On to the next.....

Remember at Halloween I talked about how I "did the crap out of Halloween" and I was happy it was over? I kind of feel that way about Easter and spring celebrations in general. I'm relieved it is over and ready to move on lol.

Yesterday my husband volunteered us to go to Mass with one of his coworkers.  Usually I'm the one who nags my Christmas/Easter Catholic husband to go to Mass on his designated two days...this year I didn't have it in me to nag and actually looked forward to sipping coffee in my pajamas all morning on Easter. But alas, we rushed through breakfast and found dress clothes and trudged to one of the most crowded masses ever.  I knew it was going to be "standing room only" so I was pleasantly surprised that we this elderly lady found us this open seats way on the side of the church.  Luckily the church was really well air conditioned, because it was packed to the beams!  The choir was beautiful and the mass was a quick 45 minutes Hallelujah!  Wow I sound like such a crap Catholic right now, but seriously, show me one parent who enjoys taking a two-year-old to Mass!?

We survived without Franco giving me too many "control your daughter" looks.  Because the Mass was at 10:30 and not 11 am, we managed to beat the Easter Brunch crowds and we had a great breakfast at Kerby Lane.  Be still my heart, their food was delicious!

After Mass we hit the pool for a quick swim before nap.  After 2 hour naps we headed to a friend's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt.  It was one of those get togethers where everyone just ate and chatted and relaxed.  We had such a great time and stayed until after 9pm!

When I got home it took me two hours, but I cleaned the heck out of my kitchen and bathrooms then watched Game of Thrones with my husband.  I slept amazing and am ready to start the week and be positive and productive all week!

Ps-Mimi's dress is from Gymboree and I LOVE it, thank god for the 40% discount....

Mimi's First Haircut

Most kids probably get their first haircut way before they hit 2 1/2 years.....I have been putting it off for a really long time.  For some reason it was hard for me to cut the big loopy curls off the bottom of her hair.   Part of it was fear that the curls would go away, part of it was that it was like the last untouched thing about her that was still "my baby."  I know that sounds ridiculous, because she has really long hair and is obviously not a baby, but I felt that way regardless.

see loopy curls I was afraid to cut off??

Well I finally broke down and agreed to let my good friend Tina cut Mimi's hair. It's been getting really tangled and hard to keep combed. Also she gets a horrible heat rash on her neck in the summer from her hairline sweating. Gross I know, whatever.

Funny enough, my friend Emily had never cut her son Laith's hair either.  We decided to do them both on the same day so they would both think it was cool instead of being sad/worried/upset. Mimi went first;  Tina chopped off about 3 inches of Mimi's curls and evened out her hair and gave it some shape.  Mimi loved it and so did I!

Laith went next, and needed a bit more convincing.  As Tina chopped off Laith's ponytail I thought his mom (Emily) was going to collapse on the floor into a pile of mush! She took her son's chopped off locks way harder than I did Mimi's.    Alas, they both sacrificed their loopy baby curls and several inches of hair and are ready for the HOT Texas summer.

I survived it.

the finished cut

Mimi loves her new cut

Laith getting his ponytail chopped

his mom trying not to cry as she holds his ponytail

Mini Trip to San Antonio

My friend Emily and I decided an overnight trip to San Antonio would be really fun.  We left on a tuesday morning and made the 1.5 hour drive down to San Antonio.  We stopped at her husband's restaurant and let the kids see the cool kitchen.  Her husband made the kids some sugar cookies, which I did try 1/2 of, despite their flour and sugar content lol. THEY WERE AMAZING.  It was like vanilla and sugar in perfect concert.

We walked around the riverwalk area, and then checked into the Emily Morgan Hotel.  The kids enjoyed the hotel experience.  We enjoyed the pool, and the kids got a pretty big kick out of riding the elevator. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, which is notorious for their fun atmosphere and horrible food, lol. No joke.  Mimi really enjoyed dining in the jungle with all the animatronic animals and fake rainstorms, my friends kid was terrified of the animatronic gorillas and hit under the table the entire time. The kids crashed when we got home from dinner and we all slept really well cozied up in down pillows.

Wednesday morning we successfully checked out of the hotel without wreckin' the place, and headed towards the zoo.  We stopped at Joseph's Bakery and Restaurant, voted #1 bakery in San Antonio. We found the place by accident on the way to the zoo and figured it was worth a try.  IT WAS AMAZING. The guy, Joe, who was behind the counter taking orders, is the baker, the waiter, the pastor of the church next door and an amazingly friendly guy.  We had an amazing (and affordable) breakfast, including some of the best frenchtoast I've ever tasted in my life.

We finally made it to the Zoo which, sadly was really crowded due to several school buses full of rowdy elementary school kids.  It's sad how much school bused full of kids really turn me off from being at a place, because I like kids. I just don't like kids that are poorly supervised and really unruly, destructive, and loud.  I digress...

We did enjoy the San Antonio Zoo, however I was really saddened by the state of some of the exhibits. The exhibits lacked shade, water, and vegetation.  Think giant concrete enclosures.  The Zoo was full of snack shops, gift shops, and restaurants instead of interactive signage and giant lush exhibits. I think I'm spoiled by the Jacksonville Zoo in FL (photos in this old post), which is large and lush.  The kids had fun exploring in the gorgeous weather.  We managed to see some pretty cool animals, and hit the road by 3pm to beat rush hour traffic in Austin.  All in all, a very fun and successful trip, just what we needed to break up the week.

McKinney Falls State Park

We bought a state park pass two weeks ago and are already putting it to good use! Today we checked out Mckinney Falls State Park, just a short 13 miles from downtown Austin.  We headed there after breakfast with some water, apples, and our swim stuff.  It's kind of an adventure finding all these new places to explore, as we've only lived in TX for about 9 months now.  The weather was amazing today, I was surprised how few people were at the park.

We hiked to the upper and lower falls and stopped to swim in each.  We also stopped in the picnic area for a snack.  We came home at about 2pm and made a huge paleo lunch.  We all crashed from 3-6 for a family nap.  Simply amazing day.  Here's some photos.  Don't mind my hosuewife hairdo.

of course we had to stop in the blue bonnet fields...

How fun does this look? That's some good clean fun there.

I feel so blessed to have a husband and a little girl that both love to be outside as much as I do!