Joey and I LOVE Anniversary time!! Our families are always so sweet to help us out and keep the kids, so that we can enjoy a night away at "our hotel". (The hotel that we spent our Wedding night in, and almost every Anniversary since.)


I started the day by doing a little shopping at the mall... namely Charming Charlie & Francesca's. (Thank you Joey!)
That afternoon, we dropped the kids off with the family so we could get ready, and then headed to our dinner reservation at Reata in Downtown Fort Worth. (Our favorite restaurant ever!!!) Their pecan buttermilk biscuits are one of my favorite things on the planet. It's one of those places where everything you try is other-worldly delicious, and it feels like an adventure. (quail, anyone?) They brought us some champagne with our dessert to celebrate our special day... really sweet.


After gorging ourselves, we figured we should walk it off a bit in Downtown. We bought the kids a couple of souvenirs in a cute little shop there. (for Avery, a stuffed horse and for Reilly, a cap gun) Don't tell Reilly, but we did indulge in some Dublin Dr. Pepper at that little gift shop!!!
We dropped in at Schakolad, a wonderful Belgian chocolate shop a few doors down. Chocolate covered Nutter-Butters and white chocolate covered strawberries topped things off quite nicely.
Traditionally, we always have a cake on our Anniversary to snack on in our hotel room. (Ever since our wedding night, when a sweet lady from our reception boxed up some of our Wedding cake for us to take along.) We exchanged sweet cards & gifts... a new watch for Joey and some perfume for me. We lit our Unity candle for the 11th time (as we do on every Anniversary) and toasted our future with a little more champagne. (A gift from the hotel.) It was a really special, lovely night. And so amazing that after all this time together, it still gets better every year!!!

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We are so blessed to have Nana & Granddad's pool so close! We live about a mile from them, so we get to swim whenever we want!!! Which is a good thing, since we have 2 serious water babies & this is Texas!!!

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Here is the little gem of a town that we briefly stopped in on our way home from College Station.

Very little town. Like not even a stop sign "little". Which is why it baffled us to see such a fancy sign, 2 of them actually. Kinda funny. But we all thought it was super cool to see our name like that, Reilly especially.

We drove to College Station in June for Joey's cousin Whitney's wedding, and the kids were so excited to go on a road trip!!! We haven't stayed in a hotel with the kids in quite a while, so that was interesting. They loved being able to sleep in the same bed. I'm sad to report that I didn't take any pictures at the wedding, because it was lovely. (Didn't even take my camera, since I knew I would be too busy making sure my two noisy children didn't disrupt Shane & Whitney's special day.)
A few high points of the trip were:
1. stopping to eat at Fazoli's on the way there.
2. swimming in the hotel pool after the wedding.
3. hotel-bed jumping. (the only place we allow the kids to jump on beds is at hotels, so they were really looking forward to that.)
4. driving around the Texas A & M campus, wondering why people would ever choose that over U.T. ;) haha.
5. stopping for a treat at Dairy Queen on the way home.

On the way home, we also stopped at a little gem of a town. I'll give that it's own post later.

Great trip !!! Road trips are really fun now that Avery is older, and of course since our vehicle has a DVD player in it. Click below for the slideshow!

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Aunt Honey told us about this awesome opportunity to see the REAL Lightning McQueen & Tow Mater at the NorthPark Mall in Dallas. Reilly was really excited for the CARS 2 movie to come out, so we just couldn't miss this !!! We took our best friends, Keri, Trinity & Thomas along for the ride!



Avery was not always a fan of the stroller, but it was a must do on this trip.

Poor Reilly, he wasn't feeling so great. But he was a real trooper. (We discovered after we got home that he had a fever.) And we had to wait in literally the longest line ever in the HEAT, just to get up close to the cars & have our picture taken with them. Luckily, Mommy had the foresight to bring sunscreen & snacks or we would've been toast.

He looks so tough with this tattoo!!!

It ended up being pretty fun, except for the misery of standing in full-0n sun for 2 hours. It's like the sun was pressing us further into the ground somehow. ?? Anyway, we got to see them up close & personal and got the pictures to prove it...
The star of the show, Lightning McQueen!


The new guy... Finn McMissile.

And everybody's favorite... Mater!

It all came down to this... poor babies look pretty beat down, don't they?!

I really wonder how they'll remember this experience. HA!

