AliceLayne

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The Cajun way of life is very interesting.

One of the first things anyone probably thinks of when they hear the word “Louisiana” is Alligators. So…When in Rome…

We attended our friend’s daughter’s birthday party. Amina was turning 3. She is one of your friends you met right when we moved here. Her birthday was at a gator farm right near where we lived. It was the first time any of us, including your father and I, had ever even touched an alligator. Let alone hold one. It was a pretty cool experience for all ages.

Every Friday for the past few months, we have started making a tradition of going to get frozen yogurt as a family. We call it “FroYoFriday” and we ALL look forward to it every week. It’s something simple and fun where we can bond as a family.

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Happy Daughter’s Day sweet girl. I love you so much. Couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend the day.

Mardi Gras is no joke here in Houma. Not only is Houma extremely Cajun, but they hold their heritage near and dear to their hearts. We dabbled into the King cake pretty early on in the season and instantly became hooked. However, the fun had yet to come.

Two weeks before Fat Tuesday, the city throws parades every day of the weekends and again on Fat Tuesday. And they go all out. They throw billions of beads, stuffed animals, and toys. They hand out roses and feather boas (to only the luckiest of ladies… and I can proudly say your Mom was one of them.) They design huge, extravagant double decker floats which play very loud music. You can tell its a party on there. They drink all day long, and some ‘drunkees’ throw their beads real hard. So you have to keep your eyes open at all times. We came home with tons of loot. You had a blast and so did we! We were broken in right, and gave us one more reason to put one more checkmark on the list of ‘what we love about Houma.’ We can’t wait until next year!

That’s what you say when I ask, “Alice, how old are you?” It is very cute.

I can’t believe it has been two years! We celebrated your birthday, the weekend before, with Nonnee, JoePop, Birdie, and HeyHey coming into town. I wanted to do something very low-key considering we did something pretty big for your first birthday last year, and you really won’t remember much. Once we have established ourselves here in Houma, and accumulate more friends, we will have a bigger party maybe next year. But for now, it was perfect. As you know, my birthday is three days before yours, and Nonnee’s is two days before, so we were able to celebrate that weekend for the three of us.

It started out with some inconsiderable icy weather to the north of us. Birdie and HeyHey arrived safely and on time, and surprised you at our normal ‘Frozen Yogurt Friday’ outing. We loved seeing your face as you walked in… like.. “Hey! I know them!” And we proceeded to eat our yogurt, then made our way home to wait for Nonnee and JoePop. They got on the road a few hours after Birdie and HeyHey, so they ended up having to detour around all of the bridges getting into Houma, due to the weather. They, unfortunately, got into town after you were asleep.

We started Saturday off by going to the Grandparent’s hotel for breakfast. Then lunch at Big Mike’s Bar-B-Que. (One of HeyHey’s favorites.) After your nap we then got ready for dinner and went to Christiano’s Restaurant for our birthday celebration. We had so much fun and it was the perfect place to have dinner. Afterwards, we came home and had our close friends over with everyone to have cake and ice cream and open presents! You LOVE opening presents. As you are opening you always say  “What is it?” and as you continue, you have your mouth opened big and wide saying “Woowww” the more you see what’s inside. We had Kerina, Scotty, Cameron, Malorie, Sandi, and Chuck over along with your grandparents. We stuck some candles in a King Cake (a Mardi Gras must have down in Louisiana) and sang happy birthday. It was nice, small, and you enjoyed it and that’s all that matters.

Sunday was spent going back to the hotel that morning for donuts with everyone, and then we had to say our goodbyes. It was a quick, but fun weekend.

Monday was your actual birthday. We usually spend every Monday going to story time at the library, so this time when we went, we took some cookies to share with all of the other Moms and kids. They also all sang Happy Birthday to you.

Like I said before, I can’t believe you are two, and BOY are you showing it. You got some kind of attitude, girly. But when you’re sweet, you are real sweet and I love you. I love watching you grow, and even more, I love recapping all of our days together as a family. You are so smart and I couldn’t be more proud of my little soon to be preschooler!

Love Mom