RV road trip to Guadalupe State Park

Ben and Cash took the RV to Guadalupe State Park.  They like to go there as its really pretty and super close.  The plan was to spend the night but at the end of the day Cash decided he didn't want to so they ended up coming home.  E and I drove up to bring them dinner and spend some time with them.  The river is just beautiful and it was fun watching the kids play!

A gorgeous February day at the park

We took the kids and our neighbor Wyatt to McAllister Park to ride bikes and play at the park.  It was a really pretty day!  The boys rode their bikes along the trails while I took E to the playground to play.

I put her on a slide and it started out with her wanting me to go down with her, then me holding on to her as she went down, then just holding her hands as she went down, then getting her seated to go down...and then she was going down on her belly.  Once she gets comfortable she is all in!

A girls night "in"

To say I miss the girls I worked with at Carenet is somewhat of an understatement.  I miss them so much I have considered, on numerous occasions, going back to work.  I don't pass up a chance to get together with these amazing women....and Norma had a brilliant idea to honor our sweet Yvonne with a girls night "in".  Yvonne is always our party planner/get together planner and Norma thought it would be nice to do it for her and show her how much we appreciate all she does for us.

Norma, myself, Arianna, Monica and Kenifet started planning a great evening "in".....pizza, watching a movie and just some good girl time with these women I adore.  We were missing two of our "girls"....Cynthia and Audrey!!!!!  They were both dearly missed!!!!!!  Arianna put together the sweetest video of us girls....just a testament of our friendship and love for Yvonne.  We all climbed on my bed and watched and with not a dry eye left it was so much fun to look back at what was only a small caption of our memories together.  For me it has only been 6 years with these girls...with the rest its been even longer.  I feel blessed to have them in my life and realized that more so after leaving Carenet.

After watching the video we scoffed down our pizza and then headed upstairs to watch what was going to be Grease and then due to technical difficulty turned in to a scary movie...Annabelle!  YIKES!  While I would normally have been more scared these girls made it funny!  With the screams and comments we were laughing as much as we were gasping.

RV road trip to Fredericksburg

We decided to take a little RV road trip to Fredericksburg one Sunday afternoon.  Of course what we thought would be a fun excursion....ended up being exhausting because of a certain little girl we all know and love.  Every time I think for a moment she may be ready...I am quickly reminded she is not.  Oh well ...don't know unless you try.

The trip over was fine.  We parked the RV and headed into a German restaurant on Main St.  It was ok...not great and certainly not what we were hoping for.  Then we head to the ice cream shop and of course that made it all better!  I had a milk shake and Ben/the kiddos had a few scoops.

We walked a long Main St. a bit and then headed over to the park to let the kids play a bit.  We wanted to stay longer but it was much cooler in Fredericksburg than in SA and we didn't prepare for that.  So we headed home...and that is when I was reminded of how Miss E isn't ready for our family road trips.  She was tired, wouldn't lay down, and just wanted to be home.  We got home and it wasn't long before she was down for the count.  Until next time.....

New Years Eve 2014

In anticipation of 2015 we celebrated again at the JW with Ben performing.  We stayed there again while my mom stayed with the kids at the house.  Well actually it was going to be both my parents but they brought Sadie over while Sydney was still at our house and that was just more than anyone could handle so my dad took Sadie and Cash back to their house and my mom stayed with Emma.

The party was in the ballroom this year vs the Crooked Branch.  This was a welcomed change as now they had tables/chairs set up and we actually had great seats!

We had dinner at 18 Oaks beforehand ....Chad/Rochelle and Gator/his girlfriend (Sara)....it was yummy and just a great start to a great evening.  They had a "red carpet" at 18 Oaks and us girls were happy to snap a quick pic before heading over to the party.

Ben and the band sounded great!  Everyone was dancing, drinking and just waiting for midnight so we could count down to the New Year and watch all the balloons drop!  I got one dance with Ben....which I always say is the worst part of an evening like this...I don't have a dance partner..not just any dance partner...BEN!  I got a dance, a kiss, and a picture at the end.

It was a fun night!  We headed to a breakfast at IHop the next morning, then home to spend what was a pretty rainy cold day with our kiddos!  Happy New Year!

Christmas 2014

We started decorating early, as in before Thanksgiving early, so we had all of the decorations out and ready to be put up.  This really is my favorite time of year!  I love to see the tree lit up every evening and it just seems like there isn't enough time to enjoy it.

Of course our elves Joseph and Josie made their yearly appearance so Cash broke out their book to show Emma.  She just adores him and its so fun to watch them together.

