A whole lot of randomness

While I love my iphone I find that I take a whole lot of random pictures.  So here it is...  a whole lot of pictures covering a whole lot of randomness

Just playing around.  Man, he needed a haircut!

This girl is hands down the MESSIEST eater.  This is not a bad day.  This is a regular day

Just Because

As you can imagine, getting fresh produce in the desert can be quite a challenge.  At a Farmer's Market, I signed us up for grocery delivery from Winder Farms.  It doesn't eliminate my weekly trip to the grocery store but I LOVE the fresh fruits and veggies, as well as milk from cows not treated with growth hormones.

Haha!  I sent these pictures to Jill saying "This either makes me the best mom or the worst mom".
Is anyone else as crazy as I am?

Last splash pad day of the season!

This is us on a lazy morning.  Hmmm... maybe some pictures shouldn't be posted!

She would be cute with glasses

No Fear- climbing this small box is the least of my worries!

Don't you play dress up with your kids.

I posted this on facebook already.  I love watching him read.  Lately when we video chat with my parents he gets out a book and "reads" to them.

Poor Rascal never makes it into the blog but she is loved very much!

We are weird.  It just is what it is and I love it about us!

This is what happens when Daddy lets you pick out pajamas.  

Working on coloring in the lines.

Enjoying the sunshine

I LOVE  his smile in this photo.  He has such a great smile but it is so hard to catch it in photos.

Creating bubble wands with one of our playgroups.

Nothing fancy on the outside but chocolate and peanut butter on the inside- Kirby's favorite!  Kirby said you know you are old when someone has to come up with creative ways of expressing your age on your birthday cake.

Helping Daddy blow out his birthday candles.  Charlie is as good at keeping secrets as Kirby.  He told Kirby his birthday presents long before we had a chance to wrap them.

The next several photos are from our trip to Phoenix.  We went to Phoenix to visit Kirby's friend Jesse and his family.  They have an adorable little girl name Leila who just turned two.  Charlie and Jocelyn both enjoyed hanging out with her.

Stopping for lunch

Watching trains at lunch.

My kids were loving the water table.  I think Charlie literally spent over an hour splashing around.  And now I know what is on his Christmas list : )

 

Jesse, Alanna, and Leila took us to an awesome playground.  I can't believe this is the only picture I have : (  There was a carousel and a train to ride.

Their neighborhood is built around two lakes.  The lakes are split by the green belt which is basically a walking path and in the middle is a playground.  On Sunday we took the kids over to play.  I was hoping it might wear them out before the ride home.  We has a great time and the drive wasn't bad at all!  It was a good test run for our long ride to Boulder, CO for Thanksgiving. 

Back to randomness.

Learning to ride the big swings!

Her favorite thing to do on the playground.

I can't get over how old she looks when her hair is in pigtails!

Giving hugs inside the wagon

More coloring fun

Just wanting to be like her big brother.

Tiny Tots and Toddlers with a Twist

I debated blogging about this because it's slightly awkward but this is life and I try to keep it as real as possible.  So when we moved into the house I joined 4 moms groups.  Why 4?  Because I wasn't sure how any of them were organized.  And because the only thing I knew I had in common with the other ladies was that we lived in the Las Vegas area and we had kids.  While raising kids is something I respect about any mother it isn't necessarily enough to create the strong friendships I hope to form.

One group I never went to.  No special reason just that they have a meet and greet each month and I couldn't attend the meetup in September and I guess I didn't want to wait until October.   I removed myself from the group.

Another group I went to once.  The women in this group were awesome as were the kids.  The kids were close in age to my little loves.  Before long, I realized the moms in this group that were actively participating were on the opposite side of town (30 minutes away).  I politely emailed the organizer and let her know I didn't want to be in the group because I wanted to find friends for my kiddos who lived closer to us.

It basically got down to the point where I spending time with two different mom's groups.   This is what I said about the groups a couple of weeks ago...
"This was our first meetup with Southwest Vegas Mommies.  I think I am going to LOVE this group!  All members of the group seem to stay pretty active.  It's wonderful because they have about 4 or 5 meetups scheduled each week and many of them are during the day.   The group has been around for a year or two so they are very organized.  Jocelyn, Charlie, and I are going to have fun exploring Las Vegas with this group!
The other group we joined is Mountain's Edge Moms and Kids.  Mountain's Edge is where we live and I love that they offer evening meetups at the playground so our whole family can go."

