Well, the trip to Las Vegas that I agonized over for months has already come and gone.  I made it there and back in one piece, completely unscathed.  And I had an amazing time! Who would have thought!?

I only cried slightly when we left.  I managed to have myself completely composed by the time I walked out the front door.  I didn’t panic at all during the 4 hour and 50 minute flight out.  When we landed in Las Vegas, people in the plane started yelling with excitement.  One woman even started singing “Viva Las Vegas.”  I’m sure her little outburst had absolutely nothing to do with the six pack of beer she pounded down during the flight!

So much happened in the 3 days that we were out there that I couldn’t possibly type it all out.  I’ll think I’ll do some bullets with the finer points.

• The weather was in the 90’s and sunny.  It was such a nice break from the weather that we had been having in PA.  Although we came back to a crazy heat wave!
• I loved walking through all the different casinos and shops.  My MIL and I walked around a lot while my husband and FIL played some tables.  Lady Luck was not on our side this trip at all! Not one of us came back any richer!
• The Venetian pumps some strong perfume throughout their casino to cover up the cigarette smoke.  It is excessive to the point that you can start to taste it the longer you are in there.  I think I would almost rather smell the smoke!
• For a people watcher such as myself, Las Vegas is like heaven.  It is overflowing with all sorts of interesting characters providing hours upon hours of entertainment.
• Battista’s Hole in the Wall is a little Italian restaurant with a 90 year old accordion player named Gordy.  He is adorable and I was contemplating bringing him home in my suitcase.
• Every night, my in-laws stayed out later than my husband and I did.  We would be exhausted and call it a night, and they would stay out a while longer.  I think initially they thought that they would hold us back.  They did not at all.  In fact, I think we might have been the ones holding them back!
• We saw Criss Angel’s Cirque du Soleil show “Believe”.  We had heard many negative reviews about it but we all kept an open mind.  It ended up being a great show! I would recommend it!

As wonderful a time as I had, hugging my children when we got back was awesome! I’m so glad we went, but I did miss them!

I want to thank my in-laws for going with us.  It was great having you both there to help me experience Las Vegas for the first time! I will go back with you guys anytime but I’ll have to practice staying out later for the next time!

I want to thank my parents for taking care of Kiki and AJ.  I was able to relax more and enjoy the trip because I knew they were in good hands!

My husband took amazing pictures while we were there.  More to come…

8 years ago today, my husband and I were married.  We started dating in 1996 and were married in 2001.  When we met, we were 16.  Now here we are about to turn 30 together this year.  As a couple, we have grown together in many ways.  And, truth be told, we still have a lot of growing to do.

We always joke and say that we’ve been together long enough now and it’s time to move on.  When we have a date night, one of us usually says that it’s not going to work out.  But despite all of our joking, I can’t imagine my life without him.  He is a wonderful husband and an excellent father.  I am truly blessed.

Happy Anniversary, dear husband of mine! It’s been a wonderful 8 years and I hope for a lifetime more with you!

Kiki is just about done with her second grade year, and throughout her short academic career, we have managed to escape “projects.” Until now.

I have been dreading this time since before I even had kids.  Hearing other parents talk about projects their kids do throughout the school year makes me cringe.  Not to mention, I still have nightmares from when I was a student and needed to “design” a project.  I lack the ability to draw nice looking stick figures, so you can imagine what any of my projects may have looked like.

Kiki’s project was to create a poster about the moon.  It was to include pictures as well as three moon facts she found interesting.  The written portion of the project was being completed in school.  That was a relief! I loved how the instructions on the paper urged parents to “guide” their child through the project, but to keep in mind that the work should be that of the child.  Well, that was not a problem for me!

Between Kiki and my husband (who is extremely creative), they came up with a great idea to make a paper-mache moon.  The whole process took a couple of days but it looks great.  Kiki typed up her facts, found some pictures to make it look pretty, and that was about it.

First project down, too many more ahead.  I’m so proud of Kiki! She did such a great job with the poster and she was excited to do it which made the situation so much better.  As an extra bonus, I took her to school this morning so that I could rest assure her project arrived safely. She was so happy to miss a ride to school on the bus, I think it made her whole day!

And I’m not talking about late December back in ‘63.  I’m talking about last night and into the early hours of today.  The night started out decent.  After the kids were tucked in bed, my husband left for his 10:30 hockey game (this irks me that they have games so late, but who am I?), and I settled down on the couch to finish book 4 of the Twilight series.  Once I finished it, I went upstairs to retire for the evening.

I felt like I had only been snoozing for a few minutes, when my husband was by my side saying, “Shan, wake up.”  “What?” I managed to whisper.  “Remember when you told me not to get hurt?” STOP.  Allow me to backpedal for a second.  Before he left, I told him not to get hurt because he is constantly coming home bruised and battered from these hockey games.  And I was told (by more than one of his teammates) that he throws himself around the rink unnecessarily!

Back to the conversation at hand. I turned over to see him standing there with his left eye all but swollen shut.  He was looking at me through a little slit.  His eye and cheek were red, swollen, and already bruised.  The man took a slapshot to the face! What part of “Don’t hurt yourself” was cryptic to him??  Of course I try not to linger on the fact that he could have lost an eye! I said I try not to linger on that, but the thought creeps up every so often!

I drifted back off to sleep only to be awoken by AJ crying not too soon after the eye incident.  I went in to check on him and he was covered in vomit.  UGH! I briefly remembered being told when I came home from work that he had had some diarrhea earlier in the night.  Oh no, not a stomach bug!

We cleaned up the mess and got him back to sleep, only to have to go through the whole thing again about 20 minutes later.  Except this time I was right there with a trash can.  Finally, after 2 o’clock, I fell back to sleep.  This morning around 6:30, the whole house was woken up by AJ, who was still lying in his bed, singing the Happy Birthday song over and over, each time with a different name.  It was cute and I was glad that he must have been feeling better.  He did wake Kiki up about a half hour too early with his singing, but she didn’t seem to mind.

