End of January 2017

Emmalyn caught trying to put on some lip gloss.  some of it made it to her lips.  :)

Snuggles with my kiddos

We went to see this play as part of our season tickets to the winspear opera house.  We totally had spaced that we had a play that night and so about 30 minutes before the show started Peter got a reminder on his phone and we dropped everything and left (it's 45 minutes away).  This play was INTENSE.  On one side, it probably would have been helpful to not miss the first part of the show because we might have understood better what was going on.  But on the other hand, I was grateful we missed some of it because it was totally enjoyable and like I said was a very intense play.

How I really felt about the show

Each day Maxwell comes home with a folder from school and if he has an behavioral issues, his teacher will sign his folder and write down what the issue was.  Well, kudos to him - - he went all the way until the second week in January before he got his folder signed.  That's a pretty good kid. (It ended up being the only time he got his folder signed all year.)

Karaoke fun after showers

I had my leadership team in for a meeting and one of them was sick so they all wore these masks as a joke.  

Maxwell being a chef and putting some granola and fruit on his yogurt.

Joe's brother came to town for a few days and the kids LOVED having him here.

Reading with daddy

Maxwell was chosen by his teacher to be a Star Student.  He was recognized in the school assembly called "Norris Now" and I was able to go and see him. The star students ares in specific award categories that are chosen based on the school's character traits that are learned about in Character Lab (the specials teachers run this and the students go every 8 days or so).  Maxwell's teacher said that she chose Maxwell for "Curiosity" because he often asks really interesting questions about things and is eager to learn more.  Maxwell was really excited when he saw both Peter and I in the audience.

Maxwell is the front row - second from the right.  

We went out for pizza to celebrate

Maxwell came home with his second report card.  They don't say much other than he is at the expected level for everything.  (They don't tell you if they are ABOVE that level.)

A funny thing about Maxwell - sometimes he will talk in a southern accent... could be just a couple words or could be a sentence.  Whenever he does it, Peter and I just look at each other and smile.  The kid lives in Texas, it's bound to happen a little bit!

Love that profile

Love the warm days we get in the winter where we can go to the park without jackets!

Maxwell and daddy going for a run

Maxwell making a poster to take to school to celebrate 100 days of Kindergarten.  He put 100 pieces of washi tape on the poster.

Playing Doctor

First Week of October 2016

Maxwell writing love notes to family we've seen lately like Natalie and Aunt Tammy.

We are excited to be starting a new semester of Kindermusik!  

Emmalyn came with Maxwell and I to his pediatricians to get our flu shots.  She loves going to the doctors - always!

Woo hoo - we did it! (I think this might be his first time getting it in his arm.)

Emmalyn sat outside and enjoy a healthy (ha!) lunch of a McDonalds happy meal while Maxwell was in his Kindermusik class.

Maxwell has moved up to the "young child" class where he will be learning how to read music and how to play a glockenspiel - it's like a xylophone.

Rootbeer floats and a movie at home

Enjoying her candy bracelet from our "boo" stash (see last post)

Maxwell doesn't have homework other than reading but this particular book had instructions on making a treasure map so he had fun doing that.

Helping Momma with the gardening

Maxwell's sort of report card for writing.  Not bad to have all but one marked off when he's only been in class 1 month.  This is the form with the expectations for the whole year.

I had put up Halloween window clings and this pumpkin was destroyed by Emmalyn.  She's not horribly destructive but certainly more destructive than Maxwell is.

Comin at ya!

Peter and I really enjoyed seeing Rent together.  It's been more than a decade.  I really love the music, especially the first half.

Maxwell had spirit week and one of the days was walk to school day.

We didn't walk the whole way but we drove the car across the street into the neighborhood where the school is and walked part of the way.

Emmalyn loved tagging along on the walk with Mom and Dad.

One of the other spirit days was "wear your pajamas to school" which he has NEVER wanted to do and he totally wanted to this year.  That's a big change for him.

Sweetly sleeping during her nap - puppy on one side of her head and turtle on the other.

Britt and I took the kids to the Heard Museum to check out their live action dinosaur exhibit where the dinos move and make noises.

Maxwell was excited to use his map to guide us along.

The first dinosaur we came upon.  The kids all look happier than they really were.  We had some scared kiddos.

She would wave to the dino but only from far away.

Maps - always a win with this age

This one is called the "Utah Raptor"  It's pretty scary looking.

This one spits at you.  They were much more life like than I was expecting.

Playing in the wood town before we left.

Maxwell is doing tennis lessons outside and in the morning this time around.

Emmalyn and I checked out the pumpkin patch after Kindermusik one day.

My little readers

We stopped by Costa Vida to take a selfie in order to try to win free Costa Vida for a year when they opened.  We ended up meeting the owner and he let the kids come in and check out the restaurant and the bubble wall.  He was a really nice guy and we can't wait for them to be open!! (sweet pork salad - yummm)

Emmalyn is awful at picking at her scabs.  She just doesn't leave them alone and so they stay wounded forever.  As much as I don't like bandaids (they are addictive for kids!), we have had to put those on her to get her to leave them alone.
She says, "hip hip hooray" so cutely!
She will add "for?" on the end of questions. For example, "What are you going to work for?"
She can open all the doors in the house now except the back door because it's more sticky and hard to open.  This is both a good and bad thing because you can't keep her out anymore.
Emmalyn can take off her pajamas and diaper by herself in the morning (zipper pjs and shirts/pants pjs).
Twice in the last week she has peed on the rug on the bathroom.  GRRRRR.  One time, it was right after I had her sit on the potty and nothing happened.

Maxwell is now tall enough that he can turn on the lights!  Our lights are high on the walls and so he'd have to get a stool or something to turn them on.