Christmas Break!

The days are flying by so fast! Let me update you on a few things we have been up to this last week. Christmas Eve we went to Zoo Lights with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa David.

Yesterday we drove up just north of Paysen to play in the snow. Doesn't Max look cute in snow bibs?

We pulled off the side of the road past Christopher Creek where it looked good for sledding. There was another family there with twin girls that Maggie played with. The dad took this picture of us.

Sean didn't want to sled at first, but after Maggie and Glen went down a few times, he was ready to give it a try.

He loved it! Sean and I went down a bunch of times.

Our Christmas was good. Favorite presents include Sean's tricycle, Maggie's Batik game (see video below), my bread machine and various cookbooks, and Glen's snake light. Sean loves to put all his little trucks in the back of the tricycle and ride around. Maggie loves this game below. We have played it about 30,000 times. I still have the throw the game for her to win, but that is what happens when your mom is a math teacher. She is starting to learn how to use up her big pieces first and save the small ones for the end game.

Today has been remarkably calm. Maggie has played by herself in her room with her new toys for long stretches and Sean has been nice to Max. I'm making my second loaf of bread with the bread machine, this time trying kamut flour to see if I can get a loaf a little less dense than the last one. Max and Sean are currently napping, Glen is outside playing with his frisbees and Maggie is playing with her dollhouse. Time for me to go play too...

Are you ready for Santa?

The key to surviving the pre-holiday crazies has been divide and conquer. Glen and Sean versus Maggie, Max, and Mom. Sean and Glen have taken numerous drives and visited Grandma a lot these last few days, while the rest of us have been at home. I've been wrapping, cooking, cleaning and nursing while Max mostly sleeps and Maggie mostly watches holiday movies on tv. One day until Christmas and maybe life will calm down after that. (Yipes!)

When the whole family is together, its best to stay active so no-0ne has a chance to bug, hit, annoy, scratch, grab, or bite anyone else. Here we are on A-mountain in downtown Tempe. Sean walked all the way up and down despite Glen bringing the backpack. I carried Max in the front carrier. Maggie ran up and down like 4 times in the span of our ascent. That girl has so much energy. The only time I have seen her tired is after a 12 hour day at Disneyland.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Pre-Holiday Crazies

I think the title of this post says it all. The kids are wound up! Help!!

Brrrrrrr!

Its been cold here. A little rainy, but not much. We've all had to break out our sweaters. Here is Maggie sporting the red sweater I crocheted her earlier this year. She looks like a little Christmas elf with her green corduroys on.


I finally finished a sweater I've been working on for Max. It came out a little misshapen and definately too big.
So I was taking it off and putting it away for next year when Sean spotted it and said he would wear it. Its too short in the trunk for him, but he loves it. He wore it all day. His belly button peaks through when he is standing.

We had a busy weekend. Friday night we went to the train park and saw the Christmas Lights. It was opening night so we stood in line to see Santa too. Sean was a little wary but was won over by a candy cane. He absolutely loves the trains.

Saturday night we went to the marina and watched the boats light up and head out onto the lake for the Tempe boat parade. We didn't actually stay for the parade as Glen had to go chaperone the Christmas dance so we had to head home. But I think we saw enough to get the idea. The parade didn't happen at the marina, but on the other side of the lake down by the bridges. I think it was more fun being at the marina because we could watch all the action.

Soccer Tournament and Xmas Trees

Maggie had her soccer tournament on Saturday. 4 Games in a row. Ugh! I went home using the baby escape but Glen and Sean powered through. Maggie's team won the overall tournament thanks to one boy on the team who is a soccer champ. So we are done with that now until next season. (Maggie is in black on the left with the ball)



Saturday night we had dinner out at Bostons. I had a 25 dollar off coupon that I bought for 2 dollars. It was great! Sean slurped up his maccaroni and Maggie lost her tooth while biting into her fettuncini. Her tooth didn't seem loose enough to fall out from a soft noodle. Oh...that reminds me...I had better go be the tooth fairy.... Ok I'm back. Maxwell was a big boy in the restaurant and sat in the high chair.

Afterwards, we went to our favorite tree lot at the local nursery and picked out a noble fir. The guy said he cut it himself and brought it all the way from Corvallis! It was a lot cheaper than our standard tree because its more of a Charlie Brown type Christmas tree. Its not quite symmetrical and a little blobby on one side, but you can't tell with all the decorations on it. The guy said it was a "number 2 tree" as opposed to the "premium" tree's on the lot. It was pretty nippy that night so we felt like we were really in the mountains (as long as you ignored all the noise from the generators which kept their lights on...) It was 8 o clock by the time we got home, so we decorated the next day.

