Happy 10 Years!!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!  We have been married for ten years?!?!  It has truly been the very best years of my life and I could not be more blissful about the life and family we have created together.  My greatest love, my best friend, so glad we found each other all those years ago.  We had considered going to Europe to celebrate, but for many reasons, including my apprehension about being so far away from my girls, we decided to go to NOLA.  We had THE BEST TIME and loved every minute.  We did nothing but casually enjoy the city and all of the delicious food it has to offer.  I can't wait to go back!

Enjoying a late dinner at R'evolution our first night.  We both have never felt so full in our lives!  It was sure delicious though.  Just our appetizers were "Death by Gumbo" and three giant crab beignets.  I was completely full before my entree even came.

Our hotel had the most beautiful courtyard.  The luxury of not traveling with children--being able to just sit and enjoy the surroundings.

We went to Cafe Du Monde twice on our trip. So worth the wait.

Jackson Square

We were just casually strolling around the French Quarter when the St. Patrick's Day "practice parade" came through.  Mike and I were just standing there arm in arm watching the chaos when this guy thought we were posing for a picture and tried to photo bomb us.  He then realized we were just standing there.  Then he decided he and I needed this photo together...only in NOLA!  He did end up taking the only picture of Mike and me from the trip though:

 The night of our anniversary, we ate at Galatoires, my favorite meal of the trip.  It is like going into times past eating there.  It was so neat and so delicious.  Sadly, I didn't take any pictures.

After brunch at Brennan's Saturday morning, we walked out and happened upon some street performers.  They were looking for various people to participate.  Mike got chosen as the "rich white guy"!  That is what he gets for wearing a sports coat to brunch!

The finale of the performance was this guy running and flipping mid air over the entire group they had gathered.

Get ready to LAUGH:

The Real Rodeo

We took the girls to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with Ducky and Pong Pong.  They have been volunteering for the Rodeo for as long as I can remember and they were thrilled to finally take the girls.

They had a blast at "Fun on the Farm"

Playing in corn! 

We found corn in Olivia's boots for days!

Milking a "cow"!

You go around from station to station "planting" seeds, "milking cows", "feeding chickens", etc.  At the end, you take all of your hard work to the farmers marker and they give you "money" to buy a treat.  It was so cool and so much fun!

Next we hit the Midway

Another pony ride!

We finally made it up to the box with all of Mike's coworkers and the girls were both enamored with the live music.  It was hands down the worst live music I have ever seen, but they couldn't look away!

Their first concert!

Rodeo Day!

Olivia's school had Rodeo Day a couple weeks ago.  It started with a parade of all of the classes.

Olivia's class were the "Rodeo Rangers"

So proud of her Texas flag!

Olivia's class

Face painting

Pony rides!

Armadillos!

The armadillos look thrilled to be stuck in a box with a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds :)

Her friend, Madison

 Olivia as "Jesse"!

 Train rides!

Mama and her cowgirl!  What a super fun day!  So glad I was there with my big girl.

Children's Party

I started volunteering for an amazing organization called VICTORY this year.  It raises huge amounts of money for the American Cancer Society through two annual events, The Cattle Baron's Ball and the Holiday Shopping Card.  Additionally, VICTORY hosts a party at the Children's Museum for children on the oncology ward in the Houston area.  The museum is thoroughly cleaned beforehand and is closed to the public for a couple hours for the big party.  They have free reign of the entire museum with tons of activities, clowns, face painters, food, ice cream and more.  My committee assignment for this year was an art activity for the children to do at the party.  A professional artist, Edgar Medina, came to create a painting with the children, to later be sold at the ball auction in April.  I had such an fabulous time helping out and spending time with some amazing kiddos.  Here is the painting almost complete:

Babies, Blankets, and Maya!?

Poor Maya dog.  The girls' latest obsession is filling the dog kennel (with Maya in it!) with babies, blankets and themselves.  Hopefully dog protective services is not going to come and knock on our door.  This video is kind of long, but funny :)




Eliza is sad here because A) it is nap time and B) Maya hit the road:

Happy Valentine's Day

 Olivia and I made her Valentines this year.  I ordered the art from Etsy and tied some candy to the back with the glitter ribbon.  After Olivia did a couple, she said she preferred watching me do it as I was "really good at it" :)

 Olivia, before school, head to toe in red and white

 Three other moms and I were in charge of doing the Valentine's party.  One of the other moms, Lucy, made these adorable frames for each of the kids to decorate.  So very cute!

 Decorating their frames

Her finished product

 Eating ice cream!

Mike had quite the Valentines!  After ballet, Olivia decided Daddy would want a balloon and some purple flowers for Valentine's day.  We then dipped strawberries in white chocolate and drizzled them with caramel.  They were yummy despite their appearance :)

 Eliza decided Olivia could do the dipping and she could do the taste testing

 Cutie in her Valentines shirt from Nana

 Hopefully this is not her "cheese" face for every picture :-)

Weekend in Dallas

Olivia had last Thursday off from school, so we decided to go to Dallas for the long weekend.  It was a last minute decision and, as usual, tons of fun.  It is really neat watching all of the cousins playing and having so much fun together.  We stayed at Tim and Jenny's.  We got to eat lots of yummy food, one meal being at Snuffer's, the restaurant I worked at my freshman year of college.  The cheddar fries were as good as I remember!

Trying to get a good photo of the cousins:

 

 Emery, Delia, and Olivia

 

 Eliza using Rocky as a stool :)

Baby Yoga

Olivia has yoga on Mondays at school.  The other day, Eliza was being silly (imagine that!) and did her version of a "downward dog" and Olivia got excited.  She wanted to do a little yoga.  I told her that I had a yoga DVD and she really wanted to do it (it was a prenatal yoga video).  Uncle Matt was on his way over and walked into two little girls and an out of shape Mama doing a little yoga.  He just about died laughing.  Not what he expected to see.

 I had just given the girls a bath and yes, that is a naked little baby bum on Olivia :)

It has become quite the regular occurrence around here:

More Doggie "Enrichment"

Another child, more "doggie enrichment".  Just like her big sister before her, Eliza loves to feed Maya.  And just like Olivia, Eliza likes to keep Maya from eating directly out of her bowl.  She picks it up, throws it all around and makes her scavenge around the utility room to find the pieces of food.  Anytime Eliza hears the food hitting the bowl, she comes running.  Maya really doesn't seem to mind.  As long as the end result is a full tummy, she doesn't care.  I suppose it keeps her lizard hunting skills sharp just in time for the Spring.  I did buy Maya the larger pieces of food so there isn't as much hunting involved :)