Max - 4 months

Max's latest...
- almost laughs. It's rare, but we love hearing it.
- chews on anything he can get his hands on.
- knows Mom's face.
- has decided to give up the swing. He would much rather be on the floor playing with toys.
- can roll over both ways.. and actually prefers being on his tummy. I have even found him sleeping on his tummy when I check on him.
- super happy and social.
- can calm himself down.
- sleeps about 10-11 hours at night, and takes 3 naps during the day.
- kind of grabs things on purpose, but drops them easily.
- doesn't mind the car seat anymore. We bundle him up in this sleeping bag thing and I think he is cosier that way.
- loves to sit in the highchair while the rest of us eat dinner.
- chews on his hands and sometimes gags himself.
- turns his head to find the source of the sound, if he can't see it.

Shark Party!

Harvey is pretty much obsessed with underwater life. (Don't know why... we only have 3 fish tanks in our home). He was so excited about the thought of a SHARK birthday party. I thought it would be lots of fun to take a few kids to the aquarium, but our local aquarium relocated, and was closed during Harvey's birthday. So... I went with my second option - the local indoor pool.

I took too long to reserve the room at the Rec Center, and it wasn't available by the time I called. So we started the party at our house. It actually worked out great, because I was able to decorate the night before and I had plenty of time to get everything ready. Our kitchen was taken over by sea weed! (Idea from Delia Creates.)

And the best decoration of all, was Harvey's gift from Justin and I... a new fish tank (wait, did I say 3 tanks? The count is now at 4), with Glo Fish! They are so awesome!

I wanted to come up with theme-friendly foods using spinach linguine, but Justin talked me out of it (they are 5 year-olds, after all) so we just went with Pizza and some side dishes. We also had SEA-sar salad, but I didn't get a picture. Again, it was great that I didn't have to spend all morning making pasta and worrying that it would stay warm for everyone. Justin is good for me, I tell ya.

The blue ocean water bottles went fast! 

We just invited a couple friends and cousins to keep things simple, but there were quite a few adults as well because my aunt and cousins were in town for Thanksgiving. It was great to have them at our house for lunch and cupcakes even though they couldn't stay and swim. They got in their car to drive back to California right after the party. Harvey was thrilled that Bryanna could come to his party!

After lunch Harvey opened his gifts. He got some great dinosaurs, cars, clothes, cash, gift cards, and Legos. He was so excited! (And yes, his mother didn't even make sure the pizza was wiped off his face. Actually, she didn't even notice it was there!)

Then it was time for cupcakes. I seriously love how they turned out; don't they look just like little sharks swimming around? (The frosting was more blue in real life. And I got the idea from Spoonful.) I used the mint recipe from Your Cup of Cake, and it is quite possibly one of the best cupcakes I have ever tasted. 

Harvey loved all the attention when everyone was singing to him.. it was cute to watch. 

After the festivities at our house, we headed to the pool...

Despite his face, Max really did love the water and Avery was obsessed with this spigot.

Our amazing mothers came along to help me man the crowd from outside of the water.. (thanks so much!)

Oh, and I forgot to get a picture, but we handed out little favor bags with Swedish fish and a container of bubbles. I think the shark party was a success!

Here are some pictures of Harvey's 5 year photoshoot... he really wanted to wear his hat, so I went with it.

Harvey,

I love your silly sense of humor. You are always making me smile and laugh!

You are so kind. You share your toys and always make sure to include others in your schemes - including your little sister.

You are forgiving and quick to say "I'm sorry." You'll go far if you always keep that up!

You make friends so easily. I love that about you!

Your imagination is active... you always come up with a new scenario, and love to use dress-up items (hats, vests, swords, stuffed animals, walkie-talkies) to expand your new worlds.

You love to play... and you can make almost anything into a game (washing dishes, taking a bath, brushing your teeth, even making your bed)!

You are athletic. Your daddy loves to throw the football or kick a soccer ball with you. (Can't wait for the nicer weather to give you guys more space outside!)

You are growing like a weed! You are getting so tall, but who can blame you with parents like Dad and I?

You love school. I am so happy that you are flourishing there, and I love to see all of the creations you bring home often with funny names and stories behind each art project. And I love that you request to "do school" with me on days when you don't go to preschool.

