I know you missed us....

Okay, First of all, I'm sorry it's taken so long for a new post, but Lars has been studying for finals and a huge FINAL SPEECH in his speech class and he robbed me of the computer for two weeks. Oh, and in keeping honest, I've been enthralled in the Twilight series (don't worry, I finally finished) and my extra time has been devoted to that. So, although this is a little late; better than NEVER, right??? So no complaining, just read on:

Max is growing so quickly. He's 5 months already, and SO much fun. Maddie and I just marvel at him all day long. He's been quite fun to watch, especially when it comes to coordination. He has figured out how to reach for something, and also figured out the quickest way to get that object to his mouth. The other day I was checking the time on my phone by clicking a side button, and in the short time that I looked down at my phone, Max snagged it out of my hands and had it in his mouth before I could even think about what had happened. It's pretty fun to see that he has such great hand-eye coordination, maybe he'll carry on being some awesome sporty child, where I just got kicked off the teams cause I was so shockingly uncoordinated.
He has grown a lot, and am actually ready to skip the heavy portable infant carseat and move him to a non portable one. He's just getting way too heavy, and he just looks WAY too big and uncomfortable in the carrier. He has also grown a "tuft" of hair on the top of his head... Which, if he weren't my child, I would think looks insanely ridiculous, but because he is mine I think it's super cute. You can be the judge, I started spiking it:

Oh, and yes, THAT IS DROOL. He's all boy. Apparently boys like to chew and drool like it's going out of style. He especially likes the zipper on his hoodie, hence all that slobber all the way down.

So, we (Grandma, Grandpa, Maddie, Max, Esa and her son Bryson, and myself) went to the "Second Chance" Baby Animal Days, which is just like the first round of Baby Animal Days, but $3 cheaper and the animals are like teenagers a whole week later. BUT STILL FUN. The kids were a pain by NOT SMILING in any pictures, really, and fought me over and over in even looking towards the camera, so bear with the pictures I got...

This one Maddie made me get the smaller turtle because the larger one I held prior to this one really freaked her out! She thought it was way too big and asked for the smaller one, even though she still would not touch it.
Oh, and I had this great idea to have Maddie sit by the beautiful blooming flowers, but failed to notice the child-proofing they had done in also allowing those crappy piercing thorns to be mixed in their garden! Thank goodness Maddie wasn't the one who stepped in one and watched the thorns dig in to her tough callused heel, OH-NO, THAT WAS ME. But, surprisingly, she allowed me to take a picture of her smiling, but no luck getting her hands off of her face.

So, I had another cute photo op to get a huge windmill behind her with the pristine blue sky, and here's the gorgeous face I got back at me. Thanks to Grandpa, Maddie thought that it turned in to a game (giving Mommy crappy faces) because he laughed hysterically at the kids when they didn't smile at me. This was an attempt to give her grouchy face. HAHAHA Scary, huh?!

We got to ride a pony, which was a FIRST for Maddie, and a HUGE deal to me. I thought she'd back out, but she was so excited. I love horses and thought it was awesome: I wanted to get on the one behind her, but there was a stinkin age limit. ha. Lemme tell you about that nasty helmet though... EWW! I was glad that wasn't on my head. They sprayed it with disinfectant before putting it on Maddie but the Germ Alarm was going off in my head making me nauseated. 50+ thoughts came into my head about what kind of diseases or gross bugs could be harvesting their larvae in it... Yuck.

Shortly after, though, I got over my germ fear when I took Maddie to go potty in the all-too-sanitary PORT-O-POTTY right up from where we were. I guess my fears were read on my face because Maddie REFUSED to sit on that pot! She pleaded "Not this one, Mom!" and so we ran to the next potty 0.25 of a mile away. It was all good, though...that potty was a flushing one in a very clean restroom that even I felt I could use. :)

Maddie wanted to wear her HIP sunglasses and really refused to let me take them off for photo opportunities, so we have some sweet ones without the true beauty of her whole face. Oh well.

Bryson and Maddie sat on a swing while grandma pushed them for a split second and they figured out that they were too scared to keep going. Unfortunately, those little arms don't always reach around other kids and all the way to the other rope to hold on nice and tight...

The kids held a variety of large baby animals like goats, ducks, chicks...

bunnies....

and we had a great time. They were having so much fun... Even little Max had fun baking in the sun. Unfortunately, I'm a little out of practice with this whole baby thing, and this whole SUN thing, and forgot sunscreen on the kids... Max got a HUGE sunburn and turned all lobster-red the next day and even blistered tiny bumps on his burn... Some protective mom I am, huh? ...NICE!

Well, something sweet to end my post with...

This is what happens when you leave a 2.5 yr old by herself when she has "a really bad owie" to take a nap...

Oh, and that "owie" is still to be determined...