Max in a hat!

 I know I already shared some of the Portrait Innovations photos from our shoot last weekend, but I was going through them again and saw a couple of shots they took right at the end where the gal plopped a hat onto Max's head. He kept taking it off, and he almost looks like he's dancing with his little black hat and kicky feet.Since he wouldn't keep the hat on, we don't have many of these. Maybe we'll have to get him his own little fedora for home, though - what a cutie!

Max's 1 year photos...only a little late!

We were so crazy at the holidays we just didn't get pics taken of Max at his first birthday. We had an appointment, then everyone got sick, we cancelled, and kept putting it off... When we finally rescheduled, the photographer told us they've had folks come in for "1 year" pics...at 18 months+! so I guess we aren't that late, lol.

We got a couple of family pics, plus a bunch of Max by himself. the boys were so giggly and funny. We bribed them to sit still with lots of M&Ms, and they got to play legos in the lobby, so it was a pretty fun morning for them. Max may be the most photogenic one - he was often the only one of the three looking directly at the camera for group shots. Here's a few of our favorites from the session:

That's our family!

Gabe

Boys

Max

Ben Eating M&Ms

M's are yummy!

Gabe

Ben

Max

Best Buddies

Thumbs up for age 1!

 

We are Queens!

Today we made paper crowns, at the behest of Take Five Highlights magazine (Thanks, Grandma Debby!). Gabe really wanted to make the chocolate ice cream project, but as we didn't have any chocolate milk...or chocolate in general..or ice, I deferred that activity to another day. I do believe Gae will hold me to that...

I gave up a couple sheets of my Zippidee scrapbooking paper for the cause, which made Gabe's day. He does like a nice, fine quality paper! They decorated the crowns with leftover free stickers and helped me cut the fringe in the top, which explains why Gabe's crown is nicely curled and Ben's is, well, kind of chewed up. Once the crowns were completed Gabe proclaimed,"I am never taking this hat off. We are Queens!"

A conversation ensued about how Boys are generally referred to as Kings, while Girls are Queens. Gabe wasn't buying it, however, and Ben almost always sides with Gabe. So all morning shouts of "We are Queens!" could be heard emanating from our home.

Unfortunately, Gabe was dethroned and de-crowned when it was time to go to school. Ben had broken his crown much earlier, trying to put a fireman's hat on top - I almost think he forgot he was wearing the crown. It's got alot of lovely decorate scotch tape on it now. Gabe's crown is safely stowed up high, "So Max can't eat it while I'm at school". So I'm sure the queens will reign supreme again this afternoon. Long live the Queens!

Max's Scrunchie Face

 For about a week now Max has been making the elusive schrunchie face. It cracks up both of his brothers and his mommy, but it comes and goes so fast I've been struggling to get a picture of it. It's sort of mischevious, with his little nose all scrunched up combined with a big toothy grin.

He does it whenever he thinks he's done or seen something funny, like making the spider motions for Itsy Bitsy Spider, or Gabe falling down and screaming "Oooof!" for Max's benefit. It's always a quick, fleeting expression, but now when he's doing it Gabe starts exclaiming, "He's making the face again! There's that scrunchie face we love!" It's a real crowd pleaser around here!

Tossed in a bonus pic of Gabe and Ben being nice to each other - so long as we're looking at hard to take pics!

Our Ben, brave and bold!

Ben is such a funny guy. We've been having a hard time lately with his tendency to run head first into everything. While an occasionally frustrating trait in a 2 year old, someday I know we'll enjoy the fact that Ben jumps into everything head first, brave and bold. Right now, we sometimes wish for a permanently attached helmet to protect his poor little skull.

Lately it's the kitchen counter he's bonking his head on repeatedly. It's at just the right height that when he's running headlong through the kitchen area he can't quite see that it's coming. So he runs square into the counter with his forehead all the time. John joked that Ben must have a steel plate in his head and the counter is secretly a magnet. He just can't seem to run past the counter without bonking his head.

Of course, the counter is the tip of the iceberg. He climbed out of the van a couple days ago and ran headfirst into the (closed) garage door. He ran away out into the parking lot at Gabe's school, following lord knows who outside to play. It's mostly a matter of Ben never stopping to look before he leaps. He takes that carefree attitude into everything he does. Every new child he encounters is his new best buddy. He never met a surface that he didn't want to climb. He can do anything and seems scared of nothing...except for dogs, of course. Dogs of all sizes terrify him to tears - we aren't sure why. New foods are always his new favorite thing to eat.

I can't help but admire his attitude and ability to approach everyone and everything with such an open and friendly nature. That's our Ben...and we wouldn't change him. Attach him to us with the puppy pack to prevent him going home with a new family, but we wouldn't change a thing!