max the builder

weellp, it's been a hectic summer, but why not throw something else into the mix and FINISH THE BASEMENT! wahoo! we are sooooo excited! once it's done, the basement will nearly double the square footage of our house and you better believe i have big plans for all that space! a play room, big family room, a guest room and MY OFFICE! right now the office and guest room are combined, and since we have a lot of out of town guests it is a bit of a pain. 

the whole thing is framed and good think we had max pitching in. he had the BEST time! he would wake up from nap every day and say "ewwp? duys?" [translate "help guys?] he would help carry the lumber (at least he thought he was helping them), he carried boxes of nails to them, but mostly he focused on picking up pieces of their scrap wood and relocated them to his own personal pile. it was a crack up!

of course he needed his tool set:

"nailing" some wood to the door. why not?

showing off his lumber!

a much needed water break.

we all laughed so hard when we looked over to see that max added his sippy to the line up the guys drinks. he really thought he was one of the boys! good work little dude. =)

pedaling fool...

welcome to max's newest obsession: his tricycle! he can NOT get enough. he stayed up almost until midnight to see it put together and then had to sleep with it in his room that night. he just can't get enough! it comes everywhere with us. seriously. 

i was trying EVERYTHING to get max to take the perfect shot here while the sun was setting, but he threw the hugest fit. 

so we just got one of the radio flyer in all its glory. 

a face only a mother could love...

his usual sweet face...

what happens when he gets a mosquito bite on his forehead...

[do you love that he thinks he is still soooo cute? all posing for the camera? he was oblivious, poor thing. after i get him dressed every day he actually looks at me and says "Tyoote!" - translate cute. ]

ahhhh! our poor baby turned into a deformed alien dinosaur (we never could decide which suited his look best. oh dear. ). apparently he has a pretty bad mosquito allergy, this is the second time he has swelled up from a bite on the face but for SURE the worst. the morning after the bite, his forhead was a bit swollen, nothing drastic. by the afternoon, he had a MAJORLY portruding forhead

[images courtesy of the iphone]

like so.

then, the swelling drifted south and started making his eyes swell up...

like so.

mind you, this was on the 24th of july, so later that evening i have all sorts of lovely images of him looking like this. call me vain, but i saved some sparklers so i could recreate a few now that the swelling has gone down. it's that bad. you'll see.

and then the next morning, oooooh the next morning!

swollen shut.

like so.

the DOC said there is nothing to be done other than good old fashioned benadryl, which max thinks is delicious. it isn't serious and it actually didn't really bother him, much to our great shock! so we just had to wait it out.

did i mention that we live in west davis county, which is, ahem, known for it's mosquitoes? because we do.

the good news is that things are currently back to normal.

and we are buying stock in mosquito repellant.

p.s. does anyone know of any good natural mosquito repellant? something about dousing my child in DEET makes me squirmy. i have heard garlic tablets . . . ?

p.p.s. consider this my blogging rebirth. we have had lots of fun things going on and i am renewing my efforts to share them here again.

keeping busy.

sorry for the lack of posting, but we are having a busy summer! and really, the only reason i am posting at all right now is because i can't sleep.

sweet boy wiped out in the neighbor's drive way and decided to stay there. love his tousled (white!) hair and grubby cheeks. not to mention his bare feet!

little sister came to visit this week and we are so happy about it. and nana is coming tomorrow!

and well, me. i debated even posting these because really, how silly. but you know what? someday i will be sad that i am not in any of our pictures. so here's me, not sleeping in the middle of the night. took them about 20 minutes ago. i threw a tank on just for the occasion, not sure why. some days i miss tank tops.

keeping it real.

the face my two year old makes...

...when we tell him we're going to visit cousin TY TY. 

quickly followed by:

"maMA?!"  [grandma k]

"toDEE!?"  [cody]

this is the life.

sigh. 

i mean really, does it get better than chubby toes, sail boat pajamas and rice crispies (even if they are all over the floor)?

i think not. 

tonight i am thankful. 

thankful that i now see the light at the end of the tunnel with all the work i am catching up on, 

thankful that it means more down time with the little mister, 

thankful for my sweet baby boy and the love he smothers us with, 

thankful for a husband who moved my old side table to the basement and the new chair into the office (thanks husband, really), 

thankful that it's warm, 

thankful we are spending the weekend with family, 

thankful for our very own neighborhood swimming pool, 

thankful for evening bike rides, 

otter pops, 

thankful that he's thankful, 

that last night in my hurry to lay max down for bed 

that he reminded me. 

he lay in his crib, hands folded over his chest, persisting

"faaadder! mama, faaadder!"

father. 

i could have cried. we are extra thankful to him, who blessed us with it all. 

thanks for the reminder little guy. 

me + mine

hallelujah for the weekend, and for fathers day, and for 1:oo church, and that we had sun for all of it. it was fantastic. 

i am so thankful to have such amazing men in my life, happy belated f day to danny, my dad, and his dad. and of course our grand-dads!

we are so lucky. 

p.s. yay for having one room in my house that feels semi- finished. i just want to do some cool molding/woodwork on the white wall and we will be good! and then hang a canvas...

model needed friday!

