R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Max is learning so many great things at Tae Kwon Do. I'm so glad he is interested enough to keep participating for the rest of the school year, and maybe beyond? Last week he brought home an assignment from Mr. Mershad; he had to color the picture of the dragon (they are the Lil' Dragons in class) and write across the top what he did that was respectful. See, they are learning to listen, have self-discipline, focus, etc. and now he is being taught more about respect. I love it.

And boy, he is WAY into it. For example, he was "helping" Chris play the New Super Mario Bros. game on the Wii a few days ago. When Chris "died" Max turned to him and yelled "DAAAAAAAD"... then without Chris saying a word, Max hung his head and mumbled "respect"... he knew!!! Everything he does that is obedient he asks "Mommy, was that respect?" :) "Yes, Max, it was."

Here is the homework assignment: he said he wanted to be "creative" (his word) with the dragon and make it colorful. He also chose on his own what he most remembered he did this week that was respectful and wrote it across the top (I helped with spelling, of course). Isn't it cute? I love respect!!! (almost as much as I love the tongue with fire he added)

This and that...

Combining a few different things into one post to save time... it's another snow day around here and as you can imagine, Max has no time for me to be on the computer; he wants to PLAY!

First, we spent the last few days of our Christmas vacay working on the kitchen. We painted it, and then repainted it cause I hated the color I chose, and tiled the backsplash with the help of a few friends.

The paint. Our house is all warm, earth tone colors and for the kitchen I needed something a little different yet something that would blend. I chose gray, thinking "it's neutral" so it would work, plus our countertops have gray, our appliances are steel... how could I go wrong? Well once we got the first coat on I knew; it was TOO BLUE. Gorgeous color, just looked horrible in our kitchen with the green/gold color from the great room butting up next to it. So we regrouped, made a trip to the hardware store, and got a more green/brown/gray color. LOVE.

Painting was done. Next up, tile. Chris has never tiled before. Thankfully our friend Andrew came over with his saw and helped Chris for the better part of Saturday. I bought him a case of Sam Adams for his help but man, after spending 7 hours here working, we owe him BIG! (thanks, Andrew) Our friend Rob came over after Andrew left; he made sure Chris finished the job well, gave advice, etc. After 9 hours of work, the tile was up...

Sunday was time to grout. OMG what a mess! Again, Chris spent most of the day working on this. We used natural slate tiles therefore grout gets in every nook and cranny, so cleaning the tiles afterward took up most of the day. We are finished though and YAY, we love it! Ready to tackle the kitchen in the basement next!!!!

Before... (right when we moved in.)

After... (see the paint by the plants? Should have taken pic of the nook area)

On Thursday we got dumped on by a big storm. SNOW DAY!!!! Max spent a few hours sledding, shoveling (and earning money), and playing in the snow. It's really REALLY cold outside but he doesn't care... just bundle him up and he's ready to go! We'll be heading out again this afternoon, hoping to find some major hills to sled down! Wish us luck!

Gary the Cat.

Just before Max turned 5 in November, we got a cat. Max had a taste of cat ownership this summer when our neighbors cat took up residence on our back porch for about 2 weeks. Ever since then he has BEGGED for a kitty! The biggest hurdle to getting him a cat was this, I am highly allergic. My throat itches, I sneeze, my eyes water, etc. Not pretty. But I got to thinking, now that we have all this land, why not somehow find an OUTDOOR cat for Max to call his own? Brilliant?

Lucky enough in our old neighborhood there was a stray, loving, gray cat that seemed to live by the pool. Friends watched him for about a month. Still there. My friend, Nicole, emailed the entire neighborhood to see if he belonged to anyone. No one replied. Voila! We have our cat. We gave him to Max one morning after a basketball game and he was THRILLED!!! We bought him food, put down some blankets for him, etc. (didn't wanna invest TOO much, he might not stick around) But stick around he did... so a few days later, we bought him a cushy bed and put it in our garage. There he stayed.

Gary (named after Spongebob's pet snail who meows) is super sweet and loving. He is VERY good at catching mice. I have photos to prove it, if you're into seeing bloody carcasses. :) After sticking around for a month, and seemingly loving it here, I made an appointment with the vet. He got all vaccines and tests done mid-December. Cha-ching! $$$

He seemed like the easiest pet ever! Put out some food and water, pet him several times a day, give him shelter... he's happy! Seems our little pet is getting himself into some trouble though! Gary is currently at the vet being checked for what I term a "disgusting dime-sized open wound" on his hip that he keeps licking. He also has a hurt eye and puffy cheek. Chris is soooo irritated that Gary is costing more money at the vet! But Max LOVES having him for a pet.

The verdict is in: Gary gets in too many fights. :( He has a puffy, hurt eye and the wound on the hip was an abcess that burst and is now healing with the help of antibiotics. We have two cats that come around and fight him. One is HUGE, thus we dubbed him "Puma". Meanies! Guess we need to get him neutered. Poor Gary. Here he is, post antibiotic treatment, hugging Chris's leg.