Las Vegas Trip

Eric and I took a much needed 4-night getaway trip to Vegas last week. We had so much fun, and really enjoyed the time with just each other. I didn't even bother bringing my good camera because I knew I wouldn't even care about taking pictures, but we did manage to take some using our phones, and that was good enough. :)

Driving in from the airport, we saw the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Neither one of us had ever seen it before, so that was cool. 

  

I had never been to Hoover Dam before, so on Friday morning we drove out to Lake Mead to do a lunch cruise and tour the dam. 

View of Lake Mead on our drive in.

Quick stop to take some pictures. 

 At the Marina getting ready to get on the boat.

Such a cool boat.

Enjoying the ride. 

  Floating up by Hoover Dam

 It's pretty amazing.

 Looking so wind blown! It was quite a windy day :)

When we got back from touring the dam, we stopped at Starbucks for some coffee. This little table was off by itself in a little nook. It looked totally awkward, like the table that no one wanted to sit at. I had the giggles, and Eric just HAD to take a pic. I forgot about it, and when I was going back through pictures, it made me smile. :)

Friday night we did some sight seeing, a little gambling, and walked down to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show. 

Eric with the Bellagio behind him.

Me with Paris behind me. 

And the fountains. I always love to go see this when where in Vegas. It's so awesome. 

 Walking back to out hotel that night, we ran into Buzz Lightyear, so I had to snap a pic for Carter :)

Saturday morning we went and did more sightseeing and shopping. 

We stayed at the Luxor, so I had to get a pic at the pool. 

This is Eric in front of the pirate ships at Treasure Island. Another pic for Carter :)

Saturday night we saw Ka by Cirque du Soleil at MGM. Totally amazing show.... highly recommend if you're in Vegas soon! We loved it. 

Eric in front of New York, New York

Sunday we gambled a little, shopped some, and had lunch at a yummy pizza place and watched the Cowboys game. Then Sunday night, our last night there, we went to a comedy show.

This was the most delicious pizza.... one of the best we've ever had. Would love to eat one right now, as a matter of fact. It had prosciutto, grilled red onions, mozzarella & ricotta cheese, and the arugula salad sprinkled on top with olive oil. So Yummy. 

New York, New York

 Over the strip looking at the MGM and the Eiffel Tower in the background. 

 MGM

Fun trip, as always!! Loved the time with my hubby, but was definitely glad to get home to my babies!

Lots of Steps

Ella has been taking lots and lots of steps lately. She is getting more and more comfortable walking, and likes to walk short distances between the couches, ottoman, toys, etc., but she still chooses to crawl most of the time. It's not real easy to get it on video, but I did finally get a little of what she can do, so I thought I'd share. :) She wasn't exactly in the mood, but she cooperated. :) Love my pretty girl!!

Halloween 2012

Carter was very excited about Halloween this year! He has been asking daily for the last 2 weeks or so if it was Halloween yet, so right before putting him to bed Tuesday night when I told him tomorrow was finally Halloween, and he was, not surprisingly, VERY excited. Then Wednesday morning, right at 7am, Eric and I are still asleep in bed, and Carter comes in our room proclaiming very loudly, "Happy Halloween!!!!" Although we were very groggy, we couldn't help but laugh.... it was definitely a funny way to be woken up! He immediately wanted to get his costume on, which we did. He played in it all morning, and was very excited to go play at the park with his other friends all in their costumes. Here are a few adorable pictures Laura took of all the kids dressed up.

 Mason & Connor, the two superheroes. 

Gavin & Lucy, Jake the pirate and Tinkerbell. 

John as Spiderman (his little sis Taylor wasn't into the picture thing at the moment, lol!)

And Carter and Ella, Dallas Cowboy and his little cheerleader. 