Sean is pretty excited by the "mis mis lights".

Soccer Trophy

Maggie's soccer team had a party at Peter Piper Pizza tonight. This weekend is the tournament. You keep playing until you lose. I am secretly hoping they lose early, but the coach wants everyone to bring a lunch because he thinks they can "go all the way". Yipes! Everyone got a participation trophy. Maggie wants to bring hers to school so she can show her friends. We compromised on her bringing in a photo of her holding the trophy. So this is the photo.

Maxwell is going very well. He is starting to sit up pretty well. Still needs a backup pillow (or mom) behind him for when he flops over while reaching for toys, but he is getting there. We also call him "Mr Roll-ee" as he will roll all over the living room floor. Sean thinks its hilarious when Mawell's leg flops into his train track set up. But not so funny if his foot knocks a train off the track. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving

We had quite a feast. I gave Max a few peas to play with while we ate.


He tried, but none actually made it to his mouth.


I did save some sweet potatoes for him, so maybe we will give that a try over the weekend. He is 7 months old! I'm not ready for him to be eating!

Maggie was happy to have Carbon over. (We all were)

Sean suprized everyone by eating the sweet and sour cabbage and the spaghetti squash. He didn't eat anything else though, except the olives.

Sean seems to be over his fear of Grandpa.

Survived the dentist...

Maggie had her teeth cleaned a few weeks ago and today she had a cavity filled. She was NOT happy about it, but somehow we made it through. The good news is she did not have any cavities in her permanent teeth which means our flouride treatment is working. The bad news is that her 6 year old molars haven't fully erupted so we can't put sealants on them yet. Hopefully they will make it through to our next checkup in May. In the mean time, Maggie is faithfully brushing her teeth in the hopes that she will not have any cavities next time.

Tonight Maggie helped me make the pumpkin pie for tomorrow. And I just popped the apple pie in the oven. The house is still a wreck and will perhaps remain that way. At least the Thanksgiving tablecloth will look pretty. Now its time to do some mainainance on my pc...

Nice day for a walk.

Sometimes I forget that my camera has "movie mode" until Maggie reminds me to take a movie of her.

Train Park

Our first family picture with all 5 of us! I know, its not the greatest, but its a start. Thankyou to the guy sitting in front of us on the train.

Sean's favorite thing to do on the playground is still swinging. It makes it very easy to keep track of him. Poor Maxwell has a runny nose and the chilly 65 degree air made it worse. By the time we got home, his face was all red like he had been out in the snow. I guess the acid from the nose mucous plus all his drool is irritating his sweet little face.

After school fun!

The kids were so busy after school today. From playdoh, to arts and crafts, to blocks, to face painting. They were so busy that they (shock) were able to sit still at dinner and actually eat! Max and I just kicked back and watched the whirlwind around us.

Quotes from the day.

"Sisters are for loving, not for hitting." -Me, Glen
"Uh oh, now you have milk in your sausage" -Me (after Sean dumps his milk onto his plate)
"I want to wipe it" -Sean (Discussing the milk on his sausage)
"Don't throw your trains at Maggie. Throw them into the toy bin!" -Me
"Yes Maggie, you have to wash your hair." -Me
"We'll clean your room tomorrow." -Me
"Daddy killed a rat in the garden." -Maggie (A rat??? Yipes!)
"Mommy, theres poopy on my fingers" -Sean
"I have monster book" - Sean (Wanting to read his favorite, "Where the Wild things are")
"I'll never lose this!...Oops" -Maggie, reliving her favorite line from the movie "Up"
"I think we had better go to Chuckbox for dinner" -Glen

Up

Maggie's school had "Family Movie Night" tonight. So we packed everyone up and headed out. I wasn't sure how Sean would do. He isn't really into watching tv or movies, but they were showing it outside on the playground so I figured he could play on the swings (which he did). Once I bought him some popcorn though, he settled down on the blanket next to Maggie and ate and watched the movie. Max fell asleep. A good time was had by all. The movie was really good too. It was called "Up" and about an elderly man trying to live the dream his wife and he always had but never got around to. I'd definately recommend it. Tomorrow we have a soccer game and a birthday party, but otherwise, a nice slow weekend.

