It's the Little Things... like art in the tub!

With the 3 amigos "reunited and it feels so good"...nothing would do but a little art-time in the bathtub (a favorite combination)!

This was definitely a success, easy, and (most importantly) FUN:

Needed for bathtime art adventure:

Shaving cream (what kid doesn't LOVE shaving cream), food coloring, paintbrushes, & a muffin tin (to act as your paint palette).

And, you'll also need a kid who loves water and painting (check and check):

Add a few drops of food coloring to the shaving cream, and you've got yourself some awesome bathtub paint, perfect for your little Picasso:

Coming to a bathtub near you...

Never disturb an artist at work!

Paintbrushes do more than just paint, too:

"Life is about using the whole box of crayons." -RuPaul

It's the Little Things... like a date night!

Max had a BIG first this week: his first overnight stay with Grandmother and Grandpa (his first overnight stay away from both Mama and Daddy). And, who are we kidding, Mama and Daddy had a pretty big first, too: our first overnight stay AWAY from our Max. 

I'll admit: I tried really hard not to let it hurt my feelings that I was the one with separation anxiety, not Max. (Could he not have cried a LITTLE when we left?!) We are very thankful for awesome grandparents that love their Max, too, though; Max had the best time. And although we missed him A LOT, we had ourselves a great date-night adventure, too! (But, ok, we're not afraid to admit that pretty much everything we saw or did reminded us of our little man!)

Date-night FUN! :)

Date-Night Stop 1: Pink Palace Museum + IMAX movie

We really enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit at the PP. But of course... it made us think of Max and his love of dinosaurs. And... we missed him!!

Giant polar bear: really cool... but we couldn't help but think about how Max would have thought this was so cool, too. And... we missed him!!

Even dancing like Elvis made us miss dancing with our Max!!

Date-night Stop 2: The Melting Pot (yum, yum, and yummmm!)

If you know me, you know that fondue is one of my FAVORITE things!

No complaints from Yakko either!

The Melting Pot was REALLY fun. And REALLY yummy. And... it was nice to sit down, relax, and enjoy a meal uninterrupted, but ok... we still missed him!! :)

Although we definitely missed the "3 Amigos" being together, Yakko and I so-enjoyed our rare night with just the 2 of us. So thankful for time together. :)

And a major-bonus...we got to see a couple of our other very favorite little people when we picked Max up the next day:

Lucy and Max: these 2 may be trouble in another year or so... 

Sweet cousins!

The more the merrier!! Can't wait for even more cousins!

Kissin' cousins:

Max LOVES his girly cousins!! 

"I sometimes wake in the early morning & listen to the soft breathing of my children & I think to myself, this is one thing I will never regret & I carry that quiet with me all day long." -Brian Andreas, StoryPeople

It's the Little Things... like throwing rocks!

The greater part of last week was spent on beautiful, peaceful Pine Lake in what has become a yearly summer getaway tradition to see our good friends the Soll's and Redmond's. Max had the best time with his buddies Adam, Parker, Eli, & Ada.

Max and Daddy on the boat.

Max and Mama on the boat.

It was so fun catching up with all of our buddies and seeing how everyone has grown since our lake get-together last year!

Adam, Max, and Ada take a break from the favorite kid activity of the week: throwing rocks into the water.

Sweet smiley Parker, being a guide on the boat.

The boys talk politics, religion, and philosophy on the ride around the lake.

My sweet buddy Ada. :)

The boys vie for cutie-pie Ada's attention. :)

Max driving the boat with Kim!

Denise & Ada relaxing on the boat.

Kim hanging with the boys!

Aside from throwing rocks in the lake (which was definitely a favorite activity this year), we also visited the beach area and played in the sand, rode on the boat around the lake, went tubing, ate LOTS, enjoyed a game or two of Rumikub (of course!), relaxed and caught up with one another.

A few other notable lake events this year included: learning that precious Eli could, in fact, not fly, enjoying rare girl-time with sweet Ada, hiding Thomas the train to avoid quarrels, sharing the "cute"-ness of knives with Yakko, gaining nerve and laughing hard and long while tubing with Denise, breaking heirloom food processors (ahem, Yakko!), & laughing until our faces hurt while playing Balderdash.

...What a GREAT week! :) Thanks for the fun (AGAIN this year), friends!

"Laughter is the closest distance between two people." -Victor Borge

It's the Little Things... like completing triathlons (no biggie!!)!

