Sick Boy!

The past couple of days, we have had a sick little boy in our house!

First of all, though, I have to share this picture from Friday night.  I got Jack bathed and dressed in his pj's before bed.  But before we went to bed, he HAD to have his red boots on.

These boots were actually my little brother's when he was little.  Blaise wore these boots EVERYwhere (sometimes just the boots).  They are still a little big on Jack, but he loves them!  Mostly because they were his "Bubbie."

Saturday morning, Jack woke up wheezing and coughing, with a fever.  I called my favorite pediatrician, and he said to head to Brookhaven.  When I asked Jack if he wanted to go visit "Doc," he said, "Doc!...Bubbie!"

My dad diagnosed him with croup.  We had a rough Saturday night.  Bech stayed in Baton Rouge, so I was up half of the night with a coughing, wheezing, crying baby.

In the middle of the night, all I could think about was Diana Barry's little sister had croup and Anne (with an "e"!) came over in the middle of the night.  That little girl might have died, but Anne made her drink ipecac and all was well.  Then Anne was invited to sleep in the Barry's spare room.

That was right about when Jack threw up all over me.

I don't think I have any spare room spend the nights in the future.

I had to be back in BR for a tutoring appointment Sunday afternoon, so we headed home while the rest of the family went to church.

But I stopped at Ms. Gussie's (oh, I know, it's Snowhaven now!) for my first Brookhaven snow cone of the year.  Because, sick baby or no sick baby, I have to get my snow cones.  Thank goodness for Seventh Day Adventists who are open on Sunday!

Jack is still slowly recovering.  He's missed the past two days of day care--one with me, and one with Bech.  But he is on the mend and is not contagious anymore, so we are heading back tomorrow.  I think he is going stir crazy in the house.  There is only so much "Thomas" one child (and his parents) can take!

Mardi Gras

I've been ignoring my blog for the past week (oh, let's be honest...the past two weeks!).  But I do want to keep posting, and I need to catch up on some posts.

So Mardi Gras recap!

I great up (mostly) in Mississippi.  We "celebrated" Mardi Gras some, and by that I mean, we ate King Cakes.  And some people ventured a couple of hours down south for the festivities.  But that was the extent of my celebrations.

Bech's mom grew up in New Orleans, and his parents recently bought an apartment down there.  They are getting back connected with all of her family and friends.  In fact, Bech's mom even joined a Krewe!

Bech's mom is a member of the Krewe of Nyx, a fairly new, all ladies Krewe.  In late January, Bech and I got to go to the Krewe's Mardi Gras Ball.  His dad was traveling, but Hunter, his brother, filled in.  We got to wear long dresses and tuxes...and masks!

Hunter and I in our masks.

Miss Karey and I...aren't our masks great?  I want to wear mine all of the time!

My cute date.  

Some family friends--Sheryl is also a member of the Krewe.

The ball was so much fun.  We arrived at 7 to an open bar.  At 8, they introduced the court and the queen, and then we ate dinner.  After dinner, there was lots of dancing!  Bech and I are old folks, so we left at 12:30.  Bech's mom and brother stayed until 2...they are way tougher than us!

A couple of weeks later it was time for Mardi Gras!

***Sidenote:  I always thought Mardi Gras was wild.  Media always makes it sound CRAZY.  And it can be crazy.  But most of the parades and parade routes are totally family friendly.***

We weren't able to come down for Bech's mom's parade because it was in the middle of the week.  But we headed down the Saturday before Mardi Gras and spent two days in NOLA.  We had the BEST time, and I think Jack enjoyed it too.

The kids at Mardi Gras all sit in "ladder seats."  I was nervous at first, because they are really high!  But kids are never in the seats without tons of people in front and someone standing behind them on the ladder.  Plus, the seats are really sturdy.  This way, Jack was able to get lots of beads!

At the Krewe of Tucks parade.  Bech and Hunter caught these hats.  Floats don't just throw beads.  They also throw hats, stuffed animals, light up toys, cups, and doubloons.

Mr. John ("Farfar") got a Tuck's hat, too.  Everyone got to take a turn standing behind Jack.  It was pretty fun--the floats love to throw to kids!

I loved these guys--they all had recliners set on wheels!

A "Dr. Who" float.  All of the parades have themes and each float goes along with that theme.  This parade's theme was "Time." 

Penguins!  Obviously this was my favorite float.

These guys were great, too.  Dorky white middle aged guys with too short shorts and hilarious dance moves...what's not to love?

Most of the parades we went to that weekend were day time parades.  Bech's parents apartment is a block from St. Charles, the parade route.  We set up our stuff in the morning, headed out for the parade, and were able to walk back for drink refills, snack breaks, and nap breaks (for Bech and Jack!).  There was lots of family and friends, so lots of help with Jack!

Also, I feel like I need to let you know that I am now an expert at catching beads.  I decided, through advice from Hunter's friend Peyton, to go with the eye-contact, groveling method.  It seemed to work pretty well.  But now I have a massive amount of beads.  I did not consider the repercussions midst my bead groveling...

Saturday night, we ate oysters and hung out in the patio of the Evan's apartment building (it's really an old, beautiful New Orleans house).  Lots of friends dropped by.  Jack and his Farfar spent some quality time together.  Jack was pretty overwhelmed the whole weekend, but I think he loved all of the grandparent attention!

I'm not a raw oyster fan, but I think they're a pretty fun Louisiana food.

