Tourist for a day

It's always so great when someone comes in to town for a visit and we get to play tourists for a day! It's probably been over a year since we've been down to the strip. My cousin Vincent and Suzi were in town from Florida over the weekend and we had the opportunity to go see some new sites that were recently built. We walked through the new shops at the Planet Hollywood and dined on some "Phish Food" ice cream at Hagen Daaz. Then we enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather and walked across to the new City Center plaza! After that we headed back to the Wynn where we had a delicious dinner buffet! Alyssa and Jaden were so good and had a we all had a great time with Vinny & Suzi!

Suzi, Vinny & Alyssa eating Hagen Daaz

Jaden loved his ice cream, too!

Alyssa making water tornadoes

Alyssa said she had to pose on these beautiful stairs!

Boys, boys, boys

Today Jaden had his very first boys only play date! He is so used to always having play dates with multiple people, and mostly with older kids that are Alyssa's age. Alyssa was off spending the night with nanny so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for Jaden to have a little of his own fun time. Tyler and Graysen came over this morning and the boys, who are all within 2 months of age, had a blast! They all got along so well together and with no crying, they played and played. They rode the train, played cars, blocks, puzzles, ran around, and to end the day they ate lunch together. By about 12:30, the whining started and it was nap time! Thank you Gena & Tyler, Kathleen & Gray for a great day!

Jaden teaching the boys how to climb on the coffee table

Look guys, Alyssa's gone, we can play with the magical wand!

Jaden and Tyler playing with a puzzle

Tyler

The aftermath of the living room!

Future mountain climber

With every day that passes, I'm convinced that Jaden is going to be some sort of climber one day. He masters climbing on something and then moves on to another object that is just a little more difficult than the first! His 2 most favorite spots are the dining room chairs and the coffee table.

The cracked tooth

Well, the day finally came ~ the day that one of my children "break" per say. I've definitely had my fair share of bloody noses, bumps, scratches, bruises, vomiting, diarrhea, fevers.....you name it, but never a cracked tooth.

Alyssa was watching figure ice skating on T.V. the other day with Nana and thought it would be fun to ice skate around the living room. She jumped up to do a triple spin and fell flat on her face. The first words from her mouth were, "Nana, I have sand in my mouth!" Sure enough, it wasn't sand, it was a piece of her front tooth! A little scared, but mostly embarrassed, she was okay. I keep telling her that when she gets a little bigger, her baby teeth will fall out and she'll grow new teeth that aren't broken!

In hind-site, I think her broken tooth gives her a little spunk and adds to her personality!

Trying real hard to show her tooth - she thought squinting her eye would do it!

Eating with a spoon

Today was the beginning of a new era for Jaden. He was actually interested in trying to use a spoon instead of just shoveling the food in with his hands. It was a little difficult for him at first, but he began the process of getting used to using utensils. I'm not quite sure he's totally ready, as the bowl was overturned and the food was on the floor more than in his mouth!

Are you sure I should use the spoon, mom?

Hmmmm......

Yay! I did it!

Like sister, like brother

Jaden is getting very good at watching and studying Alyssa these days. Purposely, she does various things and hopes Jaden will follow. Today, it was getting in and out of the empty toy buckets.

Growing and growing......

15 months old........

And yet, another milestone birthday! I can't believe my baby boy is 15 months already! It seems like yesterday that I was writing down all of his accomplishments from his first year, and yet the list keeps growing. I didn't realize how much more he can say/do in only the last 3 months since he turned one!

*Since he mastered walking at 9 months, I knew the other physical aspects would come quickly.....he can now run, climb, get up and jump on the bed, climb into a dining room chair and then proceed to stand up in the middle of the dining room table, go up and down the stairs unassisted and get into the middle of the glass coffee table! Whew! This is the sole reason why I do not have a gym membership!

*Jaden can say "hello," his own version of "Alyssa," "more," "down," "mama," "dada," "num num," (food) and many more of his own babbling and pointing combinations.

*He can wave good bye and hello, give kisses goodnight, blow kisses, drink from a cup with a straw.....

