Happy 9th Birthday E L L I E !!

Delicious whipped cream frosted white cake - just like she wanted!

Ellie and Robin - BFFs
Making their painted frames together~!

Getting ready to cut the cake!

Rebecca, Ellie and Robin hard at work.

After face painting ...
A Tiger, A Zebra and a Sparkle Fairy

Close up of the Zebra mask
She wears it well!

Day Four

Day Four was our visit to Animal Kingdom after a fishing expedition .. pool time and then off to dinner at Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Each day was full of adventure, laughter and sunshine.  Can't ask for any more than that!

On our way into the park in the morning ...

First things first .. Expedition Everest ... she loves her roller coasters!

Disney Magic - Animal Kingdom-style!

But first there was fishing!  She caught 7 fish in two hours ... well, actually only in the 2nd hour!

They sure did have fun!

Day Three

Test Track at EPCOT

Visit with Mickey!

Shock and Awe followed us everywhere!

Dinner Day Three - Downtown Disney Food Trucks!

Day Two

Day Two we visited Magic Kingdom (again) for all the magic one family can possibly handle.  Ellie loved the rides (of course), and we loved the parades, shows and magic it provides!

I know you must have been wondering what I meant when I said, 'magic' ... and now you know!

Day One

Here's a shot from our very first ride .. Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride at Magic Kingdom!  You can see from the faces who enjoyed the ride the most ...

Many more to come ...

There will be lots more photos to come ... There are several hundred to download from the Disney site, as well as organize from our trip.  In the meantime I wanted to at least post one to let you know what a wonderful time we had ... and we've each assembled our Top 10 (5 or 11) list of our favorite memories from the trip.

I will try to depict each of those through photos as well.  Since we know you want to see what we're talking about!

from our last day at Disney ... 3/13/2015

March Birthdays

Olivia and Ellie at lunch

Thursday was a snow day ... and i mean SNOW DAY!  We got 4 inches of snow on top of the ice overnight.  Schools were closed, and work was delayed opening until noon.  It was quite a day.  Of course Ellie is counting down days until Disney so this gave her more time to catch up on Disney movies!

Until her new friend Olivia's mom showed up at the door to return our basket from last weekend.  Jen and I talked briefly about work, taking conference calls from home and the fact that it was Olivia's 7th birthday (March 5th)!

They were headed to Texas Roadhouse for lunch and asked if Ellie could go too - to celebrate Olivia's birthday.  Why not?  And Ellie's coat and sneakers were never put on so quickly!  Off they went.  Jen text me the whole time and posted wonderfully happy pictures!

I was thrilled for Ellie to have the feeling of independence, and even more so that Jen said how polite Ellie was, and very grown up!  YEA!

Here are a couple shots of the girls at lunch!  Even though they'll be separated for the next week Ellie made sure that Jen knew about her birthday party on March 22 - and that she was inviting Olivia to the party!

Olivia and Ellie with sugar covered faces!

Tie Dye Shirt Project

First color.

Second color.

Third color.

Entirely different shirt - this time with a big E!

Even Bill and I dyed some shirts for our Disney trip!

Hip Hop

Ellie just finished her first four-week Hip Hop class at the local Wylie Rec Center.  Robin's mom, Dawn asked a bunch of us if we'd like to join Robin in the class and we were thrilled to join.  As you can see Robin and Ellie are joined at the hip now.  They are so great together - same disposition, same funny faces and what I love most is to see them laugh together!  And all the while they call each other cousins due to the family connection!

We;re still figuring out how to shrink the video be able to upload.  In the meantime here's a photo of the final dance routine of the season!

Robin (left) right next to Ellie the whole time!

Concentrating on the upcoming dance!

Snow Day

Snow day to have an ADVENTURE 

Tiramisu Latte to begin my day off!

Snowy view from our lunch spot in Richardson

Friday I had the day off from working last Saturday at the Call Center.  We call it a flex day - and I'm not really good at remembering to take mine.  Friday I remembered!  And I was actually looking forward to it.  It had been a long week of weather, rescheduling, scrambling and truly looking forward to our upcoming vacation!

My day was full of errands, happiness and coffee.

I spent time making a housewarming basket to take to our new neighbors, Jen, Kevin, Olivia and Ava who we will visit on Saturday afternoon.  They've moved from Arizona in the last couple weeks.  Jen and I are getting our girls together after sharing only pictures for the past month!

And through the snow I trekked to Twisted Root to have lunch with Bill.  A welcome lunch date in the middle of all the chaos.  And to round out the day I ventured home, a stop at Target for a birthday gift for Ellie's teacher this week .. arriving in time to park and home and walk to school to pick her up!  The crossing guard called us 'brave' for venturing out in the weather.

