Dad's Birthday

Sunday was big Max's birthday! 

We let him sleep in (until 8).

Then we made him apple cinnamon pancakes and sausage.

Then we let him go climbing with his friends.

While the kids took their afternoon naps, Mom made a homemade French Silk pie (Dad's request).

When the kids got up, we had some fun crawling around in the playroom:

We had salmon, cheesy bread and veggies for dinner.

Then, we enjoyed mom's French Silk pie -- mmmmm. That was delicious!

Sticky Tongue

We love doing Zoo class -- not only because I work there and I know that it is a quality offering -- but also because lil Max thoroughly enjoys it and gets a lot out of it.

This week we did Snakes and Chameleons.  We made chameleon costumes, decorated pet snakes, and got to catch 'flies' with our 'chameleon tongues'.

Afterwards, we walked to the Aquatic and Reptile Center and met up with a zookeeper and a ball python.  The snake's name was Janice.  This tickled Max.  He still talks about Janice and asks me how she is doing.

When we got home, we had to show daddy just how to catch flies with our tongue:

I have a video too, but it is still uploading, so you'll have to wait for that one....

Some fun Videos

I realized that I haven't posted any new videos lately of the boys.  Well, I think I post more videos of Max than I do of Sam...so this post should solve BOTH of these problems :)

1) Riding the 'beep beep'.  Always a favorite toy of Max's, we recently started putting Sam on this toy...and he LOVES it!

2)  Army crawling.  It might be slow, but it gets him places.  Today he discovered the kitchen....

3)  Mr. Underwear Head.  You've seen him before in photos...but now you can HEAR him too...

Sam - 11 months

ONE more month until the big ONE!!!  Holy cow, this past year has gone by fast!!!

What a doll face.  Seriously, this child is a sweetheart. 

 He's got a really fun personality.  He knows when to stick up for himself (a good thing with his older brother) and when just to be chill and laid back.

 Month 11 has brought on the moving...from butt scoots to army crawls (still not hands and knees) to rolling all over the place.  I guess it doesn't really matter HOW you get there...as long as you get there, right?

 See?  Assertive.  Stinker.

 But so sweet...how can I resist?

 This picture just cracks me up.  He's like...hello there, Crocodile...how are you?  And then when he reaches down to touch it...so gentle....

Dude, mom.  I warned you.  Get out of my mug....

Awww...I pushed too hard, I guess.  How is it possible that he's still so adorable...even when he's crying?  :)

Phone Dump (Feb-March)

Here are some pictures from my phone from February and the first half of March. Enjoy!

Major snowstorm in February left us with nearly 2 feet of snow overnight.  Can you find the hidden furnance vent?  Nope -- me either.  It took some trouble shooting to figure out why the heat wouldn't turn on...

 See it now? Had to shovel it out!

  We don't normally make a habit of celebrating Valentine's Day.  We both feel it is too much of a 'Hallmark' holiday.  I think we'd both rather say that EVERY day should be like Valentine's day...

.  But, we made a little special effort that night and had this delectable selection of sushi after the kids went to bed.



 With some martinis, of course!

 One of Max's favorite 'stay busy' activities -- sorting beans.  Which also morphs into scooping beans, spilling beans and eventually cleaning up beans from EVERYWHERE.

 Earlier in February, Max took a spill while in the gym and knocked his front teeth.  They thought one of the teeth had mobility, so we went to the Dentist to get an x-ray of his teeth to make sure there wasn't any damage.  Everything looked good, and lil Max was so excited to see a 'picture' of his teeth.  I was so proud of him climbing up into the chair like a brave little boy!

 Show me your teeth!

 Eating some celery, little Max turns to me and says "Look at me, Mom!  I'm a warthog!" (We've been reading Jungle Drums at night, and the main character is a little warthog)

 Sam wanted to try some celery too...

 Mom shops too much at amazon.com.  But, the boxes are awefully fun to play with (and in).

 Happy Sam.  Even more happy when eating.  :)

 Making Grumpy Morning faces...

