This past week, Max attended his first movie. HUGE success. The movie was Horton Hears a Who, one of Max's favorite books (and of my not-favorites, it's one of the long ones that I hide before naptime so I don't have to read it - Sean is a way better parent than me, he will read any three books Max chooses, no matter the length). Camped out with his own kiddie box of popcorn, this was officially Maxo heaven. Jack did well through about half of the movie then he started to get tired. Luckily the magical swaddle allowed him to sleep through the rest of what I guess counts as his first movie too!

Max also participated in his very first game of bowling at Barrett's birthday party. It was sloooow going until we discovered the extremely helpful ramp (both movies). He loved the whole experience and was thoroughly tired out by the end. At least until the pizza (movie) was served. Hyyyyyper!

Finally, he's working on his biking skills. He's starting to figure out the pedaling thing - he still has a long way to go but is definitely improving (both movies). It will be a while until he can pedal beside me while I walk, but until then I have my super duper awesomely awesome double jogging stroller.

In other "my baby's growing up, waaaaaaa!" news, Jack is eating. Or, more precisely, Jack has eaten. Twice. The first attempt was hugely anti-climatic, as first feedings tend to be. I excitedly pumped some milk, blended it with some perfectly ripe banana, and all Jack had to say about my hard work was bleck! (movie). He was not impressed at all. Fast forward a couple of days though, and voila! banana surprise, take 2, is a huge (if messy) hit (movie, as are the next two). Max, as you can see, was a bit of a distraction until I had the brilliant idea to enlist his help. And a fabulous helper he was! Sign language is next...

Once last thing. Jack is a bouncing (movie, as is the next one) (or at least dangling) machine. (I find it very strange that Sean actually finds America's Funniest Home Videos funny - and I'm not talking used to find it funny when he was 12, I'm talking I have to take the remote away from him when it's on - and yet was appalled when I giggled at this. Not that I'm defending myself for giggling, that was not nice, I just can't pass up a chance to state that America's Funniest Home Videos IS NOT FUNNY.)

Coming soon, Max experiences some recent "firsts" as well.

I know all you Mama's out there have been looking for your cards, but we decided it would be better to create them today, that way you could enjoy the fun. So here it is, Max's first experience finger-painting, dedicated to you. He started out daintily but was soon painting as messily as anyone could hope for. It was great to watch him revel in the ooey gooey-ness (movie, as are the next two) of it all. And don't think some serious art wasn't being created! Happy Mother's Day!!!!

P.S. to Nana and Tata: Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers! We all love them!!

P.P.S to Lola and Grandma Jean: No need to wait by the mailbox, I guess I should have checked the weather before I left your extra special creations outside to dry!

The Local Food Production Project is coming along nicely. Which is to say, I haven't killed anything yet, wahoo!!! We had PLENTY of topsoil for the raised bed, all the pots from last year, and to create numerous piles of dirt throughout the lawn (I am still expecting to open some little-used cupboard and for dirt to pour out...) One of Sean's buddies also provided us with some horse manure (we were so excited for Max to get to visit the animals, but it took some bribing to spark his interest (movie)). We purchased lots of little plants (I didn't realize I should have been sprouting seeds in February!) and transplanted them to our garden: tomatoes and peppers of various sizes and colors (still alive 2+ weeks later!), yellow squash, eggplant, onions, lettuce, spinach, basil and cilantro, cucumber, and strawberries. I fit all that I could in the garden (the minimum suggested spacing for any of the plants was a foot and a half, most were 2-3 feet, but a foot was about all I could spare, we'll see how that works), but the herbs and greens were relegated to pots. I planted from seed the things that I couldn't find in plant form (I guess because they didn't need the February-headstart?): greenbeans, peas, zucchini, carrots, onions, and lots more herbs. I was nervous about trying to grow anything from seed, but I'd actually say that they're doing even better than the ones we purchased already sprouted (some peas on Tuesday, and then two days later!). A little too well, as you can see. I planted TONS of seeds in little pots and now I need to do some massive thinning. I keep putting it off - how can I chose which ones get to fulfill their life purpose and which ones don't even get a chance??? Dad, how many of these carrots can I keep? (Max did a lot of the sowing so the distributions are a bit uneven!) And how many of the peas pictured earlier? Here's another two day time lapse- Tuesday and Thursday - of the greenbeans and zucchini. I tried to follow the instructions on the seed packet, planting two or three every few inches. But all of the seeds came up so now I have to pull some! Or do I? What will happen if I leave them? How can I throw these little guys away?!?! (I am starting to sense a problem with our chicken raising plans...)

Max is VERY into helping me take care of the veggies. Before we'd even planted anything, he was already hard at work watering... his toys (movie). (In this particular instance, Max snuck outside while Sean was preparing to grill, put on his boots, and got to work.) On the day I actually put the plants into the ground, Max was thrilled to get to use his tools and insisted on running back inside to grab his own "mittens". Now that the garden isn't just a bunch of dirt, Max is doing a great job with the (formerly daily, now every other day, I'm trying not to kill them with my overexuberance) chore of watering. It may take a little (okay, a lot) longer, but Max does make Mother Earth happy by reusing his pool water. And of course, Max is made super happy as well by this addition to our morning routine (movie). Don't worry, Jack isn't left out of the fun. He either hangs out on the lawn or spectates from the doorway or porch.

