Bringin' Home the Bacon

After three posts in a row about Lyla, I figured the blog needed a Max story to balance things out. My brain works in mysterious ways like that. I will take my blog readers back to December of 2016 for this recollection about when Max started his first job. It was tough times and we were in need of money from any sources of income we could salvage, even if that meant sending our three year old into the workforce. Hahaha okay, here is the real story...

It was a few months ago when Jeremy & Charli gifted a few 1488 Collision shirts to Maxwell. The shirts are almost identical to Kirk's daily uniform, including the same logo and even the name "Max" embroidered on the front. Max insisted on wearing this shirt to school every single day for several weeks in a row, which actually worked out fine because they purchased five for him. So yes, he wore a 1488 polo shirt every single day --- which is either really great advertising or just makes him the weird kid at school. Maybe both. Ha! 

Well. The excitement of wearing the work shirt started to fade and eventually it just wasn't cutting it anymore. Max kept wondering when he could start working at 1488 Collision and this quickly became a daily conversation. We tried explaining to him that school is his only job right now and he has many more years of school before he needs to start thinking about a job. I admired his enthusiasm to work...but HELLO...being three is awesome!!! Enjoy it, child. The constant asking turned into pleading and eventually he was begging to go to work. Persistence at its finest until one day Max's dream came true. Kirk finally asked me to drop him off after school one day. As you could imagine, Max was delighted.

Lyla and I decided a quick run to Starbucks would be adequate time for a three year old's first shift of work. We dropped him off and oh geez, he was so happy. I'll never forget him walking into that building with such confidence in his step. Kirk set him up with a phone on his belt clip and a notepad, then walked him throughout the shop to check out the status on all the jobs, just as a manager should do. Kirk's version of this story is much better than mine will be, but basically Kirk introduced Max to everyone as they walked through the shop and it sounds like all the employees were pretty entertained by Kirk's mini-me. They all went along with Max being their temporary boss pretty well. Kirk said one of the guys asked Max his age and Max proudly proclaimed "twenty-phree." Hahaha! Max concluded his shift by helping wash a car and I need Kirk to share that part of the story because, again, his version is way more hilarious. Max felt proud of his new supervisor duties and was upset when we returned to pick him up about thirty minutes later. That was about as much "help" Kirk could make time for, even though we were a little heartbroken as Max kept saying, "it's not over yet!" 

He returned to work for one additional shift since that time. It turns out Max prefers the "late shift" because then he gets to ride home with Kirk in the blue car. He is obsessed with the blue car. I keep telling Kirk he needs to write Max a real paycheck so we can put it in his keepsake box...but who am I kidding...he would probably cash it as soon as he figures out how. Ha! 

It's such a fun experience going to work as a kid, whether it be with parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents. I have such fond memories from my own childhood and feeling so grown up when I had the opportunity to go to work with an adult in my life. I'm grateful Max has that experience already and maybe one day working with dad will be his real first job. I mean...he already has some experience. However, I think he might require a larger polo at that point...

No pics of him at work, sadly, But here are the cutie pies in their matching shirts!

Lyla: Birthday Party

We celebrated Lyla's birthday this weekend and it was so much fun. The party planning itself got a little extensive, but it's what I like to do. I really truly enjoy it! I like to think birthday number five is a pretty big deal and deserves some celebratory recognition. And we are always looking for any reason to throw a party! Kirk helped me decorate all week and by Saturday it looked like a rainbow puked all over the house. The colors of the rainbow just so happen to be a symbol for gay pride, so Kirk was joking that he was going to surprise all the parents by answering the door without a shirt on and invite them into our gay pride party. It would have made for quite the memorable birthday, but I suppose we really shouldn't be so quick to pounce on people with our creepiness! Plus, we decided Lyla probably likes having friends and might like for them to be allowed over to our house again. Haha!

We had 14 kiddos attend the party, including Lyla & Max, ranging in ages from one to thirteen. The chaos levels were peaked and I loved every minute of it. At Lyla's request, we had a pinata and played "pin the tail on the donkey" --- except technically I changed it to "pin the heart on the rainbow" because... rainbows! Duh! Lyla had a spectacular time at her party! It makes me happy to see her so happy! We are so thankful to all of our family and friends who came to help us celebrate our girl turning five. 

Time to get ready! She says, "this is how Taylor taught me to do it." Funny girl.
That Aunt Taylor certainly left her mark.

