Discovery Children's Museum

Place: Discovery Children's Museum
http://www.discoverykidslv.org/

Cost: $12 per person aged 1-99
$125 annual family membership
$175 Discovery Membership -- It's like a family membership but instead of each family member having a card there is a card holder who can bring up to 7 guests each time.
*Nanny and Pap got the kids a Family Membership for Christmas.  Kirby and I decided we would upgrade to the Discovery Membership so whenever family or friends are in town we can take them.

Hours: Tuesday through Friday 9am-4pm, Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 12pm-5pm

Best for kids age: 1-13?  The last time we were there I saw groups of middle-school aged kids and they all looked like they were having a blast.

On the plus side: Where do I start?  I've only been to one other children's museum and it doesn't hold a candle to Discovery Children's Museum.  The museum is on three levels.  Running through the middle is "The Summit", featuring science exhibits intermixed with slides and structures to climb.  The first level features a water room, Charlie's favorite!  It also has a pirate ship, a theater for kids to play on, a castle and a room specifically for the tiny toddlers.  There is so much to explore that I couldn't tell you exactly what is on the second floor and third floor.  I am sure I am mixing them up.  The second floor is (I think) is the one set up to model places in Las Vegas- a play airport, the local grocery shop, mechanic etc. etc.  The third floor (again- I think) has an art room and what they call a patent pending room.  In this room kids can build paper airplanes, make cars, and so on.

On the down side: The photos in the post are from a time we went to the museum with friends.  Our little guys did get overtaken by a school group at one point.   And I know weekends can be crowded so plan accordingly.

Suggestions:  I wish the museum and other places of this nature would post a public calendar on its website to show when they are having multiple school groups.   I would love to plan our future visits at times when we can avoid the masses of school kids.

Rating (on a scale of 1-5 stars) Can I give it 10?  Five stars plus!!!!
Time Allotted?  The longest we have been there is 3 hours and we could have stayed longer.  Pack a lunch and plan to stay a while!
Go again? Of course and now that we essentially have four guest passes on any given day we would love to have friends join us : )

Elf on the Shelf

The Elf on the Shelf entered our home this holiday season.  When my sister in law, Kendra, let me know she got it for the kids I was elated!  The flurry of elf pictures on facebook caught my eye in past Decembers and it looked like such a cute idea.

HOWEVER, my feelings have changed.

Now before you pass judgement or assume the worst, read the whole blog.  And for you mommas who haven't introduced this lovely creature into your home I encourage BEG you to read this!!!!

A little background (just in case)
The Elf on the Shelf is a book written about an elf who watches over your family during the holiday season (in most cases the first 24 glorious days of December).  His "job" is to fly to the north pole each night and report if everyone is being good or bad.  Ahhh.... another way to bribe kids into submission during the most insane time of the year.   We and by we I mean some unknown group of mommas out there (yes I'm blaming the mommas) decided it would be a great idea if each day he ended up in a new spot in the house.  I'm sure it started out as something as simple as this.  But now with the beauty of the internet and Pinterest, the expectation has been raised that this cute little elf will be in some creative scene or have caused some kind of mischief in your house.  Hey mommas!  That's a lot of work during an especially busy time of the year.

Despite all that I, like so many other moms out there, am a ....

Our Elf on the Shelf got his name the day he arrived at our house.  TURTLE!  Because, well you know, that's normal : )  Anyway his adventures didn't begin until Tuesday December 3rd, the day after we arrived back from our Boulder, CO Thanksgiving trip.   Below is a picture story of his journey through our home.  Under each photo I have simply captioned them as pinterest, from a friend, my pure genius (and I'm sure if you searched on pinterest someone will have already done it), and my pure laziness (the days where I was just happy to remember to move him)

Tuesday December 3rd

Pinterest

 Wednesday December 4th

Pure laziness (plus I was excited to have our tree up)

 Thursday December 5th

Pinterest

 Friday December 6th

Friend

 Saturday December 7th

Pinterest

Sunday December 8th

Friend

 Monday December 9th

Friend

 Tuesday December 10th

Friend

 Wednesday December 11th

My own genius

 Thursday December 12th

My own genius

 Friday December 13th

Pinterest

Saturday December 14th

Pinterest

 Sunday December 15th

Friend

 Monday December 16th

My own genius (Proud of this one!!!)

 Tuesday December 17th

My own genius

 Wednesday December 18th

Pure laziness

Thursday December 19th

My own genius (And in case you can't tell Turtle is having a viewing party of his movie- popcorn and all)

Friday December 20th

Pinterest

Saturday December 21st

Friend

Sunday December 22nd

Friend

Monday December 23rd (Our last with Turtle since Santa came early so we could fly back to PA for Christmas)

My own genius

The poem on the last day read as follows...

Santa Claus is in town!

