What We've Been Up To

Well, there's not a lot to report this week. We did school like normal (we finished up "Cc is for The Very Hungry Caterpillar" Next week starts "Dd is for Doctor") and tried to walk, ride our bikes, and go to the gym as much as possible (which wasn't very much this week, unfortunately). Not much else all week... anyway, here are some fun pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Makenna got these fun glasses in her Kid's Meal at the Miracle Mile Deli in the mall (a fun restauraunt-- but DON'T eat outside unless you want to be chased by birds. Fun for Makenna and Max-- so scary for mom!). She loved wearing them, but totally didn't get the joke of why they were so funny!

I actually did quite a few sewing projects this week. These were a pair of overalls I made Makenna out of $1 dishtowels from Target! Soooo easy, seriously a ten minute project, and perfect for play clothes!

I sent this picture to a few people this week. Seriously, this is what our house looks like EVERY SINGLE DAY by the end of the day. So ridiculous! The toy situation is so out of control that we don't even pick up anymore until bed time or when a friend is coming over (or when Mommy just can't handle the mess anymore!). What's the point otherwise? It is impossible to keep things clean with TWO mobile children!

We were able to hit the park a few times this week. This is the time of year that Arizona is honestly the best possible place to live! The weather could not be more gorgeous! Mr. Max had such a fun time crawling around everywhere! I couldn't even get him to sit still for a picture! Look at the fists full of dirt!

A lady came up to me and said, "Umm, he is eating sticks..." Max! I kept taking them from him but he kept finding them again!

Makenna loves the park! From swinging to sliding to rock climbing, such a fun place for her!

The rest of the pictures are of Max. Now that he crawls and stands, he is SUCH a troublemaker (Grandma Becky, the shirt you sent that says "Here Comes Trouble" is so so accurate!). It's funny how different kids are. Makenna would always follow me around and want to do everything I was doing. She never would let me out of her sight. Max, on the otherhand, is perfectly content playing by himself. But he is also a handful because he gets into everything! Nothing is safe from this guy!

He loves to stand in bed and bang on the walls! No fun for Makenna who tries to nap or sleep in the next room!

One of his new favorite things is pulling every book off the bookshelf! Little mess maker!

This picture makes Austin and me laugh out loud EVERY SINGLE TIME. Have you ever seen such a cheesy smile?!? Seriously, priceless. Oh gosh, I'm laughing so hard right, this is such a goofy picture!

Max also loves eating things like Makenna's paper projects... It's so hard to keep them from him because Makenna will be playing with something, walk away from it, and before we can grab it Max has eaten it! I threw away so much last week because Max chewed it in half!

Typical Max--- T.R.O.U.B.L.E!!!

There you go! A week filled with trying to keep up with Mr. Max and big girl Makenna!

Daddy's Update

Hi there, it's Austin. I have the task of blogging tonight. It will be short since I have a test tomorrow morning that I need to be studying for, plus I don't have a lot to say. The big news around the house tonight is that Max crawled tonight! He has done a little "Army crawl" for the past week or two, but he actually started crawling tonight. Pam happened to be gone at the time, so I got a little bit on video. And here it is:

And here is another one:

And this guy was a big trouble-maker even when he couldn't get around and get into things ;-) As you can tell, he hasn't perfected the art of crawling yet, but I imagine that soon, he will be getting into more things than we will know what do with! In fact, we were outside today, and Max was crawling off the blanket so he could pull up huge handfuls of grass and shove them in his mouth!

Pam also wanted me to make sure and post these pictures up. Apparently there is some nudist gene in our genetic lineage somewhere because this is how we find Makenna and Max in the morning sometimes. Somehow Max wiggles out of his PJ's during the night. Makenna just unzips hers and pulls them off. These pictures are 100% how we find our kids in the morning. At least Makenna has decided that even though she knows how to take her diaper off, it is a good idea to leave it on.

Pam loves to do Makenna's hair, and this is one of our favorite looks for Makenna. Now that her hair is getting a little longer, we can do a little more with it. We love the adorable little pigtails (and the goofy puffed-out cheeks)!

