Our Last Hurrahs of Summer

When I told Cille summer was almost over, she decided it was time to get back to the daily grind...

Stella chose the sticker, so Mommy chose the placement...

The Guillory family hosted an end of summer bash that was too much fun!

BFF's!!!

Seriously, they just warm my heart...

Cille LOVES her Ethan...

See what I mean?

Cille has four new molars coming in, so she's been trying out big girl food lately...

I mentioned recently that both girls went to the dentist before summer was over.  Well, Cille's trip to the dentist was a little more of an adventure than Stella's was.  We had done a race the weekend before the trip to the dentist, and Damon left the bike rack on the truck.  As we got out of the truck for Cille's appointment, (late, I might add) Stella decided it would be a fun idea to jump up and hang on the bike rack, much like she does on the bars at gymnastics.  This would have been a fun idea, except for the fact that there are many sharp, metal hose clamps attached to the bike rack, one of which sliced deep into Stella's palm.  Wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued.  I gave her a wipe and instructed her to keep pressure on it, then we rushed into the dentist's office.  I remembered there was a pediatric clinic in the building, so my plan was to let the dentist know what was up, then throw ourselves on the mercy of the doctors at the clinic.  Turns out the clinic was right next door, and we raised such a ruckus in the waiting room that one of the doctors graciously agreed to help us out even though they were super crowded, running behind, we had never been there, had no appointment, etc.  Dr. John Barbara was our angel of mercy and I for one was soooo thankful that he was able to help calm Stella and glue her back together.  He even convinced her she was like Humpty Dumpty.  Here is a post-treatment shot of her wound. It was MUCH worse than it looks here...  

But back to Cille, because, after all, it was her big first trip to the dentist.  She was a very good girl while they were cleaning her teeth.  There was minimal fussing and she was a big fan of all the dentist office amenities, including her froggy toy and especially her new toothbrush which she loves to eat/use every day...(she smiled in some of the pictures, but this one was the least blurry!)

We also went to Minden for a weekend to visit Grandma Tonie and Grandpa Crane.  Cille had a great time playing with Grandpa in the truck...

This screen shot that I found on my phone explained a lot to me.  Number one, I figured out how some of my apps randomly disappear.  It let me know that somehow one of the girls had discovered how to remove apps from my phone and also somehow figured out how to take a screen shot.  I am still struggling to learn both of these things.  Maybe I should ask Stella or Cille...

Cille loved New York and chocolate Teddy Grahams at Grandma Tonie's house...

The end of summer is always bittersweet for me.  Bitter, because I know that once school starts I won't get to enjoy spending all day with my two favorite girls, but sweet because I know that God has other kids that He needs me to help out.  I also love to start the cycle of fun fall activities and holiday traditions once again.  Thank-you, God, for giving us another summer full of sweet memories!  

Carousel Gardens Amusement Park

Groupons in hand, the Millets and I headed out with our collective offspring one Friday before school started to visit the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park at New Orleans City Park.  It was H.O.T., so Cille tried to stay cool under the shade in her stroller...

The poor girls were too short to ride the bumper cars.  Lucky boys...

But they soon found something their own size!  Poor Aaron was an in-between size and kept getting denied because he was too big or too small...

Can't wait until driver's ed!

They loved the spinning slime cups...

So did Cille...(Apparently my phone doesn't take the same quality of images when you reverse the camera.)

Aaron even took a spin with us!

The girls took turns chickening out in the Pirate Ship, but they both eventually made it out with a little help from our neighborhood big brother Ethan...

Aaron and Molly loved this ride...Stella, not so much...

While we were waiting for the train, Missy took the girls for a bathroom break.  Stella took a little longer than expected and they ended up having to make a run for it.  I thought this was pretty good training for a young Pourciau, since she will probably be running to catch planes, trains, and automobiles for the rest of her life...her parents always are...

Stella loves Molly.  Sometimes Molly is not a willing recipient of this love...

Stella only likes the carousel horses that don't go up and down...

For our second ride on the carousel we all sat in the sleigh together...

After we got our fill of rides, we headed to Storyland for some exploring.  Cille went to visit the old woman in the shoe...

And climbed to the top of King Cole's tower...

Where we had a family photo op...

I made Stella take her usual cow jumping over the moon picture.  To compare this one with others, click here...

Cille joined also...

They took a ride in Cinderella's pumpkin...

I love the face Stella is making...and Cille's Flashdance look...

Stella's face pretty much sums up her thoughts on someone who would be foolish enough to build a house of straw...

My two little piggies in the house of sticks...

And finally, heading into the belly of the whale!  Not Jonah's, Pinocchio's...

We had a super fun day and would love to go back soon!  Maybe when it's cooler...

We're still here!

Hello?  Is this thing on?  I know that most of my regular readers are probably getting nervous that the rapture came and only the Pourciau family was taken, but you can all breathe a sigh of relief now because that has not been the reason for our prolonged blog silence.  The true reason that we have not posted since our flurry of NYC posts can be contributed to a combination of factors.  One was that I accidentally gave my mother-in-law her camera back.  Most of the photography I do for the blog is done with her awesome Nikon, but we ended up leaving not only it but also my cheesy Canon point and shoot at the in-law's house and were depending only on phones for our photography needs for most of the summer.  Another reason is that we were too busy squeezing every last ounce of fun out of our last few weeks of summer vacation, then I was busy going to workshops and getting my classroom ready, and then we were trying to settle into our school-time routine for a couple of weeks.  There was also a slight issue with syncing my phone and a computer update, but I am wasting too much time making excuses and need to just get on with the post, so here goes.

We had a fabulous summer, because life is always fabulous when you get to spend time with the two most wonderful little girls on the planet, am I right?  We spent lots of time at the library, where Stella and Cille enjoyed a puppet show one day.  This is Stella's look right after petting the possum puppet.  I'm not really sure what emotion her face is displaying.  You be the judge...

The girls also attended a princess party at the library, and I took a picture of the display at the library about the event.  Notice that in the group photos Stella is the only one truly posing like a princess.  The photo on top features princess hands and the one on bottom her patented curtsy.  Can we say melodramatic?

Both girls got in their dentist appointments before summer was over.  This was probably Stella's 5th or 6th dentist appointment, and went on record as the FIRST time she did not shed a tear.  She still was a little anxious about the cleaning...

Luckily our friends Sadie and Talia were staying with us that day and were the perfect support team to get Stella through the visit...

They were so good that they all got prizes before we left!

We also went to the Children's Museum one rainy day.  Check this old blog post for pictures from Stella's first trip to the Children's Museum.  Cille loved the toddler play area...

Cille was so nervous about Stella's driving that she couldn't bear to look...

Stella tried her hand at drafting.  Maybe Pawpaw can get her a job one day...

Cille is way ahead on her prewriting skills...

Cille experienced the joy of Oreo cookies...favorite snack of milk-allergic kids everywhere...

Stella also went to dance camp with Mrs. Danielle and her friends Molly, Lauren, and Julia.  When it was time for their performance, Cille wanted a piece of the spotlight, too...

We had food and fun at Chuck E. Cheese's...

Stella LOVES posing with characters.  Thank-you, Disney...

Cille was disinterested in the roller coaster simulator...

But she had lots of calls that she needed to make...

Sometime after I took this picture I read the sign that said not to put heavy objects on the glass.  Oh, well...

We had such a great time with Chuck E. that we went back with Mawmaw and Pawpaw a few days later...

More summer fun blog posts coming soon!