When 2 worlds collide

MAX has changed our WORLD (for the better)

MAX means the WORLD to Shaun and I

I would give MAX the WORLD if I could

I'm thankful GOD sent MAX into this WORLD to Shaun and I.

What in the WORLD would we do without MAX?

or

What in the WORLD did we do before MAX?

When MAX and our WORLD collide,

I say to myself, what a wonderful WORLD. :)

Mr. Bigglesworth's revenge

Remember when I told you Shaun had shaved Baxter? The picture to the left, is of Baxter in his more furry days.

When we shaved him. He didn't like it. You know how you feel when you get a bad hair cut or coloring. Well, Baxter, aka Mr. Bigglesworth (while he's shaved) got his revenge on Shaun today.

When Shaun opened the back door, calling for the dogs to let them outside. Baxter came running out the back door with one of Shaun's shoes in his mouth. Now, this is not the revenge part. Baxter, our more "spirited" dog, does this kind of thing all the time.

The revenge part came when Shaun went out later to retrieve the stolen shoe. There IN his shoe, Baxter had taken a poop! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! In his shoe! pooped IN it. Hahahahahahaha!!

You might be thinking this must have been a coincidence. He surely wouldn't just poop IN it on purpose?

You don't know Baxter. Shaun and I both agree, this was intentional! I just about died laughing when Shaun told me. What a naughty, naughty, Mr. Bigglesworth!!

Bunko Diva's

I had a great time with my Bunko Diva's at our slumber party! It was great for us moms, to get away and........ pig out on junk food, paint toenails, play games, swim, make hair bows, stay up late (4:30am!) , and have tons of LAUGHS and FUN!!

We stayed at the pointe hilton squaw peak resort. We had a two bedroom casita. It was so nice to get away, and have girl playtime.

We get together every third Tuesday night of the month. We have dinner, talk, and play bunko. Then we decided we needed a girls getaway. This was our first one. It will now be an annual getaway every August. I think we need more! :)

Laurie made us the cute T-shirts, that have, Bunko Diva written on them, with some added bling.

We don't get to be Diva's very often. It was fun, even for only a night. ;)

For my Arizona peeps

It's so hot in Arizona that...

• the birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.
• the potatoes cook underground, and all you have to do to have lunch is to pull one out and add butter, salt and pepper.
• farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying hard-boiled eggs.
• the cows are giving evaporated milk.
• the trees are whistling for the dogs.
• you no longer associate bridges (or rivers) with water.
• you can say 113 degrees without fainting.
• you eat hot chilies to cool your mouth off.
• you can make instant sun tea.
• you learn that a seat belt makes a pretty good branding iron.
• the temperature drops below 95, you feel a bit chilly.
• you've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
• you would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.
• you can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.
• The 4 seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! (I have to disagree with this one, I think AZ is fantastic in the winter. Not just tolerable.) :)
• you discover that in July, it takes only 2 fingers to drive your car.
• you discover that you can get a sunburn through your car window.
• you notice the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
• hot water now comes out of both taps.
• it's noon in July, kids are on summer vacation, and not one person is out on the streets.
• you actually burn your hand opening the car door.
• you break a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m. before work.
• no one would dream of putting vinyl upholstery in a car or not having air conditioning.
• your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?"
• you realize that asphalt has a liquid state.

Play dough fun

I made some home made play dough today. Max and I had a lot of fun. I say Max and I, because I have to admit, I was having a good time playing with the play dough. It was fun making things. I got out my cookie cutter's and made all sorts of shapes for Max and I.

Max was enjoying all the hands on fun. He loved to squeeze the dough in his hand as hard as he could. His face looked hilarious from him straining so hard to get a real good squeeze on the play dough. He liked when I made little balls with the dough and stacked them on top of each other, or rolled them over to him. He would say "ball" over and over again.

This can take some serious concentration. ;)

Play dough recipe:

1 & 1/2 C flour

1/2 C salt

1/2 C warm water

1 kool-aid packet (the dough will smell and be the color of the flavor you choose)

1 tsp oil

Mix together and add flour until correct consistency.

The spirited child

I was reading on the Internet that there are 3 types of children.

