Mother's Day Portraits

Max and I had Mother's Day portraits taken (a couple days post-mother's day because of the weather) and these are a few of the resulting images.  I can't wait to see the rest of them!  It was an outdoor set up and we were encouraged to bring out own "props", like favorite books or toys.  We had to take the magnifying glass!  It ended up being a nice evening and we has a lot of fun.  Thanks to Bri Wachsmann for the great portraits.

Owl banding 2013

It's that time of year again and we were privileged enough to go and watch.  Max loved it as much this years as he did last year.  And this year was extra special since we invited Ben and Eli to go with us.

 Nancy Gehbach and chick #1.

 Poor traumatized baby!  I promised that it would have to endure this only one time in it's life.

Fun at Mother's Day Out

Max's class at "school" has been studying about insects.  Fortunately, one of his teachers is married to one of the guys who work at the Mayborne museum and is an entomologist (he and I have worked at the wetlands together before).  He brought in some of the residents of the museum for the kids to see up close.  Of course I had to had to stay and watch the show too!  Whenever Trey would ask a question about the insects, Max invariable knew the answers.  It made my biology mommy heart swell with pride!  Also, I made sure Max was wearing his Insect ABC's t-shirt that Nona bought for him.  It makes me sad to have him wear it since he has almost outgrown it, and it is the last article of clothing that she ever bought for him.  Sigh!

 Trey is making sure the kids have their listening ears on.

 Casey, Jack, Eli and Max are totally enraptured!

 Max is touching the hissing cockroaches.

 Eli's turn!

Later that week Max had crazy hair day.  I was going to go all spiky, but for fun I wanted to give him the Alfalfa look.  He loved it!  

Super Nature Boy!!!

I bought Max a generic superhero kit off of a website last month.  It turned out pretty perfect since it looks like an M on the back.  He loved it that first night.  He still asks to wear it on occasion, but not like that first night.

"To the rescue!"

I also bought him a little magnifying glass so he could study insects up close.  We have spent many an hour flipping over rocks and investigating the residents.  

Showing off his BIG muscles!

And here he has a rough earth snake.  They have been abundant under the rocks in our yard this spring.

"Ides"aho of March

In March of this year we took a trip to Idaho to celebrate with Grandpa as he retired after 41 years.  It was a great trip as all of the cousins (and their adults) came along for the trip as well.  In addition to the retirement party, we were there to celebrate three birthdays; Auntie Gwen, Uncle Jason, and Grandma.  And if that wasn't enough this all took place over Easter weekend.  Whew!  We were quite busy and glad to get home so we could catch up on our rest.  But, as always, it was worth losing some sleep to have so much fun with family!

 Max and Natalie at Grandpa's office party.

 Cousins Emma, Cash and Max.

 St. Maries had a nice Easter egg hunt on Saturday.  There were hundreds of kids there, but fortunately they roped areas off by age so we didn't have to worry about Max being trampled by bigger kids.  

 Yes, we were the parents that encouraged him to pick up the toothbrush!  Did you expect anything different?

 On the way home we stopped at the feed store so Max could see some chicks and ducklings.  They were so cute!

 Easter Sunday!  This was the only picture in which you couldn't tell that Max was throwing an absolute fit about taking pictures with his cousins.

 Uh Oh! Looks like Max and Emma ate too much spaghetti for dinner!

 Max and Stuart assembling his lego bugs.

 Max had a good time "driving" Grandpa's retirement gift.

Happy Easter 2013!