Spring Break 2013

Spring Break in Dallas took place last week and even though Mason is only two, we decided to make the most of it and pack his days with fun activities around Dallas! The weather started off a little chilly but the second two-thirds of the week were absolutely perfect. Hope it sticks around for another few months before it becomes brutally hot!

Monday was nothing new but was still fun. We went to the gym and then joined friends at Chick-fil-A where the kids can play. After his nap that afternoon we played around the house. On Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment and since Mason's school was closed for Spring Break, my mom came over to play with him while I was gone. They played outside the majority of the time and both had a great time! That afternoon we had a picnic dinner playdate scheduled with a friend at the park, but his buddy got sick at the last minute and had to cancel. We decided to play outside in the backyard all afternoon and then dined al fresco that evening!

Filling his dump trucks with dirt and then dining al fresco!

Wednesday is when the fun really started. We met a friend at Jump Mania in Plano and Mason and I both had a blast. The place is filled with huge indoor bounce houses with slides, obstacle courses, and all sorts of bouncy fun. After an hour and a half we were both ready to relax in the car on our way to meet my sister, niece, mom and dad for lunch in Allen. We met at Watters Creek, a pretty outdoor shopping and dining center. Mason and I got there early and walked down to the creek to play with his cars and sit on the metal ducks. After lunch (forgot to snap a pic), Madison came home with us to spend the night. We put Mason down for his nap and I got some things done around the house while she searched for lizards outside and watched a movie inside. When Mason woke up we all went out for sno-cones and playtime at the park!

He was moving so fast at Jump Mania and all my pictures turned out blurry! Shows how much fun he had.

Playing by the creek at Watters Creek before lunch

Sno-Cones, playground and dinner with his sweet and helpful cousin, Madison

I can't believe it took us this long, but we finally took Mason out to the new Klyde Warren park on Thursday. Its a five acre urban green space built over Woodall Rodgers Freeway, connecting downtown and uptown Dallas. It's great for kids and adults alike, and Mason had a blast in the kids play area. He spotted the water feature right away and immediately started taking off his clothes so he could play in it! Thankfully I had brought some back-up clothes. We met some of our friends up there with their kiddos and then grabbed a ride on the McKinney Avenue Trolley. All of the kids really seemed to enjoy this and were really well behaved on the 45 minute loop through uptown. When we got back to the park I was amazed at how packed it had become. It was a gorgeous day and food trucks line the park for lunch, so all the people who work around there joined all the spring breakers to make for a massive crowd. Sean's building is within walking distance to the park so he joined us for lunch. We waited a total of an hour for our food, but man was that a good burger! Needless to say, Mason was ready for his nap that afternoon. Madison did all she could to help keep him awake on the way home and he went straight to his crib for a lengthy snooze!

My sweet, pale baby at Klyde Warren park

Splash!

We'll bring swim trunks next time!

Fun on the trolley and then lunch from the food trucks with Daddy!

On Friday we had plans to meet a friend and her son at the zoo, but she had a last minute commitment come up so we went on our own. We left the house early to stop at the delicious Fuel City Tacos for breakfast and get to the zoo just in time for opening. It was crowded from the get go, but nothing that was too unmanageable. The zoo is pretty close driving-distance from Sean's office so he was able to meet us up there for an hour. He did not want to miss Mason's first visit! Mason loved seeing all the animals in person. He favorite part was taking the monorail around some of the African exhibits. That boy loves trains! After his nap that afternoon his neighborhood friend Beatrice came over to play, and then when Sean got home we took Mason and Beatrice out for an Italian dinner. They are such cute little friends and really seemed to enjoy their first date!

Playing with trains at the Giraffe exhibit

Admiring the elephant

Going on a safari!

Up close and personal with a cheetah, giraffe, and gorilla. Sean took him up high to view the gorilla.

Happy kiddos after a successful first date

He was so happy when we got home from dinner. He was just running around the front yard smiling and laughing!

We invited my family over for a cook-out on Saturday and sadly didn't get any pictures of this. Doug was able to come in town, and my parents and the Gadeks were here too. It was a wonderful evening with exceptional weather and delicious food. Thanks, Dad, for the venison sausage - yum!!!

We stayed around the house for the most part on Sunday and spent the greater part of the day outside. Mason has rediscovered his love for playing in the water hose so we stripped him down several times over the weekend and let him go to town. We wrapped the weekend up with a healthy chicken dinner to get our week back to reality off to a fresh start!

Next week we plan to go to Dallas Blooms at the Arboretum with my mom and The new Perot museum with a friend on Friday. Then a visit to the Dallas Museum of Art with another lunch trip to Klyde Warren is in our future! I love Dallas this time of year and have enjoyed taking Mason out to enjoy it as well!

