One year older and hopefully wiser too!

I had another great birthday this year!  Zak took the day off and spoiled me all day!  He made me crepes and fresh fruit and cream in bed, so yummy!  Then I came downstairs to balloons, signs, streamers, a beautiful bouquet of flowers and an amazing quilt shelf that Zak made for me! I’m one lucky girl! I’ve been wanting a quilt shelf for a long time and I LOVE it, it matches our table perfectly! I still can’t believe that Zak made this for me without me finding out. He said he went to great lengths to keep it a secret and he did a great job until Kennedy totally gave it away during breakfast, it was pretty funny! This picture doesn’t do it justice and the rod wasn’t in it yet, but I can’t wait to get it hung and start decorating it!

Kennedy was so cute all day, she sang Happy Birthday to me multiple times, gave me lots of hugs and kisses, and kept saying “I go to mom’s birthday party” as we drove downtown. She even prayed that “mommy would have a happy birthday party!” in her prayers.  How sweet, I loved spending the whole day with her and Zak! We spent quite a bit of the day downtown at Ripley’s Believe it or Not, The Wax Museum and then Schilo’s (a yummy German deli) for lunch!

Ripley’s Believe it or Not

Kennedy and Zak in front of a moose made out of nails Us sitting in the biggest tire in the world (a mining tire), the rubber from this one tire could make 395 car tires!Kennedy measuring up next to the tallest man in the world! Checking out the Titanic exhibit… Zak and Kennedy “smiling” ha! This picture of Elvis was completely made out of butterfly wings Eiffel Tower made out of toothpicks! Zak and Kennedy walking through this awesome light tunnel, you walked on flat ground, but this barrel of lights turned around as you were walking through it and it totally made you feel like you were turning with it! 

The Wax Museum

Ellen, Whoopi and SandraHarry PotterKennedy is always asking us to lift her up and fly her around and say “Super Kennedy” so we thought it appropriate to get a picture with Super Man! Kennedy wasn’t sure what to think of being on the Oprah show…

That evening our friends watched Kennedy and Zak took me to Chez Lu’s (his own restaurant he takes me too on special occasions) where he made me an amazing gourmet dinner!   Butternut Squash-Parsnip Soup with Thyme, cream cheese red mashed potatoes, Top Sirloin Steak with Bell Peppers and Onion Saute, asparagus, and rolls. It was delicious! He also made this divine Brown Butter Raspberry Tart that was to die for, seriously it was so good !  I told him that I just might request this tart every birthday! As if the tart wasn’t enough, he thought I still needed an actual cake too. Kennedy loved helping me blow out the candles! It was a fantastic birthday!  I’m lucky to have such a wonderful hubby that makes me feel so special! Thanks to all those that sent messages or called, it made me happy!

Everyday Life

Many of you have commented recently about how we are always doing fun things and you want to come to Texas.  Well, it’s true, Texas IS fun and yes you should come visit us, but just so you know life isn’t always a bed of roses around here.  We ARE very lucky to live 10 minutes away from Sea World and that it offers so many fun things to do, and we do go often since we have a season pass. Of course I also tend to take and post pictures of the fun things we do…but there IS plenty of this going on at our home too, actually more than we wish! Here is our cutie in action on her time out stool!

So don’t worry, our life still includes the normal day-to-day things here in Texas too.  But I do have to say, since we don’t live close to family and don’t get to attend all the family gatherings that many of you do, in our family time we do like to get out and about and explore new things around us. So next time you see a post about something fun we did, you can rest assured there was also plenty of  other “fun” things going on too! 

Diggin’ for Gold in Style!

Texan Christmas

This year we decided to stay in Texas for Christmas, it was the first year spent away from our families.  I’m not going to lie, we definitely missed them at times, but it was good to celebrate just with our little family too.  Although it’s wonderful being able to see both of our families when we go home, it was nice just doing what we wanted and relaxing here together!  Kennedy even slept in until 9:30 Christmas morning, what a nice present to us!

Our Christmas Eve Dinner   Santa ate the milk and cookies we made and filled the stockings!

I loved being in our living room with the Christmas Tree lights on, it was so cozy and peaceful!

Checking out her stocking and presents! We were having issues with our camera and sadly this picture is blurry, but I’m posting it anyways because her excited face is too cute! Kennedy loved her princess dress from Gma Barb! Our Texan Christmas Dinner- Brisket and Potatoes with Rudy’s Bar-BQ Sause of course!

We hope ya’ll had a wonderful Christmas too!

Sesame Street

Sea World only has a Sesame Street show during Holidays and special occasions. So when they do have a show, we make sure to see it a couple times because Kennedy loves Sesame Street and especially Elmo.They put on a good show!

Kennedy’s dream came true!  She got to meet Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster!  What a lucky girl!

  Hugs for Elmo!

   That’s one Big Smile, from one happy girl! She was all smiles the whole time!

       

Sea World Christmas Fun

Sea World was open for 2 weeks during December, so we made sure to go a few times and soak in all the Christmas fun with friends,  even daddy came along with us one time!   Kennedy and Chandler under the World’s Largest Mistletoe She got to see Santa at Sea World too, still no smile…

She even got to meet Shamu Santa! Giving Otter a hug

A bunch of the Sea World animal characters come out in the afternoon and have a Christmas hoedown!  Kennedy loved seeing all of them and dancing to the music!  She loves to dance! Dancing with the Penguin

                               Boot Christmas tree…only in Texas! 

Clyde and Seamore’s Christmas Countdown, it was a cute new show!

Kennedy and Zak checking out all the Alligators taking naps in the warm 75 deg weather! Kennedy loved watching and feeding all the ducksThis is the face we get when we ask Kennedy to smile and say cheese! Ha, love her!