Pre-K3 Graduation

About two weeks ago Mason has his end of year program (a.k.a pre-k3 graduation). It was on a tuesday so we went to t-ball practice for about 45 minutes then rushed back to the school for his program. I had to change him at the school in the bathroom haha. Anyways, I wish I knew how to post videos to this thing b/c he did so good. He is one of those kids that is put front and cneter b/c he sings the songs and does all the arm motions and everything. It is so cute and so funny all at the same time. They sang 4 songs then got their certificates.

Daddy and Samantha

Mason walking up to his teacher when his name was called and getting his certificate

Mason and his diplomma. Yay for pre-k3 succcess!!!

What an amazing year he had. he really did learn so much from his wonderful teacher Mrs. Marsh. I cant believe that he is going into Pre-K next year. We are officially only 1 school year away from "real" school. My baby is growing up so fast :(

New Orleans, LA-SmitheRouax style

A few weeks ago Derrek and I and our good friends the Smith's took a nice long weekend vacation to New Orleans, LA. This was a fabulous, adult only, no kids allowed trip. We left on a Friday and came home on a Monday and let me just say that I LOVE my children but our trip was AWESOME!!! Our first night there we went to dinner at Mothers (which comes highly recommended and didn't disappoint). Then we went and walked down Bourbon to people watch.

Derrek and I on Bourbon. With frosty beverages in hand :)

Saturday morning we got up and went to eat at Cafe Du Monde. Oh boy were we in Beignet Heaven!! Can I just say GOD BLESS THE INVENTOR OF THE BEIGNET!!!

Robyn and I in front of the restaurant.

Derrek and I in front of the restaurant.

Good Morning from Cafe Du Monde.

After breakfast we jumped on the St. Charles Trolley and headed towards Audobon Park. The houses on St. Charles Street are BEAUTIFUL and Robyn and I were enthralled looking at them and could have ridden that thing all day just looking at them. Anywho, we ended up getting off and heading towards Magazine street to have lunch. We ate at the Bull Dog bar b/c the guys wanted beer (heehee) and before we got there we came across the Breaux Mart. Robyn and I thought this was hilarious and made the guys pose for a picture under the sign.

The Breaux's (haha)

One of the neatest things about this bar was the tap fountain on the patio. Isn't that so cool? And I am not even a beer drinker :)

After lunch we continued to walk and came across this yummy little dessert place (I dont remember the name but I know Robyn will) everything looked so pretty that of course I had to take a picture :)

This was a caramel icing filled cupcake. DELISH!!!

At around 2ish we headed back for a nap b/c that night we had a big fancy dinner planned at the Commander's Palace. This is one place that I definitely recommend eating at if you get the chance to. SO SO GOOD! And in true NOLA fashion even the desserts were decorated appropriately

Gotta love the Flor de lis

Sunday morning we had a reservation at The Court of Two Sisters for their fabulous buffet brunch. (as you can tell we did A LOT of eating on this trip haha) brunch was awesome and it brought about our biggest laugh of the trip.

Derrek and I at brunch

Here is our laugh :) The chairs we sat in were very poorly designed and if you look at the guy in the background of this picture it looks like he is wearing a thong b/c he is backed up so far in the chair. TOO FUNNY!! Poor guy, but we did get a really big laugh out of it. :)

After brunch we strolled through the french quarter and shopped for the kids and just enjoyed the city.

Robyn and I with our ice cream daquiri's. (thats right I said ICE CREAM DAQUIRI) again this was SO DELISH!!

A nice photo op in front of Margaritaville. Heehee!

This guy was the most impressive human statue we came across. I cant imagine how uncomfortable it must be to stand like that for more then 3 seconds :)

That night we went to Frenchman street for food and music. We came across a neat little group at the Spotted Cat that we really enjoyed then walked back to our hotel so that we could make one last stroll down Bourbon Street to people watch.

