stockings

It's Christmas morning finally! Mallory was very keen on the countdown. We wanted to take a video of her coming down the stairs to see her stocking, but she was too excited and beat us to it. Max was also coming down with a cold, so he mostly cried in the background. Other than that, we all had a very exciting day. We played with our presents and then made a fancy dinner that night. Mallory even got to drink out of a real princess glass. (a stout wine glass). Thanks for the beautiful handmade stockings, Grandma Clark!

This happened a few days after Christmas. She was patiently waiting for daddy to finish the dishes so he could put a movie on for her and I guess a day with no nap caught up to her. When is this girl going to learn to tell us "I'm tired?" Is that so hard?

Winter at the beach

Grandma Brenda visited last week, yea! We had a lot of fun at the beach one day. It was windy, but not rainy which was a plus.


Jason caught this picture in the middle of max's word for "See?" He was proudly showing his stick to daddy.


The audio on this was mostly wind, so I substituted a song instead. It sort of fits.
When we had to leave it took a lot of wrestling and ultimately a sucker to wrench the stick out of Max's little hand.

Mallory's tree

Mallory's first Christmas tree is actually the $5 find from our first year of marriage. It's a little nostalgic, and Mallory thinks it's the coolest thing she's ever seen. Can I get an Aaaaaawwww!!

Dad and Josh, this one's for you. It's a caterpillar I found exploring our garage floor while I was cleaning the cars. It's a good thing I coaxed him in the bottle with a pencil, because after researching a little bit, apparently he's a puss caterpillar. Texans call them asps because those cute little fuzzies on their back inject venom covered spines into your skin if you try to pet them. It's supposed to hurt all the way to your lymph nodes. Cuddly little critters.
I stuck him in a bottle with some holly leaves. He promptly chewed one to the base and then snuggled down and made himself a cocoon. Pretty cool.

eye surgery

Jason took this yesterday, the day of my Lasik surgery. He thought I looked cool with my sunglasses. The truth is, it hurt and felt really weird even though I am smiling. I love the terms that the medical world uses like "pressure." It's never pain; pressure is the new euphamism. "You'll feel a little pressure here." If you're a woman, you know what that means. But today my vision is as good as I expected, so it was worth it.
Dad, with your eye phobia this surgery is not for you! It's a good thing you have good eyes.

This is my first piano recital. We decided to have it in my home which turned out to be a little tight, but very convenient. Hosting a recital made me feel all grown up. It was a little strange, but exciting.

Sorry, there are no pictures of the kids this week.

max walking

Here we are at the Texas renaissance festival. Mallory was very excited to have a professional face painting job. I don't think it's much better than my cat, but she seemed to see a difference! Her little friend Maya is in the background, passed out in her baby sister's car seat, and Savannah, age 5 is in the foreground, eager to show her cheek as well.


We knew camo on this boy was inevitable. I just never thought he'd be covered head to toe.

Max has a strong will, and although we suspect he has had the ability to walk for a few months, he decided it was finally time last week. He thinks it's sooo funny and laughs so hard that he falls down.

This is Mallory's first camping trip with her dad. She hasn't been camping since she was three months old, and was extremely excited. She didn't catch any fish, but she did cast her pole every 3 minutes. Jason said after they set up the tent, he couldn't keep her out of it and she went to sleep by herself with no trouble.
We were at a town festival where they had face painting, but Max was so ornery we had to leave before Mallory could get hers done. This is my second attempt at home. After looking in the mirror the first time Mallory said "No, mommy! Tansie (our cat) is black and white, that's not Tansie." And she insisted that Tansie had yellow eyes, not green. She is a girl that knows what she wants.

This is Mallory play acting with dolls for the first time, that I'm aware of. I nonchalantly left the camera next to her so she wouldn't "cheese" at it.

halloween

Here are our Halloween pictures. Mallory is Strawberry Shortcake, Max a biker baby, and I'm a Price is Right contestant (from the 1980's for kicks). Mallory filled up her strawberry bag twice and Max ate a lot of wrappers. He was a big hit at the office where Jason is the only motorcycle guy. No, Jason, he can't get a bike now that he has the clothes.

abilene

Last weekend we went to visit Kaira and Joel Tucker in Abilene, TX. It was a 5 1/2 hour drive, but the kids did very well. We stopped for lunch in Dublin, population slim, and found the world's oldest Dr. Pepper bottling company. It is now a museum and soda shop with lots of Dr. Pepper memorabilia. Pretty cool. Beneath is Mallory with Kaira's little girl, Addie. They played together extremely well to the point that we forgot we had a daughter for two days. Watching them play was like seeing a little time warp to me and Kaira at that age.
Thanks for a great weekend, Tuckers!

