Makeover Max

Getting Max's haircut is a hysterical, hair-flying, tears/drool flowing, mess. Trust me, its an unpleasant experience for everyone involved. But when Max tried to pull-off this wack-a-doo hair-do at church on Sunday, I had to draw the line:

Ahhh, so much better:

What a stinkin' cutie!

Add it to the Resume

Now, just so you know, I did think long and hard about whether or not I should post this little nudie picture on the blog, knowing that photos are stored on the internet forever. Well, let me just tell any future prospective employers that may be finding this photo during a background check: Max is the bomb!

I put off potty training this little boy, anticipating a full-on knock-down, drag-out battle, but this kiddo surprised me and turned out to be a potty training champ! I plopped the portable potty chair in front of the tv, threw in a movie, and kept the juice flowing until Max was floating....and voila! Instant success! Max is no dummy--as soon as he figured out that all he had to do was pee in the potty to get his reward skittles, we were in business! Oh, to think of all of the diapers I could have saved by training this kid a long time ago!

Autumn Fun

It literally pains me to see summer fading into fall, but these past few days of crisp autumn weather have been too beautiful to not celebrate.

The boys love their fireman rain jackets--they wear them rain or shine, in fact! On this afternoon, we took a really laid-back nature walk....collected leaves, sampled blackberries, heckled the cows, and tossed rocks into the river.

Doesn't nature make the perfect playground?

On Saturday, I had to pull teeth to convince Aaron to join us for our family-on-wheels cruise down the trail, but once Aaron strapped on his rollerblades he loved it! We made quite the sight: Aaron and I on rollerblades pushing Ben in the stroller, Hank riding his bike, and Max trying to keep up on his scooter.

This afternoon, the boys and I got crafty and made these fun little Halloween spiders out of egg cartons and pipe cleaners.

Curve Ball

Have you ever felt like you're just cruising along, minding your own business, when all of the sudden...WHAM!...life sends you a crazy curve ball that just knocks you back on your rear? Well, thats kind of how I felt when I saw this:

So I'm still trying to recover from the surprise of it all, but I'm definately already starting to fall in love with this little baby that will be joining our family next April!

I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the idea of having four (FOUR??!!) kiddos, but I am just taking a giant leap of faith and relying on Heavenly Father to help me rise to the task. 

#1 Mariners Game

Last weekend Aaron scored some sweet tickets to the Mariner's Game! It was a beautiful night, just perfect for going to the ballgame.

Our seats were in the third row, right off first base! Perfect position to snag a pre-game signature from Trevon Robinson.

Although I enjoy all the sights and sounds of the ballpark (and the yummy treats), I think its probably for the best that I'm not a major sports fan. Between walking the boys around the stadium, taking them to play at the in-field playground, bouncing Ben on my lap and feeding him Cheerios one at a time....was there a ball game going on?? I think I heard we won! Go Mariners!

Touch-A-Truck

Touch-A-Truck, an event put on by the city where trucks of all shapes and sizes gather in a parking lot and open their doors to the kids to climb in and explore, is proof that my kids aren't the only ones that are positively obsessed with TRUCKS! Max was too scared of all of the horns honking to let go of Dad, but Hank got the chance to climb aboard and sit inside every kind of truck you can imagine. A boys' dream come true!

Even Daddy liked driving the big rig!

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my Maxy-boy! I love you all the way to the moon and back!

A Couple Interesting Things About Max:

* Max is a character. He likes to talk in funny voices and he always makes silly facial expressions. He makes his signature face by sticking out his tongue (he can nearly touch his chin; he's very talented), closing his eyes, and shaking his head.

* Max can throw a mean fit, but for the most part, he is very laid back. I often say that Max is my low investment/high return kid because he is just so happy, so easy going. Max has always  been one of those kids that other moms just watch with envy and wonder what I must be doing right to get him to be so mellow. I'd like to take the credit, but really Max is just awesome like that.

* Max is a chicken. I can't even list all of the things that Max is afraid of. Not a risk-taker, that boy. I like to say that Max is just tender because he never strays very far from Mom and Dad.

* Max is a great eater and a great sleeper (knock on wood). Max will eat just about anything, but he likes to graze off others' plates rather than his own. His favorites are pizza, chicken nuggests, and steak. Max takes a 2-3 hour nap every afternoon and will tell me when he is tired and ready for bed in the evening, usually around 8.

* Max has a great attention span and loves to work on very fine motor activities like cutting paper with scissors or buttoning his clothes.

