If they're in there, why don't they crunch?

Max: Mommy, I gots bugs in my mouth.
Sara: What?!?
Max: I gots bugs in my mouth, I told you!
Sara: No, there are no bugs in your mouth.
Max: Yes there are! Ms. Betsy said I had bugs in my mouth! On my tongue! They are taste bugs! They taste my food!
Sara: Taste BUDS, Buddy! She said taste BUDS! (LOL)

I'm procrastinating again!

On my paper, that is. Just a few updates, then back to work!

We've had lots of snow and ice lately. This pic is from a couple weeks ago when we got about 9 or 10 inches over 2 days. Needless to say, Max was in heaven! Unfortunately our weather has been so weird that the snow only lasted for about 36 hours after it stopped falling. Then it was up to 70 degrees then it dropped steadily back to freezing. Now we're having a yucky yo-yo effect. Last weekend, nice. Cold but nice. Temp went into the 50s then crashed to the teens. Ice by Thursday. Not snow! ICE! Not good snowman weather! Which leads me to a funny Max story...

I had to be at work by 7am on Thursday so we went about our normal routine but left a little earlier since it had sleeted a bit overnight. Max & I get to daycare & he's excited because his friend Aleecia is already there & they get to play. So off I go to work. I'm there a whole 15 minutes and the phone starts to ring. Employees calling out or just letting me know they'll be late because of the ice. I go to the front & Yikes! It's falling really fast now! About 8am, daycare calls. They're closing & I have to go get Max. The store opens at 9am. No problem, I can get there & back before the store has to open since I'm the only manager. And I did with 20 minutes to spare. (My boss was due in at 9 but she wasn't able to get there til 10:30.) Max hung out while I finished getting ready to open because, wouldn't you know it, there are already people waiting outside the door for their morning coffee fix. Then he and I went & sat at the cash registers (since that was the easiest place for him to color & stay out of mischief. One of my coworkers, Siri, decides to teach Max what to say when people are ready to check out. Max couldn't wait. About 10 minutes went by before he got his chance. and it went like this...

M: (sitting on a stool, not immediately noticeable) Hi! How are you?

C: (surprised) Well, fine. How are you today?

M: Are those your books?

C: Why yes, I'd like to buy them.

M: Do you have any money? Cause you can't steal them!

And the next 2 hours continued along the same lines!

On the following Saturday, Ian was finally home from his emergency trip to Denver & he & Max came to the store to eat dinner with me. Afterwards, since he had eaten every last bite of his dinner, we went to the cafe for a chocolate chip cookie. As the cafe server was pulling the very last cookie out of the case for him, Max turned to the woman in line behind us and said, "You can't have a chocolate chip cookie. I gots the last one." To which she replied, "That's OK, I didn't want a chocolate chip cookie." Max gave her an extremely skeptical look and said, "Yes...you did. (with that smart alecky little pause that teens are known for)

Where do they get this stuff!?!

(Christal- I promise I won't let Max teach Jackson too many bad habits!)

And now back to my paper!

Want a mini Max moment?

Click on the link to the right for "Oh, Now I Remember Me".
Max hung out with my friend Leslie while I was at school & has decided to become a rock star. Or may be a photographer. You be the judge.

A serious thanks to Les! We LOVE you!

Max promises to be a little less crazy next week! (But only a little!)

We are still here! I promise!

Just a quick update to let you guys know we are still alive! I really haven't forgotten about the blog, school is kickin' my butt this semester! I think both my proffs got together & figured out that if they made papers due the same week (every week!) that I might crack. Well, I'll show them! Seriously, I like my classes but there is a ton of reading in one & writing in the other. I'm working on 4 papers simultainiously, 3 for one class! I promise I'll put up something a little more interesting by the end of next week!

Out of the mouths of babes!

Why do zits never go away? The bane of all teenage existence follows us doggedly into adulthood. Poor Ian has one right in the crease between his nose & upper lip. Those are the painfully annoying kind & he started to absentmindedly rub it while we were at the dinner table. Max (who has heard this phrase repeatedly directed at himself ) told Ian that "We don't pick our nose, Dad! That's yucky!" & the following conversation ensued:

I: I'm not picking my nose, buddy. Its a zit.
M: What's a zit?
I: Its another name for a pimple. Sometimes you get them because its time to wash your face.
M: Whats a pimp?

30 minutes later I have picked myself up off the floor & stopped laughing long enough to get on the blog!

On another note, When we watch movies, I usually skip all the previews/ads & head straight for the main menu so we can start watching the movie right away. Ian, on the other hand, just pops in the dvd & lets it run. Max really likes the THX ad in Pixar films. Evidently, every time the THX breaks down & the little robot comes flying out to fix it, Max says "He said dammit, Daddy. We don't say dammit". Every time! He knows he's not supposed to say that word but he seems to be under the impression that if he uses it while tattling, its OK.

Christmas Week

Christmas was so much fun this year! Mum-mum & Pop-pop came up from Arkansas for a whole week. We really missed Uncle Mark but he had to work at his new job. We spent christmas morning opening presents. The two biggest hits were the rubber farm boots (just like pop-pop's) & the shark tent followed closely by the basketball goal.

Taking a break from opening presents

I gots farm boots!!!



Max & Pop-pop in the shark

He shoots! He scores!

Later that day we all piled into the car & headed to Florissant for dinner with Ian's parents, his sister Deb & her family. Dinner (prime rib & yorkshire pudding, YUM!) was wonderful & it was nice to have both families together again. Max was treated to another round of presents but I think he had the most fun playing with his cousin Sarah.

Mimi, Grandpa & Ian



Sarah, Max, Sara, Mum-mum & Aunt Debbie




Max & Sarah playing (imaginary) baseball.

Ian & Uncle Scott looking snazzy in their new chef gear

We left Florissant arount 9:30pm & Max still seemed pretty wound up. Imagine my suprise when I looked in the back seat about 15 minutes later & saw this:

What a pair!

Later that week our friends Misty & Michael came over & had lunch with us. Their kids were in Arkansas for a few days so Max had them all to himself. I was just happy to see my bestest friend!

Misty & Michael

After all the excitment, Max decided he needed a nice relaxing bath that night. What better time to try out his new razor & shaving cream.

And the party just kept going! Marlo came over for a couple hours later in the week & managed to distract Max for an hour or so. I think he might have even conned her into going to Arkansas with us in March.

Sara, Max, Marlo & Pop-pop

Naming Rights

Max & I have been talking a lot about babies lately. It seems everyone we know is expecting & they are all due in either January or June. Makes for some interesting conversations. Anyway, the other day, Max & I went to visit our good friends Jenn & Kris who are expecting twins. Max gets (kind of) the concept that a woman can have a baby in her tummy & that when it gets big enough it will come out since quite a few of his classmates have recently become big brothers or sisters. When we told him that Jenn had 2 babies in there, he was understandably full of questions. "How do they fit? What do they do in there all day? Do they have toys? Do they hafta share? How do they look at books?" Then he asked what their names were and the conversation went something like this:

Jenn: So far, we've picked Rachel for a girl & Matthew for a boy.

Max: No no no no, Auntie Jenn! That's not their names!

Jenn: Do you know their names, Max?

Max: They is Jorn & Jack. Can you say that? JORN... And JACK! (emphatically)

Its been a couple weeks & he is still insisting that the babies will be called Jorn & Jack. We'll have to wait & see it the parents to be take his advice

On a related note, no, I am not drinking the same water as all of my friends but may take a sip or two next July. So patience all you antsy people! (And you know who you are!)