Christmas Card Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago I took Max to the Opryland Hotel in hopes of getting a great picture for our Christmas card. The hotel is gorgeous and has everything from restaurants and shops to botanical gardens and waterfalls. It is also decorated beautifully at Christmas. With so much to explore, Max had no interest in having his picture taken much less look at the camera on command. In the hour that we were there I took 99 pictures and settled on one for the Christmas card. Here are some of the other pictures that I took. Lots of profile shots.......

Mesmerized by the waterfall.

Runner up for the Christmas card- love his curls! This one ended up on the Christmas card.

I have no idea what this face is all about!

First taste of a candy cane. Yes I did resort to candy.

Totally loving the candy cane. Still not looking at the camera.

So appetizing....

Candy cane #2. (Yes, #2)

Good use of those molars!

Taking in the scenery from the walkway above the botanical gardens.

Breakfast with Santa

Last Saturday our neighborhood hosted a Breakfast with Santa for all the children in the neighborhood. I thought for sure Max would be interested in Santa. I was wrong. Maybe next year!

Gobble, Gobble!

Thanksgiving was another whirlwind weekend in Cincinnati! We packed so much into our four day visit, including the UC football game with my brothers and dad. Go Bearcats! We are so thankful that we got to spend quality time with both sets of parents and siblings. We were also able to see a lot of our extended families. Since moving to Nashville, it is much harder to get together with our aunts, uncles and cousins. Max loved saying "Hi!" to everyone and showing off all his tricks. Unfortunately I got so caught up in visiting that I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few highlights.

Grammy and Max

Playing Grammy's piano

Aunt Liz and Chloe

Uncle Daniel and Max

The Drake siblings with Max

I had to include this picture.

For many months now Max has loved the kitchen drawer where I keep the Tupperware. A few weeks ago he discovered a particularly wonderful piece of Tupperware that fits perfectly over his head. He puts it on his head and goes about his business. Jeff and I have affectionately nicknamed him "Buckethead."

A Week in Ohio

Last Sunday Max and I flew to Columbus. I was a bit nervous about flying with Max by myself again because our last flight was quite disastrous. So I prepared for the flight with plenty of books, toys, snacks and Backyardigans videos on the iPod. However, a small miracle happened on that flight. Max fell asleep in my arms just after take off and he stayed asleep through the landing. What was I worried about? Our seven days in Ohio were packed with visits with family and friends. My aunt and uncle, Joanie and John, were in town from Seattle. It was such a treat to spend time with them. Max loved getting to know them and I'm convinced that he learned to say, "Hi, John" even though "John" sounds more like "gah!" We also managed to fit in visits with Great Grandma Mary, my childhood friends, Jenna and Ben, and their families and my good friend Kate (I'm so mad that I don't have pictures from our visits with Jenna, Ben and Kate!). We also spent a night in Cincinnati at my Aunt Judy's house. Whew! We fit a lot into one week! Jeff drove up to Cincinnati at the end of the week and we spent the rest of our trip at his parents' house. Max had a great visit with his grandparents, aunts and uncles. Max loved playing with his cousin, Chloe, and we all got to ooh and aah over baby Meghan who was born in September. We will be back in Cincinnati for the Thanksgiving weekend and look forward to visiting with more family!

Swinging at the playground in my parents' neighborhood.

Max+Swing=Happiness

Enjoying a sunny afternoon.

Look at all of those teeth!

Running in the fall sun.

Visit with Great Grandma.

(He takes his age very seriously.)

Family picture at Judy's house.

Max with John and Joanie.

Papa, Max, Me, Nana, Joanie

Playing outside at Jeff's parents' house.

Playing football with Daddy and Grampy.

Checking out Uncle Kirk's motorcycle.

I'm hoping this didn't give him any ideas!

The Banta Family

Lisa, Meghan, Kirk, Chloe, Jeff, Max, Grammy, Grampy, Neil, Liz

Notice the joy on the faces of the grandchildren!

Roar!

Max was a lion this year for Halloween. We took him around to about 5 houses. He didn't understand what was happening, but seemed pretty content to be riding around in his wagon even though it was completely dark. You'll notice in the first few pictures his cheeks look full. That's because they are full of pizza that he refused to chew and swallow :)

All ready to go trick-or-treating.

Practicing putting candy in his pumpkin.

Playing in the candy bowl.

Caught in the act.

What are we doing?

Checking out the loot.

Here are a few pictures of Max playing outside this weekend.

Trip to the Fire Station

In honor of Fire Safety Month, I organized an outing for our playgroup to a local fire station. The kids were a little timid at first, but the fire fighters were very friendly and it didn't take long for them to start climbing all over the fire trucks and asking the fire fighters lots of questions.

Max let one of the firemen pick him up and put him on a seat in the rescue truck. I really cannot believe that Max is big enough to do this stuff! He looks so little sitting up there, but also so grownup!

Max was all over the place. He loved exploring the fire station. I took tons of pictures, but most of them came out blurry because Max didn't stand still for very long!

So proud of himself!

Our attempt at taking a group photo.