Happy Birthday, Kell-Bell!

In honor of Kelli's birthday, here are 23 things about her.
1. Kelli is our second child and middle daughter. (Here she is with her sisters on her wedding day.)

2. She took her first steps the day after her first birthday.
3. On her second birthday we had to take her to the hospital to get stitches over her eye after falling and hitting a cabinet.
4. When she was little, no one in our family thought she talked. She was nearly silent in front of others...but as soon as we closed the car door to head home, we couldn't shut her up!
5. Kelli fell off the porch and broke her arm when she was just 18 months.
6. When she was two, she punched her Pappaw Donald in the nose with a mean upper cut.
7. As the picture above bears witness, Kelli has always been a bit of a 'ham' and began her theatre career in elementary school when she had her first part in "Flight of the Geese".
8. In Intermediate School, she played the part of 'Roo' in Winnie the Pooh.
9. Kelli can sing a song associated with any word you throw at her! We have spent hours over the years trying to stump her...I can't think of a single time we succeeded.
10. She can also do a mean imitation of the howler monkeys at the Houston Zoo.
11. Kelli worked at Chili's Bar And Grill during and after high school. She taught us the lesson of always tipping well. I never realized the waitstaff was paid just a little over $2 an hour! Her other jobs include Guest Services, Nanny and Document Control.
12. Kelli was one of the Original 18 Taylor High School's Crimson Cadettes! (5...6...7...8)
13. Her favorite place in the whole world is Walt Disney World. She thinks she should visit it at least once every two years.
14. Kelli harvested her first deer on her 18th birthday...by 8 AM!
15. During her senior year, she became reacquainted with a young man from her childhood. They married two years later.

16. He made her an official 'Ham'.

17. She and Matt are the proud parents of Brooke (Brookie Bear).

18. Kelli is a wonderful mom and is teaching Brooke to enjoy life like she does.

19. She conquered Rock Band in less than two months.
20. Kelli and Matt just moved for the third time since getting married a little over two years ago!
21. She is a supportive sister and friend.
22. Kelli's driving is said to be 'eye opening' by her siblings...yet, she has the best driving record of all the licensed children.
23. She and Matt are expecting a little boy in February!

A New York Recap For November

We are back home. Rosa's flight was late leaving Houston, so she was really late getting home. I arrived around 7 last night.

We had a fabulous time at the shows...not so much with the sight seeing. It was bone chilling cold in NYC while we were there. (Thank goodness for Cuddle Duds and thick socks!)

Upon arrival Thursday afternoon, we went straight to the hotel. We had reservations at the W at Times Square. I am not a big fan. The rooms were expensive...which I expected for the location...but it was disappointingly tiny and had very little lighting. Maybe it was just a little too modern for my taste.

Upon checking in, we went down to the restaurant, The Blue Fin, for something to eat. Rosa ordered the California rolls and the Spicy Crab rolls...Spicy Crab, DELICIOUS! They were so good that we ordered more after the theatre!

We had tickets for Wicked our first night. I had seen it with the girls here in Houston in 2007. It was even more spectacular than the traveling show. We had wonderful seats...about seven rows back on the left. Rosa loved the show and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing it with her. We were both tired from the day of travel, so we headed back to the room for a few more sushi rolls and a good night's sleep. (One other good point of the W was their beds -- plush and comfortable.)

Thursday morning we slept in a little and then headed out for sight seeing. We walked down Broadway, over to Rockefeller Center (the tree was still surrounded by scaffolding), down 5th to Central Park. We took a quick carriage ride through the park then walked back down Madison Avenue toward 47th. I was tired...Rosa was cold...and neither one of us wanted to say anything. Finally, she decided that I looked tired and we needed to head back to the hotel. We stopped at a little deli on 45th for a bite to eat. When we sat down, she finally confessed that she didn't want to shop because she was so cold. We headed back to the room and took a nap! That night we had tickets to All My Sons. The theater was only two blocks away...thank goodness! It was one of the older and smaller theatres. We had good seats, but were a little far to the left. So, my ever clever sister went to the box office and had us moved to the box seats! What a view. John Lithgow was less than 20 feet away from me! I was in awe. This was different from any play I had attended before...my first non-musical. It is a wonderful drama...gaining in momentum until it reaches a very climactic end. Of course, watching such powerful actors as John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest would make a reading of the Sunday paper dramatic! It was the first production I have seen with the original cast. After the show, we walked around trying to find someplace to eat...finally settling on Bubba Gump's. The food was good, especially the hush puppies. Off to bed so that we could get up for the Today Show on Friday morning.

