Video

For those who don't get to see Max and Alex very often, here is a video to show what they are like ALL THE TIME. Erik re-named them "The Toddler" and "The Tornado". Fits perfectly. There is so much going on in this video you may have to watch it twice, to catch most of what Max says. There is nothing in particular, just a lot of activity. Max is always talking and Alex is always moving. Enjoy!

He Passed!!!!

(He's trying to watch T.V. And notice the love for his brother at the end.)

Erik found out this morning that he passed his second portion of his Paramedic exam! He has a few other steps to complete in order to be state certified, but he's DONE! We can't express how happy we are. He has done an amazing job and has enjoyed this schooling so much. He is going to make a GREAT medic! He will do great work! Congratulations, Erik! We love you!

Dog food is healthy for dogs, right? Can't be THAT bad for kids then...right?

Another sweet conversation with Max. He finds me in the office (um...doing something constructive. Definitely not wasting time on the Internet. Never. Not me. Ever.).

Max: Mommy? Mom?
Me: Hi Max.
Max: Hi Mom.
Me: Hi.
Max: Mom? Bakey eet-ing dwog food.
Me: He is? (staring at the..um...project...)
Max: Yah, Bakey eet-ing dwog food.
Me: Okay.
Me: Wait...WHAT? Where is he?
Max: Oh-biee's cawate (Obi's crate)
Me: Oh jeez, (running to get him) I know I locked it! How did he get in?
Max: (Nothing. He's the innocent one here.)

Alex: (Crunch crunch, splash, giggle)
Obi: (Get this kid outa my space!!!!! Rolls doggie eyes)



Yup! That's doggie kibble in his mouth. Kids are gross. Time to disconnect from my hiding spot and put my Mom hat back on.

My 10 second conversation with Max

Max: Moooooooooom!!! My want mose pok-thsikul (I want more popsicle)

Me: No, one is enough.

Max: No-oh-oh-oh. (fake crying) My want mose.

Me: I said no.

Max: No! (jumping and done crying) Mose pok-thsikul!!

Me: How about you play outside instead?

Max: (totally calm) Oh, okay!

Me: Let me wipe your face first (get down on my knees and get close to his face) Can I have a kiss?

Max: Yes. (kisses me)

Me: I love you.

Max: ove you, Mom.

Me: You're cute.

Max: Yah, I know.

My daily dose.

I found Alex like this yesterday. I guess it's my fault since I left the crate unlatched. He and the crate were soaked. He was in doggie heaven. Looking back at it, I could have latched it up and kept him occupied ALL DAY!A few hours after that I found him under my desk in the kitchen, screaming. He climbed through the chair to get the stinkin' red ball. And got stuck. Not so thrilled.
Today I was folding laundry in the family room and realized he never followed me out of his bedroom after the latest diaper change. Silence. And I found him doing this. Soaking wet. And as happy as can be.
So I bring him out with me and he wants to help me fold clothes. How could I get mad at this face? (Snaggletooth's neighbor's cut through in the last couple days).
So while I was admiring his blue eyes, I hear the sound of this. Yes, I heard it happening. I closed my eyes and hoped I had it wrong. Nope.
The picture doesn't do it justice. He was so incredibly proud of his artwork. He was counting and telling me what it was (apparently these are numbers). I thought we were done with this for a while. Crayons are in hiding again.

Again, aging me.

Aging me, one disaster at a time.

When this boy finds out he's going to wear his Superman jammies he gets so excited. It came with a cape and he gets to "fly" around the house. (For some reason it also came with holes in the legs which Max think are the "pockets"). And when this boy wants his hair brushed , he wants "crazy hair". So he gets it. And we think this boy is cute.

Now when that boy up there is getting a little attention,

this little boy gets mischievous.

He never holds still, never wants to sleep,

and is always thinking of his next plan of destruction.

So while I was grooming Superman, the mini-devil pulled the metal fire place tools over which caused a screaming fit and I brought him back to their room.

Next, the night light was the target. It' has been the target before

which is why his crib is shoved up against it,

and a bucket is shoved under/between the crib and the toy shelves. It's even hard for me to get the bucket out of the way.

Not so hard for this little boy. So, I snapped a photo.

While I snapped a photo, he managed to move everything out of the way, pull the light out of the wall and break the actual light bulb. We're talking about .5 seconds here.

These two are going to age me. Quickly.

Lost and Found.

One of Erik's co-workers, with grown children, gave him a box full of her old "boy crap". I took one look at the box and rolled my eyes. Max took one look at the box and has been entertained for two days. Bless you, Erik's co-worker! Lego's, Star Wars, books, balls, army stuff, a punching ball, pictures, Lego's that were already built into ships, etc. Seriously, the best box of crap ever!

His favorite, hands down, is an airplane. It's about 8 inches, has wings and reads "Federal Express". He flew it all day yesterday. Then he lost it. We searched. And searched. And searched. We finally decided it flew away on it's own (to deliver packages?). He asked about it again this morning. So we searched. And searched. We searched the entire house, all cupboards, drawers, nooks, furniture. No airplane.

This afternoon, Max came running around the house yelling, "My foun it!" at the top of his lungs. Smiling from ear to ear."Mommy, my foun my eh-pane! Mommy!!!! Eh-paaaaaane!!!!!! My foun my eh-paneeeee!!!!Mooooommmyyyyy!!! My foun iiiiiittttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!"

Honestly, one of the best Mommy moments ever!

He sure did 'foun it'. Can you 'foun it'?

I even looked there, thinking I was silly because it would never fit in there. Especially with the door down (which it was before I took the photo). It fit in there with the wings still attached. What is with boys?

So, his nose. He feel at the park today, about 4 feet. He was climbing a ladder-type-thing, so brave. And he's done it a few times before. It was so sad. He cried and bled. Scratched up his nose and split his lip a little. But, he wanted to go home. Which meant the little girl following me around showing me her "tricks" every 30 seconds finally left me alone. It's her fault.

(Can I also blame her for Max drinking out of the puddle of water on the equipment? No? Didn't think so).

The BEST recipe for Fajitas

I can't say enough good things about the blog Our Best Bites. Incredible food, easy to follow recipes, pictures! (I need the picture to make it, I'm weird like that), fun ideas, etc. In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I made the most incredible Fajitas from their website. Carla and the girls were here and I promised her I'd put a link on our blog.

I think the secret is in the marinade. And, like most recipes, I goofed it up a bit. (I'm learning the kitchen is rarely on my side. I can make a meal, but I can seriously screw one up too). I added too much soy sauce and vinegar. But c'mon, can you really go wrong there? Go check out their site and find their Fajita recipe HERE.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did tonight! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Hard Day

Max walks around the house saying "Hard Day" constantly. Like he is just wiped out from being 2. Today, he really did have a hard day. It started with a quick trip to the hardware store with Daddy. This might be his (their) favorite thing to do. And after a few hours of helping with everything else we had on our agenda today, he finally made it to the garage with Daddy to build us our compost bin. (Those things are really expensive. Erik used some extra shelves from an Ikea unit...wahlah!)



Now, I think building with Daddy is his most favorite thing to do. He was all up in Erik's face hammering, asking , talking, walking, poking, holding, jumping, etc. All the things a two year old does best. Complete with rain boots.

Alex just got to watch, until he started climbing up the baby gate. He's seriously a monkey.

And now...a little reward.

It really was a "Hard Day".

And the compost bin looks great! Can't wait to fill it with our scraps we started saving (and we have the BEST worms in our yard to throw in. I know that's gross, but do you know how fun it is to dig with a little boy? Worms sort of become your friends!). Good job Daddy! And what a cute little helper you have!