stockton's blessing

We're so glad that we live close enough to family to come up for special events (soon it will be even closer!!) Stockton, who is 3 weeks younger than Graham, was blessed and afterwards we had a delicious luncheon! We were even able to meet up with our good friends, Emily & Elliot, who were in town visiting. 

// It was also Missy's birthday!! //

Thank goodness both Missy & Stockton are in our family! I have a feeling Graham and Stockton are going to be best buds. 

wet n wild

We were able to go up to Layton for Stockton's baby blessing & the day before we had a party with the cousins! My kids have never had a water balloon fight (tragic, I know!) so we put an end to that!! We had all forgotten how much patience you need when filling up water balloons, but the kids were amazed, so it was all worth it :)

// The kids had to get Grandma wet! //

// Max & Avery absolutely love Grandpa & Grandma's "playground" and they can now do the monkey bars all by themselves! //

// Love this boy!! //

// Smiley Graham!! //

// Cute cousins //

porch painting

Both Max & Avery LOVE to do art. So when I rolled out a giant piece of paper on the front porch and gave them full reign over the markers, crayons, and finger paints...they were basically in heaven! 

// Give Max a writing utensil, and I can almost guarantee that he will draw Batman! //

// The kids even gave me a little section to color! //

learning to count

I have been struggling lately with this mom thing. Don't get me wrong, I love these three little people pictured below more than anything!! But I've just been having a hard time planning & executing productive things for us to do throughout the (long) days.

The kids behave so much better when I plan activities (go figure!) and on this particular day, the kids were eating it up! They couldn't wait for me to explain what we were going to do, and bonus, I snuck in a little bit of education as well. They are both getting really good at their letters, but in the number area, they could use a little help. This activity was just the thing! I gave them each ten little containers, then they copied down the numbers 1-10, and then filled their cups with an assortment of items that matched each number. They loved it. Why can't I be this creative everyday?!?

// Umm, I could just eat Graham up!!! //

// This boy is a dream. //

// We're still working with Ave on the proper holding of a pencil, but she did these numbers all on her own! So proud of her. //

What do YOU do to fill your days?? The end of summer has got my itching for some structure. I'd love any and all suggestions!!

solutions for an artistic hoarder

I've mentioned this on Instagram already (@jessmckinley) but Max is my little hoarder. He wants to save basically everything that he draws/gets from Primary & he draws a LOT. Things were getting out of hand (think piles of paper in multiple spots all over the house!) so I knew I had to come up with something. I've used Blurb multiple times to make my blog books & I'm always really pleased with how they turn out, so I used them again to make Max his very own book with his drawings inside.

We've been working on it for a long time, taking pictures of his art & throwing them away as we went, and then he helped me actually make the book by dragging all of the pictures into the book template. It went smoothly (as usual) and Max could NOT contain his excitement when the FedEx man delivered it right after he woke up. It turned out just how I was hoping it would & I hope that Max treasures it for a long time.

We sure do love you Max! 

(Hoarder & all!)

tin foil rivers + laundry for days

It's been a bit of an adjustment for all of us to get used to this whole commuting thing. For the past four years, Danny has worked three minutes from home. Now, it's a 40 minute commute & though we are so excited about the changes, it has been rough on all of us. 

Needless to say, I've been trying extra hard to keep the kids happy & think of fun things to keep us busy throughout the day (especially the witching hours...3:30-5!!) I have failed more than I haven't, but we're slowly getting the hang of things.

On one particular day (after a string of really, really rough days...) I took a look at my pinterest boards for inspiration. I came across this tin foil river & knew it would be just the thing. The kids loved it (though our yard isn't quite sloped enough for this kind of activity!) and spent a good deal of the afternoon running their bath toys back & forth down the river.

Then it was laundry time (does anyone else struggle with laundry?!? We are so sick of MOUNTAINS of laundry piling up so this last week we've tried doing a load a day to stay on top of things. It seems to be helping a little...) and the kids decided to bury themselves instead of help. Seems reasonable enough, right? ;) Eventually we did get those clothes folded...it just took a while!