Sweethearts and "Southern-ness"

Last Saturday, while their mommy went to meet an electrician at their new house, I got to spend a couple of hours with these two sweethearts:

And, BOY, did we have fun! While Callen chilled on her play mat, Carter and I spent time reading books and "vrooming" cars.

Callen grinning at me from her playmat

(She is SUCH a happy baby!)

Carter grinning at me and getting ready to "vroom" the car to me

(After every picture I took, he said, "I wanna see Carter." Too cute!)

After spending a fun-filled morning with my niece and nephew, Ken and I headed to Tuscaloosa for the night. Cynthia had invited us to join Brad and her at the annual Les Krewe Ball. The theme this year was "Redneck Riviera" and, as Cynthia noted in our invitation, this was right up our alley. In order to be admitted to the party, you had to be "properly attired" in all your redneck splendor. Ken and I were definitely up to the challenge...as were the many others in attendance! Cynthia's daughter (and our goddaughter), Ella, was definitely NOT impressed with our outfits. She told us several times how silly we looked and ultimately told us that we looked like "monsters." I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

With Cynthia in our "Redneck-wear"

With Ken at the party

(Please note the wording on the shirt; it was given to him by his mother-in-law because he acts like "Ned" sometimes. Another story for another time.)

Cynthia and Brad--PDAs are a MUST at any redneck gathering

(How else does one stake claim to "my man"?)

One of the LOVELY centerpieces on the tables

All of the rednecks in their "finery"

Suffice it to say that we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. The scary thing about the whole night, to me, was that it was extremely reminiscent of several nights during college that I spent at the Flora-Bama. We all would have fit RIGHT in, once again! A HUGE thank you to Cynthia and Brad for inviting us and letting us crash at their house. We had a BLAST!