HOOD-lums

We sure enjoyed the rest of our Thanksgiving weekend.

We headed outside to play:

Max worked on throwing the football (we start 'em young here in Texas!)

Peter is always cold since he got skinny and lost his "insulation" so he enjoyed laying in the sun and warming up.

Playing in the dirt

Yuck!  My hands are dirty!

Maneuvering down the slope

A little pat-a-cake (he won't do it on his own, we have to help him every time)

Peek a boo!

Cuddling on daddy

Uh oh, it's coming...

"eyes"

He just loves being outside

He pulled out all his toys and then climbed on them to get into the crate.

Silly Max.  Playing with an old dropper.

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving we put up the tree and the decorations.  This is the earliest we've ever done it.  It will be nice to enjoy it the entire season this year.  I didn't do as many light or ornaments as usual because I wanted to limit how much I enticed Max to mess with the tree.  :)  Glass stuff only up beyond Max's reach.

For the first time ever, our stockings have been hung by the chimney with care...

Video - Britt and her family came over to check out the decorations.  Here is Max saying goodbye to Landen.

Love my boys.

Proof that Max ate a vegetable.

Remember how around Halloween, we got "Boo'd"?  Well, we got "Elf-ed".  One of our neighbors left a bag of goodies on our porch.  And then we pass it along and leave goodies for someone else.  The annoying thing about being elfed is that you are suppossed to "elf" 2 homes, not just one.  I was super busy the next couple days after being "elf-ed", that I didn't get a chance to get to it.  I was suppossed to put this sign in a window so everyone would know our house and been hit and go elf someone else.  But I didn't put the sign up immediately because I wanted to leave it in the kitchen so I'd remember to copy it for the 2 bags I was going to create. 

A few days after being elfed, we were elfed again.  CRAP!  I should have put that stupid sign out.  Now I needed to elf 4 people?!  I didn't have time to do it to 2 people let alone 4.  Well, after the second elfing, I quickly took one of the signs and put it in a window.

The next night I hear Peter opening the front door and then he says "you are not going to believe this"...  We had been ELFED again!!  Someone clearly didn't see the sign in our window. 

I WAS NOT going to go elf 6 houses.  This was out of control.  I am happy to pass along this "fun" neighborly thing but 6 houses is extreme.  It took me like 2 1/2 weeks to ELF someone because I never got a chance to go to the store.  I eventually took a little bit from each of our 3 elf bags and combined with some crap I had in our "anytime presents" box and came up with two barely decent elf bag.  It was pathetic and most likely not exciting for the houses that I elfed, but at least I did it.  The tradition didn't stop at my house (even though clearly it was raging on just fine in the neighborhood with or without my participation).  Next time I will quickly get the sign up in my window!

Just another one of those moments when I am reminded what price I pay to be a working mom.  Don't get me wrong, I would choose all the benefits I get from working over having the time to put together a cutesy little treat bag for a neighbor.  I just get a little annoyed when I think of the little housewives in my neighborhood that stay home raising their kids, spending their husband's money, and perpetuating little neighborhood holiday activities that will require some of my precious time at home.  Grrr

Walking more and more

Another normal week...September was a pretty boring month!  However, it was a great month because Max was doing all kinds of new things like walking.  So here are the pics from Sept 24 - 29.  There are quite a few videos because like I said, he's doing new things and I want to capture that.  He is such a fun little boy with a great temperament.  He is still super shy and won't let "strangers" hold him.  If they talk to him he usually buries his head into Peter and I.  He will usually wave or say "hi" but not until after they give up and walk away.

Still king of the drool.  It's gotten a little better but not to the point that I would say he isn't drooling anymore. 

Video - Max saying Mom.  We do this often, he says "Mom" and I say "Max" back and forth and back and forth.

Video - While he's started walking, he still resorts to crawling when he wants to get somewhere fast and of course, still crawls with his fists.

Video - Max has NOT been liking veggies lately.  He only wants to eat bread and fruit.  So I have been getting creative to try and find any veggies in any form that he would eat.  I gave him these mini peppers and he actually liked eating them.  Go for it, boy!  As a bonus, you get to see his cute wave at the end of the video.

Max has learned the art of taking bites rather than shoving it all in.  He will take bites of his mini bell peppers, bread, bananas, and apples.

Video - Max doing a good job walking outside (and being distracted by dead bugs on the patio)

Smiling at himself in the screen on my phone

Two buddies enjoying their bananas

Maxwell and Landen

Video - Max is fun to play with.  He was cracking up playing with his silly dad

In the morning, sometimes Peter will put on Baby Einstein videos to entertain Max so we can get ready.  This is how I found him sitting one morning.  Now that we are in the big house and there's more places for him to wander and play, he doesn't watch as long.

Enthralled

Now that he's walking a little better, Max likes pushing around the toy vacuum at Brittany's.

Kisses for the handsome boy in the mirror.

We've been going running in the evenings a few times a week.  It was a little chilly this night so we bundled Max up.  He enjoyed playing with my ipod after the run.

Video - Max loves to read and be read to.  This makes me really happy.  The peek-a-boo book that he is reading first is his favorite.