The Teddy Bear Tea

Every year my family goes to a holiday tea. Our favorite by far is the Teddy Bear Tea at the Roosevelt. The Roosevelt is absolutely gorgeous during the holidays.



At the Teddy Bear Tea, Santa and his cast of characters are there to engage in some holiday cheer! This year the kiddos got a great plate at the tea which included PB&J sandwiches and ham/cheese roll ups. My nephew RJ said the roll ups were very yummy.

The adult plates this year were the best they have ever been. The quiche was AH-mazing and my family seemed to love the curry chicken salad.

Other than all the sweets being a bit hit, my nephew Scottie really enjoyed the reindeer punch (sprite and cherry juice). Noah thought it was yummy as well and really enjoyed all the chocolates.


Mmm...cookies!

At the tea there were many things for the kiddos to engage in. Mrs. Clause read a story, Santas crew was around for pictures and in total 'Nawlins fashion there was a 2nd line.

For some reason, Noah was an absolute terror at the tea. It was probably the WORST he has ever been in public. It was very embarrassing. My dad even said "I think he was the most misbehaved kid in the whole ballroom!" and I'm sad to say that I'd have to agree. Whatever reason, he was an absolute terror! Don't be fooled by that angel face!


The Fab 5!

After the tea was over, we decided to walk around the lobby and go to the gift shop. Remember how I said Noah was bad? Well it went from bad to worse! Noah ran throughout the lobby running into kids, adults...you name it! The worst was him going down a ramp near the gift shop. He was running and with the decline he gained ever more speed. As soon as he was at his fastest, an elderly woman in a walker came out. Yes, you read write an elderly lady in a WALKER! I had to run and grab Noah in the hope that the woman wouldn't be run over by a terrible 2 toddler. EMBARRASSING!

Once my parents decided it was time to go, I was so ready to leave. I had a great time with my family and the tea was incredible, but Noah made the whole event very trying for me. Hopefully next year he is more cooperative!


This was the best picture out of 4...eeek!!!

Santas Secret Workshop!

Noah has been eying the Santas Secret Workshop commercial for quite a few weeks now. Whenever it comes on he screams "I go there? Can I go there Mama?" so it was without a doubt that we would be checking out Santas workshop.



We got there about a half hour after they opened and wow...what a line! We had no idea there would be such a line for this. We figured oh well and decided to wait in the line. It felt as if we were at Disney World because as soon as you thought you were getting close, another line cue came up and we seemed further away!

In typical genius fashion they placed a beverage cart and a popcorn cart right smacked in the middle of your long wait. I was with a group and the group decided it wasn't good to let the kiddos eat the popcorn as we were going to dinner after (this was a big mistake, keep reading).

Once we finally got into Santas Workshop, you were given a tour throughout the North Pole. Noahs favorite part was the elf workshop! When you entered the room, you saw little elves working on some of the most popular toys of the season. Noah ran in and started squealing. "STINKY!" he screamed like a maniac and then ran under the rope which was used for kids to NOT run under it. Grr. I had to pull him back and of course a tantrum ensued because he realized Stinky wasn't coming home with us today. However, it was super cute and I hope Santa found a Stinky because I'd love to get this reaction on video!

After the tour, we then waited in another line to see Santa. While we were in line Noah and I kept on rehearsing what we were going to tell Santa. When it was our turn, we cheesed for the camera to take our free photo and then had some one on one time with the big guy. "So, what do you want for Christmas this year?" Santa asked Noah. "Garbage truck and a bike!" Noah responded. Santa then said "Stinky the garbage truck?". Noah was SHOCKED..."YES, yes STINKY Santa!" it was so adorable! Noah couldn't believe Santa knew which garbage truck he wanted, it was really the cutest thing ever.

After we left, the crew then headed over to Fulton St. Since it was now about 8:30, we decided to eat first. Remember that popcorn I was telling you about? Well that would have held us over because our food took over 30 minutes to come to our table. All we had were burgers, so I have no idea what could have taken that long. Grr.

Once we finally received our dinner and we chowed down, we went outside to check out Fulton St. Let me just tell you that the kids loved the "snow". It was so cute to see all the kids running in the sprinkle of snow! Noah loved it!

