Mom's Day in College Station 2017

Our Saturday in College Station would be a day of family fun and Mother's Day celebration with Oma and Uncle Bubba. It was a perfect weekend of celebration for Stephen's Graduation and a chance to visit and celebrate my mom.

{Aubrey & Daddy with their delicious breakfast buns}

Saturday morning, we woke early and enjoyed a delicious and sweet breakfast at Blue Baker before Oma and Uncle Bubba arrived. 

This little love bug must have been extra sweet as poor girl had several mosquito bites on her face. This quickly turned into a swollen eye, but after a bit of Benadryl, she seemed to be doing a bit better. But regardless of bites, we were all smiles for Oma and Uncle Bubba.

 

 {Happy Mother's Day to Oma!}

 

After an early morning breakfast, we met up with Oma and Uncle Bubba at the hotel. Aubrey was super excited to show her Oma their new snakey snake friends. On our list of Aggieland Adventures for this Mother's Day celebration was to visit the Bonfire Memorial and the Aggie Equestrian Center.

 

 {Aggie Bonfire Memorial}

 

 {There's a Spirit that Can Never Be Told}

 

 {My brother wiped away the pebbles from the fallen's name plates}

After spending a beautiful morning at the Memorial, we made our way to the Aggie Equestrian Center. My brother wanted to take a few pictures of my parent's World Champion Horse Trophy and my father's Class of '71 Aggie Ring. It was surely a special time.

 

 While we were visiting and taking a few photos, Oma spent special time with our Liam love walking around the Equestrian Center. Liam was all smiles. Our pool Aubrey was a little sleepy with her meds and spent some time resting.

Lunch quickly came, and we made our way to a College Station favorite, Fazolis.

 {Uncle Bubba, Liam, Oma, & Aubrey}

 

 {Uncle Bubba, Liam, and Opa's class of '71 Aggie Ring}

I'm so incredibly thankful for precious time with family, to celebrate my Oma and to see my brother. I love new opportunities to enjoy special new family adventures, and love a meeting place where my kids can see family and learn and indulge in Aggie tradition. While our Mother's Day celelbration for my mom may have been a day early, I'm truly thankful we were able to celebrate this special woman who truly has my heart.

Stephen's 2017 A&M Graduation Celebration!

On May 12th at 2PM, our family of four had the distinct privilege of celebrating Ray's cousin, Stephen, and his graduation from Texas A&M University. It was a gorgeous Friday, filled with family fun and festivities.

The kids did an amazing job at the graduation ceremony and honestly way better than expected. With a long drive before them, little lunch, and no real naps, we were working on excitement and Adrenalin at this point. With games, toys, and stickers in tow, we were ready to go. I also found out that placing stickers all over this little guy was a great distraction from the loss of a nap. They were champs!

After watching a truly inspirational commission of over 111 graduates into the armed forces, we then watched as the architecture school walked across stage. We celebrated and cheered as his cousin crossed the stage and entered as a former Aggie. Our hearts were so proud! We of course had to enjoy a few sweet photos with Grammy and Papa Z!

 

We then relaxed for about an hour and grabbed a snack. We changed the kiddos and gave them an opportunity to play before we made our way to Stephen's graduation party at his Grandma's and Paw-Paw's house. What a beautiful party!

Stephen Parsons, Class of 2017

 

Thank you to the best host and hostess. What a wonderful party! We were honored and truly thankful to share in such an exciting celebration!

 {Stephen '17 & Ray '06}

{A very proud and beautiful mama, Aunt Sally, and her two boys, Stephen '17, and Will '18} Sally you put on an amazing Party!

I adore this family photo of the cousins and significants. The Zellners, The Horelicas, Andrew & Rachel, and Stephen and his brother, Will.

