Vegas!!!

So I know it's been awhile but there hasn't been too much going on so I didn't really have much to write about!  This weekend however we made our 1st family trip to Vegas.  This was the longest car trip we've ever taken with both of the kids together.  They did pretty good I packed them each a backpack with snacks and toys and coloring books and crayons and we used our car trays so they could eat and play without us having to pull over.  The ride there was relatively smooth all things considered.  The reason for our trip was the Jonas Brothers concert that Jailyn got 2 tickets to as a birthday present from JR and I.  The concert was on Saturday night so we drove out on Friday morning.  We didn't do much that first night we got in about 3pm we relaxed, ate dinner and hung out in the room.  The next day we went to the Mirage and saw the dolphin and lion habitat.  That was fun the dolphins are cool and you can get soo close which the kids thought was cool.  After that we went to the Belagio to say hi to JR's aunt and we went top the Atrium to take pictures that place is soo cool it was all set up for fall.  That night was the concert at the MGM.  Jailyn and I went to the concert and JR and Marcus went to the M&M factory and the tournament show at the Excalibur.  The concert was LOUD and LOONG!!!  It started at 8 pm and we didn't get out until 11:20pm.  All the screaming tweens and some (surprisingly) screaming adults really wore on my nerves but Jailyn had a good time so it was worth it!  Vegas with kids is definitely a different experience.  More expensive I think than if we had gone by ourselves that's for sure.  I think the amount we spent on souvenirs outweighs the amount we would have spent with more free time to gamble.  Still a fun trip overall and I'm glad to be home!!  I'll post pics in a little bit.

Jailyn's 7th Birthday party

Well this year we wanted to do something a little low key with only a few friends and since the rule at school is if you invite 1 kid from class you have to invite all 20 of them we decided school friends were out!!!  So instead we invited all the girls from Jailyn's soccer team and a few close friends.  We went to shakey's because Jailyn loves their fried chicken!!  The girls had a good time playing arcade games and running around being silly!!!  She had a great time and I didn't have to do much work!!  It was a good day and she got all kinds of things that she really wanted!  I unfortunately forgot to take pictures until the very end so we don't have that many!!  

Jailyn opening her secret journal from Auntie Bonnie

Reading her own birthday card!!  She's getting so big!!!

Showing off one of her presents!!!

She was soo funny she had all the girls surrounding her while she was opening presents but she would tell them to get out of the way so she could pose for pictures with her presents!!!  That's my little ham she just loves the camera!!!  Take care everyone!!  Love Ya!!!

Halloween 2008

Well our Halloween was good this year!!  We have a little tradition that we started with some friends 3 years ago.  Our friend Chelsea's birthday is on Halloween so for every year they get together at her house and have pizza, go trick or treating and have cake.  So for the last 3 years our family and some other friends have joined them and all the kids and adults hang out and go trick or treating together.  We have a good time especially since Halloween was on Friday this year so we didn't have to rush to get the kids in bed for school the next day.  Jailyn was Elphaba (the wicked witch of the west) from Wicked, and Marcus was Spider man.  They looked really cute!!!  They got WAAAAY too much candy but they had fun!!  Hope you enjoy the pics!!!

Bonnie Chad and Marcus Trick or Treating

The Boys and the Dads we take this picture every year in front of the same house. It's cool to see how big they've gotten!

Us before we go trick or treating

Marcus, Jack and Eli

Madi, Jailyn and Brooke

My little Spider man

The wicked witch

My babies all dressed up!!!

Hope you all had a great halloween!!  I'm going to post some birthday pics from Jailyns party next!!!  Take care!!  Love you all!!!

pics pics and more pics!!!!

Jailyn with her silver certificate at her competition

Jailyn on the uneven bars

Waiting for her turn on the vault

Jailyn driving cars in Legoland

Marcus driving at legoland

Jailyn and Marcus on a ride at Legoland

Legoland again

Jailyn at her gymanastics performance they were India

Missing her 2 front teeth!!!!

Did you miss me?

Sorry I've been slacking big time!!!  You know how it goes.  Anyway I'm back with lots to talk about.

Jailyn has had ALOT going on lately.  She lost her other tooth up top she looked sooo cute!! (All pictures in blog to follow this one)  Her soccer team has been on a MAJOR winning streak they've been doing soo good in fact that my little defender actually got to play forward a couple of times and has scored a goal at both of her last 2 games!!!  She also competed in her 1st gymnastics competition this past weekend.  The way it works is they are competing to get a certain score 32.4 out of 40 overall and if they get that score they get a gold certificate, anything below that is silver.  If you get 3 golds you move up to the next level.  Jailyn was really excited, she loves her gymnastics team!! She competed on the vault, the balance beam, the uneven bars and floor.  She scored a silver 29.4. Not bad for her 1st time.  She looked soo cute!!! And of course the biggest news for Jailyn is that she turned 7 years old on Tuesday!!!!  I can't believe how big she is!!  I swear it feels like just yesterday that I was bringing her home from the hospital on her 1st Halloween!  I know you hear it all the time but the time REALLY does FLY by!!!  She was very excited because she got tickets for the Jonas Brothers concert from JR and I.

