Mother's Day 2013

I had a wonderful Mother's Day last weekend.  Mark and the boys were extra sweet.  

On the Friday before Mother's Day Ben's preschool had "Mommy Day".  They made special crafts for us and invited us to stop by for refreshments.  This is a photo from that afternoon.  Ben's preschool is conveniently located just across the street from the school where we work.  I was able to walk over and then hurry back before the school day was even over.

The Saturday before Mother's Day was a little bit stressful.  Ben had a scrape on his elbow that wasn't healing, and it started showing signs of cellulitis.  He had it once before in the fall.  I was really concerned because he couldn't bend his elbow on Friday night.  He never complained, other than me noticing that his elbow was extremely red and warm to the touch and he couldn't bend it.  He's a trooper!  I called the pediatrician's office early Saturday morning to make sure they could take a look at it.  Sure enough, it was cellulitis.  Thankfully it wasn't a severe infection (still freaks me out though) and he was given strong antibiotics to stop the infection.  He's all better now.  

So, this photo was taken after we went to the pediatrician.  My hair's a mess and I don't have on makeup but I'm happy that Ben was ok.  I chose where we ate since it was Mother's Day weekend, and I picked Collin Street Bakery.  I love their chicken salad sandwiches.

I also LOVE their sweet treats!

We all shared a mini Key Lime pie,  cherry ice box cookies, macaroons, white chocolate chip cookie, raspberry bar, and a pecan pie nugget.  Delicious!  There was some big time cheating on My Fitness Pal during that lunhc! ;)

Despite a somewhat hectic and stressful morning, we did one of my favorite things ever on Saturday afternoon.  We worked in the yard and planted flowers.  Will and Ben were such good helpers.  It's amazing how much we can get accomplished now that they are getting older. 

One more of the front flower bed. 

The very first photo and this photo were taken on Sunday morning before church on Mother's Day.  It's a tradition that we started when Will was a baby.  I always pose with the boys in the front yard before heading off to church services.  

After church we went out to eat.  One of my new favorite places to eat is Zoe's Kitchen.  

After we ate, we went to Watters Creek to hang out.  Apparently all of the North Dallas decided it would be a nice day to go there, too.  Wow, it was crowded!

I feel so blessed and lucky to be the mother of such precious boys.  

Will and Ben are my pride and joy and they made Mother's Day wonderful.

Belated Blog Anniversary

 

Oops!  I missed the 3rd anniversary of my blog!

Our days have been full, and it slipped by me. 

I'm not nearly as faithful in keeping up with my blog as when I started it.  I still love blogging though.  It's a wonderful place to keep our family's memories, but it requires a lot of time.  Time that I do not have at this point in my life.

I won't give it up because it's important to me and so are the people I've met through it.

As always, I'm grateful for the friendships I've formed through blogging.  Most of my blog friends are on some other form of social networking so we can stay in touch.  I'm thankful for Instagram (my favorite!), Facebook (yep, I'm friends on FB with several blog friends), Twitter (still haven't figured it all out, probably never will, ha!) and Pinterest.  I might not get to their blog as much as I used to and leave comments, but I enjoy staying connected these other ways.

Thanks to all of you who still stop by to see what we are up to.  I appreciate you!


If you have a lot of time on your hands and you'd like to read the LONG post that I wrote on the first anniversary of my blog, you can find it here.  Last year, I shared this on my blogiversary.

I know I've been absent from blogging so expect a lot of posts this summer to catch up!

xoxo,

Michele

50th Anniversary Party

On Sunday, April 21st we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Mark's parents, Jerry and Carol.  Photos from their wedding 50 years earlier can be seen here.

 

We had a party in their honor at our church's fellowship building.  There were over 100 guests who came to offer their best wishes and congratulations.

 

This is my favorite photo of Jerry and Carol. 

Don't they look great!?!  It's hard to believe they've been married 50 years.

 

 

We served two cakes.  The cake above is more like a traditional wedding cake.  The cake below is similar to a groom's cake one would serve at a wedding reception.  The chocolate cake was a big hit.  It's pretty standard at any baby shower, wedding shower, or wedding reception that mints and nuts are served.  We didn't want to break protocol so we served those, too. ;)  The photos displayed on the ledge were ones that Carol already had framed and hung in their house.  We just borrowed them to display for the party.

 

 

This is such a great photo of Jerry and Carol and their 3 sons.  From left to right: Clay, Mark, Carol, Jerry and Craig.  Craig's the oldest, Clay is the middle and Mark's the youngest.

 

 

Here's our family with Jerry and Carol.  We took a pictures of each family with my in-law's.  If we're facebook friend, then you've probably seen all of those.

 

 

The cake made by my friend Brandi.

 

Chocolate cake with toffee pieces sprinkled on top.

 

A dozen yellow roses for the golden anniversary.

 

The registry table

 

 

A shot from one end of the fellowship building.

Disclaimer..

Our fellowship building is probably the ugliest building to try to decorate, but my sister-in-law, Andrea, and my niece, Maggie, worked a decorating miracle.  We joked that we left it in better condition than how we found it.

 

 

My nephew, Jacob, made a really neat slideshow with some of Carol's favorite photos over the last 50 years.  It was a big hit and everyone enjoyed watching it.

 

 

Will and his cousin Kimberly who is exactly 3 months older than he is.

 

All of my sweet nieces.  Such pretty girls inside and out!

