The Holiday Haze

I have to play catch up here on my posts, now that the holidays are over. We had a great, but very busy holiday season. They went so fast that they are pretty hazy. Mikes parents, Mary Ann (Mike's sister) and her family, and Mary Ann's in-laws and sister-in-law and her family all came to Vegas to spend the Christmas holiday with us. Christmas morning we had 7 kids and 10 adults all crammed in to our living room with family presents and Santa presents stacked to the ceiling. I think it took us until New Years to open them all. Keira's big wish from Santa was a bicycle (tricycle). Come Christmas morning, the trike got trumped by Grandma/pa O'Leary's dollhouse & Grandma/pa Parkyn's fairy dress-up outfit. Devin, finally, got manly boy toys. So, he no longer has to play with Keira's toys and he has no problem reminding Keira which toys are her and which toys are his. An, Reagan just enjoyed tearing up the gift wrap and watching all the excitement of her first Christmas.

Snow.....in Vegas?

We left the house around 2:30pm to go downtown to do some Christmas shopping. While pulling out of the garage, I noticed a few snowflakes mixed in with the drizzling rain and we thought that was the extent of the snow we'd see this year - the usual amount. At 5:00, one of the mall clerks told us that all the freeways were shutdown due to snow!!!! This has NEVER happened in Las Vegas. And, for the firs time, our end of the valley was the hardest hit by the storm. So, we were "stranded" at the mall with no route home. You know I was miserable! HA! By the time we got home, it was close to 9pm. We took a picture, but the neighbors told us that a lot of the snow had already melt and there had been much more. The next morning, I bundled up the kids and we played in the snow. This was a foreign experience for them! It took Devin quite a while to figure out how to walk in it. They loved our neighbors snowman, claiming him as their own, and fixed him up a bit since he was melting. The snow on our block lasted almost a week. It made me feel like I was back in Reno for a white Christmas.

2008 Christmas Pictures

Aren't the kids so cute?

Thanksgiving with Bama & Bapa

We went to Reno to visit the Parkyn family for Thanksgiving. It was great bringing the kids to all the places that my parents brought me to as a kid. BaMa (Keira's pronunciation of "Grandma") took the kids to Virginia lake, a small pond in reality, to feed the ducks and play at the park. The kids loved being surrounded by a million ducks and tried to get a piece of bread to each and every one. They talked about feeding the ducks with BaMa for days!
Keira got her special one-on-one time with BaPa. BaPa took her to the Build-A-Bear Factory to make her own bear. She went all dressed up as Cinderella, no matter how hard I tried to get her to change. Out of the 100 choices, Keira saw this pink and white bear immediately and there was no talking her out of it or considering another bear. She had a great time at the bathing station, giving her bear a bath and fluff with BaPa. When it came time to dress the bear, she found a Christmas outfit and grabbed it. BaPA kept suggesting other outfits, but she was dead set on this one. It was actually a role reversal, usually it is the 2 year old who keeps looking and changing their mind and the adult makes one choice for them at the start. Together, they named the bear Cathy Bear.
The kids got to spend some time with their cousins - Brooke, Ava, Nina, Nathan (in picture) and Hannah and their Reno & Sacramento aunts and uncles (Uncle Greg in pic). It was a great trip and wonderful Thanksgiving, one in which we had much to be thankful for.

Reagan is 6 months old!

Happy Thanksgiving!! We have a lot to be thankful for - three happy, healthy active wonderful kids and a wonderful family. Reagan is now 6 months old. Can you believe it? She weighs 15 lbs and 14 ounces...all caught up now.

Our Puerto Penasco Vacation

Most people would say that driving 3 kids to Mexico doesn't sound like a vacation, but we actually had an amazing time. Our timeshare resort is gorgeous - right on the ocean, a huge pool for the kids, great food, and a beautiful property. The kids spent their days splashing and swimming in the pool, while we sipped margaritas. Keira quickly became the socialite of the resort. Within a day, everyone knew our family and Keira would visit every table at the restaurant and get hugs from everyone. People from aged 2 to 92 would play with her in the pool and then dance with her at night in the lounge. She even sang and danced karaoke for the first time (Jingle Bells). Devin loved the all-you-can eat buffets, almost as much as I did! And, Reagan enjoyed swimming for the first time while on this trip. I joke with Mike that we have a pool in our back yard, but we had to take her to Mexico o swim. We had a great time. Now, we are trying to decide which part of Mexico to go to next year!

Fred The Turtle & Duck The Duck

Meet Fred the Turtle and Duck the Duck! The resort had a little pottery shop where you could buy a piece and paint it. One morning, Keira saw a turtle on the table (her current addition is turtles and snowmen) and it was all over. We took her down the next day to paint it and it became a two day work of love. I painted the top and she painted the bottom half. Dad painted the duck. Devin was supposed to help Dad but, he found playing with the paintbrushes more amusing. Keira named the turtle and the duck. We estimate that Fred must have gained about 5 pounds from all the layers of paint that Keira put on him. We were worried that all that paint would break the man's kiln when he went to fire it. During the two days that she was painting it, all of Keira's friends came to look at her work. Fred kind of became the legendary piece around the resort. Most people take there time getting every detail just right but, we're willing to bet that Keira has started a new style of painting where you slap on 10,000 layers of paint for a tie die look.