1)The shy one

2)The easy going one

3)The spirited one

Of course, all children will have a little bit of all 3 at different times. Our Max is defiantly the more spirited one. High energy and high maintenance, and I love every bit of him and who he is.

I think it's funny they call it the "spirited" one. Makes me laugh.

Shaun and Max were at his moms house last night, she was calling him.....quite the character. She was getting a kick out of his antics.

Here's a little bit of what my "spirited" child did today. I went to put in a load of laundry. I had him out of my sight for maybe 5 minutes. When I came back he had pulled a chair out, climbed up it and then onto our table. Where I had put the dogs water bowl. It's a big bowl. He had dumped it out and was splashing in the water and squealing with delight. The water was dripping off the table and all over the floor. He had also thrown all my now wet papers off the table.

Then I gave Max some crayons and was showing him how to color in a coloring book. They say that it's good to introduce this to them. He loves crayons! He loves to hold them and then eat them. I was trying to teach him how we use crayons. I had to keep telling him not to put them in his mouth. I walked away to see if he would listen. I kept looking back at him and telling him each time he tried to put it in his mouth, I would tell him, "no, we don't eat crayons."

Here's where his "spirited" side comes in. He gets up, throwing the now empty box of crayons to the floor in defiance and runs down the hall with a fist full of crayons. I come across the kitchen and down the hall to follow him. I found him trying to hide behind my bed stuffing all the crayons into his mouth as fast as he could. hahahaha! Seriously?! He cracks me up. Then he had a melt down when I took the crayons away and had another freak out moment when he realized that a mouth full of crayons doesn't taste good.

Then I found him in the bathroom with toilet paper unraveled all over the floor. I mean all over the floor. When he saw me, he ran to the other door to the bathroom and frantically tried to open the door and escape. He looked so funny! I started to talk to him and ask him how all the toilet paper got all over the floor. He wouldn't look at me and was acting like he couldn't hear me. Still trying desperately to open the door and pretend like he had nothing to do with it. HA! I finally got him to acknowledge my existence and told him to help me clean it up. Which he then turned and looked at the mess like it was the first time he had seen it and he put his arms up as if to say, How did this happen? I have to try so hard not to laugh! Mind you, all 3 of these stories happened before 9 in the morning. This happens in minutes. It's not like I'm not watching him. I do have things to do and I think he's fine playing for a minute. Sometimes he is fine playing for a minute, then other times, He's sneaky. ;) I try and keep all the doors closed.

The other night Shaun and I went out on a date with his siblings. Our neighbor was watching Max for us. When we came back she said that he cried for the first hour and a half! That's terrible! Then she said that when she had opened her front door. He hurried and grabbed his water and his bag of snacks and headed out the door as fast as he could, going across the lawn and to our house. Ha! I can just see him doing this. With his half run/walk, wobbling here and there as he tries to move faster then his little body knows how.

Thanks for making me laugh Max! Your "spirited" ways can be tough and a challenge for me sometimes, but I wouldn't have it any other way because then it wouldn't be you. You're an explorer, focused on what you want to do and where you want to go. You're very persistent and I feel like I need more then 2 arms to try and detour you from whatever it is your trying to get into or want to get to.

I love watching you learn and grow and become the funny little person you are. :) Your smile can brighten any day.

Museum of Natural History

ROAR! That's what we heard as we walked through the Museum of Natural History. DINOSAURS! As you were walking through the exhibits, the loud dinosaur roar would come over the speakers.

We had a good family time at the Museum together. Here's some of what you can see and do at the Museum.

You can see how tiny you are compared to this Mammoth beast.

Watch out for T-rex. I'm sure he bites.

You can touch a real fossil. A femur bone. HUGE!

"mom, are you sure it's safe up here?"

You can climb a lot of stairs.

Which Max was loving. I think it was his favorite exhibit. ;)

You can see dinosaurs enjoying themselves by a big waterfall. I'm assuming they would enjoy this sort of thing. Although, usually the water hole is not a good place if you're the prey.

Max was loving the waterfall. Another one of his favorite things.

You can put together dinosaur puzzles.

You can step into the wild west.

You can act real goofy behind a green screen.