Monday morning we got up and of course went to eat at Cafe Du Monde again before heading home to see our babies. We stayed the perfect number of days and had an amazing time.

Thank you New Orleans for such a wonderful time!

Playing with shoes

I always thought that it would be my shoes that Samantha would want to get into and put on.

I guess I was wrong. Haha!!

As a side note, look at that crazy hair she is sporting these days. heehee!

The lesson of sharing

As a parent you hope that what you are teaching your children is actually sinking in and they are really learning some of the life lessons you are trying to teach them. In my opinion, learning how to share is one of the hardest lessons to learn. I mean lets face it, even as adults there are times when we still dont want to share. I am happy to announce that even though there are times my son does NOT want to share I officially have proof that he absolutely 100% understands the concept. Hooray he is actually listening to us!!!

The story: Derrek was playing on my iphone and Mason was playing on his leapster. About 20 minutes later I come out of the bedroom and Derrek is now playing the leapster and Mason is playing my iphone. The conversation that lead up to the switch went something like this

Mason: Daddy what are you doing?

Derrek: I am playing mommy's iphone.

Mason: Well friends share daddy. Friends share.

And thus the game switch. HAHAHA!! Nice to know we are doing something right :)

Happy Easter

Sorry to be so late with this post but better late then never right? :) For easter the kids and I went to Corpus Christi. Derrek didn't go with us b/c he was studying for the GMAT but more on that later. So Saturday the 23rd after Mason's t-ball game we hit the road. Our weekend started with a big family bar-b-que at my mom's house on Saturday night. This was great because I got to see all my cousins and my aunts and uncles and my grandparents. This shindig lasted later then my kids are use to so Easter morning they ended up sleeping in. Once they got up they immediately got into their easter baskets that the easter bunny left for them. a big thank you to my friend Valerie at Sew Fun for embroidering their names onto their basket liners.

Mason's Basket

Samantha's Basket

Both baskets together

Hooray for bubbles

and giant egg spinners

After digging into their baskets we ate some breakfast and took baths so that we could change into our nice clothes to take easter pictures.

The one and only picture I got of Samantha and it turned out beautiful!

The best I got of Mason

Both Of my kids together. I have to admit I am really happy with how this one turned out.

A few shots of almost all the cousins. We were missing the oldest Nicholas and the newly born Eva.

After our somewhat successful photo shoot we again changed clothes for the first of two easter egg hunts. The first hunt was in my sisters back yard and this was the plastic egg hunt. Luckily we got some practice hunting in earlier in the week at our friend Brock's house so both my kids were ready to go :)

Samantha and Nathan leading the way

her first discovery

Mason on the hunt

His loot

Egg hunt fun!

And as if one egg hunt wasn't enough we then headed over to an empty field across the street to hunt cascarones (confetti filled eggs). We LOVE cascarones and have been hunting them since we (my siblings and I) were little. Hopefully as all of our kids get older they too will learn to love the cascarones egg hunt too.

Mason hunting the eggs

Samantha finding an egg

Mason trying to crack the egg on his own head. This was sort of the theme of this hunt. When I told him that you crack these eggs on peoples heads he took me very literally and cracked them on his own head.

PoPoNe not making Mason work to crack an egg on his head

After all this egg hunting fun we packed up our stuff and headed back to Pearland. It was a quick Easter trip but we had a BLAST!!!

Hope everyone had a very enjoyable Easter weekend.

A 30th to remember post 2 of 2

(warning that this post is severely picture happy)

As you all know from post #1 of my 30th birthday festivities the night started out with dinner and a trip to the chocolate bar with some family and friends. Well for about a month or so my mommy bff Robyn had been telling me about how on that same night her hubby who we adoringly call Dr Rog (he is a surgical resident) had a meet and greet with the new residents at Lucky Strike bowling. Well while at the chocolate bar at around 8ish she gets a call from him saying that he left his wallet in her purse. I distinctly remember her being overly loud and saying "What your wallet is in my purse?" and digging through and pulling it out and giving me a look that said "ugh I am so annoyed with him" haha. She asks if its okay if we (me, jenny and her) go by the lucky strike real quick to take it to him before heading home. Me in my buzzed state says "Yeah lets take it to him and mingle with some residents, maybe they will let us bowl a round or two." So we go ahead and head out to Lucky Strike.

