Happy 1st birthday, Max!

I almost can't believe it, but our little Max turned one today! I remember when Gabe had his first birthday and we thought he was such a big boy...today we looked at Max and he was so small! Max is not quite walking yet, and he takes in everything with a thoughtful eye.

We had a super fun Winter Wonderland Brrr-thday party with good friends, yummy food, and silly games and playtime. Everyone had a good time playing Marshmallow Max. Ben and Sean mostly ate marshmallows, and Gabe preferred to play with two fistfuls of marshmallows at a time, bettering his chances. We had "ice fishing" under the (blanket) igloo in the corner and balloon snowballs to toss about. Max even ate some of his cupcake, though by that point he was one tired baby. Here's a video of the big (not) blowing out the candle moment - Max got a helping puff of air from big brother Ben, who just wanted to get a cupcake of his own!

Here's a slideshow of the photos from today.  We want to thank our wonderful friends for celebrating Max's first year with us today, Happy 1st Brrr-thday, Max!

Twas the night before Christmas...

and all the boys are in their Christmas jammies (Santa Monkey jammies for the kiddos, A Christmas Story "It's a Major Award!" jammies for Daddy). We let the boys unwrap one present tonight - usually it would be their jammies, but we already let Gabe wear his holiday jammies to school for hibernation day, so we let them open a board game to play together for family time tonight.

Gabe and Ben were super excited to open a present together, and they shared the opening process so well! Max was just happy to get his little baby paws on some paper - I think that's why we couldn't get a pic of him smiling, since he was nervous we were gonna take the shiny crackly paper away from him. Merry Christmas - we wish you were here!

All I want for Christmas is a Buzz Lightyear bike!

Grandma and Papa are here visiting from California, and they brought Christmas a little bit early. Seems only fair that they should get to witness the opening of the presents they brought with them while they are actually here. Turns out they have a direct line to Santa, and he told them about Gabe's fondest wish! It's the (infamous) Toy Story bike! Hooray! Thank you, Grandma and Papa!

They also brought a super cool Wheelies Ramp car thing for Ben...which is the favortie toy of all three kiddos now. Max can use it to stand up - woo! Gabe can race Ben down the double ramps - woo! Ben can bring his cars to the top in the super noisy elevator - woo! They can all play on it without fighting (if they want to) - woo!

Once we got through the present opening and got everyone all bundled up, we took Gabe's new bike for a spin. While Ben was thrilled at another shot for a trike walk, Gabe was...well, less excited about riding his bike than expected. He rode it carefully around the living room twice before we put the kibosh on that action. Then he sat on it for like a half an hour while everyone bundled up. Then he danced around imaptiently while it was carried downstairs. He took off with Papa before we got the little boys settled onto trike and big red car...but by the time we got around the building to the mailboxes, he was complaining it goes too fast! He rode the brake and did stop and go "riding"...more stop than go...around the complex one time. Then he was done. He has not asked to ride it again.  We'll have to try again on a path that's more perfectly flat - hopefully he'll stop being scared of the bike. Which is exactly like the other bikes he's been riding in the last month, bumming rides off other kids and taking off at Walmart. While he still insists he wants the bike, loves the bike, is so glad they brought the bike...he mentioned he'd prefer to ride his trike. Welcome home, Buzz Lightyear bike!

Max's First Haircut

Last night I loaded the kiddos up in the car and we hauled our cookies (OK, a lollipop, some cheerios, and some multi grain crackers) to Pigtails and Crewcuts for Max's first haircut. Not a carefully contemplated trip, just up and decided to go. Gabe and Ben were thrilled - I've been cutting their hair with the clippers at home for the amazing low, low price of 1 lollipop per haircut, so we haven't been to the "haircut place" as Gabe fondly calls it in forever. You can see the older boys are jazzed to be going back to the haircut place, especially since neither of them have to get a haircut there.

