::house::

While at Sam's the other day we spotted the playhouse kit I'd had my eye on for while. Max and I saw it in April, but when I went back with the intent of getting the thing, they had been cleaned out. And I hadn't seen them in again. Until Saturday when we were getting all the food and snacks for Kari & Aaron's visit.

So we got the dang thing. And when we got home Kris got right to work putting it together. Bryans were due at around 3 and Kris got to work around 1. He figured he could get the things done and the kids could be happily playing by evening.

Hah. It took him ages just to get all the pieces untangled, then making sense of the instructions (which never really happened) took another forever. I think he had a couple of the bay windows put together when they arrived. He did a little more that night, but it still didn't get far.

But the kids were anxious. So he and Kari spent a bunch of time sunday afternoon working on it while the kids noodled around in the backyard and the babies napped.
Unfortunately they ran into a few snags, such as one of the roof panels being blown over by the wind and breaking into a bunch of different pieces, argh. But Kari is serious about building stuff and she didn't let Kris slack on it.


Closer, but still not done.

Then, memorial day, after we went out to lunch and had some fun, Kris manned up and finished the rest of the thing up. What a great dad, because it was a pain.

Happiness and joy ensued. Parker hollered, "This is SO AWESOME!!" and the house was chock full of kids from there on. Also, it has a working doorbell and the thing is LOUD. That thing didn't stop ringing all afternoon.



The big boys went and got Max's play food and made the house into a drive through restaurant. Such smarties.

Fun stuff!

::brothers having fun::

Max got a little toy phone at the office one day last week. When we got home he dug out one of his (many) other toy phones and proceeded to play phones with Sandy. It was seriously adorable because Sandy was in a wonderful mood and was very smiley.
Too bad it was super dark in the room--I wish the pictures were a little brighter, but oh well, they're still cute!






So adorable! I'm glad they're having fun together now, I think it bodes well for the future. But whatever it is, it's just so sweet.



"I just love that little guy!" says Max. I say I love BOTH my little guys. I feel very lucky and blessed.

::sun!!!!!!::

The sun came out today! It's been about 50 degrees too, so we've been very happy. Max and I went to our local park earlier this afternoon. I like this park because it's on the bay and there's a little beach there. I think it's really pretty. Plus the breezes smell like the ocean, and that's (usually) a very good thing.










I love the view from the swings.



Please stick around Sun, we sure do like you.

::sultan's playdate::

I'm not so good at setting up so-called playdates for Max. It's hard because I don't want to just send him over to somebody's house that I've never been to. And other moms feel the same way of course. So it often feels like the first time the moms have to hang out too, get to know each other and keep an eye on the kids. And sometimes that's fun, sometimes not so much. And when it's a nanny or somebody watching the kids, that's just weird.

The nice thing about Max's school though, is that it's a co-op. I didn't know what a co-op school was before we moved here. Basically the parents are all very involved. We go in and clean the school a couple of times a year. We throw fund raisers. We got in once a month and act as the teachers' aid, bringing in snacks, playing with the kids and cleaning up. It's nice that I have time to be that involved in Max's world. It's fun because when you're in the classroom once a month you get a chance to get to know the other kids. And through that it's a little easier to know the other families and feel comfortable with each other.

Anyway, long story short, or short story long, I got Max a playdate. It was with one of the little girls from school whom he adores. In fact, around the time that school started she was his imaginary friend. He'd pretend she was living here too and talk about her all the time. So as I figured he would be, he was psyched.

This little girl is an extreme animal lover. All she can talk about are horses and unicorns at school. When she got to our house and discovered we had a dog she almost lost her mind. She looked at Max like he was crazy and said "you never said you had a DOG!"
She LOVED Sultan. And Sultan loved her right back. She'd let him lick her all over for as long as he wanted. She lay on him and stroked him, hugged him and chased him around. She even picked the "boogies" out of his eyes.

And because she thought he was so cool of course Max had to play along. So he showed off the "tricks" he can do with Sultan. (you know, sit, down, stay). That was pretty exciting.
But then things started to go downhill when she decided she'd rather play with Sultan than do anything that Max wanted to do. She kept saying "I think Sultan wants to spend some time with me now."
I tried to say that Sultan needed a rest and they should go do something else, but she just argued that she'd rest with him.
Max got that bummed out cranky look on his face, and I couldn't blame him. It was as if somebody came over to play and then decided they'd rather hang with your little sister instead!

But then I got them playing hide and go seek or something. Then of course Sul got tackled.


Then she really made Max's day and reinacted the Mama Fish Movie with him a couple of times. That was truly awesome. And it was awesome for me because for once I didn't have to pretend to be Kelly.

It all ended well with a viewing of Martha Speaks on PBS. And naturally they had to watch it with Sultan. I'm surprised they could even see our little TV from where they ended up sitting.

It was pretty cute. And I think everybody ended up having a great time, although things obviously didn't turn out exactly as Max had planned. Luckily he's a pretty good sport.

Now if Max only loved Sultan as much as his little friend does we'd be in business!

::Fun in St. George Pt. 2::

Wow! This post has been a long time coming, hasn't it? Well hopefully it lives up to the suspense that I've created.
We had a great time in St. George as I said before, even though by now it was forever ago.
One morning Kris and Max went on a pretend bike ride and then read some stories. Here they are dressed in their biking finery. This picture is so cute!!

"Put me in the Zoo" is Max's current favorite book. We've all read it to him about a zillion times on this trip and he knows it absolutely by heart.
Later that morning they went and played some baseball. Max has a ways to go with both pitching and hitting.

He thinks he knows how to do it because of the Wii.



Maxes pitches are what you could call a "little" low.

Except for this one!

It's cute to see them play together. Kris is very patient.
The baseball game got interrupted when Max spotted a snail. He'd never seen a snail before so it was really exciting. They caught it and put it into a jar.

It made him a little nervous at first.

He was very interested in the snail's "backpack" and what it was for. It was fun to talk about snails a little bit. He's so interested in everything right now.



They found a few more and added them to the jar. Later that night the snails slimed out and went back to their snaily business.

Last but certainly not least Max got to go on a "slow" ride around the block with grandpa Ken on his motorcycle. This is a rare and exciting treat.
Here he is looking very concerned because the bike wouldn't start.

It needed a push. Lucky Kris got to push it.

They somehow avoided running over the little old lady that was walking down the street. It was a close one though.

It started up so Max got placed back into his seat.

He held on tight.

Grandpa did keep his eyes open for most of the ride.
This is my favorite picture. He looks worried, but I don't really think he was. He's a pretty trusting little guy. And he loves things that drive. I love the motion here.

Well, we will definitely be back to St. George, and nobody will have to twist our arms.