Stonewall Auction 2016

I LOVE the 80s.

We had such a blast at this years Stonewall Jackson Elementary Auction. 

So much fun meeting new friends, raising money for Stonewall and of course dancing like crazies to the Spazmatics! 

So excited for Ryan to start kinder here next year. 

There are so many wonderful families!

NOLA Girls Weekend

Last weekend I headed down to New Orleans for a little girls getaway. It was the perfect trip! I love these little girl trip because my friends are amazing at planning all the details. They basically had our days scheduled and booked back in February and it did not disappoint! I love being able to show up and enjoy the weekend. Oh and the company isn't bad either :)

We arrived in New Orleans at 9am and Shannon's sweet mother-in-law picked us up and chauffeured us to The Roosevelt Hotel. We checked in, changed and set off with no destination in mind. We walked through the French Quarter and down to Jackson Square before deciding that we were hungry for lunch. Although our reservations weren't until 12:30 we thought we would get there early and see if they would seat us. Lucky for us, they did!

Lunch at Luke's was delish! Perfect way to start our food tour through the city. 

A little envious of LJ's lunch - the soft shell crab po-boy. A-MAZE-ING!

After lunch we ubered to the Garden District for a walking tour. 

Our guide was a history professor at the university and was incredibly informative. It was the perfect mix of history and entertainment. Not to mention we had amazing weather, so walking around was incredibly enjoyable. 

We posed for a pic against the wall of the cemetery. Only to find out five minutes later that the walls are 10 feet deep and have bodies buried inside of them.  (It is the outside wall to the Lafayette Cemetery.)

Headed in to one of the oldest cemeteries in NO. 

After the tour we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. 

Before dinner we popped into a little Mexican spot for happy hour. I don't recall the name of it, but they had good drinks and good guacamole. Win win for our group!

After our little happy hour we headed over to the two-time James Beard award-winning restaurant, Peche, in the artsy Warehouse District of New Orleans. 

After Peche we walked back to the hotel. We had one quick drink at the bar then decided to hang in our rooms - we were in bed by 10:30. I know, crazy. 

The next morning we woke up and headed out for brunch at Brennan's. A must when in New Orleans as far as I am concerned. Trust me. 

Cheers!

The food was delicious. I got the lump crab meat & mushroom omelet. Love. 

Afterwards we decided to grab some more drinks and walk around the French Quarter. 

Here we are in front of Jackson Square. Also kinda looks like Disney World here...

Who doesn't love a good overlay?

We were all like:

Can you guess who's house this is???

Yup - Brad and Angelina's. It's on the market for $6.5 million if anyone wants to snap it up. What a steal. lol

We stopped in for a drink at Pat O' Brians. No hurricanes for us though. 

And it wouldn't be a trip to New Orleans without some beignets. Since the line at Cafe Du Monte was crazy we opted for Cafe Beignet (We read amazing things about this place from Kevin and Amanda, our "blog friends"). 

Cafe Beignet did not disappoint. After inhaling those we did a little more walking around. 

The oldest bar in New Orleans - Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. To be honest, it smelled like vomit inside. Luckily you can have beers our front, so we did.  We eventually made our way back to the hotel to freshen up for an early dinner and Ghost Tour. 

We ate dinner at Tujague's (pronounced Two-Jacks). This was our least favorite place. The atmosphere and food were underwhelming. 

After dinner we went on a French Quarter Phantoms Ghost Tours . This ghost tour was my only request while on this trip - I had heard amazing things about it! Plus I just love a good ol ghost story. Anyhow, I wasn't impressed with it. Perhaps it was that our guide had just moved to town two years ago and seemed more like an 'actor' that a historic ghost tour guide. Oh well, maybe next time!

And it wouldn't be a trip to NO without a little time on Burbon Street. We ended up at The Cats Meow which is a karaoke bar. and apparently we were all really into it. It's a karaoke bar, so we a little Garth Brooks...as well as others.  Please note that our friend Susanne is pregnant. As a sober friend she watched out for us and took embarrassing videos throughout the night. #notsharingthose

The next morning we took our time getting ready and packing up. We did a little shopping before heading to Commander's Palace for our three hour lunch!

It was delicious and the perfect way to end our trip!

We had such a great weekend! We have already started planning our next trip. (And when I say "we", I mean "they".) Love traveling with these ladies!

Lately

Last Monday the kids had the day off from school so I decided to take them to the arboretum for Mommy and Me Monday. 

Hayden LOVED the petting zoo. 

She hovered over the bunny the entire time and she would randomly point, scream and give a big ol grin. I am sure he loved it. After 45 minutes I carried her out kicking and screaming. 

We ate a picnic lunch and then walked over to the children's garden for a little bit. 

Then home for Hayden's nap. 

The wagon worked out really well because they all love sitting in it. 

Skipping ahead to Thursday...we met friends at Coffee park to celebrate Brooks turning two!

He and Hayden are two peas in a pod. 

trouble. 

Friday evening we headed to Ryan's flag football game. It was actually kinda chilly, but the kids refused to wear jackets. 

Hayden was all over the place and then finally stetted down the last 15 minutes for a snack (that she stole from the team). Grayson was easy-going and sweet. He played around and then kept busy by picking grass. He impressed himself each time and of course showed each piece to me. "Mom, look how big this one is!"

Ryan played the majority of the game but never made much contact with the ball (or really anyone for that matter).  They did give him the ball one time but he ran horizontal, then froze and started crying because he didn't want anyone taking his flag. He's pretty fast so if we could just get him going in the right direction I have no doubt he could outrun these kiddos! Oh well at least he enjoys playing on the team with his friends from school. 

Saturday morning we had Grayson's soccer game. That afternoon we headed to the Jackson's to celebrate Charlie's first birthday! It was such a beautiful day - the kids had so much fun running around and playing with friends. 

Hanging out with Tate. About to feed him some corny dog. 

I think a trampoline might be in our future...

Just chillin' by the drinks...still working on her corny dog. 

On Sunday I met up with some fun Lakewood Ladies at Bistro31 for brunch. It was a fun group of girls. Afterwards a few of us did a little window shopping in Highland Park Village. 

And when I got home I discovered we had a new friend...

Ahhh! 

Yikes! At least he's outside! 

The kids were so excited and ran out there to try and play with it. Of course it ran away...but Hayden keeps checking the hole to see if it's coming back.