Marcus on the other hand has had a pretty uneventful month.  Just alot of the same old stuff for him.  He is insanely jealous of Jailyn getting to loose her teeth and is constantly asking me to check to see if his are loose too.  He has also been really into the whole I'm a big boy thing.  We went to the grocery store the other day and I put him in the front of the cart (the baby seat as Marcus likes to call it), we were going through the store and a little girl his age passed us in her moms cart.  She said to her mom "Look at the baby"  Marcus was HIGHLY offended!!  He spent the next 1/2 hour in the store telling anyone that walked past him he was not a baby!  We ended up behind that little girl in line to check out and Marcus looks at her and says " Hey you,girl, I am NOT a baby!!!  I am a big BOY!!!  My mommy makes me sit here!  I 3 I a BIG BOY!!!  You hear me girl?"  The mom was looking at him and I apologized and told her he is very sensitive about the whole baby thing right now.  I was trying soo hard not to laugh!!!  Needless to say he fights with me every time I try to put him in the cart now, but It's just sooo much easier than yelling at him through the ENTIRE trip to stop running, jumping, climbing, hanging, grabbing everything!!!!!   He also has a new nickname you can now officially call him "PIGPEN" like from the  snoopy cartoons the little kid that walks around so dirty he has his own dust cloud.  Marcus from a very young age could find the nearest dust/dirt/mud spot within a 10 mile radius like he has radar for it or something!!  I used to be able to get him to leave it alone though but those days are gone!!  It's like a compulsion or something the dirt just calls his name and he can't stay away.  When we go to soccer practice on Mondays and Wednesdays he'll come wearing for example a red shirt and jean shorts white socks and black shoes with tan skin, and he'll leave in head to toe GREY!!  and when I say head to toe I mean that literally.  He has soo much sand in his hair that I have to wash it 3 times and comb it out in the shower and I still don't get all of it!!!  He's such a BOY!!!

On a family note we all went to Legoland ( Thanks Speck and Mike for the tickets) on the 19th.  It was a Sunday so we were afraid that it might be packed but it wasn't bad at all!!!  The kids had a GREAT time although alot of the rides you need to be 40 inches tall and Marcus was like 39 or even 39&1/2 inches so we had to have him stand on his tip toes for a couple of them.  He LOVES roller coasters!!  Or Rolldercoasters as he calls them.  Jailyn had a good time too! She was old enough to go on some of the rides by herself this time which she thought was cool!  It was a fun family trip!!!

Well I think I'll go and post some pics.  I'll try to be back next week with some Halloween and Jailyns Birthday party pics.!!!  I LOVE you all!!!  Take care!

P.S....

Jailyn lost her 2nd tooth on Saturday!!!  Unfortunately the tooth fairy took Saturday off ( JR was supposed to stay awake and put the $ under her pillow but he fell asleep).  She felt bad about being a day late though so Jailyn got another $5 for her tooth.  That darn Tooth Fairy!!!  hehehe!  That's all for tonight! I promise!!!  Love you guys!!!

Nat

Showing off her missing tooth!!  The other one is not going to be far behind!!

WICKED

Yesterday Jailyn, My Mom, Bonnie and I went to see WICKED at the Pantages Theater in LA as an early birthday present to Jailyn from JR and I.  It was GREAT!!!  I had already seen the show in NY back in December and LOVED it!!  When I got home I started playing the soundtrack in my car all the time and Jailyn being a quick auditory learner (like me) soon knew all the words to her favorite songs and which track they were on the CD.  She watched some clips I found on You Tube and really wanted to see the show.  So we bought her the tickets and they were WELL worth the $.  She LOVED it!!!  She spent almost the entire show in awe of what was going on on the stage.  She was lip singing her favorite songs and acting them out with hand and arm gestures.  After one of her favorite songs she started clapping enthusiastically with her hands high above her head in the air.  She even jumped to her feet at the end when the 2 main characters came out on stage.  I loved it this time in a very different way because I was loving it through her eyes, her expressions and her true excitement and joy for the experience.  It was a GREAT day!!!

Jailyn in her new outfit ready to go to the show!

Jailyn and I before the show

Jailyn, Auntie Bonnie and Grandma before the show

All of us at the Pantages

Jailyn and Auntie Bonnie inside the Theater