April In The Burbs

  We had the best time loving on Nana for her 65th birthday recently. The cake by Down Home Sweets was freaking delicious and so beautiful. This is the first year that I’ve began the tradition of having custom made, specialty cakes for birthdays. I’m not talking about a sheet cake from Walmart with “happy birthday” written on it. I’m talking about a beautiful masterpiece made specifically for us, like this one. It honestly makes the recipient feel so amazingly special and appreciated. It might seem like a small thing, but it really is part of the gift when you get a piece of art like this on your birthday. I’m already planning to order a cake for summer vacation & then Dorothy definitely wants one for her birthday. Maybe I will finally get a Barbie dress cake for my birthday in October.😅💅🏻 So much love and appreciation to Pricilla at @downhomesweets13  on Instagram and see even more of these sweet treat creations over on her  Facebook  page  - we love he...

 This past week, we visited the  Franklin Safari  in Franklin, Texas.    I opted to pay a little more, and have a private tour with one of their experienced caretakers. I thought this may be the best option for our family for a couple of reasons, but I'd say that if you can and want to - I'd let them drive so you can ask endless questions and feed all of the adorable and sometimes assertive animals.  The vehicles they use for the private tours are the same they feed the animals from twice a day, so expect some major attention from your new friends looking for that yum-yum. We purchased a couple of buckets of feed in the shop, plus our driver kindly brought an extra. Lovely surprise!  We all really loved the experience and I'd say it was worth every penny. I also thought the gift shop was relatively inexpensive on most things, which was another plus in my book. We always need something from the gift shop for the kids when we visit neat experiences lik...

  I was invited recently to attend Wonderspaces here in Austin. This is a one of a kind, interactive, immersive, fun and thought provoking museum filled with unique art.  Patrons are encouraged to interact with many of the pieces, and to of course take photos.  I really loved the strict mask rule - they must be worn at all times and cover the nose. They also had very large containers of hand sanitizer at every interactive piece and throughout the building.  SUBMERGENCE by Squidsoup  Wonderspaces is cashless , and you must book an appointment online to attend, which I loved. There were maybe 10 other people in the building at our allotted time, not including staff of which there were about 4-5 it seemed.  SWEET SPOT by Shawn Causey & Mark Daniell  INTO THE BREATH by  Stefano Ogliari Badessi THANK YOU BAGS  by Reed van Brunschot HOSHI by NONOTAK Studio These are just a fraction of the clever and surprising art installments. ...

Shoutout to Let's Get Dye for the ADORABLE sweatshirt for Dot & the matching socks for myself!  There aren't too many times that you can look at something in amazement - and their tie dye and color combos make me do just that. 😍 Dot promptly stole my socks to rock around the house, but gave them back after a while. I'm thoroughly convinced that she thinks they're for her - no matter what I say. I love the quality, the softness, and especially these bright colors! I'm highly impressed with the saturation and brightness of these amazing pieces they've sent us. The packaging and branding is also on point!  Click here to go directly to their website & place your order today. 

I overheard John’s first meeting this morning; several kids were talking about things they were going to go do, even his teacher was talking about something she was going to go do for her birthday. John asked me how come we’re not doing anything. Our kids are very aware of the pandemic because we have not only talked to them about it, but we have followed all of the guidelines very strictly - as far as keeping them at home and not in public places needlessly or frivolously. Definitely no restaurants for us. No indoor events. They think it’s an event to hit up Walmart at this point. That’s how locked down we’ve been. When you have a medically fragile child, along with multiple people in the household who are susceptible to this horrendous virus Covid-19, you really do keep your bubble small. You just literally can’t afford to risk it. On this day, we needed some frivolous fun. This Mama knows how to come through on that when it’s most needed.  We took a little trip to Inner Space Ca...