Disney on Ice

This past week, we took the kids to see Disney on Ice. Learning from the past, we didn't tell them we were going there until that day! I didn't want to hear, "when are we going to the show?" for a month and a half.
So, I told them about it that morning on the way to school. I told them they were going to be at school all day - eat lunch, take a nap and then Daddy was going to pick them up and bring them to Vegas for a show. I had meetings in Vegas that day, so they all met me there.

That is exactly how it happened, minus the nap. They didn't nap at school. They aren't usually there for nap time, so when they have to be, they don't nap well. But they did great, despite no nap! Ben and the kids met me at Chili's for dinner around 4:30. We had a great meal and then ran into the Party City to check a few things out. We decided we would buy them a "souvenir" from there instead of the show and save us a little money!

Then we rode together over to the Thomas & Mack to see the show. It was so fun. Other than it was pouring the rain, it was a wonderful night! We got in to the event center and were able to go over and see the "Princesses". Cinderella and the new Princess Tiana took turns coming out and waving at the kids that were gathered around. When Cinderella locked eyes with Analise and mouthed "hello" and waved Analise was probably the happiest I've ever seen her. Her face just lit up. It was perfect!

We got to our seats and waited for about 20-30 minutes for the show to start. Then the magic hit the ice. Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy were there and there were skits by the characters of "Cars", "Little Mermaid", "The Lion King" and "Tinkerbell". The kids loved it. Mommy liked it too and Daddy seemed to have a good time. I love that they are old enough to take to shows like that and have them enjoy it. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Enjoy the collage of pictures below. :)
Amy

Fun at the Park

The best thing about living in the desert? Winter weather can be beautiful!
Last week, it was in the 60s and sunny all week. Not to brag to my family that lives where it is FREEZING and has been snowing like crazy, but the weather was just gorgeous.

I had a mental lapse and decided to take my two kids and Katie Floyd's two kids - Jackson and Travis, to the park, by myself. I was watching them as their normal sitter, Grandma and Grandpa, had a doctor's appointment. It was a fun trip, but shew, getting 4 kids ready to go does take so much more work than just 2. Just a reminder that I'm not ready for any more kids.

Here are some pictures of our fun trip to the park.

Clumsy and Feeling Old

So, last week, I got a small glimpse of what it will be like to be older. I was carrying two plates of scrambled eggs for the kids from the kitchen to their picnic table in the living room. I let them watch cartoons while they eat breakfast.

Just out of the kitchen I stepped on a toy horse that caused my feet to fall out from under me and I landed smack on my hip on the hardwood floor. I had to cry as there was nothing else I could do. I slightly raised my voice to the kids telling them they needed to pick up their toys! It could have been worse, I wanted to yell and scream and punch the wall, but I refrained. Instead, I just cried.

My hip hurt for days. Thankfully the pain has gone now, but they keep reminding me they have too many toys and that I fell like Spencer's Mommy. This is from their favorite book Too Many Toys by David Shannon. Ben reads that to them almost every night. It is really a funny book. And yes, I was like Spencer's Mommy and fell over their too many toys. I'm glad I'm not older as it could have done some serious damage.

Now, we just need to work on putting their toys back into the toy box when they are finished playing with them. Before Mommy breaks her hip!

Christmas in Kentucky

This year, we left for our trip to Kentucky on Christmas Day. Thanks to Santa coming early, it was a smooth exit. Reynaldo, Ben's brother, rode into Vegas with us so we didn't have to leave the truck there and pay for parking.

The flight there was very nice. We each had our own rows. The kids were very well behaved and even napped for part of the trip. We spent the first night at my cousin's house in Louisville, so we didn't have to drive all the way across the state that night.

We spent the next day at my Grandma's house. It is always nice to see my cousins, aunts, uncles and of course - my Grandma! After that, we headed back to my parent's house. It was nice to break up the travel.

We spent the next 5 days at my parent's house in downtown Russell. I am so glad they are back living there. I love the people there, the fact that it is close to civilization, and that my parents are so happy there. It isn't any fun to have them live somewhere that they are miserable when we come to visit.

While we were there we went to a couple movies - one the whole family went to was Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel. It was so cute!! Everyone liked it. Analise was a little tired as we went during naptime, so she slept through half of it, but it was really cute. Antonio loved it.

The next movie we went to was just the girls. Mom, Carol, Beth and Me. It was "It's Complicated". AWESOME MOVIE!! I haven't laughed that hard at a movie in a while. It was just funny. Not stupid funny. I really really liked it and would highly recommend it.

We had presents there too and my kids were thoroughly spoiled! We almost didn't have enough room in two designated suitcases to get everything back!

It was a fun week. Too short as always!

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Christmas at Our House

We had to write a letter to Santa this year and ask him if he could come on Christmas Eve as we had a plane to catch on Christmas morning. So, we had my birthday dinner a day early and then got everything ready for Santa to come.

The kids set up the cookies on the plate and grabbed a couple carrots for the reindeer. They were so excited to go to bed knowing that Santa would come. The next morning they woke up to a living room filled with presents as well as their stockings. They were very excited about the stockings and of course, excited about the presents under the tree.

Ben's parents came by to watch the kids open their presents, which the kids were so excited to tell them about. They spent a good deal of time opening presents and looking through their stockings. Then his parents left and we had breakfast and spent the day just playing with toys. Then Ben and I spent the evening finishing packing and getting ready for our trip to Kentucky the next day. It was a great Christmas!

