Valentine's Parties!

I was able to scoot out of work early and attend the boys Valentine's Day parties. Here are a few pictures...

This is Beckett's good friend Greyson.

Oh Beckett....

At 6 am on February 12th, while Roger was out of town, the boys decided it was a great time to see if they could make the leap from the top bunk to the couch in their room. Well, Beckett didn't quite make it and he "cracked" his ankle on the edge of the couch.

After dropping Grant off at school, Beckett and I headed to Urgent Care. After several X-Rays it was determined to not be broken...as far as they could tell. So we headed home. Luckily we have amazing neighbors and were able to borrow crutches and a knee scooter.

Beckett went to school the next day and luckily it was the day of their Valentine's party. One of the moms at the party is a podiatrist. She examined his ankle and said she thought it might be a growth plate injury. So, being the amazing person she is, she went to her office and picked up a boot for him. We went in for more X-Rays this past Monday and yep, growth plate injury. So he will be on crutches for a total of 4 weeks and in the boot for a total of 5 weeks. Ugh.

It's been  a long couple of weeks and I can't believe we have 2-3 more. Beckett is not a kid that likes to sit still and so he is constantly pushing it. Here are a couple of examples:

For the first few days, we let him have the knee scooter at school. But after he told me that he "got it up on 2 wheels around the corner" we decided it might not be a great idea.

We went for a walk the other day. On the way home I was stopped by a neighbor and so Beckett and Grant scooted home. A couple of minutes later Grant comes running up to me - "Mom...Beckett..." I stopped him because he was interupting my conversation. Next think I know Beckett comes tearing around the corner on his 360 Razor bike yelling "Look mom!! I can still ride this bike!"

Everyday Beckett has a friend helper...someone to get his markers, papers, whatever. Everyday he takes a major tumble/fall because he gets up to get things on his own. While I admire his desire to be independent, I am much more concerned about his ankle.

So we have 2 more weeks on crutches. Then for spring break he will be walking in the boot. Soccer will be played in an ankle brace. And I have a feeling the bunk beds will be debunked for awhile.

 At Urgent Care

 The day it happened

 The next day headed to school on his knee scooter

 After a day at school - YIKES!

 Now with a boot

His X-Ray. See that little bone that looks like a gumdrop? It's supposed to be straight up and down...his tilts out to the right. The doctor is hoping to strengthen his ligaments so it doesn't tilt out anymore.

Video of Beckett on the knee scooter and crutches. This was taken awhile ago. He's actually much faster on the crutches now...unfortunately.

Flag Football

In January, we signed the boys up for flag football. Unfortunately the weather has not cooperated and we have had more cancelled games than actually attended.  And now with Beckett on crutches, it truly is a bummer season.

Grant has enjoyed the few practices we've had and I think he definitely has shown potential to be a great defensive player.

During the last practice, one of the coach's made an example of Grant and I am so bummed I didn't get it on video. Grant was on defense while another player made a run for a touchdown. Following directions to the letter, Grant positioned himself perfectly and pulled the kid's flag. One of the coaches jumped up brought Grant over to the other players and said - "Did you see that? That was exactly what you should do. Grant did exactly what we asked and he positioned himself perfectly. Great job Grant." There was more and Roger and I were beaming with pride. Grant couldn't stop smiling and came over and said - I am so proud of myself.

This is a video of some other parts of the practice. There is supposed to be a game at the end, but as you can see, with the lack of practices, the kids just aren't ready. Bummer. Maybe next time.

We start soccer again this week. :-)

Riley and Dexter

Dexter has become quite the member of our family.

Whether it's yeowling at 5am because he's hungry or visiting the boys in the bathtub or attacking Riley when she's trying to sleep, for a 4 pound kitten, he is a huge presence in our home.

 We had to give him medicine for ear mites. It was not his favorite thing, so we had to wrap him in a blanket to keep him in place.

 Dexter loves to sit on the edge of the garden tub and check out what's happening in the bathtub. So far only his back end has fallen into the tub. Getting wet does not seem to deter him from returning every night.

