Catch Up

Well, I have been bad again about blogging and I really have no excuses for why. So…I’m going to try to catch up on the next few so I will be up to date. Not a whole lot has been going on in Shreveport these past couple of months but there were a few events that were noteworthy. The first was attending our very first Crawfish Boil. Now for anyone who claims to have been to one of these but it did not take place in Louisiana…sorry but yours just doesn’t count. This is definitely a true “Louisiana” experience. A couple from Sunday school was nice enough to invite us to their family’s crawfish boil which was on the lake. It was really fun and they had done a great job going with the crawfish theme. We got to try all sorts of crawfish dishes and even ate sugar cookies that were decorated like crawfish. Yum! Of course the main reason we were there was for the actual mudbug. Now up until this time I had only tried mudbugs in either dishes with other foods or fried. This time they were boiled in a HUGE pot along with potatoes, sausages, green beans, and artichokes (which I had never seen/eaten an actual whole artichoke). The men would dump this huge pot onto specially made tables with a large whole that fit above the trash can that was below. Then everyone would dig in! Thankfully when people realized that it was our first boil they graciously gave us tutoring lessons on how to eat a crawfish. I tell you what…those little things are a lot of work! I never did acquire a taste for the yellow fat on them and it still makes me kinda sick to “suck the head” but overall they were quite tasty! Ryan was particularly found of them and ate about thirty that day. Overall it was a really fun experience for both of us. Unfortunately crawdad season is over so we will have to wait until next year for some more! A few weeks later it was the end of school. I was so proud of my kindergartners and they were precious in their end of the year ceremony/graduation. Throughout the year they provided me with endless entertainment and stress and I will definitely miss hearing “Mrs. Holland…your stomach is really fat today!” I was terrified to teach kindergarten here but it ended up being exactly where I was supposed to be. The last week of school was also special because my sweet co-teacher Leah and several others threw me a baby shower. It was very humbling to have the school support me in such a huge way when I have only been there for a year. Leah in particular has been a huge blessing, and I am so thankful I got to work with her! Finally just a week or so later we celebrated our four year anniversary. Ryan and I went to Bella Fresca which was quite tasty. I think we treasure these special dates even more now that the baby is on the way….more about him to follow! :)