Meet Nibbles!

Saturday, February 6, 2010, after B’s party we went over to D’s house and adopted a little gerbil for Z. They had gotten their daughter, M, the gerbil about 5 months ago and she lost interest with it. So they offered it to us and we were thrilled to take her in. We brought her home, Z changed her name to Nibbles, and he helped his Daddy clean out her cage. Then they placed her cage in her new room – Z’s room! He loves having her share a room with him. We have so much fun playing with Nibbles and watching her run around in her little ball. Thanks S, D and M!

Z loves Nibbles! She is his very own pet!

Sometimes this is the only way to catch this fast gerbil!

Z took this picture of me holding Nibbles.

So excited to clean out her cage.

Helping each other.

No Dad, this is how you spread it out.

Putting on the lid.

Happy birthday to our friend B!

Saturday, February 6, 2010, was B’s birthday party at her house. (Her actual birthday was February 4.) They had the Capital of Texas Zoo come back out to their house. They set up a petting zoo for the kids. What a hit! The kids did a cute craft, played like crazy and then pet the little critters. It was a perfect day outside and we stayed for 3 hours. The time flew by since everyone was having so much fun. Great party T!

The birthday girl!

Party friends pose for the picture. All these kids were from school.

Friends from school were at the party. What fun!

In the petting zoo area.

Z and school pal, K, play with the tortoise.

Z and school pal, N check out the animals.

Not sure what Z and A are looking at here.

A sweet picture of Z and R!

Cake time.

Z and school pal J.

Z chilling with R.

Home Depot craft with Dad

Saturday, February 6, 2010, was a very busy day for us. It started with Z and his Dad going to Home Depot to make a wooden display box for a few special cars. While they were at Home Depot, they picked out some paint to paint the throwing game they are making together for Z’s birthday party.

After we all got home, I go to Weight Watchers on Saturday mornings, Z went to play with some friends outside while hubby worked on the building the game for the party. Next thing I know, we are having a mini playdate with neighbor kids in my playroom. Before long, it was time to head out for B’s birthday party. 

Building the box without help.

Finished product.

Pajama Party and Poker

Friday, February 5, 2010, was the guy’s poker night at S’s house. So all the women, minus D and K, went to M’s house for a jammie party. Yes, the moms and the kids wore their pj’s and we had a blast. We brought stuff to work on Valentine’s Day boxes for the kids to take to school. It was a fun evening and the kids played hard until about 10:45pm. Now the men on the other hand, played until 2:30am! They had a blast as well. Looks like we now have another monthly ritual YEAH!!!

Beginning the master piece!

Z took this picture of me working on his box.

Finished product. Each side of the box is different.

We made a good team working on his box.

Children’s Museum

Wednesday, February 3, 2010, Z and I went to the Children’s Museum with a couple friends since school was out for the day.  We had fun playing with the kids in the store,  kitchen, and in the Santa Fé room where there were wooden musical instruments and a colorful kitchen. We also got to do some crafts and play with parachute pigs. We even got to play with some of the air exhibits. The kids played so well together that it gave us moms some time for bonding

After the museum, C and I took the boys to Old Navy and I was able to find some stuff for Z’s birthday party. He is having an army party so camo was on my shopping list.

Kids at work....more like kids at play!

L and her boys looking at the die cut machine.

C and J working on a craft.

Z working with the milk bottles in the store.

Z and D playing together.

Three boys in a kitchen. They made us some great meals.

Z in the wind tunnel.

Ok, not sure what the name of this hat was but it was fun!

Z pretending to be the customer while I rang his order up on the cash register.

Mom and Z playing store.

The next generation rock band.

A - 1 - 2 - A - 1 - 2- 3 - 4!!!

Driving the bus and talking on the phone.

Ceramic Lodge with friends

Way back in October when Z’s school had a silet auction, I purchased a ’tile party’ at a local ceramic shop for 4 friends. Well, finally the time came when we went! On January 29 after school a few of Z’s friends joined us for our party. The kids had so much fun. The moms sat there watching the kids paint and before long, we were all painting something. When the kids finished their tiles, they saw the moms painting so of course they wanted to paint more stuff. So in the end, the moms painted a piece, and the kids painted two things a piece. So much for just painting the free tile

Of course we were all hungry after all the creating we did, so we all met up with our husbands and another family and all 14 of us hit Jardin Corona’s for some good food and fun times. The ladies planned a spa trip and the men all convinced K to join the poker group of men. And as always, we all had a nice time. 

Getting started.

I think Z just shot me with an invisible gun.

P had a great time painting.

M was too small to paint but he still had fun checking out everything.

It wasn't easy to get C to look up and smile for the camera. He was so interested in his creation.

No, I didn't paint this. I wish I could so I took a picture to try to copy.

They are all working really hard.

We are all painted out. Time for some dinner!

Work in progress

So you all know that hubby quit his job and is now working on opening his own business. He will be working from home and decided that he needed some privacy in order to work. So he took last week off to install french doors and close up a cut out in the wall. It looks really nice and now we are waiting to get the designer in here to paint and complete the work.

During the process of putting in the door hubby needed to install a piece of tile. So he had to rent a tile cutter. While he had the tile cutter, he decided to replace a few tiles in the living room that were cracked. So Z went to get his goggles on and he helped his Daddy with breaking up some of the tile. It was really cute to listen to them working together.

The door is in and now tons more work to do.

Working together.

Here let me hammer while you hold it.

This is so much fun!

What a big helper!