Out of Africa Wild Animal Park

Today, was the first day of our vacation down to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. Since we the drive takes a little over 8 hours door to door, we decided to stop at the Out Of Africa Wild Animal Park near Sedona, AZ. Keira & Devin has a blast.
This couple bought about 150 acres of land, live on the land (you drive by their house on the tour), and started building the zoo around them. You get really close to the animals. We fed a giraffe and a camel, right from our hands. Keira and Devin got to pet a very old tortoise and a 6 foot snake. I, meanwhile, was having a heart attack while my kids touched the snake. Mike kept telling me that it was fine. If it is fine, then why did the lady keep saying, "Don't touch his head!!!" They had a lot of animals that you can get real close to, unlike most zoos. The kids really enjoyed the parrots that knew how to say "Cool, Dude" "Aba Daba Do" and a dew other phrases. We spent the night in Phoenix and then got to hear those phrases the remainder of the trip to Mexico. "Aba daba Do"

We're Off to See the Wizard

Happy Halloween! After numerous Halloween parties/playdates and professional photos, their costumes have taken a beating and required some serious Super Glue and last minute mending's. Devin has enjoyed tearing pieces off his costume. At least the costume looked really good for the professional photos and trick-or-treating was in the dark, so you couldn't see all the glue. The kids had so much fun on Halloween and got so much candy. They were so cute. Complete strangers asked to take their pictures. Our neighbor (who considers them her adopted grandkids) spoiled them by giving them their own huge (1 pound?) candy bar, animal cookies, and $10 for each. Plus, she had them come inside her house to visit. This was their first house for the night. As we continued on, they thought that you say, "Trick or Treat" and then you just push the door open and help yourself to the kitchen and find whatever treat that you like. We had a great Halloween and hope you did, too. Devin's costume is the second costume that I've made. Next year, I'll make Reagan's and then I'll think we'll buy them for a while....making them is a lot of work!!!!

Reagan is 5 months old!!

Growing like a weed and now 5 months old!! Time flies by! Where is my baby?

A Day at the Pony Farm

I scheduled a tour for our playgroup to go to a J.R. Pony Farms today. They gave us a private tour of the farm. The kids got to pet the animals, feed some of the animals, and the highlight of the day for Keira and Devin was riding the ponies. There were about thirty kids in the group and the Keira was one of the last kids to ride a pony. The farm owner commented that Keira was the most excited and enthusiastic and had the most fun of the kids riding the pony. I knew she'd enjoy riding the pony, but I had no idea that she was such a cowgirl at heart. Now, we are thinking about getting them to bring a pony or two to our house for pony rides for her birthday party.

Picking Pumpkins at the Pumpkin Patch

Believe it or not, Las Vegas has a big orchard that grows produce including pumpkins! Last year, we went on the fourth day that the pumpkin patch was open for picking and it was wiped out and was slim pickings, making Mike a sad boy. This year, like Charlie Brown determined to get the biggest and best pumpkin in the patch, Mike woke us all up at the crack of dawn on the pumpkin patch's opening day to leave the house at 6am for the long drive across town to be waiting at the gates for the 7am opening. Keira & Devin were, literally, the first kids to pick pumpkins from the patch and we were actually alone in the patch for at he beginning (it was a school day and was 7am!!!!). We actually had to wait for them to remove the fencing from the patch!!! Mike was like a kid at a candy store who got a free shopping spree. We couldn't believe that we had it to ourselves for a little bit. Last year, we were in line for over an hour just to pay for our pumpkins. As we were leaving, the buses started to arrive with the school buses for the the school trips. The orchard lady said that they were expecting 700 school kids by 10am that morning and another 1,000 the next day!!! So, if we would have waited to come Saturday again this year, we would have been picking weeds again. We got some cute pics and some great pumpkins. Now that Mike got his prize pumpkins and got us out of bed at 5 am for his favorite holiday activity, he can't say a word when I go a bit overboard buying stuff for my favorite holiday (Christmas)!

Devin is 18 months & Reagan is 4 months!!!

Reagan is 4 months old and had her check up today. She definitely had put on some weight lately and caught up (just look at those cheeks)!!! She now weighs in at a hefty weight of 13 lbs. 12.5 oz., putting her in the 52nd percentile. And she is 24.25 inches which is the 48th percentile. At 2 months old, she was in the 21st percentile for weight and the 33rd for height, so she is jumping up 10% for height each visit like Devin did.

Devin turned 18 months a few weeks ago and is still off the charts for height. Everyone who holds him says he is a brick, but I think that is because their comparison is Keira and they are about equal now for weight (Keira is still taller). Devin is 34 inches, the top one percentile and the measurement is really not on the chart for his age. For a comparison, his friend just turned two and is an inch shorter and is in the 60th percentile for a two year old. So, Devin's height is tall for a two year old. His weight is 24.5 lbs and holds steady around the 50th percentile....even though he eats us out of house and home!!!!