Wednesday, December 21, 2011

He found his gift in the end

As mentioned in an earlier post the Mancinos held their anual Secret Santa Gift Exchange at Thanksgiving this year and once again Marc was sent on a fun filled journey through the house and outside to find clues in order to receive his winnings. Here's a little clip of the last clue.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Santa for President

Christmas has officially hit our house.  The joke is that you can see our house from space considering how many lights we have up both inside and out.  At 2 1/2 yrs old now, Max is really starting to get it too....snowmen are everywhere, common deer are referred to as reindeer, you get the picture.  In fact, this morning we were listenting to a NPR segment about the most recent Presidential debates and it made me ask "Max, do you know who the President is?" 
He quickly answered "Yes! Santa is President."





Tuesday, November 29, 2011

There's a First Time For Everything

This year we made the journey to NJ for Thanksgiving and this was the first time the table didn't include one piece of pasta on it for Thanksgiving dinner. Shocking, I know! Since we are not headed back again to see the family for a while, we made the most of our visit and crammed as much food, gift giving and fun into our trip as possible.
 

A Delicious Deep Fried Bird


Every year we do a Secret Santa Gift Exchange and every year Marc asks for only money.  With that said, we couldn't possibly make it easy for him so he was sent out on a fun filled journey through the house and outside to find clues in order to receive his winnings! 

Richard had Marc so needless to say he did NOT make it easy for Marc. 
And to cap it all off, Max helped a bit at the end.  Pun intended.

And Here It Begins
His first clue in a frozen block of ice

This clue is clearly written on the best seat in the house

VICTORY!

Last but not least, a rare shot of all three cousins staying still for just a moment!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Eggnot


Anyone who knows me knows I love all things Christmas, not the least of which being eggnog, which I start abusing heavily around Halloween through to the New Year. So imagine my delight/suprise/horror to find that Target has introduced a new viscose diary-based holiday beverage to the season.

That's right, that glass of what appears to be a mixture of gazpacho and Pepto-Bismol is actual Target's Red Velvet Chocolate Milk, AKA "holiday milk"

So how does it taste? I have to give Target credit, this is pretty much what you would imagine a drinkable red velvet cake would taste like. But it does beg a couple a questions...Why would you want to drink a red velvet cake? And since when is red velvet cake a holiday thing? It's not like fruit cake or gingerbread men, people eat red velvet cake all year round. I've never associated it with Christmas before.

All in all an interesting diversion but a nog-killer it is not.

Monday, October 24, 2011

No animals were harmed during the making of this video

Max found a bug and the two immediately became inseparable, whether the bug liked it or not. After about ten minutes the bug was released back into the wild of our backyard somewhat shaken but relatively unharmed. And don't worry, both Max and the plate were thoroughly washed afterwards.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Their biggest fan

It's become somewhat of a tradition in our house to record Saturday Night Live and watch it together Sunday morning. Last week's musical guest was Foster the People. Their music obviously speaks to Max because both times they came on Max jumped off the couch and started dancing.




Friday, October 14, 2011

You down with OCD?

Lately Max has made a habit of taking similar objects and putting them in rows on the ground. I can't help laughing every time he does it but a part of me is convinced I'm going to be showing these pictures to his therapist one day.








Monday, September 19, 2011

Seafood Lover

A few months back for Max's 2nd birthday we asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he adamantly asked for "shimp".  "Are you sure?" we asked several times which were all followed by the answer of "Yam!" (which is a Yes for those that may not speak toddlerease).

Fast forward to last weekend after we got home from a visit with the Willis clan and were lucky enough to receive some of the freshest Dungeness crab around.  Caught just the day prior directly from Lopez Island.  Yum! 

As you will see in the clip below, Richie was all set to consume a big bowl of crab on his own when Max decided he wanted to try some too.   



Monday, August 22, 2011

Cannon Beach 2011

It is that time of year again, time for our annual Cannon Beach trip with the family...well most of the family.  For those of you that couldn't make it, you were very missed.  For the most part, the weather held out for some much need beach exploring to be done by the boys.  Max loves hanging out with Ty and Joey so much he thinks he can do everything they can do...and I mean EVERYTHING.  Here are a few shots from out trip.   

Max and Ty doing what they did best, beach combing


Wouldn't be a proper beach vacation without a yummy ice cream cone now would it



Unfortunately Max and a certain bench made contact moments after arriving



Max's first big boy swing with Ty and Joey.  He had such a smile on his face



Tuesday, June 21, 2011

That's Max on the right obviously.  But who is that on the left?  Amber or Richard? 

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Birthday Boy

He loves birds, especially owls. 

This is the look we got when we asked him why he was only biting the heads off the dinosaur cookies. Duh Mom and Dad.


Weird kid eh?  His perferred birthday dinner choice - shrimp.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Redemption

Last Fall when it was time for pictures at Max's daycare, I was positive that I had gone through every possible scenario in my head of what could have gone wrong for the photo.  Hysterical crying, red marks all over Max's face, or a ward-robe malfunction....I was ready for any of those things to happen.  But what I wasn't ready for was for ALL of those things to happen all at once.  Needless to say, the picture did NOT turn out so well.   And of course we bought them all.  Suckers. 
Fast forward to March when the second round of school pictures were taken and viola.
There you have it, a pretty good picture and some redemption. 

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Max Moving

We have captured quite a few videos over the past few months of Max dancing.  Here is the best of for your viewing pleasure. 

