OOMM Parade 2009

Just for Jane:

Fajitas!!!!!!!!! (And maybe a margarita or two… or three… er… yeh!)

Saturday we had a few friends over.  Tim brought some outstanding fajita making supplies from Austin. (Thanks, Tim!)

Kids all attacked Mr. Thompson. Wii Fit came into play at some point… Tim defended his hula hoop title.  (Look at Tommy in the zone!) And chocolate covered strawberries were down in a major party foul. But all was well.

MOJ Ball 2009

MOJ Parade 2009

This is how the K-1 Krewe Rolls

Moon Pie Madness

Make it stop!!!

So, for years we have adored Moon Pies. Oh wait, back up. For those that do not know about Moon Pies, I give you a passage from Wikipedia:

Mardi Gras tradition

The Moon Pie became a traditional “throw” (an item thrown from a parade float into the crowd) of Carnival krewes in Mobile, Alabama during 1956,^[2][10] followed by other communities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but not as much in New Orleans. The westernmost outpost of the Moon Pie as an important Carnival throw is Slidell, Louisiana, which has a parade by “The Krewe of Mona Lisa and Moon Pie.” Also, in the town of Oneonta, Alabama, there is a moon pie eating contest started by Wal-Mart employee John Love when he inadvertently ordered too many. This anecdote was featured in Sam Walton’s autobiography, Made in America.^[11]

Okay, so… these are traditionally thrown at Mardi Gras parades. The kids love ‘em. (Me, not so much.) But most importantly they had this nifty label “Made in a dedicated peanut tree nut free facility.” Nothing makes a pn/tn food allergy mom swoon more than this statement.

So, we have to carefully bat away bags of peanuts thrown during parades (Tommy ducks when he sees a brown paper bag fly) but the Moon Pies were safe. Until last year…

<Insert sad Tommy and mom faces here>

Yep, last year the company put out a statement that they would not longer be safe for those with pn/tn allergies. Sigh. I know, not a huge loss in life. But it was a go-to treat for him that he adored.

So… being a wanna be super mom, I plan to make him some later this week. I found a recipe and they don’t look too bad:

I figured I really needed to since I don’t feel brave enough to take on a homemade King Cake this year.  I got a King Cake today, but made a deal with Tommy that he could make cupcakes with purple, green and gold.  He loved the idea! ( King Cakes from bakeries are not safe for him due to cross contamination.)

Hmmmm, I wonder if I should put the traditional baby in one the cupcakes. That’s half the fun, right?

KOER Parade 2009

A few pictures that made me smile.

Yes, a random guy preparing to load on his float hopped in this picture. And yes, Tori was vaguely weirded out.

The goat from Judge’s.

To Tori’s horror Tommy and I really liked dancing around to this tribal group.

Yep, I had five kids with me… by myself. Nope, didn’t lose a single one. Honest!