Thursday, June 27, 2013

Water Fun

 photo DSC_1926_zpsb93fb733.jpg photo DSC_1789_zps543832e3.jpg  photo DSC_1799_zpse7c396ae.jpg  photo DSC_1768_zps039a54fa.jpg  photo DSC_1761_zps83454a8d.jpg  photo DSC_1739_zpsbde4b93d.jpg  photo DSC_1737_zps1733c678.jpg  photo DSC_1738_zps01f92a4c.jpg  photo DSC_1754_zps6b4815e4.jpg  photo DSC_1724_zps9af0af4f.jpg  photo DSC_1721_zps2aeeeaac.jpg  photo DSC_1917_zps22b4bb03.jpg  photo DSC_1919_zps2475660b.jpg  photo DSC_1928_zpsc472bdae.jpg We've had some fun at the lake at Sue & Julie's so far already this summer! Maverick and Brody both love water so far, as if there was ever any doubt.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Parks in the Park & Maverick Walking

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Trying to get these two together for a photo is like trying to round up wild cats.
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Weeee
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Kisses :)
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"Hey mom, let me lick my finger and then stick it in your face.  You're welcome."
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Cruising in his new sandals with his motorcycle.
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...and faster
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...and faster, until he fell to his knees.
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Maverick was making motorcycle noises here and pushing the motorcycle back and forth.  Where did he learn that, hmmm?
We spend many fun outings at the nearby park now. Brody loves it! The best part is that he loves the short trip there just as much as playing there because it involves him biking, riding in the bike trailer, walking, or riding his motorcycle. I got new sandals for Maverick on Saturday. I went to the store for a size 3.5, but ended up getting a size 5. Jeez feet grow fast! In the last few days Maverick has really taken off. He walks instead of always crawling. The photo trilogy above reminds me of a similar set of photos of Brody right around 12 months old.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Happy Father's Day

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Barry & Brody
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Barry & Mav, the snuggle monster.
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Jet ski rides at 3, could life be any more exciting?
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My dad and his 5 grandkids~Claire, Brody, Max, Maverick, Mara
Happy Father's Day! To my dad, to Barry's dad, and to Barry, a great dad to our two boys! We had a fun Sunday enjoying warm weather and an evening BBQ.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Our Brody

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Planting the garden at the farm.
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Snuggled up with a blanket (of course) and all of the stuffed bears he could find.
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Bike ride in the bike trailer with Barry pulling.
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Brody loves the bike carrier and Maverick is skeptical.
To say that Brody thrives when he gets to be outside is an understatement! He loves it and he loves so many different things about it! The playground, the swingset, planting the garden, sandboxes, motorcycle power wheels, bikes, bike trailer, exploring, farm, lakes...the list goes on and on. He is usually on his best behavior when he gets to be outside. That being said, he sure does like a soft blanket to snuggle up with on the couch or on the floor and it doesn't matter where; our house, Omi's house, Docken's house, Hebel house, Sue's house, etc. He's also an all or nothing kind of kid or at least needs very specific rules and restrictions. He needs to know that he can only watch one 20 minute show each day at home and that he can choose when and what. To be sure though, he will ask for more every single day. He needs to know that I will only tuck him in once each night and that if he gets out of bed, he has to tuck himself back in. If you give him more, he'll want even more and it's a ticket to constantly ask. He also has a great memory. If you think he's forgotten about a promise of something, don't kid yourself because he will remember and remind you at the moment you thought you were in the clear and that moment will be at the most inconvenient time. It's best that I remember first to follow through on a promise at a time that works best :) He remembers rules too, just ask him what the rules are, he knows. That doesn't mean he can always follow them in moments when he's wild, crazy, or just being naughty. He has a mechanical mind I think. It's so hard to tell at age 3, but he always seems to need to know how/why something works. And don't kid yourself, he won't let it rest until you properly explain. If I had the amount of energy that Brody does, I would be unpacked, my house would be clean, my car would be clean, my files would be organized, and I'd finally have time to explore the world of editing photos. For now, I take it one day at a time. If that means reading the dreaded "Fenton, the Frog" book for the fifth night in a row instead, I guess the laundry will wait one more day. I remind myself to be happy that at bedtime at least, Brody will sit next to me on the couch and listen intently every single night.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Maverick's One Year Photos

