Maxwell Turns 2!!

Our little guy turned 2 last week. Wow! How time flies.  Maxwell has been such a wonderful addition to our family. Here are some fun things about him:

Nicknames: Max, Maximus, Little Monster, Gummi Bear, Munchkin

Age: 2

Favorite color(s): Lucy would say Blue, I don't think he has a preference

Favorite Song(s): ABC's the only thing he usually catches is ME at the end, The Wheels on the Bus (especially the BEEP!BEEP!)

Favorite Movies: Toy Story 1&3, Cars

Favorite TV Shows: Thomas the Train, Sesame Street, that is when his sister allows him to pick the show they watch

Favorite Food: Pretzels, Yogurt Raisins, Juice, Fries, Pasta and Rice

Favorite Game(s): Peek-a-Boo, Tag or his way run away and have pregnant mommy chase him down, Running around in circles, he could do this FOREVER. Race, he will bend over, put his arms back and wait for you to say "On your mark, get set, go!"

Favorite Toy(s): Shake-n-Go Thomas the Train which he got for his birthday. He even took Thomas to bed with him a few times. Big Fire Truck, Planes and Trains....basically anything with wheels on it

Favorite Activities: Being outside, its a tantrum everytime we try to come inside, bathtime. He has even taken to having showers with Daddy in the morning, anything to be in the water.  Going to the park

Favorite thing to do with Dad: Wrestling, snuggling with Daddy when he comes home

Favorite thing to do with Mom: Read books....not much else. He really prefers playing with his Daddy.

Biggest Accomplishments: He just learned how to jump the other day and he practises it all the time and is so proud of himself.

Talents: Making everyone smile, running away really fast, blowing kisses
Most Endearing Qualities: Although not a quality, his shaggy hair is very endearing. He is very sweet, he is always willing to share with his sister. Polite, he almost always says his "please" and "thank you".

Worst Qualities: Lack of words, especially "yes" he answers "no" to everything. He also can throw a mighty good tantrum and very stubborn. There isn't much that will change his mind once he gets a idea.

Goals for next year: Learn to use more words, move to a big boy bed and potty training

Quotes: "Love you", "Here you go", "Ready"....his latest addition to his vocabulary is when he puts a little finger to his mouth, purses his lips and says "Hmmm"...when he is trying to decide what he wants.

Current Stats: We haven't had his 2 year check up yet but when he was sick a couple weeks ago they did weigh him. He weighs in at  31 lbs.

We sure love this crazy little man. Happy Birthday Max!!

Disney on Ice

One of the advantages to living close to Hershey is they get lots of fun shows and concerts. This weekend Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream came to town. Since Lucy has fully immersed herself in the world of princesses we thought she would love this. We found a babysitter for Max and Lucy got to go on a date with Mommy and Daddy. Lucy loved the show and sat nicely and watched the whole thing. She did keep asking what they were doing for the first half of the show. I think she was a little confused about the skating aspect of the show.

Eating a special treat in a special Rapunzel cup.

The Fultz family joined us with their grand kids. Lucy and Emi are good little friends. There were so many little girls dressed up in their princess dresses. I felt bad that I didn't have Lucy dressed up as well.

The show was really wonderful. They had some really good skaters and the show was really well done. The show briefly told the stories of the Princess and the Frog, Cinderella and Rapunzel. Lucy kept asking when Rapunzel was coming, as they saved her to the end. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald came out in between to introduce each story and the show ended with all the Disney princess coming out with their princes. Lucy loved this and named them all.

The highlights were Lucy's comments:

1. At the end she said "Let's watch it again"

2. When she woke up the next morning the first thing she said to her daddy was "Thank you for taking me to the princess show." She has since repeated her gratitude multiple times.

Snow in October

It's true, it actually happened. We got about 8 inches of snow. It was beautiful, fluffy snow and was not accompanied by ice. We took full advantage and went out to play.

Maxwell spent the entire time eating the snow. Good thing it was fresh.

