Christmas 2009

What a fantastic Christmas we had!

But first, on December 12th (which just so happens to have been Max's 6 month birthday!), I decided we were going to go and get family pictures made. We just did them at Sears 'cause it was so last minute, but they came out really cute! Makenna and Max were pretty tired by the time we got in there (Sears was sooo overbooked!), but they did okay considering:

Now, on to Christmas. (Once again, I did collages because you can put way more pictures on here that way!) We decided, as with Thanksgiving, to start our own traditions this year. So we stayed here in Glendale. On Christmas Eve Eve (does anyone else do the "Eves"? My sister and I used to have Christmas Eves all the way out to December 1st! Ha ha), we opened some fun presents from my mom and dad (they had given us our Christmas when they were here in June [laminater and slushie machine for me, jerky maker for Austin, and a double stroller--which is a lifesaver-- for Makenna and Max], but sent some toys for the kids anyway!). And on Christmas Eve, we opened presents from Grandma Becky (and she also got the kids a swing set but I don't have pictures of that yet!). Makenna and Max also exchanged presents on that day. And that night we drove around and saw Christmas lights and Makenna and Max got to see Santa Claus (and yes, Makenna was terrified and cried even though Santa gave her a bear!). On Christmas day we had breakfast and told the Christmas story, opened presents, and had a big lunch. It was a very nice Christmas!

Ha ha, notice Makenna crying like crazy and trying to get away from Santa while we frantically try to snap a picture! Also notice Makenna playing with Max's present and not letting him play!

Makenna had a fun Christmas. Her favorites were her kitchen and trike. She kept saying, "Oh neat!" It was absolutely adorable!

Max was very chill and seemed content to just sit and play with toys and wrapping paper! The picture with the two of us is at one of the houses with Christmas lights. We were able to get out and walk in their yard to see displays!

I thought it would be fun if Makenna and Max exchanged Christmas gifts. So not only would they receive presents, but they would also learn to GIVE presents. Makenna "got" Max a little car wheel that makes noise, and Max "got" Makenna (who am I kidding? I picked the presents out!) a trio of princess Barbies. Makenna said, "Thank you Max!" and gave him a big hug! Adorable!

We really did have a fantastic Christmas. I have to admit, my favorite part was seeing the kids open presents and seeing how excited they were! I absolutely love being a mom at Christmas! But it was also the best ever to hear Makenna talking about "Baby Jes." I'm not sure if she really understood Christmas yet, but telling her the Christmas story so often with the little pictures really helped!

Hopefully the rest of Austin's break will be just as fun! Thanks to family who sent gifts and friends who stopped by with treats! There went my diet ; )

Finally! I'm getting the pictures up!

Holy smokes! Not sure why it has taken me so long to get some pictures up! But since it has, I have tons and tons to post! So I just grouped my pictures in categories and made little collages of them. If you want to see more, just click on the pictures to make them bigger!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Makenna and I decorated the Christmas tree. Max enjoyed laying underneath and trying to get the ornaments!


For Thanksgiving this year, we decided to stay at home and start our own traditions! I made the dinner (minus the turkey- that was Austin) completely from scratch! Max also had his very first bite of food from the table-- mashed potatoes, yummy!

Makenna had Natalie over to play last week. They did some fun crafts together, watched a little Elmo, and had a blast! These girls definitely are great friends!

So most of you know that I have been doing a little "Mommy and Me" Preschool with Makenna. We have been doing 1-2 hours a day, four days a week, for the past three or four weeks. It is actually going really well. Makenna is really good at doing the crafts. She loves to color, paint, and glue! We have also made apple treats (Makenna did it all by herself!), decorated puppets, colored life size drawings of Makenna, made books, read lots of stories, etc. I seriously have zillions of pictures of Makenna at school if anyone is really interested ; ) It's a lot of work for Mommy to prep for, but we are having a blast! And she definitely can tell you about apples and alligators now!

Makenna and Max are definitely my favorite type of M&Ms! They are getting so big and are such fun little kids!

So although I started Makenna on solids at 4 months, somehow time has escaped me and I didn't start Max until almost 6 months! We have found that he LOVES rice cereal and absolutely hates carrots! Makenna has also decided that she LOVES baby food and it is such a pain to get her to eat her own food now that Max is eating baby food... hopefully that stage will end soon cause that stuff is too expensive for a big girl to eat! Max also wants to feed himself the bottle and gets very frustrated by his lack of skill! Also, notice the TWO teeth!

