Lieutenant Who??

Matix would like to announce the birth (or filling, fluffing, and dressing) of Lieutenant Shrek. Lt. Shrek loves to roller skate in his spare time (as you can see) and wears hard hats as kind of a fashion thing. That’s what you get when you let your son loose in Build-a-Bear. Hey, it could have been worse…he was REALLY wanting a turtle that purred like a kitty and wore a dress, sooo….I consider this a success.

If you mommies have never been to this place, I highly recommend it to all! We had so much fun there and NEVER would have gone had we not received a B-a-B gift card for Marley’s birthday. (Yeah, so we let Matix use Marley’s birthday gift card. So sue me.) It can be quite pricey, but you not only get a bear (or Lt. Shrek), but an experience to go with it.

Matix…how do I put this??....would not be one to win an award for “FEARLESS”. I hate to admit that Marley runs laps around Matix’s fearlessness. From day 1 that little boy has freaked out over anything and everything. Slides, swings, bugs, dogs, cats, water, lint, food, anything. Okay, so the last one was an exaggeration, but you get the point. I don’t know what it is??!!!!! He sure as heck didn’t get that from my side…Okay, maybe he did:). Needless to say, every step of B-a-B, he was SUPER cautious. I couldn’t help but laugh. He was soooo excited to be making Shrek when he saw the big fluffy Shrek doll on the shelf. That excitement diminished when we handed him the empty, limp piece of fur. It was then that he freaked! He did NOT want to be less than 10 feet away from that thing. After a while (and some bribing), he started to warm up to the idea and ended up having a blast. He is a funny kid…

And, NO, that is NOT me with the cowboy hat on!!

All the while, Mar just chilled…

And tried to sneak some candy from Mom’s purse while she was preoccupied with Matix…

The Halloween Finale...Finally!

This is my last Halloween post for, thank goodness, a whole year! There were just WAY too many parties and festivities to fit them all onto one. So, we have FINALLY reached Halloween night, which is what it's all about, right? The Family, the Trick-or-Treating, and watching all the adorable kids run from door to door in their cute costumes. My favorite part is seeing how excited Matix got every time someone put something in his T-o-T bucket. It could have been a rock and he still was thrilled that they gave him something. Oh, to be young again...

So, to start of the picture sesh...here are my two favorite kiddos in the whole wide world sitting next to their pumpkins. And yes, I am very embarrassed to admit that the pumpkins were MAGIC MARKERED this year!!!! Hey we had fun at the Pumpkin Patch, but to be honest, I totally forgot to get them out of the back of my car until Halloween Day! OH MY GOSH!!! I can't believe I admitted that one:). And, not really Magic Marker...actually Dry Erase now that I think about it. Hey, at least we could erase and re-draw if we messed up the pumpkins eyes. Carving doesn't provide you that luxury. We had a blast doing it...that's what matters most.
My lil Tink...

Our Second-Year Buzz. He didn't want to be a dragon last minute, but instead wanted to dig out last year's costume. Fine by me!!!
It's becoming somewhat of a tradition to do Halloween dinner at G-mo and Kristen's house, where Kristen's mom, Sheri, brings THE most delicious chicken and dumpling soup EVER! It's amazing. And, of course, my mom does her homemade rolls, Kristen makes her amazing cookies, AND...they put me in charge of drinks!!! HUH??? Whats that about? I have a feeling I'm becoming the Kelly of the family...are you guys gonna put me in charge of the pickle-tray this Christmas, Mama??:) Hey, I'm totally fine with doing the Diet Coke and paper products!!!

The Soup Nazi, herself(with Brooklynn, G-mo and Kristen's adorable little girl, 2 1/2 mos)...
Tate, the boxer (G-mo and Kristen's almost 2 year old)...
Tate, the boxer mowing the lawn with some Buzz Lightyear goggles...I love that picture:):):) Simmy suit, simmy suit, simmy suit!! For you, Mo!
James, the mad scientist (Vanessa's sweet boy and Matix's BF)...

The Peace-Maker (Derek's bro Ryan), the Trouble-Maker, and the Baby-Maker... WHAT A CHEESE SHE IS!!!
The Roll-Maker and the Pickle-Tray-Maker (if I get lucky:))...

Alright Kristen. Time for you to start your blog so I don't have to post pictures of your family with names, ages, and characteristics. Tag, your it! Am I allowed to tag that way?

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

A little late, but I'm gonna post these anyway. The kids had such a blast at the pumpkin patch this year. It was the first year Matix was really old enough to know what he was doing so he REALLY enjoyed himself. I think more than anything though,he loved the lil red wagon that was there to cart around the pumpkins. Needless to say, it was a BATTLE to get him out of there minus that wagon!



Marley, on the other hand, found her little pumpkin, sat on the bail of hay, and decided she was just fine there for the rest of the time. She was hilarious...she would gather all the little pumpkins around her and then slowly and mischievously, one by one, she'd drop them off the back of the bail of hay, each time eyeing me to see if I was watching. That little girl is such a stinker. A cute one at that.




More fun at the Pumpkin Patch...

Halloween #2

I'm gonna make this one short, sweet, and full of the good stuff....pictures!! That's all anyone wants to see anyway, right? Halloween #2 is a compilation of our two adult Halloween parties we went to. Both were Ghetto-FABULOUS and TONZ OF FUN!! No, we were Ghetto-Fab...thanks to Derek being a GREAT sport and going along with my dress-up plans. It was like pulling teeth to get him to agree to be my Mr. PacMan, but he pulled through when he found out there was a costume contest. WE PLAY TO WIN!!:). Thanks, Babe! Also, thanks to Mele for lending me such wonderful costumes. So this first picture isn't the best, but its the ONLY picture of Derek and I alone in our costumes, so I had to post it:).

