27. Really?!?!

My birthday has come and gone, but I want to put the pictures up, so I might as well blog about it. I turned 27 on April 2nd. I am married, have 2 kids, and am almost done with graduate school, so I felt pretty old this birthday. Not too old, but still old, haha. (It always helps that Casey is 3 years old than me though…so while I turned 27, he was already 30…that makes me feel a bit better;).

As always, we went to my Momma Sheila's & Pappa Donnie's in Mabank for my birthday party. I always get a neat cake that has to do with something big that happened that year (for example, the year I graduated from A&M it was all maroon and Aggied out…my first year teaching the cake looked like a classroom had exploded on it, with rulers and apples and abc's all over it. You get the point). So, anyway, this year my cake had my babies on it! It said "Happy 27th birthday Momma   From, Sawyer & Dayton" My own name was not on my birthday cake. Instead it was replaced with "Momma" and my children's names made it onto the cake. Haha. So typical of having kids - do other mothers agree with me?! Oh, and we celebrated the day before Easter so it was fitting to have bunny rabbits and Easter eggs. :)

We always take a picture of the 3 of us on my birthday!

4 generations of Tapp, Rowan, Horton, Coats women :)

Uncle Russell & Dayton :)

my Mom got a tripod and was a little obsessed with capturing a group picture :) It turned out well!!

All of those presents really for me?! Can we say only child & only grandchild? ;)

On my actual birthday I had 2 birthday meals! The first one was lunch with my mom & Casey & the kiddos. I didn't get a picture with my momma. :(

The second was dinner with the Rickersons at Zanata's! YUM. We Coats & Rickersons always celebrate each other's birthdays with dinner with the 4 of us. :) It's always a fun time!

Casey also took me out to a fancy date at Sissy's!! I had been wanting to try it for sometime and he surprised me! I loved it!!! The food was so good and the decor was super cute. Thank you, babe!

I also had a celebration with Casey's family! We go out to eat for everyone's birthday and it's always a lot of fun. This year for my birthday we went to Campisi's at the Harbor in Rockwall. We had yummy cookie cake afterward! Everyone came back to our house and the kids had a blast hanging out in the backyard playing.

Me & my girl!

No smiling from her, but still pretty :)

cute nephew Caleb!! 

 Steph & the twins, Luke & Sadie!

 I think these pictures are cute because Sawyer is being shy, but loves her cousins! It's written all over her face :)

Sawyer may be Caleb's biggest fan!! 

Aunt Stephanie & Dayton!

cutie after his bath:)

After posting all of the pictures and writing about it, I've decided that 27 was a pretty great birthday! Geeze, am I spoiled! Did I really have FIVE birthday parties/lunches/dinners?! Lots of family, lots of celebration, and 2 super sweet kiddos this year. Bring on 27!! :)

C+L=5

Casey & I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on December 29, 2012! In the past we have gone out of town or stayed in a hotel in Dallas for a few days to celebrate, but being that we had a 9-day-old baby this year we stayed home. ;) Casey's parents came over to watch Sawyer while Casey, Dayton, & I went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and dessert! We love their chicken nachos and get them every time along with their 35th Anniversary cheesecake! Yum!!! I also like to get their cafe mocha coffee. It's $5, but so worth it! We had a great little date and Dayton slept through the entire thing.  ;)

It was the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary a little low-key this year.

Before heading out to dinner!

 

Our 3rd wheel ;)

 

We look tired because we are tired.

9 straight days of being up throughout the night with a newborn and worn out during the day by a toddler! ;)

Happy 5 year anniversary to the love of my life! :)

Restaurant Review

A couple of Fridays ago Casey & I went to Blue Goose on Greenville! It was our first time, and I had heard really good things from one of my co-workers. I have to admit, we were a little disappointed. I liked it just fine, but Casey wasn't a huge fan. It doesn't matter though, we don't require a great restaurant to have a good time! ;)

A cute dress I recently got at Target - I've found lots of cute, inexpensive dresses there lately! :)

Casey & I on our date! :)

Italian Delight!