Everyone told me to expect it, and it's true-- Makenna and Max are best friends for sure! I could spend hours telling stories of cute things they do together. The pictures of them reading explains their relationship: Makenna wanted Max to sit by her so she could read to him. Max was content at first, but quickly tired of it and took the book away. Makenna was so upset she cried and cried until I got her a new book, but she still wanted her old one. So I switched the books... now Max was crying because he wanted the first book back! So I just had to take the books away and make them play in the living room with toys.-- Ha ha, oh the sibling love...

So there you go! Just a sample of what we have been up to! We are so glad that Austin is done with school for a little break on Tuesday and we are SO excited for Christmas! Hopefully the kids are better by then-- yeah, Max has pneumonia and an ear infection and Makenna has an upper respiratory infection and an ear infection... hopefully this will end soon and we can continue with more holiday fun!

Argh!

I have thousands and THOUSANDS of things to blog about and millions and MILLIONS of pictures... unfortunately I haven't had time! Hopefully I will get it done this weekend! So just get ready for an OvErLoAd!

What's Cooking?

Yesterday Austin was busy with yard work so Makenna had to stay inside (a 20 month old + a lawn mower = a bad idea so don't even go there!). To keep her occupied, I let her make some cookies. This was her first experience with cooking. She loved stirring, playing with flour, and EATING! Our whole batch of cookie dough only made 11 cookies (instead of 24!) because Makenna ate the cookie dough faster than I could put it on the pan! Crazy girl! It was really fun though and she looked adorable with her messy face and flour everywhere!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Today is my birthday! Woo hoo! I am the ripe ole age of 25! Can you believe it? As my sister Kim said today, "You are practically middle aged!" Only to a 21 year old...

Yesterday my wonderful husband took me to see Phantom of the Opera. Holy smokes--amazing! I have never been to a Broadway play before and I can't get over how awesome it was. The singing, the scenery, the costumes-- I honestly couldn't believe it was all real. I loved, loved, loved it! Thank you so, so much to our friends who ended up watching Makenna and Max for FIVE hours so we could attend!

The lighting was funny, so our camera took a minute to snap this picture. Austin was looking at me to tell me that something was wrong-- and the camera took the picture! Ha ha. He said it looks like he is gazing adoringly at me : ). We couldn't take another picture because an usher came and told us no cameras allowed. Oops!

I took this before the usher came! This is the chandelier that falls during the play. The picture doesn't do it justice--gorgeous!

We were sitting way up in the balcony, but still everything looked so awesome! I'm so glad Austin took me.

So I was actually sick most of the day yesterday and today : ( Pretty crummy to spend most of your birthday in bed. But a fantastic friend came over today and brought, honestly, the best cupcakes I have ever had and a fun gift. After chatting with her for over an hour, I felt so much better. Seriously Annie, you need to be the one going into medicine! I had to let you know how much that meant to me and how much that perked me up! Thanks for the visit!

Last week we went to an event at the Rio Vista Park. This year Arizona is providing the Christmas tree for the capital building and the tree stopped for a little visit in Peoria! The tree itself was actually kind of boring (all you could see was the top of it when you peeked into the truck!), but Makenna was able to decorate (and eat) cookies and do some coloring and play with her friends in the park (Austin and Max stayed home because Austin was still studying for finals). I was even interviewed for Channel 12 news!

Lately Max has enjoyed just being on the floor playing with toys. Of course, even if Makenna hasn't played with that toy in MONTHS, once Max gets it she instantly wants it! I thought these pictures were cute because they actually played with each other for a while!

We told her to leave and let Max play with it because she kept trying to take it from him. So she decides if she covers the laptop with her foot, she's not playing with it... but Max can't either! Big sisters!

Today Max stayed home with me while Makenna and Austin went to church. But before they left, we took some fun pictures. Makenna is wearing a new dress from my mom, and Max is wearing new clothes from Austin's mom. As always, thanks Grandma and Grandmom!

(Makenna ALWAYS wants to hold Max. "Max! Lap! Max! Lap!"

(So what if there are several pictures of the same thing?!? This is my blog! Ha!)