I say this because we put Max in front of the screen and then Shaun and I would go behind it (like you see Shaun doing in the picture) Then you put the green blanket over you and you disappear. So Shaun and I, thinking we're in our own family world, were playing peek-a-boo with Max. In our full on baby talk antics. I didn't think anything of this until a lady came up to us and said, "Your little boy is so cute. He has wonderful parents." haha! People were watching Shaun and I acting totally goofy to make Max laugh. We were in our own little world. The things we do to make our kids smile.

I also love the random kid in the photo. He wanted to join us. We were having fun being goofy.

You can pan for gold

You can ride a big orange turtle.

Max had fun exploring and playing, with plenty of stairs and open places to run around. I was a little disappointed because they have an exploration station that has a bunch of hands on activities for kids. It was closed when we went. But as you can see, we still had a great time. :)

phrase of the week

Dogs are hairy. Therefore, they shed. Check out what Shaun did to our furry Baxter. I'm having mixed feelings about it. His fluff ball appearance is so lovable. Then again, having his hair everywhere is gross and annoying.

BEFORE

Notice the way Max can hold on to his fluffy mane.

AFTER

Seriously? He looks like a sick cat or something. It's worse in person. He looks like he lost 40 pounds. Not to mention totally emasculated. You can tell he's not fond of his new hair due.

Even the tail. That nice bushy tail. gone.

Shaun also shaved Boston. He looks fine. He's stocky with thick muscle, and had short hair anyway.

Poor Baxter. The good thing for him is now Max can't get a nice fist full of hair and pull. Which he likes to do.

His hair will grow back, so for now, I will enjoy the lack of hair everywhere. Then he can be our fluff ball again, and then, when we're sick of hair, he'll be shaved again.

We came up with a nickname for Baxter's new alter-ego, Mr. bigglesworth. That's what Shaun's been calling him because I told him he looks like a sick cat. So he thought of the cat from Austin Powers.

So, the phrase of the week is...... Mr. bigglesworth. My poor Mr. bigglesworth. I think I need to come up with a new nickname. How humiliating for a dog to be nicknamed after a cat!

Any suggestions for a nickname? ;)

Library

We all know that the library is a quite zone right? NOT When you have a little Max with you. I don't know why I subject myself to such torture. I guess, I'm trying to be a good mom. I want to go and check out some good books for him and help him gain a love for reading.

The thing is, Max wants to do everything else at the library besides read. He loves to read at home and enjoys books. Then we go to the library and he wants nothing to do with books, except knock them down off the shelves. He wants to be free to run around. Not only run around but climb up and down the stairs, try to figure out the elevator, climb on all the chairs and on top of the tables, and screech in very loud baby talk/screams.

Then he yells and throws fits when I go and pull him down from the tables, or stop him from destroying the book displays, or pull him away from the elevator and stairs. He's not listening to me. He wants to do what he wants to do. Again, why do I subject myself to this embarrassing display of my child not listening to me? and running everywhere?

I try and distract him in the kid section where they have little tables with puzzles on them for the kids to play with. Then I hurry and try to go through some books and get some good ones that he can learn from and enjoy.

Instead Max climbs on top of the table and throws one by one all the pieces to the puzzle on the ground, including the puzzle board. letting out a loud squeal with each piece as he throws them to the ground.

I keep having to run over to him. pulling him down, trying to get him to stay and focus on something long enough for me to speed through books and find some that will be age appropriate and of learning value. My fingers are working at their fastest flipping through the books.

One time when we went, a little girl was sitting quietly reading at the kid table. Then a long came a spider (Max) and sat down beside her, actually, he tried to sit on her lap. I had to avert that situation. Then he started throwing everything off the table including all the puzzles pieces and boards. I've gotten pretty good at cleaning up those puzzles. Trying to have Max help me clean them up. Which he does start to help me with and then.......he's off again.

About the little girl at the table. Who I can tell is fully disgusted by Max and his inability to sit and be quiet. She runs over to her dad and in a angry whisper says, "This is the library and he's throwing things on the ground and not being quite." To which the dad explains, "It's really hard for little boys his age to be quite." I smiled to myself and agreed. I don't think the little girl was satisfied with this answer though.

The problem is, it's really, really hot outside. So Max doesn't get enough outside running around time. The library is close by to our house. So we go there and Max is hyped up, stimulated, and Max being a mover and an explorer anyway. Who loves other kids! You put all this together and it's madness.

