Our visit to magical forest

We headed over to Opportunity Village after school on Monday and had a very interesting visit. The kiddos were a bit tired after our very busy weekend, so they were somewhat cranky. Daddy and Raine had to wait for Reece and I to get there after my parent teacher conferences. We were all feeling a bit stressed; so much for joyful holiday fun.

YAY for the stuffed doggies on display.

They loved petting the reindeer in their cute little stable.

This is how the kiddos pose when I tell them to get ready for a photo opp.

This is how they pose when I tell them to stand and smile nice.

She wanted to sit by this super tall dude. Reece did too but his pic looked a bit too silly.

A crazy tall balloon guy that loved chatting with the kids while making their balloon creations.

Reece and Raine waited a long time to ride down this super slide

and then said they wanted to go again.

Crazy poses on the pretty red sleigh. Why oh why won't they cooperate?

Two cute snowman who are almost as cute as my kiddos!

All in all it was a fun night, lots of people and lines but the weather was perfect and the kids had fun. Hope you are doing something memorable with your family

Decorating the Tree

I was so excited when we finally picked out our tree and brought it home to decorate. We went to Star Nursery (daddy's favorite place) and picked out the cutest tree for $20.00. We are on a strict Christmas budget this year and didn't want to spend that much on a tree anyway. Someday I will have a huge Douglas Fir and hardly enough ornaments to fill it. For now, I have the perfect tree, just tall enough for my peanuts to reach every branch and fill it with all of our fun craft ornaments. Raine was very sad, every time she went to hang one, it would break. I think we had to super glue 4 of them back together. Reece loved putting all of them on the same branch or one general area. They also liked hanging them off the bottom branch, so the ornaments hung down to the ground. I was very teary when I saw that because it reminded me of how Dublin Dog loved laying under the Christmas tree; whenever she would get up three or four ornaments would fall off the tree. We sure do miss her this Christmas season.

Reece is singing, "Oh Christmas Tree". He loves listening to Christmas music, probably because it's all I listen to in the car and it's the first thing I turn on when we get home.

I love my little elves in their Christmas jammies!

Raine getting ready to hang Pluto and Nickey before she broke him.

Reece with his trains, ready to hang.

Daddy took all the pictures so we don't have any of him. He was very cozy on the couch watching all of the excitement and snapping away the silly moments. It was an awesome evening full of laughter and a few tears.

Cozy Christmas Proofs

I love my friend Jess so much, but especially because she took these amazing pics of my precious little ones. She has the cutest studio and makes taking photos so fun for the kids. These are just a few of the tons she took. I really love these four and will buy copies for our home and the extended family for sure.

I am so THANKFUL for

an extra day off yesterday because Reece was getting over a 24 hr flu bug.

lunch with daddy at his school and then some fun holiday bargain shopping with my lil man. We scored some great deals!

a super fun Christmas Card party last night. I sat by my friend Jenene for the second year in a row. We ate a ton of yummy treats and laughed quite a bit!

my kiddos are getting their Cozy Christmas pictures taken by the best photographer in the land today. They are wearing their new Carters feety Christmas jammies and Santa hats.

that I got to lay in bed while my hot hubby took care of the kiddos.

yummy Starbucks Breakfast Blend coffee with delicious peppermint creamer.

Christmas music sung by my favorite artists.

my kiddos love to jump on their trampoline at all hours of the day, not matter how chilly it is outside.

my hot hubby who planted a beautiful Palo Verde tree in our backyard.

the fact that we have saved enough money to buy out the lease on my Saturn Vue; due to the various extra tutoring opportunities, landscaping jobs and GOD.

my very blessed little family who bring me such joy and laughter.

for the weekend...

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope your Thanksgiving was as relaxing as ours was. We watched the parade, painted a super cute Turkey craft from Auntie Tina, watched football and ate HAM!!! We wanted something different this year, the kids and Mo love ham so we cooked that instead. Well, Mo cooked that. I made the simple side dishes. Everything turned out to be super delicious. It was a very low key but oh so enjoyable holiday!

Thankful Thursdays...member these

I have so much to be grateful for...

life, a healthy family, friends, jobs, food but that sounds so trivial. I guess I am thankful for the simple things in life. So many people are struggling and we are blessed. God restores our blessings daily no matter how minuscule they are.