*He loves any food from vegetable soup to fruit, to cheetos! He doesn't really have a favorite food, but will scarf down anything you put in front of him, and a lot of it!

*As for baby things, he his totally off the bottle and I'm sure will be climbing out of his crib any day now!

*He loves to play outside and go to the park

*Not sure why, but I thought he only had 3 teeth on the top and 3 teeth on the bottom, but yesterday he was opening his mouth for something, and bam, I saw 4 molars! One on each side. I still can't believe he got molars before the 4th tooth on the top and bottom. So, to this day, he has 10 teeth!

Keep up the good work Jaden, we love to watch you grow each and every day!

A winter day at the park

One of the nice things about living in the desert is the ability to go to the park in the winter! Today, the kids had a blast getting some energy out at the park!

Ringing in the New Year

Alyssa's New Year's Eve attire

Because Jaden is so scheduled still with bedtime, etc, we decided to have a quiet New Year's Eve at grandma's house. I guess quiet, in the sense that we didn't go out, but not quiet with the amount of people over. Thanks to grandma, we had lots of munchies, to include pigs in a blanket, pizza, chips and dip, crackers and dips, cupcakes, treats, etc.

We played a bunch of games which included Jumping Monkeys, Yahtzee, Cootie, and more! The kids had a blast, as well as the adults. We decided to do some fireworks and sparklers a little early in the evening, as we weren't sure that the little ones would actually make it until midnight. Much to our surprise, they did! We rang in the new year with champagne and sparkling cider! We didn't have a good view of the strip from grandma's balcony, so we watched all the fireworks from downtown of TV. What a great show!

To a great and memorable 2009 and much more excitement and good memories that 2010 will bring us!

Grandma's plant that Alyssa decorated with all the New Year's dress up stuff

Lilyanne and Alyssa blowing bubbles

Jaden just taking it all in!

Cousins ~ Hayley, Alyssa & Lilyanne

Alyssa sparkling

Alyssa drinking 'apple soda'

And yet, more cousins...

Abby, Andrew, Alyssa and Jaden at the Magical Forest

We are so bless that between mine and Andy's families, we have a ton of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins! Alyssa and Jaden had such a great time the week of Christmas being able to reconnect and play with all of their cousins! Here are just a few pictures I wanted to share~

Jaden and Abby dining together

Jaden and Abby conversing about blueberries and potato salad

Regan, Andrew, Alyssa and Kendal playing a game of Go Fish

Thanks everyone for such a great time ~ we hope to see you again soon!

The Elf Named Pincher

This year we decided Alyssa would be old enough to start appreciating the idea that Santa watches you to see if you are being a good or naughty little girl. With the advice of some friends, we purchased "The Elf on the Shelf." It is a hard back book that comes with an elf doll. In short, the story is about an elf, whom the child names, that comes to your house on Thanksgiving and stays until Christmas Eve. Every night the elf flies back to the North Pole to tell Santa if you've been good or bad, then comes back to the house the next morning and sits in a different spot in the house. On Christmas Eve, the elf flies back to the North Pole where he then stays until next year.

It's a great, fun tradition to start for anyone with young children. It's definitely something that I will use for many years to come. We had a blast moving Pincher every night to a new location around the house, after the kids were sleeping, of course. Every morning, Alyssa came down and searched all around to find out where Pincher would be sitting next. It did help a little bit when daddy said "you better be good, Pincher's watching you!" She would look over at the little elf, and the naughty behavior would stop!

We will definitely miss having Pincher around now that Christmas is over.

As Alyssa says, "Mama, I really miss Pincher. I cannot wait until next Christmas when we get to see him again."

Edible Snowmen

We had a delicious Christmas dinner with Nanny and Opa and I couldn't resist making some Christmas themed food!

Frosty the snowman cheese ball

Frosty the snowman coconut cake

Christmas morning again.....

It's our tradition to have our own family Christmas in the morning and when we are all through, we head to Grandma and Papa's house for breakfast and more presents. Here are a few photos from Grandma's ~

Jaden trying to play on his spinning toy ~ he thinks it's just a stool!

Alyssa and Brayden eating breakfast