Maxwell's 2nd birthday party!

We had a great celebration for Max's 2nd birthday yesterday!  We had a super full house of family and a few friends who joined to celebrate our little Max turning 2.  Thanks to everyone for your love!

We served my mom's famous lasagna (THANK YOU for making it Mom! So helpful), caesar salad, and basil butter garlic bread.  Thanks to Bethanie for taking pictures!  Max was so well behaved, as was his big sister! Max was oblivious that the party was even about him but he enjoyed having all his people in his house! 

Costco cakes are So good. 

I made Halloween puppy chow and cookie dough truffles for the dessert table. 

He was this little 6 lb newborn not too long ago.  

This party was sponsored by the letter "M" and the number "2" 

My first time using my new Lisa Leonard "Celebrate" sign.  I plan to use this for many (big and small) family celebrations in the future. I like to have (make) reasons to celebrate. 

I think we had maybe 15 little ones? One 5 year old and then 14 kids age three and under.  

So polite, eating his cake with a fork.  He didn't even flinch when I took half the cake off his plate and ate it myself. :)  (just two short months ago, his hair was completely buzzed off.  Look how fast it grew). 

This is me overwhelmed by the madness around me.  Many of the aforementioned 15 little kids "helped" me open the gifts. 

Claire and Everleigh <3 p="p">

Claire at 3 1/2 years old

It's hard to even capture in words the essence that is Claire Elizabeth at three and a half years old.  But I will try because I know I will want to look back and try to recollect who this little person was at this age.

Claire is tender-hearted.  She calls Max "Maxy" half the time and "Honey" the other half.  This morning I was making goodies for Max's birthday party and the two of them played (without needing me to assist or break fights) together for nearly an hour.  I heard a lot of "Honey, come here and I'll read you your favorite Elmo book" and "Maxy, I would love a cup of coffee, can you please bring me a cup of coffee from your kitchen? ..... Oh thank you, it tastes soooo good!" (she knows how much he loves bringing people "coffee" and thus asks him to do the same).

She affirms people frequently and I've often wondered if it's just her nature (do we possibly share the same love language?) or if it's influenced by my intentional actions to constantly affirm her.  She frequently tells me, Omi, Daddy, and others that we're wearing a really nice shirt or that my hair looks beautiful.  When Claire, Brody and Max do projects, she tells Brody "oh Brody, that is SO beautiful! Great job!".  She tells me multiple times a day how much she loves me and stretches her arms out as far as they go to illustrate her point.

Claire is hilarious and makes funny inflections with her voice (you should hear her say "HOT Dooooog!") and laughs constantly.  Claire and I truly have so much fun together. She loves to tell stories and becomes very animated when doing so.  Josh says she's a story teller like her Mama, and I agree except that I think she's much better than me!

Claire weighs maybe 25 pounds and wears size 2T and 3T (except her dress in the picture above is size 18 months!) clothes.  She wears size 6 shoes.  She goes to sleep at about 8:00PM and wakes around 6:30AM.  She naps for about an hour a day on average (sometimes 1 1/2 hours).

She is quiet and reserved in public (I brought her to a jewelry party at my friend Amy's house last weekend and the only thing she said the entire two hours was (in a whisper), "Can you tell Daddy that I was a good girl?") and energetic at home or with people she knows well.  She is a people-person and loves to be on the go. She loves to be with her friends (and cousins) and loves shopping and running errands.

Claire is a girly-girl through and through.  She is extremely particular about her clothing and that is the source of most of our arguments and frustration.  She loves to be outside and also loves to listen to records with Daddy in the basement.  She enjoys singing and dancing and we often sing together at the top of our lungs to Christian worship music in my car.

She's my heart and soul.  I am so proud and thankful for the little girl she is becoming.  She can also make my blood pressure triple in mere seconds and can be my biggest source of frustration.  I love her, and I love that she's mine.

Tuesday randoms

I made two new recipes this past weekend (pinterest, of course).  I made this Basil Butter Garlic Bread as an appetizer for dinner Saturday evening.  DE-LICIOUS!  I just may be planning already to make it again this weekend.  I put this pan-roasted chicken with lemon-garlic green beans (and potatoes) together Sunday afternoon and threw it in the oven a couple hours later.  It was DELICIOUS.  Josh had a migraine on Sunday and said, "This is exactly what I needed tonight". I recommend them both.

