Elf on the Shelf

Steve our Elf has returned this month! He has been busy watching over the kids every day and doing fun things in the night after reporting to Santa. Here is a recap of our month so far!  Steve returned by leaving a message on the bathroom mirror.

Our favorite so far has been planting Magic Elf Seeds in sugar.

Some more creative ideas :)

I love watching Little Lion look for him every morning!! FLower Power is still a little bit too little to understand, but likes him too! The magic of Christmas is happening daily in this house! And I cherish every minute of it since it only lasts so long! Bless this sweet babies!

Other Things I'm Thankful For

Here are some of the things in my life that I'm thankful for that make my life better!

11. MacBook Pro and Iphone! Seriously I could not function without these 2 Apple products!! It's my connection to everything other than the kids!

12.Swimming Pool! We added our pool this summer and we spent countless hours swimming since then! It's great exercise and the kids love splashing about!

13. Running! I realized this summer that I'm getting old....boo! My body does not metabolize the way it used to. So I decided with some encouragement from Dena that I was going to do Couch to 5K program! I can proudly say I can run for 30 minutes without dying! That is something I don't think I've ever done. I don't like running, but my body thanks me for it! Sorry no picture of me running, instead LL :)

14. Soccer! I am not a sports person, but when it's your child playing, it changes everything! I like going to Little Lion's soccer games and cheering them on! The 5-7 year olds actually have a good game going on and the excitement on their faces when they score is amazing! I am also thankful for soccer practice because I get a little friend time while LL is practicing!

15. Family Time! I love spending time with my family! We make a priority of it! We try to do something Fun every day whether it be playing outside, going to get ice cream or going to a theme park. I also love spending alone time with Mr.E and am thankful we go on vacation alone yearly!

16. Blog Readers! Thanks for continually visiting my blog and hopefully enjoying my family! Hope your holiday is wonderful and fulfilling!

Luck be a Lady Tonight

Day 4-5 of our much needed Mommy and Daddy vacation or should I say, Husband and Wife :) We decided to check out the City Center which is the Aria and Cosmopolitan. None of this was even started when we were there last. I guess this the the "hip" place to stay in Vegas now. However, we went through the Bellagio to get there which is connected by a free monorail. Here is the garden area in the Bellagio and all set up for fall.

On the way back to the hotel for a nap, we stopped to play 3 card poker at Bally's and we did pretty well :)

Our evening plans were to see the Cirque KA show at MGM. We've seen O already so were anxious for this one.

But before we got there, we stopped back at Bally's at the same 3 card poker table and did REALLY well!!

The show was good, not as fantastic as O or even La Nouba in Orlando, but we enjoyed it. It's just nice to go to fancy shows with your hubby!! After we headed to Nine Irish Men restaurant which was in NY NY and the food was ok. We had great seats in front of the band. We headed back to the room, but stopped to see the lights of the city and the Bellagio water show.

And you can't go to Vegas without a celebrity sighting. Ok he may not be a true celebrity, but we saw Turf. Turf was one of the top acts in America's Got Talent this past summer. He is a street dancer who can do all sorts of contortionist acts with his arms and body. So gross, but you can't not watch!! They were street performing!

Our final day in Vegas, we strolled around some more before heading to the airport.

What a fantastic recharging vacation and we went home with $380 more then with we came!! I love spending time with my hubby alone, but I did miss the kids. I know it's important as a couple to take time for ourselves which we tend not to. We're are going to try to make it a priority to do date night monthly!! Kids are important, but a strong relationship with your husband is important too!!

Come on 7, Momma Needs a New Pair of Shoes!

Day 3 in our child free Vegas trip was spent hitting up the strip. We checked out all the casinos and people watched which is the best part!!

And you can't go through the casinos without playing a little bit. We won some cash playing electronic craps. It was fun. They have big dice in the middle like the game Trouble and they pop up when the shooter pushes the button.

That evening we met up with Mr.E's Aunt, Uncle, Cousin and Wife. We started off stopping at Pawn Stars from TV's store. The shop was small, but had some interesting things to see that were featured on the show as well.

Next we went to Freemont St in Downtown.

We ate at the Triple George. Very good!!!! Here is the whole family all 6 of us....can you spot all of us??

It was nice to see everyone, win back some money (up $5), and check out the sights! Day 4 tomorrow!!!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

Mr.E and I took a much needed adult vacation to Las Vegas last week! We had a fantastic time and reconnected! All of my pics are from Instagram which I love!!! I'm going to separate this in days because I have a lot to share :) Day 1-2

We stayed at the Platinum Spa Hotel which is behind Bally's. Our room was HUGE!! We had a kitchen and a bedroom. I picked this hotel for 2 main reasons. 1. NO Smoking anywhere in the building 2. NO resort fees which most of the hotels on the strip have adding on $25 a day to your price. We also had a great view of the strip and the mountains.

The only drawback is that it is a good 10 min walk to the strip, but we always cut through Bally's for air conditioning and a little gambling on the way:)

The first full day we headed to check out the Wynn which was just being built when we were there 8 years ago. First we ate at the Hash House A Go Go which was yummy and HUGE portions! I should have taken a picture of my waffle! It was bigger than my head!! My my hubby was representing Orlando City Soccer!

We learned that gambling in nice new fancy hotels made us lose money. We were down $120 our first day;(

That evening we went to X Burlesque at the Flamingo. I wore my fancy new gold pants. And we even got to see a crew of Elvis'!!

We met a nice couple who got us fantastic seats right in front of the stage! So we got a great view of T&A dancing around :) haha It was tasteful and the songs were fun. It was a titillating (lol) way to spend the evening and tickets were pretty cheap for Vegas. Sorry no pics guys! Instead here's us :)

More tomorrow!!!!