November 20, 2012

Going FBO!

That stands for Facebook Official for those who don't know. ;)

We wanted to make sure that we told a few before posting to the world of Facebook. Which included my school family. :) and Ryan's brotherhood at the fire station. :)

I had started professional developments, and was needing to use the restroom quite a bit. I was also eating many snacks throughout the day to prevent nausea, and starting to get a little baby bump! So I knew it was time to tell!

By this point we had our big appointment where they drew blood, did a sonogram, and prepared us for the next couple months! So while at lunch with my team we were all sharing what we did over the summer...I said: "Look what I did this summer! Made a baby!"

We went FBO with this announcement, and received many well wishes and congratulations. :) Even though I didn't get to see all my FB friends & family members often it was a nice way to share our news with them!

Telling the Families...

The Christmas before we were married...while we were engaged & wedding planning I gave my dad Father of the Bride as a gift...this was a movie he and I always related to as far as the relationship between father & daughter so this gift was something that reminded us of that relationship while we planned for a wedding! When I made this purchase I went ahead & bought Father of the Bride Part 2 (where they are pregnant)...for the future!

Fortunately my parents had planned on coming over the night we found out we were expecting. So I wrapped up the movie (along with their San Antonio souvenirs)...They thought they were opening just a bag of souvenirs, but then found the movie...it took my dad quite a while to "get" what we were trying to tell him here!

I had to remind him...I gave him part 1 when we were planning for a wedding...so now I'm giving you part 2 because...we're planning for...then my mom got it!...for a baby!! They were so ecstatic!

We planned to meet Ryan's mom & brother out for dinner in Dallas. "Just because we hadn't seen them in a while..."mmm hmmm! I stood between the both of them so Ryan could get a picture of the 3 of us...he said, "1, 2, 3, say: I'm going to be a grandma & uncle!!" They were shocked & very excited!!

We weren't able to meet up with Ryan's dad to tell him, but we were able to send him this...I had some bleeding that was a little scary so I got a picture earlier than most...so at this point "it" just looked like a blob!

We did get to see Ryan's dad & Pap Pap just a few days after & got to tell Pap Pap too! I know everybody and every website tells you not to tell anybody until you're at least 12 weeks...just in case...our thoughts were the people we told in the beginning were the people closest to us, and we knew they would be praying for us...

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

So I know this isn't new news for y'all, but I wanted to share exactly how this day went! The day of finding out...not the day of when it happened. ;) You can read the anniversary post for that one. ;) haha!

We were ready for a baby so this was a surprise in the sense that I had taken about um...20-30 test prior to this! Exaggerating completely but for the past couple of months I was waiting...

When we got back from San Antonio we were getting ready for the reception for friends of ours. I had been helping with getting everything ready so I was busy, busy, busy! I needed to go to Target to get their wedding gift so I thought...may as well get a test...just for fun! I didn't even tell Ryan I got one until I was home for a while then told him I was going to go take it.

For the longest time I had this plan of how I was going to tell him: Thanks to Full House! I was going to make a meal with BABY back ribs, BABY carrots, BABY corn, etc...instead...I ran out of the bathroom kicking and screaming!!

I was a lot more relaxed with this one...I didn't hover over it waiting for it to say "Not Pregnant" since that's what I was so used to seeing. I just walked around the house doing stuff for the reception...THEN I went into the bathroom & saw it!!

Telling this story makes me relive it, and I love it! The excitement I feel inside is making me smile like that day was yesterday! Ryan and I were hugging & crying! I then began planning how we would tell our families! While I did that Ryan had to go out & get 5 more tests! Just to be sure!! Here's a pic of 4 of them...there were 7 of them!

Where Have We Been?!

Quite Busy!! My last post was about our 1 year anniversary so I'll pick up right where I left off!

I was hired to teach Summer School this past summer--yay! (New Floors--I'll get into that later!) Summer School started at the end of June and went through August! But we got a week off in July! So Ryan and I decided to take a mini-vacay to San Antonio!

We love going to San Antonio! It's far enough away, but close enough to get to when you want a get away. We stayed in an awesome hotel with a roof top pool. We were quick to get out to the pool! Our hotel was right on the Riverwalk so we enjoyed dinners on the Riverwalk. :) Ryan was excited to have a Beer Rita...I, on the other hand, just felt nauseous...but we really did not know why! So I stuck with water...and couldn't hardly eat my meals. hmmm...

