Southdowns parade

Mark was playing ball in Monroe this weekend, so the girls and I make plans to go to the Southdown's parade with Nannie Kim b/c her house is just a few blocks off the route. It had been a few years since I had been to a parade, and I was very excited. The rain made it a little wet, so I didn't take too many pictures (not to mention that I didn't bother to check the battery on my camera, which was very low), but here are a few.

Emma and Mr. Richard (one of her most favorite people in the world!):





(cousin) Jason, Emma, Nannie Kim and Katie wait for the start of the parade:



... ditto with me instead of Nannie Kim:



Kim and Richard with Richard's brother and sister in law, Jimmy and Marie. Jimmy might be Emma's new favorite person. They were messing with her until she belly laughed - too funny.




That's all the pics. We had a good time and now I'm thinking about the St. Patrick's Day parade! Laissez les bon temps roulez, y'all.

Emma's busy social calendar

So, we'll leave out the gory details, but this week was tough one at the Carroll house. A stomach bug went through the ENTIRE family, even this mama's horse strong, high school teacher worn's immune system. I swore I would not fall, but alas, I was the last one to fall on Thursday. We'll leave the details out, but Mark and I both missed two days of work, one with a sick kid, and the other with a sick self! By Friday, we had all recovered.

Anyway, Saturday Emma had two engagements to attend. First was Cameron's cupcake party at Cupcake and Cream on sherwood. It was very cool. They got to 'make' cupcakes and then decorate them. Here Emma puts in some sugar:



Katie added some chocolate sauce. (Much to Emma's disappointment, Cameron's mom invited Katie to stay since one of her guests had cancelled):



Emma and the birthday girl:



Katie decorating her cupcake:




Emma decorates her cupcake. You should have seen the amount of icing on these things when they were done. And of course, Emma ate about 2 bites!

Emma and Cameron model their finished products:

After the party Emma had her FIRST SLUMBER PARTY at Addie's house. I wasn't sure if she was going to make it all night because she seemed so little, but I had a feeling she would be okay. (She tends to be a little braver than some one else in our household!) Addie's mom said their wasn't even a mention of home the whole time! So proud of her. Emma and Addie love each other so much, they crack me up. When they see each other, they hug like its been years. Too funny. I didn't get too many pics b/c Addie's mom picked Emma up, but I got this one when I picked her up the next morning.

This is Emma, Sophie (Addie's cousin), Addie and Aubrey, the neighbor across the street who is in the first grade at Northside:

My little baby is growing up. Sometimes, I miss the crib and noonie days!

Nah!

Earrings and babies and softball, oh my!

So we had a very eventful schedule this weekend, but not in a bad way! Friday was relaxing, but then we hit the roads running Saturday morning. First we headed off to the mall to get Emma's ears pierced, AGAIN! Katie and Emma both got them done about a year and a half ago, but both of them got pretty infected when we took them out. After they closed up, Katie never expressed that she wanted to get them redone, but Emma has been asking me about it for months, so we finally went this weekend. I forgot to bring my camera into the mall, but here are two after pictures:





... and a 'sidewards' view ( as emma would say):







After the mall, we dropped Katie off at a friends house in Baton Rouge, and Emma and I came home to meet up with Mrs. Julie and baby Sarah on a stroll. We found out that someone likes Barbies!










Emma and baby Sarah:



I title this one: " No, baby Sarah, don't put that one in your mouth!"

Saturday night, we met some of our coworkers at Big Mike's to eat after Mark's baseball scrimmage. Yummy as always!

Sunday we went out to North Park (with a million other people). The girls wanted to play at the park and Mark threw the softball with Katie who wants to play softball at Northside. We also walked around the path by the pond.

By the walking path:

Swinging in the park:

Katie throwing the softball with dad:

Snow Day (Louisiana style)

So we some how managed to get not one, but 2 days of school off this week because of the threat of sleet and ice (snow... not so likely). While my sister dealt with multiple inches of snow in Plano, this is what our "snow day" looked like:

Lots of rain and very cold, but locally we didn't see any ice. I think there was some just north of us, but nothing yet. So the Carrolls took the opportunity to clean house (fun, yes!), get groceries, fix big breakfasts and make our vacation countdown calendar! As you can see at the top of the blog page, we are going on the new Disney cruise ship - the Dream. We are fast approaching the 100 day mark. Last time we went to Disney, we made a count down calendar, so we had to do it again:

Here Emma puts stickers on the poster:

... and here is the final product. We are at day 107 right now, so we won't be marking off days yet, but probably next weekend. Castaway Cay here we come!

Bring on the King Cake!

When Mark and I went to New Orleans for the weekend for the high school football finals, I bought some beignet mix b/c Katie always talks about how much she loves to get beignets when we go to New Orleans. I had been putting off (and putting off) making them b/c I thought either they would be a giant mess or a giant failure! So when she woke me up this morning, once again, begging for us to make them, I gave in, and, luckily they were neither too messy and they actually came out pretty darn good.

The recipie calls to cut then into 2 and a fourth inch squares once you roll out the dough, but I thought a cookie cutter would be easier. Strangely I couldn't find just a plain circle cutter or the right size cup to use, so we used a heart cutter. I thought the "Valentine" beignets came out pretty cute:

Here we are frying them up (that was my job):



Katie was the sugar duster:

Emma was the taster! (she actually helped Katie and I cut them too):

... and the final product:

Now I can see the girls asking for them every Sunday. (And we even made it to church this week!) My next mission is King Cake! Bon Appetite!

American Girl weekend in Dallas

This past weekend, the girls and I went to Plano to visit my sister and her family and (of course) visit the American Girl store in Dallas. This will be the 3rd time the girls have been, and it is so adorable. We did lots of other things like shop and eat out, but I only had my camera this one day.

Here's the girls with my niece Emily who actually passed down her American Girl doll to Katie for her "first" doll:




Here's proof that I went on the trip b/c I'm in no other photos:



Here's Nannie Jane (my sister), Emily , Katie and Emma before we leave:




We parked in a parking garage below the store, and when we came up, I thought this was going to be this amazing picture with the store in the background, and... well, it wasn't so great. Katie is also giving her "gangster" pose here, (nice):

Everyone outside the store (can you say "squint"):

Katie and Emma just got Felicity and Elizabeth for Christmas this year, and I think they are the most beautiful dolls. They are getting ready to be retired soon:

In the bathroom, they have the most adorable holders in the potty for your doll!

So the highlight of the trip was the tea at the bistro :




With the tea came an "arts and crafts" of sorts. We got to make hats for the dolls (and I do mean we ALL made hats). I love the concentration on Emma's face:

Elizabeth sports the most beautiful hat at the table (Missy's! - aka her "grandmother" - get it, since Emma is her "mom"):

Even Nannie Jane and Emily make hats:

Katie and Felicity:

This was a partially eaten tea tray at our table. We had tons of food and brought some home. There were little sandwiches, fruit kebobs, cupcakes, and brownies:

Katie and a tiny sandwich:

Emma and Elizabeth's tiny tea cup:

Elizabeth and her party outfit and snack and tea:

Felicity (notice the amazing fashion hat) with her snack and tea:

It was a blast. The girls never tire of visiting there.

We also got to swim at Jane's amazing rec center with indoor slides and a lazy river. I brought my camera there, but my battery had slipped out of it into my booksack at Jane's house, so I only took a few photos with my phone which I haven't downloaded yet. I'll try and do that this weekend.

Nutcracker ballet picture

Just got these in the mail today. Here's my little cook!