Vegas baby Vegas!

Ahhh, these pictures make me want to be on vacation again!  Kent and I went to Vegas for FIVE days!  His sister from London was there so we met up with her, along with Kent's brother, SIL, sister and Mom.  It was a good time.  K and I spent alot of time by the pool.  We saw a few shows and walked ALOT.  It was sunny and warm and the perfect mixture of fun and relaxation!

 This sassy M&M reminded us of our Elizabeth Mackenzie girl.  :)

The whole fam damily!

Here and there

We cashed in our Groupons and Brayden and Keegan got to go to a riding lesson.  They grabbed their bike helmets and snow boots (no other boots to be found here) and we headed up to Greenbluff.  They had a blast.  It was an hour and a half of grooming, learning and riding.  The lady had a nice set up, but I don't see lessons in our near future, to the dismay of Brayden.

                                                        Keegan and Brayden

 I had to include this picture of my friend, Stephanie.  We celebrated her 40th Birthday in April.  And by celebrate, I mean, 7 women (all Moms) met up at Amanda's, who kiceked her husband and kids out for the night, and we had a sleep over!  It was a very fun, memorable night!  Steph even has a tattoo to prove it.  Yes, a real tattoo, on her neck.  Apparently you shouldn't mention you want a tattoo when there are 6 women sitting around with no one who has to be taken care of, we can get stuff done.  We were at the shop, and in and out, all within an hour.  She has a super cute pair of flip flops now!

 Then it was my birthday, it was a great day, Kent blew me away by surprising me with an IPAD!  Yay Kent!

 I used my birthday money and the girls and I went and got pedicures.  They were in heaven!  Such a fun afternoon!

Pretty little piggies.  They chose flourescent green and orange.  :)

Brand new hairdos

Brand new hairdos!

We took the plunge!  Ellie has developed a gross habit of chewing on her hair.  For weeks I threatened that I was going to cut it off.  Finally I made appointments with  my neighbor, who has a salon business in her garage.  It's fabulous.  Ellie hopped up in her chair, Sasha asked what Ellie wanted, and Ellie said, "I want it up to here."  Pointing to her chin.  I gasped, in shock, and Sasha went with it.  Dani was sitting in my lap and when Sasha chopped a good 4 inches off, she turned to me and adamantly said, I am NOT doing that.  That looks ugly."  I said, "You don't have to, you choose to do whatever you want.

I was next up and ended up chopping mine off too.  It was all very impulsive and I do have some regret for mine, no more ponies.  :(  I actually have to style my hair EVERYDAY!  It is craziness.  Dani was last up and she definitely didn't want to be left out of this party, she went ahead and chopped hers too.   I ADORE the girls cuts.  I have already referred three different people to Sasha.  They have been getting lots of attention, which helps.  I think they may have had some regret too.  Oh well, it's just hair!

Impromptu photo shoot

We did have a few HOT days a while back and we took full advantage.  The girls put on their

swimsuits and lived it up!  I just couldn't get over how cute they were and how HAPPY they were.  They were having the time of their lives, if life were only this simple all the time!  :)

 Ellie was mildly heart broken because her "bra" swimsuits don't fit, they are all too big. We have since fixed the problem and she will be sporting a green and white striped "bra" swimsuit whenever we get some hot sun!  She can barely contain herself, I thought for a while she may be strutting her stuff in the grocery store.  I claim her as mine, but I don't know where this streak of confidence, self assurance comes from, but I hope she will always have it! 

 Loving my bathing beauties!

Holy Moses!

Wow, life got a way from me and it has been 3 months since I have posted. So much has happened, every time I think about posting I get so overwhelmed because I am so far behind. I am going to do my best to hit the highlights of the last three months. First off, I have two FIVE year old girls! I am so happy that they are growing into such lovely little things, but a part of me is so sad to leave the baby/toddler years behind.....

They had a Hello Kitty party with school friends, and neighbor friends, it was there first "real" birthday party with friends. A good time was had by all! They also got to celebrate at school, it was all very exciting!
March is birthday month in our family.....so many!  We also got to celebrate cousin Hunter's birthday and Grandma Phillips's Birthdays!

 Then we were off to the 'Couve for Spring break!  My kids adore their cousin Leila!  They will  play with her for hours and hours, the poor peanut has no chance of freedom with my kids around!

