the worms are in!

...our vermicomposter, that is! We got a pound of Red Wrigglers in the mail yesterday, and put them into their new home - our vermicomposter. Quinn and Brad have gotten it all ready for them, with newspapers, food scraps, and other various things. They will love it there, and we will love reducing our trash and having organic fertilizer for our plants!

we have an official bike rider!

Quinn learned how to ride her bike all by herself without training wheels this week! We are so proud of her, and she is really proud of herself.

Here she is with the bike we gave her for her birthday. It is still a little intimidating to her because of the height. She said she was going to practice on her small bike until she gets really good - and then move to her new bike. Way to go Q!

all done!

How about THIS face? You know those moments in life that happen so often, yet you never seem to be able to capture or document them? Well, Tyndale does this pretty much daily, impatiently pulling the tray off the high chair...and we always laugh! So glad we can enjoy this for years to come!

Family trip to New Orleans

We have been talking about bringing the kids to see all that New Orleans has to offer for some time now. Brad and I love the city so much, but the kids have only seen it during Mardi Gras, and only uptown. Se we decided to have a family weekend in New Orleans and it was such fun! Here is Quinn with the lovely flowers in front of Upperline restaurant.

Our real first stop? Kyoto! Yum!

We went to the Zoo on Friday. The weather was beautiful, and we saw a ton of animals! Here are Brad and Tyndale in front of the Chimpanzee exhibit.

Peeking through the fence at the White Siberian Tiger.

Carousel ride...Quinn really wanted to ride the white tiger, and she was so happy that she got it! Tyndale is on a Panda...for his FIRST carousel ride! He loved it!

We saw the special dinosaur exhibit, which was really cool, but a bit scary at times. They had animatronic dinosaurs that moved and made really scary sounds!

mmmm.....ice cream!

Cooling off in the water mist sprayer

Quinn is peeking down to see the ostrich that is peeking up at her.

Quinn has a close call with the alligators at the zoo.

You can tell we had a busy, awesome day! Look at the drool! Ha!

Quinn looking at the map and the view. Tyndale playing on the bed.

Saturday morning we went to a delicious patisserie named Croissant D'Or. It was absolutely delicious! Just look at some of the mouth-watering choices!

Quinn didn't think that she would like this chocolate croissant.....until she tasted it! Then she asked for another!

Morning in the Quarter

Quinn and the view from the top of the Westin, our hotel.

We met David and the twins at the aquarium and had a ton of fun!

lionfish--grrr!

Quinn touched a sting-ray! In this picture, she was turning around to tell me that it was slimy!

Quinn, Lila and Bennett checking out the albino alligator.

Then we ate lunch with David, Lila, Bennett, and the Adams at a delicious po-boy place downtown, Johnny's. After lunch we watched Deep Sea on the Imax..it was a really cool 3d film about fish and other creatures that live in the ocean. Then we went to the Insectarium.

Small world! We coincidentally met up with Arly and the Mize family at the Zoo and the Insectarium! Here are the girls having fun at the Insectarium.

Tyndale helping Daddy blow a kiss.

Quinn in front of the butterfly exhibit..she thought it was really cool how they were arranged by color.

Quinn in the butterfly garden.

Tyndale takes on a black widow spider.

our little entrepreneur

Quinn decided that she wanted to set up a lemonade stand this afternoon. We had Kool-Aid, so we set up a Kool-Aid stand! She had a ton of customers, including Meg, Noah, Gimmie, and the Massengills. She made $10.00!
Kate and Lucie came to help out and the girls had such a great time together!

On another note, Quinn decided that she wanted to read US a bedtime story tonight, so she proceeded to read the entire "The Blanket" book. We were so excited that we suggested "Goodnight Moon"...and she read the entire thing with minimal help! We are so proud of her reading skills!

Visit to Madison

We had a wonderful weekend in Madison, visiting the Simms and the Betzholds. Kate and Tyndale really enjoyed hanging out together. ( I am singing the song "We are the Littles" in my head! ha!)

and Tyndale found Mrs. Sheila's dogs VERY exciting! Ru-ru-ru!
lunch al-frescoe

One of the highlights of the weekend was the boat! We spent lots of time enjoying the beautiful weather onboard Cap'n Noel's pleasure cruise!

On Saturday we went to the Natural Science Museum - one of our favorites! They were having "Nature Fest," and one of the special exhibits was a show about bats, given by a bat expert. How huge is this one? Don't worry Meme, it only eats fruit...not your grandchildren!

They also had face painting...here is Quinn with the animal she chose...a lizard!

And you can't go to the Natural Science Museum without enjoying the aquariums!

That afternoon was Mary Kate Sandifer's birthday party, and all the girls were invited, so off to Dancing Divas we went for a totally girly time! They got their makeup and hair done just like a real ballerina..by real ballerinas! They also got to make their own lip gloss to keep. So fancy!

...and back to the boat...

Quinn and Hadley were the brave two that wanted to go tubing. They did well...until the rope holder broke and they were stranded at sea...only for a few minutes!

this is one good-looking crew!