Monday, February 4, 2013

A month of settling in and celebrating

January was a busy month for our little family.  Not only were we knee deep in the relocation, but we also had Keali's 6th birthday and my big 4-0 birthday.  To summarize, we had a blast!

For Keali's birthday, she started the celebrations in London with a 5 girl sleep over.  We continued it here on her birthday with cake (which she and I picked out by going to the cake store and tasting several different cakes which was very clearly my idea).  Then on the following weekend, she had a house full of the neighborhood kids over for cake decorating and playing.  She was not disappointed.


She was not disappointed that is until she realized that I was getting a whole MONTH of birthday!  Scott never fails to impress in his birthday celebrations.  I was a spoiled little princess all month.  I had almost all of the sleep-ins, yummy wine and food, a surprise visit by one of my besties, loads of awesome gifts, and perhaps the coolest: tickets to go see Matchbox 20 (which we did last week) and tickets to see Bon Jovi (April 2013).

Matchbox 20 was absolutely amazing.  We were only 5 rows back in the center at the concert.  It literally felt like we could reach out and touch Rob Thomas.  He was quite an impressive entertainer and we couldn't have asked for a better show.  (That sentiment is quite different for how the Majestic Theater in San Antonio runs their bars, but the show was awesome.)  The next big question is whether or not to shell out the money to go see him in Austin in a few weeks!?

January ended up being a ton of fun and for the most part has lifted this melancholy group out of the blues.  We're now starting to plan fun things in the next few weeks and months and eager to see what our next adventures will include.

Honorable mentions:

Gracie is now officially settled in.  She has a great temperment and loves the kids. 


So to be fair, there are many things that I do like better about being back in the States.  The ranch is one of them.  The tree pictured below is in our backyard and the same one we were married under.


It's fun to see how big the longhorns have gotten since we left.  One of other ones (not pictured) has about a six foot span on his horns.  Quite impressive...

Keali loves her birthday celebrations:


We can't quite call her redneck cowgirl with her boots on with a dress since her boots are English riding boots.  So maybe we should call her a British cowgirl.


Scott being his normal happy chipper self:


Sweet Caden with his white skin, red ropers, and no shirt.  We can call him redneck without any doubt!  You should see how that boy sunburns!
Keali and her Loves.  Pepper is the donkey with the white nose, Sadie is the mommy with the black nose, and Chulie is the white donkey.

Keali and Sadie are best friends.  Sadie would gladly let Keali pet her all day, and Keali would happily do it.