Happy Birthday, Cora!

Yesterday, our baby turned 3! How does that happen? You just blink once or twice, and all of a sudden, you have a little girl running and dancing around talking your ears off! Love her! We had such a fun time yesterday. It was very low key, for her family get-together is this weekend, but it was still fun. She woke up and was serenaded by the kids and me. She grinned from ear to ear. She requested "oatmilk" for breakfast, so that is what she got. I took her to school and her class immediately sang "Happy Birthday," and she was given the birthday crown to wear.

notice the old cell phone in her hand...hard to pry that away from her

After school, Cora and I made a quick trip to Target, and she picked out the plates she wanted her birthday dinner served on...Dora the Explorer, of course. She then requested corndogs for dinner. Being the semi health nut I am, we had the veggie corndogs. We also had mango, sweet potato fries and broccoli with a bit of Ranch dressing. The kids had a mango tango smoothie with their dinner as well. Cora also wanted a picnic! So, we spread the tablecloth on the table on the porch, lit a candle, and had our corndogs outside! Then, we sang "Happy Birthday" again, and the kids ate the adorable cookies that my friend, Amanda, made for Cora's class. I can't wait to see what she does with the cupcakes for Cora's family party. I am going with a vintage Strawberry Shortcake theme. I had such fun remembering my sister and I playing with the Strawberry Shortcake dolls and accessories as I searched Ebay for some vintage items. I had forgotten about so many of the different Strawberry Shortcake toys! She is so "berry" sweet!

Aren't they adorable?!

We gave her one of her birthday gifts last night. She fell in love with the rocking chairs at Cracker Barrel over the weekend, so Kelvin asked me to get her one for her birthday. I think she was a bit confused when it was at her house and not the restaurant, but she loves it. She wanted to sit in it last night to watch some TV, and it's the first thing she asked to do this morning!

Still can't get enough of that paci...I'm not real concerned about it.

You might have noticed an outfit change and different hair do. The other dress found it's way to the washing machine after a bad blow out diaper (I'll spare you the details...you're welcome), and my friend and her teacher at Wee School loves to put Cora's hair in piggies...when Cora will let her! No, I'm not real concerned about the paci. She probably won't graduate with it. As far as potty training goes, she promised she would start going on the potty when she turned 3...we shall see. I'm pretty sure she won't be in diapers at graduation either.

At 3, Cora is such a delight...and so smart! She blew us away one day when, out of the blue, she busted out with the "Pledge of Allegiance." I'm so glad I have it on video. One day I'll remember to load it onto the blog. She loves Dora the Explorer and her cousin Diego, as well as Strawberry Shortcake, Cat in the Hat, and anything else marketed for children. She is usually pretty easy to please. She loves the Chick-fil-a cow and big characters like him from afar. If they get too close, she screams and cries. Cora loves her brother and sisters. She talks about Emma, and breaks my heart some days when she wants to go see her and doesn't understand why she can't. She is a Dunnam, loving to climb and scare the begeebers out of me. She sings, repeats everything she hears, and loves to create things. She's also my little cuddle bug. I wish I could freeze her at this stage. I don't remember being able to enjoy the others at this age, because I was always toting an infant around or nursing, or just plain exhausted. I'm still just plain exhausted, but I am enjoying this stage.

Here are the out takes from yesterday morning as I tried to get a photo of her in her precious dress that Carleigh passed down. Enjoy!

The End!

Spring Break Staycation

Happy Spring Break! Hope you're having a good one. It's been such a good week for our crew. Kelvin was also on spring break for school, so he took off the week from work as well. LOVE when he's home. We planned on going out to the deer lease to do some work for the break and hit some fun spots on the way there and back, but those plans changed for two reasons: it was forecasted to rain almost the entire week, and two, we got kicked off our deer lease. The owner decided she wanted the property for her family and didn't want to lease it anymore. :( So, now we're on the look out for another place. We decided to stay home and do some fun stuff around here.

This week we met up with Kelvin's family at a place called Larry's French Market. MMM MMM Gooood! It's a great little Cajun place in Groves, Texas, a little ways from Winnie and Port Arthur. I'm sure you know right where I'm talkin' about now, huh? Anyway, if you don't want to wait, get there about an hour before they open in the evening. The wait was worth it, though! The food was great, and the atmosphere is family friendly and fun. They have live music all the time. Next time we go, I'm gonna get my Cajun groove on on the dance floor. Cora thought it was fun to get out there a shake a leg with Carleigh and Priscilla, our niece.

We have spent some good family time with popcorn in hand around the TV for movie nights. One night we watched Hugo. I thought it was a great show. It will be even better when we can watch it all the way through without it skipping from one scene to the beginning to another scene and then the end. Can't wait to watch it again. The kids have also watched Muppets Take Manhattan and all sorts of other stuff from Netflix. We've also danced a little bit to Just Dance 3 on the Wii. Fun stuff!

We took the kids to see the sweet movie The Secret World of Arietty. I really liked it. Do you remember The Littles?

I used to love watching The Littles! Anyway, The Secret World of Arietty reminded me of The Littles. The movie had a good message, and it's always fun to use your imagination and think there might be little people who live in the walls and floors of your house that "borrow" things when you're not looking. No, I'm not hearing voices in my head...today.

It's hard to live in the Houston area and not go to the the Houston Livestock Show. We loaded up and went with some friends to check out the animals, play some fun cowboy and farmer games, ride some cool rides, and watch the mutton bustin races. Next year we'll have to get the kids signed up for the Kids' Pedal Tractor Pull. Luke was awesome on the mechanical bull! Cora loved the rides! Carleigh won a big elephant doing the squirt gun game! One of these days, I hope to visit Rodeo Uncorked! Champion Wine Garden. I was glad we made it outta there without having to buy the kids a fried Oreo or Twinkie or something else disgusting like that. We got to see baby chicks hatching! It was so cool!

