Ice Skating!

I didn't think it was possible, but the kids got to have their first ice skating experience in Baton Rouge! Unfortunately there isn't a rink in New Orleans, but Oscar's homeschool group arranged an outing last Friday and the whole family came along. (Oscar just returned from a 2 week long work trip, and fortunately had the day off so he could join in too!)

The kids were both unsure at first, and had some fun riding around with the crates, but soon took off. Oscar enjoyed it, but was done a bit before the 2 hour time slot was over and hung out with one of his buddies. Livi was in her element and was only lured off the ice with cupcakes! She has already asked for ice skates and an ice skating rink for Christmas…

She also requested I make a video of her skating to share (of course):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy9G6IER3xw&list=UUf8af1KNexFEbuzFy-k-gWg&index=1

Marche d'hiver and more gymnastics!

Last weekend was a busy one! On Friday we had a nice quiet evening making Christmas ornaments out of clay.

Saturday kicked into high gear starting with Livi's school fundraiser - Marche d'Hiver (French winter market). Can you find her singing within 3 Kindergarden classes? She was smiling the whole time and amazingly we found each other in the crowd! Oscar actually met up with a buddy of his from Waldorf and the 3 kids spent some time playing games and eating hotdogs before we headed out of town for Oscar's gymnastics meet.

After the market, we drove about 2 hours to New Iberia in prep for Oscar's next gymnastics meet on Sunday morning. We enjoyed a lovely meal at Ruby Tuesday complete with chicken fingers and hamburgers. (The meal was such a big hit with the kids, we went back there for lunch after the meet on Sunday before heading home!)

We were up bright and early for the main event! Oscar did awesome, but wasn't quite as happy with his performance since he only came home with 2 medals this time around…

The meet was about 6 hours long, and keeping other kiddos entertained is an event in and of itself. Livi enjoyed some Cheetos with a few friends (siblings of another boy on Oscar's team) while the kids were warming up between events.

It was smooth sailing on the way home, and we took a quick walk to Whole Foods to pick up some pasta for dinner. A chill was in the air, and Livi dressed the part and requested a picture in front of the tree to "remember the day."

Merry and Bright

Tree time!

We started our Christmas festivities on Friday at Nana and Papa's house by helping to put up their tree. Once we headed home, we kept up the spirit and headed out to get our Christmas tree. We decided to try out the Whole Foods trees, since it's only a few blocks from our house, and loved that they offered us a shopping cart to bring it home! We finished off the day by trimming the tree and watching our first viewing of the Grinch for 2014.

Family plus Nelson (Oscar's buddy from down the street)

Livi's dance class is having their Christmas performance in a few weeks. The space is really small and you can't even go in to watch, but parents like to sneak photos while they rehearse their tap number to Frosty the Snowman:

I'll leave you with Livi's sweet voice singing some French songs. One is about elephants and the other is about fingers. That's about all I understand but I love them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R5Pl4vVxJQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oes49ZMR9iY

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Break started with Oscar's second gymnastics meet in Baton Rouge. Since it was closer this time around, we fortunately didn't have to spend the night before. It was another great experience, and Oscar came home with 5 medals this time around!

We headed straight to Austin from the meet, and had a wonderful week with the MacEachean-Grajales-Bould clan! We were too busy having fun to take a lot of pictures, but here's a few I managed to get:

The kids had some fun at the HUGE all-abilities playground while Oscar was keeping Missy company at her chemo appointment:

Thanksgiving was wonderful and yummy, and while everyone enjoyed the tasty turkey and fixings, Livi and Charlie giggled over their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! We have lots to be thankful for this year, and only a few tears were shed. Oscar had been saving his thing he's thankful for for weeks, and we were eagerly awaiting what he would say. Turns out it was "I'm thankful for Thanksgiving!" He was so proud :)

Livi enjoyed checking out the sales on Black Friday:

On our last day, we had a great lunch at Tommy's new restaurant, North by Northwest. We even got a special behind-the-scenes tour of the brewing area, and little Oscar was VERY impressed. We were walking around and he kept saying, "Not everyone gets to see this!"

A lovely November in New Orleans

We finally got a taste of fall in early November, and enjoyed just hanging around in New Orleans and even turned the heat on for a few days!

