Friday, January 30, 2009

Mom Of The Day?

Yesterday on Facebook I listed 25 things about myself. One of the items I listed was..."I strive everyday to be a good mother to Kyle". I jinxed myself by making this statement...soon after things went downhill. On my way to pick Kyle up from preschool I was a few minutes early and decided to drive around, instead of sitting in my car outside of his school. After driving for a short time, I realized I may be late and was driving a little too fast. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in a gas station parking lot talking to a police officer. Yes, I was pulled over for speeding! I explained I was on my way to pick my son up from preschool and I was scheduled to be there NOW. The officer went back to his car for what seemed like an eternity, he came back and only gave me a warning, which I was very thankful for, but I was still LATE! I finally made it to school. I pull up to the pickup area and there is poor Kyle and his teacher waiting for me. I felt terrible and so incredibly guilty and simply apologized for my tardiness. The last thing I wanted to do was explain to his teacher why I was so late.

My next "Mommy moment" occurred yesterday evening. We went as a family on a quick outing. Before we left I put Kyle's stroller in the car and we headed on our way. After arriving to our destination, I took the stroller out of the car, John puts Kyle in the stroller and we realize something is seriously wrong with the stroller. John realized one of the wheels fell off and of course it wasn't in the car...it was at home in the garage. It was the perfect ending to my "Mom of the Day" award.

Obviously, yesterday I wasn't worthy of wearing the ribbon shown above. There are some days I just can't get it together and yesterday was certainly one of those days. I'm hoping today will be much better and I may be worthy to wear the ribbon. We shall see...it's still early in the day!

Do you have these kind of days? Hopefully I'm not the only one! Here's to a wonderful day...it is Friday after all!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Quality Time With DaDee

On our recent trip to New Orleans, John and Kyle were able to spend some quality father/son time together while I was visiting with friends. They spent the morning at Audubon Park in the Uptown part of the city...across from Tulane University. Audubon Park is a gorgeous park with many tremendous beautiful oak trees. John and I spent plenty of time at this park while we were dating since it was very close to where I lived. We have many memories from Audubon Park...hours talking getting to know one another, planning parts of our wedding, and planning our honeymoon. I would have loved to join them in visiting the park, but it is important for the "boys" to have time alone and bond.

Kyle looks as though he is pondering the meaning of life. Sometimes puddles are just more fun.
Checking out Audubon Park

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Winter Wonderland

The Spence's Winter Wonderland
Late yesterday and into the late evening hours the snow really began coming down. This means, a second snow day in a row for Kyle's preschool. Unfortunately, John went to work yesterday and today so he hasn't had the opportunity to enjoy the snow. This morning I wanted to put Kyle in his snow suit to do some more playing in the snow, but he had other ideas. Kyle immediately saw the snow suit exit the closet and he had a complete meltdown. I didn't want to push the issue so I assume we will be staying inside.

According to my highly accurate, sophisticated snow measuring device (yes a yard stick), we received approximately 5.5 inches of snow. I'm positive this measurement is 100% accurate...LOL! If you are in snow terriority, how much snow did you receive and where do you live?

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Do Dogs Love Snow?

If Chloe, our Bichon Frise, had to answer the question in the title of the post, I'm positive her answer would be NO...even though she has on her cute little snowflake sweater. Being a "southern" dog at heart she hasn't adjusted to life in the snow. I didn't want her to feel left out so she had a mini photo shoot in the snow just like Kyle. By seeing Chloe in the pictures she looks as if she may be enjoying it, but remember pictures can be deceiving...especially of little dogs! Do your pets enjoy being outside in the snow?

Fun In The Snow

No Preschool = Fun In The Snow

The STL area has been under a winter weather warning since last night due to the pending snow and sleet projected for the area. We were notified last night that Kyle's preschool was cancelled due to the weather. Being a southern girl, I get very excited about the first significant snowfall each winter. I was really looking forward to getting Kyle dressed in his new snow suit for a fun morning of playing in LOTS of snow. I do have to say, I was a bit disappointed since we didn't get as much snow as anticipated. However, it didn't stop me from getting Kyle prepared to play outside. A little more winter weather is expected this afternoon so maybe we will have more to play in later today or tomorrow.