One of Dexter's favorite things is to attack Riley. They really are great friends and I am so glad they have each other. When Riley is trying to sleep in the evening, Dexter is the instigator and then, when Dexter is trying to sleep during the day Riley definitely turns the tables on him. It's pretty entertaining to watch. :-) I love Dexter's attack post towards the end of this video - cracks me up.

Vegas Baby!

Roger's parents like to "winter" in Vegas every year and this year they surprised us and flew all 4 of us out for a long weekend.

SATURDAY

 Our flight out of Ausin was horribly early...5:30am. That means we were all up and out of bed by 2:30. As a treat, Roger upgraded us to first class. The kids loved it.

 After naps all around, we headed out to check out the strip. Boys outside the New York, New York hotel.

 We stayed at Excalliber. The kids loved the knights and castle theme.

 New York New York again

 Conservatory at the Bellagio. The gardens were done up for Chinese New Year. Unfortunately we missed the big celebration by a couple of weeks.

 The boys with Grandma and Papa

 Eiffel Tower outside the Paris hotel

 Street performer on Freemont Street. He was all painted red and had some kind of contraption in his pants that gave the illusion that he was able to sit in mid air. You can see it better in the picture with Beckett.

SUNDAY

The boys were disappointed that they weren't tall enough to ride the roller coaster at New York, New York. So we headed to Circus Circus so they could experience their first roller coaster ride. 

 No one was there. First car for all of us. And we were the only ones on the coaster. :-)

 Here we go!

 Zoltar! LOVE the movie Big so when we saw this we were so excited. It was a little eery because as we were waiting for the place to open up, a fortune popped out of the machine. Beckett went and got it and it was Beckett to a tee! Crazy!

 While at Circus Circus, we went to the free show. This is the clown that performed. The kids thought he was hilarious.

After leaving Circus Circus, we headed over to Grandma and Papa's hotel. Roger and Papa had tickets to a Superbowl party, so Grandma and I took the kids to the Childrens Museum. We had a great time.

 Making Art

 Flight Simulator

In this video, you will see the fear of falling exhibit, the hurricane simulator and the water exhibit. 

The fear of falling has 2 parts - me videoing them "falling" and then a video of the video of their faces while they were falling.

The hurricane simulator was basically a phone booth with 90 mph winds. I love the difference in their reactions...Grant serious, Beckett performing.

Luckily we left the water exhibit to the end. The boys were thoroughly drenched and had a great time!

 Trying to dry off before heading back to the hotel.

 Not sure why they wanted to show their bellies...I just wanted a picture outside the museum.

That night Beckett and Grant went and "camped" with Grandma and Papa at their 5th wheel trailer. So Roger and I headed out for the night. First stop - the Venetian. This is definitely my favorite hotel. It was just beautiful. 

The main area...set up to look like a street in Venice with restaurants. There was a small Italian quartet performing while we were there. Really nice.

MONDAY

Monday morning Roger and I met the rest of the clan for breakfast and then we headed to Hoover Dam. It was a beautiful day to be there - sunny and 75.

 Beckett took this picture - that's quite the pose Grant

 Beckett took this one too

 Grandma and the boys

 One of the HUGE holes drilled for drainage. It was pretty spooky/freaky to look down there. It went a LONG way.

 Of course, not as impressive as it was in person. This is the actual dam and those little black dots on top are people.

 Roger explaining the workings of the dam

 Amazing bridge over the Colorado River. We drove over the bridge and unfortunately, with the barricades, you can't see anything.

 Here Beckett was standing in Nevada and Grant was standing in Arizona...an hour earlier.

 Completely worn out.

Monday night was a our big finale...we had tickets to the Knight show at the Excalliber. We had to kill some time so we headed over to the Luxor.

 Some kind of mask that's worn by all the performers in one of the Vegas shows. Love that B is wearing his sunglasses inside

 This is the arena for the Knight show - The Tournament of Kings. We were in the front row for the country of Hungary. The show wouldn't allow pictures, so this is all I have. I really thought it was going to be cheesy...something like Midieval Times. But this show was so much more. There were fireworks, pyrotechnics, sword fighting, jousting. It was really entertaining and the boys ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. I so wish I could have just filmed them. We cheered. We booed. It was great.

Our hero - the king and knight from Hungary