Christmas Morning

Although he is recovering from pneumonia, Max was still able to enjoy his some of his loot from Santa...

Maxton's 1st Birthday

Max and I

Monkey Cake

Monkey Smash Cake

Party Table

Fun Maxton Banner (Thank you Aunt Daisy!!!)

Monkey Favor Bags

Jadon and Max

Monkey Backpack

Monkey PJ's

Opening Presents

Cutest Monkey Ever... Thank You Kim!

New Stockings!

We All Scream For.... Ma Ma!

After months and months of listening to Max jabber his da-da-da-da-da-da's I decided it was time I got to hear a few sweet ma-ma-ma's. So tonight I opened up an ice cream bar and watched his face light up. The sweet talking commenced with his grins and giggles and then finally, after numerous requests, he gave me what I was waiting for... Ma Ma! After which he was rewarded with a bite of ice cream. We finished the ice cream bar with this same pattern... "Max, say mama." And he'd say "mamamama" and I'd give him a bite of ice cream. It was very exciting and he kept it up for the rest of the evening (sans ice cream).

I am thrilled that my sweet baby is finally saying ma ma, although I'm pretty sure he thinks it means ice cream! :-)

Aubree's 1st Birthday Party

The View

When one of my closest and dearest friends, Rebecca, told me that I should watch the video of the women on the view yesterday talking about the election, my first thought was "No... It will just make me mad". I was very, very wrong.

For anyone that doesn't know, my children are mixed race and what my mom told me yesterday was pretty much in line with some of the things they said on The View. She told me "I have always told my grandchildren that they could be anything they wanted to be. I am so glad that now I know without a doubt that is the truth."

If you haven't watched the video from The View you should...

Halloween 2008

Maxton was a skunk for his Halloween party at daycare on Thursday.

He was a big hit! :-)


On Friday he wore his "I want candy!" Halloween outfit.


Bailey was the Hulk...

Scary, huh?

Time to get on the Elvis costume.

We decided to ditch the wig and just work with what we had...

Complete with sideburns....

Maxton wasn't really feeling it....

Jadon was at a friends house for Halloween, so I didn't get any pictures of his Pimp costume (don't ask... I don't know). It was pretty funny, though! :-)

Auntie Anne's

We went to the mall on Saturday to get Max fitted for his new fun Monkey Shoes (see previous post) and he got his first taste of Auntie Anne's pretzels... Notice the huge smile! :-)

Maxton Birthday Shoes

I found these shoes online today and I HAVE to have them for Maxton. Specifically to wear for his Monkey themed first birthday party!!!

Garage Sale

Maxton's things were beginning to takeover our entire house, so we decided to have a garage sale to make room for even more Max stuff.

Bailey working hard ;-)

All of our junk...

Some of the baby stuff...

More junk...

Getting rid of the big TV...

To make room for a bigger one!

And Max rolling in the dough!

Bee Movie

They fell asleep watching Bee Movie. :-)

My beautiful boys...

I used to think about my kids getting older and the pain of it was almost paralyzing. I was so completely overwhelmed by the thought of losing them... The 'them' they were right then at that age. While I watched them grow older I was constantly mourning the loss of the age they were leaving behind.

Tonight I sat here looking at a picture of Bailey when he was 2 years old and a thought occurred to me... Although he was absolutely adorable and I love the memories I have of him at that age I cannot mourn the loss of 2 year old Bailey because what I have now is 12 year old Bailey who amazes me every day with his wit and his character and his maturity beyond his years. As amazing and wonderful as he was then I would never trade it for the Bailey I have now. And as precious as Jadon was as a baby… What could be better than my hilarious, energetic 10 year old.

When I think about Max getting older it makes me sad sometimes because I love him so much the way he is right now, but after tonight I realize that as Max grows I will fall in love with him all over again at every age and stage of his life… Just like I have with Bailey and Jadon. :-)

Bailey's First Jr. High Dance

Halloween Costume Preview

Maxton Crawling

Maxton just learning to crawl :-)

Jadon's 10th Birthday Party

Jadon and is awesome birthday cake...

The coolest birthday cake ever.....

Max in his cool skate outfit...