Why I shouldn't do crafty projects

The last few days before Christmas were pretty busy.

Emmalyn has started climbing on chairs and getting into drawers.  She likes to get out her own silverware.

Maxwell received and envelope in the mail

It was a Christmas card *just for him* from Grandma Donna!  He was so excited and immediately wanted to put it on his door so he could see it all the time.

I visited Max at school during lunch (can't remember why anymore now)

Gas was so low I couldn't help but take a picture.  It's crazy to see it drop this low when it was up around 3.50/gallon!

Look how cute Emmalyn's hair is, thanks to Britt!  This is her most elaborate hair style yet.

We took the kids to look at the lights in downtown Frisco.  Max was really into them and enjoyed it (Emmalyn enjoyed it too).

Peek...

...a boo!

So, I decided to take on a project.  I've taken a couple Friday's off work in December to work on my to-do list so it was the perfect time for a project.  Max is going to get the below lego table from Santa for Christmas.  I am not in love with the color or characters on the table so I figured I would use chalk paint and paint over it.  I have multiple friends who have been singing the praises of chalk paint and how easy it is to use.  So I went to Home Depot, got everything I needed and was ready to start when I sent pictures of the table to Peter and he said that he liked it the way it was.

...Well... Darn!

I spent some time on cleaning up the flower beds and laying down mulch for the rest of winter.  Here's the before...

...and the after.   I love how clean it looks.

While Momma worked at home, Emmalyn was working out with Brittany and Joe.

Here's the chalk paint.  Since I wasn't going to paint the lego table, I decided to find something else to paint.  I already had the supplies, the time, the motivation...got to put it to use!

Here's my new project.  This kids table I was given by one of my employees.

Everything was going well and I was having a great time.  Until I lifted one part of the table up to get to part of it but had totally forgotten that I had the paint can sitting on the top of the table.

It totally spilled on the floor.  And of course right on the garage floor and not on the drop cloth I had on the ground.  Sheesh!

I scraped up most of it

And then scrubbed at the rest.  I got most of it up but wasn't able to get it all up. ugh.

So then I'm walking around and step right on the lid of the can and get paint on my foot.

And THEN I freaking get paint on my pants AND shirt.

I just am so clumsy.  This is why I shouldn't do crafty projects.  It's a disaster where I'm certain to ruin something.

Here's the finished product all painted and just waiting to dry.  I'm happy with it.  

I tried to get a picture of the two of them together but it just turned silly...

Max ended up being the only kid in his swim class so Coach Katie challenged him to swim the whole length of the pool.  He did great and did it a few times!  Since he was the only one in the class, that meant he was swimming the whole time.  He was certainly worn out that night.

Max has been enjoying listening to Aunt Jules Christmas album.  Feliz Navidad is one of his favorites to listen too.

Maxwell has loved doing the countdown to Christmas this year.  It's fun seeing him really getting into more of Christmas.

Gasp - - I started wrapping presents a day BEFORE Christmas Eve!  Go me!

September Third Week - Tennis practice and School Picnics

This girl is now fully in love with the iPad.  She's watched her brother and sort of figured it out (I'm sure in her mind she totally has it figured out.)

Video - Emmalyn on the iPad.  It's crazy to watch her navigate and change her mind on what she wants to do.

Sharing.  What a nice thing.

Emmalyn playing with the baby doll at Brittany's

Suckers after swimming lessons

Boxes are the best toys ever

After the fun we had playing tennis on vacation, I thought we should do that some more so we all got tennis rackets and finally made it to a court!

Maxwell had a fun but I wish I knew how to coach him how to really hit the ball.  He struggles with the hand/eye coordination required to hit the ball.  He really really really wanted to hit it over the net but couldn't get the hang of it.

Max had to fill out a paper about him and his family.  He wrote the few things that he knew how to.

My cute son, happily sitting on the rug at school.  He's definitely happy to be back in school.  He goes 5 days a week this time instead of the 3 days a week he went last year.

Max's school put on a picnic for students and families to celebrate being back in school.

Never give toddlers cheetos - what a mess!!!

