October

McKay started preschool this month and l.o.v.e.s. it. I knew he would. Max always wants to stay and play when we take McKay to his class. The class I ended up doing is though the Rec center in the city next to us. Check out McKay's cool Toy Story lunchbox. I have enjoyed having one-on-one time with Maxwell and each day McKay wonders if they will paint or color or what animal they will talk about. He has preschool Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Tuesday is our park playgroup day, Thursday is story time at the library, and Saturday is soccer. The fun never ends!

These boys love to play with cars. Maxwell is always so anxious to get to play with McKay when he gets home from preschool so I typically wait a bit before I lay Maxwell down so they can have some time to play.

A whole new world has opened up for Maxwell... YIKES!

After McKay's soccer game on October 15th we drove to my mom's sister Mary's home in Palmdale, California. Her youngest son Cory just returned from the Ft. Worth Texas Mission and spoke in church on the 16th. McKay was anxious to get to play the drums he remembered from 2 years ago when we were there for Cory's farewell and Maxwell quickly caught on.

Grandpa Cardon did a triple-take when he saw me. They didn't know were were coming. It was so great to get to see them!

My Uncle Sam and his family were there and the kids were anxious to swim in the pool. I didn't even think about bringing swimming suits... something about it being October, windy and cool. The boys were disappointed though so while Jordan visited with Grandpa and Grandma Cardon outside, I took the boys inside to play the drums, play pool, and drive fast cars. McKay surprised us by knowing the basics of playing pool. His game is a bit simpler though... you win every time you get a ball in the hole. :)

I love the expression on his face.

Maxwell and I slept in one room and McKay and Jordan slept in another room. I think Max was too hot because he couldn't seem to stay asleep until I turned the ceiling fan up on high. So with his short nap on Saturday, his late Saturday night bedtime and difficulty falling asleep, he was wiped out! He doesn't usually sleep in the morning but with 1:00 church, we knew we wouldn't make it unless he took a nap. Only problem was after 1 1/2 hours he was still in such a deep sleep he was hard to wake up. Since we got home he has been taking longer than normal naps and both boys have been sleeping in. I guess we effectively wore them out!

We have so little vacation that it is hard to make it to all the reunions and get-togethers. Even then, just because I am able to make it one year doesn't mean other cousins will be there. As a result, I hadn't seen my cousin Kathryn (Mary's daughter) since Cory's farewell 2 years ago. It was so great to get to visit with her and to meet her little Sena. She is expecting her 3rd little girl in January. It is fun to be pregnant together.

(click on the picture to get the full effect)
McKay made this picture frame at preschool and insisted this is how you use it. He had me take picture after picture of him.

Then he took pictures of Maxwell and I.

Today his preschool had a field trip to Oma's Pumpkin Patch. I was a bit bummed I had to pay full price for Maxwell ($7) since he couldn't do or enjoy a lot of what was there. Such is life. However McKay had a lot of fun. He probably went down this cotton-seed on the toboggan 50 times.

The only thing we did with the rest of the preschool was go on a hay ride. Max kept calling the tractor a train and loved seeing all the animals and making their sounds. Well at least the cows, horses, and goats they had.

We stopped the longest to look at the cows and Max was 'moooo'ing at them. Both boys really enjoyed the hay ride.

McKay: king of the haystack!

Another huge favorite of McKay's was the maze. He went through it several times. I was too tall so Maxwell and I waited outside, peeking in on him every now and then.

I told McKay to face me for the picture in the maze and Max thought asked for his fishy face. Here is Maxwell starting to do his fish face. :)

Both boys enjoyed throwing or strategically placing magnetic darts on the target. They also enjoyed swinging and climbing on the playground.

Each child got a 'jack' pumpkin. They had WAY too many to choose from and it took McKay a while to choose the one he wanted to take home. Max picked too many...
Maxwell has learned a new word: punkin, which is what he calls the pumpkins when he isn't calling them apples. This afternoon I caught him kissing his punkin. mmmmwwaaaah! :)

Visitors

October 6th Jordan's parents came to visit us. The boys were SO excited! Jordan was able to take Friday off so we went to the zoo. We got some free passes with our membership in March and this is the first time we've had visitors to use them! We hadn't seen the panda bears yet because the line was always too long. Now they have finished the exhibit though so there isn't even a line anymore.

McKay was our official map reader. As soon as we finished with group of exhibits, he'd grab the map to see where we should go next and direct us where to go.

McKay wasn't too excited about climbing on that lion and was even less excited when his hat was taken for the picture. But they are cute anyway. We happened to see the lions when they were getting their lunch.

The polar bears were by far every one's favorite exhibit. Every time we've seen them they have been very active but this time they were especially playful with each other and with the big balls in the water. It was very cool.

