Sunday Snapshot - Helper

Jack is certainly a handful.  Always busy.  Always going.  It's difficult and tiring to try and keep up.  But deep down he's a great kid.  Underneath his rough and tumble exterior is a caring little boy who loves to help.  One of his favorite ways to help is when Amy is cooking.

Whether it's planning a menu, serving as a sous chef, or helping to make something; Jackson loves to be in the kitchen with her.  Truth be told I think a portion of it has to do with the snacking he does while he's helping.  But he's just as equally interested in the cooking portion of his job as well.

Proudly displaying the cookie cutters he picked out  

Lately Amy has been making cookies each weekend for the boys to take in their lunches.  A special, little treat and something she enjoys doing as a Mom.  Of course this is right up Jack's alley.  Helping, cooking, and sweets?  Count him in!  Last weekend Halloween sugar cookies were the baked good of choice and Jack was in it from the get-go.

Amy lending a helping hand

Measuring, mixing, rolling, cutting, frosting.  He was involved in the entire process.  True, he ate quite a bit of cookie dough along the way, but we still ended up with a respectable amount of the finished product.  With as short as his attention span usually is, it was remarkable that he was able to stick around for the entire process.  Me?  I just sat back and watched the two of them work their magic in the kitchen.  It was fun and heartwarming to see them together, teaching and learning.  Quality family time, what memories are made of.  Oh, and I might have snuck a little cookie dough as well!  Shhhhh!

The bakers!

All is well, picture perfect, in Drosche Land.

  

  

  

Birthday Boy

Well, it's Sunday night and the weekend is winding down.  I guess with it ends my 30th Birthday Extravaganza.  What?  Weren't you referring to this past weekend in the same way?  You know you were!  I have to say it was AWESOME!  But alas, all good things must come to an end.

The fun began Friday on my actual birthday.  Amy was the first to greet me, followed by the boys!  Then it was off to Starbucks for my FREE birthday coffee (a perk of having a registered card and using it lots!)!  At work I found my classroom door decorated and wore some pretty cool birthday accouterments provided by my friends.  Also provided by my friend, tacos from Jack in the Box (yes, you guessed it - 30)!  I still have some in the fridge and am slowly working on them!  Gifts and treats followed throughout the day, ending with dinner with my family at La Finca (our favorite restaurant) and Crave cupcakes (Chocolate Espresso)!

Saturday dawned and with it came my secret birthday getaway present from Amy!  It took me almost the entire trip there to figure out what we were doing.  The surprise?  A trip to the outlet malls in San Marcos to shop for clothes!  Woo hoo!  I love me some shopping, especially for clothes!  I was able to get 3 complete outfits (including shoes)!  I am stoked to start wearing them tomorrow!  After that we went to one of our favorite places - San Antonio.  This was especially fun because we, as usual, stayed on the Riverwalk.  The boys had never really been away on vacation, let alone having stayed in a hotel.  A trip (albeit short due to the boys' interest levels) to the Alamo and dinner outside on the Riverwalk rounded out an excellent day!

This morning it was back home and back to reality.  Sad, but true.  All in all though, it was an incredible birthday, definitely the best ever!  I am extremely lucky to have such an awesome wife, great family, and super friends that helped make turning 29+1 (yes I am still referring to it as that, although slowly opening up to the t-word!) totally fun and worth it.  I'll admit, everyone says the 30's are the best time in your life and I must say, if this birthday was any indication - that is surely going to be the truth!

All is well, so far liking the 30's, in Drosche Land. 

Movie + In Your Car = FUN!

Yeah, yeah, I know there is no post from yesterday, but boy is it for a good reason.  A while ago Amy discovered a drive-in theater called Showboat Drive-In that is located out near our house in Hockley.  What great old school, vintage fun would that be!  Well, we had the best intentions to go but with our schedule we had never had the chance.  Enter our wonderful sons.  They have been begging to go see "the dragon movie" (How to Train Your Dragon) for a while now and, since they did so well seeing The Princess and the Frog over Christmas break, we have been meaning to take them to the theater again.  We had planned on possibly seeing it this weekend, since it looked as though it would be an easy one.  On the way home last night Amy, ever thinking and planning, had the sudden thought that we should try this new drive-in theater because, lo and behold, they were showing How to Train Your Dragon!  Coincidence?  I think not!  The boys were both in good moods so we thought - why not?  The deal is incredible.  You get 2 movies for a great price, adults are $5, kids are $4, and kids under 3 (Jack!) are free!  So, we all got to see the movie for $14!  That is less than if just Amy and I went to a theater to see a movie.  Upon checking out their website, see link above, we saw that they sold food there, but we decided to grab something on the way - Jack in the Box!  So you know I had to get some tacos!  At the theater though we did get some food - movie snacks: popcorn, candy, and drinks and we only spent $11!  That brings the grand total for the night to $25 for the movie and snacks (I know not counting dinner but you don't always eat dinner out just because you're seeing a movie so I didn't count it)!  That is at least $10-$15 less than had we gone to a regular theater.  Plus you get the fun of a drive-in.  Neither of us had ever been so it was a full-on family adventure for us.  We parked the van backward, folded down the rear seats, and had a wonderful time.  The boys loved the movie and the whole drive-in aspect of the event!  All in all, it was a great night.  Once again, Amy's research and planning pulls through!  The movie was awesome too!  The boys loved it and I have to admit that Amy and I were pretty impressed also.  I think they will have a new favorite when it comes out on DVD.  The movie starts at dusk, understandable since it is outside, so last night that meant about 8:30ish.  It finished about 10:30 so we opted to not stay for the 2nd movie, A Family Wedding.  Good because by the time we got home it was 11:00 and we were all exhausted.  The boys fell asleep about 5 minutes after leaving the theater!  But, even with only the one movie it is an awesome deal.  We definitely had a great time and made some great memories!

