St. Patrick's Day

We went to Sarah's house for St. Patrick's Day. She always does such a great job with the food and decorations! Here is the adult table, with green napkins, cutlery, drinks, and hanging shamrock. There is also a fruit rainbow as a centerpiece, courtesy of Jackson. You can also see the Reuben sandwich on my plate which we were about to eat. Little did we know we were about to taste the best Reuben either of us has ever had. Must get the recipe!

This is the kid's table. Peter was delighted to have a spot with his cousins! They all said they didn't care for the "sour-crotch" on their sandwiches. We were all dying!

The moment Max got near the stairs he decided it was time to conquer them. He hadn't had the opportunity really while living on the ground floor at our apartments at the U. I had changed his diaper in the room next to the stairs and while I was finishing wrapping up his diaper and putting everything back in the diaper bag he had crawled off and made it halfway up the stairs! He's been climbing stairs every chance he gets ever since.

After dinner we took a tour of Sarah and James' basement that they've been finishing. It looks great! Grandma CeCe and Poppy generously donated their pool table so we tried a game. Max found me while Luke and I were playing, so I picked him up and was making my shots, somewhat successfully, with him in my arms. Luke was making fun of my not-so-good-ones so I told him to hold Max and try it. This is the resulting photo. Let's just say he fared no better than I had. ;)

Here's Peter and Max in their jammies playing with their new puzzle from aunt Sarah.

Here's Max engaging in a classic hobby: emptying the drawer.

Please notice the wooden spoon sticking out the back of Peter's helmet. I can't remember why and how it got there, but I obviously needed to take a picture of it.

I believe this is a picture of Peter playing with one of his best friends Aaron, and Max joining in. They were all intent on something by the base of the TV there, but now I can't remember what it was.

Life just got a little better!

This is the deluxe spice organizer 3000. I've been thinking about it for a long time, and now, it's finally done. We felt that it was very annoying to have such a hodgepodge of spice containers always lying around. It makes it harder to find them, keep track of them, and cook with them. Also, we buy most of our spices in bulk at Winco (much cheaper. Cinnamon is like $2 per POUND just to give you an idea) and we end up having a bag full of bags and it's just a mess. I wanted to create a system where all of the spices would be in uniform containers and there would not be much transferring from bag to bag or bag to bottle. This is the result. When a spice runs out, we can just take the hanging bag to the store, fill it, and hang it back up. Easy. 

I wanted to make more fancy labels, but Andrea really wanted this finished, so maybe in the near future. I imagine putting a sort of "spine" on the bags so you don't have to thumb through them to read what they are. 

They're alphabetized, of course.

This is what it looked like when I made a continuous tight spiral with my pen one day. Neat eh? I would like to do it someday until the pen runs out, oh yeeeeaaaah! 

Peter pushing Max on the swing.

Luke, signing out. 

Andrea signing in.

Max likes to prop his elbow on the table and keep one hand in the air as he eats. I remember Peter doing this too. So funny!

I think babies are just adorable when they eat, especially when they get messy.

One time Peter was really tired as Luke began the bedtime routine with him. Luke told him he could close his eyes and just let Luke go through everything quickly, and Peter thought that was great and quickly went to sleep afterward. Ever since then he will close his eyes while Luke is brushing his teeth, etc. if he's really tired and ready for bed. Ha ha!

This is a pumpkin oatmeal breakfast I tried making this week. My idea was for the casserole dish to last the whole week so breakfast would be quick and easy. It lasted two days. It's quite good, and not too sweet, so we'll certainly have it again! Next time I'll probably have to quadruple it or something. I have no idea what I'll do when these boys start getting older and start eating like Perkins men!

Peter and Max love to play together! Every day I have Peter do quiet time in his room, and if I leave the hall door open Max immediately crawls back there and starts banging on the door so he can play with him. Peter will often come out as well and ask if Max can come in and play with him. It's so wonderful! It doesn't generally last too long before one or the other of them gets mad or starts crying, but it's a great start. ;)

Max is a baby who loves to go exploring on his own. I'll frequently be doing dishes or something and decide it's time to check on him, and he's back in Peter's room playing with toys or pulling clothes off the shelves, or trying to reach the books so he can tear them apart. Delightful! Ha ha! I remember Peter always wanting my attention as a baby, and while it may have been partly due to personality, I think it was mostly because he didn't have a sibling around. Subsequent children have all the luck!

Valentines Day

Look at this, we're updating again. Thanks iPhones. Thanks apple. You make all of our lives easier :)

This was a fun idea that Andrea had! 

While at the Wright's house, Peter wanted to be a doggie, so he grabbed the leash, attached it to himself, and got Grandpa to walk him around the kitchen. It's funny, I remember when I was about 14 years old all of the teachers were sleeping over at the Wrights house because Ron was our advisor and we were going on a snowmobiling trip the next day. We played in the basement all night playing, and I remember Ashton coming down (he was about as old as Peter is right now) and doing this same thing with a jump rope. He wrapped it around himself and wanted me to walk him around the basement. He's 16 and driving now! Yikes, time flies.