The haircut place has a very nice train table, with all the tracks attached to the table in a complicated configuration that even Ben can't seem to remove from the table. There's even usually trains on the table to play with - not always the case with public train tables. It always astounds me how the boys will spend 40 minutes taking turns playing with one ratty, chewed up no name train at a public train table but demolish any track on their home table that is more complicated that a simple circle in 30 seconds flat while arguing endlessly over the approximately 4 billion Thomas the Tank Engine trains in the large under-table storage drawers.  Nathan loves their train table. William loves their train table. Gabe and Ben...prefer to play trains anywhere else but home usually. The trains are always greener on someone else's table.

 

 

Back on track now - Max's first haircut. He doesn't really have a large amount of hair. All the hair on his head might equal one of Nathan's sideburns, or half of Penny's bangs. It's patchy and uneven on the top, but he's got a super crazy patch of hair going on behind the ears that I slick down many times a day with a baby wipe so he won't resemble Albert Einstein. On a bad hair day.  How something so baby fine and soft can stick out so far from his hear is beyond me! 

 

So we cruise up to Pigtails and Crewcuts in the big red car, of course, and the two older boys take off to the train table. I won't see them again for a while, allowing Max some rare uninterrupted Mommy time...during which I'll hand him over to a stranger to get shorn.  Max was super excited, because his haircut took place in a firetruck, which to him was basically a taller big red car with a shiny silver steering wheel - sweet!

 

There was a boy in the taxicab next to Max, maybe 7 or so - way older than Gabe in any case. He was crying and carrying on - he did NOT want a haircut. Max just sat quietly in his firetruck, and let the stranger cut his hair. No fussing, barely any squirming. When she did the top of his do, he did try to look up a few times, but I rand the fire bell on the front of his fire truck and he soon was sitting quietly again. Towards the end she gave Max a blue comb to hold so he stared obligingly down at the comb so she could cut the back of his neck. I thought, Dude! I could have cut his hair if I'd know he was gonna be so accommodating...although, since we do not have a tall red firetruck chair with a shiny silver steering wheel, attempting to do it myself might have resulted in a trip to the emergency room for Max's first stitches...

In the end, Max came out happy, neat, and tidy. The older boys got train table playtime, lollipops, AND prizes from the prize bin since Max was too little for either reward. And Mommy got a half an hour of quiet, non-fighting play and a lot of cute Max pics. Win, win win for all... we won't talk about the dinnertime temper tantrums, eh? Till next time....

Actual Santa Pics

Ok - I know you've just been dying to see the actual pics with Santa we took. I had to go out to the little website and download the pics. There are three of them - all practically the same.

Gabe is grinning like crazy in each one - he wants to make a good impression on Santa so he'll get a Toy Story Bike. If he doesn't get a Toy Story Bike, he'll die! We now have a teenage girl living with us apparently.He is constantly worrying about whether or not Santa will be bringing the Toy Story Bike. It's almost gotten to the point where I long for the days of Gabe being terrified of Santa. Almost.

Ben is agreeing to be in the photo..barely. He's only there becasue Gabe has impressed upon him the importance of going to see Santa to ask for the Toy Story bike, which Gabe will never allow Ben to touch or sit upon, but it doens't matter because we HAVE to go see Santa, Ben. Come closer and smile for the picture, Ben. Ben! Don't you dare mess this up for me! Ben, you better stand next to Santa! 

Max is just, well, there. He's so chill and calm. He didn't smile, but he didn't cry. Gabe was smiling, so it mustn't be too big a deal to sit on the weird guy's lap. Onne the photographer was done, and Ben stopped looking quite so miserable, Max actually laughed and smiled at Santa. Of course, our turn was over, so we got stone faced Max on Santa's lap in the picture. I say all three of them were looking generally at the camera at the same time, so it's a Christmas Miracle.

We even wrote letters to Santa - Gabe wants to be sure he's covered all his bases. Heaven help us if he ever decides he wants a Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and a thing which tells time...

A visit (or two) to Santa!

We've been to see Santa a time or two already. I know, I know - it's not even December yet. But it turns out, visiting Santa early is a pretty awesome deal! We got a discount on the Santa Photos, which I'll upload soon, and there was almost no line, so the experience was way more relaxed than usual. Gabe wasn't freaked out by the huge crowd, so he even talked to Santa!

