Rosebud

As a child, I remember walking around my grandfather's land looking at the fallen walls of an old house and the place where a chimney once stood. My father would tell me that he had lived in that house when he was young, but it was hard to imagine a time in which the house stood upright. I asked him if a tornado hit it, but, "no, it was just old and fell."

Today, the Salvation Army took a truck load of odds and ends, the last remaining salvageable items from my father's house. Four investors came to look at the house and make offers. His fallen down place.

There is something about losing a parent that has made me feel like my childhood is completely over. I've been an adult for a long time, married with my own children, but there is a finality that I had not experienced before. All the memories that could ever be made are done. That's it. There will be no more new memories of my dad.

All the ones that I have are all the ones that I will ever have. And you hope that you spent enough time together, that you listened well, and asked all the questions you needed to ask--because there's no more answers either.

I walked around this old house while the movie of my childhood played in my mind. I stared at the cracks in the tiled floor and saw myself playing hopscotch across them. The tree house I once climbed in is now a stump in the yard. Everything smaller and insignificant, old and dilapidated. I wanted to explain to the investors that it was once a great place to live, but they don't care. They want a quick, cheap, fixer-upper.

I left the house and went down to the neighborhood park two houses away. The walk there was shorter than I remembered. All the houses in the neighborhood, all those kids I played with have grown and moved away. The fairytale playground equipment has been replaced with giant industrial playscapes, all bright and shiny. Cinderella's coach, the Old Lady in the Shoe's shoe--oh, and Little Miss Muffet's spider--are gone.

The house has been in a steady decline for a long time--years even. I asked him to move here, but "no, he was fine" that sort of thing. But it doesn't matter anyway. He would still be gone even if the house looked as new as the day he bought it. Time passes whether you notice or not.

Everything has changed. Changed places. Changed hands. The land I went to as a child now belongs to me, and one day, (sooner than I want to imagine), it will belong to Rowan and Evelyn.


These are some memories of my dad that I put together:

My Dad from Leigh on Vimeo.

Twins Turn Two

Last Saturday (April 10th) was the twins 2nd birthday. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morn making their cake and about 40 miniature cupcakes. The bottom layer was chocolate, the top was strawberry, and the cupcakes were those two plus white confetti. I made a homemade cream cheese butter cream, which I have to say is my favorite icing. Then I topped the cake with animal figures from the girl's nativity set.

Making the cake was a lot of work, and I could have bought one, but for me it was just one of those things I had to do. For as long as I remember, I imagined making my kids birthday cakes. We had a barnyard theme to go with the petting zoo and pony rides.

At one point Andre asked if the party was for the girls or for me...and honestly its hard to say. I mean, really, who doesn't love baby animals? Even my grandmother loved it. This little baby goat was only a week old and spent the entire time curled up in my grandmother's arms.Fry's Fun Farm supplied the petting zoo, complete with a baby donkey, and calf.

It was a big hit with all the children. The pony rides were only appreciated by the older kids. Evelyn and Rowan wouldn't go anywhere near the pony. They had plenty of other animals though: lots of little bunnies, ducks, chicks, a full grown rooster, and baby goats. They even had a little piglet that would squeal every time someone tried to pick him up. Fry's provided dry food as well so the kids to feed the little animals. At one point Rowan tried to feed Evelyn some.

We had quite a few kids at the party and a nice range of ages too. Andre had the local fire station bring a fire truck and they actually brought a ladder. The fire fighters were so nice, they brought two stuffed bears for the girls. Of course, the older kids were really excited to see a fire truck and get to climb inside.


And arriving just in time to enjoy the party, our friends Viki and Dale flew in from Canada to visit for a week. The girls really love them, as do we. Viki and I have been friends since we went to school together in England--maybe 9 years ago. It is so wonderful to share your life with great friends.




To top it off, our firefighter friend Ax gave the girls three of their very own chickens. "Nugget," "Dumpling," and "Drumstick" are the newest members of our family. They are a breed called silver laced Wyandottes.

Andre is so in love with them. He takes them out of their little cage everyday and lets them play in the yard. The girls like them too and say "my chi-ken," and point to them. Joey (our dog) is also very fond of the chickens and loves to stare at them while licking his lips. Andre keeps telling him, "No Joey, they're family", but I don't think he really cares.

Easter

A lot has been going on lately, but since everyone has to start somewhere, I might as well begin with Easter.

Early Easter morning, Evelyn walked into our room to jump into bed with us. This has been her habit lately, and as she climbed up I told her, "Evelyn, last night the Easter bunny came and he brought you lots of goodies." Her eyes grew big and round and she was smiling ear to ear. I grabbed her basket off the dresser and she immediately began tearing into candy and pulling out plastic eggs. Rowan followed shortly after and we soon had two toddlers pumped up on sugar and chocolate.

Of course, Rowan came in carrying her giant rabbit pinata. They sell them on the street and as we passed by Rowan pointed out the window and said "bunny," so we stopped and bought one. It was suppose to be for both of the girls, but as we set it in the back of the car Rowan quickly began pointing at Evelyn saying "NO," then pointing at the rabbit and saying, "MINE" and this "No-Mine," bit went on until Evelyn appeared to comprehend that the rabbit belonged to Rowan. Evelyn gave her a look that seemed to say, "fine whatever, keep your pinata," and from then on she'd only try to touch it if Rowan wasn't looking.

