Vegas baby!!!

We just got back from a weekend in Las Vegas, and I am exhausted! I'm going to blog about the weekend in shifts, because I took so many pictures!!
We went there for my cousin Cindy's wedding. We were so excited! Her wedding was Friday night, and unfortunately I couldn't leave until Friday morning. So... my dad and I woke the kids up at 4:30 am and caught a 6:15 flight (the rest of the fam was already there). Lilly was so excited to ride the airplane again! I was so excited to have my dad there to help with the kiddos, and this time I actually got to take a couple pictures on the plane.
After a short and uneventful flight, we were ready to get to our hotel and rest before the wedding. Stevie came to pick us up... and forgot the carseat for Zac in their hotel room (Zac was borrowing Shyla's). So, dad and Lilly headed to the hotel, and Zac and I hung out on the curb. Ha! Luckily, this was the face I saw the whole time:

What a happy boy! We ate, played, and did some photo shoots!

Eventually we did make it to the hotel (hee hee... sorry Stevie, but you knew I'd blog it!). It was probably a bigger pain for Stevie than for us - I got to have a few minutes of alone time with Zac while he fought traffic.
Anyhow, soon after, my friend Andrea showed up! She lives in Vegas so she was spending the weekend with me on the strip! We all went to lunch. Here's Lilly with Andrea!

And Zac with her too!

Anyone remember my recent post about Zac's stranger anxiety? That is apparently NOT true in Vegas. I think his little 7 month old brain was yelling "Vegas Baby!!" the whole time. He was laughing and flirting and letting everyone hold him and dance with him! The above pic of him snuggling with Andrea was just the beginning. Classic!
After lunch, we went back to the room to let the kids rest. Zac took a nice long nap, while Lilly did not. She rested a little... watched some Dora and read some Cinderella, but she did not nap. I don't blame her - it was a cool place and everything was new and so exciting. However, we had a wedding to go to!
Here are the kids on the way to the wedding...

The wedding/reception itself will be the next post, in a couple of days.

I have to say, I had a great weekend. BUT, Vegas is really a difficult place to be with young children. Really, the stroller issue alone is exhausting. Casinos have tons of stairs, so anywhere we wanted to go we had to find alternate routes with elevators... I'm just exhausted!

And, on that note, I have to work tomorrow so I'm going to bed! Check back in a couple of days for the wedding/reception post with lots of great pics of the bride and groom and family!
Happy Monday tomorrow!

August 2008!

Just some fun pics from about a year ago! Lilly was so little!

I love this one!

She loved her camo!

And Zac was getting bigger and bigger...
Happy Weekend!

New residents of the old pueblo!

We are so happy to have Rob and Marv here in Tucson now! We had them and my dad over for dinner tonight, and we are looking forward to so many more cookouts and laughs!

Zac is having a lot of stranger anxiety these days... and a "stranger" could be anyone he hasn't seen in, oh, 24 hours or more. Still, he eventually gets over it and has lots of smiles and laughs!

Lilly is also usually quite happy! We are so lucky. This was her enjoying her pasta tonight!

Gotta love eating dinner outside over cover, surrounded by thunder, lightening and rain!

No, Odee me do it!

That's "only me do it" to the rest of us. Lilly is such an independent little lady! This morning she had to put her flip flops on all by herself. Didn't she do a great job?

Let's ignore the fact that they are on the wrong foot and the toe part is between the wrong toes. They were still perfectly functional!
Later, she had to help daddy stir the eggs.

This is only two of so many, many examples.

Let's not leave Zac out... he and Lilly play and laugh and smile and interact all day! He even took a step yesterday, while holding onto the couch, in order to get closer to her when she was making him laugh. Seriously?!?

Happy Monday!

Saturday!

What a fun day we had yesterday! Mom, Kendra, Shyla, Kim, Karen and I went to Cienega high school early for their 5K - we had so much fun! Kim and Karen are pros, Kendra rocked it, and mom and I pulled up the rear pushing Shyla in the stroller. Oh shoot.... I was supposed to rename Kim, because she didn't like this pic, but I forgot the name! Ha!
My mom even won a metal for her age bracket! Go mama!

After the race, my dad met us at Kendra's house with my kiddos (he picked them up from my house when Jer had to leave for work), and we all had breakfast. Yum!

Then... that afternoon we headed to my cousin Cindy's bridal shower! I attempted to get a good pic of Lilly and Ben together, but didn't have much luck.

The beautiful bride and aunt Nanette.

My mom trying to find safety pins in a bowl of rice.

Us hanging out.

Isn't this a great pic of Kendra and Shyla?

And even I had a few minutes to hold Shyla!

It was a fun day!

