Brock's Birthday Party

Brock's actual birthday isn't until the 28th, so I will be doing a much more emotional blog on him turning 5 at a later date. For now I will focus on the wonderful party we threw for him this past weekend.

One thing that I love about Brock is he is all about being around people. Crowds never intimidate him. That's a good thing because on Saturday we had over 40 people at my moms house celebrating Brock's Birthday.

The weather was so perfect and everyone was able to enjoy themselves outside without having to sweat to death! The theme was Ben 10 Alien Force, which of course no one had a clue as to who that was. I was also able to find a jumper to rent at the last minute so the kids were occupied at all times. There was some where around 15 kids so one point during the party my Nana ran out to buy bubbles which was a huge hit. Thank you mom and Nana for thinking of that!

It was an overall great day and Brock had an absolute blast. We sang Happy Birthday and he had the biggest grin on his face. His presents were of course the highlight of the party. He got "everything" he asked for and then some.

I was very proud of myself for not crying during the event. I'm usually the emotional one but some how I held it together for everyone. Thank you to everyone who came it was a huge success!

Kite Flying

It feels like it has been windy in Las Vegas for months now. I know that the months of March and April are usually some what windy but seriously it is getting ridiculous! Now a few weeks ago we tried bubbles in the wind and it didn't work out so well so I remember mentioning how the next time it's windy we will fly kites. I went to walmart and I found some small ones for only a dollar and by golly what do you know, today it is crazy windy! James put them together and both the kids took hold of their own kites and off soaring they went. Brock's got really high and all I could see was him letting go and off it goes but he did so well and kept really good control of it. Alyvia held hers the whole time by herself and thought it was the neatest thing ever. I kept her rope shorter so it wasn't as high but she loved every second of it. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the kites did seeming as they were only a dollar and you can tell cheaply made. They are still in good condition where we should be able to fly them at least one more time before something breaks. :)

Fire Pit and Smores

Need I say more? Ryan and Sherry have a fire pit in their back yard and love to make smores. They kindly invited us over to share in the enjoyment and honestly who can say no to chocolate?? It was great. Brock had a blast and loved the fire and Alyvia once she got used to it was having a blast too. Of course the smores were yummy and when everything was done there was left over roasted marshmallows. I think towards the end the kids just like burning the marshmallows and had no intentions of eating them. All five kids ventured upstairs and played with each other surprisingly well why we stayed outside and enjoyed the rest of the nice evening. It was a great way to end a Monday night.

Date Night

James and I finally had our much needed date night. I believe next time it will be a much needed weekend date. LOL

So my wonderful mom came over to babysit the kids while James and I headed out for a night out on the town. We first started out at the Silverton Hotel. I love that hotel because its mostly locals. We ended up signing up for the players club and were given some GREAT prizes. A fold up colander and a love songs CD. Haha it was great!

Next on the agenda was the Bellagio. I have been dying to go see the conservatory for ages now and this took my breath away. It was so beautiful and colorful and vibrant that I could have stayed there for ever. It was most definitely cold in there so we only stayed for a while.
After the conservatory we headed towards the strip and walked to the new City Center Hotels. That was very interesting. Not all that impressed with them but they were very pretty. On our lovely walk we encountered some questionable people. Feels like a whole new city, there were people walking around in random costumes, guys singing and playing the guitar for money, homeless men sitting in the middle of the sidewalk begging, and a drunk guy passed out in a chair next to an elevator. What is this city coming to? We did watch the water show before our night ended and as always it was so beautiful. I love the times when we do get to have an actual date night. Hoping that we can at least continue this once a month as we really enjoyed each others company. Its been awhile. Love you hunny!

Our creative neighbor

Once again people truly amaze me. Sherry my wonderful neighbor did such a nice thing for Alyvia. Her son recently had a birthday and received a new bike to replace his old one. Sherry thought his old bike would be perfect for Alyvia but the only thing was it was very boyish. So my brilliant neighbor went out and bought spray paint, then came home and completely took the bike apart and spray painted this bike black and pink for Alyvia. It turned out so cute!! Her wonderful husband then put everything back together for her and now Alyvia has a brand new bike with training wheels. It is also her first real bike!! Her little legs are the perfect length for this but she has yet to understand the peddling part. Thank you Sherry and Ryan!!!

Bubbles

I think next time when it is windy outside I wont be recommending bubbles, we'll be flying kites instead! Yesterday it was super windy and I had this brilliant idea that we should head out side and play with bubbles. The only problem with bubbles it the second you take the wand out the wind usually swipes the bubble away or you have bubble juice flying in the air soaking everyone around! It was fun for the 10 minutes we all lasted but seeing how Alyvia was wearing most of the bubble juice we had to call it quits and find another activity. Brock of course loved it and has a few years more experience but with the wind he still wasn't doing all that great. Next time we try this it most definitely has to be a nice and calm day outside!

