We've been...

building family room forts and hanging in them for several hours. I love doing this with the kids! Next time I need to make it a little bigger, though, because they insist on me sitting in there with them the whole time. Let's just say I can't fit into tight spaces very well these days (see pictures below).

building incredibly tall, complex block towers. Well, Ty has been anyway. Let's be honest - even though we gave these blocks to Max for his 1st birthday, they were really for Tyler. The goal this time was to make it as tall as me...

mission accomplished!

checking out the salmon swimming upstream (no, not at midnight as it appears in the pictures...t'was a Sunday evening about dusk). If you want to see this phenomenon yourself you'll either have to Google it (since our video didn't turn out due to the darkness) or come and visit in early November! It's pretty amazing; I got tired just watching them. We stood at a spot in the river where there was a bit of a "step" for them to swim up. It took a few of them several tries. We cheered them on, though, and eventually they all made it. It made me think of my marathon and also about the upcoming labor and delivery of this little man growing inside of me. I totally know how you feel, little fish! I'm just glad my 'reward' for such hard work isn't death on the river banks.

saying things Mom wants to record (Maxwell T):

Max: Is it sad that a drink of root beer washes out the taste of the pizza and the taste of the grapes? (I know, super healthy dinner...but, hey, I threw in some grapes!)

Me: Is it sad to you?

Max: Well, yeah, it seems sad. I think so.

And we've reached the end of an era (11/2/09). Max has always pronounced restaurant "restaur-not" and I have always loved it. The other day we were driving and he asked what one building was. I replied that it was some type of restaurant. He paused for a minute and then asked, "Mom, how do you say restaur-not?" I cringed and tried to pretend I didn't hear because I knew that once I told him that would be it - the end of restaur-not. The little man persisted, though, and I finally answered with a sigh, "Restaurant." "Oh!" responds Max. For the next two minutes he quietly said it over and over until it was ingrained. I don’t imagine we’ll ever hear his cute voice utter the word restaur-not again. Such a sad day. And that is precisely why I will call cheese tortillas 'cookietillas' and respond, "Otay!" to Kelly for as long as I can.

squeezing hands while driving to watch the salmon (Nov. 8th) as we realized it was the 5-year anniversary of Ty's very romantic marriage proposal...and my acceptance, of course. Reminiscing and kissing followed.