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

Tidbits

Feels like it has been forever since I've blogged and the grandparents are probably getting antsy, so here goes. I'll give you an update on all the members of the Hoden clan from oldest to youngest:

Chris: Started a new job February 1st. Still with John Deere in Dubuque, but not in accounting anymore. He is working in the forestry division doing some sort of job....not sure exactly what it is that he does, so I'll just leave it at that:) He is really busy and a tad stressed right now because no one has been in that position for 3 months and he is training his replacement at the same time. He's excited to start a new venture and the kids and I are thrilled to stay in Dubuque a little while longer:)

Me: I'm loving my very part time job at the tennis club. It took me a few times to get my confidence back, but after many review sessions via skype with my sister (twin cities best pro) I feel like I am back in the game. I got to volunteer in Max's preschool room last Thursday (the teacher had a sick child) so that was really fun. He did great having me in the room and didn't even go into whine mode!

Chloe: same old with her. I was about ready to give her up for adoption last week. The cupboard door with our garbage in somehow got left open and she hauled out a coffee filter full of grounds and a smart ones ravioli meal that had tons of red pasta sauce in it. It was a disaster. Luckily M and M were watching me or I would have needed to be reported.

Max: totally healed from his tonsillectomy. He still talks about it once in awhile, but I'm guessing that will stop soon. He is really ready for spring and his 4th birthday is 9 days away so he's watching commercials like a hawk and making sure I know what he wants:)

Mya: She's climbing out of her crib again. This morning I was in the kitchen with Max making coffee and I heard some little footsteps in the hallway. Mya greeted me with a huge smile and hug and acted as if the situation was totally normal. I know she is over 2 1/2, but I was really hoping for a few more months in the crib. She's also very insistent on dressing herself. Sometimes I care, but most of the time I Just let her go with it. Today she wore size 0-9 month tights and a Halloween shirt. She is fighting me on naps lately. I honestly think she could go without nap, even though it seems really early. She does not get crabby in the evening like Max used to when he was first giving up his nap. The problem with her is that if she doesn't nap, she sleeps like crap that night.

That's the update! We had a wonderful weekend last weekend with the Happy House girls (my friends from college) at Rachel's parents cabin in Bellevue. 6 of us made it with husbands and kids. They did great (the kids were up till 11pm on Saturday night:) Anna and Drew (Emily's twins--age 4 1/2) were in charge and led lots and lots of games of mommy/daddy, airport, hide and seek and tea parties:) We also went bowling on Saturday so here's a pic of Anna and Drew and M and M. Kindel's kids didn't come until later that afternoon. I should have waited to take the final picture, but I wanted to have proof that Max and Mya got exactly the same score. Drew ended up finishing with 85 and Anna got a 79!




The girls all went to pick up the pizza and have a little girl time at the local establishment and we received this picture via text from the dads back at the ranch with the title: We've got it all under control:)



Have a good rest of the week!

Happy Valentines Day!

Love, Max and Mya

Give a boy a camera and this is what you get....

Max got a Discovery Kids camera for Christmas. There is no flash so 90% of the photos come out black, but when you take 300 photos in a matter of minutes, at least a few turn out! Here is a documentaion from a day last week when we were out and about.

(this is Chris buckling him in, I think)

(as we were leaving, our neighbor was driving in so we stopped to chat and Max apparently took a picture:)




(do you see what I see? Yeah...we need a major car wash when this winter is over!!)

Keep out!

We had a play date here this morning with a few friends and so I told the kids they needed to pick up their rooms. Max is actually pretty decent at cleaning up. (if throwing everything from the middle of the floor behind his chair constitutes cleaning up) Today he said he put a sign on his door while he was cleaning to let me know I was not allowed to come in. See below. I have no idea where he learned this, but I didn't think it started until middle school when they put keep out signs on their doors! What am I in for...??!?

 

Social Security

99% of the time I'm really happy and grateful to be able to stay home with my kids. I feel fortunate that I have this opportunity that so many people would love and I am thankful that I have the patience to be able to do it. There are times though when I wonder about the working world. Mostly those times come once a month when I get the e-mail notification that my student loans are being taken out of my checking account. I feel like if I'm still paying loans, I should be working. We could have these paid off by now, but my financial planner dad is advising we keep them and pay the minimum because my interest rate is 1% or something close to that.

