2021 Photos Update:

Pictures from April 2021 to August 2021:

Happy 14th Birthday J!

The tradition of taking a picture wearing the Birthday Hat.

Such a good sport!

Trip down Birthday Hat memory lane.

(not all but some good highlights)

J's Birthday dinner at The Fifth!

"Why do you need to take a picture?!"

teen attitude :D

Happy Birthday to Henry! 9 years old.

Sassy Miss Mabel

Happy Birthday to me!

Mabel isn't very nice to people in the drive-thru.  

She wouldn't stop barking so J stuck her in the console cubby.  

(no dogs were hurt in this event)

And its time for back to school!  

J is in the 9th grade...first year in high school. Crazy!   

Freshman Orientation Day.

First day of 9th Grade! 

Hope everyone is having a great year so far!

Can't wait for Halloween!

Snowmageddon aka Covidgeddon aka Snowpocalypse of 2021

Mid February 2021:

So we get through 2020 and think things are looking up when BOOM! A crazy historic winter storm hits Texas (and surrounding states).  Seriously?!

Here in Texas we were told that there would be rolling power outages  so as to not strain our overloaded grid. Well, what we experienced was not having power for 19 hours the first day, during a snowstorm, and subfreezing temps.  LM's room dropped to 49 degrees! So we fired up the gas fireplace and pulled both couches in to tough it out.  Thought about trying to go to a hotel but some of them had blackouts too.  I think the only places that didn't were hospitals.

The first night we didn't get much sleep.  After the initial dark 19 hours, were started getting power back for 2 hours then off again for 5-7 hours then back on for 2. We tried to nap but then we would hear the power kick on and you would jolt awake because we wanted to make sure things were charging and try to run the heater for a little bit.

It was a crazy mad dash to charge all the phones, make coffee and maybe a hot meal and hope for a hot shower.  I think we used our cars to charge our phones at one point.  The garage was our refridgerator and the driveway was our freezer. CRAZY!

Not everyone was lucky to get through it.  Some people were found deceased from carbon monoxide poisoning because they sat in their running car with the heater on but didn't open the garage door or back their car out.  An elderly couple was found cuddled together for warmth in a recliner in their freezing home.  Just a really sad situation.

This is a half hour difference. A lot of snow for North Dallas!

 

 Thank goodness for a gas fireplace!

Staying bundled up

The dogs stayed warm in their sweaters and blankets

A Look Back at our 2020

Lets face it..2020 sucked.  It was an eventful year but I'm going to focus on the "normal" day to day of our lives.  Not saying "new normal" because I was so sick of that expression within a week of hearing it!

Things didn't change too much for us during the lockdown since we are homebodies anyway and the hubs has always worked from home.  We focused on finishing the school year remotely and working on DIY projects around the house. Too much TV time for all and WAY too much snacking. Lol

Mabel supervising LM during school hours

LM 13th Birthday with friends via ZOOM

Neighborhood wildflowers

Ducks came to visit!

Fixing up the back patio

Don't know why since we can't have anyone over!

LM building the computer he wanted for his birthday

Handsome Henry

Sassy Mabel

Fixing the kitchen sink sprayer with the help of YouTube

Baby Anole lizards!

New umbrella for the guests we can't have over. :(

Finally traveled up to Okla to see family 

Grandma can't believe how much LM has grown!

Starting 8th grade remotely - Aug. 2020

8th grade school picture - so handsome!

Phase 2 of braces

The most wonderful time of the year!

Halloween 2020

We had a candy chute to maintain the 6ft social distancing

Added the graveyard and extra lights this year!

Christmas 2020

Just when we thought we made it through 2020, Mother Nature decided to smack Texas upside the back of the head with a crazy winter storm.  But that is another post.

Wrapping up 2019

Picking up where I left off from last post....

Little Man started 7th Grade in August 2019.  Crazy! I KNOW!  I did cry a little bit on the first day of school. He is growing up so fast!

LM on the first day of 7th Grade

School Pic - so handsome!

October 2019 - Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. Decorating the house, Dressing up and hanging out with friends.  

Here's C getting cozy with Mr. Bones.

Me and LM

I'm Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones and

he is a Naruto runner abducted by the aliens in the Area 51 event.

November 2019 - We spent Thanksgiving in Tulsa with family.

My mom and LM in a intense game of dominos.

Typical Starbucks run, covered in dogs.

December 2019 - I finally completed my B.S degree from UTD!  It was a cold blustery day but I was so excited to share this day with my family.  Wish my Dad could have been there but I know he was whooping it up for me in heaven.

Pretty special being 50 years old and graduating during the 50 Year celebration of UTD.

 My mom squad celebrating my accomplishment with me!  

Fun night!

 December 2019 - Our Christmas Card

This was LM's idea.

Celebrating Christmas in Tulsa with Family.

The Hubs birthday is Dec. 26th so we celebrated a day early with family before heading back to TX.

New Years Eve bowling with friends!

And that wraps up 2019!  Hope you all had a great year!