Hittin' the slopes

Max got to go skiing for the first time on Saturday. He did so great! I was a little worried he wouldn't let us put his boots and skis on, which looked pretty probable for a while, or he would freak out when it was time to actually ski. He loved riding the cabriolet, gondola and chair lift. In fact, he asked if we could ride the gondola again about five times. He was so brave and had so much fun skiing with Jeff and Grandma Nancy (his mom's not good enough to ski herself and help a toddler!) and didn't want to take his boots off at the end of the day, which I personally think is crazy because I LOVE taking my ski boots off at the end of the day! He also really enjoyed hanging out with Ellie. It was so fun it actually put me in a skiing mood, which hasn't happened for years. (Too bad I don't love skiing more since I can go for free, right Mom?) Jeff and I are already looking forward to the next time we can take him down the slopes.

A Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great Valentine's Day at our house. Jeff got me the perfect gift (by this I mean something small - we are NOT big into Valentine's Day around here!), yummy chocolate covered strawberries. We spent a fun day hanging out and eating too many treats. Emily loved her chocolate! Max decided he wanted to wear Daddy's apron and then was finally convinced to wear the apron I made him months ago when Jeff's kept falling off. He also had a great time running around with his balloon. (Thanks, Heather!) Then he took some crazy pictures of me with the camera. We had such a fun and silly time together. What a great way to spend the day with the people I love most!

I've been seeing these cute mailboxes on the internet and really wanted to make some for Max and Emmy but didn't want to pay $4 for them. One day when we were killing time at the DI, I found these for 50 cents a piece! I decorated them so that we can pull them out throughout the year if we want, not just on Valentine's Day. Max is at such a fun age for stuff like this and was so excited to open his mailbox and see the treats he got.

For love of the Fancy Dress!

I took Max with me to the fabric store tonight, just him and me. While we were there, he found this "Fancy Dress" in the Simplicity catalog and fell in love. I don't know what it is with this little boy and sparkly, shiny, frilly dresses!! He just loves them! It is all the more amusing to me because he is ALL BOY in every other way imaginable. All he wanted to do was stare at this dress and kept asking me if we could buy it for him to wear. On the one hand, I wanted to laugh pretty bad, but I was trying to respond in an "appropriate" way. Whatever that is. Anyone have any ideas?

When it was time to leave, he told the dress goodbye and then called out to the employees to leave the book open to the Fancy Dress while we were gone. When we got home after running to another store, he proceeded to tell Jeff about the Fancy Dress and how he wants to buy it and wear it to church. As I was tucking him into bed he told me, "Mom, I want to go to sleep and wake up and get the Fancy Dress." Hmmm. We'll see.

My grown up boy

Well, my big boy Max turned three on Thursday. Since we had already celebrated his and Emmy's birthdays on Saturday we didn't do anything big on his actual birthday. I tried to make up for this by making sure he had a special day. The night before, I told him the story about how he came to our family before he went to bed. On his birthday we made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, took Grandpa Marc out to lunch, ordered a pizza for dinner and Max got his very own little cake from the store that was just for him. (It was really just a cupcake, but he loved it!) I tried to show him how to hold up three fingers, but it proved to be a little difficult! He also got to open more presents. He got a GeoTrax zoo from Grandpa Marc and Grandma Sharon, which he has been carrying all over the house and sleeping with, and some remote control cars from Grandma Nancy that he loves driving and crashing into everything and everyone.

I've been trying to think about what to say about our Circus Maximus and have had a hard time putting my thoughts into words. Max has always had kind of a difficult personality for me to handle. I'm not saying he's a bad kid, he just has so much ENERGY and is so STUBBORN. It seems like we spend all day sometimes butting heads. (I personally think a big part of this is because we have similar personalities and we both want to do things OUR WAY.) But on the other hand, he can be so sweet. He gives the best hugs and has always been very affectionate and cuddly since he was a baby. He's also at an age where he does and says the funniest things.



As I was looking over the last three years of pictures I couldn't believe how much Max has grown and changed in the short time that he has been in our family. It is amazing to me how much LOVE you feel for your children as a parent. I believe it is something that you can only understand through personal experience. Max has helped me learn and grow so much. I love you Max! You have given my life a deeper and richer meaning and purpose than I could ever imagine and I am so excited to be able to watch you learn and grow!

I can't believe she's 1!!

Our little Emily turned one yesturday. I can't believe that she is already a year old, yet I also can't believe that she has only been a part of our family for one year. She has the cutest personality. She loves to growl when she's happy and is always trying to imitate me lately, whether I'm doing actions to a song or covering my mouth to sneeze. She loves putting things on her head, especially kitchen towels. She loves dancing and singing and above all she loves her mom. She is just such a sweet heart and I'm so excited to see her personality really start to develop this next year. We love you, Goose, and are so happy to have you in our family!

Emily at three days

Emily at three weeks