Dallas World Aquarium/Kate's Birthday

I know this is way behind. (It took me a while to edit all of the pictures). For Kate's 7th birthday she decided on a family trip to the Dallas World Aquarium, instead of a birthday party. It is a wonderful place with a full indoor aquarium with some animals literally right at your fingertips.  We had a great time!

You may not be able to see it very well in this collage, but the picture in the top left is Kelly looking at a huge crab. Seeing Kelly's arm & head gives you an idea of how big it was!

Behind us is a 3 story tall exhibit with a center island and all kinds of trees, birds, and these tiny little black monkeys that Kenzie called "kitten monkey's" because they were so small and sort of looked like little kittens playing in the trees.

The aquarium was close to Dallas' Founder's Park.  If we're nearby we like to stop and walk among the cattle statues.

Kate's birthday dinner request?  Chick-Fil-A of course!  It has been her favorite since she was very little.

I love seeing her expression as she opened this gift. She had been asking for a lava lamp for a long time and was so excited to get it.  The ironic thing about it all is that once it was plugged in and turned on, it creeped her out to see it glowing in the dark that she doesn't even use it.  I'm sure as she gets older she will be more comfortable with it. (If not, Kevin has dib's on it, so either way we're covered). :)

Happy Birthday Kate!! We love you so much and are so grateful to have you in our family!

Beautiful Birthday Girl

Kate's big birthday wish this year--Pierced Ears! It was pretty exciting. She has loved showing people and telling them she chose, "Crystal Daisy," earrings.  I love it because she has wanted her hair in a pony tail every day since so she can show off her new jewelry.

Kate's dinner request?  Chick-Fil-A has been her favorite since she was old enough to tell us.  I couldn't argue with the ease of this dinner prep.  She was even more excited when I told her that she could turn in her "toy" for ice cream.

She wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and vanilla frosting.  Yes, this cake is lop-sided because I was totally putting it together last minute--but it tasted great!  She just kept saying how much she loved everything and how grateful she was for everything.  I have to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised at how much she had matured. She didn't express as much gratitude in that way before.  

She is a beautiful girl and a light to our family. We are so grateful to have her in our lives. She is bright and funny and makes sure that we keep fun in our lives.

We Love You Kate! Happy Birthday!

Birthday Boy

We celebrated Kevin's 11th birthday last week!  It was a great week!

Cute 2 year old Kevin. I couldn't resist posting this picture.

Such a handsome boy! Here he is, on his last day as a cub scout. (Good thing I finally got all of his patches sewn on his shirt! :) ).  A little trivia--Kevin is wearing the same shirt that Justin wore as a cub scout!

Because Justin would be out of town on the evening of Kevin's birthday, we had a surprise party for him a few days early.  All of the girls helped me put this together and set up all the decorations.

No I did not make this cake. Thanks to Costco! It reminds of The Trunchbull's chocolate cake from "Matilda". It was delicious!!

The partier's pre-dinner.  We had manicotti at Kevin's request. It was so good (and so easy!).

I love the concentration on his face in these pictures.

Happy Birthday Kevin!! We love you!

Birthday Girl

We celebrated Kenzie's birthday this week.  I love watching her grow up.  She is so funny and such a blessing to our family.  When we decided to have a fourth child it was definitely a big decision.  We both just kind of felt like "now or never" and then did a big gulp and decided to go for it.  Of course we are so glad that we did.  We could not imagine our life without her.  Our family just didn't seem complete without her.

She loved her summer dance class!  We got to observe on the last day and I love this picture of her!  She's a sweet girly-girl with a spunk that just draws you to her.

Kelly's gift to Kenzie was a new Barbie--and a Barbie cake!  Kelly baked it, made the frosting, put most of it together, and decorated it.  Obviously, you can tell from this picture that she learned a lot.  Sadly, right after these pictures the whole thing started to fall apart.  However, Kenzie loved it!  She thought it was the most beautiful cake ever, and that's what matters. (That and it tasted fantastic!)

