five years old

this little nugget is now five years old.

 fellow mommas, how does your heart handle another year older?  mine's about to burst.

it seems like he's gone from my little shnookums to a ninja overnight.

 on saturday he had a bowling party here.

it's was crazy and busy, fun and downright adorable.

 we have fully confused ben by telling him all year that he will start kindergarten when he turns five.

so this morning, he woke up a little anxious because he thought he was starting a new school today without saying a proper good-bye to his friends.

parent fail.

 i assured him that he wouldn't start kinder until the end of the summer.

after that, he was totally on board with his birthday.

 here's how a conversation went with my ninja this morning~

ben: momma, at the end of the summer i'm going to start calling you mom.

me: awww man, momma is my favorite.

ben: i know, me too.  but momma, it's ok.  things change.

 i guess he told me.

happy birthday, benjamin.  thanks for entertaining us for the past five years.  life wouldn't be the same without you.

xoxo

greatest hits

we said goodbye to our ruby girl this week.

she was sick and couldn't get better and we were faced with a terrible decision and now she's gone.

we did the right thing, but we miss her.

sometimes life is so sad it'll break your heart right in two.

in an effort for this to not be the most depressing post to date, here are some easter pics for you.

1) a local church hosts the most unique easter egg hunt in our neighborhood that i have ever seen.  the easter bunny literally drops eggs out of a helicopter.

 it was insane.  and awesome.  you can read it all over crosby's face.

 2) our neighborhood association hosted a hunt later that day at ben's future elementary school complete with magic shows and a petting zoo.

3) first time dying eggs = success

 4) then off to frisco for easter with our family, 

 including my cousin jake (that giant teenager who i swear was crosby's size just yesterday).

5) the latest experiment in our house involved bringing the potty in from the garage just to get crosby used to having it around.  we aren't close to training him just yet, but i'll be damned if doesn't sit on that potty and pee like a big boy.  he has potty envy, obvs.

looking forward to my big boy's FIFTH birthday tomorrow.  how?  hooooow?

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

love,

coco

greatest hits

just to give you a clear idea of my brain-function this week, i got the boys up and dressed and out the door on thursday morning (for those of you that have young children, you KNOW how difficult a task that is on most days).  i sped to ben's school, not wanting him to be late, only to pull up to a closed school.  easter break.  mommy fail.  

our week has been busy, i have been up to my ears in carnival-planning, and the boys have been up to their ears in being wild, loud, crazy boys.

1) my sister had a birthday party at her new house.  it was a good party and she deserves it.  i love you, choo.

 {addy's dress says "cute and crabby". teehee.}

 {grandpa's girl}

 {i can't keep that little one out of the dang beer cooler.  like mother father, like son.}

 2) ben's new camera face.

 3) crosby's two best things currently: sunglasses and shopping cart.  those happen to be two of my best things also.

 4) fort building and movie-watching.

looking forward to: easter egg hunts and family feasts.

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

xoxo,

coco

random bits

a few things are on my mind this monday morning:

1) blackboard wars.  does anyone watch this show?  it is all about teachers trying to turn around one of the worst high schools in new orleans.  it's a reality show on own.  i cry like a baby each episode (leave it up to oprah!).  it's so strange how it can make me want to sprint back to the classroom and want to never, never teach again all at the same time. (oh and one of the most wonderful/cringe-worthy parts of this show is how perfectly they portray how awful your first year of teaching can be.  i remember crying in the classroom.....ugh.)

2) stevie nicks.  i have always loved her and watching her on own last night just confirms it.  did anyone see it?  have you seen fleetwood mac's behind the music?  best. one. ever.

3) these songs made my commute this morning:

this sing-a-long oldie but goodie (which makes me want to run away to an island somewhere),

and this brand new-to-me goodie.