Even though we had the double stroller, McKay insisted on walking the whole 3 hours or so that we were there. We were all ready to be done walking by the time we left!

Maxwell loves to play peek-a-boo. He is so much fun.

After leaving the zoo we drove to Coronado and drove around looking at the unique and beautiful homes there. Jordan's parent's had never been there before. It was a little too relaxing though and it was a bit difficult for some of us to stay awake.

McKay usually has unlimited energy for his Saturday soccer games but the zoo wore him out and we could tell he was tired as he played.

McKay REALLY wanted to go outside with Daddy and Grandpa who were out cooking a tri-tip roast on the grill. Not exactly shoes but at least his feet were covered! Uncle Todd came to McKay's game as well as Grandma and Grandpa and it was fun having them. Afterwards we had a delicious lunch of tri-tip bbq sandwiches, corn on the cob, grilled Italian squash, and fresh avocado dip and chips. Then Grandma and Grandpa went with Todd to his house to visit with them.

The real reason we had visitors was that Erin & Domingo blessed their sweet baby Brooklyn Sunday afternoon at Todd & Lisa's home. We were happy we were able to attend. McKay enjoyed playing with everyone, as usual, and it was great to visit and to meet Domingo's sweet sisters.

Max ate almost the whole ice cream sandwich and really didn't make too big of a mess. That doesn't mean I wasn't concerned he'd make a huge mess though.

Come again soon Grandma & Grandpa Moser!

September

If anyone still checks my blog you may have noticed that it has been a while since I have posted. I have really good excuses too. From the last week of August until the middle of October I have been super busy doing taxes. Only the necessities get done when I am so busy! Life goes on though and we had a great month.

This cracks me up. Maxwell takes McKay's pajamas out of his drawer and 'wears' them like a scarf.

The librarians thought he looked like a GQ stylin' boy today. I hadn't realized how well his sandals matched!

These boys love to dance to 'fast songs'. Makes me smile.

I don't even remember what came in this box but the boys enjoyed playing with it. It just wasn't quite big enough for both of them too much of the time though. McKay remembers his box house at Nanna & Papa McCleve's house and decided he wants a box for Christmas.

Yep, both boys are in there!

September 10th Jordan ran his first half marathon at Camp Pendleton. Several veteran marathon runners were shocked that he was doing that race as his first since it is one of the most difficult races around. He did it!

There is a free water park 20 minutes away that we added in to our park rotation and the boys loved it! This 'tunnel' was McKay's favorite. We waited to go until most of the kids were in school and it was great!!

We went twice in September. I love this picture. McKay tells me they are friends. So sweet.

Yep, as you can see in this video, McKay wore his goggles. :)

McKay started soccer and absolutely loves it! He has incredible endurance and runs and runs the whole time. He is a lot of fun to watch and is always right by the ball.

They don't have practices for his age group so they practice for the first 15-20 minutes of their hour and then play for the rest of the time. Anytime Max sees an 'extra' ball somewhere he likes to practice kicking. Jordan and I are learning about soccer right along with the boys!

After stake conference we drove 1 hour to Temecula to Jordan's brother Todd's home. As usual, McKay loved playing with Karlie and Todd . Max also enjoyed being outside and playing with the soccer ball.

McKay and Todd came up with a game where Todd would make a 'da da da daaaa' sound and McKay would take off running. Then Todd threw the ball and McKay raced the ball to the fence. Pure fun.

Todd's daughter Erin had baby Brooklyn about 3 weeks before so this was our first time meeting her. When the boys first saw her, she was asleep so McKay thought she was a doll. It didn't take them long to warm up to her and Max now loves to point at babies and say 'baby!' It was totally his idea to kiss her head too. So sweet!

Friday September 30th Jordan's company had a get-together at Dave & Busters. They had dinner and gave us power cards with a certain amount on them for the arcade. All day long McKay was so excited to get to play 'video games'. He hasn't really played them before but I'm pretty sure he has heard about it from the boys in his primary class.

The games were OK but we had the most fun with a couple of skill games where we got LOTS of tickets to use in the 'store'. The boys LOVE the big balls we got that light up when they throw them. We used the rest for something that will show up in a couple of months...

Max heard General Conference start and came in from outside where he had been 'helping' Daddy and sat down to listen. Loved it!

My other excuse for not blogging is actually pretty good too I'd say. We are expecting another little baby at the end of April. My due date is April 21 but unless this baby is different then the first two, I can only hope to deliver before May! McKay is confident we are having a baby girl. We'll find out sometime around Thanksgiving if he is right! We all heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time October 3, 2011 and then it really felt real!! We are super excited at our house.