Actually, the first time we visited we didn't even realize Santa would be at the Mall yet. There was no one in line, and Gabe said he really wanted to talk to Santa. So in we go, dressed in grubby play clothes. No photo, of course. Santa's greeting the boys, ho ho ho, and Gabe is staring at his feet. He mumbles, "Toy Story bike please". Santa does not hear him. He's going on about how next time they visit they can sit on his lap...meanwhile, since I've told Gabe he can't demand one item from Santa, Gabe is mumbling towards his feet, "and Toy Story Scooter, please. And Bash, and Dash, and Ferdinand, please." Then he hugs Santa super fast, snatches the proffered candy cane and runs out of there as fast as possible. Ben was stoked to get the candy, but he did not say anything to Santa. Max was oblivious, of course.

Obviously a bit of practice was in order. After a couple days of practice, Santa visit number two was attempted, this time bringing our friends Tina and Nathan, always guaranteed to be a good time. The boys were excited but manageable during the short wait to see Santa. We played games and giggled and snacked; they even posed for photos. Then it was the big moment. Ben was still pretty silent towards Santa, and he didn't technically sit on Santa's lap, but he did stand close and allow his photo to be taken. According to Ben, the whole point was to go back for more candy canes anyways.

Gabe Was personable and friendly to Santa. He greeted Santa, waited to be asked, then told him about his dearest wish (Toy Story Bike) and alternate possibilities (although if that bike doesn't appear, it's obviously going to be an issue). He even smiled for the photo. Max waited until the whole photo session was over, then squealed with delight and gave huge smiles....30 seconds too late. How do babies have such good sense of timing?

                In any case, the boys all did well, and no one cried! We got a good (ok, a decent) picture, and Gabe spoke to a complete stranger (Santa). All in all a big success, and now the pressure is off! Everywhere we go there's a Santa now, and Gabe is high five-ing and being super friendly to one and all. Ben is getting less and less afraid of Santa as he watches his normally stoic brother get down with the man in the red suit. After our behavior struggles since our super fun snow day before Thanksgiving, it was a nice way to kick off the holiday season...Merry Christmas, indeed!

Trike walks...how we'll miss you!

One of our favorite activities laely has been to take the boys out on a trike walk. Ben and Gabe ride their trikes, and Max usually goes in the Big Red Car. Actually, we've been taking Max everywhere in the Big Red Car, since he cries a lot in the stroller, but only squeals at the top of his lungs with happiness in the Big Red Car.

Anyways, the boys ride, sometimes with friends, sometimes just with Mommy and Daddy. It guarantees a good bedtime usually, and they have so much fun tooling along on their trikes. Ben is still figuring out how to pedal, so if we let him use his own steam, it's a very long, slow caterpillar type walk. Gabe pedals so hard and so fast that he occasionally tips his trike right over, even on a straight-away.

Now the rains are here, and we won't be trike walking again anytime soon. Sometimes we'd walk the boys up the street to Target and let them use the trikes in the store like strollers - way easier than fighting to get them into a cart, and they never abandon their trikes to run away after something shiny! I will really miss out trike walks...until it snows. Then we are totally taking a trike walk in the snow!

Halloween Happiness part 2

I know, we're way past Halloween, but I've got a couple more photos I meant to share. We did a couple of community Trick or Treat activities, one at the zoo, one in Downtown Hillsboro with Tina's bookstore and Radio Disney and one out in Forest Grove with our friends. The boys were thrilled to wear their costumes so many times! 

Gabe and Ben had a great time at the zoo, even though it rained a bunch. They put togehter a huge floor puzzle of a Tiger, and Gabe made a paper penguin. They got fruit leather in their zoo goodie bag, so they were jazzed, even though there wasn't really any trick or treating or candy.

In the end, even afte we trick or treated so much, they didn't really bring home a lot of candy - nor did they miss it much. Gabe did notice I ate one of his big long skinny tootsie rolls, and he was a little bitter about it - but we got them a whole bag of fat tootsie rolls. Their favorite haul was a Toy Story 3 puzzle from the Radio Disney folks. They each got one...probably left over from promoting the movie, but the boys didn't care.

