Cooking Blog

If you haven't noticed it yet, I started a cooking blog this year. There is a link to it on the upper right side of this blog or by clicking here. A couple more blogs in the works as well... stay tuned!

I haven't been too good about posting these lately, but here are the monthly pictures of the kids! I was just thinking that we have done this monthly for the last 5 1/2 years. Wow- where has the time gone??


Daniel is my entertainer- he LOVES to sing and dance. He can memorize a song in no time- and I'm not talking about kid songs either. We love hearing him sing in the back seat of the car. He is REALLY and I mean REALLY into Disney's Nightmare Before Christmas and he sings the songs very well. I'll have to post some video later. He is also very sweet and compassionate and very full of energy! He loves school and is learning so much every day. His smile gets me every time! He loves Disney and can't wait to go back. We're currently trying to plan something for his birthday and our anniversary. I can't wait to wake him up the morning of to go to the airport- you've never seen a kid so happy and alert at 5am!



Arianna is a little busy body- full of energy and curiosity! She mimics everything that her big brother does. At least for now, he thinks it's funny and sees what he can make her do. She loves her big brother and misses him when he's gone. I love seeing her run to him with a hug and kiss after school. I think her goal in life right now is just to drive her Daddy crazy- she does pretty well too! She can be sooooo sweet though- I love getting random hugs and kisses from her. And her smile can instantly melt away any bad feelings that I might have. Her vocabulary expands every day and even includes some not so good words (like for shirt, she misses the "r"). She isn't up to the singing yet, but she can dance right along with her big brother. She also entertains me while I work out- she mimics my workout which is hilarious at times!

Two peas in a pod for sure! They are at a great age for playing together and expending some of that energy. A nightly ritual has become a game of Tag and everyone has to participate. If one of us tries to sit down, Arianna will pull us and get us back in the game. It usually ends with lots of tickles and then bed. They play very well together and have lots of fun. I love seeing Daniel's compassion for her when she is upset- he's an awesome big brother.

We've consistently had Family Night this year and we all love it. We usually all help prepare dinner and then play games or watch a movie. Game night can be quite noisy, but tons of fun! Somehow movie night always ends up with a kid movie...just kidding- we love the movies too and wouldn't have it any other way!

Since it has been so cold lately, we've spent a lot of time entertaining ourselves in the house. This seems to be a favorite of the kids right now.... so exactly why do we have all of these other toys??? ;-) And if you are wondering, I am the one that gave them the instruments. People have always joked that they would buy my kids "noisy" toys to drive me crazy. I just say bring it on because I always buy them noisy things myself! We had to take a brief break here for a phone call from his school cancelling school the next day for the snow. There was lots of celebrating after that call!

We didn't do anything big for Valentine's Day- we're of the thinking that we don't need a Hallmark holiday to make us do what we already do. But I did get a few little things for the kids and Tony. That morning Tony brought me breakfast and roses after his 6 mile run- that was a sweet treat! I made these cookies for Daniel

Now, I know you are thinking that those aren't "Valentine's" cookies... and you're right. But when you have a kid obsessed with Nightmare Before Christmas, what can you do?? And look at this face when he saw them...

Well, that's our update for now! We have to get the house cleaned today and start our weekend off right! We love having Tony work from home on Fridays and try to get everything out of the way before then...so off to clean! Have a great weekend!

Museum

Daniel was out of school Friday due to weather and then Monday for the holiday- so we had a nice long weekend! I briefly thought about taking the kids to the museum on Monday, but quickly realized that it was likely to be pretty crowded with kids out of school. So, we decided that Tuesday would be a good day for the museum. Actually, it was between the zoo and museum and luckily the museum won out- as it was only in the 30's that morning! At least the museum had heat! But it did prove to be a somewhat busy day at the museum anyway as there were several school field trips with lots of kiddos. But with my quick thinking, we managed to avoid all of the crowds and had a good time.

First up was the Dinosaurs. The kids got to put together a puzzle, measure the bones and look in the microscopes- all fun stuff!

One big hit for the kids is the Children's Museum area- so much fun stuff to do! Arianna is still mesmerized by the bubbles- she continually goes back to those bubbles! Little Gym sponsors an area called Balancing Act which they enjoyed. Arianna followed Daniel around and did everything he did- cute. And what is it with the grocery store? That section was packed and they were out of grocery carts! Arianna walked smack into the metal rail where the carts go. She hit her forehead dead on and put her hand to her head and rubbed it. There were Mom's sitting around that gasped when she hit, but there wasn't a single tear...I tell you, that girl is tough! There was also an area to build your own train and an "emergency" area where Arianna drove the Ambulance-now that's a little scary! Daniel loved building the train track!

There is a section called Energy Blast that is actually a 4D movie about energy sources. Daniel didn't want to see the movie, but we were able to go through the exhibit that you normally see after watching the movie. It was really cool! One room has a model of Fort Worth that looks awesome- we could even see Daddy's building! You go to each station and do what the computer tells you. Each station talks about a different energy source and once you are done, it "powers" some part of Fort Worth- really neat. I could probably have stayed a lot longer just looking at the model- amazing!

