Christmas 2009

We had an exciting Christmas this year.
First Zoe and I made cookies and decorated and Max looked on longingly to get his hand on one of those cookies. He would not have helped decorating.
This was Max's second Christmas, but the first that he was able to do some, or destruct some. He helped decorate Gramma and Papa's christmas tree.
And of course Zoe did too, but she didn't need help with the ornaments. She is reaching higher and higher on the tree.
Opening presents at Gramma and Papa's on Christmas Eve. Yes, Max is wearing Santa pants, we tried the top, but it was too small to wear a second time.
Uncle Dave made for a wonderful seat to check out a new calendar that had pictures of food.
Uncle Steve, Zoe and Max having some play time in the front hallway to release some of that extra energy that always seems to come around Christmas.
Zoe got to play the piano on Christmas with her Aunt Stephanie at Grandma and Grandpa Lytle's. Max joined some as well.
The perusal of all the stuff under the tree. Where to begin?
I think I need to make happy faces and show mommy and Grandma my new spikey ball. Mommy will be keeping a close eye on me with this one since I have a ball like this at Gramma's. We'll just say that Mommy found a surprise in my diaper one day.
And the two little ones, just happy.

Scootering

One of Zoe's new favorite Christmas gifts. She has been scootering around in the house( good thing you can go in a circle in our house) for practice, but we where able to go outside for a little bit the other day so she could open it up...

Christmas Card

We sent out our Christmas Cards out this past week and a few people have received them. The picture is of both kids very happy screaming and laughing looking through Max's barn that he got from his sister for his birthday. Instead of including highlights of the whole year in our card this blog is the best place to look. Some of you have already checked it out and do so regularly, and you get e-mails automatically sent to you when we make an update. If you want you can become a follower of our blog or just check-in periodically. We try to be regular about our postings

We've all had a good year and are healthy. We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Zoo Lights

We went to the Columbus Zoo lights last Friday. It was a little nippy, but we had fun. Zoe had a green lollipop on the way to the zoo and ended up with green lips and tongue.
This was one of Max's happier moments.

When we got to Santa, well, Max christened the evening with the first wailing child. He never stopped. Zoe was a little worried for her brother.

And we also got to enjoy some really cool lights. We learned when a good time to go is and I'm not telling because I'm selfish like that. We were actually able to enjoy the lights as we walked from the back of the zoo to the entrance, instead of watching for the people who like to walk in front of strollers. 60+ pounds of kid in a double stroller does not stop on a dime.

Max's First Birthday

Our little guy turned 1 on November 12th. The family was over a couple days later for his birthday party. Some observations from his party. He didn't really care about the gifts he just like all the people because it meant that if wanted "bup" he would get it. He liked the boxes most, they were good for climbing on. The wrapping paper and tissue paper were nice, but the boxes were better.
My sister Zoe gave me this really cool farm. It has lots of animals and buttons to push that make the animal noises and doors to open and close. It is the best thing ever.
He really does love it and it is the one gift that he is still playing with all the time. Others get there time as well, but this one has ranked number 1. He knows which ones are the sheep, or as they are called in our house, the baabaa sheep. He knows the black and white one and has been known to do an army crawl holding 1 or both of them.

My papa carried me around some. You can see the streamers and the balloon that I got also. I probably chased him down so he would carry me.

And then my mommy gave me this little cake with a candle on top. Zoe and mommy blew it out for me and then she just gave it to me. I smeared it all over my face, put some icing in my hair, and they just let me do it. So I kept doing it.

It was the best day ever

Halloween

Yes it is the christmas season, but we've been pretty busy the past month with work, Jen has been slammed, Max's birthday, and Thanksgiving. So we are finally getting caught up on some photos.
Zoe was Malicent for Halloween. And for those of you who don't know who she is, we didn't either, she is the witch Malificent from Sleeping Beauty, but made nice. She lives at Gramma's house in the bathroom behind the towels. Zoe created the whole costume and she made her staff with help from Mommy, and Steve.
Max was a puppy dog. This was Zoe's first costume, for her second halloween. It was very appropriate for him since he started pointing at all of the puppy dog's on walks shortly before this, and said "oof off" We did get him to bark once with the puppy outfit on.

