max, version 4.0

max, are you really, seriously a 4 year old?

i can't handle it. FOUR?! i have been lucky enough to be your mother for four whole years, and you know, they have been amazing. you never cease to surprise and delight us. you make us laugh, you drive us CRAZY, you melt my heart a million times over.

here are a few little things about my four year old max.

- YOU. ARE. HILARIOUS. it seriously kills me, the things you come up with!! i am constantly calling nana to tell her the funny things you say, then posting them as my facebook status so i don't forget.

- YOU LOVE, LOVE, LOVE TO PRETEND. you talk to yourself in the back of the car, play pretend with your toys, make things up with your friends, assign lucy and i roles in your games... i love that you're so imaginative!

- YOU LOVE YOUR FRIENDS.  you always want to play with bennett and heather particularly and we are so glad they're our neighbors! bennet is your best pal and you play so well together (and maybe gang up on asher sometimes). you are also totally in love with your cousins, anything cody and tyty do, you have to do too. tonight, aunt les told me cody made you laugh so hard, you almost peed your pants!

- YOU ARE A GREAT BIG BROTHER. you love your baby sister! sometimes you are a little rough with her or act mean to her to get my attention, but most of the time, you're so sweet. when we talked about valentines day, i told you that your valentine was the person you loved the very best. then you told me lucy was your valentine! you also say lucy is your girlfriend. when you leave the house or go to bed at night, you HAVE to give lucy a hug and kiss. and you always say "i wuv you baby thithter." or "i wuv you too woothy."

-YOU ARE MISTER SASSY PANTS. are you EVER sassy! you have quite the little stubborn streak and have no problem letting it show. we are working on remembering to be ahem, respectful, all the time. example, i told you you had to be good, or santa would bring rocks (coal) instead of presents to our house. you told me that you would throw those rocks at santa if he did! you can be so naughty, and we have to try HARD not to think it's funny, even though sometimes it REALLY IS! we like to call you our little dennis the menace.

- YOU ARE ALSO AS SWEET AS CAN BE. you are also such a little love bug, always giving hugs and kisses and snuggling mommy and daddy. you do nice things for your friends and tell us you love us. like i said, you totally melt me.

- YOU'RE OUR WILD THING. you are 100% boy, running, jumping, yelling, dirty, driving cars on walls, riding bikes, snakes, snails, puppy dog tails and all of it. you are always making sound effects or yelling "HI-YAH!" (when you're getting tough) "OHHHHH YEAAA!" (when you think you're too cool for school)  and "DAT'S AWETHOME!" (for pretty much anything).

- YOU'RE SO BIG, AND SO HANDSOME. i guess i'm a little partial, but i really think you're the most beautiful little man i've ever laid eyes on. i just adore those round little cheeks, white blond hair and your big pretty eyes, that have recently become rather GREEN! though you still insist they're blue, because it's your favorite color. really, they're a little in between. ;)

YOU'RE THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME.
you made me a mother,
and taught me so many things...
love, patience, forgiveness, laughter.
i just can't squeeze you enough!
please, stay my little boy, even though you're getting so very big?

I LOVE YOU, BUDDY BOY.

christmas, twenty-ten.

oh, remember christmas? yea, maybe i should post about it. oh boy.
also, sorry, but somehow my photos got kinda over-sharpened for web. wah. but i'm not about to resize them again. ;)

me and lu, christmas sunday. max decided to join in. classic.

i walked into the room and found this:

and max saying over and over again,
"was a night a-fore tismas."
[turn page]
"was a night a-fore tismas"
[turn page]
you get the idea. ha! so sweet!

CHRISTMAS EVE:
aunt leslie's house.

this year we did christmas eve and les and steves, so fun! we had an appetizer dinner (why don't i do this more often?) and the kids got to open a present from eachother. oh, the imaptience. we also played bingo, which they all thought was aaaawesome.

they're a special bunch.

CHRISTMAS MORNING:
grandma and grandpa kettle's.

of course we stayed up late and got everything ready from santa! i really couldn't wait for max to open his gifts this year, i feel like this is the first year he really understood and anticipated the whole thing.

the spread!

stockings, santa gifts and presents from mom and dad. i finally made stockings this year out of wool felt and vintage tinsel, but umm, i didn't finish the tinsel on all of them. and umm, i didn't care.


max was seriously on cloud nine all day, he loved all of his new toys and even his new clothes!!

 max got a little box of sugary ceral in his stocking- a rands tradition. even ralphy (our elf on the shelf) made it for the morning.

later in the afternoon, the cousins ALLL ARRIVED!! 

it was a total party, 

and total chaos. 

i totally LOVED it. 

i rolled when i saw this picture. it was sheer craziness!

my love and my lu. lucy was seriously SO sick. feverish and lethargic the whole day. i felt so bad for her! she was the last one in our family to catch the most wretched case of the flu. i wanted to die.

NEW YEARS:
the cabin in island park.

the day after christmas we packed up and went up to the cabin! and we stayed through new years. it was so relaxing and peaceful hanging out there for a whole week. at first we were there with danny's sisters, then we were there by ourselves for a couple days, then a few of our friends showed up for new years eve! we did a lot of sleeping, relaxing, game playing and SLEDDING. WOW did we do a lot of sledding.

