The Rebel

We took the girls to their first ever Red River Revel a few weekends ago, which Lucy now affectionately refers to as "The Rebel."  The day was a big hit -- beautiful weather, great food (hello again, muffaletta pizza!), and lots of really entertaining kid-friendly activities.

Making a sand art bottle person thing

Face painting tent

 

Blue sno cone with purple and gold pumpkin (to match our ensemble, of course)



Baby "Mac" rocking her mullet 

 

Trying to con Daddy out of his funnel cake

"But I want to go back to the grocery store tent!!!"

 
In addition to browsing all of the artist stalls, we also got to take in some performances (belly dancers, jugglers, and Bossier students singing "Little Mermaid" songs). Thanks, Rebel! We look forward to seeing you and your bad self again next year.  :)

Monkey see, monkey do

Pretty much sums up the theme around our new house these days!

Au revoir, Red Stick!



Louisiana State Capitol during Fest For All ~ May 2009

Or... so long, Baton Rouge! You've been pretty good to the Powers family -- provided us with amazing eats, educational experiences, a church family, steady jobs, a nice home, and lasting personal and professional relationships, just to name a few. And after over 10 years in your fair city, it's finally time for us to say goodbye to 1429 King Dean Drive.


In this room alone, Handy Andy scraped popcorn and painted the ceiling, painted out the fireplace, sanded and painted the built-in cabinets, painted the walls, installed new flooring, and replaced the ceiling fan and curtain hardware. Whew!

 Our moving day was nothing close to being picturesque; in fact, I'd probably list it as being one of the Top 5 worst days of my life. It was so charged with unbelievable stress and high emotions with very little time for reflection -- I had to finish up some projects at work while Andrew was left to complete all the packing and cleaning alone before our 3 pm closing.  Everything that could possibly go wrong that day did. Seriously. But we did get to take about 30 seconds (literally) right before we closed the door one last time to hug and thank God for all of the lovely memories we created there.

It was the first house we bought together, and it was in this home that we adopted our sweet Evie and eventually brought two perfect little girls home from the hospital. It was where we become a family. Andrew's devotion to us can be seen in every room since he almost single-handedly remodeled the entire space over the course of 4+ years. We became close to two sets of neighbors on our street, one of whom immediately began to treat us like family. They invited us over to watch football games, took care of our house and dog when we went out of town, cooked us food and provided support when the babies were born... The list could go on and on and on. After the girls came along, we realized just how difficult it is to work full-time and be so far away from family. I feel like the Favaloros were sent from heaven to take us under their wings. We were truly blessed to get to know them and watch their kids grow over the years.

Bailey Favaloro with Lucy ~ October 2008


So before moving on, I thought I'd compile this little list as a tribute to the Old War Skule town.

We will miss: our friends and neighbors, LSU football games and tailgate parties, fresh seafood and beer at the Chimes, day trips to NOLA, the zoo, Whole Foods, my co-workers, omelets and biscuits Louie's, our amazing daycare center, live music, crawfish at Sammy's, beignets and cafe au lait at Coffee Call, oak trees on campus, St. Patty's Day parade at the Craigs. Did I mention the FOOD?

We will not miss: your traffic (hiss, boo!!!) and crazy drivers, politicians and backwards politics, lack of interest in improving the public education system, humidity, interstate system, daycare/private school tuition. Did I mention the TRAFFIC?

I never thought I'd miss: daily afternoon thunderstorms (it's so hot in Shreveport it makes you wanna slap your momma), turning left on red lights, men who actually wear sleeves on their shirts, coonass/Cajun accents, kiddie swimming pool at the Y, my job, the feel of living in a "college town". Did I mention the RAIN?

Now that we have the computer up and running, I'll start filling you in on more of our summer activities and our move back to the Port City.  We'll miss you BR!!!

A year in the life of Daddy

Our lives have changed a lot since last Father's Day with the addition of another little person to our family. And Andrew has taken it all in stride, quickly adjusting and thriving in our Kingdom of Pink. I've said before that I had no idea what a remarkable father Andrew would be when we got married -- I knew that he was kind and funny and passionate -- but the enthusiasm with which he has embraced this amazing responsibility has surpassed my wildest imagination.

He's made simply being there for his girls one of the highest priorities in his life and I know how lucky we are to be the recipients of that kind of devotion. So three cheers this Father's Day for the man who:

opened up his heart to love another baby girl unconditionally,

provided a shoulder to lean on,

kept himself grounded so those around him could soar,

encouraged his family's spiritual development,

played hopscotch in the driveway,

became close personal friends with Dora and Elmo and George,

fostered sweet dreams and cozy mornings,

attended impromptu tea parties,

gave chauffeured zoo tours,

taught a little fisherman how to cast a reel,

eased fears,

calmed tears,

cheered on brave attempts at carnival rides,

and turned an ordinary afternoon into a WWF audition.

That's quite the year you've had, Daddy! Your girls look up to you and absolutely adore you ~ it's easy to see why.  I'm incredibly blessed to be walking this journey as parents with you and I can't wait to see how fatherhood continues to mold you in the years to come.

The sun comes shinin' through

When you're smilin'....keep on smilin'

The whole world smiles with you

And when you're laughin'....keep on laughin'

The sun comes shinin' through

                 ~Louis Armstrong

Cindy Lou Who

Memorial Day mishap

Having the day off of work and all, we decided to cook up a little family adventure after nap time on Memorial Day. We packed up the towels, snacks, sunscreen, etc., put everyone's swimsuits on, and took the 25 minute drive out to Gonzales to play in the Jambalaya Park splash pad thingy.  It looked so neat and refreshing online, so imagine our delight when we got all the way there and saw the big sign that read "Closed on Monday". What the what, G-town? Fail.

So... we let the girls play in a regular old park for a bit but surrendered once the heat became too relentless and went on back home. We dug out Lucy's old splash mat (a 1st birthday present) and let the girls play in the backyard as the sun went down. I think they had a better time than they would have at the fancy water park and their parents were happy to be within reaching distance of a nice cold Abita satsuma beer. :)  Summertime and the livin' is easy... if you let it be.