Simple Things

The boys learned how to spin quarters today... they were very pleased with themselves and it provided well over an hour of entertainment! 

Later we went to my parents house for dinner. My mom made a giant roast that just fell apart it was so tender! We played at the play ground afterwards-

Gotta love the tennis shoes with the dress..

My dad playing with Little B 

We even got a beautiful sunset ! 

I am gonna be a bridesmaid

Our friends Jereme and Melodi are getting married this next November and today Melodi asked me if I would be one of her bridesmaids! I was totally shocked since we aren't that close and haven't been friends for very long... but was also completely flattered! I am totally stoked and cannot wait to see the dresses (see photo) and help with planning or whatever else she might need. This will be my first time ever being a bridesmaid! I don't have any sisters and my brother has not had the most traditional weddings.... Blair did ask me to be in her wedding, but the wedding was canceled so this will be a first! The wedding is in November so ideally I will have plenty of time to lose some weight! I cannot wait till their big day  : )

Harlem Globe Trotters

Tonight I got to enjoy my Christmas present from Kenny! We went to see the Harlem Globe Trotters. Kenny has seen them in the past, but I never have-- 

here they come! 

We really enjoyed the show even though the humor was kind of geared more towards children. It was cute and we had a nice night out. 

Boys Day

This afternoon we played in the yard. Who knew a leave blower and a whole bunch of leaves could bring a kid so much joy!? Jacob and Little Brian were entertained for hours!

The guys (Kenny and Brian)  went to the game tonight and had a good time. They got on TV and Brian got a free Suns hat (that makes 3 of the same, lol)

Brothers Game

Today the Lopez twins went head-to-head so who better to take to the game then Brian, Amanda's brother.  Considering I'm the bigger Suns fan I got to go with Brian.  We went ahead and parked and decided to go look for something to eat.  Vanburen was shut down from 3rd street to 1st street for some type of awareness for the Tucson shootings.  We randomly walked into Hooters and were seated.  After looking over the menu we both chose to get up and look for something else to eat.  We walked around the Arizona Center and then took off looking for food.  On the way Brian got himself some free signs.  The American flag on one side and the Arizona state flag on the other.  He'll take anything if it's free.  We walked over to Majerles, but they were too busy to get a seat and make the game.  We wondered over to some place called 5 men hamburgers or something like that.  After dinner it was time for the game.    We tried during the halftime show to get on TV, and did.  Only for a second or two.

 The Suns went into overtime and pulled away with the victory from the New Jersey Nets.

Note added by Amanda: The boys LOVED seeing their dad and Uncle Kenny on TV! They were squealing and pointing at the TV. They said what do those signs say? So I read them "Hi boys" and "Go to bed" and they said "ahhh" It was so funny. I let them stay up late because we were baking sugar cookies.

Here is a picture of our cookies. The boys did so good making them and were totally engaged the entire evening! We didn't even turn on the TV except to see the guys! 

 For some reason two guys forgot to bring the camera so only one picture exist of the evening.

POSTED BY KENNY 

Jacob is 4!

Jacob's Birthday is today! Here are some pictures of his little life! 

Baby Jacob

1 year old Jacob 

2 year old Jacob 

3 year old Jacob

I didn't get to see Jacob today, but here is a recent picture - 

Jacob - almost 4 

Little B

Tonight I got to see Little Brian at my grandma's house! Its sad how much you take for granted when you think you will always have someone in your life, but I didn't take tonight for granted! We did his homework together and talked about school. When he finished writing out his name he pointed out he had 2 R's and two O's and then let me know that his name was not Bunkie anymore and everyone should only call him Brian (which I pretty much always do anyway). In the next couple weeks they are going on a field trip to the Space Center in Peoria which he seemed pretty excited about. He cracks me up with his answers to my questions and the ideas he has. He has a friend that is a girl named Jenna... but she is not his girlfriend and he doesn't want to marry her. 

After dinner he cleared all the paper plates and napkins and put them in the trash. He then sat and stared at grandma waiting for her to be finished. We kept telling him she wasn't done, so he 'patiently' waited for her to be done. Grandma and I couldn't help but laugh at this because when my brother and I were little my grandparents came over almost every Sunday for dinner. Brian or I would be on dish detail and when we were done eating we would quickly clear the table and start the dishes so we could be done quicker. It was kinda of a running joke that you had to eat quick or hold on to your plate so we wouldn't take it prematurely. 

