What have we been doing lately....?

We have been busy! Here are a few things that we have been doing lately...

We
*went bonkers at "Going Bonkers" with my friend Annalee and her kidlets. Annalee and I used to work together in Seattle and now she lives here in TX! Yay me! Our friend, Maci, also joined us that day!

(Annalee, Blake and Eva Medici...and you can see Hannah and Haylee in the background)

(Hannah, Haylee, Maci and Eva with Mr. Blake in the center)

*celebrated the birthday of the Fabulous Miss Jones! She is Hannah's 1st grade teacher and we all love her!

(Miss Jones and Hannah)

*decorated and worked the Scholastic Book Fair! The theme this time was "Lights, Camera, Book Fair!" There was also a directors chair and a megaphone inside the library. Haylee even got into the act, helping decorate, set up and tear down. I love the Book Fair and being a part of the committee. It's a lot of fun!

(what is missing from this photo are the 2 life sized Oscars on either side of the red curtains...Lisa Crow {committee head} is one talented lady and added those to our set up)

*participated in "Wacky Day" at preschool. Haylee was particularly wacky in her outfit with her snowboots and pretty purple tutu. She also had her hair colored pink, purple and green.

(no, I don't always dress her like this)

*celebrated the wedding of Sarah Davis...I mean Sarah Whatley. What a beautiful bride! I have a special place in my heart for these two women...Sarah was Hannah's very first babysitter...she'd even watch her sometimes BRIGHT AND EARLY on the day after Christmas so I could shop and by more wrapping paper that we didn't need. She was also in my Beehive class at church. And her mother next to her in this picture, was in the delivery room when Hannah was born! She and her family always included us in their holiday celebrations and generally made us feel loved!

(Sarah Whatley and Linda Davis)

*had fun with these two girlies!

(Hannah and Haylee posing outside the dollar theater when we went to see Bolt with daddy)

Whew! Now I'm caught up, let 's see if I can keep it that way! Have a great week!!

Well, it happened...the big 4-0!

And I survived! And I don't feel old! It's a miracle!

Can you believe that the fire department wasn't called out for this!

My birthday weekend started with a bang on Friday! I had a work meeting that morning. When I arrived I was greeted by a lot of black....black streamers, black table cloth, everyone dressed in black, etc. I mean, after all, I am Over The Hill now! It was such a wonderful surprise complete with a yummy breakfast spread. They topped it off with a very special charm bracelet that I love! It is something that I will treasure always! I am thankful to work with such a good group of fun ladies!

These lovelies showed up to the house Saturday afternoon, courtesy of my family in Washington! What girl doesn't love flowers!!

Saturday evening was spent in the company of more good friends at dinner! We met at P.F. Changs China Bistro, a place I've always wanted to try. Lots of food was ordered and passed around while we all visited. After dinner we went to Jamie and Tristen's house for sugar, sugar and more sugar! The cake shown above was from that evening. Here are a few other snapshots:

The Most Fabulous Hostess Ever!....Tristen

Jamie, Rick and Kaiya...I think Rick was reading her a book while her daddy was putting her shoes on

Hannah, Gina (otherwise known as Grandma Kitty) and Haylee all posing pretty

Char and Brian Stewart...love them!

Sunday Rick and the girls spoiled me AND I was serenaded in Primary by the children! It doesn't get much better than that!

I remember when I was younger and thought that people who were 40 had one foot in the grave. Everyone keeps telling me that "40 is the new 30!" as if that is supposed to make me feel better...but I don't NEED to feel better! I feel great! I am happy...happy with where I am in my life right now; happy with my little family and our life here in Argyle. Feeling loved by my friends and family here and those that aren't here.

If this is what it feels like to be "over the hill"...bring it on!

Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed. ~ Charles M. Schultz

The World's Most Unique McDonalds....?

Today Haylee and I had to drive to Plano to get some Girl Scout cookies. Tristen and Kaiya came along for the ride. We decided to stop at a McDonald's in Dallas for lunch. This isn't your ordinary McDonald's! An article touts it as the "World's Most Unique McDonald's"...I don't know if I'd go that far, but it is very different! The play area is housed in a GIANT Happy Meal box! It looks really neat from the freeway.



