tap into it

so we're finally starting to fall into somewhat of a routine - that's going to all go to hell in a day or two here, but i'll take it when i can get it.  wednesday, we ran some errands before library time.

much easier when max is in a contained space.  

at storytime, max decided pants were optional:

playdate with the cotters and yummy dinner made by mom and dad wednesday night!

on thursday morning, ella got ready for her teddy bear picnic - she's been talking about it for a solid week and a half!

she said they had a picnic and a little parade!  :-)  both kids had a great week at school.  

and we capped off the week with ballet/tap.  ella absolutely LOVES the tap portion - she get so excited as soon as she gets to put on her tutu and trade her ballet slippers for her tap shoes.  :-)

not quite halfway there

what a crazy start to the school year!!  crazy, but good.  :-)

in the preschool window: 'family trees' - ella was the ONLY pre-K student who attempted to write her own name plus her family members.  good job - so proud of you ella!!!!!

and, oh, max likes to mix things up.  at the same time.  he had a good 2nd day at preschool and ran to me with the biggest smile on his face at dismissal.  even though i don't like using this medium to discuss potty training in depth, this is just funny; he has decided that his new way to go potty is to remove his diaper, put it on the floor and pee in it from above.  :-(  gradual transition, i guess??  he continues to be a runner and i'm logging the miles throughout the week chasing him.  and finally, he spider-manned his way out of his crib during nap time on thursday.  all stealthy.  ugh. 

on friday we had his 2 and a half year check up with his doctor.  he's growing great - 28 pounds and about 36 inches tall.  :-)  then we headed to his final ISR lesson.

he 'graduated'!!!  yay, go max!  i, for one, will be happy to have a respite from the daily 10 minute lessons, logging EVERY single diaper change/sleeping hour/food and beverage consumed, and the daily baths and load of swim towel laundry.  oh yeah, and i'm really excited about all he learned and what a great swimmer he's become!  :-)

then i joined ella at ballet - she has been loving it; especially the tap portion!

after lunch and naps, we went to ella's final swim class of the summer.  she grew so much in the few lessons with ms. joanne!!

when we got home, we set up a picnic dinner and max picked 'the jungle book.'

 i made him half a cake to celebrate his half birthday!

and that was just friday.  so kids in bed, out for drinks with the girls i go.

i stayed true to my promise and didn't schedule anything all weekend!!  that worked for saturday.  we got stuff done around the house and got in an at-home egg challenge for els (her blood levels indicated that she could tolerate eggs now) and she liked them and had no reaction.  yay!!  

we also set up a toddler bed (borrowed from the cotters) for max.  fingers crossed, he's doing surprisingly well.  and there's also an alarm on his door for safety since we're on different floors...

max.  really.  how many mickeys does a little boy need???  

sunday was mostly lazy, except for the trip we needed to take to the apple store - my hard drive crashed.  :-(  THANKFULLY i recently backed up and spending $160 for a new hard drive was a ton cheaper than buying a new computer plus the software i needed that day.  yay!  

monday, we went to the zoo in hopes of seeing the brand new baby elephant (like 5 days old) and we lucked out!!!  didn't get any good shots because she was so far away and she was sticking pretty close to mom's legs, but AWESOME!  

max terrorizing the poor peacock

instead of looking at the baby elephant, max was more interested in rolling around in the dirt.  barefoot.  seriously, kid.  mud on your face...you big disgrace...sorry, i had to.

one day, i would love to have pics of our kiddos' faces.  this is the best i can do for now...

and back into a new school week!  both kids had great days; max especially - he and ms. haley have a special bond already and they said he had an awesome day and is great at clean-up time.  :-)

....out [of the house] like a lamb

max is officially a preschooler!!!!!!!!  how did this happen?  here is his photo shoot (by the way, i originally bought a DSLR and learned how to shoot in manual so i could take 6 month pictures of this kid.  exactly 2 years later, photo session done and done).

check out that eyebrow raise!!  we were just talking to aunt jeanne about how both kids do that!

his sign reads:

Max's first day of 2's preschool

August 19, 2014, Tanque Verde Preschool, Tucson, AZ

my teacher: ms. lisa

age: 2

my favorite toy is: bob-o the seal

i want to be 'a bear or a car' when i grow up (seriously, that was his answer)

my favorite book is: little blue truck

my favorite color is: green

my favorite food is: salsa

i love to: swim, read books with mommy and daddy, say the letters and their sounds

after a quick stop for munchkins and dropping els off at st. pauls, we (with daddy) headed to preschool to drop max off for the first time.

oh, man.  what am i going to do without this little guy for a whole 2 hours??

in front of his classroom.  he's in the 'lambs' class!

ok, ok, i figured out what to do with my time:

and my friend, steph, rescheduled her dentist appointment so she could set up her mat next to mine when she knew i would probably be missing my little man.  :-)

this was my first yoga class in over a year.  i missed it so so much and even though roger was beyond supportive, i just couldn't justify missing that much time with him and the kiddos - it's so precious, even in the difficult moments.  so a life-long non-runner, i became a runner because it allowed me to get that "me" and "work-out" time at 5 a.m. so i wouldn't miss anything with the kids.  i'm so grateful for that.  and even though they're only in school a few hours a week, i actually miss them.  no regrets and here i am, before i knew it, back on my mat.

max had a pretty good day - his teachers said there was a bit of a domino effect with a handful of the kids (max included) where crying was concerned, but ms. haley said he was a really good listener and he loved when they played with ride-on cars in the courtyard.  we're so proud of you, max!!

ella's class is making a 'friendship quilt.'  on her square, she drew a moose, used princess stickers and added giant blobs of glitter glue!

max chilling in the recliner, with his milk, watching the monsoons roll in.

after naps (seriously, longest day ever right??), we stopped at my parents' house to drop of els, then we went to ms. kari's house for ISR (since he couldn't do his lessons in the morning).  he is ready to graduate this week, so he was in spring clothes (the idea being that IF there was ever an accident, there is a high probability that a kid would be dressed; so they need to know how to self-rescue in street clothes).  he did awesome!!

today, was his final "test" - winter clothes.  LOVE that winter clothes in arizona consists of a long-sleeved sweatshirt, a hoodie, jeans and closed-toe shoes.  :-)

and a playdate with his little friends!

quite a week so far and we're ready for day 2 of preschool tomorrow!  :-)

our super, peachy weekend

seriously amazingly fun couple of days!!

on friday afternoon, ella was back in the pool with ms. joanne.

kisses from max between cheering ella on!

she LOVES floating 

friday night, the cotters came over for dinner - colin stayed to give roger some tips for their fantasy football league and jenny and i were off to our monthly girls' bunco night.  the theme was 'superheros' so, we raided our respective kids' playrooms:

...and the next morning, they took the costumes back into their possessions:

we drove down to wilcox, arizona to go peach (and pear) picking at apple annie's orchard!

pancakes with a warm peach sauce and homemade sausage.  yum!!

the kids did awesome picking peaches!

and pears too!!

speaking of superhero costumes, bob-o got a new cape (max loved his first cape so much, he wore it out!)

saturday night, we met some new friends for 'summer nights' at the arizona sonoran desert museum.  we had dinner at their cafe, and then listened to some music.

the scenery and views are so so gorgeous

sunday morning, after a one hour monsoon delay, the girls joined me for a 9 mile run, then we headed up to the phoenix area.  we made a quick stop at the mccormick-stillman railroad museum.  we rode the train around the park:

oops.  we arrived in scottsdale and realized that we forgot to bring a pair of shoes for max!  no worries, his feet are not actually touching the floor...

and then rode the vintage carousel!

then we went to mesa to see jeanne and marc who were visiting his parents' house!  we had the best time with everyone hanging out in their pool.

i'm so sad we didn't get any pictures out of the pool, but it was so good to see everyone.  we had a great lunch then headed back to tucson.  els grew super attached to aunt jeanne - she kept saying she was going to stay with her and then when we were leaving she told us "just move my car seat into her car and then i can go with aunt jeanne!"  we're so excited to see them all again in october!!!

the weekend ended with a relaxing evening at home and some of roger's peach margaritas.  :-)

we had a chill monday with swim lessons for both kids.  now cuddling with my handsome hubby while monsoon weekend continues outside.  :-D