4) i walked into the office this morning and found these.  i have since eaten half of the damn tub and had to physically remove them from the room before i eat the whole thing.  oh my word, delicious.  crunchy and salty are the two criteria for a food to qualify as my favorite.  have you had them before?

well, that's all i had on my mind.  off to do some real work (or eat okra snax, whatevs).

the lab at lakewood

i love ben's school.  he goes for half-a-day, everyday.  they offer a program called extended day where the kids can stay until two and depending on the day of the week, they focus on different themed enrichment activities.  for example, one day offers kindermusik, another offers an art class, science class, etc.  (of course, i shoved ben in the tuesday afternoon art class.)  

the school has a partnership with the lab at lakewood for their science extended day.  the lab offers camps, parties and programs that introduces the kids, and basically makes them fall in love with, science by having them make slime or play with bugs.  they learn without realizing it.  genius, really.

this spring break they offered a camp all about animals (right up ben's alley), so i signed him up to check it out.  

here's an example of my typical after-school conversation with ben:

me: ben, how was school today?

b: good.

me: what did you do?

b: i don't remember.

me: what was the best part of your day? 

b: playing ninja gorillas outside.

me: tell me the best part that happened inside the school.

b: daniel called me a genius.

me: what did ms. brooks teach you about today?

b: i'll tell you later, i'm too tired to talk anymore.

in summary, i get no where. (mind you, this has nothing to do with his teachers or what he is learning.  it has more to do with ben torturing his former-teacher/mother by providing little to no information about his education.  throw me a bone, kid!)

after spring break camp at the lab, i learned that he: dissected an owl pellet, found little mouse bones, made eagle tracks, put a snake around his neck (gross), observed millipedes and scorpians, learned about worms/compost, made stamps out of a dried fish, learned about bees and honey production,  painted and brought home a bat house.

all from ben!  i was so excited to pick him up everyday to hear about all of the awesome/gross things he got to do that day.  they also offered a cooking camp where the kids were able to tour a food truck and learned how to garden.  ummmm, can i go to that camp?

anyway, my point is: the lab at lakewood is awesome.  i wanted to stay and hang out all day and ben didn't want to leave.  if you have school-age(ish) children, consider checking it out.  here's a link to their summer camps.

you are welcome.

greatest hits

it has been a good week.  spring has sprung and all i want to do is work in the yard.  we are in the middle of improving the outside of our home; we've painted it dark green (gorgeous), planted grass, herbs, trees, flowers, you name it.  things are getting pretty, y'all.  i'll post pics of the home improvements at a later date, so for now, here's a peek at our week:

1) i ran around white rock lake (over 9 miles).  no pictures, but it should go down in the books, for sure.  i'm high-fiving my computer screen right now.

2) late nights at the dallas museum of art.  you know, dance parties at the nasher, dinner at the food trucks, etc.

2) the weather was insanely beautiful, so we spent saturday morning at the new location of white rock local market.  then on to the bishop arts district where we ate barbeque and more importantly, crosby ate macaroni and cheese at record speeds.

{check out all of the cheese products in this picture: nacho cheese doritos, mac-n-cheese, and a chunk of cheddar.  smh.}

3) we celebrated my hubby's 34th with margaritas, mexican food and cupcakes.  (we actually celebrated a little early by breaking in his new garage "beer-fridge" on saturday night.)

4) crosby helped me plant flowers.  and by help, i mean took a mud bath.

5) a happy hour to celebrate the birthday of one of my oldest and dearest friends, robin.  birthday season is officially upon us.

6) one of these bunnies is excited to help momma decorate.

looking forward to my sister's crawfish boil and celebrating more birthdays with some of my dad's fried chicken.  

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

love,

coco

on my radar

here are a few songs i'm sweating.  i hear them on the radio and type them in my phone for safe keeping.  maybe you'll like them too?

alt-j: breezeblocks

(i didn't post the official video because it's scary.  yikes!)

leagues: spotlight

(this song is dance-party-in-the-car worthy)

kopecky family band: heartbeat

(the radio is doing it's damndest to play this song to death.  but for now, i still love it.)

tame impala: feels like we only go backwards

(love, love, love this one)

pacific air: float

a little something pretty for your ears this fine tuesday.

hope you are having a great day.