March is already here!

I know it's been a shamefully long time since we have updated the blog. But I promise, I am planning on being better about it. I know...promises, promises.

Life has been pretty full this winter. I mentioned last time that we got to go to South Bend for Thanksgiving. It was a busy time with between the Finkes and the Pingels. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas there.


When we got home, we started planning for our Christmas party right away. This year we had a fun addition of LED flashing light cubes in our drinks. The green glow worried some, but they were quickly reassured when we told them that we hadn't added anything radioactive to their drinks.
It was fun once again to have a mix of New Orleans and South Bend friends at the party.


Right after Christmas we received news that sadly Mike's Uncle Ted had passed away. Mike and I drove the 10 hours to St Louis to join the rest of the Kastner family in celebrating Ted's life. It turned out to be a wonderful time of honoring and good fun among the family.
We were pleased to see all Mike's immediate family and quite a bit of the extended family. It was great to get to know everyone better.

Ted's funeral

Mike turned 35 this year and I managed to throw him a little surprise party. He wasn't expecting it all, so it was especially fun. Dave and Megan Edward's graciously hosted it and all had a good time.



Mardi Gras came especially early this year with Easter being so early. So we quickly jumped into those celebrations. This year we had a better idea of what to expect . It was fun to go to different parades in different parts of town.
For those in the know, we saw Endymion, Rex, Toth and the end of one of the parades in Metairie. We also made it through about 60 of the truck parades! This was my first Mardi Gras day (I was sick last year) and it was so fun to see all the costumes that people dress up in. I'm determined to wear costumes next year!


Most recently we made a trip to Shreveport for Joan's graduation. Joan received her Masters of Science in Education. She did amazingly well in school and graduated with VERY high honors (I told her that I was going to brag about her ;) ). We were expected guests, but she also had a whole group of surprise guests from Minnesota, South Bend, and Indianapolis. Many have lived with Joan in the past. We were equally surprised and delighted to see these friends! It turned into a great weekend of fun and fellowship.


Life in New Orleans continues to go well. We're certainly enjoying the weather at this time of year (especially when we hear how cold and snowy it's been this year in South Bend). We just bought a few trees for our yard, a river birch and a couple of palm trees. We're slowly making this house a home!

Love you all and miss you!!