Happy Birthday James!

Yesterday was James' 27th Birthday. Luckily he is nothing like and me and does not get all stressed out about getting older. We really didn't plan a whole lot but on Monday or sometime around then, I did invite most of our Vegas family over for ice cream cake and I made James a huge dinner. I ended up making him T-bone steaks and asparagus with mashed potatoes and a salad. Oh my was is good! I think I truly spoiled him because he was one happy man!

A little bit later on after dinner family started showing up. It was so nice to have everyone get together even for such a short amount of time. From his side of the family his mom, dad, brother, sister, and nephews came over and then on my side my mom, chad, and grandparents showed up along with our neighbors. I think we had about 6 kids total at the house and a bunch of adults. We all sang Happy Birthday which you could tell made him blush and then we had cake and just sat around and talked. It was the perfect ending to the day. While the adults conversed inside the kids ran wild outside.

Afterwards we cleaned up and put the kids to bed and just relaxed for a couple hours by ourselves. It was nice and peaceful. This will have been James and mine 6th birthday celebrations together. How the times go by so fast!

James, I love you and hope you had a wonderful Birthday!!!

Alyvia's no clothes policy!

I think just about every baby goes through this stage, if not then mine are just plain silly. When Brock was little he had a fascination about taking his clothes off. For some reason he just did not feel the need to have to wear them. James and I thought it was cute of course but then it gets old because we were having to constantly redress him. Anyways the point of this whole story is that little miss Alyvia is starting to do this. She thinks it is so cute to just take off her clothes. Now it has gotten to the point where sometimes when I dress her in the morning or even put her pajamas on at night she will throw a fit about having to wear clothing. I know it is a stage and she will grow out of it, Brock did thankfully sooner then later.

I did catch her in the act a few days ago and luckily my camera was near by so I took a few shots. She is truly happy when she gets those pants off. It must just be that feeling of no restrictions or something.

Awww the joys of being a child!!!

Part II of Vacation

So part II of our vacation was that on Saturday the 15th we decided to head back to Carlsbad and take the kids to the Sea Life Aquarium. They both are such animal lovers and from the reviews I read, it sounded like a lot of fun. They kicker was that my mom and Chad were going to be there to surprise the kids. They decided they also needed a quick out of Las Vegas mini vacation and followed us up there late Friday night. Brock understood we were going to the aquarium and of course had a list of things he just had to see. Alyvia really doesn't care what we do as long as she gets to run around. So James and I are telling them all about what to expect and then all of a sudden we point out some "strangers" and it took only seconds and both kids were running shouting "Nay-Nay!" "Papa!".

We had a lot of fun seeing all the different types of fish. Brock's favorite of course were the sharks and he really liked the sting rays. Alyvia went around calling everything "puppies" and would get super excited about being able to touch the glass and get a little bit closer. I know the things that seem to amuse kids.

Afterwards it was lunch time so we headed towards the beach to find somewhere to eat. We ended up eating at this really good Mexican restaurant and then afterwards headed to the water. This was going to be Alyvia's first time at the ocean and Brock's second. As we were walking down the stairs I saw a squirrel hiding in some rocks which to me was a little random but apparently there are a lot of squirrels at the beach. So anyways, Brock headed right for the water with James right behind him. Those two were so excited and James took Brock pretty far out. Now Alyvia is more like her mother; she did not like it at all. My mom took her in just to about her knees with alyvia hanging on for dear life in her arms. Every time a wave would hit my mom Aly would say "All done!" because she just wanted to be back on dry land. It was so sad but funny too. James tried to take her out with him but she would just keep her head on his shoulder and say the same thing too once a wave hit.

I think we were only at the beach for maybe a little over an hour. Alyvia went back with my mom and James to sit on the towels and play in the sand while they sun bathed. That she loved! Brock being mister sociable ended up befriending another little boy and his grandmother and played with him making sand castles. Chad stayed with Brock while I alternated running back and forth between the kids taking a million pictures. Brock and his new friend also found those little tiny sand crabs and had a bucket full of them. He thought that was pretty awesome and was showing me how to catch them. When it was finally time to go we headed back to the hotels to get ready for dinner.