Well...we didn't make it to the Today Show. Who could blame us when we were able to sleep so well! We had picked up tickets to Shrek: The Musical the day before...so, we spent the afternoon visiting a few of the places that Rosa wanted to see including the Empire State Building. Have I said that it was cold in NYC? Well...that was nothing compared to the top of the Empire State Building. We took very quick pictures before heading back down to street level. A quick peek at the Macy's windows being dressed for Christmas and we headed back toward the hotel. Rosa picked up some souvenir's while I started getting ready for Friday night's show. We had 5th row center seats...and oh my gosh!!!! First of all, the back drops were incredible...even more whimsical than those of Wicked. Once again we were seeing the original cast and the show was very funny! I loved Pinocchio...as did most folks...and Fiona was extremely talented -- but Shrek took the show! And I couldn't believe that he was the same actor from Enchanted -- he looked so different in costume, it was unbelievable! After the show, we went back to the room for dinner and a good night's sleep before packing for the airport the next morning.

It was good to spend some time with my sister. I only wish I had not been sick the week before the trip. I was still too easily tired which led me to be very quiet at times. I hope our next trip goes even better. I now have three possible 'dates' for seeing a show...my girls (daughters), my 'Girls' (girlfriends) and now my sister who loved Broadway as much as I do.

I have three days to get us all packed up and ready for the next trip north. This one will include no dress clothes or heels -- it will be camo and hoodies as we head to Arkansas to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and spend some time on the deer lease. Talk about a walk on the wild side!

Update From New York

New York City is COLD! Daytime highs have been in the low 30's since we arrived on Wednesday. I am so very thankful for my North Face boots that I picked up here on Snow Day last February!

Rosa and I have been having a good time. We haven't done a lot of sight seeing due to the weather...but we have had some good afternoon naps! Hey, when you are a wife, mother and working woman...an afternoon nap is a LUXURY not to be missed!

We have seen two shows and have another one on the agenda for tonight. I will update you on our travels once I get back to Houston. The Internet here at the hotel costs $11.95 for 30 minutes! So, I will wait until I can spend some time on my posts.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week and looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

Love ya'!
Fonda

Taking Another Bite Out Of The Big Apple

Just a few short years ago I could not imagine taking a trip to New York City...much less two trips in the same year. However, tomorrow morning I will be hoping a flight back to the Big Apple. This time I will be traveling with my sister.

As much as she has traveled, this will be her first visit to NYC. It is our birthday gifts to each other. I am looking forward to seeing more of the sights and spending time just catching up. We have tickets to see 'Wicked' tomorrow night and 'All My Sons' on Thursday night. Friday night we will buy tickets the NY way...at the kiosk. Plenty of sightseeing is on the agenda...and, of course, a little shopping!

I don't know if I will be able to post while I am away. If not, I will report back as soon as I get home!

Have a great week, ya'll!

Attack On The Crow

Remember that cute crow that I set out by our driveway in mid October? The one in my fall picture to the left? Well, he is no longer there. Actually, he has been missing for almost a week...and I did promise pictures. For the record, he lasted for one solid week with out being disturbed. Then, I drove home on the following Monday night to find him laying in the front yard without his hat or his beak! Poor thing! I set him back out, minus the beak, in hopes that he wouldn't scare anyone away. Jim and I have had to pick him up several times since then...always with a few more scars, but still able to stand sentry by the drive.

Well, this past Saturday, I awoke to find this sight at the bottom of the stairs to the back deck.

No hat, no beak, pants ripped and missing a foot. We finally had to say goodbye to cute crow!

Guess what I found lying on the top step of that same deck?

We believe him to be the instigator of this assault on a poor, helpless crow.

Bad Hoss!

A Pumpkin Patch Picture

I just received the following picture from Meagan via email. This is Mickey Mouse (AKA Davin)as he appeared at the local pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween.



Is he not absolutely precious? I don't have any Halloween pictures of Brooke. There was an incident involving a memory card and the washing machine that erased all of the Halloween pictures.

Don't Forget...

to VOTE today!

It is our privilege, our right and our duty as Americans.

Are You Kidding Me?

I ran into Wal-Mart after work to pick up a few groceries...and can you believe they were already playing Christmas music???? You have got to be kidding me!!!