Spring Break

Spring Break Activities

We stayed around Dallas/Fort Worth for our week off this year! We chose one fun thing to do each day to keep us busy! It was a great week with the kids!!!

The Fort Worth Zoo

                            Lily ran and screamed "CANTELOUPE, Daddy!!! CANTELOUPE!!!" when she saw what she thought were Antelope at the zoo! We were dying laughing along with the people around us who heard the excitement and name that Miss Lily shouted out!  SOOO FUNNY!

           Lily made it about halfway up the rock climbing wall at the zoo! Good Job Miss Lil!!!

                  We took a super cute little train ride from Texas Wild back to the front of the zoo!


                                                       A Playdate with Friends!!!

    We had a playdate with my sweet friend Celena and her kiddos Kennedy and Luke! Kennedy and Lily actually had Little Gym together when they were about a year old. Then Celena and I recognized each other at the same preschool and the girls really hit it off the last few years of preschool together! Cade and Luke were in the same 1's class together! We moved to different towns not too far away but it was a friendship that was meant to be! Lots of memories to still be made!

                                               At the movies: Dr. Seuss' : THE LORAX

                   Gran brought Jax up and stayed the night! We had so much fun with the kids!

                                                          PUTT-PUTT & GO CARTS

                                Lily had another one of her sweet preschool friends, Caroline, over for a sleep over and playdate! We had dinner with her family the night before! We took the kids to play putt-putt for the first time and Chris drove them around in the Go Carts! They did not want to leave!  They had a ball!

 Lily was first up! Would you have thought it would be any other way :)  She swung her club...the ball flew straight up in the air ...hit the ground and bounced into the pond.  OMG Chris and I almost died. It was the funniest thing! Chris stepped in and gave her a lesson or two after that (ha). Fortunately on the last green Lily made a whole in one!!!! Super excited little girl!!!

                          Cade was very focused, determined and coordinated. It was cute to watch him so serious at such a fun little game.


                                   We celebrated St Patrick's Day over the break too!
                      We made skittle rainbows and dressed in our best green outfits !

Cade's Art Show

WOW!  Super impressed by the art show at Cade's preschool! It was set up so nicely and the kiddos were so proud to show off their work! We were given red ribbons or pieces of paper to put on our own child's artwork to mark it as a sold piece of art and then we donated money to the school for each piece! A great fundraising idea! Loved the event !!!!

                                         Our little budding artist!!!  So handsome!

        Enjoying a snack at the art show !    Cade took a picture of himself laying down. It is at the top of the board and has a little glare on it, but it's pretty funny! A shot straight up his nostrils. (ha)

                                  Cade painted the masterpiece with the orange border!  :)

                               The kids took their own photographs of what ever they chose and did lots of watercolor masterpieces.

                                             Lots of "stained glass" artwork from the kiddos

                             Cade's class worked on art made from recycled materials :)

                                         

                                           Cade made a snake from colored pasta !

Valentines Day

         
                                                  We HEART Valentines Day !!!

                      Cade's Valentines for his classmates! Girls got the blue labeled ones and the boys                     got the red.      Cade wrote his own name on all of them! It was hard work for a 3 1/2 year old! So proud!!!

We gave these cute little boxes to the kids teachers and neighborhood friends! So fun to make and yummy too!!!

The kids woke up to a Valentine Breakfast and hurried off to school!

Lily handed out her "I Dig You" Valentines to her classmates at their class party.

  

                    I planned Lily's Kindergarten Class party for all six classes this year!!!

   

                          They had a Magic Scratch Heart station....

                         a Valentine Bingo station...

                           a Cookie Decorating station.

                                and Freeze Dance!!!! Then they sat down and had snack, passed out their valentines and got to leave early!!!

Cade had a Valentine's Lunch Party! It was so fun! They ate their lunch, had Shirley Temples and cupcakes and played games!!!

   

                 A little down time to sit and read a bit!  Busy, Fun Day!!!

Daddy Daughter Dance

                                                              SWEETNESS !!!!!