For the next several days Rowan carried the giant pinata everywhere and insisted on sleeping with it. Of course it took up the majority of her toddler bed, so we'd take it out once she fell asleep. Andre had a terrible time convincing her to go to school without it. We obviously couldn't crack it open--not with Rowan being so attached to it. So she loved on it for weeks, until it was almost losing an ear and I moved it to the garage.

Anyhow, the girls were full of chocolate and marshmallow peeps, so we dressed up and headed to church. It was a typical Easter sermon--rebirth, resurrection, etc. Exactly what one would expect on an Easter Sunday, but it made me really miss my dad for some reason.

After church, and after naps, we went to my sisters to celebrate with the family. We brought over a huge bag of cascarones (confetti filled into the shells of eggs). Typically you crack them on other people's heads, but the girls seem to have more fun cracking them on their own heads.

New Orleans

We had a little family vacation to New Orleans last weekend to celebrate Will and Bea's wedding. This is a picture of Jackson Square that I would like to take credit for, except I think Andre took it.

New Orleans is such a beautiful city, I really love it. After Katrina I remember hearing people say things like, "why rebuild the city if its just going to get hit again," and to me, it seems like these are people who have never been to New Orleans. It is a uniquely wonderful place.

The people are warm and friendly. People would stop us on the street to say how cute the girls are or ask if they're twins, we had a jazz musician play the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" for them on a trumpet. The weather was lovely, and everything was blooming. Walking down the french quarter, every house has wrought iron balconies with big green ferns draped out of canisters. I mean, its just so incredible. How could we not do everything in our power to support this lovely city? I walked around with Harry Connick Jr.'s voice singing, "Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans," in my head and thinking about how the city is like no other.

We brought my mom this time, and rented a little bed and breakfast suite--minus the breakfast called the 1822 Bougainvillea House. It was perfect. We had two large rooms, a kitchen, bath, and it opened out onto an enclosed garden. We could leave our back door open to let in the sunshine and the girls could run around the garden looking at flowers or for the cat that lived there. Plus, we were within walking distance of the French Quarter.

My mom was really helpful and we all enjoyed her company, especially the girls. It was nice to be able to do the trip as a family.




Friday began with coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde in the French Market. The girls ate all the powdered sugar off of them and then asked for more. Rowan ate one tiny part of beignet, but the rest was all sugar. Evelyn didn't even try--all she cared about was more sugar.


After Cafe Du Monde we all went to the New Orleans Zoo. Its one of the best zoos I've been to, second only to the Denver Zoo and Disney's Animal Kingdom (if that counts as a zoo). They have so many beautiful animals, and their habitats are large, natural looking places. You can see every animal has their favorite little toys and there are lots of interactive exhibits.

The girls got to feed the otters pieces of carrots and fish, which they of course went crazy over. Evelyn was especially thrilled. It was one of the few times I believe Evelyn was as crazy over the animals as Rowan was.



They also had a nice play area for the kids and a carousel. We took them on a carousel in Denver and they were both scared, but this time they didn't want to get off. Rowan insisted on riding the panda every time, but Evelyn kept wanting to change animals.

That night Andre and I went to the rehearsal dinner in a little bistro called bistro Maison de Ville that closed down for the party. We got to catch up with our friends Mike and Andee, and just laugh and have a good time. The meal was phenomenal--truly one of the best I've ever had.



Meanwhile, my mom took care of Rowan and Evelyn. They found a drawer full of Mardi Gras beads and party favors. The girls went crazy. Every toddlers dream come true. For the rest of the weekend they would walk around our room with layers of Mardi Gras beads.











The next day we started out with a walk through the French Market. Then we headed to the Aquarium, which is just beautiful. Its really nice for kids too. They have a whole section that is a huge play area for them.









Saturday night was the wedding. Andre left early since he was a groomsman, so my mom, the girls and I went for a light dinner, walk, and then let the girls play in Jackson Square. Then we all walked over to Artillery Park for the wedding. The park overlooks Jackson Square on one side, Cafe Du Monde on another and the Mississippi river on yet another. Down below the park are artists, street performers, and horse drawn carriages. For two people as in love with New Orleans as Will and Bea, I can't imagine a more perfect place to have a wedding.

This is a great picture of Will, Belen, Mike and Andee, at the wedding, but its missing Bea. The only picture I got of the happy couple is one of them dancing. I was having such a great time myself that I completely failed as a paparazzi. Bea looks gorgeous though and her dress was very pretty.


The reception was held at a hotel in the quarter. We sat with friends and talked about how much one should tip the server so that he would bring our drinks quickly. Apparently, someone (probably David) guessed the right amount because by the end of the wedding I was feeling like it had just begun. Before it was over everyone was given napkins and then Bea, holding a parasol, and Will led everyone around the room in a big procession--I believe is called a "second line dance." Everyone following behind were dancing and waiving their napkins. It was so much fun.

After the wedding, we headed out to some of the favorite bars of our friends. Andre soon discovered that he loves wearing a bow tie, especially untied and we sat around talking and laughing about a girl trying to flirt with a guy dressed as a pirate in front of the entrance to the bar and other such amusements. The bartender knew both Will and Bea and she handed them bottles of champagne. They walked back and forth from our bar and the one next door pouring champagne for people, being congratulated by everyone.

In New Orleans the bars stay open all night, and you can come and go with your drink. So I wasn't sure what time we finally left, its like Vegas that way--time is sort of irrelevant.

The next day we got up early, went for breakfast and headed home. On our way we stopped off at "the cajun village" in Sorrento. Its a replica of an Acadian Village, complete with their own, very fat, very large alligators.