Veteran's Day

So all the kids' schools were closed today, and Glen and I had to work. Well, I decided to take the day off and I took the kids to the Tempe Veteran's Day parade. The big parade is in Phoenix. The one is Tempe is mostly girl scouts, shriners, and highschool marching bands. There were more people in the parade than watching it, but we had a great time.


Despite Sean's expression here, he was very happy at the parade. Especially when the police motorcycles drove by and the brownies handed him TONS of candy.


Look how grown up Maggie looks here! In the car on the way home, Maggie said "This is how you spell Jeep; J...e...e...p. Do you know how I know? Its right here." WHen I glanced at her, I expected her to be pointing to a sign outside, but she was pointing to her headband. At the stoplight, she showed me a fuzzy blue headband than Grandma Carolyn used to wear. I hadn't realized she was wearing it. I guess she had been exploring my box of past hair paraphenalia. So her next question was why the word Jeep was on her headband, so I told her how that was Grandma's camp name, and how Grandpa use to drive a jeep. She was very interested in it.

Sean had fun with playdoh today. And Maggie had fun watching the new "Electric Company" on PBS.

We had a fun day. We just missed Glen as he actually went to work today.

Pumpkins and Cranberries

Maggie and I decided that two holiday foods, pumpkins and cranberries, should be enjoyed more and not saved for only Thanksgiving. So, we made pumpkin pancakes this morning. Even Sean liked them. They are more dense and hearty than regular ones. We added extra spice to make it more fun. Maggie was also quite thrilled that I let her flip the pancakes over in the pan. For dinner, Maggie made cranberry sauce to go with our roasted chicken. I didn't help her at all, except to tell her the recipe. She washed the cranberries, put everything in the pot, and cooked and stirred them to perfection. Maggie is becoming quite useful in the kitchen. Sean's contribution to dinner was helping to open and eat the can of olives. Holiday foods have come early this year.

On the menu for later this week includes cranberry and peanut butter sandwiches as well as pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies (yet to be made). Yum!

Happy Halloween!

The most frightening thing about our Halloween this year was that we didn't have a pumpkin until 4pm today! Scary! We went to 5 stores before we found some.

Maxwell's Sweater

Its done! And it fits! Well, I had to roll up the sleeves and its a little snug around the tummy, but who needs to button all the buttons in Arizona anyways? It has a really nice texture. I'm pretty pleased considering the fiasco of my last attempt. :)

Busy Day

We started out early with an 8 a.m. start time for Maggie's soccor game. Glen cheered from the sidelines proudly wearing the team color (black) while Sean, Max and I went to the playground to swing. Afterwards, Maggie changed out of cleats into sandals and we headed to the Hall of Flame for their big party. They were giving rides in some of the old fashioned firetrucks around the block with sirens wailing. They had some parked outside the kids could climb all over. THere were also modern firetrucks, police cars, helicopters, and forest service trucks. And there were lots of games and goodie bags and kids were dressed up in Halloween attire (although we weren't). Maggie even won a box of donut holes at a cake walk which was good because Glen and I didn't have time for breakfast as we were rushing out the door that morning.

Sean was a little nervous. He stuck to us like glue and didn't want anything to do with going inside any of the trucks. We were a little suprised by that since trucks are right up his alley. But I think all the horns, and sirens, and water and character mascots running around made him a little cautious. He warmed up about the time it was to go home.

Here is Glen pumping water so Maggie can put out a "fire".

Here is Glen chatting up the helicopter pilot, asking him all sorts of aviation specific questions.

Here is the airforce fire truck watering the desert beside the museum. Maggie was impressed by the rainbow all the water created.

We had a good time. After the excitement, we came home for nap. We had tried to meet up with a friend at the Hall of Flame, but they weren't able to make it. However, she invited us to their school's Halloween Carnival. Maggie didn't need much persuading! Here she is decked out as Cleopatra.

Sean, on the other hand, was a little grumpy we drug him out of nap (at 4 pm!!!) in order to cram him into a Halloween costume that is tooooo small. This is the only picture I was able to get of him as a NASA astronaut (or rocket boy as we called him). I'll be sure to do better on Halloween.

Lots of fun at the carnival. Maggie went through the Haunted House and played all the games. Sean pretty much hung out on the school's swing set. Maxwell slept. I think everyone will sleep in tomorrow.