Las Vegas Getaway!

Last weekend Matt and I went to Las Vegas for three, fun filled days! It was a rare kid free getaway and it was such a wonderful break from "normal" life! Perspective is always a great thing and when I'm away from the kids for a few days it always makes me love what I do even more. I am exactly where I desire to be in life. Home. A mom. Three little babies. I have more today then I ever dreamed my life would be filled with. I am so blessed. I love these little getaways because they refresh the soul. Allow me to recharge and think through how I love each of the kids. How I love Matt. What I can do better. What I should do more/less. Pray. Read. Sleep. Eat a whole meal (while it is still hot :)). 

We were in Las Vegas for fun, but also to be with some good friends of ours. Our friends Craig and Jeanette moved their 2 years ago after living in GR for 2 years. Craig runs a ministry and has a great heart for the broken and loving people in places a lot of people don't want to be. Matt has had the pleasure of being on the board of Fireproof for the past 4 years. This weekend was their big fundraiser "Bowlfest." We each raised support and bowled a 100 frames (10 games...my best score was 120/Matt's 178). It was a lot of bowling ... but also a lot of fun :). It was great to be with old friends and to make new friends! 

On Friday, Matt had board meetings for most of the day. I had 6 hours to myself. I truly can't remember the last time I had 6 hours without someone needing me or feeling like I needed to get things done :). It was a gift. I spent half of it by the pool and the other half I read and just enjoyed the quietness! That night we had dinner with friends and then Matt (thanks to Craig) surprised me and took me to the Keith Urban concert! It was at a really small venue at the Hard Rock, which was such a cool place to see him! It was a really fun night! 

Saturday we bowled, hung out by the pool and went sight seeing. At night we had an amazing dinner in the Mandalay Bay hotel with friends. It was on the 68th floor and the view was incredible! It was definitely a fun way to see the city! We left Vegas with less $ than we came with, but I did have my first casino experience (yes, I was cheap there too) and Matt got in a lot of black jack hands... mainly between the hours of 1-3am! 

After getting delayed coming home we finally made it back. I love those hugs you get when you've been missed! McLleyton gave me a very serious look for a few moments, but then got very excited and was super snugly! 

I did a bad job taking pictures on this trip and one of the nights we were out my battery was dead, but here's a few :) (the kids pictures are way more fun anyways!)

The pool I got to spend my days at...

Bowling...

Matt's good form...
Matt and Craig... 
Random cool wall ... we really didn't take many pictures :)
This was the view from floor 23 ... we had dinner at a different hotel on floor 68
I think it was about 1am in this picture... looking a little tired. 

And she's off...

Tonight, we took Monreau to a local park with her new big girl bike. She was just figuring out how to pedal her tricycles and I thought she might be able to do a "real" bike, but I didn't expect her to learn so quickly! Within moments she had it down and took off. She was starting up on her own and by the end of the night was actually pedaling at a good, consistent speed. She was loving it! I was so proud of her!  It was a beautiful night and we all enjoyed it! 

10 Months!

This post is a few weeks late, but McLleyton is 10 months! Amazing! (I think I write that every month, but it is how I feel!) He is growing up so fast! This month the biggest change has been in his vocabulary! He is learning words! A few of your words are now very clear and a few of the words are ones that only a moms ear can understand, but he is working so hard to communicate and it's so helpful!! I love this phase we are entering!

New things this month...

Your words are... Mama, Dada, no no, nuh night, numb numb, ball, buh bye, hi, trees

You learned how to point with one finger (which you now do all day long) ... your favorite things are ceiling fans and birds, when you point at them you say "Ohhh" in a very excited way! 

You will sign all done when you're finished eating or if I ask you to.

You wave at everyone or if you hear us say "hi" or "bye"

You have 2 bottom teeth

You love to be outside

You can walk behind a walker

You're getting more stable on your feet but are still a ways from walking on your own

Our trip to Florida started a trend of VERY bad night time sleeping ... not fun!

You have discovered books and really like the "Touch and Feel" kind

You learned how to go up stairs (despite my best effort to delay this)

Have discovered that it's fun to go through cupboards and take everything out of them

Find toilets and the water in them extremely fascinating (not so fun)

You love to snuggle and you're so affectionate

Love music and playing guitar with daddy

Love cell phones (especially the i-phone :))

Are down to nursing 3x a day (finally)

Moved into size 4 diapers

Love vegetables (especially peas) and fruit (watermelon) and now eat all the same meals that we do

You like it when I'll hold you, but will also play pretty well by yourself

You must be buckled in now as you've learned how to stand up in strollers, highchairs and anything else that is dangerous

You make me want to enjoy each day, because I keep wondering how my days with you as a baby are going by so quickly! 