Gramma and Papa came over for the beginning of Trick or Treat. Gramma dressed up also, and Papa, is the chauffeur.

Zoe counting all of her loot from the night.

And finally a montage that Scott put together. Really this picture was not set-up. Zoe was standing there and happened to do this when Scott took the picture. It just set itself up for the phrase "I'll get you my pretty".

I'm One

I've had a very exciting past couple weeks so that is why I didn't post after my last doctor's appointment. In case you didn't know I turned 1 on the 12th and I had a party just a couple days later with my family. My daddy got sick at the beginning of the week and he gave it to me and Zoe. Zoe didn't get it too bad, but I was not good. I had a fever and coughing and runny nose. Mommy and Daddy called the on-call doctor one night because it got higher, but they gave me Tylenol and a bath and it went down. I liked the bath part they can do that more often. My mommy got the cold after my birthday party on saturday and she ended up staying home from work after she took me to the doctor on Monday. I was feeling better so I stayed with Gramma and Papa and let Mommy have some rest.
For my birthday there were lots of people, some gifts. I just crawled around the room and put my snotty nose on everyone, climbed on a couple of boxes and was just generally cute. I then got a cupcake with a candle on top. Mommy and Zoe blew it out for me and then they gave it to me. All for me and I was allowed to do whatever I wanted with it. I stuck my finger in the icing and then my hair. Eventually I figured out how to eat it and it was all over my face. I had to take another bath before I went to bed.
And finally I had to go to the doctor. I got measured, weighed and poked. I now weigh 23 pounds 5 ounces, I'm 30-1/2" long (still not tall yet), and my head is 19" around. The doctor checked me out and he got to see me standing some too. I had to show off some. I was well enough to get some shots. Yippee. And since I was already getting shots my mommy added in a regular flu shot for me as well. So I got 2 in one leg, 1 in the other, 1 in each arm and my toe got stuck for two tests.
I now say some words that only mommy and daddy can understand, but I have some words in my vocabulary that everyone can understand
Doggies say - "oof oof"
"bye bye"
"Bup" (for up)
I'll have some more pictures to share soon and I hear that Thanksgiving is coming soon. I'm looking forward to that. You know all the food. All is well in my life if there is food and my blankie.

Leaves leaving

We had to rake leaves this weekend so we could find the grass and patio again. This was Max's first experience with large piles of leaves. We figured some would go into his mouth since practically everything does go in there anyways. He did have fun digging in them.
And crawling in them. I laid in them and it wouldn't have been a bad place to nap in the sun, if Zoe and Max decided it would be more fun to crawl on me and cover me in leaves.

Zoe looked forward to the jumping in the piles of leaves. There were several piles so she could jump in different piles of leaves.

And Max cried when he saw Zoe in the sheet of leaves and finally he got to ride also. He loved it and he cried when the ride was over.

And the next day you couldn't even tell that we even raked so we'll have to do it all again and Max and Zoe will get to ride again.

And as Daddy says: "5 pounds of leaves 60 pounds of kid".

Pumpkin & Apple Picking

Last weekend we drove out to Lynds Fruit Farm to go pumpkin and apple picking. Jen and I had Friday off and aunt Stephanie came up to go on our little adventure with us. So we loaded up both cars, a girl car and a boy car and headed out Friday morning. The farm was muddy but at least it didn't rain and we all had fun hunting for our pumpkins. Zoe thought it was a giant maze and Max was just happy to be carried. We even had enough apples for GrandMa - the apples where huge by the way.

All we have to do now is a bit of pumpkin carving and we'll be ready for Halloween.

Bath Time Fun

It was just me and the little ones the other night and they where both in need of a bath, so I thought it would be fun to have them take one together. Zoe was a great big sister and gave Max plenty of room and of course she stuck the boats onto Max. It was a fun evening and no boats disappeared.