I need a couple to model for a mentoring session tomorrow (friday) night at six at wheeler farms! A girl about college age or a young mom would be my second choice. Leave me a comment or drop me an email if you are available! Its a great opportunity for FREE pictures. =)

new header.

it was about time to say adios to our wintery header. don't you think? 

balance

there are:

e-mails to write, 

pictures to edit, 

laundry to fold, 

beds to make, 

shoots to schedule, 

snuggles to give, 

bike rides to take,

groceries to buy, 

BLOGGING to do, 

husbands to kiss, 

...the list goes ON.

sigh. 

lately it's been hard balancing 

all of THIS

because i love, LOVE doing this!

and soaking up every second of THIS. 

my sweet baby boy. and come on, look at him. it's basically no contest huh?

i really, REALLY love this guy.

while i believe that as women we can do anything we choose, 

i do NOT believe that we can "have it all."

so here's to another day struggling to find

BALANCE.

how do YOU do it?

home again.

 

we had SO SO SO much fun in new york. i could seriously live there. take the subway, eat magnolia bakery cupcakes, ride bikes and watch performers in central park... SHOPPING in soho.... what a life. thanks mom and dad for taking us on such a fun trip! it was amazing. we love traveling so much but i am loving just being back at home with our little dude. we missed him. 

more to come on our new york adventures...

bounce baby

well, i'm out of here. again. this time to a little town called

new york ciiiitaaaay!

can't wait! so i will be returning most e-mails and phone calls next week. but don't be surprised if i make time for a little blog update here or there, at least from my phone. =) and do any of you have any fantastic off the beaten path nyc spots you care to share? do tell.

oh, and if that picture of max and his main squeeze jumping like a couple of crazy people doesn't put a smile on your face, i don't know what will!

california...

i haven't been to orange county in over a year and let me tell you, it was WAAAY too long of a break! britt and i try to get together as much as possible, but its lots more fun when we all get to play at the beach. duh. so britt, the boys and i spent the first day shopping (weird!) and eating. i had to have pacific whey and wahoo's pronto! no pictures from that day, we were too busy!

the boys loved the beach (seriously owen would live under water if he could!). i especially missed laguna- shop and surf, the perfect combo!

celeste and sawyer came after a couple of days and disneyland was our top priority. 

dumbo was probably max's favorite! he calls elephants "fatsis" for some reason. who knows. 

but he FREAKED when we had to get off! it was bad. hehe. 

 

my friends. how cute are they!

small world. wow. so max was sooo excited the whole time we were in line and kept yelling "boooat!!" once we got into the tunnel, he got nervous. but obviously it didn't take long for him to warm up!

he loves loves loves this ride. for better or for worse...

max and owen waiting for their turn on the carousel.

sawyer was in heaven

owen and max were less sure about the whole thing. 

i think max had as much fun waiting for the tiki room as he did inside! he was cracking up at the talking fountain thing. 

o baby was excited for tiki room too...

mesmerized by all the birds.

lunch time. it was so nice to sit for a second. 

sawyer was so proud of her suckers and was so nice to share with the boys. 

sweet owen

umm, max kinda got tuckered out from all that disney. at nap time he fell asleep and was so out  hard that i was even able to change his diaper after he fell asleep and he didn't even flinch. it's seriously amazing how heavy of a sleeper he is!

now, of course we had to hit in and out on the way home. half the fun of california is revisiting all of my favorite eateries!

my friends and i are such a classy bunch. can you tell by our pics?

two's company, and apparently three isn't so bad either. such good sharers!

the kids were all over the place. wierd.... ha! the stickers seemed like a great idea at the time, until we had to take them off that is. owen was so sad! sorry bud...

sawyer has this special talent for seriously hilarious pictures. it kills me!

of course pink berry wasn't so bad either. so much better than all the other yogurt chains! 

original yogurt with raspberries and mango- divine. 

they agreed, but mostly they thought the chairs were cool.

britt and owen, we miss our besties so much. it just plain sucks that we live so far apart! =( i am also super glad that celeste and sawyer got to meet my california friends. it was seriously the best of both worlds! love you guys!

if you want to laugh so hard that you either:

a. wet yourself

b. cry so hard that mascara runs all over your face

c. start snorting and making other unusual sounds

you will watch 

the funniest skit EVER 

from the SNL season finale. 

oh, and for the record rachel and i basically did all three.