Happy B'day, dat Toula!

This week four years ago, we adopted Toula Willoughby from a loving family on the Louisiana bayou while vacationing in New Orleans on Spring Break. She has brought us much joy over the years and we know you'll agree that she is just TOO cute! Happy Birthday, Toula!

Welcome Spring!

The weather leading up to and following the first day of Spring was just perfect and Spring-like!

Mama and I celebrated the arrival of Spring by heading to Memphis for a fun day of shopping - new Spring clothes, shoes and make-up - and a wonderful lunch at Houston's. We had such a fun day!

To celebrate Spring's arrival, Charles and I tackled some yard work (which was much needed due to all the weeds in our yard!) - the first mow of the season definitely did wonders for our yard!

While in Memphis, Mama and I took pictures of our house and yard to Stringer's to get a landscaping plan for the fall. Unfortunately, they were unable to see us that day, so Charles and I headed back later and got some good ideas. Charles was really excited because they suggested ivy for our retaining wall - he can't wait for Wrigley Mississippi!! Of all the good ideas and beautiful plants we decided on, only the ivy made it home with us on our first trip to the nursery. Now Charles just has to get the back hill sprayed so that we can begin planting it!!
After stopping by the home improvement stores on the way home, we noticed that the crawfish stand was back! Charles and I turned around and brought home a couple of pounds...
We headed outside to enjoy a delicious crawfish dinner...

What a perfect way to end to nice Spring day!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Top 'o the mornin' to you...may the luck of the Irish be with us all!

We Like to Dance...

Charles and I have been glued to our TVs, radios and computers these last four days and are so excited and proud of our Mississippi State basketball team for playing great and beating some good teams (and a few referees) to win the SEC Tournament and make it to the Big Dance! We'll be watching the selection show soon to see how our bracket will look...Go State!!

It hasn't been all basketball this weekend, though. Toula has been just too funny this weekend hopping all over the place and just being silly. Every time we go to the kitchen, she thinks that we should bring her a treat. Well, yesterday morning, we were fixing cereal for our breakfasts; even though Toula had already had a few carrots and a couple of yogurt drops by that time, she still wanted a treat when we came out of the kitchen. I placed my cereal bowl down, and our little stinker just couldn't help herself...She just had to take a few nibbles! She is just too cute and funny!

Spring Forward...

Last weekend (before the snow came) I was in the Spring mood, so I pulled out our Easter decorations. I began by setting our breakfast table for Easter...and let the bunny in our kitchen hold a few Easter eggs in Easter grass...

I then added a bunny to our island...
and our counter...
and the chest in our living room, along with some Easter eggs...

Thankfully, the weather has turned back Spring-like, and we have been taking advantage of it!

Molly, John and Brady invited us to go to the zoo with them yesterday. We had so much fun, and the weather was just perfect for it!

Brady kept us entertained on the ride to the zoo...
When we got to the zoo, we stopped for just a minute to let Brady play with the water pool...
Then we walked around the zoo and looked at the animals.

We saw all sorts of animals; I don't even remember the names of some of them, like the ones below, but I thought these guys were too cute!

We saw hippos...We saw lions...We saw elephants...
and giraffes...There were a lot of giraffes, but it was really neat to see the mama and baby giraffe both eating from the hay bowl suspended on the tall pole - there were so sweet!

Brady really liked watching the ostriches...

We walked through the aviary which was pretty neat. They had different species of birds to see, like these fruit doves...

this pretty pink cockatoo...

and these pygmy falcons...
It also had a room which was open so that the birds could fly right over our heads!
We also saw ducks...

and swans...and penguins...

and flamingos...Brady didn't want to be in his stroller too much; he wanted to be out so that he could see everything up close, so Charles gave John's shoulders a rest for a bit!

We took a little break so that Brady could play on the playground; he had a great time!

We then saw some more animals. We saw the pandas. I was excited because the older panda was outside enjoying his bamboo!The baby panda stayed inside, but he enjoyed his bamboo too...

I really enjoyed the primates; they all seemed to put on a show for us!

The silver back gorilla was sitting on his rock watching all the people watching him...

He then walked off of it...

and flopped down on his side on this rock...He kept opening and closing his eyes, just playing with us all!

We also saw the baboons. It was so sweet, the baby baboon jumped up in his mama's lap. After a quick hug, the mama seemed to point at all of us watching them...

Then the baby jumped down and put on a show for us! He ran down the log and let go of it with his hands so that he was dangling from it from his feet! It was pretty funny! He then jumped down to his tire swing...
Then he was off running around some more!

Then we saw the orangutans, which I just love! Well, when we first saw them, the older one was sitting on his perch and the younger one was sitting on the ground...

The older one then started swinging...

It was too funny!!

We had a great time at the zoo. After the zoo, we all enjoyed lunch at Pei Wei - delicious! We had a great time with the Bienvenus!

After we got home, I headed back outside to enjoy the weather by weeding the front beds - yuck - but they look so much better now!

OMG, you guys...

Charles and I saw Legally Blonde, the Musical last night, and it was wonderful!! After work, we enjoyed a nice pre-theater dinner and then headed to the Orpheum which was packed. The performance was absolutely wonderful! It was so energetic and funny, and they kept some of the best scenes, lines and outfits from the movie!! All of the actors were spot on in their performances (I must say that the UPS guy's entrances were just hilarious!), and Bruiser and Rufus were too cute! If you have the opportunity to see it, definitely do!!

Play Time

We decided to take Toula out to play in the snow. This was her first experience with the snow. At first she wasn't too sure of what was happening to her...

Then she got a little curious (check out her ears)...
and explored...

She only explored a little bit and quickly ran for cover...She ventured back out to explore the patio and nibbled on the snow that had accumulated on the bottom of the post...

(Check out her little bunny tracks in the snow; I think that they are just too cute!!)
She thought about venturing back out into the snow...but decided against it. She was really pleased with her decision once she found the birdseed...She decided to help the birds eat their breakfast!!

We brought her back inside, and once she was comfortable in her home again, Charles and I went back outside to play in the snow!!
Charles decided to make a snowball...

and threw it at me!!I too made a snowball...but I decided to take a bite out of mine (I just have to taste the snow!)...Of course, I had to make another snow ball to throw at Charles - I just had to get him back!! I also decided to be like LeBron James but use snow instead of chalk dust or whatever...This decision got a pretty good laugh out of Charles!

We then went to the front of the house and saw the beautiful snow on our shrubs...We stayed in the front for a while...Charles even agreed to "skate" on the driveway with me...The wind started blowing, and it got really cold! I had to move my scarf up for better coverage!!

Charles and I are both a little sick anyway, so we decided to go back inside where we could warm up, but we both had lots of fun in the snow!!