Germ Wars

My mom visited this week, so my sister and her 2 kids came to stay for a couple nights. They came straight from Disneyland on Tuesday night which is where I believe this war began.

Wednesday my nephew wasn't feeling so great- cough and runny nose. I'm sure the germs from disney didn't help. Major germ share #1 when they all want to play with the same toy. The kids all played in the bathtub Wednesday night. Cute, but major germ share #2.


Thursday Carson was feeling better so we spent the morning at the LA Zoo. They all got a lolly pop as a treat and the drool fest began- germ share #3.

I lost the war. Max was fussy at the zoo, clingy on Friday and sick by Saturday. Grandma stayed home from church with him on Sunday. Sunday night he was so stuffed up & crying. This is how he woke up Monday. :( Swollen red eyes and dried crusty gucky stuff all over his face. Bath time still cheered him up :) So for now we're just working on getting lots of fluids in him and keeping him happy. He pretty much gets his paci all day now. Here's hoping this skips all your families!

Marlboro Max

We started up our Monday night Potluck dinners again. We discovered a park way up in Altadena that has lights on the picnic area and park until 10pm. It was nice to get out and catch up with friends, let the kids wander & eat. However, Max seems to have picked up a bad habit...cigarettes. Mike was chatting, I was chatting & when Max walked over to me to beg for more food, what was dangling from his mouth? A cigarette butt. YUCK! He clearly had been chewing on it for a while cuz' I had to wipe the butt off his chin and Mike swiped his finger through Max's mouth to clean out the tobacco. Max must have liked his new habit since he promptly bit Mike which he's never done. They make a patch for toddlers right?

Saturday we joined Natalie and Fallon at Jefferson park to watch our hubbies play softball. It was a seriously hot day, Max should not have worn jeans and a black t-shirt, I kept giving him gatorade & he was pretty happy wandering around with Grandpa and playing with Fallon. Next time I think we'll go to the game a bit later & not for the whole 2 hrs :)

Spread Sunshine all over the place...

Yeah, we've put on our happy faces again! The days of endless (but needed) rain have officially passed. Thank goodness, I'm all "Barney'd" out. Between entertaining Max & the dogs going stir crazy we are so excited for the return of southern CA sunny & warm mornings.

This is how Max spent endless hours during the rainy season...

He likes to pull all my shoes off the shelves, then hide them in the back of my closet making a really fun hide & seek game for mom.

Now that we have been able to go back to our morning routine...

We pick an orange off the tree and eat it while Max explores, pushes the swing, the swing pushes him, & watch the dogs wrestle. I'm so thankful we have a yard for him to play in.

This video is a little something we like to call "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Boo". Boo stalks Atticus thinking she is invisible until she pounces. We think it's pretty funny.

Max is going "punk"

Ok, not really. This past weekend we decided Max's 70's shag had seen its day so it was time for a haircut. I thought a "faux" hawk would be cute, Mike doubted. I think it turned out pretty darn good. He sat through it wonderfully once he was given a lolly pop. By the time the lolly pop was gone, the haircut was done.

He also discovered these pink shades that I've had in a toybox for almost a year. He never let us put them on him and decided now that he's cool with his fauxhawk that he would wear shades. So what if they're pink, he's man enough to pull it off.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day we decided to have a couple friends over for dinner. I decided to use everything in my bag of tricks so I ...

-cleaned the house (not that it needed much after my fabulous mother-in-law cleaned while here)

-bought a cheese platter and crackers to snack on while folks arrived

-marinated tri-tip steak

-made an apple/blueberry pie (from scratch-only my second ever!)

-made yorkshire pudding (a Canadian fav for holiday meals)

-made a cherry cheesecake

It was fun, but...

-I forgot to put the cheese platter out

-The steak was a little tough

-The bottom crust of pie didn't cook well so it was soggy

-I over cooked the yorkshire pudding a bit

-Lots of left over cheesecake

Sorry friends. Next year I'll order pizza :) At least Max enjoyed me letting him suck on the beater from the cheesecake, until I took it away.

Also, for the Grandparents, this is video of Max loving the train set under the Larson Family Christmas tree. He watched & chased it for about 20 minutes.

Merry Christmas

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and that you get time to get snuggly & warm in your Christmas jammies with family and friends.

~hugs
The Brownsteins

This is Max's new most favorite toy in the whole world. Apparently the rumor I heard is true, they prefer playing with the box.

Taking a nap with the dogs is his 2nd favorite thing to do. This is them right as they woke up today.

(Just kidding, for some reason the dogs tried jumping up there today so I put them in for a picture).