Question of the Week

Actually this is a question that came up last week, but it is something that bugs me every time it happens. We were out with a group of people over the weekend and someone mentioned how chatty Max is. Well, duh. It takes about 30 seconds with him to figure out that he never runs out of things to say. Anyway, that's not my point. So this person, who doesn't really know us very well, said that Max seemed like a very intelligent kid and must get that from his dad.
Are you seeing why I am annoyed?? Now I am not criticizing this person, because as I said, we don't know each other well. But I do find it irritating that people assume that Max is smart b/c Jeff is smart. And this happens QUITE frequently. Yes, I know that I married a very intelligent man. I was smart enough to do that and I still maintain that the smartest decision Jeff ever made was to marry me. I appreciate that Jeff is a bit of an intellectual, but I'm no dummy either. He may have out scored me on a few tests (I'm sure he tried harder than I did) but I have more college degrees than he does...so HA!!
I'm not trying to bash my husband's thirst for knowledge or make me sound like the smartest girl ever. I just wonder why most people jump to the conclusion that my children are brilliant because of their father's contributions to their genetic makeup and discount the stimulating environment in which I nurture them on a daily basis. I just wonder.

White Sands, NM

We live about 2 hours outside of White Sands, NM which is basically a beautiful white sand beach with NO WATER. One of God's little jokes I guess. Anyway, we took Max when he was a baby and didn't think there was much to it so we never took the time to go back.

Well a lot of people I know love White Sands and talk about how much fun their kids have when they go. So last weekend Jeff and I decided to take the boys and try it again. I am glad we did b/c we all had such a good time. The weather was beautiful; sunny and 60 degrees with a light breeze. I was hoping to get some good pictures of the kids while we were there too, but they were less than cooperative. They kept taking turns looking at the camera so I don't have any pics of both boys looking at me. Oh well, thank goodness for photoshop!!

My boys!! (Jeff is using this pic and another to make one where they are both smiling at the camera!)

ALL my boys!! Again not everyone can look at the camera at the same time!!

Now no one is looking but they are still cute!

Max and Zach took turns flying the kite. They got it all the way up as far as it would go! When it was Zach's turn I thought he'd let go, but he took it and would not give it back. He wandered around pulling the kite string for about 15 minutes!

I was so proud of Max for trying out the sled on the hills. It's like a slower version of sledding in snow. He was VERY nervous to do it, but was brave enough to try it once and that is all it took. Then we couldn't get him to stop. Even when he'd fall off, he get back up and do it again (very unMax like). So I know he had a blast!

Great day for us all. Fun family day...that ended with Max puking M&Ms all over the car on the way home...but that's what memories are made of!

ANYBODY?? ANYBODY??

Plans for 2010 are OFFICIALLY underway. This lovely home is up for the taking. Anyone interested in making West Texas their new home, just come on over and take a look. We don't care who you are, we just want your money!!!
Yes, our house is now officially up for sale. Something I've wanted to do for quite some time. Don't get me wrong; it's a great house. But we have decided to move to East Texas now and the commute would just get annoying! So I have spent the last month, with the help of my MIL and two ALWAYS sick little boys, getting the house in perfect condition to impress the new owners. (Jeff did a few things too!!)
So now we wait and pray and wait and pray. I told Jeff that we should both be pretty skinny by the time we move with all the fasting we are gonna be doing! While we will certainly miss some great friends here in the desert, I'm excited to move on to the next chapter of our lives.
And so we wait!

St Jude Trike-A-Thon

Max's preschool participated in the St. Jude Trike-A-Thon two weeks ago. The kids were asked to find sponsors to donate to St. Jude's Caner Center and then bring their bikes, trikes, blades, scooters, etc to school to ride them. They also had a little workshop on bicycle safety. Max was really excited to go and participate. He wouldn't bring his new bike from Santa, but that was ok. He was also very cute asking family and friends to donate money to his fundraiser. We tried explaining to him what it was for and I think he understood most of it (sort of). He knows that he collected money to buy sick kids some medicine so they could ride bikes like him. Close enough for a 3 yr old! This is Max gearing up for the big day. He insisted on bringing his helmet too but would not take a picture with it.

This is the medal that he got for participating and, as he puts it, for being the "most fastest rider in the whole world"! No self esteem issues here!!

Thanks to everyone who sponsored Max and the other kids for such a worthy cause. The school was able to raise $2000 for the hospital!! Not too shabby for a bunch of three year olds!!

Crafty Crafty Me!

I finally got around to recovering my kitchen chairs last week. It's amazingly disgusting what two little boys can do with cream colored seat cushions. This BEFORE picture is the cleanest of my dirty chairs. Much too embarrassing to post pics of the dirtest one! BEFORE

AFTER

What do you think? I like them!

Fun Times at Home

The weather is starting to warm up so I can hardly keep the boys indoors anymore. We take advantage of every warm afternoon (when the wind is calm) to head outside and be loud and noisy. If we aren't at the park, we are being rowdy in the neighborhood. I would much prefer to hang out indoors but as the mother of two boys I lose that battle quit a bit. So if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! Zach is sure that he is as big as Max so here is a picture of when Jeff tied him to the trike and had Max pushing him up and down the street, scooter-style. My poor baby! He loved it.

Zach is turning out to be just as artistic as Max. He prefers skin to paper though. I hope this doesn't mean he'll come home with a tatoo or something one day!!

Max takes his artwork very seriously. Today he drew a snowman that really looked like a snowman! I should probably scan it and post it but I probably won't. It's on the fridge right now and might get sent to Grandma Mouse one day. Who knows!

As I've said before, Zach has no fear of anything and is actually pretty coordinated. He has conquered the slide in our backyard in record time.

Max is still the swinging champion. He has just about worn out the brackets to our glider swing. He could swing for hours I bet. He's such a fun little guy! Hopefully we'll keep having sunny weather until the windy season really hits b/c outside play really does make the day go by faster.

Travels with Nana

While Nana was here, we took her to some of our favorite spots in town. Keep in mind that we don't live in the most exciting of places and with a 3 yr old and 1 yr old we are limited in what we can do. We need cheap places that they can be loud! Here are some pictures of our play. This is Max hanging out at the play place in the mall. They love to run around and play and then get a treat from the cookie store convieniently placed within sight of the playground.

Our mall also has a little train the kids can ride. For $2 a kid (or less is you buy packs like I do) Max gets to ride the train for about 4 minutes while ringing the bell and get a stamp and a sticker when he leaves. Zach has ridden it a few times but recently has decided he is terrified of it. Fine by me, I save the $$ and he'll eventually get over it.

Another spot we frequent is the McDonald's playland that is about a mile from our house. The only downfall is that you have to buy something from McD or your kids can't play. And it's SOOOO hard to get my kids to eat chicken nuggets!! (Sense the Sarcasm)

Zach has mastered the ins and outs of the playground much faster than Max did. The child has absolutely no fear and it seems that no one has told him that he is only 1. He climbs and slides like a pro! Not a baby anymore :( He's still a cutie though!