NYC

I surprised Tyler with a trip to NYC for his birthday this year, and it was a perfect 4 day getaway for us! It was even more exciting because we got to see friends and family that live there, Brooke and Ed (Tyler's sister and her boyfriend) and our sweet friends The Zukofsky's.

Our first day we walked around and stopped in and out of places and then had dinner at The Standard. On Friday we went to The Met and walked around Central Park. We then found this great restaurant, Lumi, and had the most perfect lunch outside. The food here was AMAZING!! I think I had 3 glasses of wine by 3 and was feeling pretty good and certainly relaxed! Then Devin and sweet baby Ryan met us at the restaurant and sat with us while we waited for Josh to get off work. We walked back to their place and I got to test out my baby skills. I think the newborn stage is one of my favorites! I got to spend some time with our besties and with Ryan Emma (7 weeks old). She is the sweetest baby and one of the prettiest baby girls I have EVER seen! We then all walked to this great Turkish restaurant on the Upper East Side and had a great dinner with Devin, Josh and Ryan. After dinner Tyler and I went back to the hotel, changed and decided to walk to Times Square to check out the seen at midnight...hey why not we are on vacation! We stopped in Grand Central Station and then did a little shopping for the kiddos at The Disney Store in Times Square. Saturday we met Brooke and Ed at Jane's in SoHo for brunch and then had a fun filled day with them. They took us through SoHo and then Tribeca. We went to the new 9/11 Memorial and it was pretty surreal! We then went to East Village and had dinner at this great tiny little restaurant, The Crooked Tree. Seriously the best Crepes I have ever had in my life!! Then from there we bar hopped all night and had the best time...thank you Brooke and Ed for showing us such a great time!!

Our flight was not till late on Sunday so we had planned to get up and have breakfast and then go to The Empire State Building. However, we slept in and ended up ordering room service and renting a movie until we had to leave...it was the best!!! When we got home Sunday night, we were sooo exhausted (aren't we supposed to come back from vacation all refreshed and relaxed?!?!) but it was so good to see the kids and be back in our bed! We had the best time in NYC and it was nice for 4 days to have my hubby all to myself!!

Central Park

The Met

Ryan Emma Zukofsky (7 Weeks)

Grand Central Station

We ran into a Sylvania truck in Tribeca!

9/11 Memorial

East Village

Times Square

Happy 4th Birthday Ava!!

4 years ago our sweet little Ava blessed our lives on April 10, 2008 at 2:20 PM. At that moment she forever changed our lives and has made it so colorful in ways we never could have imagined. She started our journey of parenthood and has turned our lives upside down and balanced it at the same time. She is definitely our free spirit and loves her independence. Ava has developed such a fun, loving and caring personality...and lets not deny that she is still a strong willed and feisty little girl...but we take each new day as it comes! She exerts much of her energy outside and has become very artistic. She will sit for hours coloring, drawing, writing, making things and decorating anything in sight. She can write her name and copy others once we write them. Not that I thought her name would ever be hard to learn...AVA...but we are still impressed! She knows all her colors and numbers in English and Spanish and has a very colorful vocabulary. Her favorite "Seriously Mom, you are being ridiculous"!! What can I say...she brightens our lives every day! We love this little girl more than life itself and can't imagine our lives with out this incredibly special and amazing knucklehead.

Ava Marie 4 days old

 To show her how incredibly special she is, we celebrated her BIG 4 with a fun filled day all about her! It was super fun for Tyler and me this year because she was so into it and crazy excited...as we all do until that number gets to high and we would rather forget it!! We decorated the house the night before so she would wake up and be surprised and then we opened gifts from mommy, daddy and Landy Lou. She has been asking us for about 6 months to get her ears pierced so we figured her 4th birthday would be a perfect time to do so. Tyler and I took her to Willow Bend for lunch, shopping, play time, ice cream and of course ear piercing. I thought for sure this tough cookie would chicken out but she was a champ! No tears, no worries and no complaining! She then had to go to the play area and show any kid she could find...she seriously propped her self up like a little show pony! We then had dinner planned at Benihanas with the whole family. It was SO much fun! The kids absolutely loved it and were amazing there for 3 hours!! It was a fantastic day and I am pretty sure I was more bummed about the day being over than Ava was. At least we still have her super fun Princess and Knights party scheduled in a week so she can celebrate with all her friends!

 

Happy 4th Birthday pretty girl!!

We love you to the moon and back!

Love

Mommy, Daddy and Landy Lou

Happy Valentine's Day

 Ava and her two best friends (Auna and Hannah)

The girls with Mrs. Lauren

(Lauren is preggers with her 1st baby and it's a GIRL!!)

Valentine's Day this year was spent with my three favorite people. Tyler had planned a romantic night away for the two us which was so sweet. Unfortunately it got canceled because I was leaving the next morning for 5 days and just wanted to spend the evening at home in our pj's! I know so romantic but hey that is how we roll these days. Ava and I made her yummy valentine's treats for her school party the night before (a pinterest project and no pics to show how cute they were). Hope everyone had fun celebrating with your special loved ones!

Sunny California

I had a business trip to San Diego last week and boy was I excited! Tyler and I lived in San Diego for 3 years and then moved back to Dallas in July '04 before we got married in September. Crazy enough neither of us have been back to SD since we moved....I know so sad! Now that my regional office is there I will be making many trips to beautiful California. One of my very best friends, Brooke, and I moved to SD from Dallas (her 2001 and me January of 2002) and were roomies. She stayed and has officially become a Cali girl. I have begged and begged her to move back to Dallas for years but after this trip I now remember why she never wants to leave and don't understand why Tyler and I ever did?!?! Anyways long story short, I had business there Wed-Fri and then stayed the weekend with Brooke and had some awesome and much needed girl time with her! We had so much fun and I can't wait to go back in a couple of months!

Check out these new locks!!

Someone got a haircut.....

18 months

 He doesn't even look like the same baby to me! He looks like such a big boy! I obviously have not cut his hair in a LONG time. I finally took him today and was a bit nervous because we all loved his long hair, but I am sooo much more in love with his new short blondie locks!!