Introducing Maximus Laine Fish

This is a little late (about 6 weeks!), but I figured since we sent out our Christmas cards with a note saying to check out our blog, I'd at least better post about Maximus' birth!

Here's the story:

After 24 hours of labor, we welcomed sweet little Maximus Laine Fish into our family on November 23, 2010. He had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck three times but everything was okay! Thank heaven. He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. He is such a sweet baby and we love having him in our home. It's been quite an adjustment to say the least (especially with the holidays) so that's why I haven't been posting. I will try to be better! I promise!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year - can't believe it's 2011 already!

Here are some pictures of our new little cutie (these were taken when he was a few days old - I'll try to put up some more since he's bigger now):

Baking Bread with Grandma Anne

My mom has been coming and helping me clean my house (bless her soul!) and one time a couple weeks ago she came and made homemade bread! Katelyn and I had a fun time helping her. And the whole family enjoyed the fruits of our labor.



Thanks, Grandma Anne!

Baby Ultrasound & Prego pics

We had an ultrasound yesterday (29 weeks) and got some really good pictures of our baby boy:

Baby sucking his hand in 4D

Here you can see his tongue sticking out

We've definitely got a thumb-sucker on our hands!

Sweet baby feet!

Some of my family has been asking to see pics of my prego belly - so here they are!

I've gotten really big in the past couple weeks so I'm glad I took some pictures before that! These are from a couple weeks ago...

Pony ride

One of Cole's friends had a bday party recently with a cowboy/girl theme. As a surprise, one of her friends parents brought a pony and let the kids ride it. Here are some cute pics!

1st day of preschool & 1st grade

We have year-round schedule here so the kids recently started the school year.

Cute kiddos!

Love that Cole's teacher had an apple on each student's desk when they walked in.

Beehive in the back yard

Trevor & Steph came over for a BBQ in July (Trev always does the BBQ-ing when he comes because he's the best). We hadn't been out in the back yard for about a month or so (hello, we live in AZ and it's bloody hot outside!) - I'm a sissy about heat especially when I'm pregnant.

Trevor comes in and says, "I think there's a beehive in your tree!"

Ryan goes and checks it out and heads to the store to pick up some wasp & hornet spray. You can spray it from 20 feet away. It was quite comical (and a little scary) - I'm glad I wasn't the one doing the exterminating - watching Ryan spray from as far away as possible and then running at top speed for the safety of the back door!

Here's a before picture of the beehive:


It did the trick, though. Within a few minutes, most of the bees were lying on the grass, dead. Phew! That was scary!

The Big Camping Trip

We had such a good time camping! Ryan found a pop up trailer on Craigslist for $250 - it was from 1975 but it was in pretty good shape! So we fixed it up (Ryan) and cleaned it out (me and my mom) and it worked out great! It didn't rain the whole time we were camping so we don't know if/where there are leaks.

Here are some fun memories:

Making pudding cones







Laying in the hammock


Watching Bella turn from a white lab to a brown lab (she loved rolling and digging in the dirt!)


Fishing at the lake - we didn't catch anything, but it was fun anyway!






Crafts & coloring



Using the hatchet




Ryan made the kids a swing with some rope and a log - I think Katelyn spent most of her time in there!



Papa Fish went with us and was so nice to take the kids on hikes and tell them stories every day. They especially liked his "Pioneers and Indians" game!


Getting dirty! Our trailer does not have a shower/bathtub, but it does have a sink. Every night Ryan would heat up some water on the stove and wipe the kids down so they would be clean to sleep. Only to start it all over the next day! :)



Our favorite part was just being able to hang out without any of the distractions we have at home - work, school, phone, tv, etc... just spending quality time together!!