First Cookie

he likes it, he likes it!

Emory had his first cookie Monday night.  Not only did he enjoy eating his first cookie, but he was content and occupied for 30 minutes. YES!

Sunday afternoon at the Jaso's

Before leaving San Marcos/Wimberley (from our long Thanksgiving weekend), Ev gets some playtime with Aunt Deppy (Tammy) Uncle Dodo (Donato) and Chad at their house in San Marcos while Deona and I returned to Wimberley to pack.

Ev sees Mommy & Mama drive up.   Ev & Uncle Dodo greet us from inside.

 Emory is getting pretty good at staying on his hands and knees.  He managed to crawl (on all fours) a couple of steps. Yeah for Emory!!

Exhausted, Emory takes a rest with Aunt Deppy. 

Sunday afternoon naps are the best.

SeaWorld - Thanksgiving Break

We made a trip to SeaWorld, Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Visiting the park in the Fall is very different than visiting during the Summer.  Even so, I highly recommend you visit when you can.

We were treated to Baby Shamu (born in January of this year) performing alongside mama.

Waiting for a Sesame Street holiday show.  Sadly the characters performed only for a short time, due to technical difficulties.  

 Sometimes setbacks create opporutinites and in our case this meant getting to meet the characters up close.

Loved all the snowflakes at SeaWorld.  If you look closely you can see each part of the snowflake is shaped like a whale. 

Waiting for Polar Express 4D show to start.  Everett LOVED the show and even wore his glasses the entire time.

"Please Mommy"

Another wonderful day with my wonderful family.

Cuttin' Up with Granma

A wonderful memory. Too cute!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!



I am completely overwhelmed with gratitude to be so fortunate to have 2 beautiful sons, a magnificient life-partner, my Savior and the blessing of an eternal family.

I know that in life we are all faced with struggles, stress & sadness but I am thankful for this season to focus on the things that we are grateful for and the people we love.

Thanksgiving Blessing

Emory having his first Thanksgiving feast.

Dad, Mom, Uncle Polo (dad's brother) & wife Rachel

I hope you too had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

xoxo, Monica

Family Nature Club gets a new blog!

I'll be posting less about our nature club on our family blog, but linking you to the Family Nature Club blog for any news and/or photos. We hope you plan on joining us, sometime soon!

The Joy of Reading

We added a step to Everett's evening routine. After picking up his room, getting jammies on, brushing his teeth, hugs, kisses and a story read to him Everett gets to stay up, if he's quiet, for 15 additional minutes reading books  in bed.  As you can see, he really enjoys reading.  

Family Nature Club - December Outing (Mark Your Calendars!)

Before I am absorbed in the holiday week, I wanted to post our next Family Nature Club excursion so you can make plans to join us...

Saturday, December 4th

Children’s Aquarium at Fair Park

1462 First Avenue

Dallas, Texas 75226

Children’s Aquarium at Fair Park Celebrates
Grand Opening with FREE Weekend.

"The Children’s Aquarium at Fair Park marks its official opening with free admission and an expanded schedule of fish feedings the weekend of Dec. 3, 4, and 5. The facility opened Sept. 24 for a “sneak peek” while exhibits were completed. Beginning Dec. 3, the Children’s Aquarium will introduce a large schooling tank, a wave demonstration tank, cold water tanks with a giant Pacific octopus and king crabs, jellyfish exhibits, and numerous saltwater tanks along with other displays." 

This is your personal invitation, please plan on joining us! :o)
Email me for additional event/club information.

Date Night

Hooray for date nights!  It's been since February since our last.

The boys are having a sleepover with Grammy this evening (Thanks Grammy); we miss them super much! :(

Dinner was great!

Movie was scary, suspensful but really good.

Date Night movie is disastrous, yet entertaining.

Looking forward to sleeping in. 8:30 sounds dreamy.  

Our 1st Family Nature Club Outing!

We took our first day trip with our Family Nature Club friends to River Legacy Science Center in Arlington.

The center is nestled in the trees between ponds and creeks and trails. It’s architecture was inspired from children’s drawings. It is a special place that feels a bit whimsical. There is no admission. All the attractions there are free.

Inside there are several learning areas. Each has interactive exhibits geared to grade school age children. The kids ran around pushing buttons, finding animals and exploring the center.  We all had a blast!

Outside is a really pretty observation deck to the pond. I loved the building architecture here. We were able to observe some snapping turtles in their natural habitat from a bit of a distance.

All around the Science Center and through River Legacy Park are trails. Our group consisted of 4 small children  so we concentrated on the trails around the center. It will be fun to go back and do some more exploring someday.

River Legacy Park is incredible. It is huge. There is a play area, multiple picnic areas – both covered and uncovered, and wide open space

 The kids played on the playground for awhile and then we enjoyed a picnic on a nearby table.

We spent a total of 3 hours and probably could have stayed longer but our boys really needed naps.
Our next Nature Club excursion is scheduled for Saturday, December 4th.  We'll make a post soon with details so you can plan on joining us!