I love you kiddo!

We were a couple of days late for the birthday pancakes (with family in town, Thanksgiving, Santa pictures and a birthday party I just couldn't get my act together).. but they were thoroughly enjoyed nonetheless:

Thanksgiving Fun...

I have always felt that I needed more Thanksgiving decor, but I wasn't sure what I wanted exactly. This year.. I finally had a vision.

I found a simple metallic turkey that I loved at Home Goods, and I used some of the fabrics from Avery's monthly pictures to make a "Be Thankful" banner. I absolutely love how it turned out. Not only the colors make me happy, but the fact that each pendant is a little pouch for an advent calendar!

I feel like the Christmas season is always so full: full of fun activities, full of places to go and people to visit, full of to-dos, and I also like to focus on Christ with my Christmas devotionals. I always have good intentions on doing a service advent in December, but it is just another thing on the list. And it often gets left undone. So, what better time to have a little activity each day reminding us of something we are grateful for, and a prompt to do some act of service to show that gratitude in November?

I wrote each prompt on a colored cardstock leaf, and after we completed the activity, we hung it on the tree. It was fun to see the tree get full of color from all of the different things we are blessed with. It was seriously awesome to see my children respond to the fun activities. Plus, it gave us a thankful spirit just in time for the Christmas season.

We did things like:

- I'm grateful for my sister! Do an act of service for her.
- We are grateful for treats! Make a treat and share them with a friend.
- We are grateful for toys! Sort through your toys and pick a few to give away.

- We are thankful for turkeys - make one! I hung them in the kitchen:

And I also took some pictures of the kids playing in the leaves as well... (we are thankful for nature)

The kids were cracking me up, as they kept trying to cover ME in leaves!

It was fun to see how full of wonder Max was with the leaves. He studied them so intently...

We were also grateful for our neighbors.. so we helped them out by sweeping and cleaning off their sidewalk. The kids enlisted their friends to help out.

On Thanksgiving Day, we headed over to Justin's parents' house for dinner. I lent my camera to Heather when we went down to visit her and baby Maya in the hospital (hers died or broke or something), so we didn't take our usual family photo before we left. I just had Monique snap one with her camera for our Book of Gratitude this year. It's far from perfect, but it will do.

I made this little outfit for Max (I found the idea on pinterest)... and I really love how it turned out! I was going to match it with pants, but then I found these little baby legs from when Harvey was a baby, and I thought they were perfect!

I am so blessed! I have an amazing, hardworking husband who loves me, and three beautiful, healthy children. Our families are both loving and supportive, and we live in such an amazing ward/neighborhood. Most of all, we have the knowledge of our loving Savior and His Atonement so we can continually become better and more like Him. 

Max - 3 Months

Max's latest...
- holds his hands together (so cute!).
- has found his hands and sucks on his fingers.
- still loves his swing.
- will fall asleep completely on hos own when swaddled in his crib.
- knows when he wakes up it is time to eat.
- loves to "talk" to us.
- smiles easily at everyone.
- sleeps a 9-10 hour stretch at night.
- lets out a huge burp after eating with no patting at all.
- so happy and content as long as he is fed and his diaper is changed.
- uses his toes to scoots up on his back.
- never went bald.. Yay! (excerpt for a little patch he rubbed off in the back.)
- pushes his feet against anything they touch - and loves t9 stand in your lap with your support.

Halloween Fun

For fun we did a few Halloween-y activities. We made spinning spirits for Family Home Evening after talking about the Holy Ghost. I think I'll make that a tradition!

Then for lunch we made jack-o-lantern quesadillas. Harvey wanted an angry face.. Easy and fun.

And then after the kids found some glow sticks they wanted to take them in the bathtub and turn the lights off. I remembered the waterproof lights I bought for the glow-in-the-dark egg hunt around Easter, and I thought it would be fun to take a "spooky bath" with them since they were brighter. It was so fun! The kids put them in a bunch of different toys and had a blast.

And, the kids had fun trying on the old costumes from years past...

I headed to Saver's to see if I could find a good fur coat for my Cruella costume, and Harvey came with me. He fell in love with this pirate hat, and I couldn't complain about paying $2.99, so we brought it home!