Memorial Day Weekend

Summer has officially begun and we had a great weekend bringing it in. Mason has made it clear that he loves the water. Guess we'll have to invest in more than just the two swimsuits we currently have for him.

Friday night started with a family-friendly 40th birthday party for our neighbor and friend, Brandon. His daughter Beatrice has become one of Mason's good friends so we were happy he was invited to the party as well. We had a great time celebrating Brandon's big day and watching the kiddos play together.

On Saturday we attended the Pfeiffer's Memorial Day pool party and it was the perfect way to start the summer. The kids had a blast on the splash deck of the Pfeiffer's awesome pool while the parents enjoyed yummy cocktails and tried keeping the kids somewhat corralled. ;) Mason finally met another redhead, Russ, that we've been dying to meet and they hit it off from the start. We were able to pry Mason away from the pool long enough to eat dinner on the patio, then distracted him with soccer and Emily's indoor toys before he made his way back to the water (30 minute rule was in place!). 

We didn't mean for it to happen, but we realized that it's become tradition for us to walk around the Knox/Henderson area on Memorial Day weekend. Something just pulls us there every time. After popping in some of the shops (Froggie's was definitely Mason's favorite), we grabbed lunch on the patio of Taverna. I was a little nervous that the trendy uptown crowd would be annoyed that we had a baby on the patio, but Mason hardly made a peep and made a lot of friends wearing similar shades to him. Such a stylish little man! Sunday afternoon my dad came over to play with Mason then joined us for a steak dinner. Mason is still in love with Papa's car  - so much so that when we asked him what Papa's name was he responded with "brmmm". ;)

We took a much needed day on Monday to just chill and hang out around the house. Hope everyone has a wonderful summer!

I love my family and how silly my little boy is

Caroline, Alice and Amanda enjoying the first round of cocktails

Amanda's delicious and patriotic cupcakes!

Mommies and their water babies!

You look familiar. Can we be friends?

Our Family!

The husbands - Sean, Mark and Greg

Having a blast splashing with Kennedy!

Emily loved sharing her splash deck with her friends!

Pausing from splashing just long enough for a picture

Back to it! 

Dining on the Taverna patio in his shades

Dr. Doug

Last weekend, I had the incredible honor of witnessing my brother getting hooded at The University of Texas at Austin. Doug, ahem, Dr. Henderson, is an incredibly talented individual and truly one of the best at what he does. He has always made our family so proud and there's no doubt he will have many more accomplishments in his career in the years to come. He started at UT with his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Studies (where he was also the Drum Major for the UT Marching Band), went to Michigan State University for his Masters of Music degree in Wind Conducting, and wrapped everything up with his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting at UT Austin. He is currently the Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Cowboy Marching Band at Oklahoma State University. Can you imagine a college football game without music? Well he's responsible for organizing it all and coming up with new music and routines for each week to keep you entertained! If you ever get the chance to catch an OSU game, I promise you won't be disappointed with the music (or the team!). To read Doug's full bio, click here.

Part of the fun of this weekend was road-tripping down to Austin with my sister and her daughter. I can't remember the last time we did that and it was so fun. We arrived at the hotel before everyone else and took advantage of the chance to lay by the pool. Sean stayed back and played Mr. Mom for the weekend as we didn't feel like two 2-3 hour graduation ceremonies were the best place for a baby. They had a great time and I'm thankful for a husband that can take that on without any questions or problems!

The first ceremony was for all the Doctoral candidates and took place in the auditorium where they called his name and he walked across the stage to get hooded and shake hands with all the significant UT faculty. Then at night, UT does a really cool outdoor ceremony for all the graduates (7,800 this year) with music, speeches and fireworks. That was a really neat and unique event that I can't imagine is done much better anywhere else.

Congratulations, Dr. Henderson. We are all so proud of you and look forward to your exciting future.

p.s. I hope you don't think this gets you out of me calling you Doogie. That's staying around, FYI.

Dinner the night before at Trudy's. We're all wearing our orange!

Mexican Margarita anyone? 

Pre-ceremony (Madison looked so pretty with her french braid and pink lip gloss!)

Getting hooded!

I kept thinking about how many hands this guy had to shake. Hope he had Purell! :)

Doug and my parents

Doug and his sisters

Doug and his niece, Madison

Our family!

Late lunch after the ceremony. Between us all we tried almost every margarita. Prickly Pear was my fave!

Water Table

You may remember from this post that Mason is in love with playing in the water. He's always had a blast at his friends houses playing with their various water toys/tables, so I decided it was time to get a new water toy for him. The hose is still a huge source of his enjoyment outside, but man does he love his new water table. We've had the same routine everyday this week: wake up from nap, play in his room, have his milk, then lather up with sunscreen and play in the water for an hour and a half. Here are some pictures from our week.

 Back before the water table when all he had was a hose and a bucket. :)

 Making bubbles. It's pointless to put clothes on him when we're outside b/c he'll be drenched in minutes!

 Patiently waiting with Hazel while Mommy puts the water table together

 Finally!

 Enjoying a balmy afternoon with his dog

 Taking a water break

Mason's on top of the color blocking trend

 Pouring

 ...bobbing

...and splashing, oh my!

This One is On Daddy

I can assure you that Mason didn't 'pick' this habit up from me...

