late night singing

Avery is our little performer. She loves to sing. She loves to dance. She loves to tell stories. She is incredibly animated + dramatic + I can't wait for her teenage years ;)

But seriously, her little voice is one of my favorite things on earth. Two songs that she sings non-stop are "I am a child of God" and "I love to see the Temple." She knows every single word to each of them! A couple of nights ago, we caught a pretty great version on camera (complete with her crown & an appearance by Penny :)

Of course, Max wanted in on the fun so we had them sing another one of their favorites, "Scripture Power!" I think it's safe to say they love it mostly because of the fist pump...but who can blame them? ;)

articles of faith

happy friday everyone! it has been a terrible week over here (full of sickness) so we are happy to see it come to a close! these videos were taken a few weeks ago (the kids look so healthy!) but i thought we could all use a little uplifting. this is the weekend before christmas after all! crazy!!!

max now has the fourth and fifth articles of faith memorized! we work hard almost every day at lunch and max & ave love watching the finished product. (don't mind max's horrible table manners! next i've got to teach him not to talk with his mouth full!):

avery has also been working on a few skills of her own:

day of thanks

what?? it's december eleventh and i still haven't written about our thanksgiving? where in the world has the time gone? wherever it went, we had a wonderful holiday with danny's family (though i've only got two pictures to prove it!) don't avery & julia make the cutest little indians?

and since it would be impossible for me to leave you with just two pictures (especially since it's been ages since my last post!) here are snippets from our lives over the last few weeks:

//setting up christmas was the most eventful it's ever been around these parts. the kids wanted to help with everything...which was fine, until they broke two glass ornaments (by banging them together!) they were then allowed to play only with the little people nativity set, which they were happy to do! i find the nativity in a different set-up every day.

//max has had an obsession with puzzles for awhile now, but avery has just recently become totally intrigued as well! max has a tendency to want to do the entire puzzle for avery (or hover over her and tell her what to do...) but if they are both working on a puzzle at the same time, things usually play out pretty smoothly. 

//the kids "nephi grandma" (aka lynelle) gave them a rice krispie train set as an early christmas present. max could not stop talking about it but waited pretty patiently as we got everything ready. in the meantime, avery perfected her cheesy smile! i'd say she's got it down!! she also perfected the skill of eating frosting straight out of the tube...

//on cold winter days, max and ave love to raid their closet and try on whatever they can find:

//ave also has an obsession with any and all accessories. such a little girl!!! love her to pieces: 

//she loves her lift-the-flap books (we read a lot around here):

//the freezing cold weather hasn't deterred us (most days) from going on a short "walk around the block" as max likes to call it:

//and every morning when ave wakes up she likes to look out her window for the "bdeees!" she loves birds. and our neighbors have chickens so she thinks they are the coolest things ever.

can't believe christmas is in two weeks from today! hopefully i'll get around to blogging again before then :)

demolition derby

we decided to hold a demolition derby in our own home a few weeks ago.
a basement demolition derby that is.  it was wonderful :)

friday night we started out by filming a basement tour (so you can experience the creepy basement for yourself!) and once that was finished, we immediately began ripping off paneling (it was everywhere!) and drywall.  i won't go into all the details of what we found behind those walls...let's just say at some point there were some dirty people living here!! we also found FIVE dead mice (nasty!!!) and plenty of spider webs:

saturday morning we cleaned up the BIG mess (max was such a great helper...avery, not so much :) and when the kids were napping we finished destroying what was left of the basement.  it may seem a little crazy to most of you, but we wanted to be able to see what we had to work with and how we might be able to arrange walls differently (since the layout isn't the most efficient right now).  this will probably be a project that we'll be working on for a while but we'll take it!

...and this weekend we're turning our attention to the mudroom/pantry area at the top of the stairs.  danny has got fall break (beginning tomorrow!! woot woot!) so we are framing, drywalling, taping, mudding, painting, and assembling.  

this is what the room has undergone the past few weeks:

+ the removal of the nasty cupboards:

+ and "tile" wall:

 + the uncovering of some creepy wallpaper:

+ and an unidentifiable space (was it a window?  a gun safe?  who knows...)

check back tomorrow for more progress!

i never want to forget.

as mentioned in my last post, our little bear turned THREE last week.  (it's still blowing my mind that i've been a mother for three whole years!!)  this stage of life, as crazy as it is at times, is so wonderful.  max is turning into quite the little boy and there are many things i want to always remember.  knowing me, and my horrible memory, i probably won't...which is just another reason for me to record some of the things max does that i never want to forget.

