St. Patty's!

In between two of my kid's birthdays, falls St. Patty's day!! So why not have three parties in one week, I say??? This year, the leprechauns came and left a treasure/scavenger hunt, and the one who can read, had just as much fun as the ones who can't! (reading makes life just that much more exciting, like reading the clues the leprechauns left behind!)

Gold coins were left at the end of the hunt!

I think there was some lucky things going on in this house!

We even had green french toast!

And later that day, we had green choc chip oatmeal pecan cookies!

Happy St. Patty's day!!

Valentines

It has been a fantastic February so far. We've been celebrating February 14th the whole month! Starting off with a trip to San Francisco, just Mark & I...we needed the getaway to recharge our love and remember what it was like to be just the two of us. Let me tell ya, it was WONDERFUL! Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom, but it is nice to go back to the basics with the hubby and rekindle all the reasons why we fell for each other in the first place!

The high light was just being together and not worrying about anyone else. We truly had a great trip, it was just the right amount of time to be away from my kids, and to be honest I kept thinking how much fun they would have riding the trolley cars, going to china town and riding the Bart. However, staying down in Fisherman's Wharf was perfect, we were able to walk to the pier at night while smelling the salty air, we even managed to enjoy an Art Gallery with some peace and quiet!

We had a big group date planned the weekend before V-day, going to an Italian Cuisine with 20 people was FUN! Afterwards, a few of us went to a movie, but the kicker was....Our friend has connections with RedRock Casinos Regal Movie Theaters, and he was able to reserve a VIP Booth (which is above the normal theater seats, behind glass) The VIP part; luxurious leather recliners, comped movie tickets, comped concession stand food (AKA: Free candy, soda, water, popcorn!!!) The movie, The Vow, was a great love story, perfect for this holiday weekend.

Oh no, I'm not done. (Although I thought I was after such a great weekend!) Mark came home on Feb 14th not with chocolate, or Roses, jewelry (although I wouldn't complain if he did!) or a sappy love card. Nope. None of that.

He came home with a sweet Kindle Fire. I love it. And was totally surprised!

I must say, I love Valentine's Day just for that element. Surprise. Love. Gifts. Chocolate. Love Notes. Roses. Hugs. Kisses. Need I say more?

Valentine's Day with the kids was FUN! We did homemade Valentine's this year (thanks to Pinterest!)

We put on the cards, "You put the color in my world!" I cut out a bunch of hearts on gussied up V-day cardstock and attached the heart crayons via glue dots!

The kids were decked out in their red clothes and Mark fixed pink pancakes and pink scrambled eggs for breakfast! It was a magical day to say the least!

 Another fun thing I found on pinterest: Free printables! I printed this off and put it in a white frame. I love that we can read this every day! (no pun intended!)

Pinterest.

Yes. I'm an Addict. I can't help it when I see so many wonderful recipes, organizational tips, paper crafts, desserts with a twist or a make-over on a piece of old furniture. I just HAVE to pin them all!! And then it inspires me to get my creativity juices flowing, and that can be dangerously fun. With all the Valentine's floating around Pinterest, I just couldn't wait to do another paper project, or for that matter, bust open my new Sillhouette Cameo!! (*sigh*) I still have a LOT to learn, and thanks to a good friend for showing me the basics (similar to a cricut, but better in a sense that I can create whatever I want with the program it comes with!)

 I can't wait to do the next project! (picture found here.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Let Freedom Ring

We spent the 4th of July on a 'stay-cation'. It was the shortest drive to the most fun holiday! Mark's friend hooked us up with a ginormous suite.

With a JACUZZI in the middle of our hotel room. It was a very cool "sa-weet!"

The kids were SOOO excited to actually be "visitors" in our own city!

the man who makes these fun things happen! love him!

still trying to figure out the new camera...but here's the NY NY hotel inside!

and the Brooklyn bridge outside!

We walked across the street to eat on the 4th floor of Outback steak house...it was sooo yummy. I hadn't had the Bloomin' Onion in years!

Hee Hee, Maddox is always so sweet with his baby sister. So cute to watch him steal kisses from her.

The "strip'!!

We had fun walking up and down the strip. We even waited for fireworks!

Exploring the new City Center. I have never set foot down there until Independence Day! Ha!

Inside the mall there was a very cool art-interactive display of whirl-pool cylinders.

The kids were entertained for long while!

So here we are. Waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more.    Oh, for fireworks, that is.

Ya, they never came. So we headed back to our hotel room and crashed like rock stars!

Refreshed legs for more walking!

We headed over to the MGM lion habitat.

the kids loved seeing them so close!

walking through all the craziness. I personally do not like walking through the casinos (for many reasons, but the #1 reason is breathing in the second hand smoke. so I walk like I'm in a race or something, no one likes to walk that fast though!)

Into the forum shops and out of the smokiness....

the new addition to the Forum Shops was quite impressive...it looked very roman-ish.

as parents, i guess we will never get sick of taking pictures of our kids. even if she sits in the same stroller every day...she has the sweetest expressions all the time!

We walked through a bit of heat to get to this place. BUT, I thought it was worth it. AND I would probably do it again. Serendipity 3 has THE BEST frrrrrozen hot chocolate ever. And they have these massive doughnuts that the kids shared.

And licked the wrapper clean. Yup. My kids love sugar!

And Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate!

Happy Independence Day!

This year there were no fireworks, but that doesn't mean we didn't celebrate with a bang!!