Wednesday, October 17, 2012

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!

Monday, October 15, 2012

race tracks + piggytails

the house was extremely quiet over the weekend due to the fact that both kids stayed with danny's parents.  i missed my little munchkins so much but i enjoyed my time alone and tried to soak it all in.  i attended time out for women down in richfield, ut and it was wonderful.  they had amazing speakers + performers: sheri dew (love her!) jenny oats baker, emily freeman, s. michael wilcox, virginia pierce (president hinckley's daughter), etc...and i can always use a little spiritual pick-me-up!

...

max & ave really are quite the little team.  they love each other so much and i hope their relationship will continue to get stronger and stronger over the years.  i've got a bunch of random pictures from over the last few weeks and don't know what else to do but smush them all together in one giant post :)  enjoy!

+ ave's pigtails get me every time.  she seems so grown up!! where has my baby gone???  this particular day the kids were totally into max's racetrack and amazingly max was a good sharer!  gotta love moments like this!







+ when avery decides that she's not going to be picky (it happens every now and again, thank goodness!) she is one messy eater!! i should probably bathe her after every meal...but that would get a little excessive, don't you think?  


+ she is our rockstar sleeper and still takes a great afternoon nap (max does too, with enough convincing on our part...) as long as she's got her blankie, binky, and zulie, she is set!!


+ a few weeks ago avey came down with a nasty little bug and i've never seen her this sick her entire life!  she stayed put on the couch while i made dinner (not normal for her!) and laid pretty low the whole day :(


+ max got spoiled by grandma "nell" and grandpa chris (his nephi grandparents!) who gave him three different trucks/tractors.  he is in love and has started to get quite the imagination.  he loves to dump "dirt" into the dump truck.  how do little boys learn these things?!?


+ we scored two little umbrella strollers at a yard sale for $5 each!! can't beat that!  the kids had a blast pushing them around and they have already come in handy.





+ our little sleeping beauty :)  is this not the funniest picture??  avery loves her glasses, and somehow snuck them into bed the other night.  silly girl.


+ max probably would have slept with his sunglasses on if he knew where they were (he loses them often since he loves them so much!) but he sure does love his curious george blankie.  


+ and avery absolutely adores her daddy.  love these two.



+ and last but not least, avery's newest trick!! :)


Thursday, October 11, 2012

mavery


oh miss avery.  what in the world would we ever do without you??? you bring so much light into our lives.  you are such a little drama queen and you love getting all dolled up.  you have the most beautiful smile and your laugh is so adorable.  you love dogs and will stop everything you're doing when you hear one.  you can point out your eyes, nose, ears (you never forget to point to both!), mouth, teeth, tongue, hair, fingers, toes...and the two most recent: elbow + chin :) 



you love accessories including glasses, necklaces, bracelets, headbands, etc... except we are still trying to teach you to keep the headbands on your head!  you love max and want to do everything that he does.



you love to be outside, and you especially love it when the neighbor's dogs are out playing catch.  you love the playground and think you can do whatever you set your mind to.  you are so good at practicing buckling up your high chair + car seat.  you give the best kisses ever.


you are turning into a picky eater (we can't handle it much longer!) but you've got a sweet tooth like nothing i've ever seen before!  you can keep up with max and you've been perfecting your sweet little gallop over the last few weeks--you're getting so fast!



we love you mave :)

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

well-child check

max had his three year well-child check last week:

weight: 29.54 pounds (26.89%)
height: 38 inches (65.55%)
bmi: 14.38 (5.44%)

at 19 months, here is how avery was on the charts:
weight: 24 pounds
heights: 34 inches
head: 18.5 inches

Thursday, October 04, 2012

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.

Monday, October 01, 2012

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 :)