We also went through the Cattle Raiser's exhibit and an exhibit about Historic Fort Worth. The kids got to sit on a trolley and ring the bell. There were games and puzzles in the Cattle Raiser's exhibit that they enjoyed.

There were a few exhibits we bypassed due to the crowds and it was about noon anyway and we were picking up Daddy for lunch! So, we headed out after a fun day at the Museum! We picked up Daddy and had a yummy lunch at Qdoba! All in all, it was a fun day and we were all tired!

Snow Days!!

This has certainly been an unusual winter for the United States and Texas is no exception! Last week, we heard that it "might" snow. Well, being from Texas, you know that usually means "don't get your hopes up". I know that people who live up North are sick of the snow and everything that come with it, but it is such a RARE treat here that we jump in with both feet! When I got up Thursday morning, I had a message from Tony telling me he made it in to work, but it still didn't really dawn on me that it snowed until I looked outside. We had snow and it was still coming down! The kids were so excited to look outside and see SNOW! (The pictures were from Thursday morning to Friday night)

Of course they wanted to immediately go outside, but I held them off for a little while- I was pretty sure the snow wasn't going anywhere fast! We ended up with about 11 inches of snow in our backyard- that's crazy for Texas!! I realize for our friend up North, this is nothing and they are sick of the snow, but for us Texans, this was a real treat! Let the fun begin!

Some of you may remember the previous years when Daniel has somehow ended up being hit by a snowball all for the sake of a good picture. Well, whether he remembers or just remembers seeing the pictures.....he's all about revenge!! It is SO fun having snowball fights with him- that was definitely a highlight of our snow days! He's a pretty good shot....maybe it helps that he gets about 2 feet from me before launching his ammunition! Another reason I love my waterproof camera! We all got our share of snowballs this time around! It was a blast!

Arianna was so excited and had such fun in the snow! She was really into the snowball fighting as well! I think Daniel has been secretly teaching her! She did spend a good amount of time on the ground- seems she thought that was easier than trekking through the snow that came up close to her waist in some areas. She was an easy target for her brother, but she was a really good sport about it all. She's sneaky too...one of the times Daniel was making a Snow Angel, she got really close to him like she was going to help him up....them WHAM! She got him right in the face with a snowball...that's my girl!

The kids had so much fun together! Daniel did spend some time rescuing Arianna from the deep snow, but he didn't seem to mind one bit. He is SO awesome with her- love that kid!

Of course one of the things you have to do with snow, is make snowmen (or snow people)! And that we did! The kids and I made one while Daddy was at work- which was later karate chopped by a little boy- so fun!! Then when Daddy came home, he made "Mom" and her two kids... Daniel ran into the house to get Mickey Mouse ears- they HAD to have those!! Then the next day, We made another snow family and I made sure that we had one for everyone- we did try to make a dog, but that didn't work out so well. Tony even made the kids a "chair" and put Mouse ears on it for a custom "Mickey Mouse Chair"- so cute! Even today- almost a week later, we still have those 4 snow people (although they are much, much smaller).

So, we've had snowball fights and built snow men...what's left?? Snow Angels of course! Both of the kids LOVED doing this! It was so much fun! Even Mom made one...or was she just resting from all the fun???

More snow ball fights!! Let me tell you, Daddy doesn't mess around with the snow balls! He has no mercy! I think one snowball was bigger than Daniel and he hit him dead on! We had such a BLAST!! Lots of great memories!

On Friday, we decided to head out for lunch after being couped up in the house. A girl can't refuse some good Freebird's Burritos! The food was awesome and the company was even better! Most of the roads were already slushy at this point. But there are some undeveloped areas by our house that hadn't had a lot of traffic. We "off roaded" a little bit and it was so fun! Hearing the kids laughing hysterically was so worth it! Good thing I had a video camera in the car!

I will say that by Saturday afternoon/ Sunday, I was really over the snow and ready for it to all be gone! The nasty slush was soo fun! And I definitely see the need for "mud rooms" up North as it all sure does make a mess! Oh and the additional laundry is fun too! But all in all, it was an awesome time and I'm so glad that we had the snow to play in!

School Open House

Daniel's school had an "open house" last week that we attended. The theme was a "Winter Wonderland". They threw bags upon bags of white packing peanuts on the floor and let the kids run around and crush them up- it was really a neat idea! The only downside was that the peanuts stuck to everything and we carried some home as souvenirs. Both of the kids had a great time though which is what matters most!

Making a marshmallow snowman. Eating it was a joint effort- he ate the marshmallows and she ate the pretzels!

Snowball fight!!


It's snowing!!




See...it sticks to everything! Making popsicle art!


By far, Daniel's favorite activity was making snow angels- he did it over and over and over! Oh, and we loved the "snow boots" he made too!!


It was a fun time to see all of the activities they had worked on and let the kids loose! Oh and the cookies were yummy too! ;-)