while I waited...week 11

Oh, Spring Break, how I love you so!!!  I'm so sad that it's over but thankful for all the fun memories it gave us!  I'll share more details about our Spring Break later this week but here's a quick glimpse into what I did last week while I waited...

 Last Sunday we loaded up the fam and headed to Lake Charles to meet up with Dede and Pop Pop for a few days.

 An oopsie with our reservation ended up being to our advantage - we stayed in a hotel next door to our original plans and were wowed with our room - and this amazing tub!

 The girls couldn't miss a chance at a bubble bath in this "fancy" tub!

 We spent all day Monday by the pool and the hotel's "beach".

 When you find out there's a beach called Holly Beach only about an hour away, you load up your family to go check it out!  It wasn't anything fancy but we had so much fun shelling, playing in the sand, and the kids had fun running in and out of the waves!

 Louisiana had received lots of rain the week before which sadly meant lots of flooding.  As the flood waters moved south, the Interstate we needed to return on was shut down because of water over the road.  Detours + traffic + extra hours in the car had us very ready to get home!  We had a car divided as to where to stop for lunch so seeing this sign with both Whataburger AND Chick-fil-A was a huge blessing! :)

 I LOVE celebrating little holidays with the kiddos!  On Thursday, they woke up to this little spread!  And, no worries - I promise they didn't eat all this candy!!!

 Our day didn't start out too lucky though - Mini caused quite the mess when she jumped up on the table to try out the green milk!

 Our family is ready for March Madness!  Our girls aren't really in to watching sports but they love filling out their bracket!  They love watching the games to see "is MY team winning?!"

Holden and I bagged up the St. Patrick's Day candy and took it with us as we ran errands on Thursday.  We had some very surprised (and happy!) cashiers when we explained these little goodies were for them!

 Meanwhile, Colby was "babysitting" - he convinced Hope to hang out in the hammock with him while he watched basketball on his phone!

Springtime in Texas - one of my favorite times of the year!  The highways are filled with beautiful wildflowers!  Seeing these bluebonnets brought the biggest smile to my face!

 Friday FINALLY arrived and Holden and I headed to pick up Shelly and Carly for our girls weekend trip to Fort Worth to celebrate Holden's 11th birthday!  We were so excited!

 We couldn't pass up a chance to take pictures of the girls in the bluebonnets!

 And Holden couldn't resist picking some flowers!

 We had a fabulous day at the Fort Worth Zoo and ended our night checking out the Water Gardens across the street from our hotel.

 Saturday morning we had tickets for Butterflies in the Garden at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.  Shelly and I were in heaven - the girls?  Well, let's just say we didn't see smiles this big till they FINALLY were able to hold a butterfly!

 Aren't these shirts adorable?!  Shelly ordered them for us and they were a huge hit (even though we had to explain "besties for the restie" to just about everyone!).  You can find the shirts here.

 Holden loves art so a trip to the Kimbell Art Museum was a must for our trip.  Apparently, Shelly and I don't know much about art museums because we quickly learned that
1) there are certain paintings you will get in trouble for {trying} to take a picture of, 2) they really want you to stand at least 12 inches away from the artwork, and 3) there were a lot of "dots and cracks" on display! #youcanttakeusanywhere

 Worried that Hope was sitting around missing us?!  Nope!  Her sweet daddy took her to the George Bush Presidential Library Easter Egg Hunt followed by a trip to the American Girl store in Houston!  He even managed to do all this AND make it back to College Station for the Aggie women's basketball game! #hesakeeper

 Meanwhile, these two were getting every last drop of fun out of their Fort Worth trip!

 This pic was taken on Sunday - Holden's actual birthday.  She proceeded to remind us no less than 173,582 times that "it's my birthday, it's my birthday" all.day.long! :)

 We went to the TCU baseball game and Holden caught this shirt.  We laughed and laughed because it was SO perfect for her!

 These two - they should give lessons in #friendshipgoals.  They love each other fiercely but are 100% completely honest with the other but it never seems to sting.  We were together for nearly 60 hours straight and not one time did I ever hear them get upset with the other.

Phew!  Last night was a late one but I'm happy to report that after two OTs, the Aggies FINALLY pulled out a win!  I'm not sure I could have been around this guy today had they lost! ;) #sweetsixteen

And, if you made it this far, thank you!  We crammed a lot into one week!  I'm looking forward to sharing more details of our trips soon.  Be sure and check back soon!

I'm so glad you stopped by!  Have an extraordinary week!

Gig 'em and God bless! 

Holly

check out my FAVORITE link-ups page to see where I'm linking up today!

also linking up with Biana from B Loved Boston and

Meg from the Life of Meg

and the ladies from 100 Happy Days
Kate, Alison, Linzee, Elizabeth, Valerie, and Tiffany