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.

Spectacular Spectacles

I had been having some issues with my contacts for a while. There were some little bumps that had developed on the underside of my eyelids and they seemed to get sort of inflamed after wearing my contacts for a while.  So I went to the eye doctor here and he suggested a few options for treatment - including scraping them off.  And I decided to just go for it and let him scrape away.  Which is HUGE as I am a total eye-phobe.  Sadly the scraping did not work and I just couldn't stand listening to the sound - totally got all sweaty!  So the Dr suggested that he cut them off!  Yuck.  I agreed but asked if I could please play some music so I did not have to listen to it.  The Dr and nurse thought that was hilarious. Even more so when I did not need it while they did shots in my eyelids!  So I busted out my phone and played some good ole Eric Church to distract.  As a result though, I had to wear my glasses for several weeks.  Which is not a big deal except they are super glued together and at a perpetual angle on my face.  So new glasses for me!

Me and Audrey with my old glasses.  Note how I am cleverly turning my head to distract from the fact that they look ridiculously crooked.

 The girls went with me to select some new glasses.  They were totally in love with wearing glasses - which I hope holds true as I am certain that they will be sporting them in just a few years.

 Me in my new glasses - though this was with the temporary lenses.  With eyes like mine, you totally need the ultra thins with glare protection!

My Star Students

I am so proud of my girls.  They have been super stars at school. Neither of them has ever had their clip  moved - which is a huge accomplishment in my opinion.  And Audrey was selected as star student for her class for the month of January.  Thank Heavens as each month she kept asking why she had not been chosen for star student since she followed all the rules and was nice to everybody.  Hard to give a good reason to that - especially since I clearly thought that she should be a star student! Here is a picture of her at her star student lunch where I got to go eat with her.

Brooke was nominated by her teacher to be student of the year for the school.  They do an interview, which I think is mainly how they decide who the winner will be.  They had a little ceremony and an ice cream social with the principal and she got to wear free dress that day.  She was very excited about it.  As it turns out, she did not get selected to be student of the year (I was both relieved that she did not get more recognition that Audrey and disappointed cause I always want my kids to be the best!) Fortunately Brooke was not that upset....primarily because we think that she did not actually know that she was competing for anything.  We sort of told her that she was doing the different stuff -  like the interview - because she was the first star student for her class. 

 Showing off the little lanyard that said that she could wear free dress that day.  I totally love this picture!

Enjoying her ice cream sundae.

Here comes Noah!

I am pretty sure that we are going to float away at any moment.  It was rained and rained and rained. I felt so bad for those teachers as they had kids back after over two weeks of vacation and then no recess for ages.

 At least the girls are looking super adorable in all of their new bad weather gear from Christmas!

Our sad backyard under water.