ain't THAT the truth

"i want my hair cut to here 

{insert max pointing to a specific length on the back of her neck},

but long in the front so i can put it behind my ears and not have hair get in my face."

{i kid you not...she was THAT specific.

because after 6 months of asking to cut her locks, 

the girl had plenty of time to really think about what she wanted. 

i loved that she knew just exactly what she wanted...life skill my friends.

LIFE skill.}

...

meet amanda.

we both had our boys enrolled in the ever glorious 

first time mom heaven 

known as gymboree:)

not the clothing gymboree.

oh no,

i'm talking about the money sucking learn and play class gymboree.

i was pregnant with maxine...

or maybe it was just before that.

whichever.

so there we were with our about one year old boys,

letting them climb all over the gymboree foam climbing equipment,

with the best bubbles known to man on planet earth,

and it was friends at first sight.

we'd hit the zoo, the children's museum, gymboree, and the aquarium all in one week.

then we mamas would meet up for frozen yogurt once the babes were snug in their beds at night and talk about our favorite shows on tv, our big dreams for life, and traumatic childhood shaping experiences. stuff like that.

SUCH a fun time in my early mothering days,

where everyday was get up and play in the morning with our friends,

come home to a perfectly clean house, 

feed my ONE child without opinions a healthy and delicious lunch,

shower without interruption EVERY SINGLE DAY,

feed myself lunch AND dessert,

watch 5 million shows i recorded on my VHS tapes,

{oh how i miss THE HILLS!!!!!},

and have my ONE babe wake up from his nap, 

just in time for sean to walk in the door home from school...

at which point he would scoop brennan up to play outside,

while i would make dinner WITHOUT interruption.

geez, i remember when all of that seemed hard!

soooooo anyway, back to reality...

here we are 7 years later still getting together with our kiddos,

except now we are yelling at the boys to stop spraying the girls with the super soakers,

telling them a THOUSAND times that no, they cannot play any more video games today,

all while bouncing new babes on our hips the entire time.

there ain't NOTHING like a best friend:)

but my favorite part of the entire day,

was a private little conversation max had with amanda while she was cutting her hair,

{lord knows i can't take 4 kids to the hair salon,

and good gracious, thank goodness she brought the salon to us...

at the pool...oh yeah. that's love.}

so, like i was about to tell you,

while she cutting max's hair on the grass,

and i was rocking the babes and watcing the boys swim under the shade of the giant weed tree,

the following conversation between max and her hairstylist amanda occurred...

max: "my mom says i can cut my hair however i want."

amanda: "oh yeah?"

max: "yep, but i can't get ANY tattoos."

and THAT my friends is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

{insert laughing/crying/monkey covering the face emoji here}

{because when amanda told me about it after, 

i don't think we've ever laughed so hard together ever.

but really though.}

because a girl can only be as honest as she is with her hairstylist,

while she's getting her locks cut.

ain't THAT the truth.

and that's a wrap folks!

god bless amanda.

and god bless gymboree.

we thank you for taking all of our money,

so we could meet and be friends.

but REALLY though!

heaven sent.

the end.

2 more sleeps.

just keep swimming.

just keep swimming.

just keep swimming.

...

also,

max graduated from pre-k today.

she was beaming.

god bless miss monica.

i don't think max will ever take off the friendship bracelet she made for her.

i did that once with a necklace a boy made me at sleep away summer camp.

we smooched in the bushes.

just on the lips.

i'm pretty sure our camp counselor and all of the other kids watched.

and made fun of us for it for the rest of camp.

sleep away camp was THE BEST!

and not just for the smooching in the bushes in the hundred degree heat.

the waterskiing and the horseback riding were my favorite.

by the end of the 2 weeks i was doing all of the horse vaulting where you stand up on the horse's back and ride around all fancy.

i had this green trunk i brought.

and we slept on bunk beds.

and we put on the little shop of horrors play the very last night.

i played the bag lady and sang the opening song.

top 5 of my favorite childhood memories was that 2 weeks at sleep away camp.

man oh man,

i literally wore that yarn necklace that gave made for me around my neck for the ENTIRE year of 6th grade.

seems pretty gross now,

but it was beyond awesome back then:)

and then i deemed a song from the forest gump soundtrack "our song".

the one that went like "sugar pie honey bunch, you know that i LOVE YOU! i can't help myself, i love you and nooooobody else {dun dun DUN DUN}."

do you know it?

he was my fake boyfriend that entire year of my first year of middle school.

back when there was no facebook or instagram to connect you to people.

those were the days.

the good old days!

i've officially become that lady who tells her kids about the good ol' days.

heavens!

my favorite part of the whole thing was when they did a little number with the charleston in it.

every time the chorus part came around, they bent down and did their little charleston moves.

nobody does a Charleston like max.

TOP NOTCH and dead on the beat every time.

who knew?!

at least it's not barbie

cinderella who?

also, here favorite color is blue.

when it's not pink that is.

i should have bought flowers. DOH.

never was there ever

a girl so fun as this.

she had specific hair and makeup specifications.

doll.

that's what i kept thinking.

then she sat through each dance at the recital,

star struck as usual by the ballerinas on pointe.

and when her dance was all over the one thing she wanted to know was where were her flowers anyway???

but in a sweet unassuming way.

like i felt badly i hadn't because she was so sweet about it.

i made up something about how that's only for the end of the year ones,

and then of course about five dancers walked past us with boquets in their arms

and max looked up at me like,

"uhhh mom, what were you saying???"

mmmmhmmmmm yep.

it was awesome.

i changed the subject to could she tell me what the words were again to let it go or something like that,

and then we went out for mexican food with all of our friends and family that were there.

cause ya know, i haven't heard that song enough times to know the words myself.

wait....

marvelous max {the girl who doesn't TURN OFF.}

she doesn't turn off.

send reinforcements.

i totally took brennan and his tv watching for granted.

this is also something i've always loved about max. that she's never been too interested.

but mostly that's b/c she doesn't like it, 

and i just love that i don't ever feel that awful guilty mother feeling 

about my child watching days of television like i ALWAYS felt with brennan, 

because when she does watch it, i know she's not going to over do it. 

and so it's just this fun little 5 minute thing. 

and i love her for that.

but every once in awhile, i would go without sleep and water for 3 days straight,

JUST to have her turn off for one full length movie.

just one.

i will always remember this about max.

my puzzle doing,

playing toys,

book reading,

baby wipe stealing {for barbie bed sheets--which i find all over the house},

bathroom flooding,

coffee table "bed making,"

chess pieces all over the house,

activity bin diver

MAX.

also,

i will remember to do afternoon kindergarten next year.

as that will be the best thing for this little miss max;)

{above--first day of preschool: just when i think i have little miss max figured out,

she hopped out of the car without a single tear for her first day of Pre-K. 

this was a downright christmas miracle in august, and i was just so very proud!}

{studying her scriptures with me--be still my soul.}

{ariel the snail. she told me HE was going to live in her room. when i told her he needed to sleep on the back porch, she put him outside, washed her hands, and then checked on HIM for an hour straight to make sure HE was safe and still there. then she forgot about ariel and hasn't looked for him since. i'm still holding my breath for when she realizes he's gone.}

{he really was the cutest little baby snail.}

{her "hearing aids like cassie." cade's older sister cassie is deaf and wears hearing implants. 

she and max sit next to each other every day on the way home from carpool pick up in the afternoons. one day she put my hair clips on each side of her head, right where cassie's implants go, and told me she could hear me better now with her hearing implants "JUST like cassie." my heart has never been so full as it was in the moment, except maybe it was more full when cassie was BEAMING the next day, telling me her mom told her that max was wearing implants to be JUST like her. that pretty much topped my cake with every topping known to man. 

for sure THE PEAK of my day two days in a row.}

{note: baby wipes=barbie or any doll blankets.}

{i've had to limit her to a 5 a day ration folks, but let's be honest,

as long as she's happy, i'm all "who's counting anyway."} 

oh max,

i love you SO SO SO very much.

especially how you want to do everything with me all day long.

at my heels with every step.

i'm really going to miss that when this phase is gone and over.

and i'm just so glad that i took the time to sit down and remember that today.

because i was having a hard time remembering before just now.

that i will MISS these things about you someday.

xoxo,

MOM.

the girl who ended up liking soccer.

she wants to know when her next game is.

i told her fall.

she said that's too long.

who knew?

so proud of my elbow throwing, pink sock and bow wearing max.

gold jumpsuit STAT.

