Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Just Playin’

 

Amelia Grace has become one of us.  Her parents are great friends of ours and she comes to play quite a bit.  Here, Will and AG are playing with little pinball machines.  One is from when Mark was a little boy and the other came in Mark’s stocking from Santa this last year.  Good thing there were two, cause they both played for a while!

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Our walks in the neighborhood consist of Will taking off in his little John Deere tractor walker.  It doesn’t have pedals, but he takes off down the hill on the sidewalk, lifts his feet and is gone, lickety split!  Max and I try to keep up in another little push car we have.

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We try to be safe, and surprisingly are good with it all but this once!  On our way to get some ice cream after dinner, we loaded up to head to Sonic, just up the street.  I put Will in his car seat, but somehow forgot to actually buckle him.  Before we get to Sonic, I turn around and find him in the middle seat, happy as a clam!  We didn’t even hear him climbing out of his seat.  Since then, he wants to sit on his own, and strapping him in his seat has become somewhat of a battle.  GEEEEZZZZ!

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Max’s One Year Photo Shoot

 

Thanks to our dear friend Caroline at A Better Story Photography, we have amazing pictures of Max and our whole family!  Caroline has a little guy just a few days younger than Max too – he’s a miracle!  Born at 24 weeks, he’s had a long road but is doing so well and after 16 months of having to stay mostly at home to avoid all the bugs out there, he gets to come play now!  Max and Wyatt got to spend some time together during VBS this month for the first time.  So excited that they’ll be buds one day!

So, on with the photos…we chose Faust Park in Chesterfield for the shoot, there are barns there and fields, perfect to take the new tractor with us for some good “farmer” shots!  Caroline did an amazing job and I had a hard time picking the ones to share on this blog post. 

You can see them all HERE!

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Happy 1st Birthday Max

 

Wowzers, has Max’s first year gone fast!  He’s not walking, or saying much really, but is busy climbing everywhere and following big brother around! He’s catching up with big brother in the weight department at 26 lbs and 11 oz, and standing at 31.25” tall.  Both are in the 95th percentiles, go figure.

We celebrated his birthday with a John Deere themed party, complete with a new John Deere Gator and tractor with trailer and umbrella!

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All of Max’s cousins came to celebrate was well as neighbors and a friend from church.  Everyone got a JD cup, mini tractor to take home and a tractor cookie!

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Max got all kinds of wonderful gifts, clothes, tractor bags and a few toys.  The highlights were the ride on Gator and of course the “real” pedal tractor from Grandmother and Papa!  Everybody had to have a turn driving it AND riding in the trailer.  Only one who could actually pedal it being so heavy was our 6 year old neighbor Evan.

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Max really “dug” his cake.  It took him a while to get going, but then icing was everywhere.  Word to the wise, green icing doesn’t come out of ANYTHING.  We still have some in the carpet.  Thanks to Aunt Steph for bathing Max to clean him up after his dessert! 

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Happy Birthday Sweet Max!

Monday, June 18, 2012

February–Emma, Haircuts, Snowsuit, Peek-a-Boo, and Boots

 

Favorite animal: Emma

The boys are crazy about Papa’s lab Emma.  Will would feed her 300 dog bones, if she’d eat them.  Both boys keep their distance for the most part, but ask about her ALL the time.  Luckily, Papa brings her when they come to visit.

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This one almost hurt Mama.  Max’s sweet personality is equally matched with sweet little curls.  It was time for a his first haircut.  He did a great job sitting in the chair!

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A little too short for Mama, but he is still adorable!

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Not much snow this year, but Will loved to get decked out and bundled up with his favorite sock Monkey hat!

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Peek-a-Boo, I see you!

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Will loves to jump in the puddles when we are out and about.  Grandmother got him his very own FROG rain boots.  He was SO excited to open the box and try them on!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

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January - Boys will be boys…I suppose!

 

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Will is always surprising us with new words, ideas and general silliness!  What a goofball.

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We’ve been blessed in Missouri with a mild winter, which means lots of outside time time, YEAH!  Max is active and crawling around everywhere and as you can see, eating everything.  Sand is extra tasty!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

One Horse Open Sleigh

 

For some reason Will recalls the line “one horse open sleigh” from the song Jingle Bells!  It’s really adorable, where do they get this stuff!  Our Christmas time was absolutely wonderful this year, but it sure does go by too fast.  To catch up on stats for the boys:

Will: 2 yrs, 3 feet tall, 27 pounds

Loves anything construction and anything train related.  He’s talking up a storm, and very well I might add too.  Gotta watch what you say nowadays!  He climbs everything and is always testing the limits, like any 2 year old, throwing a tantrum in there every once in a while.  He’s crazy about Christmas, loves the lights and trees and just figuring out Santa. We started the Elf on the Shelf this year, and each morning he has a blast trying to find him, he’s always conveniently “up high”!

Max: 10 months, 30 inches tall, 24.5 pounds

That’s right, only 2.5 pounds lighter than Will.  Max is our little sweet pea!  He’s such a laid back kiddo.  Just goes with the flow, which works well since Will runs the show most of the time.  Max is crawling everywhere, just started out of nowhere really.  He’s pulling up to his knees, but we suspect it won’t be long till he’s trailing the furniture.  He loves any attention you give him, and such a smiley boy!  He’s going everywhere in his walker.  He’s finally sleeping through then night all the time now.  He’s just now starting to babble and say “mama” and “dada”, and he’s quite the little Daddy’s boy, which makes Dada beam with joy!

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We journeyed to the Missouri Botanical Gardens for they’re annual Christmas Train exhibit.  Will loved it and it was beautiful as always!

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Santa brought a train table this year and both boys LOVE it!  Will is usually on top of it pulling all the trains around.  Max loves to steal Will trains…little brothers!

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We had a wonderful Christmas.  We really enjoyed being home on Christmas morning.  The boys played and played, both took morning naps and still had more to open after that!  Mama’s family was there to celebrate too.  We loved having a house full.  Dada was off the entire week between the holidays.  We went to the zoo, had friends come to town, went shopping, had lunch, and played A LOT!  Countdown is on to next Christmas!

Will’s 2nd Birthday–Construction Party

 

Wow!  2 years have gone by so fast.  Our little Will is growing up!  He’s into dump trucks, traffic cones and just about anything else construction.  He truly enjoyed his party and it was a beautiful December day, and all the kiddos got to play outside!  We so enjoyed having everyone join us for the party, and he got so many wonderful gifts, which he’ll enjoy every one of them.

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What a curious little fellow!  Checking out all of the goodies before the party started, even took a bite out of a chocolate donut (a.k.a. spare tires).

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Dada and Will greeted his guests outside.

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Will definitely knows he is “2”.  But holds up one finger on each hand to show you.  One day he’ll get it right, but for now it’s just too cute!

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He almost didn’t know what to do with everyone singing to him!  We’ll call it a successful party that he didn’t stick his fingers in the cake before we cut into it!

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His favorite gift from the party was this little back hoe ride on toy.  He calls it his “digger”.  Cousin Courtney picked out a great one!

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Grandmother and Papa sprang for a new bike!  He loves it, he even got the helmet to boot.

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‘Nough said!

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Max even enjoyed some cake too!  Though some did end up on the wall…thanks Papa!