Everyone waiting for me to get there

As we walk into the bowling alley I see Dr. Rog first (he was standing in front of everyone as a decoy) and I run up the stairs all excited to see him and as I start to yell " Hey Dr. Rog" everyone starts yelling at me. haha I turn to play along and it literally takes me about 5 seconds to realize that 1. I know all these people and 2. non of them are medical residents. It was all my family and friends yelling a big fat "Surprise!"

This is before the realization

After the realization

Crying hugs for the hubby

Derrek had put together a slide show of pictures that they had playing on the screens at the end of our lanes. I could not believe the work he put into this party. It was so amazing. I found out later that it was open bar for our friends and he had pre ordered food for everyone to snack on.

This is me watching the slide show

He even bought bowling pins to give to the highest scorer and the lowest scorer. He also bought one for me and he got one for Robyn for putting in so much hard work and helping him plan this awesome event.

Here he is showing me the pins that he was going to give away. Mine is the wood grain one that he is holding in the picture.

This is the one that he presented to Robyn.

The popular drink of the night was the fish bowl.

Let the fun begin

After changing my clothes (b/c lets face it I couldn't bowl in a dress) it was time TO BOWL!!!

Dr. Rog taking his game very seriously.

My preggo friend Kim (we actually had 4 preggos at the party that night heehee)

I might look like I know what I am doing but I am the WORST bowler ever. I honestly really should have bumpers on the sides :)

This is my happy dance that I performed every time I bowled a good one. i think that only happened twice in the whole night.

This must have been after my second strike of the night

Thats right I am the BOMB

I also have to chronicle Robyn's many adventures through her fish bowl (which has now lovingly become her new nickname) I have a bad habit of teasing my dear friend over never finishing any of her adult beverages. Love you Robyn!!! But on this particular evening she came through with flying colors.

The beginning of the fish bowl

And then the progression of the disappearing fish bowl

Thats right suck it up girlfriend

The proud moment of completion. Go Robyn, Go Robyn, Go Robyn!!!!

So proud of her!!!

As the night continues i find out that it is time for cake. WHAT? He got me a cake too?? I was so impressed that he thought of every little detail. How lucky can one girl be I ask?

And here it is in all of its glory. My 30th Birthday cake!!! It was beautiful and tasted AMAZING!

A more close up view.

Is that not one gorgeous cake??

What an amazing night we all had. After it was all over Derrek told me that he had reserved a room for us at the Four Seasons (oh la la) and that we had a late checkout time so we were able to just lounge and relax the whole next day.

Here are some shots of me and some party goers.

Me, Johnna, Kim, Amanda and Colette (colette was preggo #2)

Me with my sisters and my brother Michael

me and my cousins

Me with my high school bff Iliana and her boyfriend Steven

The Karlsen's, The Burkharts (she is preggo #3) and Dr. Rog

My neighbor (and preggo #4 who delivered her son days later) Danette

Me and various bff's from my life

At the end of the night Steven got the highest scoring pin (he was in some serious competition with my dad haha) and my sister Ronnie got the lowest scoring pin :) It was everything I could have hoped for and more in a birthday party. Turning the big 3-0 turned out to be fantastic!! Thank you to Robyn and Jenny for helping with the details. Again i am one lucky girl to have such amazing friends and a HUGE thank you to my wonderful husband for giving me what I always wanted on my 30th birthday, A PARTY!!! You are so amazing and I love you so very much!!!

Now that I have kicked my 30's off in rock star fashion I have a feeling this is going to be a great decade!