Door in, trim done, tile done, wall in, texture done.....now we wait for J to paint it all.

Disney World 2009

As you may have read, our big Christmas gift to our family was a trip to Florida to visit Disney World. Hubby and I went there on our honeymoon and our 10 year anniversary so when our 20th anniversary came in October, we planned to go back to Disney for our 20th anniversary only we would combine it with Christmas. So that is how we ended up in Florida on December 27 and we left on January 2. We had such a fun time despite the horrible crowds! We had no idea it would be so crowded while we were there. 

We stayed in a concierge suite at Animal Kingdom Lodge and we had access to the concierge lounge where we had tons of free food/drinks available to us. It was a nice break to visit the lounge and the staff on that floor was just amazing! As concierge guests, they planned and made reservations for us for each table service meal so we didn’t have to miss out on any activities and time. They even sent us a few gifts since we were celebrating our anniversary and the new year. I can’t tell you how amazing it was to wake up each morning and see all the animals outside our room just roaming around. There were so many things to do in the resort as well. They had night vision goggles available each night for the kids to look for the animals at night (very cool!), a musical parade in the lobby, crayon rubbings on the floor, crafts, folklore stories by the fire pit, and an arcade. Not to mention the wonderful Boma restaurant. 

We attended many character meals and even went to a fun show and we went on an amazing sunrise safari to see the animals up close. We also attended a candlelight processional with an amazing choir and even had the story of Jesus’s birth read to us by Angela Basset and Courtney Vance (famous actress/actor). We got to enjoy Disney Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom. We got to ride all the popular rides thanks to all the fast passes the concierge service gave us. We even got to see fireworks for New Years and the Fantasmic light show. 

I ordered 352 pictures for the scrapbook and we took many many more than that. I will be working on our second Disney vacation scrapbook very soon. I am only sharing a few of the pictures with you on my blog. Feel free to stop by and check out the scrapbook once it is complete.  

Boat ride to a dinner show.

Music parade in the resort.

Using night vision goggles.

An awesome ride!

Indiana Jones show.

Disney Hollywood studios before dinner.

Having fun!

Before riding the intense part of Mission Space.

This is after I vomited when Mission Space was over. Apparently they spin you in circles at 35 miles per hour. No wonder I puked!

I will never ride this ride again. Z loved it though.

Playing with robots.

Character dinner.

Character dinner.

Character dinner.

Character dinner.

 

We had to stop at a bunch of these penny smashing machines.

Mickey's house.

 

Riding on Splash Mountain.

 

Happy New Year's Eve!

New Year's Eve character dinner.

New Year's Eve character dinner.

New Year's Eve character dinner.

New Year's Eve character dinner.

New Year's Eve character dinner. Z working in his autograph book.

Crayon rubbings at the resort.

 

After the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Holding up the Epcot ball.

Dinner in a bucket at a dinner show.

Goofing around at a dinner show.

 

Character breakfast.

Character breakfast.

Character breakfast.

Around the resort.

Around the resort.

Around the resort.

Around the resort.

From our sunrise safari tour.

From our sunrise safari tour.

From our sunrise safari tour.

From our resort room.

Around the resort.

Playing late at night at the arcade with Dad.

Sitting with Mom enjoying a folklore story around the fire.

Candlelight processional after our character dinner.

Can you ever get enough pictures of the Disney castle?

"Wishes" firework show on Mainstreet

"Wishes" firework show on Mainstreet

The tree is the lobby of our resort.

Christmas Day 2009!!!!

YEAH!!!! IT IS FINALLY CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!

Z was so thrilled that Santa came to our house and ate the snacks and drank the Egg Nog that we left out for him. Even the reindeer ate their food. We spent the morning opening presents while listening to Christmas music and the smell of M’s famous egg casserole in the oven. It was a very nice morning! After we opened our gifts and watched Z play with some of his, we had my husband’s father and step mom, and my husband’s brother and his family join us for a wonderful spaghetti and meatball dinner. We all exchanged gifts and played some Uno Flash and got to visit for a long time. It was such a great day with family!

Christmas smile!

Z was thrilled to get the Three Billy Goat's Gruff.

This kid loves G.I Joe.

Magic Tree House from Grandma B and Grandpa E.

Enough said......

Hubby got a new wallet as well as some other great gifts.

I finally got my Snuggie and some other wonderful gifts.

The haul!

My brother in law.

My father in law.

Me, my (step) mother in law, and my sister in law.

My youngest niece.

My nephew.

My oldest niece.

Playing Uno Flash.

HUM.....what is this?

SURPRISE!!!! We are going to Disney World!

Z and his Papa R.

Z left this note for Santa. "Have a safe ride home"

Christmas Eve 2009

This was our first year not to be overwhelmed with all the things to do on Christmas Eve. We had a relaxing day of errand running and hanging around the house. I made a banana bread, brownies, and cookies for Santa and Christmas Day. Z decorated a gingerbread house, sprinkled the yard with reindeer food, put out a plate for Santa, and got to open a gift. Hubby made his traditional meatballs for our Christmas dinner. He made about 150 regular meatballs and about 50 cheese stuffed meatballs. Boy o boy does the house smell YUMMY! And I must give a special thanks to my friend M for bringing over an egg casserole to cook on Christmas morning. You rock M!

This is going to be the best gingerbread house ever!

This is the back.

This is the front.

Making meatballs.

Snacks for Santa! Egg Nog is in the mug.

I wonder what is inside.

G.I Joe!

You look cool!

Feeding the reindeer!

One excited kid!