Weekend Trip to Vegas

On Friday, we were able to travel to Las Vegas to see Austin’s brothers who were there vacationing. 

Our drive down really wasn’t too bad (it’s about a 4 1/2 hour trip).  Makenna mostly watched her movies and ate snacks and Mr. Max played with toys and even slept for a few (VERY few) seconds.

As soon as we got to the hotel, Austin had to just drop us off to make it to his dinner reservations.  Austin, Cody, and Trevor were able to go eat at a German Restaurant and then go and see The Blue Man Group (which Austin says is a great show!). 

Back at the hotel, I just fed the kids and got them ready for bed.  Makenna was so good; she just climbed into her bed and went to sleep!  The hotel didn’t have a crib available for Max (even though we had requested one when we made the reservations!), so I had to get him to sleep on my bed.  Such a pain!  Finally he went to sleep.  BUT he woke me up about every two hours during the night by standing up in bed and then jumping on top of me!  Needless to say, we did not sleep well that night AND I have bruises on my ribs!

On Saturday, we ate breakfast and then headed to the outlets to walk around a bit.  They had a carousel and Makenna just HAD to ride on it a million times!  She loves those things!

Then we headed back to the Strip to walk around for a while.  Max enjoyed people watching while Makenna loved watching the airplanes fly over head.  I told Austin that next vacation we should just visit an airport since that’s all Makenna is really interested in!

We then went to Gameworks to join Cody and Trevor for lunch.  By that point the kids were tired and hungry and cranky so it wasn’t a really fun lunch.  But afterwards, we got to play in the arcade which they both LOVED!  Max really was mesmerized by the bright lights and Makenna had a blast playing the games!

Austin and Cody played a firefighter game.  Ha ha, look at Austin’s face!  So funny!

Afterwards we loaded the kids up and headed back home!  This was NOT as good of a car ride because we had two overly tired, overly stimulated children!  They mostly cried forever and ever!  We stopped half way home at Cracker Barrel to eat dinner and afterwards Makenna finally fell asleep.  But poor little Max cried on and off until we got home at 10 pm! They were both so glad to be home and in their own beds! 

But all-in-all it was still a fun trip and nice to get away a bit before we had to face this week and Austin’s THREE tests!

Makenna’s Birthday Party

On Thursday, Makenna had a few friends over and had her birthday party!  We decided to do an Airline/Airplane theme because Makenna is OBSESSED with airplanes lately!  I am putting a TON of pictures on here for you Grandmas and family!

Before the party we sent Makenna and Max outside to play on the swing so we could get some things done inside.  It’s very hard to be on a ladder with little munchkins crawling/walking around under you!  Thank goodness for outside!

Poor little Makenna fell last Sunday and cut her eye.  Then she fell off the swing (she was trying to swing on her tummy) before the party and skinned her nose, cheek, and face.  Poor little girl looked like she had been beat up before her party!      I made some signs and put them up around the house to make it look like an airport:     

These were little ID badges I made for each of the kids to wear as “crew members”:

 

I painted some airplanes and ordered a few more airplanes and we hung those from the ceiling and the ceiling fan (along with white balloons for clouds).  I have to admit, I think it looked pretty adorable!  Makenna loved just sitting there and watching the airplanes on the ceiling fan “fly.”

I had an airplane cake made for Makenna.  “MJMAirlines” was the name of her airline!

 

The first activity was to color these little airplane coloring books I made.  Then the kids used paint, markers, buttons, etc. to decorate little airplanes.

Afterwards we went outside where I had these packing peanuts in a little swimming pool.  Also hidden in the pool were 144 mini airplanes.  The kids got to “Search the Clouds” and find the airplanes. They mostly just liked playing in the packing peanuts. ; )

The little girls had a BLAST playing on the swingset after the games!  They were like the three amigos and were so, so cute playing together!

The little boys mostly just played in the packing peanuts, rode Makenna’s bike, or played with the airplanes.  Isn’t it funny how different boys and girls are, even this young?

 

Then we went inside for cake and treats.  Makenna loved it when we sang “Happy Birthday” to her!  She was just dancing around!  And then, of course, she loved blowing out the candles!

 

The birthday guests: Eliza, Natalie, Makenna, Carter, and Zachary (the funny thing was that, except for Carter, the kids all sat up there by themselves and started posing for pictures!  Carter DID NOT want to join them!)

We have tons of pictures of Makenna opening presents, but I just decided to put up one.  Makenna, Natalie, and Eliza had fun opening them and playing with them while the boys were playing with toys and airplanes! 

Thanks to all of our friends for the fun gifts and for coming to help celebrate Makenna’s Birthday with us!  We are so lucky to have such great friends!

Hip Hip Hooray! Makenna is Two Today (or yesterday…)!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!? 

My little bity baby girl turned TWO YEARS OLD yesterday!  In a way, I feel like Makenna has been here forever.  But in another way, I absolutely can’t get over the fact that she is already two and so grown up!

It was a bit of a hard birthday for us because we didn’t get back to Arizona until 7pm on Saturday.  So we weren’t super prepared for her birthday…  But Austin did run to the store on Saturday night and got Makenna some cupcakes so at least she would have something:

I went to the grocery store this morning and ordered her a cake… So don’t worry; she will have one. It will just be a little late getting to her!