I'm also thankful for these:

I'm able to attend a super great bunco group on Thursday nights. I loved tonight, it was so fun and relaxing. We ate the most delicious soups and salads with yummy peppermint Dove chocolates for dessert. I have been playing with these teachers from my old school Vegas Verdes for 7 or 8 years now. It is a great night out for mom and dad gets to have some quality time with the kiddos.

Reece's teachers, Jensen & Smith are the kindest people I have ever met. They are so patient and loving to all their students. Reece is finally warming up to them and appreciating how awesome they are.

Raine's teachers are just as fantastic. I appreciate all they do for Raine and her preschool friends. Donna and Sheri are so soft spoken and sweet it's amazing to watch them in action.

Raine's Field Trip

Raine went on her pre-k field trip to the Gilcrease Bird Sanctuary. She was very excited because mama was able to go with her. It was a bitter cold morning for us desert rats but we toughed it out. Raine wasn't all that interested in feeding or petting the animals. The birds were way too loud for her; she walked out of their little barn with her hands over her ears. She did however enjoy chasing the ducks & chickens. I was so thankful to be a mommy chaperon!

Raine was a bit hesitant about the miniature ponies.

They were so excited to check out all of the neat animals.

She would pose for a pic but wouldn't dare feed the animals.

Best Buddies

Happy Halloween

We had a great tine this Halloween. We carved our pumpkins and then went over to Shadow Hills Trunk or Treat. Our dear friends, The Feldmans were handing out candy from their car. The kiddos walked from car to car collecting nore candy than they could ever eat and we were finished in an hour and half. It was perfect for our little princess and optimus.

Fall In Las Vegas

Fall is my favorite time of year; too bad we go from hot to cold with nothing in-between around here. I miss the east coast and the amazing leaves decorating the hillsides. I took the kiddos for a hike a week ago but the Aspen leaves weren't changing very much. I went back up to mt Charleston again this weekend. Reece had a soccer game so we met Jenn and her clan at Burger King and she drove us all up there.

Two hot mamas and six awesome kids were all on a mission to eat a picnic lunch and hike along the Aspen trees. It was 80 degrees in the city but as we drove up the mountain the temperature dropped and the rain clouds blew in. We were not prepared for that, not one of us had a sweatshirt. Smart mamas we were not; we decided to eat our lunch at the ski lodge parking lot and hike around the Lee Canyon Ski runs. It was quite chilly and damp but well worth it. The wind was blowing the beautiful leaves off the trees, right into our hands. Evie looked up and said, "It's raining aspen leaves!" I got chills because my man's landscaping company is called Aspen Rain.

There were several neat discoveries while playing in God's splendor. The kids had a ball and if Raine didn't have to go to the bathroom, we probably would have stayed a little bit longer. She held her turtle head as long as we could and since I didn't have any tissues to wipe her little butt we piled in the truck and headed to the nearest campground bathroom. The afternoon was so relaxing and fun, I am very thankful the Russo family joined us for our freezing adventure.

Disney Magic Show

We were so grateful for FREE tickets to the Disney Magic Show! A friend from work gave Mo the tickets so while he landscaped I surprised the kids. We invited their dear friend Ava to join us. It was a very cute show, they kids were very excited the entire time. Reece loved the magic trick where they cut the girl in half. Of course, we had to buy one of those overly priced treats. When Raine was handed her snow cone in Minnie cup, she tried to take a bite and the whole thing fell on the floor. She was so bummed, luckily they replaced it and I didn't have to deal with a sad little lady.

All in all, a wonderful Saturday afternoon for only $20.00.

Reece's First Field Trip

Reece was extremely excited today; he went on his very first field trip. The first graders from James Bilbray ES go to Anderson Dairy. When I taught the little first grade kiddos I took my class there too. Reece was more excited about his first school bus ride than the dairy. Then I reminded him about the delicious ice cream he was going to be able to eat while at the dairy and he became a little more interested. I was able to attend the trip as a parent chaperone. It would have been neat to see Reece on the school bus but there wasn’t enough room for parents. The students walked into the barn and learned a little bit about the dairy. Then they were allowed to go on a walking tour around the factory; checking out all of the machines and food products. The last part of the tour was the frozen section where they make the ice cream. The kids loved walking through the dry ice. I think I had a smile on my face the entire time because 6 yr olds are so stinking funny! I had an excellent time being a parent volunteer for the morning.