Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

On Christmas Eve, Ethan and Ryan decorated Christmas cookies for Santa. They had a blast and my sister and I enjoyed eating them...once they were in bed of course! :)

Relaxing on the couch with my Nana right before bedtime.

My sister and I realized we bought the same sweater for our boys so we decided to try and round them up for a group photo on Christmas morning. This is a pretty decent shot considering they would much rather play with their toys than pose for a picture!

Although our Christmas celebrations get busier every year, we still managed to get in a little sister bonding time!

Winter Wonderland...IN VEGAS!

Today has been the most magical yet crazy day we've had in a very long time. It started out with a drizzle, which turned into a light flurry, which then turned into a massive dump of snow!

I got a call from Ethan's preschool around 3:00 this afternoon, saying I needed to come pick him up because the school was closing. I put the twins in the car and realized I had 6 miles until empty. Being that the gas station is more than 6 miles away, I panicked just a bit. My small panic turned into a full blown meltdown when I pulled out of the driveway, only to spin in circles and get completely stuck in the snow. With the twins crying in the back and now 5 miles left in the tank I frantically called Eric. The lines were down so I tried everyone I knew to help me. Finally, Jason was able to send help so I calmed down a little. I felt like a total moron when all I had to do was put the car in reverse and slowly back it up all the way home.

I finally got in touch with Eric close to 4:00 and he let me know he was on his way to pick Ethan up. They had closed his office as well. I was so relieved....until 4:00 turned into 8:45 and I'm still waiting for them to get home! He has been giving me updates every half hour and letting me know they are okay. They stopped once to grab some food and ever since then, they have been at a complete stop. Thank goodness they have gas in the car and an ipod with movies on it for Ethan to watch.

It's supposed to snow until 6 tomorrow morning. I'm praying they get home soon and that tomorrow we can all relax and have fun playing in the snow. I'll post more pictures after tomorrow's fun!

Around 4 hours after it started snowing....

Mason was quite the little snowbunny! He loved to stick his hands out and see it falling all over him. He couldn't get enough of it.

Carson, however, was very irritated by the whole thing. He hated the being cold and wet and immediately wanted to go back inside. Hopefully tomorrow when the snow dies down, and dressed in warmer clothes, we'll get some pictures of him enjoying it!

Me and the boys in our driveway.

This picture cracks me up! Look closely and you'll see Carson screaming his head off in the background.

This was taken about 30 minutes after it started snowing.

Right when the flurries began.

Part of our backyard about an hour into the snow.

Another view of the backyard.

Early Christmas

Every year Santa comes early to the Payne house. We usually have our "mini Christmas" a week before we leave for Texas. This gives the boys some time to play with their gifts before we pack up and head south. The boys all wore their matching pajamas the night before. I figure I only have 5 more years or so to do this before they think it's uncool. They looked pretty darn cute!

Mason and Carson loved playing with the new race track.

Yes, we're absolutely nuts for letting a three year old have a drum set. It was the ONLY thing he wanted from Santa this year. He loves for us to set up the webcam where he can see himself on the computer. He has amazed us with his ability to surf YouTube to find drum solos that he can follow along with. Hysterical.

30th Birthday Part 2

Part 2 of my 30th consisted of dinner at Lavo, a new restaurant at the Palazzo followed by dancing at ROK, the club at New York, New York. I'm normally not into the club thing, but the husband of one of my friends is co-owner of the club so we were able to get a table and sit when we didn't feel like dancing. We stayed out way too late and indulged a little too much, but it was well worth it! Thanks to Eric and all of my closest friends for making it a memorable birthday!

Making my wish!

Something must have been really funny...wish I could remember what it was.

Eric relaxing at the club.

Dancing it up with my good friend Nichole and her husband Chris.

Happy 30th to me! (Part 1)

Oddly enough, I have been looking forward to turning 30 for awhile now. Maybe it's because most of my friends are in their 30's and I'm tired of being the baby of the group. Or, perhaps it is because I'm a tad excited to leave my 20's behind and embark on a whole new adventure. Now that our family is complete, it's nice to relax and really enjoy it all to the fullest. We had a two part birthday celebration this year. The first part consisted of a family party and later a movie with Eric. We had a great time celebrating with the boys, even though Ethan refused to come downstairs when it was cake time. Oh well, he missed out on a yummy ice cream cake!

