Aurora 1st Birthday

Sunday, Feb 27th we traveled to Houston to celebrate our grand-daughter Aurora's 1st Birthday.

The Theme:  Aurora's Winter "ONE"derland


Jill made the birthday banner

 Nana and Mimi with the grand-kids.

 Aurora sitting in her decorated high chair.
Aurora enjoyed her birthday cake and she especially enjoyed getting very messy.

Close Up photo of the grand kids.

Swim Lessons

Friday, February 19th, I started swimming lessons through The Colony Aquatic Park.
Lessons are every Friday for 8 weeks. Cost = $210.00

I am on a mission to learn to swim or at least be more comfortable in the water before our Tahiti cruise in October 2016.

So far I've learned to front float, back float, tread water, open my eyes under water, swim at least ten feet.
I've only had two lessons so far. This might not seem like much to you all. But for me this is a "HUGE" accomplishment!!

Mourning Dove House

Saturday morning, Doug did some research on mourning doves and decided to build them
a shelter to they would have a safe environment to raise their young.

This is the brick wall before he put on the addition

 The build process

 The finished product

 A close-up of the finished product.

Happy Valentine's Day

I got to spend part of Valentine's Day with these two cuties!  Doug is out of town and won't be home until later this week. He did leave me his valentine. Chocolates and a gift certificate to Trulucks Seafood Steak and Crab House. I can combine it with the one I got from Karl/Audrey for babysitting Aurora last month and afford a nice dinner out.

Garry's Visit

My brother arrived from Minnesota late Monday evening on February 8th.

Dad took him out for part of the day on Tuesday, while I was working. They went to the Resale store (CCA) in town and a few other spots. He enjoyed sitting out by the pool. I'm sure he was missing those -4 degree temps in Minnesota.

Wednesday, Feb 10th we had a late afternoon tour at Texas Motor Speedway. 

We are shown here in the Winner's Circle.

Thursday. I had a 1/2 day vacation so we headed out to the Gas Monkey Garage in Dallas. If any of you watch "Fast N Loud" on the Discovery station. You know what I'm talking about.

We then had a late lunch at the Gas Monkey Bar N Grill.
I tried their cinnamon tequila with apple juice. Garry and I both had the Gas Monkey Garage burger. It is made with Texas Akaushi ground chuck and served with fries. Mom and Dad each had the chicken fingers.

 

Early evening we went to Top Golf for some different kind of swinging fun!

Later that night the Kiefers came over for dinner, before heading home to pack for their cruise.

Friday afternoon, I took another 1/2 day of vacation and we headed out to the McKinney - Third Monday Trade Days. Third Monday Trade Days in McKinney, Texas is the oldest and largest monthly trade days/flea market in North Texas  You can find a mix of antiques, trendy apparel and accessories, baby and children's clothing and accessories, garage sale items, a great variety of home decor-- including shabby chic, re-purposed items, vintage, rustic, primitive, western, and seasonal-- metal art, pet supplies, garden/outdoor decor and furniture, health and beauty products, etc.  Garry got a pottery water cooler.
I bought a cute outfit for Aurora. Later that evening we had dinner at the Elliotts.

Saturday morning, we waited for Nebraska Furniture Mart to deliver my table replacement.
I think we finally have a suitable replacement from the delivery damage back in August 2015.

Saturday afternoon, I took Garry to Cheddar's for lunch and then we spent some time touring the Nebraska Furniture Mart. It turns out NFM has my old table on sale in the clearance room for $99.00. So you too can have a custom made Amish 52" x 52" kitchen table!

We rounded out the day by doing some errands: Sam's Club, Total Wine & More, Specs, Target, Dairy Queen (snacks) and then home to enjoy some leftovers for dinner.

Sunday, Garry would depart for home. Back to the freezing cold weather of Minnesota.
I don't know why these people still live up there. I'm going to enjoy my temps in the 70s and 80s for the next upcoming week in Texas!!!!

Super Bowl 2016

Sunday afternoon, the kids all came over for a Super Bowl shin-dig.

There was plenty of food: Chili/honey cornbread, frito pie, chili dogs, various meats/cheeses, peanuts, bugles/cheese, little smokies, stuffed jalapenos for dessert: mini banana cream pies and football themed cupcakes.  We did not even get to the mozzarella sticks, mini loaded baked potatoes.

Here are a few pics.

 Some Super Bowl decorations

We had a bingo board for each quarter and each person had to sign up for
which BINGO you think would occur during that specific quarter.
Below is the board for the 1st Quarter. 

 Andrew and I using the photo props I created.

 

Caleb got in on the fun too!

Kiefer Soccer game

Saturday night, I took my parents up to the Frisco Indoor Sports field to watch Jackie and J-Dawg play soccer. My pictures turned out terribly so I don't have any photos of Jackie and Jonathan.

But we did see an adult birthday party going on. The adults had inflatables on and were playing soccer.
Quite the fun to watch them bounce off of each other.

Babysit Caleb

Saturday, January 29th thru February 5th
Josh, Jill and Andrew departed on their Disney vacation today. They dropped Caleb at Mimi and Poppa's house around 8am. Doug took them to the airport. We would have Caleb from Saturday, January 29th thru Friday, Feb 5th.  I was able to take him to daycare during the week so I didn't have to take any vacation time from work. 

The first night he got up about 10 times....but every night after that was easier/easier.
I guess he was getting used to his room at Mimi/Poppa's and getting used different bed.

It turned out to be a great week and I can officially say Caleb is Mimi's boy now!

Below are a few of my favorite photos of the week.