I got so frustrated with the Mountain's Edge Moms group because in my opinion it was incredibly disorganized.   And after much debate (and encouragement from Kirby), I decided to start a new group with some help.  You can choose to complain about something or you can do something about it.  I chose to do something about it!!

BACKLASH!  I got booted from Southwest Vegas Mommies.  Apparently they have a rule where you can't be in their group if you are an organizer for another.   If you are anticipating a bashing of these ladies, it isn't going to happen.  In fact they were all very kind and welcoming to me, and more importantly Charlie and Jocelyn.   I didn't know the rule existed but once I committed myself to starting this new group I wasn't going to jump ship on the idea.  

Tiny Tots and Toddlers with A Twist

That's the logo and name for the group.  The group doesn't start until November so say a prayer for me that all goes well.  Lord knows I need to find some good friends here!!!  I miss all my lovely friends from home SO MUCH!  

It's basically like any other moms group but I added the twist part.  Don't get too excited; it's nothing fancy.  Once a week one of the meetups will begin with a walk, jog, hike etc. And each month I am trying to post a stroller friendly 5K.  I'm happy to have gotten back into running and don't want to lose my stride so hopefully I'll find some mommas who want to do some running as well.

So the whole experience of being booted from Southwest Vegas Moms group has taught me a lot.  I want to be welcoming to anyone regardless of how many groups they are in.  (Organizer or not.)  That's not to say that their rule is wrong.  They've been at this much longer than I have so maybe I'm missing something.  At  home though I had more than one group of friends and I want to build that here.  I want to support other moms trying to find groups of friends as well.  All moms (and woman in general for that matter) need the advice, encouragement, laughter and love from others who can relate.

Giddy Up!

Place: McKee Ranch

8982 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139

http://mckeeranchevents.com/
McKee Ranch is a small ranch located on the south side of Vegas.  It appears that they board horses and regularly offer birthday parties and get togethers.  During the Halloween season they open up the ranch for visitor to take hay rides and pony rides, feed the animals, and pick a pumpkin.

Love this photo!   There were so many great places to take photographs on the ranch.  I could have spent hours just taking photos, but didn't want to torture my little loves.

Cost: $20 per family.  This includes taking a pumpkin of your choice home with you.
$5 for a pony or horse ride
$1 for a pail of carrots to feed the animals

Hours: 4-8pm Monday through Friday
12-8pm Saturday and Sunday
(I think these are just seasonal hours.  I couldn't find anything on their website about regular hours.)

Best for kids aged: We saw kids as young as infants and as old as young teenagers.  It looked like they were all enjoying themselves.

On the plus side: .   There were so many great places to take pictures here.

The Ranch was big enough to easily keep the kids entertained but not so big that we felt overwhelmed by it.  They were horses, chickens, goats, a sheep and a pig.  The goats and chickens roam around at will.  There were an abundance of pumpkins to choose from and all were about the same size and in good condition.

On the down side:  The cost of additional pumpkins, the cost of pony rides and what you would expect from a ranch.  Anticipate all the smells of farm animals and the dirt that comes along with it.

If you wanted to ride a pony the cost was $5.  It was also $5 to ride a horse.  Jocelyn went on her first pony ride and unfortunately I was helping her so I didn't get a picture.  I know $5 for a pony ride is probably the going rate but JR Pony Farm http://learningtolovelasvegas.blogspot.com/2013/09/jr-pony-farm.html has spoiled us.  At a price of $5 the kids can ride the pony as many times as they want given they wait their turn.  Jocelyn's pony ride was 4 times in a circle on a pony attached to one of those wheels.

Suggestions:  Include pony rides in the price. If you wanted an additional pumpkin they cost $7 a piece.  I think they should offer additional pumpkins for a cheaper price.  I can imagine a family with 3 kids going and setting up there kids to each pick out a pumpkin only to find out they have to shell out an additional $14 for the two extra pumpkins.

Rating (on a scale of 1-5 stars) 4
Time Allotted? We spent about an hour and half on the ranch.  I think we could have spent 2 hours there but Charlie and Jocelyn were ready for dinner.

Not Kirby's best but I love Jocelyn's face and the lighting in this picture.

Go again? I would go again just to practice taking pictures. haha!  When I asked Kirby he said he would go again next year but wouldn't mind checking out some other place instead.

I must say this was a poor excuse for a hayride but the kids enjoyed it.