Daddy's Birthday

This post is a bit late - sorry!

After Daddy worked most of the day on his birthday (at the office, on a Sunday), we had his favorite gourmet dinner of hot dogs with a side of macaroni and cheese. Kendall gave Daddy a really cool home-made book entitled "Daddy and Me" filled with pictures of her and Daddy. She's so creative! :) Daddy also got new golf shirts, a new subscription to The Economist (can't tell you how thrilled I am to see those in the mail and then scattered around the house twice a week for another year), a gift certificate to Brooks Brothers, and a pile of pinion wood. He wasvery excited about the pinion wood ... any excuse to play with fire. (sigh!) The evening was finished off with the most disgusting cake I have ever "made." At Chris's request, I made him a cake entirely out of Zingers. Two layers of both chocolate and vanilla Zingers, stuck together and slathered with chocolate and white frosting and topped off with sprinkles. Made my teeth hurt just to look at it! As it turned out, my time spent concocting this lovely gesture was really time wasted. It was really too sweet for anyone to eat ... although my mom did give it a try and took it home with her, swapping it with me for a much more tasty cake!

Here is the yummy looking (but in actuality inedible) Zinger cake.

A week later, some of Chris's buddies came over for a Mexican dinner .... and enough Paciugo to feed an army (thank you, Vincent!). We all had a good time and we discovered that Kendall LOVES to entertain! She was nothing short of thrilled to have a houseful of people who's attention was all quite focused on her majesty. She laughed, babbled, squealed and squawked at anyone and everyone who would glance in her direction! A fine time was had by all, especially my little social butterfly. :)

Pictured here: Troy, Heather, Christy, Zach (holding Kendall), Brett, Vincent, and Daddy. And Ralphie.

Everyone again, sans Vincent.

Zach and Kendall.

Mommy and Daddy's Night OUT!

It is sad when 90% of the time "going out" means going to the grocery store and/or Sam's Club. But last weekend Chris and I actually got to go OUT for real! Chris's cousin, Paul, got married and I had my first opportunity to squeeze back into one of my formal dresses (I thoroughly heart Spanx!). It was a REALLY nice outdoor wedding at the bride's family's ranch in McKinney, TX, followed by a REALLY nice reception in a tent on the ranch. We had a great time and were only slightly embarrassed that we were outlasted by Mason and Maya (ages 6 and 4) because we're old and were out waaaay past our bedtime! Kendall stayed with Nana that night so at least I got to sleep in a bit the next morning. I barely remember when 9:30AM seemed like early in the morning to me .... now it seems like 1/2 of my day is gone if I sleep that late! Here are some pics from the event. Thanks to my SIL, Amy - I stole a lot of her pictures for th

is post! :)

Mason and Maya Harris all decked out for their first wedding!

Me and Charlie (aka "Pops")

Mason initially found the band to be a bit too loud, but according to my sources, warmed up to the idea of some wild dancing after Chris and I pooped out for the evening.

Me and Maya. Maya was the only one I got to dance with at the reception. Next wedding we go to, Chris will be required to dance with me twice.

Fran and Charlie (aka "Grandmother" and "Pops")

Brian and Amy (the beautiful couple owned by Mason and Maya)

Maya and Mason with Aunt Paula, the lovely mother of the groom.

Me and Amy. Who, by the way, is super cool and someone I totally need to hang out with more often!

Perhaps one of the most beautiful wedding cakes I've ever seen.

Lovely table setting with view of lake in background.

And this is what Kendall did while Mommy and Daddy were O-U-T. Weird kid - she likes to wedge herself in random places ....

The Animal Lovers Gene

I am thrilled to report that the animal lovers gene has definitively been passed along to Kendall! Not that she had much of a choice given her mother's love of most "things furry." Hopefully she will not inherit her father's love of shooting certain "things furry!"

The Dallas Arboretum has a Petting Zoo on Mondays and Tuesdays and we visited that for the first time this past Monday. Kendall insisted on being removed from the stroller so she could get up close and personal with what I'm certain she thought were very interesting looking dogs. She met a sheep, a pony, a bunny, some chickens, and developed a rather odd attachment to what I think was a baby mini-goat. Screamed like a little banshi whenever I tried to take her away from it. Interestingly, the cute little critter seemed to have a similar attachment to her since it followed us around and stared at us long after we walked away (with his little buddy loudly protesting our departure.)

The next day, Kendall went to her very first Texas State Fair. While she enjoyed the lights, sounds and noises (and the always amusing assortment of other fair-goers), her favorite stop was, again, the petting zoo. This was a BIG petting zoo and had significantly more interesting looking "dogs" with which to communicate. She kicked and squealed and did her (new and kind of strange looking) wristy-twisty dance as soon as we walked in, as well as upon introduction to each new animal.

Piglets!!! This was Nana's favorite part of the Fair and we are very proud of her for resisting the urge to confiscate the little runt piglet.

Here is a camel who was very gentle when Kendall stuck her hand its mouth. No marks at all - just a bit of camel slime. If you look at the picture closely, to the left of the camel, you will see a little camel blob on the ground. This was a MAMA camel! I felt very connected to her for some reason. I wouldn't have bitten her child either.

I'm not sure what this is ... Alpaca maybe ... but it was shaved much like a giant poodle. Odd. Poor little thing must have had no idea how ridiculous it looked because its behavior suggested that it visualized itself as the Don Corleone of the Alpaca (giant poodle?) world.

And here is my second favorite part of the Fair, the giraffe. It was a baby giraffe and very cute. I'm trying hard not to dwell on what a horrible life this little guy probably has and to convince myself that he gets to go run with other giraffes in a big field with tall grass and lots of trees to munch on when it isn't Fair season.

What was my FAVORITE part of the Fair, you might be wondering? Clearly it was the FRIED BUTTER! There are no pictures of the fried butter - it didn't want to stay in the plate long enough to be photographed. I have to admit I was wary at first, but I now have a new favorite meal that just might warrant a second trip to the Fair this year so I can stock up! :)