Couple of stories without pictures:

-At the shower, Lilly was very interested in the cake. It was on a low-ish table, so she could gaze at it! She was VERY good about following my "no touch" instructions, but she did keep going over to look at it. It was cute... until she walked over and the cake was gone. I wish I had this next series of feelings on video: She panicked, but quietly. She started looking around, like on the floor, nearby tables, etc, looking for the cake. No luck. Then she decided that it MUST be on the table still, and she just missed it... she goes back to the table. Still no luck. The look on her face of fear and sadness - someone obviously stole the cake!! Just then Kathy (Cindy's mom) walks by with a piece that she is delivering to a guest. Lilly saw it and... immediate surprise and relief! Then, another little disappointment when she realizes it wasn't for her. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions within a very short time period!! Super cute - all was good a minute later when she had her own piece of yummy cake!

-Also, at the shower she got bubbles! Fun! But, by the time we were home, they were gone. Just before bed, she wanted more, but daddy and mommy said no. In order to avoid a meltdown, I told Lilly the story of the "bubble fairy" who brings good little girls bubbles while they sleep. So we drew a picture for the bulbbe fairy, and left out the empty bubble container. We said "more bubbles please bubble fairy" a couple of times before bed. Shockingly, overnight, the bubble fair arrived and brought Lilly a whole new jar of bubbles! Fun! She was happy and surprised and VERY cute this morning when she saw them and the note left by the bubble fairy. So fun!!

I have been trying to do a flashback picture once a month, and I think I forgot July. So... even though it is officially August, here is a flashback to July, 2008. We had moved into our house pretty recently, and it was monsoon season! This pic shows when it was just getting ready to rain - isn't the sky beautiful? That's why I didn't zoom in more. Lilly looks so little, and you can see little Zacky in my belly :)

Hoping good weekends are being had by all...

I'm a terrible daughter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!
That's right... today is my mommy's birthday! We went to a very yummy dinner tonight. Here is a pic:




OH WAIT!! I forgot to bring my camera. I'm the worst!
That said... I love you mommy! Thanks for being the best, and showing me how to be a good mommy to my babies. A very, very happy birthday to you!

Also... I am behind on my posts. So, not only am I a terrible daughter, but I'm also a terrible blogger. Sorry!
Coming up soon - random pics of my mom to celebrate her birthday, random pics of the kids to celebrate their coolness, and random pics of Jeremy to celebrate his return from CA. He went to California for about 10 days to go to Pinecrest and hang with family and friends. I didn't post about him being gone because of the unlikely though certainly possible "creep-o factor." In other words, I didn't want the world to know that the man of the house was gone. Then again, at the rate Zac is growing he will be a pretty good protector very soon. But I digress. Anyhow, Jeremy is back and we are happy! He took lots of pictures in California, so we'll have to get them sorted and get some posted as well!
Until then... sorry! I don't even have the energy to find a cute clip-art. So... I'd like you to visualize some really cool pictures... enjoy!!

Mommy's job just got harder....

Zac is officially pulling himself up! Exciting right? Definitely! But, let's not forget that what goes up, must come down... sometimes very hard.
Zac has been trying to pull himself up for days. The only problem has been finding a piece of furnature that is low enough that he can reach, but sturdy enough to not pull over on himself. He's pulled over Lilly's little chairs numerous times. The couch is too high for him to reach (though if I lift him to it, he can hold on). This morning, he found Ginger's post. It is perfect for him. Look at how happy he is. I think this is the exact moment that he realized he could do it.

I actually took this picture thinking he was going to put his head in, and I'd save him from getting stuck, then I would blog about the time that Lilly got stuck in this exact post when she was probably about Zac's age. He did not go that route however... Look at the excitement as he makes that first big pull up...

Ta DA!!!!!
This is very fun and exciting. The problem is that here is no happy ending to this situation. Here are the possibilities:

1. Zac puts his feet IN the hole and falls backwards on his head.

2. Zac doesn't put his feet in the hole, but still falls backwards on his head.

3. Mommy congratulates Zac and picks him up, and he gets PISSED that he got picked up.

Option Number 3 is what has happened every time so far. I would prefer option 3 over the other two, but still... we're ending in tears. I did not take pictures of the tears.
Not to leave Lilly out, here she is in the middle of a "spin" the other night.

And my two angels getting ready for a walk this morning. The walk was a clever (?) way to distract Zac from his goal of falling on his head.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Whew! Finally!

