Vegas 2013

I met Tom out in Vegas over MLK weekend for our annual trip.

Friday night, Tom and I had dinner at The Pub in the Monte Carlo. It was pretty crowded but the food was really good.

View from our Suite at the Aria

Saturday, we got up pretty early, gambled a little bit and then headed over to Mandalay Bay for brunch at Border Grill. Tom and I started playing myVegas on Facebook and he earned enough points to get our brunch for free. It was a buffet brunch, but with small servings that they bring to the table. We liked it enough that we will probably go back the next time we are out in Vegas.

I did have to do a little work...

We pretty much gambled the rest of the day and only stopped to have dinner at NYNY (another reward from myVegas).

Sunday, we did Mon Ami Gabi for breakfast and both partook in the Bloody Mary Bar. Yum! We did a lot of walking after that huge breakfast to burn some calories.

Photo bombed by the guy behind us

Yum!

That afternoon, we were walking around and found a place to do jell-o shots in the Monte Carlo! We did a couple shots and then headed over to the MGM for some more gambling. We ended up spending most of the evening there and even tried Emeril's restaurant there (it was good).

Jello Shots

Monday, after checking out of our room, we decided to play a little more at the Aria and Tom hit it big on a $1 game. First time that happened on our way out of Vegas. :)

Tom's win

Just a Couple of Kids Hanging Out

Grace and Evelyn had fun hanging out at the beginning of January. Grace would lay on the floor playing with Aunt Christine's camera and Evelyn would come crawl all over her. Grace was a great sport about it (probably because she's used to Tommy wrestling with her).

 Grace and Evelyn hanging 

I love this cutie

Once Evelyn and Christine went back to Tennessee, Grace went back to following Tommy around. She loves her brother so much and enjoys doing exactly what he does. I hope they continue their close relationship as they get older.

They love each other

Sledding

We've had quite a bit of snow since we moved up here. Since Tommy, Grace and I haven't been around a lot of snow living in Texas, Tom suggested we go sledding in our backyard.

We started while Grace was napping (she wasn't feeling that great - so she had a long nap). We didn't know how Tommy would do with the snow - I mean the little stinker is leary of sand. He really surprised us though. The got geared up (snow pants, snow boots, big puffy jacket, etc.) and marched right out to the snow. He even had a blast with the sledding. Any time Tom or I would go up the hill - he would be right there to push us down and then follow behind. It was so cute.

Look at all that snow

A little unsure at first...

This is pretty cool

Tom took a little spill

I took a turn...

By the time Grace was up and dressed to go outside, it was getting dark. We tried to get her out in the snow, but she was the one to be scared of it. I did put her in my sled once so she could at least go down once, but she cried the whole way down. She decided she wanted to stay under the patio in the dry spots and watch us. She never once ventured out to the snow.

Grace in the dry area

It was a TON of fun and we've done in a few times since the first outing (the Saturday after Christmas).

Christmas in PA

The weekend after we got back from celebrating Christmas with my family; we celebrated with Tom's family.

Grammy, Pap-Pap, Aunt Christine and Evelyn came to our house that Friday evening for a little present opening.

We got a lot of nice things and Tommy enjoyed helping EVERYONE open their presents. Grace was content just opening hers and playing with her new table.

 Tommy was the first to rip into a present

Grace got a new book

and a puzzle

Tommy helping Aunt Christine open her presents

Grammy got a fancy wine opener :)

The kids loved their new table

Grace has "Hulk" hands

Tommy picked out a football gift for Pap-Pap

Tom got a new cookbook for his smoker grill

Grace and Aunt Christine playing around

Evelyn hanging out with Pap-Pap

Our Family Christmas

We got back from Texas on Wednesday night (December 26th). It was pretty late when we got to the house, so we waited until Thursday to open our gifts to and from the kids.

Santa was nice to the kids this year. Tommy got a drum set (Santa must hate us) and Grace got a new Mercedes 2-Seater. They both loved the gifts.

Tommy's drum set is in the background

Grace is hanging on to her presents

Tom with the gift Tommy picked out for him

Tommy picked out this cute stuffed bear for Grace

Tommy picked out this lovely necklace for me

Tommy and Grace in her new car

We watched the kids open their presents from us. They mostly got toys from us, but they enjoyed everything.

Christmas in Texas

This year we spent Christmas with my parents in Texas.

My mom and I did a little last minute shopping on Saturday and we went out for Mexican food that night - PA doesn't have quite as many Mexican restaurants as Texas.

Sunday night, Tom and I went out with Christina (my cousin) and Aaron (her husband). We did dinner and went to the movies. We got to see Jack Reacher - it was okay. We had hoped to see Argo, but that wasn't showing at the theater. Oh well!

Monday, we kept up the family tradition of opening our gifts. :) Kimmie, Adam and Kylee came over early afternoon for the festivities. My parents got us way to much. We seriously had to have them ship a lot of it to us - haha.

Grace's pile was bigger than she was

Tommy and his presents

Kylee loved the horse we got her

 Grace got cowboys boots from mommy and daddy so she can be like Tommy

I wonder why Adam is smirking (he probably snooped earlier -ha)

Tommy entertaining everyone with his new guitar

I love his surprised look

Kimmie showing off some of her presents

My dad was excited about his Moose Mugs

"Momma" got some new clothes - haha

That night, we had a family get together at the house and then went to 8:30 midnight mass. :)

Tuesday, we went over to my Aunt Patty's house for lunch/dinner and then did a Chinese Christmas. It was our first time to do it with the family and I think it was a big hit. Luckily, Tom and I both ended up with gift cards and were able to take them back with us.

It ended up snowing A LOT on Christmas day and by the time we got back to my parents house, there was quite a bit of snow on the ground AND the electricity was out. It came on for about 30 minutes, but went back out the rest of the night (and was still out when we left the next morning. The good thing was that my  computer had enough juice for us to watch Christmas Vacation.