Wednesday, December 30, 2015

It's the Holiday Season

How did this year come to a close so quickly?! The babes are growing like weeds. Miss Camille is growing more curls each day. Max keeps upping his shoe size every month and making his new pants look like capris. As with all holiday seasons, we have been busy making memories and having fellowship with friends / family. Below are some photos capturing our days in preparation for the BIG day.
Snowman pancake breakfast - thanks to "B"
Curls, curls, and more curls
Dallas Children's Parade
Curious George
Dallas Children's Parade
Giant Balloons!
Our home all decorated for the holiday season. Max demanded more lights.  
So Tyler trimmed the roof and got "Santa stop here" sign.
Willie came back ...
Max had a playdate with Maddie.
They decorated "ginger"bread men.
Camille decorated too






Monday, August 10, 2015

We've got a writer

Max was up late one night this weekend with Tyler and I. He made reference to putting his name on his puzzle box so we said "you do it."  Max paused then agreed when we said he could do it. We handed him a sharpie and made him do a trial run on a piece of paper. No tracing, just 100% left handed Max and this is what we got. I personally am thrilled. He had everything going against him ... Late night, sharpie (that we told him not to get on his skin, which freaked him out a bit), no lines on the paper, and he had to do it from memory. Such a proud mommy!

Friday, August 7, 2015

Public Service Vehicle Day

Today is Friday. In our neighborhood, that means it's one of Max's favorite days of the week. In the summer, it's splash day at school AND show and tell, which he absolutely loves. But even more than that, he loves the garbage man. For once, they came kinda early this time so Max got to see him across the street. I decided to stick around after I saw Max camped out on our utility box out front by the sidewalk. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm waiting for the garbage man." Well, ok then. Let's wait for the garbage man, I decided. I went inside to get his camera and he got some stellar action shots. Just take a look for yourself!
Rookie. That's not you take a selfie.

There we go! That's more like it!!

"I take a picture of my ear!"

That's not all, folks. He was just warming up (literally and figuratively). The garbage man did in fact finally make the loop around. We could hear him getting closer to our house with each extension of its giant claw. Sure enough, he finally made the last turn and Max was right there to capture it in all its glory! Behold...The Claw!




 He was ecstatic! So much so that he almost forgot to take the pictures. Luckly, Dad was right there to remind him. My favorite part of looking at these kinds of pictures is that it's so easy to see that it's taken from only 3 feet off the ground, unlike most photos that are taken around 6 feet off the ground. The truck left, to which Max said, "Bye bye garbage man!" I put the camera in my pocket and we were off to school for splash day.

And just when you thought that was enough, a Murphy Police Officer pulled over some lady on the road across the street from his school as I was getting Max out of his carseat. One beef I've had with Texan drivers is that when they get pulled over, they don't pull over all the time; especially on 4-lane roads with little traffic. They stop in the middle of the road, or at least in this instance in the left lane. Who does that?? Texans, that's who. So the nice police officer got on her built-in riot-grade megaphone to tell the car to pull over to the right side of the road. Naturally, the driver pulled into the pathway of the median like she was turning into his school, to which the officer again asked the driver to pull out of the road. And so the driver complied...by pulling into the main driveway of the daycare (it's like a one-way loop that you pull through). And again, the police officer requested "Ma'am, please pull all the way though. You are blocking all traffic." It was really quite comical. I could tell the officer was as confused as I as to why this driver had no idea what the hell they were doing. It's probably safe to assume that if they don't know how to park then they were probably guilty of whatever they were being pulled over for. Anywho, Max was on the sidewalk listing to the officer's megaphone instructions and I gave him his camera that was in my pocket still. He saw the police car pull up to us started taking pictures of the police car with its lights on at HIS school, as if she came to see him. The officer was very nice (to us) and was smiling and waving at Max as he took a few pictures (working in TV, I've learned you never say you're going to "shoot the officer" or "shoot the President"; it could get taken out of context very easily) of her pulling through the pre-school driveway. Needless to say, we had a very exciting morning before school.

You can actually see the officer waving at Max in this one.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Swim till you can't swim anymore

First swim of the summer in the books. It's been raining a lot this spring which kept pools closed and cold. It took us almost to the 4th of July to find our way to a pool. Max almost jumped back in as if he didn't miss a beat however he was a bit hesitant at first. We were so close to loosing the floaties last summer but with Tyler traveling I just couldn't throw him in without them just yet. He had a blast and I'm confident this is the summer for him to be swimming independently (no floaties). 

 It was Camille's first time in a pool (technically). We bought a tube for her dang her feet and float in ... not a fan. So we sat her in it ... that was better. But her absolute favorite time occurred sitting on the edge just like her big brother years ago (see May 2012 blog). 


We were at the Clarks pool and the boys (Max and Harrison) were defending the hot tub (not turned on) against the the girls in the pool. Super cute!

Camille was famished after her swim day and put down lots of fruit, applesauce, Cheerios, and an entire hot dog. 

Can't wait for more pictures and video as the summer has just begun. 




Friday, June 12, 2015

Dance, Dance, Dance

My kids got the moves.  As hard as they may try, the music takes over and they can't hold back ... GOT TO DANCE.  I have zero clue where they get this from. ;)

Camille knew she was on camera but once the music picked up she just couldn't let a little camera hold her back from feeling the beat.

