Cowboys Stadium Opera!

My friend Becky called us on Thursday to see if David & I wanted to go along on a field trip to a Dallas Opera performance. It was going to be held at Cowboys stadium, which I'd never been to. Since she had extra tickets, I called Mom to see if she wanted to go, and she already had tickets with my aunt and cousin. So it was decided that I'd ride to Arlington with them, use their extra ticket to get in, then meet up with Becky and her group. There was a Ranger game going on at the Ballpark next door, so traffic was a bit interesting, but not too bad.

We found our seats, then got something to eat. Let me tell you, there's nothing like going to an opera in jeans and eating nachos! I found Becky and her group and sat with them. The stadium was huge! The opera performance was on the enormous jumbo-tron. One of the anchors of the Daybreak show was the host for the event. He was interviewing members of the cast, the conductor, as well as other people. I've been to a Dallas Opera performance, but not at the new Winspear Opera House. Finally, it was time for the performance to begin. The orchestra played the National Anthem and we all stood up to sing. It was an attempt for the Winspear patrons to incorporate us at the stadium. I thought it was fun.

The opera was Mozart's The Magic Flute. I wasn't familiar with the story, but I really enjoyed the performance. There were some technical issues to be worked out, such as the subtitles not being consistently on, or some snow across portions of the screen. However, this was the first time the Dallas Opera had done a simulcast, so they didn't bother me that much. I still had a wonderful time. They did continue to include us at the stadium in the performance, such as when the audience at the Winspear led us all in the wave, and at one point of the opera, where characters appeared in Dallas Cowboy jerseys. There was also a mention of Lone Star beer in the opera, which I'm pretty sure Mozart did not know about.

I thought the night was a success, and since this performance was to the largest audience at an opera in America, we were a part of history! Isn't that cool?

March for Babies

A few months ago, a friend of mine from PAMOM posted about the March for Babies. I didn't know much about it, so in true Dezi fashion, I googled it. I found out that it is a fundraiser for March of Dimes, and money goes toward research and interventions for premature babies. Since our boys were preemies, I decided this was a cause I wanted to support.

I decided to sign up to walk with a couple of PAMOM friends, and started doing practice walks. The boys and I would walk around the neighborhood after dinner, and I found an app that kept track of my mileage. David pulled out his camel pack backpack for me to use and I was ready!

The big day, I woke up early, then ate a good breakfast before heading out the door. Since parking was very limited, I chose the option of parking at Valley View Mall, then catching a shuttle to the race site at White Rock Lake. I had thought about bringing the boys to the walk, but since I was by myself, putting the stroller under the bus, then getting both boys on the bus would have been extremely difficult.

Once at the site, I walked around, got some fun freebies. It was VERY crowded, as I was weaving among the people, trying to locate my group. I laughed to myself, as I'm used to people getting out of my way when I have the double stroller. By myself, no one moves! Oh well. I found my group and the walk got underway!

Since we had so many young kids in our group, we quickly fell to the back of the walkers. No biggie! We still kept going. It was a beautiful day for a walk. Along the way, there were pictures posted in memory or in honor of babies. It really made me so thankful for my handsome, healthy boys. Yes, they were preemies, but were huge compared to many of the babies featured in the pictures. We are certainly very blessed to have Jack & Justin as our sons.

As we walked across the finish line, we were the last ones, but we made it. I'm so glad that I did this walk, and I hope to do it for many years. Perhaps even the boys will walk with me. The one side effect from the walk was very sore legs for the next two days, but it was worth it!

First Easter

I was excited about celebrating the boys' first Easter. I had gone to Mardel to get a couple of goodies for them. The Saturday before Easter, we had a full Easter service at church. This was a new thing for our church, due to space restrictions on Easter Sunday at the adjacent YMCA. (Our church holds three Easter services in the YMCA gym, but they were limited on space this year.) We took some pictures of the boys in front of the Easter lilies, which turned out really cute. After church, we went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. It went pretty well, although Jack was getting fussy at the end, so I took him home, while David and Barbara finished up.

Easter morning, David and I went to the sunrise service. (Barbara was home with the boys.) I always enjoy this service, although sometimes it is hard to get out of bed that early. The service was awesome, and we got home in time for me to prepare their bottles for the day, along with their breakfast, while David went to get breakfast for us! After they ate, opened their Easter presents and took their morning nap, it was time to start getting them ready for our family's Easter dinner.

