Michael Bichael Bikin' It UP!

Michael, at the ripe old age of 6, has learned to ride a 2-wheeler!! In just one short lesson, his dad got him zipping around, popping up and down curbs, you name it, with ease and confidence. He is a natural biker and spends every possible moment he can spare practicing his new talent. Just two days after learning to ride, he was going off ramps with the neighborhood boys down the street. AMAZING!

Happy Halloween!

Our great friends the Noonans joined us this Halloween. Deya is Ellie's bosom buddy and they both went trick-or-treating as Princesses. Go figure.




Ryan and Amanda patiently allowed me to dress them up - Amanda was Padme, thank you Huntie's costume last year; and Ryan went all out with the circus hat.

Kevin and I were quite a pair in our Janice-inspired "Whoopie Cushion wear."



Happy Halloween! We had lots of fun trick-or-treating. Huntie dressed up as Kit Kittredge, the American Girl. Michael was invited to a boy Halloween party and hay ride, so we girls had a night to ourselves!



And of course, the loot:

Parents to Lunch Day

Yeah!! The day I look forward to ALL YEAR long - Parents to Lunch Day!!! Not surprisingly, the ONE day all year the school allows parents to come to lunch with their kids, they are also having a book fair to raise money.

This day, Michael's tooth was loose. He was really hoping it would spontaneously fall out of his mouth with no pulling required. I have to admit, he was getting pretty close to that happening. I've never seen such a loose tooth!

Kevin made Michael a deal that if Michael let him pull his tooth out at lunch, that he would buy him 3 books at the book fair. That deal was not even sweet enough for Michael to allow any matter matter of pulling.



But, Kevin was persuasive enough for Michael to allow me to initiate the pulling. In just one pull, the tooth was out. YIPPY!! Books all around!


This was also Michael's wonderful teacher Mrs. Ledet's birthday. I made her a special cake and cutie cupcakes to share with her class.

Happy 34 Kevin!!

YEAH! Happy Birthday Kev!

We celebrate our favorite councilman, vice president and daddy of the century on his 34th birthday!



Kevin's mom made his all time favorite birthday cake - homemade cherry cheesecake! In fact, she made lots of cakes! No one was left wanting as there was more than enough cake to go around. Especially since I also made my handsome husband a cake out of his favorite cookie: peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Rise and Shout the Cougars are out!

We got invited to a special brunch in the French Quarter with BYU alumni group. So fun! Kevin was serenaded by the jazz band when Huntie told them it was her daddy's birthday.


The weather relfected the sad sad showing New Orleans' Tulane Green Tide football team showed against the Cougars - 54 to 3!! We cheerfully wore rain ponchos to and from the Superdome.


Elle wasn't do keen on rising OR shouting.


BUT, Kevin and Huntie (just like her mommy) are diehard fans. I thought it was pretty poetic to paint my family's faces for the BYU game in New Orleans - a skill I learned as a face painter in the summertime to pay my way through BYU.



Huntie and Cosmo. Oooooo, it's just so magical!


Ok, this is so sad. Look at the Tulane side of the field. So sparce, it was such a weak showing.


Now look at the BYU side. We clearly whooped their hind ends in the fan support department. Looks like we brought our home field advantage with us!


Kevin showed Mike the highest seats in the Superdome - truely the nosebleeds. Look waaaaaay up there . . .


Then he, Huntie and Michael hiked the entire distance to the center top seats of section 610. Whoa!


Look at that view!



Ellie Bellie was so tired and grumpy that she fell asleep during the game.



Huntie and I decided #51 on BYU's team was our favorite player. Can you see why?


Michael kept torpedoing into Uncle Greg, so Uncle Greg gave him a little what for with an upper hand diversion and a lower hand smack to the tummy.


Over and over again, Mike would torpedo into Greg. And over and over again, Greg would distract Mike with his right hand in the air and then slap him in the tummy with his left hand. It seriously took Michael a good 10 tries to firgure this trick out. I think he was enjoying the "game" so much, it took him a while to start dodging the slap. Lol.


It was so funny. Michael loved it.




WOOhOO! The Cougars came to New Orleans and played the Tulane Wave in the Superdome and WE got to see it! Kevin's sweet connections got us 15th row seats on the 40 yard line.

BYU has been looking great this season and just whooped up on Oklahoma, seated #3, last weekend 14 - 13! That win jumped BYU up 11 spots to rank Top 10 at #9. Very nice.

We Love Councle Rob

Cousin Rob, or as I'm informed by Kevin that in the South all relatives older than our children should be referred to as "uncle," came to visit Louisiana!! Rob compromised with the suggestion of "Councle." Actually he attended a conference in New Orleans, but had the foresight to plan a little visit to our home in Houma. We had so much fun! He was brave enough to try his first raw oyster, then chased it with a world famous Drago's grilled oyster. YUM!







We poked around the French Quarter and were sure to hit Cafe du Monde, the French Market and Jackson Square. You know it's hot outside when even the street performers refuse to perform and sit and wave instead as you pass them on the street.

Cafe du Monde. Notice Rob's "beignet breathe," a.k.a. powdered sugar. Also notice Michael's "beignet wear." I've never seen someone covered in so much powdered sugar after a beignet incident.





The French Market was pleasantly slow, thank you weekday crowd. But Rob still managed to find a super hat. Although, no thanks to the weekday crowd, the merchant was in no mood to bargain. It was, nonetheless, a super hat and had to go home with Rob.



Thanks to the incessant heat, Elle asked to be carried most of the day. She quickly fell in love with Rob who indulged her once I started to wain. I'd like to thank our photographer who happily followed our instructions to get "some" of the cathedral in the background of our photo in Jackson Square. lol.


Kevin took Rob on a swamp tour where he got to know some gators quite intimately.





But maybe not quite as intimately as Kevin.


Elle hugging Coucle Rob per his departure.