How could I resist a "McCutie" onesie?  We had "McBaby", "McDuex" and now our "McCutie".  (Nevermind we had to get the onesie all the way from Utah because everyone around us sold out too quickly....)

And there you have it!  My phone dump from Feb-March! 

Passed Out

The lights were on full brightness and I flashed the camera in his face several times without him waking up.  I actually had to sit next to him and gently shake him awake.  That is seriously passed out.

Why doesn't this happen on the weekends?

Damn Murphy and his LAW.

Bubble Bath Fun

Those of you that know me well know that I don't like to sit still and that I'm always DOING something.  Well, it seems that as a result of that, our days are NEVER boring.  We are always DOING something or LEARNING something...even if we are doing it snuggled up on the couch.  With the warm weather starting (please oh please stay!), it means we will be able to get outside more and play and get dirty.  We ALL can't wait...this winter has brought on MAJOR cabin fever.  I think we've all had our fill of playing and sorting beans, indoor science experiments, fort building, playing in boxes, coloring, playdoh, letter tracing, cutting, baking, etc.  And that's just scratching the surface of our indoor 'projects'. 

Today, since it was still relatively 'warm' and sunny when we got home, we played outside.  Sam had crashed on the 2 min drive home and was already so deeply asleep he didn't wake from the transition from  car seat to crib...in fact, he didn't even wake as I took his coat off of him...  This meant that lil Max and I had plenty of time to enjoy the brisk spring like air.  It was heavenly!  We blew bubbles, used sidewalk chalk, and explored the half melted snowman still left in the front yard...  It was great.  We have dreams of 'decorating' the yard (pruning bushes and cleaning up the yard in Max speak), planting the garden, watching flowers bloom and planting more flowers.  Those dreams will have to wait a little bit longer...

While we wait, we will continue to have fun indoors.  Sometimes, its something as simple as a bubble bath!  We have a pretty set bedtime routine in our house.  We all like knowing what comes next and it makes it pretty easy to round up two kids and get them in bed before 7:30.  We usually eat dinner together, play a little bit, then head up for our bubble bath.  Max and Sam still take a bath together and enjoy each other's company in the tub.  Some nights, we have more bubbles than others....

Both boys really enjoying having bubbles in the tub and splashing and playing in there.  Sometimes I get the warning from little Max that "Sam's too close to me, Mom!"  because Sam is sneaky and likes to slide closer and closer to little Max during bathtime.  I tell Max this is because Sam loves him and wants to be close to him (but it's really because Sam is eyeing up whatever toy Max is playing with and is trying to figure out how he can steal it from him)!  :)

Max was very into having a bubble beard.  I think he wanted to pretend he was Santa Claus..

There is a very precise methodology for applying a bubble beard.  Let me tell you! I think I finally have it perfected...see for yourself:

Cute, no?  He kinda looks like a smurf!  :)

Music Maker

Sam has always been a fan of rhythm, music, and making noise. He also loves to dance, but that's a video for another day... I love how proud he is of himself in this video...so cute!!!

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Improvising

When you can't find your Nuk...




...the rubber ducky will do....

Exhausting

Trying to take pictures of two wriggly wiggly boys is exhausting.  And HARD.  I give all those Pros out there MAJOR props for being able to do it, and do it WELL.  I, obviously, cannot.  See for yourself....

February Resolutions/Goals Update

Time for my monthly post to keep me accountable on my 2011 Resolutions/Goals.  It was a very busy month...not only socially, but also mentally and physically.  There has been a LOT going on in my mind this month...

There has also been a lot of snuggling going on...

Resolutions/Goals:


1. Lose 10 lbs - last month I was -1 pound.  This month, I am +2 pounds.  So, that makes me +1 cumulative for the year. 

I should be disappointed, or at the very least pissed off.  But, I have come to terms with it.  My weight was ALL OVER the place this month.  I know that because I was compulsively jumping on the scale almost every day (if not more).  THAT needs to stop because, quite frankly, it isn't healthy. 