Here is a little bit more information on the McDonald's:

"The McDonald's at Montfort Drive and LBJ Freeway in Dallas was built in the form of the World's Biggest Happy Meal, with gigantic sculptures of Ronald McDonald, Big Macs, French Fries and Cokes. The Travel Channel lists it as one of the 10 most unique McDonald's out of 30,000 Worldwide. This McDonald's has such touches as Austrian crystal chandeliers, Ralph Lauren wallpaper, granite floors, mahogany booths and incandescent lighting. And the restrooms are, well, like all restrooms should be."

This picture was taken off of a website and shows you what the dining area of this McDonald's looks like

We sat in the play area to eat. After the girls were done, they played a little. Here is Ronald McDonald...he was up in the ceiling. If I was a little kid and saw this hanging above me I think I'd be a little freaked out!

"I'm coming to get your fries, little kid!"

Kaiya gets around those tubes pretty well but Haylee had to help her up and down the "steps" to get to the big slide. Here they are posing in one of the tubes.

Good times at McDonald's!!

President's Day on the T.R.E.

On President's Day, we rode the Trinity Railway Express with Tristen & Kaiya. It was an inexpensive and fun way to pass an afternoon!

We met up in Fort Worth to catch the train. I kept telling Hannah and Haylee it was going to be a double-decker train. In all fairness, the only other time I've ridden the TRE it WAS a double-decker. Anyway, when we got there, it was just a regular old train. I think I was more disappointed than they were.

Here is the gang, slumming it on a "regular" train car

Tristen was our trip coordinator and suggested we ride into Dallas and catch another train at Union Station. We did and ended up in another part of Dallas heading to Central Market for lunch. Once we got to our final stop, we loaded off the train and started walking. When we got there we found.... GIANT VEGETABLE STATUES!

Haylee with an eggplant as big as she is!

Kaiya and Hannah posing by the enormous green pepper!

We enjoyed our lunch and then checked out the fun candy options there. I had chocolate covered gummy bears... so good!

On our way back to the train stop, the girls shared a little "sisterly love"...or perhaps it was an attempt at suffocation, I'm not quite sure...Once we got back to Union Station we found a double-decker train waiting to take us to our final destination!

We, of course, had to ride upstairs. Here they are...

Doesn't everyone just seem a little more happy?

The girls had a great time with Kaiya on the train. It was fun going through the city, seeing the tall buildings, going through tunnels and people watching. I'd highly recommend it!

Trip to the Great Wolf Lodge

Our gift to Hannah for her birthday was a night at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. We packed our bags and checked in Saturday.

(here they are lugging the bags into the hotel..the Howlin' Tornado ride is in the background)

(the girls posing in front of the Clock Tower in the lobby...there is a clock tower show each night and right after that, Story Time in front of the HUGE fireplace in the lobby)

We found our room then checked out the rest of the hotel. They have a spa for adults AND a spa for kids, a Cub Club for little ones, a tech club for older kids (teens), an interactive game where you use a wand and travel the whole hotel finding clues, etc. Lots to do, that's for sure! There is also an arcade where we spent a little time.

(Rick and Haylee riding the rollercoaster ride while Hannah watches on)

After looking around we met Jamie, Tristen and Kaiya for dinner. As adults sometimes do, we sat and visited after we ate. Poor Hannah and Haylee, I thought their heads were going to burst as they kept asking, "When can we go to the water park????" We finally left the company of the Seals and got our suits on. We spent the rest of the night at the water park then went back to the room and went to bed. The next morning we got up, got some breakfast, came back and put our suits on again! Here are a few pictures from that mornings trip back to the water park.

(Rick and the girls posing)

(Hannah and Haylee coming down a slide in the kiddie pool)

(Hannah crossing the lily pads)

(Hannah and daddy in the Fort part of the water park... can you tell she's having fun?)

Rick and Hannah rode the Howlin' Tornado which is that giant yellow and red funnel thing you see in the first picture on this post. You get on this "raft" (up to 4 can go at once) and go down this slide, down a 6 story drop into that big funnel, swirl around a few times and come out the other side. I was a little worried about Hannah falling out and kept telling Rick to make sure she was ok. Haylee and I waited down at the bottom because Haylee didn't meet the height requirement. When I saw Hannah's face, I knew she had a great ride! She said that was the best slide there. I'll take her word for it...it was a bit scary looking to me! We all rode the Family Raft ride together, even Haylee. It was a GIANT tube slide and you really got going down that thing! So much fun!

We really enjoyed our stay! I'm glad we have places like this near us for little get-aways. Now back to reality...