Max wasn't terribly thrilled with his Wheezy costume, but he did like being wheeled around outside so much, so he didn't complain much once we were out and about.  He's finally getting in the rest of his teeth, so no more jack-o-lantern smile.

It was a lot of fun to run around Forest Grove with Penny, Henry, and Tasha. I hope that even as the kids get bigger we'll all stay friends. It's nice for the boys to have friends they've known since they were babies. With Gabe in preschool every day it's hard to get out there as much as we used to, but it's always a blast!

Henry even got Gabe to wear his Buzz wings with his costume. Every other time Gabe refused to wear the wings. It's was certainly a case of "be careful what you wish for", though. We couldn't get Gabe to agree to push the wings into the folded back position to work his way through the crowds, so he kept bumping folks with his fully extended wings. Gabe claims that next year he wants to be Zurg...because Zurg is his favorite color (purple)! Ben just wants another lollipop. Til next time!

Halloween Happiness Part 1

So it's two days to Halloween and Gabe's already had not one, but two parties. We attended a fabulous bash at the Webber's house in Forest Grove - friends from baby class, yummy snacks, lots of costumes, so much fun! After the party Jen sewed up the boys costumes so they wouldn't trip, since my concoction of double-sided tape and glue dots was not working out...funny, it always works on my scrapbook pages!

The boys are a trio from Toy Story this year, much at the insistence of the oldest bossy boots. He desperately wanted to be Buzz, so naturally he wanted Ben to be Woody. Ben's pretty kick back, so even though given a choice he might choose Nemo or Thomas, he agreed pretty easily to be Buzz's best buddy. We got Max a cute (and warm) penguin costume from eBay, added a microphone, and called him Wheezy - the penguin who sings at the end of Toy Story 2. I mistakenly noted that now they were all in Toy Story 3 costumes, and Gabe corrected me right away, "No, Mom! Wheezy is Toy Story 2!" I could practically hear the "Geez!" in his voice.

Today Gabe got to have a Halloween party at school too. Everyone wore costumes, and they decorated (and ate) sugar cookies. Gabe was so excited about wearing Buzz to school. In the hallway outside his room he complimented Blake on his Transformers costume, though he hasn't the foggiest idea what a Transformer might be. He complimented Siddanth on the utility belt from his Darth Vader costume, mostly because Gabe harbors a long denied wish for a Buzz Lightyear doll with the blue utility belt ala Toy Story 2, and is unfortunate enough to only own way too many Toy Story beltless versions. Poor thing, right? Still these compliments, uttered in full sentences in an audible voice were a huge step forward for Gabe. Yea!

Then he got inside his classroom and kids in costumes started arriving in droves. Teacher Gina asked everyone to sit on the carpet for a group photo - by that point Gabe was shutting down. You could practically see the shades coming down over his eyes as the situation got to be too much for him. All the other little guys are chattering and excited about the Halloween fun going on - Gabe's parked his butt on a purple carpet spot and starts refusing to make eye contact. He said it's because the Batman cosutmes were too scary! I kissed his little purple head and said bye, dragging my Woody-clad two year old away from the lego table with the promise of fruit snacks in the car.

Gabe eventually warmed up to the party and had a super time at school. He's like the hungry caterpillar giving a school report - today he ate 1 frosted cookie with purple sprinkles and gummi bears and 1 cupcake. So he loved the party, as any situation with cake is a-ok in his book. He was upset when I made him take of the Buzz costume after school, but he did share his halloween party goodie bag with Ben. He chose the shiny gold candy for himself (it was a twix, but he didn't care. The wrapper was shiny and gold...only something shiny and purple could've topped that!). He gave plain M&Ms to Ben without a bit of argument. That may be the last sweet thing he did today, since he was so overtired from two days of partying...and only two more to go...

Monster Mash

My friend Jamie posted this neat link to a video maker through Jib Jab. It was so cute that I had to make one for Gabe, Ben, and Max right away. Enjoy!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Chinese noodles are delicious!

