A new favorite is playing Hide and Seek everyday, and since we've been playing so often, Acelyn has officially learned to count to ten (even though she doesn't do it completely in this video)!
We worked on some St. Patty's Day crafts, making rainbows and pots of gold, where Nolan was stoked about his and Acelyn was not quite feeling her no-mess painting project. She moved on to coloring Trolls and was much more happy about that!
We visited Fashion Show Mall to catch the Sesame Street Pop Up Tour with some of our friends, where the kids got to watch a mini-show with Elmo and Abby, and got to meet and greet with them, as well! Acelyn loved the idea of them from afar, but wasn't too keen on taking a picture without Mom around to save her. We hit up the Disney store afterwards where the kids ran crazy, and Nolan made sure we went to the Lego Store before heading home.
We threw together some last minute plans with our friends while we were out, so later that night, we met up with the Luks and Espejos for dinner, drinks and letting the kids play. We love getting together with them and always have the best time together!
The next morning, we had a typical Sunday donut date before running some errands around town.
The kids played with Play Doh on Monday for a solid 40+ minutes, kept each other entertained and it was golden silence. Sometimes it's a mess, but sometimes that mess is worth it!
Acelyn started up a new session of gymnastics, where her favorites are still the balance beam, by far! She's also a fan of the slide and "Ta-Da!" but really enjoys the whole class.
I caught Batgirl sneaking around the kitchen in the AM.
We checked out a new coffee and breakfast shop, Mothership Coffee Roasters, and were definitely not disappointed. SO GOOD. The kids loved sitting outside and with the overcast weather, it was a morning that felt like we were in California rather than right here at home.
We set up the living room for a cozy movie night, where the kids became obsessed with Coco! It's definitely a new favorite and they both lasted the whole movie, yet again. I'm loving these monthly movies as a family!
Nolan requested to play "school", where he was the teacher and taught us the Pledge of Allegiance and gave us a very interactive story time.
With the weather warming up, we took a trip to the park and walked around to check out the blooming flowers and pick our own dandelions to blow.
Nolan had his first tee ball practice for the new season, and Acelyn enjoyed playing in the sprinkles that we got during warmups.
Acelyn's hair is getting longer, and I absolutely adore her little baby curls at the ends.
She's learned how to fist bump and asks for them all the time, but calls them, "Bump bumps". It's one of my favorite things she does currently.
Nolan learned all about dental health at Preschool and was semi-obsessed with cavities for at least a week and making sure, "Mom, does this have sugar in it? I can't have too much sugar because I will get a cavity and cavities are bad."
Acelyn looked adorable and so cozy napping one afternoon. She's attached herself to her Jellycat bunny from last Easter, and I think it's the cutest thing to see her cuddle it!
We visited Krispy Kreme for some St. Patty's Day donuts the day before the holiday, where the kids picked out their own green donuts and really enjoyed watching them through the conveyor belt both before, during and after snacking on our treat.
The next morning, I gave the kids Lucky Charms waffles as a special holiday treat, and as simple as it was, blew their minds. Mom win!
I got the kids dressed in all of their green, and while Daddy headed to work some overtime, we picked up Grandma and headed down to Water Street for the St. Patrick's Day parade. We also met up with the Espejos and the Gerfys to sit and watch. The weather took a turn for the worse, and it was SO cold, so we bundled up. Perry and Acelyn had the right idea with their spontaneous matching fur jackets, which looked friggin' adorable.
The kids waited patiently for the parade to start, and Nolan kept watch for the first of the parade to come into view.
St. Patrick, himself, was the first to start the parade, followed shortly by the fire trucks, which Nolan of course loved.
It wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without bagpipes!
Star Wars was up next, which is always another favorite for Nolan. He was stoked about the storm troopers and thought it was hilarious that some were wearing green hats.
One of my favorites at all of the Henderson parades is the dachshund club in town, and Acelyn definitely was excited about all the tiny doggies, too!
Even more dog clubs made their way down the parade, some even stopping to say hi and let the kids pet them.
The girls were pretty interested in the parade the whole time, except for when I snapped these pictures and they had their "not impressed" faces on... haha!
We headed out a little before the parade ended, to check out the carnival and get a start to our car before the parade crowds hit... but we timed it wrong and ended up at the carnival right when the top of the parade had ended. It was super crowded and way too cold, so we said, See ya! to the horses and made our way back to the car.