We didn't mind.  We love to walk in the snow.  Our cheeks were a bit pink when we arrived home and we were happy to walk and talk the whole time!

My Starbucks Girl!

I know you'll agree that my girl is just about the cutest thing around!  She's always up for an adventure to the store, whether we're shopping for groceries or a new pair of running shoes.  She's there.  She also loves her craft projects and is always game for a trip to Michael's.

On this particular occasion we were keeping busy while Bill was feeling under the weather with a few errands.  It had to include a quick trip through the drive thru at Starbucks next to Kroger!  She is all the rage with her hot cocoa in hand!

Who wouldn't want this awesome, smiley helper along for the ride?!

Happy Birthday to Bill!

Happy Birthday to Bill was capped off with the arrival of our MAGIC BANDS!

These colorful bracelets are getting us one step closer to our Disney trip on March 7th!  The bands provide us access to the parks, our hotel room, paying for food and purchasing souvenirs! They are downright MAGIC!

We were able to order the color of our choice and our names are actually on the inside of the band as well.  If only they would also track steps - then I wouldn't have to where my FitBit too!

Cannot wait to celebrate Bill's belated birthday and Ellie's early birthday while we're in Florida as a family!

The Wall at Kenny's

Our framed photo on the wall at Kenny's Burger Joint!

You may recall that on one of our first trips to Kenny's Burger Joint - and we've been back 3 times since - they asked if they could take our family photo for the Wall of Fame.  Of course, we agreed and on a recent return trip we found the photo had made it to the wall!

What a treat to see our family front and center after having enjoyed a great meal.

Yes, we've been back three times since!

Once we met up with Michael and Jeanine Martineau, that we knew from Charlottesville - and they'd already enjoyed Kenny's Italian on the other side of Plano!  And the burger joint was a hit.

And secondly, we brought Aunt Di and Uncle Bruce with us to enjoy one of our favorite go-to spots in town.  It made for a nice treat between showing them City Line and a visit to SouthFork!

Sunday Art Project

Supplies!

Ellie preparing her canvas!

Part-way there ...

Ellie painted 3 canvases in her collection!

"To the world you may be just one person,
but to one person you may be the world."

Happy Valentine's Day

Our adventure this morning was a shopping trip to Watters Creek in Allen.  Bill and Ellie headed to Pandora for a Valentine charm for my bracelet, while I headed to Sephora to redeem a certificate!

It was sunny and warm - temps headed to the low 70's in February!

Later in the day Ellie and I visited Michaels for an art project, Dick's Sporting Goods for a new larger size soccer ball for the new season and Kroger for chocolate covered strawberries as a dessert treat!

We loved the sunny, warm weather and being outside walking was a real treat!

Black Bat Day

In our house Friday, the 13th is affectionately known as Black Bat Day!

The tradition goes back to my days babysitting at Jody's house.  She and her sister, Cindy would leave cut out black bats for each other all over their bedroom growing up, and later in their respective houses.  Today, Jody's sisters Cindy and Linda, my sister Maureen and I all celebrate Black Bat Day!

I have been mentioning it at work when we talk about Friday being the 13th!  And what a surprise I had when I walked in on Friday morning to my office ... lots of cut out black bats - everywhere!

They made me laugh so hard!  A couple of the early Supervisors, Tiffany and Stuart decorated for me!  What a wonderful surprise!

Flat Tire

The beauty and dilemma of arriving as the first tenant in the new building strike a delicate balance as we tiptoe through life.  As the first department in City Line its a wonderful thing to have the view, the newness and the excitement of arriving early in the year.

The challenge is that the rest of the place is still under construction.  And on my way into the parking garage on Tuesday I must have caught a nail in my rear tire.  Security sent me an Instant Message asking if I owned a Ford Explorer parked on the second level of the garage.  We then established that I had a flat and would need to call AAA.

The driver quickly came and put the donut in place of the tire.  Bill arrived to take the Explore to a local tire place in order for me to have a drive-able vehicle!

Hence my early Valentine's Day present - 4 new tires!!

No food pictures - just family shots!

Three gals at the breakfast counter in the kitchen

The boys' selfie

Just the two of us

Using the trip-pod for a family shot

oh my girl - she always take a great photo!

SouthFork Ranch with the Ewing's

We're on the tram awaiting our tour of the property to begin!

Ellie hanging out on the tour

Does this look familiar?  That's SouthFork Ranch where JR Ewing lived!

That long driveway on every show ...

She's found her spot!

Our family in the Ewing living room under "Jock" Ewing's picture

Cowboy hat for the Texan!

The girls in the famous driveway - with the wind a-blowing!

Cutest cowgirl you'll ever see!

We had a great day on Saturday showing Aunt Di and Uncle Bruce our area of Texas.  Ellie chose our lunch place - and picked Kenny's in hopes of Hailey being our waitress.