Happy, Happy 30th Birthday, Emily Dear!

Monday was my 30th birthday! Mike arranged to have a few of our friends come by and surprise me that evening. The doorbell rang and when I answered it, there was a crowd on my front doorstep! We had Buffalo Wild Wings Honey BBQ wings (delish), pizza, and cupcakes from Heaven Scent.

Kathryn was having a great time and went a little crazy with the frosting!

Here is a group picture of all of us. Everyone was about to leave, so this was the best we got. I'm blocking someone in all of them. But then again, it was supposed to be all about me! Right?



The girls and I posing with my balloons (thanks Anisa) and cupcakes (so pretty).

Warm-ish Friday

On Friday we headed to the zoo after preschool. I finally got smart and bought a zoo membership. Boeing will match our contribution, so it was pretty inexpensive (AND I got a free tote bag!). So, for the first time we rode the train! We all loved it. The girls loved to shout, "All Aboard!" Even though there is snow in the background, it WAS a relatively warm day (50s).

Our favorite was the hippo. They have a viewing area where you can see through a plexi-glass wall into their pool. One hippo was swimming around and around and then bumping his face against the glass. The girls were giving him high-5s and kisses as he came by.

Don't worry! Sydney isn't seriously injured. Quite the opposite. She had a tiny scratch on her forehead, but couldn't stop scratching it (probably as it was healing) and making it worse! So, we had to keep it covered for a couple of days.

Visit to Nonnie's House

On our way home from Odessa, we stopped in Tyler to see my mom (Nonnie). She is in an apartment for now, until she decides what her next move is.

Nonnie took us to the Discovery Zone, a children's museum in downtown Tyler.

The girls had the most fun playing in the pretend town. They dressed up as firefighters, shopped in a store, waited tables at a restaurant, helped animals at the vet, fixed cars at the mechanics, took care of babies in the nursery, drove a car, responded to an emergency in an ambulance, and much, much more! Sydney's favorite was the babies and Kathryn's favorite was being a firefighter. I would create an emergency for her to help me out of and she would come running.

Trip to Texas

On Sunday morning the girls and I left for Texas. We woke up to a winter wonderland! It was a little slippery getting out of our neighborhood, but once we got to the freeway (about 1 mile) we were fine.

We stopped in Dallas and spent the night with my Aunt Pat.

Then on Monday morning, we finished our drive to Odessa. It was a very foggy, drizzly day. I made it to Odessa a couple of hours before a cold front blew in that later brought an ice storm! We had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Daly, but we don't have any pictures because they took all of the pictures and I haven't gotten them yet! We played at the mall, ate at Chick-Fil-A, went to the Midland Children's Museum, visited a meteor crater, ate at Chuck E. Cheese's, ate at Double Dave's, and opened Christmas presents! (Not in that order). Sydney was sick at the end of our visit, so the last few days we just relaxed.

Preschool Open House (4-5 class)

Friday, January 23rd was Kathryn's preschool open house. She is in the 4-5 year old class this semester and has 10 kids from church in her class.

Here are the girls on the way to school. Cassi will be carpooling with us in the mornings.

Siblings get to stay on the first day and Sydney had a blast. I left for a little bit and my friends said that all the bigger girls were playing like Sydney was their baby.

Kathryn & Ellie

Travel Pacifiers

No, not the kind babies suck on.

I couldn't have made my 36-hour long (both ways combined) car trip without the following:

Our entire family loves this CD. The songs are fun to sing to and Laurie's voice is not annoying.

The girls really love this microphone (girl not included). It has pre-programmed songs and you can sing along, change the pitch, song speed, and volume. The girls played with it for hours!

We still are pretty sure that Sydney gets carsick, and I'm not willing to test her. So, we don't watch DVDs on trips or let her read/look at books. Mike gets car sick, so it does run in the family. (Who knows if that's even possible, but whatever.)

Mexican Riviera Cruise IV - The Anti-Bacterial part

So, I couldn't post about this cruise and not mention the great lengths that Norweigan goes to to prevent the spread of the Norovirus. We received multiple handouts and warnings and were literally sprayed each time we got on the ship, or entered a dining area. Of course, I'm glad for their precautions, because obviously some people don't have the time/energy to keep themselves clean.

Here is Mike demonstrating the use of one of the hundreds of hand-sanitizing stations.

Mexican Riviera Cruise III

Our third port of call was Puerto Vallarta. We got into port around 7 am, but we took our time getting off, so we didn't leave the ship until around 11. The first thing we saw when we got off the boat was a Wal-Mart Supercenter and a Sam's Club. Funny. Anyway, we hired a taxi for the day (it sounds so easy, but it actually required much negotiation) and Jonathan (pictured below) took us around to some sights (here I am at a lookout) and then took us to Playa Mismaloya where we snorkled and sunned ourselves for a couple of hours. The Mikes actually did most of the snorkeling, Cheryl did pretty good too. I tried to, but the water was really cold, and the water wasn't super clear so I kept having little panic episodes...you know me. But at least I tried!