Well it's about time I had a chance to post again!!! This was my first week with kids at work, and it has been GREAT! It has also, obviously, been very... VERY... busy. My schedule this year is different than it's been in the past, so it just takes me a little longer to do, well, anything. That, plus the normal "beginning of school year" excitement has made it difficult to get much blogging in!
But enough about me... let's get to the kids! They have been great this week (as always)! Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures until this evening. I think I made up for it tonight though. After we got home, the kids played by themselves for a bit. Here is Lilly with her two bear-bears.
Meanwhile, Zac chewed on toys and drooled on himself. The poor kid must be teething again. Plus he has had a cold of some sort this week - lots of coughing and not sleeping as well as he usually does. Poor little guy! Today was better, so hopefully he's coming out of it.
Then, it was time for dinner. This might just be one of my favorite pictures of them together! I'm so glad I quietly grabbed the camera and got this shot!
And, this is after they realized I was taking their pictures!
After dinner... more playtime! Zac loves to play under his exersaucer. Random?
And one more sibling shot. So cute!
Zac went to bed a little early, which was nice because this morning I promised Lilly she could stay up "late" and we would read her Tinker Bell book. After Zac went to bed, Lilly and I did some spinning and laughing and playing, then got ready for bed, read Tinker Bell as promised, and she is off to dream land.
Now that the kids are in bed.... I think I have some work to do! ha! Happy weekend everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!

A great, big, ginormous happy birthday to my daddy today!
We had a great day with him, from start to finish. Here is his birthday cake - a "Blizzard cake" from Dairy Queen! Are these new? Because I hadn't heard about them until recently, and let me tell you they are De-lic-ious!

If you choose to enjoy a blizzard cake for one of your celebrations, please keep in mind that it is, well, ICE CREAM, and therefore probably shouldn't be left on the counter for too long! Hee hee hee! By the time we got to it, this is what it looked like. Still... De-lic-ious!

I'm going to back up and start at the beginning. My wonderful parents babysat both kids last night so I could go out with the girls! We went to Blanco for dinner, and had a great time! Here we are - Clockwise it is me, Rebecca, Kristen, Amy, Suzanne and Eileen! We had so much fun and it was so nice to sit back and relax with a yummy white peach and habiscus margarita (!), great friends and adult conversation.

We had decided it would be easiest for my parents to put the kids down to bed at their house, then I just headed over there after dinner. Surprisingly, Zac woke up in the middle of the night. When I went in to check on him, I found he had somehow pulled back the bottom pad of the portable crib and he was laying on the bars, understandably upset. Are babies supposed to be able to do this? Random! I obviously didn't take a picture at the time, but here is how the crib was left.

So, I of course freaked out and refused to put him back in the crib. Instead, he and I had a slumber party in the living room for the rest of the night.

Anhow, after that crisis, we woke up and it was grandpa's birthday! Lilly sang to him and we got all set and headed out to the zoo. Stevie and Kendra and Shyla met us there, and boy did we have fun! Grandpa and Lilly checking out the lions.

The Forgacs fam.

Grandma and grandpa with the three grandchildren. Is this the first pic of them with all 3 kids? Maybe not, but then again... maybe.

After the zoo, we headed to The Good Egg for breakfast.

Then, back to grandma and grandpa's house. Lilly refused to nap, which is very unlike her - she usually embraces her naps. She obviously knew best though, because she was hardly grumpy until the very end of the evening. Anyhow, instead of napping, she went swimming!

Zac, thankfully, did nap. But, he woke up just in time to hit the water too! He had SO much fun splashing like crazy!

Grandpa cooked up a yummy dinner, then it was time for presents!

It was during presents that the cake was sitting out for too long. Oh well, it was still, seriously, absolutely yummy!

After dessert, Kendra and Stevie decided to practice their part in Beth and Dave's wedding this Friday - they are the officiators! Here they are, practicing their parts.

Since it's my blog and I have the power, I'm leaving out the picture Kendra took of me standing with Bailey (the dog) pretending to be bride and groom. Especially since he eventually got bored and left me at the altar. ha ha ha.

Other fun facts from the day:

-My mom actually said, "Hey! I'm not the one who is two years older than I am." That made no sense.

-My mom also said, "Blow out the candles grandma!!" referring to my dad.

-Not to pick on mom too much... Stevie asked my mom if she knew what at aviator was. This was while she was in the AVIARY at the zoo. Big difference. Then again, Stevie once threatened to call the CPA on me for abusing my daughter (for the record, he was kidding - I don't abuse my kids. And, if I did, I hope someone would call CPS rather than the accountant).

Why am I picking on my fam? Because I can. And because they can take it. And because they would, and do, do the same to me. And because I love them.

A very happy birthday to Kimmie too! Her and my dad share a birthday, which is so cool! Her daughter Kaylie might just share a birthday with my mom too, later this month... stay tuned!

First day of school tomorrow... wish me luck.