Merry Christmas!

We took the kids to see the lights at the Ethel M cactus garden.

As usual, the kids got WAY more presents then they wanted or deserved. :)

Santa brought them both a Nintendo DS and the usual surprise in the fish tank.

This year it was a dinosaur, go figure.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

The Godfather, part IV

Ever feel like someone is trying to send you a message?

I'm not a big fan of the cats, specifically Clover, who is mean and hateful and who hisses and growls at me every time I try and move her off my bed.

While Ryan insists girl cats bring you gifts to show their love, I can't help but think there is an ulterior motive behind her "gift" the other night, on MY side of the bed

(LUCKILY on the floor!)

The pigeon is easily the same size as Clover, and yet she was able to murder it without any blood or any sign of the fatal wound and bring it in through the cat door, which is squished behind the kitchen table, carry it upstairs and place it strategically next to my bed for me to find.

Very clever and very scary.......but I think this was the plan.

The Count Down's on!

The kids are getting very anxious for Christmas!

We took them to Santa to place their orders.

The best place in LV to go see Santa is the Bass Pro Shops.

It's very red-neck, but there is so much fun and cool stuff to do, even for the "City Boy".

Happy Thanksgiving

We headed up to fridged Northern Utah on Wednesday.
We had planned to stay until Sunday, but due to a huge storm, we left on Saturday, with lots of tears from Karson.

Lindsay, Josh, their boys, and my Grandma Betty came out for dinner on Thanksgiving.

The kids frosted sugar cookies that night.

We also got to take a trip out to Antelope Island.

Saw a Coyote,

Some Ta Tonka (Buffalo)





And the Great Salt Lake


Took some family pictures

The "barn cat" would not leave us alone, he wanted to be in every picture.

The kids got to play with Porter and Bryson before we had to take off on Saturday.

When we got home, we had a "couple" boxes at our front door.

Apparently, Ryan got on the USPS home box delivery program unbeknownst to him.

Aubree

It's the 7th year in a row we've celebrated Nov 14th.
We have all the reason in the world!



Aubree wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday, and I was all for it!

I had to wait clear until I was 12 and that was with lots of begging.
The girls at Claire's gave her a big bear to hold while they did the piercing.

Aubree choose to have both ears done at once, which is good because if you are not a fan of pain, you may leave with only one ear pierced.

She was a little nervous....this picture is so funny, she was trying to be so brave!

She also chose to have her beloved "rainbow lizard" on her birthday cake. We had a local bakery "Layers" do the cake from a picture of her lizard.
They did a great job and Aubree loved it! The lizard was made of white chocolate and was eaten immediately.


As most children, after every commercial on Nickelodeon came on, she would tell me that is what she wanted for her birthday. She was more recently persistent about a "mommy cat that has kittens" and I looked everywhere and couldn't find anything toy related. Finally I was able to see the commercial and laughed so hard, because it was a "I can be a vet" Barbie! NO mention whatsoever of the Barbie! Only the cats! Ryan and I both said she would get it and not even play with the Barbie, and that is exactly what happened. Funny girl!

We love this beautiful, smart, funny and talented girl SO much and are so grateful for Nov 14th!

Halloween

So if you are expecting a typical Halloween blog with two normal children dressing in appropriate Halloween costumes, then you have come to the wrong place.

If you would like to see a 6 year old girl dressed as a paleontologist and a 9 year old boy that would rather stay home and pass out candy, costume-free, then this is the place!

Strangely, there was not any paleontologist costumes for 7 year old girls any where to be found.

But if your daughter wants to be a fairy or a princess, or a fairy princess, then there's no shortage of those costumes.

Luckily, because there is not a standard to be held to, we were able to throw a few things together, give her a dinosaur hatching from an egg puppet, and we were official.

Karson's shirt says "I don't do costumes, now step aside you're standing on my invisible dog"

Most kids immediately go through their Halloween candy upon arriving at home, but if you are a paleontologist, then it is apparently more important to impress all the neighbors with your fantastic, creative and so adorable costume then the actual receipt of candy.

Aubree and I went out trick or treating while Karson and Ryan stayed home to pass out candy.

At every house Aubree would get them to pet her dinosaur and give her additional candy (that she didn't even care about) because she had the "very best and smartest" costume.