Me and all my boys...minus Ethan who was dancing upstairs at the time.

I heart Cold Stone cookie dough ice cream cake. It doesn't get much better than this! Not great for the waistline but that's what running is for right?

Enjoying my birthday cake with the twins.

A visit to FAO Schwartz

We have been wanting to take the boys to FAO Schwartz for quite some time now. We thought it would be a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning and we were so glad we went. All three boys absolutely loved it, especially the giant floor piano from the movie Big. It doesn't get much cooler than a 3 story toy store!

Ethan and Mason banging out some tunes on the piano.

Eric and I couldn't resist joining in the fun.

Ethan loved the huge lego display.

Vegas Marathon Baby!

My good friend Janet and I just finished the Vegas Half Marathon today and wow am I sore! It was her first one and I happily agreed to train with her. Let's just say that at mile 10 we were thanking each other for not training for the full marathon. With 3 small boys each, we didn't see how we would have the time. My knees are thanking me! I so appreciate Eric for all of those nights of watching the boys while we went on our long runs. It was a complete butt kicker but such a blast! What a way to start off my 30th birthday week!

Me and Janet on mile 10! We were so happy our husbands showed up to cheer us on. Thanks guys - we needed it! Thank goodness it was an overcast morning!

We finished the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Pretty darn good considering we skipped out on our last long run a week before the race.

We rewarded ourselves with a yummy breakfast and mimosas!

Overall it was a great time! I mean, who wouldn't want to run past strip clubs and dirty casinos? All joking aside, I'm kind of sad the training is over. I really enjoyed our girl talk on our long runs. There's always Vegas 2009 right? We'll see....

Messy spaghetti!

We recently started letting the twins practice using utensils and eating out of a bowl instead of off of their trays. They love experimenting with the food and it has been pretty entertaining for us to watch. Tonight was spaghetti night and boy was it a mess! What struck me as odd was how neat Carson was and how messy Mason was with the spaghetti. Mason usually tends to be very careful about everything the does, whereas Carson goes 100 miles an hour without looking. It's so fun to see how different they are in EVERYTHING that they do!

Not a drop was spilled onto his tray!

Wow. You mean, I really get to clean this up? What a bonus!

Just when we thought we had them figured out!

Gotta love the dogs for help with messy dinners!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We were busy bees over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. We have made it a tradition to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. This year was the first year that Ethan really got into it and wanted to help. I love this time of year!

Ethan wanted to put every ornament on the tree. We gave in and let him decorate the tree pretty much by himself. Of course I rearranged all of the ornaments when he went to bed!

One of the many tricks the twins have learned recently is pulling out the chairs and climbing on the kitchen table. I knew they were headed straight for the top of the table when they saw the tree and reindeer. They have actually been really good about not destroying the tree and other decorations this year.

Gotta love Martha Stewart for great holiday ideas! Every year I struggle with where to display our Christmas cards. This year I decided to hang them off of the berry branches. If you look closely, you'll see our Christmas elf. My sister let me in on a tradition called Elf on the Shelf. It's a sweet book about an elf that watches over the kids every day and reports back to Santa each night on their behavior. Every day the elf is in a different location for the kids to find. Today he happened to rest in the berries.

Our tree!

Wedding and Thanksgiving

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Eric and I were able to get away to Texas for a wedding. This was our first trip without the three kids and it was a blast. We forgot what it was like to travel without it being a huge ordeal. There were no bulky strollers to bring, no diaper bags overflowing with snacks and toys, and fussy kiddos! It felt quite strange at first to sit on a plane for 3 hours and just listen to music and read a magazine. It was wonderful and much needed! I wish I could say we returned home refreshed and full of energy, but with all of the wedding festivities, we burned our candle at both ends. Oh well, you only live once right?

We had a blast the night of the rehearsal dinner. Good food, yummy margaritas, and fun times with friends we rarely get to see.

Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Warne - what a beautiful couple!

This is a random picture from our Thanksgiving at my friend Janet's house. They were so nice to invite us over to spend the holiday together. They also have three boys so it was a ton of fun to let them run wild while we relaxed!