Merry Christmas from my Santa Babies :)

More Catch up...

BUSY should be my new name. I don't know where the last 2 weeks have gone. I can't believe Christmas is almost here and I still have so much to do. I keep trying to think up where I've been wasting my time, but I haven't had any time to waste.

Max is getting bigger everyday! He's started smiling and he now sleep through the night for the most part. The only problem is his night starts before my night so we're up at 6 everyday. He's a good sleeper, but he is not a happy baby when he is awake. I'm glad my second baby was fussy and not my first. I have a lot more patience and understanding this go around. Doesn't mean I am glad he's fussy! I think he is just has a little colic, but he really isn't as bad as some babies I've heard. And he still sleeps a lot so we don't deal with the fussiness all that much.

Gavin is keeping me running. He has reverted a bit on his potty training this last week but has been dry for the last 3 days so I think we're back on track. I hope so anyway. THAT was actually really frustrating to me.

They released the Primary Presidency in our ward which means I am sad :( It really didn't hit me all last week until yesterday when it was all over. I was WAY more emotional than anyone ever needs to be, especially me because I am NOT that emotional. I'm thankful for the time I got to serve in the Primary organization and very thankful for the wonderful ladies I got to serve with. I don't think there was a better group of gals I could have spent all that time with.

Here are a few pictures to show some of what we've been up to...

Thanksgiving at Gramma Kim and Grandpa Al's

LOTS of playtime!

Lots of baths!

Baby Aly was born and we spent time visiting with her!

Lots of napping (well at least for Max!)

Christmas decorating

Smith Cousin Christmas party

And all 3 new babies together for the first time (I'm the fat one on the left....)

So tired...

I took the kids out shopping today...yea, crazy! Max slept the whole time, but as we were getting to our neighborhood he decided to wake up and scream. I got Gavin out of the car and he was already looking pretty sleepy (he's gotten up extra early today) and I was getting excited that I might get to nap today (I got up even earlier than him!)I hurried and fed Max and Gavin never came up the stairs. This is what I went down to find....


Note the box of cookies to the right and the slightly chocolately mouth...there was a cookie in his hand too :)

Photography

I have been busy and back to doing pictures already! I am glad that it's something I enjoy doing, but it seems like everyone always wants them done at the same time. Hmmm...maybe that has something to do with Christmas coming up...or it could be that I feel busy seeing as how I just had a baby :)

First up...Maxibillion's newborn pictures. First attempt and he was NOT cooperative. Also, Keith was my helper...nothing against that, but someone else maybe would have been slightly more engaged in what we were doing :) HAHA, love you anyway baby. So, I would have liked a few more shots, but I was at least able to get his baby announcement done!

Next up was Keith's sisters family. I think I took more pictures that day than I have in my entire life. I'm still working on all of the editing, but here is a family shot and one of my cute nephew. I couldn't stand how stinkin cute he was being in all of his pictures!
The very next day I took pictures for Keith's brothers family. CUTE is all I have to say! My niece was such a cute little stinker and my nephews are so silly! It was hard to get everyone looking, but we had a good time trying! I'm lucky to have so many great people to practice on :)

Catching up...

I'm just going to do this all in one post so here goes!

The Monday after Halloween we had a Halloween party with Keith's family. A little late but lots of the family had been sick and Max was born so it just got pushed a little further back than normal :) I must say it was a crazy night...there are now 19 grandkids, soon to be 20 (2 weeks from today in fact, huh Mandy???) and it was just LOUD. We had a fun dinner and then did some crafts, made a treat, played some games and read a Halloween story. I think Gavin had a good time. He likes to be with all of his cousins.

We've had lots of visitors. One fun night my BFF and her family came over. Gavin had a great time playing with her kids, and they were so fun to watch with Baby Max! We love you guys!

I don't know why I haven't ever posted this, but Gavin LOVES to help me make bread. We usually do this about once a week and he is my big helper. Mostly he just likes to eat the dough and I give him a little to play with and he rolls it out with a little rolling pin. It's pretty cute...here he is hard at work! And a picture of Max doing what he does best....

Gavin also loves to line things up and have me take his picture with them. He has tons of cars from "Cars" and his biggest obsession for the last little while is Pez. He has 17 in all (one of them was missing at the time of this picture). I like that he thinks they are fun, I hate buying the candy and refilling them :) And really, Pez is kind of a gross candy!!! Oh well, I guess then I will stay out of it! Thank you to all who have given him Pez dispensers! He is one happy camper! He is also very proud of his back-pack he got from Gramma Kim. He says, "Mom! I have a bacpack, now I can go to school!" I hope he's always that excited about it!

Gavin has adjusted very well to having Max here. He always refers to him as "Brother" or "Honey". If you ask him what his Brother's name is he will typically respond "Maxibillion". I guess I should have just given in to Keith being funny and named him that since we all call him that! I'm so excited for my two boys to have fun and play together. Gav likes to bring him toys and put them in his blanket for Max. The other night I was doing dishes and Max was laying on the floor and crying. I asked Gavin to try giving him his binky (he is NOT a binky kid so this isn't an easy task for a 2 year old) and Max just kept on crying. Gavin finally said, "Brother....shhhhh, last chance!!!". Apparently Gavin has heard "last chance" a few times! I didn't realize I said it that much!

I always worry because people say that you don't take as many pictures of your other children as you do your first. I've found out so far that seems to be true! I feel bad everytime I take a picture of Max because I don't want Gavin to think it's all about the baby, so I end up taking a picture of Gavin too! Also, and this is slightly vain of me...okay, really vain of me, but Max has this yucky baby rash all over his face and it makes me sad to take pictures of him like that! So...that being said, I am posting a picture of Max from today to prove that I am going to get over this. It's not that I don't think he's cute, I'm just afraid other people won't! DUH...I need help! I vow to take more pictures of my children and not edit out all of their scratches and rashes with Photoshop. There, I said it...out loud...or at least in print! I absolutely LOVE having two kids! It is 100 hundred times better than I ever expected and I am still so happy to be a mother.

Trick or Treat

Just the boys dressed up for Halloween. Keith said Gav loved knocking on doors and saying Trick or Treat! Then we made a quick trip down to my dads to do a little trunk or treating and get me out of the house! Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin "Carving"

Since I am not into messes and Gavin is really into Mr. Potato Head, Keith had the brilliant idea to use these pieces you just stick into your pumpkin instead of carving them. I loved the idea and he was going to keep one pumpkin to carve with Gavin until he realized how quick easy and clean this was :) I'm sure Gavin will want to actually carve one next year when he actually understands it, but for now he loved this! It was pretty cute to watch him put these together and he was so excited to make one for Baby Max and give it to him! Of course he wanted to just plop it down right on him...we're still learning to be careful around Baby Max. He's such a good big brother though, and I loved having kid(s)! to take pictures of! It's so fun to say my kids or my boys! I am loving this!

Master Pumpkin Decorators!

Hard at work!!!

He loves brother!

I just caught this at the right time!

My TWO handsome boys!