End of March, Beginning of April 2016

These cookies are my favorites - They are a banana, oatmeal, chocolate chip.  They are delicious.  The texture is so chewy almost like the top of a muffin.  YUMMMMM

Humidity = curls

It's crazy how curly she is

Video - Emmalyn singing the Jeopardy Theme Song.  We watch it each night so she's a pro!

Since coming home from Seattle, Maxwell keeps score just like Uncle Clay w/ everyone's initials.  This is the score sheet he put together for playing baseball. (Maxwell and Peter)

When Maxwell does Math that doesn't come quickly (like 9 plus 7) he will use this method - "9 in your head and 7 on your fingers" and then counts on his fingers to get the number. When he says the head part he hits his head.

He's reading his new chapter book - I love this series called "Hey Jack".  It's perfect for just starting to read chapter books.

Playing together

Maxwell dancing in his room while he watches the "whip n nae nae" song and learns the dance.  He's pretty cute when he does it.

Not happy to be in daddy's car because she has to still be in the rear facing infant seat.  At nearly 2, she's ready to be out of it.

He's all into reading right now.  I loved walking in and finding him like this on his bed.

A rare thing - Maxwell actually sitting in a swing instead of laying on it with his belly?!

We had a playdate with a few of Maxwell's friends from pre-school.  Joshua, Preston, and Lucas.  Maxwell played with them a little but more spend time playing by himself.  It's still good to see him engaging with friends a little though.

Sweet sleeping baby.  Note her hand tucked into her shirt?  Just like Maxwell used to do.

Peeking over our neighbor's fence.  We have a picture of Maxwell doing the same thing.

The weather is changing and swimming weather is getting closer.  Maxwell got into the hot tub next door for the first time this year.

Part of spring means it's time to plant flowers.  I had a great helper who not only helped me pick out the flowers but plant them too.  He loved his superman gloves.

Look at how long that hair is getting!

Spring days = time at the park

My little dare devil

So much personality and spunk

Our regular picture spot at school - I tried to get him to smile

He tickled himself in order to give me a genuine smile.

This week I registered Maxwell for Kindergarten.  Peter and I have really been struggling with deciding whether to send Maxwell to Kindergarten in the fall or hold him back.  Since he turns 5 so close to the cut off date, it wouldn't be uncommon to hold him back.  If he were to go to school, he'd turn 5 only 3 days before school starts.  He's already little for his age, he will certainly be little in his class because there will be kids in there that are already 6!  Here in Texas, you will find parents holding back their kids that turn 5 in May and June just so they will be bigger and do better in sports.

I worry though that if we hold Maxwell back it won't be fair to him intellectually since he's already so far ahead in that area.  It's hard to know what to do!  Sometimes I wonder if he's mature enough to move on (like when he barely plays with the other kids at the playdate.

Anyway, it's hard and we don't know what to do.  So, we registered him knowing that we can always change our mind and he doesn't have to go.  Then, at least, he can go if we want him to.  I can't believe he's old enough to go to school!

Video - Peter gets the best giggles out of Emmalyn.  She is so fun to play with.

Maxwell put together this course for him to practice his soccer skills with.

Watching Maxwell and the other kids in the pool.  I think I'm going to need to sign her up for lessons soon.  I don't want to have to get in the pool with her but it's clear she wants to be swimming too.

 

She is certainly starting to look more like toddler and less like baby.

She calls all her fingers "thumbs".  Her two bottom two-year molars are barely popping through.  She says "yes" with the cutest lisp so it sounds like "yeth".  She has crazy tantrums and is scratching now.  She will just SCREAM.  She purposely does things that she knows will upset Maxwell.  She won't let her "piggytails" stay in.  I even tried a trick that Ashlee taught me about twisting her hair around and that didn't stop her.  It's so frustrating because it is just a wild mess if it's not put up.

When she gets in her car seat, she HAS to buckle her chest strap by herself.  She can now JUMP! for real. :)

I got some new tennis shoes.  I went and got shoes fitted to my feet at a nice store in hopes that good shoes will help keep my pinched nerve from coming back.  It's been many many months since I've focused on walking/running and I feel like my foot is finally healed (which is good because at one point I was feeling like surgery would be my only option).  I will give these shoes a shot and start moving, hopefully with no pain!  These babies are a size 7.5!!  I was wearing like a 6 before I had kids.  

Seattle Day 4: Time to go home

We finished off our Seattle vacation with a bang - - or more accurately, a crack!  We smashed confetti eggs on each other outside.  :)

Maxwell posed to get Emmalyn

Confetti everywhere!

Lucky Konrad on clean up duty

After that, we headed to the airport to go home.

Score - got her to fall asleep again!

Rosy red cheeks post nap

Silly girl

Update on what the kids have been up to...

Emmalyn now says "butt head". I thought at first she didn't know what she was saying but no, she was calling names.

Emmalyn still puts her hand down my shirt.

