Dallas Part One

We hadn't been back to Dallas since our "Dallas Disaster" (the trip where we all ended up spending the weekend in the hotel with a stomach virus)  We decided it was time to try again and that James would probably enjoy it more at this age anyway.  We timed it so that I picked him up from Mothers' Day Out and for maybe the first time ever he actually fell asleep in the car and slept most of the way.  It's a great feeling when the plan works! When we got to Dallas we headed straight to the aquarium.

Checking out some animals 

An attempt at a family picture 

Another family picture attempt- not having too much success! 

James' favorite part was going into the "caves" as he called them 

Mr. Cool 

After we left the aquarium we headed to the hotel, checked in, and walked over to the Galleria for James and Ryan to eat dinner.  Ryan graciously offered to watch James so my mom and I could have a girls' dinner out at a little nicer establishment than McDonald's! Overall it was a pretty smooth beginning to the trip. 

January 2013 Misc

A few of our random memories throughout January!

 One afternoon while running errands I decided that I HAD to have some mozzarella cheese sticks. Don't judge me. :) I figured since it was happy hour I would splurge and let James have his first very own slushy.  I ordered him a small and they ended up bringing a large. He was ecstatic! And I was thrilled because it kept him quiet while I chowed down. 

We have a son that is a total flirt. He is all about the pretty ladies and loves to hold hands.  

We had a little incident when our car got tapped.  Nothing like keeping a 2 year old entertained at the car shop while dealing with repairs and insurance. 

Just another night at our house...

There were actually a few days where it was cold here. James was all about wearing his jacket, hat, AND sunglasses. 

One Friday we were supposed to meet a friend and it didn't work out. I just couldn't handle the thought of going home so I decided a mother-son lunch date to Counter Culture would be a nice outing. 

I don't really do a lot of belly pictures but I did take this one at 20 weeks to celebrate the half-way mark. I have seriously quadrupled in size in the 5 weeks since taking this! 

After all the cold weather it was beautiful so we spent some time at the park. 

James is still really into doing art so we decided to make this craft one morning. 

And last but not least: a very special snowman creation made by James! 

Elmo Live

When I heard that Elmo was coming to Shreveport I knew we had to attend. I figured that maybe at this point James would be able to handle a show.  It worked out that the week Elmo came was the week that Ryan had some time off and that my mom came to visit so we all headed over to the show.  Was it a fun experience? Yes. Was it worth the insane amount of money that they charged for the tickets, refreshments, etc.? Probably not, but I'm still so glad that we did it!  

Playing with his new light-up toy

Time for the show! 

An icee! Good thing Nene was here to get that for him.

Pretty memorized for that first half

Can you believe they charged $10 for these balloons?!?!?

Yes we definitely had a melt down afterward that ended  up with James lying on the floor

After Elmo was over we headed to the boardwalk for some pizza.  James was in a "special" mood so it wasn't the easiest of dinners/excursions. 

So glad Nene got to come to the show with us!

The Rest of the Trip

Warning: too many pictures on one blog post. It's just too hard to decide which ones to put and I still left out a couple hundred! We packed as many fun things into our trip to NC over the break as we could.  

We spent lots of fun time with our families. 

Getting ready to go walk the dog with Uncle Rod 

Frozen yogurt with Granny Baker and Nana 

Having a jam session with Nana. 

Playing a little Canasta.  I have yet to learn to play it because they take it pretty
seriously! :) 

Snuggling in Pappy's chair 

Hanging with Uncle David 

We got to see friends who we don't normally get to visit with. 

James was excited that Jane came over to play 

Hooray for being pregnant at the same time as a friend!
Tricia due in April, me in June, both with boys! 

We were honored to get to see sweet Collins get baptized 

And we got to have a lunch date! 

I don't know if she really needed any help but good practice for James for the future! 

I met my old bible study girls (minus Shannon- we missed you Shan!) in Wilson for dinner. I knew it would be a fun night but it turned out to be SUPER special.  

Ashley asked me to be in her wedding this summer

And Rebecca is pregnant!!!! We are only 2 months apart.
So excited!

It's going to be a great summer! 

Always good to see Eve and Amy. I need to glean as much knowledge
about raising boys from Amy as I can since she has 3!

Love the Cox family 

Of course what would a vacation be without a little eating? 

One down part of the trip was that I got massively sick from food poisoning. I requested that my parents please get James out of the house so they had a happy meal date at McDonalds and then a breakfast date the next morning at Krispy Kreme. James was a happy boy!

He had to try a bite of Pappy's.  The chocolate was pretty tasty! 

Oh Pappy! He is a good sport 

We spent a lot of time in the kitchen. This kid LOVES to help cook. 

Helping Nana make waffles 

Making pretzel cookies 

Always have to make some homemade bread 

I don't know how many 2 year olds know the entire bread making process by heart

 And of course we had to make Christmas cookies.  This is just how I remember making them with my mom: always homemade, rolling out the dough, etc. 

Um, normally we don't allow sitting on the table...

Helping with the dishes 

Final product - cookies! 

Final product- yummy bread! Don't eat his loaf- he is quite possessive! 

 Just all sorts of fun over the two weeks that we (James and I) were there! 

Pushing Daddy on the new car 

Even Mom got a turn! 

This was so funny to me. While I was in Wilson with the girls, James requested that he and my mom eat in candlelight so they had a special dinner just for the two of them. :) 

He loved this crazy dancing Christmas tree 

And the dancing dog. Will those songs ever leave my head? 

Sitting on Pappy's special step 

And the final picture of the trip which illustrates the extreme difference between raising your own children and having grandchildren.  James, eating a donut, INSIDE the car on the way to Raleigh.  My dad has definitely mellowed over the years! :)