Also, he lost his first tooth! I am not sure exactly when it happened, but I asked him how it happened and he said he was just eating. I said, "oh no, did you swallow the tooth?" He said, "No, I gave it to my dad." Apparently the tooth fairy hasn't visited him yet, but I think she might soon ; )

Game Day

Before the game we met up with my friend Valerie from High School. She is a HUGE suns fan and this was her first game! She was excited to bring her kids and we tried to get them upgraded seats, but apparently don't have that much pull. lol. Anyway, we said hi briefly before the game started and of course I didn't take a picture (but I stole this one from her FB!) It has been 10 years since I have seen her, but she seems like the same old Valerie. Her kids were adorable and Kenny and I gave them some Suns towels to cheer with.

Apparently the Gorilla's birthday is in January, because they had a birthday party for him! It was really cute how they had all the mascots from other teams there.

The Suns actually brought home a win which was a nice change of pace!

First Birthday, First Birthday

Today we got to celebrate the twin's birthday at Michelle's house. We also celebrated Kim's birthday too since her birthday is next week. Kenny and I got her a little frame with a picture of Brittany and Chris hugging :) and it says "priceless" in the corner. 

The gifts

Michelle made all the cakes for the kids. I loved this one in the middle ! Turns out she decorated it in like 3 minutes! We pulled up and she realized she hadn't frosted the last cake and did it while we were walking up to the house... um wow those are some mad decorating skills! 

She also made these bear cakes for each twin (see later photos....) 

Emma's cake

Kenny and Matt

Michelle decorated their shirts too! Matt's says "Its my first birthday" and Emma's says "It's my birthday, too!"

It's my party and I will cry if I want to! 

These kids will be walking before we know it! 

Smiley Emma! 

Matt and his grandma (Nanette) 

Emma 

Time to open presents! 

If I ever get to have kids and am faced with the challenge of sitting down in front of a group of people to read cards and open gifts I hope I am half as good at it as Michelle! She reads the cards so quickly and clearly while the babies are grabbing it, squealing and crawling away. Its awesome. 

Here are the kids getting ready to open our gifts

They had to take a break while Matt sucked on Emma's toes - lol 

We really wanted to get something special for the twins FIRST BIRTHDAY and decided on quilts (and a toy)! I am so glad we did, because everyone really seemed to like them : ) In fact Michelle's friend Pat even clapped for us... lol it was cute and I was on cloud nine! I didn't take pictures of them all laid out but you can kinda see them here. Matt's is primary colors with a farm theme- 

Emma's is just really soft and fun girlie colors.  

I didn't get a picture but Matt kept rolling on Emma's quilt and rubbing his face on it. It was adorable. 

I'd say the doll was a winner too! I love that little girl's laugh! 

Next it was time for cake. I am not sure where the tradition came from, but it is defiantly a Ross family tradition that each kid gets an entire cake to devour on their FIRST BIRTHDAY. You can see Zack's here and he gave us a little rerun today too! Hilarious! 

Emma and her cake- 

Zack entertaining us all 

Matt and his cake! 

Michelle sent me these pictures tonight. I LOVE that they are using the quilts : ) 

Lazy?

Today was our first R&R day of the year. I had big plans of getting things done today, but it seems like the less I have to do the less I get done... You know what I mean? The busier you are the more you get done? That's me anyway. We slept in late and went out to lunch at Village Inn... my gray hair is showing I know, but I LOVE Village Inn! I even had lemon meringue pie after lunch : )

We did some shopping and washed the rag quilt for Matt's bday at the laundry mat. Boy am I thankful I don't have to go to the laundry mat to do my laundry on a regular basis! What a drag to haul all your clothing, towels, lines, soap etc somewhere and have to devote several hours of waiting while it gets done... I much rather through it in the machine at home and go blog or do another chore while waiting! Makes me thankful for my own machines!

Then burned up the rest of the day light watching movies (not good ones either- they were both lame). I did actually cook dinner, but it wasn't great. I tried a new stew recipe and it just didn't have the flavors I was looking for in a stew... it had tomato sauce in it which I thought was a little strange.