Christmas 2010

We had an amazing Christmas this year! At first I was a little sad because we didn't travel back to Massachusetts, but it ended up being great to spend the holiday in Sandpoint.



Max really enjoyed the tree! He was a great help to daddy as he sawed off the top of the tree so we could fit the star. Max was fun; for the weeks leading to Christmas, he'd got and point out the different ornaments on the tree .. Train! Plane! Red! Green! Fun stuff!

Christmas Eve


On Christmas Eve, we went and had a play date with our best friend, Chloe. It was lots of fun and the beginning of the present extravaganza.



No play date is complete without a little tea party.



Then we drew some nice pictures for Santa.

Christmas Morning


Max had a ball Christmas morning! It didn't take long for him to get into the swing of things and open presents. He did want to play with each gift right away which made for a looong time in opening. We had to take a little breakfast break at one point.






We LOVE Max's wild thing pajamas! He's quite funny roaring and stamping his claw feet.




Uncle Brian come over in the morning for some coffee and to share gifts with Max. Although, Max pretty much insists on helping everyone open their presents. Unwrapping is lots of fun.





Chrismtas stocking made by Auntie Becky was great. You can see Max sporting a fun tie dye shirt from Auntie Candy.



Christmas at Uncle Brian's House


We went to Brian's for Christmas dinner. It was great fun as Ami and Hadli were also there. Hadli really liked looking up to Max and following him around to see what he was up to. I think Max enjoyed being the "big kid" too.



Max showing Hadli how much fun playing on the stairs can be.


KISSES! This is the awesome face Max makes when he wants mama to give him kisses. Then ne yells, "no!" so I will chase him and tackle him with kisses. Too dang cute! Gets me every time.



Having fun being silly with Uncle Brian.



I also love that now, every picture of Max, has him holding a car of some sort in at least one hand.

Thank you!

Anyone who knows Max knows he still does lots of sign language in addition to his growing vocabulary. He was SOO sweet ... after every present ... he said and signed, "thank you!"

Playset - Aunt Becky - Halloween

There has been some great progress on the swing set. There is actually even more built than this picture shows. The slide is now up too! Just need swings and we're good to go! Max loves to play in his fort. He sometimes insists on having lunch there and even wants Daddy to join him. So cute! Needless to say, Grandpa gets HUGE props for such an amazing gift.

Max's Godmother, Aunt Becky, came to visit us! What a great blessing to have our dear friend spend a few day with the family. Of coarse, if Aunt Becky comes, presents come too. Sooo generous. And nothing perks Max up more than the word "presents"!

Max got some fantastic patagoina gear, a cool Dr. Sues puzzle and stuffed green monster. He was thrilled with all of it.

Max like sharing one of his favorite things to do with Aunt Becky ... coloring! She is such a good sport; she'll pretty much do or play with anything Max brings to her. Warms my heart to see them togehter. He's so lucky to have such an adoring Aunt.

Max love to throw rocks in the streams near our house. Aunt Becky would gather the rock for him to throw in the water. He could spend all day there if we let him. Becky probably would too! I love how the smallest things are of great interest.

On our way home from our walk, Max just wanted to hold Aunt Becky's hand. I think both of our hearts melted. Love when that little face looks lovingly up at you and grabs your hand. Love at its finest.

Halloween

We had this great Asian outfit hand me down from our friend Linda. He looked so cute all dressed up. I told people he was a child laborer in China!

There was a great party at Coldwater Creek for the little Creekers. Max was wired for sound and didn't sit still for 10 seconds. He had more fun in the fitness center playing with the balls than he did at the party!

We did get him in the party for a short time. He did some bouncing, but pretty much wasn't into playing with all the kids. Oh well.. sometimes the best laid plans just don't work out.

We went to the Children's museum in Spokane before we took Aunt Becky back to the airport. It was kinda lame, but Max enjoyed playing in the mud.

Making electricity with Daddy. ..... Aunt Becky and Mom went shopping!