Okay, last thing. I just put this video of Max on here because I thought it would be fun to let Grandmas see him play for a little bit. For everyone else, this is a really BORING video! : )

This is really how Max is! He plays plays plays and then bam! Out of the blue, ready to sleep!

Book Sale, Mr. Max, and Veteran's Day

For those of you who live in Arizona and who did not attend the Book Sale at the library last weekend, you missed the best sale ever! We were out running errands when we remembered that it was going on, so we headed over to the library. It was the very last hour of the sale so they were having a sweet deal: they gave you a bag and you could put as many books in the bag as you wanted/could and the whole thing cost $1! Oh, and you could fill up as many bags as you wanted! We managed to get 86 books (including over 50 children's books!), 1 CD, and 7 movies for... drum roll please... $4! Can you believe it?!?



That's about 4 cents per book-- eat your heart out!!! : )

So things have been going much better with Makenna since I last posted. I seriously think she was just being so naughty last week because her Daddy was gone so much. We had two bad incidents on Sunday (she pulled her diaper off and peed on the bed... we put new clothes on her and came back to wake her up for church and she had peed on the bed again and POOPED on the floor! Yes, I had a heart attack!), but she has been such a good little girl since then! Yea for Dads being home more! Everyone is happier when Daddy is around!

Speaking of happy, baby Max turns FIVE MONTHS OLD tomorrow! Can you believe that?!? We have been so blessed to have that sweet little guy in our lives. He is such a happy, smiley baby. He is really just so, so good! He only cries when he is tired or hungry and he just plays, plays, plays all day! We all seriously have such a hard time doing anything when he is up because we want to kiss his little cheeks and play with him constantly. Makenna is just as bad as Mom and Dad; I seriously have to tell her to leave him alone all the time! Who can help it though? We love that guy!

My mom sent this little suit for Max. He wouldn't keep his shoes on, but I think he looks like such an adorable little missionary!

(Click on the picture to see that adorable smile up close! What a cute little man!) Happy 5 Month Birthday (tomorrow) Max!

Today was Veteran's Day. We were lucky enough to have Austin only have one test this morning, so we were all able to head to downtown Phoenix for the Veteran's Day parade. We were at the end of the route, so we were there for an hour before we actually saw the parade start. We were there for another hour and the parade wasn't even half way done! So although it really was a fun parade, we had to leave and head home. Babies were much too tired, cranky, and hungry (okay, the babies were fine, MOMMY was just too tired, cranky, and hungry! Sorry Austin!). But it really was a fun time!

My cute little family waiting for the parade to start. Don't they look patriotic in their red, white, and blue? I really didn't have anything to wear, so I wore my red ballet flats. Dumb, dumb, dumb shoes for a parade-- I have tons of blisters now! Silly mom!

Ha ha, Austin gave Makenna this sucker while we were waiting. She dropped on the ground and I "accidentally" ran over it with the stroller and crushed it. Oops Makenna! Your sucker is all broken! (I'm sorry, but she can't eat a sucker off the ground! Crushing it seemed like the best way to get rid of it without her throwing a fit wanting it!).

So I've been thinking a lot about veterans today. I have been really blessed in that I do not have any family members or friends serving right now. In fact, I really don't know too many veterans at all (just friends of friends mostly-but no one I actually know). I do not have to suffer with the worry of having my friends or family away fighting in a war. I have never heard horror stories (or stories at all really) of what they have went through. But today every time I looked at my sweet little children and my wonderful husband, I seriously wanted to cry. It tears me up to know of families who are separated because someone is gone fighting in the war. I cannot imagine how those families deal or how they must feel. But on the same note, I look at my beautiful family and I'm thankful to those who are fighting. These men and women, people I do not even know, are fighting to provide MY family with our freedoms. So to all of those men and women, thank you. Thank you for all you do so that I can enjoy my family and my freedoms. We were studying service in our scripture study this week-- what great service they are doing for us! The greatest love you can show is to lay down your life for your friends. How great a love these people show to be willing to lay down their lives for us, people they do not even know! Thank you! (And sorry, I'm not very good at being sentimental and putting feelings out there... So I hope this was not too cheese ball!)

