Spring Break

This was our first "official" spring break now that Boston's a school goer. 

Since Kristin and Chad moved back to Dallas in December, we had planned to go visit their new pad for the week.  Unfortunately, builders aren't always on schedule so their house was not quite finished for us. 

 Regardless, we went anyway!

We drove up Friday night to Keller and stayed with the Nielson's for two nights.  We stood in the FREEZING rain for Isabel's soccer game that Saturday.  The weather this year was DEFINITELY NOT spring break kind of weather. 

We spent the afternoon wondering around Cabela's. My boys always enjoy that place.

 Then that night, we decided to have a date night.  Totally worth getting a sitter, going to dinner then heading to the Hubbards to hang out for dessert.  I still laugh that we were all such good friends that married best friends...and all still live so close! 

 We headed up to Prosper Sunday afternoon to stay snugly in Kristin's temporary apartment. 

We were SO thrilled to be there for the birthday boy's FIFTH birthday on Monday!

 Boston and Charlie really are best buds and I just LOVE their relationship. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCKLES! 

 He's the most hilarious, energetic, spunky boy you will ever meet!

 We definitely did our fair share of eating out while we were there. 

I LOVE food. 

 I especially LOVE that Dallas now has IN-N-OUT!  We ate there once...or twice...(LOVE their burgers and shakes but so not a fan of the fries).

 We kept busy ALL week with a new activity for the kids each day.  We headed towards Ft. Worth one day and stopped in Southlake for a little bounce house fun.

 Then headed over to the Ft. Worth stockyards.  I can't believe we had never been over here before.  Chad got UBER excited when he saw that you could take a picture on a longhorn....for $5....needless to say just a few kids got a go at that.

 This year's Christmas card??  I can't believe we are Texans...

 Every day, TWICE a day, they herd the cattle down the street.  This is how my boys saw the show..

Then we went to a Wild West show.  Totally thought it was going to be a little more action packed fun but not so much.  There were a few good moments but wasn't lively enough.

 We all piled in for a carriage ride around town.  Sorry for all the blurry pics, I've been lazy and haven't been using my big camera lately--just the phone.

 All the kids begged for cowboy hats!  Guess they really want to be cowboys...like REALLY...we still hear about it, "When do I get cowboy boots??"

 Chad really wanted to buy these longhorns for his new office.  Kristin reluctantly agreed....she's such a good wife.

 AND when we got back, the kids acted out their own cowboy scene.

The guys tested out Kristin's new vacuum Chad surprised her with after Kent got a haircut one day.

 You can't spend time with Kristin without doing a little shopping.

One of the IMPORTANT reasons we went to Dallas was to get Kent's tooth fixed.  We have a wonderful friend in Coppell (Dr. Brady Camp) who was anxious to get his hands on Kent's mouth for awhile.  I'm SO glad Kent finally decided to get this thing fixed. It has been painful for him. 

He finished the FIRST step (having the tooth extracted and the bone graft put in place) with no problems (minus the sinus infection that went away with the meds).  Now we got back in June to have more work done...poor guy.

 While he was getting his mouth worked on, Kristin and I took the kids to the zoo.  Chad stayed back with sick Sophie.  We have never been to the Dallas zoo but Kristin heard that it had been revamped so we were anxious to see how it compared to the Ft. Worth and Houston zoos.  Let's just say I may never go back again...for the price (parking PLUS admittance) the zoo wasn't that spectacular. 

I think this zoo still has a ways to go.

 Not to mention it was JAM PACKED!!! Holy cow.  I've never experienced something like that.  NO THANK YOU!  It was WAAY more stressful then it was fun.

 But the kids tried to take advantage of everything they could. 

 On our way home, we stopped by this cute milkshake place.  This was the perk of the day!

 

 That night, I checked on Hudson and found him sleeping like this.  I couldn't resist a shot.

 I was VERY hesitant to let Boston see this movie.  It looked SO dark to me.  But Kent and Chad convinced us and they took the kids.  Surprisingly, I think they all enjoyed it okay (Hudson napped on Kent most the time).  Boston said he never got scared.  I'm anxious to see it myself now...

 Meanwhile, Kristin and I did a little more shopping and a little more checking in on their house (they FINALLY got their closing date).

 

 Going over there each day to check on the house made me VERY anxious to get into a house of our own!!!

 Saturday night, we got a sitter and went out to dinner and dessert (and broke into a few model homes we wanted to browse through).  I'm SO happy they live so much closer to us now!!!

Sunday was St. Patrick's Day and our departure day.  The kids wore their best green gear to church.

 Then we came home, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then HIT THE ROAD back to Houston, sadly.  Our St. Patty's day was a little lame-o because of it.  I thought I'd make up for it Monday, but Boston woke up throwing up (delightful) and by Tuesday I was over it.  There's always next year, right?

The boys were exhausted on the drive home and passed out with a quickness.

 Successful spring break. 

We will be back!

Rodeo

Sometimes I hate having a child in school.  The only day we can go do stuff as a family is Saturdays which is when every place is so jam packed crowded.  Definitely a bummer. 

This year, since all our Saturdays were booked and busy during rodeo AND because we wanted to avoid the massive crowds, we surprised Boston and checked him out early on a Wednesday to go. 

It was perfect. 

NO crowds and we even got to take advantage of an hour of discount Wednesday (thank goodness too because with TWO kids riding rides our rodeo cost DOUBLED this year)!

 This little obstacle course has been Boston's favorite for the last two years.  Even though Hudson wasn't quite tall enough, we convinced the man to let him in.  He loved it just as much as his brother.

 The boys were racing from ride to ride...

And before we knew it, our tickets were up.

