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 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}

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

We didn't have school on Friday, which made for a relaxing 3-day weekend.  We had our Easter egg hunt after church on Sunday afternoon at Mark's parents' house.

Most of the Easter egg hunt was indoors because of all the rain we had.  We hid a few eggs on the front porch.

Eggs!  Eggs!  Eggs!

This was very early Easter morning.  Will thought the Easter bunny left eggs outside, but then he realized that it was just dandelions.  He was really disappointed until he saw the baskets full of goodies from the Easter bunny.  The Easter bunny was very good about leaving treats in their baskets that weren't just chocolate.  He left them Annie's fruit snacks and fruit strips from Whole Foods.  It wasn't all healthy though, he didn't forget the Peeps and some Ghirardelli chocolate.  The boys managed to eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner that day ;)  Sugar overload for sure!

The Easter bunny brought both of the boys books.  The Little Blue Truck books, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter.  Will got a new DigiTools pack and Ben got a Donatello Ninja Turtle.

This was taken after church.
Handsome boys!

LOVE!

We didn't get a family photo, but we took separate photos of all of us together.

Happy Easter!

InstaStuff

Hi There!

It looks like it's been a week since I've put anything on the ol' blog. 

Here's what we've been up to.

We completed the ladies Bible study that I've been a part of.  We studied the books of James and Jude.  Instead of taking a break, we decided to start another study over the Parables of Jesus.  I hope to do a recap of the things I learned while studying James and Jude--I learned a lot!

This was one of the outfits I wore to Bible study--this is as close as I've been to doing a what I wore post in a long time.

The favorite pastime of the boys right now is Angry Birds Star Wars on the iPad.  

They LOVE it! 

I love technology, but we still read real books too. 

Be still my heart!  Will loves the Berenstain Bears!  I loved them when I was a kid and I think it's so cool that he and Ben like them now too.

Silliness before bedtime. 

I think it's great that they share a room, but sometimes their late night antics drive my crazy.  It can be a challenge to get them to settle down when they are in a silly mood.  

The last of the chai.  I probably won't buy another box until the fall.   It's so hot in the spring and summer that I don't like drinking it at night.

Speaking of temperature...this is super cold for Texas in late March. Brrr!

It's that time of year.

March Madness, baby!

We love basketball and the NCAA tournament is one of our favorite sporting events to watch.  

The boys really got into picking their brackets this year. 

Ben's bracket cracks me up.  He chose Miami over Ohio State with a score of 100 to 7.  

Will's first time to play tee ball.  Go Will! 

The nearest Whole Foods to our house has an old tractor that kids can play on.  Will and Ben love driving it. 

Book fair! 

I have fond memories of it when I was kid.  Will and Ben love going and getting to chose a book.  Their book selections weren't a big surprise.  Will picked an Angry Birds book and Ben selected a Power Rangers book.  Not classics, but we'll go with it.

Cape = Cute

This sweet boy makes me coffee in the morning.  His future wife will be proud that he has a kind and caring personality.  Such a sweetie. 

I've hit a plateau in my weight loss.  I gained 5 lbs when I sprained my ankle and missed workout for a month. (Curse you 5 lbs!!!  Grrrr!)  I decided to start faithfully following My Fitness Pal (it's an app) again.  I've been recording my calories and it's a challenge to not eat whatever I want.  These little pickles just might save me.  I can eat about 20 and it's not many calories.  You might have said to yourself, "Did she just say 20!?!"  Yes, I did!  Whatever it takes!

Willpower!  I didn't eat one cupcake that I made for Will's Easter party at school.  It was very, very tempting. 

And, I didn't skip my 5:15a.m. workout today.  We don't have school, but I still got up and made it to my workout.  I did go home and go back to sleep for another hour and a half, but I didn't skip! 

A week ago today...

A week ago today we were at the end of Spring Break.  It always amazes me how fast a break from school goes by.  We've been back to the grind for a full week and it's fun to think back to last week and all of the good times we enjoyed.

I'll share the highlights of our week in reverse.

We'll start with last Friday.

This time last week we were at the Dallas Arboretum enjoying Dallas Blooms.  We've gone for the last 3 years.   More photos from our visit here.

More tulips than you can imagine.  I felt like I was in Holland!
(I've never been to Holland, just imaging if I did go this is what it would be like.)

So vibrant and pretty!

Will in the azaleas.

Ben's by the tulips.

I always love a trip to Trader Joe's.  My future foodies like the small shopping baskets.

Fun stuff we got to do just because...

Ben had a chocolate donut with sprinkles for breakfast.

Will had a popsicle for breakfast.

The weather was awesome and the boys rode bikes.  Makes me so ready for summer.

Frozen Yogurt...Yum!!!

Mine, Mark's, Will's and Ben's

Visited Mama Winnie

Ben showed Mama Winnie all of the Hulk's moves.

Will gave her an extra big hug.  Heart explosion over this photo.

I had a fun shopping day with the girls.  We had lunch at Chuy's.  It's always so good.

We took a break from shopping to have dessert at La Duni at North Park.

Some of my finds.

Almost bought this carrot soap at Lush for the boys for Easter.  Wish I would have.

 The boys stayed up way past their bedtime.

We went to the land.  We met with an architect and talked about plans for the future house.  Very exciting!

 Ben wanted to wear his Spider-man costume to the land.

You never know when you're going to need a superhero!

My favorite path.

Now it's back to reality.  All that fun has made me ready for summer break!