Max bounces ...

alot. I've read from other parents that their child comes to bed with them or crawls into bed with them and sleeps. They actually sleep. That does not happen in our family. Our bed is playland, for both kids. Zoe says she is going to sleep, but that never happens. She really does try.
Max on the other hand loves to crawl across the bed and try to get away. His thighs are really ticklish so we grab his thighs and pull him back across the bed. There is always lots of giggling. Or he likes to bounce on the bed, as you can tell from the video. The music is from a toy that Zoe also had and she bounced to it as well.

Picnics

This past weekend was such a beautiful weekend that we went on two picnics. We went to Grigg's Resevoir to "our table" on Saturday evening and then again on Sunday with Gramma and Papa. Zoe kept telling us how much she loves picnics. We had our dinner there and then Max and I sat on the blanket for a little bit, while Zoe and Scott went down to the river to throw rocks and feed the ducks.

Then Max and I got to walk by the river for alittle also.

But while we were all sitting on the blanket a guy walked by with his parrots, no kidding they are macaws. You really can see all types.

The end of vacation

The last day of our vacation we spent at home relaxing some. It always seems you need at least a day at home before going back to work or school after a vacation. Need a day to unpack, get some groceries and just sit. Well on our last day at home Scott, Zoe and I played in the backyard with some light sticks and hunted for lightening bugs. We found one lightening bug, just wasn't a good year for them I guess. And then we experimented with light sticks. Max's name was a little harder.

It also gave me a chance to harvest some of the basil and make some pesto to freeze.

It ended up making around 2 cups of thick pesto.

Museum

We also went to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum and Zoe had a blast. There were lots of fun things to do and of course the day that we went was a special day for kids going into kindergarten, so there were more people there than usual, I think. After lunch though there were lots fewer people which made the art space lots better. Here are a few pictures from the day.

There was a video wall that we could stand in front of that had letters falling from the top and we could catch them. Max was able to catch some on his stroller as well. I was able to catch several letters on my arms and head. I guess it actually does say something but it is changing so much that it is nearly impossible to read.

There were several of these large disks around to spin. They had different mediums in them and would mimic waves, or avalanches.

Zoe got to play in the water, which she loves to do. There was a great big pool with lots of different toys and also ones to make. They provided the rain coats and there was a big wall of hand dryers to dry off some of the clothes.

While Zoe was playing in the water Max played in the little kids area. He sat around and played with a few toys, but it gave him a place to play as well so he wasn't in his stroller all day. And then Zoe joined him and they played with the enormous lite brite.Then Zoe got to go create, and that is one thing that she loves to do. She got to paint...

Make some wire art (out of really big twist-ties)...

And she made some paper.

And one item that we went back to several times was...

this really huge person that we could push and pull levers and move arms, hands, fingers, and torso. It was one of the times that we saw Zoe really stand her ground.

It's me, Zoe

If you haven't noticed most of these posts revolve around my little brother Max. Yeah he is cute, I do love him, and he does do a lot of new stuff all the time, but I need my space as well. I'm sure he'll weasel his way in here somehow though.

Well today I went to the doctor for my 4 year old check up. I get measured in height, unlike my little brother, ha. I'm 40-3/4" tall, which makes me taller than 74% of kids my age and I weigh 35 pounds, thats 50% heavier. The doctor said everything looked good. I took an ear test and eye test and passed everything, and I got a sticker with Dora in a pretty dress.

I went on vacation with the fam and we did lots of fun stuff. At the hotel I jumped between the beds. I could see myself in the mirror doors as I was jumping. Mom and Dad had to make me stop, but I got to do it again. It was so much fun.

I got to ride in a little train at Station Square with my mom, right after I had some ice cream. Yum.

And I did some modeling and posing at the fountain at the point of 3 rivers. Really my foot is not broken. Daddy keeps saying it is, it is just turned in.

That's all for now you'll hear (well read) more about our trip soon.

Oh and by the way I just had a birthday and my party was totally awesome.