Celebrating

The refs made the games on Saturday long and late, leaving us little time to celebrate anywhere but Braum's.  We made up for it tonight with some Cowboy Chicken and self-serve yogurt afterwards.  We love to celebrate!

Fibberz

Jack got a great game for a gift from a friend who attended his birthday party last week called Fibberz.  The get-up is pretty ridiculous, but it was a fun game to play with everyone-which made it a winner tonight!

A Litte Crushed

Jack wasn't the only player who was upset by the loss, but all the parents recognized the hard work the team put forth and with all the congratulating and huge trophies being passed out, smiles eventually came back. P.S. Jack is as tall as his coach now!

Winners!

These guys have had the battle of their lives throughout this round championship run.  Due to a great season record, we had a bye the first round.  The second round we played a team from the division above ours and ended up going into overtime.  Seconds before the first overtime ended, Jack blocked a shot, the ball landed in our team's hands, a half court pass was made immediately and a basket was sunk right before the buzzer sounded!  Nail biter for sure!

The third round we played another team from the division above ours and had a tie nearly the whole game, in the end, we won by 2!  Another nail biter!

Our championship game was played against another team from the division above ours who had been beating the top two teams from our division for their spot.  They were a tough team and although we didn't score for nearly two quarters, our fourth quarter had all the top players from our team (Jack included) on the court making baskets-won came within 5!  Great season Bulls, you guys are my favorite!

Foodie Friday 2

Tonight, we decided to head over to Kenny's Italian (#87) for dinner followed by a viewing of Eddie the Eagle followed.  Great Asiago Gnocchi, mussels and Braised Veal!

Last Minute to Win It!

Three days ago, I decided throwing Jack a birthday party on the half day of school would be an amazing idea!  Fast forward to today, now that the cake, decorations, games, invitations, prizes, pinata and food are all figured out and things are looking pretty good!

I filled little mason jars with various candies for prizes after a winner of each round of Minute to Win It game was announced.  Kyle told me to figure out 6 games for the party, unfortunately, two of the games were left untouched as we ran out of time.  The cookie and creme cake from Target and present pinata from Hobby Lobby that followed were delicious and entertaining.

Temple Trip

Kyle and I are trying to attend the temple once a month.  So far, we have a perfect record this year.  Tonight we hit up Schlotsky's and ordered a Cinnabon before our session, so we could wait until 9:30 to have an amazing meal at Dallas' #8 restaurant, MesoMaya.  It was a great night and the one that launched our Foodie Friday tradition!

Wolf!

After talking with our Cub Scout Committee Leader and getting a pass on earning a badge, this guy was officially welcomed into the Wolf society!  I wasn't there, but Kyle took this adorable picture of our proud scout.  He really worked hard, and so did we!!

Lunch Overachiever

I'm not going to toot my own horn, but my lunch making skills and lunch presentation is unmatched!  Seriously, who has lunches with a Valentine's Day Ghiradelli chocolate with a cute message on it, chocolate chip mini muffins, apple slices, cinnamon covered pecans, tortilla chips, Greek yogurt and a banana and nutella sandwich on whole wheat bread!!?  My lunches never looked this amazing, and neither did Kyle's.  I sure wish the kids appreciated all the effort I put forth!!  Maybe they will see this picture in our blog book and come give me a big hug!

Nails

Norah has a Valentine's Day party at school tomorrow, so we had to get her nails all prettied up!  They turned out adorable, glad she loves nail art as much as I do, now if only she would hold still enough to let them dry!!

Knickerbocker I Love You!

Our hotel was right next to a subway stop and Times Square, it was a perfect room and a great weekend, couldn't have asked for a better present!  The flight home alone while Kyle stayed in New York, was pretty depressing, as was the amount of time I spent driving to and from the airport to get myself home and Nana to the airport in rush hour.  I was slammed back into reality and then spent the next four nights being a single parent.  Thankfully Ava was around to help me!  The pace we keep these days, was hard to back into, I'm not going to lie!

Night on the Town

We had a great day, and spent the night walking the town in search of a better ending than Jacob's Pickles, which didn't happen.  We ended up getting some more cheese fries from Shake Shak and grabbing a cookie from Levain, before going to an Italian restaurant with portions (and prices) large enough for three!  It was a great trip regardless of how it ended.

Late Lunch

Jacob's Pickles was the food highlight of  our entire trip.  We went there on a whim and told ourselves not to eat too much, because we were planning on dinner out as well.  We should have eaten every bit of this amazing meal.  The fried chicken with sausage gravy, homemade square biscuit with homemade jelly in a squeeze jar and mac n cheese was hands down the best meal we ate on our trip-nowhere else even came close.  Look as this amazingness!!

Chinese New Year

Our walking tour, which was included about 18 people, trouping around in 27 degree weather with the snow falling down around us.  We toured SoHo, then little Italy where we chowed on some amazing cheesecake from Eileen's and then hit up Chinatown.