We did all the typical touristy things & enjoyed every minute of it! We went on the Riverwalk Tour Boat & visited the Alamo. Since we were here for the 4th of July the Alamo had some neat festivities going on...We especially enjoyed the fireworks show on the rooftop of our hotel!


The last time we were in San Antonio we really wanted to go to Sea World, but thought it was too expensive, and we would save it for when we had children to take. Well thanks to our friends, The Perkins, who have season passes...we got to go to Sea World!! I've never been so excited!! We seriously had THE BEST TIME!! We went to to EVERY show & enjoyed every minute of it! It was an exhausting day, but well worth it!! We even fed the dolphins & sea lions! I think the dolphins were Ryan's favorite & the sea lions were mine!

Our last night was spent with one of Ryan's cousins & her husband...Dana & Paul. We always love spending time with them! They took us to a yumm-o restaraunt where we also had some yumm-o margaritas...when in Rome, right? Again...little did I know... ;) The smell of this fish would soon make me VERY sick! ;)

On a side note:: We have not been in San Antonio since my last post! We've been home...enjoying our last few months together of just the two of us! More to come!!

June 24, 2012

An Anniversary Well Spent!

My parents, who have been married for 31 years, gave wise advice when they said to always make your anniversary special. Do what you can to show the one you love how much you love them.

I think I began thinking about what we'd do for our 1 year anniversary since BEFORE we were married! If you know anything about me, you know that I'm a planner! I suggested to Ryan that we spend our anniversary similar to our wedding!

He booked us room 410 (same as our wedding night) at the Hilton Bella Harbor! We had dinner, and finally opened the bottle of rum that we bought in St. Lucia! My gift was too big to bring to the hotel, but Ryan went ahead & gave me the card with the Seawolf information.

Our plan was to go to the Hilton pool, have dinner at home (one similar to our wedding), and then go to the Seawolf. We packed up the top tier of our wedding cake & pink champagne! Once we got to the Seawolf we were told there weren't enough people to cruise on the sailboat, but the captains were so kind to get lots of pictures of us: eating our cake, toasting, our champagne, and took our picture with us holding a picture from the year before (I plan to do this every year). :)

We got to actually cruise on the Seawolf a couple days later & it was perfect! Cruising the lake at sunset is the way to do it!

Here's to planning next year's anniversary!



CHEERS!

June 23, 2012

1 Year of Paper

I cannot believe we have already been married for a year! My how time flies!! I'm all about traditions so we of course followed the tradition of giving paper as a gift...

I originally thought of making a shadow box or something that I could put old movie stubs, concert tickets, etc. in for Ryan...then my mom told me I should make him something of paper that he could hang in the garage (his favorite place!) Anyway...I ended up making a collage of the sayings, quotes, scriptures, and well wishes from our wedding cards. TOOK ME F-O-R-E-V-E-R to cut up all the cards then arrange them & Mod Podge them on the canvas. **No, I did not get this idea off Pinterest...some of us still have some creativity within. :) ** Here's the finished product displayed in our bathroom rather than the garage...

Ryan quite impressed me with his paper gift...in the sweet card he gave me was a print out of the confirmation to go sail on the Seawolf on Lake Ray Hubbard. We have been wanting to do this so I was quite excited!! He did let me know that the boat needed 6 people before we could cruise so we may not get to go on our actually anniversary which was Monday. Stay tuned to find out what happened... :)

XOXO

May 19, 2012

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Thomas!!

I have the sweetest class. My birthday was on Monday. A little disappointing when we have a Leap Year and I have to work on my birthday.

But super sweet of my kiddos to remember and be super good for me!

Mom took me to dinner at my favorite restaurant, Mi Cocina, for my birthday. It was good one on one time for us. :)

Ryder Pup and I are now the same age. Husband isn't far behind us. He'll also be 28 in 12 days!!

Mother's Day

Morning of Ryan and I went to serve in the 3 year old class at church. It was fun. And interesting to hear Ryan talk with the 3 year olds, "what's your giraffe's name?" "no. We don't put marshmallows in our nose." lol!

