Jumping Jacks Pax

Lots of people when they see me now they say, "So what's Pax been up to, Fin?" so I figured I'd go back through some of our recent photos so I can fill them in.

Bottom line is he's been up to a lot. Kid can destroy the inside of a home in 1.7 seconds flat. And I'm talking every room in the house. But he's also a circus load of fun, so here's a little peek into the life of Paxton Oliver Skertich.

Soccer practice

Strappin on the old apron and doing some cooking

Eating... naked of course. He just LOVES to be naked. Just runs around the house pulling his shirt and pants off and yelling "OFF, DADDY, OFF!" or "OFF, MOMMY, OFF!"

Reading. Lots of reading, just eats it up... oh, and naked, of course.

Playing multiple instruments at one time.

Smiling. Lots of smiling.

(by the way, that last picture right there - yah, that's my favorite picture in the whole wide world)

Wearing Mae's old shades while at the haircut place getting his mop chopped.

Sulking. Yah, he's really sulking here. Life's real rough, eh Pax? Just running around naked all the time playing ball, cooking and reading books?

Getting all grown up on the big boy potty (he's got it mastered. Didn't beat Mae's all time record of 17 months or whatever it was when she mastered it on her own but he came close.

Yah, this last one... not so sure what's going on here. Dad went back into the bathroom to get him out of the shower only to find him standing there with a bucket on his head. And when Dad said "Okay, Pax, time to get out" he just lifted up the bucket, said, "No, Daddy" and pulled it back down. Weird dude sometimes, that kid.

So that's basically what Pax has been up to. Life of Reilly, that kid, I tell ya.

A Buzzworthy Bee

So this post only has one picture but it's a pretty important one, or so says my photo editor.

Last week was our class Spelling Bee. We had 210 words to study and I did a little studying with Nana and quite a bit of studying with Mom and when the big day came I felt ready.

So after the other 22 kids in my class went down on words like "float," "reindeer," "knight," and so on and so forth, it was down to Isabelle and me.

And the final word, as Ms. McElroy stated so clearly, was "Christmas." Isabelle had first shot at it and she, unfortunately, got it wrong. So now it was up to me. If I could spell "Christmas" then I'd be the Spelling Bee champ of First Grade.

"Christmas" - "C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S." And that, my friends was that. So here's me with the winning Spelling Bee word, a buzz worthy little bee, if I may say so myself.

And then, two nights later I found this old Santa hat under my bed and, appropriately, spent the evening in it for no reason at all really.

Dads and Daughters Dance

So our school had its first ever Dads and Daughters dance and I gotta tell you, it was a HUGE hit.

Mae and I got all dressed up and dad got, well, about as dressed up as dad likes to get, and we went out for pizza with Mom and Pax and Colin and Steph and Sid and Ana. Our best friend Ana goes to St. Helen too so she and Dad's friend Colin went with us to the dance.

Before we left, here was Pax with my shoes on, a little confused about what the heck was going on.

Pre-dance pic.

At the dance with some of our besties...

Here's Mae and I with Nadia and Shea.

And up on the stage cutting a rug.

Oh, and here is my friend Josephine. We took a picture of her and Mae because they had the exact same shoes on.

Just a huge success.

Oh, and we got a photo done at the dance and for the next few days Pax kept it at the breakfast bar and had it keep him company while he ate.

Living Out of Boxes

So not literally, it's not like we moved or anything. It's just that Mae, Pax and I LOVE boxes. Mae always starts it, snags a box that a delivery comes in or something and then it just gets so contagious.

So here was Mae's initial run at it; actually carved out some space underneath the kids table in the kitchen... and actually napped there.

Then she moved it to the living room and did some diary writing before getting sleepy and curling up in it again.

Then it was my turn. Got a bigger box came a couple days later and I put up some signage on that bad boy and made it my home.

Took in the Blackhawks game from it.

Had my cup of tea in it.

And don't forget this guy. Luckily he needed a much smaller box which was easy to find and then he made it his one...

That is until he realized my box was pretty cool so he waited tip I was at school and took up shop in my box.

And then I find out later not only is he in there but he's running around in it naked and even dribbled a little bit of pee in it... not cool, Pax, not cool.

More February Fun

So here's a little shake and bake of what we've been up to...

Mom made Valentine's Day a lot of fun making us heart shaped pizzas and heart shaped cookies.

Mae has been busy dressing up in last year's Halloween costume and taking lots of car naps.

Pax helped rake the aisles of Home Depot last week and then he got into this Poonchky or whatever you call them.

And then we did a homemade photo booth, complete with fun faces at the end!

Birthday Bashes

So check this out - Eli, Mae and I all have birthdays within ten days of each other, so this year we decided to combine them for one big birthday bash.

Nana and Papa were generous to host at their house so we headed out there for a nice little party.  We had meatballs and a ton of fun running around and playing and then it was cake time.

We each got our own cake which Nana made and decorated for us. Mae's cake request was for a white sunshine cake with vanilla frosting and a big flower on top. You can see it here in the bottom corner of this wonderful photo.

My request was for a Blackhawks birthday cake, so Nana got herself a picture of their jerseys and made me the Chicago Blackhawks indian head logo along with the numbers of my favorite players.

Then it was time to sing and blow out the candles.

Then it was time for... oh, hold on a second - bathroom break.

When it came time for Eli to open up his present from us he got quite the kick out of it. We got him a container of blueberries. You should see this guy eat blueberries. When we know he's coming over Mom goes to Costco and gets a gigantic container because he can eat 350 blueberries in 2 minutes and 12 seconds.

All in all, an awesome party.  Here are a couple more great party pics.

MORE BIRTHDAY! MORE BIRTHDAY!

You wanted more birthday, well, you got it. On my actual birthday I opted for Coalfire Pizza for my birthday dinner out and then we came home and had to get clean. The deal was when we got out of the shower we'd sing happy birthday and eat birthday cake pops from West Town Bakery.

So, wondering why such a funny look on my face? Well, Eli, Isaiah, Uncle Brian and Aunt Tasha came all the way downtown to surprise me and I didn't even know they were there til I got all the way into the kitchen. The BEST birthday present!!

P.S. Wait, my photo editor just realized mom has the same outfit on... just to make sure you're all aware - those were ten days apart, it was just a coincidence.