Before we went back home for the afternoon, the fire department closest to our neighborhood was having an open house, so we stopped to check it out. Nolan was able to ring the bell on the truck, which he talked about the rest of the afternoon.
He got to see all of the inside of the fire house, including the living room, kitchen and gym, and was a little scared of the garage and going inside the trucks, this time around, so we kept our distance and looked at everything from afar.
Because the afternoon was well into nap time, we picked up a quick McD's lunch, with special Shamrock Shakes, because, St. Patty's Day. Acelyn was quick to pass out after lunch, and we all took a good nap!
On Sunday morning, Nolan helped me prep his Easter eggs for his Preschool egg hunt. Each kid had to bring eggs with special treats inside, so Nolan picked out Hershey chocolate eggs and some stretchy robots for his friends.
Later in the afternoon, we took another trip down to Water Street, since Nolan had his heart set on the carnival and the weather was just too gross the day before to enjoy it. We let him pick some rides to go on, and we spent an hour or so with all the lovely carnies and downtown Henderson natives.... FUN!
Nevada made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the March Madness series, so I taught Nolan all about Wolfie and the wolf pack sign... he needs some work, but the enthusiasm is there!
Another Monday called for another park day, where the kids swung forever and picked dandelions again.
Acelyn had gymnastics again on Tuesday, where she really stomped it out and made the stuffed blocks fly!
Afterwards, we stopped at TJ Maxx, where she refused to let me put this pig back, so he rode with us all the way until checkout (nope, didn't buy him. Sorry, girlfriend!)
At Preschool, Nolan had his Spring party, where the kiddos painted birdhouses and created chicks out of plates. They did bunny races with potato sacks, which I'm sure was hilarious! They also decorated their own Bunny bags to use for the egg hunt, which he absolutely loved. He was SO excited to go through all of his eggs again when we got home!
We started on the playground, and explored around the "treehouse", running up and down stairs, across bridges, but not braving the fast covered slides (this time). Once we finished wandering around, we made our way over to the grassy area, where we actually spent most of our time. Nolan was all about building with the giant legos for a bit, while Acelyn kept me running around as she bolted for the stairs every five seconds.
They played with hoola hoops, and Acelyn was obsessed with watching an older girl hoola, and she followed her around the entire time we were there. Her little friend Charlotte joined her, and they were both mesmerized for some time!
Nolan worked on stacking blocks with help from Jack, and this is how he spent the remainder of his time at the park. He continued to stack and push over blocks again, and again, and againnnnn... and then they all joined in and had a team effort of stacking before we all headed home after a fun morning out! We can't wait for more Fridays like this with new and old friends!
When we got back, we made our way around the booths, grabbed some bunny hats that Nolan loved and Acelyn refused to wear, and waited patiently for the eggs to be tossed out onto the green. We were a little disappointed since this was our third year attending, and they got rid of a ton of events that we usually love- like the petting zoo, free game booths, and free pictures with the Easter Bunny (they charged this year.. no thanks!) Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long until the first round of egg hunts, which was Acelyn's age group; 0-3 year olds.
We made our way onto the green, where she was totally ready to go and I had to hold her back until the signal was given. Once they said go, all the kiddos ran to grab eggs, while Acelyn bolted, ditched her bucket, and threw her booty down into the huge pile! It was hilarious, and girlfriend needed a good lesson in correct egg hunting. I think she thought it was more fun to kick and roll in the eggs rather than collect them... and she spent most of her egg hunt doing just that! I did manage to get her to grab a few and put them in her bucket... but mostly it was just chaos, which, makes total sense for our crazy girl.
Once we were finished, she was all about trading in her eggs for candy! She ran right up to the booth to give them her bucket, where she received her treats in exchange. Happy girl!
Next up, Nolan was pumped for his egg hunt. We waited in line patiently to enter, and for his age group (4-7 year olds), no parents were allowed in, so he was on his own and totally okay with it. There were SO many parents in the way, hovering over their kids that we almost didn't make it since we were towards the end of the line, but luckily, Nolan got in right during the countdown and didn't even miss a beat, and joined the absolute chaos of the 4-7 year old war zone! It was total chaos to get any pictures, so we only got his end result of eggs and loot, which he was 100% happy about!
These two had a rare moment of being super sweet with each other when we all woke up in the morning.
We made a quick trip to Barnes and Noble, where we read some books and played on stage.