Today is the day
To the North Pole I'll fly
In my magical way

Being your elf
It's a pleasure, a treat
Because Charlie and Jocelyn
You're so kind and so sweet

Santa, I'm certain
Is sure to bring toys
And stockings stuffed
With Christmas joys

Although my time 
Has come to it's end
I promise to come back
To you, my friends

Always be Good! xoxo Turtle

When you look through the pictures of Turtle's adventures in the Miller house it is evident we enjoyed his presence.  But here comes my big HOWEVER!  Mommas- don't go nuts and start your adventure with Elf on the shelf when your oldest is an infant or even one or even two.  Why?  Because even at 2 (3 in March) Charlie had to be reminded to "find" Turtle each morning.  And because at 1, Jocelyn has no grasp on the concept that Turtle's magic will be lost if you touch him.  This made for a few scary moments when Turtle was in arm's reach and Charlie was FREAKING out because Jocelyn might cause Turtle to lose his magic.  And if you begin your adventures with elf on the shelf when you have an infant, well, I'll keep it simple; You're CRAZY! (This coming from a person who loves all things Christmas)

That being said, don't think you are going to escape the joys of having your very own elf on the shelf.   And I'm certain someone reading this has said I'm not going to have one or I never would have had one of those for my kids when they were little.  To this I welcome suggestions!!!!  When Charlie is in kindergarten or first grade and all his friends are talking about how Santa has sent an elf to their house but not ours, please tell me how I explain this without crushing his little heart or steal the pure magic and belief Santa embodies.

For now Turtle and I have a love/hate friendship.  While I would like to stand proud and tell you Turtle will be taking next year off, I readily admitted from the beginning I am indeed a...

Tiny Tots and Toddlers with A Twist Christmas

Life has been so busy in the most fabulous way for the past month and half.  The rush of Christmas has my head spinning and I love it.  Additionally, the mom's group has been in full swing and we have had the pleasure of meeting many great moms and kids, as well as some dads too!  On Saturday we celebrated Tiny Tots and Toddlers with a Twist's first annual Christmas party.

After exploring various options,  I offered to host the party at our house so we wouldn't have to pay money to rent a space.  In the end, I was happy to have the party at our house because I feel like everything is more relaxed when a party is at a house.  And if you didn't know this about me, I love being a host!  Quite a different party then those annual St. Patrick's Day parties Kirby and I used to throw back in the day but equally as fun.  My how life has changed!!

Jocelyn's favorite part was stealing food left behind on people's plates and running away when I saw her.  Thank God she doesn't have allergies! (I know I am very lucky because of this) Poor thing paid for it later though when she couldn't sleep during naptime.  I know her tummy was hurting!!

This picture just cracks me up!

Super mom- Her oldest just recently turned 3 so for three months she had 3 under three!

 Thankfully this amazing groups of moms made planning and getting ready for the party easy.  Each of them brought food and drinks to share.

How cute are the reindeer cookies and the Santa fruit kabobs!

 And I have to give a special Thank you to Alyson.  She has helped me start this group and she took over crafts for the party, as well as adorable party favors.

My  biggest Thank You of all goes to Kirby though for helping me rearrange furniture, graciously hosting, and for being Santa at the party.  One of the mom's in the group, Kerry, has a Santa costume and her husband dressed up for a meetup at their house.  She was kind enough to let us borrow the costume for the party and it was quite a hoot.  It's amazing how some kids embrace Santa without hesitation like this little peanut...

And others like my own are terrified...

Thanks for snapping this picture Alyson!  If only they knew it was their Dad!

In addition to letting our kids indulge in treats, we played some reindeer games like Pin the Nose on Rudolph and Candy Cane toss into the Gingerbread Man,

On second thought- I don't know if Rudolph got any action during the party.  Better hold on to him for next year.

The part Charlie enjoyed the most was breaking open the Pinata. I had a feeling the kids were already going to be sugared up with the bounty of delicious treats we had so I decided to fill the pinata with little toys.  Target has an abundance of Christmas party favors like finger puppets, pencils, bouncy balls, stamps, yo-yos, and so on that were all in holiday theme.  The only thing I didn't account for was the some of the toys would break during the pinata smashing.  OOPS!!!

Special thanks to Gary (one of the Dads) for holding the pinata up.  We had to do it a little redneck style because there wasn't a great place to hang it at our house.

He was cute while he lasted and totally worth it!

It was a perfect morning!  On this note, I have to say that everything in life happens for a reason.  While I was bummed to get the boot from the one mom's group the door that opened by starting this group is proving to be a great one for both the kids and I, and really our family as whole.   Charlie now has a group of buddies that he loves telling Kirby stories about and looks forward to hanging out with.  And I can picture Jocelyn running around on the playground with some of the little girls soon enough.  Makes my heart happy!  I can honestly say that I too am forming friendship (something I very much needed) with some of the moms in the group.  It makes Vegas feel a little more like home...