We were excited to spend Mothers Day with Mom T and Nanny! We had a nice time visiting with our Arlington family. Puppy had fun playing with his Aunt Mia and Cousin Romeo!

Mom T surprised me and had ache and presents for my birthday after we did presents for Mother's Day! It was a great day!!

Fun Filled Weekend

Last weekend and this past week were so full and so full of fun so I'm just now getting around to blogging about it!

Friday night Ryan was working so Puppy and I spent the evening at Mom and Dad's with Anthony too! It was a fun night. Dad wanted to spend time with us before his move to Atlanta. If you're not in the loop about that I'll blog about it later. :)

While Ryan did yard work on Saturday I had fun shopping for Mother's Day gifts! I quickly got ready to attend a baby shower for our friend Nadalee. It was super cute! Clark and Nadalee are going to have one cute & spoiled little girl! :)

I had been wanting to go out to the Allen Outlet Mall so we went later that afternoon. Kinda a bummer. Not quite what I expected. :/

But since we were closer to Pooh's area we met up with her for dinner at Urban Crust. A nice pizza place in Downtown Plano. Since my birthday was Monday we considered this my celebration. :)

May 8, 2012

Just Another Manic Monday...and Tuesday

...and Wednesday-Sunday!

Ryan's schedule this week is much busier than mine, but they're both (thankfully) full. I say thankfully because most of it is things to do with our jobs, and rather than looking at it as a stressful thing...it's a positive thing!

Ryan played in a golf tournament yesterday with a team from his part time job at RUC. They got 6th place. I asked, out of how many teams? 6? Haha! No...like 50! So way to go team RUC!

Spring time means baby time! No...not for us! But for chickens in the 1st grade hall at school. It's a fun way To teach life cycles. It's also exciting for the kids. Excited 7 year olds=crazy days.

I was recognized tonight at the RISD awards receiving my 5 year pin. Mom and Dad were there as my support! Dad's hootin' an' hollerin' and Mom's clappin' an' smilin' show me how proud they are of me. :) Thanks for being there!

Seeking Approval

This post isn't as profound as it may sound to be. It's actually quite silly. For now, I write about..cooking dinner!

I was never much interested in being in the kitchen. My mom can testify to that. But now that I have a loving husband to cook for--I love it!

I love planning meals, going to the grocery store, and cooking! But I'm always seeking approval if it's ok or not!

If Ryan has been honest with me there hasn't been 1 thing he didn't like. I anxiously stare at him before he takes the first bite to see his reaction.

As soon as dinner is over...I call my mom! To tell her about the delicious meal I just served and how much Ryan liked it! Then I try to convince her to make it!

We chuckle over people taking pictures of their food, but I do it too! Haha! So here's last night dinner that I slaved all day over! ;)

May 7, 2012

Our Weekend

If you know me well...or hardly at all even...you know I like to talk! And since this is like talking for me I could ramble for a while...I'll try not to do that so I keep you interested!

Friday: The week at school was a LONG one! I needed a good Friday night! Ryder and I went for a walk while Ryan relaxed after playing golf all day. Olive Garden recently opened in Rockwall so that's where we went for dinner! We LOVE Olive Garden! It was a nice evening for the 2 of us to spend some uninterrupted time together...we've needed that...
 
Saturday: Ryan was off to work at Watauga. The pup and I were pretty lazy most of the morning, but then it was time to get busy! Believe it or not I was anxious to have a day like Saturday where I could clean house and get stuff done! I was looking forward to that...In the process of cleaning I was going through the CDs of our wedding photos, finding my favorites, and posting them to Facebook. I know, I know...we've almost been married a year and I'm just now doing this. The truth is I loved so many of the photos when I first saw them that it was hard to decide so I put it off until I REALLY had the time to go through them. My list keeps getting shorter and shorter on ones I want to have prints/canvases made...

I also got a digital photo frame from my parents for Christmas (again, really late of me, I know!). I wanted to choose my favorite wedding photos to go on the frame so I was able to do that...now if I can figure out why the pictures aren't showing on the frame. :(

**Big News** Our good friends, Marcia and Kris, welcomed a sweet baby boy into this world. Hayden Kristopher was born 05/06/12 at 6:04 AM! CONGRATULATIONS DUNN/FERGUSON FAMILY!

