we heart art.

I recently saw this fun idea on this blog and decided we had to try! Lately I have felt like I have just been trying to keep Max occupied while I get things done, rather than really engaging in something with him. That makes me sad. I thought this would be the perfect thing for us to do together. We had so much fun and Max loved the paint! I'm sure this won't  be the last time we do this together. Wouldn't it be fun to do one every few months and plaster one wall in your house with the pieces floor to ceiling? 

We started with an 8x12 canvas that I painted green. Then I just squirted blobs of acrylic paint on the canvas and let him go nuts!

little picasso at work

Finished project! Next time, I will let each color dry a bit before adding a new one, they all kinda mushed and turned brown at the end. 

I love these, I have very few pictures of Max and I together. I guess that's how it is when you're the one TAKING the pictures. 

I want to frame this one. Look at my baby's painty little fingers!

a walk in the park

Last week Danny, Max and I met up with the Riggs for dinner at playing at the park! Max had so much fun swinging. He thought it was so fun and kept laughing and looking for Danny. He is SUUUCH a Daddy's boy it's hilllarious. I love it! Even if it isn't fair!

Once Hadley came, Max wanted to swing with her of course!

That Hadley. What a babe!

the lights aren't shining anywhere but there...

ok I watched meet me in st. louis a few too many times as a child. 

We had so much fun going with the moodys and Matt and Sawyer at the fair this year! Max thought it was so cool and LOVED the rides... except for the tea cup-esq ride that Matt almost made us puke on... we forgive him. Anyway, you can't beat fair food and friends and I loved seeing everything through Max's eyes. I also to a bajillion pictures (consider yourself forewarned!) because I wanted to practice using my camera at night with the fun lights. Please excuse the 80 pictures of the ferris wheel. Just playin with shutter speed and some various types of processing. 

{for the photo curious, I had my ISO at 2000-3200 , shutter at 100, f 1.8-2.8. I did NOOOOT use a FLASH. ever. Because that was the whole point). 

little guy getting big

Max is changing so much right now! Every day is something new with him. I thought I would share a few things that he is into at the moment. 

Crawling: a thing of the past.

I was so happy to see that when I got home from Seattle and Max and Danny got home from Rexburg, Max suddenly decided to go full time with walking. Yay! I am happy to say goodbye to filthy hands and jeans worn thin in the knees. And he still crawls every now and then, so I still think he's kidof a baby...? right??! just say yes. 

Little Bookworm: Max is totally into his books these days! He says Book "booo" or "booot"

His favorites are his Piggie Book (he giggles ever time I even mention it) and any book with animals. 

Heather: something else he's totally into!

He points to her house alll the time and gets so excited when we go play. Sometimes if she's not home when we knock, he cries. It's hillarious. They play SO well together, it's adorable! They are totally best buds. Although I don't think he knows it,  Heather's got a crush on DANNY! It's so funny. She says she loves him and once when Max and I weren't home, Heather was dragged back home yelling "Daaaaannnnnyyyyyyy...." Haha! We don't tell Max that though! 

I catch him under his crib all the time, it's his favorite hiding place! Also he has started to become more attacheed to his blankets and stuffed animals (as you can see).

I always say "where's Maaaax?" and he promptly pokes his head out. =) 

Love that face!

Just for fun, here's Max with cute Lauren at her birthday party! What a babe. He's lucky he got to hold her hand! 

photoversary

to celebrate my one year photography anniversary, I am giving away secrets. 

see the details HERE.

home.

{sister}

I just got home from Seattle yesterday and it's so nice to be home! Max and Danny got home from Rexburg this morning and I was so happy to see them! I missed my boys so much. It's nice to get back into the swing of things, even though I have so much work to catch up on my head is spinning!

Karson update: Mr. Karson Riggs is coming HOME today!!! We are SO 

excited for him to get back into the swing of things too. =)

what a babe.

Dear Max. I am obsessed with this cute little picture of you being such a big boy at the fair! Thanks for being the sweetest little boy on the planet, for letting me drag  you around all the time and putting up with me. I love you. I love dancing with you, reading with you, chasing you. I love your little kisses and the 30 second delay on the "smack" sound that goes with it. I love the way you laugh when somebody toots ( like mama like son). I loved how you insisted on using your fork to eat peaches tonight and sitting with you at our cozy table. I love your animal sounds and when you talk to yourself really loud at restaurants.  I hope you have fun with your Daddy in Rexburg this weekend while mama takes some pictures in Seattle. Be a good boy, ok? Don't bite your cousins and make sure to get reeeeal dirty (Daddy will clean you up). Also, be sure you miss me, at least a little. 

Love, 

mama. 

p.s. I don't think you could possibly look any more studly than you do in your daddy's boots and your new shirt from Nana. Thanks for being my human doll. Speaking of Nana, you have NO idea how mad she is at me for not bringing you with me this weekend!

BABY KARSON UPDATE!!

Just wanted to give a little update on my visit with Karson today! We needed some good news, and today we got some!

A few days ago, Karson was taken off the ventilator. Many of the doctors and nurses thought it was a bad idea and were pushing Darren and Jody to either give him a tracheotomy and vent him permanently or take him home to pass with his family.

Thankfully, Darren and Jody are prayerful people and felt like they were making the right decision. With the help of a couple of amazing doctors and nurses, they were able to take him off the vent and get him through the first 48 hours (which are crucial to determining how a patient will do once taken off a ventilator). Again, most of the MD's thought he should just be intubated again, but this little guy is a fighter!

Karson had remained on his bi-pap constantly (another much less invasive breathing machine) and was unable to keep his stats up when it was taken off, and things were not looking optimistic for the little guy.

Until today.

Karson was able to go off his bi-pap for thirty minute increments THREE TIMES TODAY!!!! This is amazing news and a huge step in the right direction. He still has a long way to go before he can come home, but this is HUGE! I am so happy that this also happened to be a day I came in for a visit/photo shoot. He needed some new pics, especially since he is going to be spotlighted at the Real SOCCER GAME this saturday!!!! yipee!

Thank you blog buddies for all of your kind words and support. The Riggs (and us) have been amazed by the outpoor of kindness by so many people who have never even met them. Jody felt very impressed that Karson was able to come off his vent because of the many people praying for him. So THANK YOU and keep those prayers coming! We are hoping for a few more miracles. =)

Here are a few pics from today. We were pretty limited being in a hospital room and needing to keep K hooked up to his monitors and iv's and all. But I think we got some pretty dang cute ones!

my FAVORITE. I can not put into words how happy I was to see the little guy with no tubes or anything on his face. It has been MONTHS. I just kept saying how happy I was to see him like this and keeping his stats up like such a good boy! It was amazing to see this after struggling for so long. I just couldn't get over it. We were all ecstatic!

Karson and Hadley. Gee, do you think they look alike??

She is SUCH a sweet and loving big sister. Can you believe the EYES on these two??

All done! Karson was pretty annoyed with us for moving him around and changing his clothes so much (he hasn't even worn clothes in quite a while!). But we got him all comfy and back on his bi-pap. =) I love this shot because it shows him moving his arm a little!