Savoring This Moment | My Little Mardi Gras Family

Life is crazy busy and it's EASY to stay focused on the to-do's of it all and miss the littlest moments that mean the most. My camera is my tool to slow down, reconnect with the present moment and savor WHO my kids are right now in their current stage of life AND what makes MY heart happy with  joy.  When life is busy and I see something that makes me light up with a smile, I stop, grab my camera (iPhone or SLR - it doesn't matter because what does matter is that I capture the moment...), click what I see and SAVOR the FEELING of that LOVE.  My camera helps me stay focused on what fills my heart up with love and captures a visual reminder of WHO my kids are and what they love, so they never disconnect from themselves as they grow older, like I did.

If you read my post yesterday, then you know that we had lots of Mardi Gras fun this past weekend.  Today, while the party is going strong down in the city, we're just hanging out relaxing. SO nice! :)

So in honor of Mardi Gras day today, my little family and I bring you some colorful, Mardi Gras fun!

We started out running around the park.  I just LOVED watching them bond together here.

Luca was SO intrigued by this piece of Art work that all the kids who come near it love to climb on. :)

Running around isn't complete without some swinging!! : )

Once the Art work gets boring, the steps become their favorite to climb!

I told her to do a funny face and I trapped him with my legs so I could at least get one good pic with them. This is rare! :)

Then a nice group of people saw D taking our picture and asked if we'd like them to take a pic of all of us.  It was great because they were making Luca laugh so much, which had all of us laughing.  SO great!! :)

More step fun!! Pretty soon he'll be as fast as big sister when it comes to getting to the top. :)

Once up to C, he had the biggest conversation with her.  It was SO SO cute and there's nothing better than watching it!!

Still talking her ear off!! The best!!

Time to follow big sis down the steps...

Then Daddy stepped in to help him get down in a much more FUN way!!

I wish you could just hear his laughter here!! I pretty sure he enjoyed every bit of this. ;)

Then it was off for a little bit of walking. :)

Savoring!!!

Savoring some more!!

And then it was a race back to those steps!! :):)

A little bit of independent play. :)

After all that running around, we headed over to the parade route and found our spot.

And finally "beads" day begins, with, of course, some NOLA "float" music first. :)

I always LOVE the FUN floats like these!! :)

So much color on both sides of me while waiting for more floats to come. :)

My loves right up in there!! :)

While him and I stayed back to enjoy it all. :)

And then she came back to me and showed me her loot. :)

I asked her to tell me what colors she got.  She was happy to get some green ones...her favorite color right now.  And then we headed home. :)

See ya next year beads day...what C calls Mardi Gras! :)

Happy Mardi Gras 2014!!

So tell me...

What what moments have you SLOWED DOWN to SAVOR today?

Until next time... Life IS so FULL of JOY...SAVOR it up!