 {Our Liam love with his Papa Z, Grammy, Aunt Rachel, & Aunt Becky}

YAY!!! Aubrey was in full celebration mode. She was the image of a social butterfly, flying around to every group at the party. She acted out full portions of Moana, told the guests that she had changed into a triceratops, and made herself fully at home. She also spent time with a dear man who had fallen during the party. Her conversation was filled with kissing his boo boos, telling her full name, her favorite color, and that she was now 5 and a big girl. It made her mommy and daddy's heart melt.

 {Aunt Rachel, Andrew, Aunt Becky, Ray, Aubrey, and Nana}

 {Uncle Todd, Grammy, Aunt Rachel, Andrew, and Papa Z}

 

{Stephen & Nana}

We loved spending time with family. We were so thankful to share in family fun and see most of our Zellner loves. From adorable decor, to delicious food, to sweet cuddles with family, we had such a fun night!

 {Aunt Alicia was so excited to cuddle this cutie! I sure love my sweet niece, Harper!}

 {And so was Uncle Ray. So smitten with this little lady.}

{Aubrey 3.5, Harper 5 mo, Liam 13 months} 

Pictures with littles is always a challenge but I'm all about making it happen. This may be my favorite and most hilarious. Aubrey wanted to make sure there were no little buggies while Liam wanted to eat the mud that was conveniently located behind him. Poor Harper is probably thinking, is this chick about to drop me any second. It's a fun photo for sure.

{Sweet Auntie cuddles} 

What a perfect afternoon and evening of graduation celebration spending time and loving on family! We are so thankful to be invited to share in such a great event celebrating Stephen for his great accomplishments and for all he will do to make his mark on the world!

Ladies Weekend at Winstar

As my bestie wrote, mama's need a vacation too. And what a wonderful vacation it was. The first weekend in May, Kristin and I made the hour and a half drive to Oklahoma and enjoyed a fun mama's weekend away at The Winstar Resort and Hotel. From catching a Jim Gaffigan show to stuffing our faces with hamburgers, pool side Cinco de Mayo celebrations, afternoon drinks with a side of sun burns, a bit of gambling, and two full nights sleep, our weekend away was perfect! I am so incredibly thankful for this friendship, for the memories made over the past decade, and thankful for sweet and much needed time away. Enjoy a picture post of our first but surely not last mama's weekend.

 

We arrived Friday evening to our pool side stay. As so many guests were attending the Jeff Gaffigan show that night, finding food was a bit challenging. After walking through many of the casinos countries and nearly to the other end of the what felt like the earth, we found NYC burger bar but quickly found a wait as well. With minutes to spare we received our food, ran half way around the world to get back to the performance but found we would not be able to bring our food inside. So while stuffing my face with an entire burger in minutes was definitely not on my bucket list, I do find it hilarious and filled our tummies so that we could enjoy the show and not be starving. The show was amazing. I laughed until I cried. He was hilarious. After the show let out, we made our way to the pool side bar for some Cindo de Mayo fun! From sombrero wearing, glow necklaces, to light up glasses, and drinks in hand, we were decked out.

 {Cinco de Mayo Pool Side Celebrations}

I will say that there were not too many party goers that night. As it was a cool night, we all stayed huddled around the fire pit with a few drinks. Not complaining, it was a perfect way to end our first night of fun.

After a full night's sleep, we woke up well rested. We enjoyed a breakfast brunch with a side of delicious waffle (for me). We then decided to change and spend a beautiful, sunny afternoon by the pool.

 

{Pool side view from the 4th floor}

{Miami Vice Drink in Hand and Sun on my skin}

{The pool water was freezing, but the seats were perfect! This would later be followed by a big red lobster-like sun burn}

After a few hours of sun bathing, drinking pool side, great conversation and catch up, and relaxing without any children in tow, we decided to get dressed for an early evening of a few hands of gambling and dinner.

As I was asked, I won many times, but I lost too. So overall it was an amazing evening of filling up on slots, lots of smoke, a cheap but delicious $5 cup of red wine, a few fun photo opts, some Brittany gambling, a very delicious Italian dinner for two and a side of DQ for dessert, and a night of jammies  watching Pitch Perfect and an early bedtime. It was a perfect get away!

