July 4th Celebrations and Wedding Fun

We started the holiday celebrations a day early and went to watch a big firework show on July 3rd.

My adorable red/white/and blue kids

We got to see some little stunt planes

It was warm but not unbearable (thank goodness!)

Emmalyn trying on the headphones we got to protect her little ears

After we walked around some of the festivities, we went back to the grass behind Peter's work.  His office has the building fenced off and only employees can watch from there.

Aunt Kimi's plane landed just in time for her to join us!  It's so great to be able to spend holidays with both my sisters.  :)  We missed having Uncle Joe there but he had to work.

Getting tired but not sleeping because of all the excitement

Cool planes with fireworks coming off their wings

We were suckered into buying a light up saber/sword for Maxwell from one of the vendors.  I guess we are normal parents now.  :)

The fireworks were great even though a little portion was blocked by the apartment building.

...and...she's out!  Sweet sleeping baby.

Because of the great location of Peter's work, we were able to get out after the fireworks and on the freeway before the crowds were able to.  PERFECT!

Our flags are out for July 4th

Trying to get the perfect shot of my patriotic pair...

...put your shirt down, Emmalyn

Stand still, Emmalyn.

(It's nearly impossible to have them both looking, standing still, and smiling at the same time)

Britt and her family came over to hang out and grill in the afternoon.  The kids played in water.

Joe working his magic on the grill

Mr. Grumpy Pants

The kids table :)

I tried a new dessert - - mini, individual german pancakes topped with Nutella and strawberries.  It was good but I don't think I'll make it again.

That night we were invited to the wedding of one of my close friends from work, Laura.  She invited the whole family.  It was a fun, beautiful wedding that we were happy to attend.  (They've been together as long as Peter and I have...  one of my favorite parts of the ceremony was when they read "love notes" they had written each other in high school.  It was funny and touching at the same time.  I'm sure my kids will die laughing someday when they read the silliness Peter and I wrote each other.)

My crew all dressed up

Maxwell had the best time dancing with another one of my friends from work - Michelle.  She just was moved into the role that I report to so now she's my boss.  I found it funny that Maxwell was charming my boss and totally stealing her attention away from her boyfriend.  :)  These two had an awesome time together.

Emmalyn wanted to dance too

She looked so pretty in her dress (yet not so pretty that she was mistaken for the flower girl)

Love!

This pic is so sweet to me - - such love between these two

Keeping entertained while everyone was eating

They had a photobooth.  We had to drag Maxwell in there.  He wasn't quite sure about it.

However, I look over later and Maxwell is totally all about going in there with Michelle.  Such a little charmer/flirt.  :)

Max now a pro and have much more fun with it

(Cutest thing - - when we got home, he wanted to put the picture of him and Michelle up on the fridge of his toy kitchen and then when I was talking to Michelle later the next week she said that she had put it up on her fridge.  So both of them had the picture up on their fridge.)

Video - Maxwell was rockin' some pretty great dance moves.  He was a big hit on the dance floor.

Video - I tried to capture Emmalyn dancing too but a certain little stinker didn't want to share the limelight...

It was the funnest time I've had in a long time at a wedding and a fun way to spend our holiday!

3rd Week of March 2015

Even when nothing big and special is going on, life is still full of fun and surprises because of our two cute kids.

Uh oh - - - lil miss trouble is getting into stuff

Britt took the kids to a skate park.  Max was all padded up for his belly ride on the skateboard.

Emmalyn was happy to be outside and watch

Her hair is long enough that the perfect little curl on her forehead is gone but you can clearly still see where her hair is curling in one direction

Silly face selfies... never gets old for a 3 year old.

This kid is lucky enough to have silly parents too

All ready for bed

Playing pat-a-cake

Story time

Cuddle time.  Maxwell has learned that the only safe way to ensure Emmalyn doesn't mess with his cuddles is to be on top of mom

St. Patrick's day! Can't pinch this dude!

Soooo frustrating to get only 1.5 oz during my first pump of the day.  I'm trying so hard to keep this thing going...if effort and desire = output, I'd have enough milk to give to Emmalyn and to donate to a milk bank.  The only thing I haven't done this time is pay the extra money to rent a hospital grade pump.  I just don't think it would make enough of a difference.