She also had her dinosaur tell every person "thank you" in the baby dinosaur voice.

One guy gave her a couple pieces of candy, then asked her what she was, when she told him, his eyes got really big and asked her if that was what she wanted to be when she grew up. She of course said yes and he then gave her 2 huge handfuls of candy.

This is a very good lesson for her to learn. Paleontology = Extra candy.

Climbing to the Cretaceous Period

Aubree went to a birthday party that included climbing a rock wall.

She asked me several times if the T-Rex is as tall as the wall or if there might be one at the top.

It's kind of like Santa Claus, we arent really sure when the right time to admit to the fact they don't exist anymore.

She climbed about 3/4 of the way up then would stop and come down. I think she was worried she was going to get eaten at the top.

Viva Mexico!

I got to capure this pimped out Toyota Tercel today, and I was reminded why we love living in Las Vegas.

All the fancy cars.

Paleontologist

Aubree LOVES Dinosaurs!

Last night as I was reading her "How a Dinosaur says I Love You", and totally mis-pronouncing every dinosaur name, she would sigh and then tell me the correct pronunciation.

Now, these aren't your run of the mill dinosaurs, like Triceratops, T-Rex, etc., in fact, I guarantee no one other then Ross Geller (I miss Friends) would even know these.

When her teacher recently asked the class to write about things they like, Aubree produced this gem.

Her teacher actually called me to tell me how amazed she was that Aubree even knew what a paleontologist was and that she spelled it almost right, all on her own!

Karson ain't no slouch

Those of you that have known Aubree for more then a few months, also know that she can be, and most definitely used to be, a bit of a pill, to say the least, and getting a kindness award is really a pretty big accomplishment for her.

Karson on the other hand has always been adored by all adults and teachers, and has received awards every year, including Student of the Week three times.

So, though it seems as though the little one is the only one getting any awards, Karson brought home his award yesterday for his Citizenship award that he will receive in an assembly next Wednesday.
So, long story short; although we totally expect this from Karson, we have to make as big of a deal about it as we did with the other one. :)

Another Award

Our darling little angel received another award for kindness.

The kid's school is doing a "you've been caught being kind!" program.

This is from the Josh Stevens Foundation which is in honor of a local boy that was killed in a tragic accident a month before his 13th birthday.

It's all about recognizing and rewarding children's heartfelt kind acts and to inspire more children to be more kind, more often.

We are so proud of Aubree and her acting so grown up and so kind!

To visit the Foundation's website: http://www.joshstevensfoundation.org/

Fall

The kids started school the end of August and both have awesome teachers!

Aubree got a Titan Ticket for being such a great student and always being nice to others and helpful to her teacher.

So....both the kids were super excited about September 22nd.

What? You weren't counting the days too?
First day of fall! Still not getting all the hulabaloo? Fall in Las Vegas means beautiful weather! The next three months of 70's and 80's makes the summer heat all worth it!

And they still get to swim!

At the Beach

The rest of our vacation was spent at the beach in Maine. There were lots of family and cousins for the kids to play with. They would live there if we let them, neither wanted to leave!

Kids with cousin Brayden.

I was told several times the water was "warm", but being that I won't get into our pool in Las Vegas until it's 85(the water, not the air), I wasn't going to buy into the ocean being an acceptable temperature.

Also, Aubree had purple lips most of the day, and that was the last clue needed to confirm my suspicions.

Karson in the ocean (his head)

Aubree and Andrew

Digging their way back to Nevada



Karson flying a kite

Ryan and Aubree

We also got to take a trip to the Zoo.

Karson and Grandma Mary in the paddle boats.

Andrew and his favorite animal, the elephant.

Aubree with her favorite animal, a giant lizard.

Learning from her Dad (remember the Statue of Liberty Pic)

The snake charmer

I know from these pictures it looks like there weren't any real animals there, but there were, these were just the best I had with the previously mentioned camera issue.

At Grandma Mary's, Aubree and Brayden

Karson got giant mosquito bites all over his legs.

Flying a helicopter

Aubree gets the record for "women's" mini golf.

Back in town at Grandma Mary's, Karson's doing his most favorite thing to do when we visit.

Laundry.

Ok, so that wraps up our trip. I won't get into the throwing up or peeing on the airplane.

We had a great time and can't wait to go back!