Max's 3rd Birthday!

We celebrated Max's 3rd birthday yesterday with friends at Pump It Up, Jr. Max has been wanting his party there ever since Alia's 4th birthday last year. I did my very best to keep it "simple" and include as much orange and as many vehicles as possible :-) Here are a few photos and a video of the event. 

Daddy loves going down the slides with the kiddos

Lots of fun = crazy hair!

Max & Landon

The whole party crew!

Silly faces

More silly faces

Birthday Boy

Part of the crew

Big sister

Mommy, Daddy and the birthday guy!

Thank you to all of our friends that came and made this a special and very fun day for Max!

Mommy School

We've added some elements to our Mommy School "classroom". It's a great way to use that random bit of space and we're having lots of fun!

Counting out "apples" to put on the apple trees

Learning a poem about apples .... We cut up the sentences and are putting them back together.

Two kids hard at work!

Play-Doh Snowman

I love that Alia's teachers take pictures and send them to me. Yesterday she was feeling particularly proud of her play-doh snowman :-)

Apples

I've been channelling my inner primary teacher this month and been doing a mini "unit" on apples here with the kiddos. We've been reading about apples, apple trees, and doing all sorts of experiments, activities and crafts with apples. I snapped a few pictures but missed the "after" shots of a lot of things, because 3 kids in activity mode can lead one to forget about a camera :-)

The girls tasted 3 different apples (red, yellow and green) and then picked which one they liked the best.

On day one we read a book about apples and then made a chart talking about the parts of an apple. 

Here is our little "classroom" area. The basket is full of apple and fall themed books. The apple art project was made by Max at school. I'm hoping to fill one while side up with all of our projects, crafts and learning. Then next month we'll fill the other side with pumpkin and fall themed stuff.

Here is a before shot. The girls and I made apple muffins while Max was napping. They did almost all of the work (they even cracked the eggs) and the finished product was delicious!

Apple taste test

They tasted each apple and then circled the number with the marker of the appropriate color. Then they decided which one they liked the best. I was impressed. Alia guessed all of them correctly.

Apple stamping

This was how it started out ...

But then the big girls turned it into a lesson/experiment on mixing colors, which was also very interesting and educational!

Max is Three!

Hard to believe, but true ... my little buddy is officially 3! Tuesday was an exciting and crazy day around here. Max had school that morning and was able to take some special things to share with his friends. He also got to pick out a book for his teachers to read during snack time and it was his first ever show and tell day. Along with all of that, we had little Miss E with us for the first time that day and got a package and a special delivery. Needless to say, no napping occurred. Max was in charge of selecting the dinner menu (pizza) and the special treat of his choice (ice cream cake). It's two days later and I think he's finally recovered from all of that! We will be celebrating with his friends this Sunday at Pump It Up, Jr. 

Max has already received some great presents from family and pretty much never wants to leave the play room. He got a new tow truck and monster truck, new matchbox cars, a race track, super hero Chutes and Ladders, a tool box and some yummy treats!

Max is such a neat little guy! He can be so wild and energetic and spunky and one second later he's clutching his lovey and wanting to cuddle with Mommy. He's sweet and sensitive and very protective of the women in his life (mommy and Alia). He likes holding the doors open for people when we go into buildings and is always looking out for others. I'm so proud of how well he is doing in school so far this year and he's the youngest one in his class. He surprises me, amazes me and challenges me every single day. 

Some current details about Max ... His favorite color is orange (still). He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Doc McStuffins, along with Chuck and Friends and anything about cars and trucks. He likes to sing, but only if he thinks no one is really listening :-) He's now able to write his name all by himself and has really taken an interest in numbers. He's currently taking gymnastics and soccer classes. His favorite foods are PBJs, waffles, any type of meat, bananas, berries and "pouchy things". He really does not like anything green or carrots!

PP the Fish

Well, it finally happened ... the Douglas family has a pet. Please welcome the newest member of our family, PP the fish. Alia has recently become obsessed with animals and having a pet. Luckily she is very understanding of the fact that Daddy has allergies, but also clearly understands that fish don't affect him. When she looked up at Daddy with those big blue eyes, he just couldn't say no. Alia picked out the fish (he's a Beta) and all of his accessories and of course came up with the name all on her own too. She's in heaven!

Pre-K

We had an amazing first week of school last week! I am absolutely thrilled with the new school and the teachers. Here are a few pictures that Alia's teachers took in class last week and emailed to me. How cool is that? We are all looking forward to our first full, normal week this week.

1st Day of School

We've had a big couple of days here. Monday was Alia's first day of Pre-K. She made a new friend over the weekend that was going to be in her class (see below for more info on this). They played together both Saturday and Sunday and arrived at the exact time we did on Monday morning. Day one was just a little over an hour. The teacher's planned some great activities around the Eric Carle book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?". There were no tears on the way in and she was happy and excited to tell me all about school on the way home. 

My gorgeous big girl :-)

We are encouraging her new found love of the cartoon Doc McStuffins. 

She went in and started playing right away.

Tuesday was Max's first day of 3's preschool. Just like Alia's first day, it was a shortened version and Mommy even got to stay and play! Alia had her first "full" day from 8:45-11:45am. Max did a great job and Alia had another fun day and was all smiles at pick up!

Oh my goodness ... what am I going to do with this little guy?

Have no fear! Max has located the cars in his classroom. The best news is that one of his teachers is really great at building tracks and roads. I think she's going to be Max's favorite!

So in addition to all of this NEW stuff, there is more. I had a former teaching friend of mine make a desperate plea on facebook for help/advice because her child care fell through on the first week of school. She has two girls, one Alia's age and one fifth grader. She is a principal and her husband is a substitute teacher. So to make a long story very short, I am going to have a 3rd kid on random early mornings and after pre-k this year. She lives in our neighborhood (walking distance away) and the girls are in the same pre-k class and will go to the same elementary school. The met and hung out and seemed to get along great this weekend. 

So, tomorrow Alia has school and Max and his buddy Landon are going to have a little brothers play date. Thursday will be our first day with two kids on normal preschool schedules and mommy teaching. Are you exhausted just reading all this? I am!