The worst part is trying to check out. Which includes me trying to juggle Max in one arm while he cries, wiggles, and throws a fit to be let down so he can go seek, play, discover, and destroy. Trying to scan my books for check out is nothing short of a miracle. I just keep my head down and try not to look at everyone who by now, is probably staring in my direction. So embarrassing!

I'm waiting for the time when I go to the library and there's a picture of Max and I with the caption, "DO NOT LET IN, THIS IS A QUITE ZONE." ;)

Painting on the wall

This painting will always hang in our home. It's very special to us and reminds us of a special time with cherished memories.

Let me tell you how we got this painting and why it means so much to Shaun and I. We heard about a high end furniture store that was going out of business. We decided to go check it out. Some people told us it had some amazing framed art. Everything was really discounted.

As Shaun and I made our way through the store looking at a lot of very nice things. Beautiful things. We came across this painting. Shaun saw it first and called me over to look at it. I fell in love with it. We both did. We knew we wanted it. Why?

Because it reminded us of New England. We both thought about our honeymoon. The picture reminded me of the coast of Maine the most. Right on the ocean. Where we stayed. We went to Boston, Vermont and up the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Loved it!

The couple in the painting is really Shaun and I. At least that's the way we see it. ;)

Here's what I wrote in my scrapbook:

The view from our room was beautiful!

It was March so Shaun and I put the

heat on high and pulled the windows up

so we could hear the ocean waves crashing

all night. It was amazing!

We had such an incredible time.

We drove up the coast of Maine and also

visited New Hampshire, Vermont, and Boston.

We had so much fun together.

I will always love this place for it really

was special and will always mean so much to me.

The view from our room in Maine

Thank you New England for so many wonderful memories. I do love you. Shaun and I later got to live in New Hampshire. For a short time. New England is such a beautiful place.

I miss it. The history, the landscape, the ocean...*sigh*...I love it!

Boston, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. I will be back to see you!

This is what JOY looks like

Can you feel my heart smiling? Because it is.

I hope Max will always see, feel, and know how much I love him. Because I do. :)

buddies

I love, love, love this picture! It speaks for itself. I don't need to add commentary. It's good to have a friend to lean on, or to just chill with. :)

Beautiful Art

I've been blown away again by the talents of others. It's amazing to me what people can create. I went over to the Mesa, AZ Temple visitor center. They have a display there until September of paintings, sculptures, and carvings. I was mesmerized by what I saw. I had to take time on each one and fully indulge my self in the beauty of it. It evoked such sweet emotions as good art should.

The story behind each piece and the ability to have it shine through is amazing to me. The colors, the detailing, seeing the paint stokes up close and then slowly stepping back and taking it all in. It's so fascinating to me all the detail and the different colors and shades that go into it. I appreciate each stroke. In my mind I in vision the person making the piece and wonder how they do it and what they were thinking. I hope they know how much I love it and want to thank them for sharing their amazing talent with me. I really think of it as a gift.

Here's some of the pictures I took, they will not fully give you the true beauty of each piece. I hope you can still see how amazing they are. I had to take the picture at an angle so there would be no flash. Some of the paintings were huge. at least as tall as myself. I fully enjoyed this display. I'll be back to view it several more times. I've already been 3 times.

ESTHER

HOLD TO THE ROD

ONE OF THE TEN VIRGINS. HER LAMP WAS FULL

MARY AND MARTHA

JESUS AND HIS EARTHY FATHER.....JOESPH

SAVIOR OF THE WORLD

JOSEPH SMITH

Daddy time

Max sees something he loves........he's off.........

It's Daddy!

Here I come Daddy!

Almost there!

Wait!

I've got a better idea!

Daddy chase me!

Max's first dunk

I had to document this.........

Shaun gave Max a piece of an Oreo cookie. Max has seen what Shaun and I like to do with those cookies. He went right for the dunk! Kids really do watch what you do!

Shaun and I had a big laugh over this. It was so funny! I had to get a picture. There's something American and child like about dunking a cookie in milk. It's a feel good thing. Milk and cookies........yummy!

I bet you now want milk and cookies........ Go ahead.......get your smile on, take some cookies for a dunk. :)