Zoo day///Vday

I love Valentine's Day. It's probably because I love my Valentine!

This year I got to sleep in a bit and then got breakfast in bed - always a winner, especially if you're a mom of 2 kids under 2! ;)

Having small children definitely changes things up a bit when it comes to celebrating anniversaries and Valentine's Day! Casey & I have always enjoyed celebrating these events in a big way and while some find it cheesy, or think it's Hallmark's way of getting some extra cash, I have always loved how special Casey makes the day for me! I always know it will be fun, and this year was no different, even though we celebrated with the kiddos. :) 

Casey took the day off and we went to the zoo!!! It was perfect weather and because it was February, the Dallas Zoo does something called "Penguin Days" where adult admission is only $5. So our entire family got into the zoo for only $10 since the kiddos are under 2, and therefore, free!! Yay! My grandma still gives me Valentine's (which I so appreciate!!) and this year she gave me $20 in my card. Guess how much we spent that day? $8 for parking, $10 on tickets, & $2 on a carousel ticket for Sawyer = $20. Awesome. ;)

Heehee, he's so cute! :)

We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the zoo!  

 

My cutie little Valentine decked out in pink! :)

Zoo fun!

After the zoo we all came home and took a good nap! We were worn out from our day of walking! Next up on the Valentine's Day agenda was a movie! Casey & I dropped Sawyer off at his sister's house in Sachse and then headed to AMC at Firewheel to use a gift card that we had (Thanks, Pruitts!). We saw Argo! Not at all a romantic comedy, but we loved it! I love movies that are historically based and mostly true. Good stuff. Most of the movies we've enjoyed lately have been similar…Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, etc. 

Here was our little Valentine setup, haha.

 The day before I had done a little craft with the kiddos for Casey…Paint EVERYWHERE. It is incredibly hard to open a newborn's hand for a handprint…now I know why they do footprints at the hospital!!

My beautiful bouquet of flowers from Casey!

 Here's a compilation of my sweet family on Valentine's Day!

I LOVE them! :) 

Happy 9th Valentine's Day to my hubby!

Love Me Some Snow Days

Friday was a snow day which meant sleeping in, watching movies, "snowman looking" (a lot like going to look at Christmas lights), and sitting by the fire! It was a great day! We slept in, watched THREE movies from Blockbuster, and literally drove around town looking at snowmen! It was fun stuff! I took pictures of some of my favorites and almost all of these are on OUR street! I don't know if I told everyone this, but at Christmastime there were only 2 houses on our street that didn't have lights! It was a lot like this for the snowmen! Probably due to lots of young families with small children on our street.

Lucy begged to go outside in the snow often on these few white days.

On to the snowmen!

I darkened the color on this one so you could see the detail - our neighbor is quite the snow sculptor! This Indian woman even has pets! At least I think it's an Indian woman...Haha.

And here is what we enjoyed all day on Friday! I love a good fire! Ours is gas, but still burns real wood, and I love it because it can get really hot! I also love the smell of the seasoned wood and the sound of it popping in the fireplace! Having a fire is probably my #1 favorite thing about winter!

MLK

Happy MLK Day!

I have the day off today and I could not be more excited!=) I got up early this morning and went to Chiloso with Casey for some breakfast tacos! Now I'm getting ready to hit the gym with my mom and Lauren for a 24 Lift class! It is an hour-long weightlifting class, but it's also a total body workout! I'm pretty excited at how well I've been doing with my working out 'resolution'! My goal is to work out 7x's a month - which is pretty reachable, of course, but I needed something reachable so I wouldn't get too discouraged and quit. It's so hard to make time for it when I'm in TAKS-testing season...tutoring starts next week - blah!! This will be my 4th time to work out this month and it's the 18th. Not too shabby and it sure beats not working out at all!

After working out I'm going to see the Bodies Exhibit at the West End MarketPlace with my mom! Pretty cool if you like that sort of thing - which I do!=) You should check it out - it's only here until April.

After that I've got some down time before we go to the Stars game with the youth group! Fun times!

Oh, and a shout out to good ole Martin Luther King Jr - thanks for sharing your dream with us and making the US a better place!=)

Don’t Judge Me

I took the day off.

Yes, that's right. Don't judge me for it (Beverly, I'm talking to you :) haha)!

I was sick Wednesday night...I felt bad at school that day, left around 5, got Sonic, came home, ate, and then threw up. Yeah, not pretty. Went to bed at like 8:30 that night and went ahead to school the next morning because I didn't have "substitute friendly" plans ready. I decided on Thursday while I was at school (still not feeling well) that I would take off on Friday to catch up on rest, house work, laundry, and errands. You know when you're on your last pair of undies that its time to do some laundry! Well, that’s me! Too much information?

I have done well today! I woke up around 9, giving me 2 1/2 hours of extra sleep, but still an early enough day for all that I had planned!

Here's a run down of my day!

