Mercy Chefs

We had a few tornados come through the area and Audrey and I had the opportunity to go help with some of the relief. We hooked up with an organization called Mercy Chefs and went out to Garland one evening to see what they needed us to do! Our friend, Jill, came with us. We prepped food in a truck for breakfast the next morning, then went on deliveries in the surrounding neighborhoods with a nice man who had given up a whole week of work to offer his service. It was an amazing experience and we were so glad we were able to help!

December Stuff

Having a birthday at Young Academy is always fun. My friend, Carol made these delicious cupcakes in the shape of a pencil. I mean!

This was at Cane's one night. Who knows why, but it sure looks funny! We were on our way to a concert in Plano, where Uncle Mark and our friend, Madie were singing with the DMCO.

As you can see above, Neal had surgery, actually back in November. It was a bit of a rough road for a week or so, but once he went back to work and got used to the aches and a little additional fatigue, things seemed to get back to normal.

Parker and Tyler made a bunch of little trinkets on their 3D printers to sell to their friends at school. 

I took Miles, Dillon and Matthew, my Bear scouts, on a tour of the Keller Police Station. The officer was so great; we had a lot of fun!

The week after that, we lucked out with a tour of the fire station!

It took us a while, and I had to do all the heavy lifting, but we finally got a Christmas tree! It was our biggest tree yet.

Miles was in charge of lights.

Later in the month, we had a piano recital. Miles was chosen by Ms. Ruby to play the "Premusic." He did a great job and looked so handsome.

I found this beautiful flower crown on Etsy and just had to get it for Audrey's Christmas dress. She looked so lovely.

Three siblings in one week!

Living apart from every single person in my Parker family is sad and I don't like it. :( One lucky week in December, I got to see three of them! It was beyond exciting.

Julianne and Ben were able to come see us for a week during Thanksgiving. It's the second Thanksgiving she has spent with us! We had fun reminiscing about the first one, back when we suddenly were hosting about 30 people. I was so grateful she was there that year and this year!

Elliott stopped into town on his way to San Antonio for business. We grabbed some Torchy's Tacos and had a good chat. So fun; we love layovers!

I got to fly out to Arizona for a quick weekend that ended on my birthday. I love going to visit the Courts! Life is good there in Mesa.

NOLA with Natalie

 My dear friend, Natalie, and I had such fun visiting New Orleans last weekend! Back when we both lived in Houston (2000-2004), we always talked about how fun it would be to go (neither of us had been at that time). Of course, we had no money back then and little babies and husbands who were students, so it never happened. Then, in 2005, Katrina hit and New Orleans suddenly wasn't so tempting! Well, the city is back and it was time, so we met there last Saturday! Our flights arrived with an hour of each other, so we headed off to find some plantations! We drove by St. Joseph, which was nice, but settled on touring Oak Alley Plantation, which was amazing! We had a lovely tour and lunch on the grounds.

We headed into the city and checked into Hotel Monteleone (the best!) before taking an Uber car down to dinner at Cochon. It was delicious, as all restaurants in New Orleans seem to be.

Sunday morning, we had beignets next door to the hotel at Café Beignet, a fun little place we usually go at least one morning in New Orleans. It's a nice alternative to the crowds at Café du Monde. We headed down to visit the New Orleans First Ward, at a cute little building on St. Charles Avenue.

Next up was a nice little walking tour of the Garden District and a quick lunch at Coquette. I had shrimp and grits in a moment of questionable judgement. That's not my favorite meal, but it sure was pretty.

We rode the streetcar for a while, which is always so fun because you can get a slowed-down look at all of the amazing houses on St. Charles Avenue.

We strolled around a bit more, took a gander at St. Louis Cathedral because it's beautiful, and people watched in Jackson Square.

Later, we took another ride down to dinner at Apolline, a beautiful little place in a very cool old house.

Monday's breakfast found us at Café du Monde (yum), which, although crowded, is always so fun and atmospheric. Then it was a stroll through some great shops, including Antiques de Provence, my very favorite, mostly because of the peaceful courtyard behind it, which shoppers are completely free to roam.

After a quick lunch, we spent some time in the National WWII Museum, which is huge and expansive (i.e., we did not get to see it all and need to go back). But we loved the D-Day and Pacific War exhibits. Very touching, lots of personal accounts and mementos that make it seem very real for visitors. It wasn't long before dinner time was upon us. We walked down St. Charles to Herbsaint, a place Neal and I had been last year. It was yummy, but not quite as amazing as I remembered. Alas! Natalie caught this cool picture of the interior.

Tuesday morning, we took one last stroll through the French Quarter (we loved this Place de l'Echange behind the Bevolo lantern shop). Breakfast was at a cute little place on Chartres called Angeline, then it was back to the Monteleone to check out.

We drove into the Garden District one last time, and decided to stop and walk around in Lafayette Cemetery, which was easy to access and much prettier than St. Louis Cemetery, where most of the tourists go. A fitting end to our October weekend in NOLA!

I love all the ferns poking out of all of the stone and brick work.

This was rather alarming.

Au revoir, New Orleans!

Flag Day

Every September, usually sometime around the 11th, our elementary school holds a beautiful patriotic ceremony just as the sun is coming up over the school. It's a wonderful sight! Here is Miles in the thick of it!

School Starting!

The last weeks of summer are always so bittersweet! It's so super hot and we are kind of tired of being at home, but at the same time, does school always have to be the solution? :) The taco of the month at our favorite, Torchy's, was called the Scalding Pig, and it featured ghost peppers and Neal ordered it and Parker tried it and immediately regretted it. For hours.

We signed up to help an interfaith organization here in town called 6 Stones. They did an outreach to hand out backpacks to needy kids. We had a lot of fun and Neal got to use his Spanish!

Miles was being his usual weird self on the way there. He found these funny glasses and was preparing for his school picture pose.

Audrey looked so pretty in this white summer dress the day before school started. I had to snap a pic! That night, Neal gave the kids blessings as they prepared to start the next morning.

Trooper sometimes insinuates himself into the morning drive to school. He was looking all majestic this day, perched up on the seat.

I don't really know where these people come from.

We hit up the fun Ninja Warrior park one day, a perfect solution for those steamy August days!

Parker, in all of his manly braun, helping bring in the groceries for me one day. All of the groceries.

Here they are the morning of the first day!