Both of my boys turning 3

Verna sent me these pics of Drew and Benjamin from both of their third birthdays. I love how they are both making the same expression!

Last day in our brown house

Today was a bittersweet day...

Today was our last day in our "brown house" on Cedar Ridge. We sure are going to miss this house...

This was mine and Drew's first house.

This was the house that we had a fence built for our first dog, Dixie Sugarbaker.

Because of Dixie, we met fabulous neighbors because Dixie Doodle didn't much care for our fence.

This was the house that we brought BOTH of our precious babies home to.

Needless to say, we've created many memories in this house over the past 7 1/2 years!

We sure are going to miss it, but we sure are excited about what life has in store for our family of four in the future...wherever that is.

I've taken many pics on this front porch.

This was a new recent routine that we have developed...trying to call our neighbor's cat, Pearl, over to play with us.

I love the determination!

Yes! Victory!

ME insisted on me taking pics of them on their playground before we moved. So I did. :)

The location of the slide I will definitely NOT miss!

Benjamin nearly gave me a heart attack everytime he went down this slide because it was so close to the rocks!

I stepped on a pop top

Jimmy Buffett finally decided to come back to Little Rock, so we turned into Parrotheads for the evening!

Drew and Sam

Look who I ran into! And no I'm not pregnant! Her hand is on my belly so she wouldn't fall off the step!

New York @ Christmas

Drew and I just got back from New York. Although it was a fast trip, we still had a great time getting to hang out with Drew's dad.

If you squint, you can see Lady Liberty.

This city just amazes me! It's sooooo crowded!!!!

Of course, Drew and I did a little shopping while we were there. I love how all of the storefronts are decorated for Christmas.

Drew was able to get Letterman tickets for us and his dad. It's always so neat to see how everything works behind the scenes! The night that we went, they just got finished taping with Tom Hanks (aww man!), but we got to see Jude Law instead.

We had to show off our VIP tickets to get to sit in the balcony. I promise...it sounds cooler than the actual seats were. But all in all, it's still so neat to get to see it all!


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I think I just may have the next "Lego Master" in my class this year. I mean this guy eats/breathes/sleeps/and wears all things LEGOS! So I had to take a few pictures inside of FAO Schwarz for him. I can't wait to be able to say that I taught this Lego-mind!

 

After the Letterman show, we walked around the city to take in the night life. And I got to see the Rockefeller Tree!!! Absolutely BREATHTAKING!!! Period.

Our purpose for even going to NYC was for a wedding in Conneticut. Mike headed to CT a few hours before we were ready to go, so we stayed in NYC and shopped around. We opted to take the train out of Grand Central Station later on Friday. I can't believe that the trains still run! We hung out in Grand Central long enough for me to start picturing all of the people that have come and gone in that amazing place! Of course, the hopeless romantic that I am, I pictured proposals being made way back when. :)

The wedding was a blast, even though we really didn't know anyone! However, everyone seemed to know all about our children and how "exceptional" they are thanks to one proud Daddy Mike. Ha!

As I already said, the New York state of mind is just amazing. We had a great time, but I am looking forward to catching up on my sleep. Oh wait...I have a two-year-old and four-year-old...I don't know what sleep is. Ha!

Lunch date with Daddy

The kids and I met Drew for lunch today at US Pizza. You can see how well that went...they ate their few bites of cheese bread, then they headed to the game room. But aren't they oh so cute?

It's all about ME!

Drew took ME on a date to Wild River Country on Sunday. She was so excited about it that she's been talking this up for a few weeks now!

Meanwhile, she may be a fish, but she's still a great artist, too! A few days ago when I picked her up from school, I caught her painting with marbles. Isn't she talented? :)

Benjamin's new nap routine

Benjamin, for the most part, has always been a great napper! His new routine, however, has been to wake up after his 2-3 hour nap and then come to the living room to lie on someone's chest. It's one of the best feelings in the world! I'm especially glad that he'll even do this with his dadda now!!!

Oh, Mexico...

Drew and I finally got to take our trip to Mexico that we planned almost 4 years ago. But after having two kids since then and now having to pretend that we're grown ups, the trip was well worth the wait (although that meant me having to be away from my babies for a week)! We went to Riveria Maya and stayed at the cutest, most quaint resort that housed only 75 rooms. I was the most relaxed that I've been in a long time! I wish the beach was right in my backyard!

What a way to be welcomed at the airport! But were we really welcomed? Or were they just pretending since there were quotation marks around "Welcome"? Hmmm...

What a way for us to welcome the beach! We decided that we're going to start taking this flag on any of our scuba diving trips.

Our room was in one of the thatch roofed huts.

This was our daily morning hangout. This was our daily afternoon hangout with our friend Carlos that I'm talking to. Drew and Carlos became great friends by the end of the trip!

A breathtaking experience...

a massage. on the beach. at sunset. with live clarinet music being played behind me.

Ahhh!!! Can you believe that we spent an entire week together and never ran out of stuff to talk about?

We planned to go on a diving excursion from the resort on Thursday, but the water was too choppy. So we went to Play del Carmen to go shopping instead.

Lots of walking! And lots of stuff!

By the time we walked all the way down Playa, it started raining. But it was perfect timing since Senor Frogs just so happened to be right in front of us!

The week that Drew and I went was apparently peak season for blue crabs to be out. We literally saw them everywhere (the streets, the sidewalks, the pool, and restaurants)! This one was inside the Japanese steak house crawling right by our table. Every time we headed to town in a taxi, the poor cab driver had to stop almost every 5 seconds to let groups of 20 crabs move over...it got to be comical by the end of the week.

