March

I know I left you hanging last month with Shep’s first tournament of the season since March 1st fell on a Sunday, so here’s another bomb he hit on that day…

And yep, they did it! They went undefeated and won the championship!!!

Same team, different name this season. They also picked up 4 new players and I think they’re going to be pretty darn good!

I love it when we can get Ellis to come to the games! She’s Shep’s biggest cheerleader and was so proud of her baby brother! He calls her his lucky charm!

Brooks couldn’t make it to Shep’s games because he was at Six Flags with some of his baseball buddies!

I made it to the championship game, but earlier that day I was at World Springs celebrating this pretty lady turning 43! The last time we were there a waiter gave us some attitude, so we all got free passes to come back! Yes please, I’ll take a free day of relaxation!

It really is such a neat and relaxing place. Dallas has so many cool things to offer!

Missing several ladies from our crew. Getting 9 ladies together with young kiddos on a weekend is always challenging!

Casey (the birthday girl) is the youngest of our group at 43, and this beautiful lady, Robyn, is the oldest. She will be 60 next year and doesn’t look a day over 45 to me! So thankful for her wisdom and kind heart!

My BFF will be the big 5-0 next summer, and we are definitely celebrating big!!!

Jen is also turning the big 5-0 next summer! With two turning 50 and one turning 60 we better start planning now!!!

Me and the birthday girl!

My shorty sista!

Each hot tub has different minerals from around the world and they feel soooo good!

Cold plunge time! Casey said, “NOPE”!!!!!!

I on the other hand loved it and stayed in for 5 minutes. I was numb when I got out, but it felt wonderful!

I had to take Brooks to school early and when I got back to the house to take Shep he was waiting for me in the tree, lol! I swear he gives me a heart attack on the daily. Boys are something special!

Brooks qualified for his first track meet (he’s in the black socks), and I was in awe! Everyone who tries out for track makes the team, but only a select few qualify for the actual meets.

Run, Brooksy, run! That kid in the red just lapped him and Brooks was trying so hard not to let him. That kid finished in first place, waaaaaayyyy ahead of everyone else.

This race was the 1600 (mile and a half). Brooks is probably never going to win first place, but he still impresses the heck out of me!

Shep had his 4th grade performance right in the middle of Brooks’ track meet, so we watched Brooks run the 1600 and then raced all the way back home to watch Shep!

I remember doing these 4 square type dances in elementary school. I love that they’re still doing them!

A select few kiddos were chosen to perform this special type of dance called “tinikling”, and Shep was one of the lucky chosen ones!

Such a cute performance!

Finished up Shep’s show and then rushed back to Brooks’s track meet! Thankfully he was only competing in the first race (1600) and the second to last race (1200)!

I got there just in time for his second race warm ups!

The only thing I missed was his hours and hours of sitting around and socializing. Who knew tracks meets lasted almost 6 hours!?!

Love the camaraderie sports brings!

Finished the 1600 (one mile) in the middle of the pack with a whopping 6.42!!!! Brooks seems to think that’s not fast, but it will always be super impressive in my book!

I can’t even, lol! I freaking love him! Unfortunately he had to miss his second meet because we left for spring break two days early, which means he had to sit out the following meet where you qualify for areas and districts. It was a one meet season for him, but it was fun while it lasted!

Have I mentioned that I love their bond!! Ellis wanted to bring Shep lunch again as part of her “Fun Friday”!

Then we went on the hunt for “dumplings”, which are all the rage right now. They are squishy’s shaped like dumplings, but the catch is, the packaging hides which dumpling is inside so you never know which one you’re going to get. There are also “mystery” dumplings, so you keep searching until you find the mystery one. There are literally lines out the door at store openings and they have to set limits on how many you can buy. They sell out within minutes, it’s absolutely insane. When Ellis asked me if we could go look for them, I had NO idea how big this craze was and how lucky we were to score these ”mini” dumplings at our first store. We searched multiple stores after this one with no luck. That dopamine hit got Ellis and she was hooked! That smile made it all worth it for me though!

Later that evening Shep had a game with his Millenium rec team and he balled out with multiple strike outs….

…his signature pick off move…

…and of course he hit bombs! He’s so fun to watch!

Saturday night Nancy invited us to go watch the music teacher at her school, who plays in a band for fun, perform at this fun restaurant in downtown McKinney!

Double Date nights are the best!

Nancy and I snuck away to the speakeasy while the boys hung out at the pub

Such a fun night!

My really good friend, Tiffany, is obsessed with finding hard to find things just like Ellis. It’s literally her “job” or side gig to shop every day and resale these hard to find objects for a profit. She’s never going to get rich, but she has a blast doing it! She thought it would be fun to take Ellis along with her one day! To say Ellis was excited would be a complete understatement.