It was a great night and Noah had a blast with his cousins and his new friend Connor!

Breakfast with Santa

This past Sunday I took Noah to Breakfast with Santa at a local hotel with our friends Jade and Gabe. We talked it up all week of how we were going to see Santa and went over what we will tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas.

Noah is currently obsessed with Stinky the Garbage Truck. We have looked everywhere and it's sold out. Oops!


Once we get to the ballroom we were seated at a table. They didn't have enough high chairs so Noah had to sit in a booster. At first I was terrified that this Breakfast was going to turn into a nightmare, but surprisingly he did great in it! We may be moving towards boosters now!

The room was decorated very festive with a big Christmas tree and a big table in the middle that displayed a gingerbread house and had activities for the kids (coloring sheets and what not).


Noah colored a nutcracker...he is obsessed with them!



As we were eating our breakfast Santa busted in the ballroom,"HO, HO, HO!" Noah and Gabe were so excited. As Santa passed our table Noah said "Santa, I need Stink the garbage truck. RIGHT NOW!". Wow! You would think since you make such demands, especially to Santa you would maybe say it in a nice voice...but no, not Noah! He said it very sternly and loud. Jade and I got a good chuckle.


OH my gosh...it's SANTA!

After coloring many holiday sheets, signing Jingle Bells and chowing down on breakfast we made our way downstairs with Gabe and Noah so they could have some one on one time with Santa. Noah was so excited, he ran straight up to Santa and began telling him all his wants. He was pretty taken back by him and was in awe as well. We got a great picture of him with Santa. 2nd picture this year already, I'm telling you I will have a collection of Santa photos before Christmas!

Baby Gabes visit with Santa didn't turn out as well. Poor thing! Let's keep in mind Gabe just made 1 this past August and it was his first time meeting Santa. Once Santa was holding Gabe, Gabe started crying hysterical! The poor guy has BIG crocodile tears running down his face. It was so sad! "Don't cry Baby Gabe, don't cry! It's SANTA!" Noah was trying to explain to him. Poor Jade spent $10 on a picture where her son looks like he has seen pure terror!!! Oh well, it's one for the books that's for sure.

Before we left we tried to get a picture of Gabe and Noah together. Think they like each other?



It was a great morning and I think we will try to make this a tradition for years to come!

Terrible Monday Morning

For starters, it is down right COLD in the Big Easy as of late. For me to say it's cold, really means it's SUPER cold to most. I'm a very warm temperature person and it doesn't take much for me to sweat, I mean glow (Southern ladies glow y'all, not sweat!).

The morning started off as a normal morning. The Starbucks line was out the wazoo! I swear if it's cold, people crave lattes. If it's a rather chilly morning it can turn a 10 minute Starbucks line into a 20 minute line...very aggravating! After waiting at least 20 minutes in the Starbucks line, I dropped Noah off and began my traffic jam of a drive to work.

I just turned on my Pandora radio station Big Tymers...yes yes I need some throw back high school rap to get my Monday morning going. I was at a dead stop for a good 10 seconds and all of a sudden my car started shaking and I heard a big BOOM. Ugh, why when I get in car accidents that I am always at a dead stop at a red light?

I got out of my car to brave the FRIGID cold and realized I didn't have much damage to my car. I haven't been in many accidents so I called Clint to see what the protocol is as to what to do next. Clint told me to call the police, "You never know, your bumper may fall off when you drive away! It's better to call" he said.

The driver was very apologetic and kept on apologizing. She said she just let her foot off the brake and she hit me. Not sure if I totally believe that b/c it wasn't a tap of a hit, it was harder than that. She couldn't have just rolled into e.

So, I then told the other driver I was calling the police. "The POLICE?!?" she said like it was a huge shock to her, obviously she wasn't happy. "Did they say how long they would take?" she asked after I got off the phone. I couldn't believe that someone who HIT ME is complaining that 1. I called the police and 2. she acts like this is cramping HER morning. Ugh. And no, the 911 operator didn't give me an ETA of the police.