 Ever since we watched the MUTTON BUSTIN last year, Boston had been itching to turn FIVE so he could have his turn (they only allow 5 & 6 year olds to ride).  I was very surprised that he wasn't hesitant AT ALL to do this.  Coming from NON cowboy parents, we gave Boston the best advice we could---HOLD ON AS TIGHT AS YOU CAN AND SQUEEZE YOUR LEGS AROUND HIM! 

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Our advice worked and he scored a 95 and came in SECOND place! 

He loved it!  We might have a little cowboy on our hands...

 What's a rodeo without getting to check out a real tractor

 And learn where all our food comes from?

 Lastly, I took Hudson to the petting zoo (Boston had no interest for some odd reason).  I bought some feed and those freakin goats were ATTACKING me.  I think it freaked Hudson out a little.  Those things don't mess around when it comes to getting some food (hence the one and only blurry pic I got)!

Rodeo day was a SUCCESS....minus the $48 we spent on food that was DISGUSTING!

My Bubba

I'm a little behind on my blog lately.  February and March seemed to be busy months for us.  Now it's catch up time. 

Back in February, we finally convinced Boston to get a hair cut.  For me, it was getting a little out of control.  When he heard his cousin Charlie cut off his hair, finally, he agreed to do it (although he doesn't look too happy about it). 

The spikes were finally back.  Oh I really did miss that clean look!

Boston also celebrated 100 days of kindergarten. 

They were told me make a shirt with 100 things on it. 

 Boston chose to stamp sports stuff on an ORANGE tee (this has been his favorite color for a couple years).

 He also came home in February with another school fundraiser.  I'm so not in love with fundraisers and usually toss them to the side. 

 But those dang BOOSTERTHON people...

  They were to ask for donations per lap and then how ever many laps they ran, that's how much someone would end up donating.  Those Boosterthon people sure did something to pump those kids up because Boston came home DAILY asking to call family and friends for donations.  I finally caved and told him we could ask JUST family. 

And with every donation came a prize....

The pledges were set and the day finally came for Boston to run. 

 Hudson and I went up to the school to watch him run and see how many laps he would run. 

We spotted one of his football buddies, Cameron ready to run too.

 Boston did GREAT.  He was so determined and SO pumped for this thing.  It cracked me up but also made me proud of his determination. 

He ran 48 laps.

Thanks so much to our family who offered to donate and raise money for the school's new play ground equipment (and for making this little boy SUPER happy).

By the way, I'm glad this thing is OVER.

 Even a week after the Boosterthon, Boston still wanted to sport his prizes.  I can't believe we let him even go to dinner this night looking like a 1980's workout instructor, but we did. 

It was too priceless.

 One of Boston's favorite things to do lately is practice tricks on his Razor. 

 On a side note, RAZOR'S ARE SO FUN!  Yes, I do get on a ride every time we are outside...and compete with my 5 year old with our new tricks.

 And I can't end this post without posting this picture. 

I told Kent we needed to walk through the new American Girl store to show him how grateful he should be to just have sons at the moment. 

We turned around to find Boston and saw this:

He'll kill us one day.

Love that boy.

Fat Tuesday/Valentines Day

Fat Tuesday and Valentines day were just a day a part this year. 

Our Mardi Gras celebration was pretty low key (I had other things to plan and worry about and this one snuck up on me).  The boys wore green in celebration and my mom pulled through again this year and sent us a YUMMY king cake.  The boys didn't want to wait until after our southern, jambalaya dinner to have somee so we cut into it for snack time.  The last TWO years, totally NOT rigged, Boston has bit into the baby.  Pretty sure if this continues and next year when Hudson starts noticing this trend, we might have a battle on our hands.  We completed our night with some of our FAVORITE jambalaya.  Its one meal that the WHOLE family just devours (and Boston asks for more to have in his lunch the next day).  Such a rare thing in our house. 

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

 Valentines Day. 

Oh Valentines Day. 

This year, I continued a tradition I started LAST year and I'm thinking NEXT year we will do things differently.  Starting February 1st, every morning the boys woke up to a little surprise in their Valentine's mailboxes.  For some reason, this ended up being a big stress and cost WAY more then I had ever anticipated it to this year.  Boston loves tradition this but next year, somehow we have GOT to scale it back. 

Why is it so hard to come up with cheap, GOOD, BOY goodies that won't be thrown away in a week? 

On Valentine's Day, I heart attacked Kent AND the boys.  I made our Valentine's breakfast, red (pink) heart pancakes, and made a fun valentine's themed lunch for Boston to take to school. 

 You can't have Valentine's day without giving out cute Valentine's (thanks pinterest).  Boston decided on these since we are a "bug" family (and I liked it since it was one less sweet).  I also finally tasted GIGI's cupcakes and thought we should suck up to the teacher and get her a YUMMY red velvet cupcake.

 All of us joined Boston for his school's Valentine's day party

 We have had talks with Boston about how he always needs to stand up for his little brother and basically be "his brother's keeper" in life.  This day in particular Boston did just that the WHOLE time.  I know this may not last forever but he was SO proud to have Hudson there.  He shared his food, introduced Hudson to his friends and even asked his friends to share some candy with his little bro. 

Made this momma smile.

This year it was my turn to plan Valentine's Day (we rotate planning anniversary and valentine's).  I made Kent a "favorite things" basket and since Kent has never had a massage, I surprised him with a couples massage that night.

  I decided after that experience that we have GOT to schedule massages more often. 

 They are divine. 

Kent and I were talking later at dinner about how we have now celebrated NINE Valentine's Days together.  NINE!

Crazy how time flies.

It was also NINE years ago that Kent and I had our first kiss...

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!