DEEP THOUGHTS by Max

Daddy: "Thank you for eating all of your lunch, Max."

Max: "Thank you, it's my pleasure."

Little Guy in Green

(I know this post is out of sequence, but it slipped through the cracks with all of the holiday festivities and I couldn't let it go undocumented.)

It was Christmas Eve and we chose to attend the 4pm mass at our church. We arrived at 3 pm and watched a steady flow of people coming in for an entire hour until mass started at 4, by then the place was PACKED. We have never attended Christmas Eve mass at our church as we have always been out of town with family in the past. When it came time for the homily, we quickly learned that the tradition is to have all of the children join Father at the front of the church so he could read them a story about Christmas. With this being sprung on us at the last minute, we didn't have much time to think everything through, and we were regretfully quick to encourage Max to go to the front of the church with the other kids to hear the story. He saw the kids excitedly running to the front and hastily jumped on the bandwagon. As soon as he was out of sight, we both realized we may have made a grave mistake sending a 3-yr-old off into a sea of hundreds of people trusting that he'll act as he should and remember where we're sitting to find his way back to us through the swarm of kids rushing back to their parents, every single one of whom was taller than he. Nonetheless, it was done, and we were past the point of no return. The priest began and finished the story and all was quiet, no incidents and we were pleased that it was almost over. Little did we know, it had only just begun. Father ordered the kids to return to their parents and we waited patiently, seated, not letting on that we were the idiots who sent a 3-yr-old off alone with 100 or so kids. They came in a large pack at first. As each minute passed the pack became less dense. After 3 or 4 minutes of kids passing like a flowing river that was beginning to dry out, there was still no sign of our little Max. I decided to stand in an effort to make our whereabouts more clear to our lost boy. Just as I was on my feet, the dreaded thoughts became our reality. "Does anyone know this little guy in green?" was heard by all when Father Bill announced that there was a straggler. Now standing and able to see to the front, I spotted Max at the back of the sanctuary, confused, as if he couldn't tell which way was front and which was back, yet happily wondering around, glad to be free to go where he pleased. This was worse than we could have even imagined. Not only did he not remember where we were sitting, he couldn't even recognize that our seats were amidst the several hundred people in chairs. From the back of the church, I walked quickly to the front to retrieve the "little green guy". On the long walk to the front of the church, the crowd roared with laughter as Father Bill cracked jokes about how Max wants to become a priest. Amidst the belly laughs you could hear a tiny voice yelling with his little hands cupped around his mouth, "Mom, where are you, Mom?" Max FINALLY spotted me, screamed "Mom!", and ran at me with open arms as if we had been separated for years. It was a long, shameful walk back to our pew, but Max was happy as a clam and totally oblivious to the chaos he had created.

Bahamas/Key West Cruise

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Channeling Bill Cosby

Max Marley

"Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley

Sung a cappella by Max Clark

Balloon Farm Animals

The weather outside is frightful

No school

No activities

Mom's gettin' desperate

So...we had a little mishap with mr. cow...

 

Jingle Bells Duet

Max is the lead singer and Kendall is the "Hey" girl and dancer.

Pretty Piggies

We decided to attempt to paint Kendall's toes for the first time. It went pretty well, and she liked it. Max was a little jealous and asked to have his toes painted too. So (in Dad's absence), Mom promised that she would paint his toes if he pooped on the potty. Well... he did it, so Mom had to follow through with her positive reinforcement. We only did two toes and we used a "boy" color, of course. Luckily, he wanted it off after five minutes. Dad was still not happy.

Mom's Birthday

Max and Kendall really liked the HUGE piece of chocolate cake.

New Year's Eve with the Kaiser's

It's time again for our annual New Year's Eve slumber party with the Kaiser's. This year's festivities were held at the Kaiser digs. As always, everyone behaved for the first hour or two. By the time 2010 rolled around, all hell broke loose. Key words for the night were Taboo, tequila, wag, P&A, shirtless, margarita, trimmers, manscape, beer, polar bear club, buffalo chicken dip, rock on, four, and finally... totally inappropriate. The last applied to one person in particular, but we're not going to name names on the family-friendly blog. Adrienne, Emerson, and Camden entertained us with many charming dance and cheer routines and stunts. Good times were had by all. (Max and Kendall were in attendance, however, the camera did not come out until they were in dream land.)

Grandpa Claus

Christmas 2009

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