ever was routine, everybody was good.


Since it was Christmas Eve, we decorated cookies (I like that tradition ... think we need to continue that!!)



C6 really got into the decorating. She decorated a lot of cookies, she did a great job.


And Q at the frosting. Look, she's even pointing to the frosting eating.


The brought the platter of cookies out for Santa with a Whiskey.




We put out carrots for the reindeer. I like this too. Those reindeer get a good workout overnight and I'm sure are glad for the carrots. At least it seems so when only the ends of the carrots are left the next morning.

Note the pyramid or tripod shape. I'm not sure what that is about, but C41 assured me it was the best way. Since he had the experience we deferred to him.

Pre-Christmas boxes

Just for fun, somebody gave us some big boxes, and put their initials on them. Good fun!!

A first

C6 stayed alone at home today while I walked Q4 to a friend's house around the corner. Yes, she called me on the phone 3 times. But that was OK. We just chatted about this and that. She was very pround of herself. As was I.

A Poem from C6

The actual poem had specific fonts attached to each line. But not here. Sorry. I like the "Fall is cool and crafty" line the best ...

I love Christmas! Winter is the best season!
Spring is fun! Easter is the best!
Summer is hot! Summer holidays are nice.
Fall is cool and crafty.

Nice days are loving and nice!

Christmas is all about love.

Q4's Christmas Pagent

Q's Christmas progam was Friday. The 2s carried stars, the 3s were shepherds, and the 4s & 5s were an animal, Mary, Joseph, or an angel. They didn't actually have a creche scene, but a Santa Claus telling the story of the first Christmas. This solved the problem of having the 4&5 year olds act.

First, the four faces of a sheep





It happened to be Q4s turn to light the candles in children's chapel, so we got that. This was nice, I'd wondered last year why whatever child got to do it got to do it. Just the regular rotation of things. Actually, J4 went up first until an adult remembered that she'd done it during Children's Chapel that week, so hey, it was Q4's turn!!



Much of the program I had two adults moving back and forth in front of me trying to get their kids on video. So, sorry about the big heads and hair and cameras when they get on screen!

The first song Q4's class sang.



Here is Q4 doing the wrong thing and being told to go back to the other area



You can't see much of Q4 here, but she is snuffing the candles. And somebody drops the snuffer on the alter.


And finally, Bells Are Ringing recessional song. And then school was over for the day!

Snow Day.

Well, a half snow day. C6's school let out 2 hours early (although I received the message on the phone about that at 2:24 pm ... 29 minutes after school lets out normally). She was already going home with a friend because I had work holiday lunch, so she just went home with her 2 hours early.

When I finally made it home the kids went out and played in the snow.





I made them the best hot chocolate ever, they took a hot bath, and the rest of the afternoon was lovely.

Thanksgiving memories

We wore new dresses this year for Thanksgiving. The girls were adorable. But neither wanted to wear the underneath shirts we had for them (C6's was button up ... that didn't even make it into the photo!). 1 photo with pouting (um ... I have some of those, too, and I remember vividly having to put the clothes on that I didn't like) and then they both changed to have pink undershirts.



And a wonderful picture with the 4 cousins on that side.

Christmas gifts

Q4 got a science kit as a gift. It was a hit!

Gingerbreading

Yes, we were at it again! This year the gingerbread was 1/2 whole wheat, so it was crumbly and difficult to work with. But I managed to get three houses made. C41 and I did one (yes, C41 supervised), Q4 & C6 did one, and my Friends J40 & A3? did one.

As usual, Q4 ate more than she decorated.






But candy onto the house prevailed in the end. This is Q4's side of the house (candy augmented by C6):


And this is C6's. Twice as much candy.


And this was my house, with some help from Q4. I could have worked for a bit longer, but everybody else was done:



Anyway, we had fun. C6 then gorged on cheese, so neither girl ate dinner, stayed up too late watching a movie, and then fell asleep hard just before J40 & A3x left.

Christmas music extravaganza

We listened and danced to Christmas music today. I shot a couple of videos of C6 and Q4 because they love it. Here is my favorite, very short, but very much them:



And if you can handle seeing a bit of my belly and a close up of my backside, C6 took the camera and filmed me and Q4 dancing.

Tree decorating

This past weekend we bought our tree, left it outside to soak up a bucket of water, and put it up. I think because it froze over night the stump was mushy, and we had a difficult time getting it straight. Our stand is so sturdy usually there is no issue. So C41 had to trim the bottom further and then ... voila! a vertial tree.

Clearly, Q4 loves it.

Both girls really liked decorating it. It is entirely dressed with things they made and the numerous ugly dog ornaments we own.



Anyway, more decorating to come.

So many photo ops, so little time

We do lots of stuff, we go lots of places, but I have no time to write about it, take pictures of it, or reflect upon it. Sorry about that.

Look here's the update: Q4 is reading very well now, she's comfortable reading to her peers in school and at home. C6 asked her teacher for harder homework and math in school. So now she has more challenging homework and I hate it. I hate having to do homework EVERY DAY with her --UG-- and now it is more than just a rote exercise for her. Which I suppose is good.

And, if you haven't noticed, Christmas is just around the corner. Weeks ago, now, we make salt dough, cut out shapes, let the shapes dry, and then ... didn't do anything. Finally I bought some acrylic paint and sparkly paint and we painted them yesterday! We must have spent over an hour doing the decorating; both girls were really into it.

Here is one of Q4's ornaments:


The remainder of her ornaments she wrapped and put tags on and is giving to her friends and teachers at school. They are wrapped in blue princess paper and pink penguin paper. Lots of tape.

C6 made some Mexican bunnies (Red, white and green) and a lot of dogs. Lots of dogs. She's also tagged them all for her teachers (everybody, including the music teacher, the PE teacher, the vice principal, the principal, the librian, the computer teacher, and her regular teacher) and a few friends. The Mexican bunnies are going to two children I don't hear much about, usually, not sure if it's because they come from Mexico or they happen to sit next to her.