LSU game day attire gone wrong

Ok, so I preface this post by admitting that there were plenty of UA fans in New Orleans who could be on an Alabama version of this. I just chose to focus my picture-taking elsewhere. I will also disclaim that I saw many, many very classy LSU fans with game day attire that made me envious {had it been available in crimson}.

But, I couldn't help but share with you some of the folks who made me chuckle while we were walking around on gameday.

Something about these tiger ears that I must not understand...

And for some, the ears just aren't enough...
I got nothin'...
The quality here isn't great, but this guy seemed to have on his LSU pjs at a bank event before the game. Ok for Christmas morning...leaves a little something to be desired for gameday.
I will applaud them for their school spirit and the entertainment they provided me. :)

14!

Nick and I were fortunate enough to get to head down to New Orleans for the BCS Nation.al Champ.ionship game! We went to the first UA-LSU match up this year and we both had a feeling that the outcome this time was going to be different...

A HUGE THANK YOU to Bamma and Big Pat who kept C & C so that we could go down there. We dropped them off on Sunday morning and headed to the airport to join the madness {and I do mean MADNESS} in New Orleans.

Sunday night we went to a party hosted by Nick's bank {which is based in LA} and there were plenty of LSU fans, but I like to think those of us who were Tide fans represented well, all things considered.

Then it was Monday, the day of the game. We left our hotel {much as we leave for Tuscaloosa on game day} intending to enjoy the day and then head to the game.

After much anticipation and excitement {and my personal fill of hearing "Tiger Bait" shouted all day}, we headed here:

Was exciting to see the Super.dome with red/white lights {among other colors}. After what seemed like forever to get into the dome and up to our seats {please, can some venue that has it figured out help the dome with crowd control?}, we were ready for the action.
While I know that the rest of the world didn't think it was a very exciting game {hard to feel that way when it is dominated by one side}, I thought it was AMAZING and exciting!

Perhaps the best part was watching all those fans who were yelling Tiger Bait all weekend bail out of the stadium in the fourth quarter.

Kudos to the Tide for a big win {a shutout!!!} in the national championship game!

Roll Tide!

Lights and Face Painting

I was off for two weeks at Christmas with C & C, so when Aunt B called after Christmas and wanted to go to Zoo.light Safari at the zoo, we thought it was a great idea. The night we chose to go was actually one of the cooler nights of December, but we still had a great time.

First up, ride the train. This is always a favorite at the zoo. Everyone cuddled up close with Aunt B.
Then, we walked around to see more of the lights and saw where they were painting faces. Carter and Callen wanted in on the action.

Carter sat amazingly still while the kind gentleman painted a lion on his cheek.
Then, it was Callen's turn. She sat pretty still as well, but tended to pull away from him because "it tickles."
The finished products...much more detailed lions than I was anticipating!

We walked through the barn and then had to stop and take our picture with Big Al (you can see that they are equal opportunity with the AU set up right next to the UA one.)
After leaving the zoo, we met Daddy for dinner to cap off our fun night with Aunt B.

Christmas Day Re-Cap

Christmas morning was an exciting one in our house. These two slept until 6:30 {which I thought was pretty good} and then patiently posed for a picture before we opened presents.

After our photo shoot, it was off to see if there was anything in our stockings. The picture quality isn't all that great, but it was too cute not to include.
Carter had several fun items in his stocking, but his favorite was a "real" Alabama jersey. Just in time for wearing in preparation for the 2012 BCS Nat.ional Champ.ionship game.
Callen's favorite item among her stocking treats was a stuffed Hello Kit.ty, but you can see it well in this picture.
Once the stockings had been emptied, we moved on the the presents under the tree. The first one Carter opened was a set of Han.dy Man.ny tools he had been wanting. He was excited to hear them sing and put them to work fixing things around our house.
He opened several more gifts that he had requested from Santa, and then opened his "big RC car" from Toy Sto.ry. It is a remote control car that he LOVES.
Callen was wondering what Santa brought that was in this big bag....
A drawing table! She was so excited! Can you tell?
Callen also loves bubbles, but she has a hard time blowing them herself, so Santa brought her a bubble machine. She was all about it. I am pretty sure that is the only time I will allow the machine to blow bubbles INSIDE the house!

It didn't take Callen any time to get to work coloring on the paper roll on the drawing table.
We had to beg Carter to change clothes later in the day; he was so into driving RC and fixing things with his tools.
After opening presents, we had a yummy breakfast with Bamma and Big Pat, and a relaxing Christmas Day with each other capped off by watching Ne.mo, which Callen got in her stocking!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, the Willis clan headed to church early...we went to the 2:30 service, which was completely packed! I cannot imagine what the 4:30 service was like! The service was great and the children were well behaved considering that they are 4 & 2.

After church we headed home to change clothes and prep dinner, as we had Bamma and Big Pat, Aunt B and Uncle Ken joining us for Christmas Eve dinner. Nick made his Christmas Eve gumbo and we had yummy mini ham sandwiches to accompany. It was delightful.

Before we could get started with the little ones opening their presents from family, we couldn't resist pressing the men into service around the house. Uncle Ken owns a hardware store, so when my dad commented that our dishwasher handle {which has been loose as long as I can remember} needed tightening, they went to work taking the door apart to tighten it.

Since they completed that so well, I thought I'd ask Uncle Ken if he minded fixing the handle to our back door {it came off when you opened the door}. He was happy to oblige! Thanks to Ken, Dad and Nick for fixing all of our issues!

Ken and Dad fixing the door handle

On to the opening of the presents...Callen was excited to get some color won.der books from Aunt B and Uncle Ken. {I was equally excited that it was color won.der.)

Carter loved his Buzz Light.year sleeping bag from Bamma and Big Pat.
Keeping with the sleep theme, Callen was thrilled with princess sheets that Bamma and Big Pat gave her.
Bamma and Big Pat wanted to make sure that Carter and Callen would be warm cheering on the Tide to another championship, so they also got Tide sweatshirts.

Aunt B and Uncle Ken gave Carter an Opt.imus Pri.me helmet that has sound effects and lets you talk while changing your voice to sound like Opt.imus Pri.me. He loves it!
Trying out their warm hats from Mrs. Dollie and Mr. Young...
It was a great day/night that we enjoyed spending with family. Then, it was off to bed in anticipation of Christmas Day!