3rd Annual Pasadena Friends Easter Egg Hunt

I love these kinds of traditions with good friends. Funny how few remain of the original crew that started it 3 years ago. Pasadena seems to be a transition place for a lot of families. Check out the picture below from 2009. We sure miss the Gunns, Willards, Howes & Andersons (to name a few). Good thing all the new people that have come since then are pretty cool too!

This year was bring your own picnic lunch (In-n-Out burgers for us), and though it was pretty chilly, at least the clouds cleared for pictures and the hunt. This year we wised up a bit and let the little ones start first. Max was pretty stoked to be considered part of the BIG KID group that swept through nabbing all that remained.

Some of the crew

Last year it was Max who had the anger management issues. This year it was Tate. I'm sure the interrupted nap schedule & failure to eat lunch had a little something to do with it.

Or Maybe he's just a prima-dona. Note the progression of anger.

His mood picked up a bit when he got to hunt for eggs. He didn't quite grasp the concept, but managed to collect a few. Max was a master sleuth and found a lot.

He was kind enough to share a few of the smaller eggs he found with his brother.

We brought our Jumbo Ball for the kids to play with. They sure got a kick out of it.

Thanks to Grandpa Holmes for blowing it up. Well, at least Mike & I are looking at the camera.

Hoppy Easter from the Brownstein Family :)

where's the popsicle?

Today is not warm enough for Popsicles- pouring rain outside with mud slide warnings. However, just 4 days ago it was lovely & the 1st Popsicles of many appeared. Max happily wandered around and enjoyed his. Tank-er-tot's was placed in many strategic locations to be enjoyed until it melted away.


When he was carrying it, for some reason upside down worked best for him.Can you spot the Popsicle on Tate's car/walker?

It's sure to be safe in a fire truck.This bucket will do for a while...

















"Tate, you don't put it here. Put it in your mouth."
Sticky, strawberry, goodness.

We are loving this springy weather :)

Time for some sunshine...

...and a new post.

Let's just be clear, I have not been slacking. I've been busy.

-sewing projects

-thinking of starting a craft blog dedicated to my feeble hand-made attempts. Been working on this since October! (this way a spare family from having to see posts about trying new recipes or things I made for the boys)

-caring for the sick and needy (all in my own family),

-never ending laundry & dirty counter tops (dishes are usually done by Mike)

-designing & making new stencils for my Etsy shop, Max & Magnolia (sold several already!)

-facebooking (how else do you know what your friends and family are up to? Actually TALK to them?)

-organizing (didn't get very far)

-waiting for warmer weather to get out and do fun stuff (hence this first warm weather post)

We started the morning out with a little of this:

(I love the pure look of joy on Tate's face)

Then we caught a wiff of the orange blossoms and headed over to do this:

Then we got organized,

"squished" the oranges,

ate the yummy pulp,

and got our vitamin C fix for the day.

Not bad for activities before noon, eh?

Tate the Tank walks!

We have a mover and a shaker on our hands folks! Started walking November 1st.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3yGM_DWGqs

Happy Halloween!

There is no better way to do Halloween than to have In-N-Out burger cater the annual Trunk-or-Treat Party. As usual it was a huge hit & much better to have actual trunks decorated this year! Big turn out and the boys had a blast.

Our haunted trunk-dinner. You can't really tell, but the boys picture in the background has glowing eyes, & the cup & fork are "floating" in the air. Dad made the window fram and chairs for me.

Thomas, Rosie, the Engineers & Grandpa

Tate was scared & fascinated with this skeleton. He kept wanting to go back & stare at it.

This trunk was a prize winner. Its' head moved.

Not too shy to take Candy

Engineer Max & Snow White Sienna

Going through their loot.Thank goodness Max caught a Pre-trunk-or-treat nap on Daddy :)

Mike & I were too tired to go through their candy tonight, so we'll take out our parent-tax tomorrow. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

So I just need to put the disastrous 8 weeks that was the end of September, all of October and the first 2 weeks of November behind me. 1 vent to get it all out and be done with it.

Sad:

- Mike had to have in an in-grown toe nail removed for the 2nd time!

- I got ecoli & was sick for 2 weeks. Most likely from Disneyland where I had been 4 days earlier.

- The root canal I got a few months ago apparently didn't take. Who knew that could even happen? After 9 appointments to have my bite adjusted the Endodontist finally agreed to remove the cap and look to see if anything was missed. Ya' think? So I had to have a 2nd root canal on the same tooth. Pleasant.

- The 1 wart (I know, eww gross) that was on the bottom of my left heal is now 4 warts. Commence 4 weeks of going in to Podiatrist to have heal treated with acid and scraped. Can't get my heal wet which makes showering and trying to enjoy the 90 degree weather difficult. Finally decided to have the surgery to remove them. Instead of 4 more weeks of acid & scraping.

- Mike lost his job. The division he works for is closing December 1st.

- We were invited to my sisters in No. Cal for Canadian Thanksgiving, the day before we were to leave the our dog Boo jumped off a chair & tore her ACL. $3200 later she was home with stitches and the cone of shame around her head. There went any savings we were counting on.

