Amazing Andy

An old but favorite shot after playing in the yard together

Last night my hubby had the boys and let me go out with girlfriends (rock-climbing and dinner - SO MUCH FUN - will post about that later). Not only did he feed and bathe both boys, deal with Max's breathing treatment and meds, play video games with Jake and get them both to bed...he cleaned the entire house!!

I have been feeling super overwhelmed with house cleaning lately - I'm never ahead on laundry, there's usually dishes in the sink with a full, clean load in the dishwasher (ugh), and there's stacks of important papers everywhere! I hate it but can't seem to stay on top of things with all we've dealt with Max and Christmas shopping and everything...

I came home pretty late to find the pile of laundry that was on the rocking chair folded and put away (which I hadn't touched for a couple days), toys all picked up, dishes put away and most of the paper clutter picked up. SO nice to come home to that.

A few months ago, I left for a Saturday to get my hair done (several hours with highlights and all) and he had sustained both boys by himself :) AND repainted the kitchen! I left the house with a cookie-monster-blue kitchen and came home to a nice off-white one! Sometimes he just amazes me.

Thank you to my wonderful, hard-working, humble, sweet-attitude hubby! It's true that love grows over time. I love you more now than ever, sweetheart!

Strong for It

Jake saw one of these in someone's yard and said,

"Those are for God to pick up and shake...Yeah, 'cause He's the one who's strong for it."

Whew!!

I'm here...just been too busy to post! Been out of town and busy with something every day this week. Then I took Max to the doctor today - he's been fighting off a pretty icky cold. Today I heard a lot more coughing and wheezing so I took him in. Not RSV, but probably some other virus, she said, and he has to be on steroids and breathing treatments!! Hate that nebulizer! Actually, the right attitude would be that I'm thankful that they exist and that our kids are super healthy. It's just that it's hard to get a squirmy 19-month-old to sit still for 20 minutes with a noisy, steamy mask over his face - 4 times a day! But thank you Lord for helpful medicine. Anyway, she says he shouldn't be contagious anymore...just needing to get rid of the wheezing. Get well little Max!

Will do a real post soon...

DADDY'S HOME!!!

Thanksgiving Feast

Jake had fun at our school's Thanksgiving Parade & Feast. His class dressed as Pilgrims. After the parade he told me that he was a "superhero pilgrim!" HA! Alright bud.

Hard to see here - he's in the orange shirt.

Walking in line. So cute with his hands in his pockets. (Although he thinks "cute" is for babies, "pretty" is to describe girls, and "cool" is to describe boys. When I tell him he's so cute, he likes it, but says, "no, I'm big!" :) )

His teacher, Mrs. Parker and his class

Their "feast" was a Dickey's turkey sandwich, macaroni and cheese and a turkey cookie. :)

Jake was so happy to see me in the middle of the school day and kept saying, "I love you Mom." He was so cuddly and sweet. I love you Buddy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Harmonica Dad & Son

A big part of who I am has to do with my amazing dad (I love you Dad!), who happens also to be an incredible harmonica player. I loved growing up seeing and learning what I did because of my dad and his music. Jim (my brother) and I grew up with Dad always playing (practicing) while driving down the road, amplifiers throughout our house, travelling to cool places for gigs (sometimes getting backstage star treatment), and lots of education about musicians like Toots Thielemans and Muddy Waters.

Even though I was used to my dad's playing, I've always had an appreciation for what he could/can do. There are several songs he plays (one of them below, "Use Me Up") that I love. I remember being a little girl walking with him in the woods in Tennessee (right, Dad?) LOVING hearing him play "Mercy, Mercy." I've heard it so many times, but never get sick of it. It's a good song, but it's more because of my dad playing it. It sounds cheesy, but my heart swells with pride every time I hear him play on stage.

Unfortunately, I never got interested in any instrument, although my brother is - he's an amazing guitar/bass/whatever-he-wants-to-play player...

And I didn't even know this was out there (shouldn't be surprised), but I found a few videos of my dad and his buddy Smokey Logg on YouTube:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK2ue1kc9Mo (couldn't embed this one)

Needless to say, we have a few used harmonicas laying around the house. My sweet Max has taken it up a bit:

Can you hear the loud in and out blowing? He loves it...

Blowing through the side - doesn't work as well.

Hands-free...

Thank you, Dad, for your many gifts to me. I love you.

You Have Really Big Glasses

...from my blogging "friend" (strange how you get to know people through blogging that I would never normally meet...) Missy's blog, "It's Almost Naptime!!". She posted this...HA!!



Did you like Tears for Fears? :D

Lucys

The boys thought my Lucy wig was funny...

I thought it was funny to see it on their little heads.

I can hear my Ricky saying I have some splanin' to do for posting these...

Bummed...

...to be on the "losing" side. Lord help our country.

ABF Costume Part-ay

Lucy & Ricky!

small town (and/or 80's) weather lady with a chance of rain

Chef Boyardee and Betty Crocker (complete with cans of Chef Boyardee stuff)

Adrianne and Peter - as each other - hilarious

Alfalfa and Darla

Nick and Scarlett

Drew Carrey and contestant - perfect

Deanna's 80's hair and makeup killed me!

Tony Romo and Jessica - HA!! also perfectly done

LOVE this shot - Alfafa was very bothered by "Adrianne's" advances

pictionary

LOTS OF FUN!! Thank you sweet Parkers for opening your house!

I love our ABF!

Trick-or-Treating

We went to a neighborhood not far from ours, and got SO MUCH candy in just a few minutes. At the rate of 1-2 pieces a day (if Jake behaved well that day) I'll never get it all out of the house! I did go through and pull out all the good chocolate for me and Andy. :) I also ate the Swedish Fish - I love those!