Here are some pics of our day.

Christmas at the Veloz House

This year we had Christmas at Ben's parents' house a little early. Lorenzo was down from college for Uncle Ben and Aunt Becki's vow renewal (they are his God parents). So, we did Christmas on the 22nd over there, before he had to head back to Reno.

Tradition at their house is to have fried tamales, beans and rice for lunch. I had been asking Janelle for weeks what we could bring, as I am a planner for the most part. Janelle is not. At 1 p.m. the day before she texted us and Armando and Desiree that we could bring an appetizer/finger food, anything like that we wanted.

So, Ben looked through some of our recipe magazines and found a yummy looking recipe for cocktail wienies. We had never made them before so we figured we would give them a try. We stopped on the way over to grab the ingredients and then would throw it all in our little crockpot when we got there. Now, remember I said we had never made them before, and to the best of my knowledge hadn't had any made by Armando and Desiree either. But wouldn't you guess, we showed up and Armando and Desiree made the same thing!

They didn't have a recipe so to speak, so theirs just had barbeque sauce on them, but how hilarious! This is why I like to plan. :) But, they were delicious anyway.

Here are some pictures of the day.

The Nutcracker!!

Back in October I bought tickets for Analise and I to go to the Nutcracker. She had watched Alina and some of her friends perform a mini-recital for their ballet class and ever since has been infatuated with being a ballerina. She tries to get up on her toes in her shoes - which she can do rather successfully now, and she is always dancing around.

She can start taking ballet classes in the fall, as you have to be 3 to start and we can only register in the fall. I'm so excited for that. Anyway, because of her love for ballet, and I have always loved watching it, I decided to look up tickets and see if they were nearby. Thankfully the Nevada Ballet performed it this year - for the first time - at the Paris. I could hardly wait, myself from October until Dec. 20th, when we finally got to go. And Analise was so excited. She got all dressed up and we headed in, just the two of us. It was our first Mother-Daughter outing together and I loved it!

She did so well watching it. The biggest problem was convincing her that she couldn't go down on the stage and dance with them.



She wanted to so badly. It really was cute. That night, she also learned how to chew gum. I had a piece and she wanted a piece. So I gave her one, she gobbled it up and swallowed. Then she wanted another one. I explained to her that you have to keep chewing, not swallow, and then showed her that I still had my piece. She took my piece from me and started chewing it. She kept chewing until we were at dinner.

After the show, in the car I gave her a present. Her first tutu. It is pink with flowers - perfect for her as her favorite color is pink. :) She was excited about it and wanted to put it on. I told her she had to wait until we got home. From the ballet, we went to Chili's to have dinner and then headed home.


She fell asleep right as we were getting into Pahrump. The next morning, she was so excited to put it on and dance around the house in it for hours. It really was so special. I can't wait to watch her develop even more interests as she grows. And, I hope The Nutcracker is in Vegas again next year. It would be nice to make it a Mommy-Daughter tradition.

Ben and Becki's Vow Renewal

In early December, I had the honor of being asked to "officiate" Ben's Uncle Ben and Aunt Becki's 25th Wedding Anniversary vow renewal. I didn't have to be ordained as they are already married. This was just a special ceremony between them with friends and family there to witness it.

It was so lovely. Becki looked beautiful and Ben very handsome. The love they showed in their faces must have resembled or been even stronger than it was 25 years ago. I felt so privileged to be standing in front of them presenting them with the words to say to each other.


I knew that Becki had a new ring for Ben, but was unaware that he had a ring for her. He had re-proposed to her earlier this fall (I'm not completely sure which month), when they were on a cruise. I sort of assumed that he would have a ring for her, but he didn't let me in on the surprise.



Ben also surprised Becki with 25 beautiful, red roses to celebrate their 25 years together. The arrangement was GORGEOUS!


The ceremony was beautiful, the bride and groom extraordinarily happy and the reception after was great too. They had music, courtesy of Armando, yummy food - thanks to all the family who provided it, and a delicious cake.

We had a great time visiting with family and the kids had a fun time dancing.



They were so cute too. I will say that I believe that my Ben danced with Analise more that night than he has with me in the past 11 years. He said it is because I never fell to the floor crying and threw a fit when he said no. I told him, I wish I knew that was all it would take. ;) It was really fun to watch him dance around with her. I see how much he loves her and Antonio and it just reaffirms why I love him so much.

Blog Backlog

I know, I know...I've been a blogging slacker. I have so many things that are amazing that have happened, but I haven't had a chance to blog about it. I would say I've been busy, but as my Dad has always pointed out to me, you make times for the things you want to do. So, I guess all I can say is this wasn't the highest on my priority list.

So, several blogs will follow this one, updating you on what has been going on since Thanksgiving.

For Thanksgiving, Ben, the kids and I all went to Ben's parents' house. We spent the day there eating yummy food, and visiting with the variety of company that was there. It was a good time and I was even able to resist eating a lot of desserts. Not usually very easy for me! I think I did well. It was a good time and the kids had fun.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, as is our tradition, we decorated the house for Christmas. We put up the tree and a few knickknacks that we have up. The kids were so excited as it meant it was closer to when Santa would come. Of course, at not-quite 3, time is difficult to understand. Telling them it will be a few weeks just doesn't compute at that age. I'm proud of how patient they were. In fact, I think they were more patient than I was.