Cash wanted a tree put up for him and Emma upstairs...so I put up our old, leaning, tree.  Its definitely a Charlie Brown tree...but he loved it.  He helped me decorate it from start to finish.

I finally found the swag I wanted for the door..at Target of all places...but I love it as its so simple ...perfect!  When Arianna and I had our annual Black Friday outing we found these reindeer at Walmart...and to say that I had a hard time putting them together is somewhat of an understatement.  I ended up taking one back as I thought it had a missing a piece but of course it didn't... I just had no idea what I was doing!  I did get them both up and running and they turned out super cute.

Ben had a gig at the Marriott the night they lit the tree so I wanted to take the kids.  Emma loved all the lights but she wasn't so crazy about seeing Santa!!

Ben took Cash over the Blanco State Park to camp...so my dad and I drove over with Emma to meet them.  Blanco has an annual lighting of the Courthouse and a visit with Santa.  It was so beautiful!!!! Cash got to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas...which of course was a black lab.....and we know how that turned out..yes he got one and she is now at my parents..with her sister.  

These pics were taken at Guadalupe State Park as that was their next stop after Blanco.

While out doing some Christmas shopping we came across this Minnie of which Emma just had to have!!  There was no getting around it....she is obsessed with Minnie.

Yvonne and her family had their annual Christmas party which was so fun!!!!  We didn't leave until 10ish that night and had a great time!  I love seeing all of the girls!!

For the last couple of years I have had a gift for Cash, and now Emma, to open for Christmas Eve...can't remember where I saw this idea but just fell in love with it.  Wish I had seen it when Cash was younger but glad we have the tradition now.  They get a pair of Christmas pi's, candy, a movie or for E a toy.  Just a few things to enjoy as they prepare for the big morning!

Andy and Cheryl came over so we could exchange gifts and enjoy some Christmas festivities together!  They were way to good to us and spoiled the kids rotten!!  

All I wanted for Christmas was this chair for our master from Haverty's.  So of course Ben came through and had Andy and Cheryl bring it that evening!  I was pleasantly surprised and just love it!!!!!

Cookies put out for Santa, kids in bed, cookies and milk consumed and now ready for Santa to deliver the loot!   I will skip over the dog drama from that evening since, as noted above, she is now at my parents house with her sister..where she should be.   All I will say is..yet again...the dog thing didn't work out.  Even with all my determination its just not meant to be right now.  I told Ben as we laid in bed trying to decide on when we should put the gifts out that this Santa crap is just that crap!  SO much work and we have at least 6 more years..thats at a minimum...as Emma could go to 8 like Cash if she doesn't suspect that we are Santa.   

We finally decided to set our alarm for 4 as we just never knew, with all of Cash's excitement, when he would decide to get up.  Ugh...the anxiety!!!!!!  Well we got up at 4, started taking the gifts out, setting everything up as quickly as possible...with our hearts beating uncontrollably.....just waiting for Cash to run out.  So....back to the dog for a moment...the puppy was in her kennel in the living room, and of course as we went to get back in bed as if we had never gotten out of bed, she began to yelp...which of course woke Cash up.  I had to run in there to get her to calm down and out came Cash.  Thank goodness our sweet little boy doesn't have the common sense he will need later in life because he bought that Santa placed her in the living room and I heard her yelp and got up just like him!  He was so excited!  While we were putting out gifts Ben saw one of the fireplace doors open a little and a toy sitting in front of it that Emma left there.  He said I should move it so that Cash would't think it was weird that Santa wouldn't have knocked the toy off when coming out of the fireplace.  I told him he wouldn't even notice as he just doesn't think of things like that but I moved it anyway and left the fireplace door open a little as it was...well Cash did notice that and thought it was proof that Santa is real!  Score 1 for mommy and daddy!!!!!

Emma woke up a bit later and they both just had a blast going through all of things that "Santa" brought them! 

We of course have gumbo each Christmas so the cooking began and it smelled so yummy.  Below is a before and after...the roux and then the finished product.  My parents came over Christmas morning and we cooked, opened gifts and enjoyed some family time!  As noted in my Thanksgiving blog Ben wanted a chocolate pie and of course I didn't want to go through trying to find one again and it turn out not to be good...SO...I decided to make one from scratch!!  It actually turned out pretty good!!  Hoping to perfect it each year!

Just some fun pics of the kids during the holidays!  Looking forward to next year and we know it will be here before we know it!  Time is just passing by so fast...too fast!