The following day served as a recovery day for the birthday girl. She partied hard. I think she really was exhausted from all the social interaction, perhaps a sugar overdose, or maybe her body is still adjusting to being a five year old. Kirk took both kids to a movie in the morning and he said neither of them could stay awake in the theater, so we all participated in Lounge Fest 2017 for the remainder of the day. 

My aunt checked in and asked if Lyla had a birthday hangover, I thought the timing of her question was pretty funny. I took these pictures and sent them to her right after. She was playing legos and making glitter stickers in my bed. Yep. I'm pretty sure this is what a hangover looks like at five years old! 

My aunt also asked if all the guests were pooping rainbows by the time they left...hahahahaha...I just love all this rainbow humor. It's made for an entertaining week!

And that's a WRAP! The house is back to a clean slate yet again. Actually... the rainbow crepe paper display in the entry might still be up. If you are wondering when it's coming down the answer is never. 

This crazy animal was a great help taking down all the other decorations!

Lyla: Five Years Old

It seems the days leading up to my kid's birthdays are always the most revealing of their age. I know this because it's the time of year when I look at them, I mean really stare, and realize how much they have grown and changed over the past year. That's exactly what happened this week for me too. I started watching and listening to Lyla, more intently than I normally do, and it hit me. Holy crap. You are a five year old. She acts like a five year old. She looks like a five year old. She sounds like a five year old, okay sometimes sixteen. 

As you could imagine, I've been doing a lot of reflecting about the past five years. I smile as I think about how many things have changed, yet so many have stayed the same. I will never forget the scowl on Lyla's face as she glanced all around the hospital room the day she was born. That initial scowl transformed into an independent attitude that she's continued to carry throughout her life. That little seven pound baby had a fierceness about her, as if she already had the whole world figured out. And while I know Lyla still has a lot of life to experience and lessons to learn, she has taught me more about life than I ever could have imagined possible. I have been a mom for five years and all my motherhood "firsts" continue to be with Lyla. I think that's pretty special. Along with that newborn scowl was the first moment we made eye contact and my journey as her mom began. I am immensely grateful for the gift of motherhood. It has changed me for the better. And I don't feel like a rookie anymore either! Woo! 

I'll be honest, I was a little concerned during that twoberty phase with Lyla, which carried over to three and even a little into four. I have always encouraged her independent spirit, but that sass has been a little brutal at times. This past year or so she has really matured into such a pleasant little person to be around. There were certainly delightful aspects to her during all the different stages of toddlerhood, of course, I'm just stating she has really bloomed into her own sense of self. At school, she has earned this reputation as being a peacekeeper and nurturer of sorts. She is always so aware of her surroundings, ensuring everyone in her presence is content. She cares about people and it makes me so proud to be her mom. I've watched her behave this way not only among her peers, but when it comes to her little brother as well. She is always thinking of that little boy. We will take a girls only trip to the grocery store and every single time she will ask the cashier a sticker for her brother. And don't even think about going to the bank without getting an extra sucker! I think we can do a lot to influence the behavior of our kids, but that sweet girl has a heart of gold. She was born a helper and the sweetness is just part of her soul.

Well now that I'm crying over how amazing my daughter is, I want to switch gears and share what we did on her birthday! I know I will cherish these first five years forever and I don't even want to think about how quickly the next five are going to fly by. 

I can't tell you what she is doing in the above photo.
The pose is her own invention and she facilitates most
 of our photo shoots now that she is five.

Enjoying her coloring book with some jams on. I love this picture.

We are having a birthday bash on Saturday, so that's when the real fun is going down. As for Lyla's actual birthday, it was a fairly routine day of school. She woke in the best mood, then she was eager to open a couple of gifts Kirk grabbed for her the night before. I didn't even know he was going to have something ready for her by the way --- it was super sweet of him! Anyway, we continued off to school and she wanted to listen to Christmas music. Seriously, stick a needle in my ear. I would have laughed at her had it not been her birthday, instead we sang jingle bells for the entirety of our thirty minute commute. She took cupcakes to school to share with her classmates. We  grabbed them from the grocery store the night before and she passed on the frosting she wanted and picked the kind she thought most of the kids in her class would like instead --- again, so thoughtful.