                               
                                                     Lily, Abigail, Hadley, Whitney


Could this be any sweeter!!!    I so wanted to be "mommy paparazzi" or at least a fly on the wall at the dance!!!! It was really hard to stay away, but at least I was able to snap some cute pictures before hand!

The dance was held at a little church in our town. It was a very last minute decision because Chris and Lily were planning on going to the one at the high school in April.   But it was one of the "BEST NIGHTS OF LILY'S LIFE!!!" (We have been told MANY times!!!) She was just glowing and oh my goodness looked so grown up! She begged for some fancy shoes with heels and wore them proudly!

The girls and dad's took turns in groups riding in the Sweet and Sassy pink limosine.  When they stepped out, they walked a red carpet with strobe lights all the way to the door. A friend of mine called to tell me that Lily "owned the moment and strutted her stuff like no one was around" down the red carpet!!! I said, " I can only imagine....because it was all for her, of course." (ha)  Such confidence in this little girl! It's so exciting to watch!!! And people just eat it up because she is such a free spirit!!!

BBQ was served, a craft station with bookmarks and photo holders to make, cupcakes and a photo op filled the evening in between all of the dancing! When Lily wasn't dancing with Chris, she was dancing with her friends and belting out songs to Taylor Swift and Katie Perry when they came on! Give the girl a microphone....she needs to be on stage!!!

So glad Lily and Chris can have these sweet moments to look back on together!!! Priceless!!!

6 lives left and counting...

FYI: If you have not read "Oh what fun it is to....have an animal," scroll down and read that one FIRST





Well, this poor cat.... I can't even write this without being sad!  Pitty Party for One (with a hand raised)!!!

We took Pumpkin in for his de-claw and neuter about 3 1/2 weeks after the big fiasco at the vet!

Pumpkin did just fine through surgery and we picked him up the next day. We were sent home with pain medication and a bag of newspaper litter.  Pumpkin slept a lot the first 3 days from the pain medication. We were very gentle with him and the kids knew he just had surgery so they were extra gentle as well.

On the fourth night , I  put Miss Lily to bed and started walking out of her room when Pumpkin  came barreling through her doorway with a burst of energy just as I was walking out! I t happened so fast that I couldn't catch myself and I STEPPED ON PUMPKIN'S PAW!!!! OMG ! We went after Pumpkin who headed straight under Lily's bed and would not budge!

The next morning I took Pumpkin back to the vet....THE SAME VET!!! He looked disappointed and I promised that we really do love this cat and I was heartbroken!

We were sent home with another set of pain meds with an anti-inflamitory and some anti-biotic he needed to take for 10 days because his wounds on that paw all opened up again!!! Good Grief!

Before we left, the vet asked me if Chris played golf. I said no. He asked if he hunted or went fishing. I said no again, but said that he traveled a lot with his job. The vet replied back in a semi-joking manner with "good!"

Here is the Pitty Party for One..... I left feeling horrible about Pumpkin's hurt paw AND wondering what exactly he meant AND which one of the MANY ways that comment should be taken!

POOR PUMPKIN! He is probably wishing now that he was still waiting to be rescued. He may have had better luck out there in the big world on his own!

He still runs when he sees us coming because he probably has flashbacks, but as soon as we sit down he jumps right up and curls up in our lap! He is so stinkin sweet. I sure hope his luck changes!!!

Longtime Friends

Jill and Jeff 

My dear sweet friend from high school got married last weekend! It was such a great evening!!! She looked truly happy...the happiest I have EVER seen her!  It was so wonderful to witness such happiness for someone you have longed to see truly happy! Jeff is an awesome guy and we can't wait to see what the future holds for the two of them!

It was also a chance to see and catch up with our friends in "The Group!" We had a lot of laughs and were left wondering where in the  world 15-20 years have gone!!! It is flying by and it was so fun to be back together again! I couldn't help but notice our parents sitting at the next table looking back at all of us every once in a while. I think each time they did, they were taken back in time and pictured us as teenagers and wondered themselves where the time has gone!

                               
                             Bill, Kari, Taryn, Erica, Matt, Jill, Sarah, Erin, Wade

                                                   
                                                      Just us GIRLS :)