Rare Disease Day

Today is National Rare Disease Day. It's a cause that's near and dear to our hearts for obvious reasons

• Nearly 30 million Americans have a "rare" disease.
• Diseases are considered rare if they affect fewer than 200,000 people
• There are nearly 7,000 rare diseases identified by the National Institutes of Health, FDA-approved treatments only exist for 200 of them

Please consider heading over to www.rarediseaseday.org to utilize their handy-dandy tool to notify your elected officials about Rare Disease Day. You can also go straight to the Handprints on the Hill initiative to send a message to your elected officials.

Thank you! We hope that one day parents of children diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome and other rare diseases will not have to hear the words "there are no treatment options available."

Belated Valentines Day and Restaurant Review

As a married couple Mike and I have rarely had the pleasure of celebrating Valentines Day together. This year was no exception. I had to work late on Valentines Day and Mike had class so it was a regular Tuesday night at our house. My Valentine did surprise me with a special date night the weekend prior to Valentines Day and we had a blast. One-on-One date nights are few and far between and we had fun catching up with each other and exploring some new (to-us) places in the city.

The itinerary for the evening was a surprise to me. The first stop on our tour was John Besh's Dominica Restaurant for cocktails and appetizers. We shared sweet potato tortellini with brown butter and toasted hazelnuts and a cup of Cream of Mushroom Soup.....YUMMY. I cannot wait to go back, everything on the menu looked great. In addition to their appetizers and wood-fired pizzas they also do many of their menu items as small plates which was the perfect amount for Mike and I to share as an appetizer. We finished up at Dominica just in time to catch a parade and Mike and I enjoyed watching it for a bit before heading to our second destination.



For dinner we headed to Emeril's. Since we were delayed by the parade they had given our table away so we sat at the Food Bar. I'm so glad they gave our table away, we enjoyed our front row seats in the kitchen so much more! We both really enjoyed watching the goings-on in the kitchen and were surprised at how quietly it all was and how seamlessly everyone seemed to work together.



At Emeril's we split some charbroiled oysters and then finally decided to split an entree as well. We had andouille Crusted Drum with Grilled Vegetables, Shoestring Potatoes, Glazed Pecans and Creole Meunière Sauce. It was awesome and even though we split the entree we still couldn't finish it and ended up taking quite a bit home.



Mike had chosen a 3rd location for dessert but after all we'd just eaten we opted to have dessert drinks instead in the form of king-cake martinis. In the interest of full disclosure I have to say I'm not a big king cake fan. I just don't really care for it but the king cake martinis were delicious. Not nearly as sweet but still reminiscent of the Mardi Gras treat.

I'd definitely recommend Dominica again, and again, and again. I'm glad we tried Emeril's, the food is good, but it somehow feels a little touristy and crowded. If you go ask to sit at the "food bar".

We had a great Valentines date. I know that people complain that Valentines Day is just a commercialized excuse to get people to spend more money, that you should spend the entire year making those you love feel special, not just one day. I really don't take any of it that seriously and I'm not that cynical about it. But as 2 busy working parents it is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of every day. If Mike and I are home together after the kids are in bed I'm usually starting another load of laundry/dishes while he reads another chapter/paper for school or organizes for the next day. It's nice to have an excuse to focus on eachother and just enjoy spending time together.

Pinterest...

I signed up for Pinterest ages ago but I didn't really get it. Friends became quickly obsessed. They would complain that they spent HOURS on Pinterest. I'm not even sure I understand it enough to explain it. Basically Pinterest is like a giant online bulletin board where you can organize images (I think, please correct me if I'm wrong). To be honest I still really don't get it. I do know I get emails that various friends are following me on Pinterest on a daily basis, I feel bad for them as they really aren't following me anywhere.

Fast forward 6 months to the night before Valentines Day. I realized that I didn't have Valentines for the kids to share at school. I did have a huge bag of gourmet lollipops that were left over from an event at work a few weeks prior. I headed over to pinterest and within 5 minutes I found these two wonderful projects.....