I am so thankful for friends, for mamahood, for get aways. I'm thankful for the memories and the time spent relaxing and re freshening. I am so already looking forward to our next Ladies Weekend away!

Our Liam Love, our BIG 13ish Month Boy!

I'm not exactly sure when it happened. When did my tiny babe turn into a BIG boy? I know when you turned a year, it hit me hard, but it seems that with every day that passes, I get a new little glimpse of the adorable toddler you will be. Those eyes and lashes, that dimple, your perfect smile, that little gap, your very wild and crazy hair, and all of your boy personality just melt this mama's heart. Being your mom (and your big sister) has truly been the best job of my life. So happy 13ish months to you handsome boy. So enjoy a post of things, of moments in time, of memories, a small glimpse into your precious personality. May you always know who you are, that you are God-made perfect, and that you are oh so loved my Liam love.

 {May the 4th be with you!}

 

This has been such a fun month. To watch you grow, to watch you take on the world on your own two feet. This month you began to take your first official steps. You may be a little rocky on your feet but soon I know you'll be running in no time.

You also have begun to use silverware. You love to feed yourself and are actually pretty darn good at it. Forks are your favorite but it seems that a quick love of spoons is following. Some days you are my crazy eater and can out eat your 3.5 year old sister and at other times, you are my typical grazer that eats small amounts many times a day.

Favorite foods: You love almost everything. You enjoy fruits and meats mainly but you'll eat vegetables as well. You like strawberries, grapes, bananas, apples, watermelon and recently kiwi. You like meatballs and ground turkey, lunch meat, chicken nuggets, beans, cereal, pasta, and have been fully on milk and water since 11 months. Mommy is trying pretty hard to get rid of bottles, but you just aren't ready for that yet.

You adore your sister and want to be everywhere she is. You also tend to want everything she has. It's a learning process but you are doing well most days. You do love to hit and bite but we are working through it. You have no problem voicing your opinion and will let us know what you think. Boy do you talk. You say lots of sounds but our favorite words are mama, dada and what I think is daddy, and GO! I think "go" is actually my favorite. As we leave each day in the car, I always say, "G-O spells..." and you and your sister both repeat "GO!" It is super cute.You point to a lot of things and seem to say similar sounds, but I haven't figured them out yet. You also know how to bark like a puppy. Also on the dog note, you and Mattie are not friends. You would like to love all over her, but sadly she's not a big fan and stays away from those very strong loving arms and hands.

{Sunday Fun Day Portrait with Daddy}

Your laugh is contagious and you love cuddles. You will even hug when asked.

You love your daddy. You love playing and dancing. You love music and exploring new things. You can turn on a light switch. You love crawling upstairs and your new freedom in walking. You will watch a bit of tv and will climb in my arms when certain songs come on in the movie, Moana, to dance with me. You raise your arms and make lots of noise.

sliding, see-sawing

and playing with friends while mommy works out.

 You love lunch dates to Chick-fil-a with mommy's friends

 and taking fun pictures with mommy and sissy.

Mommy loves your hair, squishy cheeks, dimple, gorgeous lashes, and that smirk!

I adore you spunky monkey. You are my wiggles and giggles. My scream and laugh out love little nugget. You are my energy filled cuddle bug that knows what he wants and goes for it.You are all boy as I'm told. You are determined and you know what you want. You surely go for it. You have an arm and can throw... typically it is your paci, bottle, or toy.  You like to play games.

With each day that passes, a new and fun little piece into your personality opens and I'm loving new things each and every day. You do challenge me which grows me as your mommy. We are still not sleeping through the night. It is a work in progress. I love you so much my Liam Love and I'm incredibly thankful and blessed that God chose your daddy and I to be your parents. Happy 13 ish months big boy!