Tate

He pretty much always sounds like this & he is a very eager smiler, particularly when he's held & spoken to.

How I feel lately

Tell me I'm not the only one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNkp4QF3we8

Halloween Celebrations

With the church's trunk-or-treat on Friday, the Ghost/Goblin festival at the Arboretum & hitting the most wonderful Halloween street ever in Sierra Madre on Halloween, it was a packed couple of days. It was tough to narrow down all the cuteness, so you'll have to endure a few pics on this post.

Trunk-or-Treat (indoors this year)
Fun stuff at the Arboretum. They had tons of crafts & games for kids.

We call it Halloween Street, but it's a fabulously decorated street in Sierra Madre where the homes go totally over-the-top with decorations. Max got a huge kick out of it even though we were there early and some had not finished setting up and not everyone was ready with candy. We attempted to charge Max the obligatory parent tax on his candy, but G.G. beat us to it and had already cleaned him of all the good candy. She's pretty quick for a Grandma ;) At one house Max decided to just sit and wait. It took us a while to get him to come away from their porch.

Tate was a Monkey on Halloween. I swear he breathed a sigh of relief when we got home and took the costume off him.

We stopped at a nearby neighborhood on the way home where Max finally grasped the concept of going to the porch and saying "Trick-or-treat" to get candy. He was very polite and would shout "HOORAY!" after candy was dropped in his bucket and then say "thank you" all on his own as we would walk away. Sadly I didn't have the camera with me.

Hope everyone got to charge a fabulous Parent Tax this year! Thanks to my sister for the idea in the first place, we were just gonna steal it, but a "tax" sounds so much better.

Traumatic, Tiresome, Terrific, Tender, TWO!

Max turned 2 today. I know,right? Who can believe I'm old enough to have a 2 year old? (humor me please).

Max on his Birthday:

Max on his 1st Birthday:

Max on his 2nd Birthday (in his jammies from GG):

Here's the run down on my tenacious 2 year old...

He can be so sweet snuggling his brother, but he also loves to test boundaries and climb on things he shouldn't.

He loves to do anything Daddy does, including trying to golf. He also sleeps in a big boy bed now.

He is obsessed with anything to do with trains, especially Thomas & loves to "collie" (color)

He can throw a tantrum like nobody's business and 2 seconds later go kiss his brother.

Today I tried my first solo excurssion where there were no friends around to help out. We went to the LA Arboretum and I let him run around all the paths and trails. Fun for an hour and then a lunch time/nap time tantrum hit so it was time to go. It was a beautiful day & we'd never been there before, we'll go again with Daddy.

Happy Birthday Max! I love you!

Thankful

At least something other than the word "NO" occasionally comes out of his mouth. In order to speed things up a bit he started with "Amen". I tried prompting him but as usual he had his own ideas. I didn't even make first mention! Seriously, I spend all day with the kid, Daddy shows up for 2 hrs a night and gets fun weekends and Daddy is the first person he is thankful for. At least I beat out the baby.

One of Tates latest pics- cheeks are getting fuller.

Officially Fall

Even though it is still in the 70's you can't find t-shirts in the stores, every little kid you see is wearing a backpack, & the costumes are out, so it officially must be Fall.

Today we took Max to his friend Ellie's birthday party. It was good for him to get out and it was a painting party (such a great idea!). Max loves to color so he had a blast painting and playing with playdoh for the first time. Good thing we got him an easel for his birthday- don't tell him. The party started at his nap time and he did good but after lunch he stopped listening to mommy so it was time to go home.

In the afternoon we hit the Kidspace Museum pumpkin festival for 30 minutes. Max enjoyed the bounce house, eating a rice krispie treat and watching the musical performance. He refused to put his shoes back on to ride the train and then proceeded to throw his worst tantrum ever. Naturally it was in public. He didn't get to ride the train.

After dinner Daddy & Grandpa went to pick up his latest toy. His friend Ellie was getting rid of her mini-trampoline so Max took it off her hands. Even though today was not his best day (he had 3 more tantrums just while Daddy & Gpa went to pick it up) we let him jump in it for a bit. Oh well, so much for consistency in discipline.

Practicing good oral hygeine

Max has not shown much interest in Tate. However, we did catch him trying to teach Tate an important lesson.