Santa, Slots, and Sauerkraut. . . or "Christmas in Vegas"

Merry Christmas!  For our first Christmas back in the States in 5 years, we invited my entire family out to Las Vegas for the holiday.  My sister, her husband, and my nephew arrived from Texas the day before my parents got in so we made the most of it and snapped a few pictures of the boys to give to Mamaw and Papaw for Christmas.  We got a photo session, editing, printing, and framing done all in one afternoon; another perk of having a photographer for a sister.  We took several different shots, but these are my favorites.

Had to do a John Deere picture for Papaw. :)

Matty took to my sister's husband, John, right away.  Nothing like a happy baby to instill a big case of baby fever in everyone. ;)

My sister also brought out her dog, Chopper.  Oskar was so happy to have a friend to play with--and take walks with--for a few days.

The next day my parents arrived, and they got to meet their new grand-baby for the first time.  I pretty much didn't even get to touch my child for the rest of their trip. ;)

Jonathan arrived on the 23rd, and our entire family was finally together.  Before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve.  

My sister and her family decided to stay in a hotel since our house isn't very big, and my nephew Gabe was very concerned about Santa not knowing where he was.  So, before he left Texas, he made some "reindeer food" in Cub Scouts, which he then sprinkled in front of our house so Santa wouldn't miss it.

And it must have worked:  Santa came!  He brought MJ a jumperoo, a few books, a couple 'Baby Einstein' DVDs, and two new toys.

MJ LOVED his presents, and he started to think this "Santa" guy might be pretty alright. . . 

So much to explore on this thing!

Once Erin and her family arrived back at our place from the hotel, it was time to open presents from the rest of the family.  This was Matty's pile.  I think Mamaw and Papaw may have gotten a little carried away with this whole "1st Christmas" thing. ;)

Oh boy!  Presents that make a lot of noise!  Thanks, Mamaw and Papaw! ;)

His favorite toy?  A little rubber Big Bird car from Great-Grandma Babb.

A toy camera from Aunt Erin.  What else did you expect?

His first Cardinals hat from Daddy.  

FINALLY finished opening his presents.  Can everyone else open theirs now?

Oskar's present was destroyed in minutes. . . 

Our Christmas tradition is to have our big meal on Christmas Eve and then just eat pizza on Christmas Day.  While we were overseas, this usually meant just heating up a frozen pizza, but with my mom in town, that meant one of her famous home-made pizzas instead.  The doggies kept a close eye on her just in case she needed any help.

Matty also got to watch his first Broncos game with Papaw.  They may have lost, but Papaw was still happy to have his little Tebow by his side.

My Christmas gift to my sister and her husband was a night out in Vegas.  We left the kiddos with the grandparents and headed down to the Strip.  John had been to Vegas several times before, but this was my sister's first taste of Vegas so we started out slowly with a stroll down Las Vegas Boulevard.

We stopped at the Venetian and took a tour through Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum.  I'd been to one in Amsterdam with my friend Karen, but this was everyone else's first time.  At the entrance was a replica of the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign and since the REAL sign was all the way at the other end of the boulevard we settled for this picture instead.  (If you've never walked the Strip, it's waaaay longer than you think.)

We all had a blast taking pictures with various "celebrities."  Jonathan was a little shy at first, but he started to warm up when he saw MJ. . . 

. . . and when we got to the NASCAR room, he was like a kid in a candy store.  

Absolutely ecstatic to pose with "The Intimidator" 

As for me, I found my own cowboy, Mr. Tim McGraw.

"This cat could ball."

The highlight of the entire trip for my sister, who has a slight Johnny Depp obsession.

Wouldn't be Vegas without the Rat Pack. . .

. . . or Elvis.

The Hall of Presidents offered an opportunity to take a picture with either Obama or G. Dub.  One guess which one we chose.

I already had a picture with G. Dub from Amsterdam, so I chose Honest Abe instead.

After the wax museum, we took a stroll around the Venetian.  This is the view of the Mirage from the Venetian.

I've been to Venice, and this wasn't quite as awesome as the real place. . .but it WAS cleaner and everyone spoke English so I don't think it was that bad. ;)

And, of course, I had to introduce my sister to my favorite:  the slots!  She lost a dollar.  But my husband turned $40 into $120 at the roulette table so it all worked out.

For dinner we ventured a few blocks off the Strip to the Hofbrauhaus: Vegas.  Jonathan and I had visited the one in Munich and, after 3 years of living in Germany, it was still the ONLY German food (and beer) I ever liked.  We had high hopes that this one would be the same.

It was.  Authentic beer hall feel, live German band, delicious beer, and amazing sausage, kraut, and potatoes.  We had a blast.

My sister's husband got talked into taking a shot of Apple Schnaps after dinner. . . which, according to the waitress, meant that she got to smack him on the behind three times with a paddle.  And she was NOT playing around with her spanking.

We spent the rest of the evening strolling along the boulevard enjoying the lights before heading home to my parents and our sleeping children.

By now, all the family is gone, and Jonathan will be heading back to New Mexico soon so I'll be pulling "single parent" duty for a few more months.  But this Christmas has to go down as one of the best in recent memories.  Thank you all for making the trip out here and giving this exhausted mommy a much-needed break and mood-lifter.  

