We had a blast in Cancun last week!! The weather was amazing! It was defintely a truip to rememeber!

Here are my favorite moments...

• We went scuba diving in the Carribean at a national park on Friday morning. It was really windy that day, so swimming in the ocean was a beating, but it was so much fun! We set out from a really neat docking sight and headed out into the waves. When we were finished and needed to dock again, it was too windy to park at the camp, so we had to be dropped off about half a mile down the beach to walk back. No big deal, except for the fact that a quarter of that half mile was along a nudist resort. I will spare you the details of course, but there was a lot of laughing and covering of eyes. Let's just say they were not too shy to come out and talk to us or shake our hands...

The "backside" of the nudist resort

• Another fabulous part of the trip was the time we spent on the beach. This was what we did most of the trip. We played beach volleyball, read books, swam in the ocean and slept. It was amazing! The boys constructed two different sand castles that were admired by all who passed on the beach!

Here are a few of my favorite group pictures



And a few more fun ones

Leaving Texas

Waiting on our luggage forever!!

They were filming an infomercial when we arrived

The Cooks

The Deanes

The Sloans

The Gentrys

Back at DFW

Today I am going to tell you my five favorite things about my Big Sister, Allison.

1. I love that I have a sister that is reading through all of the Pulitzer Prize winning books, starting with the first. She is also keeping a blog about her thoughts on each one she finishes (http://pulitzerpalaver.blogspot.com/). She loves to read and is smart enough to get all of the rich information from each book. I am not- I laughed at her previous read because the author's name was Pupin. He he- I'm still laughing at that one.


2. My sister is a great artist. She can draw and paint and play the piano and sing. She can also make up recipes, which is a rare talent. She is definitely the bohemian in the family. Her current artsy hobby is card making. I will add a picture later of some of her best, but they are amazing!!!


3. Some fo my favorite memories with my sister happened in my birth state (I don't say that proudly) of New Mexico. We have spent so much time there through the years! We love to go to Glorieta and eat mexican food in Santa Fe. We like to ski if we can or just go there to relax. The two main events in our New Mexico trips are food an hair dye. We plan all of our days around getting in our favorite local eateries. Also, for some strange reason we get the itch to dye hair while we are up there. It must be the thin air. Allison came out with the most amazing 80's punk rock bleached hair one time. Now it wasn't amazing to her, but the cramp I got from laughing at it was certainly amazing!


4. One of our favorite pastimes is to sing in the car. I mean SING! We turn it up loud and sing like we are on tour somewhere. My husband did not grow up around anything like this, so needless to say he was shocked the first time he went on vacation with my family. The great thing is that Allison found a man that will join right in.


5. That brings me to my last favortie thing about Allison- and that's Anthony. She found the most amazing husband (after I told him to call her one day in the Bueno parking lot)! He cherishes her and is so much fun to be around. Anyone that knows Anythony knows that he is pure gold. He fits right in with our family (in the good ways, not the crazy ways). I love that Anthony is game for anything. No matter what we end up doing, he makes it even more fun. We are so blessed to have him around! I love how he loves my sister and looks at her with such wonder.

I Love You More Than...

I asked my kindergarteners to write a note to their parents telling them how much they loved them. Here are some of the more creative ones...

Hot Dogs

Giraffes

Sweet Tarts

Cherries

And my random favorite... the American Flag

A Sunny Sunday

This past Sunday, the Cooks and the Deanes decided to take advantage of the beautiful day. We grabbed some burritos at the yummiest little Panaderia in what is like Fort Worth's Little Mexico (the intersection of Seminary and Hemphill). Because they don't have tables to eat at and they don't sell drinks, we had to do some planning, but the burritos are SO worth it!

The girls went in one car with one of the little ones to get our drinks (by the way- the Race Track guy didn't make me pay for mine- what a nice confidence booster!!) and the guys did the same with the other little one. When we got there, they don't take cash- which we knew but forgot. We were WAY overdressed for this dining experience, but ended up having to pay in change. Classy- I know! We got our burritos and headed for the park nearby. These are Chris' old stomping grounds (yikes!), so he knew just were to go. We sat and ate at the park, enoying the spring-like weather. Since we were there, we couldn't resist getting in a little playtime!

Friday Fave 5

My 5 Favorite things about Nanners (my mom, Nan).

1. My mom is an amazing cook! Not only can she make the old favorties like roast and pies, but she can make anything gourmet you could imagine. She took so much time with Allison and me in the kitchen growing up. She definitely passed down the idea that nothing is complete without something yummy to eat. Some of my favorite memories from childhood until now have been with my mom in the kitchen.
   
2. I love that my mom can sew. Sewing seems to be a dying art and I have told myself a hundred times to sit down and learn. My mom can make really anything I need! Right now she is in the process of making bedding for Caroline's new bed because I couldn't find just what I wanted. What a blessing!


