Maxwell's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated our sweet little Maxwell's birthday on September 15th (one day before his actual birthday).  His birthday fell on a Monday so it was easier to do it Sunday so we could get together with family.  I can not believe my baby is 3.  He is such a fun, imaginative, and happy kid, I just can not get enough of him.  We love our Maxwell.

We started the day off with pancakes shaped like a 3.   Max loved it and so did Ollie, he wanted a 3 also.  

Max is my child in that he loves chocolate.  He wanted a chocolate cake.  We made it together and then he helped decorate it with sprinkles.  He was pretty excited about it.

After church we had my parents, Jason's parents and Jack, Ashely and Owen over for dinner.  I did a taco bar because it was quick and easy to prepare.  

After dinner, Max opened his presents.  

He got a cool police car from Diya and Papa.  He is obsessed with being a police officer and getting bad guys. 

Opening his Thomas card from Papa John.

He got a huge dump truck from Grandma and Papa Miller.

I wanted to get Max a sandbox for his birthday, but we just couldn't find any that we loved.  Jason decided that he would build one.  I had to really get on him to buy the stuff and work on it so it would be done by Sunday.  He did a great job.  The boys helped him work on it a lot during the week, Jason just told them it was something for the bees and they were none the wiser.  We wanted one with a lid so we could close it to prevent cats from getting in.  Jason made it so the lid folds into little benches for them to sit on while they play.

Everyone watching the big reveal.

 Ollie and Max were big fans right away.  

 Max was pretty happy about his sandbox.  

Interview with Max.  Age 3

Favorite TV Show: The Backyardigans

Favorite food: Macaroni and cheese, oranges

Favorite thing about preschool: Playing outside, blowing bubbles

If you could change your name:  Doe Doe

Favorite Colors: green, black

Favorite toy: Trains, fire engine, police car

Favorite Movie: Tom and Jerry

Favorite Song: Choose the right, Apples and Bananas, The Wheels on the Bus

Favorite Book: Green Eggs and Ham, Chester the Crab

Food You Dislike:  Pie

Best Friend: Ollie (his exact words were "I like Ollie", makes me so happy to hear that).

Favorite Things To Do:  Play with toys, be a race car, go to Wacky Tacky

Home Sweet Home

It is so good to be home.  It is even better now that Jason is home also.  It has been crazy busy around here.  Having a kid in school and soccer makes life a lot busier.  Here is what we have been up to.

Oliver started Transitional Kindergarten.  He is old enough to start Kindergarden, but he would have been really young in his class, and since he is so little we decided to put him in T-K this year. This way when he starts kindergarten next year, he will be six and will have hopefully grown a little or will be closer to the same size as his classmates.  He loved school at the beginning, and still does, but his enthusiasm is waning a bit.  It is everyday from 9:10 to 2:10, so pretty long.  I can watch him on the playground from my back porch and I love being able to walk him to and from school.

He wouldn't take a picture with his teacher on the first day without me.  This is his teacher Mrs. Gallo.  She is pretty awesome and a lot of fun.

Max got a "new" pair of shoes from the consignment store.  He wore holes in his last pair of shoes within one month!  He thinks these are pretty cool.

Stacie was such a trooper and came and stayed with me twice while Jason was gone.  She had never been to the Newcastle Cheese Shop, so I had to take her.  Britt is just the cutest little guy, I love when they come over.

The other day I was looking for the TV remotes, when I asked Max he told me that he had hid them, I asked why and he said it was so I couldn't turn off his movie.  Tricky little guy.

The boys love to help me bake, but they don't love the noise the Kitchen-Aid makes.

A few weeks ago the boys were in the playroom and making a lot of noise.  When I checked they had made a "fortress" with all of their toys.  It is a playroom, so whatever floats their boat.  It was really fun to clean up a few days later :/

Max and I made a trip to IKEA.  He played at the play area for kids while I shopped, and then we had lunch.  He was pleased as punch about the kid size sink in the bathroom.  I think he washed his hands 3 times.

My baby started preschool!  He only goes two days a week for 3 hours.  He has watched his brother go to this school for the last two years, so he was ready.  He loves it and I love hearing about his day and seeing all his "projects".  He also gets to take a lunch which I know makes him feel pretty grown up.

Oliver started soccer.  So far he loves practice and is undecided about games.  He is the littlest guy on his team and really just doesn't get the game yet.  He gets so tired because he chases the ball the whole time and when he gets to it, he doesn't do anything.  We need to work with him.  It is still so cute to see him in his little uniform and with his teammates.  I just keep reminding myself that he is only 5 and has always been taught not to take things from others and now we are yelling at him to take the ball away from the other team.  Haha.  That has to be confusing.  

Little #2.

He got to play goalie for a little bit at his last game.  I think he saved one goal and let one goal in.  

Last weekend was the Gold Country Fair at the fairgrounds right by our house.  We gathered our parents, as well as the Rahlf family and headed over on Friday evening.  I craved a corn dog all day and was not disappointed.  The only disappointing part was when I spilled mustard all down myself.  I did this within the first 10 minutes of being there, so needless to say I felt pretty cool the rest of the afternoon.

This cow really liked my dad and was licking all up and over his arm.  It was pretty disgusting.

The bounce houses were a huge hit with the boys.  Ollie has come a long way, he use to not enter a bounce house unless he could have it completely to himself (and really how often does that happen).  They would have stayed there all night if we let them.  Ollie asked to go back to the fair multiple times over the weekend.

