Mariah turns 21

This summer we had the privilege of having our 20 year old niece, Mariah, stay with us.  Riah and I have a special bond that comes from me living with her family when I was 20.  She had one word for her mom and me, something like Mama and it didn't really matter who came when she called.  She was the sweetest little kid ever.  She has become a fun, kind hearted, outrageous, sweet lady and I love her to bits.  Tomorrow she leaves us and we are all a bit blue.  The boys think of her as one of the family now.  I mean one of the immediate family.  But as today was also her 21st Birthday we decided to not let the day get sad but celebrate her all day long.  It was a fun day. 

This is a picture of us I found from a few years ago.  Big hair and big laughs are just a few of the things we have in common. 

The day started with flowers form her parents.  They live in Africa now so we really tried to make today extra special so she wouldn't miss her fam too much. 

At her request we went to IHOP for breakfast where they brought her an ice-cream sunday at 9 in the morning.  We made her get up at 8 to go with us so she was rather sleepy in this shot. 

 The boys helped me put up some signs to make sure the whole neighborhood knew it was a big day.

 At IHOP.

My present to her and myself was to go get our toes done.  My friend watched the kids and we had a good time getting pedicures together.  She chose rainbow.  I went more traditional. 

As no friends or family besides us lived nearby we invited all the neighborhood kiddos in for cupcakes and non-alcholic drinks:).  Here is Riah holding Cupcake wine with the cupcakes.  She doesn't actually like alcohol so this is just for the irony of it all. 

 Riah and her Birthday posse.

 One neighbor made her this awesome tiara.

We made a game of pin the smile on Mariah.

 One neighbor gave her a small bottle of vodka so she posed for me with it.

 Don't even get me started on Nati's ridiculous smile here.  He has the most beautiful grin so when he does this it drives me bonkers.

 We ended her day with a favorite dinner of her choice, more cupcakes, presents and a movie. Riah loves cartoon movies so she and the boys have had a blast watching them together.

 One last shot of me and my not so little niece.  She has had a lot to adjust to this year with her parents and siblings moving to Africa but I say she taken the challenge to become a stronger, braver, more independent person and the sky is the limit for her.  We love you Riah Roo!!

Roman Family Night

This last weekend we did Roman Family Night.  I had been promising this since May when we studied Rome with Yared.  We had made their helmets way back then but just now got around to putting it all together.  I'll be honest and say it wasn't one of my favorite family nights.  Ben has been sick and all four of us were really tired, so it felt like a lot of work for a bit of fun.  However, when I asked the boys about it the next day they thought it was great.  I need to capture their positive personalities.

I got suckered into buying a mini shaving set for the boys so here they are getting ready for the big night by shaving with Daddy.  I don't think Nati stopped giggling the whole time and Yared had Dad's look down to a T.

Leppard's as Romans.  I love that Ben will let me dress him up even when he is feeling sick.

 We ate on the living room floor on old patio cushions.  The boys thought this was great.  I tried to think Roman so we ended up with bread and olive oil to dip it in, roast chicken, olives, grapes, humus with vegetables, pita chips and chocolate ice-cream(This was meant to be in lieu of modern day gelato which we all know comes from Italy and thus must have been invented by some Roman:)  Notice the cool roman shoes the men all sport.  We did make them.  The only looked great for five minutes and were a serious walking hazard so I wouldn't suggest this craft but hey the pictures look good right?

 His helmet was all mashed as the balloon holding up his paper mache deflated in the night.  I told him it showed he had been through some battles already and had it banged in from the wars.  This help stop the tears that would have come and made him feel extra tough.

 After the ice-cream, I mean gelato, kicked in Nati started dancing his version of a Roman dance for us.  His personality is getting bigger every day.  One minute I am on the floor laughing at something he said and the next I am frustrated out of my wits by some mischief he is into.

 We ended the night with the boys acting out battle scenes for us and then some chariot racing down the hallway.  Ok so it was a wheel barrow race down the hall with a jump on mom and dad ride on the way back.  They loved it.

