Leap Year

Happy Leap Year by the way. It only comes once every four years...weird.

Lacey aka Heiress

Zoe's birthday present came in the mail today, and like any good mom...I put it together and gave it to her. :oP In all actuality- I could hardly stand it...I wanted to see her face so bad, so I caved and gave it to her. She loves it. It's a decent size and both Zoe and Bella fit on it just fine. They have been playing on it all afternoon. Lacey is the name the thing officially came with, but Zoe aptly renamed it Heiress. Where she came up with that name or even heard that word for that matter is beyond me, but it is a good name for a pony if you ask me.

YeeHaw

Zoe is getting a pony for her birthday. She is OBSESSED with horses, and this little number is gonna be perfect. I read thereviews and it appears that little kids love this thing. It makes noises and sings songs and the weight limit goes all the way up to 65 pounds, so this guy is goinna be used for a long time to come!!! Hi-Ho Silver!!!!

Birthday Themes

I took the girls to the party store today and let them pick out their birthday party themes.

Zoe's Choice- Little PetShop

Bella's Choice- Hello Kitty:

Bounce

The girls and I went to Bounce today to kill some energy for a while. They absolutely love it there. We have been going since it opened and needless to say, it never gets old.

Update

It's been forever, at least a month or two since I've done a family update. Of course all the main stuff gets blogged about as it happens, and our lives aren't that exciting to really warrant an update all that often. BUT, there are just the typical everyday happenings that go one to fill you all in on- so without further ado, here it is:

MEAGAN:
I probably have the least to report of any of us. I'm still just working Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays. Every once in a while I will pick up extra shifts, but for the most part that is it. I love my schedule and my job, and everything is going well there.
Louie and I got back from our trip to Vegas, and I'm ready to load up and go somewhere else. We had a blast. Louie is doing really good. Not much to report with him- just working and chilling. He's awesome. I'm gonna keep him. :)
 Everything else is pretty much the same ole stuff. I'm really quite boring these days.

BELLA:
B Bop is doing really good. She goes to school in the mornings from 9-12, and is doing awesome. Her teacher raves about what a kind and good girl she is....I'm always shocked when I don't get complaints about her talking too much. I was constantly in trouble when I was younger for talking- I NEVER shut up.... shocking I know. :) and that little girl is just like her mother.
 On Wednesdays she goes up to Bogus with Papa for her skiing lessons. She is apparently a little prodigy skiing. She started in level one, and within 2 lessons was riding the chair lift by herself, and within 3 lessons they advanced her to level four. She was the youngest one by far. Papa tells the story of looking around the mountain for her class so he could check on Bella. He found them but couldn't see Bella anywhere. All of a sudden this little person just FLIES by him in a raging blur. He looks back and lo and behold what does he notice- Bella's jacket. This little lunatic on skis is Bella.  I was laughing so hard I was crying when I heard that. I asked her about it and she flat out says, "I don't like to turn or slow down. I like to go straight and fast." Whatever- her athleticism definitely didn't come from me that's for sure.
She is also in Girl Scouts now. They only meet twice a month on every other Thursday, but every now and then they do different activities on the weekend and stuff. A week ago they had a "Thinking Day", where a bunch of troops joined together and each one did a presentation on a different country. Some troops brought ethnic food to share, some did dances, some did language lessons- there was all sorts of stuff. It was really educational for them. In a few weeks they have a badge pinning ceremony. That should be cute. :)
Her 6th birthday is in 2 weeks. I totally dropped the ball on this. I have no idea where her party is going to be or anything else. I haven't sent out invitations or anything. Usually I'm really good about this, but not this year. Oh well. I have plenty of time to get something put together.
Really, that's about all that's going on with B Bop. She is getting bigger and smarter every day it seems. She is an amazing little lady.

ZOE:
Zoe started preschool again. She goes everyday the same hours that Bella goes to school. It's nice in a way because I get every morning from 9-12 to myself. It's nice to have that time to clean, run errands, do laundry- whatever I need to do. Anyways, she of course loves it and they love her. It's really interesting because EVERYONE  that meets Zoe talks about how unique she is and how they just love her. She is a very unusual child. It's almost like she has an old soul. It's hard to explain unless you've met her, but she's awesome.
She isn't in any other activities right now. Probably put her back in something here soon, but I'm not sure what I'm going to try her at. We will have to test her with something musical since she loves music so much. Piano lesson might be an option??
Zo's 4th birthday is in a week. It's not going to be anything major, just some family and close friends probably at my moms house. Cake, ice cream, presents and call it quits. She is excited. She hasn't talked any about presents, everything has been about what a big girl she is going to be, and then "who's happy birthday is after mine mom?" every time it comes up. She knows Bella's birthday is after hers by just a few days, so we always have to include that in the conversation. :)
That settles Zoe.

We are all pretty mellow these days. The girls stay busy between me and their dad and nana and papa, they are CONSTANTLY on the go and doing things. Actually, they're spoiled rotten, but they're good girls and that is all that matters.

St. Patrick's Day Crafty Decorations

I love to decorate for the holidays!! St. Patrick's Day is often over looked...most people only know it exists because once a year everyone gets to pretend to be Irish and drink green beer. BUT, I think there's a lot more to St. Partrick's Day. It's fun to think about the leprechauns and pots of gold. The Irish folk lores and the mystery surrounding some of the old traditions.

This year, like in years past, I have made a few decorations to add to the collection. I like hand made decorations so much better than store bought. For one- it's a ton of fun to make the stuff, and second, it's unique. You know that no where in the world does someone have exactly what you made. Sense of pride people!!! :o)

Here are a few pictures of things that I have made and the decorating for St. Paddy's Day.

This is the leprechaun trap that Louie and I made. It's super cute. I need to put the ladder and sign up, but little hands keep messing them up. I didn't make the mat it's on....it's cute though. :)

Super cute banner that hangs between the dining room and living room entry way. Erin Go Bragh means "Ireland Forever".

This sign is from like 4 years ago, but it's held up so it stays.

Same for this sign. BUT, I don't really have anything else that says St. Patrick's Day on it, so even though it's a little boring, I like it.

A banner I made. It's hanging in the entry way right now, but need to get a different hanger for it so that I can move it outside.

This sign is in the entrry way and every month and or holiday the middle piece can change.

This is a rag wreath I made in the shape of a shamrock obviously. All the fabric is St. Patrick's Day patters with clovers and stuff. It turned out even better than I had hoped.

I obviously didn't make t his kitchen towel, but it's part of the decoration so I decided to add it! :)

Las Vegas

Well we went, we saw, and we conquered Las Vegas.....well maybe Vegas conquered us, but thats for us and Vegas to know and the rest of you to speculate about..... :o)

We had a blast though. Hands down best vacation EVER.

We left Sunday morning around 10:45, stopped for a Moxie Java and hit the road.

It only took about 5 hours or so to get to SLC. Once we got there we checked in to our hotel, we were staying at the Radisson Downtown. Got our clothese changed and headed back to Ogden to eat dinner at the Prairie Schooner restaurant. Your table is a covered wagon situated around a campfire type scene. Good food. We both had prime rib, and needless to say- we killed it! :)

The next day we woke up early and hit the road again- on to Las Vegas!!!

Day 3:

These are pictures of the conservatory at the Bellagio. It was obviously decorated for the Chinese New Year.

The gondola ride at the Venetian.

Day 4:

I cant remember if this was at Caesar's Palace or the Venetian.