Our Budding Business Man!

Ethan...our quite, shy, considerate little guy. He told me this past Wednesday that he was going to do a "Yard Sale" on Saturday. I thought, "Okay...that's like 3 days away, he'll totally forget about it." But he DID NOT. He rounded up several old, unwanted, or broken toys are priced each one. On Saturday morning he was up bright and early making "Yard Sale" signs and carrying down all his loot for the big sale. Again I thought, "Yea...well it's hot outside, he'll just sit on the porch for 10 minutes and be right back in." NOPE! He proudly hung his signs on the nearest lamp posts, set up his little table, and had a little drum to make noise so that people would look his direction. Well....some little girl came by and actually bought a little plastic army guy for $1.00!!! I was ABSOLUTELY MORTIFIED!!! I was SURE that some dad was going to come knocking on my door asking for his daughter's dollar back!!! This only boosted Ethan's self-confidence on the whole yard sale thing! UGHH!!! So, I didn't want to squash his little entrepreneur-ing (pretty sure I just made that word up) heart so I made up a pitcher of lemonade for him to sell for 25 cents a cup. He stayed outside for about another hour. He came back in after making a whole $1.50 off the lemonade--I also told him that if that girl came back that she was to get a FREE glass of lemonade. So, way to go Ethan!!! I am super proud of you for sticking to your plan and following through:)


Of course, he had much more help and support from his brother and sister! Those two won't be left out of ANYTHING!

More Max-isms!!!

So now I'm thinking that I need to start numbering the "Max-isms." They are happening more and more frequently--help us all!

Max-ism #3: Our home teacher came over for a visit this past Sunday. He asked Max, "And how are you today Max?" To which Max replies, "I'm fine, what's wrong with you?!" (Good thing Bro. Schwenke has a sense of humor:) Some day we'll get this boy "socially acceptable."

Max-ism #4: There a boy in Max's class at school that is a bit of a trouble-maker (according to Max). So I asked him the other day about the "naughty boy" ("who wants to through Mrs. Lombardi--school teacher--into the garbage"). He told me, "Alex isn't getting into trouble anymore. Instead....HE STOLE MY IDEA!!!" I asked, "What is 'your idea' Max?" Max replies, "BEING FUNNY of course! That's what I'm best at!!!" Who knew that being the class clown was "his idea?"

If anyone is wondering about Maxism 1 & 2, click on them below:)
Max-ism #1
Max-ism #2

This is a picture of Max in his most favorite things to wear--his scary jacket and his obnoxious turquoise cowboy boots (THANKS to Auntie Annie for those:) We call him "Maxwell Libre--the Luchador."

More Charms!

For anyone interested, I just added several new charms to my other blog. Check it out at:

charmsbybuffie.blogspot.com

Our Family Monster Mash-Up!

Okay, so I should have gone to bed earlier last night but Chris and I were having the best time messing around with this silly website sent to me from Oriental Trading. Check out the music video starring our 4 kids and my dad (Papa Frank).

http://www.monstermashup.com/dev/webroot/08123e

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (according to Max:)

This past Saturday was a busy one for me! I took Ethan and his friend, Brandon, down to a scouting event first thing in the morning so they could earn some belt loops and pins--4 belt loops and 3 pins in 1.5 hours! Yeah baby...that's the way I roll:) Efficiency at an event run by men. Soo proud of those boys! They worked hard and stayed focused!

Next on the list--softball pics! And then Carlie went to a friend's to play, Ethan had a birthday party at Brunswick, Dad had a date with the TV (FOOTBALL SEASON...need I say more?) Tatum stayed home with dad to nap so it was just me and Max. As everyone knows, Halloween is Max's most favorite holiday and he's been dying to go to Party City because he can see all the "Halloween" banners posted. So I figured why not?! We had SOO MUCH fun! We usually wait until closer to Halloween to get costumes and by that time, the stores are crazy and store clerks are running around like mad. But on Saturday, Sept. 18th we had 3 clerks all to ourselves and Max tried on costume after costume! He was in heaven to say the least! Every time he would put a new costume on, he would look at himself in the full-length mirror and do some poses and make some monster noises. It was hilarious! It was the best "Mommy & Max" date ever! So after much deliberation and careful thought he ended up choosing the "Skeleton Zombie" costume. This is a costume that he has been eyeing since all the Halloween catalogs started coming out (like in August:) Max said, "Mom...this is the costume that I've wanted since Christmas!!!" August/December...whatever! It felt like a long time to him. Good choice Max!

Here I Go!!!

I know...the LAST thing I need is another home-based business! But I can't stop making these charms! I blame my friend, Kim Orton, for teaching me how and then getting me hooked! I'm always asked about my necklaces and so I finally decided to set up a blog just for my charms so that people can view and order them anytime. My other blog is located at:

http://charmsbybuffie.blogspot.com/

One of My Most Favorite Things to Do!

I know I have a lot of piano posts--SORRY! But our lives pretty much revolve around this instrument. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE playing duets with my daughter, Carlie. One of my most favorite things to do--hands down! We played this duet today in sacrament meeting.

We have our best AND worst times at the piano--definitely more good than bad. But we always manage to pull together and make some beautiful music together. LOVE this girl! She is soo stinkin' talented!

Baby Devoney!

Well, we finally made it over to Las Cruces, NM to see the latest addition to the Knoop family! Baby Devoney Avery was born on Friday, July 16, 2010. She was a teeny tiny little thing weighing in at only 6.5 pounds! She was STILL tiny 4 weeks later at 7.5 pounds. This is my little brother's (Travis) 2nd child (2 girls now). He and his wife are adjusting well. They are both crazy hard workers and they've got this whole 2nd kid thing worked out!

The boys didn't want much to do with the baby but Carlie and Tatum fought over her all weekend. Tatum cracked me up because she would be standing in the middle of the kitchen (hard tile) and would say, "Mom, just let me hold the baby for a sec!" She just wanted to carry her everywhere. Here's some cute pics of the girls--Carlie, Tatum, Sabey, & Devoney:



My brother blessed the baby on Sunday in their ward. I actually knew a lot of people in their ward having lived in Las Cruces for 3 years before moving to AZ. So it was a lot of fun to see old friends. We had a fantastic time in NM over the Labor Day weekend. It was good to go AND good to come home!

Sheriff Max

My 5 year-old son, Max, says the darndest things sometimes! So I try to write them all down because he just cracks me up!

So this morning--like all mornings--I went to the gym. I leave at 4:45 a.m. I LOVE getting up early and getting to the gym. I do this for 2 reasons #1: I already take a lot of time away from my kids when I teach piano so I don't want to take another hour from them to work out and #2: If I don't exercise first thing in the morning, I won't do it (and the morning workout classes ROCK:) My kids actually think I don't exercise at all because they never see me coming or going. Chris goes like 2 nights a week and they think he exercises ALL the time. They always ask, "Mom, why don't you exercise like Dad?" I always bite my tongue:)

So anyways, as I'm walking back in a little after 6 a.m. Max is downstairs in the kitchen getting a drink (earlier than normal). Here is our conversation:

Max: "MOM! WHY DIDN'T YOU SLEEP IN YOUR BED LAST NIGHT?!?!" (Yeah...he was raising his voice at me:)
Me: "Max, I did sleep in my bed, I just got up early to go to the gym."
Max: "BY YOURSELF?!?! Does Dad know about this?!"
Me: "Yes Max, Dad knows."
Max: "Alright then."

I felt like a teenager getting caught coming in after curfew. Thanks Max for always keeping me straight!

Click here to read another one of my favorite "Maxisms."