After school, we decided to get milkshakes. eek! More sugar, I know. Then she requested Chicfila for dinner. That was fine with me, make my life easy. Ha! That girl can put down a full size chicken sandwich these days, which is pretty impressive considering there was a time I could barely convince her to eat a cracker. She also suggested we participate in a "Chicfila Sauce Challenge" during dinner. This is a challenge where you line up the eight different variety of sauce flavors and try to guess each of them after just one dip of a finger, french fry, etc. Well. Miss Birthday Girl is a big chicken when it comes to trying new foods and declined practically every single sauce. She tried ketchup...wow. And Chicfila sauce. Seriously. It was her idea!!!! She is such a dork. Max participated in tasting every single sauce, even the spicy ones, which was super hilarious and made up for Lyla's lack of participation. She wrapped up the night with a little Hansel and Gretel and that concluded the birthday festivities. However, we are so excited to party on Saturday!

Lyla's gifts from us arrived on Thursday and I was originally going to have her open them on party day. Then I decided oh, who cares. She opened a bed set and wardrobe closet to accommodate her new American Girl doll, Avery. I may start referring to the doll by name, just take note. Anyway, after some lengthy assembling we finally had it all set up. Then it occurred to me that Lyla wasn't going to have any space in her bedroom for this new American Girl arrangement. She already had a baby station and the Barbie house station, so I asked if she had any ideas on how to make it work. She thought about it intently for a few minutes, then she said, "Mom, I don't really play with my Barbie house anymore, let's give it to another little girl who will play with it more than me." My initial thought was, ummm but you have only had it two years....and Santa spent two full nights putting it together....and you have a bucket of probably 60 Barbies. Then I remembered how I'm always preaching to my kids about decluttering and donating stuff we don't need to someone else that can use it. So my initial panic of clinging onto the Barbie house for unnecessary reasons, transformed into another proud moment that Lyla has the brains to realize she has more than she needs and more than she can play with. I'm impressed that she isn't emotionally attached to all these materialistic items. I mean...it's hard for me sometimes and she is only five!

We spent the rest of the afternoon organizing her room. She decided to keep her Anna & Elsa dolls in her keepsake box. They are sentimental for sure. Then she picked out a few of the non-frazzled looking Barbies to keep, just in case the Barbie urge ever strikes again. She also kept the Barbie party bus, so they still have a spot to hang. But the adorable Barbie house itself is no longer a staple item in Lyla's room. It made my heart a little sad to close that chapter, but I was also filled with so much joy as Lyla was already thinking out loud about all the different kids she could gift the house to. The Barbie house location is now replaced with Avery's "room" and it's coming along quite nicely. The baby station remains in her room as well, since that's a regular activity between her and Max. It's just change is all it is. And again, I'm so impressed Lyla came up with the idea all on her own. She handled the process with such grace. 

The scenario doubled as a good example to Max, who came out of his room with one toy to give to someone. As he declared his good deed, I could tell he was trying to remember the exact words Lyla used earlier. I love it when he does that, cracks me up every time. He always seems so proud of himself, yet all he's doing is mimicking his big sis. He certainly looks up to her! It's pretty dang cute.

Birthday surprise from the best dad ever!!!! 

The remains of Lyla's Barbie collection.
 The difference is shocking to anyone who knows what her stockpile looked like before!

The new arrangement for Avery!

Don't mind Lyla's solemn expression, I just thought they
looked so adorable in matching pajamas and robes. 

                             Hope everyone has a great weekend! I will blog about the party soon.

My Peeps!

My mom and Jake left us yesterday after a five day visit in Texas. As always, we had so much fun and replenished the memory bucket until next time. We all went to an Astros game together on Saturday evening. My mom splurged on some really great tickets and we had a blast! We haven't taken Lyla or Max to a baseball game in a couple years, so it was fun to see how much they have evolved compared to our last experience. I had the realization it's getting easier to plan adventures as our kids become more and more flexible as they grow older. There was once a time we had to plan activities to revolve around the schedule of these little munchkins, but it seems we are finally moving away from that. It's fun having "big" kids!

I suppose I can't give Max the big kid title quite yet, considering we did have a crisis situation at the very end of the ball game. As he melted into a puddle of hysterical sadness on the floor of the public restroom, I imagined all the diseases he had to be contracting and begged him to hold on a little longer. There was no saving him. It was already too late. So, I decided to relocate him outdoors to a grassy area and give him some space to release all that emotion. I just stood there and waved at strangers as they passed by. "Oh, hi. Yes. That's my child. His apparent exorcism was taking place near the toilet just minutes ago, so believe me this is much better for us. Carry on." Anyway, like I said, it seems we are moving away from planning around their schedules, but I guess we aren't out of the woods quite yet. It was late and the game was almost over, so I'll give him that --- but I can't wait to tell him this story when he's older. It was an award winning performance.

