Max Had a Birthday!

Max turned ONE on September 2nd.

We celebrated with cake!

Macey's grocery store gives a free cake to babies for their first birthday,

so Max got a cake all to himself.

At first, he didn't really like the cake.

He even tried to spit it out.



Then he thought it might be fun to play in it.

Then he decided to give it another try.

And he loved it so much he got it EVERYWHERE!

Life Moves Pretty Fast . . .

Since our last post:

Max started climbing up in his crib. . .

on the dishwasher . . .

against the wall, and anywhere else he could manage.

Olivia went on her first field trip (to the Bean Museum).

She really enjoyed her first bus ride. (Unfortunately I just deleted the cute picture.)

She also lost her first tooth . . . and her second!

We had a few fun sleepovers with cousins.

Anne had a birthday. She's already ELEVEN!

(and what a beautiful girl she is becoming!)

Max broke his collarbone when he fell out of his high chair.

As you can see, it didn't really slow him down! He was

only very sad initially, but once we got his arm immobilized he was

very happy again. Then again, maybe he just liked going around shirtless for 5 weeks!

Our family discovered "Just Dance" for the wii. We had a great time

playing at our family reunion in Fairview.

(Note Anne's expression, she is all business when it comes to this game.

No wonder she's usually the champ!)

The girls started up again at school. Anne is in 6th grade

(her final year of elementary school), Abbey is in 4th, and Olivia is in 1st.

Jane started Pre-school and LOVED her first day.

(I hope it wasn't just because of the box of treats from her teacher!)

We made two trips to the zoo.

I loved how this giraffe looked like he was trying to size himself up!

And I love seeing Zuri the baby elephant.

Max had his first birthday! Macey's grocery store gives babies a free cake

for their first birthday, so Max got one cake all to himself. At first,

he didn't seem to like it, but gradually he discovered what a great

opportunity it was, and he loved it! He smeared frosting

EVERYWHERE!

I hope you got to check out all the pictures on facebook

(or that I find time to make a post just about his special day!)

Spring Break (was about a month ago!)

I'm apologizing in advance for the random order in which pictures will appear in this post. (I just don't want to put the necessary brain power into determining which order to upload to make this look good and be in chronological order.)

For Spring Break, we went to Las Vegas to spend time with Kelly, Chanelle and their kids. Since Kelly is a pilot, we were able to fly to the Grand Canyon (It was the kids' first flying experience.) We also went to Circus Circus, and just enjoyed being together. Let the randomness begin!

We started off easy at Circus Circus (our kids are not known to be daredevils). Can you tell Cory was excited to be at a themepark?!

This was one of the kids' favorites!

Olivia loved the roller coaster. She was about a half inch too short for the big roller coaster and was a little diasappointed. Abbey also enjoyed this roller coaster, but it terrified Jane.

Thunderbirds wan another favorite for the girls.

Here is a picture of all of us at the Grand Canyon.

(Jane and Max stayed with Kelly and Chanelle in Vegas)

While at Circus Circus, we watched The Flying Palermos do an acrobat routine. At one point, one of the men was blindfolded and did a triple somersault and was caught by his partner.

Ike thought it was pretty cool and exclaimed, "Now that deserves a clap!" (I wish I had apicture of the triple flip, but it didn't turn out.)

We ordered the biggest pizza I've ever eaten! It was delicious!

One of the views from the plane.

Another view from the plane.
(It was a little hazy.)

A view from the South rim.

I wish my pictures did the view justice.

Anne suffers from motion sickness, and I didn't think to give her Dramamine until we were about to board the plane. Thankfully they had barf bags!

This was one of our pilots (Donnie).

I thought it was cool that we climbed the steps to board the plane.

Me and the girls at the Grand Canyon,

after Anne's stomach finally started to settle down.

All of us on the plane.
(We were a little more prepared for the flight back,

and the girls got extra special treatment from out flight attendant.)

Over all, it was a very fun trip.

Spring?

And to think that this morning I was sure spring was nearly here.

However, this light coating of snow was quite lovely.

The view out the front door.

The view off the back deck.

My baby boy!

Max is really growing up!

I let him drive while I was waiting fir Anne at dance class.

Isn't he cute!

He is such a happy guy!
Here he is trying on our home teacher's hat. Isn't he cute!

Yummy!?!

Max has started eating solid foods. He wasn't so sure about the green beans.

I think he liked the sweet potatoes a littles better.

He was definitely less messy when he ate them!

I couldn't resist throwing in this picture of Jane.

She loves helping me bake and licking the spoon, beaters, and/or bowl!

Feeling the Love

Cory's Mom gave the girls their own personalized white boards for Valentine's Day.

I went upstairs, and found this message from Olivia.

(What a sweetie!)