Photo Shoot

Back in January, I bought two new cameras - a little one and my new big (nice) camera.  Two months in and I am not that impressed with the little one but I love my big camera.  So I have been taking some pictures around the house just to practice getting used to the cameras.  And for some reason, Audrey decided that she wanted to do a photo shoot.  It was so cute.  Here are some of the best ones.  And I will preface this by saying that she did all of these poses herself - with no prompting from me.  And I do realize that Audrey's shirt is way too small :)

Visit from the J's and more Mardi Gras...

The first weekend in February, we had our first visit from my dad and Jane.  It was fun to show them around our small town.  And since we are in LA, there was a fun Mardi Gras parade to go to!  After the parade - which was marred only slightly when Audrey got hit in the head with some beads and was bleeding just a bit - the girls were so excited to decorate our house with all of the beads from the parade.  It actually turned out quite cute!

 Hanging out getting ready for the parade!

 I tried to get a cute shot with the capitol in the background but you can't really see it....but certainly got a cute picture of Jane and the girls!

 Me and the other moms- Elizabeth, Amanda, and Robin- at the parade.

 Some of our bead decorations that the girls did.

 They took the job of decorating the chandelier very seriously...and thought it was great fun to stand on the table.

 The girls before school on Mardi Gras day - which was not really on Mardi Gras because there was no school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras

So here in LA, Mardi Gras is huge....but in a fun, kid-friendly way.  We went to Mardi Gras parades two weekends in a row down in Baton Rouge.  The floats and marching bands were super cool and the kids loved getting tons of beads, cups, stuffed animals, and various lighted up things.   And the girls had a week long unit learning about Mardi Gras - making masks and eating king cake (Audrey's class made theirs by frosting and sprinkling glazed donuts - how cute!)  And to complete the experience the kindergarteners had a parade for the pre-k kids.  Each of the kindergarten classes had a theme for their krewe and they decorated wagons.  So cute!

Me and some of the girls -Robin, Elizabeth, and Trisha

 The kids getting ready to catch some beads.  They immediately got the idea about yelling "Throw me something!"

 The family decked out in our Mardi Gras colors

 One of the floats in the parade

 Our friends at the parade

 The girls trying to get some beads.

Some of the wagons for the parade at school

Best Dinner Conversations Ever

I am so far behind on our blog and it is totally stressing me out-which goes to show you just how nice my life is as a SAHM if this is my biggest stresser.

I like to go chronologically but our dinner last night was so funny that I am throwing caution to the wind and blogging about it now.

To set the scene, I will preface this by sawing the girls were totally amped up last night. Bouncing off the walls as if they had eaten nothing but sugar all day. Just being so darn funny.....which I am fully aware will not really translate into my retelling here. But trust me that it was close to tears rolling down the face funny at the time.

So during our nightly debriefing about school we were asking the girls what they learned about Louisiana, which is the topic they are studying this week. They both remembered that the pelican was the state bird. Audrey described the state flower (magnolia). Then they both started to talk about the state dog - something brown and leopardy. Which I told them was ridiculous. There was no such thing as a state dog. Lots of discussion and a trip to google and it turns out that there is in fact a state dog of Louisiana. Who knew? Other than the people currently learning about it!? ( FYI the dog is the catahoula leopard dog)

So we are all cracked up about that. Then I ask Audrey (cause B had already answered it) "what is the Capitol of the state of Louisiana?" To which she quickly and seriously replied "mom that's easy. It's the state Capitol." Well how to you argue with that?

We then moved on to discussing Brooke's homework - filling up a cookie jar with C words. She and I had come up with 10 words earlier. And all three of us were trying to remember them to tell D. So we are naming them - cat, cup, colors, crown. And then Audrey busts out with (don't read if you don't like crude) Cock. Darren and I almost fell to the floor. Which is exactly how you should react when your kid says something inappropriate that you don't want repeated.

We finally recover and are talking about riding the bus in the morning because A has a dr appointment and was not going to be there. So our of the blue Brooke says "mrs Pad (their bus driver though I really believe her name is pat but they are adamant that it is pad) looks like a vampire". Say what?

Just another night at the Hadden house! And here is a totally non related picture.