extreme home make-over

it is 1:06 a.m. and i am still awake. awesome, huh?? avery will be up to eat any minute, so instead of trying to get a little sleep, i thought i'd try to catch up on the 'ole blog.

last week we decided to remodel our kitchen. it is totally consuming our lives, but i am so SO excited about the progress we are making!! if everything goes as planned, we will be done this saturday so next week pictures are sure to come.

until then, i have to tell you about my bff's bff, julia marcum. {thanks for having awesome friends, meagan!!} she is incredibly talented + creative + just seems like an over-all rad person. anyways...

i've been having some decorating dilemma's with my living/dining area and i sent her an email to see if she had any suggestions. she did an entire post over on her blog...and i was completely blown away by all of her great suggestions.

check it out HERE.

once the kitchen is taken care of, we can start in on the living room!!! i can't wait.

oh, and i'd love to hear what you think about her suggestions. do you have any suggestions of your own?? do tell.

lastly, isn't she a doll??? we are in love.

oreo time with daddy

i don't exactly know what was going on in these pictures since i was feeding avery...

but i'm pretty sure that they speak for themselves.

my boys are absolutely crazy.

but i love them both with all of my heart.

favorite parts in this video include:

max making his cheesy smile for milliseconds at a time

max "lapping" his milk from his bowl...he sounds like a little puppy!

and his goodbye at the end

enjoy! and while you're at it, go find yourself some oreo's.

they do the body good :)

thursday night ramblings

i think if i see another rain drop i am going to pack my bags and head south. seriously, this is ridiculous. today, the temperature was 38 degrees. it's may nineteenth. not cool.

i just started playing around on pinterest, and i am slightly addicted. i've found wayyyy too many fun craft ideas + DIY projects...how am i ever going to get anything done??

i have been reading like a mad woman the past few weeks for my children's literature class. my brain hurts sometimes from all of the reading. i have read some amazing books though

{post on recommendations to come!}

i am 99.9% sure we are switching over to cloth diapers. not just any cloth diapers though.

gDiapers. i must say, i'm excited.

we are planting our garden this weekend!! {fingers crossed!} our growboxes have been patiently waiting in our garage for the past few weeks. now that our gigantic overgrown tree is officially removed from our yard, we can get things rolling!

sometimes i forget how trashy people can be. today i was reminded. did you see this on the news today?? yeah...i'm going to pretend we don't live here.

the trading post has gone on vacation for the summer. since i'm trying to graduate by august {ahhh!!!} and i'm still trying to adjust to the whole "being a mother of two" thing, it just was way more stressful than it was fun. but hopefully that will change when that diploma is in my hands :)

we are planning a trip to lake tahoe/san francisco over the summer.

i.can.not.wait!

oh, and lastly, here's a little video of miss. avery the dare devil:

here comes the sun

we've had intermittent sunshine the past few weeks...

but whenever those rays peak out from behind the clouds, we drop everything and go outdoors.

our double stroller has absolutely saved us and i love it!!

we've gone on multiple walks since avery's arrival + i even ventured out to the park without danny!!! it was a big accomplishment, and surprisingly, we all survived. luckily, a big flock of seagulls came to the park as well, so max was distracted from the playground {which was overflowing with children, all about twice his size!}

we've also colored with chalk a few times, watered our flowers, and last week when it was especially warm, i hauled the kids outside and we had a picnic in the front yard. it was lovely. oh, and the other day we got max his first pair of flip flops. is that not the cutest thing ever?? he loves them and tries to wear them all.the.time.

i am so SO ready for summer to be here in full swing.

after today's gloomy weather, it can't come soon enough.

tummy time

i don't know about your kids, but ours have a difficult time with tummy time.

actually, thats an understatement...

they HATE tummy time.

{aren't these the saddest pictures???}

lucky for avery, she has a very supportive older brother to help her through it:

once she calmed down a bit i was able to take some non-screamo pictures:

oh i could just eat her up.

crossed eyes and all :)

i'm a big kid now!

i may have said this before, but as soon as we brought avery home,

max instantly seemed ten times bigger.

he became:

more helpful>>>

{getting into the baby wipes}

more polite>>>

{signing his version of "more please"}

more protective>>>

{sitting in front of avery in our awesome double stroller}

more "child-like">>>

{sucking on his binkie...which he hasn't ever shown interest in...until now!}

...and more hairy>>>

{just look at that scraggly hair!!}

danny didn't want to part with his luscious locks, but he finally gave in and we had quite the hair-cutting party!! we bribed max with red vines, girl scout cookies, and videos on the ipod {jack jack returns in particular...} and we ended up with a semi-good looking hair-cut!! :)

{he totally looks naked in this picture...i promise he's got a diaper on!}

some spots are a little uneven, but hey! hair grows, right??

and just look at how proud he is:

avery's sprinkle

i realize that i am just now getting around to blogging about an event that happened

over a month ago but i'm pretty sure i've got a good excuse :)

my mom + two cute sisters threw me + avery a little "sprinkle" to get us more prepared for her arrival. i always feel like i need to do something to contribute, so i offered to make the invites. my mom came up with the clever wording; i just designed them.

i thought they turned out pretty cute:

my mom had tons of delicious treats {i wish i would have taken pictures of the spread!} but they involved brownie bites from costco, pineapple, strawberries, cantaloupe, etc...all things that sound and taste wonderful to a very pregnant girl!

{i love you marianne!!}

{the twins + max had a party with all of the wrappings}

{max was also very happy to see his old "roomie" ellie! isn't she such a cutie?!?}

i was so happy to see all of you that were able to come + avery definitely came away with a small fortune of adorable little girl items. thank you!!

...little did we know she would arrive just one week later!!!

p.s. some of my sweet friends in nephi also threw me a TOTAL surprise shower for avery, but i don't have any pictures...natasha, wanna help a friend out?? :)

p.p.s. i'm trying to play "blog catch-up" today, so stay tuned for {hopefully} many more posts!

avery's first photo shoot

our friend lori gave us a free newborn photo session as a gift.

what a great gift, huh?? we have the best neighbors.

it was a little hectic

{five small children in a little bedroom with lots of expensive camera lens sitting around...}

but somehow we got a few good pictures :)

avery wasn't being super cooperative, so that also made it a little difficult, and i forgot her cute headband that i made!! :(

but overall, i'm pretty pleased with how they turned out:

we love you avery mae!!

my son is a goofball

his life got rocked a few weeks ago with a new baby sister.

however, he hasn't let the situation put a damper on his crazy-silly-hyper-hilarious self.

if anything, he has become even more of a ham:

::fascinated with the tractors across the street::

::sporting dad's safety goggles::

::since we won't let him have avery's binkie...he thinks he needs his own::

::he has now mastered the art of somersaulting off the couch::

::cheesy breakfast smiles for mom::

::being a goofball during his haircut::

he may be goofy, but my how i love him.

he keeps me smiling when life seems like it can't get any more crazy.

i love you maxwell scott!

averina ballerina

while in oklahoma, i spent much of my time reading stories to the girls.

among their favorites was angelina ballerina.

now, i've got a little ballerina of my very own:

{thanks, kim, for the adorable outfit!!}

ahhhh isn't she precious??

we are having way too much fun with this little munchkin...

she is smothered in kisses all day long + we can't imagine life without her!