 On this trip, it was the first time they got to meet cousin Cullen!  He is just a sweet, mild mannered little guy.  I held him for hours, but I had to fight my kids for him.  We love loving on these baby cousins!

 While we were in the 'Couve we had another birthday celebration!  My Mom's!  The kids were more than eager to celebrate again!

 We took a road trip South to visit my Grandma Wagener.  We had an awesome visit and Brayden even got to play a few hands of cards with her.  She is amazing, she and my dad are the reason behind my love of games, and partially due to my competitiveness.  (That's mostly from my Dad though).

 Next up, out  to breakfast with my Cousins, Sarah and Jeremy and Mike.  What a fun morning, we got to eat and shop at Mike's outdoor shop.  They hooked the kids up with hats, flashlights and glow sticks, it doesn't get any better than that!

 Next on the list, a trip to the Oregon Coast, Tillamook.  Brayden all ready to head down to the pool, guess we forgot to pack flip flops....

 A day at the park, Oregon style.  Rain boots, rain coats, and wool hats!  :)

 A new hair hat for Kent.

The beautiful view that we had to leave behind.  It was a jam packed, fun-filled Spring Break!  Now home  to rest!

"Fluffy"

Last night Kent and I went out on a date!  It was wonderful, we hadn't been out by ourselves in what seemed like forever!  We did dinner and a movie and some shopping.  We were downtown and I jetted into the White House Black Market store.  I love this store, their stuff is so cute, just not typically in my price range.  I was able to splurge though, one of my oldest, dearest, bestest, friends is getting married!  I am honored to be in her wedding and was told to get a black dress.  No guidelines, no suggestions, just this: "Find a dress that you can wear again, just probably not a jersey knit T-shirt dress."  :)  Yes, she's pretty darn funny, or just lacks confidence in my style.  :)

The first dress I tried on last night fit!  I was thrilled, dresses have always been hard for me to find.  I bought it on the spot!  Kent knows that dress shopping is not always fun or successful for me, so he chose to sit on the bench in the mall.  This morning I wanted to get his opinion.  Ellie was in the bedroom with me while I was putting it on.  I went all out, I pulled the spanx out so I could get the full effect on how it should look.  As I am cramming myself into these things, that I have worn once in my life years and years ago, Ellie says, "Mom, I have fluffy skin too, look."  As she is trying to pull her cute, soft, perfect skin away from her little tummy. 

Umm, yeah your skin isn't quite as "fluffy" as my tummy that you and your sister lived in for 10 months!  She's so cute, I think she was trying to let me know that it's normal/ok that I have to shove my "fluffy" skin into nylon that is being stretched to its limits.

Kenz, I will send you a picture of the dress that my fluffy tummy is stuffed into, you can let me know if it will be appropriate.  I know it sounds amazing with this awesome description!  :)

*Proud Mama*

I got the girls' pre-school evaluations back.  I have been somewhat concerned about them being ready for Kindergarten.  The good news is that they're both doing great, and they will be more than ready for the big K!  The best part is what their sweet teacher said about each girl.  This proud mom was in tears (of course, knowing me).  I will keep their evaluations in each of their "special boxes," but I wanted it in here too.  So bare with me:

"Ellie is doing great in class!  She is always ready and willing to help and encourage others.  She has a very nurturing heart.  Ellie also makes sure to include her classmates in whatever she is doing.  I  have loved watching her grow and mature over the last year and a half!  Thank you for blessing me with Ellie."
-Ms. Jenny

"Dani is doing awesome in school!  It is fun to watch her little face light up when she is happy about something.  She is one of my little sponges.  :)  She sits back watches/listens and retains everything we are learning.  Dani LOVES to play school with her friends.  Her little personality melts my heart.  She is truly a joy.    -Ms. Jenny

We love Ms. Jenny, and all of us will miss her dearly when it's time to move on.  It's amazing how well she knows the girls and each of their personalities as individuals.  She summed them up so eloquently.

On another happy note, it seems my sweet boy  may be returning to me.  I think Brayden has turned a corner and has his emotions more in check.  I have seen more smiles and less anger in the past week.  It is a great relief, I truly missed my boy.  I hope I'm not jinxing it. 

Have a Happy Valentine's Day and give your babies extra squeezes!  This Mama will!