A couple of weeks ago Casey & I got all dressed up to go to Zanata's in Rockwall. It is one of the best Italian re-makes I've ever been to. Their soppresetta bruschetta is just like the amazingness I had at the Agriturismo La Pievuccia that I stayed at for a month in Italy. It is soooo good. The gorgonzola cheese is very strong, though, so be warned. Casey and I shared the mac-a-roni pizza -- it doesn't really have mac-a-roni on it -- it is named after their sous-chef Mac! Haha! The pizza has sausage, jalapenos, pepperoni, mozzarella, sauce, & red onion. It is greatness!

Here am I showing off my new dress from Target! Good deals there!

Here I am with my great husband who likes to go out on fun dates! :)

{Saturday Swoon}

Saturday was a great day! We LOVE lazy Saturdays - but when we say lazy Saturdays, we don't mean laying around. We mean running errands and doing fun stuff that we enjoy doing! That's what yesterday was like. The morning started out with Casey at an early breakfast meeting for work while I slept in. When he returned around 9:30 I was still asleep so he did some homework. This is great for him though because he likes to get his work done before playing. AND he likes to get his work done while I'm not home or while I'm asleep so I don't distract him too much. =) This is good for me though because I like to sleep. =)

So, anyway, after I got up we ran some errands!

We went to my mom's house to pick up some of my old ski stuff, then we went to the cleaners to drop off some of my pants and Casey's sleeping bag. At youth camp some boys thought it would be funny to prank Casey by putting gross food in his sleeping bag. Yuck! We would've just thrown the sleeping bag away, but it's a pretty nice one. 

Next we went to Target and took back a pitcher that I bought a while back that leaks. I got $27 back on a gift card so we did a little clothes shopping for me. I LOVE Target clothes! 

Next we went to Sport's Authority and Casey got some new ski pants for our trip over spring break! He was excited about those. 

Then we went to Chipotle for lunch. Yum! 

Lastly we went to the Rockwall library. It is brand new and SO nice. Wow. We had never been in a library that nice. They have a 24 hour drive thru, online checkout and renewal, etc. We got a library card and off we were to the audio book section. 

I have made it one of my "lifetime goals" to read/listen to the classics. I spend so much time in the car each day (approximately 45 minutes) and listening to books is a great way to fill that time. I listened to the entire Bible in the car last year and it was great. On this trip to the library I rented Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. 

If you've read the Twilight Saga then you know that each book is loosely based off of another book. Twilight was based on Pride and Prejudice, New Moon on Romeo and Juliet,  Eclipse on Wuthering Heights, and Breaking Dawn on A Midsummer Night's Dream. So, obviously, being a big Twilight fan, I want to listen to/read all of those books. I've already read Romeo and Juliet in high school, but I plan to again.  

After we got home it was time to get ready to go out with Charlie and Ginni! They came over at 6 and we went to the Bishop Arts District in Dallas. SO FUN! Charlie and Ginni had been there a couple of times before, but we were newbies. It really is such a cute and fun place to go. We ate at Tillman's Roadhouse. A VERY neat ambiance and very good food, too! I loved everything we got - from the appetizers to the entree to the dessert! Yummmmy!

After dinner we walked around to the different boutique-y type shops and stores. Ginni & I even played Jenga in a soda shop! :) We also took some fun pictures and tried on vintage clothes. 

Here are some pictures from our eventful night out!

We liked this fun green door!

Can you see us under the sign? =)

Looks like we had a lot of fun, right?=)

Today was such great worship. I just loooooved the music at c|Life today. It's funny because last night we talked about our talents with the Rickerson's and then when I heard this song this morning I thought it directly applied to our conversation. For part of the time while we were singing I just stood there and listened. The words are so good if you apply them and really mean them.

Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to thee. 

Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. 

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. 

Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. 

Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my king. 

Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee. 

Take my silver and my gold not a might would I withhold. 

Take my intellect and use every power as you choose. 

Here am I, all of me. 

Take my life, it's all for thee. 

Take my will and make it Thine it shall be no longer mine. 

Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne. 

Take my love, my Lord I pour at your feet its treasure store 

Take myself and I will be ever, only all for thee, 

Take myself and I will be ever, only all for thee. 

Here am I, All of me. 

Take my life, It's all for thee. 

If you're interested, this song is from Chris Tomlin's CD Hello Love. I got this CD last year for my birthday, but didn't really pay attention to the lyrics until today. 

Have a great week everyone!