Well, I think that is pretty much it. I am off to go review liver disease. Good night!

Nuts... they are all nuts...

I am convinced that I have some of the nuttiest kids around. Why do I say that? Well, let's just look at the pictures shall we?

Here are the top 8 reasons why Makenna and Max are the nuttiest kids I know:

#8-- Max has some of the craziest hair I've ever seen:

(Not sure why this picture is turned that way...) We can't do anything with Max's hair! It's really dark and thick, but it also constantly stands up! We have used water AND gel... but it has a mind of its own for sure! The picture doesn't do it justice!

#7: Makenna is too scared to go down the slide the normal way, but she will go down the slide ON HER TUMMY! Isn't that much scarier?!?

Seriously, she climbs up the ladder and sits down like normal, but then she turns around on her tummy and slides down! But try to get her to slide down on her bottom and she will freak out at you!

#6: Makenna also thinks it is more fun to swing on her tummy as well! What is it with her and her tummy on the swing set?

(Yes, she is just in a t-shirt and her diaper. It was so muddy out there I just let her go out like that--less clean up).

#5: Makenna actually ENJOYS playing outside in the mud and ruining perfectly good clothes!
(Is she seriously my child?)

(Now do you see why she just had her diaper on in the other picture? And notice the bare feet-- even though she was playing out in the rocks, she wouldn't keep her shoes on!)

#4: Makenna enjoys spooning. No, not that kind of spooning you naughty people! ; ) This kind:

Ha ha, I just put some pom poms, buttons, and beads in bowls and gave her spoons and she spent, umm, like 45 minutes playing with them! Goofy kid...

#3: Even though the bath tub is "yucky," Makenna is perfectly content in playing in rain puddles! Like that's not yucky kid!

#2: They enjoy sitting together at the table... beating on it! Talk about headache! (But aren't they adorable doing it?!? Look at my big boy!)

And the #1 reason why I have the nuttiest kids... They LOVE to stand on their heads!

Can you believe Max is big enough to stand?!? He will be walking sure I know... What happened to my baby? : (

So there you go! I'm sure I proved my point! My kids are nuts! I'd show you more... but this was the only time I've had my camera out this week ; ) Of course, doesn't that prove something in itself? They are always being silly! I can't even take a picture when they aren't!

This week and School

Okay, a few cute things this week:

Mr. Max is such a good little boy! He LOVES to play with toys! Oh, oh, oh! And this week Max learned that he can push himself up from his tummy to sitting up! Such a big boy!

I had an Activities' Committee meeting at church tonight. I came home to find this girl. I believe we have a diva on our hands! ; )

Poor baby Max! We heard him crying today during nap time, and this is what we found! Ha ha, we had to take the bumper pads off cause he kept getting caught in them. Now he gets caught in the bars! Oh Max! (Poor guy is crying but I just had to get a picture before we rescued him!)

Makenna's new favorite place to play-- the entertainment center!

Okay, this is a horrible picture. But Makenna has been playing outside a lot lately and this is how she comes back inside-- such a dirty little mess! And Annie, you thought I never let my kids get dirty! : )

I was in the bathroom the other day, and I came out to find these sweet little babies just playing away together!

They love each other so, so much!

Okay, so if you have talked to me AT ALL in the past couple of months, you have heard me mention MANY times about doing school with Makenna. I'm pretty much obsessed with coming up with things to do in school. I've heard a couple of other moms talk about wanting to do a preschool with their own children, so I thought I would just tell a little about how we do it.

