Puppy

Max found the puppy mask this morning, and after painstakingly putting it on, he crawled all the way down the hall for breakfast, woofing the whole time. It was so popular, we had to leave it on while we ate, and then we had to add it to the church backpack. Funny baby!

How I know.

How do I know Max is now two? Usually, when I say "it's time for a nap" he smiles at me and giggles from his little pillow and quietly goes to bed. That was the one year old Max. The two year old version arches his back while getting his diaper changed, informs me "no no no no no" and "play trains." I think I like the one year old version better.

Birthday Party

I know what you're thinking. She is so pregnant, WHY are we haiving a party for a 2 year old? Well, it was just going to be cake and ice cream and homemade pizza, so I decided to invite the Weir clan up as well. Plus, it was Sara's last night here (she's been up working) so I thought it would be fun. And my grandpa recently moved in with my mom, and he's always asking about my house, so I thought he would like to see it. So, up they came. When Mom got here, she saw the cake and the dinner, and asked me if I was crazy. The answer... yes. I really don't know what possessed me. I did so good on Sam's party, we went somewhere else, had pizza at round table, I didn't even really take pictures. Sigh. Good thing we have no more birthdays until this baby comes (well, except Jared, sorry babe:)

The cake tops the crazy list. What has come over me this week? I have had this cool cake pan since Sam's first birthday, and it really is ADORABLE. Unfortunately, there's a little problem with the cakes coming out without falling apart, even when you use the recipe it comes with. I forgot, with Sam, I had to do a SECOND batch of batter and use a pound cake recipe. As the first cakelets came out all terrible, I cried and ran to the internet, but by then I was tired and everything else looked really hard... including the option where I went down to Sam's club for cupcakes. So, I went back... and once they cooled down a lot, the rest came out easier.
So, I glazed all the mistakes away and covered the whole thing with candy. Done. It's fine. Right?

At least Max approved... and he did get that it was a train. That's the whole point, right?

We really tried to blow, but ended up needing a little help from Sam (who was so helpful, he was blowing candles out before we started singing, stinker!)
All the kids just wanted to eat the candy. I don't think they actually ate cake. Next year, I'm putting a candle in a bowl of candy.
This is one of my favorite things he does... he's been doing it since he was really little. Whenever you ask "where" something is (in this case, the presents), he puts his hands up. Now that he's verbal he's added a "don't know?" Well, Sam knew where they were, and he was HAPPY to help:) In fact, today he was HAPPY to help Max play with all his new toys!
Happy Birthday, sweet pea! Off to the train museum tomorrow to finish off the celebration! (ps, the train museum WAS supposed to be the whole party... what a sucker I am!)

Trains

So, I had this brilliant idea to get Max some thomas trains and a table from craigslist for his birthday. I even started looking a few months ago, and content that I could pretty much find one any time I wanted, I figured I'd look again. On Saturday morning, I woke up in a sweat and realized that I NEVER DID IT!!! So, onto craigslist I go, and after a whirlwind day, I ended up getting a set and a table that my Dad picked up for me (long story... I actually went down there to do it, then I didn't think I got them, then when I was almost home I DID get them...). Then, on tuesday night at Taekwondo, our friend asked if we wanted his son's hand me down Thomas stuff, hilarious, huh? So, that night, I got the stuff from Mom and Dad, and from my friend, and on Wednsday washed a HUGE assortment of wooden trains and accessories. My kitchen table was COVERED and I was really glad we washed them, they were very dirty!

After the kiddos went to bed Wednesday night, Jared and I (ok, really Jared) set to work, taking the table apart and gluing it together (he likes to do that sort of thing) to make it more stable, and by about 10:30 I needed to go to bed... at this point we hadn't even started setting up tracks. I set out the few things that HAD to be included on the table, and off to bed I went. At 4:30 I woke up, and Jared still wasn't in bed, so I went up to check on him. He was still trying to set up tracks. Yeah. It's harder than it looks, aparently. He kept complaining about the roundhouse, but I told him that was non-negotiable.

In all honesty, Jared really created an engineering marvel... as in he glued round pieces to make a two story track... amazing. There is one spiral that still needs to be glued, and one set of ends that needs to be cut off and glued, but the whole thing is pretty much ready to belong to the table permanently.

So, when Max wakes up, we take him upstairs...
I think he loves it. It's been an hour and a half, he won't come down for breakfast. He was pleased with the track and the one train that was sitting out...

but then we showed him the drawer full of trains. That's when he got really excited!
I sat there with the camera for half an hour or so, but only got a few smiles,
mostly because he was SO FOCUSED on his playing!


One way we really know it's his 2nd birthday... I'm hearing a lot of MINE!!!! even as I type this. Good thing there are two of several of the popular cars... Happy Birthday, baby!