Within an hour they hit up Five Below, Target, CVS, and Walmart, lol

They hit the jackpot at Walmart! Dumplings are a hot commodity, but so are these squishy’s called Needoh’s. They make them in all kinds of different shapes and colors, so the fun part is finding the rare ones. This craze cracks me up, and I’m just so thankful for AMAZING friends who like to see Ellis smile as much as I do!

Ellis couldn’t wait to share all of her big finds with Maddie over FaceTime!

Later that week it was my turn to shower Tiffany with gifts and brunch for her birthday with my “favorites”!

Then we were off to the airport to kick off our spring break in Lake Tahoe!!! First time for all of us!!!

I scored with Brooks as my seat buddy on the plane!

We met our favorite spring break travel buddies in Nevada and drove to our amazing ski in and ski out condo together!

We spotted some monkeys near our condo…

They were only somewhat friendly but definitely cute!

Lake and mountains, best of both worlds!

Day 1 – let’s do this girls!

Dimneros POW POW Crew 2026 is back baby!

Reunited BFF’s were in heaven!

Selfie time with Mommy on the lift….

Shep was in awe of how big the pine cones were, lol!

Shep took off skiing with no fear, per usual!

Caught a rare sighting of Adam snowboarding. Him and the boys are always way ahead of me!

Just look at that breathtaking view of Lake Tahoe on top of the mountain!

My whole world!

Best travel buddies!

Dimneros POW POW crew!

Mexican Train = best way to unwind after a full day on the slopes!

Ellis and Maddie think this is a better way to unwind!

God gave us the most beautiful sunset sky to end our first day!

Day 2 – it’s gonna be a good day!

Let’s go!!!

POW pow crew lift Day 2!

The Julie’s!!

Loves him!

Loves them!

Made it to the California side of the mountain!

The whole gang!

The girls!

Adam ate it pretty hard while trying to snowboard and record a video, landing right on his knee. He said it hurt a little, but he got right back up and kept going. When we stopped for lunch midway down the mountain he rolled up his pants because he thought he was bleeding. He was not expecting to see this baseball sized bump!

He decided to get it checked out just in case, and they thought he should probably get snowmobiled down the mountain instead of trying to snowboard down.

Ellis and Maddie gave him hugs to make him feel better.

Ellis got really scared and wanted to go down the mountain with him.

David was down there with them recording a play by play for the rest of us…

Bye bye Ellis and Adam!

Thankfully, after getting X-rays and confirming nothing was broken, the Dr. gave him the go ahead to go back up the mountain after a day of rest!

That evening we doordashed food for the kids and the adults went to a nice restaurant overlooking the lake!

The next morning Adam, Ellis, Shep and I headed back to the urgent care where Adam got his x-rays because Ellis was complaining of a headache and not feeling well. When I took her temperature it was 102. This made me ecstatic because she hasn’t run a fever in over two years. The last fever I can recall is right before she started pulling her hair. Instead of a fever and normal “sick” symptoms she now gets psychiatric symptoms. A fever would mean her immune system is working properly, hence my excitement. Shep wanted me to take his temp as well, even though he said he felt fine, and it was 101. I knew Ellis for sure would not let them do a nose or throat swab to check for strep or flu, so I made Shep go to urgent care with us so they could check him. Of course neither of them had a fever when we got there, and thankfully Shep tested negative for everything. Not sure, but I’m guessing my thermometer was not working properly because both of them were completely fine after the urgent care visit. Grateful, but also a little bummed because I was really excited about Ellis’ fever.

Ellis decided to stay back with Daddy the rest of the day, but Shep was itching to get up the mountain, so off we went!

We spotted Brooks from lift!

David, Julie, and Maddie were tired after lunch so they met up with Ellis and Adam to do a little retail therapy. That left me with all three boys on the mountain, and we had the absolute best time!!! They all wanted to do this same run over and over again because it had a fun jump. They all 3 landed it on their first try!

Shep was flying!

Brooks was flying too!

They also had plenty of wipe outs, lol!

This was probably my favorite day on the mountain!

I took over the day 3 Pow pow crew video on the lift with the boys, since Adam was out of commission!

These crazy boys worked up a sweat on all those jumps and decided to finish the day shirtless, lol!

I freaking love them! Although the weather was “heavenly” in the 60’s, it definitely made for some slushy conditions. We’ve never been skiing where they had cones blocking part of the runs where the rock was coming through the melted snow.

Pizza dinner for the kids!!!

Fancy dinner at Lisa Venderpump’s Wolf in Caesars Palace for the adults!

The decor and every little detail in this restaurant was exquisite!

The drinks and food were top notch!

Famous goat cheese balls were phenomenal!

We fancy!

I could get used to waking up to a view like this on my front porch!

Gavin was our photographer and told us to look at each other. Obviously, Adam did not follow the assignment, lol.

Last day on the mountain, let’s do this!

Final Pow pow crew lift video!

Monkey sighting on the mountain for the first time ever!

Cutest monkeys I ever did see!