in the words of the great britt swensen clark:

"OMG I MUST have that gold jumpsuit 

in my wardrobe ASAP!"

amen britt. a-to-the-men.

mostly, she just likes the outfit.

max's first soccer game was basically this:)

crying on the sidelines scared to death to step foot on the field.

and then holding daddy's hand to go in for a few minutes here and there,

sobbing the entire time while she made a valiant effort to chase the ball around the field.

sobbing.

it was actually really funny.

sad for her.

funny for us.

mostly,

she just wanted to wear the pink socks and soccer shoes i think.

just like her mama;)

i always loved dressing up for the part,

but when it came time to do it,

i'd really rather just look cute in the outfit!

ain't no shame max,

ain't no shame!

better luck on saturday?

we shall see.

better than 20/20

tall and skinny,

better than 20/20,

and draws like a 6 yr old.

cha cha cha

doesn't it just 

make you 

want 

to 

be 

4? 

cha cha cha.

if you're ever going to throw a Tangled party...{max turns 4}

linsey showed up at my house at 10:08am 

and started braiding 

9 yellow yarn rapunzel braids,

while i made gift baggies 

and a pinata on my kitchen counter.

i give you,

max's 4 year old Rapunzel party.

thank you pinterest:)

my favorite decoration:

rapunzel's hair sweeping through 

the front door and into the party.

i left it up for three days i loved it so much.

5 yellow rectangle table cloths tied together.

things to know about the braids:

it took 2 things of yarn to create,

and about 3 hours to braid them.

after the 2 hours it took to get them cut apart and separated in the thickness that i wanted.

thank you linsey.

you are a braiding goddess.

when the little party princesses arrived the first thing they did was decorate 

the braids with flowers i took off of different leis from zurchers,

and old plastic jewels in my craft box from the basement.

sean and i were armed with hot glue guns rotating around that table for a good half an hour.

then came the moment where we put all of the hats on,

and

the

hats

all

fell

off

the backs of their heads.

and all of the girls were crying/whining/frowning about their hats falling off 

{b/c the braids were so heavy}

and i thought to myself,

"i should have listened to that girl on pinterest that used hair clips."

i was bound and determined to make these braided hats work 

after all of the hours spent in making them,

so we fancied up a good way to put the hats on sideways, 

with one strap behind an ear,

and the other in front and off to the side,

and taught the girls how to hold their heads just right so they wouldn't fall off,

and vwallah, problem solved:)

go us.

okay, not really, but it worked ok for at least half of the party.

the other half of the party the decorated braided party hats stacked up together on the banister.

still my favorite party favor i've ever sent home with kids.

I WANTED

one:)

and the girls LOVED decorating them.

my homemade pinata:

one old ALL detergent box.

covered in regular printer paper,

and pictures of flynn rider i found online through pinterest:)

took me 5 minutes and a $5 bag of tangled candy from walmart.

HUGE HIT.

literally.

with a frying pan.

hahahaha!!!!!! 

 below: TYING UP FLYNN

the girls laughed SOOOO HARD through this part.

tying up FLYNN with rapunzel's hair.

OH MY

it was hysterical!!!

i had 3 rolls of yellow crate paper,

and each girl took turns going around 4 times.

by the end we had multiple girls with crate paper going around at a time.

FLYNN was such a good sport;)

at the end the girls counted down and then "flynn" broke out of the hair.

again,

hysterical.

THE SMOLDER: 

painting:

i traced the sun before hand on canvasses i bought from walmart.

3 pack canvasses were $3ish each.

i also bought a massive pack of paintbrushes of all sizes.

pin the nose on Flynn Rider:

free coloring page online that i had blown up 

at office max for about $4.

colored the noses and cut them out from a website i found on...

wait for it...

wait for it...

ok you guessed it.

pinterest:)

photo booth:

for our party guests as they were leaving.

complete with flynn's nose to hold up over their own.

party favors:

rapunzel cups with water color paints inside.

'cause ya know,

it's Rapuzel's AND Max's favorite thing on the planet to do!

pinterest is just 

so 

SO

clever.

i found her passed out on the couch at 6:15pm.

that's what i call a success!

and that's when i decided 

that you only get one awesome themed party in the gibson home.

and it's when you're 4.

because it's magical,

and they love and adore it.

after that,

we are farming them out;)