One of the boys' favorite things to eat is Chow Mein Noodles. It's the go to choice if we're out at any type of food court setting - they will always eat the noodles, and they both love broccoli, too. But the fast food stuff is so bad for you - so I've been experimenting with making Chinese noodles at home. It's been a big hit! It's way lower in fat and I load it up with lots of veggies. I use a mandoline to slice at the veggies super thin. They wolf it down with nary a complaint - a nice change of pace where Gabe is concerned!

Tonight Baby Max got in on the noodle action. He shoveled in as many noddles as he could at once, so I had to give them to him a couple at a time to prevent suffocation by Chinese noodle, but he ate almost as many noodles as Gabe did! Since he's mostly rejecting the sippy cup and baby food, it's nice to know there's something the little guy can eat without spitting up!

Here's our recipe:

1/2 cup Chicken or veggie broth, divided in half
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup cashews
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
4 green onions, sliced
2 carrots, finely sliced
2 stalks celery, finely sliced
1 zucchini, quartered, then finely sliced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 bunch broccoli, steamed and chopped into small bites
1/2 head napa cabbage, shredded
4 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium)
2 tbsp mirin or rice wine vinegar
1 package chow mein noddles - not the crunchy ones for salads, the white steamed ones in a cake

Boil off the noodles and drain; set aside.

Combine half the broth with the cornstarch; set aside.

In a wok or a large pan (I use my biggest soup pot), saute mushrooms in canola oil until browned. Tosh in cashews a minute or so before the mushrooms are done. Transfer mushrooms and cashews to a bowl.

Heat sesame oil in same pan. Toss in all veggies except cabbage. Stirfry for a minute or so to soften veggies. Add cabbage, garlic, and ginger, cook one minute more to wilt cabbage. Stir in remaining broth, red pepper flake, soy, mirin, and cornstarch mixture.  Cook stirring until sauce coats veggies, about a minute. Add noodles and toss to combine.

I usually grind a bit of black pepper over the adult portions before serving. You could probably just toss on some bottled teriyaki stuff too to save the effort. Yum-o!

Fire Trucks in a super secret location!

John's schedule for work lately has been somewhat unreliable and super busy. I was supposed to teach a workshop this weekend, and at the last minute John had to work all weekend on this big, important project for work. I was in a panic, but our amazing friend Shelley came to the rescue and offered to take Gabe and Ben for me while I taught my class. Not only did she take the boys on top of her three kiddos (including adorable new baby Mechia), but she took the boys to this awesome event at the Fire Station in Forest Grove!

Knowing Gabe's issues with me leaving him places, I didn't mention that I wasn't staying with him today. the whole way there I talked up how much fun we were gonna have at William's house, how William and Sean have gobs of awesome trains, remember how Miss Shelley helped you make a painted spider last week, etc... While we were on the doorstep I causally mentioned how I would be running home to teach a Stamping Ladies class, but they I'd come back from him later. He looked a bit paniced himself there for a sec, and I thought that he might not go in, but then Shelley opened the door so he went in...and saw William and toys and a few minutes later was ok with me going. Shelley said he took about an hour to really warm up, but no tears, and no huge fit after I left - hooray!

She took all those little boys downtown to visit the fire trucks. Ben rode in a bucket loader. Gabe was all reayd to go, but opted out at the last minute. Gabe told me it didn't look safe to him! He also told me all about how the helicopter (lifeflight) landed right in the street, it was so windy and loud! Ben chimed in with "Helicopter in street is daaaaangerous".  Apparently getting strapped into a bucklet loader or putting out  fire is all fine, but watching a helicopter land is cause for concern!

They all tried to go to ice cream, but it was closed so they had a treat at Maggie Buns instead. Gabe had told me he ate a BIG brownie today. I asked him if he had it at William's house and he said "No! It was at a super secret place. I'll tell you later. Top secret!" I think maybe he just didn't know where he ate the brownie.

They both just had a blast today! When I came to get them, Ben didn't even want to go home. He is in love with William's backyard, and we have GOT to move into a house with a yard next year when our lease is up. After all the cool stuff he did with Shelley and the boys today, when we talked about his favorite thing before bed tonight he said it was playing in Sean's backyard. Gabe's favorite thing was playing with Willima's toy helicopter and sleeping in William's bed. Today was a huge success, and a big step forward for Gabe, and we just so appreciate our wonderful friends.