We have our preschool three times a week-- usually Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We usually go to Toddler Time at the library on Tuesdays and Music Makers at church on Fridays so we don't have school then. We have it from 9:30-10:30 or 11 on those days. Usually Max is awake and he just sits and plays with toys while we have school. He also really likes to sit with Makenna at her table and bang on the table while she works. We just make it work with him : ) Each week we have a theme and a learning theme. For instance, next week our Theme is the City and our learning theme is the letter C. Last week we studied the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear and our learning theme was colors. We base all of our activities on those two themes. I usually find things on the internet or in books during the weekend, make lesson plans, and then put everything together in folders for the week. Then the night before school, I pull the folder and make sure everything is prepared and ready for the next day. I have to admit, I spend TONS of time preparing for school. Seriously, after the kids go to bed I do chores and prepare for school and that's about it. But I just love doing it-- you seriously don't have to go to the extremes I do if you want to do school! But I have tons of links on the blog if you want more ideas. We have school in our front room. I also think it's important to have it in the same spot every day and make sure it's away from distractions like the tv or toys.

We follow the same daily schedule every day because repetition is very key for doing school with little kids. I'm also a really scheduled person so it works for me : ) For example, every day Austin gets Makenna up and feeds her and I don't get up until 7:30. Then I make the bed, get dressed, unload the dishwasher, feed Max, dress Max, dress Makenna, eat breakfast, do my daily devotional, do my yoga, and then start school. Every day, down to the minute, same thing. Seriously, I told you I'm a scheduled person!

So for school, we start each morning with a prayer. Then we immediately go into the "Good Morning" song. Then we have the Pledge (you can't see it in the picture, but there is a flag above that calendar):

And then Makenna gets to put a new number on the calendar and we say the date. Makenna loves putting the date up there and just playing with it in general. One day I walked into our school to find this:

Ha ha, obviously she doesn't quite get the idea yet, but it is fun for her anyway! After the calendar, Makenna works on some activities that help her with her fine motor skills. Usually I make these have something to do with our weekly theme.

Here she is working on one-to-one correspondence. I printed and laminated these little pages. Then she had to place magnets in those little circles. She really loved playing with magnets. She kept saying, "Neat!" everytime they stuck together.

This was another simple activity. I cut out little animal shapes (from Brown Bear, Brown Bear) and glued them on little glass rocks. I would call out a color or an animal and Makenna would have to find that card and then get to drop it in this can. She really liked putting it in! It helped her with colors and animals, but it also takes fine motor skills to be able to fit it in the little hole! Other ideas are lacing beads, working on lacing cards, doing a pouring center, working on cutting, and so on.

Next we do an art project. This could be something with painting, gluing, coloring, whatever.

That week we were talking about babies. So Makenna fingerpainted a baby bottle.

Last week Makenna used this dot paint to paint animals from Brown Bear.

Next we have music time. We do circle songs, sing nursery rhymes, or listen to cds and dance. We play games like Freeze Dance or dance with ribbons or musical instruments. Makenna LOVES music.

After music we have a snack. Makenna usually gets to help make the snack-- it's fun for her to get to help in the kitchen!

After music we do an activity with our Learning Theme. That could be anything from a craft to a coloring page. Last week Makenna matched m&ms to their appropriate color animal, thus working on her colors (we also combined snack time with this activity!)

Next we do a large motor activity. This is a time for Makenna to get to run around and have structured play. On this particular day, Makenna practiced throwing a ball into a box (simple, but fun for her!):

Last, we have storytime. We read from a book, Makenna makes books, and we tell stories with puppets or on a flannel board. The story usually has something to do with a theme.

So there you go! That is a day at our school! Afterwards we have lunch time and baby nap time and mommy gets to take her own little nap : ) I have to admit, Makenna isn't really learning her ABCs or whatever, but we like to do it because it's a way for her not to walk around being bored all morning (and watching Elmo all day!). Since we have started school, Makenna has really been better behaved because she actually has something to do! So school for her right now is more of a structured play time (hey, she's not even two yet!).

Anyway, if you can't tell, I'm still so excited about school and I love talking about it, taking pictures of it, and, obviously, blogging about it. I have tons and tons of resources if anyone else wants to get a school started for their kids! Just be warned-- I will talk your ear off about it! Just ask Jenn : )

Sharing Time

As some of you may know, I do a daily devotional each morning. I am currently following the book 21 Days Closer to Christ by Emily Freeman (she was a speaker at the Time out for Women I went to. I really liked her, so I bought her book!). This is really a fantastic book for a personal study time. She writes a chapter, and then extends an invitation to read and study for yourself in specific scriptures. Then you have the journey-- specific things to do that day to try to become closer to your Savior.

