I’m Back (for now)…

The St. Philip Dinner/Dance is now behind us.  It has taken up a lot of time lately, but it was all so well worth it.  I’ve always said I wanted to help out with it when my kids were in school because it is such an amazing fundraiser.  This year, I got my wish and I now realize how much time goes into it behind the scenes.  I have so much respect for all of the parents that run it.  No one can even imagine the work and hours and stress that goes into it.  They do an amazing job and I am so honored to have played a very small part in it this year.  It turned out beautifully and we raised lots of money for the school.  Here’s a pic of Dayton’s Pre-K 3 class project.  I think it turned out fabulous.  And, lucky for Dayton, PaPa and DeDe bought it for a pretty penny, so he gets to see it on a regular basis – he loves this thing!

It’s a 60 X 80 afghan of their class picture – just priceless!

 

*Not to be debbie downer, but lots of deaths surrounding us lately – very young to very old.  They all sadden me and truly make me realize how important life and family is.  With all the hustle and bustle going on, it hit me hard the other day when I heard of a couple that had suddenly lost a four month old baby girl.  I can not even imagine how that would be – can’t even fathom it one bit.  I took time out of the day on that day (Mallory’s fifteen month birthday) and decided we needed a mommy and me activity.  Mommy’s been way too busy lately and I was feeling extremely guilty.  We decided to give finger painting a go.  Mallory really liked it other than trying to eat the paint.  It was fun and it was only a few minutes, but it made me think of how it’s these little moments that mean the most.  This morning when I was putting flip flops on her, I pointed to my toes and asked her if she wanted to paint her toe nails like Mommy.  She quickly got up and walked over to the refrigerator and pointed up at her painting.  Little Smarty pants put two and two together and recognized the word “paint”.  She wanted to paint her toe nails with finger paint – :)  She amazes me!  And to any of you who read this blog and have lost someone recently, I have been praying my heart out for you.  And, know that you and your loved ones have touched me and my family making me love stronger, hug tighter and laugh harder every day.  My husband came home today to pick Mallory and I up for a surprise lunch date – he has been touched, too.  We all need to slow down just a little bit.  You never know what tomorrow has in store…

Here is one my two favorite miracles making her first work of art:

Just a few of her in her new cute Longhorn shirt – this is her the day she turned 15 months, too.  She is a tall little chick!

Where is Bevo?

Funny face:

So on Friday, I was MIA all day and all night long – working at the civic center and then to ballroom and then back to the civic center and then home at 11:25 that night :(  Mallory got to go spend a day at the shop with DeDe and PaPa – don’t you worry.  Of course we have something in our wardrobe to suit that occasion – I mean, who doesn’t wear a tutu to a junkyard ;)

 

And, in case you’ve been wondering what my other little miracle’s been up to lately – we are in STAR WARS BIRTHDAY mode – less than two weeks away from the big event and only a little over a week til his actual birthday.  I can’t believe this little guy is going to be four years old already – where does the time go?

Quick story about Dayton:  We have sweets all over our house right now – bad for Mommy.  Dayton said he wanted some strawberry shortcake, banana pudding and a cupcake yesterday.  I said, “Dayton how are you going to eat all of that?!?!?” as I was making his plate.  His response, “Mommy, with a spoon.”  Right.  And, he did…

And, the reason I say I’m back (for now) is that it’s onward and upward from about here until after the dance recital – no joke!  We’ve got weekends booked for sure until April as of now.  Don’t get me wrong, they are all going to be filled with family, friends and fun but it’s just hard to get a lot in during the week so I apologize for lack of blogging, but I will try to do better!

15 Fast Months…

Mallory is 15 months old today – how hard is that to believe????  Crazy!  Quick update

– she is in to everything

-Miss Chatterbox

-Eats everything

-Has 12 teeth – she got 4 molars in and we’re not really sure when?  Shame on us – we just noticed them yesterday – second child syndrome…

-Some of her words: Mama, Dada, Papa, Thank you (kind of), Bye bye, baba, hot, uh-oh, Da-ta (dayton), and a few others but I can’t think right now

She is progressing right along and we love her more and more every day.  Although there are times when I wish nap time was a little longer and she’d go to sleep a little earlier at night, she’s still a keeper :)

Here are a couple of pics from the weekend and Anna’s 6th birthday party on Friday.  I’m a little behind – lots going on right now around the Zabodyn household :)

Mallory feeding herself some yogurt:

Bryn and Dayton eating pizza at the party- it was a bowling party :)

Will:

Brock:

The Birthday Girl – her real birthday was Monday – can’t believe she’s 6 years old – what a joy she is – love her!

Mallory enjoyed the pizza and did manage to spill red Hawaiian punch all over this outfit before we left… Thanks MeMe for getting it all out :)

Will:

Luke:  Dayton and Uncle Coby:

Sunday, I had to go through over 200 costumes.  It was crazy!  Mallory enjoyed sitting on the boxes:

Look at all these boxes/mess!  Daddy and Dayton built a fort w/ all the empty boxes:

Mallory sampling the costumes – this is an extra, so it’s Mallory’s!  You may see this again come Halloween…

The fort:

That’s all I’ve got time for today – sorry! :)  I’ll catch up eventually!!!!

