Louvier's Place: An End to Another Year

I had such high hopes for this year. I would be completing my 2nd year as a 1st grade teacher and moving into my 3rd which means that I'm no longer on the bottom of the totem pole and my job is pretty much secure now. We would be saving to buy a house, going on our 2nd family vacation, starting another school year, and who knows what else I had in mind. All of the above did happen, but in the process I lost my little brother in a horrific accident. There's not a day that passes that I don't think about him, nor think about my parents and how they are suffering through so much right now. Not just from losing Dustin, but from the lack of compassion and the pure evilness that has popped up his ugly head.

Here's 2013 in pictures.

We started our healthy lifestyle change as of January 22nd. I was way overweight and very unhappy with it. My kids were constantly eating junk and I needed to do something about it. So our adventure began.

In February, Katie and I went on a field trip together. I loved having her right next door to me so that I could pop in and say hi every day. I sure do miss her being in first grade now.

March is always super busy for us. Everything is defrosting and we're ready to start enjoying time together outside of the comfort of our home. We started off with a trip to Larry's French Market for some good Cajun food and dancing.

Spring Break is super fun for us. We went to The Bounce Zone for some indoor fun because it can still be quite chilly in March. They LOVE going here and could spend all day bouncing from one bounce house to the next.

Spring Break also bring the Heritage Festival. This was Kinsley's first year to be able to ride most of the rides. She had an amazing time. We usually always bring a few of my nieces with us for extra fun.

On the ferris wheel. They are silly girls.

By this time, I had lost 10+ pounds. I was feeling pretty darn good about myself.

Eben's birthday is always loads of fun. It falls during crawfish season, so we usually have a crawfish boil to celebrate. Oh how I LOVE some crawfish.

I found a creative way (Pinterest) to give Eben his birthday presents. He loved it.

Dying Easter eggs at my sister's house.

Dying Easter eggs Saturday night for the Easter bunny to hide for us. He's such a good daddy.

Kinsley missed out on dying the eggs. She fell asleep.

We love what the Easter bunny brings us. Games, coloring books, videos, and beach stuff.

Silly girls.

They really do love each other.

Celebrating with Sarge and Grammy.

Kinsley started off April with a ton of injuries. I even brought her to the doctor to have her ears checked to make sure that her ears weren't causing her to be so clumsy.

We were keeping my mom's dog. Kinsley was chasing her and ran her pinky toe right into the wall. It swelled up real big, but it wasn't broken.

They were jumping on the couch (a big no, no) when Kinsley hit her ear on the window sill. I had no idea that it was that bad. It was red when I first looked at it and gave her a "booboo" bear (ice pack), but a few hours later it looked like that.

Katie is losing all of her teeth!

My sister, Tasha, came in from OK to celebrate my niece's birthday. I didn't get to go because my brother was in the hospital. They took care of the girls for me while I was away.