Almost Ready for Christmas

Ordered Christmas cards? Check!

Tree Permit purchased? Check!

Presents purchased? Check!

Well, I am almost ready for Christmas. This year I thought I would try my friend Rachaels idea and make an advent calender for Max. I tweeaked her plan a little and look what happened...

Yes!! I made all of those bags and hand cut out all of the felt numbers. I even made the bows at either end.

Each day of December Max will get a little treat. I will let you know if it lasts or if he just wants to "hold it" all day long. That is his new thing now. If we say no to something, he says okay, hold it??? I think I see some lobbying or lawyering in his future

Almost Christmas Pictures

This past Sunday we went out to get our annual family Christmas pictures. I really like the sound of that, Annual Family Christmas Pictures. I have to say a huge thank you, to my friends at Molbaks for helping out with the camera work.

I thought I would share a few of the Christmas Picture Out-takes.

 Not sure what happened to my sweet little boy in this one!

 This is what you get when you tell Max to look up at the camera.

 Darn those eyelids!

Santa and Max having a bonding, fist bumping moment.

We still haven't yet picked the one for the Christmas card.

All By Myself

Many moons ago, I used to go to the movies by myself all the time. Sometimes 2 or 3 a week. I think that is what living in California does for you. I was always so aware of what was going on in the movie world and I knew lots of actors and hung out with movie industry peeps. I dare not call these people my friends because as of today, I communicate with none of them. That's okay though. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride while it lasted and I have lots of memories to relive in my own mind.

But, I digress...today, for the first time since Max was born I went out, by myself, to the movies. Some of you may be saying, Yippee, and good for you, but it was very hard for me to do it. Yes, I realize Max is 27 months old and that is a long time to wait. I just struggle with the idea of leaving him for something as frivolous as a movie when I already leave him 4 nights a week to go to work.

It was worth it though. I planned my outing for right when he went down for a nap and was home within an hour of him waking up. As I pulled out of the driveway crying, I prepared myself for this...

My good friend Rachael turned me on to this series and all I can say is, Thank You! Before you say anything else, know this, I am not one of those obsessed fans, I just enjoy a good, romantic love story.

So, thank you to Terry for being such a good daddy, pushing me out the door and telling me that everything would be alright for the 2.5 hours I was going to be gone. I sure do love you honey! Not in a blood sucking forever kind of way, but you get the idea. I really had a good time and didn't think about Max for at least 1 hour and 45 minutes. Okay, maybe just a little.

Happy Thanksgiving

Okay, so I am a couple of days late. Max and I have both been very sick and needed lots of rest and TLC. We are bothing feeling much better now, he on antibionics and I muddling through.

We did however have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I wanted to share a picture of the spread. This was the first time I have attempted to cook a Thanksgiving dinner by myself for my family. Sure I have always contributed a dish or a pie, but this was different. Terry did a great job of brining and roasting the turkey. Including making a, fly by the seat of his pants, stuffing for the bird. It was delicious.

Our good friend and former neighbor, Mike, joined us and we were a cozy group. He even brought me flowers, a bottle of organic wine and a chocolate cake. Now you see why he is such a good friend!! Terry wanted turkey and ham, so he was in charge of the gobbler and I was in charge of everything else. We had stuffing with chicken and apple sausage (storebought), roasted brussels sprouts, butternut squash with brown sugar and butter, homemade gravy and cranberry in a can.  It isn't Thanks giving without cranberry in a can! The boys made up the gravy on the spot and, WOW, it was great!

A little informal but wonderful.

You can clearly see Max's sophisticated palate preferences, chicken nuggets, wagon wheel noodles and mixed veggies. What can I say, I am not going to push him, surely he will figure it out.

We all had a great time and stayed up way to late talking. I am so grateful for my little family and friends. I hope that next year we can do it again. Maybe I will even try to make a stuffing by myself, especially after Terrys success.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Gingerbread House

A friend gave us a gingerbread house kit and tonight we decide to put it together. Max was super excited to help and did a really good job. He was so focused and very careful of where he put all the pieces. The kit came from Trader Joe's and had everything including candies, sprinkles and little people. We added leftover halloween candy and dried blueberries. See for yourself.

 This is all of the pieces laid out to get ready. Max was having a snack and couldn't wait to get started.

 Max helping to mix the egg white and sugar glaze for the "mortar."

 Trying to fit the pieces together and taking the opportunity to...

 ...sample the cookie. Note the bite missing from the very top. This is actually a picture that Max took. He loves taking pictures with the camera.

 Getting started with the footings. Max is sooooo excited!

 Helping mommy put the roof on.

 Patiently waiting for the other side to be ready.

 Planting the tree. It was also a casualty of sampling.

