Please Don't Go, Girl!

One of my best friends in the whole world came to Austin to visit me and we had the best time catching up!  It had been waaaaay too long since we had seen each other.  I had to properly introduce her to Texas.  We had Tex-Mex and Texas BBQ, went boot shopping...

...and did a little 2-stepping at the neighborhood country western bar:

To introduce her properly to Austin, we did a little graffiti-ing:

(That picture should totally be in a RUST-OLEUM advertisement!)

And then we went on a segway tour around Austin!

We tried to see the bats, but it had rained that day and apparently they are only fair-weathered friends.  Boo!

When we got home we were inspire to get ready for the NKOTB concert the next day!  So we stayed up til 3am watching their old videos (yes, I had to bust out the VCR)!

The night may or may not have ended in several feeble attempts to breakdance on the living room floor like Danny Wood.  Ahem.

Before the concert the next day we explored the west side of Austin with all the beautiful hills (and homes!):

And we particularly liked this creative map of the US at The Oasis:

Later that night it was time for........................ NKOTB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know Joey was singing only to me!

It was such a great weekend.  At the end of it I felt like singing Joey's "Please Don't Go Girl!" to Nicole!  Luckily her plane was delayed and we had time to get dinner and go out for coffee.

In true Nicole form, she was disappointed in her drink.  Until she realized it said "Luis."  Whoops.

Love you, Nicole!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

My kids and I had a great Mother's Day this year!  We all got friendship bracelets (a gift from them)...

...and they made me a cake!

Chase's Tae Kwon Do studio had a special Mother's Day class, which was super fun (but I could barely walk the next day)!  Leading up to this, Chase and I had a running joke that I was secretly a Tae Kwon Do master, but I kept my mad skills under wraps because I didn't want to make him feel bad.  This class brought the truth to light.  I was busted as soon as I asked Chase if I was making my fist right.  (Or maybe I'm just that good of an actress?)

And then we all went bowling!

Chloe really impressed me bowling.  This girl.  She refused the bumper because she was going to bowl like a big kid.  Then she kept getting gutter balls but would not give up trying.  I spent time with her on her form (because that's also a mad skill I have tucked away in my back pocket... HA!) and she just kept getting better.  This girl has a growth mindset all the way!

Chloe's Soccer

We wrapped up another season with Chloe's soccer team.  These girls have stayed on the team for several seasons now and it's so special to watch how they have bonded!

Arts Night

My little artists had their work on display at school!  They were very proud of it.

(Chloe's work is on top.)

My Little Green Belt!

Chase got his Green Belt in Tae Kwon Do!  I'm so proud of him!

Afterwards we went for pizza and loved on him... which he totally appreciated!  Lol

Congrats, little man!

Hoppy Easter!

I took the kids to an Easter egg hunt and it was quite the adventure.  Chloe went out for her age group and came back with an overflowing basket!

She even tried to share with some littler kids, which was incredibly sweet to watch:

Chase ran out with his age group and I lost sight of him in the mad dash for eggs.  He came back with about 8 eggs in his basket.  What?!?  I asked him what happened, and he explained a kid knocked his basket out of his hands and stole all his eggs.  He was trying really hard to be brave and not cry.  I just pulled him in to give him a hug and he started quietly sobbing into my shoulder.  As I held him I watched Chloe move some eggs from her basket into his.

We had a good talk about how he can take comfort in the fact he was the type of person who would never do that to someone else.  Then we blew that pop stand and went out for ice cream.  I'm so proud of the amazing people my kids are growing into.

After all that drama we went home and colored fun emoji eggs for the Easter Bunny!  I'm told he had a little helper hiding eggs around out house this year.  I'm sure the Easter Bunny appreciated being able to pass that pressure on to someone else!  ;)

Happy Easter!

Day at the Park

We spent some time at the park today!

We got our feet wet...

And got a little silly!

That is all!