Ok so these last two shots weren't taken on Roman night but what mother can resist bragging on her handsome boys.  They truly are the sweetest, funniest, best little boys in the whole world.  We are excited to see them get to be big brothers for a little sister.   On adoption news, we should have our dossier done in two weeks and off it goes to our agency.  Then... well the wait begins.

Las Vegas with kids

Family Shot

Ben's job this year is crazy to put it mildly so we were looking forward with much anticipation to getting him away from the job and the cell phone.  We found out two weeks before that our time off had been approved so most of our first place choices had been taken.  We have a vacation time share thingy that sort of works for us.  But this time it left us with a last minute vacation and only one real spot to go... Las Vegas.  I don't know about you but this is not my first thought of a family friendly vacation.  But we really did have a good time.  We started the trip with a visit to good friends in LA and then hit the road to Vegas. Our hotel room was more like a mini condo and included a bathroom, kitchen, dining room and living room.  The couch pulls out for another bed so the boys had their own room. This is always good news for me as they snore so loudly.  They were SO adorable when we got to the room.  They ran around screaming about all the things in the room

"Mommy, look they have pans for you."  "Mom look at the beautiful lights."  "Mommy they have a loud thing for you(blender)"  "I LOVE it"  "Look at the bath tub we can all fit."  Nati looks in the fridge and comes running with a box of baking soda, "Mommy LOOK they left this for you."  I need to record their reactions more often but who knew they would get this hyped up over a hotel room.  I just sat and laughed and wished Ben was there.  He was out parking the car.

The boys are like this about most anything.  They love life so it didn't matter what we did this trip they just had a blast.  We did it all except the traditional Vegas stuff.  We went hiking at Red Rock Canyon, Lake Mead, and Mount Charleston.  We walked the strip and saw the fountains at Bellagio, the M&M store, the Coke Store and more.  We went to a show. We ate an all you can eat buffet.  We went to the amusement park at Circus Circus.  It really was a fun trip.  On our way home we were able to spend two nights at my brother's house which is always a highlight with all of us.  It was a great end to a fun vacation.

Our water baby.  Loves water.  

Yared sporting his new toothless smile. 

Red Rock Canyon hike...showing off how strong they are.  

Getting a ride up the hill with Daddy.

At the top.

I didn't know this existed near Vegas. 

Inside the Bellagio

They always want to make sure the other one doesn't have something better.

 Nati is terrified of people dressed up in costume but he couldn't resist this panda.  He has a stuffed panda he named Livia and he carries her everywhere.  He was so excited/nervous/thrilled to see her walking around in person.

The cup he bought with his own money and he is beyond proud of.

 Hiking at Lake Mead we saw two dessert tortoises.  This was the first one.  This hike started out cool and refreshing so here we are all having fun.

Yared found this baby one about a mile later.

 By this point in the hike it was NOT cool and refreshing the rain had disappeared, the wind was gone, the temperature was now in the high 90's and we were hot and bothered and marching for the car like no tomorrow.  Ok Ben was fine but the boys and I were done.

 After cooling down in Lake Mead and seeing Hoover Dam we stopped to see these wild Mountain goats that just happened to be at a playground.

Hike three was out at Mount Charleston.  This was amazing as it is WAY cooler than Vegas and only about 45 minutes away.  It is like a whole different place. This is a slot canyon we explored.

 The boys make everything a game so this is them on their pirate ship.

 How did  he grow up so fast?

 Dad jumping onto their pirate ship.

 Our little deer.  He had spent the previous 10 minutes talking into a giant rock that was his cell phone. there is no limit to imagination in our family.

 At the top of a hike called Little Falls.  They sure were little but the boys loved it up there so we had lunch and they played pretend Olympics for about half and hour.

 This is the snow boarding competition.

 Surfing competition.

 Seriously is  this your image of Las Vegas?  Beautiful.