::::

Do you want to see what we were up to yesterday while Kris was at work?
Check it out. It's awesome.



(and for more stuff like this go here)

::happy memorial day::

**we're just hoping the rest of our celebration doesn't include Kris getting called into the hospital again. He had to go in at 3:30 last night, and he's TIRED!

::kites part 2::

Get ready for a bunch more kite flying photos. I had a really hard time deciding which to post, they were all so fun. And Kelly's actually in some of them this time.

Max basically just ran as fast as he could around the field the entire time. And when he realized he could try to run into the other kite and tangle it up in his, he tried for that like crazy.





Kelly looks like some sort of crazy pagan sun worshiper here, but really he was just throwing the kite up to get Max going. At least I think so anyway.

Same here.

Max keeps growing out of his shirts. I love how not only this shirt is too short, but it's also unbuttoned at the bottom. Silly goose.


It was so fun. We're definitely going to do it again. Anybody for a kite party in Newport?

::kites part 1::

We went out to the coast to fly kites with Uncle Kelly today. I don't have all the pictures ready, but I can't help but post a few--they're so fun. So there will be more to come.

We got a couple of super cheap little star wars kites from Benny's. They were pretty flimsy, but perfect for Max.

Max could just run fast and drag the kite behind him and it was light enough to fly if there was a bit of wind.

We had good wind right at first, and then it kind of pooped out and we couldn't get the kites to stay up anymore. Well, at least we thought the wind pooped out until we looked over to our left and saw some big old "real" kites way up in the air flying away. Oh well.

Kris is cute. We all shared the kites around and took turns flying them--and crashing them into the ground. It was fun.

To be continued....

::mowing buddies::

The real purpose of the bubble mower is so that the son can feel cool and helpful to the father during mowing time.
I can't resist posting this old picture of my brother Cammon and my dad.

Cammon looks so businesslike and serious, doesn't he?
As does Max:

Obviously working way way hard.



And very proud of himself. I think it's adorable.

The mower we have is an old one from my parents. At one point we had 3 or 4 (? I think it was three...) mowers, and we would all mow at the same time. For those of you that haven't been to my parent's house, the yard is really big--two big lots worth. So 3 of us would mow at once and it would still take us a while.
We must've named the mowers at some point, and dad wrote their names on the front of them. So when Kris and I moved to Missouri and had a yard that would need mowing we got to take one with us. I picked my favorite, which was "Blue Sky."
Blue Sky almost didn't start--we hadn't used him for over a year. But after some serious coaxing, and warming up, he fired right up.

When Max realized he was named, it was all over.



Blue Sky, meet Bubble Sky.
Cammon, Char, Dad, Mom--does anybody remember the other mowers' names?

::found::

"Mama Worm."







What fun. Now we know she's somewhere back there taking care of her babies.

::guess who::

We're lucky enough to have a semi-surprise visit from Kris's brother Kelly this week! He came in today and gets to stay until next week.
It's only too bad his wife Lechelle couldn't come with him. Next time, right Lechelle??

Poor Kris has had kind of an intense week. He's on call right now, and has had to go in and take calls at night the last few days. Some weeks are light and some are heavy, this one's been heavy so far, and it's only been a few days! He's also on a rotation where he goes to the operating room three days a week to learn about administering anesthesia. It's interesting, but he has to get up at about 5:30 those mornings. It ruins him for the evening. He's super tired, and with good reason, poor guy.


Anyway, Kelly got here this afternoon, and he and Max were already having a good old time. Matching. I got them the cutest shirts for christmas. Too bad Max's is pretty much too small already--his little belly sticks out the bottom unless he's wearing something underneath.



And speaking of matching, how about this look?

Just when we were talking about grabbing some after dinner celebratory ice cream Kris's pager went off. It was a big messy case, so Kelly thought he'd go along to observe and keep Kris company. I might not see them for a good long while, but at least they're together. Brothers are great.

::60 degrees::

So what do you do when it's a balmy 60 degrees outside?
Why get in your swimming suit of course, and run through ice cold hose water!

Or that's what you do if you're 100% crazy and your name is Max.
Our poor cars are covered with leaves and pollen and little sticky things. We park under a tree nowadays, which is great for providing shade, and also great for providing schmutz.

This was NOT a warm evening. Luckily he didn't catch hypothermia. But he did have a blast, and sometimes that's all that matters.

::fish family photo::

All the fish came out together the other day and insisted on Max taking a family photo.
There's been a new addition to the family.

It's the "mama mama fish." She's Mama Fish's mom. She was given to Max quite a while ago by his Grandma Kathy, and was pretty much ignored until he came across her the other day and realized who she was. She has been going around with Mama Fish a lot lately. They both came with us to see the Earth movie a while back. They're basically inseparable. And they're pretty well inseparable from Max too. In fact, he took mama fish, mama mama fish and daddy fish with him to the father's and son's campout last weekend. Only daddy fish was allowed out of the car, the two moms had to stay. And I was in charge of the baby fishes.


So are some of you wondering how we ended up with 5 of the same fishy? I'm not sure I really want to tell the story, but I'm going to. For posterity's sake at the very least.

Mama fish is third from the left here. And yes, I can tell the difference. We gave her to Max for his first Christmas. And boy was she ever a good present. He started taking her everywhere. Chewing on her eyes and fins and tail. He loved her. And when he got big enough to talk he named her Mama Fish.

When babies chew on stuff, the stuff tends to get gross and stinky. And he never liked to give up Mama Fish for a washing. So I had this really bright idea. I'd buy another mama fish! Then I could swap her out and wash whichever fish wasn't being used. Brilliant, right?
What I didn't realize is that the boy would know when his best friend was replaced with a look alike. He knew immediately. And thus, Daddy fish was adopted into the family. So now he had to have two fish everywhere he went. Daddy fish is 2nd from the left in that family photo.
THEN...
We were shopping at the bookstore--Borders I think? Anyway, one of those bookstores with pluffy animals. And who does Max find but another fish! And before I realize it and can stop him, he's sucked on one of the fins, and stuck it in his ear. Arrgh. I still tried to separate him from it, but it was like I was breaking his heart. So I just gave in like a good sucker mom and bought the adorable thing. That was Baby fish. Baby fish is 5th from the left (or 2nd from the right, whichever you prefer.)

THEN...
I was made completely insane at this point, I didn't know right from wrong or have any sense. So when I was someplace and saw two adorable pluffy fish I had to buy them. I put them high up in my closet. I think my thought process was that if Mama, or one of the other family members was permanently misplaced I could do something about it. And that was/is a valid concern. Mama fish has been lost more times than I can count, and seriously lost several times. I've always found her though, lucky for Max!

When we moved from our first house in Kansas City, the fish were unearthed by Max. I didn't know it. I came into the room and there he was, snuggling and rolling around with FIVE fish!! I was shocked. It was too late though. They were all his, and they joined him at bedtime. They've also all taken trips with us before, though luckily now we're down to just one or two on big trips.
I can't tell who's who in the photo, Baby Brother fish and Baby Sister fish look very similar. The only way to tell the difference is that Baby Sister fish still has a plastic tag thing through her fin.

So that's the story. Max loves his fishies, and I love him.