Aquarium of the Americas

The day after the Christening, we decided to walk the Riverwalk and take the girls to the Aquarium. We had not been since Katrina hit in 2005. It has definitely changed since then. The girls favorite section was the Mississippi Delta exhibit. It was everything that they are familiar with (alligators, turtles, jellyfish, etc...). I was so proud of Lauren who conquered her fears and was interested in touching all the animals on display. It turned into such an educational experience for us all; as Lauren always has more questions than we have answers for. We found ourselves reading the placards to get the answers to so many of her questions.

Annalise and Lauren

Easter Bunny Photo

Lauren and the Easter Bunny.

(Where's Annalise? At this time, I am holding her. Maybe next time?)

My sweet girls...

I witnessed the sweetest and most compassionate love last night. Lauren and Annalise had been laying in Lauren's bed watching their new movie "Barbie Fairytopia - Mermaidia" . Chris and I never heard one peep or saw a movement out of them - eyes were glued to the television. We just knew that it was one of those great movies. Well as the time began to pass I began to hear Lauren softly sob. As I walked into the room, Annalise was giving Lauren her bear and trying to comfort Lauren by patting her and telling her that "it is fake". Unsure of what was going on, I questioned Lauren about her tears. She began to explain that she knows it is make believe, but it was the saddest thing ever. One of the mermaids undoubtably had a spell of some sort on her where she would become trapped under water if something did not happen and she would never get to see Bibble (her sidekick/pet) again. It was just horrible according to Lauren!! Soon after all was calm and the mermaid made it out of the water okay. Annalise insisted on watching Clifford who makes everyone laugh.

As they laid back in bed, Annalise and Lauren comforted each other with kind words and hugs and fell asleep. AHHH, to sweet.

Lauren is so sensitive and Annalise can be so compassionate!!!

Pictures

Mom

Go Lauren! Go Rebels!

Lauren's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Lauren and Andrew C.

In Kindergarten and she thinks she is all grown up... this morning while getting ready she straightened her hair, put on lipstick, fixed her own breakfast (pancakes)... at school, she caught up with some friends, introduced herself to Mrs. Magee, emptied her backpack, found her desk and started on her first assignment. My little potato is getting so big! I am so proud!!

CPS Parent Orientation

Lauren is officially now in kindergarten and in Mrs. Magee's class. Yeah! I requested at the end of school last year for this teacher. She has been teaching at CPS for many decades and is an excellent teacher. She has won numerous awards for her teaching and has a very aggressive style that children seem to excel in. Double Yeah! Lauren's friends in her class are Destiny, Logan, Alex, Trace and her best friend Kylie. Lauren and Kylie have been in daycare together since they were 7-9 months old. Lauren was excited to here which of her classmates would be in her class this year and that she would be sitting next to Trace. On the other hand, she was a little upset that Andrew Cangelosi would not be in her class or sitting next to her; as Andrew was. His mom said that all summer he has asked about Lauren and him being in the same class and sitting next to her. When she told him that they were not in the same class, he decided that we (the moms) needed to fix it.

School starts on Friday!

Preparing for School

This weekend was quite busy. Saturday, we began at 7:30 in search of all the school supplies for both Lauren (Kindergarten) and Annalise (3 year old class). After 3 different Walmarts and 2 malls, we were finally finished. Whoever thought that finding 8 ct. Crayola crayons could be so hard?

From our shopping experience, we went to Carrabarra's for Granny's 84th birthday. Pam, Keith, Granny, Chris, Annalise and I had a great time. Lauren decided she would stay home with Maw-maw and play dress-up with Sanielle (her cousin). They were tired of dressing up as princesses and ballerinas; so resorted to being "funny girls".

Annalise meets Ms. Sara

Last night, the girls had gymnastics. Ms. Sara, Annalise's teacher, was excited to have Lauren's little sister in her class. She had lots of patience with Annalise while also tending to the other girls. She realized quickly that while Annalise has the flexibility that Lauren has, she does not have the control and attention span of Lauren or the rest of Anna's class. Most of the other girls are turning 5 in the next couple of months and will be moving up to Lauren's class (Preschool Development - Pre-Comp Class). She is by far the youngest child in the class and most active.

Lauren did great last night. Her class focused on the floor and beam. Lauren did a correct handstand and backwards roll. Their new task was jumping on the beam. Lauren was a little hesitant at first, but soon caught on with small jumps.

Gymnastics - Annalise's First Time

Lauren had her third development gymnastics lesson last night. Last Thursday night while at gymnastics, we decided that we would sign Annalise up for class also during the same timeframe. This would give Annalise something creative to do for an hour and an hour to play with me.

Well last night was her first class. She was completely adorable in her blue leotard. Due to her teacher being on vacation, she joined Lauren's advanced class for the first 30 minutes. This allowed her the chance to show off her balance beam skills. She walked back and forth on the big beam and the little beam; as well as swinging from the big bars. And I do mean swinging and hanging from the bars. Her second teacher tried to convince her to flip over and she was having no part of that. After all of her hardwork, she was able to play in the "cheese" (aka - the pit). This was the ultimate goal she was hoping for. She is now counting down the days until the next class.

Lauren is doing excellent and rapidly advancing. She is doing her forward and backward rolls, bridges, splits, and balance beam kicks. She had two new lessons last night; they were a forward roll on the big balance beam and a hand stand. She was so excited that she was able to accomplish them both with a little assistance.

Chaos gets married

On Saturday night, our friend Chris Smith (aka Chaos) finally got married. He married a girl from the Lafayette area Candy Vidrine. They had a beautiful reception at VermilionVille in Lafayette. It was a museum. The girls enjoyed looking in the windows of the various shops (restaurant, cooking school, museum, etc...); also sitting on a pier under a pavilion looking at the water flowing underneath us.

Attached are a couple of photos of the girls.