Then we went over to a Canopy course (zip-line) just to check it out and also see where the movie Predator was filmed. (I actually have never heard of this movie, but everyone else seemed familiar with it...go figure.)

Here we are with Jonathan and my ginormous bag.

Jonathan dropped us off in downtown after our day of sightseeing and we walked around and looked in some shops and then started our 5-mile (no lie, it might have been longer) walk back to the ship (our choice, crazy us). We stopped and bought Cokes (to take back onto the ship with us cuz we're cheap). A beautiful sunset that we had to run to see, but it was worth it. (We had to run because we were walking alongside a fence and we just couldn't see much!)

Mexican Riviera Cruise II

Our second port of call was Mazatlan. We got off the ship and took a taxi to the old part of town. The taxis were pretty cool because they were open at the top, so you felt like you were in the middle of all the action. We walked around a little bit, saw this beautiful church, saw a bunch of people paying their property taxes (I know, so exciting huh?), and went to a mercado (that's a market for you non-Dora watching people out there). I think one of my most vivid memories of Mexico in general will be people asking me to buy their stuff. Although I did find myself loving to negotiate. There were so many things to see at the market. There were some tourists there, but you could also tell that a lot of the local people came for their groceries. There was an entire meat section that was not for the faint of heart. We saw butchers cutting up entire cows! And the smell was just divine. Cheryl and I had to walk through quickly. (Sadly, no pictures of the mercado, guess I was too busy holding my nose or trying to talk someone down a $1).

Mike, Cheryl, and Mike on the beach in Mazatlan. Well, I guess I should tell you a little about our friends that we went with! How rude of me to not introduce. Mike and Cheryl are our friends from Marysville, WA. We lived in the same neighborhood and had lots of fun nights hanging out, playing cards, and eating too many goodies. (Wow, that's all we ever do together!) They have 5 children, Cheryl stays at home, and Mike is a postal worker. ;)

Our insane friends decided to para-sail. Mike (my Mike) didn't even ask if A) I minded if he went or B) if I wanted to go.

Cruise- Formal-ish Night

So, on most cruises there is a formal night where you are supposed to dress up and then they'll take your picture and way over charge you for it. On Norweigan, they are "Freestyle", meaning that really whatever you want to do is cool. No assigned eating times, no formal dress code, etc. So, it sounds nice, but we didn't particulary love it. We felt that the service wasn't as good and I (being the Type A that I am) kind of like a schedule. Anyway, all that to say that below are our formal night pictures. Not so formal, but we had fun, and had lots of fun taking pictures.

(And just to make Mike not feel like any less of a man...I made him pose with me in all of these. He was forced.)

Love my shoes...($5 at Target...woot!)

Gotta love it. We kind of look inky-eyed though, because we had a SERIOUS case of the red-eye and this is how Picasa fixed it.

Mexican Riviera Cruise I

This was our first afternoon on the ship. We stayed in Manhattan Beach on Friday night and took an entertaining taxi ride down to San Pedro on Saturday morning. The taxi driver had installed 3 DVD screens AND a Karaoke system. Crazy...but unfortunately he was having technical difficulties and I was unable to sing Britney's Womanizer. Our ship, the Norweigan Star, departed around 3pm.

We had a full day at sea which included some running, a lot of eating, and a lot of relaxing. Our first port of call was Cabo San Lucas. We had to tender in (take a little boat from the ship) and then we hired a water taxi to take us over to Lover's Beach. It was so beautiful. We saw on the Pacific Ocean side for a little bit (the water was really rough and Mike got tired of me freaking out every time he went in) and then we came over to the calmer side and snorkled a little. The water was pretty cold, so we didn't stay in very long.

The Arch at Land's End.

Same rock formations at sunset as we were leaving.

Let's get productive, productive...

...get it? Like, "Let's get physical...." Anyway, here are some productive things we did over our break.

We hung produce baskets in the kitchen to free up some counter space.

We built more shelving in the basement for food storage.

We bought the girls new beds. Sydney transitioned out of her crib and into a big girl bed very smoothly. She has even napped in her bed! Her favorite part is jumping off of it and hearing the thud she makes when she hits the floor.

We also helped my mom buy a new car! We sold her car for her when she left on her mission, so she was excited to get some new wheels.

Where's Sydney?

A few cute pictures of Sydney sleeping in her new big girl bed.

I know you want some...

but you'll have to get your own!

This is what I get for buying something made in China! This little bottle of MILK came with a cash register set that I got for the girls.