Is it spring yet?

After an awful winter full of tons of snow and horrible, cold temperatures we got a little bit of a break today. I think we even hit the 50 degree mark!

Max gets all excited when he sees him tricycle in the garage. Today was our first opportunity. Max was thrilled that mama actually got out the bike and for the first time he was able to figure out how to pedal to make the bike move by himself. All last summer he just enjoyed the ride while daddy and I pushed him around the neighborhood. Today he got angry when I tried to push. We spent and hour riding up and down the street, running into the occasional pile of snow. I can't wait for spring to really arrive!

Sesame Street Live

Today was a big day for Max. He got to see a life size Elmo! I took some work to convince Brian that it was worth it but all in all it was great. Nonna Carlotta joined us for the fun and Max was thrilled to have her there. The theme of the show was Elmo's Heathly Heros and it was all about staying healthy - getting lots of sleep, eating well, and excercising. I don't think Max quite got the message, but he did enjoy the show. Personally I think it ran a little long. After an hour and a half we snuck out - he was getting super fidgety and he told us 'all done Elmo'. We took that as our que to make a quick getaway. He is just so fun!

We are gearing up for another round with Mother Nature - I think there may be a snow day or two in our future!

Snow Day

In fact this is the second snow day we have had in as many weeks. Last Tuesday Max was wide awake and ready to start his day at 5:30am. Today he slept until a wonderful 7:40am - a real blessing for mommy.

We started our day with a yummy pancake breakfast - Max just loves his pancakes! I love his crazy hair. I can't get it to lay down for anything. I think it may be time for another haircut.

After breakfast we were off to play trains. He loves loading up his roundhouse with anything with wheels.

Max was all about eating cheese today. I think part of the fun of the cheese eating was just trying to keep it away from Sierra.

Max kept opening the cabinet where we house the Kitchen Aid mixer and saying 'cookie'? I scoured the cabinets and all I could pull together was the ingredients for pumpkin bread. Max still insisted we were making cookies. I think I enjoyed this snow day even more knowing that I will be on maternity leave when everyone else at school has to make it up. For once I'm willing to accept any snow day they throw at me!

Happy New Year!

Wow, is it really 2011 already? It's hard to believe that I will be back to work tomorrow. I'm a bit annoyed that Brian has one more day off than I do. What is wrong with this picture? We made the most of the remainder of our winter break with Max this past week.

We visited Nonna and Max had his first experience with a board game. He played Candyland and loved it. He took turns well and only moved his little man. We will have to play again soon.

We also braved the crowds at The Magic House and took Max to have fun with his cousins. He wasn't too sure about things at first. But before we knew it we couldn't keep our eyes on him - literally. I'm just glad there were two of us and one of him! I think his favorite was the touch tunnels, which I find rather ironic because I have a very traumatic memory of getting terrified halfway through and never thinking I would see light again. He just kept going in one end and popping out the other, over and over again. We will have to head back to the Magic House again in the middle of the week sometime. I was done after about and hour but I'm sure Max could have kept on going and goin.

Merry Christmas

Life just doesn't get any better than this. . . we enjoyed the holidays with our wonderful family and Max just had the best time ever! The festivities began on Christmas Eve with my family. It was great to see everyone. Being the only kiddo under 13 in the family, Max was the star of the show. We don't have too many pictures because he wouldn't sit still long enough. He was too busy running around the house exploring.

Max was so excited Christmas morning to see that Santa had indeed arrived. He didn't know what to play with first! The easel won out until he had every magnetic letter on the board and then he moved on to his new kitchen. He was so excited about the kitchen that we couldn't get him to open anything else! Once he finally opened his play food he was in heaven. I love the way he is storing his Spanish rice in the microwave. The rest of Christmas morning was spent in our new home enjoying the beautiful snow and each others company.

At lunch time we were off to the Dull's for more celebrating, and of course presents! Max always loves seeing his cousins and yesterday was no different. Max got tons of fun stuff. Including a baby that we are hoping will help him to prepare for the arrival of baby number two, although is anyone ever really prepared?

The festivities are still far from over. We have three more events planned for today and tomorrow. Unfortunatly all three of us are a bit under the weather, so we may have to play it by ear. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with friends and family!

Sugar Cookies

Max had such a fun night. We made sugar cookies - thanks to the Trader Joe's Decorate It Yourself kit. Max mixed everything together, or at least he turned on the Kitchen Aid. He cut the dough out. He loved using the little cookie cutters, I think his favorite was the snowman.

Even more fun than the cutting was the decorating! Max worked hard with Daddy to sprinkle each and every cookie perfectly. The holidays are just so much fun, especially when we get to share them with Max.

Big Brother To Be

Our big boy will be a big brother this spring. Baby #2 is due on May first and we are thrilled that our family is growing. Max is well aware that there is a baby in mommy's tummy. He kisses my belly button and says he loves the baby. Although when we ask if he is going to be a big brother he is quick to say no. We will have to work on that.

Things are going well with the pregnancy. We had the big ultrasound last week and everything looks great. We didn't find out the gender - we loved the surprise with Max and are looking forward to the surprise again.

As preparation for baby's arrival we had Max's big boy furniture delivered yesterday. He is so excited, he could have climbed up and down the ladder of his bunk bed all day long. We had to drag him out of his new room. I only hope that he will be this excited when it is time to sleep in his new bed.