A case of the Crazies

This is what comes of a) never wanting to stand up again and b) looking at too many craft blogs. I did make it a goal to get the cousin christmas presents done before I have this baby, and didn't have much on the schedule today, so I decided to start. As we can see, I got a little bit distracted...

I was making a prototype, and as I looked at the fabric I had left, I thought, hey, that's just enough to make a skirt for Pearl! Well, it turns out it was MORE than enough, and I ended up hemming the whole thing like 15 inches (that's what happens when you just make things up) but after a few modifications I really like how it turned out. So, I used stuff I (and Sherry) had laying around and made a super cool me and my doll ensamble. Very frugal and recyclish of me.
These are the christmas presents I set out to make. Finally finished them this evening, and somewhere in the middle of the day I thought I might make skirts for the dolly mammas too... but now it's late and my fire is burning out. We'll see. If Maryann gets me her girls measurements before I'm sick of the project, they may end up with matching skirts too.

This was my first time working with knit fabrics... (the shirts)... let me just say... never again (dang it, I have to sew knits for the boy projects I had planned.... ok, never after that). I broke a needle, it got all bunchy and stuck several times, and I ended up modifying it so I could have used cotton fabric after all. Grr. Anyways, they are really cute. The other funny part was that I went to Wal Mart looking for knit fabric for the shirts, but they didn't have any, so I bought a $3 mens t-shirt to cut up, but while it was washing I couldn't wait (part of it was for another project, don't worry) so I cut up one of my OLD t-shirts instead. Brilliant. It made me feel like my super talented sister in law Sara who is always making clothes for her little girl out of my brother's worn out clothes. Hmmm, watch out Ruby:)

By the way, Ruby kicked the whole time I was sewing... I think she wants a doll too:)

Seaweed.

Mom, what are we having for dinner? SOBA NOODLES!!!! Yes! Do we have any seaweed? Yup, you heard it, Sam asking for seaweed at dinner. Actually, I made Thai Peanut Noodles, which are fabulous by the way, and they use Udon noodles, which are pretty close to soba... anyways, one of the things their Daddy has brought home from asia is a love of cold soba noodles with sesame oil and seaweed/sesame seed topping. The kids are fans, thus, they love the roasted seaweed snack from trader joe's. No kidding. I don't particularly care for it, but I figure it's Omega-3 straight from the source, so I keep buying it for them. So, I just wanted documentation that Sam who is so picky his list of intolerable foods includes beans, olives, potatoes, and blueberries (I think he has a problem with round food) EATS SEAWEED. Weirdo. Max was enjoying stuffing sheets of seaweed into his mouth so much, I just had to document it. The incidence right before I got the camera out, he was a little overzealous and chomped on a finger, so this sequence doesn't have quite the abandonment it should, but you get the idea:)

Beach

Part of our super exciting San Francisco Zoo trip included a half an hour or so at the beach. The zoo is super cool in that it's less than a block from the ocean, so we walked out of the zoo and onto the beach in a matter of minutes. Previous beach trips with my boys have taught me to simply remove the pants... good thing I did:)

Max was really proud that his feet were all dirty:)
Sam in his underwear glory... good thing he wore the boxer briefs that day!
Boys.
Sam did pause to smile at me... once... then he was back to work, doing something, I don't know what.
Showing off those undies... I'm sorry to say that our recent family home evening lessons on Modesty have not affected him much.
Pearl girl. Looking for shells as usual. At least she didn't collect a pile of seaweed this time:)
My boys together...
Unfortunately for Sam, Max's favorite game was "dump sand on your brother." He was tired and HYSTERICALLY laughing every time he did it. Sam didn't even seem to notice. That's what makes Sam such a good brother... he simply doesn't care:)

How we love the beach!

Little Puffer

No trip to the San Fran Zoo would be complete without a ride on the steam train. It's really cool, and we have a train lover in our midst, so we just had to!

To keep Max happy in line, we let him hold a ticket. He was quite proud.
Hee hee, I have a ticket!
Look at that!
See?
All aboard!
Ridin' the rails!

We went to the beach this Saturday after picking Jared up from the San Francisco Airport on his way home from Asia. I just had to post this picture... working on the rest. But seriously, isn't he just the cutest baby? Love this boy! Can't believe he'll be 2 in less than 2 weeks!

Nikki

As I have been working on blog books recently, I've really enjoyed all the pictures I have of my nieces and nephews in there too. I figure when they're older and they come to my house, they might like seeing themselves too. So, here are some recent pictures I got of Nikki, who just turned one.

She is getting so fun, developing a little personality. It's funny to look at her, because she looks SO MUCH like her big sister Lizzie, only Liz had these startling blue eyes, and Nikki's are brown. What a cutie!!!!

Day at the Park

Just a beautifully random day at the park. Max will be two this month, and I know all sorts of craziness is about to ensue with the new baby, so I cherish his chubby, dirty, face all the more. What a joy this one is!