Nervous Break Down

Okay, seriously, Makenna is about to give me a nervous break down! I honestly do not know what to do about that child. This last week, she has decided that she does not want to do anything her mommy wants her to do. "Makenna pick up your toys." "No." "Makenna! Do not tell mommy no! Pick up your toys!" "No!" And then I proceed in having to MAKE her do whatever it is she is refusing to do. This constant battle is really starting to stress me out!

Not only that, Makenna has been whining a lot lately (that fake, annoying whine). Yesterday she was whining so much while I was getting her ready, I told her Annie, Logan, and Cole were coming over. After I finished her hair, she ran to the front door. I came in there, "Silly girl, what are you doing?" "Cole!" "Cole isn't coming yet. He is coming in just a little while." She throws herself on the floor screaming and crying. So then by the time Cole actually does get here, she is so whiney she doesn't even play with him!

Finally, after lunch, it was time to put her down for a nap. She was so tired! But she did not want to take a nap. Too bad! So I put her in bed, gave her her water, and told her to go night night. About 20-30 minutes later, she is still in there throwing a fit. I go into her room, "Makenna! Go night night!" "Water!" And sure enough, her water cup is empty. So I go get her some more water and come to hand her her cup. And her bed is SOAKING WET!!! She had poured her whole water cup on her bed! So I have to strip down the bed and change both her and her sheets. Then I tell her, "Go night night!" 20-30 minutes later, she is still in there throwing a fit. I go back in there. And I see her water cup, the one I had filled up earlier and then put on the bookshelf and forgotten about as I cleaned up the last mess, on the floor-- EMPTY! That's right, she climbed on the bookshelf, got her water cup, and poured water all over the bed AGAIN!!! So I had to repeat the process-- change the sheets, change her, put her back in bed. This time I took the cup with me! 20-30 minutes later, she is still in there throwing a fit. I go in and this time she has stripped her clothes and diaper off and peed on the bed! Seriously, I can't win! I was so, so angry that I seriously was praying non-stop to keep from just beating that kid!

Fast forward to today. My eyes were really bothering me last night so I threw away my contacts. Today they were still bugging me so I was having to wear my glasses. Well I can't see very well in my glasses so they were giving me a massive headache. Max was taking a nap and Makenna and Austin were in the livingroom watching a movie. So I climbed into bed, took my glasses off, and covered up my head (cause the light was bothering me.) Well I went to sleep (excuse me, but what tired mom would not fall asleep when she has her eyes closed?). I wake up to Makenna on our bed beside me saying, "Mom. Mom. Mom!" I open my eyes. I don't have my glasses on, but I can see something in her hand. I yell for Austin to come in there, put on my glasses, and what do I see? Vasoline! Everywhere! I keep a tub of vasoline on my nightstand to put on my lips during the night when they get dry. And Makenna decided to put it EVERYWHERE!!! This is how asleep I was that I didn't even notice or wake up!


Vasoline was all over our bed. Seriously, even when you wash that stuff it DOES NOT come off! Our comforter and our sheets and our pillow cases are completely stained and ruined!

My beautiful wall hanging that I made out of paper and had as a headboard? Totally ruined with vasoline smeared all over it!

This was Makenna's hair! Oh... my... goodness! This stuff does not come out! Austin put her in the shower and scrubbed and washed and scrubbed and washed. Still in there. I put her in the bathtub and washed with DISH SOAP. Still in there. So now her hair looks like it has tons and tons of gel in it and has never been washed in her life. But we can't get it out!

You can see, it's all in her hair, on her clothes, on her body. Her skin feels like we washed her in lotion!

So we were doing all this scrubbing and trying to get her clean and she is in the bathtub. I let her play for a second while I am at the sink brushing my teeth. I glance over and she has grabbed the baby soap, opened it, and poured it in the tub! Soap was everywhere! Seriously, I was RIGHT THERE! How the heck?

Move on to lunch. Austin made her mac and cheese. Then I was holding Max while Austin clipped his fingernails. We look over to see Makenna taking handfuls of mac and cheese and rubbing it all in her hair, on her face, on her tummy, on her back, even on her FEET!

The kid is in bed now. But seriously, I cannot take much more of this! What do you do when your child is OUT OF CONTROL?!? I am super exhausted, both mentally and physically, from this constant war with her! I am about to go crazy! Any ideas? Cause I may possibly have to sell her to gypsies if this keeps up (totally kidding... I think... : ) )

Happy Halloween!

