Happy Monday!

What a beautiful weekend!  I can't believe how nice it was especially after a very cold and rainy week.

On Friday morning, Mark and I were out and about early.  We went to Matthew's school to celebrate Dragon Pride. I was a little nervous about taking him to the assembly, but he did really well.  He sat and watched the whole award ceremony.  The cutest part of the whole thing was when they announced Luke's name.  Mark recognized him and shouted out, "Lukie! Hi Lukie!" and waved to him. Luke thought it was funny.

Matthew being recognized at Dragon Pride.

Then we went directly to SeaLife to meet up for our playdate with Austin and Tristan. I can already tell that Mark has a really good sense of humor.  When we went to see the sharks, he kept putting his hand on the glass and saying ouch! I asked what happened and he told me the the sharks bit him.  He loved watching the sharks, but he loved exploring the aquarium with his buddies more.  Austin and Tristan are a year older, but Mark did not have any problems keeping up.

There's a part of the aquarium where you have to walk through plexiglass tube in a tank full of different animals including sharks.  Mark was very hesitant and when he finally decided to go, he ran through it like something was chasing him!

After the aquarium, we went and had lunch at the food court.  Mark threw a fit when I tried to help him with his food.  He wanted to do it all himself.

 

 We had our friends over for dinner on Saturday. It was so good to catch up with the adults and the kids had a really good time.  Michael was so good with the younger kids. He played with them and made sure they were having fun. I was so proud of him.

Sunday was a lazy day.  We watched playoff football, went to lunch and went to see the grandparents for a couple of hours.

Mark being silly and sticking his tongue out for every picture.

Mark giving Daddy some love!

{five} on Friday

This week's Five on Friday link-up with Darci at the good life blog is all about my favorite things! There have been a few items that I love and have been thinking about. Some are items that I'm saving up to buy and some (ahem...the coat) I'm not but because my kids have to eat.

{one}
Serenity pendent from Stella and Dot.  I just ordered the Rebel pendent and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival.

{two}

This is the Naked palette 2, but I would settle for any of the palettes really. They are all so versatile. 

 {three)
The Michael Kors gold watch.  I think this went on sale during the Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale in July, but I opted for the Frye boots.  Maybe next time.

{four}

OK, I think I'm a really late adaptor on this erin condren life planner because when I researched it, it seemed like everybody had one.  I don't know how functional it would be for me but it's just so, so pretty that I would be motivated to pull it out even if just to look at it.

 {five}
Then there's this beauty.  My dream Burberry coat.  If it's good enough the Duchess Kate and Olivia Pope, it's good enough for me.

What We Did - Week One

I've been reading one of my favorite blogs for a while now and she does a post of pictures for every day of the week each week on instagram.  I thought it was a very clever idea to record of each day for the whole year except I don't have an instagram account.  I'm gonna copy her idea and have a weekly  post of what we did each day. Hopefully, this will get me to take more pictures! And I have a record of the little things we did each day.

Day 1
Happy New Year! We took down our Christmas Decorations.

Day 2
We started the day with some arts and crafts.

Day 3
Matthew slept over at a friend's house last night so I took the other 2 boys to breakfast at the Original Pancake House.  Mark and Michael shared the chocolate chip pancakes and I prayed that they did not go into a sugar coma.

Day 4
We played outside with friends! They day was too beautiful not to at least get outside for a little bit.

Day 5
We had donuts for breakfast.  M drove all the way to Grapevine for these in search of a good donut shop. Not as good as O'Henry's, but it's far better than Dunkin' Donuts.

Day 6
The day our heater went out on the coldest night in 3 years, and we played by the fire, and bundled up. We got it fixed by 10pm, but it was cold.

Day 7
My babies went off to school bright and early!

Back to Normal

The boys will be going off to school again this morning and we will have some semblance of a schedule again.  It's been nice having them home, but man, I just spent the whole morning picking up their room and their playroom.  I have let things go a little bit because they have friends over everyday so there really was not point in constantly picking up.

Yesterday, my super-duper, super fancy rice cooker arrived! I've been making rice on the stovetop and it's been a big pain.  I have a cheap rice cooker that I don't ever use because the rice sticks to the bottom and the water boils over so it's a big pain. Only an Asian can get this excited about a rice cooker.

It was freezing outside (literally).  The temperature won't go up past the freezing point.  Matthew decided to test to this by putting some water outside. When he checked this morning, almost the whole cup was frozen.

In preparation for normalcy, I went to the grocery store early to get the school lunch provisions.  I had to wake up at the early to make lunches and make sure they are both ready to go, but it's nice to have the extra time.  Hopefully, Mark will sleep in and I can start having my power hour again. So far so good.

