Surprise!

I love surprising people and don't often get the opportunity to do so. But this past week, I got the chance to go back to San Antonio to surprise my old boss at her retirement party. I am so lucky that Zach volunteered to stay home with the girls while I went back by myself.

As I've mentioned before in older posts, I loved my old job and my former co-workers. I think it mostly had to do with my boss Jan. She is one of the nicest and funniest people I've ever worked with, even though she would make fun of my lack of ability to make anything homemade in the kitchen. We would talk about all sorts of things, mostly how dysfuncial our office seemed and our families. Even though we were just co-workers, I felt like we were family. She was there when Zach and I met and got married. She was the first person in the office I told when I found out I was pregnant with Haley. Everyone should be so lucky to have a co-worker like that. So when I found out that Jan was retiring, I knew I had to be there.

I didn't have much of a plan on how I was going to surpise her, so I ended up just waking right into her office. I'm pretty sure she was shocked! We had a great time catching up before the party. The party was wonderful. There were stories and music. A perfect start to a well deserved retirement.

While I was there, I also got to meet up with my best mommy friend Amanda. When I was pregnant with Haley, she was my go-to girl for all things baby since she had a little boy six months older than Haley.

I also had the chance to go by our house, the one we are still trying to sell. It was weird walking through our home with none of our stuff there. So many memories.

I also got to have dinner with my mom, brother and his girlfriend. We had a great time and I love seeing family.

It was a great quick trip back to Texas and again, I am so lucky that Zach was able to watch the girls while I was gone. I sure did miss them while I was away.

Smiles

A few pictures that have made me smile in the past few days.

Haley decided to color- on her shirt and tummy.

The she painted.

Emily has been on her teether quite a bit. Her second tooth just broke through!
Sisters driving.

She has the brightest bluest eyes, just like her daddy.

Haley told me she was going to the beach.

I am one lucky momma.

Valentine's Day

We don't usually do much for Valentine's Day, but this year we decided to have a little fun. We took the girls up to Miami for a few days and went to the zoo. Haley was so excited about getting to see all the animals.

Valentine's morning the girls woke up like normal and found that cupid had left a few little things.

We got to Miami just in time for dinner, which was nothing spectacular, just Taco Bell. But when you live on an island with a very limited selection of restaurants, Taco Bell seems like a luxury. The next morning we went to Dunkin Donuts and Haley got to have her very first donut.

Next up was the Miami MetroZoo!

Even Emily was excited!

When we made it over to the children's section of the zoo, we saw that there were camel rides. We weren't sure what Haley would think of it, but we tried anyways. She loved it!

Haley was really excited about getting to see the elephants!

She was such a happy girl all day!

Next to the elephants, Haley really wanted to see some giraffes. When we made it their section, we saw that you can feed them. Again, we weren't too such how Haley would do, but again she loved it! She still laughs about how the giraffe tongue tickled her.

Emily missed quite a bit of the zoo.

Our last day in the big city we did some shopping and ended with lunch at Johnny Rockets. Is it sad that we get so excited about the restaurants?? Our waitress was very sweet to the girls and gave Haley a hat and balloon. She was really excited about the ballon.

We had such a great trip and made so many wonderful memories!

Valentine's Day Cookies

The day that I saw this post I knew I had to make those cookies. But, my waistline doesn't need dozens of cookies around the house, so I was wondering what to do with all these cookies I was going to make. Then I had it! Haley and I would make Valentine's Day cookies for all her friends.

The big day was finally here! Cookie day! Haley was super excited about making cookies!

She got to pour everything in. There was a slight hiccup when we ran out of flower. Haley was really upset about that. She thought we were done making cookies. But, we were able to make a quick trip to the store to get more "flowers" (as Haley called it) and we were able to finish making cookies.

We used the cookie press to make heart shaped cookies. Haley tried to squeeze the trigger on it, but didn't like it too much.

She did enjoy licking the spoon.

After the cookies were baked and cooled, Haley got to put some sprinkles on them. This girl loves the sprinkles! A majority of them did not end up on the cookies. I'm still sweeping them off the floor.

I decided to put the cookies in little goodie bags and then let Haley color some hearts that were going to be attached to the bags. She enjoyed doing some coloring.

The cookies were put in their bags and tied off with some ribbon and Haley's hearts.

Haley loved giving out her Valentine's Day gifts and I hope that we get to do this many more times!