So for that last night in San Diego we met my parents in Seaport Village and decided to eat at a restaurant called the Fish Market. Ok food and okay service not something I would personally recommend but it was right on the pier and absolutely gorgeous outside. The kids loved it there and directly next to this restaurant is this huge navy ship that has all these different helicopters on it which Brock was so fascinated with. It was a perfect ending to our day.

So that was our short vacation but it was so forth while. I can't express enough how wonderful it was to just get out of town and have a worry free time somewhere else!

Morris Family Vacation Part I

First, lets just say this was a much needed vacation for us and a long time coming. James and I took the kids to San Diego for the first time and had the time of our lives. We packed the kids up on Thursday and headed on out. There wasn't really a whole lot planned for us but I did find us a deal for tickets to go the Legoland and the Sea Life Aquarium which is in Carlsbad, CA. The drive to San Diego went better then expected as both the munchkins slept the first three hours. The last two hours of the drive went smooth thanks to the DVD player. When we arrived I realized that we still had about three hours until check in time at our hotel so James diverted us to Seaport Village so the kids and us could get out and stretch and play the tourist scene. It was so beautiful outside and Aly and Brock especially loved seeing the ocean.

On Friday we made our way to Carslbad, CA and treated ourselves to almost 8 hours of legoland fun. It was such a neat experience and one we hope to enjoy again some day especially when Alyvia gets a little bigger. Brock was able to go on most rides while Alyvia was only able to go on about three. But it was so amazing to see all sorts of different animals, cars, towns, and even movie characters all made out of legos! We did so much there that I won't go into detail about but here are a few pictures to outline our day.

Part of the Las Vegas Strip made out of legos

Sleeping Beauty and her prince

Brock's first roller coaster ride

Daddy and Brock on a water ride

Alyvia cheering the boys on

The boys in another ride

Brock with a lego character

A lego buffalo

Darth Vader Lego man

Good-Bye LegoLand

Alyvia being silly at the end of our day

That was part I of our vacation but as I do not want to bore anyone I will write the rest at a later date.

Happy Birthday to me

Yesterday was my 22nd Birthday. I can't believe how fast this last year has gone. It seems like I waited forever to turn 21 and then all of a sudden the days are flying by and its my birthday again. I don't think I want to get any older now. LOL So it wasn't really all that big of a deal but the kids both were excited for me and Brock helped teach Aly how to say "Happy Birthday". I think just about everyone I know out of state, in the state called me or texted me or sent me a post on facebook to wish me Happy Birthday so that made me feel special. We did go swimming for a while with my Nana and cousin, which the kids enjoyed so much especially out in this heat. I made dinner while James and the kids went out and bought me a delicious ice cream cake. It was so cute because after dinner James ended up putting Aly's candle from her birthday on it and they all sang me the birthday song.

Hot summer days

So the kids and I have been stir crazy lately. There are only so many things we can do indoors to make the time go by when it is 110 degrees outside. So our neighbor a few weeks ago took us to a new park down the road that has a really big water area for the kids to play in and a shaded playground. I think we have been going there almost every other day now. The water area has the foam so the kids don't burn there feet or slip and fall. Alyvia will not go all the way in so I usually end up just as wet as all the other kids playing and Brock, well he ends up in his own little world running around like a crazy child and playing with anyone and everyone. It is so nice to get out of the house and after a couple hours in the sun and water both are usually passed out in the car before I even pull up to the house.

Happy Birthday Uncle Scott!

Last Sunday the 2nd, Aunt Sarah hosted a surprise party for Uncle Scott's 30th Birthday. All the family was invited to Memphis Barbecue at 6pm where Scotty would arrive around 6:30 from work. Right before he arrived Sarah had everyone stand up and move to the opposite side of the room and then she left to meet him out front. What he thought was going to be nice sit down dinner with his wife turned out to be a wonderful birthday bash with about 22 of his friends and family. Sarah said she would walk in first so we would know when to shout and then came the birthday boy and he was greeted with a chorus of "Happy Birthdays" and a running start hug from his nephew Mr. Brock.

It was so nice to see all the family again and especially Scott since he did turn the big 30. It's funny how we all live in the same city and less then 10 miles from each other but we are all so busy with our own lives that we hardly see one another. So thank you to Sarah for inviting us and we had such a great time.