Birthday Week!

Week 36: My Birthday week! It was a fun week of celebrations in our house! The kids were so sweet and made me a giant birthday card full of pictures and birthday wishes! It was a wonderful day and the kids topped it off with dinner at Voodoo BBQ and then home for cake and ice cream!

Mary Virginia celebrated the 100th day of school on Friday. They made trail mix with 100 pieces of food, made glasses out of the number 100, played games, and watched a movie during rest time! Sounds like they had a fun time at school! After a fun week of festivities, it was time for horseback riding and a trip to New Orleans with the girls! Mary Virginia did great at riding lessons - she road Indy and did amazing as usual. Indy didn't want to cooperate, but MV took control and rode like a pro!

After spending the afternoon at the barn, I headed off to New Orleans to pick up Allison at the airport and meet Michelle at the Crowne Plaza! It was so much to see my friends and spend a fun birthday weekend in NOLA! We started out the weekend with dinner at Pat O'Briens, such a fun atmosphere and a really great dinner (I highly recommend the Bloody Mary Chicken Wings)! After dinner we walked down Bourbon Street and right into the filming of the movie Now You See Me. We were up close and personal to Mark Ruffalo...I wish we had gotten to see Morgan Freeman too! The cast looks great, I can't wait to see the movie...
We sat back and watched the movie filming for a little bit and then it was on to people watch! There are some crazy people walking down Bourbon Street, especially during Mardi Gras season! We called it an early night after beignets at Cafe Du Monde...we had breakfast reservations at Court of Two Sisters!
What a yummy jazz brunch and fun with friends. We all enjoyed the eggs benedict and then I tried to branch out and try some dishes that I normally wouldn't try - turtle soup was one and it was delicious! I will be having that again!

We spent the day walking around New Orleans shopping and seeing the sights. From shopping on Magazine Street, tasting pralines on Decatur Street, tasting king cakes and shopping at the French Market, and browsing through the Cooking School of New Orleans, we had a full day! And that was all before lunch - which we had at Johnny's Po-boys - I highly recommend to anyone! (The Johnny's special was delicious, I just wish I had been the one to order it)

(Allison captured the essence of New Orleans)

Saturday night we watched a parade through the French Quarter...although highly entertaining, not sure I will head back for that parade next year! We had more fun people watching during the parade than the parade itself. Then more people watching on Bourbon Street!

It was such a wonderful girl's weekend, I can't wait to get together with the girls again soon!

When I got home, we had to hurry up and get ready for a Super Bowl Party! The Howells and the Harpoles came over to celebrate and watch the game! The kids had fun running around, riding bikes and playing the yard! They were so worn out by the time the game was over that John Bay couldn't even make it to the bed before falling asleep! What a fun week of celebrating. I am exhausted and I think the kids were too!

(Ed didn't have time to take pictures while he was alone with the kids, so no documentation on how they looked while I was gone...)