3. My mom works with low income kids from an apartment complex in east Fort Worth every week. It is a very rough place and my little 5 foot mom goes into this complex alone and at night. But the people love her because she loves on them. I have been with her before and when she pulls in, the kids come running from every corner. One time when we went by one house, my mom said "that house smelled really stinky. What on earth was that smell?" and I just shook my head and said, "Mom, that was pot! Didn't you grow up in the 70's?" I love that my mom is still so innocent! She will have a very shiny jewel in her crown for what she does with these kids!


4. My mom's house does a complete transformation about 6 times a year (maybe more). For every holiday she has a new pillow for every chair, a new wreath for every door, a new centerpiece for every table and new placemats for the kitchen. I love it because some of the things I've known since childhood and others are new touches she sneaks in.


5. Nana is probably the biggest part of my Sweet Caroline's world. They spend every day together and both ache when they aren't together. I have tears in my eyes thinking of how lucky I am to have a mom that willl sacrifice so much to keep my baby out of daycare. She meets her at the door every morning and covers her in kisses. I have learned more about mothering from watching her with Caroline than I did growing up in her house. She constantly gives and thinks of others needs before hers. I hope I can be as selfless as she is someday.

Random thing you probably didn't know about my mom... when she was 20, she could benchpress 200 lbs.!

Mystery Blogger

Since October, Emily, Allison and I have been stalked by "mcdonaldlawoffices.com". This person was visiting our blogs multiple times a week and sometimes a day. We have gone in circles trying to figure out who this person is, but couldn't figure it out! Emily even wrote a very friendly "introduce yourself" post on her blog, but we never heard anything.

Finally, I looked to see who was looking at my classroom blog this week and saw this name again. I was furious! My classroom blog is password protected, so I couldn't figure out how they got in. Emily suggested that it may be a parent in my class, but none of them would have my personal blog address. Finally after Allison pointed out that the safety of my kids was at stake, I called this office. I talked with a very nice lady and she was very concerned as well and vowed to get to the bottom of it.

Well, today Emily solved the mystery. She brought up the idea to me that the IP address may be labeled wrong or something. She did some digging on her own blog and figured out that "mcdonaldlawoffices.com" had logged on at the same time that a comment was left on one of her posts. And guess who made the comment? Your's Truly! So as Emily said "I think it's you, with the candlestick, in the library."

Anti-Super Bowl Party

The night that the Giants beat the Cowboys, we decided that we were having an "Anti-Super Bowl" Party. We didn't feel right yelling for the Giants because they knocked out our home team, but who likes that Pats???


As the sting of defeat subsided over the next weeks, I had to take a good hard look and decide who to cheer for in the game of the year. I ended up settling on the Giants for two reasons. #1- they beat us and it's nice to be able to say that the only team that could beat us ended up winning the Championship. #2- they are in the NFC East, which is our division. You always want to see the teams in your division to do well.


We ended up having a fabulous time at the Deane home. Here are some pictures of the fun...

Bryan and I could have sworn that it was the Cowboys vs. the Colts...

Emily, Kristen and Shavon

Laura was stressed and couldn't watch

Cindy looks stressed, but Randy doesn't!

The precious Sloans!

Ok, we still don't have much hair, but Caroline insists on "pixie tails"

"This is why I won't be taking my shirt off in Cancun..." -Brad
We had our first kiss on Super Bowl Sunday!!

I love my girls!

Friday Fave 5

For the next few weeks I am going to do my 5 Favorite things about someone I love! I am going to start with my Dad.

1. He is the only one that has a nickname for me. Now some family and friends calls me Trashley, but I refuse to acknowledge that as an official nickname. My dad has called me Peeper my entire life. I am not exactly sure where it came from, but even to this day he writes in cards or texts or calls me Peeper when he wants my attention.


2. Traveling. I love traveling with my dad. If we are going somewhere significant, he will study up on it for weeks in adavance. If we are going somewhere to relax, he can nap and eat with the best of them. He used to take me or Allison on trips with him whenever he could. We got to skip school and that was the biggest deal.


3. My dad is so funny. Even though he is a pastor, he is not at all straight laced. He taught me all the rhymes about beans and took me out to wrap houses before I was even in grade school. He loves practical jokes. Some of the things that he and his friends did to each other while I was growing up are things I wouldn't even have the guts to do.


4. JH Ranch is my favorite memory with my dad. We went up into the mountains on the Oregon- California border for a week during the summer before my senior year of high school. We spent all day together talking or praying. We jumped off cliffs, whitewater rafted, camped on the river's edge and learned to love each other like hadn't before.


5. My dad always made time for me. We played hours of basketball on the driveway. We went to breakfast every Friday morning. We went to golf tournamets. He made me lemon ice cream any time I wanted it while I was pregnant. He's taken the time to love and encourage my husband. I never had to doubt that taking care of me and Mom and Allison was the most importan thing in his life.