Birthday/Mother's Day Weekend

This year, Mother's Day happened to fall on my birthday. I was spoiled all weekend long and there was definitely enough celebrating to cover both occasions. Sean surprised me by taking the day off on Friday so we could spend some extra time together and so I could go shopping (thanks for the gift card Mom and Dad R!) and get a mani/pedi while he stayed home with Mason. My mani/pedi was at Renew Spa at NorthPark mall in the late afternoon which turned out to be perfect because Sean and Mason were able to met me up there after and we headed over to Maggiano's for dinner. I have to tease Sean a little for the 'diaper bag' that he packed. He literally brought a diaper and Mason's water. Oh, and Mason was wearing a white shirt to eat pasta in. Thankfully a nice grandma who was dining with her grandson gave us a disposable bib to borrow and we ended up making do without everything else! Once we put Mason to bed that evening we relaxed with a martini (or two) by the fire (yes, the fire - it's my birthday I can do what I want!).

After a family walk on Saturday morning Sean let me enjoy the house to myself while he took Mason to the bike store. When they returned Mason and I headed over to Emily's clubhouse for her Mickey Mouse-themed 2nd birthday party. He always has a blast playing with her toys and I enjoyed a glass of champagne (or two) with the other moms on the Pfeiffer's beautiful new patio. While Mason napped that afternoon I spent another hour or so doing some shopping before coming home to get ready for our Make-A-Wish night. Our friend Shelly who invited us to the event was celebrating her birthday that night so it gave us even more reason to celebrate!

Sunday morning we had intended on going to brunch at Patrizio's, but when we hit the sack Saturday night I told Sean what really sounded good to me was coffee and donuts in bed. He got up like a champ the next morning and took Mason to the donut store and we did just that. It was so relaxing and perfect. Mason almost looked guilty when we allowed him to have some donut holes. He didn't want us to change our minds so he starting stuffing them in his mouth as fast as he could!

After breakfast we packed Mason up and got ready for a Mother's/Birth Day celebration at my sisters house with her family and my parents. We indulged in excellent appetizers and lunch and just enjoyed each others company while having a cocktail (or two) on the patio. Mason had so much fun playing at his cousins house. My 12-year old nephew still had his Thomas the Train engines at the top of the closet and Mason took them over like they had always been his. Then he jumped, and jumped (or as he says, 'juh, juh!) on their (enclosed) trampoline with Madison. After he had some quiet time in his pack 'n play in Madison's room (or as I like to call it, the relaxation chamber - she has made her room very spa-like), he came back out to play. My brother-in-law gave him a slice of watermelon and we stripped him down as we knew that would get really messy. The best way to clean off is obviously the water hose, so our little naked sweetheart entertained himself for quite a while with that!

My dream dinner is a plate full of appetizers, so that night we had shrimp cocktail, artichoke, cheese, apples and olives - with martinis then wine, of course!

Monday night the celebration continued with a Mom's Night Out with the moms of my playgroup. We went to Mercy Wine Bar and chatted over a glass of wine (or three) on the patio, followed by some yummy food and dessert.

My brother came in town the weekend before and we celebrated with him while he was here. It's always entertaining to get together with him!

Thanks to everyone who helped make my weekend memorable and Happy Mother's Day to my mom, mother-in-law, sister and all my wonderful friends!

Celebrating Emily's Birthday! (She's the one in her birthday suit!) ;)

Birthday Breakfast

Looking worried that this might end soon!

Happy Mother's Day!

My dad and I

Madison mid-flip!

Mom opening her gardening gift

Me and my little man

Cake!

Running to the hose

Spraying off the watermelon from the trampoline

Yeah!!!

He thought it was so funny when Madison dumped water on his head

Brian and Matthew playing soccer

MNO! Lizzy, Caroline, Amanda and Alice

Make-A-Wish

This past weekend we had the great pleasure of attending the annual gala for the North Texas chapter of Make-A-Wish. Our good friend Shelly was the MC for the event and invited us, and a few other couples, to join her at her table. Make-A-Wish North Texas grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions, and this annual gala with silent and live auctions helps raise money to make those wishes come true. This has always been a wonderful organization in my eyes, but now that we have a child, it hits even closer to home. We enjoyed watching a dance number put on by the children in attendance and joined in when it turned into a congo around the banquet room. They all really seemed to be living life to the fullest and enjoying every moment.

This years personal story came from Zander, a seven year old boy suffering from seizures and a brain condition called tuberous sclerosis. His wish to be a Zoo-Keeper for a day was granted on stage and on May 26 his wish will come true. Minutes after his wish was granted he received breaking news that an alligator was on the loose in Dallas and we need his help to track it down and transport it safely to its new home at the Dallas Zoo. Click here for information on how you can help Zander spot the alligator's tracks throughout the metroplex!

We had a lovely evening supporting this great cause with our friends, and enjoyed running into several friends we hadn't expected to see there! Thank you Shelly for the invite and thanks to my parents for sitting with our little angel while we enjoyed the evening out!

 I love my hubby in a tux

 Standing in front of beautiful artwork painted by a visually impaired child

 In the madness of the silent auction!

 Mark, Sean and Clay

 Alice, Shelly and Christine. I love Christine's expression here!

 Running into my fabulous friend from Pi Phi, Meagan

Christine, Shelly, Ashley and Alice. Sadly, Lindsay's alarm clock was going off early the next morning and she had left at this point.