Mr. Max

Our Christmas decorations are located on the highest shelf in the garage. In order to retrieve them for use, one must climb a very tall, very high ladder; then pull the huge totes off the shelf and balance them all the way down the ladder. I know what you are thinking-no I did not fall off the ladder...I am not that clumsy. But I did happen to drop one of my precious totes!

As I was pulling one of my Christmas totes from the shelf I realized that I had gotten myself pinned between the tote and the garage door railing. The tote couldn't move because it was wedged between me and the shelf. As I was trying to maneuver myself around the railing and the tote... my Christmas tote slipped from my hands. First it hit the shelf next in line, then it bounced off of some boxes Charlie has stacked up, then into our wheel barrow and onto the cement garage floor! It all seemed to happen in slow motion and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

So there I was standing on top of my ladder looking down at this tote hoping upon hope that there wasn't anything I truly loved in there (nativity scene). Then in the background I hear, "Wow Mom! I closed my eyes for that!" I turned around to see Max standing in doorway, eyes as big as saucers. All I could say was "Me too." Max then followed with: "Good Job, Mom." I thought he was being sarcastic..then he continued "Good job getting those down so fast. That was real fast!" Too funny, thank you Little Man! He always knows when I need him the most. (It wasn't my nativity-and can you believe that only one thing broke! Some wings broke off an angel-SUPER GLUE!)

As I was snuggling Max at bedtime tonight he was asking me questions about living with Heavenly Father before he came here to be my baby. It was so great to have a such a loving and meaningful conversation with him (as meaningful as any conversation can get with a 3 year old). When our conversation ended I climbed out of his bed and I felt good-I was proud that he 'gets it,' it was a good Mom moment for me. Then as I headed out the door I heard, "Mom, why is pee yellow?" WHAT?! Thanks again Max. :) Just when I thought I had you figured out!

GO POKES!

A few weekends ago we took Max and Kaysie to their first UW Football game. Max absolutely loves to watch football on TV, so we really thought he'd have a great time. Charlie and I were a little excited too, we haven't been back to Laramie since we graduated a few years ago.

We (I mean Charlie) decided to leave at 5 am and drive straight to the game. We had hoped that our little ones would sleep most of the way-like I said we hoped. I think Max slept for maybe an hour...he was way too excited. We sat through Wyoming's beating we didn't realize that they weren't even going to score ONE point against the "stinking BYU guys." (Max's quote) After sitting through a terrible game and great weather we went to our hotel for a quick nap.

Max thought our hotel was a "beautiful house," he wanted to stay there "for lots of long times." After our very quick rest we headed back to campus to take in a UW Basketball game. Thank you Cowboys for getting at least one win for us! Max and I spent almost the entire first half of the basketball game chasing Pistol Pete down. Charlie thought we were hilarious-he said he'd watch us pop out of an entrance tunnel just in time to see Pistol Pete moving to the next section. Max kept telling me I wasn't going fast enough-so we ended up running a few times. By the time we tracked Pistol Pete down he was right in front of our seats! We could have just waited patiently at our seats and still have met him. (but then I wouldn't have been put in the running for Mom of the Year! ;) It made Max's whole weekend-he enjoyed meeting Pistol Pete far and above anything else we did.

Go Pokes! Great win last weekend-let's do it again!!!

Happy (Belated) Halloween!

I know it's a little late but I couldn't let Halloween get too far in the past without saying Happy Halloween to everyone...Halloween is Max's favorite holiday so we were kept pretty busy. Here are my excited Trick-or-Treaters

Here are the final results of our yearly Pumpkin Carving Contest. Charlie's turned out so neat that Max (once again showing that he is a fair weather fan) ditched our pumpkin and claimed Charlie's!

Kaysie Jo

Little Miss Kaysie is growing so fast I think I can actually see it! I wanted to share a few of her great highlights....

Kaysie loves, loves, loves eating food! In fact the only way you could possibly understand, (or truly appreciate) her love for food is by watching her eat! She is definitely taking after her Mommy!

Her love of food brings me to my next point:

At Kaysie's four month check up I was told that she is in the 50th percentile for height and 30th for weight. Her stats: 12.1 pounds and 25 inches long! Most of you reading this might not see that as anything spectacular but to us little people it is incredible. Max was never above the 3rd percentile for anything-ever.

A few weeks ago Little Miss started to get her two bottom teeth! I know what you are thinking.."she is only four months old, she can't possibly be getting teeth." Wrong-she got them and they are sharp! My baby girl never, never cries and one Sunday afternoon I could not get her to stop..ta da teeth! Poor thing. Max never hurt when his teeth came through and they came so fast. Kaysie's took a whole week to pop through, and it was pretty painful for her. Isn't it amazing that two people can be so much alike, come from the same place and still be complete opposites? Max and Kaysie seem so much alike and yet everything about them and each milestone has been completely different.

Kaysie loves her brother and is already trying play with him. She doesn't fully understand that she is too little to try crawling. She can't support her body yet, so she tries "worming" or rolling across the floor to catch him.

Like I said she is growing soooo fast!

Game Day!

This is what my family was up to last weekend.

My husband got the kids dressed after I bathed them...Go Redskins! You should have seen the proud Daddy! (I had to put a bow in Kaysie's hair, without it she looked a little like a boy!)


During the game the Redskins started to lose and Max took his jersey off. Charlie was teasing him and trying to get him to put it back on..after a while Max got up and stopped watching the game. Charlie's teasing continued..Charlie finally said, "Max, Kaysie is still watching the game." Max's comeback: "Yeah, cuz she can't walk!" SNAP! I thought I was going to bust my gut I was laughing so hard! In other words if Kaysie could have walked, she would have walked right out of there.


Later in the game the Redskins started to win and my fair weather fan decided he'd put his jersey back on. :)

Why?

"Why?" is a word-or in Max's case; a phrase that I hear about 200 times a day...
I have gotten so used to hearing "why" all day long that I don't really notice it-I answer and then we move on to another "why". The other day my brother spent a few hours with Max, by the end of the day Devin said, "Why do you say "why" all the time?" (It was driving him crazy!) Max looked right at him and said, "Because I don't know." DUH Devin! Pretty simple!

As I was driving Max to school yesterday, we passed the sugar beet piles. He started asking me questions about the beets; what they are for, what they do with them, can we eat them, are they good, etc. He asked questions for what seemed like forever and then when he was satisfied with this new information he just said, "Oh, I didn't know that."

These two conversations with my little man were pretty priceless. They were very simple-so I had to write them down, I didn't want to forget them.

September 15th

For the last 3 years September 15th has been a very special day-it is my nephew Hudson's birthday. This year not only did we get to celebrate Hudson's birthday but we got to welcome my baby brother home! He just served a two year mission for the LDS church-he was in Roseville California (welcome back to Wyoming! You missed it didn't you?!).

We started our day by partying at Chuck E Cheeses-thanks for inviting us and sharing your birthday with us Hudson!

The boys had a blast!

The boys thought Kaysie needed a ride too

This is my favorite picture- Hudson was having way too much fun so Cari had to climb up and join in!

After convincing the boys to leave we headed for the airport....

My camera happy Dad

The Family

Here the boys are- waiting...

waiting,

and waiting!

And finally.....

Hugs from the Momma!

Loves from Dad!

The boys and Uncle Devin!