New Orleans Easter Trip

We went to New Orleans again for Easter this year... It looks like it's starting to become a tradition! This time Daddy and the older kids got to go too! Here are some highlights from our trip....

We didn't get to leave until almost five on Friday evening because we had to wait for Scott to get off work. But once he got off work, we were packed and ready to go! It was a long trip, but I was really surprised at how well the Babies did. We got into New Orleans around 1:00 a.m. and it was almost 2:00 a.m. by the time we got to the Seminary and unloaded the car. After all that excitement, Natty was awake and ready to play! So Mommy and Nat stayed up until almost 4:00 playing this fun new game Natty discovered. It's called, "let's see how many things I can get into and how fast I can do it before mom stops me."
She loved it. I did not. She was great at it. I was not.

Needless to say, Wildwood East was completely re-decorated by the time Natalee left! We got up the next morning and headed over to Aunt Rhonda's and Uncle Chuck's. Aunt Kathy and Aunt Rhonda were there to greet us and hand out Mardi Gras beads. Natty was all about that!



The family on Aunt Rhonda's front porch at the Seminary about to head out to the French Quarter. We had a full day of shopping, eating and watching all the different shows!


Tommy petting a python.....



Tommy trying to get Natty to look at the horses!


Natty just chillin' at the FQ! Such a rough life!



Bubba and Natty Grace hit Bourbon street a little too early in the day!!



Natty started dancin' in her chair! Scott and I both think that she needs to go to sippy cups anonymous!


Getting ready to watch the street dancers perform, Natty was getting ready to nap! It was so past naptime at this point!


Natalee lasted about as long as she could (which wasn't long after the music started!) But you know, if she and Bubba didn't have to go to Bourbon street earlier in the day, she probably would've made it longer!! This should be a lesson to her! :)


Tommy soon joined his sister in dreamland! Sweet Angels!!


That night we went to Aunt Rhonda's and had a real Cajun feast with shrimp, crab, crawdads, onion rings, french fries, corn and potatoes!! By the time we finished we all needed wheelbarrows and pants with elastic waists!!

Tommy loved the crawdads!

Of course, being miserable wasn't enough... having to let out your belt still wasn't enough... we had to make it nearly impossible to walk but topping off the night with beignets from Morning Call!!


The kids got hats and the rest of us got miserable!! It was shear pain to eat those beignets, but they were sooo good!!!


The next day we went to church with Mamaw and then ate another feast at Lambeth House.


The whole family with Mamaw

Sisters! (and the Princess!)

Daddy dancing with his Princess while we waited for the food to be ready

While we waited for lunch, we took the Babies out to the courtyard and let them hunt Easter eggs. They LOVED it!!

Soon after lunch we went back to the Seminary, loaded up the car and headed home. It was a whirl-wind trip but a great time was had by all!! We really enjoyed getting to see family and spending a little bit of time with Mamaw. Hopefully we can spend more time with her again before the summer's over!! Love to all and great thanks to the bests Hosts!!!

Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Chuck - The best Hosts/Hostess in NOLA!!! Thank you for such a memorable weekend!! We love and miss you!!

The Woes of Being a Wagner!

As some of you may already know... it is pretty rough being a Wagner... Poor Tommy has found this out the hard way. By age one, he had already broken his elbow, received a black eye, bloody nose, massive hematoma, not only on the side of his head, but also above his eye, spent several days in the hospital, made numerous trips to the Doctor and became quite familiar with the local ER. I'm not sure if this is all due to the fact of being a Wagner or having a klutz for a mother (meaning he received my coordination genes) or all of the above.... but the end result is still the same... It's really hard being a Wagner!!

Our latest adventure was when he broke his elbow (yes, that would make it twice, but the best part is that it was the same elbow, in the same place... I guess he figured it was already screwed up so why mess with the perfectly good one, right?) jumping on a trampoline. But he wasn't even jumping. He was yelling at me to come watch him, when his best friend jumped or bumped or both and poor Tommy went flying like a rocket!!

We went to the ER and they put a temporary cast on for a week. The best part of the whole ordeal, or at least according to Tommy Two Shoes, was he walked away with a spider-man sling!! He was so proud of that thing! He was showing it off to everyone!

But I have to say, my little Two Shoes surprised me.... even though he has one armed bound and in a sling and it weighs a TON, it still didn't slow him down any! He learned to get along just fine with it..... even tickling his baby sister!

He could still build sand castles for the bugs.....

And even with the new and improved "Super-man" cast, he could still try and teach Natty how to play spider-man. I guess he figures if he keeps trying, eventually she will catch on... I hope so little Buddy!!

One of the many funny moments that we had with him over his cast was when we tried to sign it. I thought that getting different super-man and spider-man stickers and markers so that we could decorate his cast would help to make the experience more fun. Oh no!! Mommy couldn't have been more wrong!! Two Shoes about came UNGLUED when I even suggested it! He told me, "but Mommy, this is a Super-man cast!!! We can't mess up a Super-man cast!!! I won't get another one!!" I just pray that he's right!!