Another “Greek” Date…

Just a little silly story for you on this peaceful Sunday night:

On Wednesday, Brandon and I headed to ATX for a quick bank business trip.  I was able to tag along being that if fell on a Wednesday and I didn’t have work.  Our parents were nice enough to watch the kiddos so we got to enjoy a night away at the AT&T hotel which is literally right on campus.

Anyways, Wednesday night we headed over to Cuatro’s for dinner/beer/Longhorn basketball.  This place is on 24th and we went there once during football season before a game and really liked it.  The atmosphere is fabulous – big tvs all w/ sports and the food is great – not your typical “sports bar”.  They have lots of good healthy and non-healthy stuff – even seared tuna which is the real way to my heart :)  Brandon and I sat down and enjoyed a pitcher (ok, two pitchers) of Blue Moon while we ate and enjoyed watching the Horns kick OSU’s butt.  We laughed throughout our meal as we looked around at all the young college kids around us.  I wondered if they knew how old we were.  Did they think we were in college or did they think we were having a mid-life crisis by acting like we were in college? 

At the end of our meal, our cute little emo-looking waitress, came over and asked if the tickets were going to be separate or together.  Brandon and I looked at each other and smiled and said, “Go ahead and put them together.”  It was at that point we realized she didn’t know we were married – BUT did she know we were OLD?  After all that beer, I was not shy about asking.  As soon as she came back to the table, I asked the question she probably really didn’t want to be asked, “How old do you think we are?”  She giggled and kinda looked away like I don’t know what the correct answer to this is – I do want a tip.  I said, “We graduated from UT in 2003.”  Her eyes about popped out of her head.  Then Brandon chimes in w/ “We have two kids.  One is four.” (Thanks Brandon).  She was stunned.  She responded w/ the best possible thing the poor sweet girl could’ve said at the time without even knowing.  She said, “To be honest w/ y’all, when you walked in, I thought ‘Here we go, another greek date’.”  Wow!  That means she thought Brandon was a frat daddy and I was a sorority chick.  I never wanted to be THAT couple when I was in college, but I was loving being referred to as THAT couple seven years after I graduated.  Needless to say, her tip went up at that point.  It was nice to know we still fit in w/ the college crowd when I didn’t have one kid attached to my hip and one attached to my leg.

We left the bar, made a trip to our favorite Starbucks, took a walk to the tower, and visited Samantha while she studied at The Union.  It was fun.  I love, love, love my ATX and I loved driving around alone in Austin for two days – going where ever I wanted with my sunglasses on and my radio playing something other than Star Wars or Mickey Mouse.  It was nice to be “another Greek date” for just that short time span.  But, it is even more fabulous to come back to reality and be “another grown-up Mommy”…

Season of Love…

Lots of love surrounding us lately.  Here is what has been going on in pictures:

Grandparents Day was moved to last Friday since it was an ice day during Catholic School’s week.  Here are some pictures of the kiddos w/ some A+ grandparents:

Little Man fell asleep while watching his dvd the other night:

Saturday, we decided to take the kiddos to the bowling alley for a game and some lunch:

How old does he look???!?!!!?

Saturday evening, we had the honor of watching Brandon’s cousin Colton get married to Ms. Ashley.  It was a beautiful wedding and the kids had a blast!  Our kids were “those kids” this time around – the ones hogging the dance floor, sliding around getting filthy, running a muck – yep.  I swore I’d never have “those kids”, but things happen – and they were so stinkin’ cute, who could stop ‘em?

 

I love this picture:

Here is Mallory enjoying the cold floor – gross…

Daddy to the rescue!

We did the little dance game where the call out years you’ve been married and the last couple standing “wins”.  Brandon and I were happy and sad to make the first cut – it meant we’d been married for over five years :) but it almost went we were getting old :( – Brandon’s parents were one of the final three couples – 30 years in April.  His grandparents won – 54 years – wow!

The best little dance partners I could ask for:

Dancing with her Daddy: Her new trick:

At this point, we decided she was probably ready to go bye-bye; crawling under the table, laying down…

Sunday we celebrated V-Day around our house – here are some pics:

 

Sunday night, we enjoyed a WONDERFUL dinner at Perry’s in Sugarland.  It was so delicious – I loved every bite :) – Here is Dayton’s picture of us before we left…

Monday evening I worked, so Brandon made dinner for me and the kiddos – Cajun Chicken Pasta w/ heart-shaped pasta :)  It was soooo good.  This was one of his best dishes EVER!

Dayton had a Valentine’s Party at school on Monday – here he is eating his snack:

Here is my little monkey – these are the cool masks I found for the kiddos to decorate at the party.  The girls masks had eyelashes and hair bows, too: