Memorial Day

We had a lovely day yesterday at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Max had a birthday party there and they kindly invited the whole family since it was kind of a trek down there. In my 21 years of living here, I have never been there. It was so beautiful and they have a whole garden for kids with water play and slides and all sorts of stuff.





Ben really liked the edible garden and the kids liked the canopy walk. All in all it was a really fun day!!!!





Followed by a day at the pool where Alexis achieved swimming on her own. We will see if the bravery continues today!!!

After such a great weekend during which we have spent a lot of family time together, I just have take a moment and say how thankful I am for Ben, Alexis, Maxwell, Maizy, and my mom!!!! Best family ever!

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Ben vs. Chipmunk

This morning we went downstairs and Max went into the playroom. He picked one of his new birthday toys (birthday post coming later) and asked to open it. I said I would open it while he cleanup up his marble works. As he was cleaning, he screams, "Hey there's a squirrel". I thought he just saw a shadow or something. He says, "You have to squash it". So I thought maybe it was really a bug. He says it ran behind this gray box of Maizy's toys. I asked him was it a bug or was it furry. He says, "furry. Maybe a chipmunk". Now I know he knows what a chipmunk looks like from Alvin and the Chipmunks so I start to maybe believe him, but not convinced. Until Riley joins us in the playroom. Now she is going nutso and sniffing everywhere. Then she starts pawing at the same gray box that Max said it ran behind. Now I officially believe him. I clear everyone out of the playroom and close the door. I call Ben and he says that he let Riley outside this morning and she apparently pushed open the playroom door to come back in. (If it is not lock, which clearly it wasn't, she can push it open herself). By the time Ben realized she was back inside, who knows how long the door was actually open for. That's probably how whatever it was got inside, but I tell him he better do something. He decides to come home. We wait for him to come home. I think the next video pretty much sum up the initial search and find. Click below and please excuse my expletives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3bL8714jik

I lose total mom points for screaming and bolting and leaving Max to fend for himself!!!!!!

So we move the chipmunk party to the kitchen since it now was under the fridge. The rest can be seen here.

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIrFS6dlKbQ

I do feel a little bad since this poor little chipmunk did not dig some crazy hole and invade our house, but rather he innocently wandered in. But I don't think there was any way of getting that fast little sucker outside without the end result.

Maxwell AKA Evil Kenevil

A few nights ago after dinner the kids were playing while we were cleaning up. It was pretty quiet in the playroom so I peeked in. This is what I saw:


Yup. Max is standing on the kitchen "fixing" the window with his tools. Not to mention they trashes the place. Before busting him, I found Ben and whispered for him to look in because it was so funny. Ben wanted me to video the big bust. Here it is:

Max felt so bad. Poor kid. I really don't think he thought he was doing anything wrong. He is too cute for his own good.

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The Floppy Seat is No More

We have had a "floppy seat" that we have used with all of our children in the shopping cart when they are no longer in the infant carrier. I'm sure you know the kind. They look like this:





We went to Target this morning and Maizy was riding in the floppy seat and Maxwell was riding in the cart part. I chose not to buckle Maizy in because the buckle was looped behind the seat and she was fine for a quick trip without it. While Mischievous Maxwell was in the cart, he attached the buckle from our floppy seat onto the buckle from the Target cart. The only problem was that it was not meant to go together and therefore became STUCK. After much trying, I could not detach them. I was left with two options. Ditch the floppy seat it or ask for some scissors and cut the buckle. We opted for cutting the buckle.





Here is a little better view of the cart with our floppy seat buckle attached to it :(






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A New Webster Term

Today Maxwell coined a new term for Webster's dictionary: *snotkin*. Pronounced "snot"-"kin". Its definition is - a napkin used for wiping snot.

While at breakfast this morning, Max had a runny nose so he wiped it with a napkin. Then a few minutes later he was going to wipe his nose again and said "ummm, where is my snotkin?". We looked a little puzzled so he clarified, "you know the napkin for my snot, my snotkin.". Yup, I know just the one!


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Is there a problem?

I have really enjoyed getting to put some of my favorite outfits of Alexis's from when she was a baby on Maizy. I find it very nostalgic for some reason and remember the times Alexis wore it and where we were going. Yup, I'm a total dork like that. Anyway, today Maizy had on one of my old favs.

Maizy is 10 1/2 months old. She is crawling and waving, enjoying her siblings, and smiling and laughing all the time. As I was remembering a time when Alexis wore the very same outfit, I was motivated to try to find the old picture. Just to compare them. I did come across a picture. In this next picture is Alexis wearing the very same outfit! Love it!

But as I found the picture, I found a slight problem. Alexis in the above picture is exactly 4 months old. So the same outfit that Alexis wore at 4 months old, Maizy is wearing at 10 1/2 months old. Wow, I know that Maizy is small, but I guess she is even smaller than I thought. I think back in October when Maizy was 4 months old, she might have still been wearing Newborn! At least we get good use out of our clothes!!!!

Just Got Told

I was just on a lovely walk with the three little monsters. Ben was tutoring tonight and the kids and I turned our sit n stand stroller into a triple decker.