All is well, kickin' it old school, in Drosche Land. 

Showboat Drive-In!

How awesome is that?!

We had a blast!

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Well, today marks the end of Spring Break 2010.  Sad, this was a great one.  It began with that wonderful Backyard Campout!  Man, that was a great time!  I added a link to the right column directly from Snapfish because I wasn't sure the link in the post was working and I wanted to share the many great pictures.  Just a quick side note.

The next fun we had was our annual trip to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo!  Woo hoo!  Every year Amy's Uncle John comes down during Spring Break and we ALL go to the carnival and Rodeo.  The kids had a blast at the carnival.  Amy and I took the boys on our usual trip on the ferris wheel.  It was terrifyingly fun!  I don't mind the height as long as I'm looking out, but once I look down things get a bit more tense!  Luckily the boys adore it and we always get a great couple of pictures.  Another thing the boys loved was their visit to the petting zoo!  Jack actually walked, fed, and petted the animals this year.  Jack's favorite part by far though was the chickens!  That boy loves him some chickens, I'm not entirely sure why.  We ended up spending about 20 minutes watching the various types of chickens.  Braeden's favorite part was when he rode the pony all by himself!  We were so proud of him!  I can't believe he is so old!  The concert we went to see this year was Keith Urban and he put on one hell of a show!  It lasted over an hour and he walked around in the stands singing and high-fiving the fans.  It was fun!

The next great thing was my tip to New Orleans!  Some friends from work invited me to go and Amy couldn't.  But my wife is so fantastic that she insisted I go ahead and have fun.  I left at midnight on Tuesday; Amy dropped me off on the way home from the Rodeo.  I had an awesome time!  Man, I have some great friends.  We ate some fantastic food, heard some great music, drank some great drinks, and just had fun.  I did make it back to Pat O'Brien's and we ordered this monster hurricane.  We finished nearly all of it though, whoa!  It was just so much fun and really made me see what great friends my co-workers are!  I was definitely meant to be at Trinity with these fantastic people, working and having fun!  The thing is though; I had to break my Lent give-up items of eating out and sweets though.  But, Amy did as well at home with the boys since she was so busy and on her own.  So, starting tomorrow it is back on, no more eating out or sweets until Easter.  Oh, and yes, the first food I ate while on the trip was Jack Tacos!

As much fun as I had, it was great to come home and see Amy and the boys.  I missed them a lot.  Yesterday we moved Amanda, boy that was rough.  It definitely cemented the fact for Amy and I that we are only hiring movers from here on out!  But other than that we are ending Spring Break quietly and calmly.  As I blog this, the boys are sound asleep and Amy and I are putting off a bit of homework.  Ugh, guess I'd better sign off and get some done for tonight.  But all in all it was a fantastic break.  I have an incredible wife, awesome sons, and wonderful friends!  Great times, great memories, a great Spring Break!
 
All is well, and returning to routine, in Drosche Land. 

Braeden on the ferris wheel

 

 Jack on the ferris wheel

 

 Amy & I on the ferris wheel

 

 The boys at the petting zoo

 

 Jack Tacos on the way to NOLA!

 

 Waiting for the St. Patrick's Day parade in NOLA

 

 Out & about in NOLA

 

 Our giant hurricane at Pat O'Brien's

Who Needs To Eat Out?

Ok, so we gave up eating out and sweets for Lent.  I'll be honest it has not been easy.  Not in the least  There is a Jack in the Box at the corner of our neighborhood and I have tons of leftover Valentine's Day candy staring me down every day!  But last night we won a victory over our cravings!  The gas grill we bought the other week as more than paid for itself, especially after dinner last night.  Thursdays are our early days and on the way home, we stopped at HEB and bought fajita meat for about $9.  After about 25 minutes on the grill we were in heaven!  To be modest it was possibly the best fajitas we have ever had, definitely the best we have ever made ourselves (we still love you La Finca).  I am clearly the Grill Master!  :)  Oh, and we grilled an onion to go with it - bliss!  So, fajita meat, an onion, a tomato, an avocado, tortillas, and some cheese (we had everything already but the meat and avocado), what's that?  Maybe $15.  Aside from being half of what we would pay eating out, we have tons of leftovers to reheat and repurpose.  Ahhhhh, victory never tasted so good - literally.  This experience, plus the money we have saved thus far during Lent, has shown us that we need to dramatically cut the amount of fast food we eat.

Now don't get me wrong.  Jack in the Box and his tacos will always hold a special place in my heart and they will remain a part of our lives.  Just not as much.  Eating out and fast food will be special occasional treats.  Good for our wallets, good for our waistlines.  So, Lent is barely half-over if that, but I think we will make it and come out of it for the better.  That's what Lent is all about right?  Spiritual, mental, emotional growth and strength.  We're on the right track!

All is well, and deliciously home-made, in Drosche Land.