Las Vegas Mama

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...

I have been thinking about my blog lately, and how little I have posted about places in Las Vegas. When I started out, there were no other blogs that talked about family activities in Vegas (at least none that I knew of), so I felt I was providing good information. But now there are other blogs that talk about family-friendly places, and there is one blog in particular that does such an amazing job of it that there is really no need for my focus to be there any longer. My recommendation for finding family events and places is Vegas Family Events. They have a fantastic calendar of events and basically everything your little family-oriented heart could desire! I guest posted for them so head over there and read a little more about the upcoming As They Grow event. Yes, I still want you to read my blog, but you are simply going to have to rely on my sassy writing style for entertainment, and not expect to have too much valuable information come out of it. If you  can afford to ...