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! : )

A Lot of Randomness and Our New House!

Okay, so although I posted some crafts I did last week, it's really been a while since I have posted about the children and whatnot (basically since before we moved). So I have quite a few random pictures and then pictures of the new house!

Today I made Makenna a pumpkin book and let her color it. This is mostly for grandmas to see how cute Makenna colors!

Also, Makenna insisted on another "Cheese" picture after breakfast this morning.

Okay, so we have had a massive cold front come through yesterday and today. It dropped, I think they said, 24 degrees overnight! So we have gone from 80s to 50s/60s. That may not sound cold to some of you, but with us who have already acclimated to Arizona weather, it is freezing! We had to quickly buy the children a few warmer outfits!

Baby Max in his pants and jacket. I'm not sure exactly what's up with that goofy face he is making...

Seriously so funny! He loves to stick his tongue out and also to suck on his lips. I think it's part of the teething thing.

And Makenna in her sweats... I may be a biased mom, but I think she looks so stinkin' adorable!

Yesterday Austin made some yummy banana bread-- perfect for cold weather! I think it looks way professional. Also, so yummy! Makenna kept saying, "Piece, Piece!" She loves that stuff! We have hardly saved any for Austin!

Makenna, a couple of weeks ago, being silly before church (she likes the witches hanging above the fireplace. They make her laugh like crazy!):

Makenna and Max doing their favorite thing: smooching each other! Slightly ridiculous how much those two love each other...

Max before church a few weeks ago (Austin thought he looked like a pimp-- but I thought he was adorable!)

We walked in on Makenna before bed one day. Who needs mom and dad when you can read the scripture stories yourself?

Okay, now on to pictures of our house. I have been waiting to take pictures, thinking I would get everything all set up and decorations up and everything clean and exactly how I like it. Then I realized-- it will probably never be EXACTLY how I want it. So I just took the pictures anyway... : )

Okay, first is our library/craft room/office/den. It is definitely a lived in room! I love being able to have a room to store and do my crafts in! Austin has also started studying quite a bit in here. I didn't take a picture of the built in desk area. I'm sorry, that was just TOO messy; I couldn't do it! So here is just the slightly messy side of the room...

Next, Baby Max's room:

It is wonderful to be able to have baby Max in his own room. When he is sleeping or taking naps, the rest of the family can continue with their own routines and not have to worry about waking him!

Makenna's room:

You can't tell from the picture, but it really is a cute little girl's room. Too bad she doesn't ever play in it...

Next we have our room (it is so hard to take pictures of rooms! You can't get everything!):

Okay, then we have our family room. We decided to make this a room where kids can just play to their hearts' content. So we only have a limited amount of furniture. The rest of the room is just open play area! We love it!

The kitchen (yes, the wallpaper really is hideous!):

And last is our living room. We made two separate sitting areas. Right now we really don't use this room at all, but I plan to start doing Makenna's school in there:

(Sorry it's dark-- we haven't put the lamps in there yet!)

And there you go! I'm all caught up on blogging! See you Halloween for pictures of the cutest little Cowboy and Cowgirl!

A Few Little Crafts...

So I'm supposed to be working on Halloween costumes right now... especially since our first Halloween party is tomorrow... but for some reason I just can't get into making them. But what can I get into? A million crafts for my house! : ) I'm not ready to post pictures of our house yet (I still have a few things that aren't like I want them yet and I want it all set before I put on here), but I did think I would go ahead and post a few things I've made for it.

First of all, my oops! Yesterday I was removing a picture that I had hung with mounting tape and this was my result:

I guess when they say don't remove at an angle, DON'T! : o

Okay, next, when I got the camera out today Makenna said, "Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!" So here is her, "Cheese" (notice the lack of smile, obviously she doesn't understand what cheese really means!).

Okay, this is a wall hanging that I made to go over our love seats in the livingroom. I have three on one wall over the love seat and three on the other wall opposite over the other love seat. I think they look better in person than they do in a picture taken by our crappy camera:

This is a close up. I just glued scrapbook paper to foam boards, glued ribbon around the edge, and mod podged the top to make it stiff and shiny.

Okay, for some reason the pictures of the other wall will not load... but it's the same thing, just three different papers.

Okay, next is a wall hanging/headboard I made for our room:

I just stuck scrapbook paper on stick-on tiles (to make them stiff). I think it looks like fabric!

In the livingroom I did the same paper stuck on tiles...

I LOVE this paper! It is textured and so gorgeous! Ha ha, now that I look at the previous picture I notice the picture is actually turned sideways... It was 11:05, not 7:50! Ha ha, oops

Okay, that's it. I suppose I should actually go back and START our Halloween costumes now... Argh!