Grandma Ranes

We bought my mom a ticket for her birthday to come visit us for a few days.   A bunch of photographers had been posting about this new tulip field pretty close to our house so we took a trip out there and walked around.  They were so pretty, but $4 a tulip, say what!!   

Alex really wanted to pick one, but I told him we could go to Trader Joes instead and buy 12 of them for almost the same price as 1.

I'm sure they probably picked or stepped on a few along the way.

Cole was being a stinker when we left and sat down in the middle of the road and just laughed at me.

We went to Torchys for lunch and made my mom eat queso and then showed her the Dallas temple.

We went to Northpark mall to let Alex Build A Bear for his 4th Birthday. It sings Happy Birthday and smells like Strawberries, he loves it.

and randomly we took a detour on our way home to tour the Dallas house.  Come to find out the inside of the house was never really used on the 80s show so why do they give tours of the inside?

I remember my mom watching this every Sunday night.  I need to rent it on Netflix and relive the 80s.  It was a day packed full of fun and we had a yummy thai dinner that night.  We love having visitors.

Minnesota

A few days after we got back from our trip around the world we had to go to Minnesota for one night to have dinner with Al's boss and some other coworkers.  I felt so bad about leaving our kids again, but they were excited to hang out at Diane's for a night.  We spent the morning at the Mall of America and wandered around aimlessly, rode one of the roller coasters, shared a Ghirardelli chocolate shake, and met up for lunch with a couple people.   We stayed downtown at a Marriott right across from Target Headquarters so that was an obvious trip to Target!!  The city is unique because ever building is connected by a sky walk which is great so you don't have to freeze to death by walking everywhere.

We went to dinner at a fancy steakhouse that night and ate and ate and ate.  It was fun to meet all of the people Al works with and sees more than me (not really, but it feels like that sometimes).

Cole and Alex having fun at Diane's.  Alex picked out his favorite toy the doll and Cole's was the sword.

I'm always nervous about how they will sleep for other people, but she said they slept through the night, hooray!!

On Friday night we took them to Chuckee Cheese, had pizza, and let them play.

They were hilarious on these bumper cars, especially Cole who just pushed the lever up and down and didn't really go anywhere.

On Saturday we drug Al to Cinderella and had lots of popcorn together.

My little sleeping Cole who still loves to take naps, but it's getting harder and harder for him to fall asleep at night.  I don't know which is worse giving up the nap or a late bedtime.

A much needed park day that ended in Cole falling 5 minutes after we got there and jamming his thumb so bad his entire hand was bruised and swollen.  He wouldn't stop crying so I had to make Alex leave which he was obviously not happy about.  When we got home I told Cole he could watch a movie and have popcorn if he stopped crying.  He then shoved not 1 but 3 popcorn kernels up one of his nostrils.  Thank goodness Al was home and saved us all and his nose, phew.  

Crazy Weather

Wow I'm so behind on blogging again and our 13 day trip might take weeks to write about.....I better get busy.  We had some really crazy stormy days in February and Al was out of town a lot which always makes time go by really slow.  Alex and Cole love to eat at this pizza place by us called Pie Five where you get to make your own pizza so that's what we did Friday night at 5pm :)   Cole's personality constantly makes us laugh, you just never know what he's going to do.  This day he wore his sunglasses around everywhere because clearly it was sunny and warm :)

Al continuing his 100 day running challenge in the freezing cold windy Frisco weather.  I finally talked him into investing in some running pants :)

More snow and a snowman with Dad!!

Our favorite mall, Northpark but Alex and Cole call it the turtle mall because they have this random pond with turtles.

Oh man the terrible twos are crazy sometimes.  You just never know when this kid could break down and how do you get mad or reason with them in public places.  I think this day he wanted me to carry him, he wanted more juice samples, and he wanted to push that dang little cart.

A mommy/Alex afternoon yogurt date which we need to do more because he is still talking about it 2 months later, love him.

I decided I wanted to get rid of the bunk beds (the ceiling fans freak me out) and I thought it would be better for them to share a room.  We just happened to be in Pottery Barn Kids one night and they had this bed as a floor model on sale for half price so Al said if we could find another one to match at that price we could do it and we found one!!   I put them in the same room for one night and realized it was too soon, so we put Cole back in his room in a toddler bed and I'll give it a few more months.  I'm not ready to give up Alex's nap/quiet time.

