Saturday, July 7, 2012

Happy 5th Birthday!

Today was Elia's 5th birthday party with her friends from school.  Enjoy!

 See the cute treasure chests?  Take a good look, because these blessed boxes where a nightmare to assemble, and I'll never touch another one again!  Lesson learned.  But she loved them.
 Mommy thought purchasing a Pinata online was a great idea.  Yeah, no.  It was a cardboard box, and very sturdy!!! You'll see in a few pictures below what I mean.
 Elia and her next door neighbor friend, Marin.  Elia believes Marin is just about the best thing our new city has to offer!  She is the sweetest little girl, and very loving toward Elia.
 Mommy trying to take pre-party pictures before everything looks messy!
 And there were hats. 
 My Pinterest-inspired fruit kabobs!  They were a major hit with the kiddos.
 Jake and the Neverland Pirates is a staple at our home.  She was so impressed her cake matched her birthday theme!!!
 Let there be cake!
 What you don't see in this picture is every adult fanning the flies away!  It was a full-time job.
 I would love to know what her wish was!!!
This clearly is her favorite part!
  
 This is Allison and Maddie...my helpers during the party! 
 Ok, so everyone took a wack at this thing.  Many times...
 Alas, Daddy had to come to the rescue and end the saga.
 Everyone searched for their pirate loot.  I even spied a few gold doubloons!
 The heat has now set in, the party is wrapping up, and we snap one last picture to remember the day.
 My BFF Melany, her kiddos, Marin, and the Tellez trio headed to lunch on the square. 

 
 There's always one at every party. 
 You can't be that close to Beth Marie's and not stop in for a bit of ice cream. 
Perfect ending to a pretty swell day. 

Twas a long day, but this mommy can look back and say, "Yo ho, way to go!"
Happy Birthday, our precious little one.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Elia's Act of Kindness

This year, Elia invited her friends to donate coloring books and crayons to the Dallas Children's Medical Center. We delivered dozens and dozens of them!





Then we celebrated with a trip to Neiman Marcus' Window Display!








There is nothing like the original Neiman's at Christmas.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Texas Sunsets

I will let these speak for themselves...






And some people think there is no God.








Dream Come True

A few weeks ago, Isaac, Elia, and I went fossil hunting near Justin, Texas, with the Dallas Paleontological Society. This is something to mark off my list of things to do before I die!


It was the most awesome experience. You got to keep what you found...and we found tons!

These are Hemiaster texana, more affectionately known as "Sea Biscuits"!


They are like fat sand dollars. The instructor said a group of boyscouts first discovered them in the area, and called them "love stones" because they resemble a heart.


These Oxytropidoceras sp. ammonites are each larger than my steering wheel in my car! They are huge! I've seen some in museums this nice!


Ridiculously cool.


By far, my favorite. Did I mention the Cretaceous Period was 144-65 million years from the present? Yeah, let that settle in your mind. It blew mine away!


High concentrations of iron causes this awesome coloration.



Special thanks to the Dallas Paleontological Society, and especially to Mr. Roger Farish, for putting up with us "city slickers" and for allowing me to fulfill a dream I've had for years and years!










Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Making Memories!


Meet Ariel!



Her Hero



His Heart.



Love the blue eye shadow!



My friend, Carli!


Evaluating our goods.


We then raced to Elia's school carnival


She takes this very seriously!


Why not take a ride on a tractor?


What's wrong with a snow cone at 8:00 at night?


Although exhausted, we all had a great time together.


























Sunday, October 30, 2011

Happy Fall Ya'll!

I'm passing on the tradition of caramel apples this year. Our toppings included crushed pretzels, heath bits, mints chips, almonds, mixed nuts, and sprinkles. Needless to say, they were a hit. The Pioneer Woman gave a hint on her site shown here...add salt to the caramel....YUM-O!





No slow pokes here! You have to work quickly!
Toppings are ready, and so is my little helper!






Serious business, no slackers allowed.

Waiting is the hardest part!


Oh yeah. So worth waiting for! Happy Fall!