 Here I am at 36 weeks pregnant with baby girl.  I can't believe that she could be here any day.  I'm so ready.  I can't wait to meet her (and be able to bend over again).

We took this ghetto TV/VCR unit that was in our master bathroom and moved it to the playroom.  It is so awesome.  The kids don't care that the screen is tiny and the quality shoddy.  We had some friends over the other night and the kids watched a movie upstairs while the adults watched one downstairs.  It was perfect.

I got this 1,000 piece puzzle at a yard sale for free.  It goes along with the Firetruck theme in the boys bathroom, so after I finished I glued it together and framed it.  It looks really good.

Ollie was not happy with me on picture day because I picked out his shirt and did his hair.  I don't care what he thinks, I think he looks handsome.

 Ollie really wanted to help me while I was working on the big puzzle, but it was just a little too much for him.  The other day I got a 300 piece Carmen San Diego puzzle at a yard sale and we worked on it together for a few days.  Here the boys are sitting on top of the completed puzzle.  Whenever Ollie would find a piece that fit on his own he would say "I am getting really smart".  I hope he always loves playing games and doing puzzles with his mom.  

North Dakota to California

Before we left North Dakota, the sweet women in the Jamestown branch threw me a baby shower.  It was seriously so nice of them, and I really appreciated it.  They did such a good job.  I love the Jamestown branch and miss our friends while we are gone.  I didn't get many pictures, but here is what I did get.

Cute fruit salad.

Diaper cake.

The only semi-decent picture of myself.  

Chrissy and Lisa threw the shower.  Thank you so much ladies!

The day before we left North Dakota, we went to Gackle park one last time.  While I was sitting on the bench I hear a little kitty somewhere.  I couldn't find it anywhere.  When my friend Sam got there she said that earlier there had been a cat in the tree.  The cats owners tried to get it down without luck.  They just figured it would come down on its own.  I looked up in the tree and noticed that the poor kitty had a leash on and it was wrapped around the branch (no one she couldn't get down).  I was worried she would fall off the branch and hang there and traumatize our children.  Sam's husband works with the electrician in town so he when and got the bucket truck and became everyone's hero by saving the little kitty from the tree. 

Then he caught a frog for the kids, they were pretty excited.

We are going to miss Sam and her kids!  They boys love playing with Courtney and Emma and I love holding sweet little Mason.  

I'm so glad Sam lives in Gackle.  She has made my time there each summer so much more fun.  

We left Tuesday morning.  I had cried the whole week leading up to our departure so I didn't shed too many tears that day, but it was sad.  I knew it was going to be close to a month before we were reunited with Jason.  I really dislike that part of this job, but hopefully this will be the last year (I'm pretty sure I said that last year).

Max doing a little light reading on the drive.

Jan drove with me from Gackle to Blackfoot.  On Tuesday night we stopped in Billings, MT.  We got there nice and early so the kids were able to swim at the cool pool they had.  We went to Denny's for dinner (the kids love it) and stopped at a park to ride bikes for awhile.  

The boys love staying in hotels.  Especially hotels with two beds that they can jump in between.  They made themselves a little bed to play in.  

From Billings we drove to Blackfoot.  It was so nice having Jan to drive with me.  It made those two days SO much easier.  I am grateful for her help.  We spent our first night in Blackfoot at Grammy and Grandaddy's house and then the next night at Grandpa Horrock's house.  I wish I would have taken some pictures.  Friday morning we left Blackfoot and headed to Boise where we stayed with Michelle, Eric and Taylor for a few days.  It was so fun to see them and their new house.  

I took this picture of the boys sleeping.  So funny.

Taylor was pretty entertained by the boys.  While we were there Ollie's bike got a flat tire so we found a bike shop and got it fixed up.  I really miss Jason when things like that happen, he always takes care of those things.

My boys LOVE uncle Eric.  Saturday we went swimming at a community swimming pool.  The boys had the best time.  It was the warmest weather we had experienced all summer, so it was nice to go swimming.  I was grateful for Eric playing with my kids so much, since I can only catch them jumping to me for so long before I get tired.  He never seems to run out of energy.  Saturday evening we had dinner at Eric's parents house.  They welcomed us so warmly, it was really nice of them.

Sunday we went to church.  Look how stinking adorable Taylor is.  Blond curls and blue eyes, she is a knockout.  We headed back to Eric's parents for dinner that night since his sister who live in Wyoming was in town.  

Another picture of my boys sleeping.  

We left early Monday morning to start the 8 hour drive home.  I downloaded a book (Edenbrooke) to listen to on the way.  The boys did so awesome.  They are becoming pretty awesome travelers (thanks to their DVD players).  The book made the drive not so bad for me.  We stopped in Winnemucca and the boys played for awhile in the McDonalds play place, then we finished up the drive.  It was SO nice to get home.  I fall in love with my house over again every time I come home to it after a summer away.  Within 30 minutes or so of getting home the doorbell rang and these beautiful flowers were delivered.  I seriously have the best husband.  He knew I was having a hard time and missed him so much.  My kids couldn't understand why I was crying over the pretty flowers :)

I had an EXTREMELY hard time without Jason this time (being 8 months pregnant could have had something to do with it).  Luckily, Jason came back about a week earlier than expected and I had so many friends take care of me.  Last year when I was home for the month by myself I felt very alone and forgotten about.  This time could not have been more different.  I had people staying with me or visiting me almost everyday.  I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family.