Sunday: Ryan came home from work, after stopping at Starbucks for us of course!, picked me up and we went to church. Ryan had to be at work at his part time job at 11 so we missed Life Group, again! :( Big church was good though! Did you know you can go to our church from your home?! Join our internet campus for a good message each week! Go here for more info and to join!

My mom and dad came to visit Sunday afternoon. :) It was nice to visit with them, and Ryan was a little sad he missed out. He stayed super busy at RUC though! Dad's 1st project was to hang the mirror from our dresser on a wall in our bedroom. I've been wanting this done since the mirror was being blocked by our tv on the dresser. Now we want to mount the tv! Since Dad won't be here for my birthday they brought me birthday presents too! (It's NEXT Monday aahh!!) I've been wanting roosters for my kitchen since they're good luck. :) And the ones they got me are perfect!

Ryan and I had a nice healthy version of Chicken Parmesan Sunday night. Yum, yum! You can find the recipe here. Cheers!

Have a great week!!

May 1, 2012

Almost Back to Normal

With Ryan working long crazy hours and me being sick I was longin for a normal day! Today was almost that...

When I got home, I was ready for a nap! Ryan let me rest for a little while before we went on our walk...he napped too!

We tried out a different walking trail today, and it was quite peaceful too. Ryder enjoyed it also, and didn't try to sleep in the shade in the middle of it! I'm hoping to accept the Instagram challenge this month, and take a photo each day this month. Today's was peace...I might cheat and go back and take a picture of our walking trail because it was surely peace!

My husband is superman now, and working out like crazy and drinking his protein drinks. Meanwhile I'm cooking dinner and watching Glee, duh!

Tonight we had pork tenderloin, asparagus, and mashed potatoes...the real kind...not cauliflower in the food processor like I sometimes like to do!

CHEERS!

P.S. Perk of Husband working at Rockwall Urgent Care: He brought me some cough syrup & things are looking better. Puppy seems better too!

Oh! and how could I forgot! I showed interest in my principal to taking on a leadership position with the  new curriculum we're getting for this year...and I was chosen! YAY! I'm pretty proud of me, and so is Husband. :)

XOXO

April 30, 2012

New Glass Door!!

My friend Amanda noticed our new glass door in my Garden Day pic. I forgot to mention it!!

I guess because it wasn't completely finished. In a sense. When we ordered the door we picked out the one we wanted: white with brushed nickel. The door guy at Lowe's put in white with brass! Yuck!

The installer came when I was at school and Ryan was at home. Ry texted me and said: did you want brass? No!

The installer guy was very kind and completely understood! He came today and changed it to brushed nickel! (I wonder if he needs the old keys back?!)

We love it!! It let's in so much light!! And it's the kind where you can pull down the top and there's a screen.

Puppy loves it too! Next, I need to get an entry rug for puppy to lay on while he looks out the door and protects us!

I'm thinking I need to take my homemade wreath off the door. :( BUT my new thought is to hang in on the wall above our bench. That way you can see it better from the street. :)

Are You Kidding Me?!

That's all we've been able to say the past 2 days...

I guess Garden Day really wore Ryan out as he overslept Sunday and had to work! He made it though. :) but...are you kidding me?! The alarm didn't go off!!

Owgergies turned bad...I went to serve in the HomePointe Center on Sunday. Afterwards I was ready to lay down!! Had a low grade fever and was feeling achy. Are you kidding me?! I can't be sick AGAIN!!

After Husband and Daddy made me go to Rockwall Urgent Care. Ryan works here part time so it's our go-to when we just feel icky! They were SUPER busy and I had to wait uncomfortably for an hour. Are you kidding me?!

Diagnosis? Sinus infection! Treatment? Antibiotics and steroids! Let's hope 5 days of roids doesn't bulk me up or make me super grouch! I'm still coughing. Are you kidding me?!

After a long day (picture day!) I treated myself to a mani/pedi! FABULOUS!! Are you kidding me?! Best massages!

I came home to a sick puppy. Both ends. In his box. And all over the floor. Are you kidding me?! After a super super clean up I'm doing much better. Pew-Wee!! Ryder seems to be better too. You be the judge...

