this weekend

last thurs night, andrew wanted pancakes for dinner. i said no because dinner was already made but then i told him i would make pancakes for breakfast. he has his routine before school in the mornings and i love to surprise the kid. whether it be a good breakfast or a silly note/drawing in his lunchbox, etc. so he came downstairs to eat his breakfast and he saw that i had made him these:

pancake lollipops. that's right. i rock. they're from pinterest. thank you so much pinterest. totally easy and fun. you can see the original link here I just about died over them they were so cute. he managed to almost eat all three of his.

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and finally this weekend was actually great for us. it was our first weekend all together since school started. husband didn't have to go work on saturday and it helped my mood a lot. yay for no more football! we loaded up and we joy-rode to downtown houston all the way to Texas Art Supply. I get all giddy going in there. it's not like walking into hobby lobby or michaels, it's so much more homey feeling. better. plus Andrew goes nuts with the little journals they have at the front of the store and the envelopes for individual sale. we spent a long while there looking for supplies. that made us quite hungry.
it was lunch time so gary found a Mexican restaurant right down the street from there with a great Mexican vibe. and we all know how much I love that.... they had authentic Mexican decorum and food. too bad I couldn't try their world famous margaritas *grumble grumble*

oh how i wish i would have brought my big girl camera. i would have snapped away at those sturdy wooden cross beams, the cast iron candelabras, the engraved piel with hand-carved calla lily frames...it was wonderful. even the servers were wearing a mariachi looking uniform. and yes, the food was so good--especially the salsas and the fajitas. i miss my mexico. 

it's easy to entertain the boys...they love eating chips and banging away at the silverware. ha! 

happy face // sad face 

I loved their little patio full of planters with magueys....totally reminded me of the gigantic one we used to have in my home in Durango. it is no longer there, but I remember it being massive & sharp. it was great for us three kids to grow up around. makes me appreciate them today and brings back memories of the house I grew up in.

to end our saturday, we went home and got busy making paper. we have a couple of new products in the works, i'm so excited! i also posted our holiday cards up on etsy! check them out here. 

when i need more paper, all i gotta do is ask ;) 

also, this weekend was for the boys teaching them about chores. mostly andrew because he is old enough to learn & do. jonah is still a bit young, but can do some things. he helps by unloading the dryer, sorting clothes + putting away. andrew helps with folding his own clothes + socks, vacuuming, and wiping surfaces {he whines about not being able to do it, but when he finally gets it, he is a pro. i will not be fooled! } i will also not let my kiddos get away by not learning how to properly clean house {ahem, gary witty....} or not be responsible to take care of themselves. no sir. 

also, they have been warned that when baby comes, they have to be able to do things on their own. i won't be able to take care of 3 babies at once, 4 if you count the husband. i love them but they gotta pull their weight too, ya know? ok. end ramble. 

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well guys, we baked our first Christmas cookies. the boys love to sneak them....and i do too honestly.

andrew especially liked taking some for lunch today. they are total cookie monsters. 

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i finally was able to have some girl time with a dear friend of mine. ate yummy cheesecake at the factory, walked around the mall a lot, and took lots of potty breaks. ha! no more water fo' me! 

and i seriously need a haircut....

ooh ooh and guess what? I was handed down two beautiful ivies and two violets from a neighbor who couldn't fit them into her moving truck. i have eyeballed her gorgeous plants since we first moved here 1.5 yrs ago. it's so funny she offered them to me....hmm. i wonder why? :P

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also, i receive those silly weekly reminders about baby's growth and this one makes me think, ummm what on earth happened to week 27? 

week 28? like really? finally! third trimester. and only 12 more weeks to go. 3 months. i know i can do it and thanks to the holidays, i know they'll fly by. thank you lord for blessing us! baby i cannot wait to meet you! eek, i get so excited {but not when you kick me because you seriously need to stop hurting me}!

have a great week you guys!

just a good ol' birthday lunch

just wanted to share some pics and a great spot to eat at if you're ever in Atascosita, Texas. 

the husband chose this place and the whole clan headed out. they have lime-marinated fajitas, which they're sorta famous for and all of their tortillas are made in-house. all the family was together, the day was beautiful, the food was good so we took advantage of that to break news about new baby after our meal :) 

after a semi-long wait and snapping some pics of the place {which i love, btw, because i'm mexican} we finally were seated and we went to town on the chips, salsa + guac. 

wish i would have taken some snapshots of my in-laws opening up our 'announcement' but i just wasn't thinking. the conversation quickly turned into hopefully finally having a girl {four grandsons for them and no girls} we will just have to wait and see. 

happy birthday, my love. may you have many more. 

ps. that kid cannot keep his eyes opened 

Simple Moments: found after dark

Hey guys, just a quickie here to participate in Brooke's Simple Moments weekly photo challenge.