PEOPLE WHO WE WILL NOT JUDGE:

grandpa kettle for getting the snow mobile really really really stuck.
in his own front yard.
and for needing serious assistance getting out.
hehehe...

danny and nick for being the biggest freaks ever.

mini danny and nick,

who are probably more mature than big danny and nick. 

wow, a photo of danny and i! impressive.

so basically, 

christmas was awesome, 

new years was awesome,

idaho was awesome.

i wouldn't mind reliving this week right about now. 

oh, and p.s. 

a few people asked me to post my christmas decorations!

here are some detail shots, i thought i had some more wide shots so you could get the whole idea, but maybe i didn't. so no tree shot, no mantle shot. lame!

typical tuesday...

hot dog!

my TYPICAL TUESDAY was featured on the PLAYING HOUSE BLOG!

be sure to check it out... aaaaand

somebody quick, leave me a comment so i don't look like a loser. yes, i'm being serious.

and really, if you aren't already readying PLAYING HOUSE, 

you live a deprived life. it's like, 

hillarious, 

honest,

awesome,

creative,

postive,

mommy-hood blogging.

i love it.

and not just because rachel is my baby cousin. (which she is)

karson michael riggs

handsome karson- age 2. our last photoshoot before he was unable to come off his bi-pap  (breathing machine)

karson's funeral 1/18

our sweet little buddy karson returned to live with our heavenly father last thursday after a tough battle with spinal muscular atrophy type one. we loved every second if the 2 years and 8 months we spent with this guy and will miss him every second we're apart from him. however, i have no doubt that karson is free- no doubt running, jumping and  breathing DEEP. and for that, i am happy, thankful, and at peace.

karson's parents are some of our very best friends (really, FAMILY) so this has obviously been a very emotional and busy week, preparing for his beautiful funeral and saying our last goodbyes to this very special little man. i have a million things i want and NEED to say about karson. mostly about his life, but also some very sweet things about his passing. right now it's just a little too fresh and i want some time to think about what i'd like to say.

i just wanted to check in and say sorry if you've tried to get a hold of me this week and i've not returned your call or e-mail, everything has kinda been on hold.

and also, can i ask of you  just one small favor?

PRAY.

please say a few extra prayers for our dear friends Darren, Jody and Hadley that they can have peace during this time. because no matter how much you know that it was his time and that he's where he should be, losing your two year old son and brother is something i can't even fathom. if my own heart is broken, how must they feel?

Thank you.

Karson's blog HERE.
Obituary HERE.
My previous posts about our buddy HERE and HERE.

turtle man.

one morning earlier last month, i was just mesmerized by this little boy's sweetness. he was ecstatic over our christmas decorations (finally, someone around here appreciates them!) and just HAD to eat breakfast on the table- so he could sit next to the christmas houses of course!

after breakfast he was NOT interested in getting dressed. these days he only likes to wear underwear or sweat pants. because underwear makes him fast (duh!). pants don't. especially jeans. they make you the slowest apparently. he will ONLY wear them at school, and that's because i make him. it's sweats and undies right until we leave and they go right back on when we get home.  so silly.

anyway my underwear clad boy was bored, so i decided to tie a leash onto his favorite turtle for entertainment (thanks to my genius cousin rachel's cheap mom tricks). he. was. THRILLED. and before i knew it, i wanted a cape to go with his, um, turtle. 

?

and he was turtle man.

and he was awwwwthooooome. just ask him.

oh max, how do you come up with these things? you never cease to amaze and entertain me. one of my very favorite things about you right now is your imagination. you are constantly pretending, assigning the rest of us roles or talking to your toys... i hope you never lose that creativity. 

breakfast + "detowations" = perfection

lucy sleeping + max "sharing" = lucy awake

turtle on a leash + max in underwear and a cape (fabric scrap tied around his neck) = turtle man

turtle man runs fast. 

reeeeaaal fast. 

the end.

teacher gifts...

this is the first year we had teacher gifts to buy- it was tricky deciding what to get! i didn't want to do a traditional christmas cookie plate. 14 students x 4 preschool classes = a looooot of cookies.
so me and another mom got these cute mercury glass vases from tai pan, added some ribbon candy and giant candy canes and tied them up with some thick bakers twine, cellophane and vintage gift tags.  the candy is just to display in the vase, not to eat (unless you really want to). they were so cute i kept one for myself!  plus i think they made darling gifts for about $15 a piece. our boys have three teachers, so we went halfsies. =)

oh christmas tree...

we were a little sad that we didn't get to cut down our own tree in island park like last year, but the christmas tree lot didn't disappoint! we went with our neighbors the sorias and the kids had lots of fun finding the perfect tree.

little besties

 our tree! max was thrilled to be posing for a photo, obviously.

the soria tree! sid picked it out himself, which was a big deal. he was raised jewish so this was his first experience picking out a live tree... we were so proud of him. haha! 

clark w. griswald drives home from the tree lot, and our other family picture! heather decided she needed to be in it with us too. so funny! max forced himself into one of their family pictures earlier, i swear our kids probably don't know for sure who their real parents are. we always joke that we live in a commune with the sorias!

oh, and if you're wondering where lucy is, she slept in her car seat the whole time. she's a thrill a minute, that girl.