Max and his teacher Ms. Cynthia (we stayed in the same class as last year - Groundhogs)

Maxwell and his new asst. teacher - Ms. Patty

Max didn't want to go down the slide but Emmalyn sure did!

coming down - wheeee

Made it to the bottom!  She loves slides!

Emmalyn's independence is really growing.  She's good eating thing like yogurt with her spoon.  She walks so fast!  AND (yuck) she has started throwing fits that are more fitting for a 2 year old than a toddler who is not even 18 months old yet.  She is sneaky and will slyly grab remote or cereal and then sneak away. Giggles with joy when she's going to nurse, which I love - she's currently nursing in the morning and at night.

Emmalyn is so drooly and now it seems to be causing a rash on her face.  It just drips off of her.  Gross! She loves the books "bubbles bubbles", "snuggle puppy", and "hickory dickey dock".  She can climb up the steps and get into Maxwell's bed,no problem.  She can also climb onto the couch by herself.  This girl goes everywhere now!

She says new words all the time like "back pack". She has the cutest voice especially in the morning... When having a conversation she talks really quietly in a low voice.  If you say "one" she will say "two".  She says "thank you Momma" all the time and will say "bless you" when you sneeze.  She sings, a lot!

She likes to sit in chairs by herself and loves to be outside.  She's great at taking directions.

Maxwell has said some things that just MUST be documented.  :)

• He said to Peter, "why is your hair so small?"  
• When I was trying to get him to hurry up on the potty and poop faster he said, "my poop goes slow, did you know that?" 
•  "Emmalyn wants the hair out of her eyes" 
• "When I'm an adult, I'm going to have a beard like you" (said to Peter)

Maxwell loves making notes for peter and I with drawing pictures of stick figures.
He can count to 29 but then gets stuck.  He knows how to count by 10s to 100 but doesn't yet know how to do it by 1s.  :)

A sad thing happened this week.  Maxwell said he was too big to lay across bed (too long) so he switched his pillow and put it at the head of his bed and laid normally on his bed.  :(  Big kid.

Post vacation regular life - 4th week of July 2015

We got home from Florida early enough that we were still able to enjoy some of our Wednesday.

Working on our family band. (not really)

Here's how Max is doing on his skills for his current level at swim lessons.  Almost every skill marked off.

Climbing on the chairs.  Sure she's cute but she worries me with her lack of fear.  :)

It's a battle I constantly lose to get to her sit on her bottom.

The kids were excited to see each other.  They missed each other a lot.  We had quite a few facetime conversations while we were apart.

They brought Maxwell back a watch.  He was so excited.  He brought his cousins back a turtle necklace (like the one he's wearing).

Kindermusik with Miss Leah and playing with mirrors.

Now playing with a wood block.

Getting our swim on next door.

Video - Emmalyn throwing a FIT when she should be napping.  Notice the attitude at the end when she chucks her binky out of the bed.  Can the "terrible two's" start early?!

She had this horrible spot on her face.  It just seemed to keep getting bigger.  My best guess was that it was a bug bite.  Because we had just been out of town, I was really worried she'd been bitten by something poisonous.  (Once I put some lavender oil on it, it started getting better.  Wish I had thought of that earlier.)

The kids enjoyed playing in the kiddie pool together

Video - Max professing his love for his sister, sort of

Emmalyn got some minnie mouse ears from Brittany from Disney World

Things have certainly changed at work with pumping.  When I started - this was the schedule.  Completely booked and double booked (I either pumped with one other girl in there or with 2 other girls in there!)

Now, there's only 3 of us and one of those is not consistent at all.  It's been really nice to have the flexibility back and not be so tied to set 30 minute window.  But I'm done.  I have decided to finally stop pumping.  I made it to 15 1/2 months.  I will still nurse but I'm not going through the hassle (and disappointment/discouragement) of pumping anymore.  I am proud to have made it this far and felt like I fought hard to get here.

Brittany was doing fun things with the kids - like making crowns

My background at work - - such a sweet little baby

And now look how big she is!  Britt put the cute ribbon in her hair

She loves her Uncle Jo jo.

sleeping pic

sleeping pic