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Trying not to smile at Papa
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Preparing for takeoff.
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A little smirk.
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Maverick @ one year - Our little 7 tooth wonder.
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Huh?
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Mr. Serious
I took a few quick photos after work one day to try to capture Maverick at one year. Note to self: At the end of a long day for everyone is not the ideal time to take photos, especially with a hungry Maverick.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Maverick's First Birthday Party

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Maverick loves this balloon.  It's the first thing he points to every time we come home or he wakes up.
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Very serious about his ice cream cake with giraffes.
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The kiddos got animal masks to wear and have since enjoyed playing with them.
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Omi tells the birthday boy a story.
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Brody waits patiently on the couch, rocking his cat mask.
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Mav was pretty excited about his cow dress up doll.
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And equally excited about his farm animals!
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Look, even Mara was excited about it :)
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Now Mav tells a story to Papa.
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Grandpa Don and Grandma Camilla enjoy a little sun on the deck.
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Grandpa Steve feeds some ice cream cake to Maverick (or the whole piece).
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Our new swing set from Omi & Papa.  It's now been tested and approved by many little ones.
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Even Mav enjoys a ride on the swing.  He'll have a toddler swing to sit in soon.
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Weeee
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Ice cream cake face!
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Yelling out orders from the playhouse.
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Maverick climbs up the steps to the deck.  We're going to need a gate to block him from going down.
We had Maverick's first birthday party last Sunday, the day after we moved to Lonsdale. It was sort of a giraffe party, complete with yummy sloppy joes, veggies, acini di pepe salad, and ice cream cake. The kids had a lot of fun and we were lucky enough to have a beautiful day of weather!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Moving Day!

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Loading up our stuff at our old house.
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Arriving at the new place to unload.  It took a 17' moving truck and a cattle trailer (plus other trucks and vans full of stuff).
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GG watches Mav & Mara so that the other adults can help.
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Lunch break.
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Mav tests out the new gate that Heather installed.
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Maverick is pleased with the new playhouse.
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Brody & Mav enjoy the playhouse. 
Saturday, June 1 was moving day! It was a big success. I had no idea our 1500 sq ft house held such a large volume of stuff. We started loading up our stuff at 8am and it took less than 2 hours of load time. Then we headed to Lonsdale for lunch and unloading. Thank you to everyone that helped in some way! Everyone has their own strengths in helping and it was amazing to see them all come together to make it go smoothly. GG helped with the kids and brought some food along for the crew. Sue helped with lots of loading/unloading and then distracting (corralling) Brody. Julie helped load/unload and also helped with Brody, she is also good with taking things apart, including the heaviest desk ever. My mom is great with pulling together odds and ends like moving out our kitchen, she's also great on helping get settled by making beds, getting people fed (bringing food), and getting the important things like the kitchen and boys room set up. The guys (Barry, Steve, my dad, Sean, Josh) are great at heavy lifting, stacking and strapping the loads, and getting furniture and a swingset set up. Heather can keep up with the guys as a power house and is great at the details that I am not, like loading up all of my pictures, protecting the carpet from tennis shoe tracks, and more. Cindy had a great hand in helping load and unload and this was after driving 5 hours in the morning first. Sean helped set up the living room and I really like the result. Josh ensured the safe packing of my TVs. My dad made sure the swingset was set up and safe. Steve helped get our satellite hooked up to save us from taking 5 hours off of work. I hope I didn't forget anyone, but I wanted to thank my crew for all of their help and hard work, all of the things you did were noticed and appreciated even if I didn't mention them all! They say many hands make light work, I'm not sure we'd all agree with that, but at least many hands saved my sanity. We have lots of boxes yet to be unpacked or organized, but the upstairs is very livable and we're very excited about our new place! Barry went back to our old place to take out carpet last night. I hope all goes well for our renters when they arrive. Brody loves playing outside in the yard on the swingset, playhouse, and sandbox. He has a tough time deciding if he wants to play in the backyard or go to the park across the street.