Kyle suited up and ready to play...
well, he is debating if he wants to play in the snow.
Well, this isn't so bad after all!
Do I really want to touch the snow?
Oh, this is fun!
OK, I've had enough...Can we go inside now?
Wiping the snow off his boots before going inside. It was fun, but I'm done!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Excellent New Orleans Cuisine

Yes, yet another New Orleans post.We had a fun-filled few days and I want to have all of our activities documented.

We spent three nights in the city and every night we had "date night". Thanks to my Dad (Poppie) for watching Kyle in our hotel two nights. We don't get many nights out while we are home and it was such a refreshing break. On Sunday, our last night, we went to one of our favorite restaurants we discovered when we were dating...The Upperline Restaurant. The restaurant is located in the Garden District of New Orleans off St. Charles Ave. As always, our dinner was delicious...we both ordered drum. The food in New Orleans certainly is unique and one-of-a-kind...that is one of the many things I miss about my home town.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

20 Year High School Reunion

Saturday, January 17th, I attended my 20 Year High School Reunion in New Orleans. I graduated in 1988 from a small private school in Metairie, LA. The class of '88 consisted of 42 students...26 which attended the reunion. The reunion was held at Antoine's Restaurant in the Historic New Orleans French Quarter. The menu is top notch and is a very high class restaurant. The appetizers and the private room were compliments of the class president...very generous! I certainly enjoyed seeing faces I haven't seen in many many years. The majority of people look very much the same as they did in high school. Through the years I have kept in touch with a number of people and recently have reconnected with others through Facebook. After the reunion, we went with a couple of friends for a late dinner at the Bourbon House....delicious seafood! Of course, I have to share a handful of pictures from the evening!

I would like to give a big HUGE Thank you to my parents for watching Kyle while we attended the reunion and letting him spend the night. I'm sure he had a lot of fun being spoiled by CeCe and Poppie. Thanks again...it was greatly appreciated!

Outside of Antoine's Restaurant Class of 1988 Best Friends
Picture taken after the reunion in the French Quarter...I joined in a
parade marching down the street.
My Senior Class Picture

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Good Times With Friends

While in New Orleans, I was able to spend great quality time with friends. Saturday afternoon we spent time with my two best friends from junior/senior of high school and their families. It was so fun, since the three of us don't get a chance to be together as often anymore. We reminised about our fun moments in high school and attempted to prepare ourselves for the reunion. Staci and I were roommates at LSU our freshman year and had our share of good times, to say the least. Lorie, is the reason, I met John and am so happy we are finally neighbors in STL.

Sunday morning, I met my friend Staci, Jamie, and Melissa for an early lunch and plenty of laughs. Jamie and Melissa were two of my very best Zeta sorrority sisters. They both still live in New Orleans and I miss them so much.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Ice Skating???

The lake located in our neighborhood was one large sheet of ice the past couple of days. Yesterday, I took a walk to the area to take a picture of the neighborhood "ice skating rink". The many ducks which call this lake "home" had to find temporary housing while the water was frozen. The temperatures are warming up today so the ice will be melted and the ducks can move back in.

I am not a very good ice skater...I'm very clumsy and fall quite a bit. There was an ice skating rink close by our house when I was growing up so I would have fun attempting to ice skate. In St. Louis, their is a nice oudoor ice skating rink in Forest Park called Steinberg Ice Rink. John and I have been once and would love to go back at some point in the future. We haven't attempted to take Kyle ice skating yet, but believe it or not he did ice skate at preschool during his physical therapy session. How, you might ask...shaving cream with no shoes on. The same day he roller skated as well. I would have enjoyed having the opportunity to watch those moves!

Neighborhood Lake covered with ice.
Temporary housing for the ducks.

New Orleans King Cake

Since Mardi Gras time is quickly approaching, I bought a king cake to bring back for Kyle's preschool class. This morning, his class enjoyed king cake as their snack. The king cake is one of the many traditions which commemorates Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I sure was getting the Mardi Gras fever during our visit, but unfortunately we won't have the opportunity to head back to New Orleans for the celebration. St. Louis does celebrate Mardi Gras, so we may head to the city to enjoy the parades and festivities which are offered.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A fellow blogger, Kelly, gave birth to a sweet baby girl, Harper, this past Friday. Harper is experiencing some unexpected complications and is currently in the NICU in Tulsa. If you would like to read about Harper's story please click here. Although, our circumstances were a bit different, I know first hand how stressful the NICU journey can be. Please keep Baby Harper and her family in your thoughts.

