Project 365, January 26 - February 2

It's official! I'm moving my blog to Wordpress! I'm a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. But I've recruited help. Joy at Five J's Design has already been super helpful, and she's thankfully in charge of moving all my years worth of posts over to the new spot.

But I'm doing all the design work and building of the new site myself. And I have to say that website builders/code developers are rockstars. I feel a little in over my head, but the design part is ready to go, and it's so pretty. 

I can't wait to share it with you! 

I've been blogging with Blogger since December 2006 - yikes! Those first posts are SO awful. Please don't read them. :) But I'm ready for a change. I'm ready for a site that looks nice on your iPhone and allows you to comment from it. I'm ready for a site that will help some of my posts get noticed with better SEO. I'm ready for a site with a back-end editorial calendar so I can (maybe?) be a little more organized. I'm ready for a site that it'll make it easier for you to find specific bento lunch themes.

I'm just ready! But we have to wait a little longer. I'll keep you posted, but it's looking like the week of February 17th will be go-time. Yay!

On with the photos:

(I've committed to taking a photo (with my Canon dSLR!) everyday in 2014. Join me!)

"Oops" 26 // 365

"Grumpy Monday" 27 // 365

"Gender Roles for Breakfast" 28 // 365

"Toddler Toes" 29 // 365

"Grumpy Thursday" 30 // 365

"Sampras in Training" 31 // 365

"We Saw Frozen!!!!" 32 // 365

"My Guys Can Cook" 33 // 365

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Project 365, January 11 - January 18

Brian's uncle passed away last week. He had been sick for a long while so it was a sad loss, but it wasn't completely unexpected. My mom picked up the kids for the weekend and Brian and I road tripped south for the funeral.

It was kind of like a date weekend in a weird way. We had a nice dinner out by ourselves and spent lots of time together in the car. It was good to spend some one-on-one time with him; It was a little recharge for me. And since we don't have any weekend trips away planned anytime soon I'll take what I can get. Just waking up in a kid-free house was pretty vacation-like. I bet you would agree.

By Sunday afternoon we were all back together doing our regular Sunday afternoon thing, watching football, playing outside, wearing princess dresses. And it was good.

I've been plugging along with my Project 365. I'm having so much fun with it, capturing moments I wouldn't be otherwise.

"Smocked in Dad's Old Shirt" 11 // 365

"Bumble Bee be Free" 12 // 365

"Share" 13 // 365

"I need my bow hat" 14 // 365

"I need my princess crown" 15 // 365

"J is for Jellyfish" 16 // 365

"Let's Go" 17 // 365

"Lone Star" 18 // 365

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On a Weekend...

The kids are in swimming on Saturday mornings this spring. It makes for kind of crazy Saturdays, but while Caroline and Brian swim, Andrew and I have ended up with some one-on-one time.

This is a rare treat for us, and it's been so fun.

Last Saturday we went to Society Bakery to get cupcakes for Brian's birthday. Andrew was so sweet and we sat outside at a little bistro table while he finished his free sample - yes they had free cupcake samples!

Also? Ombré cake.

This Saturday we ran up to Pottery Barn Kids to buy a baby gift and just one thing for Andrew. He picked out an awesome Batman book.

While we were there Peter Rabbit showed up!

Andrew was so cute. He jumped right up there on his lap like he sat with a bunny everyday. He said, "Mom! He has a giant carrot!" I loved it, and was so glad we just happened to be there and that I had him dressed in a cute outfit. :) You just never know!

It felt like spring today with warm sunshine and a cool breeze. I went to a baby shower and then took Andrew to a birthday party this afternoon. After all that partying we decided we needed a dinner out and it needed to be on a patio. My Dallas friends can attest that the Gloria's patio and a margarita on a spring day really can't be beat.

It's a little different now, what with the constant requests for new tic-tack-toe games and the need to keep Caroline from drowning in the black bean dip, but still. It was awesome. And my kids were quiet and well behaved.

Is there much more you can ask for from a dinner out with two small children?

I hope your weekend was filled with the things you love the most!

xoxo

Catch Me If You Can at Fair Park

Brian and I had our Valentine's Day celebration a little early this year. On Tuesday we headed to
opening night of Catch Me If You Can at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Y'all, it was so much fun!

Here's where I have to admit that I never, ever watch movies. They're just such a time commitment, and I have a hard time sitting still for that long. But Brian loves movies, and he had seen Catch Me If You Can so he knew the story.

But even though he knew what to expect, and I just knew Leonardo DiCaprio looked good running through airports, we both loved the show. :)

This new Broadway musical is based on the 2002 movie which tells the incredible true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., who runs away from home with nothing more than his boyish good looks and a whole lot of confidence. Lots of splashy hijinks ensue!

The chorus girls were fabulous. Frank was charming and Detective Hanratty was hysterical. I also really enjoyed the way they had the stage set up with the orchestra up high and included in the show rather than down in the pit.

If you're in Dallas, go buy your tickets now! Catch Me If You Can will be in town through February 24th. You will not be disappointed!

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Disclosure: DSM provided our family with two tickets to see Catch Me If You Can, but all opinions here are mine.

Ultimate Weekend Recap

This weekend's theme was most definitely My Favorite Things with My Favorite People.

We had a babysitter Friday night so we ran up to the hospital for a bit to love on Anna Kate.

Oh man...she's tiny! You'd think as a mother myself that I'd remember how mini brand new babies are, but I forget every time.

After some quality baby snuggles Brian and I had a fabulous dinner out. We wanted to try someplace new and picked a southern restaurant close to our house. We got there at 9PM and thought we'd maybe have to wait for 10 minutes, but they said it would be an hour.

