The Dean Family

We started the New Year with Livia's Birthday on the 9th, where she turned 13 (*sniff sniff*) My little baby is a TEENAGER!!!!!

She may be a teenager now, but her taste buds haven't changed much from when she was 5! She has chosen the SAME birthday dinner for years now! Totinos Pizza with Caesar Salad!

Along with chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with chocolate ice cream!

Because we just moved here two weeks before her birthday, and she didn't really have a bunch of friends yet, her birthday wasn't anything too exciting. Just another school day, with homework and her chosen meal for dinner :) So I surprised her with a SURPRISE PARTY the following Friday and invited all 16 Beehives from our ward! All but one or two showed up too!! I decorated the house as best as I knew how :)

Included some minute-to-win-it games as an option

And got a TON of balloons! :)

And included a photo booth as well, which seemed to be a big hit! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL, SWEET, SMART, LOVING, FUNNY, and KIND TEENAGER!

Before School started back up, we were able to tale the kids to the Houston Zoo, with David and Diana. We had a lot of fun, and it was such a beautiful day.

Who knew giraffes had such long tongues!??!

We even got to eat lunch right by the giraffes. :)

I love my crazy Sydney. She is always doing funny things :)

We found David's long lost cousin! The similarity were astounding! :) hehe

We tried to make the most out of Texas...

We found a really yummy BBQ restaurant. (Rudy Country BBQ)

Bought some cowgirl boots!

And Blingy Jeans! :)

And did LOTS of shopping! (I think Diana's a Shop-a-holic!) haha Love you Nana! Although, the girls didn't seem to mind too much :)

Went to the park

And, of course, it was time for the girls to both begin their new schools!

Sydney goes to Lakewood Elementary, where she's the top dog, since it only goes up to 4th grade

And Livia goes to Willowwood Junior High. (Lots of buildings and streets are named after trees here) :)

Here's the girls on their first day of school

We had a couple of really nice days in January. Brooklyn loves playing outside, so she was in heaven when she was able to blow bubbles, play with sidewalk chalk, ride her bike, and drive her little convertible! :)

(Livia's such a good big sister) :)

We even washed our cars! Inside and out.... which definitely needed it in the suburban after our road trip here!

(Sydney's such a good older sister too, always playing with Brooklyn)

We finally got a new fridge! After the first new fridge we found ended up not working! Grrr..

Mike and the girls enjoyed the football games and Superbowl!

We found the temple, which is only a couple minutes away :)

We dropped the Dean's off at their Cruise, but went early to play at the beach in Galveston, which ended up being not a good idea, cuz it was SO cold and windy and rainy! We tried to make the most of it though :)