Becky.... we love you more than words will ever express. THANK YOU for being such a cherished member of our family!

Puddle Stomping

A little rain never stops Max from wanting to play outside. Right before this soggy play time, Max was all upset because it was time to turn off Thomas the Train. But, I said, "rubber boots" and "puddles" ... and Max perked right up!

Max had a great time running around jumping in the puddles trying to make the biggest splash possible. His buddy, Bear, loved having Max to chase. Needless to say, the two of them were a soggy mess by the time puddle jumping was over. Mama looked pretty silly in the pouring rain taking pictures too. Our neighbors must just love us! LOL

Even with our fire engine red rubber boots, we were soaked to the bone! Max could have stayed outside all day. The fact that he was water logged didn't seam to bother him.


Hey Mama ...why don't you stomp in the puddles too. So, I got my rubber boots on and stomped around with Max. :)

Autumn is well underway and it is time to start pulling some stuff from the garden and moving to the compost pile. Needless to say, it involves digging and dirt .... Max is all over it!

A big shovel is no match for Max ... whatever Daddy does, Max wants to do too!

Dragging 10 foot sunflowers to the compost pile is Big Boy work! What a stud! My boy is the bestest!

Ground Breaking

We had our ground breaking ceremony for Max's play set this weekend. We're ready for the fun to begin!



Corpus Grandpa got Max an awesome play set earlier this year. Time for gardening is now over, so we've got some construction to do! And if it involved digging in the dirt, you can be sure Max is all over it! It's got the perfect location so we can look up at the pretty mountain while Max plays.



The shovel was a little big for Max, but that didn't stop him from jumping right in the middle of the activity. He even was stomping his foot on the shovel like he saw Daddy do.


Max makes sure that Daddy measures properly. Measure twice, cut once. Well, we did a little re-digging. Luckily it all worked out perfectly.


Taking some time to really get into the dirt. There are very cool earth worms that have been exposed.


No smiling... I take my digging very seriously.


Just a glimpse at some beautiful autumn color!

It's fun to be Max!

Max, Uncle Brian, and I went to River Front Park in Spokane last weekend and had a total blast! We were trying to keep Max out of Tommy's hair so he can work on building his play set in the back yard. Brian was nice enough to help me entertain Max.

Mostly it was a great day. Max did have a little issue with barf in in Uncle Brian's car. Yikes. So we pulled off to the side of the road. I stripped down Max, cleaned him up and gave him fresh clothes. While Brian had the yucky job of cleaning out the car seat. What a great uncle!

We walked around River Front Park and looked at the pretty rivers, saw the neat train, and took a ride on the carousel. Max really liked that and probably would have stayed on it for hours if we let him. We followed up with a trip to the new Apple store and various retail therapy... and Chinese food from PF Chang's! It was a great day. Thanks Uncle Brian for sharing is a special time.

I know we just spoke of how much Max likes to water ... but look at the joy on this boy's face! We can get an hour of "free" time if we just turn on the hose and give it to Max. I'm not quite sure what we'll do this winter to keep him occupied.

This is the look he gets on his face just when he's about to water Mama!

Sunflowers from the garden.

Green Thumb

Daddy makes sure Max gives all the plants a good drink.


Max loves to do anything that daddy does! So, without question, one of Max’s favorite things to do is work in the garden. He LOVES to water; as Mema would say, “water bug”. Tommy has done a wonderful job with a beautiful garden in our yard. He’s grown strawberries, several types of lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, chard, and various flowers, etc. Let it be knows, that mama complains about the garden a lot because it’s taken a lot of precious time, but the results are truly amazing. Tommy (and Max) have a lot to be proud of.

These are just a couple of pics to show Max doing one of his favorite activities and Tommy’s green thumb. The great thing is, we can give Max a hose with dribbling water, and he’s good to go for an hour. LOL





Here is an off topic video ... Max daning to "They Must Be Giants"... sooo cute!