my new ride!

Yep, it's not a joke and totally true...after owning two suburban's, it was time to STEP IT UP!

My husband, boys and I have all been admiring these for a LONG time now and been doing our research as well!  We had been searching but nothing REALLY was worth making the deal happen until THIS...

 What do ya think?  Not what you'd expect a Mom of two boys to drive and that's what I Love about it!  We're sure going to have fun in the hot summer with the top down, that's for sure!!  What am I saying, we can take the top down now with these 70+ temps around here!!!  Ha!

This is a HUGE deal around here, but especially in New Orleans, LA!

Our family from New Orleans kicks the Mardi Gras celebration off back in the summer!  

...Yea, it is THAT planned out!

The floats in New Orleans are bigger and better, 

but I'd say we have a pretty good celebration here near Galveston, TX! 

 Anyway, it makes for a very fun time and the kids love catching beads!  

We'll have to take plenty of pictures and enjoy LOTS of King Cake for ya too!  My mom is fortunate enough to attend our cousin's parade in New Orleans, so I'll make sure and have her take pictures there too!

Mardi Gras 2011 in Galveston, TX

Have you ever been to a Mardi Gras celebration?  If not, you're missing out!  

SO.MUCH.FUN!  

Seriously, LOTS of fun!!!

Dip DELICIOUSNESS?

We're going to a Super Bowl Party on Sunday and I have a super cute football bowl to use for a exciting dip...only problem is that I don't have a great dip to prepare :-(  

Any suggestions? 

 I can look on Pinterest, but I hate making a dip that I've never tried before!

What's your favorite party dip?  I'd love some great suggestions!

And I'm happy to report that Justin seems to be feeling MUCH better, still just battling the runny nose and cough, but here's hoping a few more days of rest will help him bounce back to his normal self soon!

my poor baby boy...

the one in our family hit hardest with the sniffles...

 i mean, he fell asleep with his DS in hand so you know it must be BAD...

and he also fell asleep on Dixie too...

We sure hope he gets to feeling MUCH better soon, because although Mommy is sure taking advantage of all of the snuggling and cuddling, she's missing her wild and crazy littlest man and it's just not fun watching him be SO miserable and not-so-full-of-energy like I'm used to!

Ugh to allergies...

We have been so excited to finally be in our new neighborhood, playing outside and meeting our neighbors,  but now because of all of THIS park fun,

We're all sneezing, coughing, have runny noses, scratchy throats and sinus headaches...

and our poor little man is dealing with his wheezing with the weather changes :-(  

Here's hoping the McClellen's get to feeling better soon!

some FUN and exciting things to share...

First of all, I am SUPER excited to announce that I have been asked to co-host the Take It From Me's very popular, Welcome Wednesday blog hop!  I have participated in their hop for over a year now, met some great fellow bloggers and learned some great tools for making blogging a success!  I will definitely keep you posted on this exciting journey for BOTH of my blogs!  Woohoo!

If you haven't checked it out, go here ,link up and hop around!!

As for our Anniversary dinner at Eddy V's...it was PERFECT!  Thanks to my aunt for suggesting this restaurant.  It was elegant, delicious and SO perfect for celebrating my birthday and our anniversary!  For our meal, I had the Fuji Apple Salad, Sea bass with lemon and garlic!  And since it was a special occasion, we splurged on coffee and dessert!  Yum!  This was our table when we arrived...

And look who's back home??!  Dixie!  She is a yellow lab, almost 10 years old.  She was a gift to my hubby, when we were dating, for his birthday!  She's a sweet dog and has adjusted pretty well so far!

...and here's our house!  

We are very excited and happy to be moved and almost settled in!

One of the highlights of the house for the boys is this TUB! 

 Ha!  They think it's hilarious to turn up the bubbles and go crazy!  Silly boys :-)

My newly created, "M" wall!  What do ya think?  Totally inspired by Pinterest, of course!

and finally our restored breakfast table by Robin @ Restored Designs!  She does amazing work!  

She lives near our new house, so I'm happy to call her my new neighbor and friend. 

 She might have that perfect piece just for you too, so be sure and check it out HERE!

we're back!

I think The McClellen's win the award for trying to 

CRAM a whole lotta milestones into a few, short weeks!

Let's break it down, shall we?

1. Celebrate our seven year anniversary 1/15/12

2. Get the keys to our new, forever home 1/14/12

3. Complete our first half marathon 1/15/12

4. Move into our home 1/16/12

5. Celebrate my 32nd birthday 1/21/12

6. and finally to end the CHAOS, we managed to take the boys to MONSTER JAM!!!

We didn't know until we arrived, but we had FRONT ROW SEATS! 

 The boys were super excited and screamed every time a truck flipped!  It was pretty cool!

We had pit passes to "meet" the trucks and drives before the show and we HAD to stand in line for EVERY truck...as you can see by the autographs on their shirts!  I have better pics on my big camera, so I'll share those as soon as I find my camera case in one of these boxes!  Ha!

It was little man's first visit to Monster Jam and he LOVED it!  

He stayed awake and excited until Grave Digger ended the show at 10:30!  

Woo, it was a late night but totally worth it :-)

And finally tonight, Daddy and I will be able to have our date night to celebrate our belated anniversary and my birthday!  We plan on going somewhere nice, 

so I better get dressed and unpack some boxes before we go!