Unbeknownst to us or our tour guide, today was Chinese New Year.  Not sure what the odds were for this to occur during our trip and walking tour, but it did and it was pretty cool to witness the biggest Chinese cultural celebration outside of China!

Bubby's

Breakfast was delicious, but really expensive.  It was super pretty to look out the window at the falling snow, though.  We headed to SoHo to meet up with our walking tour afterwards.

Fast Sunday in the city

We thought it would be a great idea to use this fast Sunday to help us avoid getting crazy on the Sabbath.  It wasn't very hard when we slept in, went to church for three hours and then strolled around Central Park!  The roasted nuts were killing us though!  Walking and chatting about what we heard at church was a refreshing change from the usual fighting and chaos on our way home from church with the kids.  It was pretty cold, but we had a bunch of layers helping us out!

We went back to the hotel after our walk and decided Shake Shak for dinner would be just as awesome as room service, but way less expensive.  The cheese fries were heavenly and then we headed to the 911 Memorial and spent the rest of our evening in awe of this tragedy our country has survived.  We walked all the exhibits and were so amazing by just how many people were impacted by this act of terror and just how sheltered our version of the experience was.  The pools outside in place of the two towers and the room where each person who was killed was honored were the most touching parts of the whole visit.

Show Time

Previously, we have both seen Les Miserables and Wicked on Broadway, and tonight we went for an American in Paris.  We were excited to get a combo of some NYC ballet and a fun Broadway musical.  There was one intermission, and boy did we need it after a long day with an early start and late night yesterday.  Despite all the movement on stage this production still didn't hold up to the fanfare of the ones we'd seen previously.  It was still fun to go to the show, though!  The best part was the two minute walk back to our hotel.  We even hit up Walgreens on the way, such a convenient location-good hotel choice Kyle!

Made It

The flight ended up leaving only an hour and fifteen minutes late, we were the first ones off the plane, grabbed a cab, checked into the hotel and then walked out the door for lunch.  We had a pre-lunch bite to eat at a bagel place and then grabbed a slice of heaven from a Times Square pizza joint and ate it outside, which was pretty chilly!  We headed to SoHo after that and window shopped until it was time for some authentic Italian in SoHo.  The food has been great so far, the sights have been fun and the time just being a husband and wife has been so refreshing!

NYCEEEEEEE

Kyle had been telling me for a week now that he intended on flying out Nana for a weekend getaway in honor of me that coincided with two business trips he needed to take in the near future.  My first choice was San Francisco, but since it was Super Bowl weekend and completely insanely priced everywhere, we opted for New York City.  Both of us have been, but not together, so this was going to be a memorable one!

Because he planned on meeting with a client after I leave on Tuesday, Kyle was able to write the trip off and get us seats in first class.  I have flown in first class on one other occasion, also a work trip with Kyle, but this time was waaay different.  The seats were slanted so as to allow a complete recline of your chair.  The flight was early, we left the house at 5:30, so breakfast was being served.  So posh and so amazing, seriously the best flight I have ever been on.  In fact, when pilot got on the horn and told us we needed to go back to the terminal for a repair, I was discouraged at first, but when I realized I could lay down and watch YouTube videos for an hour while Kyle took a much needed nap, it couldn't have felt more like a blessing!

Cake of Cakes

After a day of indulgences, this cake was the last straw.  It was so amazing with it's caramel drizzle and caramel cream cheese filling with caramel frosting and caramel cake that I was so sugared up I skipped dinner, which was a date night at Rick's Chophouse with Kyle!  The cake was worth it!  What wasn't awesome, though, was the fight Jack and I had right before he went to bed that only added to the sickness I felt already.  Not my favorite birthday present to date.

Panda 3!

Since it is my birthday I decided to take the kids to a movie and give myself an afternoon off!  It was a great follow-up to an amazing morning of sleeping in, donut hole eating at an Art to Go meeting, lunch and a surprise Italian Creme Cake at Black Walnut Cafe, a second lunch with Ben and Kyle at Gloria's after preschool and a fun return session at Cotton-On!  Of course amidst all this awesomeness were also a bunch of texts, treats, and gifts from friends and family.  The chocolate cupcake from Bliss and the peanut butter cupcake from Sunshine were both amazing!

Date Night

Norah's school is the only one holding a daddy daughter dance, but that didn't stop these two from a night on the town together!  They left us at 6:00 for dinner and dessert at the Cheesecake Factory.  I heard they had a blast and Ava looked so stylin' in the new outfit we bought for this special occasion.

Scout Fun

Jack just moved up to the Bear Den after his birthday.  His new leaders are so amazing.  They are the coolest couple with tons of life and kid raising experience.  The husband was also a contractor for 35+ years and has a thing for cars-Jack is in heaven!!!  Here is a picture they took the other day at one of their meetings.  I'm not sure what they were doing that had anything to do with scouts, but they all sure look happy!