April 28, 2012

Garden Day!!

We were so ready for a day to do NOTHING! And NOTHING to us means not having to be anywhere or do anything, but just be home! We thought this would be the perfect day to plant and do stuff around the house. That is SOMETHING, but we're together & at home so it's PERFECT!!

I bought a flat of White Begonias from the Stingerettes. I thought they'd be perfect to go in the flower bed we have in the front. A while back Ryan planted some Amaryllis bulbs in the bed of one of our trees. We have another tree with a flower bed on the side of the house that I wanted to plant more Amaryllis. Ryan ordered more bulbs from Lowe's last night, and they had them ready for us this morning!

So after sleeping in (since I didn't go to bed until 1 AM)...coming up on 28 people!!..we had breakfast then headed to Lowe's to get all we needed for Garden Day!! This was of course our first trip to Lowe's today...I still consider us new homeowners who are always wanting to improve our home!

If you look closely you can see the flowery garden tools...no, Ryan was not using those...that's proof that I was helping! Not just taking pictures!! The garden tools came from one of my wedding showers hosted by Sharon & Sherri. You can read more about the tools on Life Size House Wife here.

Puppy wanted to be outside with us so we tied him up to the bench while we planted. :) We quickly realized that 1 flat of Begonias wasn't going to be enough so we worked with what we had then made another trip up there! We decided to get red this time to kind of mixed it up. :) ...along with 2 shepherd's hooks & 2 hanging plants. I'm hoping for a bird bath our next trip!!

After the owgergies (as my kids call allergies) took over, and the planting was done...I took a Benny, a shower, and napped! My sweet husband woke me up ready to go to dinner!
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Our evening ended with a nice dinner at our favorite loco (inside joke) restaurant, Cayote Rojo. When we got back I told Ryan to let me in the front door so I could see our new flowers. :) I love it...and our home!!

Rockwall Relay for Life

I've been looking forward to this for a long time, but it really kind of snuck up on me with how busy our schedules have been!

Last year I was a true, dedicated trooper, and stayed until 6 AM!! This year...yeah, not so much. My allergies have been TERRIBLE so I only planned to stay until 10 or so, but made it until MIDNIGHT!! Wooo Hooo!!!

My school creates a team for Relay for Life. It's really fun to all be together at an event outside of school. We have an awesome leader who has great ideas for us to raise money for our team! Last year we sold dress down coupons to the teachers who donated...if you're a teacher you know how valuable a "Jeans Day" is!

This year we did Coins for Cancer in our classroom. It was fun to involve the kids. They were bringing in their piggy banks, and taking change from their mom's purses to give to cancer! ;) The winning class gets a sno-cone party! We have a staff member who runs a sno-cone stand in the summer so this is a perfect reward for us to use! And the kids love it! My class didn't win at this competition, but I have a very kind parent who appreciates the hard work the kids did...and she's still going to pay for a sno-cone party for us. The kids don't know this...I'm still making them work for it with good behavior! ;)

Our theme this year was: Star Light, Star Bright, Wishing for a Cure Tonight...we had glow in dark bracelets that we sold for $1 to staff and students to also help raise funds. We also sold luminaries for $5 that people could decorate for family members in honor or memory of. This was something Ryan and I did in memory of my Uncle Trevor and his Paw-Paw.

I unfortunately never got to meet Paw-Paw, but from what I hear he was a great guy! And to be married to Nanni...he must have been! ;) She's a sweet lady & deserves the best! I wasn't sure how to spell Paw-Paw when I made it so it says PaPa...oh well, he knows it was for him! ;)

Ryan was volunteering for Fate Fire so he was unable to make it. :( Super sad! Oh well...maybe next year! I had a blast with my teacher friends though!

April 26, 2012

Indiana Trip

Alright...so I thought I would wait to blog about this, but as soon as I wait I'll be behind again! I really wish I could blog almost daily! Whether you enjoy reading it or not it's a good outlet for me! :) And if I wait to blog about this...then I'll be behind on blogging about Relay for Life which we're doing tomorrow night! So here it goes!!
I think we figured out I have 20 first cousins on my dad's side? Well...we're at the age now where we're all getting married and having babies! It's crazy how quickly life moves...one of my younger cousins, Jennifer, got married this past weekend! Jennifer's brother, Jason, was my roommate when he moved to Dallas a couple of years ago so Jennifer got to visit a few times! It was about time I made my way to Indiana for her big day!!