We planted a pea plant a few months ago, and it finally produced some peas! They were wonderfully sweet and everyone got 1 since we only had one pod…looks like we'll need to wait a few month weeks to get another one!

Oscar's been a trooper helping me out with some projects I have as room parent in Livi's classroom. We've volunteered to help out at lunch a few times, and this past month we worked on a craft for the kids to make and sell at the annual French Market this upcoming weekend. The finished product is below - a French flag bookmark and a heart shaped ornament with each kid's picture and fingerprint! It took quite a bit of work to organize it all (there are 23 kids in her class), but I'm pretty pleased with the final result. I was really worried that parents wouldn't like them at first, and now I'm just happy to have the project over with! With any luck I'll read this post again before I volunteer to be room parent again…. ;)

We had a mini pre-Thanksgiving right before we left for Austin and it was a rare treat to sit down to a full meal, and have everyone eat it!! Oscar loved the turkey and mashed potatoes with peas. Livi tried everything, but ultimately downed about 6 crescent rolls for dinner! 

The First Meet

He did it! Oscar's first meet was last weekend and it was such a wonderful experience. We spent the night in a hotel the night before, since it was 2.5 hours away from our house. The hotel had an indoor pool which was awesome, and we enjoyed a lovely meal at Chili's for dinner. Well, the kids loved it and that's what counts!

The meet was the next morning, and everyone was a bit nervous and not sure what to expect. But once the kids got started they got into a groove and it was so fun to see them all out there doing their routines. Oscar got 4 medals, including a 4th place in the rings and 9th all-around in his age group (I think out of 15 kids). The best part is that none of them was paying attention to what place they were in, and were just siked to be getting medals. The next meet is tomorrow and after being soooo nervous and worried about the first meet, Oscar told me at dinner - "I'm so excited for the meet on Sunday!!" Here's to hoping it's another great experience for him!

Lining up

getting ready for the first event - vault

last bit of encouragement from coach Greg before they get started

P-bar! One of his fans

Livi supporting her big brother (in the background)

medal podium!

He was so exhausted I'm amazed we got a picture at all, but he was sooo proud!

Livi's artistic rendition of the meet

Trick-or-Treat

Livi originally wanted to go as Princess Andromeda (she still loves the old Clash of the Titans!), but I think the lack of recognition in the kid crowd unfortunately had her questioning her choice. She was debating between Andromeda and a peacock, but then started throwing out last minute suggestions like Princess Lea and Maria (from the movie The Book of Life).  The day before Halloween we hit Party City for some inspiration. She found the fingerless gloves and she was sold! We thankfully had a tail and ears already, and the shirt miraculously revealed itself in the old navy clearance section. It was meant to be!

Oscar has been planning to be a vampire bat for a while now, and ultimately decided that Dracula, who could turn into a bat, was the best for trick-or-treating. After my disastrous eagle costume last year, I kept the wings super simple - I cut them out of a black sheet and sewed them to a soft black shirt. The shirt texture was essential to get right, and I had him approve it before we committed to sewing the wings on. This year the costume made it to the main event!

dress rehearsal

It miraculously cooled off just in time for Halloween! It was cool and blustery, and a perfect evening for walking the streets in our neighborhood. A little blurry, but the best shot of the family in character just before we headed out:

Zombie, zombie hunter, Dracula, and kitty

Even Dracula does selfies

Here Comes Halloween!

We've been Halloween prep mode for the past few weeks. We pulled the decorations out of the attic, and added a few more friends to our collection. Oscar was so excited to have some new skeletons and his spider friend, they joined him while he was watching a Magic School bus video last week.

We've also been making some decorations to fit in our 1100 sq ft space :)

Livi's cardboard kitty and zombie girl

sugar skulls and mine craft heads (check out King Bones in the background)

our halloween-y mantle

I love hanging things near our stairs!

Yesterday, we carved our pumpkins in stages (since we ran out of time to do it all together as a family!) - Oscar an I did 3 in the morning, and Livi and I did her kitties when she got home from school. Neither kiddo would touch the pumpkin guts, even Livi who exclaimed, "I like mud, but I'm not touching that!"

New Orleans is a fantastic city for Halloween, and while  lots of houses decorate, many on St. Charles go the extra mile. The kids had trouble picking which skeleton to pose with a this amazing house:

Ice bucket challenge skeleton "Chilled to the Bone"