Family Reunion

As I'm posting this, I'm reading some follow up stories of the shooting in Aurora, Colorado at the Batman premier Friday night...please keep all of those family's involved in your thoughts and for a safe recovery for those still left in the hospital, along with those family's who lost loved ones as well. Be safe everyone.


Now on to something a little more up-beat...
HAIDEN CAN GIVE KISSES!!!!
This makes my day! We have thought he was attempting to do them, when it looked more like he was trying to say "Bah, Bah", without saying anything...he now makes the kissing smoochy sound with his tongue, but it is totally an all out KISS!!! 

On the few days before he actually turns 6 months he is giving kisses, and has rolled over twice (when no one was around to see it happen). I am convinced there are elves in his room that mess with me when I step out for a second to grab the clothes from the dryer, and flip Haiden over!  He is a master at eating his solid food dinners, which we are needing to add a few more of those into his day, as these next few weeks unfold. He says "Da-Da" when he is happy, and "Ma-Ma" when he is sad, with a side of "Baatle", which we are convinced he is crying bottle! We are so excited that we have such a cute and awesome baby :) 




This passed weekend, my cousin Josh came to town with his loverly fiance', Vanessa! They came in Friday evening and we invited another couple over to play games with us! We played TrueColors and Balderdash (the new version with five categories: definition, laughable laws, movie meaning, peculiar person, and silly abbreviations) they were sooooo much fun! I made some yummy snacks too!

Microwave Fudge (via Elyssa Grant's Grandma)

In a large bowl, put:

3-1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup milk

1 stick butter-cut into 8 pieces

1 Tbs vanilla

DO NOT STIR! Put in microwave for 1-1/2 - 2 minutes on high. Beat until smooth, Add in nuts if desired (I just plopped some pecans on top). Put in greased 8 in square pan. Freeze for 15 minutes, or refrigerate for 45 minutes. Cut and Enjoy, it is freaking easy and so amazingly delicious!

S'mores Bars 

8-10 Graham Crackers

1 pkg brownie mix

2 cups mini-marshmallows

1 cup (6oz) chocolate chips

2/3 cup chopped peanuts

Arrange graham crackers in a single layer in a greased 13X9X2in baking pan. Prep brownie mi according to package. Spread over graham crackers. Bake 350 degrees 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle with marshmallows, chocolate ships and peanuts. Bake 5 minutes until marshmallows are slightly puffed and golden brown.

California Black Bean Dip (via Mrs. Sherry)

No picture because this got hoovered while we made the pizza and pepperoni rolls!

2 cans black beans, drained

2 cups corn, drained

1 cup Ranch dressing

1/2 cup Italian dressing 

2 Tbs parsley/cilantro

1 Tbs Tabasco

1 Tbs chili powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1 small onion, chopped

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Chill for 1 hour. Serve with tortilla chips. Party it up and Enjoy!! This has been one of my favorite dips ever since I've known the Sherry family...so going on 21 years! And now I have the recipe; it makes me so happy!

Then the next morning, everyone slept like champs; except Haiden, Zach and I :D We went to lunch, which we decided to name Brinner since it was a breakfast-lunch-early dinner at Parrot Pete's which is our favorite place to take people when they visit! 

We took the ferry from our side of the Mississippi, right onto Canal Street, in the middle of New Orleans! 

Everyone riding the Algiers/Canal Street Ferry! Keeping the car in Algiers, ready to walk all over NOLA! 
Then we walked aaaall over NOLA, just seeing the sights: 

First stop Jackson Square

And there was a wedding right in the middle of the square! So we stayed to watch, to end a debate over "how to do a proper wedding kiss" 

It was such a picturesque day, perfect for a wedding!

And in the Square, there were also banana trees, which also coincidentally ended another debate we were having from Parrot Pete's that morning!! 

The weirdest thing that I saw, were the "horse"
drawn buggies for tourists...that were
 ALL driven by MULES! And there were white
 ones-never knew there could be white mules either!! 

Across from Jackson Square is this huuuge church, with about 30 or so fortune tellers out front and this little alley...

   

 And then we headed to Bourbon Street, which even during the day is full of crazy characters! 

Then some more walking happened, we stopped by the Mask Shoppe, a place Josh and Vanessa always stop at when they come to town, to get a skull. 

Zach and I got a coffee mug and some post cards to send to our parents!

We ended up back on Bourbon after some more walking around to eat dinner. We ate at a balcony cafe place, that I can't remember the name of right now! But we saw boobies!!! I had no idea it was an all time thing, but at the bar next to us, they were throwing down beads...and women were flashing their titties!! 

 Then we left Bourbon Street
to give Haiden to the neighbor
to watch (first time he has ever had a babysitter that wasn't family!!) and then we headed back out to Bourbon for the night life!
There were kitties living under the ferry terminal, with beds and kitty food everywhere!! 

And this was Haiden after his long day around NOLA

NOLA Night Life!!!

We head back to NOLA with our neighbor Q in tow, and first we get Vanessa a sash, since this is her last weekend in Louisiana before the wedding, and we wanted to send her off the right way! Then all got hand grenades!

 Me, Zach and Q with our Hand Grenades in tow, on our way to the Beach! At the Beach, as soon as we walk in, the shot girls attack us, and Vanessa and I both take one from her, and then we took more shots from Zach and Josh. The shot girl was like "Take one from him [Zach]" to Vanessa and I was like "That's my husband!" And Vanessa was like "He's not mine!" lol! Then we headed to the dance floor to dance it up! 

I went up to the DJ at the Beach to request 80's and for the first time EVER, he said NO! "That was like 40 years ago!" What a lame DJ to not be able to mix some 80's dance music like MJ or Whitney Houston in with today's dance music!  

A pic with the girl we were dancing with, and we 

were off to Coyote Ugly! 

 

At Coyote Ugly it was pretty dead, but they made Vanessa and me do body shots! I accidentally spit mine all over the poor girl! 

Vanessa saw this girl in the bathroom at some random bar/restaurant and wanted to take a picture with her and her awesome shoes!  

Heading back home at 5:30 am without Q, who grabbed a cab earlier, a girl on the sidewalk asked us to use a phone, because she was new to town and stranded without a phone. While we were talking with her, waiting for her friend to find her, Vanessa realized she was sitting next to a rabid pigeon! Look at those beady little eyes!! 

We made it home around 6:30 am and picked up Haiden who was sleeping like an angel! And promptly all went to sleep. 
Vanessa and Josh left around noon-ish, while I was still in bed lol. My body ached for a whole two and a half days, too much walking, dancing, and having fun for this momma! All in all, we had a freaking fantastic, even if it was freakishly expensive, and finally partied down town for the first time since we've been here! (At least for me, everyone else had already been there and done that. But we did it together and had a BLAST!)