Saturday

I'll start this post out with a couple of pictures of our Gracie.  

They're not from Saturday, but who cares, she's so cute!

She's smiling and laughing now and it's so hard to catch it on camera.  

Saturday was a busy day for us all.  

 I took seven of the kids down to Napoleonville, LA (look it up Grampa) for a birthday party.

Matthew had Kool-Aid

Grace was there.

Matthew and Peter got a little bored waiting for cake and cake pops.

Andrew and Jon

Matthew on the big water slide

 He never actually went down the slide.  He just played in the water at the bottom.  

Works for me!

After a couple of hours of water sliding, hot dogs and cake, it was time to go.

We had to cross the Sunshine Bridge there and back. 

They're working on the bridge and have it down to two lanes with both sides of traffic on one half of the bridge. 

And they have it covered somehow with metal and tarp - it's all very strange.

I had Alyssa take these pictures

Alyssa

We finally made it home and Matthew was exhausted.  He slept in the van

And then crashed on the living room floor not very far from the front door.

While we we gone Brian and James had their own adventure.  

They went to Honda for a free lunch and oil change certificate.  

Then they drove to Lafayette (look it up Grampa).

James is still trying to get 50 hours of driving in before he turns 16.

While there they stopped at Deano's for pizza.

Cajun Executioner pizza

It wasn't as good as they had hoped.

Then they headed back home over the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge

They made it home safely.  

James with his new haircut and a Sonic shake from Breaux Bridge.  (look it up Grampa!)

Backyard Camping

We had planned for the big kids to go camping this weekend with Brian, but - probably because the weather is so nice - all of the tent sites at our state park of choice were taken. 

What's a family to do?

Buy a fire pit and have a campfire/camp out in the backyard.

It's how we roll.

The natives were restless waiting for the fire to get ready.

Nice.

Hot dogs and chips and s'mores at the ready. 

Did I mention the s'mores?

And, for the adventurous types, 

s'mores with leftover crispy chocolate bunnies

found in packages on clearance for $0.25 and made in the USA. 

Go me!

Grace was there.  

She was amazed at all the fun.  

Jon was there - hamming it up for me.

Activity around the grub table.

Cookin' some dogs.

Matthew's campfire dinner.

See the tents in the background?  

Time to set some marshmallows on fire.

Yummy!

s'mores for everyone.

It was a fun night - and I didn't have to sleep in a tent - yee haw!!

Stay tuned for details of Saturday's happenings . . . Coming soon!

Congratulations James ~ and other randoms . . .

James took the last final of his Junior year at LSU this morning.  

So we're celebrating today with a "Math Party".  

We made cake

Andrew was there - photobombing

We're so happy for him to be done with three years already.  He's looking forward to a busy summer with at least two local church camps, maybe another one in Illinois - and possibly some work??  

In other news . . . 

Grace is adorable.  

Here she is looking at Peter.

She's so cute!  

Also of note . . . 

Some of the kids were enjoying a morning bowl of a popular cereal around here. 

When I picked up the box and noticed the back . . . 

Whaaaat??  Brian and I are older than Cinnamon Toast Crunch!  

Wow!

What goes around comes around huh, Grampa?  

And finally . . . 

We leave you today with the stylings of 

Andrew Smith

piano extraordinaire.  

(click his name and you should be taken to the video on YouTube)

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

After three years of driving by Alex Box Stadium nearly every day, Brian and James went to their first LSU ball game.

A guy that Brian works with gave him some tickets.

I asked James to take some pictures for me so I could blog about their time.  

Lots of purple and gold there.

The photographer himself.

Alex Box Stadium

They had a pretty good view from their seats.

They played Tennessee.

After awhile they wandered around.

And found Brian's friend who gave them the tickets.  

Will's seats were behind home plate.  

Nice view!

James

Brian and James

It was a close game and LSU ended up winning in the bottom of the ninth.  

They headed to the car to wait in traffic.

Geaux LSU!