shout hooray

Thomas officially left his twenties in the dust in June. We did some serious partying. Unfortunately, the photo documentation of said partying is limited. He did get this trifle which he'd been asking me to make for months.

We also celebrated Annie's half birthday in June. Since she's pretty much a Christmas baby, we do birthday presents on the half. She was a little excited about her present this year.

All she'd been asking for were hot dog sticks (random), but we decided to make a fire pit to accompany her objects of desire.

Maxwell and Mom were big fans as well. Check out the grip Max has on that fork! I love his face in this picture, because we managed to capture how he looks almost all the time. He's the happiest little cheeseball in town.

whiskas

Since Thomas hasn't been able to work for a couple of weeks, he thought this would be a perfect opportunity to fulfill one of his lifelong dreams; growing a beard.

He decided to shave. What do you think of the different looks?

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Hello Glenn circa 1987!

Let the Tom Thumb Jokes Begin!

Last Saturday (the 1st), Thomas decided to run a threshold through the joiner at his shop. His tender little thumb slipped into the churning blades and he landed himself in the ER then the OR with a joint that is MIA. That's right, the whole middle joint is in the pile of sawdust in his shop. So he won't be able to bend it anymore, but they reattached the tip to the base and hoped it would take.

Pain killers made him a little too loopy for life, so he discontinued those after a few days.

Here's the cast he had for the first while.

Yesterday, the gory wound was revealed. Dr. Larson was SUPER happy with how well the tip attached. We give credit to excellent blood flow and a wonderful Priesthood blessing.

Stitches (or sewing according to Annie) come out Wednesday. They'll also do an x-ray then to see how the bones are lining up and fusing. The hooks will be there for 8-10 weeks, but Tom doesn't mind having a built in bottle opener.

This was out of nowhere

Maxwell's milestones seem to be instantaneous. Either that or I'm just a very inattentive parent. For instance, a few weeks ago he just started sitting up. He never went through the tipsy or slouchy stage. He just sat up one day like a pro.

This new trick was the same. We were getting ready to leave my parents' house, and he just started playing his favorite game. Surprise! Now he wants to play all the time. He even yanks on the collar of his shirt to try and cover his face. It's pretty stinkin' cute!

Max's mechanic

Annie slid herself under Max's walker the other day and announced, "I figured out the problem! The motor's rotten."

Seriously Overdue

So I finally got around to emptying off the camera, and I'm alarmed at all the catch up I need to do. So here's a start...

We decided to make a quick trip to Washington so Thomas Maxwell could meet his namesake. Grandpa Mounts seemed to like meeting the little man too.

Annie liked these pink fish at Pikes Market.

And Grandma Mounts helped her make apple juice.

We went to the Aquarium in Seattle. The touch pools were amazing. I think I enjoyed it as much as Annie.

Maxwell liked the bright colors . . .

and he made a new friend.

I was seriously terrified of the drive with thing one and thing two. But they were the best kids any mom could ask for. They traveled phenomenally! Maxwell complained a little, but never even cried. Maybe he was just excited to meet Grandma and Grandpa Mounts?

When ya gotta go . . .

Annie started singing her favorite Christmas song ("When Christmas Comes to Town" from the Polar Express), but it was sped up due to natural causes. She also added some suspicious choreography.