As for everyone else, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!  

Vegas "Winter"

Now this is the kind of winter I like.  I can see the snow, but I don't have to deal with it AND it's still in the mid-fifties here in the valley.  Hoodie weather all winter?  I think I'll really like this whole Vegas "winter" thing. :)

This is the view of the mountains from our sub-division.  We are as far west as you can get and still be considered in Las Vegas.  In fact, the east/west streets in our sub-division end in the foothills of the Spring Mountains, and this picture was taken at the end of one of those streets. :)

And here's another view of the mountains from the park across the street from our sub-division, giving a wider view of what we get to see every day.  

Yes, okay. . . living in the desert is growing on me.  I hated it at first, but it was mid-July when we got here, hotter than Hades, and I was 8 months pregnant.  But now I'm seeing that the desert is pretty in its own way. . . and this "winter" is certainly helping its case. :)

Matty, Meet Santa

I debated for a long time about whether or not to take MJ to see Santa this year.  I mean, come on, he's 4 months old.  He's not going to remember it and, chances are, the whole experience would scare the heck of out of him.  Another strike against it was when I googled places to see Santa in Las Vegas and found out that all of the places around here CHARGE for pictures with Santa.  SERIOUSLY?!  When did this happen?  I swear my parents never had to pay for a picture of me with the Big Guy in Red.  Otherwise, I would have never gotten one taken.  Well, to be fair, they don't charge you to actually take the picture; they just charge you to get a copy of the picture.  And you can't just buy A picture.  You have to buy a PACKAGE.  Like, a $30 package.  Not kidding.  Maybe I'm just being cheap, but there was no way in the world I was paying $30 for a picture with a---stop reading if you're under the age of 10--fake Santa.

By chance, however, I stumbled across a thing that said Bass Pro Shops offer a free pic with Santa, as well as a whole workshop with crafts and activities for kids.  Matty is a little too young for the crafts, but they had me at the word "free."  Unfortunately, the only Bass Pro Shop in Las Vegas is all the way on the other side of town.  But, yesterday morning, we found ourselves with nothing better to do so we headed out.

I dressed Matty in his cute "My First Christmas" onesie and cute little baby jeans, topping the outfit off with a bib to try and keep the spit-up off him at least until we got the picture taken.  It took us about a half hour to get down there but, although I'd heard the place can get pretty crazy, there was no one there at noon on Tuesday so we were able to walk right up to Santa.  And he was a good Santa, one of the ones with a real beard.  I yanked off Matty's bib right before handing him off to Santa and BLUH--he, of course, spit up all over himself.  Perfect.  I cleaned up as best I could and gave him to Santa, who was now eyeing me AND Matty VERY carefully.

Matty was all smiles, apparently not caring that he was now sitting in a strange man's lap.  Santa even remarked what a great smile he had.  But then, as soon as the camera came out, the smile disappeared and Matty gave one of his famous blank stares:  eyes wide and breathing through his mouth.  I kept calling his name and smiling big, trying to catch his eye and make him smile.  He'd see me and smile and then, as soon as the camera came out--BOOM--blank stare again.  This went on for almost 10 minutes before I finally gave up.  The photographer showed me the picture and there was my son, the mouth breather.  "It's fine," I said, grabbing my free 4 x 6 print and my son and hurrying from Santa's Wonderland.

And as soon as we were out of sight of Santa and his reindeer, Matty grinned.  Stinker.

Happy 4 Months, MJ!

Four months come and gone!  You are becoming quite the little man, mood swings and all. ;)  You smile, you laugh, you pout, you cry; sometimes all four within the course of only a few minutes.  I'd like to blame this on Daddy, but we all know the moodiness comes from me.  As always, here are some of my favorite pics of you from the past month.

The weather is starting to turn cooler here in Las Vegas, and I was so excited to get you into some cute, cozy clothes.  You broke into a scream right after this was taken.  You were NOT a fan of this hat.

Mammaw and Pappaw will never let you forget that, even though you were born in Las Vegas, you are still a Midwestern boy at heart!

You desperately want to blow raspberries back at me.  You're getting so close!

SPAZZING OUT!

Daddy's little boy!  

Again with the raspberries. . . 

I have no idea how you get yourself into these positions in your sleep.

Two months of being a "single mom," and you still don't think I do bath-time right. . . and you're not shy about letting me know it.

Bubbles!

This month brought minor surgery. :(  But, honestly, you took it better than I did!  You were such a champ, we didn't even have to break out the Baby Tylenol!  You vomited up all the Pedialyte the hospital pumped into you and, after that, you were all smiles and giggles again. :)

You are starting to get REALLY interested in TV (definitely Daddy's boy).  You LOVE sports.  Football can keep you entertained for hours.

And, of course, this month brought your first road trip and first Thanksgiving!

You certainly were a hit with the ladies in Tucson. ;)

And we got to see Daddy again!  Snuggles with Daddy are the BEST!

And, while Mommy got a night out and Daddy baby-sat, you gave Daddy one of your famous "poop faces". . . and a killer diaper to match.  That's my boy. ;)

We love you!  Onto the next month!