So, there we sit in a VERY busy intersection to get on I-10 for a good while waiting for the police to arrive. Did I mention it was FREEZING? So we had to just sit in our car and wait for the police to arrive. I was jamming to Juvenile and Mannie Fresh for quite a while. While sitting there, my back was starting to hurt a bit. I then called one of my doctors at work and he advised me to go in because you just never know. So I decided once we wrap this up, I'll be headed to the ER.

Once the police showed up, it took a while for him to get all of our information and for him to write up the police report. He was a very nice man...but he asked me a question that just seemed a bit odd. "How young are you?" he asked. How young am I? Who asks that? He didn't ask the driver who caused the accident how young/old she was. Did he think I was a teenager? Do my Ugg boots make me look years younger? If so, I'm definitely getting more pairs! I politely answered that I'm 28.

The other driver was given a ticket and we exchanged all of our information. It was a pretty easy deal, it was just more of an aggravation that anything.

Once everything was wrapped up, I headed to the ER. The ER visit was very smooth and fast, I was rather impressed. I had to get xrays taken which turned off fine, phew. I was then given a shot for pain. I don't do well with shoots at all, so it was rather embarrassing to ask the Dr. if there was anything I could take via pill form rather than a shot. He started to giggle since hello, I am 28 and I'm trying to get out of getting a shot. He really pushed for me getting the shot and I only cried a little bit...hehe, joking!

Once discharged I headed home per doctors orders and rested for the rest of the day. Thankfully I had Sex and the City 2 at home from Netflix.

Hopefully next Monday starts out MUCH better. Maybe I should lay off the Big Tymer radio station. The driver was definitely getting her roll on. Teehee!

It's the most wonderful time of the YEAR!

Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas? I'm so excited that the stores are decked out in sparkly tinsel while blaring my favorite holiday tunes. Noah is totally into Christmas and because of that I want to jam pack every weekend with holiday events.

This past Friday my friend Jade sent me a text message asking if Noah and I wanted to join her at a local Starbucks for pastries, hot chocolate and for elves to read to the kiddos. Well, that was a no brainier since I love Starbucks and ELVES? I'm so down.

I dressed Noah in a holiday shirt that looks like an elf and off we went. While driving there I kept on telling Noah about the elves and that they work with Jingle, our elf on the shelf. He was pretty excited. I was excited for the elves...and also for some Starbucks.

Once we got there they had a circle formed with kiddos all decked out in their PJs,I didn't get the memo about wearing pajamas. It didn't matter to Noah, he was just happy to be there. Jade and Baby Gabe were there and Gabe was on the run! Poor Jade! I remember that age when Noah just wanted to go, go , GO!

The story telling was very cute and Noah enjoyed his donut. However, he HATED his hot chocolate. He took one sip and started spitting it out! Thankfully I was able to catch it before it stained that cute elf shirt I described earlier. All in all, Noah had a great time and really enjoyed story time with the elves.





Noah loved the sing along parts of story time.

On Saturday we went to Cabrini for Christmas on the Bayou. The weather was actually perfect! In 2008 it was SO hot we were in shorts, so it was great to have a Christmas chill in the air and not be sweating. It was great to be back at Cabrini and see all the teachers and everything.

Noah really enjoyed seeing Santa. Once it was our turn to see Santa, he ran straight to Santa and started hugging him and posing for his pictures. It was really adorable!



Another highlight of the night to Noah was seeing his buddy Alton and eating the yummy cookies.




We had a very fun weekend full of holiday fun. Noah had a blast and loves everything about the holidays, I can't wait to take him to Breakfast with Santa on Sunday. Stay tuned!

Holiday Cards

Every year I get excited about sending out and receiving Christmas/Holiday cards. I love to see pictures of children throughout the years. For the past few years I use Shutterfly Cards for my Christmas Cards and holiday gifts. I know that most of my family members love receiving photobooks, calendars and prints from Shutterfly, especially those who are not computer savvy and doesn't view the TONS of photos I upload on our Sharesite. So it's a great one stop shop!

For Noahs 1st Christmas, I decided to play off of his middle name Noel. I got crafty and even put a little back drop up. I took the wooden letters and made them all christmasy. I think it turned out precious! Check it out:



For our 2009 cards I tossed around many ideas. One of Clints nicknames is Moose. At Michaels last year I saw a iron on transfer that said "Merry Christ-moose!" which I just thought was hilarious. I decided I somehow wanted to use this as part of a Christmas card. Trying to get Noah to cooperate enough to wear a reindeer headband was challenging, but I think the pics/card came out great for 2009.