Look at those curls around her ears.  I wonder how curly her hair will be - - - my kind of curly or Peter's kind of curly?

You can see the curls on both sides of her head

I made roasted bananas and blueberries baby food.  Emmalyn loves it but man, it looks gross when it comes out of the oven.

Look at this boy!  Where did my little kid go?

I forgot to put her in her St. Patrick's Day shirt on the 17th so she wore it a couple days later.  "Kiss me, I'm Irish".

I gave her asparagus spears for the first time and she LOOOOOOVED it.

Video - Emmalyn has the hiccups

Peter and I had plans and needed a babysitter but didn't want to ask Brittany (still trying to give her some space and a break since they moved out) since we were needing her the next night, so we tried a new one who our neighbor suggested.  She is a friend of their son.  Her name is Bridgette.  Joe and Brittany also wanted to go out and asked if we would watch their kids but obviously we already had plans.  So we asked Bridgette if she'd be okay watching all the boys.  She said sure.  Emmalyn was asleep before we left and Maxwell was nearly ready for bed.

It was great -- Maxwell clearly loved his short time with her and she did good with Britt's boys.  I really liked her too.  I am so glad to have found someone we like!  We will use her again!

Maxwell had Bridgette leave the light on in his closest so we could turn it off when we got home.

Making chocolate milk (thanks Grandma Nelson for introducing him to the world of chocolate syrup and milk)

Max wanted to help get Emmalyn ready so he tried to comb her hair (see above).  He was very clear that he wanted to comb her hair, not brush it.  

He got so frustrated that she kept moving away from him.  Then he also wanted to help brush her teeth.  So he put on her little finger toothbrush (looks like a rubber thimble with plastic bristles) and goes to brush her teeth...well, she bit him while he was trying to brush her teeth and he got so upset about it.  He goes "I'm not her big brother anymore".  :( He was so dejected and hurt that she had bit him...Like she didn't love him because he bit her. It was so sad.

Maxwell is saying "dad" and "daddy" more than "Peter" now.  (See? Take that all you people who judged me for not making him stop calling him "Peter".  He eventually switched and it didn't have to become a big deal!) :)

I love hearing the way he thinks - -

• For example...Peter was reading a book and Maxwell asked if he was reading it in his forehead?  (Meaning was Peter reading it in his mind)
• On Friday, I picked him up at Brittany's after work and in the car he said "Momma, when I had my great nap at Brittany's, I thought about my cruise."  I asked what he thought bout (dreamed about) and he told me he thought about having fun with me. And I said "doing what?" and he said "eating black cupcakes". 
• Peter said that when he woke him up to leave Brittany's (from being babysat after Chad's receiption), Maxwell asked if we were going to our ship so he must have been dreaming about the cruise. I think it's so cool because it's the first time he has talked about his dreams. 

He has started asking for things when it's his next birthday.
He still says "demember" instead of "remember".
He said "Oh my god".  And this Momma inwardly threw a fit.  No way is that an okay thing for my 3 year old son to say.  We have coached him to use the phrase "oh my goodness" and lately he's been saying "oh my gosh" to everything.  We are also trying to get him to just say "wow" as another alternative. 
He does a great job writing his numbers and can count by 10's to 100.
He came home with a math worksheet from school.  I wish I knew how they were teaching him so I could enforce that method at home and practice it more.

Emmalyn waves and points but not really at things.  She does it more to get attention from people.
We are starting to hear a differentiation from when she says "dada" and "mamuh".  It's a small difference but it's there.
She will let you wipe boogers from her nose - a win!

My friend Chad (used to work with me at CROSSMARK) got married to a guy named Jason.  Their first date was a double date with us to go see a play so it's fun to have been a part of their relationship from the very beginning.  Chad and I haven't been very close since he stopped working at CROSSMARK so I was surprised to get an invitation to their wedding reception.  It was fun going and reconnecting with both of them.  It was a great reception and we had a fantastic time enjoying the great food, music, dancing, and fun people at the wedding even though we only knew a handful.