Giving Thanks

I meant to take a picture of the pre-feast spread of delicious food, but the meal was over and finished within a matter of minutes. It seems a little pointless to spend so much time and effort preparing a meal that is gobbled up so fast, but I think it just emphasizes the fact that Thanksgiving isn't about the turkey (obviously not for me), its about acknowledging our bounteous blessings. I am so thankful everyday for my greatest blessing...my FAMILY and the gospel of Jesus Christ that allows us to be an eternal family. Happy Thanksgiving:)

Sunday Mornings

Aaron is developing a tradition with the boys (which I whole-heartedly support) of waking up together on Sunday mornings and cozying up by the fireplace. The boys love spending time with dad reading books together and watching cartoons, and mom loves sneaking in a couple more minutes of sleep in bed...alone!

Good morning Max!

I often joke that my favorite time of the day is when I get the kids in bed, but truly my favorite part of the whole day is when they wake up in the morning with shining smiles on their faces. Every morning when Max wakes up, I unwrap him from his swaddling blankets and immediately his arms and legs begin to flail and he greets me with a giant smile! Max seems to radiate joy. What a lucky mama I am!

Hide & Seek

Hank is beginning to understand and enjoy playing simple games like hide and seek. Throughout the day Hank loves to scout out secret "hiding pots" (under Max's crib, beneath bedding, behind a door) and when dad comes home, Hank dashes to hide. Hank can't contain his enthusiasm and usually starts giggling well before dad comes anywhere near. Hank also likes it when dad hides. Hank will cover his eyes and count to 11 (the highest number he can count to). The anticipation of finding dad makes Hank too nerveous so he'll call out for dad and say "give you kisses" to try and coax dad out of his hiding place.

I don't know what makes me laugh more: Hank "covering" his eyes and counting, or Aaron trying to hide himself. Here are some of Aaron's hiding places...

under the coffee table...

behind a potted plant...

behind a column...

ABCs

Hank doesn't like to sing on command, so this was the best I could do at capturing him singing the alphabet. On this particular rendition, he skips a letter or two, but he can usually sing it perfectly. You get the idea.

*notice in the background the beautiful jars of apple pie filling Liz and I canned? pat, pat myself on the back.

Blessings

Today was Max's blessing day. My parents, Aaron's parents, and our good friends came to participate in the special blessing. Aaron gave a beautiful priesthood blessing and Max was a perfect baby the whole time. Aaron also sang "I Stand All Amazed" in a quartet during sacrament meeting. Aaron has such beautiful voice, but he doesn't like to perform very often, so it is a special treat when we get to hear him sing.

Hank wore this tuxedo when he was blessed so I thought it would be special for Max to wear the suit, too. Its funny because when Hank wore it, he was swimming in the outfit it was so big. When Max wore the same outfit, he was bursting at the seams and it looked like little knickers. I don't blame Max for being grumpy in this picture, I'd be mad if I had to wear little booty shorts too.

I thought little pudgy Max looked cute!

On this special blessing day, I feel grateful for so many special blessings. I feel so blessed to have a husband who is a worthy priesthood holder and is able to give our sons special priesthood blessings and preside in our home. I am especially blessed to have been given two precious sons. I know that they are righteous spirits who were saved to come to earth during these last days to lead in the Lord's army. I feel humbled to be chosen as the mother of these amazing little boys. We are so lucky to have Max in our family and I love him to pieces.

Mom-mobile

Yes, its official. I am the proud owner of a brand new MINIVAN! No, I'm serious. Don't laugh. The VW was fun while it lasted but it was becoming an annoyance to lug the carseats in and out of the tight backseat and the trunk did not accomodate my double stroller. Plus, we may have caused a fender-bender or two and felt like it was time to sell it before maintenance became an issue. So, we decided it was time to upgrade and buy a bigger car. I valiantly tried to resist buying a minivan. I despise all of the connotations and stereotypes associated with minivans. However, the truth is that we couldn't find any other vehicle with the space, convenience, value, and fuel efficiency that a minivan offers. I really, really tried to find an SUV that met all of our criteria, but, unfortunatly it doesn't exist. At least not in our price range. So, yesterday we wheeled and dealed with the car salesman until we were finally able to get exactly what we wanted and we drove home a brand-new Honda Odyssey. I'm probably the youngest minivan owner on earth--I think I aged 15 years when I put my signature on the sales contract. So what if I'm a minivan-driving, soccer mom? At least I'm doing it in comfort and style with my plush leather seats and DVD system instead of squeezing into a little compact, right? I swear that van is like one of those transformer toys--there are a million buttons you can push that make the seats fold up, the doors slide open, etc. There are so many cupholders and storage compartments that I can't even find them all. Laugh if you must--my minivan is cool.

Trick-or-Treat

For Halloween, Hank dressed up as his favorite Sesame Street character, Elmo. I thought Hank would be a little more enthused about his costume since he loves Elmo so much, but his attitude was more like, "alright, mom, I'll wear this silly outfit if thats what it takes to get some candy." However, once he discovered that all he had to do was knock on a door and say the magic words, "trick or treat" and he was rewarded with a fist full of candy, he quickly caught the Halloween spirit. We walked around the whole neighborhood with our good friend Liz and Hank's buddy Cameron, the chicken, and collected a load of candy. After each house, Hank would plop his bucket down and have to inspect the contents of his candy stash, picking out a peice or two to tide him over until the next house. Hank's bucket finally became too heavy to carry and poor Hank was tired from all the walking, so we went back home and Hank "helped" pass out candy to the other trick-or-treaters. When our doorbell would ring, I would grab a few peices of candy from our bowl and toss them into the trick-or-treater's bags while Hank would steal from our bowl and run the candy back to his own bucket.

Here is Hank surveying his spoils.

Elmo and the little chicken (Cameron).

Hank ready to fill his bucket.