For our card this year, I've been drawing a blank. I finally decided on what I want the card to look like...however, you will have to stay tuned for that! I definitely love Shutterflys new story telling cards. They are just adorable!

For bloggers out there, check out this promotion Shutterfly is having. Hurry up though because the deadline is approaching!

Final Xmas card 10

Joy Magic Story Christmas 5x7 folded card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Thanksgiving 2010

As cliche' as it sounds, I'm very thankful for Noah. It's crazy how one little baby can totally change your entire life. I can't imagine who I would be without him. It's hard to believe he has only been in my life for under 3 years because I can't imagine my life without him. So, there was my warm and fuzzy feelings on Thanksgiving!

On Thanksgiving the NOLA crew headed to Mississippi to celebrate the gobbe holiday with them. As usual my sister Robin made some wicked grits dressing and the turkey was super yummy that was prepared by my brother in law. Cheers to the hosts! The food was delicious and the company was even better.

As the kids were playing outside my sister and I attempted to get a picture of all the grandkids with my dad. Trying to get 5 kids ranging from 2.5 to 12 is pretty impossible. You can see how much of a fail this was in the pictures below.





Yep, the crazy one on the right with his tongue hanging out belongs to me. Think he was having fun on Thanksgiving with his cousins? I think it's safe to say yes.

I hope everyone gobbled till they wobbled on Thanksgiving!

Santas Arrival!

This past weekend Santa arrived at Lakeside Mall. I heard about this by radio ads as well as seeing a commercial. Since I'm part elf, I love anything that has to do with the holidays. It was a no brainer I would want to attend this.

I've never been, but was anxious to see what it all entailed. Jade and Jenna came with their boys and joined Noah and I. We got to the mall about an hour earlier than the event to get breakfast at Cafe Du Monde. Seems like everyone had the same idea, we could barely get a table and the line for beignets was insane!

We ended up at McDonalds for breakfast and ate before we went to wait for Santa and his crew to arrive. Once we finished up breakfast (mmm...McD's hasbrowns)we headed to the center court of the mall to wait for Santa. We had our 3 strollers lined up and the boys were super excited for Santa.




Santa, Mrs.Clause, Rudolph, Frosty and their crew 2nd lined down the mall with a band. It was Naturally Nawlins, y'all!



They also had these really cool candy canes on stilts, they were awesome!



Noah was very excited to see Santa. It was adorable to see the boys light up when they saw Santa.

The center court of the mall was all set up for Christmas. The Christmas train was up and running and Noah and Alton were psyched to ride it.


The line was out the wazoo, but Jenna and I decided to wait in line and take the boys on the train. That lasted about 3 seconds before the boys started chasing each other and hugging each other non stop to where they fell over to the ground!



We both felt really bad about fibbing to Noah and Alton that the train broke. However, there was NO way they were going to cooperate to stand in line for a good 20 minutes. We need to make our way out there before the big man comes.

The morning was great and I know Noah had a blast. I was so glad I decided to take him, it was a great way to start off the holiday season!

Happy Birthday to YOU!

I just wanted to share a few pictures and an adorable video from Clints birthday. I think that Noah beleives that any time we sing Happy Birthday at a party that it's his party. It's too cute!

A mini staycation

My mom was headed to Naples Florida for a few days, so I had to take some days off of work to spend with Noah. During this time I tried to think of things to get done since I'm rarely ever home when I take days off (I'm usually on vacation). Past the usual things like making beds (who has time for that before work? seriously!), doing laundry and sweeping floors I tried to get some errands done.

Over the days I was able to get some Christmas shopping done and wrap them all, say what! All of this sounds like fun stuff for me, so I'll now focus on things I did with Noah.

Noah loves to do crafts, so I'm forever picking up little things here and there for us to do. On my last trip to Michaels, I picked up this turkey kit. It was pretty adorable and didn't require scissors. Noah loves to use scissors, but I'm always worried he will chop off a finger or something...or maybe my chihuahuas tail.

