I'm sure going to miss my neighbors...

....and their Mac Daddy garden!

The Acadiana Zoo

 We took a little trip to Lafayette on Saturday to visit the Acadiana Zoo.  Gianna had great travel companions in her sweet friend Annie and Annie's cousin, Abram.  What great kids.

There's no strolling with kids - they're so FAST!  I got a gazillion pictures of them from behind.

  

  

   

These kids are so photogenic!

 What a great day!

Princess Play

My sister-in-law surprised us with a package a few weeks ago containing the ultimate dress-up princess dress.  It's a white Cinderella dress that looks like a miniature wedding gown.  So precious.

 Pretend play. Princesses. Girly girls.

No more toddlers....we've got little girls on our hands.

Oh what fun.

Comin' and Geaux-in

Comin'

Yesterday Gianna and I had a big treat. Two of Iain's closest friends from college and young adulthood came to visit.  Carrie, Dave and Iain attended the University of Kansas ("Rock Chalk Jayhawk" -- which is the wierdest spirit chant of any school I know!) back in the day and all migrated to Lake Charles for a brief chapter as they began their engineering careers. So gald Iain stayed in LC!!

(This was taken several years ago when we visit KU in Lawrence, KS. 

I'll bet he's not missing posing for silly pictures at the request of his wife.)

These days Carrie lives in Houston and Dave and his family are now in Denver.

 I was humbled and thrilled that they made the trek to visit us.  They had never met Gianna, so they were sweet enough to spend time with her. 

She ate it up. 

I know Iain's heart must've been full.  Mine was.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Geaxin'

Okay, I'm not a big sports fan. I do enjoy a good game when I have the time and attention span to sit and watch, but it doesn't happen often.  I have no emotional or personal attachment to LSU.  It's just part of the culure in this area.  I did happen to catch the LSU vs. Alabama game yesterday. (Okay, well, parts of it as I flipped back and forth to HGTV (hoppin' Saturday night in Lewis Land.)

Maybe she'll be more into sports than her mom and dad.
(And to show you how into sports I am - I originally posted LSU vs Auburn - and was kindly correctly by a TRUE fan.)

Or maybe she'll just look cute in game day colors. 

Makes no matter to this momma. 

I love this girl to her core.

Me. Want. Coooookie!!!!

I guess in my attempt to make sure that we keep 'embracing life' in the wake of Iain's death - I made an extra to make Halloween special for Gianna.  Iain loved celebrating Halloween with her and got the biggest kick out of seeing her dressed up.  He was always my biggest cheerleader in my attempts to make or assemble her costumes.  So, in his honor I made her this Cookie Monster costume. 

I saw the idea somewhere on Etsy for almost $50 and was convinced I could make it for much less. Sometimes my frugal determination gets the best of me, but this project wasn't so bad.  I spent about $10 thanks to my Hobby Lobby coupons. Am I the only slowpoke out there who didn't know you could pull up a digital coupon on your smart phone?  So helpful! 

 We only made three stops for the big day. No trunk or treats or anything like that.

 First stop was to see our godchild, Nate.  How beautiful is this four year old?

 Aren't posed pictures are so challenging at this age...

 ...these two lost interest FAST.

It's always nice to have a costume big enough for momma to hide behind...

 We went to my parents house and just Trick or Treated at a few houses.

 Met up with a sweet friend along the way. Matthew was the cutest Mickey.
He's also the cutest Matthew.

 It was funny watching her Trick or Treat.

 I neglected to mention that she shouldn't walk INTO the people's homes or help herself to candy from their bowl or make requests for her favorites.

"You got any lollipops?"

 I'll have to remember to do some better training next year.

 One of my parents neighbors and friend of mine suggested I ride her bicycle with baby trailer to her husband who was several houses ahead of us. She said her baby would be tired and her husband could chauffeur the kids. I wish you could have seen my hauling my cookie monster down the block. And wouldn't you know, her husband rolled his eyes (very sweetly) and said he wasn't interested. (Couldn't blame him one bit!)

His wife showed up later and took both Isaiah and Gianna to go find her older daughter. She came back with ANOTHER bag of candy.  The kid probably didn't go to a dozen houses in total and came home with some SERIOUS loot.

It was a nice evening. So happy for the blessing of my little Cookie Monster. 

So sad that our family photos just seem so empty. Missing Iain. :(