Max's goals for the 1st year of his life: 

become a master of cuteness (X)

smile big (X)

roll over (X)

sit up (X)

crawl (X)

take first steps (X)

remain as cute as day 1 (X)

Max's goals for the 2nd year of his life: 

run fast... away from Mama & Daddy every chance he gets (X)

talk up a storm! (X)

count to 20 (X)

learn ABCs (X)

throw 1st tantrum (X)

make up for the before mentioned tantrum with sweet kisses (X)

use the potty (X)

be cuter than ever (X)

... complete 1st triathlon (X)

That last one... well, today was Max's 1st triathlon (no big deal), his first small-fry tri anyway. :)

Our summer thus far has been one for the books. We've played and crafted and pretended and laughed- then laughed more. And today may very well be our favorite adventure so far.

Not only did we support a wonderful cause (Relay for Life of Madison County), but we had SO MUCH FUN!!

The small fry tri was set up like a real triathlon with 3 elements: 1.) running (Max has this one down), 2.) biking (or trike-ing, in Max's case- perfect, we've worked on this for weeks), & 3.) swimming (or, rather, being hosed-down by the Jackson Fire Department).

Can you imagine anything more fun for a kid?! It was so adorable, and something we'll look forward to trying again next year, too.

All the bikes & trikes lined up and ready for the race!

The favorite part of the triathlon: the WATER!!!

Max even got his 1st trophy for being such a great tri-athlete! :) 

SO proud of his trophy-prize!

We couldn't help ourselves... we had to catch the fire department before they left to pose with that awesome firetruck.

Mama & Max

Daddy & Max

Max even got to sit INSIDE the firetruck... WOW!!!

With any luck, maybe Max will not inherit his Mama's anti-athletic abilities, and who knows?! Maybe we'll have an Olympic triathlete in the family. :) For today, though, my Max can relish in being the apple of his Mama's eye!

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." -Walt Disney

It's the Little Things... like bubbles and flying cars!

I love that one of the things that captivates a person under the age of 6 the very most is chasing a bubble blowing through the air on a warm summer day. In fact, next to pulling puppy dog tails, I'd wager that bubbles would be right on up there on the 6-and-under list of favorites... or is it 106 years old and under?!  

The aim of our afternoon bubble adventure was to create bubbles with the following simple items:

1.) Bubble solution 2.) A paper OR a plastic cup (with a hole cut in the bottom of each cup)

All we had to do was dip the cups in the bubble solution and blow...

And... it was kind of a flop. The bubbles were big, but they didn't want to leave the cups, so we went to Creative Bubble Plan B: creating GIANT bubbles from looped string dipped in bubble solution. 

Result: AWESOME, gi-normous bubbles that were perfect to chase in the sunshine.

The "boys in the bubble" :) 

More bubble chasing:

You know, bubble blowing/chasing can really work up a person's appetite. So, a Tuesday night Sonic-run was a must... and this Sonic-run turned into quite the adventure!

I was excited to discover that I had a coupon for a free Route 44 drink. Now, if you've never had a Route 44 drink at Sonic before, if you can imagine drinking from a large bucket, you'd be right on target. The Route 44 is the super-size drink of Sonic-world. You may guess where this is going, but as soon as I pulled the bucket-sized drink into the car, my hand went completely through the cup... and that whole bucket of ice and drink poured into all nooks and crannies of the car, in my lap, everywhere!

What could you do but laugh?!

After a brief moment of silence and a split second decision to laugh rather than cry... I decided I wasn't so thirsty after all?! Now, for the sunshine from all of this (and one of the funniest comments of the day- and trust me when I say, we hear some pretty funny things fly out of the mouth of our Max):

To fly you through the next few minutes: we rushed home to get out of my very wet clothes. With step 1 being to scoop the ice from underneath the driver's seat, we quickly threw Max out of the car and basically had all doors open to bail out the Coke and ice.

Max, looking back at the car, got the happiest expression on his face. Jumping up and down, he pointed out to us his elation:

Max: "Mama, Dada... car... it's AIRPLANE!"

 

How very innovative of our 2 year old!! (Max frequently turns any of his toy trucks into airplanes by simply opening the doors to create "wings.") Why didn't I think of that?! There's always a silver-lining! :) I bet Max is dreaming of flying through the air in that car tonight.

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children... to leave the world a better place... to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." -Ralph Waldo Emerson