Destin-ation Momma Birthday

{trying to play catch up around here, so the next few rounds of posts will be a little dated, but better late than never!}

last november we decided to head to destin, fl, for my birthday.  my friend wendy, who i know from my st louis days and now lives in north carolina, and her family were all heading to the beach to celebrate her brother's birthday so we decided to join the fun.  we spent just a few short days there, but it was long enough for us to decide that we could definitely get used to a little more fun in the florida sun in the future!  nick had a lot of fun playing with wendy's kids helen {they're the same age} and henry, and enjoying the sand between his toes.

all i wanted for my birthday was to have starbucks on the beach 

we got the cool parents award for not caring that they got their clothes wet!

our hotel was next to this restaurant that had live alligators & all nick wanted to do was hold him a gator.  here he is with "cupcake".

on the way home we decided to stop off for lunch in new orleans.  i've never been, and it's been on my bucket list, we were headed that way anyway, so, it was a no brainer!  we were there long enough for me to enjoy a hurricane, some beignets, take a mule-pulled carriage tour, get some beads {FROM A STORE!  get your head outta the gutter!}, and chow down on some po'boys while taking in the view of the mighty mississippi.  i would like to go back again sometime to do a little more touring, but i can officially say i've been there now!

what?  we have powdered sugar on our faces? where?!

poor little dude was plum tuckered out & crashed the second we got on the carriage

bring on the po'boys!

the mighty miss

it was quite the long drive, but way worth it!  catching up with old friends and playing at the beach is always a win-win.

xoxo ... liese f

Project: Nikita Miles Alexander Johnson

i'm a little behind on my posting, as usual, however i do want to introduce you all to a new tab i've created at the top of the blog called: "2012 photo journal".  i'm going to {attempt!} to take a picture a day of nick this year to see how he's grown, and better document what the crazy guy is up to!  i've already missed one day, but with all new year's resolutions, i think we're allowed a do-over or two early on in the game!  hope you enjoy watching the russky grow with us!

here's the direct link in case you want to save it...
http://2texansandalittlerussky.blogspot.com/p/2012-photo-journal.html

xoxo...liese :o)

Summer...Summer...Summer Time!

after much consideration, i decided the quit my job to stay home with nicky for the summer.  i had been with the company for almost 7 years, and not only was it pretty dead-end, i realized that i was missing out on the most important thing in our lives...spending time with nick.  we've had quite the rocky road post-adoption - nick and i's bonding experience unfortunately didn't come as easily as expected.  we also realized that nick was going to need to start a medication regime for his recently diagnosed ADHD and anxiety, and i didn't feel comfortable relying on a stranger to update me on his progress/set-backs.  so...quit my job i did, and a fun summer we had!  we got to travel here and here and we had a lot of lazy days, hanging out with friends, and a lot of pool time.  what more could i have asked for?!

visiting daddy at the fire station

swimming lessons with best bud trevor

fun night grilling and hanging out with friends...

 church arts & music camp...                                                       more riding of horses...

quality time with girlfriend blair bear 

nicky & trevor ready to race their lego stompers...these things took about an hour to put together...3.7 seconds to fall apart!  but...they were fun for the boys none the less.

nick in a bucket...

 2nd annual 4th of july at the fc dallas game...

when ya gotta go...ya gotta go...

                                                                       

sun goes down...shirt comes off.  this kid's come a loooong way from the one who used to pull at his shorts legs to make them longer and the days of not even wanting to walk around the house sans shirt!

one smart little russky...chillin' like a villian with girlfriend blair while trevor gives them a ride around the pool

 the silly faces above definitely summarize the summer and it's awesomeness!  getting back into the swing of the school year was pretty rough.  most every day the first few weeks involved a nap as soon as snack time was over.  i don't know about the russky, but i'm so ready for the warm weather and swimming and hanging out with friends.  the daily grind of being back to work, getting up early and having the responsibility of school is a drag!  summer break 2012 can't come soon enough!

xoxo...liese :o)

B.E.N. to San Antonio Lately?

nick and his cousins, brenden and emily, are not only related, but they're good friends as well. it gives me the warm fuzzies to see him spending time with them, much as i spent time with my cousins who were close in age as i was growing up.  they have nick-named their little cousin club "B.E.N." {get it?  Brenden, Emily, Nicky...pretty clever of the short people i think!}.  since i quit my job in june to spend the summer hanging out with nicky, we had nothing but time to kill, and when uncle brent said they would all be at nana & pop's for a visit this summer, it was a no-brainer!  we loaded up the car and headed down for some fun in the sun, and some quality bonding time!

b.e.n. havin' a little breakfast...with brie and blitzer ready to catch anything that should drop to the floor...or lap...or corner of the table!

b.e.n. having a little lunch in the club house/tree house/fort/whatever it's called - we all call it something different, and each kiddo will correct you no matter what you call it.  silly adults...get it right!  {ps...thank you pop for building such a fun hang-out space for these crazies!}

miss emily ready to get her party on!

uncle brent's, emily's & pop's birthdays are all in a row at the end of july/beginning of august, so we always lump them all together into one celebration...but we all know who runs the show... yep!  pop's fave color is pink & he's quite the princess! :0)

em all dressed up like the princess she is

me & my fave little peeps hanging out at uncle edward's & aunt marsha's homestead 

b.e.n. with their buddy "sunny"...nick & sunny are old pals...if we had a bigger back yard, the russky would make it super hard for us to explain why we didn't have a horse in it

nick showing his mean face

other than hanging out in the club house, and jumping on the trampoline, b.e.n.'s fave spot is the pool.  they loved us to get in and lounge on rafts, while they pulled us around on "cruises around the caribbean" 

man how times have changed...he's listening to  brenden's ipod...which you can't even see. not that long ago the common listening device would've been the boom box, or walkman, or diskman!  dang these kids have it good today!  what will be next?  a chip in the neck that you can tune to your fave satellite radio station?!

what trip to SA would be complete without a visit to the rainforest cafe?  the kids love it and it gets us all outta the house for a nice lunch.

unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end, but uncle brent made sure we all went out with a bang.  cookie cake anyone?  complete with each of the kid's names spelled in their favorite colors and "BCF...best.  cousins.  forever."   can't wait to get together again!  {oh yeah...that'll be in less than 2 days when we all head to SA for christmas!  that's the best part about waiting so long to post about the trip...just as i'm reliving all the fun memories...we get to make new ones shortly there after!}

xoxo...liese :o)