a wonderful birthday weekend + back to real life again

We are just getting back to normal today after a weekend away and a Monday of craziness! :D

Thanks to my awesome Dad, we had the chance to get away to Dallas to celebrate my birthday {it's not until the 17th}. He kept the kiddos while my sweet husband took me away to eat all kinds of good food and do some of my very favorite things!

We have officially determined that we enjoy predictability. Without fail we go back to the same restaurants and places and enjoy them over and over again. 

Our first stop for the weekend was lunch at a steakhouse we love:

I ordered a chicken sandwich, and Rob ordered the burger, and we always start with sweet potato fries as our appetizer. They are fabulous. And I love ordering sides as appetizers. :)

Then to our favorite mall, where they have a Corner Bakery with an electronic soda machine. :D We shared the chocolate bundt cake and a monster cookie.

 On special birthday weekends, I eat whatever I want to eat- especially when I'm at the Cheesecake Factory...

Like this Adam's Peanut Butter Cup cheesecake. Butterfinger, caramel, peanut butter cups, and peanut butter icing.... enough calories for an entire day or two right here:

But of course, we started with pizza and a salad first. ;)

I don't know how they manage to make everything taste so amazing. I think it has something to do with the bazillion grams of salt, sugar, and fat in each entree. But it was gooooood.

We stayed the night at a hotel, and unfortunately the Zaner didn't sleep a wink in the five hours we laid down, so I felt a bit like a zombie the next morning when we went to church here:

I love the Village church. Our church is a member of the Acts 29 church-planting network like the Village, so the style and preaching is very similar, and we felt quite at home there too. We were so excited to go to one of our favorite places in Flower Mound and worship there. Turns out it was baptism day- and it was incredible. I was bawling like a baby the whole hour they gave testimonies. I could have sat there listening all day long to people tell how they came to Him- how God broke their hearts and He changed their lives. Ahhhhh. Chill bumps. :D 

{a side note: here is their preacher Matt Chandler's latest sermon on fear and anxiety- sooo good!}

And this little guy went along for all of it and did so very good for us. He turned two months old on Sunday!  Can you believe it? {I know I can't stop saying that. I still can't believe he's out of the womb...} I'm positively in love with this baby.

He's normally a sweet baby, but through a long trip, three restaurants, a mall, and a church service, he barely made a peep {a gift from the Lord, I have no doubt, considering how much he hates traveling}. And he also made it through two Goodwill trips I hope to tell you about soon. :D

Monday meant real life was back in full swing. We spent the entire morning at the dentist for Elijah, Noah, and Isabella. Gotta love spending lots of money and time on teeth. ;) We learned that flossing twice a day is not only healthy- it's also frugal {funny, but not funny}. That and we need to go ahead and start a dental/orthodontic savings account now.

The older kids did great- we almost took up the entire dental office! At one time, they were spread across three rooms. The baby did great, but we had a lovely time with our 4-year-old throwing a fit and crying most of the 2.5 hours we were there. Ahem. ;)

The reason she was so upset? It wasn't that she had to get her teeth cleaned-  she just didn't want to have to go to the dentist NEXT time. {and at that point the next time wasn't even determined yet!}

Holy cow. I wonder what her teenage years will be like? ;) 

Then after lunch, errands, and a tiny bit of homeschool, I had a new BODYCOMBAT to launch with these girls! 

{me, C, L, and Abbie}

Here's a preview of what we launched. BC 57 is challenging and so much fun! If you can go to a class, you have to try it at least once! :D

We learn new choreography every 3 months to teach to our group fitness classes, and we had a blast sweating and killing the air with karate punches and back kicks. It's amazingly stress-relieving and mood-lifting. :) It was the perfect ending to a weekend full of calories and a morning at the dentist. ;)

Do you enjoy going to the same places over and over again too? Or do you prefer to try new ones all the time?

Have you ever done kickboxing? Or Les Mills BODYCOMBAT?

I fell in love with it about 4 years ago. I used to be a TurboKick fan, and then I found Les Mills, and now I love punching and kicking way too much. :D

Ever been to the Cheesecake Factory? 

I had never been until I was 26! It's been one of our favorite special places to go ever since. :)