Gardening Girl

We worked on the flower beds yesterday...which actually means, I dug everything out of one bed, moved a shrub and some rose bushes and the rest is empty until I buy more stuff to plant. Alex loves helping with the gardening. As every good gardener knows, you need a hat to protect your face from the sun and gloves! Alex picked out her own gloves and hat then proceeded to help fling dirt all over the place...and on Cooper!

Antique Rose Emporium

We are in the middle of a fun long weekend with absolutely no plans! We had planned on going to Galveston yesterday to walk on the beach, maybe visit Moody Gardens, then have lunch. At the last minute we decided not to. I'm so glad we made that decision because it's Mardi Gras weekend in Galveston, so I'm sure it was crazy packed! We ended up going to The Woodlands to walk around and have lunch.

This morning, I let Josh sleep in while Alex and I watched a little tv, then I made breakfast in bed and Alex and I woke Josh up with warm muffins and fresh fruit in bed! After that we went to the Antique Rose Emporium in Independence. We haven't been there since last April! It was overcast so no one was there. Alex loved running around. I think 99% of the pics I got were of her back running! The only time she stopped was to check out a cat napping in a tree! She is going through a phase where she wants to know every single cat or dogs name. Since we are such great parents, we make up names...because if we don't she will ask 100 times before giving up! haha

School Decisions

Well, I have toured 3 schools for Alex. I checked out one a few weeks ago and really liked it. I thought my mind was made up, then I decided I'd check a few more so I could make an educated decision. One is a Montessori school, the other two are church based. We know at least one kiddo that would be in Alex's class at each school. From my phone calls, I was really leaning towards the Montessori school. I then decided to check out all 3 on the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. YIKES! All three schools had deficiencies noted but the Montessori school had significantly more. I can over look a few things like the student applications did not have all required information (like doctors phone #/address) but this one had been cited 2 years in a row for not completing background checks!!!! That was enough to make me not want to see the facility. We ended up stopping by and I'm glad I did. It really secured my decision that even though the director was super sweet, it was not the place for Alex. Their classes were split in a way that the class Alex would be in would include 3-6 year olds. That just seems developmentally like a huge range.

I visited the 2nd church based school and I really liked it! The director was wonderful, the school had some great things going for it (like they teach some Spanish and sign language.) Actually I loved both church schools. They both have pro's and con's, but I think I am still going to stick with the first school I toured. I already know so many of the parents (and Alex knows the children), but they fill up fast. Current students and church members get to sign up first and open enrollment for everyone else opens Tuesday. Soooo, Tuesday at 9am is our big day! Cross your fingers that we get our first pick (3 days a week!). If we have to be put on the wait list, we'll probably sign up at our second choice. They make classes according to their needs so a wait list isn't created and they take everyone, until a certain date.

This whole school thing has been on my mind so much lately, I'll be go happy when we are confirmed at a school for the fall!

At the Lake

We went to visit my parents this weekend! The weather was PERFECT for being outside. Josh worked on his truck most of the day Saturday so Nomi and Alex played outside while I got ready then we ran a few errands. That afternoon my Aunt Pam, Uncle Jaime, Mallory, Donna and Mark came over for dinner. My mom also had Savannah come over so Alex would have someone to play with. They had soo much fun together! We cooked hot dogs on the fire then made smores! The next day we stayed in our jammies most of the day then went to a late lunch early dinner before heading home. My baby girl was exhausted from the weekend and thankfully went to sleep in the car and barely made a peep when we got home at 11 and put her in bed. I think Cooper may have had the best time of all! Saturday we left the doors open so Cooper roamed around most of the day. He had soo much fun playing, exploring and lounging!

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

Alex and Josh had a date night tonight! Alex has been talking about it all week long. She picked out her dress 2 days ago and asked me countless times today if it was clean. They went to Chickfila for a Daddy/Daughter event they were hosting. Alex and Josh had a 6:00 reservation. They had table service with printed menus, flowers and a stuffed cow for each girl and supplies for the Dads to make candy necklaces for the girls. There was a photographer on site taking pics so as soon as she post them, I'll add a few! When their date was over, they picked me up and we went to Red Mango for ice cream!

Valentine's Day

We had so much fun today! Before we left for gymnastics I hung some pendants we made that say "we love you." Alex had soo much fun handing out Valentine's to her gymnastics friends. After a trip to the grocery store we headed home to start preparing our Valentine's Day dinner. I always make a special dinner at home instead of us going out. This year our menu was a mix of easy (salad and rolls) and more time consuming (Coq au Vin and Red Velvet Napoleons.) Both were sooo good! At Alex's request our red velvet ended up being pink velvet with pink cream cheese icing. Alex helped make the cake and icing from scratch then I started the Coq au Vin while she was napping.

Josh and I agreed that we weren't doing gifts, but this weekend we picked up a few things we decided were our gifts! I picked a Le Creuset stainless steel steamer insert for my 5.5 quart french oven, Josh got some jeans and our "us" gift was a Le Creuset 11.75 inch iron handled skillet. Yes, we are soo romantic! Haha! Since I have picked the color of all of my current Le Creuset pieces, I let Josh pick this time and he selected a deep blue. I LOVE LOVE LOVE all my pieces and LOVE that they are all different colors. I'm not sure what item I'll get next, but I whatever it is it will be in the kiwi green because it's just a fun bright color!

Even though we didn't surprise each other with gifts, we still got stuff for Alex. She got her Minnie Mouse movie last week and she has been asking for sparkles to decorate her craft projects with so Josh got a sheets of sparkles, glittered letters and rhinestone hearts. She made Josh a card last week and while I was gone Saturday, she gave it to Josh. He told her he wasn't supposed to have it until today so she gave it (back) to him first thing this morning! We had the best day!

Happy Valentine's Day

This is the only way I can figure out how to share this, but it's our Valentine's Day card we sent out!

Pop Heart Valentine's Day 5x7 folded card

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