Here's to the start of school again.  I hope the week goes well!

Break is Almost Over

This is the last Sunday of winter break of the boys. The kids don't have school until Tuesday, so they've got 2 more days of free play.  Then it's back to school and homework and reading.

I think they've really enjoyed their break even if we didn't go anywhere. They have so many friends that live in our neighborhood that there was always someone around to play with.  They kind of house-hop from one house to the next.  We had 5-6 boys here playing in the playroom yesterday. 

So how did they spend their break?  They played football outside, played video games inside, went to friends' houses, had sleepover at a friend's, had a friend sleepover, fought with each other, and on occasion, they hung out with us.

Soccer practice starts up again for Michael today. Matthew is all signed up for Spring baseball.  We are heading into the sports season again.  I think we do a good job of not over scheduling the boys, but even with one sport each, our schedule is going to get heavy. Before we know it, there will be practices, games, and tournaments.  

But for today and tomorrow, they will just hang out and play!

January Pin-spired - Leopard, Lace and Leggings

Time to get Pin-spired with Shay at Mix and Match Mama, Pinterest Told Me To and The Larson Lingo! 

I bought my first leopard print piece at Kirkland Homes.  Can you believe it?  I got a very pretty scarf and I love it!  This is the only leopard print piece I have and I think it goes well with anything.  Then I saw this pin on Pinterest and knew I had to recreate it. Stripes and leopard print - yes, please.

Here's my version with riding boots instead of heels. 

T-shirt - Gap Outlet (similar), Jeans - Vigoss, Scarf - Kirkland Home (similar), Boots - Frye

Then I decided to change it up a little and pair it with my camel cardigan and turquoise statement necklace.  I'm digging' this look too.

Cardigan  - TJMaxx (similar is a little shorter and lighter weight) Necklace - Charming Charlie (similar)

My next inspiration is a little more refined.  I love anything that is lace and immediately fell in love with this look when I saw it on Pinterest.

I don't have a navy blazer so I replaced it with a beige one. Then, to dress up the look a little more, I added the heels.

Then I tried pairing it with some flats.  Not as cute, but definitely a lot more practical when you're running around after a 2 year-old all day.

Blazer - Banana Republic, Jeans - Vigoss, Lace Tank - TJMaxx (I couldn't find anything similar, but this is a good option), Heels - Nine West (similar), Flats - Tory Burch

My third inspiration is the epitome of comfort.  I bought my chambray shirt on clearance at the Nordstrom Rack and have worn at least once a week.  I can get the preppy look paired with a pullover sweater or a super easy look like this one.

My shirt is a little bit longer which I actually prefer because is has more coverage down there.  The downside is that the tank layer is not as visible - which is what makes the inspirational outfit in my opinion.

Mark photo-bombed! 

Shirt - Nordstrom Rack (similar is a little shorter), Tank - Target (similar), Scarf - TJMaxx (similar), Boots - Frye

There you have it. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your new year has started off wonderfully!

Goals and Super H

My power hour in the mornings have disappeared recently.  Mainly because the boys are off from school and our schedules are completely nonexistent, but once they start school again, I think I really need to get on the ball.

Since we are talking about what I need to get on the ball with, I might as well lay out some goals.  I don't make New Year's resolutions because, honestly, I'm more likely to fail than succeed and who wants to be a failure? But I do have some things that I need to get better at and hopefully, with the new year, there's new motivation to work towards it. It's the usual stuff - be more organized, go the the gym more often, and take more pictures. And enjoy more time with the kiddos - which gets harder as they get older.

We did not really do much on New Year's Eve or Day. M and I have never really made a big deal out of either. We just stayed home, watched the bowl games and hung out.  Michael and Matthew have been playing with friends all winter break and are barely ever home. They spent all day outside yesterday with their neighborhood friends.  It was 70 degrees and 20 degrees this morning- crazy TX weather.

M and I spent the morning taking down our Christmas decorations.  He was a trooper and a huge help even though his back was not doing so great.  Sometimes I forget to tell him how thankful I am for him. I'll try to be better this year.

I took Mark to the Korean supermarket because I needed some asian stables - rice and sauces. We had lunch there of some short rib noodle soup and rice.  He was in heaven.  He also had his first experience with the bubble milk tea.  He sucked up a bubble and I thought he was going to freak, but he starting chewing on it, laughed and told me it was fun. He wanted more "balls."  Love that kid.  On the way home, he talked the whole way.  It might have been the caffeine from the tea?

No pictures from yesterday so clearly, my goal of taking more pictures is not looking great. Haha.