Gardening

I honestly never thought I would be the person who would pick weeds, trim bushes, or pot some plants. It has just never been my thing, until now. Apparently you change your views when its your yard and your responsibility. When we bought our house almost two years ago, the landscaping was already picked out for us. I believe we had over 13 rosemary bushes. Now, for those of you who have no clue what that is, its pretty but I personally think it smells terrible! Ever so slowly James and I have been pulling them up one by one. Finally our yard has been looking a tad bit bare so we took a family trip to our local star nursery today to pick out some plants!

We ended up buying some really nice plants and flowers and if I could remember what they were called I would be more then happy to inform everyone. But I can tell you that we now have some beautiful yellows and purples and eventually some orange colors in our yard. That is the extent of my knowledge of plants! LOL Anyways James dug all the holes and Brock, James and I planted everything. Alyvia was more interested in playing with the dirt and rocks then helping. We had such a great time and we will probably be doing this again in a few more weeks. next on the gardening list is potted plants and hanging plants for the backyard!

Easter Sunday

Like most holidays we have a tradition with Easter. Every year my mom and Chad come over to watch the kids hunt for Easter eggs and then we have a delicious waffle breakfast. Not sure how it started but we've been doing this for years. So the kids woke up to there Easter baskets that the Easter Bunny brought them. The funny part was that every year Brock will usually wake me up to go down stairs with him to get the baskets only this year he decided to wake up before the rest of us and go downstairs and get his basket with out letting anyone know. It was so cute because when he finally came into our room he started telling us all about it and when asked about his sisters basket he ran back downstairs to bring it to her. I thought it was adorable but if he is that excited about Easter lord knows how he will react on Christmas next year. I will most definitely have to put the baby gate back at the top of the stairs.

So then it was off to the back yard so the kids could hunt down the eggs! It took Alyvia a little bit to understand the concept but once she finally figured it out she was on a roll. Brock of course was on those eggs and ended up gathering more then half of them but in the matter of minutes. It was so sweet to watch him help his sister too!!

After the egg hunt and waffle breakfast (which was so delicious) we hurried and got dressed so we could head on out to meet up with James side of the family. Before we left I of course made sure we took a family picture which I originally wanted outside but of course it was windy, so I settled for the kitchen! LOL Anyways we met up with the other half of the family at James' Nana's house and got to enjoy more great conversation with our cousins, aunt, brother, mom and dad. It was so nice to just spend some quality time with everyone.

I am hoping for a new tradition for next year and that would be to go to church on Easter morning. Its been a long time since we have been but thats all another blog story. :)

Alyvia's new bed

If I am ever asked for advice for a new mom it would be this, "Do not ever co-sleep because it is one of the hardest habits to break." Alyvia has co-slept with us, on and off since she was born. Now that she is older I hate it! We have tried so hard to get her to sleep in her own bed which was a toddler bed but to no effect. James had mentioned that maybe Aly just didn't like the toddler mattress because they are exactly the most comfiest things to sleep on. So one night the kids spent the night at my mom's house and Alyvia slept by herself in the spare room which has a twin size bed in it all night long till 8am! Once we heard that we new we had to get a twin bed asap!

So, it all happened rather suddenly but we now have a twin bed for her. I was curious to see how the night was going to go and very anxious. Bed time was a lot calmer then I expected and she was actually ok with going to bed in her own room for once. I am happy to say that she went to bed at 8:00pm and didn't wake up and come to my room until 6:30am! Needless to say I was do the happy dance the entire day. She loves her bed and Brock loves that she has a big bed to because he can lay down with her or hang out in her room now.

Easter Eggs

Easter is really not one of my favorite holidays, mainly because James has never really been able to celebrate with us. This year though because of his new schedule he was home for the first time. The night before is when the kids and I would dye our Easter eggs, it's always hectic because they make the biggest messes and I swear by the time it is all finished I have a few bald spots. This year thought James was able to participate and witness the wonderful mess our lovely kiddos make.

Alyvia's entire right hand was completely stained with every color imaginable thanks to her dad! James and Alyvia teamed up and did there own eggs while Brock and I partnered up to do ours. This way we could alternate the camera and I was actually in some pictures. So back to Alyvia's hands, James would let her drop the eggs in the dye and then instead of helping her get the eggs out he just told her to pick them up with her hand, hence the nicely dyed fingers. She is definitely our free spirit and loves to get messy. Brock and I on the other hand are usually more disciplined. Our fingers did get some what colored but we followed the rules and used that spoon like tin thing that came with the dye packages. We all did have a blast and laughed a lot. I even managed to get a family photo at the end of it!

And as always once the kids go to bed I put on my bunny ears (not really) and got the kids baskets all put together.