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.

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays...

We had a FAB Christmas!!! Chris was off the week prior, Max was out of school, it snowed just enough. It was great!

Christmas Eve we spent with family at my grandma's. It's a very very rare occasion that we all get together so it always feels special, and this time was no different. We were sure to get a group picture this year... er... two of them. Gotta keep the "crazy picture" tradition alive, right? We all over indulged in appetizers and exchanged gifts. I got some COOL socks from Erin! (see below) Too bad I can only wear them in December cause man, they are cozy!

socks from Erin... LOVE!

When we got home, Max wrote Santa a note (and had Chris and I do the same) and left a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa. He is too smart for his own good though; this year he asked MULTIPLE times if Santa were real! WHAT!?!? He JUST turned 5!!!! He questioned how Santa could go to EVERYONE'S house and how he could REALLY fit down a chimney. Don't worry though, we were sure to remind him that Santa is magical! All was well. :)

Once Max fell asleep I set his clock in his room back an hour. Without fail he wakes up at 7am each day and I reaaaaallly wanted him to sleep till 8. I figured if he woke up and it said "6:00" he'd go back to sleep till 7:00. I woke up at 7:50 and since we hadn't heard from Max I said to Chris, "IT WORKED! He didn't get up yet".... until I opened our door and went to the great room and found him in the dark, on the couch, playing his DS and patiently waiting for us! Seriously? What a sweet boy! He just sat there waiting with alllll those tempting presents under the tree? Wow. When I saw him he said "Oh Mommy, look at all those presents, Santa MUST have come!"

We spent the next hour opening, playing, taking pictures, etc. and then, Max found one more gift... a note on the tree from Santa telling him to look in the garage... Chris and I were all teary eyed knowing the joy he was about to show! He opened the door to find... A TRAMPOLINE that Santa (aka Chris and Papaw) spent late late hours putting together the night before. He LOVED it!!! Max was thrilled that Santa also remembered to bring Gary a few gifts, too.

I made a french toast casserole for breakfast, we had dinner with the Hollis' that night, and then celebrated Christmas with my immediate family on the 26th. It was a wonderful 3-day holiday for us, most of which included many, MANY RockBand tournaments! Max named our band, the "METALfamily".

This week Chris is back to work... Max and I are busy busy playing all the board games he got for Christmas... isn't vacation the best? We are looking forward to NYE at the Bruce's in a few days.

Hope you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas! Here's to a happy, healthy and FUN 2010!

Christmas Time is Near!

And that means it was time for Max's last Christmas program of his preschool years... Where did the three years go? :( I was so nervous that he would get anxious like he did for the Easter program last year and not perform; when we pulled into the parking lot of the school he said "I don't wanna be here" but that quickly changed when we raced to the doors and he met some friends. He did FANTASTIC! It was soooo cute. He even wore his Santa hat the entire time! Chris got it all on video, maybe we'll post that someday... ;)

Caitlyn Rathweg, Max and Carley Breehne

Nora and Caitlyn Rathweg and Max

We also had our first snowfall of the season. After Max had Kenleigh sleep over, he went to his basketball game and then came home to play outside and build a snowman he aptly named "Welcome" ("Mom, see his arms are stretched out like he's saying 'welcome', right?").

Max is VERY excited about Christmas this year!!! He is at such a fun age! He is currently on "vacation" from school and is so thrilled he can have friends over every day and play with his dad, who is also on vacation this week, and stay up late watching Christmas movies. A few weeks ago Max visited Santa at the mall... he asked for a trampoline, 2 DS games, and "any other toys you wanna bring me". Only 4 more days till we can all celebrate our first Christmas in our new home!!! :)

YELLOW BELT!

Mr. Mershad giving Max his yellow belt

Max and Cade.... proud!

DUCK!

The class

Cade and Max

Max had belt testing today at Tae Kwon Do. He has been participating and learning all the required moves for 4 months and was ready to test to the next belt level this afternoon. Parents were invited to watch, which was super fun for us; we never get to see what he does during class because it's right after school, not in a studio. He had earned 5 stripes on his white belt and had to demonstrate that he could perform all 5 skills today for Mr. Mershad. SO FUNNY! Max was very proud to have us there watching, you could tell... and we were proud of him! The yellow belt looks gooooood! Next session... Orange belt! GO MAX!

He's got skillz...

For Mom and Grandma, since you were unable to make Max's game this morning... here is a video shot of him making his second basket of the day...

ps- Happy Anniversary, Chris and me! ;)