Valentine's Day

Brian and I went to dinner at Rise No. 1 for Valentine's Day. It was a fixed 4 course meal and from start to finish it was one of the best meals we've ever had. Rise is a french restaurant specializing in souffles. There is no question that we will be returning.








Appetizer


Brian's dessert

Snow Day

Texas snow days typically consist of ice rather than snow, but I got a day and a half off of work, so I'm not complaining!

Day of Beauty

Brian and I gave our neice, Brittany, a gift certificate for a Mary Kay makeover and new makeup. Brittany and family came over on a Saturday and while us girls played with makeup, Brian and Ed checked out Robin's new car, took a drive and brought back some Starbucks for the beauty queens. Brittany tried 2 different looks and Robin tried a new look as well...Gracie had a look all her own that involved lipstick, eyeshadow and eye liner all over her face! They all 3 looked pretty, but Brittany stole the show with her 2nd look - she is such a beauty!


Look #1


Look #2


Robin's new look


Gracie - Future Mary Kay Rep

Joker Night

The girls got together and had Joker game night at my sister Lisa's house. Joker is a game that involves a hand-made wooden board, marbles, cards and lots of attitude! Lisa and I are always put on opposite teams because our friends think it's funny to listen to us get nasty with each other as our competitive natures flair up! It's a fun game, even though me and my teammate, Sonia, lost more times than we won.


Terry, Sonia, and Lisa

New Year's Eve

We were dressed and ready to attend a friend's party when we decided that we both just really wanted to stay home and stay out of the way of the drunk drivers. We changed into our comfy clothes and brought in the new year watching Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve with a bottle of wine and an alcoholic cat!


Happy New Year!


Aidan, the alcoholic cat

Wii Game Night

I received Dance Dance Revolution for the Wii as a Christmas gift from my sister Lu and I couldn't wait to try it out so we decided to have a Wii game night at my house on Friday night. Brian was out with friends, so we had the big screen to ourselves. We started with bowling and played that for about an hour and then we put in the Dance Dance Revolution. It took us a while to figure it out, but then we got the hang of it and had a great time. If nothing else, it's a great workout!


Lisa and Jeff bowling


Lu feeling the music


Jeff showing off his dance moves


Tina getting her groove on!

Christmas Day

We started the day with my siblings, my cousin George, and Lisa's friend Paula. We had a GREAT Christmas dinner of authentic Iowa pork cutlets, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, broccoli rice casserole and rolls. The first time that Brian had pork cutlets with my family, he says that he almost lost a hand while trying to get one of the cutlets. It really wasn't that bad, but he loves to exaggerate the story to make it funny. We were just a bit hungry is all. :-)


Watch your hand Brian!


Lisa, Paula, Tina and George playing Outburst(again)

After lunch we played Outburst and then Brian and I left to have Christmas with his family. We pitched in along with many other family members to buy Tom his very first computer, a laptop. Brian set it up for him ahead of time, created an email account, and also made a cool picture collage of all the family members and set it as the desktop image. When Tom opened the lid, the collage was the first thing that he saw and it so sweet to see how moved he was. I think he was a bit overwhelmed at first, but he'll be addicted in no time!


Tom and his new laptop


Gracie with Brittany in a headlock


Naughty (Brian and JD)


Nice