3 years old

max will be 3 tomorrow! to avoid confusion and so we could really celebrate his day, we kinda pretended his birthday was on saturday. we started the day with some cuddle time with his little brother.

followed by his breakfast of choice pancakes

and then opening presents from mommy, daddy, and gra

after no nap (at some point during his nap we heard him singing "i'm ready for my birthday!"), we headed to the park for his birthday party. we did a sports theme and basically the kiddos just ran around playing with balls, in the sand at the volleyball court, and on the playground. the weather was perfect for a outdoor november birthday party.

this kid loves stuffed animals and i have no idea where he got this bc his mommy is not a big fan. he now needs about 10 animals before he will go to sleep, including still beloved puppy.

LOVE LOVE LOVE his expression. he was working so hard to get that candle out!

max, you are such a joy to your daddy and me. you make us laugh with your dance moves and desire to entertain anyone who will watch. you are so well spoken and very smart. we love you!

PT

notice what's on my nearly 3 year old? that's right. big boy underwear. we started training a few weeks ago and after a few discouraging days, he now really has the hang of it. i am so proud of him and so glad to only have 1 kiddo in diapers. now to start weaning off the potty prizes!

3 months

gra is an awesome 3 month old. he is still a chunk and in the last week has started sleeping through the night (YEAH!). he is alot more smiley then max and also fights his naps alot more then his big brother did. he hates to be left alone in a room and hates having a dirty diaper.

i can't imagine our family without this cutie!

the park with pumpkins

fall. the arboretum. pumpkins. face painting. picnics. friends.

zoobilee zooe

anybody remember that show?

i for one remember it as the lamest kids show every (well that is until the wiggles came along!)

but i digress....we try to go camping every year with joey's parents but this year the camper did not cooperate. so instead we did a "staycation" and headed to the fort worth zoo for a day of fun!

"mom, where are we?"

we heard both the elephant trumpet and the lion roar!

when we went to seaworld in the spring, max would have nothing to do with the birds. but this time he loved it!

we really enjoyed the texas wild part of the zoo...even gra!

and what zoo trip would be complete without a ride on the train. thanks ana, papaw, and grammy...we had a blast!

happy halloween!

ROAR from our little dinosaurs!

we carved pumpkins at my moms house on halloween eve. here is our little owl family in our jack-o-lantern.

on halloween, we went trick or treating with our friends the mcclendons. jack and max have become great buddies so it was a fun night.

my sisters also joined us for the fun....but secretly i think they just wanted to raid max's candy!

bryan and bluebell

on our way to san antonio, we stopped in bryan and visited the other vanderveers...as always we had a fun time. max adores his cousins and we loved visiting their youth group and seeing the awesome ministry they are doing there. no pics got captured though :(

the next day we took a side trip to the bluebell factory in brenham. it was a fun little tour followed by the best ice cream in the country.

not sure what music was playing on the bluebell commercial but max had to dance to it...love this little music talent!

someone had a little too much ice cream i guess!

sea world with the stewarts

our family was in much need of a little getaway so we headed down to san antonio with our great friends, the stewarts....

the boys had a blast together!

these guys were ready for a delicious breakfast at the gunther house

max's shamu mustache

our favorite part of sea world...the dolphins!

this captures it all to me...2 great daddy friends with 2 great little buddies

the end to a great vacation...if only it had lasted about a week longer!