::our yard::

Here's a little tour for you.
Our yard isn't well manicured, and it's not well maintained. The soil is really sandy since we're very near the bay, and so grass has a really hard time growing. We, as well as the landlord have fertilized the grass, but it's really a disaster. And somebody planted bulbs at some point, but the squirrels or some other sinister creature ate all the blossoms. We have plenty of leaves coming up but no blossoms. So anyway, our yard isn't super nice looking, but it has some perks. Number 1, it's a yard. Number 2, there's room for a boy and a dog. Number 3, there are a few pretty things growing in it. Just a few!
The front yard has this little tree:


It's not the prettiest tree I've ever seen the rest of the year, but in the spring it's amazing!

Then there's the lilac bush we borrow from the next door neighbors--it hangs over the fence.

I can't wait until it fully blooms--lilacs are so wonderful!

And then there's this crazy tree.

The leaves are red. All the time. They come out red in the spring and stay red all summer. I don't remember ever noticing a tree like that before me moved here, but they're all over our neighborhood. And most look much better than ours. Ours has some sort of sad disease and by fall all the leaves are all eaten up. Oh well. It looks nice now.

Pretty color, isn't it?

So there's the tour. It'll be interesting to see what our yard in New Mexico will look like. Probably a LOT different. But there can still be lilacs I think!

::hammock::

Did I spell hammock right? I'm suddenly having a crisis of spelling confidence...

Anyway, Kris's brother Kelly served an LDS mission in Brazil way back in the day. When he got back he gave us this awesome hammick for Christmas (from how we say it, doesn't hammick look more correct?)
So it's an authentic Brazilian hammock. And I think Kelly and his companions actually slept in these at night sometimes. Is that true Kelly?

In our first house we actually had someplace to hang it. Two nice trees, spaced just right. But Max was too little to really appreciate it. And of course we moved.

(Not my favorite picture of myself, of course, but Max looks cute. And we're enjoying ourselves.)

Kris got the good old hammock out the other day and hung it between our one tree and the deck. I think since we're leaving in a couple of months it'll be ok, but if we were staying any longer the deck railing would be in serious jeopardy. Because Max LOVES the hammock. It's his favorite thing. He spends so much time out there. He blows bubbles from the hammock (much to my chagrin because he spills bottle after bottle of bubble stuff.) He pats Sultan from the hammock. He swings and thinks about 6 yr old boy topics. He swings and wiggles his loose teeth. He swings and eats popsicles. He turns it upside down and pops his head out and pretends to be a bug coming out of a banana.



So basically it's 100% fun 100% of the time out there. And I love it because it gets him out in the sun and the fresh air.
And I'm only worried about him falling on his head about 10 times a day. No big deal.

::boston's monster::

Kelly & Lechelle are in the process of adopting a sweet little baby whom they've named Boston. He's fun and cute--so we hear. It's always a bummer to be so far away from family when special things are happening.
So since we can't come and visit them right now I made a monster for him to snuggle with.



I think he turned out cute. Hopefully Boston will like him as much as Max did. Max tried to keep him here of course.

::it's gone!!::

Yesterday, as I was posting about his tooth being loose, it suddenly fell out of Max's mouth!!
I think we figured out the most efficient way to remove loose teeth. Ideally the child could throw a major fit about something--something totally insignificant. The child could then repeat over at over that he's "the king" so his mother should "do what I say!!!!" Then at some point the loose tooth will just come out.

Look at that tiny teeny little tooth! (Or don't look if you're like me and teeth kind of gross you out.)

(please try to overlook the chapped lips and possible blood crust around the mouth, ICK.)

I have to say that the tooth popping out completely changed his demeanor. He was not having a good day at all. In fact it was pretty terrible. But after the tooth came out we had a great evening. Straight from tears to enthusiastic grins. It should happen more often.


The tooth fairy did come last night, and she brought a couple of cars instead of a couple of quarters. It went over well. I think he's pretty happy.

Yay for Max!

::here comes the storm::

The grey cloud snuck up on us--we were minding our business in the backyard. The thunder started cracking, the lightening flashed. Max got worried and excited.

Then it passed by without even a drop of rain.

Weird cloud.

But it looked good when it was coming.

::large and in charge::

When we were gone to UT in Feb our Primary president had a "meet your teachers" activity. Since Kris and I are lucky enough to teach primary together, the president asked me to email her a picture so she could print it out and make sure the kids knew what we looked like.
When we got back from the trip and walked into the primary room there we were, huge--life sized basically, on one of the blackboards. It was a little scary.
She gave us ourselves and we took us home and put us up in the hall. It was really weird to walk by and see ourselves staring back every time.

At least I like that picture.

We moved it to the laundry room recently. I think it's a little better place for us and it looks a tad less narcissistic when people come and visit us.

::it's loose::

Max finally has a loose tooth. He came home from school on friday and proudly showed it to me. And I was very surprised because it was his first ever mention of anything of the sort. And the tooth was WAY loose too. I'm wondering how it took so long for him to notice that one of his teeth was kind of flapping in the wind.
I didn't know if he was ever going to loose any teeth! I seemed like friends and acquaintances have been losing them left and right, but his were stuck in for good.
He's very proud of himself.

It's the one on the bottom left (our left, not his.)
So all week he's been asking for soft foods. He's been refusing things like carrots and corndogs. He's been nursing that tooth like crazy. Every day it flaps more and more. One of these days it's just going to pop right out, and I just hope he doesn't swallow it. (Ewwww) I don't think the tooth fairy comes if you swallow your tooth.
We'll keep you posted.

::::

(Isn't that the weirdest guidebook cover you've ever seen?)
Kris is in Iceland with his dad right now. Well, actually he's not there anymore. He's on his way back at the moment, which I'm glad about. They haven't had any travel difficulties, which is ironic considering the fact that nearly all of Europe is closed down due to volcanic ash.
They planned this trip long ago--months before there was any hint of volcanic activity. It was purely just bad luck that the day they were flying out was the day after the big eruption. Crazy stuff.
But they've had a good time, and hopefully Kris will come back with some fun photos that will be posted here.

Grandpa had a few hours to play with Max before they left, and hopefully will have another few hours before he goes home tomorrow. Max is loving it.

::school pictures::

What's better than your kid's school pictures? Why, school pictures with YOU in them of course!
Max's school held a couple of "boy" events in the last month or two--a father and sons and a mother and sons.
The one that I went to was reptile themed. They had a guy there that brought tons of reptiles that the kids got to learn about and hold. I think I may have actually posted about that. The one Kris went to had a magician. Max loved it and Kris said it was pretty funny.
But seriously it doesn't get any more hilarious and cheeseball than these photos.

Isn't that the craziest backdrop you've ever seen? And seriously, if I was sitting next to a tree all full of snakes in real life I would not be striking a "glamour shots by Deb" pose ("Kay, hold still right there. Now, just imagine you're weightless, in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by tiny little seahorses.") I'd be running and screaming.

This one is pretty hilarious too. Mostly Max though. You'd think the kid had never had his picture taken before--or maybe he's just training to be the star of Awkward Family Photos. Who knows.
Pretty funny stuff.