As we were putting the turkey together we noticed that the kit was missing the turkeys eyes! We only had 1 eye, so I tried to tell Noah that he was a pirate turkey but he then said "Well, then where is his patch?"...busted! So our turkey doesn't have eyes. I'm pretty sure that my chihuahua Uneaux ate the other "missing" black eye.


Someone is lovin' their turkey!



I bought this adorable Thanksgiving shirt for Noah to wear for Thanksgiving. I'm a sucker for anything embroidered or monogrammed so when I saw this I just had to get it. It was my intention to send out a Thanksgiving card to friends and family with a cute little saying (my friend Jenna did it, and it was presh!). However, since I couldn't get any decent shots of Noah it went by the wayside.




I have no idea who he gets that pout from.

All in all it was a fun few days off of work and I got to spend a lot of time with Noah. He definitely had a great time with me, but towards the end he was ready to get back to his routine with his Gigi.

And so it begins...

First and foremost, I absolutely LOVE everything about the holidays. I'm one of the freaks who look forward to seeing Christmas decorations at Loews in August.

A few weeks ago Starbucks totally made my morning by asking "Welcome to Starbucks! Can I interest you in a gingerbread latte?"...oh yes, why yes you can! Then they handed me the pretty red Starbucks cup, it made my day week!



The Thursday after Halloween I was already playing Christmas music in my office. One of my boss men heard the music which I was playing low...because it was only November 4th and I didn't want to be judged. "Mare, is that Christmas music?" he asked. I had to embarrassingly respond by telling him that indeed it was.

I was embarrassed but told him that I love Christmas so much that I'm practically an elf. Heck, I'm only 5'2 it's pretty darn close! Well I have to run...let me go so I can turn up my *NSync Christmas Album!

BFFL

I'm lucky to say that I have a great group of friends. As any normal friendship you have ups and downs and times where you are super close and other times that you don't talk for weeks. This is very safe to say for my friends that I've known for many years... some over 20+ years.

However, when you have that special bond you can just pick up wherever you last left off. It may be 2 hours ago or 2 months ago since you last spoke, but once you start chatting it's all forgotten. It's just a closeness that you just can't describe. I'm grateful to have these girls in my life.

A few weeks back I had a little shingdig for Angela moving to DC and for Angela and Ann's birthday. I had a great time just hanging out with the girls chatting away and drinking some yummy concoctions (Jenna makes an awesome white wine sangria, y'all!). It's nice to just sit back and relax with the girls, we should do it more often.

Next Project Runway STAR!

Noah is a typical little boy who is obsessed with Spiderman one week and Woody the next. For Halloween he would carry around the Party City ciruclar pointing to different costumes daily of what he wanted to be for Halloween. Some days it was DJ Lance Rock and other days it was Buzz Lightyear.



We decided that he would be FRANKENSTEIN for Halloween. He was obsessed with anything and everything to do with Frank. You name it...he wanted it. Frankenstein cookie? Got it. Frankenstein ballon? Yep we got that to.





Well as Halloween drew nearer Noah started saying he wanted to be Spiderman. SPIDERMAN? We had poor Frankenstein chillin' in the closet waiting for Halloween night. Not only did we already have that costume but I didn't feel like spending more $$$ on another costume.

The Friday before Halloween Noah talked me into trying to find a Spiderman costume. I figured it would be on sale now, right? Well it was at KMart but I found this out after going to multiple stores and either it being full price or not having it in his size.

Once I got to KMart I was pretty desperate, ok really desperate. They had a costume but it was a 7/8 and Noah is in a 3/4T. This is obviously way too big for him but it was dirt cheap so I decided to just go ahead and get it. He could wear it to Story time the next day at Barnes and Noble.

I got home and realized that this costume is WAY too big, what was I thinking? Since I bought it on clearance I couldn't return it so we were stuck with it. Clint had the genius idea to hot hem the outfit.

I was so impressed by Clints skills! He could totally go on Project Runway. Clint had to cut the pants and take the red part and then hot hem it to where it was previously cut. Then, he had to turn up the arms with the hot hem. It doesn't sound like much, but since it was SO big it was a good amount of work.