Happy Val-times Day

As Mason would say, Happy Val-times Day! This is another one of those celebratory days that is even more fun with a child involved. Sean and I cooked a nice dinner (lamb chops with mustard-mint sauce, cous cous and asparagus), exchanged cards and gifts, and put roses in a vase, but this year also included a fun class party for Mason, sweet Valentine's arriving in the mail for him, tiny hands helping me make heart-shaped sugar cookies, and a love-ly photo shoot with his friends at playgroup. Hope you enjoyed the day with your loved ones as well!

This sweet little cupid steals my heart every day

Thanks to Amanda and Lizzy for snapping these framers!

He was eyeing Hadley's outdoor playhouse and having a hard time sitting still... ;)

His collection of gifts from school, us and grandparents. My favorite is the blue truck card that his Grandad made for him! 

Coloring his Valentine's for his classmates

The best shot from his class party

Making cookies for Daddy!

Comparison shot of our little love-bug from last year to this year!

Christmas 2012

It's only a month late but, Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the season. I know we sure did. Sean's parents came in town for a week and we had a wonderful time enjoying the holiday break as a family. I got used to long mornings watching cartoons with Mason in bed, slowly drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, and brisk family walks with Hazel. Sean had almost two full weeks off work and we successfully accomplished taking it easy during that time. It was definitely a rough adjustment when we had to get back in the swing of things in January!

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is our annual Christmas Eve dinner at our house. It's open to any family that is in town, which this year included both sets of our parents. The Gadek's always have Christmas Eve with Brian's family, so they have never been able to attend, Doug was driving in from Oklahoma that night, and Grandma and Uncle Philip stayed in Louisiana. The six of us that were there this year know how to party and had a wonderful evening. Beef Tenderloin and Apple Pie are tradition, and we always have festive appetizers, sides and drinks to go with it. This year Sean made his favorite pie, minced meat, as well.

I still can't believe that we actually had a white Christmas in Dallas this year! Santa dropped of some goodies for Mason on Christmas Eve and we spent Christmas morning at home letting him play with all his new fun toys. Then we packed everyone and everything up and headed to my parents house to meet up with the rest of the family for the day. Everyone was in great spirits, there was delicious food, a fire burning, and merriment all around. When the snow started falling it really made the day perfect. I wish I could capture it forever - it was such a warm and cozy day with those I love the most. Mason took a great nap at my parents house while we all enjoyed a Christmas meal, the falling snow, and relaxing.

The snow stuck around for another day and Mason had a great time discovering it. He loved making snowballs and footprints in it, and of course didn't seem to mind the cold at all. For a good week after, he'd look for snow when we opened his window in the morning. Hope we get some more this winter!

It was hard to send Sean's parents back home, but our fingers are crossed that this time next year they'll make a move our way and we can see them more often. Sean still had a few days off after his parents left and we soaked up some valuable family time with just the three of us.

Here are some pictures from the week of Christmas. I really wish I could turn back time and experience this all over again!

Sean and his Dad cooking, and Mom R and Hazel bonding by the fire. Hazel loves it when Mom and Dad R are in town!

Merry Christmas Eve!

My silly boy loving life on Christmas Eve. We started a new tradition of reading The Night Before Christmas by the fire as a family before Mason heads off to bed.

Christmas Eve dinner. Yum!

Annual Christmas Eve dinner

Santa came!

Mason's big gifts were a bike and a chair. He loves them and has used them both daily ever since!

Christmas day excitement/madness at my parents house

Christmas day at my parents! I love having the whole family together.

One of the best Christmas's in recent memory! (Mason was a little over pictures in the bottom right pic)

The Robison's and The Henderson's

Discovering snow!

Our good friend, Pete, has a birthday at the end of the year and always hosts a delicious dinner at his house with his close friends. It's a great way to wrap up the week!

Holiday Happenings

December was a fun month filled with holiday activities for us! I have fallen behind on the blog and wanted to do a recap of our shenanigans leading up to Christmas.

The Nutcracker

For my mom's birthday back in November, my sister and I gave tickets to The Nutcracker at the Winspear Opera house. The tickets were for early December, and we had a great time taking her to the show, a fun happy hour, and a delicious dinner to celebrate. 

Love these ladies!

Toddler Birthday Parties

Mason has a lot of friends right around his age and had six birthday parties (eight including his own home and school parties), to attend in December! My nephew also turned thirteen on the 13th so it was an exciting month of  birthdays. We didn't get pictures at all the parties, but snapped a couple!