She loved the stairs and the motorcycle when we were at Ashlee's. 

In the morning when I'm nursing her and have to stop to use the restroom, Emmalyn peppers me with questions when I come back.  She will ask if I washed my hands (she can smell it) by saying, "Wash hands Momma?" then "Soap?" and "towel?"  Girl is giving me the third degree!

She picks on her brother by touching the screen on his iPad or pushing him if he's next to her.

She hasn't gone potty in the potty again after that one time.

She sleeps with her pink puppy and her purple turtle on either side of her face each night when she goes to sleep.  

Often people will comment on how clear her talking is.

She is demanding!  And her tantrums have escalated to throwing things, flailing, and kicking. (Is she 2 years old yet???)

Emmalyn wants her binky all the time.  She got it a little more on vacation than she usually would.  Normally it would be during sleeping only.

Emmalyn asks for "cereal" and "malk" (Milk) every morning after asking for milk from me.  She will now say "cereal and malk in bowl" which means she wants it like you would typically eat cereal instead of getting a sippy cup with milk and some cereal in a sandwich bag.

In the morning she always asks about what Maxwell is doing.

Maxwell in still in 3t pants.

Max started learning multiplication in school this week (I had already taught him the 0s. He totally got the concept of that.) 

Second Week of February 2016

 I know...it's been forever since I've blogged and I"m getting further behind.  We've been busy watching the summer Olympics and that's been taking up the evenings.

Maxwell came home from Brittany's and asked to workout so we put on a video and he did an awesome job.  

He wanted to lay out his clothes for school in the morning.  He calls this making his "Maxwell".  He even puts underwear inside the pants.

My sweet little girl  - she's been tucking her hands into the neck of her pajamas when she goes to sleep lately....very similar to what Maxwell would do.

I threw my team a Mardi Gras party  - gotta have a little fun every now and then.

Maxwell had a party and parade at school too

The kids all dressed up in their mardi gras beads and masks

celebrating Hayden's birthday

Emmalyn really loves her uncle jo jo

messy face

Her hair is getting longer - look at that cute little flip

Each night she needs to sleep with her turtle and her puppy

We are having a progressive dinner with some friends in the neighborhood for Valentine's Day.  I want to make sure my party of it (soup/salad) turns out great so I practiced my recipes before hand.  This Thai chicken salad is delicious!!

Lovin her boots

Max filling out his Valentines for his class.  He wrote "To: A Friend" and From: Maxwell" on every one.

Silly girl

Maxwell and his finished Valentines.  It's an arrow with a pencil making up the stick part of it.  I thought they were pretty cute.  This is the first time we've made our own Valentines and it wasn't bad.  (Of course, I purposely picked a simple one.)

Tickles from dad -- Maxwell loves 'em

Maxwell's Friendship Party at school

The kids at his school weren't allowed to bring candy valentines so he came home with lots of non-candy treats.  Including temporary tattoos - I don't normally like to let him have them but I made an exception and he was thrilled. (I know this is a battle I will win less and less as he gets older.  Sigh)

We decided to go get pizza for dinner and one our way, Max was thinking we were going to Little Caesars and says, "I want daddy to say to them, um...'my son wants a pepperoni pizza' and he can say after that, 'because my son loves pepperoni pizza and cheese pizza'."  It was super cute the way he referred to himself.

We ended up going to get pizza at a new place - it was more Neapolitan style pizza.  It was yummy but the kids didn't like it much.

Waiting to get some pizza for dinner

Love these kiddos

Maxwell wanted to work on his math this morning.

Here's what he wrote for himself.  He can do two digit addition until he has to carry over.  If you you look at the last problem you can see his methodology.  It makes sense unless you understand math principles.  :)

Emmalyn looked so adorable at Kindermusik, that I had to get some pictures...

You know me, never need a reason to justify putting her in a fancy dress. :)

Max at Kindermusik.  He loves Ms. Carolyn and always wants to sit next to her.

It was a pretty day for a walk!

Update on the kids...

Maxwell always used to self-sooth by touching his nipples and I don't see him do that anymore (glad to know he grew out of it) - - however, his sister does it, just with mine.  (yeah...can be awkward when she reaches down my shirt if she's nervous in public - I have to quickly stop her).  

Emmalyn is always asking where her brother is.  She eats very little for dinner, wants to watch "frosty the snowman" all the time or watch frozen on her iPad.  She can sing the Jeopardy theme song because we watch it every night when we get home from work, 

Maxwell is struggling with losing.  He gets mad if we race to his room and he loses.  And he has started saying he doesn't like going to gym during school because he only has fun if they are doing an obstacle course, but if it's a game he doesn't want to play..  In fact, he cried in gym last week because didn't want to play game where he could be out.  We are trying to help him understand that losing doesn't have to be a bad thing, that every loses sometimes and to focus on if he had fun or not but he's having a hard time understanding that.