* Max has a funny fascination with hygeine. He loves to inspect Dad's hands for dry skin and pick off any offending skin (a little gross), he loves to clean out between his toes, and he loves to brush his teeth and "comb" his own hear (it usually ends up looking worse than when he started). While these habits are a little strange at this age, I'm hoping its an early sign that he'll become a great doctor one day :)

There are so many things that I love and adore about Max, I could just go on and on. I truly feel like I lucked out when Max joined our family. He has brought so much joy to our family. He is a one in a million little boy and I love him to bits.

Happy Birthday Max!

We Went Big

Max is a special boy, so we wanted to go big for his birthday. Real big. Like parades, clowns, cotton candy, rides, and petting zoo big. So, of course we went to The Fair!

 The morning started with the cattle drive and parade.

Once we were through the gates, the boys couldn't wait to hit the rides. We bought 120 ride tickets and thought surely we would have tickets to spare...but can you believe we used those tickets all up?

Darn you greasy, fattening, fried, and oh so delicious fair food! Fluffy cotton-candy, melt-in-your-mouth scones! Just stop! I'm getting hungry all over again!

The boys are like magnets to these tractors:

Fascinating. Of all of the fancy fair attractions, Max was by far the most entertained by an agricultural exhibit that allowed the kids to simulate milking a cow.

One of my favorite things to do at the fair is watch the various shows: Elvis impersonators, aerial acts, hypnotists. This year, we went to a kiddie circus show. The show was pretty good, but Hank thought it was hysterical! Those clowns must be dialed in to 5 year-old humor because Hank was just rolling he was laughing so hard.

 I have to admit, when they pulled Aaron up on stage as part of the act, I laughed pretty hard, too!

Until next time, Puyallup Fair, until next time.



Shopping Trip Gone Bad

For weeks now Max has been talking about two things: going to the fair for his birthday and getting a new garbage truck. We didn't want to disappoint him, and to be honest we hadn't had the time to stop and pick-up a garbage truck, so we took the Birthday Boy to the toy store to pick out a garbage truck. Sounds fun, right?

What started out as a fun idea ended with Hank and Max both leaving the store in tears: Hank was upset because we were mean-o's and didn't let him pick out a toy, and Max was mad because he wanted to buy every toy in the entire store. Mean, mean, Mom and Dad.



Too Much Birthday

Ready for cake and presents??

I'm not sure why we bothered buying Max any presents because the only one that he was really interested in was his new garbage truck. Maybe after all the birthday madness has died down, he'll finally realize there were a few other presents.

Make humored me by taking a brief break from playing with his garbage truck to blow out his birthday cupcake candle, but was far too busy playing to even take a bite.

Can there be such a thing?? Oh, yes. After a full day of parades, rides, animals, treats, shopping, presents, and more treats...this little birthday boy was quite party-ed out! Happy Birthday and Goodnight!


We love you, Max. Happy Birthday!

Can it Be True?

Can my baby boy possibly be old enough to go to school? There must be a 'pause' button, because I don't know if I'm ready for this...

I guess Hank must be ready, because he came running into my bedroom at 6:00 a.m. fully-dressed and ready to go!

The kids gather in the gym each morning, lined-up in their classes, for a morning assembly.

Actually, Hank was so happy and eager for kindergarten that it made the experience of sending my baby boy off to big-kid school very easy. Hank had no fear--he was all smiles and excitement.

Hank had no problem finding the hook for his backback, dropping his lunchbox off in the right bin, finding his assigned seat at the table, and starting right in on a coloring project. In fact, Aaron and I felt a bit in the way, so we said a quick goodbye and left! Peice of cake! As we were walking down the hallway outside the class, Hank came running up to us, gave us one last quick hug, said, "see ya!" and then ran back to class. Ok, that maybe hurt just a tiny bit.

At home, Max and I worked on a "Welcome Home" sign for Hanky and made chocolate-chip cookies for an after-school snack.

I was dying all day long to pick Hank up and hear about his first day. I went to the school early, parked, and waited outside his classroom so I would be the first one to see his face when he came out of his class. I envisioned him running straight into my arms and telling me how what a great day he had and how much he missed me. What I got was a scowling Hanky who I had to flag over to come see me who informed me that he wasn't ready to go home and wanted to stay longer. Not exactly how I had pictured it, but a good thing, I guess??

It it going to be so strange not having my Hanky-boy home with me. I can't help it! I miss him! Thankfully, I know that Hank is ready to start this new chapter. Over the summer, I have come to feel like I am keeping a frisky labrador puppy in the house when what he really needs is more room to run, to be let outside. And so, I know that its time for me to give Hank more room to grow, more room to learn. I just pray, pray, pray that I have done my job in preparing him for that great big world out there. I love you, Hanky! You're going to do great!