- Its nearly impossible to keep a dog immobile for 4-6 weeks. All she does is whine try to jump out of her pen.

- It rained for close to 7 days in a row. I was ready to shoot myself on day 3 of staying inside all day watching Thomas the Tank Engine. Let alone trying to run errands & unload 2 kids in the rain.

- Cable went out for 4 days. Of course it did.

-I got a cold, followed by both boys having a cold. I'm better, they have had the sniffles for over 10 days.

-Max has shifted to be a bit whiny and aggressive towards his brother. I debated & delayed too long on the preschool thing so he has no friends for play dates since they are all in preschool or sick. We finally applied at a few & fingers crossed we get in somewhere.


Happy:

- Mike found a good Podiatrist to take care of his toenail once and for all.

-Luckily I got ecoli on a Tues. Mike was able to stay home for Wed/Thurs then my sister came Friday afternoon & took the kids Mon/Tues. Also, my Dr. happened to put me on the right antibiotics to treat ecoli before lab results came back & even though I thought I had a kidney infection.

- The 2nd root canal still not taking, but it is less painful.

-Thankfully Mike just found a good Podiatrist & we have insurance to treat the stupid tumors (as the podiatrist calls them). I got it wet anyway when I went swimming in my sisters pool for Canadian thanksgiving.

-3 weeks after Mike lost his job, he got another 1 within the same company. Hooray!

-We were still able to go to my sisters for Canadian Thanksgiving because our fabulous friends who were going to watch the dogs still agreed to do it. Thank goodness for her experience as a vet tech!

- The boys are sort of fascinated by the large pen we set up in the dining room for Boo. So it sort of entertains them. Plus we got tranquilizers. (Sadly, just for the dog.)

-At least it wasn't raining any more when the cable went out so we could go outside and play.

-This time of year everyone has the sniffles. At least they don't have fevers.

-We bit the bullet and got a KIDSPACE membership to entertain the boys outside of the house. The very same day we found out Max got into Pasadena Christian Preschool 2 days a week. Just the right amount of time for him & me :)

Let's just say we're glad that the last 8 weeks has past, holidays are around the corner & it can only get better. Right? (seriously, I'm asking. Please tell me it will all be better.)

My Max is 3!

When you woke up this morning at 6:15 you came to Mommy & Daddy's bedroom door & I wished you a Happy birthday. You said "Why THANK YOU Mommy!". How can you already sound so much older? When Daddy asked you how old you were, you answered "4 1/2". Random. That's certainly not the "3" we've been practicing for days.

Some Max facts:

- You are an avid talker, just like your GiGi. You talk non-stop to anyone & everyone. Including yourself if no one else is paying attention :)

- You love to talk on the phone and call GiGi almost every day. Sometimes you start naming off your aunts, uncles, cousins & Mugga to try and get me to dial them for you. We've never caught you at it, but will often find you talking to some of them on the phone & have no idea how you were able to turn the phone on & dial it.

- You learn songs so quickly its amazing. The end of August, after listening to "Follow the prophet" 1x through, then watching Mommy & Mugga sing it you joined us in the chorus. Songs might just be the key to teaching you anything!

- I love how you raise the pitch of your voice when you are sweetly talking to Tate.

- You use the phrase "I guess" a lot and we have no idea where you got it.
i.e. "I'll go to bed now mommy, I guess." "I guess I'll watch my show now" "Tate wants to go swimming with me I guess".

- Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. You are still obsessed with all your Thomas & Friends trains. Almost every conversation turns to Thomas & almost every toy is named Thomas or Percy.

- You are very polite. You always remember to say THANK YOU & are very good at PLEASE. Sometimes you even throw out a BLESS YOU when someone sneezes or coughs.

- You are struggling with sharing- particularly with your brother. If he has it, you want it & almost always try to pull the old "I was playing with that!" Yeah, like 2 hrs ago. We try to get you to trade him for it, but time-outs are still a-plenty these days.

- When someone gets off the phone you are quick to ask "What did they say?". Usually telling you that they asked how you were doing makes you happy enough not to ask for more details.

- You say your bed time prayers on your own now. You never forget GiGi, Pop, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Krista, Carson or Macie. For some reason you have to be reminded about how thankful you are for your own immediate family. Dinner prayers are often said much more quietly then bedtime prayers, but we can usually make out "bless the food".

-Bargaining is your M.O. For example, If we say NO or LATER when you want to do a computer game, you say "How about you do your computer Mommy, then I do my computer?"

- When one parent says NO, you go ask the other, or any other adult around. This shopping for answers can get pretty annoying, but I do recall trying it myself a few times in my younger days.

- You are still a huge Daddy's boy. When Daddy is home, you can't let him out of your site. Most of the time you wrestle or build trains. But some days I think Daddy is thankful that you go to bed 1 1/2 hrs after he gets home from work. You have a TON of energy.

We love you so much Mr. Max,

little prince, hubba bubba, mighty Max, Mr. Man, buddy, & lovey.

Opening your present from GiGi & Pop this morning

With your presents. We opened them before Daddy went to work & to entertain you today in the pouring rain!