Not dead yet

I had a milestone birthday in the last few weeks and wasn't going to do much to celebrate. My friend Kim lured me to her home under pretense of inviting our family to dinner and then all these lovelies jumped out and surprised me! We all rode together in Kim's van and had dinner at the Alamo Cafe. On the drive home, I saw a huge green meteroid streaking across San Antonio. I'll take it for a sign of good luck for the next 40 years:)

One of the great surprises of my life. I was so happy that I almost cried. Thank you, my kind friends! 

The cake made me laugh (and no, I didn't chop my hair off -it's in a braid). 

This was the best cake I can recall eating in all my life - a moist vanilla crumb with yummy marshmallow fondant! The beads around the bottom tasted like childhood - Canadian milk chocolate.

Family Picture

This picture was taken a few weeks ago. It was something like 35 degrees outside. We were all freezing. We survived, though, and even got a reasonably good picture out of it.

Here's one more (low resolution, but cute):

Celebrating my girl

I love this girl! She celebrated her 4th birthday a few weeks ago, and 4 years old seems so much more mature than 3. Elizabeth loves to help me cook. She has most recently requested rice krispy treats, but she is an adventurous eater - she likes homemade kale chips and Manchego cheese. She is a songbird and never goes to bed without turning on music. She believes in hugs and kisses at every goodbye, even just for a trip to the grocery store. She likes to ride her bike and dance and read with me and play her violin and swing.

Speaking in tongues

"Gawaveba," my 4 year old tells me. When I look confused, she says, knowingly, "That's how you say goat cheese in gibberish."

November dance recital

Elizabeth had a dance recital last week and here you see the results - the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Jingle Bell Rock. She has also outgrown her first pair of ballet slippers.