So we have two sweet boys, and nothing dead, at least yet. The plants that are thriving least are Sean's experimental upside-down tomato plant (possibly due to over-watering, not a lot of drainage happens with that method) and the strawberries. Luckily we have a supplement to the two or three tasty treats our own plants provide every day or two (although they're not finished life-purposing yet). We have gone on two strawberry-picking expeditions since the initial adventure with Wren, once with Papa and some friends from church, and once with the Jacksonville gang. Max did great during the first of these trips, eating tons, especially enjoying a particularly delicious one. With the boys, things were a bit more, shall we say, energetic. They may look adorable in the pictures, but it was pretty much a game of musical time out chairs the entire time (and not the smiley kind), as soon as we could stop one boy from stomping on berries or throwing straw, another had taken over the mayhem. Perhaps worst of all, I actually had to PICK!

Rather than the buckets of money we were considering as thanks, we are excited to announce the Nothing New Initiative in Wren's honor. Phase One consists of the commitment to purchase only used items for the boys (with the possible exceptions of cloth diapers and undies, gotta protect those precious tushies). It's not always easy acquiring whatever it is you're seeking secondhand, but in the realm of clothes and books and toys for kids, there really is no excuse not to at least give it the old college try. So that's the plan. We'd appreciate it if all you gift-giving grandparents out there would participate in the NNI, so keep your eyes out for garage sales and thrift stores that may help us, in particular, cloth the boys (we are more than good to go with toys). Jack is wearing size 6-9 months and Max, 3T or 4T. Shoes are probably going to be the toughest part of this, so please be on the lookout (Max is a 9 right now). It probably counteracts the goodness of this act if you send a couple of onesies across the country, so maybe wait until you see us next, or at least until you have a reasonable amount of items to send. Also be thinking of this goal as we move into Max's birthday and beyond, because Nothing New is the way of our future. Think of it as a treasure hunt. Grandpa Keith, we know you'll have no problemo with this new system.

As warm-up for the NNI which starts, well, now I guess, we paid a visit to the thrift store on base (we were already there for other errands - again, driving 20 min. to look at used clothes, while better than driving 20 min. to look at new clothes, nonetheless just seems wrong). $5.75 later, and we have five new outfits for Jack, a cool tool bench with assorted tools for Max, and a cool yellow dump truck. Gotta stop with the toys, but hey, at least it's not in a landfill, right? (Luckily the NNI had not yet started because I couldn't resist buying Max a brand spanking new Tball set. Cut me some slack though, the boy very clearly needs the practice (movie)!)

P.S. Thanks to Andrew and Gretchen for Jack's shirt, above. (It's technically used since it was Max's.)

FINALLY, a visit alligned fortuitously with the weather. While it was (allegedly) snowing in Anacortes, Wren was treated to some of New Bern's finest sunshine. This allowed for lots of fun in the sun adventures (compare with Mom: "What should we do today?", Christen: "Hmm, it's raining. How about you cook dinner?" Although Wren cooked more than his fair share of dinners too... I love having company!!)

Activity #1: Strawberry picking, bound to be awesome because who doesn't like strawberries?! ("I like strawberries! No, I mean I REALLY like strawberries!!") Max and Wren did a fab job picking a beautiful box full of tasty treats, and I pretended to pick quite nicely as well. (It's hard to focus on berries to purchase when there are so very many berries to eat.) Of course we ended up in the only muddy row of them all but this justed added to Max's happy day (movie).

Activity #2: Going creekside. The boys spent an afternoon, sans Mama, at the awesome park located moments away from our house. The cool playgrounds, usually the purpose of our visit, were pretty much neglected this time, although Max and Papa did enjoy a brief stint at the little playground (loooong movie, only of interest to grandparents). Not to fear though, plenty of other fun was had. Tromping through the woods and "fishing" (i.e. throwing rocks in the water), does life get better than this? (If you're not feeling all warm and fuzzy inside yet, how about now?) We may not have Max's first steps on film, or Jack's first smile, or either boy's birth, but at least we have the first geocache (movie) forever memorialized!

Activity #3, my personal fav: the RIVER BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So yeah, we live in subdivision, but the fact that we don't need cable because we can watch our neighbor's TV at night is TOTALLY made up for by the fact that the world's most toddler-friendly beach is a mere 15 minutes away. Yes, the ocean beach has better sand and is more picturesque, but for us, the river is the way to go. The shallow water provides lots of options for playing with the boy, and the teeny tiny river waves allow for grown-up time. Also, the beach beach is usually absolutely packed, you're lucky if your towel is not touching someone else's, while there are never more than a few families at the river beach (and yet Max never has any trouble making friends!) Shade is another big bonus, giving the river beach points in the baby-friendly category. River beach summary: perfect. Wren agreed (that's him in the way back). Even the goodbye is a Kodak moment.

I don't mean to make it sound like we were running around all the time entertaining Wren. We provided him with plenty of downtime(/naptime)/chill time as well. The backyard served not only as a deluxe drying rack (/playground) for his clothes but also as a venue to do what he does best (i.e. entertain topless). There was a lot of co-play (movie) between "Uncle Wren" and Maxo, with Wren doing his thing while Max lounged in the pool. It's a good thing he was able to get some rest in, because a whole heap of manual labor arrived in the form of a (some might say, vastly) overestimated quantity of dirt. (Luckily, only Sean, Max, Jack, and Wren were home when the truck dropped off the soil, or Sean and I would most definitely still be fighting.) Thanks for the help, Wren! And thanks for a fabulous, and low maintenance, visit in general!! (While I'm on the subject, thanks in advance for the many strides I'm sure you are currently making on sirmaxalot's form and function!!!) More on the dirt garden soon, I don't want Cora to have to wait any longer...