AJ has been fine today.  He did go on a field trip yesterday to a horse farm and so I’m wondering if that didn’t play a factor.  Or maybe his food didn’t agree with him.  I’m not sure, but I hope it was an isolated incident and not a stomach bug that is looking to spread to the rest of the family!

As for my husband, I don’t even know what to say other than I’m so thankful that he wasn’t seriously hurt.  This may take some time to heal, but at least he is still intact.  I’m sure it will still be visible next week when we travel to Vegas.  That’s the kind of stuff memories are made of - vacation pictures where someone is wearing a nice shiner!!

And I have a feeling that it will be “Lights Out” fairly early this evening here at the Muzbee Crazy house!  Although I do want to TRY and stay up for my new favorite show, Harper’s Island! Oh well, that’s what DVR is for, right?

The day I have been dreading for about a month now has finally come and gone, and…we are still intact! Yesterday was AJ’s first trip to the dentist.  I was apprehensive about this for a few reasons.

Reason #1: AJ seems to experience anxiety before appointments with doctors.  For his last doctor’s appointment, I nonchalantly mentioned to him the night before that he would be going to the doctor the next day.  The look of worry that came over his face was instantaneous.  He started crying and saying, “They’re going to hurt me.” It broke my heart.  And the car ride there the next day was followed by more of the same.  So I wasn’t sure if he would react the same way for this visit or not.

Reason #2: At Kiki’s last dentist appointment, our pediatric dentist (love him!) took some time to show AJ the chair and he tried to get him to open his mouth so that he could count his teeth.  Even though we weren’t there for AJ, the dentist wanted to try to establish some sort of comfort level with him.  AJ didn’t want any parts of it, none at all.  Of course, that is all I’ve been thinking about since I made the appointment.  The crying and reaching out for me that he did that day were on replay in my brain.

Reason #3: AJ has a nickname around the neighborhood: Fits.  He was affectionately titled “Fits” from one of our neighbors after he witnessed many a temper tantrum from AJ.  Needless to say, it is an appropriate nickname which I thought he would live up to yesterday.

Surprisingly, he did not live up to his nickname! He was an amazing patient! He sat right down in the chair and opened his mouth very wide before the hygienist was even ready! He let her count his teeth, floss and brush his teeth, and he did it all over again for the dentist.  He gagged as they painted the fluoride on his teeth but he still handled it like a champ.  He has been carrying around his little goodie bag from the dentist since he got it and showing everyone his new toothbrush and stickers.  I’m so relieved that his visit went so well.  Here’s hoping he can do it all again next time!

I’ve noticed I only seem to get around to posting when it’s Tuesday.  That means it is time for the What I Learned This Week hosted by Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife.

This week I learned…that I clearly do not have a life when the highlight of my week is a trip to a new Target!

Saturday morning I needed to run out for some Easter goodies.  I knew that a Target had opened up recently and I was itching to get there.  I extended an invitation to my friends Kim and Jo-Lynne.  Sadly, Jo-Lynne was unable to attend as we left at 10 am and apparently she was just rolling out of bed.  It’s cool; I’m only mentioning it because I’m jealous!

Kim, however, came out of her house dressed in red and white (the official colors of Target).  She completed her outfit with a red umbrella.  Although she insists that her wardrobe choice was coincidental, I have my doubts!

We arrived at the Target about 20 minutes later, got “rockstar” parking and headed inside.  There is nothing like a new Target.  New carts, new smell, clean floors, nicely stocked shelves…I could go on and on.  We hit up the Starbucks inside which has little cup holders that attach to the cart so that you do not have to hold your coffee as you peruse the aisles.  Pure genius, I tell you!!

And you better believe that Kim and I took full advantage of our outing sans kids and strolled down every aisle like we had all the time in the world! The only downside to all that time was that our cart was overflowing by the time we were done.  But it was well worth it because when I came home, I felt calm and relaxed.

It was a good day!

Siblings Bonding

My list of lessons this week are completely random.  Some are serious and some…not so much.

1. My husband and I leave for Las Vegas in two weeks.  Normal people would be jumping up and down with excitement at the mere thought of spending quality time with the love of their life sans kids.  I have learned…that I am apparently not normal. I’ll give that a minute for that to settle with ya!  I am anxiety ridden with the thought of leaving Kiki and AJ.  I know they are in good hands because my mom is coming to stay with them.  But my thoughts are more along the lines of: What if we don’t come back? What if the plane crashes? My kids would lose both parents AND a set of grandparents because we are taking this trip with my in-laws.  I know once we get there, I will be ok.  But when I leave that morning, should anyone see me as I depart the house, they may think I am on my way to a funeral rather than a fun-filled vacation!

2. I went to a Pickle Purse party this past week.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with such parties, you basically design yourself a purse.  You choose the style, which is anything from wristlets to beach bags (with some wallets thrown in), the fabric, the hardware, pockets or no pockets, one strap or two, pickle logo or no pickle logo.  The choices are endless!  I have learned…that Pickle Purse parties stress me out with all the choices! But I think I designed a gorgeous one and I can’t wait to get it! I’ll have to put a picture up when it arrives so you can marvel at my wicked designer skills! HA!!

3. I learned CPR (again) and how to use an AED device properly. I may have passed the written test with a 100%, but the real test would be having to actually use what I was taught in an actual event.  When you turn our AED device on, one of the first things it says is “Calm down.”  If only it had a hand built in that would slap me in the face as well!  Then I know I would be able to focus on the task at hand!

What did you learn this week?  To see more, head on over to Musings of a Housewife.