 Now the fun begins! Daddy did the icing dots and roof top so that Max and I could focus on where to put the decorations. Boy, was he focused. One might say he has a little bit of his mommies attention to detail. Though that is not what I call it. :) 

 Max actually did over 75% of the decorating. I just did the dried blueberries around the edges.

Here is the finished product. Not to shabby for first timers.

Thanks so much to the Westerlunds for the great gift. He thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Silly Stuff

Just wanted to post some silly photos of the boy.

 This picture is not completely staged. Max frequently asks to sit next to "kiki", aka. Pudlet. Usually he clumsily climbs the chair stepping on her in some way and she runs off before he can cuddle her. Today before naptime he brought her his new Handy Manny book, that we just finished reading, set it down next to her and said, "Read, Read." Then we went upstairs to nap.  After nap he wanted to read to her so he climbed onto the chair and I placed her in between his legs. Instead of reading he decided to play with his truck on her. She purred the entire time. What a good kitty!

This is Max watching his favorite person, Handy Manny. I know, I know he shouldn't be watching tv. We do limit his tv consumption quite a bit. I like Manny though, because he uses spanish words and teaches teamwork. Yes, I know I'm just rationalizing.

So that is all, just wanted to share some cute photos.

Daddy Day Care and Trains

This past Saturday, Daddy and Max went to Puyallup to the Great Train Expo. It was, of course, Heaven for Max. Terry said that all Max would say was, "toot toot" and "whoo whoo" all morning long. Some days I really wish I could be with them and Saturday was one of them. Max was so clearly in his element. Here are some pictures from the day. Sorry for the quality, Terry had to use his cell phone for the pictures.

 Here is Max taking the whole scene in.

 Leading daddy to where he wants to go.

 A functional train set, made entirely out of LEGOS.

 Max's other passion, cameras. Max is using his new Thomas the Tank Engine camera, or "guaguan." And yes, he always squats down to take pictures and says, "click."

There were lots of train tables to play with and Max took full advantage of them.

Max slept for 3 and a half hours that afternoon. Another successful day at Daddy Day Care. I sure do love those boys!

Fall into Winter

Fall didn't last long around here. It sure was beautiful while it lasted. The leaves were green one minute, then orange, yellow and red the next. One night of frozen temperatures and suddenly there were no leaves left on the trees at all. I think it may have lasted all of 2 weeks. We did enjoy it though. There were a few days that defied explanation and were warm and sunny. We were out everyday because there was no rain. This is Washington after all and if it isn't raining, you get outside and enjoy the weather. 

Max has been getting more and more active and wanting to walk and play instead of being carried or pushed in the stroller. This of course makes me happy because it poops him out and he sleeps for 2-3 hours during his nap.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last couple of weeks of Max getting out and about.

This is Max out during the first really cold day in November.

 Feeding the pigs at Jubilee Farms. He loves it there.

 Out at the mall riding one of his favorite rides. This is the first time he has ever worn his baseball hat.

A new train ride at the Crossroads Mall. This boy LOVES trains!!

In preparation for your Christmas pictures this year I cut Max's hair. This time he even let me use the clippers. What a brave boy. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Here he is post haircut.

 He looks like such a big boy.

This is Max chillin with the Pudlet, eating grapes after a bath to wash off all the hairs. What a cutie!

Maxin and relaxin!



Happy Halloween!

So I am a day late, but the sentiment still applies. We had a wonderful Halloween. Max tried hard to say Trick or Treat at each house, but the words just didn't quite come out right. So instead he said, "Happy Halloween" to everyone. Go figure! How is that easier? He also told everyone thank you, after they loaded him up. Once he got into the swing of things he wanted to stop at every house. Even the ones with no lights on. He was really into it this year! So now, let me introduce you to...

Construction Max.

 I even rigged up his dump truck into a pull toy. He loved it and put his treats in it and pulled them along.

This year we stopped at a few more houses then last year. Just like last year he walked the entire way until the very end when it was getting pretty dark and cold. We brought the wagon along just in case and it held all the goodies when he got tired of carrying them.

He even liked wearing the goggles. They were super cute.

This year he actually wanted to try some of the candy. So after dinner we let him try a couple of different things. It was pretty funny to watch. He wanted so much to like them but was still hesitant to put them in his mouth. He tried Junior Mints, didn't like. He tried plain M & M's, they were so so. He tried a Banana Split Dumm Dumm sucker, so so. He tried a little piece of daddy's favorite, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, definitely not. More for daddy! 

He liked the M & M's the best. Though he only ate 3, an orange one, a green one and a blue one. The sucker got a few licks, which was adorable. At that rate it will take him a year to finish it.

So it was a great night and, Yippee, my son still doesn't really like sweets. You couldn't tell by that smile!