HOLIDAY HIGHLIGHTS WORTH MENTIONING (CONTINUED)...
- Remember that part in yesterday's post when I mentioned my dad dressed up like The King? I wasn't kidding. I guess he wanted to ensure we had a Blue Christmas or something. To sweeten the deal, we surprised my father with a toddler Elvis costume for Max to wear alongside him for the big performance. With a brand spanking new wireless mic in hand, the dynamic duo totally showed the karaoke machine who's boss. Me thinks Christmas Elvis needs to become a tradition.
- Speaking of karaoke, my sister made all of my Christmas dreams come true when she agreed to sing Bad Blood with me. Yaaaaaaaaas! Several drinks in and a little Swifty sweet talking, I convinced the Taylor Hater (How is that possible??) to grab a microphone already and join me front and center. Something tells me payback is going to be a real...
- We visited the Washington DC Zoo and Max turned into a real animal. After taking a brief nap and waking up just in time to see the monkeys, he wiggled his way out of the stroller and walked around the place like a champ. Something tells me his freedom to run amok that day was greater than any gift under the Christmas tree. Getting Miss Independent back into his stroller is always the fun part, but we managed to make it happen with the lure of fruit snacks and FIVE adults.
- And since we're on the topic of tenacious toddlers who outsmart their elders, I should probably mention that Max snuck out of my parents' house. Gulp! As the days pass, I find the story a tad bit funnier, but I mostly want to bury my head in shame at the idea of it happening. You see, we returned home from a walk at a nearby lake. Upon our return, the guys went into the living room to imbibe and watch football while the girls opted to change into something comfy and prepare dinner. We all assumed the babe was being tended to by someone else (Whoops!) because he was quiet and peaceful. Trust me when I say that the entire house knows when Maxwell is disgruntled. With security gates in place and shut doors, what could possibly go wrong?? I guess we failed to realize that our Wild Thing had two whole weeks to case the joint. Yikes! He enjoyed being on my parents' deck and was entertained whenever our family dog, Schatz, would go outside. From time to time, I saw him mess with the door handle, but he'd only ever been a little curious with the hardware. I should have anticipated Miss Independent was ready to take the plunge and open the deck door. Gasp! We still have NO clue how long he was out there, but thank goodness for my sister who heard a crying sound and asked about Max's whereabouts. After checking with my dad and Flyboy, we all rushed to the backyard (it's fenced, thankfully!) and found Max outdoors playing with mulch and rocks. He sat there sniffling with a scratch or two on his cheek. Max has little experience going down stairs, so we imagine he took a tumble at some point. Ugh! Sharing this little anecdote makes me feel like a twit of a mother, but I'm glad it happened when we were around family. I suppose I'd gotten too comfortable with Max's current level of mischief. It was only a matter of time before our spirited fella went off to discover on his own. I'm learning that with each day he becomes smarter and faster—a wicked combination!
- Whenever our family is together, I'm terrible about documenting moments with my camera. I tried to make a conscious effort this year, but I could honestly care less about technology when I'm surrounded by so much goodness. Does anyone else feel that way?? I guess all of the little moments reside in my head and my heart and that's perfectly acceptable, even in this visual world we're living in. These images don't fully capture all that occurred in a period of three weeks, but they definitely represent little details that deserve to be documented. When the distance from family becomes too hard to bear, I need a quick mental escape from Swell Rio, or I wish to reminisce about my once tiny babe (stop growing!!), I have a handful of pictures to take me back to these wonderful moments. Colorful and charming details aside, I find the most beauty in a fuzzy family portrait in front of the Christmas tree (smother alert!), a playful image of my mom and sister doting on Max in the hallway, and an unfiltered snapshot of my dad wrangling Max as he does with great finesse.
Life is so very good.
Happy Thursday, m' dears! As always, thanks for stopping by!
