Superhero Max Saves the City by: Max Hoden

Max has written his first book! A couple days ago he asked for some tape and construction paper. After a few minutes I asked him what he was doing and he replied that he was making a book! I helped a little with the assembly and then he told me what the book said. I wrote as fast as I could. Here it is in his own words:

(pg.1) Once a very long time ago a superhero named Max was trying to stop the rain so we could go outside. Supermax saved the whole city from the storm cloud rain!

(pg. 2) Then Superhero Max wanted to save the whole city from the monster car chasing away from himself.

(pg. 3) Once a very long time ago Max Hoden wanted to be a superhero to lift the whole city up. One afternoon a monster came running by and the superhero throwed him down on the hard street.

The End.

Not bad for his first book I'd say. Not exactly sure about page 2, but it makes sense to him:) I was looking for this book last night when the kids were in bed to write this blog, but I couldn't find it anywhere. This morning I asked him if he knew where his book was and he said, "Yeah...it's where books belong mom. On my bookshelf!" Indeed it was right on his bookshelf mixed in with the other books. The kid couldn't be prouder.

No illustrations yet with this book, but when there are some I'll scan and post them. I also don't have any pictures to go with this post, so I'll post one of Max reading when he was 10 months old:)

Tired girl...

Mya is not one to fall asleep in cars, strollers, laps, etc. We often wonder what time she would crash if we just let her fall asleep whenever/wherever she wanted! Yesterday we had a bunch of errands to do and so Mya didn't get a nap. She is actually pretty good when she doesn't get a nap...we just move bedtime up an hour or so and she's fine. Around 4:30 yesterday I decided to take a walk and I really wanted to do it alone,but Mya threw a fit so I let her ride in the stroller. About 2 blocks into the walk, things got really silent. I took a peek and she was asleep! Chris and I think it has been 2+ years since she has fallen asleep in a stroller.




When I got back I asked Chris to move her inside, but he thought she looked too peaceful so he just covered her up and took his laptop to the garage to do some work! When she got up around 5:30, she was super super cranky and went back to bed at 6:30!

Cousins and Puddles

We had a really nice weekend here. Amanda came down with Olivia and Grace Friday after school. Mya and Livi aren't going to know what to do next weekend when they don't get to see each other! This was the 2nd weekend in a row we got to hear lots of giggles coming out of these two little girls. They play so well together....now if only they would include Max! No..it's not terrible, but they definitely prefer to do their own thing!

Saturday we had the biggest nightmare at Portrait Innovations. It will be my last time going to that place for sure. We had an appointment at 3:30, but apparently that doesn't mean anything because our first picture was snapped at 4:40. When I complained they just told me that Saturdays are their busiest day and they had been backed up since the morning. I asked why they booked so many appointments on Saturday and why they couldn't have called me to give me a heads up and they didn't really have an answer. So annoying!

Our goal for the pictures was to get one of the 4 cousins together and then get Gracie's 1 yr pictures done. We succeeded at the first goal, but not the second. Grace didn't want any part of these pictures and it didn't help when the photographer tried to fix her skirt and she scared her to no end. The best pictures of the day were ones we didn't even want of Olivia and Mya, but were forced to buy because they were so cute!

 

This is what Grace was like most of the time. Poor girl...13 months is a tough age.

This is a really cute one of Grace even though her mouth is open and she's not looking! At least she's not crying:)

 

We attempted some of Max and Mya, but all we got were a few goofy ones:)


Sunday was really stormy around here. Once the thunder/lightning stopped, the kids were begging to go out and play in the rain. So, I let them go out for a few minutes and then afterwards we went to Target to get new umbrellas because theirs were falling apart and were borderline dangerous! Hope you all had a nice weekend!


Mya is slightly confused. She thinks we shovel rain!:)

best $17.99 ever spent

I hate to admit this, but a good portion of the toys my kids have do not get played with on a regular basis. The newness wears off in a matter of minutes and they get pushed to the side. However, these Fisher Price bubble lawn mowers may be our best purchase ever. Max got his shortly after he turned 1 and Mya got hers for Christmas when she was 5 months old. My mom knew that if she didn't get her own, they would fight like cats and dogs for the mower. They have played with these mowers for countless hours. Each year I think it will probably be Max's last summer playing with his mower, but yesterday we were outside and they got the mowers out and played for at least 30 minutes mowing our yard and our neighbor's yard! Max is also getting into "fixing" his mower which is super cute. Here are a few pics from our afternoon outside yesterday. I tried getting them to go inside for 2 hours! Finally their soccer balls both got stuck in the mud at the neighbors house, so we had to go in!

snowman in March??