Thank you for inviting us Shelley, Danny, William, Sean, and Baby Mechia! We had the best time!

What a weekend!

We had such a fun time this weekend! Sometimes I wonder how we can cram in so many activities, but the boys just love to be out and about! Maybe it's the impromptu naps...or the Pepsi Max!

Gabe didn't have school on Friday, so we skipped our normal routine and headed out to Cornelius library to attend storytime with the Webbers. We were, of course, a little bit late getting there...ok, we were technically an hour early, but then we went to Walmart, so then we were ten minutes late for storytime. On a side note, may I just say that Walmart actually had a cart that could accomodate all three of the munchkins - the boys could've ridden in that cart all day. The "peekaboos" and singing to Max were priceless. We may go to Walmart more often just to hog that cart. Do you think we can get one for home use?

When we got to the library Penny was sitting up in the chairs with the on-time story listeners, so we sat in the back. Ben kept stage whispering, "Hi, Penny! Mommy, I say "Hi Penny"!" Gabe was irritated with me that he didn't get a chair in the front, so he decided not to participate and played with a toy castle in the back of the room instead.

After storytime the kids all colored pages and played in the library. Ben, Penny, Henry, and Emily did quite a few rounds of Ring Around the Rosie. When everyone else was done, Ben kept going by himself for a few more times. Max tried everything he could to escape the Mommy who would not let him eat books. Won't eat food I want him to eat...maybe we can get food in book format?

We decided to move the party outside, and the kiddos had an up close look at the firefighters bell (Looking, no touching! Looking no touching, Ben!). Then Ben and Henry did a good bit of dangling off the bike rack while Gabe and Penny took turn jumping through it between the danglers. We finished off with a super fun playtime at Rodgers park, after which Ben and Gabe were one step away from vegetables.  Good, sleepy vegetables, though. Note Ben is still clutching a ring pop in his hand while he's asleep...

No rest for the weary though - we were up early the next day and off to the happiest place on earth. Most normal folks would probably guess that the happiest place on earth is Disneyland...but in Gabe's opinion, it's Salem, Oregon. Even folks who live in Salem might not agree, but for Gabe, the epicenter of fun is the Discovery Museum in Salem, and there is no place else he'd rather be. This Saturday he got to bring Daddy there for the first time, and he was totally jazzed. I got to go to the outlet mall and search for black pants for John to wear to prison on Monday. Ok - he's not going to prison, he's going to do a job at a prison, and non-prisoners need to wear black pants...I guess to be sure they aren't prisoners escaped from their orange jumpsuits? Who knows -  but the pants had to be purchased, and that bought me a morning of just Me and Max time...plus the ability to tease John relentlessly about his forthcoming time in prison.

Apparently outlet mall shopping agrees with Max, because he was happy as a clam all morning long, flirting with shopgirls and generally babbling and cooing away. He even agreed to chew on a sippy cup. That's right, folks - he actually put the cup in his mouth! I didn't say he drank out of it, but at least he didn't continue to just fling it overboard whenever he thought I wasn't looking. Maybe one day (knock on wood) he'll actually agree to drink something out of a stinking sippy cup. He is eating Baby MumMum rice crackers and bits of noodle without throwing up, so stranger things have happened I suppose.

On Sunday we played with Tina and Nathan and Eric again! Gabe read "I Stink" to our friends, and the boys played without incident all afternoon - amazing! This visit was such a blessing, since John was now offically on his way to prison (ha! I never get tired of that joke) and would be of no use to us at all today. When I put the boys to bed they were so tired from our long playdate topped off with a triple trike walk (Gabe and Ben on trikes, Nathan in the big red car push cart) and dinner at the McDonalds playplace that they didn't even argue for more drinks of water. Everyone is sleeping soundly in their own beds...except for me 'cause I'm blogging...and poor old John who's on his way to prison.

But he'll get out tomorrow with good behavior, and the boys will be thrilled to have Daddy home. Gabe said to me, "I'm missing Daddy already!" Ben said, "I jammin'!I jammin'! I like jammin' with you!"  Come home from prison, Daddy...those boys miss you!