first fete

is it friday yet?  roger has been working some crazy, long hours.  :-(  so the kiddos have been missing him!  yesterday, we went to my parents house and spent the afternoon with them and they made us a yummy dinner - thanks!!

today, while els was at preschool, max hosted a playhouse-warming party.  haha.  oh, he's going to look back on this 20 years from now and be like "geez, mom, you're such a dork."  :-D  

his friends everett, kaitlyn and josie came over for a playdate, playing in his new house (of course), blueberry muffins, munchkin donuts and apple juice.  

love my cutie!  although not sure if that's a booger up his nose or a munchkin crumb...

lounging on the bed after nap time.  i just love these people.  yup, i'm referring to george as 'people' too...

two for two

it's max's birthday weekend!!!  oh my goodness - how is he two years old already??  he is really starting to be a little boy and not so much a baby anymore.  :-(  will miss him being my baby, but so loving the little guy he is becoming.  

on friday, we went to the zoo - without the stroller!!

max LOVED running around with ella.

excited about the otter

a stop for lion juice and dippin' dots!

getting a boost from daddy to feed the giraffe

his fave animal of the day were the elephants.  :-)

after the zoo, we took a train ride around the reid park pond.  he kept screaming "choo-choo!!"

we went back to grimaldi's for pizza and gelato for lunch!  well, we had pizza.  max ate a caesar salad and then ate the pepperoni off the pizza.  we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing - we even fit in a family run...roger did 4 miles!!  with the jogging stroller!  go roger!!!

yesterday, i heard max starting to call "mama!" just before 6 a.m.  when i went up there, i gave him a big hug and said "happy birthday, max!"  he gave me a big smile, hugged me back and said "dank doo!!"  oh, i love this kid.

roger made him a yummy breakfast: bacon and mickey mouse blueberry pancakes!

playing with his new soccer net!

then we took the kiddos to the tucson children's museum.

playing with the duplo table.  :-)

his fave room in the museum: the choo-choo room, of course!

after the museum, we went to little anthony's diner for lunch - max's lunch consisted of french fries dipped in ketchup, then ranch, then honey mustard, then licked.  not eaten, just licked.  then the process repeated...  ick.

the waitresses sang to him and then gave him a big ice cream sundae!

after naps, max got his birthday gift - a playhouse for the backyard!!!  he LOVES it!!

it even has a doorbell.  :-)

gigi and poppie joined us for dinner at zona 78.  roger shaped his bread dough into the number two (and max tried to hold up two fingers and say "two").

and then gelato again!!

today, we hung out and played with his birthday presents.  after dinner, we put candles on a cupcake and sang 'happy birthday' to max.

happy birthday, buddy!!  you have made us smile everyday for the past two years.  we're so proud of you and love you so, so, so much.

rodeo hike

only in tucson...  so this has been a holiday week here in tucson, arizona - it's rodeo week.  seriously.  yesterday, they had their rodeo picnic - they learned how to rope a [fake] steer, listened to some cowboy songs, and spread out some picnic blankets for yummy snacks.

ella on a saddle.  :-)

the closest thing we had to cowboy boots: uggs.  :-)

while waiting to pick up els, max removed his shoes.  then his socks.  then emptied his snack cup INTO his socks and ate out of there.  ew.  just ew.  

in the preschool window:

today, rather than going to the rodeo parade (school was closed for it.  no joke!), we opted for a beautiful hike in sabino canyon.  such a great day!!

OMG - a snake wound its way across the road right in front of us!!

yet another picnic!

apparently we wore the boys out...

max was so tired he didn't even notice when i transferred him into the car seat.  or that he accidentally dumped his ENTIRE water bottle into his lap.  poor guy!

where is the love?

oh, so delinquent.  but catching up now.  last thursday, ella had a valentine's day party at school!  she even made a valentine's day art project for us with her handprints.  she dictated to her teacher: "happy valentine's day.  i love mom and dad.  i think they are cute too.  i like to play with mom.  i give them hugs and kisses too."  LOVE!!!

ready for their valentine's day party - with evelyn and josie

roger had a dinner meeting and i really needed to get some miles in, so i manned up and loaded the kiddos in the jogging stroller.  it was actually fun!!  way tough, but fun.

friday morning, we went to ella's ballet class and then my parents and auntie elaine came over with uncle kenny and alice, who are visiting from LA.  we took a walk to a neighborhood park for a nice picnic and playground time.

ella showing off her heart-shaped sandwiches.  happy valentine's day kiddos!!

after naps, we spent a delightful afternoon hanging out in the backyard.  

fishy faces!!

ah, my fave girl and starbucks.  doesn't get much better...

hanging out with alice and uncle kenny.  

on saturday morning, jenny and i did a time trial with our running group.  6 miles in sabino canyon in just over 1:03.  yay!!  good thing we are doing okay on hills, because we just signed up for the mount lemmon half marathon in april.  oy!

thanks aunt jeanne for all of the fun things you sent us!!

on monday, we joined jenny, jack and josie at the zoo.

why?  why must we hang from every bar we see?  :-(

max is so loving selfies.  haha.  would love to get this kid out of the stroller, but i'm pretty sure i have a 'runner' on my hands.  maybe next time, if i'm not outnumbered...

awww...  such good buddies!

max fed the giraffes all by himself!!  

a stop for a cookie break

after the zoo, we headed over to grimaldi's (amazing!!) for pizza.

ella made a 'minnie mouse' out of her dough.  she even made a 'dough bow'!  haha.

we finished off the morning with yummy chocolate gelato.  :-)