Talia talking

Rock Band

With B.D. on vocals, Max on drums, Joe on bass and Bre on guitar, the Giove/Dalton clan formed their own rock band competing with the likes of Metallica and Nirvana...rock on!

Christmas

Santa read Max's note....

and brought Max a choo choo train for Christmas!!

White Christmas

As many of you have probably heard, the Pacific Northwest has had a dumping of snow over the last week...it's beautiful but has thrown a wrench on several of our plans to get together with family and friends.

Snow Angels

Max had a great time learning to sled with Papa and make snow angels...enjoy the video!

Christmas Eve

We had so much fun on Christmas Eve...preparing for the White Elephant gift exchange, Talia having her first meal in the high chair, and getting ready for Santa's arrival.

Christmas Tree excursion

The family braved the weather to join Max on an excursion to find the perfect Christmas tree....and after only 5 minutes outside, he found it!!

Talia and Dalton...growing like weeds??

Abuelo is in heaven

Max and the Bisabuelas

Max had a good time entertaining the Bisabuelas, reminding them of the joys of having a 3 year old around to run you ragged!!

Gift Exchange, Sloan Family, take 2

The Sloan/Campbell clan got together for a night of fun and Christmas cheer...resulting in some very strange kung-fu dance by the adults and much milder smiles from the kids.

Train with the Grandmas

Max, the train engineer, has his bis abuelas (great grandmothers) wrapped around his little finger. He even got them to make "tickets" to get onto the train and asked them where they wanted to go.

Visit with Rachel and Omi

On Tuesday we met Rachel (Roberts) Dibble and her daughter Omi in Centralia for lunch. Rachel used to babysit Dan, Erik and I when we were little, and it had been ages since I'd seen her. She and her husband, Tim, had just returned from running the Las Vegas marathon where they joined nearly 40 other couples at the 5 mile mark to renew their wedding vows....take a look at the pictures of the famous people I know (in pictures 12 and 14) http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2008/dec/07/las-vegas-marathon/

We had a really nice lunch and Omi is a beautiful and charming little girl, Max was looking up to her by the end of our short visit!

Bliss.....free birthday entertainment

Ah, to be 3 years old...after his fabulous dinosaur party on Sunday night, I asked Max what he wanted to do on his birthday and he said "drive the car at the supermercado". (note the UK punctuation, I am SO British!!) So being the wonderful, giving mother I am, I took my son to Safeway grocery store so he could ride in the small car attached to the shopping cart. And in true ghetto-style I pushed him through the store with Grandma and Talia in tow for 10 minutes, then we left without buying anything!
Maybe next year he'll be lucky enough to get to watch someone else order teppenyaki at the japanese restaurant!
Dont' worry...pictures to follow!

Las Pirates

Fort Steilacoom

Several years ago OB (B.D.'s dad) helped build a park with his Kiwanis club...so we thought a visit there would give Max some much-needed exercise. ...looks like we all became kids at the park!

Starbucks with Mama

We had been in Washington for two whole days and I hadn't had Starbucks yet...so off I drug the kids. Max had 3/4 of an apple fritter which he thought was chocolate...wonder if I can fool him later into thinking tofu is chocolate if it's cooked with soy sauce? A lady sitting at the next table over came up to me on her way out and said "your children are beautiful" - I love Tacoma!!

Haircut

I found a cool Kids Kuts store where Max got to sit on a turtle and watch DVDs while getting his hair cut, too fun! I still think his favorite part was the lollipop the lady gave him when he was done!

Max is 3 Years Old!!

Max's Abuela and Abuelo threw him a gala birthday party the night before his big day, which Max graciously shared with our friend Jay Peterson. The dinosaur-themed evening was a huge success with the birthday boys who were treated to Max's favorite dinner of macaroni and cheese, ham and fruit...topped with a huge dinosaur cake! It's hard to believe our little boy is 3 years old already...Happy Birthday, Max!!

More pictures of the kiddos and family

Camping at the Abuelos

Max has been having such a great time at the Abuelos, especially naptime/nighttime in his tent! He has even told me a couple of times that he is ready for a rest in the middle of the day, I'm chalking it all up to the tent....maybe we should have one of these in his room?!

He has also created the largest dinosaur kingdom ever thanks to his Tia Bre and her bag full of dinosaurs.

Portraits

Max, Talia and Dalton had an outing to Babies R Us for some portraits...aren't they the cutest kids ever (I'm not biased, really!!).