Pumpkin Patch Photo Shoot

We visited a local pumpkin patch and one of my co-workers, Tony, took some shots of us.  I think some are cute but Max wasn't in a fantastic mood so we had to work harder than normal to get him to smile.  I guess that's just how it goes with a 1 year old! 

New adventure? BUST

Most of our weekends look the same...  Saturday - Kindermusik class in the morning with Max, hanging out around the house, maybe run some errands, afternoon nap for Max, go for a run as a family, watch TV or movie after Maxwell goes to bed.  Sunday - Have breakfast, Max take a nap, get ready for the day, trip to Costco, try to get Max to take another nap, do take out or fast food for dinner, get ready for the next week.

Not this weekend!  We shook things up big time! (okay, not so big but hey...we did something for the first time which I always enjoy)
Before Kindermusik on Saturday, we went to a local patch and took some pictures with one of my co-workers who does photography on the side.  Look for a future post on that... On the way back from Kindermusik, we met up with Brittany and the boys at a park and then Peter joined us when he was done working out.  I put Max in the swing and he not only liked it... he LOVED it.

That night there was a serious storm that came blowing in.  Peter and I stood out on our patio and watched the lightening.  It was crazy!  Here's a short 25 seconds of video just to show you how much lightening activity was going on.  We didn't heard too much thunder.  Crazy Texas storms!

It reminded me of the storm that happened on my birthday.  Thank goodness we were further away and there were no tornado warnings/watches on this one.

The next day was gorgeous and so we decided to spent some time outside.

A staple for Max's breakfast - some organic, whole wheat bread. 

Pros - Easy, healthy, doesn't ever choke on it.  Cons - lots of crumbs.

Max still has his "outie" bellybutton.

Shoving it in.

We decided to check out Third Monday Trade Days in McKinney on Sunday afternoon.  This is like a big swap meet/garage sale/fair-ish type thing that we had never been do.  Of course I didn't quite understand what it was going to be like until we got there.

Max briefly wearing his sunglasses.

I had heard that Trade Days was a good place to go to find lots of animals that Max could pet and after he enjoyed the pet store (but did zero petting), I wanted him to be able to pet animals.  It was a hot sunny day and this place was huge.  It had a definite swap meet feel.  It was stall after stall after stall of either someones old crap or cheap trinkets/crafts/etc.  Think about a garage sale meets a craft fair meets the booths from the fair.  Then there was also the food which was similar to fair food = fried and a little scary. 

I wanted to find either some decorations for the house or something for Max.  Peter wanted to just be done.  He doesn't like walking and walking and looking and looking.  He's not a fan of doing new things (sometimes they are a bust and sometimes they are winners but he'd rather just avoid them regardless).  That combined with the walking meant that I had to have the positive attitude/excitement about what we were doing for the two of us.

Well then, Max was fussy...

Max was fussy because he didn't like being directly in the sun.  I love our stroller for many reasons but one of the very few issues I have is the sun shade.  It is inadequate and  mostly useless.  Max really prefers his face being shaded but didn't want to wear a hat or sunglasses.

We didn't find any animals to pet.  In fact the only animals we found were donkeys that kids could ride (Max is too little) or smelly chickens that you could buy.  The #1 reason we went was a total bust.  We did buy a big bag of honey popcorn that was sort of like kettle corn.  That was it.

Here's Peter putting the BRAND NEW cool top on the water bottle that turns it into a sippy cup top for Max. 

I was really excited to use it.  Max liked it too.  Until he dropped it somewhere while we were walking and I didn't notice.  So then it was gone forever and the day was ruined.  It was a silly $3.00 top but I was so bummed that I had lost it, and Peter was giving me a hard time about losing it, that my fire was fully quenched and I was ready to just be done.  I don't think we'll be back.

So tired that the cheerios are piling up around his neck and he doesn't even care.

Oh well, I still like to try new things.  Maybe the next one will be a winner??

Casino Night!!!

It was that time again.  My favorite nighttime work event of the year....  CASINO NIGHT!

This year Casino Night was even bigger and was held off site at a hotel.  It was a lot of fun.  I got to show off my skinny husband (a few of my co-workers didn't even recognize him), socialize, snack, and spend a little bit of money.  I love Casino night! (You can read about past Casino nights here and here.)

Peter kept me more restrained with the silent auction this year.  :(  I walked away with 4 tickets to an FC Dallas game, a 1 hr massage, and a dinner for 2 to a restaurant in Dallas.

Lots of playing (mostly at Brittany's)

Going back to work after the weekend is always a drag for me and Peter.  However, for Max, it means good things.  He loves going to his Aunt Brittany's house and playing with his cousins. He gets to do lots of fun things.  Here's some of the fun stuff from the week of 10-8-12.

Mornings are a fun time because Max hangs out with us while we get ready.  Usually he wanders around playing with whatever he finds and pulling things out of drawers.  He's happy in the mornings and Peter and I get a little playing time with Max in too.  (Although sometimes it's hard to pull away from the playtime and we end up leaving late.  Maxwell is just too cute!)

Video - Max enjoys listening to the radio in the morning and has started dancing to the music.

Playing with the wii remote

Helping clean up by vacuuming.  He must be focused, his tongue is hanging out.

Enjoying the sun on the balcony.

Getting ready for Halloween.

Reading books

Oh wait, it's not a book - it's a hat!

You can't quite tell but his pants are super cute with little pin stripes.

Playing with the ball

Hayden helping Max play.

Woo - these blinds are fun!

Being chased by Landen.

Making music with some spoons.

Enjoying an afternoon snack of Fiddlesticks. (His favorite!)

You are interrupting my playing!

All worn out and sleeping at home.  Note he's not all curled up like he is normally.  I couldn't believe how sprawled out he was!

What Max is up to this week:

• He has started to say "wow"
• He is showing some sense of possession and got territorial one day when I was at Brittany's.  Hayden was standing in front of me and Max came over and pushed him away from me because he wanted me all to himself. 
• He is passionate about his nursing in the morning.  I have been trying to stop him so hopefully he will fall back asleep and sleep longer but he gets angry if I stop him - he scratches me and pulls my hair.  Not okay.  So I get mad and definitely stop and he gets madder and yells which just frustrates Peter who is now woken up so we are all mad.  Good times. :)
• He loves reading books by himself and being read to.
• He is completely off the bottle and drinks his formula out of sippy cups.
• He says "Ha ha" with a little maniacal, gruff tone if he thinks something is funny.
• He crawled back down the entire staircase by himself.
• Lately he walks a lot with his arms up and he isn't dropping back down to crawl as much as he has been.
• He rubs his belly during bathtime.
• He has started pulling his socks off.
• He knows how to unlock an iPhone!  (hit the button and then slide the arrow to the right)  When Peter told me he could do this I didn't believe him and then he gave Max his phone and I saw that he really did know how.  How in the world did he learn that?  It's not like we taught him that!  Smart kid must have learned from watching us.
• We took him to a pet store and he had lot of fun looking at the animals during our short visit.  We got there just as they were closing so we didn't have much time but will go back for a longer visit.
• We went to dinner and ordered Max a side of mashed potatoes.  He wanted nothing to do with the potatoes but enjoyed my broccoli and the meat off my ribs.  He couldn't get enough of the ribs!