There was one house we went to - so weird. Some people go way overboard with the scary stuff. (Do they go all out for Christmas too, or just Halloween?) Anyway, the lights were all off, but it was decorated with the fake cobwebs and other scary stuff. As we got closer to the house (he was definitely watching us) a smoke machine filled his yard with smoke. He had one of those two-story, really tall archways leading to his porch. He had hung black fabric like curtains over the entire archway - like 15-20 feet, and it was really dark. It kinda looked like heavy wooden doors.

Anyway, Jake was a little spooked, but I told him I'd go up to the door with him. In retrospect, this could have been a bad move - who knows what kind of crazy scary thing this guy could have put in my 4-year-old's mind! But we walked up there together and he jumped out from behind the curtains, standing on something with this crazy mask and big crazy plastic hands. I kinda screamed which made Jake kinda whimper and cry. :) Jake said something like, "You shouldn't do that." But then they guy took off his mask and let him touch his hands, then gave him candy. Later we saw that guy really having fun with a big group of teenagers. Later Jake talked about how he was a silly guy...

Hope you all had fun too!

Brotherly Love

Lately, Jake and Max have really been buddies. I love it. When I sit at the computer I hear little boy giggles from across the house. Usually they're chasing each other (now that Max walks!), and of course Jake is faster so he tackles Max and they both laugh. Or they hide behind Andy's hanging shirts in our closet and reach out and tickle each other. I love that Jake is being sweet with him, and I think he loves the companionship. And Max thinks Jake hung the moon. It's great for me because they entertain each other. All this rough-housing, though, makes me think we'll need padded walls when they get bigger. :)

Just a few minutes ago I heard Jake singing a lullabye (original lyrics). I didn't want to ruin the moment so I didn't peek until after it was over, but they were both on Max's bedroom floor (Max with paci and blankie) and Jake was rocking him. Awww....

This is a game they played the other night. Jake was rocking them in the recliner and they were laughing so hard.

Check out Max's laugh!

Teaching his little brother tricks... And, yea, I know it's gross to put your mouth in bath water, but I'm sure they'll do plenty more gross things.

Thank you Lord for silly boys.

Optimus Prime...doing his chores

This is one of Jake's chores (which he still thinks is fun - need more chore ideas and a good way to handle allowance, giving, etc.) - unloading the flatware from the dishwasher.

Drinking through the hole in the mask on the way to the Fall Festival. :)

YAY Max!!

He's a little walker!! These videos were from last night and today he's been walking around even more - maybe 75% of the time. For a few weeks he's been taking steps, more and more each day. Yesterday and today he's been walking, almost everywhere. He'll just come from around the corner walking. He loves it. He's finally realized, I think, that it's so much better than being low to the ground. We're so proud of you Little Man!

Our Weekend

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We had a great camping trip. Because all the state parks in the area we wanted were booked (crazy, huh?) we ended up at this RV park. It ended up being great. There were 2 families with 4 boys around Jake's age and they had a blast together. Cool how kids strike up friendships so easily. We slept in our cool big tent (cheap at Sam's!), I cooked on our newly purchased propane stove, and of course, we had LOTS of smores.

All the animal pics - a really pretty wildlife park. The boys loved it. Jake even got to "drive" a little on Daddy's lap. Watch out for the ostridges and zebras, though! They'll get ya! Jake learned the word "aggressive" this weekend. :)

Oh, and poor Max! He must have his Mommy's allergy issues. The first night at camp - no, the first 10 minutes after we pulled into our campground - he got a mosquito bite on his forehead. It didn't look bad until the next morning. It was so swollen, even to the back of his ear and his eye. He looked like a little Rocky. He was a trooper! Just today (3 days later) has it mostly cleared up. Why do some bites swell up like that and others don't??

Anyway, we had lots of fun. Good little family get-away.

Banner Fun

Needed to change out the summer-y pictures. (not satisfied with background yet, but need sleep...)

And I did find cheerios in my purse. :)

Max-isms

Max, being the 2nd child, hasn't gotten as much written in his baby book, poor guy. I haven't recorded every little word or new trick. (In fact, horrible -- he has about 4 new teeth that haven't been written in his book!!) But I started thinking about all Maxer says and wanted to blog it...I think I'll even print it out and stick it in his book!

Words and signs used together (not all official baby signs or even exact ASL):

• bye
  
• ball ("ball-ball")


• more


• teet-teet (with sign for bird)


• kack (with sign for duck, which is basically the same as bird)


• banana ("nana"), his version of the banana sign is really cute


• airplane (accompianied by the vrumm noise)


• hi! ("ah-uh!" with a little inflection and a wave)


• yes (with big head nod)


• rain (says "ra-ra")


• no-no ("nah-nah") with little wagging pointer finger

Words only:

• Mama! (he's been yelling this from his crib or highchair)


• Da! (for Daddy)


• "sat?" "sis?" (what's that?/this?)


• moo (for cows)


• cookie ("du-dee!")


• "vrumm" for cars or trucks


• no ("nah") when he doesn't want something


• water ("wa-wa")


• bubbles ("bubba")


• "weeeeee" going down slides or swinging
  

Signs only:

• eat


• drink


• paci


• blankie


• outside (one of his FAVORITE things)


• bath


• please

(saying please)

• thank you (only when he feels like it - working on this one)


• finished


• help


• book


• light


• hear that? (puts hand to ear - here, the train in his hand was making noise)

Among his favorite things also - the vaccum, swiffer or dirt devil.

Sweet boy...