Austin

Special Olympics had a 

Spirit Night at Chic Fil A.

It was a great turn out!

 While we were there, we saw one of Austin's classmates.

Not just any classmate...

we saw KRISTINA!

He got so excited to see her and I believe the feeling was mutual!

Back around Christmas time, he wrote her a letter telling her how beautiful she was, asking if she would be his girlfriend, if he could pick her a flower and give it to her, and go to the movies.

He then told us that they couldn't be boyfriend and girlfriend because she didn't speak English.

This night, we met her extended family.

They were the sweetest people!

They saved that letter in her scrapbook. 

Her aunt called Kristina's mother in Guatemala to tell her about it!

She tells Kristina that she needs to use her "English words" to talk to Austin. 

And she did. When he told her, "Bye Kristina, see you tomorrow at school!"

She bashfully said, "See you tomorrow at school".

Her aunt and I have exchanged numbers and will make it a point to take them on outings together.

Easter

We had a very nice Easter weekend!

The weather was so pretty!

We grilled lunches and dinners Saturday and on Easter Sunday. 

Carli and Austin decorated eggs, the Easter Bunny visited them all, and Carli hunted eggs.

TOMMY TUNE AWARDS!

The day started with Tyler heading to school, 6:30. He would leave from there at 10am and head to the Hobby Center. Once there, they would spend the day rehearsing the show and they're number. The show started at 7:30 pm and they came home close to 1am. LONG day and the fact that they all got up to be at school the next day was impressive! 

They were nominated for eight categories, unfortunately, they didn't win any. They were down for a bit, but they all had an amazing experience and it showed!

They know that it was a privilege and an honor to be invited to perform there.

Tyler and his bros! 

These guys spend every waking moment together.

They are such great kids!

Back to rehearsal

Theater Under The Stars, in Houston,  announced their nominations for the Tommy Tune Awards.

Hello Dolly received eight nominations. One being Best Musical. SO, that meant that the cast would be performing during the awards. 

There was only a three week time frame. LOTS to be done.

Re-order costumes from the Broadway touring company in Dallas, rebuild a set. Two actually. They would need to be scaled way down since it would be transported to the Hobby Center, and LOTS of rehearsing!

Hard work!

Next up, the BIG DAY!

A nephew

We got us a nephew  a couple of weeks ago! 

A perfect pair, a niece and a nephew.

Chad and Kayce have the cutest babies!

FEBRUARY 25th

On February 25th, we celebrated Anthony's 41st birthday AND

our 20th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

We've come a long way, been through quite a bit, and these years have really flown by!

No person I'd rather go through it with, than him!

Slow boat from China

There really is such a thing as "slow boat from China"!

We ordered Austin some fantastic things from Christmas,

back at the beginning of NOVEMBER and we just got them January 13th!

The reason why it took so long....

Yep! CHINA! They came from China!

We did not know that when we ordered from Amazon.

There was no tracking number.

The closer it got to Christmas, and we noticed they weren't coming,

we decided to go ahead and buy some other things for him.

Thank goodness!

He was SO happy when he opened the package!

Sponge Bob is his favorite of all time!

Not pictured is the Sandy Cheeks character. I didn't get her pic.

  

Carli

She's really been enjoying her second grade year!

She's quite the smart lil' cookie!

She's so much FUN!

HELLO DOLLY!

Our year started off extremely busy!

We were in  musical mode!

Tyler was cast in the production of "Hello Dolly"

Anthony helped with the building of a beautiful set.

I helped with costume fittings, props, decorating and painting the set.

Tyler, was putting in several hours every week/weekend rehearsing.

(posters were distributed all over town)

(Car magnets were put on all students and parents' cars)

(all the mommas got their bling shirts ready)

(the cast)

(so many hats we made for "Ms.Malloy's Hat Shop")

(Tyler and Beth "Dolly")

(Tyler was in several scenes, but this one particular scene he and Sara were polka dance partners)

(His friend Adam, same age as him. Varsity football player)

(Tyler and his friend Justin) 

He goes to the high school across town, but they use to go to elementary school and middle school together, and remain friends. Hard to believe they've gone from first graders to sophomores in high school in the blink of an eye.

 (Marquees like this one were all over town!)

(I had to post these cast pictures. Look at how he's changed from last year's South Pacific, to this year's Hello Dolly!)

The musical season was an exhausting, thrilling, memory filled, beautiful time!

The kids did an amazing job! So gorgeous! I just love them all!

Can't wait for next year!