Updates

I'm feeling like the grandparents need an update on the kiddos around here, so I thought I'd give it a go!

Max: He's still doing awesome at preschool. His tummy happens to hurt each morning right when he wakes up, but then it disappears as the morning goes on. He has a job each day at school and that has been his favorite part by far. His jobs have consisted of weatherman, napkin passer-outer, bell ringer, and today he brought snacks so he got to pass them out. When it is your turn to bring snack, you also get to bring something for show-and-tell. Chris and I had lots of good ideas for him, but he wanted to bring his McDonalds batman toy. He is growing more and more comfortable each day with the whole idea. The first two days he wouldn't go to the bathroom at school. Now...he talks about multiple trips to the bathroom. I found out why today....the kids go to the bathroom in the 4/5 year old rooom across the hall and they have class pets so Max gets to see them while going to the bathroom!! Hopefully our talk on the way home today put the kabosh to that:)

He seems like such a big boy lately. His rail is off his bed and he says he has only fallen out once and it was when he was reaching down to pet Chloe on the floor. He is really into making people feel good. Tells us multiple times a day that he loves us and that the food we made was delicious. That doesn't get old. He wants me to tell him the story about when he was born every night before going to bed. That doesn't get old either to tell you the truth.

Max has decided that getting the mail everyday is a pretty cool thing. He knows what his name looks like so he can pick something out for him right away. Packages are his best friend. Each time the doorbell rings he wonders if it's the package man! Getting the mail is also one of Chris's favorite things, so he has had to give it up to Max, but I think he's okay with it:) Below is a picture of him trying to figure out how to open a package with his scissors.



Mya: Still having baby fever. She's obsessed with her babies and I honestly don't think the child could have too many. Recently Grandma Bev (Chris's Grandma) sent her a double stroller in the mail and she was in heaven. I even put it together because we got it in the mail at 10am. For those of you who know me well..that is a really big deal.




She's doing great on the potty if you count going by herself and then wiping herself, and dumping the potty chair into the toilet by herself great. I'm not so sure. I don't think they make enough Clorox bleach for my bathroom. She still wears diapers at nap and night, but now she's into taking off her pants and diaper and then going to the bathroom in the crib. Let's just say she wakes up many mornings and is put directly into the tub without even a good morning hug.

Mya is awesome at playing by herself - far better than Max. Often when she's too quiet I go running looking for her and she's just sitting in her room reading books or blow-drying her My Little Pony's hair like she was today when I was sure she was up to no good. She has learned to pedal her bike so that is usually the first thing she asks to do in the morning. We park our cars in the driveway and she bikes in the garage most of the day if I need to get things done inside or if it is raining. At 2 years and 2 months she finally started watching TV! 15 minutes of Curious George or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is about all I can get, but I'll take it.



Me: I took an awesome camera class last weekend. Chris gave me a nice digital SLR camera for my birthday last year so I've had it for a year and a half and after taking this class realized that I knew about 5% of what the camera can do. I went in knowing the terminology, but I had no idea how to use it all. Now I feel like I could take a picture of anything....whether they're standing still or moving, daylight or at night.

Chris: We sold our van last week so he has been doing lots of research for a new one. It has been a pain to only have one car, but thankfully we have a few people in our neighborhood who work for John Deere so he has been able to catch some rides. Hopefully we'll have a new one soon! I miss the sliding doors like crazy:)

That's all I can think of for now! Have a good rest of the week everyone.

Supermom? Not me....

Yesterday was the first day of MOPS for the year. The theme is "Supermom". We had a speaker talk about how we are all superheroes to our children, but we are not perfect moms. After the discussion, we had time at our tables to discuss. One discussion question was...How are you not a supermom? I had no problem with this one. So...thought I'd share some with you!

You know you are NOT a supermom if....

You do the same load of laundry 3 times because you forget to take it out of the washer and it starts to smell.

There are days that you stay in your pajamas until nap time and don't shower until you get the call from your husband that he's on his way home.

