Merry Christmas!

We hope you are having a wonderful Christmas!

Max Loves ME!

I know that Max loves me and here are a few reasons why...

Not only does he spend a lot of time finding pretty rocks and flowers just for me (You should see my rock collection!) he loves to watch commercials for things to make my day easier.

As I was cooking:

"Mom, do you want me to get you that Perfect Brownie Pan? It cuts them for you and you can't burn the brownies!"

As I was cleaning the toilets:
"Mom you should get those scrubbing guys they do all the work for you. You just put one dot on the inside of the toilet and you can be done!"

As I was loading the diaper bag: 

"Mom for Christmas I want to get you the Kangaroo Bag. No more 'digging or dumping' to find your stuff!"

As we were discussing why there was a bleach stain on the towel. "You could get those square things (tide squares) to throw in the washing machine. They go right in and kill all the germs, then you don't have to use bleach."

Yep, he's got my back and believe it or not there are are even more commercials (according to Max) that are just for me!

He's already watching out for his Momma! Man I love him...he's been a little ornery this week so this was a much needed smile maker!

Where did he come from?

Yesterday Max was playing 'super hero squad,' running and jumping through the basement. I could hear him making all his super hero moves along with some yelling and grunting at the bad guys. This is a pretty common occurrence at our home which is often followed by Charlie and I questioning where Max came from and which one of us he takes after. ;)

What Max did next caught me completely off guard.

Max rounded the corner and said, "Mom, I wasn't saying ass, I was saying ahh."
Me: "What?"
Max: "I wasn't saying ass, I was saying ahh."
Me: "I don't want you to say that ever, not even to tell me that you didn't say it. Do you understand that isn't a nice word at all." 
(He said it so nonchalant, like it wasn't any big deal to say it if he was ratting himself out.)
Max: "Well....I didn't want to say it but my lungs made it come out."

What do you say to that? 

P.S. Thank you Transformers for that lovely word now in my son's vocabulary.

As I was putting Max to bed last night he asked if I could sing him "That Holly Jolly Song." (He's a little excited for Christmas already.)  After singing that and a few of his other Christmas requests I sang Santa Clause is Coming to Town. Just as I was finishing he said, "Mom! That made me remember that I need to be good. I remember that I need to talk nice to you... I should help pick up and help Kaysie with her stuff too!" Thank you Santa! I love this time of year.

Vegas

TCT was sending Charlie to Las Vegas for a training/conference and I didn't want to miss out on all the fun, so I invited myself - bought a plane ticket and off we went.  We were able to leave our little ones with Charlie's Mom and my parents for a few days! Thank you!

We left Friday afternoon and our stay would last through Tuesday evening. I was a little worried about being away from my kids for that long, I haven't left either one of them for that long before! Yikes! Charlie's second worry was what I was going to do all day while he was in meetings...SHOP!

We had a great time and because Calix (company that was hosting conference) was so generous to us we were able to take part in a lot of fun things.  When we arrived Friday night Charlie got a call saying that there were some Garth Brooks tickets not being used and would we be interested in them...Um, YES PLEASE. It's a great show, not really a concert though. He talks throughout the show telling about his life, growing up, why he wrote this song-where it came from, etc. He sings his songs along with the ones that influenced his music. If you have a chance to go see him in this show you really should. It was great. P.S. Mr. Brooks brought Trisha Yearwood out to sing a duet with him which she followed with a solo.

Scott and Bryan (very fun fellow TCT-ers)

Charlie and I waiting for the show to start

Saturday morning Calix hosted a golf tournament for the menfolk, or anyone who wanted to golf.  Anyone who didn't want to golf (the wives) got treated to a day at the Wynn Spa. Yep, you read that right! That was great. My massage was so great that I had to follow my relaxing spa day with a nap! My body was like jello!

Saturday night after dinner at BB Kings House of Blues, Charlie and I headed through town. The last time we were in Vegas I really, really wanted to go to the wax museum and we didn't make it. It was first on my list this time and man I thought it was great! I think my favorite part was that Charlie thought I was a complete idiot... he gets so embarrassed! Did you know that they make these wax figures exactly like the real person using the same body measurements? Let's just say my love for Johnny Depp has faded somewhat.

     

Charlie refusing to have fun

Wait, he's starting to smile....

There it is! Charlie's having fun! WOO HOO!