Cora is watching the sheep. She loved the mutton bustin races!

I know it's hard to tell what this is, but it's the Mutton Bustin'. I can't wait until Cora is old enough to do this. We missed it with Carleigh and Luke. The grandparents of the girl who won was sitting next to Cora and me. They were so surprised! She was a doll!

We loaded up the other day and drove to Brenham to visit the Blue Bell Creamery. We took the tour and saw how the ice cream is made...very cool! Did you know it takes 50,000 cows to produce the milk Blue Bell uses for their ice cream! Holy Cow! The kids were thrilled they got to get a cup of their favorite flavor at the end of the tour. "Blue Bell, the best ice cream in the country." After our visit to Blue Bell we had lunch at Must Be Heaven in downtown Brenham...yummy! Brenham is such a cool little town. Looking forward to going back soon and enjoying the bluebonnets.

Carleigh and Kelvin have built an American Girl knock off bed for her dolls. She found one in the catalog, but flipped out when she saw the price tag! (Thank goodness!!) So, what American Girl is selling for $225, Carleigh and Kelvin built for approximately $40! Big fat smiles!! And she is super proud of her new toy too.

We still plan to boil up some crawfish and smoke some more oysters and share some time around the firepit with friends!

We also have my little nephew's 2nd birthday party and a very good friend's 50th birthday party and another good friend's 30th birthday party! Can't wait!

Sunday, the day starts bright and early with me singing the National Anthem at the start of the Lucky Trails Marathon in Seabrook. Are you running? Come say hi.

So, what have ya'll done for spring break this week?

Ya'll come eat!

Here's what for dinner at our house this week...probably. You know, it's the plan, but sometimes my plan doesn't always pan out the way I planned. ;)

Monday
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo (I would give you the recipe, but then I'd have to kill ya!) It is sooo good. Our friend, Tim, made the same recipe for Emma's Bayou Bash in October. It'll make you slap yo mama!

Tuesday
Shrimp And Avocado Rice Bowl 
All of the rest of the recipes came from Fitness Magazine's online article called "Fat-Fighting Meals: 7 Flat-Belly Dinner Recipes." I'm all about fighting fat and having a flat belly, so they all sounded great to me!

Wednesday

Lemon Walnut Chicken

Thursday

Penne With Broccoli Rabe And Ricotta

Friday
Cumin Salmon With Yogurt Cucumber Sauce

Saturday
Pasta With Pumpkin Sauce I forgot, this one is from Woman's Day. Did you know they have an enTIRE month of menus planned out, every. single. month?! I'm going out on a limb with this one, but it sounds good. Hoping it is.

Happy 6th birthday, Emma

I love you, sweet girl. I hope you're having the best birthday ever! Are there beautiful butterflies? Are the flowers blooming? I hope your cake is even better than the yummy chocolate one we get from the little Italian place down the street. I miss you so much. We have a birthday banner up for you. I think we'll have pink lemonade and cupcakes and blow bubbles for you when the kids get home from school. Happy 6th birthday! Give everyone a big hug for us. Love, Mommy

Rare Disease Day

There are exciting developments happening in the field of research and finding a cure for rare diseases such as Batten Disease. Please watch the video and donate today. (don't forget to mute the music at the bottom of the blog)

Market Junction

At Emma's Bayou Bash in October, our annual fundraising event for Emma's Hugs, there was a really awesome band there, Market Junction.

click on the photo for more information about the band

You can find them on Facebook too

I love their sound, and they are all super nice to boot! We appreciated them being at the Bash so much! Well, they are releasing their new cd, Heros Have Gravestones, Tuesday, February 28 at Dosey Doe in the Woodlands, AND they just told us they are donating a portion of the proceeds from their event to Emma's Hugs! They are cool that way. So, please come. It's going to be a great time, and the music is really good. Tickets are $8 + a processing fee, and you can buy them online at the Dosey Doe website, here.

is now considered to be one of the best music venues in the U.S. by artists and fans alike. Just ask Clint Black, Leon Russell, Marcia Ball, Michael Martin Murphy, Larry Gatlin, Mason Williams, Richie Havens, Deryl Dodd, Radney Foster, Tish Hinojosa, or Lee Roy Parnell (see photo) who have played here. "I have played them all, big and small, but I have never played a place that sounds as good as Dosey Doe!" Gary P. Nunn. Click here to find out more about Dosey Doe.

Superbowl

I know Superbowl 2012 has come and gone, but I wanted to show you what it looked like at our humble abode. It was quite comical. See, we don't have cable, dish or sattelite, or even an antenna that will get more than two or three channels, some of which are in a language we haven't mastered yet. So, here was the scene at our house...

A laptop here...

and a laptop there...

this little dude cracks me up! (not sure what he is doing.)

Here a laptop, there a laptop, everywhere a laptop!

Our set up made me laugh. Kelvin and I have never subscribed to cable or anything of the sort. When the whole digital thing came about we just figured we'd live without tv channels. We watch shows from Netflix streamed through the Wii, which works out fine. We might have tv one day, but for the most part we are fine and dandy without it...except for Superbowl and the Olympics. But this year, they broadcasted the Superbowl online. Maybe they'll do the same with the Olympics. One can only hope!

So, what did ya'll eat for the Superbowl Sunday festivities? We had quesadillas with guacamole and salsa, chips, carrots and celery with Ranch dip, and popcorn. YUM!

Hope you're staying dry and warm. It's chilly and raining here.