Noah was so excited for his Spiderman costume, can you tell?



I'm thinking of making Clint sign up for the Next Project Runway STAR! In the words of Tim Gunn "Make it work!"

I *try* to be creative!

Who doesn't love cupcakes? I for one adore them. Yes, I pay a ridiculous amount of money for those fancy cupcakes (mmmm!). You have to splurge on something right? I've convinced myself that it's a cheaper addiction than say drugs or gambling, so caffeine and cupcakes it is.

I've always wanted one of those cupcake towers. Since I seem to host a lot, I've dropped several hints to Clint and family members that it would be a perfect gift for me. However, nobody has seemed to catch the hint. Boo.

I follow many crafty blogs and these women post SUCH creative crafts (like making a beer bottle into a reindeer, stay tuned!). I think I'm a creative person to a point where I can follow instructions on how to make something but not creative in the sense that I can random think of great ideas for crafts. Make sense?

Well I saw a friend posted a do it yourself cupcake tower. Genius! So I decided to try it out. First, I got some cardboard boxes. I then cut out 3 circles a big one, a medium one and alas a small one. From there I took some Halloween scrapbook paper and covered the circle cardboard shapes with some hot glue. Since this tower was 3 tiers, you would place cans in between the tiers. I then covered the cans with scrapbook paper as well. For finishing touches, I hot glued a ribbon around the edges.

Since I made this one for Halloween, I obviously used Halloween paper. However, you could totally change this for any holiday or occasion. It was super easy and really cute! Check it out!

Another great year!

First off I just have to say how proud I am of what the Vanessa Lauren Wolff Scholarship has become. In just a few short years we have held many fundraisers and have now awarded 2 VLW scholarships! It's such a great way to remember such a great classmate and friend.

All of the essays this year were incredible and choosing a winner was very tough. The essay that won was very touching and well written. The essay that won was about a car accident involving a mother and her children. The mother ended up passing away due to the injuries she sustained and was the winners grandmother. The essay portrayed how the reckless act of drunk driving not only ended her grandmothers life while leaving her mother and aunts/uncles without their mother, but it took away the experience for her never having met her grandmother. I hope that each year when we talk at the Students Against Drunk Driving assembly the girls are listening and realizing that life is too short to make stupid mistakes.

Our next fundraiser will be in February at Corks and Canvas. While the fundraisers we have had in the past have been rewarding, I hope that more fellow classmates will come out and support the cause. Don't forget, no amount is too small to donate.

Also, the scholarship was in the paper last week. It's great remembering Vanessa in this way and spreading the word via web and paper. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the years, it means so much to us!

Pumpkin Patch, take 2!

I read up on a cute little pumpkin patch in Hammond. You know a real pumpkin patch...not the kind in a parking lot. The one we went to last year was really cute, but I decided to try this one out. We really didn't know what to expect, but we ventured out to Hammond in search for the perfect pumpkin.

Once we got there we were shocked at how affordable it was! Plus, it was like a real farm. They had many activities for the kids ranging from a petting zoo, a zip line, a corn maze, face paiting, you name it! Noah was really excited once we entered.

As soon as we got there, we got his face painted. Noah is really into having his face painted. In typical pumpkin patch fashion, he got a pumpkin painted on his face.



They had this cute patch where you could search for the perfect pumpkin. Noah went up and down...and up and down and picked up just about every pumpkin there.





After chosing the 2nd perfect pumpkin, we then headed over to this jumpy thing. I'm not sure what it is, but is something in ground that is inflated with air. Noah had a blast on it...but it made me a nervous wreck. So nervous in fact that I thought he was about to fall off, so I ran over and fell in a hole like an idiot and sprained my ankle. Yep, sprained my ankle and fell straight to the ground. Definetly not my proudest moment. Noah and Clint went to venture off to the rest of the farm while I tired to "man up" at a picnic table with my bum ankle.



After the ankle fiasco, we ventured around the farm. They had a cow that you could milk (chill out, it was fake!), a water pump where you could race ducks down, and many places for photo ops. Just like at Boo at the Zoo, Noah wouldn't take a photo with either Clint or I. I can't wait to take Noah back next year, it was such a fun time...minus the ankle incident!