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I decided it was time to dabble into menswear and make Chad something. He recently bought a new hoodie to wear alongside Molly when she's wearing her favorite hooded t-shirts. So, I knew that the Greenstyle Hudson Hooded T-shirt was the perfect project.

Measurements were taken once, twice, and maybe even three times! The fit turned out great and he likes that it’s super soft.

The hood is a tad huge if he pulls it fully forward. But, it's perfect if you are going for the Arrow-style supehero look!

Ok, that's better.

I see more of these hooded t-shirts in his future. :)

I won’t spend time on how crazy it was for Jen to get home from her trip, since she’s already talked about that. However, after she did get back (and got a little sleep), Leah had something to show her.

While Jen was away, Leah built her new Lego Dolphin Cruiser. Leah wanted to surprise Jen with it, so we covered it with a blanket until she could reveal it. After a busy day, she finally found time to do just that.

Leah had to show Jen all the details. Note that the upper deck is even removable to allow access to the main level.

Here’s Leah with her complete ship (and jet ski towing a skier). It took her 3 days to build the 612 piece craft.

Note that maintenance is sometimes required.

And Leah wasn’t the only one with a surprise. Jen surprised the girls with a king cake from Nonna Randazzo’s. They knew she had an edible surprise, and kept guessing what it might be throughout the weekend. Once they finally found out what it was, they were not disappointed.

While Jen was out of town, the girls and I headed to the local bowling alley for some cosmic bowling fun. Molly’s pretty good now. With a bit more practice, she won’t even need the bumpers.

Leah started out bowling granny style, but had trouble getting much speed on the ball. Twice we had to get someone to retrieve her ball that had stopped midway down. Shortly thereafter, I had two independent strangers come up and suggest she try a bowling ramp. So, an employee brought one out for her to try. She loved it. I thought it felt like cheating, but if she loves it then I’m not going to take it away.

She got quite a few strikes once she had the help of the ramp.

The girls had lots of fun. We bowled 3 complete games each over the course of 2 hours, and they might have gone for even longer if I had let them.

I traveled down to Abita Springs, Louisiana. to visit my long-time friend, Jen, and her new hubby, Darren. I left early on Friday morning; we were all dressed and out the door by 6:45a!

When Jen asked if there was anything particular that I wanted to do (or eat) while I was in town, my answer was all about food! I miss that good La. food! Jen was a fabulous host and fixed gumbo on Friday night for dinner, yum!

Saturday, we ventured around Mandeville and eventually landed upon a local farmer's market. We then decided to stop into Fleurty Girl, a very cute "Everything New Orleans" boutique.

My prized purchase was a signed copy of In a While, Crocodile, a cajun slow-cooker cookbook with recipes like Corn and Crab Bayou Bisque, Flambeaux Gumbo, and Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler Shrimp Étouffée. Jen and Darren bought a copy too, so we've agreed to cook through it and update each other on the results. I'm going to hold you to it, you two!

After our shopping concluded, it was time for more great food. Crabby Shack is owned by the same family as Young's Steakhouse in Slidell, a restaurant my family frequented. Jen and Darren had not been to Crabby Shack, so my visit was a perfect excuse to try it. Darren and I got adventurous with our appetizer and ordered frog legs. "Tastes like chicken. Ribbit!"

I asked Chad's mom if there was anything she needed while I was in La. In addition to bringing her creole seasoning, she asked about finding Mardi Gras fabric. And man, did we hit the jackpot! Sew This is a local quilt shop with a great selection of fabrics. They had a boat load of Mardi Gras, LSU, and New Orleans themed fabrics. Beth kept asking if the amount she wanted was going to be too much to bring back. I had to remind her that it was just me traveling; I had plenty of room in my suitcase. :)

In one of late night chats, I asked Chad if he wanted me to bring home any King cake. He was only interested if it was from Ranzazzo's. Well, lucky for him, Nonna Randazzo's had two locations close to Jen's. So, we stopped in and picked up this beauty. We kept it a secret from the girls until I got home!

Since the King cake was off limits until returning to Maryland, we headed off to Café du Monde on Saturday evening for dessert. You can't eat beignets without making a powdered sugary mess!

Sunday started out nice and relaxing. We attended church at St. Timothy UMC, then ate an awesome brunch at The Chimes. We couldn't pass up the Boudin Balls, and I feasted on Eggs Benedict topped with crawfish, cheese grits, hash browns and sausage. So so good! We all brought half the meal home for dinner.

