happy halloween...

happy halloween from the hicks family...

trick or treat...

we headed over to the stachowiaks' house for trick-or-treating on halloween.

max was too excited to stay still for a picture with grama.

this little giraffe was ready to go. he wasn't sure where...but he was going to go somewhere.

we did a little walking around while waiting for uncle ryan, aunt leslie, and hayden to arrive.

max checked out the neighbor's pumpkins with hannah the pirate.

max scored a sucker and was really enjoying it.

(this may be one of my new favorite pictures!)

posing for daddy.

teddy the vampire and drew.

max the giraffe and hayden the little army man.

gathering the loot...for their parents to enjoy! :)

he was just too cute!

the wild giraffe took some time to feed in the wild...ha ha ha!

the boys were doing some trick-or-treating with their mommies.

after trick-or-treating was no longer fun or interesting...we headed back to the stachowiaks' to celebrate uncle denny's birthday.

diane created this cheese goblin!

he was yummy!

max helped grama hand candy out the the kids who came to the door.

he did a great job!

a quick self-portrait to end our night!

new backyard friends...

over the past few days i've seen quite a few of critters in our backyard.
it makes me want to pick up a bird feeder or two.
makes loves "peep-peeps"(birds) and i'm sure he'd love to watch them from the window.

robin.squirrel.
blue jay.cardinal. (you have to look REALLY closely in the branches for that one!)

new toy...

aunt diane picked this great new toy up from a "trading post" that they have at work.
this thing retails for almost $80 and she got it for just $15!
i can't wait til max figures out how to climb up it himself.
he loves to "drive" and slide down it right now.
i'm pretty sure it'll provide lots of fun during the long, cold, wisconsin winter!

just a bowl? i think not...

it's also a drum...

and a hat...

i'm just glad he waits until the bowl is empty for these alternate uses!

just a wednesday around the house...

mr. max has another cold. his cough is pretty bad right now.
i got him all set up with a comfy spot before bed.
he relaxed and watched some veggie tales.

he was feeling better after a decent night of sleep.

max decided to share his water with his lamb...so sweet.

he then surveyed the damage from the wicked wind storm we've been having the past few days.

there are leaves and branches EVERYWHERE!

our pumpkins...

our masterpieces...

brett farve, you're a sissy...

becky and nate joined us for the football game.

they did a really good job containing their outbursts after max had gone to bed.

this is how becky celebrated the packer victory!

well said becky, well said!

16 months...

our little boy is 16 months already.

(sorry for the blurry night-time picture. he was already in bed and sleeping when i realized what the date was...and i just had to be sure to get a picture of him exactly at 16 months)

we were just talking the other day that sometimes we can't believe we have a child, and at the same time, we can't remember what life was like before him and can't imagine it without him.

he makes our lives fuller...challenges us like we've never been challenged before...is teaching us a new kind of love...makes our smiles wider and our hearts fuller and has completed our family. we are so grateful that god decided that we were to be his parents.

time for us to brag...

so drew and i decided last week that we would keep a list of all the words that max says correctly...

we tried to separate them by category.

when we got them all down on paper, we were pretty impressed with our little guy's vocabulary.

"food related"

water, juice, milk, banana, toast, cookie, peas, soup, berries, cracker, cereal, grapes, noodle, cheese, pretzel and bunny (kind of cracker and cereal).

"toy or play"

keys, hat, throw, ball, book, blocks, barrels, puppy, lamb, bear, buzz, and pooh.

"animals"

puppy*, bird*, goose, kitty*, sheep*, whale, fish, lion*, owl*, monkey*, goat, mouse, bunny, hippo, butterfly and bug. (the animals with a * he knows the noise they make)

"body parts"

nose, teeth, cheek, eye brow, eye, ear, belly, toes, leg, and feet.

"people"

jesus, momma, dadda, max, amie, maggie & libby (our dogs), grama, hannah and teddy. he will repeat just about any member of the family's name...but these are the ones he knows by sight.

other words

medicine, mirror, night-night, blankie, pillow, mail, chair, down, up, please, thank you, yea/yes, no, do it, yucky, noisy, knock, wall, ceiling, sky, moon, star, bath, baby, pumpkin, stroller, bye-bye, hi, flag, car, bus, choo-choo (train), and school.

now keep in mind, some of them are in his own "language" but he still knows the word...it just doesn't always come out like we say it...but that's still almost 100 words! for example, cookie is "gooey" and blankie is "ming" but we still think we've got a very smart little guy on our hands.

our little "reader"...

there are a couple of books that max "reads" or that he helps us read.

this "i love you as much" is one that he knows best.

he can tell you all the animals and then baby and momma on the last page.

goose and whale are my favorite.

he also "reads" along with "goodnight moon" and "bless me."

sunday night football...

max was passing the time waiting for the game to start with some light reading.

becky and nate-nate joined us for the game.

max enjoyed a second cookie and the sugar was more than this kid could handle!

goofy boy...time to get ready for bed!

fun fall family day...

the rain ruined our plans to travel to the little farmer saturday for apples, pumpkins, and fun.

we made the best of our day inside and got a lot done and had some good quality family time in.

max helped to put the sprinkles on the cookies.

he was not very patient and didn't understand why they had to stay in the stove.

daddy tested out the new dyson. max wanted to help too!

then it was time to paint pumpkins.

mommy took a second to explain how it was done.

i guess i didn't explain it the best...notice the green paint on his lips.

getting down to business and making his pumpkin beautiful.

the blue on the foot would be my fault! :)

having fun!

daddy's turn to be on painting duty.

daddy was trying to teach max something...and max wanted to eat more paint.

too cute!

our little artist.

(if you enlarge the photo...you can see the multitude of colors around his lips. he was trying to taste the rainbow!)

time to clean up!

what's better to end the afternoon with then a cookie "cheers."

happy 30th birthday uncle ryan...

on saturday we travelled to hartford for my brother's 30th birthday party.

we enjoyed seeing friends and family we hadn't seen in awhile.

thanks for inviting us to celebrate with you.

max was in heaven checking out all of cousin hayden's toys!

he really liked this musical table.

all ready for the ride home.

max was pretty sure that this chair was much more comfortable then his carseat!