Rosie and Bella

Buddies chilling and watching a show.

 Last winter we inherited two dogs - Jonathan's Uncle Gerald, from Texas, has a female dog who had puppies - full blooded labs, but without paperwork. We decided we wanted one, and he couldn't find a home for the other, so we ended up with two (I honestly think that may have been Jonathan's plan all along, he just wasn't willing to TELL me his plan). Anyhow, we ended up with two sweet pups who we fell in love with. This was right after we got them and Jace was terrified of them and he was counting at the dog because it had just knocked him over and he was furious...

Tucker named both of them - The blonde lab was Jonathan's and we named her Rosie, and the black lab was Tucker's and he named her Bella. They were so sweet and we had such fun with them.

 It was very cold in the winter when we did inherit them (January 2014) and they were ready to separate from there mama, so we had a heat lamp to keep them warm.

Jonathan brought them in every night for the first few months, so they got many many baths - they also stayed in our bottom room several days because we had snow and crazy weather.

So happy mommy is holding him and he doesn't have to help with bath time.

Sweet, clean pups. We had three for about a week until the owners picked up the other blonde lab (the only boy), and he was precious as well.

Coming around to maybe liking them...

So in love with HIS dog.

Group shot after everyone was finally clean.

We loved these sweet girls and unfortunately they woke up about 5 months after we got them and were acting like they didn't feel good - they had there vaccinations, but apparently parvo had killed 6 other dogs in our neighborhood and we were unaware of it. We had called the vet to get them in and within 12 hours they had passed away before we were able to see the vet. The boys were devastated, especially Tucker, and it was a rough few weeks. We put our house on the market shortly after we lost them, so we have not gotten a new puppy, but we still talk of them often and miss them dearly. We plan to get a new puppy (or two) once we are finished building and moved in to our next home.

2nd and 4th Birthday Party for Tucker and Jace!

I decided we were doing a construction party for Jace and Tucker had planned a Thomas the Train party - With two weeks to go he changed his mind and decided he wanted a construction party WITH Jace, so we made that happen the last weekend of February - right between both boy's birthdays. 

We had construction hats for each of the kiddos - pink for girls, and yellow for the boys. I also made their cakes and I have to say I think they turned out adorable. I'm not a cake decorator!!

So cute!

And apparently I didn't get a picture of Jace blowing his out...

 The kids had a great time playing outside. They were all muddy by the time they were finished - no complaining here! That's exactly what my boys intend each time they walk out the door. 

And Jace did a LOT of this... Like always...

And at the very end we did a little present opening... 

I think the boys had such a fun day and I'm thankful they were happy to have it together. This year we aren't having a birthday party - being in limbo between the house on the market, and trying to keep it perfect calls for a different plan. The boys wanted to go to the monster truck show, and it's the Friday after Tucker's birthday, so we are planning to do that and still just celebrate their actual day with a big breakfast, a fun outing, lunch at their choice, and dinner of their choosing as well. I love making their days all about them. I hate that we won't have their birthday parties this year, but they don't seem fazed by it at all and I'm thrilled I'll still get to spend their day together.

Tampa Bound

In February (2015), I know I'm WAY BEHIND... we went to Tampa for Jonathan to take a class for work. I got to tag along and it was SO FUN!!

This was leaving at 5am, flying out to Houston, then catching our final flight to Tampa - As you can see, it was a SMALL plane - Jonathan couldn't stand up completely in this one. 

Finally arrived, tired, but ready for dinner. We went to the mall and they had a candy barrel - Candy stores are Jonathan's all time favorite stores, so he kind of went crazy.

We ate at the California Pizza Cafe at the Mall and it was delicious! Jonathan picked a southern tex mex kind of pizza - I can't go out of the box like that and he always picks something good, so we went with it and it was a surprising happy! 

We got this sweet picture of this baby while we were gone. Love him!

This was our night out on Wednesday - My birthday - we went to Berns Steak House. I had never heard of it, but we were told it's a MUST, and it was beyond delicious. It was such a cool place to go. It was packed - we ate in the first floor of the restaurant, we got to tour the kitchen and the wine cellar - nothing like I've ever seen - and then we were escorted upstairs to eat dessert. It was such a different place, and we thoroughly enjoyed our night out. It was hard being away from my little boys, but so fun to spend it with Jonathan and have a relaxing week together.

Dinner - Steak, green beans, carrots, onions

The incredible kitchen.

The wine cellar

Dessert upstairs in the whisky barrels - they told us a long story about them reclaiming the wood, but i can't remember exactly what it was. Still super neat and we could choose the type of music we wanted to listen to or call down and request the pianist to play something specific.

Sweet babies face timing me while Jonathan was in class. 

Jonathan got out a little earlier than the other days on Friday, so we went fishing and had a blast! We visited the mante's on the way and it was fun getting to learn about them. That's completely up Jonathan's ally, and the longer we have been together, the more I'm learning and enjoying learning more about these things too. 

On the boat...

We ate our first bit of sea food on the way back - just a random place we stopped at, and it was so yummy!

4 am headed to the airport and home to our babies!

We had such a fun and relaxing week (well mine was relaxing, Jonathan had class), but it was such a great little get away we got to spend together and enjoy each other and just not worry about the craziness of life. Love getting away and spending time with just my hubby!