 

Ben enjoying (devouring) a piece of chocolate cake.  He's sitting with his cousins, Jordan and Jacob.

 

My handsome nephew Max and his pretty girlfriend Brittyn.  It's hard to believe Max will be graduating this year.  He was in first grade when Mark and I got married!

 

 

Mark and I rarely get a photo together.

Thanks, Maggie, for taking it!

 

 

The whole family. I'm so blessed to be a part of such a sweet family.

What a fun day!

 

 

We purchased the banners and some of the decorations at Oriental Trading Co and any other decorations used were from Hobby Lobby.

On My Mind...

This photo is representative of life.  It's not perfect, but we're happy. 

I'm smiling, but the boys refuse to pose.  This is nothing new.

Just threw it on this blog post because I never put in on FB or IG.

Here's a list of random things that have been on my mind.

#1

Relief

Mark and I teach subjects that are tested in the state of Texas.  It's a lot of stress.  Both of our tests are now over and there's a huge feeling of relief. 

#2

We had a busy weekend...sort of.

Nothing blog worthy this weekend, but last weekend was packed with fun.  I didn't have a chance to blog last week, so I'm hoping to catch up this week.

#3

We went to my cousin's crawfish boil in east Texas.  The boys and I tried crawfish for the first time.  Their reactions were hilarious.  The way they prepared the crawfish made them super spicy.  We warned the boys, but they wanted to try them anyway.  They were running for water as soon as they tasted the crawfish.  More pictures to come this week from that.

#4

We celebrated my in-law's 50th anniversary last Sunday.  They had over 100 friends and family attend the Golden Anniversary party we held in their honor.  Lots of great pics from that special event.

#5

Today we don't have school because we didn't use any of the bad weather days that are built in to the school calendar.  We had a day off earlier this month and another off today.  Woo hoo for 3-day weekends!

#6

Will has been playing tee-ball and loving it.  He and Ben play all the time in the backyard.  We have a game tonight.  Go Will!

#7

I have a list a mile long of things I need to take care of!

Here goes:

Order VBS {vacation Bible school} material

Plan Ben's 4th birthday party {He's going to be 4!!! WOW!}

Schedule Ben's 4-year photos with Lauren

Finalize plans for our vacation to Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Indiana

Reserve our hotel for our anniversary getaway

Buy tickets for the concert we're going to attend that weekend

Plan something special for Mark's 40th birthday this summer

Continue to discuss plans with the architect for the new house

All fun things we're looking forward to.  It's just a lot on my mind.

#8

Here's a good verse for when I feel overwhelmed or anxious.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Golden Anniversary

Today my in-laws celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

They are such a wonderful couple, and I'm so blessed to be a part of their family.

We have planned a party for them this weekend to celebrate.

We love you, Carol and Jerry!

Effortless

You've heard me talk Angela before.  I've written several posts about our friendship here, here, and here.

She's such a dear friend, and I'm thankful for our friendship.  Isn't it great to have those special friendships that are effortless?  That's how I feel about Angela.  It's so easy to hangout with her.  Plus, she has effortless style.  She always has.  Even in college she had the cutest clothes and the best decorated house.  Checkout her blog Unexpected Elegance and you'll see what I mean.  

This weekend Angela and Scott were in town.  We planned for our families to meet up and have dinner on Friday night.  There was a slight change of plans when one of their daughters got sick.  Spur of the moment we decided to let Will and Ben have a sleepover with Mark's parents (so thankful for my in-law's) and that allowed us to have a night out without kids.  That's a rare thing for us!  We were able to enjoy dinner and talk without distractions.  Mark and Scott talked sports and Angela and I discussed house plans.  She's my partner in crime as I make plans for the new house.  It's nice to have another opinion (especially someone with such good taste)!  I hope she doesn't get sick of me asking her questions, ha!

We had such a good time together.  I wish we all lived closer!

Here we are at Uncle Julio's on Friday night :)

My favorite photo of us taken in 2001.

Ultimate Blog Party 2013

Hi there!

You've probably made your way to my blog via the UBP 2013.  I'm so glad you're here.

Welcome!

You can check out my UBP posts for 2011 and 2012 to get to know me more or just read on :)

I've been happily married to Mark for almost 11 years.  We live in a small town in Texas.

We have two sweet boys, Will and Ben.  They are our pride and joy.

We spend a lot of time together as a family.

Will is in kindergarten.

Ben is in preschool. 

 Our family October 2012

This photo was taken this fall on the land we own.  It's where we hope to build our new home in the near future.

Besides my most important job of being a mom, I'm also a junior high history teacher.  I've been teaching for 12 years.  I'm thankful for my job and grateful that I get to help improve the lives of others through education.

Here are a couple of my fun coworkers.

I love to blog because it's allowed me to become a part of a wonderful community of women who have similar interests.  It's such a special place of inspiration.  If you're a blogger, then you know what I'm talking about.

The focus of my blog is our family.  Most of my posts are about what Will and Ben are up to.  The other posts usually focus on spiritual things because my faith is such an important part of my life and our family.  One of my goals for the new year was to share my faith more openly in hopes to be an encouragement to others.  While I take my beliefs very seriously, I like to write about things that aren't very serious like fashion, travel, home decor and our future home. I'm also on other social media outlets like Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  LOVE Instagram!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  

I hope you felt welcome.  Please leave a comment.  I'd love to stop by your blog and get to know you, too.

{All professional photos are by Lauren}