Last week of February 2016

I got a ton of new kids books through USBORNE Books thanks to an online party I hosted.  I'm super excited!  (I'm so glad my kids like books!)

Max at swim lessons.  They weren't able to use one edge of the pool so he had to hold onto one of the teachers like a monkey because he can't touch the bottom of the pool

Max and the other kids in his class, some were 2 heads taller! (He's wearing blue and right in the middle in front of the kid in a green shirt.)

He wanted to get some seaweed strips at the grocery store so I let him (He didn't really understand what he was getting) but kuddos to him because he actually ate it and liked it!

Skyping with Grandpa and Nana.  Max wrote them a note.

Silly boy ready for bed.  He's been putting one of his blankets on top of his pillow.   He really likes soft textures for his blankets and pajamas.

Rocking his BYU shirt

Emmalyn was NOT happy that I put this dress on her.  I asked her to wear it long enough for me to get a picture.  She never wore the dress again.  I don't really understand why she didn't like it.

One night this week, Emmalyn tossed and cried for hours. Finally I figured out her mouth was hurting her, she must be teething her 2nd year molars! So I put some lavender on and gave her Tylenol.  Poor girl.

Maxwell's Kindermusik class and their instruments.  Daddy helped him make one that sounded sort of like a duck quacking.  It was a cup, a string, and a wet napkin.  It was pretty cool.

Max had a friend birthday party at a bounce house place and he was all about it and had a great time climbing up some BIG houses.  (He's kid on the left)

Although he liked the bounce houses, he was constantly drawn to the video games and I had to keep pulling him away.

We played air hockey.  It's sure fun to hang out with this kid (and so weird that he's grown up enough to do things like this with him!)

Emmalyn wanted to ride bikes with the big kids but the scooter is the only one she can ride.

My cousin Brandy was in town so we all went downtown to have breakfast and hang out with her.  It was soooooo fantastic to get to spend time with her.  It's been a long time!

Peter swapped with me so I could actually be in a picture

We walked to Klyde Warren Park (a cool urban space over the freeway in downtown Dallas) and the kids played in the kids area

Emmalyn wanted to sit and listen to story time

Such a monkey with no fear

They loved it when dad spun them around

We tried a bahn mi sandwich from a food truck.  It was good.

Enjoying some Doritos (so messy!)

More houses going up on the street behind our house.  I miss our great wide-open view when none of these were here... :(  The progress on the house behind us is going so slowly! (which stinks because of the endless construction noise but also good because I want to delay having a neighbor back there as long as possible)

Dressing for spring in hopes that it comes faster!

Even though it's not yet spring and the grass is brown, the weather is warm enough to play outside in with shorts and t-shirts when the sun is shining brightly.

4th week of January 2016

So January is almost over but in some ways the Christmas Holidays are still going on in my house.  Emmalyn LOVES to sing Jingle Bells and watch Frosty the Snowman.  (Max loves the movie too.)  It's all about the Christmas songs in January!  We listen to Jingle Bells over and over and over in the car.

I was out doing yard work and found this not-so-awesome break in the drip line for my sprinklers.  Some stinking bunny just HAD to see how it tasted.  But huge kudos to Peter who saw it, was immediately confident on how to fix it, and got it handled like it was nothing!

I finally took down the Christmas decorations... sad to put the holidays away but such a relief to have my house all nice and clean again.

When I was putting away the ornaments, I realized that this beautiful ornament my mom made for me and my siblings in 2010 was cracked.  This was the last ornament I got from her before she passed and I was super bummed to see it had cracked (maybe from the heat in the attic where I keep all the decorations?).  :(  I've separated it and will need to figure out how to save it before I use it again.  I'm super sad.

Good bye stocking and animated animals

Goodbye Christmas card door that was a fun reminder of how many great people we have in our lives.

Take 1

I tried to get a cute picture of both of the kids at Home Depot but it's never easy to get them both looking at the same time and smiling and looking cute.  :)

Take 2

Take 3

Take 4 - I give up!

Rockin' her shades

I took Maxwell shopping with me at Gymboree.  For the most part he did great and it wasn't as painful as I was expecting.  He was excited to pick out a shirt for Valentine's Day.

That hair in the morning!

We went shoe shopping as a family and I handed Little Miss my phone and she took a few pictures and a video that I found later.  

Maxwell graduated to the next level at his swimming lessons!  I wanted to get a picture of his card all filled out with his accomplishments but they had already cleaned it off when we got there.  (They were clearly planning on him moving up today.)  Here we come Level 7!

Getting to ring the bell and getting his certificate

Playing on the indoor playground...

(There are two days a week when Max and Landen are both in preschool, Hayden is in elementary school, and it's just Brittany and Emmalyn.)

... and playing outside too.  

It's awesome when days are sunny and warm in winter and you don't need a jacket!

Video - Emmalyn throwing a fit over her food.  Sometimes she isn't cute and fun.

We started Kindermusik again this week.  We are going to a different location with a new teacher, Ms Carolyn.  She's awesome.  In some ways she looks like my mom and she's so fantastic with the kids.  I really, really like her and her style of teaching.  Both Maxwell and Emmalyn are taking classes now.  Max still has his KiddieKeys piano lessons during the week with one of our old Kindermusik teachers, Ms. Leah.

This week, Max had a rare accident at school.  It's been a really long time since he had an accident.  Poor kid.
Max sometime struggles to look through his glasses, he lets them fall down his nose and looks over them since they are blurry to him.
We have added something to my nighttime routine with Maxwell.  I now ask him 3 questions at night.  #1 - What was your favorite part of the day #2 - What was your least favorite part of the day #3 - What is one nice thing you did for someone today.  He rarely comes up with an answer, but I keep asking because I'm trying to build a behavior with him and emphasize the importance of helping others.

I think Emmalyn may be teething again because the drooling is picking back up again.
She will say, "why momma" or "why daddy" when asking why.
She hasn't had much dinner lately.
Emmalyn is tired super early lately.  In face, I put her down at 5 this past weekend thinking that she would take short nap and she never woke up and stayed asleep all night.
Emmalyn is strong at being wiggly when she wants to escape, so strong willed!!!