Sigh...we're too old to eat dinner at 10PM.

But the host took pity on us and found a cancellation and we got to sit right down to a delicious dinner.

Andrew's swimming lesson show was Saturday morning so we all headed out to the pool. Brian takes him to his lessons on Saturday mornings now, so I hadn't seen his progress. He can do the backstroke! Color me impressed. He's swimming half-way across the pool now. I really think swimming may be his sport, just like his daddy.

We had a crazy family taco lunch date after swimming, and I got to work on some house projects while Caroline napped and Brian and Andrew went to the park, Home Depot and Central Market.

We grilled chicken outside, my mom and dad dropped by, we listened to fun music. Saturday was good.

Today was full of pancakes and eggs, double stroller rides, laundry and solo grocery shopping.

See? Really, all my favorite things crammed into one weekend.

Brian has been finished with school for about six weeks now. Lots of those six weeks were occupied by Christmas preparations and celebrations and Andrew sickness.

So this weekend felt like a preview of what life will be like for us post-MBA school.

And I'm pretty excited about what's in store for our little family.

Perot Museum Visit

Waaay back before Andrew got the sick, our little family finally went to the new Perot Museum in Dallas.

We live right in town, and I love being so close to cool things like this. I'm such a city girl.

One of my favorite parts was the view from the top.

We started at the top of the museum and worked our way down.

The dinosaurs are at the top.

Andrew was pretty pumped about that as you can imagine.

They also have a fabulous children's museum section. My favorite part was the climbing space that looks like our city skyline.

Caroline liked the raccoon. :)

And the fire pit too.

We didn't bring a stroller and it was so much easier. Brian wore Caroline most of the time and I had to carry my giant bag and camera, but we were able to go up the cool escalator and the music playing staircase.

If I were to go on my own with both kids though, I'd  have to bring a stroller.

It was all around an awesome place!

We joined for the year and I envision many, many weekend afternoons at the Perot. We also have several friends planning birthday parties there later this year.

Sometimes we think about leaving the city and moving out to the 'burbs, but when Dallas does cool stuff like this (and the Park!) they totally suck me in.

Well done Dallas.

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year from our crazy family to yours! 

My only resolution for 2013 is to go to bed at a decent hour. My mantra is going to be eleven to seven, eleven to seven.

If I can get us all on a better sleep schedule I think lots of other stuff I want to accomplish this year will fall in to place.

If you have any tips I'm all ears because we all know I've tried this before. ::sigh::

This time I will do it!

P.S. Here's our family photo from January 1, 2012.

What a difference a year makes!

Just Busy

Oh man.

Brian finished school, and I stopped blogging!

Okay, not really. It just seems like it. Things are just so busy this time of year.

I haven't even ordered my Christmas cards yet. Ahhhh! But they're almost finished and I'll be ordering tonight. I think.

Quality Target Time

But I am ahead on shopping and wrapping.

We spent our first school-free weekend cleaning out the garage, hanging Christmas lights and furnishing our back patio. We also went to two parties and on a carriage ride to look at the Christmas lights with friends.

It was a busy weekend, but not once did I worry about hurrying up so Brian could study. Ahhh...freedom.

It's been cold here this week and both kids have runny noses and chapped skin. I feel so bad for Andrew and his red lips, but he licks them all the time. I don't know how to help him. What do you use for chapped lips?

Daddy Snuggles

I have some little bits of Christmas decor photos to share with y'all. And a new outfit to post. Hopefully I'll be back sooner than later. Maybe when I find someone to come wrap all my presents for me. Ha!

What have you been up to?

Dress for the Day - Christmas Party Style

Brian reminded me on Monday morning that his office Christmas party is this Friday evening. I'm sure he told me much earlier, but I forgot to put it on my calendar which means I had NO IDEA it was coming up.

Oops.

His work party is a little different than most. It's for the whole family and it starts super early - like at 5PM and is usually over by ten.

We'll leave even earlier because we're taking the kids, and then later that night we have an MBA graduation party to attend.

I need an outfit!

I scoured my closet today and didn't really come up with anything I'm crazy about. I think this is a great excuse for a trip to Northpark (the world's greatest mall, where I once wore my pajama pants.)

I'm looking for this:

This outfit is so me. Seriously my sister will laugh when she sees this because it is so me. (Hi Kels!)

I love the bow and the pleats and the polka dots and the 50's-ish earrings.

Now I just need to find it all tomorrow with Caroline in tow. Ummmm....

Hopefully I'll have the real deal to show you next week.

This brings me to an important questions. We have a few other Christmas parties on our calendar this season. If I wear this to Brian's work party is it okay to wear the exact same thing to a party with old college friends? There shouldn't be overlap, but you never know.

I would normally say yes, but I'm curious what you would do.

// Sweater // Skirt // Tights // Earrings // 

Thankful

So Thanksgiving has come and gone. It seems like it came early this year, no?

We had a wonderful visit with family full of great food and fun. After lunch we needed a walk and some energy burning so we headed down to the little park in GJ's neighborhood.

The evening was perfect.

And the kids had a blast. Caroline has turned into a little daredevil. She's going to give me a run for my money that one.

We drove home at bedtime Friday night which was fabulous. The kids fell asleep in the car, we had very little traffic and had all weekend back at home to get unpacked and start Christmas decorating.

So you'd think that I'd have my tree up and trimmed, all the laundry done and the house ready for Monday morning.

Hahahaha!

But we did get our family photos taken for our Christmas cards. I'm pretty excited about that.

I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving!  And cheers to the beginning of the holiday season!