 Maximus at Gloria's getting down with his buddy Harrison.  Harrison danced a little but Maximus felt the urge to take it to a whole different level.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Living Life

I'm sorry that we have not posted in a LONG time. We have been living life or surviving allergy / monsoon season (however you want to look at it). The kids keep growing up, and with each passing day loving each other more and more. Below are a few photos taken over the weekend:







Friday, April 17, 2015

Easy as ABC

The spotlight turned onto Max yesterday as I was finally able to catch one of his songs on video. I present to you this fabulous rendition of The Alphabet Song by MaXman. He chose it, not me :-)

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

the Easter company

This Easter we had family visiting. Uncle Hayden and Aunt Salmon (Samantha) came for an extended weekend. Upon their arrival Friday afternoon, we took them to a community egg hunt (40,000 eggs just laying in the field) which gave them the opportunity to hear and see Max's obsession with them.  As Max puts it ... "eggs are filled with all kinds of stuff like candy, toys, and stickers!"  On Saturday, we had a blast riding the train, going to the zoo, and eating bbq at Pecan Lodge. Sunday was spent eating a ham dinner and sticking around the house since it was a rainy spring day. During the rain break in the evening, Aunt Salmon and Uncle Hayden went out back and hid some eggs for Maximus which was to his delight.


Max & Camille on Good Friday.  Camille is wearing the same gown that I was baptized in 30 years prior.

Max got his cookie monster play-doh kit that he has been wanting for months.  

Camille's favorite item ... her food pouches.  The Easter Bunny knows her well.



Thursday, March 19, 2015

Maximus the Wordsmith

Max has reached a whole new world in his vocabulary. We've always been amazed at how he (and probably kids in general) just say phrases for the first time, like all the time. My favorite part about that is not only the new words he's learning, but how he uses them. What's more amusing is how he actually says them. Below are two of my favorites in his wheelhouse right now. Now if we can only get him to stop saying "booty"...


Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Bed time = favorite time

When I dreamed of what my life with kids would be, it almost always included a snap shot of all of us giggling in the sheets, reading stories, and enjoying each other after a long day. Well my dream is a reality and it's even better than I could have imagined. Our family loves bed time with its story time and kisses galore. When I was pregnant with Camille, her most active movements occurred at storytime when her big brother was talking and touching my belly as we squeezed together in the glider. Today, Max's giddy excitement for story time gets Camille equally excited and she is quick to climb his little red stairs trying her hardest to get into his big boy bed. 

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Love The Zoo

Featuring your tour guide, Maximus
 We got a membership to the Dallas Zoo from MiMi and PaPa (Tyler's parents) for Christmas and decided to put it to good use. The family sans me has already gone this year since I've been working out of town, but it was perfect weather so we couldn't resist. Here are some highlights, including how much Max has grown since his first visit.

Various species of monkeys were a highlight, as were the elephants. Mille seemed most interested with the penguins. She was eye level with those little guys. It was the perfect Valentine's Day trip. We are definitely looking forward to many more visits this year.














May 2013 - 2.75 years old
February 2015 - 3.5 yrs old

Friday, February 6, 2015

Playdate Fun!

Maximus had a play date with his friend Maddy last weekend. It was rainy so the kiddos had to stay inside. Maddy was the perfect hostess from picking out the snacks of chocolate covered strawberries and mini chocolate cupcakes to selecting a gender neutral "arts and crafties" project (apparently she wanted to make jewelry initially).
As with all play dates, Max was super excited to play with someone else's toys. He took a particular liking to Maddy's Barbie RV. I have to admit it was super cool. Max just wanted to arrange it and set it all up when Maddy wanted to actually play Barbie.


Classic toddler hide and seek location

Camille was in heaven too as she was surrounded by girl toys which is something we are lacking at our house. 

Thursday, January 22, 2015

9 months, baby!

Camille - 9 months
The baby of the family is 9 months old!  She is one handsy, curious, and vocal little girl that still has her brothers reservations at times. Camille can grab at items so quick that I basically put her in a bubble when we eat because if she gets a hand on it then it's officially bath time. The girl loves to eat but more importantly she loves to feel. She (like her brother) is very tactile.

Camille has been crawling for a good month now. She isn't into hyper speeds like her brother was when he was crawling. Primarily because she is trying to bypass learning how to crawl efficiently so she can walk. Camille loves to pull up onto something and side step. She isn't capable of letting go just yet due to her leg strength/balance but the girl tries daily. We also are dealing with some dry skin which is no fun when crawling on carpet. Little Mille has red knees all the way to the tops of her feet.  Don't let the video below fool you on her walking skills.  She was doing her curious walk with Aunt CayCay and since her brother was at school she could do it at leisure.  When the whole family is home, Camille crawls to her walker, walks to her destination, then transfers to the object she wants to stand next to (or the person to which she wants to play with).

Lucky girl had her visit to the pediatrician with no shots this visit. She is on course developmentally and her lungs have recovered from a case of bronchiolitis she picked up after thanksgiving. 
Eating her stat card from the doctor.
Height:  28 1/4 inches
Weight:  19.7 lbs
Always a blur/in motion aka Curious Cami