Mom had made some sailor suits for them to wear, and they looked great! We got to my great-aunt's house and gave the boys their noon bottles. During the meal, the boys also got to try some different things, like creamed spinach and small bites of food. Since the skies looked ready to pour, it was decided to have the Easter egg hunt then, instead of waiting until later. The boys had fun crawling around on the grass, and putting the eggs in their mouth. We got some cute pictures of them! After all the eggs had been found, it started to rain, so we decided to go ahead and leave.

It started pouring! There was flooding in some streets, so we pulled into a mall parking lot to wait for the rain to let up. Once it did, we headed home. It was slow going until we got to the freeway (and even then, it was slower than usual). The boys were tired, so they slept most of the way home. Although somewhat wet, their first Easter was great!

Tornadic Tuesday

The weatherman had predicted that we would get some thunderstorms on Tuesday. That tends to happen frequently this time of year, so I really didn't think too much of it. Then they started saying that they could be severe. Okay, that also tends to happen in the spring. Then I started reading Facebook posts from friends that live in Ft. Worth, talking about tornado sirens going off, debris and other sorts of scary words. It looked gloomy outside, but still not too bad. I decided to go ahead and pull the boys' car seats out and put them in our safe hallway. I also grabbed some blankets, just in case. I then turned the TV on to the news.

As the reports of the tornadoes in Arlington came on, I decided to go ahead and get my shoes on, my purse and flashlight handy. They were showing trailers being thrown around in the wind. Eeeek! It did look like the worst of it was going to be south of us, but still, I did not have a good feeling in my stomach. All of the sudden, I heard the sound I'd been dreading: the tornado sirens. I ran into the boys' room, grabbed Justin out of his crib, put him in the car seat then ran back for Jack. After getting them strapped in, I put the blanket over the tops of the seats and pulled the other blanket over my head. There we were, in the hallway, me listening to the TV, and reading the radar on my Iphone, while watching Facebook posts of my DFW friends. Most of us were talking about the weather, hiding in their safe spots, or hearing the sirens.

After awhile, the siren stopped. I jumped up and grabbed some books and toys for the boys in the living room, then turned up the TV so I could hear it if I needed to go back in the hallway. Sure enough, the siren went on again, so back to the hallway I went. The sirens went off four, possibly five times. At one point, I was talking to David, then they went off again, so we got off. I was rather nervous about possible tornadoes, but trying to be happy and cheerful for the boys. We wound up being in the hallway for close to an hour. Jack especially was NOT happy about having to be in his carseat that long. Between sirens, I ran and grabbed some snacks for the boys. Luckily, the worst had passed us at that point, but I kept them in their carseats for snack just to be on the safe side.

After the storms were over, I checked in with various family members. They were showing footage and photos of the tornadoes on the news. Scary stuff. I was very grateful to have had our roof examined recently, as well as our new fence installed. I did go outside later and look around our house for damage. We didn't have any. Apparently, there were at least eleven tornadoes around DFW on Tuesday, but thankfully, no deaths. Hopefully we won't have weather like that anytime soon.

The boys hanging out in the hallway, our safe spot.

The Quest for Daycare

Since I'm going back to work in August, I've been researching daycare centers in our area. While other options have been explored, we decided that a center was the best option for us. Everyone has said to just drop in at a center, it is very telling.

We've visited several places. The first place was nice and the staff interacted well with the boys. It was a possible contender, although I didn't like that the lunches are not included in their monthly tuition. I'd heard good things about the second place we visited, but when we came in, I was immediately told that we'd have to come back after scheduling a tour. Luckily, they let us walk around, so we got to see the place. After I was finished with my self-guided tour, the director introduced herself and talked to me. Unfortunately, neither of the front office staff talked to the boys or even acknowledged them. I also found the overall attitude to be very snooty. Definitely not a place for our sons to be.

I also toured a couple of Montessori schools. I really liked both of them, and even know a parent at one of them. Unfortunately, the boys aren't old enough (or wouldn't be old enough when August comes) for that one. I liked the other one, although I don't know a lot about it.

I also visited a locally-owned center. We went right after visiting a Montessori, the interiors were a stark contrast. The Montessori schools were very subdued in the decor, and this place was very bright and colorful. I found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. Plus, each of the staff greeted the boys by name and the kids there appeared to be enjoying themselves. Two days later, we received a thank you note for visiting, which definitely earned points with me!

I've liked most of the places that I've visited, each seem to have their pros and cons. I still have a few more places to tour, but I know that we will pick the place that is best for Jack & Justin to go!