//he loves his sister.  i'll catch him saying, "come play ave!" or "for cute!" or "does that sound good?"

//he always needs his "hurts" kissed better

//he uses his pink or green scissors to open up everything! 

(they've only gotten him in trouble once or twice!)

//he loves curious george, shaun the sheep, and "jesus videos" (the new bible video's on lds.org)  his favorites are the baptism of christ, and the resurrection.  he'll ask almost once a day, "can i watch for five minutes??"

//he has an obsession with shoes

//he can count to ten but almost always skips 3

//he can kick a ball like nobody's business :)

//he loves catalina and is great about eating his salad as long as he can dip it in dressing

//he is good about taking his chewable fluoride and is usually the one to remind us he needs it

//he's getting to the point where he wants to wear the same outfit (usually his soccer outfits) over and over again...

//he almost always requests "i am a child of god" for our bedtime song

//he knows how to throw a terrible tantrum (he may or may not have bit me in the grocery store last week!!!)

//he takes naps about 75% of the time, and when he does nap, i usually find him like this with books piled high:

//he loves to display his artwork on the fridge and has to make sure at least a part of each picture is visible

//he finally does well in nursery (after a crazy summer!)  avery will be joining him in two weeks!!

//he still loves craft time + coloring + cutting paper

//he still calls milk "nope"

//he loves stories and looks forward to checking out a new stack of books at the library each week (his latest favorite is shark vs. train, which is a very cute book.  i'll randomly catch him saying, "i'm gonna chew-chew you up!" :)

//he loves both of his grandpa's and calls them "pampa"

//he asks about all of his aunts + uncles frequently and will usually want to call at least one of them

//he is daddy's best little helper (we got him a pair of work gloves for his birthday so he can help with all of the big projects we've got going on.  he loves them!)

//he is great at folding small towels & his pajama shirts

//he has a hard time with the letter "s"--most words beginning with s he pronounces f.  my personal favorite: he calls smarties "farties" :)

//sometimes before naps he'll say, "should we talk a walk around the block??"  he loves being outside and looks forward to our (almost) daily walks

//he loves his playgroup!  the other day, at natasha's house, a few of the other kids siblings joined.  natasha was introducing them and saying she was excited about the visitors.  she told me that max looked sad, shook his head, and said, "but not ave..."  cutest thing ever!

//he loves going to the park, especially now that ave can tag along behind him

//he is very aware of what we are saying.  just the other day, when we were driving up to salt lake, he randomly said "should we fill up the car with gas?  i think it's empty!" 

//he loves our neighbor's little kittens and always wants to stop and say hi

//he can spot an airplane anywhere in the sky

//he is obsessed with gum and will find it anywhere!

//he shuts the door to our basement before naps so "the bad guys don't come in"

//he cuts up his go-gurt in little tiny pieces as he's eating it (not sure where he learned that one from!  hopefully we can break that habit before kindergarten :)

//he can pedal his three wheeler like a pro now

//he loves his black SF hat we got for him and wears it everyday

//he still wears a pull-up at night + for naps but he does really well during the day

//he loves cucumber from the garden (and dipping them in catalina) and will always ask if it's going to be "bitty" (bitter)

//he gives the best hugs with "pats and rubs"

//he always wants to push the buttons on the "macrowave" all by himself

//we've gotten in the habit of saying "goodnight you two!" as we leave their room at night.  he's started calling back, "goodnight you two!"

//he doesn't like the dark anymore and always wants the door open a little "tack-ed" (crack)

//whenever he wakes up, we ask him what he dreamt about.  he almost always says "jesus!" and then he'll list off the rest of the family "and mommy, and ave, and daddy, and max!"

