Kidnapped for an early birthday celebration

Yesterday, before he left the store, Rick said he'd give me a ride to work today, but about 30mins earlier than normal. This morning, I got up and dressed for work, made coffee, and packed my sack-lunch for work. About the time Rick and I agreed upon, I opened our front door, so I'd hear him pull up his truck in the driveway.

INSTEAD... when I opened the door, I saw 3 of my friends running across my front yard with birthday balloons. Regina will be out of town on my real birthday, so she, Jenna and Codi decided to celebrate early. :)
Regina is the wife of my boss, so she rigged for me to have a PAID day off from working. 


We threw the balloons in the house and all piled into Regina's car (parked down the street, so I wouldn't see it). The girls drove out to Cedar Hill, TX, where there's a nice area of shops. They planned to buy me whatever caught my eye, snacks & lunch.  We had a LOT of fun looking around this one store called Charming Charlie's . We went back a second time before we left the shopping area.

Codi, wearing a 'Sex in the City' hat & daydreaming about her potential to be a 'Trophy Wife'.  

Regina, when they stopped for a hotdog snack at this cute place with Retro-style tables and chairs. She wore a rosey-print shirt and a sweater with pearly buttons since they were celebrating retro me. :)

Jenna

Treats the girls got for my very-merry un-birthday: Teal nailpolish, 2 bracelets (rose, bird) and a pocketbook with a matching checkbook-cover. 

We had lunch at a place called 'The Diner'. There were pictures on the wall of Al Sharpton & Pres. Obama eating there together.  I had a burger & onion rings. The girls had to be at work at 4pm, so around 2:30 we all headed back to Denton. 

More time with Berta (my Mom)

 

 

We took these pics the night before my mom went home, to Houston. 

At work, we received a few large orders (meaning more than 20 boxes each, from multiple companies). So the girls have been scrambling around checking in boxes, pricing and re-arranging merchandise. Meanwhile, I've been getting to paint things around the store ( a perk of being a boss). I keep an eye on the girls' progress, but have started painting the store-front windows for Easter and painting a large mural. 

I haven't taken pictures of the windows in-progress, but I have a few pics of the mural in-progress. I'll get those uploaded.

At the Zoo with Grandma

 

 

 

 

 

Lainey made a blanket fort on another snow day

 She's so pretty.

Another Snow day, another bunch of photos of kids with Cabin Fever

 Playing a game at the kitchen table

Yeah, she knows she's cute.

Denton CLOSED last Tuesday

Kids went to school Monday, but didn't have school for the rest of the week, due to snow and ice. Since they were home, they asked to ride their bikes... I said, not a good idea. lol

Everything in town was shut down. We were glad we had gone to Costco over the weekend.

There were rolling blackouts all over the county. My co-workers (who live together) had a black out, so they slept at our place, in Allan's bunkbed, since we had less black outs and our heater is Gas.

First lessons on the Bikes

 The other day it was closer to 65 degrees, so we let the kids ride their bikes in the driveway.

Allan's bike came with factory-installed training wheels. Elaine's bike did not. We've bought two different sets of training wheels for her bike, now. The first set would not install securely because where the guards are on her bike's design. The second set, doesn't seem strong enough to hold up to Elaine's weight. I'm sure they are meant for younger kids. When she starts to lean to the side, the training wheel folds up! So she lands on the pavement. After some un-successful laps on her bike, Elaine took Allan's bike for a ride, with no problems.
She shouldn't NEED training wheels for long, if she becomes a better rider. So we had her building her confidence riding Allan's bike because she's very nervous about the balancing-aspect.

 Elaine on Allan's lil bike with Jim walking behind her.

Elaine (on Allan's skooter) and Allan on his bike, with Jim.

Last week made my FAVORITE recipe.

 Had to make extras, because Elaine discovered months ago that she enjoys Breadcrumb-stuffed Artichokes as well.