Elmo is SCARY!

This is a picture of Max climbing up Mom's shoulder trying to get as far away as possible from the big, bad, scary.......ELMO!

Normally, Max LOVES Elmo.  And lately he can't get enough of watching the Elmo DVDs that cousin Koa sent him.  He brings the case or the remote up to us and uses his sign for "more" and then his sign for  "please"--and it is just too cute that there is no way we could not give in. Our TV is covered with his finger smudges because he loves to stand right up to it and point to Elmo (he knows a lot of sign language, but he refuses to learn "don't touch").  He also has these cute little Elmo slippers (thanks again to cousin Koa) that he loves to wear--in fact, sometimes they are the only thing he will wear. 

So, given all that, we thought he would be so excited to see Elmo in real life.  The little gym he goes to had an open house with a special appearance by the famous pink monster himself.  Before we got too close, Max seemed very excited.  He was pointing and making sure we saw him too.  But, the instant we came within five feet of Elmo, Max started getting really scared.  He wanted nothing to do with the life-sized scary thing.  Not even Daddy could get him to come closer.

Thankfully, the gym is big enough that Max could still have fun at the other end, jumping on the trampoline, playing basketball, and his all-time favorite---CLIMBING!

They did a fun little puppet show and Max's friend Gracie was so sweet.  She picked him up and sat him on her lap.  Too cute.

So, what do you think we did once we got home from this scary experience?  Watched an Elmo DVD of course!

Snow Fun

Snow?  Single digit temps?  Blustering blizzards?  It doesn't matter to Max--he LOVES to be outside and would stay out there all day and night if he could.  Thankfully, Max got this wonderful sled from Tio and Tia for his birthday.  He absolutely loves it, and it is a great workout for mom and dad.  

These pictures were taken on Wide Canyon Road during a recent visit to Grandma and Papa's.  The mountains were so beautiful, and there wasn't another soul around.

Max loves to stick his head out the back of the sled.  What a cutie pie!

Jauncee is also a regular snowbunny, and Max and she had a great time sledding behind Grandma's house.

Paul has become very efficient at the self-portraits over the years.  What you can't tell is that he is out of breath from starting the camera and running up the snow-packed hill to pose before the timer goes off.

I'd say we could stand a few more months of winter--so long as it doesn't get too cold.  Bring on the snow!

CHRISTMAS

What  a very merry ( and very busy) Christmas we had this year.  We headed South to the North Pole (aka Holden) to see Papa and Grandma on Christmas Eve with a car full of Christmas Joy (aka presents).  With Christmas day came several stops along Santa's route, all of which included presents and more Christmas cookies than we had milk for.  

Jeslyn and Jauncee must have been very good girls this year because Santa brought them a Wii with guitar hero and 4 DDRs.  They really made a haul!

We enjoyed a yummy Christmas Dinner at Grandma Turner's.   It was so nice to see and visit with everyone.

And Max was very preoccupied with the ornaments and lights on everyone's Christmas Tree.

But, he couldn't have cared less about any of his new toys.  All of 30 seconds went by until he decided to ditch the new loot in favor of Grandma's big metal spatula.

I think Paul and I discovered the only person Max is afraid of--he was clinging to and climbing up me just to get away from the scary man with the long white beard.

The festivities continued for the next four days in much the same way.  A good time was had by all.  Thank goodness it's over.......until next year!