Is there anything else in Max's
world besides golf and Spider-man?

These two pictures were taken especially for Max



 

These guys are a lot bigger than you think!!!

Sunday night after Charlie finished up with his classes Calix got us into the "hottest night club in Vegas" - Tryst. Not only did they get us in, they got great entertainment for us! They hired a group called The Rat Pack. They were great and they sounded so much like the original guys, it was so fun! 

Sorry this pic was taken with a camera phone

Monday I shopped till I dropped. Then I made a stop at Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. I thought that I'd better get some great pictures and souvenirs for my kiddos. I was really missing them! 

When Charlie was done with class, Calix once again got us into another night club. This one was called the Xs Night Club. They fed us a wonderful dinner and then got us into a show called Le Reve. It was a very impressive show...the performers started off on solid ground then it looked as if they were walking on water and before you knew it they were diving from 120 feet in the air into a pool of water. The floor constantly changed throughout the show!

 

When Tuesday rolled around we were really missing our kids and I think our kids were really missing us! By the time we got to the Vegas airport to head home I already had three messages from Max telling me to hurry up and get home. One message went something like this: "Mom, it's me Max. I really miss you and I love you. Tell the airplane driver to hurry fast to Cowley. I really miss you. I love you. Bye."  All this was said in a very, very sad tear filled voice-which of course made me cry. I couldn't get home fast enough! I should mention that at the end of day 1 we could no longer talk to Kaysie on the phone. The second she heard my voice or Charlie's she'd start crying. They really do love us!

Of course they had so much fun without us, I really don't think they missed us until they talked to us. I also think that by Tuesday Max had had so much fun he was just exhausted and that made him pretty homesick.

Thank you to all our family that helped out with our kids. Now that they have recovered from all the excitement they haven't stopped talking about all the fun things they did with you all! Thanks again!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween is Max's 'very most favorite holiday' so we got started a little early this year. Max thinks the scarier the better..in fact he really wanted to be a spooky bloody guy this year-but we decided it was in the best interest of his Pre-K classmates that he go as Iron Man instead.  Because Max likes spooky things he has this mask (he's had it since he was about 2!), no it isn't kept with the Halloween costumes - this is an everyday kind of item- this is toy box material.  Anyway...because Max loves Halloween so much he'd been wearing this lovely mask for a few days, until Kaysie got it. Then she wouldn't take it off! The only time it came off of her face was when she put it on Charlie's. 

Max had a great class party, they had lots of great Halloween activities to do and everyone looked so great in their costumes!

Max came home from his class party with a lot of goodies. One item was this great big popcorn ball that he wanted to share with Kaysie... for the next while this is what Kaysie looked like!

Another Halloween favorite for Max is carving pumpkins. This year Papa had one green pumpkin among all the orange in his garden and Max thought that was the neatest thing in the world. He decided he was going to make an Incredible Hulk pumpkin!

Introducing...THE INCREDIBLE HULK!

Kaysie enjoyed decorating her pumpkin too!

So did Charlie! He thinks he makes a better pumpkin than Max and I do-but this year I think Max and I took the Pumpkin Carving Title from him.

Trick or Treating!!!

 Iron Man, a.k.a. Tony Stark 

A very tired UW Cheerleader

Kaysie got a little excited when she realized we were off to get treats-this little girl loves food! She decided she needed two buckets for the candy!   

Our night came to an end when we hit Nana and Papa's house. My parents had been gone for 3 days and my kids acted like it had been a thousand!

Kaysie and Aunt Lauren ended the great weekend snuggling on the couch...Aunt Bug was tired from all the winning her team did this last weekend-they are the NEW VOLLEYBALL STATE CHAMPIONS!

Max and Hudson

We're riding in the car when Max starts talking from the backseat..."Why is Hudson my cousin?"  My reply: "Cari is my sister, so any of her kids will be your cousins.  It will be the same when Uncle Devin and Aunt Bug have kids they will be your cousins too-because they are also my brother and sister."  To which he says, "No. (pause) I think it's because God knew I'd love him so much that He made him my cousin."  Yep Buddy you got it! AWWW!  

 A few days after this wonderful conversation took place Cari got suckered into having a 'spend the night' with 'The Boys'.  (Cari and Jacob are the greatest-my kids love them so much. I do believe they make me seem pretty replaceable in the eyes of my children.)

