Las Vegas Mama

Welcome to Volume 2 of What I Wore Sunday, or as I'd like to call it here, "What the Whole Family Wore Sunday." Although I somehow managed to get all the children in rose or rose-toned outifts, it was purely accidental. Had we thought of it ahead of time, we would have all worn rose in honor of Gaudete Sunday. But alas, Phillip and I are uncoordinated louts. I wore a purple cowl-neck knit top with poofy sleeves (is there a technical term for that?) from the Sears outlet in LA and a grey Maurice's skirt with a jagged hem. And my Fergalicious ballet flats (still no close-up, apparently), which will make frequent appearance on Sundays as well as every other day of the week. I always feel that I am strangely Sergeant Pepper-esque in this top, even though that does not come across in the picture. Also, this photo was taken pre-make up, don't judge. Next is Phillip in a mint green fitted dress shirt and a tie from Banana Republic and brown slacks from Expre...

This is my first time linking up to the Fine Linen and Purple "What I Wore Sunday" dealio, though I have been wanting to participate since I found out about it a few weeks ago. So even though I am not exactly a paragon of fashion, I do enjoy dressing up on Sundays and putting effort into looking good for the Lord. However, this might have to be more of a "What my whole family wore on Sunday" because my daughters are my little dress up dolls and my husband cuts a fine figure in his Sunday best. Although, wait... a reconsideration.... there may be too much wrangling involved in taking pictures of the girls because they are squirmy and move a lot. And it may be especially hard to get a picture of Phillip since he pulls a Sasquatch whenever he sees the camera come out. So, let's make the pics of everyone else conditional. Ok enough writing brain vomit that makes no sense and no one cares about. And now I give you, What I Wore Sunday: The sweater is...

I was recently contacted by a French reporter named Maxime Souville for a travel show called Echappes Belles . They were planning on doing a show about Las Vegas, and they wanted to find a family they could follow around for a day to see what life was like for families living in in this city. Contrary to the image Las Vegas has as a giant adult playground, there are actually plenty of families here hanging out at the regular kid playgrounds. They asked me if we could be the family they focus on. We said yes, because what the heck, but I made them sign a waiver that I would not be held responsible in the event their viewers died of boredom. Monsieur Souville and his partner Jeremi showed up bright and early on Monday morning, followed us to daily Mass, followed us home again, watched me homeschool the girls, followed me to the grocery store, then to recess, home again for lunch, and then out to the District to watch us hang out as a family when Phillip got home. It all wen...

Rose has been holding me hostage at night lately. I love her, she is an adorable imp, but she is killing me right now. For a while from about 4 months to 8 months of age she slept almost entirely through the night. But the older she gets, the more frequently she wakes up to nurse. I think every time she rolls over it wakes her up. And she wants to nurse. I think this qualifies as elder abuse and I am considering calling Adult Protective Services on her. So I get up about every 2 hours all night long (last night it was every hour). Eventually, I lay back down in bed with her to nurse because I am so exhausted that its all I can do just to get up and get her out of her crib yet again. And whenever I try to shift my position in bed, she wakes up and wants to nurse again! So the options are to lay stock still and never move, or to have her permanently grafted on me. Neither of which I am interested in just now, thanks. Last night was worse than usual. She woke up every hour, al...

We went to the Springs Preserve for the Dia de los Muertos celebration this past weekend. I forgot to recharge my camera battery, so I only got a few pictures before it totally died. Ha! It was a fantastic event, with so many altars that I am pretty sure I never actually saw all of them. A few things stand out in my mind. First of all, you need to get there early or you can forget about doing the awesome crafts, like decorating sugar skulls. Plus a lot of the altars aren't well lit so you can't get the full effect unless you are there before it gets dark. Secondly, pack a sandwich or a snack - or prepare to stand in the hungry line for a really long time. I don't mind standing in line for delicious food (pupusas and Sonoran hot dogs!) as long as I am not starving while I am waiting. Also, later in the evening we tried to get churros, but just 4 people away from my sweet, sweet churros they ran out. Get your churros early, people.  Third of all, make sure your camera...