Here is our spider web in full glory. The spider took a lot more work then I had planned, but it looks cool anyway.

pumpkin patch

Happy as a clam. I finally let Max do what he has always dreamed. This is why I only do dishes when he is asleep.

At the Pumpkin Patch...

You see this one? It's mine!

All of the pumpkins from the rows behind her were the same size and shape, but she insisted that THIS pumpkin was the best. Is this what I'll feel like when she brings home her fiancé?

Mallory's first birthday party at a friends house. She never stopped talking the whole time and said once "This is the best birthday I have ever seen!"

zoo and "ma-ma"

This is a spider web that I'm assembling for our front porch. I've always wanted to do spidery stuff for Halloween because it's spooky but not gory or hellish. It drives Jason crazy that it's not perfectly symmetrical. Hee hee. I want to make sure to have decorations out to attract more trick or treaters. Our last house's showing was pathetic and we ate all of the candy ourselves.

We went to the zoo after avoiding anything outdoors for three months. Max had a lot of fun with this fountain, and looked very tough in his wet jeans.

Don't ask; these two make up their own crazy games.

First word! He also says da-da, but I'm the one with the camera so Jason will have to get a da-da clip on his own! He also stood on his own for the first time during my piano lessons. He was standing against the door and he started to clap, which of course required him to let go of the door. He stood for at least 5 seconds before the tumble.

Car show

This is at the Rod Run car show in Old Spring. Katrine's favorite was this Chevrolet tow truck. Jason's favorite was the line of yearly consecutive corvettes from '58 to'74. The weather is finally starting to cool down, so it was nice to be out and about in the middle of the day.

Mallory and Max love to watch cartoons together on their mini chairs while mom gets ready in the morning. You can't tell from the picture, but one chair is dressed like a girl, and the other, a boy. Mallory is very adamant about who gets to sit in the girl chair. (Absolutely no one but her)

Poor daddy, the minute he tries to get some well-deserved guitar time, Max decides it's his turn.

Mmmm..... Macaroni and cheese. AAaaaahhhh

Max's first coloring attempt. Miraculously, he stayed on the paper!

Clark's visit

This is a video we took in July of Grandma Clark tickling the kids.
We didn't have any cool pictures this week, so I dug this out of the archives.

Max

Max's first birthday was spent at the Galveston beach where he had a great time!
He only tried to eat the sand once.

After Mallory was knocked down a few times from the big waves,
daddy showed her how to be strong by making this pose.
She took him seriously and posed for every wave.
Max screamed and laughed every time a wave crashed over him.

After a day in the sun, Max was ready for some chocolate cake.
He is doing his "hat" sign right now, which resulted in a second bath.

Thanks, Brenda and Jim, for the great presents.
He really enjoys the construction site. That is if Mallory lets him
have a turn. We are just now learning the birthday ownership
rules, and she's not a fan.

These are videos of Max eating his cake and playing with his bathtub basketball toy.

Labor Day vacation

Labor Day vacation was awesome!

Thank you to all friends and family that let us stay at your homes.
We felt very welcome and had a great time visiting with you.

Our first day back we fed the ducks with the Carlsons. Max and Katie loved the old banana bread even more than the ducks did, and didn't leave much.

Saturday we visited Thanksgiving point with the Miners. They had 3 little pigs that squealed and squawked all over the place, plus the usual petting zoo.

Hey Bompa Jim, when do I get my own Harley?

Jason and I got to do some long-awaited hiking while grandma and Lisa watched the kids. We hadn't gone to Mt. Timp caves since we were kids, so it was fun to take the tour as oh-so-smart adults. We got a personal tour of the caves, so I got to ask a lot of educated questions, like "What are those white striations in the rock?" To which the guide answered "calcite," which happens to be the right answer to every other question posed about the caves. If you want to sound smart at Timp, just pull out the calcite theory.

Saturday evening we played at Payson Lakes with the Clark clan.

Katie is ticklingMax's toes.

Mallory, what were you thinking?

The onion days carnival: ah the memories. The scones, the rides, the 16 year-old rock bands cracking their voices on the band stand.