I adore these pictures of Claire and I taking turns making funny faces with Daddy's glasses and taking pictures of each other.  We are so silly together and I love it.  Laughter is good. 

We had Ami and her crew and Auntie Heather and Mara over last Friday for a playdate and pizza lunch.  So fun. Claire adores her cousin Mara, even though Auntie Heather is adamant she won't be babysitting anytime soon (remember the "no hands!!" picture? Case made further by the holding posture below). Ami insists Claire was just shielding Mara from the flash. 

Sunday was one of those days where you feel like you ran a marathon, or in my case, like three miles, as I imagine three miles of running for me is akin to a marathon for others (seriously, I don't really understand running-- and specifically, how bodies can withstand the impact!  Makes my knees cringe thinking about it.  But more power to ya, runners!).  Josh was in bed until 2:00PM that day, with an awful headache induced by the two beers he drank the evening before (two!).  Within an hour's span in the morning, I fed the kids, gave them a bath, got them dressed, picnic lunch made and diaper bag packed for the zoo, showered myself, and out the door for church.  I served in Max's sunday school room (much to his delight; he is still so scared of being in his sunday school room!) and then brought the kids to the zoo, where we met up with Heather and Bethanie and offspring. It was a gorgeous day.  Did a bunch of stuff that afternoon, made aforementioned chicken dinner, got the kids to bed, and I was sleeping by 8:15PM! 

I captured a moment that is becoming more and more frequent--- independent play, together. Claire likes to pull up her shirt and put little toys on her tummy, claiming it makes her stomach feel better.... ? 

Fall traditions

I love having fall traditions.  Each fall, we have a tradition of visiting Sever's corn maze, Emma Krumbee's apple orchard, and the MN Zoo (this is just the 2nd year of that tradition; we're going tomorrow!).

I love that the kids will start to form memories of these places. I love that we visit them with their cousins (both actual cousins and Josh's cousins' children, who they think of as their cousins! get that?).  I also love that I take pictures each year and I love looking back on them and comparing the same pictures from year to year.  The children grow up before your very eyes.  I am getting very nostalgic about Max turning two in a couple weeks.  I have actually cried about it, which is saying a lot for me :) (although I rarely shed tears, I am truthfully a very emotional person!).  I can't believe my little baby will be TWO.  I tell people that I am obsessed with him.  And I really am.  Isn't that all a child can really ask for?  It's mind-blowing for me to think about how passionate and madly in love I am with my children, and how it pales in comparison to how much our Heavenly Father loves us.  Wow.

Here are some pictures of Emma Krumbees over the past few years.

October 2010 / Claire almost 18 months, Max 36 weeks gestation 

October 2011 / Claire almost 2 1/2, Max almost 1 year

October 2012 / Claire almost 3 1/2, Max almost 2 

Cousins in front and behind them!

The Emma Krumbees pumpkin patch:

2010

2011

2012 (Max isn't in this one because Mommy was holding him.  He had just fell and got a pumpkin stem up his tush). 

What about you? What are your fall traditions?

Leaves

Life is just more fun with children.  It's so fun to watch my children enjoy the simple things that I still vividly remember enjoying as a child (the neighbor kids and I spent so many hours over the years jumping into leaves from the tree in the Ernst's backyard).  Claire had a blast playing in these leaves. You can just see the joy on her face.  Love.

Five young'uns

Bethanie and I took pictures of the five grandchildren with Omi and Papa this past week. It was interesting with kids ages 3, 2, 1, 4 months and 3 weeks old.  And two non-professional photographers. But I think we got a few good ones and we're paying Bethanie's co-worker who is also a professional photography a (very reasonable) fee for editing a handful.

Isn't my girl so beautiful? 

This series of photos crack me up. Starts off fine, except for Mav being upset. 

And then Claire, who is holding a 3 WEEK old baby, says, "NO HANDS!!" 

Claire realizes that Mara is starting to get fussy and she gets concerned.  Max is watching Maverick cry, also concerned. 

Now now, Maverick, here's a little pat to comfort you. 

Claire is still concerned.  Max is still concerned, patting Mav. Brody doing his best holding his crying brother. 

Mara full on crying, Claire concerned.  Max gives Maverick a hug. 

And a kiss. 

Claire and Max loving on Maverick, like they do all day long (Max was also loving on Maverick this week when he drug him five feet across the floor and laid directly on him).  Brody fixing Mara's shoe.