Happy Birthday, Thomas!

This past weekend was our little buddy, Thomas' birthday!  He turned 4 w/ a Pump it Up party!  We love you Tom Tom!

An Etsy shop?

I'm thinking of starting a little etsy shop w/ my paintings.  I'm nervous, but I've wanted to do it for quite a while.  Thoughts?  I'd have to make a little inventory first though.  Guess I could try it and see how it goes.  Just nervous I'll put forth a bunch of effort and time and then no one will buy!  Here are a few of my pieces.  I've done lots more, but these are some around my house.  Obviously the shadowing sucks on these...ignore that part.  Some of them have ribbon around the outside of canvas, some have big bows at the top.  Some have more masculine additions, etc. 
What else should I paint?  Any suggestions welcome!  How about pricing?  I really have no idea.  Need to research this a bit.

Thanks!

Mandy, this is so cute!  Thanks for the blog inspiration!  :)

Just like old times...

Do you know how excited this made us?  We actually hung out on Sunday.  Missy and Davey came over (cooler of beers in stroller!) and hung out w/ us, just like we used to.  We even had dinner.  Now Ren & Rex are in the picture, and although that adds a whole other level of coordinating, it was so great to have everyone here!!  I'm hoping for lots more of this!

Candyland...just their Missy & Davey.

 The little boys took a snooze in Holt's room (which he wasn't thrilled about), but Ren woke up in time to get held before they had to head home.  Holt was very happy to have him.  Ren's deciding what he thinks.

Happy 4th, Jess!

Today was Adly's BFF's b-day (Jessica)!  We met at "the glove place" (Chipotle) for dinner, per Jess' request.  It was so sweet...just the girls, Diana and I.  We love that little lady so much!  We're lucky to have her w/ us every Tuesday and the girls are in class together MWF.  They are family to us.  What special little girls they are!  Another year of memories under our belt w/ these two...lots more to come!

Spring Break flew by!!

I just happened to be standing there when Adly really notice their cake.  She loved it and said "There are a lot of princesses and even a castle." w/ a big smile.  She stared for a while.  HEB can make some cute character cakes for sure!

Princess wishes of pink things, I'm sure.

Wow!  Spring Break is almost over and I have to admit, I was a little worried about keeping one of mine busy.  He's a bit of a busy body!  But, we really had a blast...most of the time...really, my kids are at a pretty good age.  They are getting along more often than not, which was NOT the case not too long ago.  I hear it goes in phases from here on out. 
Anyway, we kept busy and visited lots of friends (didn't see my sweet nephews enough though).  I'll post more pictures on the grand start to the Break w/ Adly & Jess' Cinderella party, asap.  I need all the best pics first.  In the meantime, here's a shot of our trip to the lodge w/ our dear friends, the K family.  So fun!!

a ride to school...

Every Monday I take Adly to school.  Just Adly...no carpool this day.  She's a talker (like her mommy, just ask my aunt Patty!).  Anyway, here are some of the random things she spoke on...
Adly: "Mommy, I just saw a big group of black birds fly away!"
Me: "You did?  I didn't see them.  Where did they go?"
Adly: "To have some girl time together.  They were all girls."
Me: "How do you know?"
Adly: "They were all wearing little black headbands."
(all in her little Adly accent.  I cracked up!)

Adly: "In other countries tires are square."
Me: "I don't think so.  They wouldn't get anywhere that way."
Adly: "I know, they just aren't as smart as us!"

Adly: "When I see Cinderella on Saturday I'm going to ask her what her toothbrush looks like and what kind of toothpaste she uses."
Me: "I wonder what she'll say."
Adly: "I don't know, but I know it's probably all sparkly!"
Random!!!!!!!!!

The past week...& a couple days...

Playdate w/ Scout & Jess.

Young Chefs Academy w/ Nealie!

Holt learned & made landforms.

Daddy took these two to play golf!  They loved it!! (Didn't he take some good photos?!)

p.s.  He lets them wear whatever they pick out.

Adly's first hockey game...here's the first attempt at a "we love each other at the hockey game" pic.

Take 2...better

So much fun!!

Adly yelled "Go Staws (Stars)!"  She loved it...banging on the glass was a big part of the fun.

We hung w/ Missy, Davey, Rex & Ren!

Tee ball season is BACK! Go Astros!! (not sure what's up w/ the high water baseball pants on this day, but he's still so cute!!)

(Already sporting a grass stain!)

Date Night IN

I have lots of pics to share from recent events but I've been busy and a little lazy on that so, here are some thoughts w/o pics...for now...
Every Wednesday we have date night.  It's been that way since Holt was about 6 months.  Missy was our date night sitter.  Always.  It was awesome!  But, she had to go and have babies of her own, so for now, she's out.  Lucky for us, we have a next door neighbor girl (who's perfect by the way) that usually does date night now, but she plays softball on some of those nights.  So we've vowed to keep date night either way...even on the days she can't make it...which really isn't all that often...which means on those nights we have Date Night IN.
Anyway, tonight John was coming home late (hence why I can type this out now) so I decided that I would play the sitter.  My kids love for other people to come play and put them to bed!  So, they called me Miss Val.  We were silly the whole time, they got candy after dinner and didn't have to clean their rooms or the playroom.  We drew pictures (b/c that's what Kayla does) then we played a couple games.  We were really silly!  It was really fun.  I got into the act and didn't care about anything in my house getting done...just playing w/ them.  It was SO nice.  I thoroughly enjoyed my kids.  Well, except for the few exceptions when Holt took it too far and I had to threaten to tell his parents!  He shaped up quick!
I wish every night could be this fun, but it can't b/c I have to have some order in my house.  Either way, Miss Val will be back someday!