You are fine with your kids not wearing underwear if it means they dress themselves.

When your child has an accident at night...you just pull the other bed out from underneath and put them back to bed. You figure you can clean the other bed in the morning er.... afternoon the next day.

You never bring an extra pair of clothes for your kids because you're 100% positive you could find something in the van that would work.

You park in the "for new or expectant mothers" parking spot at HyVee because you figure no one knows for sure that you're not expecting. And besides...isn't a 3 and a 2 year old new enough?

You have a chair in your bedroom that you haven't seen in over 10 months because the shirts you husband needs ironed are piled 30 high.

You manipulate your children's naps based on what you have going on that evening. You're willing to have a hellish 5:00 hour to ensure your kids will be asleep by 7 so you can watch red carpet premiere week on ABC.

Those were just a few of my favorites...I could go on and on I'm certain. I am fairly confident in my abilities as a mom, but of course there are times when I doubt myself. Especially when I read someone's facebook status and it says something like kids bathed CHECK, laundry folded and put away CHECK, homemade bread rising CHECK, bills paid CHECK, homemade babyfood made CHECK, toys put away CHECK, letter written to grandma CHECK, husband's shirt ironed CHECK...then I puke a little bit inside my mouth. Of course I would love to do all of these things in a days time, but it's just not going to happen.

While I don't have any superpowers that magically unclog the toilet when my daughter flushes an entire roll down, I do think I have some other superpowers. I can tell by looking at both of my kids from 100+ feet away whether or not they have to go to the bathroom. I can even tell you if it's #1 or #2. I have the ability to do something for my kids but make them think they did it by themselves. I can think 17 steps ahead of them at all times. I know what they're going to say 10 seconds before they say it. Well...unless something like this comes out of their mouths..."Mom, it's so windy I think my eye balls are going to fall out" That I didn't see coming.

A friend of mine posted this video from you-tube on facebook tonight. I laughed so hard and had to pass it along.

Click here to watch.

Also...in case you thought I was kidding about the chair.

A clean shave...

Max has been asking to "shave" for awhile now. Every morning (well, every morning that he's awake) that he sees Chris shaving he thinks he needs a turn. We found a kid-friendly razor and shaving cream recently so I brought it out one night in the tub. They knew just what to do with it. All I had to do was take the cap off the shaving cream bottle and they went to town. They wouldn't even smile for me...it was all business!

This whole thing seemed like a really good idea at the time, but there were negative consequences. Yesterday Mya took a shower with me and since she prefers 30 minute showers, I got out first. While I was getting ready, she climbed up on the seat in the shower and took my razor out of the holder and decided to "shave" just like she did in the tub. She came out with a cut upper lip. It took awhile to stop bleeding, but we realize it could have been much worse. Lesson learned:) Enjoy some serious shaving pictures.

What can happen when someone else gets a hold of your camera

Last weekend when we were up in the twin cities Max decided to have some fun jumping from bed to bed at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Apparently Uncle Jeff was watching him do this and noticed the camera laying there so he decided to snap a few pictures. This is what I saw when I uploaded the pics from the weekend....

1st day of preschool

Today Maxwell started preschool! After going to the open house a few weeks ago he was pretty pumped about school, but then in the last few days he was starting to show some reservation. I decided to not hype it up too much and hope for the best. He woke up this morning and told me he wanted me to be at school with him, but after a few snuggles and a cup of milk he seemed fine again!

The big drop-off went great. We walked into his little classroom and as the teacher was walking up to greet him, he said "Hi, my name is Max!" It was pretty cute. Then Miss Laura showed him where to hang his backpack and gave him a name tag. As I was watching him do this, Mya decided to go have a seat on the little carpet with the other kids as if she was going to school too! I drug her out kicking and screaming, but Max did great. Mya screamed "Mat" the whole way home and continued to ask about him the entire 2.5 hours he was gone. Funny how when they're together all they do is fight, but when they're apart they miss each other. When they were finally reunited in the hallway after school they acted like it had been 100 years since they last saw each other. I had to stop at HyVee on the way home and they were honestly giddy in the cart.