Having fun at his school birthday celebration

Watching cousin Matthew play basketball against HP around his birthday

Riding a train around the neighborhood with his buddy Hutcheson at Hayes' party

Holiday Parties

We certainly had plenty of fun opportunities to spread the holiday cheer this season! It started with Sean's company party at Hotel ZaZa. We took some silly pictures in the photo booth and Mason likes to keep the print-out in his kitchen. Mason had several Christmas-themed playdates he attended with his weekly play group and our PTA group. Caroline hosted a fun afternoon happy hour playgroup/gift exchange at her home that the moms and kids all enjoyed. My parents held a Christmas party for my dads office and invited us to join as well. We had a wonderful time hanging out with my dads co-workers and eating the amazing food my mom made, as well as indulging in some creative festive drinks! My friend Lindsay hosted an ornament exchange at her beautifully decorated home where I had fun hanging out with my girlfriends and swapping ornaments! The Pfeiffer's threw their annual Christmas party and we had a blast celebrating with a fun group of couples. Mason came with us to this party and thankfully went right to sleep in his pack n play when we got there. The cold weather hadn't hit Dallas at this point so we were able to spend a lot of time out on their gorgeous patio. The night after the Pfeiffer's party, we attended the PTA Christmas party. My parents graciously offered to have Mason spend the night at their house that night so we didn't have to worry about coming home for a babysitter. We dropped him off in the afternoon and had time to knock out some Christmas shopping and catch a movie before heading to the party! Finally, Pete and Dorrie had us and the Emanuels over for a fun and kid-friendly happy hour that led into a delicious chili dinner. Mason had fun playing with their two boys and the Emanuels sweet daughter Beatrice, and we had fun chatting with Dorrie's parents and treating ourselves to their always delicious spread!

Photo Booth fun at the HL company party

At my parents Christmas party

Play date HH

Christmas play group and lunch at Amanda's

4 kiddos squeezing in a 2-seater wagon. They had more fun than it looks!

Pfeiffer's Christmas Party

Mason's class Christmas party

Checking out Christmas lights with BeBe and Papa while we had a night off!

Christmas get-together at the Andrews

Breakfast with Santa

The school Mason goes to put on a great Breakfast with Santa event that included singing and dancing with the Kidville band, hot and cold breakfasts, auction items, craft activities for the kids, and of course, Santa! The line for Santa was about 15 minutes long so I used that time to help prepare Mason for what to say when he sits on Santa's lap. I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure I heard him saying he wants a 'choo-choo' for Christmas! So sweet. Sean donated one of his picnic tables to the event for the auction, and we took a peek at what the bidding was at before we left and were very pleased with the going rate! We were glad to be able to give back in that way to his school. 

Breakfast with Santa

"I'd like a choo-choo, please"

Dancing with the Kidville band

Sean's donated picnic table

Stella & Dot

I am so excited to announce that I decided to sign on with Stella & Dot as a stylist. I would  never think that selling jewelry through a trunk show would be my thing, but the more I talked to my sponsor about it and the more I learned about the line, I really fell in love with the product and now find myself really looking forward to the time I put in working. It all happened very quickly - I first met my sponsor at a PTA event in early December, signed on as a stylist in mid-December, then turned around and held two launch shows in time for customers to place orders before Christmas! It's been a whirlwind of an experience so far, but I'm finally feeling like I'm getting settled with this new venture and look forward to what the new year holds. You can check the line out by clicking here!

Looking back, it's hard to imagine that all this happened in just a few weeks, and it doesn't even include the week of Christmas (or decorating, gift buying, treat making, card mailing, etc.). It's a very busy, but very fun time of year and we loved every moment. More on Christmas week to come!

Mason's Fire Truck Birthday Party!

Mason's fire truck-themed 2nd birthday party was a huge success! He has loved fire trucks for a long time so this theme only seemed appropriate. Ultimately, my goal was to get a fire truck at his party, but the Dallas Fire Department doesn't do private events and it was quite costly to rent one through a party service. So I put together a bunch of fire truck crafts for the kids to do instead as an activity, and pretty much told myself that my wish to get a truck at his party wasn't going to happen. That's until I randomly ran into a fireman from our neighborhood station a couple of days before Mason's party. He wasn't working the Saturday shift, but said it wouldn't hurt to try and bribe the guys with some yummy breakfast the morning of and ask if they could swing by for just 5 minutes. Well wouldn't you know that a little bribery worked! They sped by once with their sirens on and while that was so cool, I thought to myself that my muffins must not have been too good if that's all we're going to get. Turns out they actually got a call when they turned on our street and legitimately had to go! They came back as soon as they could though and let the kiddos play on the truck for a good 15-20 minutes. I am so happy it all worked out and couldn't thank the firemen enough. They made Mason's 2nd birthday party one we'll never forget!


I took way too many pictures, so instead of going on and on about the party, I'll let the photos do the work. Enjoy!

The Decorations

The activity 'stations'. Build Your Own Firetruck, Coloring, and Edible Fire Hoses

The guests

More guests

Party action. I love the 'my two dads' photo on the bottom right with Sean & Uncle Brian. :)

The Fire Truck!!!

Fun on the truck

Sean made Mason a kitchen for his gift and he loved it! He's also obsessed with this helicopter from BeBe & Papa.

Time for cake! Silly boy wouldn't use his hands.

Happy Birthday, Mason!