I took advantage of a quiet house and took a 2-hour afternoon nap. A pretty rare occurrence for this Momma, and it was a good thing I did! The rest of Sunday was a roller coaster.

My 8:10p flight back to BWI was delayed to 8:50p, 10:50p, 11:35p, Cancelled, then reinstated to leave at 11:50p. I finally boarded a plane at 12:00a, landing at 3:15a. A kind couple I met while in line to reschedule our previously cancelled flight offered to give me a ride home. We made it to their car around 4:00a only to find the car battery was DEAD! The car was jumped by the parking lot attendant and I was finally headed home. I climbed in bed at 5:00a.

I had a fabulous visit and an adventure that I will never forget!!

Before our guests headed back to their home states, we had one more celebration. After ice skating and an early dinner, it was time to celebrate Grampa’s birthday (a couple days early).

Grampa is in shock. These slippers are just too much.

Happy birthday, Grampa!

For our final day of visitors, we decided to go ice skating at our local rink. This was Emmie’s first time ice skating (and Leah’s first successful time).

Here’s Leah skating with a walker for the first time. She did great, both holding hands and using the walker.

Molly and Emmie flew around the ice as fast as their walkers would let them.

Leah was hilarious. She’d skate around with us, then say she wanted a break. But as soon as she stepped off the ice, she’d say she changed her mind and wanted to keep skating. So, back onto the ice she’d go.

Every time we go ice skating, we leave the rink wondering why we don’t do it more often. It’s so much fun, close by, and included in our gym/tennis/etc. membership so we only have to pay skate rental fees.

Nine days after we started opening presents, we were still opening. This time with Emmie, JJ, Aunt ‘Chelle, and Uncle J. This plane is for the bath tub and sprays water.

Emmie got an American Girl doll for Christmas, and the girls were happy to give Emmie some clothes and accessories for her.

I think they’re telling us they want pancakes for breakfast by acting out a short stack.

The girls got some Perler beads, and they were quickly a favorite project of theirs (and Emmie as well).

Jen didn’t just make jammies for our girls. She made them for Emmie and JJ as well. She couldn’t find a shirt for JJ, though, so she had to make one to match the girls’.

But that’s still not the end of the family fun. Tune in next time for activities without pajamas.

The day after the big family party, the out-of-towners wanted to see some of the sights. So, many of them headed out to D.C. to see them. We, however, headed to church. In addition to the family fun, I was also leading music that day.

After church and some lunch, we joined up with the rest of the crew at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Rick is friends with the brother of the Associate Director of Rowing there, and he arranged a special tour for us. So, we headed to Hubbard Hall to see some boats.

I had assumed we’d just see some boats and water, and learn a little. But the tour was much cooler than just that. We even got to do some rowing ourselves in their tank - a practice facility for indoor rowing.

After the Naval Academy, we all headed to Buddy’s Crabs & Ribs for dinner. Thanks to Mike and Mary for finding a place that could seat 27 of us.

That was the end of our time with most of the extended family, but we still had a bit more fun in store with a few of them. More on that to come.

On the 27th, we hosted the Batson Family Christmas celebration in our house. There were 28 of us in all, and a good time was had by all (well, Leah wasn’t a fan of such a large group). Here’s everyone in attendance. We used our hill to stack people up.

Breaking with tradition (pot-luck with turkey or ham), we had Red Hot & Blue barbeque. Since everyone was coming in from far away, catering seemed a better idea than pot-luck. And Jen came up with the idea of delicious barbeque instead of traditional fare. It was delicious.

These ladies escaped the crowds in the other room for some peaceful conversation with their barbeque.

And of course, the family gift exchange.

Thanks to everyone for making the trip up to see us.

Jen’s extended family gathers every Christmas for the Batson Family Christmas celebration. This moves from place to place, usually in Alabama or Georgia. But this year to our surprise, the family said they were up for making the trek to Maryland. Thanks to our new house, we are now able to host large gatherings.

The party was planned for the 27th, but with folks arriving the 26th, we invited everyone over for Ledo’s pizza (yum). Initially, this was just going to be 10 of us, but in the process of ordering the pizza, that number went to 15, then 19, then 24, then back to 19. Fortunately, we’d already started setting up for the real party so we had seats to accommodate everyone.