Here she is with her new Rapunzel barbie--cake free.

I love this picture because the camera angle makes the gift appear to be huge!  It really wasn't that big.

Kevin was the official "remover of packaging" so that Kenzie could enjoy her baby doll.

I took this picture because I thought it was so fun that Kate and Kelly were playing dress-up.  We are truly enjoying our summer, especially on Kenzie's special day.

I just realized that we didn't take any pictures of what we did that day!  We invited some friends to go swimming with us and then went back to our house for cake and ice cream.  It was the perfect way to enjoy the day!  Thanks P family for coming with us and helping us celebrate Kenzie.  We are so grateful for you!

Kenzie, we love you beautiful girl.  We are so proud of you and the way that you are growing up.  You are learning and growing so much and we are blessed to have you in our family.

Arizona--Last Day

Since this was our last day in Arizona we started with a family breakfast.

Kelly, Erin, & Glen

Lou & Abby

Sorry for the blurry picture.  We surprised Kevin with miniature cupcakes and a quick rendition of "Happy Birthday" as sort of a way to celebrate with the cousins.

A big Thank You to all of our Arizona Family!!! Thank you so much for your love and generosity, and all that you did to make our trip so wonderful!  We can not wait to come back.

Ok. I admit it. After we said our good-byes to the family, the kids and I headed into Phoenix to check out this great store.

It has an inviting and enjoyable ambience.  This was a definite splurge for us.  But I was all about just enjoying our trip.  They have a fun photo booth that we didn't try this time around, but will try to do it again sometime.

So many choices!!  Surprisingly I was the only one who picked out candy--salt water taffy.  They were at Kenzie's eye level and had these cute, red take-out boxes that you could fill with any and all flavors.  I think our favorites were red licorice and peach.  Kenzie also picked out a pink bubblegum lip smackers chapstick--which several hours later she decided to dig out with her fingers and smear all over her window.  Yeah, I won't do that again.

Kelly chose a package of gag trinkets, you know, like a hand buzzer, whoopie cushion (that had a hole in it :( ), snapping pack of gum, and disappearing ink, etc.  Kevin chose a yo-yo--which I think was the best purchase of all.  Kate chose a small kit with sparkly nail polish and lip gloss. (Shocker!!)  I also bought a chinese jump rope and three wooden tops that have cool designs painted on them that look even better when you spin them.  It's a great store to visit--but with so many things these days, it was a little pricey, so we won't do it every time.

It was a wonderful trip and I still can't believe that I drove all the way there and back by myself!  It may be silly, but I feel good knowing that I can physically do things like that.  My grandmother was legally blind and was never able to drive at all, so to me it feels like a big accomplishment that I could make that drive.  I also need to give some credit to my fantastic kids to put up with such a long, long drive.  Other than the chapstick on the window, (which I really should have known better), they did a wonderful job.

Random Pictures Part Two

Chocolate Mint Brownies.....YUM!

She was enjoying this so much!  I couldn't help but take pictures of her.

(Don't worry, it completely washed out of her clothes.)

Kelly went to a church activity that was an international feast.  She found this recipe from Switzerland for "Zopf", or bread and made it by herself.

Justin and I gave her pointers here and there, but for the most part she made it all herself.

We are so proud of you Kelly!  Her bread tasted delicious too!

These pictures are from the morning of Kelly's birthday.  I had to work that day so she agreed to wake up early to open presents.  This was taken after she opened her big gift--a cell phone!

For a special treat we made cinnamon rolls for her birthday breakfast.  They were sooooo good!

Happy Birthday!

This is from the first day of school.  If it looks dark outside thats because it was.  We have to leave the house at 7 am to get everyone where they need to be on time.  When I woke Kate up she said, "We have to go to school in the middle of the night?!"  Kelly is not pictured because she was still in bed.  Her school starts later in the day and it works out perfectly for Justin to drop her off.