Grandpa's bday

This past weekend we headed out to Stockton to celebrate my dad's bday (his bday was March 14th). My sister and I shared in BBQ dinner duties, and I also baked a German Chocolate cake for my dad. German Chocolate cake is a family fav of ours!

Besides getting to spend time with the fam, Max had a few milestones of his own. He climbed out of the playpen on Saturday night about three times before finally falling asleep (and once again in the morning, managing to bump his head on the wall...oops!). Crib tent is on it's way!

Max also had quite the explosion of words this weekend, pretty much repeating whatever we say! These words included please (he always signed it, but now he signs and says it), Grandma, Grandpa, Max, water, welcome, love you, and alot of other words I can't remember. Today he said "rice" at lunch while eating it, and "Elmo" when he was reading an Elmo book. I am just amazed at how much he is picking up and I LOVE that he is saying "please" and "thank you" when asking for something. It's darn cute and hard to say no to him.

Here's some pics of Grandpa and Max with the bday cake...

March gives us some sunshine

Well if you are reading this now, that sunshine is long gone. But weekend before last, the weather was awesome. What was also awesome is that Max's YiYi and Nai Nai came up to visit and enjoy it with us!

We headed out to Vasona Park on Saturday to check out the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad where Max got to have his first mini train ride. If you decide to take your little one, get there early and be one of the first in line so you won't have a crazy toddler pointing to a train he couldn't ride (and now had to wait for it to come back) because we missed the first one...just sayin, plan accordingly!

Sunday brought even warmer weather, so we headed out to Coyote Point Park. What an amazing play area that had! And to top it all off, you can walk right over to the water to watch the planes land at SFO. Max is a little obsessed with airplanes right now, so it was a perfect spot. I imagine us coming back time and again.

Max had such a great time with his YiYi and Nai Nai! All he did was ask for them from the time he was awake until the time he went to sleep. It so great to see Max get to spend this kind of time with his grandparents :)

Why take the slide?

YiYi helps Max get ready to go down the slide

While Nai Nai greets Max on the other end

That was fun!

Like...REALLY fun!

YiYi & Daddy watch Max play

YiYi, Nai Nai, & Max get ready to watch the planes

Watching the airplanes land

Max was tired, so everyone took a seat 

YiYi keeps Max warm as the wind picks up

What a great day!

Holy smokes Batman

I just noticed in my last three posts, Max is wearing his batman shirt. Somehow, when I'm filming, THIS shirt seems to make an appearance. I swear, the boy has other clothes. :)

Don't steal my snack!

Full house

Last Sunday, Erin & Ben as well as the Paulsons swung by to hang out.  We had quite the full house and it was fun to see all these kiddos together. Ruby & Charlotte were so cute! I mean...they always are so cute. The highlight of the night though was the Max & Henry show - these two guys were giving us a preview of what it is going to be like as they grow up!

So fun to have impromptu nights like these :)

Catching up 

Henry giving some love to his sis

Henry having a PBJ & snacks

Me holding...Charlotte? Notice she's clinging to my shirt! :)

Brett with Henry and....Ruby? :)

Leon helps Hank & Max read a book

And then....here is the Hank & Max show. They were cracking us up! Although, as Brett mentioned, they may have been good birth control for Erin & Ben. I love how they are saying "Hiiiiiiiiii!!!" to each other and copying one another. These boys...luv 'em! :)

Evan's 3rd bday - Pump pump pump it up!

Last weekend we got to spend the morning at Pump It Up celebrating Evan's 3rd birthday. Last year we went to a similar type party for another kiddo, but Max wasn't old enough to join the others in the bouncy houses. This time was totally different and Max enjoyed every minute of it.

Happy bday Evan and thanks for having us be part of your day!

Max & Daddy

Max having fun shooting hoops

Andrew plays with his Dad Jimmy watching

Attempt at a group picture...Max wasn't interested in that 

Evan the bday boy

Family blessing

About 10 days ago, my niece finally got her liver transplant...from her Aunt (my sis)! We are just so relieved that this day has come and everything went really smoothly. They are both at home recovering now. What an amazing sacrifice and gift my sister has given to Marissa, and how lucky we are that she was a match!

First trip to the zoo

The last day Yi Yi & Nai Nai came to visit, we decided to head up to the SF zoo. It was super chilly that day, but it was still nice to have the zoo  less crowded so we could make our way through most of the exhibits without waiting. Max was such a good boy and stayed strapped down in his stroller with minor complaining.

Out of all the things that were his favorite, I would have to say it was the ducks! Go figure...lol. The highlight was the children's petting zoo part. Max loved watching the ducks and feeding the goats. It was all over though once he found a pile of duck poop..I'll spare you the details.

Max plays with Yi Yi before we head out

Family photo

Max is mesmerized by the Rhino

Rhinoceros!

Sleepy lion

Lounging lemurs

Giraffes & friends

This owl was HUGE. You can't tell from the pic, but around 3 ft. tall!

Max trying to point to all the ducks at once

Hi there!

Max loves his Nai Nai & Yi Yi

Christmas afternoon

Christmas afternoon was spent getting our tummies full and opening gifts. It was so nice to have all the fam over to celebrate and watch Max run around in wonder at what was going on.

Hope all of you enjoyed your holidays as well!

Leon holding our new great niece Arianna 

Arianna - such a cutie!!!

My nephew Anthony, his wife Jonna, & my niece Marissa 

My sis Nga playing with Tank

L2R: John, Hong, Johnathon, Marissa, Jonna, Arianna, & Anthony

Jonna, Leon, Arianna, me, Nga, Anthony 

The Grandparents: Ann, Frank, Jim, Lan

Christmas morning

Christmas morning was a whirlwind. Since we were hosting, I spent most of it cooking. But we took time out for Max to enjoy his Santa present and open stockings!

Santa brought me a new iPod nano and other cool stuff. Max got a new table & chair set just his size and has been pretty happy with it since.

Max was pretty excited with his Santa present

Proud to have his own place to sit

Demonstrating

Stocking time 

Playing with his stocking stuffers as YiYi & NaiNai watch

Max, YiYi, & Tank chill out

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

Many of you may know that I go a little bonkers with baking during christmas season. Cookies and more cookies galore to give away to friends and fam.

Well a certain Mr. Max was a wee bit taller than I thought and managed to get a hand on one of my cooling sugar cookies. When Leon and I asked him about it, he shrugged his shoulders, said "Uh-Oh" and "Mmmmm!!!" before smiling and running  off with the thing. With his first taste of a cookie (well not taste...an ENTIRE cookie), Max stayed up nearly an hour that night before he conked out in his crib! Thank goodness it wasn't a frosted one :)

Got caught!

Do not let a crumb of this goodness go to waste!

SO GOOOOD! :)