Our Week

This is been one of my favorite weeks ever! Jory took the entire week off - which we needed after busy season. We planned very little so that we could just 'Be' together and with the kids. It has been wonderful. I have so enjoyed this time with my husband and I will be very sad to see this week end. I have not done a great job of taking pictures this week - I've been too busy enjoying myself - but here's what I have:

Tuesday April 26, 2011

I actually didn't take any pictures Monday and I really should have, but Tuesday was a fun day. It was our anniversary and we had a fabulous dinner at Old Hickory in the Gaylord. Brooke came a little early and we went to check out the Gaylord before dinner. For some reason, we've never been there. It was impressive. A little Vegas-like, but neat.

Wednesday April 27, 2011

We had breakfast at a bakery in downtown Grapevine and saw a dessert in the window that looked exactly like what Old Hickory had brought us as an Anniversary gift the night before. It turns out this bakery sells to the Gaylord so we took another Anniversary Dessert home to enjoy. Then we went to Costco. Aaron loves Costco - he asks to go there!

Thursday April 28, 2011

We had a coupon to try breakfast at a place in town and it was so good. Here's Aaron lining up the condiments while waiting for his food.

Our local Chick-Fil-A had Safety Night which included a free meal for kids and we went to check it out.

After dinner Aaron climbed up in a big fire truck!

Friday April 29, 2011

We went to Grapevine's Botanical Gardens. They are free, but we've never checked them out. They were great!

Attached to the Gardens is a playground where Aaron had a fabulous time.

Saturday April 30, 2011

We went to the Goades' house and spent the morning with them. Aaron loves it there - the kids are so good to him and there is lots of dirt and cats and Ann always fixes him a fabulous lunch. We had a great time there. This is Aaron enjoying a wagon ride at his own personal playground - the Goades' backyard!

And this is Abby asleep in Ann's arms.

I am so thankful for this week, my wonderful husband, my marriage and my family.

Park Pictures

It was such a nice afternoon so we went to the park. Here are some pictures of the boys - Abby was sleeping in the sling! The above picture is Daddy helping Aaron make Big Steps - they kept saying, "Whoa! That's a BIG step!"

Aaron had fun in the tunnel. Daddy would come to the side of it and call for him and Aaron had a great time finding Daddy in the slits in the side of the tunnel.

Big slide!

Whoosh down the little slide. We have had beautiful weather here and have been taking advantage!

Easter Pictures - Last Installment

We had a sweet Easter. Abby is an easy baby and she makes traveling nice.

We loved spending time with family and celebrating The Risen King.

Fun Easter Pictures

Wordless Wednesday

Abby and Papaw

John went and picked up Kim's father ('Papaw') on Easter morning. He lives in a nursing home about an hour and a half from Kim and John's house. He had never met his great-grandchildren, so this was a special treat.

Kim wanted to take a Generation Picture with her, her dad, Jory and the babies. She asked her dad to hold Abby and he gladly obliged. When the picture had been taken neither Abby nor Papaw seemed interested in changing their positions so he ended up holding his great-granddaughter contentedly while the rest of us went outside for the Easter Egg 'Hunt'.

I thought this was the sweetest picture! The Fishers got Abby this dress and shoes. Doesn't she look sweet and girly for Easter?

The best family Easter picture we could get

You should see the worst one! HA!

Easter Pictures, Installment One

We have an unbelievable number of pictures from today. It is a bit overwhelming, so I'll get them downloaded in sets. The first one is all Aaron, but don't worry - pictures of the Princess are coming!

We went to Kimmie and Papa's and the first order of business was to "See Dots" (the cat). We are blessed that this cat is so patient with Aaron!

Then it was inside for Easter baskets. Aaron was so excited about the garden tools he got.

Then it was back outside to hunt eggs. Papa 'hid' the eggs that had been painstakingly filled with all kinds of fun things - including money! The problem was, the eggs were all around the sand box and Aaron had just gotten these garden tools that would be perfect for sand and there was no way you were getting him to hunt eggs!

It was disappointing, but we have many years to hunt eggs, so we gave him sand box time. You can see him here with a new trowel, a cup and some sand while the eggs go unnoticed.

Now we're to the good stuff!

And the real good stuff!

Speaking of food, I put several new recipes here.

We had a truly fabulous Easter and we look forward to sharing more pictures and stories from it over the next several days.

Why the mother of a boy can't hope for good Easter pictures

The day before Easter Aaron took a huge tumble in the driveway. You can't tell it in this picture as well as I thought, but he sure is busted up. He has large scrapes on his forehead, his nose and under his nose. He has an enormous bump and bruise on his forehead.

Oh well, our Easter pictures will be memorable, at least!

A Sweet Day

On Thursday Jory had meetings in Fort Worth all day, but he had a break in the afternoon, so he decided to go see Papa John since his office is in downtown Fort Worth. We weren't doing anything and we love to see Daddy and Papa, so we went up there and met them. Can you see all the pictures in Papa's office? How sweet is that? And Papa loves to hold Abby...

but Aaron needed a turn, too!

We all had a good time visiting and then Jory and I took the kids to dinner.

I didn't get good pictures at dinner, but we sure enjoyed ourselves. It is so nice to be able to have family time during the week - a special surprise.

On the way home Aaron suddenly said, "I Love Papa." Oh! How sweet is that?!?

Good Friday

I absolutely love Good Friday. Unfortunately, though, it usually falls prior to April 15 so Jory and I have rarely been able to take the day off. This year, however, things worked out perfectly! Jory was off all day. We started the day with an early morning Bible Study then we had a lot of family time. This is Aaron waiting patiently for the rest of the family to get it together. After church we headed to a local farmer's market. It was fabulous and Aaron enjoyed it more than this picture portrays.

We got some green beans, some beautiful blackberries that we had for breakfast this morning, fig jam which we also had for breakfast (and will serve with our Easter biscuits), salsa and unbelievable tamales.

After that we walked around downtown Grapevine and window shopped until it was time for Abby to eat. We went home, ate and took naps. Then the Easter Bunny came!

Aaron and Abby got a wonderful Easter package from Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Tom! Aaron was SOOO excited. They also both got cards in the mail from Kimmie and Papa. Abby's said 'Happy First Easter' and we thought it was so sweet.

We finished the day by telling Aaron the Easter story. It was a delightful day.

Easter Buckets

I've gotten so many comments on the kids' Easter buckets! This is Aaron's and I absolutely love it! It is hand-painted. It has his name on one side...

And the same picture without his name on the other side.

The other two sides look like this.

Unfortunately, the girl who did this isn't doing them anymore! So I ordered Abby's bucket from the same place where I got Aaron's Christmas shirt.

It's a plastic bucket with a decal. They only had blue and pink buckets, but you could pick the decal. It's super cute, but I really like the tin and paint look of Aaron's! I would have liked to have two similar buckets, but Jory likes the fact that they are different. He said Aaron's looks like a boy's and Abby's looks like a girl's.