Alex's birthday was on the tenth, but I'm just now getting these pics up. Our big four year old! Mom, Dad, Jillian, and Josh came out on the ninth to celebrate Alex's bday, mother's day, and Dad's bday. We had a really good time. I made a batch of Monna's(Nathan's grandma) turkey tacos. Super yummy! We gave him his big birthday present, his bike, on that day. The picture of him looking at it was the first time he saw it:) Grandma and Pappa gave him the Cars cars box.

We wanted to make his actual birthday special too so we planned a few things for the next day. Alex and I went out to Dillons so he could pick out the stuff to make and decorate his cake with. I had him help out and he told me later that that was his favorite part of his birthday. After that, I took him out to see his first movie How to Train your Dragon. He was so cute with his popcorn and drink and he was soooo into the movie. Then, we went and got him a happy meal and he blew out the candles on his cake and then opened other presents. I think it was a good day. Can't believe it's been four years!

Here was our recent trip to the zoo! We went with Emily, Ethan, and Nicole. It was a perfect day, weather was nice and kids behaved themselves. We usually start at one side and work around to the other side. Usually by the time we get to the other side we're tired and skip things. So, it worked out well to start on the opposite side that way the things we got to spend more time looking at the things we're usually too tired to look at :)

Had to post about some of the things I've gotten excited about lately! First off is the jacket that I was telling you about Joanne. I've tried on jackets like this all fall and winter and I'm so glad I waited because I got it on clearance for 12 bucks!

I decided that this year I want my front yard to look a little cuter so I am attempting to grow flowers. I've never ever done this before and I can't keep anything alive, so I'd say it's going pretty good. You can see all the little green things sprouting up in the flower bed and my bike pot. Nathan's dad's wife, Donna, bought me the bike among a few other things for my bday out in Cali at a new fav store of mine, Didi's. Too bad the closest one is in Dallas:( I have a thing for turtles and other little creatures. I am super excited about my mommy turtle and her two baby turtles. Just like me:) Then I have the snail wind chime I just got yesterday at dollar general. Who knew they could have such cute things! Oh and you can see my flower steaks (stakes, lol) in one of the pics:)

Anyway, this last week Nathan's been gone in Texas doing recurrent training in the Phenom so I decided to tackle a few projects I put on my list of goals for the year. I painted the ceiling in the kitchen and our bedroom. The kitchen ceiling just looked like it hadn't gotten a good paint job in forever and looked kinda dirty. Our bedroom had old water damage from before we bought the place. Then, I also painted the walls in our bedroom a nice light tan color. I wanted this to be kind of a surprise for Nathan, so I didn't tell him about it. I did it mainly during nap time and it turned out really nice! Then, I wanted to rearrange it. So, being the weakling that I am, I had to pull everything out of our dresser and my vanity to be able to move the stinkin things, but I was able to do it. I really like how it turned out though and Nathan liked the surprise! Now, I just need to figure out where I want to hang things up again.

Nathan and I got to have a weekend getaway this last weekend. We dropped the kids off at my parent's house and went to KC. The first couple pics are of the second hotel we stayed at. The last few are of the first. We stayed at a hotel right by the plaza and walked over and looked at shops and had dinner later on. It was a lot of fun. The first hotel room was hilarious because we had not only a separate seating and living area from our bedroom part, but a room with this giant table with chairs all around it and a dry erase board on the wall. We called it our meeting room. The last couple were us being silly with the robe. Me doing my trying to be sexy pose that always ends up looking scary and then Nathan being the karate kid:)

The second day we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then went over to the oakpark mall. We got some super yummy panda express. I broke out of my shell and got string beans and chicken when we always have orange chicken. It was sooo good! Anyway, then we went over to our other hotel. It was super fancy and I wished I would have taken more pictures. It was a Hilton and in an older building that had incredible floors and ceilings and chandeliers! That night we had dinner and went over to the power and light district right outside of our hotel. We had a couple drinks at Howl at the Moon. It was super cool. They had two pianos and the players played requests all night long and were amazing! That has got to be a cool job! About nine ish when we left there were the pianos and two guitars and drums going too. It was just a little too late for us.

The next day we had a super yummy breakfast at the hotel and then headed to get the kids. Man did we miss them! Then, we dropped them off at a friends house when we got back to Wichita so we could go to the winter jam concert at the arena. It was awesome! I was so excited to get to see the Newsboys that Nathan and I grew up with! There were also third day, fireflight, tenth avenue north, and newsong.

It was a super fun packed weekend!

I just had to post this picture of my little mess. She is so completely different than her brother! You really have to keep your eye on her!

Well here was Valentine's day at Nathan's mom's house. We had so much fun! We had a white elephant gift exchange which was too funny. We gave a bag of mild taco bell sauce we'd been stocking up on. Nathan got a white elephant from his uncle. There was also a goofy looking santa clause nicknamed pampooti that apparently shows up during every white elephant gift exchange. It was really nice to catch up with family again! I really like the picture of Nathan and Mike playing video games like when they were kids:)