Weekend Happenings

Last week seemed to go by extremely slow so when the weekend finally came around, I was looking forward to some fun and time with my husband and family

Friday afternoon Jonah decided to go on a mission to feed the birds in our front yard. He grabbed a loaf of bread and sprinkled pieces all over the sidewalk. Our sweet neighbor, Colleen, across the street saw him and brought over a bag of birdseed to give to him. He was so excited. He sprinkled it all over the driveway and the walkway up to our house. He came inside and was

ecstatic when he saw the first bird land the others that followed to enjoy the treat he left for them.

Then the proud mom moment came. He walked over to my desk, took one of his thank you cards out of the drawer, grabbed his marked and sat down at the kitchen table to write Colleen a thank you card. He added a few Star Wars stickers to the note and then asked me if he could run across the street to hand deliver it to her. Very proud of my sweet boy!

On Saturday I took Meredith to her friend Tatum's birthday party at Build-A-Bear. She had a lot of fun building her bear and then pushing her in a stroller through the mall with her friends. After the party I took her on the carousel a few times before heading home.

Saturday night we were invited to dinner with friends we met through Jonah and Meredith's school. Jonah and their son went to private preschool together and we have become friends over the last couple of years. We had such a great time and it was nice to have an adult night out.

Our first stop was at Landon Winery in downtown McKinney. We had their 5 Barrel Blend and it was fabulous.

Afterwards we stopped by the McKinney Wine Merchant and picked up a couple more bottles of wine for dinner since our restaurant was BYOB. The shop was so cute and they had so many unique wines that I had never even heard of. I am looking forward to going back and spending more time exploring! I also found out they also have door to door delivery. Um, how awesome is that?

We picked up a Shiraz and then this Grenache. I had never had Grenache before so I was looking forward to trying it out and I will say the flavor was fabulous. Smooth but with hints of spicy fruit and at $20 a bottle a steal.

Next up, we headed across the street for dinner at Gregory's Bistro (the same place I had one of my birthday dinners). We ordered the steamed mussels which were served in a Chipotle butter sauce and it was heavenly. We also had the cheese plate which is one of my favorites. For dinner, I had the chef's special which was pan seared scallops served with lobster mashed potatoes. Josh had the Chilean sea bass with lobster risotto and asparagus. Their food is so good you want to savor every bite! For dessert Josh had the chocolate creme brulee and I had the champagne with fresh strawberries.

It was such a fun night! Good conversation, Good food and wine and Good friends!

On Sunday Josh met one of his friends for lunch at North Park and surprised me with these from Tory Burch when he came home! He knows and appreciates my TB obsession. It's just one of the many many reasons I love him so much!

Weekend Recap

The weather was fabulous this weekend so we stayed outside as much as we could.

On Friday evening we had a play date and dinner with my friend Kelly. The kids played outside the entire time and we sat outside and drank wine! A perfect way to end the long week!

On Saturday, I took Jonah to his good friend Torin's birthday party at Legoland in Grapevine. He had been before on a field trip with school but I had never been! What a fun place! We will definitely be going back again soon!

After Torin's party, I took Meredith to her best friend River's birthday party. They had a blast on the Fun Bus and eating Tinkerbell cupcakes.

Everyone was tired Saturday night so we stayed in. The kids watched movies and I enjoyed some time curled up on the couch reading the new Allure magazine and drinking hot tea.

Sunday after washing and putting up five loads of laundry and finishing up some minor organization projects around the house, we spent the afternoon outside. Jonah had his first friend come to the door and actually say "Can Jonah come out and play?" It was one of those moments you realize they are really growing up!

Of course that meant that Meredith also wanted to go out and play so I decided to take her around the neighborhood on her scooter so the boys could play by themselves.

After the sun went down we came inside, took baths, ordered pizza for dinner and watched movies until bedtime! A perfect ending to a busy but fun weekend! Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a good week!

XO,

Monda

Add a Dash of Sassy

Meredith was fashionably ready for today’s colder temperatures. As my husband’s cousin Kathy wrote on Facebook this morning – “I think the next Elle Woods has arrived! Watch out Harvard Law!” Love it!!

New Years

Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures from New Year’s Eve this year. After coming home from ice skating, we had a fabulous dinner with Opa and Oma but then I started feeling really bad and suddenly got a migraine so we hung out and watched movies but I felt so bad I finally had to go lay down. So I didn’t see the ball drop this year! Boo!

But today, I felt much better so Susan (Oma) and I drank several mimosas and after lunch we moved on to pomegranate and champagne. We snacked on dips and relaxed inside by the fire! It was the perfect way to kick off a New Year!!

Ice Skating

My friend Jennifer and I took the boys to lunch and then ice skating this afternoon. Let’s just say that they were all much better than me! It’s been several years since I ice skated. I basically held onto the railing the entire time and Jonah kept trying to make me let go. The only problem was every time I did, I fell.

But it was still fun and I can’t wait to try it again soon.

Build A Bear

We went to Build A Bear today. Jonah made an Alvin the Chipmunk and Meredith made a Monkey. Doesn’t Meredith look so happy and cute in this picture? Well, this picture was taken right before Meredith had the Mother of all meltdowns in the middle of the mall when she realized we were going to lunch and not on the carousel. After a good thirty minutes of  trying to calm her down it was obvious neither of us were winning the battle and we ended up going home. I didn’t get CPK for lunch and she didn’t get to ride on the carousel. Of course I’m not sure if she is going to be allowed back in the mall anytime soon! Ha!

