Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Our Baby Brother is almost here...

With only a week before the baby arrives, Mom decided it was probably time to finally take some maternity pictures.  Good thing our photographer (Uncle Will) lives right down the hall.  We were grateful that the baby didn't show up early.











Everyone is SO excited for the upcoming birth of their baby brother.






Dad can't wait for his quarterback;



Mom thinks he is being kind of ridiculous...



Mom isn't quite sure what to do with a baby boy; all 3 of us are girl to the MAX!











 

While Mom changed clothes, Macie and I had some fun with the camera.



 
Then we had fun and posed for some pictures with our Dad!





Mom came back out for some final pictures, but after a few we were all ready to call it a day.









Our family can't wait to introduce our new brother to the world!!!!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

So many fun things to do in LV

September began with a special visit from the Ketcham's!!!  We were SO excited and grateful that they made the journey to Vegas to see us that we had a full weekend of fun events planned.  They arrived late on a Friday night and early Saturday we woke up and the fun began.  After breakfast we went to Lifetime where we played and climbed the rock wall. 


That afternoon we drove down to the strip to see Gregory Popvich's Magic Pet Show!  It was an hour full of magic, animals, and laughter.


After the show we walked around the mall, ate some ice cream and cookies, and watched the fountain at the Bellagio.

 

While on the strip we posed with some crazy characters.

 

 

While we were downtown enjoying the action, Dad and Presley went to a birthday bash for a friend.

 

She had fun running around with other kids, but mostly enjoyed stuffing her face with food...

 

The next morning Macie and I went with the Ketcham's up to Red Rock where we hiked up the children's trail.



We all had a great time exploring our surroundings.  That afternoon we swam at Lifetime and played soccer at the indoor field at the club.  After a backyard barbeque and some playtime all of us were exhausted from a long weekend.  The Ketcham's left the next morning and we were bummed.  Mom tried to cheer us up with some music, dress up, and BACON, but it didn't work that well.  




The next day we were back to business as usual.  I was excited to be back at school with my new friends,





and Macie was excited to share her All About Me poster with her class.





Presley wasn't too thrilled to be running errands with Mom, but she never complains when Mom packs snacks!



Our week was fairly uneventful,

 

 


but when Thursday came, and Macie was finished with school for the week, Mom took her to the Children's Museum for some one on one fun time with Mom.  They played at the Vet hospital,


looked for buried treasure at the pirate ship,


and climbed all around the obstacle course! 


When they left, Macie insisted on using the remainder of her birthday money to buy a snake!


On Friday I had picture day and was thrilled when Mom let me pick out my outfit!



Macie and Presley decided to dress up and pose as well.
 



 That afternoon, Mom picked me up from school and had a meeting with my first grade teacher and the principal.


She was informed that, based on my test scores after the first month of school, they were going to be moving me from first grade into second.  The news struck us all, but Mom and Dad were very proud of my academic achievements.  After much thought over the weekend, they also decided to move Macie into Kindergarten at my school. 

Monday of the next week was bittersweet.  Both Macie and I had to say goodbye to our teachers and friends.


Here I am on my last day of First Grade:






The following day Mom dropped me off at school and I had my first day of second grade.  I was nervous and excited all at once.



I had a great first day and met all sorts of new friends.  

The next day Macie had her first day of Kindergarten and was a champ!


She went in confident and ready, and had a fabulous day!



That afternoon Grandma Judy surprised us after school!  We were so excited to see her and really excited to ride home in her car!  Presley loved sitting in between Macie and I in the car!


As usual, Grandma came bearing interesting gifts. This time it was a BIG dragon pinata; Macie, Presley, and I all enjoyed playing with him, but I think Macie had the most fun...



During the rest of the week while we were at school Mom took Grandma to Lifetime.  Presley loved having Grandma around!


She made sure to take her on the elevator (one of Presley favorite things to do),


and show her the rock wall through the glass- when Presley is in the elevator she shrieks "rock wall" over and over again- she is obsessed!

  
That week Mom and Dad also celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary.  Dad surprised Mom with a special bouquet of roses; eight red for eight years, 3 pink for 3 girls, and 1 blue for our brother on the way.  We were all impressed with Dad!


It was great having Grandma around the house; we played lots of silly games and had a week full of laughs.


Presley even showed Grandma how well she can eat...



That weekend Grandma took Macie and I to a family yoga class with her.  Macie and I were excited since we haven't been to yoga since leaving Arizona.



At home that afternoon Mom put on some Elmo songs and was SHOCKED that Presley sat down and watched the TV for almost 5 whole minutes...



On Sunday we took Grandma out to Red Rock for some hiking.


We all found hiking sticks to help us along our journey.


Macie and I kept insisting on posing for pictures...






We all enjoyed our hike,but poor Mom was ready to go back home.  We only walked about a mile, but during that time Grandma made a Fung Shui  rock statue, Macie found dead bugs, and I kept stopping to pick up trash that other people had left behind; it was quite the adventure.


Later that day we went for a swim and played with some bubbles in the back yard- Presley adores bubbles!

 

 We started our second week in our new classes on Monday.



While we were at school Mom and Presley would take Grandma on errands all around town.  Mom had the most fun dressing Presley up for the "show."





At home they played lots of dress up as well...



  

When Friday came, we were all ready for the week to be over so that we could spend more time at home with Grandma.


 On Saturday Granmda and Uncle Will took us down to the strip for a fun evening.  Mom surprised us by letting us dress up and wear WHATEVER WE WANTED?!?!?!?


 Our fun afternoon started off at the Secret Garden at the Mirage.  It was really beautiful and there were all sorts of animals.


We spent an hour touring the gardens and got to see lions, tigers, and dolphins!

For dinner we drove over to the Excalibur for a show at Tournament of Kings!  We were thrilled; there were knights, horses, kings, it was awesome!




Dinner was served during the show and our first course was tomato soup.   They didn't give us utensils, so we had to slurp the soup- it was yummy.




Macie was BEYOND thrilled when they served the main course- it was a whole chicken!!!!


She dove right in and managed to keep her eyes on the show the whole time.


The show was entertaining- we watched knights joust on horse back and really enjoyed all the action.





We had a great time with Grandma and Uncle Will and were exhausted by the end of the show.



After spending a fun Sunday at the pool with Grandma, she had to pack her car and head back to San Diego.  We were sad to see her go, but glad she was able to spend so much time with us!



The next few weeks are going to be busy at our house.  Our new brother is going to show up mid October, so Mom has lots to do to prepare. Check back soon to hear all about the preparations...