This was going to be The Boys' very first sleep over together.  I don't know who was more excited the two little boys or Uncle Jake! hehe!

Jake and Cari had lots of fun things for the boys to do. I didn't hear a peep from Max all night or even early the next morning. In fact when I called to check on him and see if he was ready to come home I heard him tell Cari something along the lines of "Tell her not to come yet."  When I did show, somewhere close to NOON(!) he still didn't want to leave.

Max and Hudson can see each other every single day-and everyday it's the same greeting...like they haven't seen each other in years. I am so grateful for my family, for the way they love my kids. I know that my children are loved just as much in their homes as they are in our home. Thanks Cari.

A few notes...

This last week has been a crazy one. I had to be gone all day Tuesday and Wednesday. All I can say is thank goodness for my family!  My Mom was so great and watched my kids all day Tuesday and my awesome Sister watched them all day Wednesday. I had to leave so early that I had to drop my kiddos off in their pajamas and Mom and Cari were then in charge of getting my kids ready and getting Max to and from school.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate them-without their help I wouldn't have been able to go. Thanks so much! 

With that said I need to share a few things my kids learned over the two days without me....

Day 1
My Dad's favorite snack is cheese, he is always giving Kaysie snacks and those snacks include cheese.  Kaysie's new favorite word: (you guessed it) CHEESE!

Day 2
Anyone that knows my nephew Hudson knows that he wants to be a cowboy and loves to play 'guns.'  My daughter came home from Hudson's house and now pretends to shoot a gun. She says very softly "pow, pow" as she points at you. It cracks me up! Max doesn't really have an interest in toy guns unless he is playing with Hudson-but Kaysie has found a new favorite game.  She has shot us all at least hundred times over!

Before leaving my kiddos on Wednesday I had a chat with Max about being nice to Hudson, don't fight with Hudson, don't pick on Kaysie (they don't want her around them when they are playing-duh Mom), help Aunt Cari, etc, etc. When I picked my kids up I asked how everything went, Cari told me that Max and Hudson had a great time together. So Wednesday night as I was putting Max to bed I told him that I appreciated him being so good the last few days without me.  I then asked him if he really was good the whole time he was at Cari's house. (Max always snitches on himself)  He told me, "Well....Hudson wanted to fight but I said to him, my Mom said I'm not supposed to fight. So I didn't."  Haha! Like he really listens to what I say- 'cause it's always stopped him before. ;)

Go Wyo!

A couple of weekends ago we took our long awaited trip to watch the Wyoming Cowboys play football! We planned the trip a few months ago and Max's excitement has been growing and growing since then.  Every night as Max went to bed he asked "Are we going tomorrow?"  Finally the day arrived - we hopped in the car and took the long drive to Laramie.  Luckily we were able to go with some great friends, so our drive flew bye. 

Quiet a few restroom and snack stops later we made it!  The Pokes took on Boise State...I know it was a very sad, sad game.  Even with our horrible loss, Max still seemed to have the time of his life! He was cheering as loud as he could-too bad the Cowboys weren't listening. :(

Oh my heck! The funniest part of the entire trip was after the game.  We decided it would be fun to eat at Godfather's Pizza with the kids.  As we waited the kids found some of those toy vending machines. One of the girls put in a quarter and out came a fake mustache....we made Max put it on. I couldn't stop laughing, it matched the color of his hair exactly! I was laughing so hard I could hardly take the picture!

Looking back on it now, it isn't quiet as funny. Maybe it was because we had been in a car all day long-but it seemed so funny.

Before we headed home the next morning we decided to let the kids go swimming...not sure if that was a good or bad idea. I thought they would be completely exhausted-but they weren't. (I think it recharged them.)  They giggled and played the entire drive home! We had a great time, even though the Cowboys got smoked. 



Family Pictures

This summer went by so fast, we were so busy that we had to bail on our family photo session-without being able to find a time to reschedule...I started to get a little desperate-we haven't had a family photo done since Max was 2 and Kaysie hasn't had professional pictures done since she was a few weeks old! I decided to bug my Dad enough that he would shoot some family photos for us-we had such a fun time-and the best part is it only took 20 minutes, it was just a few blocks from our house AND he made us dinner too!

 

Here are some (I think he took somewhere around 150 pictures!) of the results:

Thanks DAD! Mom-Thanks too, you were an incredible 'smile maker'!