Max's New Truck

Birthday Boy!

In addition to being traumatized by Alia starting kindergarten, my "baby" decided to turn 4 years old despite my best efforts to talk him out of it! We did most of the celebrating on Sunday (a few days before his birthday) because Jason had to go out of town for work on the actual day. So Sunday morning we woke up and let Max open his presents from Mommy, Daddy and Alia!

He's very into "Angry Birds" so was super excited about the wrapping paper!

 an orange remote control car

Alia came up with her own idea for Max's birthday we just helped her execute, "a car that he can decorate and put together by himself"

He was pretty thrilled with her selection!

We spent the night before assembling Max's gift from Papaw and Mimi :-)

Both kids were equally excited! Max climbed right into the driver's seat and Alia happily joined him on the passenger side. (Stay tuned for video)

Sunday afternoon we had Max's party at Pump It Up (yes again, per the birthday boy's request)

We were joined by family friends and some preschool buddies

Who wants a cupcake?

Mommy kept it simple this year.

Seriously! Look at that face! I love that little man so much!

Credit to our friend Renee! If it weren't for her we would never have a picture with the grown ups in it at birthday parties!

The birthday boy, on his actual birthday, having his "usual" for breakfast!

Alia and I joined Max at school on his birthday. We were the mommy and big sister helpers!

Adding his name to the birthday graph

The cuteness is just too much!

Max's preschool class ... and Alia :-)

Wednesday evening we went out to dinner at Red Robin with Grammy. She got Max this cool orange clock for his room!

Max's first experience having the restaurant staff sing him Happy Birthday! So cute!

So, here's my age 4 summary of Max. Just noting a few things about him at this age ...

Best friends - Alia, Landon, Nick

Favorite Food - vanilla yogurt, Eggo waffles, nutella sandwich, apples, berries, meat!

Favorite TV show - Mickey Mouse, PAW Patrol, Handy Manny

Favorite Book - I Stink, What Can a Crane Pick Up?

Favorite Color - ORANGE

Max is growing up so fast! He is a smart little boy. He has a natural way with numbers and building and has started to show some real interest in letters and writing. He can write his own name, Alia, Mommy, Daddy and I love ... He's currently in gymnastics and soccer, is doing really well and seems like them both. He's asked to do a basketball class again too. My favorite thing about Max is that even though he is wild and energetic, he is the most cuddly little man there ever was! I love my little buddy!

First Day of School 2014

Someone please stop time!! I don't know how it is even possible, but somehow my little girl is old enough to be in Kindergarten. I knew it was going to be hard for me and it was. She was a nervous wreck the first day and it broke my heart. She is in the PM kindergarten class so she had all morning to get herself worked up. However, once she got to school and got in class she did great and loved it. She had one day with a few tears but overall comes home and tells me how amazing her day was!

Max is now in the 4's class. He is at the same school, in the same classroom with the same teachers but now goes M/W/F instead of just 2 days a week. 

Somebody loves his big sister!

Cuddling on the couch before school

First day of school selfies

the whole family

such a big girl ... being so brave

Ok, this is from the second day of school, but I thought I'd throw it in there :-)

We just completed week 2 of school and things are going great. I've managed to dive in head first and am the classroom volunteer coordinator and on the school's jog-a-thon fundraising committee (thank you to all of you that have donated on Alia's behalf!)

Sunriver - Bend, OR

I've lived in Oregon for 12 years now and a few weeks ago made my first trip to Sunriver. We went for Labor Day weekend and shared a house with the Helbling family. The weather was cool so we didn't make it to the awesome aquatic center that they have there, but we managed to do a lot of other really neat things. 

The Helbling's arrived a day before us and we made it there on Friday evening (it's about a 4 hour drive). So that night we just ate, hung out and went to bed. I wish we would have taken a picture of Nick, Alia & Max in the "kids" room with two bunk beds. They had a lot of fun, but did eventually fall asleep.

On Saturday we all went to The High Desert Museum. It was so much more than we were expecting. There were animals to see, exhibits, places to crawl and climb and a pioneer village.

Our little spiders climbing all over the web.

Helping saw. I was impressed that both Alia and Nick gave it a try.

Making sailboats

testing them in the water

This was probably their favorite part of the day. The three big kids worked together on this for quite a while. Several other people stopped to watch them. It was pretty impressive. They only stopped because they ran out of materials.

 On Sunday, we bundled up and went exploring down into the Lava Tubes. It was very cool and very dark (you have to carry lamps, flashlights or lanterns) but really neat. Alex stayed back with Simone but the three big kids did a really great job!

 Later that day we went into the Village and took a train ride, played in a bouncy house and picked out some treats at Goody's. It was a great little family vacation and we are all looking forward to going back again sometime. 

Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

Once again I realize that I am FAR behind on my blog posting. In my defense, it has been a busy and action packed couple of months. I can't believe we are already more than halfway through September. It's 9:00pm on a Friday so why not do a little blogging ;-)

I know most of you have heard this story already, but its too amazing not to document, even if its only just for myself. Last month, I got a message from my friend Julie that her daughter Haley had gotten a gig choreographing a ballet number for the MTV Video Music Awards. I was absolutely ecstatic for her! Most of you will remember Haley from our wedding. She was just 15 years old then. I've know her since just after her 7th birthday! We go WAY back :-) A few days went by and then I started hearing about what a mess the project was turning into ... not because of Haley at all, but production was a disorganized mess and were throwing much more than a choreographer's job at her. Then a few days later, I had a panicked Julie on one line and a clearly overwhelmed Haley on the other line offering to fly me down to LA to do my big sister/ mama bear thing (I also kind of like to organize things, in case you didn't know!).

So before I knew it, there I was. Phone call midweek and in LA on Sunday. Rehearsals started on Monday and it was nonstop action, action, action. I ended up being much more helpful/useful than I thought I would be and only because, again, production was a mess. I was taking ballerina measurements, ordering pointe shoes, driving all over LA to pick up and drop off pointe shoes to be dyed and all other kinds of fun stuff.

My original plan was to only stay through Friday morning. I thought I'd get Haley through dress rehearsal and over the hump and she would be fine for the show on her own. Well, I just couldn't leave at that pointe. I felt like I would be really missing out. Haley still wanted me there, the dancers still wanted me there, so once again Haley's ridiculously awesome parents changed my plane ticket and I got to stay for the whole thing! It was truly an experience of a lifetime and I'm so glad that my awesome husband and mom picked up my mommy shifts at home and let me go live a dream. 

The experience from the dance/show business side of things was one thing. Being able to reconnect with Haley (who I haven't really seen since my wedding) was an absolute gift. You'd never know we had ever been apart. We cracked ourselves up on numerous occasions and have a whole new pile of memories to add to our collection. 

Haley and I circa 2002

I was totally official. Production even invented a title for me "ballet coordinator". My dance friends can appreciate how hysterical that is ... me and my pigeon toes, the ballet coordinator!

At the show .... the set.

"Black Widow" by Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora

Reunited and it feels so good!

Mama Bear and the girls :-)

Pauli, our roommate for the week. So lucky that I got to meet her, an absolutely wonderful woman.

My favorite picture from the week. Making Alia's funny face together.