Carter had been looking forward to trick-or-treating as well, and all day couldn't wait for Daddy to come home so we could go. After an early dinner, we got the kids dressed, took some pictures, and headed out. Ella tagged along riding in her stroller and she loved watching all the kids and looking at all the decorations. Not many pictures of trick-or-treating this year, but I assure you, they both had so much fun, especially Carter! And then when we got home, he loved handing out candy to the remaining trick-or-treaters that we got here at our house, too. 

Here are the kids just before heading out. 

Carter was being pretty stubborn and wouldn't put his helmet on for pictures. :/

 Oh Ella! 

 So sweet. 

 Love them! 

So proud of himself! (Not sure what Eric is doing here?? Lol.) 

And how perfect is that football basket?! :)

 Little Miss along for the ride. Can't wait to see them both out there together next year!! 

Since this was our first Halloween in this neighborhood, we didn't know exactly what to expect, but it definitely did not disappoint. So many of the houses were decorated with so much creativity to make it really fun for all the kids. And, whoa, were there A LOT of kids. I guess that is to be expected in Frisco, but wow, I couldn't believe just how many there were. So many people we hadn't met yet, all so nice and friendly! Anyway, a fun night for all of us. Now, what to do with all this candy??? 

Family Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Eric and I took the kids to a pumpkin patch right around the corner from our house on Sunday. It was SO very windy and pretty hot, but it was a fun little fall family outing anyway.

 

Pretty girl in her cute little Halloween spider outfit

He had fun in the hay maze!

Photo opp. My kids cooperated!

Love these three.

The wind did NOT cooperate..... crazy hair in all these pics!

Angel face

More hay maze fun

He loved the baby pumpkins

Just her size....

And some games before we leave....

bean bag toss,

Tic tac toe.

 

Love our family time!!

Oct 22 - Officially Weaned.

Well, today was the day Ella woke up to a bottle. Poor girl. Actually no, she handled that fine. Poor Mommy is really what I mean. There are definitely things about nursing that I'm happy to be done with, but having her completely weaned mostly just makes me sad. Eric and I were talking about it last night, and he said something like, "Well, try to look at the positive - she's onto the next phase in her life where she'll be more independent and grown up." Hunny. I love you. But you don't get me on this particular issue. At all. You see, that is precisely why it makes me sad. Those words exactly. Independent, grown up. She's not my little baby anymore. But thanks for the attempt at making me feel better about it. :)

With Carter, he caught me by surprise, and weaned himself. I took that really hard. But I remember thinking at the time that it was probably for the best, because when it came right down to it, I felt like it might have been harder to nurse him for the last time, and KNOW it was going to be the last time. Well, I can now say that I was wrong about that. Sunday morning was it. I held her close and I kissed her head a whole lot and I thanked God for my little blessing, and for the blessing of being able to feed her myself for so long. And I may or may not have shed a few tiny little tears. But that's okay. I still think it was a teensy bit easier this time around knowing that would would be done after that. So there ya go, Eric. I'm looking at the positive. :)

I'll miss our snuggle time the most. And I'll miss comforting her when she's tired or upset. I hope she doesn't miss those things. I hope she doesn't know any difference between a bottle and nursing and being with her Momma. And I hope the 12+ months of nursing and the nutrients of breastmilk will give her a lifetime of benefits. I've always been very thankful that all things nursing came so easily to me and both of my babies (I use that term loosely because nursing can be freakin' hard at times!). The fact that I've never had to mix a bottle of formula for either one of my kids definitely makes me feel like I've accomplished the impossible. When she had her first bottle of whole milk last week, she was not at all pleased about it. She fought it so hard and cried and cried, and it broke my heart! But I'm happy to say that after a week of continuing to try it, she has finally taken to whole milk, so I think we'll be okay after all. :)

Now, I'm ready for our trip to Vegas next week. Yay for not having to haul my pump all over the Vegas strip!!

Love you, sweet Ella. You'll always be my baby.

Tennessee Baby

I put Ella in her cute little Tennessee Vols dress for gameday yesterday. She looked so precious, I had to snap a few pictures of her. And I'm posting them here for her Daddy. :)