The Trains at Northpark

I put together a little outing for some friends and our kids to go see the train display at Northpark Mall in Dallas. It is a great display for the kids that benefits the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas. It is the most elaborate train display in Texas featuring vintage locomotives traveling through America. It includes 2,500 feet of track past miniature landmarks such as San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Rushmore, the Southwest's painted desert, Dallas' skyline, New York City's Statue of Liberty & Time Square and the Capitol in Washington D.C. It is really amazing!


It was quite chaotic when we got there because we tried to get all 6 of us, with our children, sitting together for lunch in a very crowded food court. Once we got settled down, the moms tried to eat lunch in peace; however, that is NEVER an option! It is always a struggle to eat, carry on a conversation and entertain your child. We did find a way to talk a bit. it is always wonderful to see my girlfriends! We managed to fight through the craziness and find our way to the train exhibit.

We spent about 20-25 minutes walking through the exhibit. Brooks was enamored by the trains whizzing by and he absolutely freaked out over the decorations and lights. He was all over the place actually - running from one train to another. His eyes were very large!

All in all, it was a good time. I enjoyed spending time with my VERY long-time girlfriend, Stacie, and her son, Morgan, of
whom I have not seen in a couple of months!

30 Weeks!

I hit the 30 week mark on Monday, November 24th! Only 2 more months to go. I put this picture up next to my pregnancy pictures with Brooks and I am the same size now as I was at 35 weeks with Brooks...YIKES!

Fun at the Kaiser Household

Some close friends of ours, Bryan & Becky Brooks, flew into town for Thanksgiving. We saw them at a wedding in September but we had never met their adorable son, Jackson. So, this past Sunday we had a small group over to the house so the kids could play and the adults could catch up on life. Bryan & Becky Brooks (son Jackson), Dan & Trudy Hanson (daughters Mason & Eva) and Rob & Jaime Stiller (son Brennan, daughters Hutton & Delany) came over for some delicious Mexican food and a pretty decent Cowboy game. All the kids got along beautifully and old friends had a chance to relax (sort of) and have a chat.

We are so happy everyone was able to make it over. It was great to finally meet some of the kids we hadn't met before!

Mama's Purse

Brooks enjoys playing in our closet and pulling things down from the shelves or out of drawers - whatever he can get into. It was so cute when he brought me a little present the other morning. He figured out how to put it over his shoulder too! For those Seinfeld followers, we'll call it his 'European carry all' or for those Friends watchers, you can call it his 'Man purse!'

A Visit From California Friends

My high school girlfriend, Stephanie, and her daughter, Holland, came out for a quick visit a few weeks ago. This was our first time to meet each other's kids. The last time we saw one another was when we were both pregnant so this was a special treat.

We took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe one day for lunch and they had a blast. Neither kid ate much at all because all they wanted to do was walk around and look at the animals. Brooks absolutely freaks out over the elephants - he LOVES them!

We also spent a lot of time just hanging out at the house and letting the kids play in the backyard. We had a great weather for that. We tried out our new double stroller and the kiddos seemed to enjoy it. Mostly it was a relaxing trip just enjoying catching up with one another.

Brooks and Holland got along really well. Brooks, the kissing bandit, even gave Holland a few kisses here and there, AND he let her smell his special flower. What a sweet boy! I hope he doesn't turn out to be a player like his daddy!!!

Thanks for coming out to visit Steph and Holland! We had a wonderful time!

Weekend at the Cabin

A couple of weekends ago, we took the McGee family for a relaxing vacation up to our cabin in Oklahoma. There were six of us and four Golden Retrievers - we had a cabin full!



The fall is a beautiful time of year to go as the leaves are changing, the bugs are usually gone and the weather is nice and chilly. We found out that there was a folk festival going on the weekend we were there so the park was packed with people from all over.

Brooks had been sick for a few days with a stomach virus but we thought we would take him anyway, hoping he would get better. He started to get better by Saturday night but my mom ended up catching it on Friday, then my sister got it on Sunday (not a fun drive home for her) and my dad had it on Monday!!! Thanks to our little guy, the entire McGee family caught the stomach flu; however, Alex and I made it out without a problem - THANK GOODNESS!!!

Apart from everyone getting sick, we had a really nice time. We spent a couple of days in the park enjoying the festival. There was live folk music, arts & crafts, horribly greasy and fattening food, homemade root beer (YUM!) and a petting zoo which Brooks LOVED!




We did plenty of walking with the pups, letting them run wild on the land. The dogs have a blast every time we go up to the cabin. There is so much stuff for them to chase and smell!

All in all, it was a great weekend with the family!