Thanksgiving 2014 Recap

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents home in Texas this Thanksgiving. It is always a fun time with plenty of good eats and lots of catching up since they live so far away. We split up the drive to their house by staying overnight at the L'auberge Casino Resort in Lake Charles. We had a lot of fun exploring the hotel and grounds and playing some slots. They also had a game room for Evan. He spent quite a bit of time there and loaded up on prizes.

Checking in!

Hotel "Beach"

Selfie in front of the water.

 

 

Enjoying the cozy fireplace.

While we were on our visit, a trip to "The Farm" was a must. The day was gorgeous and the temperature was in the low 70's. We did some target practice, checked out some baby calves, picked beans from the garden and repaired some down "hot shot" lines. What a great place to combine work and play!

Baby Calves...so cute!

Gorgeous, peaceful day!

Target Practice

Dad showing off his sharp shooter skills.

The farm is a great place for a driving lesson!

On our way to visit my parents my Uncle Matt passed away. I was so happy that his rosary was held while we were still in town and that I was able to attend. It was so great to see so many Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that I hadn't seen in such a long time. Godspeed Uncle Matt!

Joe and Matt

Mother's Day Weekend

On Friday, we kicked off Mother's Day weekend with Todd bringing home an ice chest with 50 pounds of shrimp. They were big and gorgeous! Luckily, Evan doesn't mind getting his hand dirty and jumped in and helped Todd peel them and get them ready for the freezer. Todd cooked his first batch of them on Sunday and they were awesome.

My boys working hard on the shrimp.

Todd loves his shrimp!

Evan displaying the biggest shrimp he could find.

On Saturday we went to a HUGE sporting goods store called Cabela's. When I walked in, all I could say was "WOW!" It is incredibly big and has everything for the outdoor person. In addition to the merchandise, there is also an aquarium with fish and turtles, a wildlife museum, tons of displays and a restaurant! How did I live so long and not even know a place like this existed?

Evan took my picture in front of one of the wildlife displays.

Evan was thrilled that they had an escalator and I couldn't resist filming him and his big smile (though Todd was a little impatient with Evan's fun):

 Todd enjoying the store.

On Sunday we went to Todd's sister's house and had a wonderful bar-b-que lunch. She made five desserts and I had to taste them all1 Needless to say, a nap was in order when we got home. It was a fun, relaxing day!

Two more photos to complete this post. First, a shot of me and Gwen from last week:

 

Did I say how much I love this dog?

A Mother's Day photo of my gorgeous nieces:

Easter & Spring Break

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We had a wonderful Easter day at our home and even though I planned on taking a lot of photos of the event, I only ended up with three!

We haven't had a large group of people at our house since getting Gwen, and she is very protective! I felt like I had a new baby as I had to either put her in another room and listen to her whine, or hold her on my lap to keep her from growling and barking at every person in the house.

We ended up having a feast for lunch and eating the leftovers for three days! We didn't have any big plans for Spring Break which was good because Chad came down with a stomach virus on Tuesday. He spent most of the day in bed which is definitely unusual for him.

With the boys Easter money burning holes in their pockets, we made it to Target on Friday to see if we could spend a little. Chad got the new Harry Potter movie and Evan got some battle bots and Lego Ninjago toys. Thanks to everyone for the Easter money!

On Saturday evening the stomach virus hit Evan and he threw up in the bathtub. Even though cleaning up vomit always grosses me out, having it in the tub was much better than cleaning it off the floor or carpet! I kept Evan home from school today but he seems to be on the mend and should be able to go back tomorrow.

There are only a few weeks of school left, so we are getting excited about summer! Here are my few measly Easter photos:

 My parents playing dominoes with Chad and Evan.

 Todd grilling up some meat Yum!

The Happy Chef!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy Birthday May Girls!

Last week my adorable twin neices, Caleigh and Caitlin, turned five. I can't believe how fast they are growing up. Hope you had a wonderful birthday and we hope to see you soon!

Caleigh and Caitlin

Love these expressions!

Holiday Recap 2010

Wow, the Christmas and New Year's Holidays went by in a flash. Todd took a week of vacation between Christmas and New Year's and the boys were both off of school, so got to spend a lot of family time together. We went to Evan's basketball games, spent time with extended family, went to the movies and loved on our new dog, Gwen. Here are some random photos from the week.

 Evan trying out his metal detector in our yard. So far he has found several tabs from soda cans, a nail, a head from a hammer and assorted metal scraps.

 Evan and I went to see Yogi Bear. It was okay, not as funny as I had hoped!

 Todd and I at Evan's basket ball game. He was sitting behind me, so I had to ask him to tone down the yelling. I thought I was going to go deaf. I asked Evan if he heard Todd when he was playing and he said, "No, I'm focused on the game." Thus, I think the yelling of instructions from the stand is pointless!

 Chad and I enjoying the game.

 Sleeping beauty!

Evan playing b. ball. Several lights were out in the gym which explains the poor lighting!

Rest In Peace

Todd's Aunt Dolores passed away this week after a long illness. What I loved about her the most was her sense of humor and laugh. Godspeed Maw Maw Doe!

Thanksgiving 2010

My family met my sister's and brother's families at Toledo Bend for Thanksgiving. We rented a house on the lake, bought tons of food and had three great days of family time. The weather was great on Thanksgiving day, but got cold and rainy on Friday. On Saturday it warmed up and cleared out, so we were able to spend more time outside. We had a blast and can't wait to do it again!

 The house where we stayed.

 View of the deck from the water. Myself, Tom and Chad are chatting at the top of the stairs.

 The nice large deck where we hung out a lot!

 View of the lake from the deck. It is getting cloudy!

 We were there about 3 minutes before Evan got full of mud! Here he is cleaning off his only pair of shoes.

 Caleigh, Chad, Evan and Caitlin enjoying the glider.

 Caleigh on the slide.

 Caitlin on the slide.

 

The nice play area where the girls loved swinging.

Cutie Clark!

 Evan getting the wood ready for marshmallow roasting.

 Caitlin painting.

Caleigh painting.

 Clark eating.

Evan loving the water!

Thanksgiving, here we come!

We had a busy and productive day today. This morning, Todd and the boys ran lots of last minute errands. In the afternoon they did some volunteer work at the local food bank. It was a project planned by the church youth group, but was then canceled after our church burned down two weeks ago. I am proud of my hubby who thought the service work was so good for our boys, called the food bank on his own and arranged for them to work the afternoon shift. Way to go guys!

I have been wrapping things up with my business and taking it a bit easy. I don't know how I did this, but somehow I hit my foot on a chair a couple of days ago. I never said I was graceful! My toe next to my small toe is all shades of purple and blue now and almost looks like it has been painted with markers. It hurts a little when I walk, but I think I will survive. Here is a photo for those not faint of heart; it is not pretty:

This evening we have been packing and getting everything ready for our trip. Evan decided to break out his Pokemon tatoos, which I promised he could put on when he was on vacation. We have all enjoyed the fun with those!

 Evan and I modeling our tattoos.

 Todd sporting his new tattoo.

 Todd and Chad

Tattoo King!