Today, she talked about Christ being "The Light of the World," and our invitation was to reflect about Isaiah 50:10-11-- how following our OWN light instead of the light of the Savior brings us sorrow. During the journey section, I was to think about ways I have learned to trust Him and ways that I have been able to turn to the Lord for direction and support. It was a very insightful journey. But afterwards, it says to SHARE this information with someone who is struggling. And I have to share TODAY. Well, I don't really know who is struggling. I also doubt I will leave my house today : ). So I thought, "how can I share this?" Well of course Pamela! Share it where you share everything else-- the blog! So here goes (keep in mind, this is personal for me and I'm not very good at sharing things like that, so be nice!):

As I reflect on my life, the times I have been most in despair are usually during financial crises. My family was never well off. So when I went away to college, I was on my own (keep in mind I went from Alabama to Idaho not knowing a soul and having no one there I could turn to). I did have a scholarship and pell grant and I worked part time, but somehow I always seemed to just scrape by. My junior year, I had a few health issues. I kept passing out and the doctors weren't sure why. They ran test after test and sent me to doctor after doctor. I missed quite a bit of school and work and also ran up a huge medical bill because my lovely (sarcasm) school insurance didn't cover everything. I wasn't sure what to do to get out of this problem. Debt has a way of eating a hole in you and sitting in your mind and just always being THERE. You worry about it A LOT. But each time this happened, the Lord sent me help. Whether it be an aunt deciding to send me money that week, or my mom having a little she could spare, or even anonymous donors at my school donating money to me, I always ended up having enough money to pay those bills and to actually be able to make it financially. I can't tell you how many times someone was there to help me. This is something that really taught me to trust in the Lord. I know now that the Savior will never "leave me hanging." I may be really worried and struggle for a while, but in the end it will always work out.

Fast forward to being pregnant with Max (and this is the really personal story). I have always been a very cheerful, happy person, but while I was pregnant with Max I was pretty depressed. I worried over everything and every single thing bothered me and I blew it all out of proportion. I had Max and was so much happier. I thought the depression was over. But a couple of months after Max was born, we ran into some more financial difficulty. This was entirely of our own making, but it still really bothered me. I was also stressed out having two babies. It was so hard to take care of a crying newborn when I had a needy toddler wanting attention as well. On top of all of that, I was just depressed. Depression doesn't need a reason to come. And when it comes, it hits you hard. I really spiraled downhill. I would cry for HOURS and not even really have a reason behind the tears. If we received a bill in the mail, it would bring tears. If Max took only a short nap, I would be crying. I hated every single thing about myself. It was such a horrible, black time. Not only did I have the tears, I also starting thinking very dark thoughts. I would lie in bed at night and look out my window at the balcony and think, "I wonder if I just jumped off, what would happen?" I was too afraid to do it, because I was afraid I would just injure myself and I wanted MORE. There was one night Austin and I got in an argument (can you imagine what a hard time this was for him too?), and I stormed out of the house. I made my way to the pool. There was a family there, and I just sat waiting for them to leave so I could be done with it all. The only thing that saved me this time was worrying about what my children would do without a mom. The last straw came was when a bill collector actually called our house. I locked myself in the bathroom, picked up a razor, and hoped I would be "brave" enough to be able to end this. All of a sudden I looked down and realized what I was doing. I ran out of the bathroom, sobbing, and threw myself on Austin's lap. I was horrified and I knew that I needed help. I called my parents and told them what had happened. This made things even worse (sorry mom), because my mom thought it was a case of needing to "pray more" or "read my scriptures more." Those are good things, but that wasn't really helpful at the time. But Heavenly Father sent me to a blog of a friend in the ward. She too was going through severe depression and talked about it and her journey on a blog. I e-mailed her, and she said "Get help now!" With her help and the help of my wonderful husband, I finally got to a doctor. Dr. E stayed with me for over an HOUR at that appointment. He talked to me and gave me advice and also gave me some meds to help regulate my hormones (who knew that 2 babies in 15 months could actually knock your hormones so out of wack it would leave you with depression? Apparently doctors know that! ha ha). He told me how important it was to always take my medicine, but also to exercise, eat right, and get enough sleep. But also, because he is LDS, he recommended plenty of scripture study (both alone and with Austin), prayer, and spiritual help. To make a long story short, within a week of starting my medication, I was back to normal. I felt happy again! Now I can look back to those days of darkness, and I cannot believe it got that bad so quickly. I cannot believe where my thoughts were taking me. This was not the real me-- this was someone who really was having a chemical melt-down and needed medication to straighten it all out. I could not have gotten back to normal without medicine. To any of you who think medication for depression is dumb and useless and you must not be doing all of the "Sunday School answers", you haven't ever faced it! But I wouldn't have found this out without the help of others. I was truly blessed to have the Lord put so many people in my path to help me. How blessed I am to also have my sweet little babies because I honestly believe I would have let something bad happen to me if I didn't have the thought of them in my mind the whole time.