Meredith’s Mini Me

Josh and I bought Meredith her first American Girl doll for Christmas this year. She was ecstatic that Kit looked just like her with blonde hair, blue eyes and a splash of freckles across her nose. She also received an AG doll bed, clothes, and Coconut the Dog (which happens to look just like Riley). And of course they had to have matching PJ’s. Yikes, I have suddenly immersed myself into the American Girl cult. This is going to be bad!

Zombie Lab

Santa brought Jonah a Zombie Lab so we decided to try to make the bubbling brains today. They were tasty. Jonah wouldn’t eat it but I did. Oh and just so you know, all the creations in the lab are edible.

Christmas Day

This year I decided to enjoy the moment with my kids and husband on Christmas instead of snapping away on my camera like I usually do. I mean I love pictures and I love capturing all those special memories but sometimes you just have to sit the camera down and be in the moment and then save those mental pictures in your head and that’s what I did on Christmas this year so I only have a couple of pictures to share but we had a blast waking the kids up, running downstairs to see what surprises Santa had left for everyone. After playing with all the new gadgets and toys, we had our traditional breakfast, hot chocolate and then got dressed to drive to Josh’s grandmother’s house where we enjoyed an evening with family eating a wonderful Christmas dinner and opening presents. It was a great day and I’m glad I took a moment to enjoy it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their family and friends.

Note from Santa:

Note from Nose the Elf:

Christmas Eve

Christmas PJ’s on:

Santa Key hung:

Reindeer Food sprinkled outside:

Cookies and Chocolate Milk for Santa and M and M’s for his elves:

Meredith making sure the cookies are suitable for Santa :-/

Santa came and left lots of surprises for the kids. I think it was the Chocolate Milk that won him over.

Pharaoh's Quest Lego Pyramid

A picture of the Lego pyramid (A Christmas gift from my Mom and Dad) that took my older niece Meg, her boyfriend Brody and my older nephew Kevin 3 hours to build with Jonah at my parents house.

It is now sitting on a shelf in his bedroom never to be disassembled again. Ever!

Birthday Cake

Here is a piece of the birthday cake from Gregory’s Bistro in McKinney. And yes, I had it for breakfast.

Birthday Week celebration

My Birthday week long celebration started out with a Happy Hour at Zin Zen wine bar on the 16th with my friends Jennifer and Kelly. My friend Kelly was in a car wreck on the way to Happy Hour so it was a crazy night but after a few glasses of wine everything was good!

On my actual birthday the 20th, Josh and I went to a Tacky Christmas Sweater party at our friends Gary and Kayla’s house where they surprised me with a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday.

On Wednesday my friends Vicky, Shannon, Lindsey and Jennifer G. took me to dinner at a fabulous new bistro in McKinney called Gregory’s. They also brought out a strawberry cake that was to die for! It was so good. The food and the evening were absolutely perfect!

                                            

On Thursday the kids spent the night with Jerod and Lauren and Josh and I went to our favorite restaurant, Del Frisco’s, and I had an amazing birthday dinner complete with a special dish made exclusively for me by the chef.

Then on Friday, I went home to visit my parents and my family. My Mom cooked a wonderful birthday meal of barbeque and yummy sides. Something I had been craving!

It was a fabulous week and I am thinking I should turn 35 every year!

Christmas Party

I co-hosted a Christmas Party today with my best friend Shannon at her house. It was a lot of fun. For the kids we had a hot chocolate bar, smores station and Christmas games. For the parents we had snacks and pomegranate champagne with the glasses dipped in green sprinkles to add a little Christmas cheer. 

But the real surprise was a visit from the Big Man himself – Santa Claus. He read Twas the Night before Christmas to the kids and then each of them sat on his lap to tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

Gingerbread House

Jonah and Meredith both received Gingerbread Houses from their Elf Nose but Meredith did not want to build hers but Jonah did so today we sat down to build it and Jonah finally got so frustrated with the sides not sticking together he said, “Mom, let’s just eat it.” So, that’s exactly what we did.

Jonah’s Polar Express School Party

Today Jonah wore his PJ’s to school, watched the Polar Express and then had his classroom party. They decorated mini gingerbread houses, mini Christmas trees and exchanged gifts with friends and his teachers.

 

Cookie and Ornament Decorating Party

We went to my friend Shannon’s Christmas Cookie and Ornament decorating party today. The kids had fun decorating Christmas cookies and making fingerprint snowman ornaments.

Does this count as the first snowfall of the year?

We woke up this morning to the small amount of snow on the tables outside! Such a teaser! Last year it snowed on Christmas Eve!

Jonah wasn’t too excited about it since he still had to go to school but Meredith couldn’t wait to go outside and touch it!

Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Jonah got a special visit from the Tooth Fairy last night. She left fairy dust all over the window seal, his room and then left him lots of surprises for taking such good care of his teeth and since it was his first tooth she even let him keep it because it’s suppose to bring him good luck!

I hope she comes back tonight to clean up all that fairy dust!

Jonah received two gold $1 coins, a small set of Legos, a new toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and mouthwash to help him take extra care of his other loose teeth and even a pack of bubble gum (sugar free of course!)

The tiny little note she left for Jonah and his first tooth

A Happy Boy!

All I Want for Christmas…..

Jonah lost his first tooth today. He is so excited and of course I started crying. That means he is really growing up!  I guess we will be getting a visit from the Tooth fairy tonight!!