Evan & Max

I was just downloading photos from my camera and came across these two shots.

They are not great composition, the lighting is too harsh, and the second one is blurry. 

And yet, they melt my heart.

A little glimpse into the relationship Evan has with his youngest cousin. One becoming a boy, one becoming a man.

Love these boys. I hope they will always be close.

On my iPhone: end of summer

I currently have 472 photos on my iPhone. That's far more than I've taken with my camera in a very long time. Here are a few favorites from the end of summer 2011.

LMDO: Laughing my diaper off. Awesome.

Lola enjoying a corn on the cob. Be careful...she will bite you and she will try to steal the cob.

All packed and ready to go to Temagami.

Home from soccer camp. Someone was a little tired. I can't imagine why she chose this as her resting spot.

On the road again...

Cool fungi on Temagami

Beautiful sunset view from my kitchen.

Plunging into the icy cold lake in Temagami.

Bates hamburgers: an after Ortho tradition. Every appointment is followed by a trip to Bates. 2 burgers, a large fry, and a large chocolate shake, which we share. Next month she gets her braces off and we'll have to make up excuses to go to Bates.

Em & I in Temagami.

years11months

Yesterday while Max was over I realized that right now, he and Evan are the same 'age'.

Evan is 11 years old, and Max is 11 months old.

It's a huge difference, I know. But not that long ago (really, I swear it wasn't), Evan was only 11 months old. He was starting to walk, and getting into everything. Climbing on my lap while I ate lunch, trying to steal bites of my food. Loving cars and balloons and big wet zerberts on his thighs. And while I'm very glad that I don't have a baby and have to deal with all the accoutrement of babyhood, I sure am glad I get to experience Max in his. It makes me a little less frustrated with the burgeoning teen boy, remembering what a sweet and loving baby he was. The sweet and loving boy he can be when he wants to.

Boys. Gotta love 'em.

celebrating eleven!

This kid turned 11 a few days ago. He's pretty much been doing this since.

His big gift from us this year: his own cell phone. Heaven help us. The kid loves to be on the phone. He loves to hold it in his hand. He loves to open and close it. He loves to text. We are very glad for unlimited texting.

We had the family over to celebrate last night after his first indoor game (they won!)

This cake might not look that impressive, but don't let my frosting skillz fool you. This is truly the best chocolate cake you'll ever eat. I've made it twice now, and it's received rave reviews both times. Gather ingedients and make it immediately. You won't be sorry.

I only had 10 candles, so we used this tall one in the center. It was blazing away right after I snapped this picture. I thought we were going to have cake flambe.

Lola was very into Max, especially when we pulled out this squeaky giraffe. She kept leaning forward and trying to take it from him, ever so gently.

Max was waaaay over tired so this was the best shot of the three I could get.

He started getting silly and laughing/hiccupping at his Grammy, which made us all laugh.

Evan had a good day, and got pretty much everything he asked for.

Here's to hoping 11 will be better than 10!

Happy Halloween! v.10

Happy Halloween!

Another fun year of trick or treating in the AP with Greg & Tracey...and little Max too!

Evan the bull rider. He dressed as a hippie at school on Friday, but I love this costume.

Angel and devil. Seriously, she ate 2 pairs of devil horns.

Max looking good in his skeleton suit :)

Max, Greg & Emma

Looking very angelic...

Max did not want to sit on the Great Pumpkin. Poor Binkster.

Bart came out of the house dressed to kill. Literally.

Time to re-fuel with a little True Blood!

Emma didn't trick or treat...she was all about walking around with Lola. They were going to dress the same, but Lola really did eat 2 pair of devil horns, so at the last minute Em pulled together the angel costume. They were very cute. I still can't believe she didn't get one piece of candy. I take that back...she ate from Aunt Tracey's bucket but didn't get any of her own. Brat. That means I don't get to raid her stash.

Good thing Evan had a large bag.

so far June has been a crazy month!

This past weekend was nothing short of a blur. It's a good thing that there isn't going to be a quiz on the activities...I would surely fail!

Both kids wrapped up their soccer seasons. Actually, Evan still has a game on Thursday. I must be in denial- I keep saying he's done. Emma's is finished anyway...with a hard loss. Barely enough girls to play and no subs. The girls moved like they were underwater. Nothing fun or sporting about any of it. I hate those kind of games.

Evan played on Friday night and lost to a realy good, fast, skilled team. On Saturday they revved up the action and won. One more goal in the column for Ev.

Friday night a fast and furious storm blew through Northville, leaving a lot of downed trees, power lines, & debris. Oddly enough, I missed all of it. Right at the end of Ev's game, we got a call from my BIL to let us know that my SIL was in labor, and would I mind going up to the hospital and hang out with her while Greg went back to their house to get her hospital bag & whatnot. So Em & I went to keep Tracey company. It's a good thing we did, because the rest of the night was a comedy of errors!

Greg got home and started back (remember, there is a huge storm raging) when his truck died. Dead. Bart & Evan had just arrived at the hospital (completely in the opposite direction), but went to rescue Greg. What they didn't know before they left was that the expressway would be flooded and nobody was moving at all. What should have been an hour and a half trip max (both ways), turned into a nearly 5 hour clusterf*ck. Luckily, labor was progressing slowly, so there was no chance that Greg would miss the birth of his son!

And here he is!

Maxwell Gregory Johnston

7.3 lbs

20 in.

11:02 am on 6/5/2010

He's such a content baby! Hardly made any fuss at all during our visits. I can't believe he's finally here! We have been very anxious for his arrival.

This week brings end of the year school activities for Evan just about every day, soccer practices 3 days, one last game, team dinner for Emma, and tryouts on the weekend. And the forecast is calling for lots more rain. Oh joy!

Happy Tuesday!