//he knows the first three articles of faith:

life would be so incredibly dull without our maxwell scott.  we love you little guy and hope you never forget it.  xoxo.

i've got a three year old!

max turned THREE last wednesday and it seems we've been celebrating non-stop since then!  who wants to celebrate for only one day anyways?? :)  on wednesday (his actual birthday) we had his little playgroup over (it was my week to host) for a curious george party.  we played memory, colored pictures, ate banana cupcakes, and sang to mr. max.  he was a little hesitant to have all that attention on him + blow out the candle, but later, when he was supposed to be napping, i could hear him singing "happy birthday to you!" over and over again.  what a sweetheart.

later that day we had "the provo girls" down for another little get-together + low key party.  though i didn't take any pictures (how did i let that slip by me???) it's always so good to see all those girls and their cute kiddo's.  it was naptime for the little ones but somehow we managed to escape almost all meltdowns :)

danny and i have started getting up at 5 a.m. to exercise + study before the kids wake up.  it has been kicking my butt!!!! so when avery woke up a little before max i took the chance to snuggle up with her and take a little rest before the birthday festivities continued :)

since we knew we'd be celebrating later with family, we took the rest of the day pretty easy.  we had max's favorite meal: oh boy casserole and green salad with catalina.  we took one of the neighbor girl's friends home, so on our way back we stopped at a fun little park in mona.  the kids had a blast and then we topped the night off with ice cream from reed's.  when we pulled into our driveway, we saw that across the street was a helicopter!! we had actually seen it driving home and thought someone was hurt.  apparently they were doing training with the emt's so we went over and max got to climb on in, which he thought was the coolest thing ever.  after baths, we were able to watch it take off, while sitting on our porch!  it was the perfect ending to our sweet little boy's third birthday!

thursday night we drove up to provo to celebrate with my family...while danny was at school :(  besides the major tantrum max had when we first arrived, we had a great time and enjoyed playing, eating a delicious dinner, and yummy chocolate pudding + whipped cream for dessert!  max got an awesome car transporter from grandma + papa...which he plays with all the time!

friday, once danny got done with school, we loaded up the car and headed to salt lake for our final birthday party!  most of danny's family was able to come to tim + kristina's house for a yummy bbq + cake.  we had a great time!  thanks to everyone for coming and making max feel so special!  grandma debbie made max the most awesome curious george blanket (he's slept with it ever since!) and tim + fin gave max a sweet wooden car, which he can take apart + put back together!  he is one spoiled kid.  i am most proud of the cake that i pulled off for the birthday boy!!  it turned out just as pinterest said it would...and it tasted delish! :)

and saturday, we hung out in layton for a while before heading home so i could attend the relief society general broadcast (which was wonderful!!!)  max + avery love their papa and couldn't get enough of the playground!  also, cutest moment of the day: sneaking in on max + reed reading stories to each other on grandma + papa's bed.  

i'd say we had a full birthday week!!  max, we love you!!  here's to another wonderful year :)

while they were eating.

i'm pretty sure i only take pictures of my kids when they are eating.  we must eat a lot.  or that is the only time that they sit still for more than ten seconds :)  either way, here are lots of recent pictures of these two crazy kids eating.

first group of pictures // string cheese on the front lawn while daddy was mowing.  

notice how reddish-orange the lighting is??  these were taken during the horrible fires surrounding our little town.  for about 3 days we had ashes floating down from the sky.  craziness.  so glad we've had some rain recently!  we need it so badly.  

but, back to the kids.  they are obsessed with string cheese (basically any cheese in general).  avery usually just chomps it down in a few bites unless she sees someone else peeling it (max) then she has to eat it that way too.  however, that sometimes causes her to gag :) you'll see what i mean in a minute...

second group of pictures // cherry cheeks

max thought it was pretty hilarious that he could stuff a cherry in each cheek:

third group of pictures // avery = our messy eater

max has always been pretty particular about staying clean while he eats.  avery is an entirely different story.  it doesn't phase her at all to be covered in food from head to toe.  i actually think she kind of likes it :)  notice in the last picture how tall she is getting!!  where is my baby going??

fourth group of pictures // squinty eyes

i'm not sure where avery picked up this little talent but she does it all the time.  she is such a goof ball.  lately, she and max seem to egg each other on and they both think they're so funny :)