brush away daddy:)

working in the dental field i just thought this was too cute:)

max sits so well to get his teeth brushed, he loves every minute of it.

great job max!

Down syndrome, off the clock.

here is a link from blog that posted wonderful words from a pre-teenage boy with Down syndrome. this boy explains that he doesn't have DS all of the time. if you haven't read it yet, please take the time it really made me think as a parent:)

wordless wednesday

i'm (max) on a mission.

lilly and me early this morning on the couch.

oh, wait something catches my eye.
and i go for it with out any concern for my big sister:)
the cereal!... but my arm is too short i can't reach the bottom of the box.
oh, then i remembered mom put some in this cup for me.

but it's empty:(

maybe if i try to drink it... something might be stuck in there?

jack johnson, and a girls day with lilly:)

on saturday night nick and i went to a jack johnson concert! it was amazing, we had such a great time. we didn't get home until 1:30 pm and i had a big day planned with lilly in the morning. we went to a friends baby shower in the morning, then went to art in the park:)us two girls at art in the park:)

they had a place for kids to paint their own pictures, lilly wanted to first draw a flower then "rain and lots of clouds mommy." from this you can tell that it's tornado season here in wisconsin:)

lilly's finished masterpiece!
she was so good that she got to pick out a toy, this is lilly's new friend lizzie the pink lizard.

we ate lunch and played at the park.

this was one steep slide, i didn't think she was going to go down it.

but she did:) and boy did she scream! i thought she was going to be crying when she
got off of it and i think she would have been if i wasn't laughing so hard at how much static was in her hair. i showed her the picture, she thought it was pretty funny too:)

we drank a lot, i repeat a lot of lemonade.

we had an excellent girls day, just lilly and me:) we talked about a ton of things and it was really nice because i haven't had very much time with just lilly and myself. today made me realize how old she is getting. we walked the whole day, no umbrella stroller, no diaper bag, no little fits or tantrums. she wanted to look at all of the art, "look at this flower picture mommy, that's i could draw that!" i'm not sure the artist selling the painting appreciated that comment like i did:)

i also realized how small she still is too, she had her lizard crawl all the way back to the car (at least 7 blocks). she is too cute:)

wyatt.

when we got home from the cottage on sunday night, i got a call from my sister dana. she was wondering if she could drop 3 of her 4 boys off at our house because she had to take one of her sons into the ER! i said no problem... drop them off:)

nick and the kids watching a movie.

our poor little wyatt broke his arm:(

wordless wednesday

our weekend.

another first for max... he now weighs enough to turn his car seat around to forward facing!!!

he loved it. now he was able to watch a signing time movie with lilly, but he really didn't care for the headphones on him. he still loved the new view:)
the way little kids can bend without getting a neck ache. oh, i forgot to mention we were on our way up north to the cottage, just us, my mom and dad were up this weekend.

on saturday nick, the kids and me went to an up north local park at chute pond. i went there every once in awhile when i was a little kid. there is an area that is call "slippery rock" the name says it all. but just in case your wanting a little more information... chute pond has a river that flows over this rock and then into another river:) the above picture is lilly waiting for her daddy to go down the rock with her!

nick and lilly:)

max, looking like he is not having at all.

until it was his turn:)

max and daddy.

max playing in the river.

lilly joining him:)

then we had a picnic at the lake:)

when we got back to the cottage we took a golf cart ride over to visit grandma minten and aunt jenny.

lilly and i went frog catching and after we caught one, we noticed the a leach caught her!
lilly thought it was pretty neat that if you put salt on it they just let go.

lilly and her frog.

we told lilly that he might turn into a prince if she kissed him:) ...nope, not this time!

lilly catching fish with grandpa in the morning.

true smiles.

i am super excited about my new camera! i wanted a new one for this exact reason, i was missing these smiles. i wasn't able to capture it in time... those moments are there and gone in a flash. now i get to keep them forever!

this is a picture of max's true smile.
and i can't forget about my beautiful little lilly:)

wordless wednesday

sunday with updates on milestones.

our sunday....

max has now officially turn into the trouble maker child:) he is into everything, he gets in to closets throws everything out, he has figured out how to open the gate to up stairs. this was a picture of him figuring it out!
his big sister is trying to keep all of "her" toys up on the table so max can't get into them.

max is walking more and more! he is now able to stand up in the middle of the room, walk a few step pick up a toy, walk a few more steps pick up another toy. if he wouldn't get so excited about walking and stayed nice and calm he would be able to go so much farther before falling. (but i can't blame him for being so excited... walking is a huge milestone!!!)

an early morning picture:)

max has now conquered climbing up chairs. this is a picture catching him in the act of playing with my computer. if we don't push in every chair max will find his way up! we have found max on the counter next to the fridge pulling the magnets off and throwing them on the floor! and he is quick, a matter of minutes he is up an into something!

like i said little trouble maker!

it's only time till he figures out how to climb up the stools.

lilly doing her best to keep max down.

we had lilly's hair cut again. this time a little shorter.

she did really well siting still in the chair.

there was an empty seat so max drove a taxi for a little while.

lilly is sitting two seats over in a pink airplane. the little boy next to them was looking at max like "i wish i picked that taxi."

lilly's hair finished:)

we then went to a park and met val, nate and the kids for a short little play date.

it was so hot out, lilly got super sweaty playing so hard with cousin wilson.

we stopped at tom's-drive-in for burgers and popcorn before we got to the park.

max loves popcorn.

max taking a stroll on the side walk:)

we then stopped at grandma and grandpa pingel's house, we did plan to stay for supper but i had to cut the visit short because i was so, so, so tired. we went home and i took a 2 1/2 hour nap, it was really nice:)