Seriously, I'm done with winter. Last night/today we got 4+ inches of snow. I had no idea this was coming. I heard it was supposed to be rain, so when we woke up this morning I was unpleasantly surprised! We tried to make the most out of it and the kids went out and built a snowman while I shoveled some of the heaviest snow I have ever shoveled! I'm sure I'll be a hurtin' person tomorrow.




Take a look at Mya's adorable hat. Do you wonder why you haven't seen it in any pictures this winter? Well, you probably didn't notice, but she lost that hat in the first snowfall of the year. We just found it last week frozen to the ground under all of those inches/feet of snow we have gotten this winter. We thawed it out, washed it and it's good as new!



P.S. For you facebookers out there...you may have seen earlier this week my sister wrote on my wall that my blog background was the ugliest she has seen. My high school doubles partner Rachel agreed. Just for that...it's going to stay up indefinitely just to piss them off irritate them:)

4 years already!

Dear Mr. Maxwell,

Today is your 4th birthday! I cannot believe I have a 4 year old boy. For some reason 4 seems so big to me... less toddler and more boy! I'm so happy your birthday is finally here because you've been wanting to be 4 since the day after your 3rd birthday! I've been able to hold you off a little better by telling you you're 3 years 8 months, 3 years 9 months, etc. I'm not so sure why you're in such a hurry to grow up, but you definitely are. (except for when I told you the other night that you don't get rocked before bed after you turn 4 and you had some strong objections to that rule stating that you're still little:)

One of my favorite things about you these days is your love for school. You are a sponge right now for new things. Letters are a favorite these days. The other day you were wearing your New Zealand sheep shirt and said, "Mom, I know how to spell lamb! S-H-E-E-P lamb! It was priceless. You see letters in the clouds and on cracks in the cement! You're starting to realize that letters make sounds, but it's still a pretty new thing. You're also very interested in the calendar and the clock. Always wanting to know what day it is and what time it is! Mostly because you want to know how many more days until your birthday and how many minutes until the bus gets here with your friends!

You are definitely a rule follower. You're also a rule enforcer. If someone is not following the rules, you make sure to let me or their mom or dad know. Sometimes this can be good (like when a 10 month old is about to go down the stairs) but sometimes it can be bad and it sounds more like tattling. We're working on you knowing the difference:)

Big boys continue to be the very best part of your world. The neighbor kids are so wonderful to you and include you whenever they are playing. You've learned lots from them (What up dude? being one of them) I'm so thankful that they are very nice to you and I only hope someday when another little boy is living in our neighborhood that you do the same for him. The big kids are starting to get more and more involved with activities so they're not home as often, so you're really looking forward to summer when everyone is home again! Other favorites these days include eating, (must be growing?) the TV show Arthur, monster trucks, transformers, Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Ironman and whatever other "man" there is out there! You know our address and are working on our phone number. When I asked you what you wanted to be when you grow up, you said a race car driver or a pilot! Thanks to your daddy for watching the Daytona 500 a couple weeks ago with you for the race car driver one:)

You love adults and kids alike. You have the kind of voice that when you talk, people listen. They are just so curious what you're going to say! You overcame your tonsils and adenoid surgery like a total champ. Your voice changed slightly, but for the most part it's still the same low voice that so many people love:) There were a couple of rough patches, but overall it was the best thing for you. You do not snore anymore and you don't even get up to go potty at night time anymore! I think your snoring used to wake you up so you'd come in to our room to go potty just because you were awake. Now you are a dream sleeper and we're so thankful.

You remind me a lot of myself when it comes to your sibling relationships. When Mya does something to you that is out of line, you are the first to tell me about it. However, when I put Mya in time-out or take something away from her, you're the first to defend her. One day I told Mya if she didn't go potty we were going to the store without her. Mya didn't seem to care one bit. You, on the other hand, were begging and pleading with me to not leave her. It was so cute and I definitely learned my lesson to not joke around about leaving someone behind. You and Mya play so well together when neither of you are hungry or tired or thirsty or hot or cold or ...well, you pretty much get my drift. Conditions have to be perfect and the two of you are besties.

I feel like I could go on and on about what a blessing you are in our lives. I am so happy for you that you get to wear a crown at school today and pick something out of the birthday bag! Your daddy and I are very proud to be your parents.

Love,
Mommy

March 3rd, 2007


March 3rd, 2008


March 3rd, 2009


March 3rd, 2010


March 3rd, 2011