hello from max!

i never thought it would happen...

...but, GUS GUS has returned!!!

freaky? yes.

super speedy? yes.
impossible to catch? yes.
ugly? yes.
hairy? yes.

will he survive living in the mckinley residence? not on our watch.

{as you can see, danny is extremely mad and determined to catch the mouse...}

so apparently mice have a thing for us. two out of the three houses we've occupied have had these furry little critters. we haven't seen any for the {almost} six months that we've lived here but on thursday night gus gus decided to return. we were just getting back from a seminary christmas dinner and danny saw it scurry out of the hallway and under the couch. i didn't believe him at first {or at least i didn't want to} but i grabbed max {who was still sleeping away peacefully in his carseat} and set him on the table...along with myself. danny called clay {our trusty, awesome roomie} and he came down ready to help. for twenty+ minutes they searched high and low but somehow he evaded us and bee-lined for the laundry room...where we discovered a nice big hole. awesome. and the past few nights we've heard little clicking inside the walls. super awesome.

there is never a dull moment around here!

two month {stats}

the little man is now two and a half months old! my how time flies.
here is how he measured up at his two month check:

{doesn't he have just about the biggest eyes you've ever seen?? love it.}

weight: ten lbs. seven ounces {12.29 percentile}
length: twenty three inches {37.39 percentile}
head circumference: fifteen and a half inches {17.72 percentile}

so. we're still working on chunkin' him up...but for now we are enjoying our sweet little baby boy. we sure do love him!

some of his favorite things include:

.bath time.
.smiling HUGE smiles at mom & dad.
.blowing spit bubbles.
.watching mom sign the alphabet to him.
{i've never seen him more focused than when i am signing to him...it's amazing.}
.meal time.
.bouncing and kicking in his bouncer.
.balancing in dad's hand.
.looking at the lights on the christmas tree.
.listening to people singing.
.trying to figure out how to laugh.
.being held and snuggled with.
.kisses.

some of his not so favorite things include:

.the dreaded tummy time.
{the doctor told us we needed to up the amount of tummy time max is doing.
he said to do it three times a day for twenty minutes!}
.being quite during church.
.getting cold.
.waiting for mom to get ready to feed him.

we love you maxwell!
{aka: maximus, king max, little bear, bubba, mighty max}

festival of {trees}

this past saturday we decided to head up to south jordan to see the festival of trees. i've never been, and danny hasn't been since he was a little tyke, so we thought it would be a nice activity to ring in the christmas spirit.

my favorite part was looking at all of the AMAZING gingerbread houses. they were incredible. i couldn't stop thinking of all of the new ideas i wanted to use on my gingerbread house this year.






the tree's were fabulous as well. they had everything from a "fancy nancy" tree, to rock band, to a "twilight" {it always rains in forks...clever}, to an upside down tree, to a "goodnight moon" tree. we had a wonderful time...and even got to run into sammy yarbrough and dave + sarah.






p.s. max has been taking a killer morning nap, so i've posted about five different posts...make sure you check them out :)

is it possible...

...for him to be any cuter??? i think not.

sugar and {spice}

i don't know how i got so lucky, but within the same week i got to see four of my all-time fav little girlies.

ella + audrey {my sweet little cousins from north carolina} were up visiting for thanksgiving, and last monday night danny and i got to go over and play with them while tom and greta went out to dinner. ella was loving her pink unicorn that she got because she earned five stars for going potty {at least that's what she told me}. and audrey is the cutest little chatterbox. i couldn't understand a word she was saying, but goodness her voice is cute.

then, on wednesday, mariah + laney came to visit!! bekah came up early with the girls so mike could focus on all of his finals, and bekah took off for the week for her "sister's conference" down in arizona. so the girls have been staying with my parent's for the last week. i got to watch them while mom was at class...what fun! i've missed them so much--it's amazing how fast they grow! laney is now walking and talking...and mariah is even more of a princess. {i asked her how her flight was from oklahoma and she said "oh it was just perfect!" thanks to fancy nancy her vocabulary is quite exquisite.}

rub a dub {dub}

there is no question about it: max's absolute favorite time of the day is BATH TIME. the second he hears the water running in the tub he perks up and if he's crying, he stops instantly. he's been splashing and kicking more and more, he loves getting his hair washed, and if you get your fingers wet and stick them right up to his mouth he starts licking you like a little puppy. probably the cutest thing ever. i think it's fair to say that it's becoming our favorite time of the day too.