These mag-formers that Peter got for Christmas are really fun to play with. They're just magnetic shapes that you can build with, or use as earrings.

More often then not Max can be found crawling around with a toy fish or other animal with it's head in his mouth.

He also loves to unload the diaper bag.

And he's been grinding his teeth quite a bit. We gave him a carrot to try to get him some relief. He destroyed it with his 6 teeth!

Max playing with the ballapalooza at the Wright's house.

On Valentines Day I got up early and put hearts behind the window shades so that when the sun rose it would look like this for my family. I'm so cool. 

Andrea made heart shaped pancakes. She's so cool. Would've been cooler had I gotten to eat any! The kids ate them all!

Peter and I went to get Andrea a rose and I put a ribbon on it when I got home. Peter wanted to put one on it too. Then I thought, might as well put one on for max too. So Happy Valentines Day Andrea, from your three boys!

Andrea bought me some fancy chocolates from "Hatch Family Chocolates." They were delicious. I LOVE chocolates, especially on V-day.

We made sugar cookies for the neighbors. I love making sugar cookies! They turned out pretty nice, I saw a thing that I want to try really really bad next year though, so stand by until next February and we'll see how it goes. 

Andrea took Peter to a free class at "The Little Gym." He LOVED it and for the past few days he keeps talking about his "Little Class."

It is so much fun to have a pair of boys! I love grocery shopping, and I love my boys, so whenever I'm grocery shopping with my boys (especially when they are side-by side at costco) I just feel like I have to take a picture! 

They have a matching pair of jammies.

Max loves to crawl into Peter's room after family prayer. He likes to touch his head or play peek-a-boo, or try to kiss him! It's fun to see them enjoying each other and laughing. 

That's it for now.

February begins.

Andrea, her sisters, and her mother, all have periodic "girl" times where they just need to go shop and have fun together. This occasion was Samantha's 21st B-Day. Her husband was working that evening so she wanted to have some fun with the girls and they decided to go eat at Macaroni Grill where Ronny works. Andrea had a wonderful time! I did as well for that matter. I watched Peter, Max, and Silas and it was really fun. 

Andrea and some of the other Mom's in the area have a preschool that they do once a week. Andrea was in charge one morning and she was supposed to prepare a lesson on the savannah I think. When we went to bed the night before she hadn't planned anything so I was wondering what she would come up with, and then I found out that she did this awesome shadow puppet play! Way to go Andrea!

Max is in the "get into everything" stage and it is so fun! I just love watching little babies so intently busy . . . I just imagine what they could be thinking: "This place is pristine! Mom and Dad are going to get so bored unless I get to work . . . better pull out the pans . . . nonono, gotta get the shoes now, that's right. Yes, now they're busy! What would they do without me!"

We were sooo excited to go to Smokin' Bones for Caleb's birthday on Saturday. Once again, if you haven't tried it, go. Try it. I have never even cared about BBQ in my life, but now I literally think about Smokin' Bones everyday! Peter had a BBQ pizza, Andrea had a Navajo Taco, and I had a three meat meal with chicken, a hot link, and the best ribs on earth. YUUUM! It's always fun to talk with Kile too (the owner who we grew up with). He's always happy to see everyone and it's fun to hear about what may be coming up next for Smokin' Bones! We're all so proud of him.

Can't believe he's 29! 

Between the finger puppets that we made for Christmas and the felt board set that my Mom got for Andrea, we've been having some fun family home evening lessons! It's so fun to give Peter a few Puppets/Pictures and act out the story together. It's pretty easy for Andrea and I to lead the plot along with the main points while we improv and play off of each other as we go. Peter always wants to do it again and I'm so impressed with Andrea for taking the initiative to get the Bible education going. 

Max continues to entertain us at meal times. He insists on feeding himself and it's so adorable, especially when he's sucking down spaghetti noodles. 

Peter and Max get along pretty well. There's some bossiness from Peter, and yelling when Max scratches him or pulls his hair, but other than that, they get along great. I love the moments when Peter wants to hold him or play with him back in his room. 

Andrea and Peter visit the library pretty regularly. This is a foam block tower they built together. 

Max in his nice warm suit that Heidi and Devin are letting us borrow for the winter. 

Playing with cousin Silas .

Another buddy-buddy shot of the boys. 

It may not be immediately apparent, but this is Peter helping me to change Max's diaper. 

Another thing that happened in the past few weeks is Andrea volunteered us to teach dance lessons in our stake on the first Friday of every month. I found out on Thursday afternoon. I was not happy about that, but it turned out pretty well. Darn girl, making me do stuff I don't want to do . . . I love her! She keeps it real.