Sunday, May 23, 2010

Bayou Boogaloo

Went to another festival... this one called Bayou Boogaloo. Had a nice time listening to music and checking out the vendors...


Katie getting her face painted... a pink butterfly.




Ella getting a blue/purple butterfly...




Two beautiful butterflies!




There was a group of hippies -- seriously, hippies! -- at the festival. They were traveling across the country and you could help paint their bus (they were hoping for donations, of course!)... Katie and Ella were all over that!










There was a really cool vendor that made jewelry out of antique buttons.... this was the button dress they had on display. It was fun looking at all the different kinds of buttons!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Our Preschool Grads!!!

Katie and Ella are reading to begin Kindergarten... Congratulations to my babies! Er, I mean, BIG GIRLS!!! Seriously, can my girls be finishing Pre-K... ????

A family photo on the last day of preschool at St. Andrew's.
Katie is next to Mommy and Ella is next to Daddy.

Graduation Day! Or, as the school called it, "The Big Close-Up"
This is a bit of a shock, but Katie is wearing BLUE today and Ella is in the pink floral dress!

Visiting the "Mary Garden"...

I guess Katie is saying a little prayer...

Katie's ceremony was first. Daddy and Ella waiting for "The Big Close-Up" to begin.

Katie was in the front of the line (goes along with have a B name!)... you can see her peaking at me from behind her classmate. She was so excited and nervous! We are learning that Katie has a bit of stage-fright.

Here's a photo of Katie with her classmates during the ceremony...


Here, she's singing away!
Notice how she's standing up looking straight ahead, keeping her hands to herself (compared to all other other kids)... that is our Katie! Such a rule-follower. :-)

Katie, Ella, and Daddy checking out the scrapbook the teachers made them. Such a great keepsake!!

Katie's favorite teacher, Mrs. Kettering!

The girls with Katie's primary teacher, Mrs. Goens.

They had a little reception following The Big Close-Up -- here are a few pictures with Katie's classmates. Ella, being the social butterfly that she is, knew them all!

One of my favorite pictures of the girls.

This is Katie's favorite boy friend, Bryce.... she hasn't quite decided, but she's thinking she might marry him one day. It's between him and Owen (from her VA preschool). Bryce is very, very funny and makes her laugh, but Owen can read and is very smart. Tough decision. We are encouraging her to take her time deciding...

Putting her autograph on Bryce's keepsake dog.

Katie with a couple of her classmates....
interesting because the tall girl terrorized Katie all semester, but that day was as sweet as pie. Katie found that very confusing (as did her mother!).

Here are a few pictures of Ella and her classmates prior to her "Big Close-Up".... the kids were in the classroom going absolutely MAD - those poor teachers!

Ella had a lot of great kids in her class. Here she is with a few more of her friends...

Time for Ella's ceremony...

Ella getting her graduation medal.

Katie taking a picture of Ella during the ceremony.

This is the absolutely adorable girl who terrorized Ella all semester, but in a different way from what happened to Katie -- she, at 4/5, has mastered the art of social terrorizing. One day inviting Ella to her birthday party and the next day, when she's mad at Ella, un-inviting her. After about 3 months of this, Ella finally said to me, "Mommy, she is not a good friend". You are a very smart girl, Ella, and I'm so glad you figured this out early.


Another of Ella's good friends from class...

Ella's teacher, Mrs. Parsiola.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Broadmoor Fest 2010

We made it out to a neighborhood in Uptown New Orleans called Broadmoor for their annual festival. Had some fun dancing, swinging, and jumping in the bouncy house before the skies opened up with a monsoon of rain this afternoon. Unfortunately the rain prevented us from getting our faces painted and getting a "snowball" treat. But, we had fun even after getting soaked.


Ella swinging.
Katie and Mommy swinging!


Spring time southern belle, Katie.


Mommy and her girls.





Ella and Mommy swinging.





Into the bouncy house.






Sliding out of the bouncy house!