It was Spring Break week, so Nolan was off of school as well as Grandma. We took a trip with her down to the Bellagio to check out the Spring conservatory garden. When we entered, the first thing the kids noticed were the tiny birds in birdcages and the giant waterfall. The tulips surrounding each side were gorgeous and to die for!
The cherry blossoms were another one of my favorites, and this display vase covered in petals (not real, unfortunately) was pretty impressive.
After we spent some time in the conservatory, we took a ride on the tram over to Monte Carlo to The Park at T Mobile arena, so the kids could run around outside and we snagged some lunch at Shake Shack.
Nolan played with his Hot Wheels all morning and came up with some "Trick Shots" that we worked on until he mastered them!
We spent the week making Easter crafts that Aunt Denise and Uncle Georges sent the kids, where they colored wooden eggs and painted ceramic Easter decorations.
With the weather being so warm, we've been taking daily walks around the neighborhood and playing out front with bikes, scooters and chalk for at least an hour every afternoon. The weather brought on shorts and we soaked up every minute of the sun!
On Friday, we celebrated Shaw's 2nd birthday with a library/book party! The kids had a blast playing with everyone and we spent a ton of time outside, enjoying the weather. They played party games, rode roller coaster rides and had story time that they all loved. And of course, cupcakes were a hit, as always! Happy birthday, Shaw! We hope you had the best day!
After the party, we hurried home to get a quick nap in before we continued our busy day. Nolan decided he barely wanted to sleep, so he crashed Acelyn's sleepy photoshoot, instead... which made for some really cute pictures.
With a short nap under their belts, we changed, snacked and packed up the car to head all the way across town to Floyd Lamb Park for the Horses 4 Heroes Egg hunt. We had never been to Floyd Lamb before, so when we arrived and found bunnies and peacocks roaming the grounds freely.... we were amazed and loved every second of it!
As soon as we got out of the car, the Easter Bunny was directing us to the right path. Nolan had to get a picture with him... even though he seemed pretty creepy. Acelyn, of course, wanted nothing to do with this guy!
We met up with the Espejo girls, and let the kids enjoy the animals around the ranch. The bunnies aren't very shy and some came right up to us, and probably would have stuck around more if Nolan and Acelyn didn't chase them away half the time! The baby bunny had us all swooning, and seeing the peacocks with their feathers out was so cool!
We had to pick up our tickets for the egg hunt, and on the way over, we made a pit stop to take a few pictures with the Easter Bunny. From afar, she was all about waving to him, but up close, Acelyn wanted nothing to do with it and screamed when I put her on his lap. Nolan, on the other hand, loved it!
We spent the rest of the time in the grass, following the ducks, peacocks, birds and geese, where the kids ran their energy out and played while we tried to snap pictures, both candid and bribed (ha).
Acelyn and Perry are the sweetest friends and I just love these two girls together!
Finally, it was time for the egg hunts! The kids were separated into age groups, and the babies were up first. They all waited extremely patiently while the eggs were dispersed (which took entirely too long), but once they got the go ahead, it was time to grab some eggs. Acelyn did much better this time and understood picking up the eggs and putting them in her bucket, although we didn't get a chance to grab many. Either way, she was happy with the ones she got, and the girls were satisfied with their candy and stickers and hung out in their strollers to watch the bigger kids get their hunts on.
Nolan and Charley were up next, which was pure chaos with a ton of kids running wild. They also got their hands on a few eggs and were happy with their loot!
Grace's hunt was last, as she's the oldest, and she continued the trend of egg success, while the kiddos traded and popped open their eggs while waiting.
It was a really fun afternoon with our friends, and by the time the last egg hunt was over, we were pooped and ready to head out to grab some dinner on the long drive back across town. We loved Floyd Lamb Park and definitely can't wait to go back! We even had a sendoff from our peacock friend, at the gate as we were leaving.
The next day was the Saturday before Easter, so we let the kids dye eggs, which was a complete mess but they loved it. For some reason, my Mom brain took over and I totally forgot to hard boil the eggs before hand... so we ended up losing 4 eggs in the process, and cleaning up, washing hands from raw yolk... it was a ridiculous scene, but definitely one to remember (and hopefully make me remember to BOIL THE EGGS NEXT TIME).
They actually came out pretty cute, and the kids wanted me to "put them up on decorations", so I added them to our Easter decor in the dining room.
Stay tuned for Easter Happenings! ...Until then...
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