Despite yet another lengthy period of time without any updates, I offer you a glimpse of a bazillion pictures in the recent goings of the Volkers Clan!
Kurt and I had a night out! Big news in these parts! Kevin's brother Mike was married and clearly I chose to hang out with the life of the party, Ben, at the reception. He's a much better dancer, not to mention dresser, than my date! It was a great way to celebrate our Anniversary weekend together. It's very hard to believe that we've been married for 8 years already! Which means we've been "together" for 15 years...and that is nearly half of my life. Yikes (although, it should be noted that it is not close to half of Kurt's life as he is SOOO much older than me :~) We've more than packed in a lifetime of experiences into this time together, and now, at the end of the day when the kids are tucked in, safe and healthy, and we sit down together or hang out with our friends and neighbors, it's all so good. This is such a difficult time of year for us and being able to look around at all the blessings we have had makes it much more bearable.
Especially when Mr. Max and Ms. Avery is around! (enough sap already!)
Now that Max is in school and my new work schedule allows me to be home Mondays and Tuesdays, Aves and I have the opportunity to hang out, play, do laundry, clean bathrooms, and play some more. She's hilarious and fun to be around. This morning, while playing diligently with play-doh in the kitchen with the Backyardigans playing in the background, she ran into the other room, grabbed a blanket and started hiding under the dining room table. Wondering what was going on, I gathered to courage to ask. Turns out there was a ghost on TV, on the Backyardigans, and she was hiding from the ghost. Then she played with play-doh some more.
Avery has started "gymnastics", and I use that term very, very loosely, with Savannah. Avery is surprisingly good at gymnastics at this point. How long that will last, remains to be seen. However, she's a rock star on the balance beam and forward rolls down the wedge are nothing. She bear crawls around the gym, follows directions rather well (a
nother surprise) and will be "competing" at "competition" in December. She'll even get a medal. Savannah is having a blast as well! She's a master sommersaulter herself, and loves the trampoline!
These two together have tons of fun and are absolutely too cute.
And then of course, there's our Max.
Who learned the hard way at school that even if his friend Josh heard it from a 5th grader on the playground at lunch time and it makes them giggle, little boys will get in trouble for saying "Crusty nipple boobies" Yup, that's right, you were reading correctly, I had to talk to the principal about Max, along with a rather large group of boys from 5th grade down, mimicking another child who was saying "crusty nipple boobies". Apparently it's a fun thing for a 7 year old boy to say on the playground. Of course, Max being Max, ratted everyone out, told them all that it's "not okay to say boobies, they're called breasteses" and that "telling the truth is important because you won't get in as much trouble" and gave his principal a good chuckle. He didn't get in trouble....at school...and since Kurt was incapable of looking at him without laughing after I made him fess up at the dinner table, we had a good little chat about not doing what everyone else does. Especially if it involves saying "crusty nipple boobies".
Other than the now infamous CNB incident, Max is doing awesome in school. His reading is amazing, he has aced every single spelling test, loves math and is quite good at it, and continues to tower over the rest of his class, as he is fated to do for all times.
Next week I will post more pictures and tell the story of how Max and Avery started a neighborhood "Obama" chant. I don't know how many other families can tell the tale of their little red-headed white girl chanting Obama with a helmet on. Oh, special times. That's why mommy has grown up juice.
Basketball starts next week and he is very excited to start. He is so loving and genuine, a great big brother and a great friend. He, along with his sister and every other child in the neighborhood had a great time at Savannah's 2nd birthday party this past weekend at the Children's Museum. Avery was quite upset she could not wear her green dress that her Honey gave her because apparently Savannah has the same one and wore it on a beautiful 80 degree October day. Fortunately once she realized she could wear her "nother flower dress from Honey" she was content and beautiful if I do say so myself. Avery and her friend "little Max" had a great time sitting next to one another,
with and without their crowns! Max and Chris had too much fun in the "to the rescue" exhibit at the Children's Museum, playing Firefighters. All of the kids loved the Royal Parade of musical instruments whilst in Royal dress up clothing. From the bubbles, to the car, to the funny mirrors, a great time was had by all. And Savannah bannana made out like a bandit...as all 2 year olds do :~)
So there it is, a brief glimpse into the day to day world we live in. I gave fair warning regarding the bazillion pictures! After next week's basketball
debut, there will be more pictures to share and more stories to tell. In the meantime, I have a "master Christmass 2008" list to update, because yes, I have started to shop already. We have big halloween decisions to make yet. Avery can't decide if she wants to be a
princess or a giraffe and Max is mad because he's not allowed to be a bad guy and thinks my scarecrow idea is lame. We looking at Indiana Jones...hey Honey, still have that hat?
Sore winners....aka State fans, went so far as to parade over to the neighbors and rub in their once in a lifetime win of U of M. Sad, sad people they are. 
