spring break

The kids are on spring break this week!  The first part of the week we went to San Antonio.  While we were there we went to Sea World.  It's one of those places that I probably won't go to, if I didn't have kids.  I was happy to hear the news that Sea World will be discontinuing their killer whale breeding program, and the youngest whales will be the last generation at any of the parks.  I was a little worried about how Dahlia would handle being out all day at a crowded park, but she did great.  I was sure to bring lots of hand sanitizer, sunscreen and disinfectant wipes for the bathrooms.  She loved the experience of getting to stay at a hotel.  So far it has been a great spring break with lots of fun memories made.

dr. seuss day

Ava and Laila celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday today at school.  They told me a couple of days ago that they could dress up for Dr. Seuss day, so I had to make something that was really fast and simple.  We decided on the Cat in the Hat.  I think these easy costumes turned out pretty cute!

pictures from the weekend

The girls with their boxes full of valentines from school

On Saturday, we took advantage of the nice weather and went to the park

fourth heart transplant anniversary

On Saturday, we celebrated the fourth anniversary of Dahlia's heart transplant.  It was a joyous celebration of the gift of life Dahlia was given four years ago.  A celebration of all the obstacles she has beaten over the course of four years and the fact the she is still with us; unfortunately some transplant recipients do not live to see this milestone.  We released balloons for Dahlia's precious donor in heaven.  We are so thankful for her donor and her donor's family and their precious gift they gave to us.  They were thought of many times throughout the day.

from this week...

On the way to Jessica's wedding, we stopped by the big gas station, Buc ee's.  Dahlia saw this Buc ee backpack and fell in love with it, so Santa had to get it for her.  She puts all of her little treasures in it and wears it around the house.

 Dahlia loves going outside to blow bubbles.  It was warm enough this week to go play outside, without worrying that she would get sick.

thirteen!

As of December the twentieth we officially have a teenager in our house!  Dario is now thirteen, it's crazy how fast the years have flown by.  Hopefully next year he will still pose for his birthday photo and won't have a teenage attitude!

christmas tree farm

On Saturday, we finally went to go pick out a Christmas tree at the local Christmas tree farm.  It seems like every time we go it is a really warm day.  Gotta love Texas weather!  Now that we have a tree up it finally feels like Christmas.  I can't believe it is next week!  Please excuse my blurry photos, my camera wanted to focus on the trees.

thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday, which we got to spend with both sides of our families.  Altogether, we ate three thanksgiving meals!  We spent a couple of days at my parents house.  It has become a tradition to go to park the day after Thanksgiving.  We had a picnic lunch and the kids played on the playground.  We went on a long hike on the beautiful trails in the park, to work off all the food we ate!  I am thankful we were able to spend the holiday with our loved ones and especially thankful that Dahlia's precious donor heart is still beating strong.

cameron and jess say yes!

Recently we attended my youngest sister Jessica's beautiful Hill Country wedding.  All eight of my parent's children were able to come down for the wedding.  It had been a very long time since all eight of us were together.  My parents rented a  huge house, high up in the hills, in the town of Dripping Springs, for everyone to stay at during the wedding weekend.  That part of Texas is so breathtaking.  On Friday night, everyone went out to eat at the Salt Lick, which is a well known barbecue restaurant. The restaurant is located in the country just outside of Austin.  The atmosphere was lovely; lots of large old oaks, twinkling white lights.  The food was delicious!  Saturday was the wedding.  It rained off and on during the day, but cleared up for the wedding.  Before the wedding, everyone enjoyed exploring the secluded property around the house.  A creek ran through the property and the kids had fun playing in it.  Jessica and Cameron's wedding was held at a beautiful venue in the rolling hills, near Austin.  The ceremony was held at a beautiful, Spanish style, open air chapel, high on a hill.  After the ceremony, the reception was held indoors and was beautifully decorated.  The food was catered by a food truck, which was really fun and yummy!  Everyone loved the ice cream bar following dinner, and all of the kids went crazy on the dance floor.  This was such a fun weekend and a magical wedding; everyone was sad when it came to an end.

nine!

This time of year, we have lots of birthdays in our family to celebrate.  On Sunday, Ava turned nine years old.  We celebrated Ava's birthday at Grammy and Grandpa's house.  Ava was really excited that lots of family members, who came into town for Aunt Jessica's wedding, were able to be at her party.  She had a great birthday weekend!