Ryan and I originally planned on flying since it is such a LONG drive (about 12 hours)! My dad shared with me that he and my mom planned on driving, and thought it would be fun to all drive together. I was quickly sold on this idea, and shared it with Ryan. I wanted him to experience the drive we always took on summers as kids! He had no idea what he was in for!

I was excited for his excitement though!! He wanted to take pictures of every state sign we went through. We probably spent an hour stopping. Surprisingly enough the rest stops we stopped at were pretty nice! Things have changed a lot since the last time we made this drive...I think I was a junior in high school! (I flew there when I was in college...)

After a long drive of Ryan and Dad alternating we finally made it to Evansville, Indiana! We stayed with my dad's BFF, Rich and his wife Angie. They have 3 children: Kevin, Kelley, and Emily...and apparently Ryan thought we were going to my aunt and uncle's house and staying with my cousins and them! haha! It's not too surprising since the family is so big I know it has to be hard for him to keep up!

I could ramble on for pages and pages on what a good time we had! I could go over EVERY detail, and how the Short's made us feel soooo welcome in their home! I'll try not to bore you too much, and just give you the highlights!

On Friday my dad was excited to take Ryan through the town he grew up in, and show him all the hot spots. :) Mom, Angie, and I ran some errands then went to the Ohio River. I enjoyed seeing all the state seals, and found it interesting that the Indiana and Mississippi seals are right next to each other. :) (They're in the order that they joined the union...)

We had a nice dinner at a pizza place for a birthday party for another friend of my dad's. I mentioned seeing the Casino Aztar while we were down at the river, and Rich said, "you want to go?!" SURE!!

It was...interesting...but fun! The casino is actually on a boat on the river so when you're on the boat you're actually in Kentucky which we thought was pretty cool. The boat used to move, but it now just stands still. We all just walked around and did some slots. It was fun. Mom put $1 in and won $20! It was hard for her to walk away, but we all made her!

Our time went so quickly here...the next day was already Jennifer's wedding day! My cousin, Ashley, picked me up and we went to get our hair done. Thank you to my cousin in-law, Mallory, who set up our appointments for us! It was nice to spend some time with Ashley, and get my hur did for Jenn's big day!

We all just kind of lounged around the house until it was time to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was gorgeous! The church was gorgeous. The colors were gorgeous. The bridesmaids dresses were gorgeous, and of course...the BRIDE was gorgeous! I don't have any pictures though. :( We took some with my parents camera which I can post later...

After a beautiful ceremony (and a little comical one..."I Jennifer..." (said by Jared)haha!) we got lots of family pictures taken! Then my other cousin in-law Alex was so kind to take Ryan and I to the reception hall with her and Serena. :) Jason and Alex's sweet little girl! Ryan was loving being around her! It's a good thing we went with her since Mom, Dad, Uncle Rick, and Aunt Erin decided to stop at a local pub on their way to the reception! Good thing my cousins Maggie, Andrew, and Mollie made it there! ;)
Everything about the reception was so fun. I seriously love being around my family, and had the BEST time with all of them! And Ryan just fit in like he was one of us...it can be tough being a Born! haha! ;) We had a yummy dinner, great cake, and an awesome time dancing!! The night had to come to an end...but not until my Aunt Peggy, Uncle Bill, cousin Nicholas, Aunt Shelley, and Uncle JC came back to Rich and Angie's with us! We stayed up until at least midnight...(the day started at 9!) It was a long day, but sooo worth it and sooo much fun!!

We were up early the next morning for a long drive back to Rockwall, TX! And boy was it a long drive! We were so anxious to get home, and get Puppy. Thank you to Missy & Elly for keeping him happy while we were gone!

So here we are...I don't know how I've made it this far through the week without falling asleep! STAAR testing was this week, and even though I teach 1st grade now I am still pulled for testing. Those days are not only exhausting for the kids, but for the teachers too! Tomorrow is Relay for Life so be looking for a blog again soon!


NIGHT, NIGHT!!

Firsts!

I feel like the weekend with Ethan and Sydney was all about FIRSTS! And I loved that we got to be a part of that!