They were adorable. Max was sitting on the little bench and Lexi was standing on the platform. Let me tell you, though, it was quite the workout pushing almost 90 pounds of child up and down our hilly 'hood. While on the walk, Alexis started talking about kindergarten. I reminded her that Wednesday was her day to go back to her new school for a screening. I asked her if she would please talk to the person who was working with her. Her response "I don't know, mom. I will try, but I can't promise anything". Well, what exactly do you say back to that. Poor kid!!!!!


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Wild Weekends

Our weekends are such prized possessions these days. We have found ourselves so busy lately that we cherish time when we can just hang out with our family. This weekend is full of beautiful weather and lots of time to just be together. There are moments when the two older kids are bickering or tormenting each other, but there are other times when they are so sweet and kind. Like last night at Relay for Life.....Ben has to attend with school an monitor his students, although he doesn't spend the night anymore! But we have gone for the past several years and it is an inspiring experience. Seeing so many people affected by cancer is humbling and seeing kids come together for a greater cause and come up with creative ways to raise money is motivating. Alexis and Max had a grand time with all the high school girls playing duck duck goose, freeze tag, and hide and go seek (free babysitters!). It was quite humorous seeing 16 year olds play duck duck goose. They jumped on the inflatables. Alexis always waiting for Max and holding hands as they came down.



Ok so they are not holding hands in that picture but you can still believe me!!!!!

This morning we went to Home Depot to buy our garden supplies. In our never ending quest to eat more naturally (always room for improvement), we usually have a garden. This year we are planting cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, basil, cilantro, and Rosemary. Can't wait to cook with those herbs!!!!!




Ben is in his glory!!!!!

Then we headed to Taste of East Cobb. Great idea and well planned except they really underestimated the number of people so it was all really close together when they could have had a whole parking lot to spread out. But we did try some good food and the kids has fun. They even got to make their own guacamole at Chipotle! It was pretty good too!



Next event is tonight. We are having a Kids Night Out at my office. Good for promoting Ben's DJ venture and good way to make sone extra money. Not many entities out there for watching and entertaining special needs kids for a few hours on a Saturday night. So tell your friends people!!!!!!!!

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Kindergarten Crisis

Yes, I have a rising kindergartener. And yes, I cannot believe I am saying that. I remember her birth day like it was a week ago (especially since it was quite a tale!). I remembering hearing "it's a girl" and crying as they swept her away. It was a few painful hours until I got to see my new sweet first baby girl. But when she finally arrived to our room as a bundled up little package, I was in love and I knew that I would never let her go. And now almost 5 1/2 years later, I have to let her go. To kindergarten. Out of the comfort of her small homey preschool where I know all the teachers and all the students and all the moms. Out of the comfort of spending a few hours together in the morning and a few hours together in the afternoon just us while everyone else naps. And out of the comfort of being able to control what she does and doesn't do and the people who she is around. She will be off on her own.

Her school is quite smart and does a kindergarten sneak a peek and it happened to be yesterday. It was brilliant for Alexis because she is quite shy and sensitive. And if she is not prepares for a situation, she will FREAK out. She has cried and clung on to me for dear life numerous times and numerous places. When new people talk to her, she pretends she is either mute or deaf and doesn't answer. And while this can all be very frustrating for me, it does have some irony to it. I'm pretty sure that I did the exact same thing. The only difference was that I didn't even talk to people I did know. But sweet Alexis is very gentle, mature, and kind. All traits to admire. She is an amazing sister to two very lucky little kids. You can just look at her and see her sweetness.





Anyway, back to sneak a peek....she asked 15 times if I was leaving and didn't believe me when I kept saying no. As we arrived and were greeted, people talked to her and naturally she didn't answer. I don't think she uttered a word that was not whispered in my ear for the whole time we were there. But she got a whole tour of the school and hopefully next time we are there it will all be a little more familiar. She did already inform me that she will cry the first day, and I already informed her that I was going to leave anyway. At least we got that cleared up.






Looking forward to kindergarten and a new adventure with my first baby!

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Crazy Maxwell

I asked myself several times lately if I should be worried about Max. As I was looking through the pictures on my phone, I noticed that last three pictures were all of Max. Here they are and you can judge for yourself:










Just today he had an accidental explosion at school and when I picked him up he was in his spare shorts. He came back to the office so he could take a nap there while I took Alexis to dance and proceeded to load his pants for a second time. Since he already used his spare clothes, he had to wear Lexi's shorts. This, however, was not a punishment but a reward. He happily exclaimed "I look like a girl!!!!".

We have come to the conclusion that he can name all six princesses but no superheroes. He will dress up like a ballerina but doesn't know the first thing about dinosaurs. We know he will develop his "manly" side but having two sisters make this quite difficult!!!!!! We love you Max man!!!!!

I'm Baaaaaaacccccckkkkk!!!!!!

I officially took a blogging hiatus! And now I am officially back. I got an iPhone back in September and as a result don't often get on my computer anymore. I couldn't figure out how to blog from my phone but someone recently introduced me to BlogPress. So I paid the $2.99 and now I can blog from my phone. Hmmmmm.......this should definitely increase my number of posts!

I'm not including any big update or anything. We will just pick up from here! So consider us back on line :)

Here are the three munchkins that have occupied my time in the last five months.







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