Festival of Lights

 

We took our 3 elves to see the lights of Natchitoches this past Saturday.  This is unbelieveable if you have never been.  It’s a pretty big deal.  I’m talkin’ food, music (loud music), lights (obviously), buggy rides, fireworks, the whole nine yards all along one street by the river, Front Street.  History lessson:  Natchitoches is famous for being the oldest town in Lousisana. That is according to Jamie, who I am sure is right. It is also famous for being the set of the movie Steel Magnolias.  Fun Fact: The character Wheezer from the movie got her name from the  mother of a close friend of mine!  HA!!  Anyhoo, it’s about an hour and half or two hour drive from Ruston, but worth it!!  They block the street off and you can walk all around. The kids were amazed that the street was brick and not asphalt! The food is typical festival fare: if you can stick it on a stick and fry it, they have it: chicken, hotdog, alligator (we are in Louisiana ya know?), oreos…yes, you read that right. Fried oreos on a stick.  Ummmm..no thanks.  And of course, the infamous Natchitoches Meat Pie. However, these were not on a stick.. The lights are great.  They are lined up along the opposite bank, some even move. Like the reindeer in this pic..

These are the lights that drape across Front Street.

Jamie says he remembers the Santa face from when he was a kid and came to see the lights.

The light tunnel leading to Santa…

When it gets good and dark, the fireworks start.  BTW, this is not just a weekend festival.  I mean it is, but it isn’t.  Confused?  They do this every weekend for the month of December! I think they do it Friday and Saturday, or maybe its just Saturday…not really sure.  Guess I should do more research before spouting off like that huh?

Fun times in a fun little town!

 

Cookie time!

I cleared off the island and got the troops positioned in their own little areas.  Gave each some dough, helped them roll it out and let ‘em go to town…

Later that night , after the cookies had cooled off, we set up a sprinkle station and decorated each cookie.  Again, I turned them loose…

The aftermath….

 

We worked on the gingerbread train this weekend.  All week my kitchen has smelled like gingerbread.  It smells soooooooo good!  I got all the pieces cut out and baked..

then Sister helped me put the pieces together.

The boys came inside and we got all the candy dished out and went to town..

Our finished product.  They worked so hard.  Look at the windows behind them.  When we started this project it was daylight….

My Brave Widdle Gurl

My brave little girl with sprinkles on her mouth!  We had a very eventful day this past Monday.  But let me back up a bit…when her little baby teeth started to erupt through her gums I noticed that one of her front teeth was coming in miscolored.  It was brown.  When I first saw it, I freaked out thinking I hadn’t been brushing her teeth good enough.  I took her to her pediatrictian and she said not to worry about it until it came further on it because it may just be a small spot.  So I waited, watched, and stressed about it.  When it finally came all the way in I took her to the dentist.  He x-rayed it and said that basically it just never formed correctly from the very beginning.  He said it was soft and to just keep and eye on it.  He offered to veneer it, but I passed on that.  So, that was about a year a year and half ago.  I had noticed about 3 weeks ago the the bottom of the “yucky” tooth, as we so lovingly called it, had become slanted with a little crack/split in the middle.  I didn’t take her in because I knew we were going to the dentist for a cleaning after Christmas.  It thought if it bothers her, I’ll hear about it.  And boy, did I ever!!  The night after this picture was taken,( this past Saturday) we were brushing her teeth before bed and all of a sudden she screamed and wailed “My toof, my toof, it hurts!” I immediately knew what had happened. That tooth had worn down enough that it was becoming too sensitive.  Monday morning I took her to some of our best friends who have an endodontics practice.  They x-rayed and said it should probably come out.  They sent us to our usual dentist and he took one look for about 5 seconds and said the same thing.  Well, I was ready.  I had a feeling they were gonna tell me that.  So, I said, “ ok lets do it.” They told me they didn’t do that on patients so young. They didn’t have the necessary sedatives for her and that the best place for her was a pediatriac dental practice in Shreveport.  Ugh…an hour away.  They asked me if I wanted them to make the appt.  Of course I let them thinking they would be able to get it sooner than I could.  We had stared all this at 8:45 that morning.  At this point, it was 10:45.  I walked to the front desk and the recptionist looked at me and said, “ they want you there at 2 pm today.”  I stood there shocked. I just nodded my head very slowly and sputtered out the word “ok”.  As we were heading out the door, they told me she wasn’t to eat or drink anything due to the fact she was going to be sedated.  Wonderful.  This girl likes her meals and likes them often.  I got the boys squared away with some friends ( the endo. friends) and got Jamie form work and we headed to Shreveport with a very hungry girl.