We had more fun times including foot spa night by Lyla, endless shopping, swimming time, football and taco day, Top Golf, and my mom was also able to visit our school. I can never decide whether to call it school or work since it's both, so in this instance it's school. Anyway, it was nice to give her a glimpse of our new daily schedule and the kids enjoyed showing off their classrooms. She even read a story to Max's class. It was adorable! 

My mom is such an amazing grandma and I'm so grateful my kiddos were able to absorb some of her loving energy for a few days. Lyla's Barbie collection has been gathering dust for the past couple months, but I think Lyla remembered how good Grandma is at playing Barbies because the moment she arrived it was game on. I really enjoy my mom's Barbie technique because she bounces back and forth between full on dedication to the never ending game and bringing Barbie into real life scenarios, such as Barbie has to blow dry her hair, make the bed, pour some coffee --- then she returns to Lyla's script. Ha! It's pretty great.

As for little brother Jake, he is an excellent uncle. My heart explodes every time I watch him interact with Lyla and Max. I can't even explain the reasoning, but he has exceeded any expectation I ever had for all the silly uncle-ing abilities I made up in my head. He is the best brother and I'm so lucky my kids get to call him their uncle. My favorite Jake rant from this trip was a surprisingly convincing argument about how real water bottle companies in this country are selling us water that doesn't even hydrate our bodies. Yes folks, non-hydrating h2o. I was giggling, but feeling somewhat skeptical after his lengthy speech. However, knowing it would push his buttons, I claimed this conspiracy theory was nothing more than a first world problem and told him he sounded like a "spoiled millennial." He said, "If by that comment you mean I think for myself, then I'll take that as a compliment." Haha! I love him. He is a riot. I think it's obvious how much I love teasing my brother, but I can't help it. It's been the easiest form of entertainment in my life for the past 24 years. However, as much as I love to harass him about practically everything, I hope he also knows how much I admire his wisdom and overall outlook on life. He will always be one of my favorites, cynicism and all.

I miss them already. I dropped them off at the airport and cried like a baby, because that's what I always do. I wish I could keep them here forever. I know some people may think I'm nuts, but I really think our culture made a wrong turn having families separate from each other as soon as we emerge into adulthood. Why do we do that? Where did all this pressure come from? I think we should reside in the same house, perhaps build a small village, and keep the happy times going forever and ever. I want less stuff and more people. And I'm reminded of this every time I have to say goodbye. 

LOVELOVELOVE

Lyla and Max are enjoying school and despite them being in separate classes, they have remained best friends. For the most part, they really don't get to see each other during school hours. They aren't reunited until after school when all classes combine into one big group for extended care. Typically they only play in extended care for 15-20 minutes while I wrap up my day and get ready to go home, but it's just long enough to give the extended care teacher a glimpse into the special bond they share. 

The extended care teacher stopped me one afternoon specifically to tell me how much she admires Lyla and Max. She told me she has never witnessed siblings who take care of each other the way they do. They always embrace with a big hug after school and continue to play together until it's time to go home. She said Lyla is very protective over Max and is constantly looking after him. It made my heart happy. The reality is they fight just as hard as they love, but apparently they save that for home and protect each other out in the real world. It's pure goodness. 

That same day Lyla and Max were sitting at the kitchen counter as I cooked dinner. I heard Lyla say to Max, "Do you want to get married?" I couldn't control my laughter, so Lyla looked up at me and said, "Mom, I didn't mean right now. I mean when we grow up." Haha! These are the moments of motherhood I love the most. 

We were preparing to leave for school this morning when Lyla greeted me in the kitchen. She was wearing a dress paired with one tie dye green sock and one white sock with a heart on it. I complimented her dress choice, but suggested she return to her bedroom to pick out a pair of matching socks. I was certain she had more options available. She protested this request. I continued to encourage her to change her mind. Then she said one thing that instantly won the battle. She said, "Mom, it doesn't matter what my socks look like. The most important thing is the love in my heart." The "love in your heart" phrase is something I say to my kids quite often, but I'm grateful she reminded me of my own philosophy. And from that moment forward I supported the decision of the mismatching socks. The life lessons in parenting and childhood are continuously interchangeable.

This is our after school couch cuddle session, 

which has been known to last anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours. Ha!