Moms in Vegas!

As some of you saw on Facebook, last week I took a trip to Las Vegas with my good friend Betsy. Betsy's husband, Mark and Nate went to seminary together. Now Betsy lives in Detroit with her family, so we don't get to see each other too often.

So why did I go to Vegas? Well, I have always been a huge Celine Dion fan. When I was 11 years old, my family went to Las Vegas and Celine Dion had just started a residency there. Sadly, we could not get tickets to see her then. Since that trip, I have always wanted to see her in Vegas. I had mentioned to Nate once that I would love to see her in Vegas. I figured that we could go some day when the kids were older. Well, Nate did some research and found out that Celine would be ending her time in Vegas this summer. So, for my Christmas gift this past year, he got together with his parents and my mom and they all chipped in for a quick trip to Vegas for me and a friend to see Celine. To say that I was excited on Christmas morning was an understatement. Nate took a video of me reading a note explaining the trip, this video will never see the light of day because I was fresh out of bed and I was so excited that I hit Zoe in the chest. If you ask her, she will reenact the scene for you. Needless to say, I was crazy excited.

When I opened my gift at Christmas!!

Betsy and I planned our flights to come into Vegas within 20 minutes of each other and then we were able to have the first of our flights back to the Midwest together. We had such an amazing time. We shopped. Betsy has two sons and two foster daughters all under age 7. We have zero time to shop without kids under foot. Outlet malls plus moms minus kids equals bliss. We ended up mostly buying stuff for the kids.

We were so excited to only have to feed ourselves on this trip and not several people. We went down to the hotel breakfast and were able to eat our food hot and fast. We had time to sleep in, read books and nap.

Of course, we were still in Vegas. We did plenty of people watching, walking on the strip and seeing the sights. We were able to walk to the Bellagio and see the famous fountains. The walking in Vegas was a lot for this pregnant lady so we ended up utilizing Uber quite a lot. Getting an Uber is an interesting adventure. The app is super easy to use. Let me tell you though, in Las Vegas, if you call and Uber you better be ready. There are several drivers and there is most likely a driver dropping someone off at your location so they will be ready in a minute. We met a lot of interesting Uber drivers. A couple of our favorites were a man from Detroit whose son works for Macklemore and Chance the Rapper and a high school teacher that is originally from Guam.

Bellagio

One of our favorite eating spots was the Peppermill. Apparently the Peppermill has been in Las Vegas for a very long time. It has HUGE portions, trees and other greenery growing in the dining room and neon everywhere. One of our waitresses was wearing an evening gown. It was a very interesting place. Everyone we talked to described it as "very much old Vegas". The food was fantastic and we were still stuffed in the morning.

Giant Portion

Betsy and I with all the indoor foliage at The Peppermill

The second night we of course saw Celine Dion and she was FABULOUS. I have seen a lot of concerts in the last year. She is one of the best. Because of the nature of her ballad type songs, I thought she would be a pretty serious performer. She was actually super goofy and quite entertaining. Along with her great ability to make everyone laugh, her voice was as clear as listening to a CD. Her song performance was beautiful. She has a fantastic orchestra, conductor and vocalists. She is going to be going on tour here soon. If she is coming to your town, you should go. She is phenomenal. If you would like a taste of her goofiness, look up Carpool Karaoke with James Corden and Celine Dion on YouTube. She was just as silly on stage.

So excited! 

Here she comes!!!

She was fantastic.

The last day, we did a little more shopping, sat by the pool and headed back to the airport.

Selfie with the Bellagio ceiling glass art.

In the Bellagio Garden

Betsy with the weird moving birds

Butterfly

Sweet floral butterfly

Obligatory picture with a slot machine

Betsy pretending she won big

Everyone needs a picture with the Las Vegas sign

When we're together we have to take a Diet Coke pic.

Many thanks to my mom and Nate's parents for chipping in on the trip. A big shout out to Mark, Betsy's husband, for wrangling their four kiddos while Betsy was gone. The biggest thanks to my husband for planning everything and giving me this gift of a dream to see Celine and a much needed mom break for my friend and I. We had a fantastic time and are so thankful for it!

That's all for now! God is good!

Zach is Two!

Last month, our handsome man turned two years old! I can't believe it. Zach is fun, crazy and loves sleep. He is growing so fast and is tall. Don't know where he's getting the tall gene but we'll take it. Unfortunately, he will probably pass up his sister in height soon, and she will not be happy.

Zach likes:

• His family
• Milk
• Sleep
• Food
• Ice Cream
• Cookies
• His Bed
• Scout
• His bear
• "Vrooms" - Cars
• "Rawrs" - Dinosaurs
• Playing with his "Shishy" (sissy)
• Playing outside
• Watching Cleo and Cuquin
• Dancing
• Running
• Baths
• Suckers 
• Climbing
• Pretending he's a ghost

Zach doesn't like:

• Sitting in the grocery cart
• Getting in his car seat
• Having his hair washed
• Having his diaper changed
• Being woken up
• Being given the wrong cup (his preference changes daily)
• Zoe taking his toys
• Zoe not sharing her toys
• Sitting to eat (he prefers to stand)
• Sitting still in church (If anyone wants to adopt him for church, he's all yours.)