As far as presents go, we were also not the best.  We bought Makenna some things for her birthday, but gave them to her before our trip to occupy her on the airplane!  So yesterday I just hurried and rewrapped them and gave them to her again!  She didn’t care!  Thank goodness for Grandmas…

I have to tell you, I adore that little girl!  I think Makenna and I are a lot alike and will probably always butt heads a little bit (seriously, we have fought since she was born!).  She is SUCH a drama queen and always needs lots of attention and other people around to play with.  She is still in the throwing fits mode and it’s a struggle to know how best to deal with her.  But on the other hand, she is so sweet to her brother and loves other kids.  She is so smart (she knows all of her ABCs, can count to 13, knows her colors about 75% of the time, and can even “read” a few books) and such a gorgeous little girl.  Makenna never wants to hurt someone’s feelings or make them sad.  She is always the one who gives toys to other children at the park or library. She loves music and sings and dances all day.  We love our little two-year-old!  Happy Birthday sweetheart!

(once again, this adorableness was created for Makenna from Ashley!)

Makenna Matthews’ Photography

Maybe Makenna is trying to be like Ashley and be a photographer… whatever the case, she grabbed the camera yesterday and took pictures wherever she went!  How funny are these?

(I realized after I made this college that the middle picture is actually one that I took!  Ha ha, oops!  But the rest are all by Makenna.  Silly girl…)

Pictures with Ashley

So I already mentioned that my friend Ashley is amazing at crochet.  But she is ALSO an amazing artist and photographer.  When I went to pick up the kids’ hats and stuff, she took them outside and took pictures of them in it.  So, so cute!  These are some pictures I stole from her blog. (See for yourself! Click here)

Seriously, can you get any cuter?  Thanks so so much  Ashley!  I’m 100% truth telling—If I was a rich girl I would pay Ashley to just follow my family around snapping pictures!  I LOVE these!

Spring Break

Well, today it is back to the grind after Austin’s Spring Break.  For the break, we were able to go and visit my family in Alabama.  It was a nice trip (even though having two kids on an airplane is torture and both my kids- Max especially- DO NOT sleep at other people’s houses).  I loved seeing everyone.  I can’t believe how much my siblings and niece are growing and how much my parents seem to be shrinking!  For some reason, I really did not get very many pictures.  In fact, here is EVERY SINGLE picture I took:

That’s it!  Good grief… but these are pictures from playing outside.  It was COLD so the kids had to bundle up to go out.  (These adorable hats and gloves I ordered from my friend Ashley.  Seriously, have you ever seen anything so cute?  I ADORE them! Go and visit Ashley’s blog here.)  Makenna wanted to play outside all of the time.  So we just put on winter stuff and sent her on out!  Maybe she is an Idaho baby after all?

So that’s about it… we visited with my family and got to hang out with my sister and her family and looked around at houses (for during Austin’s 4th year clerkships) and that’s about it.  And then on Thursday and Friday Austin and I left the kids with my parents and went to Atlanta to visit a hospital Austin is thinking about.  Oh and on Friday my parents took us out to eat.  Fun times!  So sad I didn’t take more pictures : (  I’ll do better next time (which probably won’t be for another year!).

Just “Hanging” Out

This week is Austin’s Final’s Week.  He has had a test on Monday, one on Wednesday, and he will have another one tomorrow.  This means that on Tuesday and Thursday (today) we had Austin home all day!  Pretty Lucky : ).  And next week is Spring Break and we will have him ALL WEEK LONG!  REALLY REALLY Lucky!

We’ve basically just been hanging out and running some errands all week.  We will be leaving for a visit to Alabama on Monday, so we have been trying to get things ready to go.  Although it will be in the mid-70s next week here in Paradise (oh, sorry, I mean Arizona), it will only by in the 40s in Alabama!  Brr!  Darn those cold spells the rest of the country has been having lately! So anyway, we have been trying to find some winter clothes for the kids.  Do you know how hard it is to find winter clothes when it’s already in the 60s/70s here?!?  Anyway, after hitting all of the stores in the mall yesterday looking for a coat for Makenna, we decided to head to the outlets today.  They have a fun little playground in the middle of the stores, and the kids wanted to play for a while.  Makenna decided to try her skills at the monkey bars, so of course Max wanted to try too.  Don’t worry, Dad was right there just in case!  We were really impressed by how strong these kids are!  Makenna could hang on and “swing” back and forth by herself and could actually go across the bars with only a little tiny help.  Even Max could just hang there by himself!  We have some strong kids!

 

Makenna was also such a big girl and went down the HUGE slide!  She would scoot down as far as she could to grab Austin’s hand and then she would slide down holding on to him.  So scary, but so much fun!

(Ha ha, can you see his hand?)Austin’s sister and brother-in-law were down in Arizona last week at the Mayo Clinic and Hospital.  We were able to go up and visit one day.  Because it is flu season, children under 12 are not permitted in the hospital.  So the kids and I went on the fun little hiking trails they have there.  Makenna was SO funny as we crossed this bridge.  She kept saying, “Kenna fall!” and she just had to hold on tight.  I mean, seriously, there was like 1/2 an inch, if that, between the planks!  But she was still pretty worried that she might fall!

Whew!  She made it safely! 

Melissa got out of the hospital on Monday and was able to come over and have a “sleep-over party” with us before her flight back to Idaho on Tuesday.  Makenna and Melissa were the very best of friends and had a ball together!  Unfortunately I didn’t even think to take pictures!  We were sad you had to come to Arizona to go to the hospital, Melissa, but we were SO happy you were able to come visit us!

A few more notes on the kids—today Max was waving and saying, “Bye Bye,” and he has also started being able to stand (without holding on to anything) for short periods of time.  He is getting so, so big!  Makenna is having a bit of a jealousy problem here lately, but she has also been so adorable because she has started referring to herself in third person as “Kenna” and talking up a storm!  Seriously, how do kids grow up so fast?!? 

Anyway, so that’s about it since the last time I posted!  Hopefully our next post will have lots of fun pictures from Alabama!