Thanksgiving

I know I have a millions things to post to catch up on my blogging, but I figured I would do one post at a time rather than one huge post. If I break it up I will actually accomplish something. Anyway...
Since we have moved to Las Vegas I think we have gone out of town once for Thanksgiving. We usually stay home and celebrate with just our little brood. Last year we decided to start a tradition of taking the family out to see a movie while the turkey was cooking. Last year we took the kids to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. This year we saw Bolt. Since last Thanksgiving was Alyssa's first trip to the movie theater I brought my camera to capture the moment. This year I took my camera again to compare how much she has grown in the past year. WOW...

She seems all grown up. I can't believe how fast these kids grow.

When we got home from the movies I finished cooking the rest of the meal and we ate. At dinner Jay said the prayer. It was the cutest thing ever. After the usual thank you's for the family he said that we were grateful that the turkey died so we could eat it. Ok, I guess that is more morbid than cute, but I found it funny. While we were eating I asked Jay what he was thankful for. He said he was thankful for our family, his friends and for kindergarten. I asked him what he thought Alyssa was thankful for. He said "Her silky". Ain't that the truth!?

Polar Bear Practice

This evening the kids and I went for a walk to enjoy the cool autumn air. It's actually really nice outside, around 62. It was already dark when we set out on our adventure so we just stayed in our condo complex. Jay really likes to go see the pool at night when the lights are on, so we headed over there. I told him that it was WAY too cold to swim but he could put his foot in if he didn't believe me. He put his foot in, looked at me and jumped. When he surfaced he was freezing but I was laughing too hard to be mad at him. Maybe now he will start listening to me when I tell him that the water is too cold. For now he is soaking in a hot bubble bath.

Halloween

We had a very mild Halloween this year. I was a mean mom and limited the kids trick-or-treating to the ward party only. The kids still had a great time and where exhausted when we came home. Jay's favorite super hero of the moment is Iron Man. Since they don't like people wearing masks at the trunk-or-treat, I painted the mask on him. Alyssa wore the skunk costume Jay had at that age. I sure do make pretty cute little stinkers.


Jeremy's costume was a hit. He went as a mad scientist and our car was decorated as his laboratory. We actually won first place in the car decoration contest. I think the plasma ball and the dry ice clenched it for us.

After shopping for all the decorations, making the chili, packing up the car, getting the kids dressed and doing Jeremy's hair for the party, I was to tired to dress up myself. Oh well.

Happy Happy Birthday Jay!

Sorry for posting this so late, I am pretty far behind on my blogging so I am going to try to make up for it all today. Anyway...
My cute little guy turned 6 on October 17th. Since we had planned his birthday party for Saturday, we had our own little family party on Friday night. We took the kids down to the MGM to see the lion habitat then ate dinner at the Excalibur. After dinner we took them to the M&M store and Jay got his picture taken with Elvis on the walk back to the car. It was fun to go down to the strip but we were reminded why we usually only go when we have company in town. The place is a madhouse no matter what time or day you go.
The next day we had his party at a little park next door to the fire station. The kids got to go on a tour of the station, climb all over the fire engines and watch our friend Cliff try on all of the gear. It was a hit with the kids and the adults had fun too. Then back to the park we went where we had the funky looking fire truck cake that I had made. Jay got a lot of fun presents and had a blast with his friends. It was a great party, but I am glad I have a whole year to recuperate before doing this again.

The Kid Knows Her Strengths.

I know I need to post Jay's birthday weekend stuff, but I am procrastinating. In the mean time, I will just give you something to laugh at. Alyssa was getting into Jeremy's tools, but whenever I caught her, she would flash me a big cheesy grin and go put it back. After a few times I laughed at her and said, "Why do I have the smartest, cutest little girl?" Jay's response, "Cause if she wasn't, she'd be in BIG trouble!"

After the Nap

I mentioned in the last post how Alyssa is now stripping to go to sleep. Well, after she woke up from her nap yesterday, I found her with the diaper hanging off of her, but the tabs were still stuck together. She had a diaper tail with a built in belt. Lets keep our fingers crossed that she grows out of this stage quickly.



(Yes, I know there are toys all over her bedroom floor, I am trying to convince myself that it really isn't pointless to pick them up)

DON'T Mess with the Silky!

When Alyssa was a newborn and having problems getting back to sleep after her mandatory feedings (for those of you who don't know what I am talking about, that's another story) I read a suggestion to give her a special blanket that she could ONLY have in her crib. We bought a fuzzy pink blanket with a satin backing. After a few months, she would associate that blanket with bedtime. It always calms her down and she goes right to sleep when we give it to her. One night she was very sick and throwing up constantly. When I put her bedding in the washing machine she would NOT calm down with out her "silky". That led us to buying a back up. (Identical to the first)
Now that she is over her sleep issues, we have let her take it out of her crib and carry it around. (With her thumb in her mouth and her blanket nuzzled up to her cheek, she looks just like Linus) The problem with that is that it goes EVERYWHERE with her. The thing gets FILTHY. Buying the back up has been a life saver. One was pretty nasty after carrying it around outside so I put it in the laundry pile last night and pulled out the clean one.
Well, just as her brother before her, Alyssa is now in the sleeping nude phase. She will wake up in the middle of the night, strip off her clothes and diaper, throw them out of her crib and go to sleep. The problem is when she pees in the night, I have to wash ALL of her bedding every day.
So, when it was time to put her down for her nap, BOTH silkies were in the laundry pile. Uh Oh... I quickly started a load, threw all the bedding and both silkies in. Alyssa saw this and started SCREAMING! She wanted a silky NOW! Poor thing had a pretty big tantrum, banging on the washing machine and just sobbing and sobbing. She refused any other blanket I gave her. I picked her up and put her in her crib while I went to find something (ANYTHING) with the same type of material. That is when I came across MY baby blanket. I gave it to her and she calmed right now, but would NOT go to sleep. She was on a napping strike until she got her silky back!
I finally gave up on the whole nap idea and let her get up, eat lunch and play for a while. By 1PM she NEEDED a nap. Luckily by then the laundry was dry. I pulled a silky out of the dryer and put her to bed. She gave me the biggest smile when I gave it to her. She then stuck her thumb in her mouth and was asleep in less than 3 minutes.