Due to my unfortunate (unexpected) gall bladder surgery in April, we had to postpone our 2nd Annual Spring Fling until I was well enough. So, I guess technically it was an "early summer" Fling - but that just doesn't have the same ring does it ?? Anyway, we had a BLAST! Reilly was really looking forward to it, since he actually remembered last year. We were thrilled that Uncle Mike was in town this year, and our Uncle Delmer was a delightful addition as well. Mimi had to sit out unfortunately, do to her recent knee surgery, but she was the best cheerleader!!

As far as games go, there were the usual suspects... potato sack race, 3-legged race, water balloon toss (and FIGHT!) egg & spoon race, and egg toss. There were quite a few falls, especially during the 3-legged race... which was hilarious!!! We also played a little golf, baseball, and "washers" between games. It was such fun, and we look forward to next year's FLING!!!

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This is about 4 months late, but I have got to get caught up on this blog!! You know that feeling, when you almost want to just forget about the whole thing because you are SO far behind- and it feels like you may be drowning??? Yeah. That's where I am. But the only way out is up, right? SO, here we go.


This was Reilly's 1st Grade Awards Assembly, and when we got there, he was kinda excited to see us.

Mrs. D. gave him the "Thorough Thinker" Award, for always considering every possibility. Yep, that's our boy.




Avery was so proud to see Reilly up in front of everyone, and YELLED "Yay Bubba!!!"

We are all so proud of everything he learned during his first year of school!!!

Our Avery is 2 and a HALF! And she is even more feisty than ever. (Or as Reilly would say, she's spicy & sweet!) She LOVES to swim, sing, read books, watch Strawberry Shortcake movies, and most of all irritate her big brother. She gets so much enjoyment from pushing his buttons and watching him go ballistic. (And let's face it, Reilly is an easy target... because as we all know, Reilly can bring the drama.)

It would suit her just fine to eat fruit exclusively, and she is a fantastic sleeper. And as a polar opposite of myself, she loves getting messy. If there is something disgusting within 20 feet, she has to put her hands in it. (Yup, Mommy is having trouble with that one.) Her most dominant personality trait would be contrary.


She only wants to participate in things when it is her idea. Hence the reason that potty training has stalled. She will go every time, as long as it isn't Mommy's idea. And just like Reilly did, she doesn't seem to mind being wet. Oh well, I've been assured that she won't go down the aisle in diapers.

Her constant companion remains her "B" which is her favorite blanket. (We are considering buying a 3rd in case (GOD FORBID) that something should happen to the original... or the back-up.)

She even has a travel size "lovey" to match, and we don't go anywhere without it. She uses these to stuff in her mouth when she's sleepy. Or just anytime to relax or soothe herself.

She has quite an impressive pout, and also an intimidating "mad face". As seen here...

She has always been quite feminine, but now has added "hands on her hips while speaking authoritatively" to her reportoire.

Her sentences are incredible, she is an amazing talker. And she's quite musical, she can pick up a song after only hearing it a few times. She still repeats everything she hears, which is why I'm so glad we don't use ugly language!


We can't believe how long her hair is getting, and with the most lovely curls!!! It's really fun to play with and fill with bows.


I would be in serious trouble if I didn't always have raisins at the ready, good thing they're so portable and don't make a huge mess in the car!


We recently converted her crib to a "big girl bed". Now, she comes into our room every morning and wakes me up by kissing me and patting my face and saying, "Mommy, I woke up!!" And then, "May I have some apple juice!??"


She has superb manners. She always says "please", "thank you", and "excuse me". And, "you're so welcome". And she even remembers to thank people when they buy her meals!! Extraordinary! She has never met a kid she didn't like. She calls them all "friends" and tries to hug & kiss the ones smaller than she is. She crouches down and speaks so softly to babies, even though the "babies" aren't much smaller than she is. She is an animal lover, especially dogs. Her voice goes all high-pitched when she talks to them. So cute.

Her biggest fear in life so far has been the Chick-fil-A cow. Her screams can actually make your blood curdle... and oh, the shaking. It's pitiful. Terror in it's purest form. Not that we blame her, cows shouldn't be 7 feet tall and walking upright. It's creepy.

With purpose, she eats her food into the shape of a tiara/crown. She LOVES blueberries, and White Chocolate Peanut Butter so much that she eats it out of the jar with a spoon.

We had some friends come over to swim with us last week, and she hopped out of the pool and spent a great deal of her time trying on everyone's shoes. Couldn't even get her to come back in the water... because there were shoes afoot. ;) She drags my shoes out of my closet all the time and wears them all around the house. Bottom line, she's one of the girliest girly-girls I have ever seen!! And we're loving every bit of her!!!