Source: marthastewart.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: zakkalife.blogspot.com via Laurie on Pinterest

It took me about an hour to make the Valentines for both Olivia and Peter's classes and they were a huge hit!

Thanks Pinterest.....I may decide that you're a worth wile invention after all....

Soccer Super Star

Peter finished soccer. He loved it and his very favorite possession is his Trophy.

New Normal

Just when we had started to adjust to our new routine--two working parents, both kids in school--we decided to shake things up again. This semester Mike went back to school. Not only is he teaching military history and military science to freshmen and sophomores he is also taking his first two grad school classes.
We've been discussing the possibility of Mike going to grad school for months, it's one of the main reasons he took a position as an ROTC instructor. As a faculty member he gets free tuition. He is determined to finish up his Masters before we move again. I don't think I was quite prepared for how busy we would be. It is quite the balancing act, we're managing but we've quickly discovered that it is complicated....schedules for everyone, Mike and I are communicating via our outlook calendars, I feel like we're rarely home to put the kids to bed together (that rarely happened to begin with but previously it was always Mile that was working late). We are making it work but it has been a challenge to adjust to our new normal.

Guardian Angel on Duty

My dad was in a pretty serious accident today. He is ok. His truck is totaled. My little sister drove right by the wreck just after it happened and didn't recognize his truck because it was so badly damaged so she continued on her way to school. My dad did spend several hours getting checked out at the doctor's office this afternoon. He is home and recuperating. We are all a little shaken up. Thankful he's safe. Please keep him in your thoughts, I'm sure he will be pretty sore tomorrow.

Really????

I came across a groupon not to long ago for $100 off purchase tires at a local merchant for only $30. We were in desperate need of new tires for the Acadia so I was so excited to see the groupon. The kids had an dentist appointment and Mike and I had both cleared our morning schedules to take them to their appointment so it seamed like a good day to take the car in for new tires.

The morning started off well. I enjoyed sleeping in a bit and having breakfast with the kids. Mike got in a short bike ride. We ran a few errands and dropped off the Acadia for it's new tires and loaded up in Mike's car to head over to the dentist. We were about 2 minutes away from the dentist when Mike's car got a flat tire. We were running a bit early for our appointment so the kids and I set off to walk over to our appointment so that Mike could take care of the tire and meet us at the dentist after he changed the flat.

• After walking for about 20 minutes (it's pretty slow going with a 3 year old who insists on stopping every 5 feet to point various things out) I realized we were still about a mile and a half away.


• We finally made it to our dentist appointment to realize that I had written the appointment down wrong and we had actually missed our appointment, it was the day before.


• We started the long trek back to the car. At this point I was promising Peter ice cream every 50 feet or so to entice him to continue walking.


• We finally made it back to Mike and the car. By this time we'd discovered that he'd had to call road-side assistance to get help loosing the lug nuts and had finished changing the tire.


• During our long walk back to Mike and the car I called Nanny D to see if she could come rescue us. Fortunately she knew exactly where we were and promised to be there in minutes.


• I discovered an orange and a juice box in my purse and the kids were thrilled with their well earned snack.


• Peter announced he had to potty and proceeded to pull down his pants in the middle of the sidewalk. Apparently he's not shy about going potty in public.

On the upside it was a beautiful day! Our dentist is in a really nice area of town and we enjoyed the walk. The kids were thrilled to see Nanny D and got to enjoy some time at the park. Mike was with me! I don't know what I would have done if I was by myself! The Dentist was very understanding and didn't even charge us for our missed appointment.

Spending almost my entire paycheck on new tires still wasn't very fun....The next time we buy a car I think we'll make sure that each tire isn't $200!

Sir Saint

Sir Saint (the official mascot of the New Orleans Saints) made a special visit to Peter's school last week. I had planned on stopping by but couldn't get away from work. I think it turned out for the best. Mike and Peter had a blast and enjoyed some special father-son bonding time.



Score there's cake!



Wonder what they're talking about, or why Peter is the only one sitting at the table with him....


The boys