Sweet Moments

Diva Lyvie - in her favorite outfit, sporting her favorite accessories!

 My sweet mighty Max - my biggest baby to date.  He is already outweighing, out"heighting" the older three.  His 2 1/2 month stats are what the others were at 4 months.  I just can't get enough of his chubby cheeks and his sweet smile.  It literally melts my heart.

 Building temples out of marshmallows for FHE.  

The two goofballs enjoying glow sticks and goggles in the tub.

A Date with Jack

Shawn and I decided to start going on an individual date with kids, rotating between he and I each month.  This month was Jack and I.  I was really excited about this because I feel like a lot of my time with Jack each day is spent telling him no.  Today was a yes day - we did everything he wanted to do.  He was extremely sweet about the entire experience, and he is already making plans for his next date with Dad.  His list of things to do was:

1 - Dollar Store (this caused a little dilemma for Jack trying to decide which flavor of gum to get).
2 - McDonald's - complete with a Diet Coke - gag! Jack's newest favorite pop flavor.
3 - Barnes and Noble - to play with the trains
4 - Grocery Store (okay this was my choice, but Jack was a good sport).
5 - Dunkin' Donut....however we didn't make it because Max needed to be fed and so Jack was a good sport and substituted a pack of skittles for a donut.

I loved being able to just sit with Jack and talk to him about school, church, friends, and his favorite things.  This is a very rare occasion to get this much one on one time with him.  He made a perfect date, and I can't wait to have another one in the future.

What we Look Like Today

I was talking to Aunt Michelle on the phone today, and we couldn't believe how much our kids are growing.  One of the most difficult things about so far away from family is feeling like our kids grow up not knowing their extended family.  So I decided to take a picture this instant of what the kids look like today - January 29, 2013. So family, if you were here at my house today, we were getting ready to go outside to play baseball, but we opened the door to a cold drizzling rain, so opted to stay inside.  We just finished Sam's homework, fed Max, and got Lyv and Jack a snack.  Shawn will be home in the next hour, and we'll have dinner - tonight is going to be breakfast (one of my favorites!)  Hopefully with the new job, will bring more moments of having our family see our day to day life.  I promise if you come and visit me I'll feed you LOTS, and LOTS of treats!  Any takers?

O's Photo Shoot

Lyv seems to be changing so quickly.  Especially after having Max, she seems so much older - so I felt  a huge need to update her picture.  I've been experimenting with the camera, trying to take better pictures and Lyv was kind enough to be my subject.  She is at such a difficult age with regards to looking at the camera, so I didn't ever capture an wonderful shot face on, but I did capture some of my favorite things about her right now.  She is all girl, and it shows.

Happenings

I couldn't help but post this funny picture of Max receiving the usual round of love from Jack.  Max and Jack look almost exactly alike as babies.  Oddly enough, Shawn and I pingponged back and forth on who we thought Max looks like...however everyone in our ward has made comments on how much Max resembles Jack.  As we compared baby pictures we found that pictures don't lie!  I was so in love with Jack as a baby, and always felt he was adorable beyond words, so it makes sense that I feel the same way towards Max the clone! Can you tell which one is Max and which one is Jack?

TRUE BLUE!  Aunt Bobbi came bearing gifts of BYU Blue!  Yay for the beanies, the boys have been sporting them everyday since. Officially representing - Jack did some major missionary work by appearing in our local newspaper wearing his BYU jersey.  We've received multiple copies of his picture and are happy to see him sporting his Cougar pride.

Max had his 2 month check up and weighed in at 14lbs. 13 oz.; 25 inches long and 42 cm head circumference.  He is a big boy to say the least, and the doctor felt that his progress was so good that she gave him an extra shot so we don't have to go back until he is 4 months.  (This is a blessing for me, because I usually have to drag Lyv and Jack into the appointments, and having a monthly appointment can be a pain.) His hemangioma has had it a little rough lately due to the dry winter weather, so it has bled on occasion, nothing horrible yet.  We just have to keep an eye on it, and see if it gets any worse.  Otherwise Max is a very healthy, happy boy!  I just love his chubby cheeks, chubby thighs, and chubby belly!

Max's Blessing - Visit from Family

Visitors!  Nothing is better than having family come to visit!  We were so excited to have both my parents and my sister, Bobbi, and her husband Dave come for Max's blessing.  We took full advantage of having them with us.  I took mom and dad to Hyde Park, home of FDR.  It is a beautiful home and I love that side of the Hudson River.  We picked up Bobbi and Dave from the train station in Poughkeepsie and took everyone up to the Culinary Institute to the Apple Pie Bakery Cafe!  Talk about DELICIOUS!  I could have ordered everything on the menu, but it was a fun treat to taste all the student chef's creations.  Having visitors is always bitter-sweet because it reminds us how much we miss being near them.  We had a lot of laughs and a lot of good food(minus the sushi - I had my first and last taste).  Thanks so much Bobbi and Dave, and Mom and Dad for making Max's blessing day and weekend such a great event.

Capturing the joy of the moment - Jack is especially excited, and continues to be the goofball of the family!

My twinnee!  Everyone always comments on how much alike Bobbi and I look - if that is the case than that is great, she's always been a beauty.

Shawn gave a wonderful blessing to Max.  I was talking to him on the way home about giving a blessing and what it is like.  He was describing the process for him, which I'm sure is different for each individual, but it made me so grateful for the priesthood.  I am extremely blessed to have as a companion a humble holder of the priesthood, who seeks for guidance and direction, and who can give each of our children blessings from heaven.

Wrestle Mania

I finally got my first taste of wrestling this Saturday.  The league Sam wrestles with hosted a VERY casual tournament - it was more like a clinic where they taught the kids moves and had them practice on each other.  It was really fun to see Sam's stuff, and with only 3 practices under his belt I thought he did pretty good.  I can see that I have a huge learning curve to understand what wrestling is all about, but so far so good. Sam seems to enjoy it too, and I'm glad we can expose him to a lot of different activities and let him choose what he wants to pursue.

Max 2 Months

I can't believe Max is two months old!  Where has the time gone?  He continues to pack on the pounds, and we continue to love the rolly-polly boy that he is.  I've been experimenting with some photo opps and posted a few of my favorites.  At 2 months, Max is smiling all of the time.  He is so close to giggling, I'm sure it will only be another week or two.  He is very alert and follows all of us with his eyes when we come into view.  He loves to chew on his fists and tucks his thumb under his pointer and middle finger.  It makes it a little difficult to suck, but he shoves the whole thing in his mouth and goes to town.

The kids are all completely enamored by him - but who could really help it, with those chubby kissable cheeks.  He goes in at the end of the week for his check up, and will find out how much more he's grown.  His hemangioma hasn't grown, but continues to be quite a "conversation" piece (everyone asks "What is that?")  We feel so blessed each and everyday for his sweet smile, and his adorable baby talk.

Let it Snow!

We loved playing out in the snow during the holiday break.  We completed 3 snowmen, 2 snow forts, and about 100 slides down the hill.  

More Moments with Max

 I continue to find myself constantly with a camera in hand taking pictures of Max. His sweet smile lights up his face and our entire house.  I also have been trying to get more pictures of me and the kids - just so they do know that I existed. They are babies for such a short time, and I want  to have a picture of the moments I had with my precious babies.