We enjoyed the whole weekend...I am now a fan of Mardi Gras.  I can't wait for next year.  I already got Jack a monogrammed shirt for next year's Mardi Gras!

Randoms...

A random post...my favorite kind!

* Friday night before the concert, we got to eat in Lafayette.  Ohmylanta, this town is amazing!  There were so many cute looking restaurants.  We ate at Social Southern. I want to go again soon!  I had a grass fed beef burger and sake aged cheddar mac and cheese.  I also had the best drink I have ever had (seriously--the best).

It's hard to get grass fed beef in this state!  I felt like I was back in Vermont, eating at Farmhouse Tap and Grill.  All I was missing was a glass of Citizen Cider.

* My parents watched Jack this past week from Wednesday night until Saturday afternoon.  Even with the concert, I still had a good amount of free time on my hands.  What'd I do?

Reorganize our linen closet.

I had been wanting to reorganize this closet for a while, but didn't want to spend a lot of money on baskets.  Thanks to Ashley's post about great finds at the dollar store, I checked out our local store for some storage baskets.  Score!  Reorganized closet for $6!

I also used the extra time in the morning to grab a Diet Dr. Pepper with Vanilla from Sonic.  

I know, I'm such a wild child, right?  Sonic and reorganized closets?  Whoa!

Bech's parents are watching Jack later this month.  Who knows, I might even break out the label maker?!?

* Last week was not a great cooking week.  I had a ton going on, plus we ate out (either restaurant or a friends house) a couple of nights.  So I decided to get back to my planning this week.

First up, frittata!

Y'all, this was so good!  I cooked up some diced red potato, added eggs, sausage, cooked spinach, and goat cheese.  I put the whole pan in the oven and baked it up.  Everyone was a fan, even Jack.

Tonight, Bech made breakfast for dinner.  I came home late from a faculty meeting and errands and was expecting pancakes and eggs--you know, the norm.  Instead, Bech made homemade cinnamon rolls.  They were delicious!

Let's hope I can keep up my menu for the rest of the week.

* I felt really weird last night not watching Downton.  I miss my time with the Grantham family.  

I will just have to make up for it with the Bachelor.  Oh wait, that ends soon.  

The Office?  Again, about to end (FOR GOOD!).  

At least I still have Ben and Leslie from Parks and Recreation.  

*  Did I mention the fact that I met and took a picture with one of my favorite musicians?  

Yeah, just thought I'd remind y'all.

David Wilcox

When I was 19, I met Bech and we started dating.  He told me that one of his favorite singers was a guy named David Wilcox.  I wanted to look really cool to him, so I downloaded a couple of his songs.  I was hoping I would love David, and we would have that in common.

I didn't know then, but there are actually two David Wilcox's.  The first is a Canadian rocker.  And that's what I downloaded.  Not good.  So I decided that I didn't like David and we would just have to find some different common music likes.

That spring, Bech and I (and my little sister) took a road trip to Florida for spring break.  Bech brought along Live Songs and Stories, a cd where David sings and tells stories (okay, yeah, I guess that was pretty obvious).  Anyway, I fell in love with that cd.  Bech had one or two more cds and we've bought a couple of his other cds throughout the years.  And those cds have been my lifeline so many times.

I love music that sings the truth and the gospel to me.  And while David Wilcox doesn't refer to himself as a Christian musician, his music is so full of truth.  I always notice and pick up on new hidden gems every time I listen to him.

David's music has become "our" music.  Bech and I constantly reference songs and lyrics to each other.  One of our dreams has always been to see him in concert.  I say dreams, not goals, because I really felt like we would never get to!  He tours a lot, but rarely near us.  But this past November, our friend Hannah mentioned that Greg, her husband, and she were going to see David Wilcox in Lafayette, LA, this March.  Lafayette is only 1 hour and 15 minutes away!

So last night, Bech and I got to see David perform.  Y'all, it was perfect.  I seriously could not use any other word to describe it.

The theatre he played in was very small.  We were only about 20 feet away from him.  And he told stories before some of the songs.

He played several of my favorites: "Rusty Old American Dream," "Language of the Heart," "Show the Way," "Eye of the Hurricane."  And he played Bech and my's song, "Start With the Ending."  

He played a ton of things new to us, and they were all great.  You know how sometimes you go to shows, and it's all new stuff and you don't know it at all.  You want the old stuff?  This wasn't like that. Because his songs are very much stories wrapped up into songs, every new song is like a new treat.  

Here is David on stage--just him and a guitar.

After the show, he just came out and walked around.  I asked him to sign a cd booklet.  Pretty sure I was the only one who did that, which is embarrassing.  Then we took a picture with him (we weren't alone in that request).  He kind of put his arms out, and I said, "Are we allowed to touch you?"  Um, who says that?  I am a walking most embarrassing story.  

So here is our picture with David Wilcox.

Yup, I'm pretty happy right now.

I would love to tell you to check out his music, but I honestly don't know if you would like it.  He is amazing, and he has really loyal followers.  But I don't really share his music with everyone, because I don't want to hear people say they don't like it.  But if you are curious (and you won't tell me if you don't like it!), you should check him out.  Maybe start with "Live Songs and Stories," like I did.

To close, here are some of my favorite lyrics:

"When I get lonely ah, that's only a sign
Some room is empty, and that room is there by design
If I feel hollow - that's just my proof that there's more
For me to follow - that's what the lonely is for."