Since our scuba trip got cancelled for Thursday, we rescheduled it for Friday morning, only to find out that the water was too rough again. Luckily, we had already planned a dive trip in Cozumel for Saturday and I suggested that we call the dive shop to see if we could come over there a day early. So we took the ferry to Cozumel, checked in at the cutest little villa ever, and spent the afternoon building up my nerves for diving in the ocean that afternoon.

We stayed at the Villa Aldora while we were in Cozumel. If you are not into fancy hotel accommodations and just need a place to crash, Drew and I highly recommend this place.

Who wouldn't want this view first thing in the morning?

Or this view? Man, I want to go back right now!

This was our "welcome sign" posted next to our room. The numbers represented our breakfast order for the next morning (one was for the breakfast combo and the other is for your juice option brought in a water bottle). The villa manager calls in the order every night and a local delivers breakfast by bike every morning.

The best part about our room, was our view right outside of our window...bees! Just kidding! Drew made me instantly shut the curtains.

Since we only stayed here for one night, we didn't get to enjoy the infinity pool, but check out that view! The dive boat would pick you up right below the deck.

Ok, so here's the scoop on scuba diving...

Drew and I went diving on our honeymoon in Nassau and I, for lack of a better word, hated it (I panicked, I cried, I didn't care for it). So for Father's Day, Drew got me to agree to take dive lessons at Lake Ouachita with him. That I truly did hate...you literally couldn't see anything in the lake further than 5 inches. But I did it and told Drew that it was a true sign of my love for him. Aren't I sweet? Fast forward to Mexico...

So a few weeks after we got certified, we made it to Riveria Maya with all of our new scuba gear (causing us to pay an overweight baggage fee, btw). I'm still very hesitant about the whole idea b/c I've heard that there are sharks in the water. Yikes! But I kept reminding myself that I'm doing this for Drew. Well, as mentioned earlier, we had to cancel our first dive trip twice due to choppy water, but luckily we had two dives planned in Cozymel. Drew was so pumped about it all week. We even borrowed D-dub's dive camera so we could take a pic of us under the water with our Razorback flag. Finally, 4:30 on Friday arrives and we got on the dive boat with everyone else that was staying at the Villa. As I talked to everyone that we're with, I found out that 4 of them had already been on at least 4 dives THAT DAY! Wow, I'm thinking I'm with some dive junkies and I have to just suck it up and be a big girl and I'll be back out of the water in about 30 minutes. Well, the experienced divers went in first (that's not me in case you were wondering), then they told me to jump in. After seeeeeveral deep breaths, I descend all the way to ocean floor (70 feet below). Well, I look up waiting to hold hands with Drew, and where do I see him? Still up at the top of the ocean! The dive instructor pulled out a Dora magna doodle that was strapped to her leg and wrote that her assistant will help him and told me to follow her. So, reluctantly, I did just that. Well, about 15 minutes go by and Drew is still not at the bottom of the ocean with me, and the dive master wrote that "Michael is back on the boat". I'm thinking "Great for Michael, but where is my husband Drew?" Then it hit me that she was talking about Drew. Ha! Ok, so he didn't get down on the ocean floor with me, so I decided that I had to take it all in for the both us. After I took a deep breath, I relaxed and finally enjoyed the wonders of the ocean. Wow! God has put some of the most beautiful pictures underneath! I saw the most beautiful coral and fish. I even saw a nerf shark (apparently they're the "nice" ones) about 15 feet below me and, oddly enough, I was very calm when I saw it! Well, after seeing some amazing things and having to share breathing regulators with the dive master twice, we finally made it back to the boat. When I got up there, Drew looked just like a kid that found out that Santa isn't real. Come to find out, he had a sinus infection and he couldn't equalize his ears past 15 feet. I felt so bad! Especially because I didn't take the camera with me for this first trip, he didn't get to see the coral, and we were about to go back down for the night dive. So I had to do that trip with the group and without him, too. But I'm glad I did it and I can check the night dive off my list! And I'm happy to say that I'm already to go on my next dive trip and with Drew! ;)

Since Drew couldn't go diving due to his ears, I suggested that we skip our dive that Saturday morning and just tour Cozumel since I've never been there. I'm glad we got a chance to see another part of Mexico. It's amazing to see how much STUFF they have to sell!!!

The ferry ride to and from Playa del Carmen was absolutely gorgeous! The water was so crystal, clear blue that you could see several feet below.

I was amazed at how everywhere you turned someone was trying to sell something! There were even singers on the ferry trying to sell cds and take tips.

When we got back to our resort in Riveria Maya, we had took a sunset cruise and had dinner on the beach.

Once again, even the mariachi men were trying to sell cds and take "tip's". A sunset cruise and a refreshing drink does a body good!!!

It gives you a lot to ponder, too! :)

We got to hear the clarinet music again while we ate dinner on the beach. The hut behind our "Kenny G" was where I got my massage a few nights before.

This was our sunset picture that was trying to be sold to us. Ha! We still got it anyway!

Have you ever seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall? Our resort had 2 of these giant chess sets. Drew wanted me to take a pic of him because he beat me after I beat him every time we played checkers on our honeymoon when it rained.

Our view from our balcony.

View #2 from our balcony. We took this just before we headed back to the airport. We're smiling because we knew we were going home to see our little loves.

This was even better than our "welcome" sign from the beginning of the week!