Here's PacMan taking a bite out of Dog the Bounty Hunter. Not sure what Hugh's doing back there! I should figure out this red-eye reduction thing...they make him look evil!!!Here are the parents of Marley's boyfriend, Hudson:). Hugh and Tyra were the cutest/freakiest (and most dead looking) prom king and queen??? That was a total guess. I can't remember what they were. But they did good, nonetheless.And this is THE Hudson. He is the coolest (and cutest) little boy ever...in fact one of the only babies that was invited to an adult only party:) Awwwwww.....Ironically, the hosts of BOTH parties we attended dressed up as Dog the Bounty Hunter. I'm not sure which one I liked better. You decided.....Dog #1 tearin' it up on the karaoke machine....
Or
Dog #2, posing with us and his lovely wife, Maggie, I mean Beth the Bounty Hunter.OK, so enough of the wigs and costumes...clean-up time!!!Well, thanks to BOTH Dogs (and their wives, of course), we had a super fun time that night chasing cherries in our PacMan costumes.

Halloween #1

Like everyone else, we enjoyed MANY Halloween parties this year. SO MANY, that I'm going to have to split up posts...yes, I know I'm a week behind.

Tonight's Featured Halloween Party (ha:)) took place at Derek's brother, Ryan, and his girlfriend (Ryan's girlfriend, NOT Dereks!!), Vanessa's house. We had so much fun boogieing the night away to Monster Mash, as you can tell. And yes, that is a microphone (a pretend one) that Matix is jammin' with. That kid can rock! And he likes to tell you he rocks too:). Are you wondering what his costume is??? Well, he was supposed to be a dragon that night, but he was determined to just be a little boy in green sweats. He wouldn't let me near him with the costume. What do ya do???

This next picture melts my own heart...Their very first daddy/daughter dance, awww. Fast-forward 45 years and they be doing the dance again at her wedding. You read right...45 is when we might let our sweet Marley go. No sooner...she is way too sweet! Speaking of Marley, she was the CUTEST Tinkerbell ever! Am I right? Look at that smile...Papa always seems to bring it out:). :).
Bella and Matix are so hilarious together! They love, fight, and play like a brother and sister. Bella, who can hold her own for a petite little thing, had Matix pinned in a tickle-torture. It was so cute!!! Until, of course, it turned into crying...which it always seems to do. I think I got this picture just in the nick of time. Matix isn't looking as entertained as he was two seconds prior...
I had to put this picture of Mar and her awesome Aunt Karlee, AKA. Bella and Crew's mommy. My kids LOVE their Aunt Karlee!!I must have missed the MEMO to dress up that night, so the fam pieced a costume together for me. Lets see... we got dragon/dragon slayer/pirate/princess/Mr. Bean all rolled into one. Absolutely hideous...almost offensive, I agree. Uh, yeah, maybe I should stop now....

Vegas, Baby!

Der and I took our first heart-wrenching, kid-less trip a couple weeks ago. Talk about bitter sweet! Here we are trying to relax and enjoy ourselves, but all I could seem to think about were our babies back at home:(. Luckily, our friends that went with us didn't mind the constant Matix and Marley talk. Thanks guys!Our kid-attachment issues aside, we had a blast...though it was hard to get used to lounging by the pool without having to chase my kids all around.
Anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE to people-watch. I could people-watch ALL DAY LONG if I had the chance!! No place better than Vegas if your wanting a good laugh:). There is just something about trying to figure out what makes people the way they are...where they came from, how they were raised, what they have been through, etc. Well, I think I found my match:). It was apparent that this couple LOVES to people watch as well!! They even seemed completely unfazed by the fact that Maggie was taking a picture of them doing their people-watching. I had to wonder if I had toilet paper hanging out the back of my bikini, or if that zit on my forehead was visible from way over there. Oh well if it was:). But who am I to talk? I'm usually right there with 'em!!

I think of all places I've visited, Vegas has THE most amazing restaurants. I am HORRIBLE with names, but this place was one of our favorite Italian food places! I feel like all we did there was eat...but I'm not complaining. It was wonderful!!! In fact, I got home and realized that a majority of our pictures were of us four at restaurants that we loved. How great is that?!?
This is in front of THE most fabulous hotel ever! In my book at least. The Venetian is SOOO gorgeous with amazing rooms (and a yummy gelato place) for half the price of some of the more expensive ones if you do online booking. Highly recommend for anyone traveling to Vegas in the near future.This statue was incredible!! She was a REAL person! I have no idea how she could sit still for so long. I can hardly sit still for 5 seconds!!! She was great. Needless to say we gave her the couple bucks we had left to spare after Vegas took just about all we brought:). It was well worth it though!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Since we pretty much lived at Derek's parents Bounce-U in the month of October, I figured I would post some pictures of Arizona's own version of Disney Land. Between birthday parties (Mar's included), grand openings, and just for fun visits, we broke that new place in!! I'm thinking about having my own party there...:)

Their cousin Bella, Marley, cousin Crew, and Matix...doesn't he look like he's having fun?

:):):):):):):)::):):)::)At least someone's having fun....:):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

And finally, their modeling debut......




.....It helps that we're related to the owners I think.