This week has been full of lazy dinners & afternoons, thunderstorms, and the most humid weather you can possibly imagine -- sorry Brazilian Amazon, but it's true.
My potted plants are saturated in water, the poor lizards are not getting enough sun, mushrooms are abundant, and we have lived under a constant cloud cover for like 4 days. We actually dig the cloud coverage. It's one of the cool things I like about living in southeast Texas. Clouds. All over. Beautiful too. We didn't have that in northwest Texas. It was just sun. So when we know the sun is behind those clouds and getting close to dinner time, we take the opportunity to spend time outdoors because, let's face it, I'm not that type of person who is willing to sweat outdoors if I don't have to. 

Some nights, it's nice, other nights, it is forgotten and we prefer the company of our flat screen. This night, the boys chose to ride their bikes around the complex. And then daddy decided to get his bike out. And then they begged him to give them rides. So he did.

While they're off riding, I sit in my chair and soak up all the beauty He has provided. I appreciate the breeze, the view, my poor little plants, and the sounds of their laughter and screeching and Gary's panting because he's riding so fast. However, I do this like this: 

So needless to say, this is not my best look. The top bun is just not me, it looks better on my little sister (which is why I snapped this pic, to show her I was sporting the "Dawna") This is how my guys see me almost every day. This is how I choose to remember this night. The beauty of the skies and the freedom to enjoy it from our front door. 

Another unforgettable simple moment happened the other night. Lately, Andrew has been interested in tea parties and playing restaurant. He has been "taking our orders" and loves writing scribbles down. So we finally decided to play restaurant for real. 

Hubby participated by getting a tablecloth and 'setting' the table. And he surprised us all by turning it into a candle lit dinner. It was kinda crazy how it all came together. 

I put on a little apron on Andrew and he grabbed his notepad and pen. He was incredibly excited to be our waiter. With that little smirk he always has. And I kinda was too. Of course, I was the one who cooked our dinner. I placed the pan at his level so he would be able to serve us. Confidently, he wrote our order, took our plate, served the food, then brought the plate back to us. He handed each of us a 'ticket'. 

That night, having everyone sitting around this little table, being formal, and just pretend playing was magical! I loved every minute of it. 

I managed to get a little short video of our waiter in action with the iPad. I didn't use my camera because I wanted to be in the moment and not worry about my settings or capturing something just right. The video is a bit dark, so bear with me :) 

So yeah, Andrew's Ristorante was a hit. Hope you enjoy.

You guys are all welcome to make reservations. 

eateries

We recently went to Six Flags Over Texas before the year ended to use up some complimentary tickets we had. We've been to it so many times, we rode everything once and then got the h-e-double-hockey-sticks outta dodge...It was December and it was starting to get chilly. 

When we lived closer to the area, we liked going out every Friday night to Downtown Ft. Worth. And mind you, this was before kids, so we were free as birds. Now, we do not have that luxury and we live farther than we care to drive for just a date. 

So as soon as we got our happy little selves in the car, we knew where we wanted to go--Mi Cocina. They have super awesome delicious Mexican food, AND they don't hire white people to serve you. HA! 

Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera because I didn't feel like carrying a huge cam, but we always have our iPad handy. Because of it's crappy camera, (less than 1Mb, for all you nerdy peeps), that's a really bad quality picture. You remember those first cell phones with cameras? Yeah, like that. You would expect Apple to always have the best quality products out there but they failed miserably with this. 

Anyways, off my soapbox, I NEVER ever want to be that couple that just sit across from each other with nothing to say, nothing to talk about...kinda like on Date Night with Steve Carrell & Tina Fey, anybody?

Tina Fey with her mouth piece at bedtime, yeah, totally me. If you've seen the movie, you know how disastrous their date night goes the first time around....

So I always try to be the "fun couple" that are you know are-still-in-love-with-each-other and having fun--for people's sake of observation. I just can't stand to be thought of as 'boring'. GOD FORBID.

We had delicious salsa, tacos al carbon, and Gary's favorite: beef fajitas 'cause chicken is just wrong. 

Several weeks after, I managed to end up in the Metroplex once again. This time to attend a high school friend's first solo art exhibition. His name is Leighton and he has truly come a long, inspiring way. 

You can see his artwork on his website here

My sister and I had art class together with Leighton in high school--I even used him as a model in one of my drawings!

Quite a good turn out, so I'm proud of his first show!!!

After this, we argued of where we would eat. It seemed that we had no choice because the boys had decided we were eating at Torchy's. 

Never eaten there, so I'm happy we went--a new experience never hurt anyone *wink, wink*

(My images are Straight Out of Camera because I simply have NO time whatsoever to edit--sorry)

The one thing I was not impressed with was their queso, I guess my taste buds are messed up because everybody was raving about it...but their tacos and salsa were pretty delish.

 My sister, the beautiful.

 ...and her beau

Impressive lighting!

 We were just having a good time...

My brother, Carl <3

Love their logo!

Also, we love getting tacos for 'Los 3 Potrillos' taco truck here in town. Right around the corner from our house, it's cheap, and MEXICAN-GOOD, what else do we need?? Oh yeah, some cheve! 

I promise to take pics of an "orden" of asada tacos and post on here.