So, you ask -- how did you come to terms with this?  What was different between last month and this month?  My eating habits didn't change -- if anything I became more aware of what I was putting in my mouth (thank you SparkPeople) and I have made a conscious effort to cut out sweets from my diet. 

So why did I gain weight and not lose it?  Well, the answer is somewhat confusing -- it is because I started working out.  You see, before I had Sam I was pretty regularly running...and even before winter started I had picked back up my Couch to 5K program.  Then winter came and I dropped EVERYTHING.  I lost a ton of muscle mass.  I was down to a weight even lower than pre-Sam (almost pre-Max but not quite).  So, the weight I lost wasn't actually losing fat, per se, I was losing muscle.

Bring on the regular workout schedule -- I started using the EA Sports Active 2 program on our PS3.  I got the whole setup for FREE by having a houseparty.  I signed up for the 9 week program and am currently mid-way through week 5.  I thought it was going to be a wussy workout, but it is actually quite good!  I like how it mixes up the exercises for you and tracks your heart rate, calories burned and minutes exercised. 

According to EA sports, over the last month I have worked out 18 times in the last 28 days!  That is an average of 4.5 workouts a week!  And, that doesn't count the workouts that I did outside the EA Sports venue -- I took 3 yoga classes last month and took a few walks with the boys when it was nice outside.  According to EA Sports, the 18 workouts accumulated 3094 calories burned!  That breaks down to 773.5 calories a week, 172 calories a workout, or 110 calories a day.  Not bad.

I also decided to start taking measurements -- waist, hips, thighs, arms.  I had a notebook I was keeping track of such things in that has measurements dating back to 2006 (pre-max).  I am happy to report that my measurements are almost the same as they were in 2006!  Now to improve!!  :)
2. Run a 5K - all this hard work working out is going to pay off when I sign up for my first 5K.  I am hoping to find one in April/May (not too cold, not too hot) and maybe even a friend to keep me motivated!!

3. Move  - we are still waiting on some information regarding this one (come ON, people!).  Regardless, we will probably be listing the house this year -- or maybe next year.  I am waiting to see how some houses around us that were on the market did first.  We are also pretty specific on WHERE we want to purchase, so we are keeping our eyes peeled for new houses on the market.  If something were to pop up, it would definitely make us move faster...but since there is nothing out there right now, there is no rush.  In the meantime, we are continuing to make improvements to the house.

4. Re-learn how to sew - I have definitely slacked on this one this month.  I need to go 'borrow' my mom's sewing machine (aka take it hostage).

5. Re-learn how to knit  -  another resolution that has fallen off the radar so far....will pick this one up later.

6. Re-do the blog  - I am still in the information collection stage of this one...

7. Teach little Max to read  - This one I am not too concerned about.  If it doesn't happen, I can't be upset...it is not something I want to push.  I should rephrase this one to be more like 'work with little Max on his pre-school skills' or something.  We've been working on letter sounds and just this week he has been telling me things like "Tub...T starts with Tub" (yes, it should be Tub starts with T little dyslexic boy)...but he's been right on with all of his backwards observations!

8. Make one homemade/handmade crafty a month - February was a very crafty month.  In addition to our Valentine's Day crafts, I also made some progress on Sam's birthday crafties, some ribbon Christmas trees, a photo wall, etc.  I don't have all my stuff together tonight, so I will have to post a "February Crafties" post later...

9. Blog at least once a week  - Success!

10. Purge the house one room at a time  - this month there wasn't a room, per se, that was purged -- more like an overall house purging. I have made it a goal to add a pile of stuff to the goodwill pile in the basement, and it has gotten large enough that I will need to fill up my trunk with the goods this weekend.  I can't say I was too good about not buying more stuff this month...there were too many good deals to be had.  Next month I'll be better...I promise!  :)

11. BREATHE  - such an AWESOME reminder for me for this year.  It helps SO much.  It also helps to remind myself to pick my battles carefully...as Mr. Underwear Head reminded me...if it won't hurt anyone, it is NOT worth fighting over.

How are YOU doing on your 2011 goals/resolutions?