Death of a Camera

My (not so) faithful camera has been in the process of dying. I couldn't figure out why I kept getting such blurry pictures until the lens apparatus broke. So, the majority of these pics were taken on my iPhone. Not that my normal pictures are that fabulous...





We spent two out of the past 4 weekends at Carl and MJ's house when Shaun went to the West Virginia game and to the Tenessee game. We pretended that we had just flown in for the weekend. I'm not sure who was more excited- Nanny and Poppy, the kids, or me! We had a wonderful time!



Just a cute on of my lil' Roo. He is currently undergoing a language explosion! He can say mama, daddy, Anna, Nanny, cat, more, football, vroom-vroom and poptart. This is pretty good, considering that he couldn't really hear much until about two months ago. It's obvious what is important to him by this list.



It's still pretty warm here, so the kids have been enjoying the pool in the backyard in the evenings after school.



Anna went purse diving. Enough said.



Drew got his hair cut again. He did such a good job and even sat in the seat by himself. He thought he was something, too! Kelli does such a great job with our hair, but I don't have any in-focus pictures of her because she was moving so quickly!





While Anna attended Sara's "Almost Slumber Party", Shaun and I went out to dinner with Roo and then went to see Mike the Tiger. This was the first party we have ever "left" Anna at, and we weren't too sure what to do with ourselves.




According to Drew, Mike the Tiger says, "Meow!"



"No Drew, you have to look at mommy!"





This past weekend, we went to Tyler and Claire's birthday party in Napoleonville. Brandie took Drew for some rides.



Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm here.


I'm working on posting more often, I promise! Working full time with two little kids is hard!

Stupendous September

I have only worked two full weeks out of the past six. Both of these Turkeys keep getting sick!
The day after Drew got tubes, Anna got strep throat (again), which morphed into scarlet fever. She refused to take her medicine, so the next day we had to go back to the doctor and get a shot. Take a look at her tongue- it's called "strawberry tongue" and it's a side effect of strep/scarlet fever. I was a little too excited by it.



Drew now says, "uh oh!" and drops everything.



So the kids missed picture day at school. I took some pics of Drew by himself.



Over Labor Day weekend, we were hit by Tropical Storm Lee. We got a lot of rain, and the kids got a little stir crazy. This is what happened when it rained Trix cereal.



Clean up, clean up...



He thought it would be fun to walk on the cereal. Not so much after a while.



All of my laundry baskets disappear for rides.



My entire family came into New Orleans for the weekend to celebrate my dad's birthday. We made him a cake. Anna and Drew did the quality control.



The house is just about finished!! It's been a long six years since Katrina, but it will be worth it! Stephen has moved in and is in the process of furnishing it. Mike and Amy even installed closet organizers while they were in town.



You lookin' at me?



The birthday boy- 66 years young!



His trophy wife:



Anna was taking pictures (if you couldn't tell).



Stephen and his new honey, Melanie. She bravely survived dinner with ALL of us!


It was a fun weekend. Yay for family!

The Busiest Month of the Year

The end of July and beginning of August are always interesting at our house with the school year getting started. Drew is eating all table food (and has been for quite some time), and he loves to get his hands dirty and run them through his hair. Cheetos are particularly exciting.



During the last week of July, Anna went to Gymnastics Camp at LSU.






The restaurant around the corner from our house, George's, added a playground to one of their outdoor dining areas. We are thrilled because we can eat a good meal with friends and the kids are entertained!!




This was in response to being reprimanded for throwing herself down the slide and colliding with Drew.



This was Drew's response to Anna being in time out.




Richard and Lindsey, the newlyweds, joined us for dinner. We are glad that they like our kids!




Anna went to her friend's birthday party at the bounce place and had a smashing time.




Drew enjoyed dismantling my sunglasses and putting some fantastic tooth marks in the frames.




Daddy found a HUGE caterpillar in the back yard!



When I asked Anna to clean up her room, she responded, "Why?"



Anna has been practicing her headstands using the couch for support. She is improving.




Daddy gets triple-teamed:




Drew has FINALLY let go! He cruised for about 4 months, but once he saw Peter walking (at a mere 11 months), Drew realized that he could do it too! Thanks Peter!






They were being silly!



"Anna, do something to make Drew smile!"




Midevening cat torture:





After months and months of resistant ear infections, delayed babbling, and very little talking, it became obvious that Drew needed tubes in his ears. We did the surgery at Woman's Hospital (apparently NOT just for births and hysterectomies), and reported early Thursday morning. Drew waved to all of the big trucks on the way.



The hospital was slammed. Apparently, Christmas was really good last year.



Drew charmed all of the nurses and was impressed by his very own volume control.



In the gown, ready to go.




When he started to realize that something was amiss:




The surgery went well and Drew came out of anesthesia fighting mad! The nurses asked me to come back to the recovery room to help calm him down, but apparently, the only person he wanted was his daddy. This is what happened after Drew got his wish:



What a little stinker!
By the end of the day, he was making new noises and was back to his cheerful, active self.

Taste of Tap

Last week, Anna attended a "Tap and Tumble" camp at the local dance school. On the last day, they had a little performance for us to watch!




This is a video of the basics they practiced.






And this is their routine. Anna had so much fun!

Sorry about the unsteady camerawork. I was holding Andrew and he kept getting really excited and jumping all over whenever Anna would dance.