At first the only thing I could get out of Max about the day was that he handed out the napkins at snack time. As the day progressed, he started telling me more. He said he had to raise his hand when he wanted more milk, he started to sing some crocodile song, and he has a friend named Mason. (it changes to Jason sometimes though so I need a class roster:)

As for me...I'm feeling a little guilty about not feeling sad! When I saw some of the other moms struggling I started questioning my feelings. Why am I not crying about my little guy going off to school for the first time? Am I wishing away these years when my kids are young? In the end, I decided it is because Max was really ready for this next step and so was I. He needs to get out and learn from someone other than me and the fact that he was so happy to walk into the classroom and showed no signs of doubt, it was a lot easier for me than for some. Kindergarten might be a different story. Thank goodness I have 2 years to prepare!



(notice Mya with her backpack. Up until the last moment..she was sure she was going to school too!)

Big Milestone

I've blogged about lots of milestones with my kids, but this weekend we were able to witness a milestone of a different level. Chris's grandparents Bill and Bev celebrated 60 years of marriage! I've said it before, but these two are truly an inspiration to Chris and I. I'm convinced they keep each other going strong with their love and humor. Bev's first comment to me was "Can you believe I've slept with the same man for 60 years?"

We had a lovely dinner in Eagan on Saturday night. Lucky for us, we were in a separate room so it wasn't a complete disaster when Max nearly took out a server and when Mya face-planted off her booster seat onto the wood floor. The food was delicious and the company even better.

The family dinner for their 50th anniversary included 12 people. For their 60th anniversary it jumped to 20 people in the immediate family. Wonder how many people will be at their 70th??? I did a little research (via google of course) on the odds of a couple making it to their 60th wedding anniversary and came up with 4% of couples make it to 60 years together. It's a pretty big deal! Bev and Bill--thanks so much for being role models for us. We are so happy we were able to celebrate this milestone with you!

3 1/2 and a Q & A

Tomorrow my little man Maxwell turns 3 1/2! It's going to be a big deal for him because ever since Mya turned 2, he has been wanting to be something other than 3! He starts school next Thursday and boy is he ready. Today he was riding his bike around with his backpack on!




I sat down with him today while Mya was napping and asked him some questions. Here are his responses. I wish I would have prepped more because I think I could have come up with better questions, but this will have to do for the first installment of the Max and Mommy Q&A.

(questions in bold, his answers in regular type and my comments in italics)

What do you think school will be like? I think I will play with my friends and eat lunch there. (haven't told him yet that he won't be eating lunch there)

Are you excited about going to school? Yes because of my Spiderman backpack.

What do you think about Mya? Me and Mya gots married.

What's your favorite color? Orange and blue

How old are you? 3 and a HALF! But I'm not 4.

What is your favorite thing to do when we're outside? play with my trucks and kickball. (not sure what trucks he's talking about. haven't seen him play with trucks outside for months, but oh well)

what is your favorite thing to eat? "vegables" (this was not prompted, I promise)



What is your favorite thing to drink? Milk. only milk.

What is your favorite book to read? How do "dysinors" eat all their food.

Why is that your favorite book? Cause I want to.

Do you like to watch TV? Yeah.

What's your favorite show to watch? Curious George

Do you like riding in the van with Mya? yeah, but not when she cries and takes my toys and won't give them back.

What do you want to do today? Play with somebody after Jake's school. (he waits by the window daily for the bus to drop the kids off so he can play...it's pretty cute)

Did you have a good summer? What's summer?

If you could have anything in the world, what would it be? I wish I could have spiderman socks.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A fire chief or a worker.

Do you like to play tennis? Yeah...can we go to the park to play tennis? I want to play tennis right now.

What's your favorite kind of ice cream? Brown

How do you spell your name? M-A-X Max.

Do you like your mommy better than your daddy?? (just kidding...I did not ask this:)