I have finished my altar in celebration of Dia de los Muertos. Although I had special ordered marigolds for my altar, I walked into Fresh and Easy this morning to find that they were selling bouquets of marigolds for $4! Sheesh. As I had mentioned in my last Dia de los Muertos-related post, I had gone to a swap meet and happily found sugar skulls and papel picado. This All Souls Day I am honoring my sister, my grandparents, and my husbands grandparents and his aunt and uncle. Here is the end result for my home altar. Oh hey, who is that brave little soul going exploring? Since yesterday was All Saints Day and a Holy Day of Obligation, today was the homeschoolers All Saints Day party. Here is Violet as St. Clare of Assisi as she wards off invaders at the city gates with nothing but prayer, the Blessed Sacrament, and faith in Jesus! I made it out of one of my dresses, one of Phillip's t-shirts and a piece of black cloth. The monstrance is just foam core, a p...

Its All Hallows Eeeeeeeve!!! I have finally finished making costumes (Halloween and All Saints Day ones), participated in our church's Trunk or Treat, and put together my Dia de los Muertos altar. I love this season for how cold its starting to get, for all the fun activities, and for the fact that it means the holiday season is close at hand! We all get to start dressing in warmer autumn clothing, which I adore. How cute is Ivy's outfit?? Trunk or Treat was a lot of fun. We set up a pocket projector to play old school Halloween cartoons like Silly Symphony's Dancing Skeletons and Disney's Halloween Treat , and decorated around it. It was a beautiful evening with a gorgeous full moon. I dressed all three girls up as angels, though Rose's wings are so tiny they are hard to see. Here are a few pictures of these angelic children. See those tiny wings?? I noticed the sun behind them and tried to get them with halos. Here is ...

Since I was fortunate enough to be invited to this Graco blogger event, I got this niftly little carseat to review. I will go ahead and admit it... getting swag is my number one perk for having this blog. The end. You can read about the Graco party here , but pictured below is the highlight of that party. You will have to read the actual post to find out what I am doing. Looks fun, right? It was at this party that I learned that this car seat is the only one on the market to allow the entire seat to shift backwards in order to give the child extra leg room, and the only rear-facing one out there to have a 40 pound weight limit. Keeping your child rear-facing makes them 5 times safer than they would be in a forward-facing seat. So this is a pretty fantastic piece of baby gear, in my opinion. The car seat is called the Graco Snugride Click Connect 40 . I loved how snug it really is, and how it cradles Rose perfectly. See that?? Snug.  And look how pretty that pattern ...

Success! I have found sugar skulls! Thanks to a friend of mine who gave me the info, I was able to get some sugar skulls for my altar. Where did I find them, you ask? Why, at the Broad Acres Swap Meet of course. It was the first time I had been there, and I was quite impressed by the selection of washing machines and most especially by the diabetic socks. The quantities of diabetic socks was really, really, just... wow. Actually, I thought it was pretty cool how they had nances, elotes ,  cacahuates calientes and things like that. It was very Mexico-y. I dig. One of the stalls featured a ton of religious art, and this is where I found the sugar skulls for just $3 each (about the size of an orange), as well as larger ceramic ones. So the icing was a little crushed, so what! For the price and considering I couldn't find them anywhere else, I'll take it. It turns out they also had papel picado , and I mean the good kind - with the skulls punched out in cool designs. My gh...

I have been wanting to make my own ofrenda , or altar, for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). This is an altar in remembrance of our loved ones who have passed away. Its a celebration of life and an attempt to demystify death so it isn't so scary. That's why it so often features skulls and skeletons, which are always depicted as happy or dancing and playing music. The ofrendas are decorated brightly with papel picado, sugar or chocolate skulls, and photos of our loved ones. I decided to start with papel picado - its super easy to make and it turns out quite nicely. Of course, mine will look nowhere near as sophisticated as these-I don't even have a template, much less the know-how. All I am doing is folding the paper and cutting random geometric shapes. Still, I think that the result I achieved is very pretty and festive enough for my purposes. I plan on making some more out of a few more colors. The other thing I am trying to do now is find fresh mar...

I went to a blogger event on Wednesday evening at Child's Play so the kids could go nuts while I checked out Graco's latest carseat, the Snugride Click Connect 40. Emily from Family and Life in Las Vegas orchestrated the whole thing, and kudos to her for picking the perfect venue for moms! The Snugride Click Connect 40 is brand new and happens to be the only car seat on the market that adjusts so that the child's legs aren't squished as they grow, and you can keep them rear facing for much longer than with traditional rear-facing car seats. I have always loved Graco for their innovation and design. Remember that cute little Zoo Crew grooming set? Which I still love. Which you can watch me review in this video of me at the ABC Kids Expo . Who is ready to celebrate safer car seats? Me. Well, and Graco too. All I am saying is that Graco knows how to par-tay! Why yes, it was delicious. And yes, I did almost eat the entire cake by myself. Can you blame me? Don...