Dancing with the stars, McShea style

My blog has really taken a back seat lately as I have found myself with so little time to get everything done that needs to get done. Hopefully I can find a way to organize my life a little better, but for now, I'm just taking things one day at a time. Here's a little video, especially for daddy:

Our new bathroom

Way back on October 12th, I posted some "before" pictures for our bathroom renovation project. I was hoping to post the "after" pictures about 4 weeks later. Well, it took a little longer than expected and then I never got around to taking the pictures. So finally - just a few months late - here they are! I still need to hang pictures on the walls and buy some towels, but this is pretty close to the finished product. TA DA!

Our shiny new toilet that is capable of flushing a bucket of golf balls without clogging up! Worth every penny, haha.

Our house has a dinosaur in every nook and cranny - even in the shower!

And what was Emma doing while I was taking these pictures? Apparently finding Liam's polished-off bowl of ice cream. She wasn't about to let perfectly good slurpings go to waste!

Day at Old Mesilla

We spent the afternoon today in Mesilla, New Mexico. It is an old historic town about 40 minutes to the north of us. Back in the day, it was a true "wild west" town where Billy the Kid was held in prison (he escaped). The oldest brick building in New Mexico is also in this tiny plaza that is so rich in history. We had lunch at La Posta, a Mexican restaurant, and then walked around the shops.


Emma heard a loud sound and turned to see what it was. This is her "surprised" look. :)


Our family in the plaza




This was a few days ago. More snuggles and stories with daddy.

Quality time with Daddy

Every second with daddy is especially precious these days with the deployment coming at us fast. After dinner tonight, Emma asked Brendan to read her new favorite book, "Whose Nose and Toes?" She is just so cute - she brings the book and points to her nose to ask us to read it to her. What a little smarty pants!

And this picture is from the other night. Brendan was showing the kids a website with Patriot Missiles. Liam thinks it's really cool. Emma was just enjoying the snuggle time.

Our 7th Anniversary & Valentine's Day

This past Monday Brendan and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. Which seems just crazy to me! Time goes by so quickly.
With Valentine's day just two days before our anniversary, we decided to go out to celebrate both occasions on the day in the middle - the 15th. We had a really nice dinner at Ardivino's Desert Crossing and afterwards stopped by the casino. Unfortunately, it wasn't our lucky night, but fortunately, we didn't stay too long to see how bad it could get! We joked that we'll have to do it again in 2 years. Next year, Brendan will still be finishing up his year in the middle east.
Liam took a few pictures before we left.

Emma wanted in on the action, too. She is definitely a "daddy's girl!"

And here are my lovely Valentine's day roses from Brendan.

Snow!

We got snow flurries in El Paso yesterday! None of it stuck to the ground, but Emma had wide eyes and a big smile on her face as she experienced her first snow! It is hard to see in the pictures, but I promise, it is there. Poor Liam didn't even know it had snowed as he had been cooped in in his classroom learning how to read and speak Spanish all morning, among other things. Oh the injustices of being a kindergartner!

The sun will come out tomorrow!

Liam and I had our big date to Annie on Sunday evening. I love sharing my love of Broadway shows with him, but it is sometimes hard to find appropriate ones for kids in El Paso. We don't get too many that come through here. So I was really excited when I heard Annie was coming to The Plaza. Annie was one of my very first shows that I ever saw with my dad, at Ike Hall when I was a little girl. Liam already knows the ropes, having seen Peter Pan at The Plaza last year, as well as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at the UTEP dinner theatre. Admittedly, he wasn't sure if he really was going to enjoy Annie, but as soon as we got there, he was excited to see Daddy Warbucks and Sandy signing autographs and posing for pictures in the lobby. We met them and then went to sit down and Liam started raving about how great our seats were. (That's my boy! haha!) The show was top rate, it could have easily been on Broadway. Liam giggled the whole way through and at intermission told me how glad he was that we came. I think I am creating a monster. But that's ok, it's all my plan, haha! I told him about all the shows I've been to in NY and how I have figured out the secret to getting the best seats. (I'll never tell. ;)) He made me promise that next time we are in NY, I will take him to Broadway and get him the best seats. I better start saving my pennies for that! But I can't wait.