The point of all of this (I told you it was serious and personal, *shudder, I can't believe I went into all of this!), is that I have gone down the road of despair. I have been through some of the darkest days imaginable. But each time the Lord, who definitely is the LIGHT of the world, sent someone to help pull me back. With these experiences, I know with full and complete trust that the Lord is there to help us and he WILL help us.

After these experiences, I have learned even more how important it is to work to strengthen ourselves during the good times. Now it is so important for me to have personal scripture study (my daily devotionals) and also to study at night with Austin. I have gained so much insight during these times. We have been reading Conference talks every Sunday night. I am getting so much strength out of this (seriously though, I'm not sure how the general authorities found out all about me and why they decided, out of all the people in the world, that they needed to direct each and every talk to me!). I draw closer to my Savior through Family Home Evenings when we work to teach Makenna gospel principles. I am drawing closer to my Savior through personal prayer and family prayer. I know that when we prepare ourselves, like I said, in the "good" times, the Lord will definitely help deliver us from the "bad" times. I can trust, 100%, in Him because I have had these experiences.

*Okay, disclaimer. I am so not good at sharing "real" things. I can share pictures of the kids and lighthearted stories, but I really struggle at getting personal and serious. I have tried my best to express my feelings today in this blog post. I'm sorry if it's TOO personal or if I didn't come across how I wanted. I am VERY nervous about publishing this, but I truly hope that the Spirit can touch you if you are struggling in anyway! If you need help through your own dark times, trust in the Light of the World. But you can also come to me; the Lord puts people in our paths to serve as His servants in doing His work. : )

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Here is a little New Year's Quiz for you. Choose the most accurate answer:

I cannot believe that:

A.) The break is over

B.) It's 2010 already

C.) Austin and I will have been married THREE years this year

D.) Makenna will be TWO this year

E.) Max will be ONE this year

F.) All of the above

The answer, of course, F.) All of the above! Definitely will be an exciting year!

Anyway, like I said, I can't believe Austin's break is over and tomorrow is back to school for him, and back to the daily routine for the rest of us. It was a really fun break (actually, I can't really remember what all we did; all I know is that we were always busy and it went by really fast!).

For your viewing pleasure, I have two sets of pictures for you. The first set is of Makenna and Max in their Christmas church clothes from Grandma Becky (they actually wore them after Christmas because they were both super sick the Sunday before Christmas). The second set is of the kids playing today on their swing set. They love that thing! Good thing we live in sunny AZ where it's 72 degrees in January! : ) Eat your heart out cold-winter people!

I just thought this was funny. Austin was trying to get Makenna to smile by making silly faces at her-- she thought she was supposed to make the faces back!

We also tried to get her to smile by singing to her-- this is Makenna singing, "Book of Mormon Stories."

(my pictures, as always, are a little out of order...)