Let me just preface this by saying I am so incredibly exhausted. So if I do not make sense at all... there you go! I just wanted to get this up so grandmas could see the kids on Halloween!

First of all, October has seriously been the most busy month ever. We moved into our new house the beginning of October even though our contract on our apartment doesn't end until tomorrow. We thought, "Wonderful! We will have a whole month to clean and move!" And then this month has been so crammed pack with tests (for Austin) and play dates (for me and the kids) and all sorts of Halloween things. So we were still moving today! And then we needed to start cleaning... and we still aren't done cleaning (Austin is there taking a turn cleaning right now!). So we really are so, so tired! We will need to spend all of November relaxing!

Anyway, so after cleaning and whatnot today, we went over to our friends' house to go trick-or-treating with them. I'm sorry but I do not have a lot of pictures of Baby Max because this is what he did all night:

Thanks Cole for letting Max sleep in your crib!

Anyway, as always my pictures are way out of order. So let me just tell the story now: We have had so many Halloween things to go to this month. In fact, this is the SIXTH time Makenna has worn her costume! We've had parties at two friends' houses, parties at church and at the library, a Halloween event at Austin's school, and trick or treating tonight. It's so crazy! But Makenna has loved the whole thing. I have found that she loves doing crafts and she loves playing little games. She also loves walking up to the people to get the candy. She will not say "Trick-or-Treat" but she will say the "Happy" in "Happy Halloween!" And she claps every time someone gives her candy. Oh and she really doesn't care anything about eating the candy which is good for Mom and Dad : ).

So these are just random pictures from all of our Halloween activities.

Two guys giving out the candy. JJ was the Scarecrow from Batman and Austin was... Austin. But I think he looks like a truck driver or something! Then we have Cowgirl Makenna, Batman Cole, and Robin Logan.

Thanks JJ for the candy!

By the end of the night Makenna was racing up the sidewalk to houses. Who needs mom?

But you definitely do need your thumb in your mouth!

She was absolutely fascinated with all of the decorations (except I'm wondering if some were a little TOO scary for her. As I'm typing this, she has already waken up three times crying. Bad dreams maybe? She usually doesn't cry like this!)

Okay this was at the party at Midwestern yesterday. It was a really neat thing. You could go from building to building trick-or-treating. Then they had games in the gym to play and activities and treats in the lunchroom. We had so much fun! Makenna was making some Halloween cards here. I think they were for children in the hospital but I'm not sure.

Getting candy at the Office Trick-or-Treat.

She was so good (most of the time) about just taking one piece! In this office building, they just had chairs lined up outside the cubicles with candy! Huge temptation, but Makenna handled it like an angel (with a little help from mom and dad)!

Pushing the buttons to go up for more trick-or-treating at Daddy's school! (The lack of Max in these pictures is just because we were holding him the whole time!)

Okay, this was at the Music Maker's party at church yesterday morning. Austin got done with class early and kept Max so Makenna and I could go play! Makenna was playing "Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin." She loved the games so much there and at Austin's school! She would just clap and cheer for herself! She didn't even want the prizes-- she just wanted to play the games!

Makenna and Brooklyn... just hanging out! This was a rare moment for Makenna. If she wasn't playing games she was dancing all over the place!

Ha ha, she doesn't really get the concept of throwing the bean bags... that's okay, she was awfully cute anyway!

Dancing with her cookie...

Walking in the Cookie Walk (I don't really think she understood what the heck she was doing! Mom, why are we walking in circles on this paper?)

Okay, this was at Kristen's party. We forgot our cameras at the actual Halloween parties, so I stole this picture from her! We were all cowboys/cowgirls! I was going to really go all out with the costumes, but I got lazy (see two posts ago). So all i ended up making was Makenna's skirt and vest and my skirt. Oh well! Look at little Max grabbing his big sister's arm... either he really loves her or he wants her toy! Probably both... : )

Sheriff Max

Cowgirl Makenna

Okay, there you go! I didn't get pictures at the other things... because both our camera and I stink... But it was such a fun month full of all sorts of parties and activities. Thanks to everyone for everything! Now, hopefully, we can get this apartment finished up. Austin is over there now and then he is off to an all-night relay thing he is volunteering at. Good grief! Busy day! I am finally going to fall into bed to sleep. My house is a mess, but this one time I do not care! : )