What people say about Zach:

• "He's so cute."
• "He has a lot of energy."
• "He's tall."

My Wild Thing

His First Cardinals Game

My Boy

All Boy

Mr. Personality

Every Girl's Crazy Bout A Sharp Dressed Man

His Mama is Smitten

Snow Bear

Bucket Head

He's so cool.

My miracle sleeper ready for bed.

Relaxing with a cold milk after his bath.

Celebrating two!

We are so blessed to have Zach the bear as our sweet buddy. He makes us laugh every day. He is all boy and super sweet at the same time. 

That's all for now. God is good.

A Day in the Second Trimester

According to my Baby App on my phone, the baby
is the size of an avocado.

Today, as I do every day, I had plenty of things to get done. How many of those things I would actually complete? That depended on a lot of things. See I am finally getting into the second trimester, otherwise known as the good trimester. The best trimester of them all. Usually, you're feeling a bit better and you have more energy. Well starting this weekend I could definitely see a turn around in energy. In the first trimester, all I tried to do all day was keep my eyes open. I would come home from my morning walking group, sit down in my recliner and regret that I had sat down because now I was doomed for a morning of trying to keep my eyes from shutting. Some mornings I would try to coax Zach to come sit on my lap and watch TV so I could sleep. If he was sitting on me, I knew he wasn't finding danger. Oh no, I mean it. He seeks out danger. One day he got scissors out of a drawer he is too short to look into. He just remembered that they were there.

Starting this weekend, I started to get some of my energy back, now of course, I took my afternoon nap on the weekend because mama has needs and after all I am still growing a human. They don't turn out so cute without some effort, people. However, I really tried to start tidying up our house a bit for Zach's birthday party. I cleaned his room, I straightened and did a quick clean of the bathroom sink and I changed the bedding in our bedroom. This may not seem like a lot to you but I haven't been able to do much in months. I felt so accomplished and wanted to keep it up.

Today, as usual, I walked with my walking group, then I took Zach to Walmart. We HAD to get some groceries. That place was unusually busy for a Monday morning so it took us longer than normal. When we got home, I brought the groceries in and then watched the kids play outside until lunch. Watching the kids play outside is relaxing because it's gorgeous out lately but it's also something that can turn into a lot of work really quick because of my danger loving son. He loves to bolt between the house and the church toward the road. But it was nice for all of us to get some fresh air. After lunch when Zach went down for his nap, Zoe and I spent some time outside. She played and I folded laundry. Folding laundry outside was actually great. Usually I start to fall asleep while I fold laundry on the couch but there was so much going on and it was so beautiful that I folded both of the kids clean clothes. Zoe and I then went through all of her clothes and pulled out the clothes that are too small. At this point, I had realized that I was really getting things done. Not only this, but I had a plan for dinner!!! This never happens. Usually if I am productive, dinner isn't getting cooked. It is getting ordered. I cooked dinner. Put away Zach's clothes and went through his drawers too. I put the kids to bed and now I am laying in bed writing this post. I feel so accomplished for what some people may think isn't that much.

I am hoping this is how my second trimester is going to be all trimester long. Full of energy and productivity. At this rate, I'll get the basement cleaned up before the baby is here. HAHA Hey, sometimes dreams come true.

That's all for now. God is good.

Zoe is 5!

Zoe is a whole hand old! She turned 5 last month and it hit mama and daddy hard. We can't believe how fast she is growing up. Five whole years!!! She was just a little baby!

Zoe Loves:

• Her family
• Her stuffed animals - Clifford, Violet, Yoshi, Pigeon and her Cheetah are some of her favorites
• Hot Dogs
• Corn Dogs
• Tortellini
• Mac and Cheese
• Playing with her friends
• The Lion King Soundtrack
• The Dolphin Tale Movies
• Going to Chick-fil-A
• Going to Sonic
• Playing games on the Wii with Daddy and Uncle Alex
• Playing outside
• Playing Spot it
• Pizza
• Going to the Park
• Dairy King
• Watching a movie or episode of a show over and over again
• Getting picked up from school by anyone but mom
• Brunch

Zoe doesn't like:

• Getting up in the morning
• Wearing jeans
• Going to bed
• Most healthy food
• Taking any medicine that isn't Tylenol or Motrin
• Going to bed

Zoe phrases:

• "Actually" - Example: Actually, I don't want to go for quiet time today, I can just stay out here.

Hopsotch

That messy bun though.

Snapchat fun with Mama

Haircut with Katie

Sunglasses at our first game of the season

Traveling Bug

Very concerned about airplane safety

Swimming Lessons

Happy Fourth!

Some of our friends came to visit!

Zoe got to be in the Princess Contest at the Hofbraufest!

Back to school shopping with Mom

Hello First Day of Pre-K 4

She played soccer this past fall.

Fall Days and Snow Days in November

Playing in the Breese Park

One with her brother because they love each other and sometimes show it.

She is clearly so loved by us and so many others. We are blessed to have Zo every day, even if she's a bit sassy. 

That's all for now. God is good!