Santa Claus Came to Denison

The Mahlberg Christmas at the American Legion building in Denison. Poppo played Santa!! Max was still scared, but Jill's boys loved it, and they didn't know it was Poppo! How cool that they couldn't tell : )

Were you a good girl this year Renie?

Santa and Great-Grandma Renie

G-gma Renie and Santa

Max...
Sheldon...

Evan...

Kolten...

AND JUST FOR KICKS.....

MOMMY AND SANTA

All the Mamas & Other Party People

My second Mother's Day. Really great. When originally asked, I said it was great, better than last year....cause, you know, we were in the NICU. But looking back, I think maybe they tie. Last year on Mother's Day the docs finally said those fateful words all NICU parents long to hear, you'll be going home soon. For us, that meant in a couple days.

This Mother's Day brought the chance to be with my family. I got to spend the morning with my mom and sister. I actually got to spend the previous Thursday night with them too, attending the Kenny Chesney concert!!! <-- AWESOME (more on that later, when I can get a copy of the pics). And thus, the matching attire. And, all the boys were well behaved. What more could a mom ask for?

All the Moms with all the grandkids (I can't say all the kids, my bro wasn't there : ) )

Just the girls.

This is how we'd all spent the previous hour ; )

Mommo with all her little boys. Yep, not a girl between us.

My parents and Mike, Max, and myself then proceeded to the park for some recreation.

Max crossing the bridge.

His favorite, the slide. Loves to go up the wrong way.

Down the "right way" is okay.

But this way is better....

and of course, this way is best!

Why is it that when a boy goes to the park, he must always at least contemplate

doing something that he shouldn't???Someday, my little man, but not today.

I hope you all had a Mother's Day worth smiling about : )

Party Time!

So, this party happened last Saturday, the day before my little boy turned 1. It was a good turnout for the brutal cold snap we were experiencing. Note to self: five space heaters + 1 fireplace do not a shelter house heat (in 4 hours time anyway).

To start the day, Max got his first haircut. He didn't pitch a fit, so I will consider this a success:

Then it was PART-AY TIME! (notice Max was all about the kisses that day!)

Some of the peeps:

Some of the gifts:







The Cake:





He was being "Mr. Clean" so Poppo stepped in to help...

Did it help? A little : )


I guess we should have had Kolten demonstrate first!!

All partied out. The End.

Cupcakes are from Mars

Today marks the beginning of year numero 28 for my husband. Happy Birthday Mike!

You are an amazing husband and father. You rock as an uncle, and I think I'm safe in speaking for Chris and Melissa to say a better brother couldn't be found. I know your parents are so proud of you.

Thank you for endeavoring to make me laugh everyday.

We started the celebration this weekend at Mike's parent's house.

Karyn made these completely rockin' "Martian" cupcakes. Lime-Margarita Cupcakes, as a matter of fact. There was even Tequila in the icing!

Mike's always been a Martian at heart; now we know he can resemble one too!

After a game of Malarky, we had a delicious lasagna dinner. My favorite part of lasagna dinners at Chris and Pam's is that Pam makes a separate personal-size lasagna for us to take home! Thanks Pam!

After dinner, Chris and Karyn, Mike and I all went to a IA Chops game (hockey is probably my favorite sport to watch, even though my understanding of it falls short). I'm happy to report, Chops kicked @ss. There was only one fight though, and our guy went down first. Boo!

Once the game was over we headed back to Chris and Karyn's. Mike's parents kept Max overnight so we could celebrate as long as we wanted to w/o having to be up before dawn. I was initiated in the game of Magic, much to Mike's delight. Guess who was the first out? No, not me silly! That's right, birthday boy himself was eliminated by yours truly. I also happened to win the game. I'm thinking this was not entirely on my own merit, but more than beginners luck. I don't think I have to name names on that one ;o)

Karyn made Mike a birthday banner:

Shots of tequila before starting the game.
From the reactions, I think it may have been a little rough!

The next morning Chris spoiled us all. Migas! Talk about starting the day off right :~D


What we ate...............................and what we were listening to!

After breakfast we went to grab the baby. After hanging out with Chris and Pam again, we headed down to supper with Matt, Jill, and their boys. Children, chili, cake, and brownies. A delicious time was had by all. Mike was even able to introduce Sheldon to the solar system rhyme that we wrote (more on that when copyright issues are figured out).

Other random goodness includes this new style being sported by Max. It seems the static from his blankets and hoods and everything else has affected how his hair lays. Yesterday the result was a mohawk. We may just have to try duplicating this again soon. Cute, no?

Last pic of the night, Max and Daddy.

Yea, We pretty much celebrated all weekend long. I hope you enjoyed your annual extravaganza sweetie! I know I did! Love you!