If there are boulders, Shep will climb them!

Loves him!

Holy smokes, look at those muscles!!!!

Started with the girls and ended with the girls!

Brooks and Shep attempted the BIG jumps at the trick park!

Snowboards are much harder to land tricks on…

Shep is crazy!

We attempted to gamble the two nights the adults went out to dinner, but both got cut short because of the kiddos. Julie FINALLY got her fix at the airport!

How we entertain ourselves while waiting two hours for our flight….

These two besties sure are going to miss each other!

Love them and their silly dances!

Flew back into the most beautiful sunset in Texas!! Such a wonderful trip with life long memories made. We all loved Lake Tahoe and will definitely be back!

We split spring breaks since the Cisneros was the week before us, so when we got home we still have the second half of our spring break left. First thing Ellis wanted to do was take Shep dumplings hunting…

This was our first time scoring the regular sized dumpling and Ellis was beyond excited!!

I live for that smile!

Scored some rare squishy’s at Walmart too!

I had to record Ellis saying this in case she ever forgets!

We attempted a family fun day at Top Golf, but I guess everyone else on Spring Break had the same idea because there was a two hour wait…

We tried our luck at Pin Stack instead!

Brooks and I went bowling, and as you can see, I demolished him our first game!

Awesome spare, Brooksy!

I let him win our second game, lol

Ellis, Shep, and Daddy opted for the arcade instead…

Then we spent our last weekend of spring break up at the lake!

Those lake sunsets are just good for the soul!

I let Ellis make a custom hat at the boutique connected to Hemmingways!

I just love how her hair is growing in curly!

Saturday – Ellis, Shep and I drove into Mineral Wells to go shopping since our boat isn’t summer’ized yet.

It really is such a cute little town and the weather was gorgeous!

Of course they each got a little toy!

Finishing this puzzle I got in Lake Tahoe was the perfect end to our wonderful spring break!

The following week Ellis had her monthly infusion and somehow convinced her nurse to get CFA and go dumpling hunting with us!

Best nurse in the world! I mean how amazing is it that she can get her medicine through an IV and go shopping at the same time!!!!

She scored so many dumplings that day and was one happy camper!!!

Then it was off to Broken Bow for a girls trip weekend for me!

We went to “officially” celebrate Noel and Brandy’s 50th birthdays!

Baseball Board aka We Don’t Care Club (just missing Casey who was in Switzerland)!!!

We had high hopes for the weekend, but only finished about an 1/8th of all of that alcohol, lol

The top and bottom balconies had these floor to ceiling sliding window doors that completely opened to this incredible view of our backyard!!!

Yes, that gorgeous pool was heated!

Matching pink PJ’s for these adorable birthday girls!

We also had big plans for the day, but spent the first few ours laughing our butts off and making these silly videos….

Here’s an outtake. I was in charge of keeping us on count without moving my lips, lol…

A little liquid courage to get our creative video vibes flowing!

Queens!

Outtake #2….

Had to get pics in our matching PJ’s by the pool before jumping in!!

But first, champagne and lunch!!!

Finally time to enjoy that gorgeous heated pool!

Half of us were in black…

And the other half were in color!!!

I definitely won this intense game of connect four!

Oh my gosh I can’t reach!!!

Breea to the rescue, lol!

Such a beautiful and relaxing afternoon!

So grateful for these ladies!

Heated pool was nice, but the soak in the hot tub to finish off the day was chef’s kiss!

Front and side view of our gorgeous air bnb!

Speaking of chef’s kiss, we channeled our inner housewives of McKinney selves and hired a private chef!!!

It was worth every single delicious penny!!!!

Get in my belly!

Anything for these fabulous 50 year olds!!!

Dinner on the patio, yes please!

This house was so gorgeous!

Ready for dinner!

But first, we must take a million pictures….

I mean just look at us, we really are the Real Housewives of McKinney, lol!

Gorgeous sunset for our fancy patio private chef dinner!

Then it was time to get comfy and learn to play some Mahjong!!!

Happy 50th birthdays beautiful Noelle and Brandy!

Perfectly said about our amazing girls weekend!

I love that the beautiful oasis that is Broken Bow, Oklahoma is only a few short hours away from us!

I almost forgot!!! Here are the finished products of our silly videos!!!

Drove from Oklahoma straight to this studs championship game to see him get a strike out…

Another strike out!

A pick off!!

A triple!

Another strike out!

And finally the championship game winning strike out!!

3 for 3 champions!

Atta boy! Just collecting that bling!

Shep just keeping the tradition with his yearly urgent care/ER visits…

Broken tree branch=1 and Shep=0. It looked a lot deeper and bloodier at home, but thankfully no stitches were needed!

Ended the month of March Madness at Shep’s open house where he got to show off all of his awesome work, and Ellis and Brooks got to reminisce in their old stomping grounds!

I will leave you with our budding little artist!!