Las Vegas Part 5- Other

Las Vegas Part 4- Limo & Tournament of Kings

We went for a limo ride down Las Vegas Boulevard. None of us had ever been in a limo so it was a neat thing for all of us to experience together. We got to see the older part of the Strip, the night life and just enjoyed being driven around in a nice car. The ride was over an hour and the boys enjoyed it.



Our big expense of the trip was to the show Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur. Mom had a local friend get the tickets for half price. Included was dinner. We had soup, chicken, broccoli, potatoes, and a biscuit. One thing we weren't given was utensils. Everything was eaten by hand.
Our seats were the first row off the arena floor, in the corner. We had a good view of everything. The boys really enjoyed it. They were all captivated by the performance. They enjoyed pounding on the tables and getting to cheer for our "king" of Norway.

Christmas 2011

*Disclaimer: There's some gory details about what we did on Christmas. Feel free to just look at the pictures*

For Christmas Eve dinner we had our traditional breakfast for dinner but made the waffles red and green. Because we use whole wheat flour you can't see the color that well.




In typical fashion, William ate his heart out. Samuel ate some, but Matthew didn't touch anything. Just after his picture was taken Matthew vomited, thankfully missing the table and food and hitting the floor. He had thrown up at the Las Vegas airport just after we got through security, and then twice more while on the airplane. We think he caught something at dinner the night before. I had the same stomach pains but got it all up before we left Vegas. Anyway, after all was cleaned up we got tucked into bed.




Christmas morning was not how we imagined it to be. At 130 am I woke up and emptied my stomach. About 2am I heard Samuel gagging and sent Eric to check on him, he was ok. Then 230 we heard one of the boys losing it. Turns out it was William. He was throwing up over the end of his bed. Apparently he was trying to reach the airplane bag that Matthew brought home that was on the dresser. He couldn't reach it in time, not that it would have held all that came up. I couldn't go into the room due to the smell and that it was unsettling my stomach. We got William out of bed and into the bathroom. Poor Eric was left with clean up. I went back in for Samuel who woke up. And the three of us took turns with the toilet. Yeah crazy time. We ended up downstairs and watched Toy Story 3. We used just about every towel we had. Eric had to do laundry since I couldn't move much. The three of us spend the next five hours bent over two trash cans. By that point we had used all our small trash bags and were totally exhausted. Around 7 am Matthew had woken up (having slept through the whole clean up process) and was feeling better. Being that it was Christmas morning we let the boys open their stockings. They felt ok to do so and we're happy to do something other than lay on the floor/couch. Presents waited about an hour later when we all had more energy. Matthew was the only one at the end who was playing with the presents.
Now a few days after Christmas we're pretty much over whatever it was that we had. Eric ended up getting the next night though, at that point I was well enough to care for the boys while Eric took his turn on the couch. Matthew still has a bug which has caused him to leave "poop prints" in the morning. (TMI sorry) Our appetite is still coming back though and we haven't had a normal meal yet. We're still on soups and crackers just to be safe. For now we're just taking it easy, and grateful that we can. Hope you holidays was a bit less eventful than ours.

Christmas card 2011

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Eric helped me with this last night. Since it's late in the season we kept it simple. I thought about not doing cards but we've done them since we were married and didn't want to quit now. I'll try and get a better copy of the card so you can really see it. Also our letter was typed out on the back, which I need to get.
But really if you've been reading the blog the letter and pics are old news. So hopefully none of you readers feel bad if you don't get a card from us this year.
(Anyone else hate it when you catch a misspelling after you've ordered the cards?!? But for the record Eric was the one who was typing! I didn't misspell it!!)

Pre holiday activities

Before our trip we set up our little fake Christmas tree. Eric and I got it when we first got married which means that it's seven years old. It's getting kinda brittle but it's perfect for our house and the boys enjoyed it.





Due to it's small stature, not many ornaments were put up and we had to keep things child proof. The boys didn't seem to mind and enjoyed seeing it light up.

Picking out their stockings. "I get this one!" The great thing is that they each grabbed a different one so there was no fighting.


I had an idea for Christmas cards that involved wrapping the boys up like this. Samuel wanted nothing to do with the hat or tinsel so I gave up so this was as far as that idea went. But William and Matthew still looked cute. And I still haven't done our Christmas cards. Maybe by Chinese New Year. :)

Las Vegas Part 3- Game Works

While not a main attraction, the boys enjoyed the Game Works arcade. They found games that they liked and could play.

Shooting dinosaurs

Star Wars Pod Racing



Mario Go Cart

Las Vegas Part 2- Shark Reef

At the Mandalay Bay we went to the Shark Reef. At first the boys we timid but by the end they were pointing and having a great time.





These hats were so cute but cost almost $30 each. So we settled for a picture of them.

Las Vegas Part 1- M&M World

Mom flew us down to Vegas for 5 days. We stayed in the Marriott Grand Chateau just off the Strip. We did lots and enjoyed time with family. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking of what we did.





M&M World

Christmas Crafts

One afternoon I spent making homemade Christmas ornaments. I used flour, salt and water to make the dough. I had each boy make a hand print then used a bowl to "cut" it out. With the rest of the dough I let William use cookie cutters that were Christmas shapes. William asked after they were dry if he could eat one. Apparently he thought they we're like cookies; mix them, bake them, decorate them. :) We painted the cut outs and they looked pretty good. This was my first time making ornaments and we all enjoyed the process.

Another craft we did was making ornament balls. I put paint in each boys' hand and had them "grip" a ornament ball to make a print. I did them by the boys colors, William red, Matthew blue and Samuel green. William and Matthew also made finger print light bulbs, which I "strung" together once they dried.
William also made a hand print snowman. Once it dried I decorated them. With the extra ornaments I made reindeer prints, which I really like. I had extra ornaments but since they were textured it was harder to use so I left them blank.
It was fun to do and they all turned out cute. Might have to do this again next year.