We got the the office with plenty of time to spare (because I’m OCD like that) and she played and I filled out a book of paperwork.  They called us back and the new dentist looked and offered other solutions. But we declined and asked for the tooth to be removed.  So, they gave her some “relaxation” medicine, which only made her very very talkative and giddy.  After waiting 30 minutes for the relaxation to set in they finally let us come back. My big girl climbed right up in the chair and let them administer the happy gas and the numbing shot like it was no big deal. I held her hands and her Daddy stood  very quietly behind me holding the wall in place. The dentist came in sat down next to her and told her she was gonna wiggle the tooth out.  RA looked and her and nodded her head ok.  I saw the pliers and put my head on RA’s legs so I couldn’t see and literally 5 seconds later..it was out. It was all over.  My little three year old had just had a tooth pulled and DIDN’T SHED ONE SINGLE TEAR.  not one. I did it for her. She was such a big girl.  The nurses and dentist went on and on about how great she did. Here’s her new smile:

She does have a budding little sense of humor.  When they put the happy gas thingy on her nose, it was red.  She pulled it off and said “I wook wike Rudolph!” Then she giggled and giggled which made everyone in the room giggle!

Pooches gotta be comfy too.  This loveseat was a hand-me down from some friends.  We orginially had it in the boys playroom.  We moved it out to make room for a couple of beanbag chairs Christmas presents.  We had laid the loveseat on the side porch I hopes of handing it off to someone else.  Well, it then rained for two days.  Then, I happened to look out the window one night and noticed the beasts had cuddled up together on it.  So, we began to think who in the world is gonna want a rain soaked loveseat that has had two stinky dogs wallering all over it?  So, we just moved it in the carport and let them have it.  It has now been in there for two days and they have barely gotten off it. Yes, they are spoiled.

Time to trim the tree!! RA was hovering around the ornament boxes whining asking when she could put an “instrument” on the tree.  I knew that as soon as I gave in to her whining asking, the boys would start in as well so I held out as long as I could. Eventually I gave in.  She was so excited to get to hang an “instrument”!  Soon after, the boys came in for their turns.

And then IT happenned.      Ornament fatality.       After the cleanup crew came in, all little people were removed from the scene.

Of course they couldn’t stay away long and they ended up meandering their way back in ever so stealthily…they hung a few more ornaments and then stepped back to admire their handywork.

Lets go back to Arkansas…one thing the kids love to do is go “trompin” thru the woods.  Well, it had rained so much before we came that the woods were flooded. It will stay like this until late spring, early summer I think. Anyway, we suited the boys up in some waders, sister in boots, Jamie in his boots, and me in my dad’s, and we set off!

Santa Sighting..

I’m trying out a new way to post on the blog that will make loading the pictures easier.  The way I had been doing it since I started this has suddenly quit. So then I tried using Blogger’s format and that took FOREVER. So, now I’m trying this.  I’m very picky about my format. I want my pics in the middle and to be able to wirte above and below them.  If this program won’t let me, then I’m off to search again!!  So, with all that said, let’s get started.  I  was reading the paper after we finished homework one afternoon and saw that the one and only Santa was going to be downtown that very afternoon. So, I got everyone loaded up and we set off.  Of course we got there with plenty of time to spare, cuz that’s how I roll.  The Walsworth elves climbed in the big sleigh and played around.

We then posed in front of the HUGE Christmas tree.  I was really trying to show some perspective here with the kiddos in front of it. That thing was huge.

While I was trying to get some  more shots guess who showed up:

Then it sounded like a herd of cattle running behind me.  My elves took off… with the smallest one yelling, “Wait for meeeeeeee…”

The boys got into a deep disscussion on how Santa had arrived.  I mean, there wasn’t a single reindeer in sight…

After we left Santa, we went back to the fountain for a few minutes.  I snapped this one when Davis suddenly realized he had forgotten to tell Santa something he wanted.

A few seconds later, Cooper had the same realization…

A quick game of chase around the tree eased their worries..