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Aquarium Trip

Today the family went to the Seattle Aquarium. We saw jellyfish, petted sea anemones, and even made it for feeding time. But I think this video, taken just outside the Underwater Dome, really best encapsulates the whole experience. Actually, it's pretty much a good representation of any outing with Max.


Friday, February 25, 2011

Communication

They say communication is key to any successful relationship. Let's just agree that we have yet to have a successful relationship with Max but he is sure working on it. 

Monday, February 21, 2011

Parenting is...

I remember reading somewhere that parenting is pretty much just telling your kids when they have to stop doing whatever it is they are doing and by when.  The things toddlers do usually are a combo of or one of the following three things: dangerous, annoying and/or painful.
Max loves to bite, scratch, hit, torment and laugh at anything he can get his hands on.  Our poor cat, Cayman, stays as far away from Max as he can at ALL times.  This makes cats all the more elusive to Max so when he encountered Simon over the holidays and discovered just how cool of a cat he was, Max went crazy trying to experience all that a tolerant cat has to offer. 
So a big thank you goes out to Simon, the most tolerant cat I know.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Lamenting the Gentrification of Sesame Street

Don’t get me wrong, I love Sesame Street. Always have, always will. And Max idolizes it with almost religious zeal. But today’s Sesame Street is a much different neighborhood from the one I left over 2 decades ago. Most notable is this little red upstart Elmo. Just now as I typed that Max shot me a wary sideways glance. He knew on some primal level that I was bad-mouthing Elmo and he is not pleased.


What did you say about Elmo?

Nevertheless, I will forge ahead with what I have to say and deal with the consequences later during bath time. I want to believe that Elmo (or “The Red One” as we like to call him around the house less we rile up our son by speaking his name aloud) wasn’t developed by a group behavioral scientists and child psychologists after years questionable testing on children. I want to believe that Elmo was a happy accident, created by the good people at the Children’s Television Workshop unintentionally after years of creating lovable Muppets for children everywhere. I want to believe this but The Red One’s appeal is just too great to chalk it up entirely to serendipity.

The face of oppression
 I mean, I knew Elmo was popular, but I had no idea that he had taken over the whole street. And like any occupying force he’s come in and appointed his own people to positions of power. Zoe? Abby? Who are these jokers and why do they take up such a big part of the show? Abby even gets her own supporting cast for her segment every episode. Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, Grover, the Count, Oscar the Grouch, even Big Bird…all have been reduced to background players.

These guys put the "Street" in Sesame Street

But most disheartening is the absence of Kermit the Frog. He was the heart and soul of Sesame street, the lynch pin that held the whole cast together. No small feat considering that he was moonlighting on the Muppet Show at night. Just check out this classic bit he did with Cookie Monster. Now that's funny. Nobody could play the straight man like Kermit. It’s not surprising he was the first to get the axe, forced into early retirement once The Red One took over. Now we’ve got this fool Murray as emcee of the show. Kermit the Frog he is not.

Owns a condo in Boca Raton
By now it should be as plain as the bulbous orange nose on The Red One’s furry red face what is going on…Elmo is trying to gentrify Sesame street. He’s trying to turn it into an all-monster neighborhood. Zoe, Abby, Murray...all monsters. Bert and Ernie, the Count, Prairie Dawn, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird...all non-monsters that need to move out. Cookie Monster and Grover...loyalists to the old regime who must be supressed. The only one to cross over was Telly, who saw the writing on the wall and got in good with The Red One early on


Be afraid
 Sesame Street used to be more urban, more gritty, it's inhabitants more diverse and sometimes even a little scary. (Remember this creepy little cartoon?) They were like orginal Star Wars trilogy compared to the new ones. Anything could happen back then, you never knew what next segment would bring. A cartoon? A song? The letter C? Today's Sesame Street is completely regimented. You know exactly what's coming up, and just in case you forget you've got that idiot Murray telling you every five minutes.

You are no Kermit dude


Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Buggin'

Once upon a time Richard let Max play with one of his toys.
Richard realized that Max's version of playing wasn't the same as his.
Then Richard thought twice before letting Max play with one of his toys again.
The End




Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Origin Stories Continue

When we were in New Jersey for Christmas, Joy and Tom debuted Gavin's Origin Story.  It was fantabulous! Here is it and keep an eye out for the special guest appearance by Romolo.
 

Monday, January 24, 2011

Better Late Than Never



Here is our very tardy holiday card. A day in the life if you will. We really can't take any credit for the creativity behind this card. Ama was the one who came up with the brilliant idea. We just tweaked it a bit and made it Max centric.


 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Dance Your Pants Off


Even though Romolo and Max met for the first time last year, it was as if they were meeting all over again this holiday while we were in New Jersey.  When Max wasn't hitting Romolo, pulling him down to the ground or crying with every little touch Romolo gave him, they actually kind of played independently together.  

In this video, I'm not exactly sure why both boys aren't wearing pants, but one might guess it was either from a fight after a diaper change or just maybe because they were dancing their pants right off.  Max definitely gets his moves from his Dad, no doubt about it.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Splish Splash

For New Year's this year we headed up to Suncadia for some tubing, sleding, ice skating and relaxation with the fam.  Max didn't get to do much of the snow activities but he did get to experience two of his favorite things together at once...a bath and a cat. 
Emily's cat, Simon, is the most tolerant and weirdest cat I have ever met and you will see in this video exactly what I mean. 
I think Emily stated it best when I told her how unusual Simon was and she said, "Have I ever had normal cats?"  The obvious answer is - NO!