Snow Angels

Snowmen

Kisses for the Baby Snowman

Halloween 2011

Lucy was so excited to go Trick-or-Treating this year. We had many discussions about what she wanted to be for Halloween. Her ideas were usually for a Disney Princess, but would change depending on what day you asked. One day it was Sleeping Beauty, the next day would be Belle. So I started thinking up ways I could make her a Princess costume and I finally found a blog that gave a tutorial on a Tinker Bell and Peter Pan costume. It was too cute to pass up. Here was the result. The pictures aren't super great as the kids are not very cooperative when it comes to picture taking.

Most people thought Maxwell was Robin Hood. Didn't matter he was just adorable. Our ward had a trunk-or-treat night where the kids got their first stash. Pennsylvania also got to trick-or-treat on actual Halloween as they postponed our regular trick-or-treat night, which is usually Thursday, because of rain.

Smiles

Maxwell recently learned to smile and say cheese for the camera. So here are some of his smiles to make you smile. He sure makes us smile.

So long Summer

Summer came and went and we had a lot of fun. We filled our summer with lots of trips to the park, swimming in the backyard, a trip to Utah/Yellowstone and a few natural disasters.

Besides our trip to to see family the highlight of the summer was our trip to the beach. We had perfect weather and great company as our friends the Rusten's joined us. We all squished into a little 2 bedroom apartment and we all got along surprisingly well.

Here are a few pictures to highlight our trip:

Ice cream on the boardwalk. We were lucky to find a place that was a block and a half from the boardwalk and beach. This meant we could walk to the beach whenever we wanted.

                                                               Ready for some sun

The kids loved splashing in the waves. Someone always had to have a hand on them as the current was very strong and would have washed them all away.

I wanted to include this picture because you can see little Maxwell's hand is all wrapped up. A few days before we left for the beach he touched the lawn mower exhaust after Daddy was done mowing the lawn. He burned his pointer and middle finger, which then blistered. They then burst and became open sores. We tried to keep it wrapped up while we were at the beach. But it was hard to keep it clean when he spent most of the time digging in the sand.

This is Lucy and Teagan playing in the water with their daddies. Lucy and Teagen were great little friends. One day we were trudging through the sand loaded down with all our stuff and Lucy was moving in her slow mode. That is until she heard Teagen yell her name, then she raced across the sand to find her Teagen.

Snack Time

Maxwell LOVES his trucks, cars, trains anything that moves. Also, his snack time at the beach usually included stuffing sand in his mouth.

The dads got to relive their bachelor days and spent some time surfing.

The kids thought the surf boards were great for bouncing on.

A bike ride along the boardwalk. What Lucy remembers most is eating a pink sprinkled doughnut.

We also ate some DELICIOUS seafood outside along the pier, went for a cruise through the bay and ocean. On our cruise we even got to see some dolphins. It was such an awesome trip we couldn't believe that in the 4 years we have been married we have never been to play at the beach.

Drumroll please....

After much coaxing and waiting, yes people, we have a walker in the house. This video was taken the day he started walking. He had taken a couple steps here and there but nothing major. After his nap one day he just kind of took off. He has a adorable little waddle and hasn't quite discovered that he can put his arms down while he walks. The video also shows Lucy trying to share in the spotlight and imitate Maxwell.

You will have to excuse the mess of our house...I had started packing at this point. And Lucy was helping by taking everything out of the boxes.
Maxwell has become a walking fireball of fury. He never wants to stop once he gets going and he has absolutely no interest in going the direction he is allowed/supposed to go. He is quickly learning to keep up to Lucy. He is so proud of himself now that he can walk.

The kids personalities are quickly evolving. Maxwell is all boy. He is most happy when he has some mode of transportation in his hand. He loves cars, trains and tractors. Lately he has been a little more cranky as he is cutting his 2 back teeth, but he is very happy otherwise. Lucy is still obsessed with princesses. The kids have a t.v. with a VCR attached and I have been picking up Disney movies at garage sales. I think we have collected just about all of them. She also loves her friends, and even the little girl that walks by in the supermarket is her friend. Nothing excited her more then when I say we are going to play with her friends. All in all these kids keep me going and on my toes.