Charlotte's First Birthday

I must start by apologizing to Charlotte for jipping her on her first by only making her brownies.  It was a crazy day for us and by the time I got home with everything and was ready to make her cake I realized....I didn't have one.  So to all the Mom's out there...please don't judge me.  I did the best I could and made her the most delicious brownies ever!

Isn't She gorgeous?!!

A couple days later we got Grandma Susan's gift delivered and it was the yummiest cookies that we got to decorate ourselves.  As you can see from the pictures all of us joined in the fun.

I have to say in the end Ben's were the most detailed and cared for. He's such a good artist.  he definitely has more patients than I do. As you can see from the results.. all the best ones were made by him, oh and Brookey of course.

Father's Day 2012

Ben and I decided we wanted to have Bob and Corey over for Father's day to do a little BB-Qing with the Fam.  I thought it would be nice to dedicate a blog entirely to Ben for Father's Day.

Bob brought over some delicious Cheeses and crackers and meats so we had a smorgasbord of goodies to munch.

Cheers!

Brooke's First Dance Recital

After about 5 months of Hip-Hop and tumbling classes every Saturday it was finally here!  The show at the Smith's Center.  For all of you that have moved form Vegas it's one of the most beautiful structure's down town has to offer if you ask me, and we were so excited for Brookey to dance on that stage.

I first HAD the get a picture of the family in front of Tim Bavington's 80-foot long, colorfully striped sculpture, made with steel and automotive paint.  I absolutely LOVE this piece of art.

Here is a better picture of the entire thing I found on line.  No one can deny how cool it is! 

After pictures we went inside and of course Brooke was super nervous. She would not go back stage unless I was with her so of course I took her.  Had I not left her later screaming I would have missed the show. I'm sure you can tell her mood by these next 2 pictures.

I  had a huge bag of popcorn Ben popped before we left so I pulled it out thinking it would calm her nerves...with a combination of popcorn and a visit from Aunt Adele she relaxed a bit.

So they wouldn't let us take pictures in the show but I was able to sneak in my video camera and tape the whole thing.  I'll post that when I learn how to edit...I must say she was the most precious thing.  All she did was stand there and stick out her tongue and put her hands in the air. And after it was over she was so proud of herself!

Brookey's 3rd Birthday!!

 So all day Brookey was talking about her birthday party and how everyone was coming. It was so cute how excited she was.

Okay so this is the second year in a row Brookey got the cake that looks like a donut but who cares.  she loves it!

She just had pizza before we brought out the cake so that's why her face is a mess.

Brookey LOVED opening her presents.

One of her gifts was this Microphone thing that makes your voice sound louder.  Thanks Aunt Jess!

Charlotte of course loved the tissue paper.

Brookey's favorite had to be the Cinderella dress that Mommy and Daddy got her. And of course the Lollipop Grandpa came with...it was so big it took her a week to eat it.

Brookey and her bubbles.  Definitely one of her most favorite things in life.

Spring Break 2012 Continued...

Day 6: Cozumel Mexico!
This Port was so fun it needed it's very own Post.

We started the day with a bit of shopping and playing around with the silly things we passed as our excursion wasn't until 1. First off the boat was the 3 Amigos picture.  More like the 3 Stooges if you ask me.

This next picture was Jaden jumping out of my birthday cake!

After our fun on the dock we all piled into a boat and sailed to a great spot in the water for some snorkeling.

Once we got our snorkel gear on we had to jump off the boat into the water....it's higher than it looks people.

I was so impressed with the boys, they just jumped right in like it was nothin.

We saw some beautiful fish in the water....they were all over the place!

After the snorkeling they took us to a beach paradise with water slides and water toys for the kids, all you can drink for the adults, and hammocks and lounge chairs for everyone.

I'm sure you can guess where Ben and Dave spent ALL of their time...

Rene and I grabbed our beach chairs and moved them into the water for some colling relaxation and child play entertainment.  At one point a fish jumped up into my lap and flopping around for a couple seconds.  It was hilarious!  wish I had a picture of THAT.

Sadly after an hour we all had to get back on the sail boat and head back.  By the time we had gotten back to the port we had all had a few.  Let me just say Ben doesn't remember about 3 hours of that afternoon.

After we got back on the boat we went to the Red Frog Pub for MORE beverages and this is where I finally won the ring toss game!!

The guy in the yellow shirt is Carlington.  He was the best waiter on the boat.  he was from Jamaica and was super cool.

Day 7: Last day on the boat.  We started the day with relaxing in the sun.  We met Rene and Dave at the Italian restaurant for lunch where I was surprised with a yummy cheesecake.  I ate more of it than anyone!

After pigging out at lunch we all went and took a long nap and then met for drinks and good times at the pub, where we watched the sunset and celebrated my birthday.  Dave even sang for us!

After the pub we went for our last dinner on the boat where Dave and Rene surprised me with a bottle of Proseco and the cutest chocolates ever, they were shaped like little mice.

Also, I'm not sure where in our trip this fits in because all the days seemed to run together but the boat planned a prom night for the kids so the boys had dates.  Dave had the idea to have them each get roses for their girls...they ended up chickening out and gave them to Rene...better her to have them anyway.  She was way more deserving than any silly girl.

Since Christian had dinner with Rene and Dave every night I didn't get to witness this but was proud of my boys for having fun dancing with the waiters when they would blast the music at dinner for some fun and entertainment.

This next picture I had to take on the fly.  Christian was so embarrassed I was trying to take a picture of them while they were hanging in their "night club".  They had a club where the kids would migrate every night and hang out and dance until wee hours of the morning.  Christian and Jaden had the time of their lives! 

Well....that concludes our vacation.  Let me just say it took me a good week to lose my sea legs.  I felt like I was swaying back and forth for about 5 days.

We had so much fun and will definitely do it again! Only next time with our girls too.