1. First off, I did the dishes and cleaned out the washer & dryer--Casey washed Lucy's bed in there and there was dog hair ALL over it. So trying to clean that out was a lot of fun.
2. After that I started on my laundry while picking up around the house. I will probably do around 8 loads when it is all said and done. I can’t even see my closet floor due to all the dirty clothes that are overflowing from my super-packed laundry basket.
3. Next I took Lucy to PetsMart to get a "puppy bath and brush" for only $11! They bathe her, blow dry her, brush her, trim her nails, and clean out her ears for $11. That's a pretty good deal considering all the time it would take ME to do it. I wouldn’t even know how to go about cleaning out her ears, and I’m sure there would be lots of blood if I tried to cut her nails.
4. After I dropped her off I made my way to the bank where I spent 30 minutes trying to get my silly ATM card fixed. It's been blocked many times and keeps saying "check financial institution." Turns out the problem was on the bank’s end and they fixed it, but it took a long time to figure out the whole mess. I'd already gone in there to take care of it a couple of weeks ago, and thought it had been fixed until I tried to use it again.
5. After the bank I got myself a mocha frappucino at Starbucks.
6. Then I went to Pier 1 to look at all the cutesie Christmas decor, but I kept myself from getting anything this time.
7. Next I went to Old Navy and got my gift for Pokeno night tonight! It's super cute! I can’t tell you what it is because it’s a surprise for tonight! While I was at Old Navy I got an awesome deal on 2 swim suits on clearance! I got a blue and white tankini for $10 and a cute black one piece for $5! I'd been looking for a tankini and a one piece this year, but never found one I liked. Finally! And on sale! Whoo! I also got some cute, pink house shoes. I know most people call them slippers, but I call them house shoes. My current pair have seen much better days. Time to retire them.
8. Now I'm back home doing more laundry and cleaning some more while I watch last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy! I LOVE Grey's. It's by far my favorite show these days.
9. After a little while I'm going to go pick up Lucy at PetsMart and take her to get her last set of booster shots and also her rabies shot at 4:30. I kind of like going to the vet - his office is cool and they have a big, live-in cat. He's pretty cool. :)
10. After that I'll come home and get ready for Pokeno Night! This month it is at Natalie's at 7! I'll be riding with Ginni there. It's been a fun day and, I have fun night ahead of me! Yay for the weekend!

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of my cute-and-cuddly companions on this gorgeous Friday afternoon!

 

The State Fair of Texas

A couple of weeks ago Casey & I went to the fair!   It was a lot of fun!    Fact: Did you know Texas has the biggest state fair in the United States?    Fact: Did you know the Texas Star is the biggest the ferris wheel in the Western Hemisphere?    Everything’s bigger in Texas!

Here I am with Elsie at the Borden exhibit! :)

 

Casey & I at the petting zoo! Feeding the lama and ostrich…also loved the baby camel! :)

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Casey tried to shoot a faraway shot to win basketball tickets – it was SO close, but didn’t go in.

  

Fried Snickers: so yummy it received a thumbs up!

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Casey in front of the Texas Star – the 25th tallest in the history of ferris wheels!

Labor Day Weekend

Casey and I had an awesome Labor Day Weekend. We filled it with fun, friends, the lake, and shopping! It was much needed for me after the first couple of weeks of school (those are always pretty stressful/hectic), so I was super glad to have it!

Friday night of Labor Day weekend Casey and I went to Twisted Root in downtown Dallas. We saw it on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. They make all sorts of crazy, specialty burgers as well as other neat stuff. It was really good!

Here's a picture of the front...it's actually a pretty cool atmosphere!

Casey waiting for his food!
Enjoying a night out with my cute husband! :)

Hope no one is offended by this, but it has a really funny story. I was looking at the sign trying to figure out if the sofa king was some sort of TV show or award, and finally I said "Casey, what is sofa king?" and he just laughed and laughed at me until I got what I had just said. The trick is obvious once you say it aloud, but I was oblivious.

Our awesome fried basket in the middle, and both of our burgers on each side. The fried basket included fried pickles (my fav!), french fries, onion rings, and fried sweet potato (SOO GOOD)! Yum!

On Labor Day Weekend we had our good friends Scott & Erin stay with us! Scott is Casey's friend from middle school and high school. They were also each other's 'best man' at one another's weddings. Scott met Erin at A&M and got married in January at South Padre. It was a pretty beach wedding, and my first one to attend! We took them out on the boat Saturday and had a great time! It was Scott's first time to ski and he did great! It was our first outing where everyone that went got up on the skis (besides when we go with my mom)! A funny thing happened while we were on the lake...we ran out of gas! So, Casey tied himself to the boat and swam us halfway to a marina before a man on a jet ski helped us out! Scott even got at the back of the boat and pushed while Casey pulled. It was too funny! There is a picture below.

I forgot to mention that Lucy went with us! This was her 2nd time on the boat and she liked it more this time than the first. The first time she seemed cold and scared after she swam. Poor thing!

Lucy & I in our life vests! :)

Scott and Erin on the tube!

Casey letting Lucy stand on him. She doesn't quite comprehend that she floats in the life vest and so she feels like she needs to keep swimming.

Our cute little family, minus Ella (our cat). Lucy looks so funny in her life vest! haha.

Casey pulling the boat to the marina that you see in the background. It was a long way, but he actually got us really close!!
Notice Scott on the tube behind me!

Casey playing with Lucy - he loves her more than I ever thought he would!

SOOO CUTE

Making himself a hot dog. I love eating on the boat! :)

I already know this is borderline obsessed :)

Scott & Erin!

Scott wants a dog SO bad, and Erin was having trouble getting use to the idea, or Lucy, but when this picture was taken she said "I don't want to move my foot because she is laying on it." She warmed up to her :)

Although there are no pictures, I must tell you that Monday was greatness. Casey had the day off (rare), and we spent the day shopping and getting things for our house, washing our cars, and we started watching The Lord of the Rings. It was our 2nd time to see them, but it had been years. They are so good. I'll try to post some pictures of the new fall things that we got for our house as well as the new picture for the bathroom and massive mirror for the dining room! It was a great find!

Anyway, that's our Labor Day Weekend in a nutshell!

Hope everyone has a great week! :)