Presidential Inauguration

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 marked a truly historical day in The United States of America. President Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of The United States. Barack Obama is also the first African American to be elected to the Presidency.

No matter how you voted in the election, everyone should be very hopeful for the future of our country. Since this blog will be for Kyle to read in the future, I wanted to document this event since I'm sure Kyle will be studying about this in a future history class. Unfortunately, we weren't able to view the events on television since we were traveling, but we did have the opportunity to listen to the coverage on the radio.

Home Sweet Home

After:

1,522.3 Miles Driven
28 hours, 44 minutes in the car
82.4 Gallons of Gas

WE ARE HOME!!!

We had such a fantastic time in New Orleans. I have posted a few details about our trip in previous posts and have several more to share in the coming days! Even though, our trip was fun, "there's no place like home".

Saturday, January 17, 2009

St. Louis in New Orleans

Even though I now live in St. Louis, I can't seem to escape my "new" home while in my "old" home. John took my picture under the St. Louis street sign while we were in the French Quarter.

New Orleans French Quarter

Last night Poppie came over to our hotel and spent some quality time with Kyle while John and I went on a "date". John and I went to the French Quarter for dinner and we ate at The Gumbo Shop, one of John's favorites in New Orleans. We had a delicious dinner which consisted of...seafood gumbo, barbeque shrimp, crawfish etoufee (my entree), and a combination dinner with jambaylaya, shrimp creole, and crawfish etoufee (John's entree). The food was fabulous! The food is one thing I miss so much since moving from New Orleans. It was such a special treat to have some "true" New Orleans style food.

After dinner we walked around the French Quarter and headed to Pat O'Briens and also to the Cat's Meow, an extremely fun karoke bar, for a cocktail. We had such a nice, relaxing, "quiet" evening out on the town. Thanks so much to Poppie (my Dad) for watching Kyle!

John and I in the courtyard at Pat O's

Friday, January 16, 2009

Hello From Louisiana

Hello everyone...We are in New Orleans!!! Yeah...it's good to be back "home"...even if it's only for a few days! We left home Thursday morning, stayed the night in Mississippi, and arrived in New Orleans mid afternoon. We have plenty of fun times to look forward to this weekend and are very excited. I'm sure I will return to share the details and pictures of our Big Easy adventures.

Along our ten + hour drive we did stop several times to stretch our legs and take a little breather. Of course, at least one stop had to turn into a mini photo shoot of Kyle. Enjoy the pictures!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Where Have I Been?

Hello to the blog world! Did anyone miss me the past several days? I'm sure everyone has been wondering where I have been. Our new Wii seems to be taking up all of my spare time in which I typically blog or spend on the computer. John and I are addicted and have been staying awake way too late at night playing Wii.

One of our top favorites is Guitar Hero. We have set up our very own band...named "Hello Grover", along with our own rock star characters...named "Nigel Munchkin" and "Rock Princess". We have surprised ourselves by how well we have caught on...granted it is set to easy! I'm sure I won't be saying that when we attempt the next level!

Mario Kart is a fun race game we enjoy playing. I'm sure this is also a favorite with the "younger" players as well, but it is addictive and we are kids at heart!

Two more favorites, Hell's Kitchen and Dancing with the Stars, are both based from reality televison shows we watch. I absolutely LOVE the Hell's Kitchen game. We just played DWTS for the first time last night and it is fun. I'm sure you can sit down and play, but we were up actually attempting to dance...I'm sure it was a sight to see!

If you stop by and there isn't another post I'll give you three chances to guess why? Yep, Hello Grover is back on tour, we are whipping up a fancy meal in the kitchen, or attempting to ballroom dance. I promise I will be back soon...probably sooner than you would like so please don't give up on visiting "Keeping Up With Spences".

Have a wonderful weekend!