Grandma Cameron came and watched the boys for 13 days while we were on our vacation and I don't think I'll ever be able to do tell her how thankful we are.   It was hard to be away from them that long, but made it a little bit easier when we knew they were in good hands and happy.   Cole doesn't look that happy in this picture, but I know they loved their time with Grandma even though they didn't sleep for her!!

Snow In Texas

On Friday it snowed all day long and it was so pretty. It made me homesick for Utah and I was really wishing I could look outside and see the mountains.  We don't own any snow clothes, but we had coats, hats, mittens, and Hunter boots that seemed to do the trick.  The boys were so excited to play in the snow.   

Nothing is better than eating fresh snow.

They loved it.

Running through the snow and throwing it at each other.

Before they came inside each of them made a snow angel.  

Al was originally supposed to come home Saturday morning, but he switched his flight to Friday night because the entire city of Dallas shuts down when it snows.  His flight got delayed a few times before he decided he was going to rent a car and drive home from Houston.  On his way out he saw that there was a flight on Southwest that was about to leave to Dallas Love Field so he bought a ticket and got home around 11pm that night, thank goodness.  Saturday morning was filled with lots of fun including a Snowman with Daddy.

Ice Storm

I've heard people talk about Dallas ice storms for months and we finally got to witness our first one.  Everyone gets a little crazy and fills up their cars with gas, goes grocery shopping, and prepares to be stuck at home for days.   Sunday night it started raining, but it was really raining ice.  Monday morning everything was covered in a thick layer of ice.  Al is doing a 100 day running challenge with his former boss Rob but the ice didn't stop him and he still drove to the airport that night and somehow got on a flight.  

All schools were cancelled and kids were out sledding on whatever they could find, so funny.  Al took Alex and Cole out for a bit and lasted about 3 minutes until they were cold.

Days at home are long for us since we are so used to getting out everyday.  I went to Target the day before to buy some groceries and also stopped at Best Buy to buy the new Disney movie that just came out, Big Hero 6.  We built a big fort, watched movies, colored, played with toys, and watched more movies.

Alex is at the best age right now.  I love everything he says and does.  He is so much fun to talk to and hang out with.  Mama will you take a picture of me with my stuffed animals-Alex

On Wednesday morning huge snowflakes were falling from the sky so before Alex went to school I took some pictures.

Every time I take a picture I say look at the camera and smile and they look everywhere but there or  one of them looks and the other one doesn't.

Candid shots always end up being the best anyway and I'm love how these turned out.  

I think this one is my favorite.  I love the way Alex has his shoulder up and Cole is looking up at the snowflakes.  

They are seriously so cute I can't stand it.  I just love them so much and so so grateful I get to stay at home with them and watch moments like this.  Stay little forever

Cooking Class

Look momma I drew a picture of you-Alex

Trader Joes used to be my favorite grocery to shop at but recently I hate it.  Cole thinks he needs one of their mini carts to push around and I finally had to give in since Alex was with us this day.  Sometimes I feel like Cole behaves better when Alex is around and is easier to reason with.  Shopping is definitely more stressful with 2 little kids running around the store with mini carts.  Alex behaves perfectly and pushes it right by my side, but Cole is a different story.  

Every time we got to Costco the boys ask me if we can eat.  Cole loves their hot dogs and Alex loves the pizza.  Too bad they don't have anything mommy loves :)

A spontaneous mall trip with Dad to activate our cell phone for our trip around the world!!  I found a floor model bed for Alex's room at Pottery Barn Kids and Al agreed that it was a good deal, so no more bunk beds for his room.

I've been trying to plan more one on one time with Alex and Cole.  Al took Alex to Top Golf on a Saturday afternoon. While they waited for a bay Alex got to play Xbox connect, eat chips and salsa, and drink lemonade.  They called me while they were waiting and he sounded sooooo excited.   

I'm not sure what sport Alex will enjoy, but I could see him as a golfer or tennis player, maybe it's the blonde hair.  Either way I'm glad he got to spend some one on one time with his Dad.  I think it's important for kids and makes them feel special.

That night Al and I had a cooking class on sautéing and pan sauces at Central Market.  We learned how to hold a knife, cut an onion, sear a steak, and make banana flambe.

Here we are with our instructor who had cooked for so many influential people including George Bush.  It was a fun evening and it's always good to learn more about cooking.