Second week of September

Cruising the neighborhood in the neighbor's ride

Maxwell had a ton of fun going through the neighbor's Pokemon cards.  He is really getting into those cards.

Not sure why her whole body is tanned 'cept her bum.  It's not like she's out in the sun only in her diaper.

The school asked for volunteers to help during Kindergarten lunch to help the kids as they get used to eating lunch there.  I took the opportunity to get to see Maxwell at school.  :)

His lunch box is all set up waiting for the kids to get in there (at 10:30 am!).  

His friend Avery

He was happy to see me

With his lunch

Landen at lunch.  It's fun that they go to the same school.  (Note the mom in the background totally feeding her child... I was taken aback to see that.)

I spent my time at the school opening juice boxes, wrappers, getting utensils, letting kids go to the bathrooms, etc.  

Doing some pushups with uncle Joe

Tennis lessons!

She's tall enough to get some water out of the fridge - crazy!  She just doesn't know when to stop, which is a mess.  She loves having ice in her water.

We visited the pediatrician.  I have no idea why at this point...it's been too long.

Movie night

Brittany's birthday!  Joe got her this delicious bouquet from Edible Arrangements.

Peter finished up his major project replacing the lining on the roof of his car.  

Enjoying the weather outside. Wonder where her shirt is???

She had her baby doll too

Emmalyn got a big bike from the neighbor.  It's still a little big and she can't totally do it, but she's very excited about the baby doll seat on the back.

Finger paint fun

Trying it with some paintbrushes

Maxwell painted the letters for his birthday photoshoot all by himself

I wanted Emmalyn to wear this super cute dress that she hadn't worn yet and she threw a huge fit about it.  I finally told her I'd take it off if she would let me take one picture.

Here you go.  Cute dress, cute girl yet the two shall never meet again.

My awesome cucumber and my pathetic strawberries.

Just so you can see how little they are - they are next to a sour patch kid. 

We went to dinner at Chik-Fil-A for Maxwell's School Spirit night.  It was super full of kids - just craziness.

We then went to sonic for ice cream for Grandma Donna's birthday

Update on the kids.
Maxwell gets up in the morning without calling for us to come get him and has been doing it for about a month because the webcam in his room is broken. He used to come in and let us know he is up but he doesn't even do that all the time anymore.  Instead he just gets up, goes to the living room and gets on his ipad.
Emmalyn wakes up grumpy and crying each morning but can quickly shift to happy if you get her out and talk to her.
She's saying 6 words sentences frequently and uses words like "both", "already", and "too".

End of July 2016

Summer is 2/3s over! :(

She's so particular....first off she needs multiple blankets (on top of the pjs and sleep sack! Don't know how she can sleep with that much heat), then puppy goes on the left and turtle goes on the right but usually turtle isn't covering her face.

Emmalyn is making good progress during swim lessons.

Here's Maxwell's progress for his last class with Coach Katie. She's been his coach since he was 18 months and she is leaving Aquatots.  Pretty bummed about that but we are going to have her come over and teach Maxwell privately and take both kids out of Aquatots.  Maxwell has seen her every week for more than 3 years, it would be so sad if they didn't see each other any more.

Last class - with Coach Jada as well as Katie

Look at that face - she's up to something

She got a wound on her face but keeps picking it so I am keeping a bandaid on so that it can heal.  She is the worst at constantly picking her wounds!

Maxwell and Sanjinuh have been in the same class for awhile and developed a cute friendship.  They are good buds and it's sad that they won't get to see each other anymore.

Taking a nap with Uncle Joe.  Joe and Britt are going to move back in upstairs and so they have moved a bit of their stuff over to our house.

The kids got their passports!  We can all go international now.  Maxwell was super excited.

Look at that cucumber we picked from our garden!

Brittany took Emmalyn to the dealer to get some work done on her car and she sent me this picture and said that Emmalyn had a conversation with the giraffe, "I like your piggy tails.  I like your shoes.  I like your tail"  in the sweetest voice ever.  :)  She is certainly learning how to give compliments.

The owl that we are now using to try and protect the garden from birds.  For Emmalyn, he's another friend to play with.  (She told him she likes his eyes.)

At Kindermusik, Emmalyn decided she wanted to sit with Ms. Carolyn and not Mom.  

Giddy up horsey

I let Maxwell come to Emmalyn's Kindermusik class and he got to sit outside the room and play on his ipad.  The class is in a church that is empty on Saturday so he was safe but it felt like he was so far away and I kept checking on him throughout class.  Of course, he was fine.

Emmalyn likes to play peek-a-boo with the scarf and when she puts it on like this, she wants you to say "Emmalyn where are you?  I can't see you." and then she'll put it off and magically I can see her again.  :)

Last soccer game of the season.  These two have been a great team.

Look at Maxwell getting into the cluster around the ball!  Being around Preston's influence has really helped him be more aggressive during soccer.

Taking charge of the ball

Team picture.  The two boys to the right of Maxwell live in our neighborhood (Griffin and Kinsler but they are moving away which is a bummer.  We've played with them a couple times.)

Emmalyn is doing great at putting together these simple two piece puzzles.  

We spent more time at the FAC, mainly enjoying the lazy river which both kids love.

Tired post-swimming face (and those curls!)

Emmalyn riding her tricycle while Maxwell rides his bike with training wheels

We had a playdate at Luckshya's house (another boy from preschool - this group of boys is really keeping their friendships alive)

Remember how he always had his feet crossed when he was a baby?  It is still his natural tendency today.

Don't these flowers look awesome??  I didn't have to do a thing to get them.  They just came up again from what I planted last year - score!

A fun flashback picture my cousin found of my dad in high school.

I took the kids for dinner at Tokyo Joes.  Max liked using chopsticks.

We now have Coach Katie and Coach Jada coming over to give the kids private lessons next door.  Maxwell's lesson is an hour and Emmalyn's is a half.  I was hoping to stay out of the pool but because Emmalyn is used to having me in there with her for lessons, we are going to have to work on transitioning her to being in there without me.

Maxwell is acting like a teenager - - exasperated sighing and then whining all the time, talking with attitude, arguing and talking back so we had a conversation tonight about that not being okay and there will be consequences.  I sure hope this is a little quick phase.

Emmalyn tells you when she doesn't like something (like beans - "I don't like beans"). And, she's working on learning colors and her default is always purple.