The other time I feel the need to get out and work is that time of year when I get the social security pamphlet in the mail that lets me know how much income I've earned in the years since I have worked. It's fun to see how much I made when I was 16, 17, 18, etc. It's also fun to see how much I made in my first few years of teaching when I was teaching, coaching, and working at the tennis club. I was rich! However...when I got my latest social security update...there was a big fat ZERO for 2009.

Well, my blogger friends, the ZERO won't be there for 2011! I recently took on a very part time job at the local tennis center. I'm teaching some lessons Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. I've gone 3 times now and the first two times were a little rough, but yesterday morning I felt so great when I walked out the door. I felt like I taught some great drills and the people really responded to me. It's not a lot, but it's something. It's fun to use some of my teaching skills and also get out and play a little tennis. Chris can benefit from me working there too as we now have a family membership to the club and he can go to drills and work-out there too.

Max and Mya aren't thrilled about the new job. Mya's exact words were..."I don't want you to go to work ANYMORE!" They will someday benefit from this as well because starting at age 4 they can come to lessons with me too! (only if they want to of course:) And one more thing...the extra cash I will be making will NOT be going towards my student loans. Instead I'm getting a cleaning lady!!!!!! By far the best part:)

hard to find, one of a kind

Mya has been so funny lately. Once she started talking, she hasn't stopped. She talks absolutely non-stop. Most days I'm so happy when Chris walks in the door simply so she'll have someone else to talk to and answer her questions and respond to her needs. When we read books, she does most of the reading/talking. Sometimes she talks right through my reading. It especially bugs me when I want to read the ending to feel some closure to the book! (and it's usually a book I've read a million times, but I still want to finish it!) I'm trying to get a good video of her during reading time, so if I do, I'll post it.

As I've mentioned before, she's really into babies. She wants me to play babies with her every second we're awake. While there are times I don't mind playing, other times it's not all that convenient. Usually I can get away with telling her I'll hold one of her babies and rock her to sleep. The other day I was doing something on the computer and when I turned she was in her baby crib. Only Mya..



She's also really into dressing herself. A pretty dress is what she wants most days, but jammies are also high on the list. The other day I was talking to my sister on Skype and she asked where Mya was. I told her she was upstairs in her room, but had been there too long so I was sure she was changing her clothes. Sure enough...30 seconds later she walked down the stairs in a summer tank top with brown pants and pink crocs. Yesterday we went to the mall to do a little shopping and she spotted a Dora nightgown. It was on the yellow dot rack so I picked it up for her. She threw a fit when we had to put it on the counter to scan it and pay! So we had to put it on her right then and there in Younkers! Here's a picture I took on my phone. Oh..and yes she is wearing rain boots. I pick and choose my battles and shoes aren't one I choose to deal with.



Lastly, a picture I took the other day after the big 13" snowfall. The mailbox is behind Max's head so you can kind of tell how much snow we got!

halitosis

I thought I knew what bad breath smelled like, but nothing comes even close to the breath coming out of Max's mouth these days. Even Mya told him today that he stinks! It's true...it seems like he has some sort of body odor coming out of his pores, but it's just his breath! Truth is..I knew it was coming. My cousin had 2 boys with their tonsils out and his wife warned me about this, but I had no idea it was going to be this bad! Everything I've read says it will go back to normal in 2-3 weeks. Let's hope for 2:)

Max seems to be doing much better these last couple of days. He is eating (although not very well) and drinking lots. The colder the better..I even put ice in his milk. I was sure no one in the world (except the Kruse family) put ice in milk! Mya is on the "tonsils out" diet as well. How do you tell one child they can have pudding at 8am but the other one can't??

We're going to have some "re-training" to do around here in the next few weeks. Typically I don't respond to my kids if they don't use nice words (please, thank you) but I haven't been sticking by my guns the last few days because I know it hurts Max to even talk. I also have been letting Max get away with some not-so-good-behavior too. He is not a fan of his little sis these days especially when she tries to be his mommy and rub his leg and tell him it will be okay or something like that! Hopefully he snaps back to normal after he's feeling better.

A big thank-you to so many of you for sending packages, balloons, making phone calls, e-mails and facebook messages asking about Max. It really means a lot to me and more importantly to him! He thinks it's Christmas again...today he wanted to know if there would be a package for him in the mailbox! The doorbell rang this afternoon and immediately he said "The package man is here!" A highlight of today was a delivery from Max's teacher of a card signed by all of his little classmates and a pint of Dairy Queen ice cream. Max loved it and even shared some with Mya and me:) Chris doesn't know about it yet, but I'm guessing as soon as he reads this blog, the ice cream will be gone!