We got up early Saturday morning (again in March) and geared up in our green! I was trying to be SUPER COUSIN by making sure I had drinks and snacks packed for our outing...
We drove to one of the DART bus stops and waited for a bus to take us to the St. Patty's Day Parade on Greenville Ave. (Thank you, Mark Cuban!!). Last year Ryan and I watched the parade from the patio of a bar...we didn't think this was appropriate for the kids so we just got good standing room on the street! And boy did we have a good spot! We were about 2 hours early so we were right in front!

Of course once the crowds got bigger our space got a lot tighter. It was fun for the kids though. Sydney was loving holding her hands out and arms up hoping for beads! Ethan was picking up anything he could that was thrown at him! Tortillas, coupons, unwrapped candy...LOL! It was their first parade and I believe it was a success!

It was my first time on the DART, and what a day to try it out! We had the same idea as everybody else! Which is somewhat of a relief...thinking hopefully those people made the wise decision to not drive...People can be extremely helpful getting on and off the DART bus or can be extremely rude!! Nonetheless it was a fun experience!

So after I packed all the drinks and snacks...well we didn't think about, when a child drinks...they have to go potty! When the kids noticed that our only options were Porta Potties they didn't want much to drink! And then with all the pushing and shoving it was pretty difficult to pass out snacks! So I'm sorry, Aunt Laura, we sent them back: thirsty, hungry, and tired! But thanks for sharing them with us. :)

Ethan and Sydney

Hopefully you all know our "How We Met" Story...if not, I'll be happy to tell you!

It is thanks to Aunt Laura and Uncle Trevor. Ethan and Syndey are their children. So they are my 1st cousins. They are so young that they feel more like a niece and nephew to me and Ryan. They just adore Ryan, and visiting him at the fire station.

We had the same Spring Break as the kids, Aunt Laura asked if we would like to entertain them for a couple days and we said sure! It was definitely an interesting dynamic for Ryan and I to see how we would handle 2 children...together!

Aunt Laura brought the kids to the fire station on Friday morning (in March) when Ryan was getting off work. They made their way to our house (an hour away) in PJ's and needing breakfast. :) So we gave them some breakfast then got them dressed for our big day!

There's a park just right down the street from our house BUT we decided to walk to the front of the neighborhood so we could go to the bigger park and feed the ducks! Ryan and I make this walk often so we didn't think it was too long, but for kids with little legs it was pretty long. Puppy made it though!


Once we got there Puppy wanted to swing! Ethan was ALL over the playground! He had so much fun with all of it...especially having Ryan carry him across the monkey bars! Sydney really liked the twisty slidy thing once I showed her how to do it. ;) She also liked pushing Puppy in the swing. He's so funny! He LOVES it! All 4 of us got on the swings...it's amazing to me how high kids can go! I remember doing that when I was kid, but now...IT GIVES ME BUTTERFLIES! Ryan thought I was being a baby, but then he got butterflies too when he got really high! haha!

It was a cool, cloudy morning so the ducks that are usually in the pond were out walking around! We were able to feed them. Ryder scared them a little, but then he just wanted to eat the bread the kids were throwing down for the ducks. We then made the long walk back to the house. ;) We were all tired and hungry! It was fun to make lunch for everybody, and make deals with the kids on how much they ate. :) I think Ryan and I both did pretty good with that one!

I was ready for a nap so Ryan put a movie in for the kids, and I fell asleep while I pretended to watch! Ry and I needed to run some errands so while we were out we made up for missing out on ice cream on our Date Night, and took the kids to Coldstone Creamery. It was a nice day to sit at the Harbor water fountain and enjoy our ice cream. :)

When we got back to the house the kids helped me stuff Easter eggs for church in between them playing with sidewalk chalk on our back porch. It was so fun having 2 little kids at our house! I wish we had more for them to do outside...one day!

Believe it or not...it was now time to eat again! I thought it would be fun to have the kids make their own pizzas. I got all the ingredients, layed 'em out, put an apron on Syd and away we went! It was fun...and good! Next was time for bath and bed! Ryan and I were exhausted...

This blog is getting pretty lengthy so I'll post a new one about the next day with the kiddos!


TOODLES!