I am so blessed to be your mommy! 

Disney World...

For our last day in Florida Matt and I surprised the girls and took them to Disney World. It was totally a last minute decision and one we were both so glad we made! Shaelyn knew that Disney world was in Florida and a few of our close friends have gone in the past couple of months and it had definitely gotten her attention. During our time in Florida the girls kept talking about Disney world and the princesses etc. In fact, one night Monreau woke up crying in the middle of the night because she couldn't find her lamb that she sleeps with. I found it and tucked her back in bed. With her eyes still closed she said in her sleep "mommy, the seven dwarfs are going to be at Disney world." :) I couldn't help but laugh! So, with them dreaming about it (literally), we decided we would surprise them and go. I love the ages that they are at right now. They are SO excitable and so much fun! 

We woke them up at 6 and told them our plan. Packed them in the car and 2 hours later we were at the Magic Kingdom. They were so excited! Our day was filled with what ever they wanted to do. Which mainly included meeting the princesses and going on any "non scary" ride! We never waited in a line for more than 5 minutes and for the most part we did everything we wanted to do! Around 3pm the rain came and we got wet, really wet. But, the girls didn't mind and we just changed their socks a few times and we were good to go! The only bummer was that the a few of the shows we wanted to watch were cancelled and the parade was a shortened version. Some day we would love to take them back and do a full Disney experience when they will be old enough to really remember it, but this was so much fun because we got to see it through their 2 and 5 year old eyes ... which are full of imagination, excitement, belief, joy, and fun!

Thank you to my mom and dad who took McLleyton for the whole day, so we could have this special time with the girls. This day will always be a fun memory to me! 

(oh, and if you're wondering what happen to Monreau's forehead, she fell playing outside right at bedtime the night before- I know it looks bad, but it has been healing pretty quickly!)

Seeing Micky's 3D movie

It's a small world (one of their favorites)
In honor of our dutch heritage :)

Teacups (another favorite)

Monreau meeting Belle

Meeting Sleeping Beauty...

Shaelyn taking a few pictures while we waited for a ride...
Buzzlight year ride...

Then the rain started...but it was still fun! 

We were waiting in the rain for the parade to start and Monreau some how managed to fall asleep :). She slept for 15 minutes and when I woke her up to tell her the parade was starting, she immediately got all excited and didn't seem to know that she had fallen asleep in the rain :).

We couldn't resist :)

Nothing like ice cream on a rainy day! 
Shaelyn said "it was even more fun because it rained" she loved it!
A wet look at main street! 
We ended our day with meeting Micky and Minnie!

Florida (Part 2)

We are home from Florida after two weeks of fun in the sun! For our second week there my brother John, his fiance Kelly and my sister Belen and nephew James came down. Later in the week Matt and Jared came too! We filled the days with swimming, bike rides, playing at the beach and just being together! Several nights we put the kids to be early (6:30 :)) and did adult dinners... which usually lead into some type of game! It was great! I am blessed to have such wonderful siblings who I love to be with! 

Our final day in Florida Matt and I surprised the girls and took them to Disney World! It was about 2 hours from where we were staying and we thought this would be such a fun age to see it through their eyes. I am so glad we did! It was such a great day ... big enough to earn it's own blog post still to come :)! 

I'll let the pictures fill in the gaps of our week as I feel like I have lots of catching up to do around our house! Thanks for checking in on us! 

McLleyton and James ... one of his built in best friends :) (maybe future college roommate? :))

A nice dinner out, what a treat! And the kids were great!

Poppy and "Mr E-trade" as he called him :). He thinks he looks like the talking baby!

Playing at the park...

My sister-to-be Kelly and John. Just two months until their wedding!

Cuddles from James!

Monreau was a little timid in the water to start off the vacation...but by the end she was where she ended last summer ..."NO FEAR!" Check out her favorite thing to do in the pool! She would come up with a smile every time and say "do it again!" 

The boys out on the Segway adventures...

Nice :)

Poppy off on a date with Monreau. He took us each out for breakfast one day!

Family shot!
Monreau in her favorite place!
Hanging out with uncle John

James... I love this boy! 

All the boys! 

We loved getting to be with Jared and Belen! He will start school at Yale in the fall! 

My girls are in love with their Aunt Belen :) She's easy to love!

McLleyton hanging out at the beach!

Nanny and the girls! 

Singing with Aunt Belen!