Key West

Daniel and I decided to take an "end-of-tax-season" celebratory trip with our friends Justin and Kate! Justin is one of Daniel's good work friends that works in the D.C. office. We met up with them at the Miami airport and drove down to Key West for four nights of relaxation and amazing weather and food! Key West was gorgeous and we loved walking around all the shops and restaurants. Our resort was really nice...we got couples' massages and even did yoga on the pier! On our last night we did a sunset cruise with wine and hors d'ouvres and it was an amazing way to end our trip. Meanwhile, Grandpa Steward stayed with the kids and got them to school and all their activities, helped with homework, and even helped out when our roof started to leak from some rain (it had been damaged because of the hailstorm we'd had the week before...luckily we'd had it patched up right before we left, or it could have been much worse!). He was great about taking care of everything so we were able to enjoy our vacation!

Alanis Crossing Adventures

On April 11th, we had a major hailstorm, with the biggest hail I've ever seen (baseball-sized)! The kids and I were home and watched in amazement as huge chunks of hail fell into our yard, and broke a few of our windows. The worst room was our dining room, which had water and chunks all over the table. Avery was a little scared but Aidan the storm-chaser thought it was so cool! In addition to the windows, we had several holes in our roof that we didn't know about (nothing was leaking and we couldn't see any damage, but an inspection revealed 21 small holes!). Unfortunately our neighborhood was hit pretty hard and most of our neighbors have significant roof damage.

A few of the moms on our block had planned a Girls Night Out that week so we went ahead with it, to take our mind off all the damage and insurance woes! We made really pretty decor signs for our new homes and it was great getting to know them better! Our kids each have several friends they love playing with in the neighborhood, and everyone was great at helping each other after the storm. We couldn't ask for a better neighborhood!

Bluebonnets

The City of Sachse decided to demolish our old faithful Bluebonnet Hill so we had to look for other options this year. Luckily there was a small park in Lavon that had some pretty bluebonnets!

Fun with Friends and Family!

The kids had Good Friday off so we met Tracey and Kaelyn for lunch, and then headed to a cool new dessert emporium place that of course Aidan LOVED!

Tracey and I also had a fun shopping date at Northpark Mall with the help of Nordstrom's gift cards and a personal shopper, Christmas gifts from our thoughtful husbands!

This week Tyler and Clara Pickering were in town so my cousin Tracey brought them over to see my kids! They ended up spending the night, and then I took them to lunch at GCA before taking them back down to Tracey's. Those second cousins always have so much fun together and I wish they lived closer to each other!

St. Patty's & Easter

We didn't do much to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, except me telling the kids to put on their St. Patty's shirts and smile for a picture with Griffin :)

This year we decided to go to Comanche for Easter to see Gigi, Cookie, and Jeff. Cookie had an Easter egg hunt for the kids in her backyard which was fun, then we went to church the next day...but I'm a bonehead and didn't take a single picture of our family all dressed up!

After church we went to visit Daniel's Grandad's gravesite. The kids never knew him but Avery cried (after seeing Daddy cry) because she said she was so sad that he died. I love her sweet tender heart! Granddad meant so much to Daniel and we still miss him so much after almost 12 years. He was such a good role model for Daniel...a wonderful grandfather and a faithful Christian!

Spring School Stuff

Aidan did his second year of Swordsmen Kids basketball at GCA. It's an intramural league of four co-ed teams from 3rd-5th grades. Aidan's team was great and he was on the same team as a 5th grade friend of his who is really good! They were undefeated until the championship game where they lost in triple overtime. Great job Team White!

I volunteer at the school on Fridays and took a cute "group hug" picture of the girls in Avery's class. I also helped her teacher play an April Fool's joke on the kids...she told them they were getting brownies and they were so excited until they saw what I gave them!

Here they are at the Spring Fling fundraiser:

Avery just started taking an after-school art class!