Second week of December 2015

I am loving the holiday season this year.  It's fun so far!

I accidentally took Emmalyn's baby carrier car seat with me and should have left it for Peter to use to take her to Brittany's.  Luckily, we had just ordered Emmalyn a new, big-girl car seat and it was sitting in Peter's office waiting to be installed.  Because he was late he quickly put it in and took Emmalyn the 5 minutes to Brittany's . I think she was pretty excited to be looking forward!  (Hope she didn't enjoy it TOO much... It's going to be another 4 months until she gets to do it again.  Gotta be 2 years old!)

Peter sent me this pic from the photo calendar I made from him.  How stinking cute was Emmalyn a year ago?!  I don't feel like she's grown until I look back at things like this.

Enjoying her broccoli

The big girl car seat is now backwards in Brittany's car.  Peter takes her to Britt's in her infant carrier and then I bring her home from Britt's in the carrier but while in Brittany's car she gets the big-girl seat.

All dressed up at the park

I took a day off from work to get some errands done and relax a little.  I started my day off with breakfast at Einstein's - yummy.

I did other things like dropping off dry cleaning, shopping, etc.  and then picked up some Mexican food and went to the dealership and waited for more than 3 hours for my car to be worked on.  It was temping to working but I avoided it as much as possible and spent some good time blogging.  It's really nice every once in a while to have a day to myself without having to do my work job or my mom job.

The fit I got to enjoy at home

All better, the ipad does that

Video - Emmalyn reading a book and showing off the noise that an elephant makes

I made some rice krispie treats.  Haven't done that for YEARS!!!  I kept Emmalyn busy by giving her some marshmallows to play with.

Maxwell was all dressed up to go visit with Santa and after wards we decided to go out to eat.

Selfie at Mooyah

"To Dad and Mom if your reading this then you know wener (wiener) is coming".  Apparently Peter told him to write that because he was getting a hot dog.  hm.

We put up the mini tree in Maxwell's bedroom and he had fun decorating it.  My Mom helped me decorate it the first year we put it up, she would have love knowing he was using the bows she created.

The finished product

He begged me to let it stay lit after he went to bed.  So I gave in and let it stay lit and at 10 pm (way past his bedtime) I hear him singing Christmas songs.  I go in there and he tells me the tree is distracting him, and was totally awake.  So I quickly turned it off.  :)

Two cuties in Costco

Look at that hair!  Too funny.  It cracks me up but as silly as it is, I enjoy being able to do something.

Having fun working on a puzzle.  She hasn't really shown much interest in them before now.

Emmalyn's drool is finally getting better and her face is healing!  I am so happy, I feel like she had those poor red bumps around her mouth forever.  We remind her to wipe her face when she's drooling and she will mostly wipe it straight up her face.

She is putting together phrases and simple sentences such as "I'm ready", "there it is", "stop it", lots of "thank you" and "you're welcome",.

She will make us sing goodnight to each member of the family and prompts you with the one she wants next.  She always remembers to gives kisses and say goodbye to each person (this includes saying goodbyes to each person at Brittany's which we are leaving).

Maxwell is doing a great job with his glasses. I don't have to remind him much and he's good at taking care of them.  He wants to take them off before he goes to the potty so they don't get dirty, 

Max is really into Christmas and asked me about how Santa can fit down our chimney.

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.

Maxwell graduates to a new level at swimming lessons

The second week of August was another fun week.  (Sometimes, when you are in the middle of summer, you forget to appreciate it.  Then, you get to the middle of winter and look back at even the most boring weeks of summer longingly.)

Tida and Jason went with us to Costco

Then we hit up the library for some new books

And we topped it off with a stop at the Snow Cone Lady for some snow cones!

Max showing me the computer watch he made at Brittany's

BIG Maxwell

(And since she has to do everything her brother does)

BIG Emmalyn

Max and the coach he's had since he was 18 months (with only few exceptions), Coach Katie.  She's been awesome coach and has continued to challenge Maxwell even when they haven't let him move to the next level because of his age.  She will continue to push him to do more.

Maxwell is graduating Level 5 and moving to Level 6!  Pretty exciting.  They let him go a few weeks before he turned 4. (Level 5 is for ages 5 - 7 and the kids start swimming in a lap lane in the middle of the pool without stairs or a ledge to hang out on.)

More time at the library (it's a great "activity" when it's too stinking hot to be outside).

Ahhh... the drool that NEVER ends.  Look at that drool "spot" on her shirt!

End of June 2015 and Beginning of July

I really love swimming.  It's so much fun to go swimming now that Maxwell is swimming.  I've always loved being in a swimming pool but as an adult, it's much more fun to go swimming with kids who are all excited to go swimming with you.  :)

Emmalyn in her float (that we bought for Maxwell a few years ago)

Maxwell swimming back to the stairs

She was having fun

Morning swimming leads to great naps in the car

These car grocery carts are in high demand each time we go grocery shopping at Kroger.

Summer Style

Later that evening we went swimming again.  Maxwell was uncharacteristically adventurous and jumped off the waterfall!

Video - Maxwell jumping!

Not really playing together but at least playing close to each other

Emmalyn bumped her head and got this nice bruise.   OUCH!

Watergun fun in the backyard

Capturing Maxwell mid-giggle

Love the style with the vest and messenger bag

Sweet Maxwell loves writing me notes - This note he wrote for me to get when I got home from work.

A few things on this side..

"To mom"

"Work"

"3 1/2" (Since that's how old he is)

Other side

"I now"

"is Max"

"What"

"P.S. P.S. Max"

Not too bad... he wrote all of that himself! (We will have to work on the flow to his messages but hey, it's a start. )  :)

Video - Adorable giggles from Emmalyn (Dad still is the best at getting them)

Maxwell ended up getting a private swim lesson because he was the only one in his class.  Coach Katie pushed him and he got some really good practice in!

Working on his kicks

Video - Maxwell at swimming lessons - jumping in, rolling to his back and floating (which is a little difficult right up to the ropes), rolling back over, and swimming to the step... all by himself!  

Pretty awesome for a 3 year old!  I was 7 years old before I swam without floaties.

Hanging out while big brother swims

This drool monster loves reading books

Those teeth just keep coming which means more and more drool.  Her bottom right canine has now popped through her gums.

She also loves pizza

Enjoying the flowers in the front yard

Selfies with daddy

My perspective of the selfies.  :)  I love seeing these sweet kids loving their daddy so much.

Emmalyn in a darling beret I bought her.  If only I could get her to keep it on!