Visiting Mimi

We had a wonderful weekend visiting the boys' great-grandmother in Shreveport.  She fed us well and the boys got some real quality time with Mimi. 

Mimi is going for the profile shot

Our cousin Evan, the fireman, invited us to the fire station for a tour. We got hooked up!  What kid gets access like this??!!  Thank you Evan!

We turned the lights and sirens on

Adam drove around the block....

Getting the hang of putting out fires.

We were really trying to knock down some trashcans next door. 

Chris had to give it a try of course.

Yes, we did let them play with axes. 

It's Springtime! Gotta ride the levee!

We took a Saturday to go have a picnic on the Mississippi Levee and ride our bikes together.  It was a great day.  The boys kicked every Dandelion in sight. 

Adam rode 4 miles on his own bike today!

Eating my sandwich and walking around

Chris' Highlight

Chris was invited by a friend to go watch a Hornets game last week.  The tickets were on the floor so of course he was in, even if they aren't so great right now.  Apparently, as he was standing up, a loose ball came straight at his head.  Later on, a friend caught a highlights show on tv that pictured Chris and his friend laughing after the almost accident.  So funny.

This is a picture of the tv showing the highlight.  Look in the bottom left at the ball coming at the dude in the purple shirt and ball cap.  That's Chris.

Here's a pic of the tv showing them laughing at the close call

Close up of Steve Nash from Chris' seat.  The Suns won.

Bushwood BBQ Sandwiches

We've finally been spreading the word about Chris' new project.  A good friend of his here in Baton Rouge, Justin, wanted to open a BBQ restaurant. This spawned from the BBQ team that Justin and Chris are on that competed in Memphis In May for the past few years.  Justin has been working on this  idea for the past year and asked Chris to come on board to help out with ideas and recipe generation.  Chris ran with it and spent the last few months creating sauces and rubs and other menu items.  He's worked so hard and I'm so proud!!  Finally, the restaurant was ready to open about 3 weeks ago.  It is a strictly a sandwich place with the hopes of drawing a wide variety of customers.  It uses a giant smoker out back to slowly smoke the meat.  So this is authentic BBQ!!  Everybody in Baton Rouge knows you can't get authentic BBQ here.  It is really amazing the vision that Justin had and how he was able to make it happen.  It's been really interesting to watch.  So, next time you're in Baton Rouge, come visit Bushwood BBQ Sandwiches.  Or, hopefully soon, there will be one in your area!

Family and Friends Night before the real opening

Adam gets his new patch at AWANA

 On Sunday afternoons, Chris and I help teach an elementary group of kids at church for AWANA.  Adam is in the younger group called Cubbies.  He works very hard to memorize verses each week to earn patches for his vest.  I finally had a camera on me to document this proud moment.

 

Uncle Brian Visits

Haven't seen my brother in about 2 years and he finally got to come for a visit this January.  We got to spend a few days with him and the boys got to soak up some Uncle Brian time. 

Brian, Dad, and Adam obsessed over Angry Birds game

Adam with Brian's fire gear on

Caleb is Dad's little buddy.  We looked over one afternoon and Caleb was dozing while Dad was playing Angry Birds

Caleb developing the "scary swing" where he swings with his eyes closed.

Fun times!!

Happy New Year!!

I had to get fireworks this year to help bring in 2012!  In the past, I've gone along with Chris and his view that it's money up in smoke...but I love them!  The boys are getting to the age where they can appreciate the smaller ones so I just had to.  We started by getting some Chinese food because we were done with leftovers and then brought out the chairs, lighters and our meager brown bag of fireworks.  Chris' parents were in town to help us celebrate and we all took turns showing the boys what to do and how to do it safely.  Chris got some pretty "Pink Floyd" looking pictures of the night.