One down, 19,999 to go! Way to get the job done, FEMA!

Passed this on the spillway headed into New Orleans. It was not, if you were wondering, part of a caravan.

Go FEMA. Woohoo. One trailer.

At least one more family will have a place to lay their heads. I am happy for them.

But who would have ever considered that it might be a good idea to get temporary housing for people before kicking them out of hotels?

Nah. To much thinking. Says FEMA: head...hurts...can't...think...critically..... 

Mystique -- the kids first Mardi Gras parade...

Here are my favorite photos from the Krewe Mystique de la Capitale parade from this afternoon. We got SO. MUCH. STUFF. I mean, people were running over handing the kids stuffed animals, bling-o-riffic beads, and all sorts of goodies. Will had a great time, and Adelaide loved the music and bands. It was cold and a little rainy, but we all are glad we went. Next time, however, we're bringing a bag so Adelaide can actually ride back to the car in her stroller. (What you can't see is that beyond the stuff in the seat, the basket under the stroller seat is bulging with stuff!)


 

ha ha ha ha ha another good one

Once again, found this on flickr -- not one of mine, but awesome nonetheless... 

HILARIOUS -- THIS is Mardi Gras!

I use flickr (see my little flash thingy to the left -- that's flickr) anyway, I had loaded all my mardi gras photos on there, and I thought I'd do a search for other mardi gras photos, and I came upon this one. Looking at it, I knew it was supposed to be NOLA mayor Ray Nagin...but I didn't know what it was all about until I read the caption...









"This is going on a "Chocolate City" float. Mayor Nagin will be playing the race card."

If you don't get it, check out this link http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/suburban/2210102.html 

Happy baby

She was just cheesing the whole time I was taking these pictures.

 

Be my Valentine

They are the best Valentines in the world...they give me love, I give them love, and they remind me of how much love I share with my husband.

(Quit making gagging noises! We really are that sweet!) 

Cutie Pies

They were so good natured about my picture-taking...I guess they're used to it... 

Kisses and Love

Will gives his baby sister a smackeroo on the head.

This is different than the smackeroos on the head I am anticipating in a few years. 

"My Funny Valentines..."

They are funny, let me tell you... 

My Jupiter Loot...

 

"Jupiter Rolled"

That's the way they talk about the Mardi Gras parades down here -- a parade doesn't start...it "rolls." Jupiter is the name of a "krewe," which is the name of the groups, sometimes secret, that put on each parade. And there are sooooo many parades! Jupiter was the first of the season in Baton Rouge, and coincidentally, our church was having a "Parent's Date Night" that evening. So we checked out our first ever Mardi Gras parade.

It was soooooo fun! Contrary to popular belief, there are "family friendly" parades and events during Mardi Gras season, and Jupiter was one of them. Now that Ben and I sort of know how it all works, we're going to take the kids to their first one this coming weekend!

Anyway, we did, in our opinion, not bad at all for two newbiees at a smaller parade! Check out the lootage.... 

The helpful brother

Will loves to "show" Adelaide all her toys...I guess the "someone else's toys are always the most interesting" applies to siblings, as well? He likes this one, though, because if you press the mirror, it says "blah!" in a silly voice -- a Baby Einstein thing. Still funny, after all these years... 

My babies

This is such a great picture because it really shows what their relationship is like. He adores her and she thinks he is the most interesting, funniest person on earth. They have fun -- he gets such a kick out of making her laugh, and, well, she gets a kick out of him trying to make her laugh! 

New Feature: My pet peeves

Okay, so I'm going to start listing my pet peeves to get them off my mind and let me vent about petty little things that just happen to annoy me. They don't always make sense, they don't always have a lot of sympathy for the masses of mankind, but boy, do they bug me. So when I get a pet peeve that is getting at me for one reason or another, I'm going to file it under "My Pet Peeves." Hey, this is my blog. I can whine if I want to.

Soooo...my pet peeves...

Okay, the first one on my mind at the moment...PEOPLE WHO WRITE IN ALL CAPS. IT IS LIKE YELLING AT PEOPLE IN WRITING. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO LEARN HOW TO TYPE WITH ONLY OCCASIONAL CAPITAL LETTERS, just dont capitalize anything. it is much less annoying and much less stressful for the person reading. trust me.

Honestly, I have a rule that if someone is selling something on ebay and they write in all-caps, I don't buy it. No matter what. No matter how badly I want it...BECAUSE when I was first doing ebay, I noticed that all-cappers merchandise was never really like what it appeared to be on the listing. Or they'd mail it way late, or something annoying like that. And then I thought, hey, if they can't take the time or trouble to type normally, then they probably aren't really details-oriented people, kwim? And Amazon.com reviews in all caps...I mean, do the makers of excedrin send out minions to write numerous reviews in all-caps just to drive the poor, caps-sensitive masses running to the medicine cabinet? They're probably the ones behind that "punch the monkey" add that jumps all over the screen and tells you to click on the monkey to make it stop. I just navigate away from those pages. Now, if I got to ritualistically torture the monkey after I clicked on it...well, I might rethink my position.

Nonetheless, I beg of everyone...just stay away from Caps Lock. It's a public service. Or buy stock in Excedrin's parent company. Your call.