New Animal Friends

Aviva has been swinging in this swing for 4 months now, and today was the first day she realized there were little animals hanging over her head.  Once she saw them she was hooked.  She couldn't take her eyes off them.
Here are some more photos:

Two Things

Two Things...

1.  We've been letting Aviva cry it out for the last couple nights and last night she went the WHOLE NIGHT not waking up!  Oh, I've seen the promised land.  I'm so happy.

2.  Look at this hair...

(I took it with Photo Booth on my Mac.  Isn't that the coolest?  I heart my Mac.)

Good Exhausted

I am feeling so good right now.  I just got back from playing basketball at the church.  It turns out that every Thursday night a bunch of girls get together and play.  And it's legit.  So now I am showered and tired and ready for bed with a big smile on my face.  I can't wait to make it part of my weekly routine.  

Feliz Cumpleanos Claircita

When we first went up to Claire and Walt's new house, there wasn't anything hanging up yet, but Walt had this picture of Claire in his office.  Isn't she a hottie?  I love this picture and I love that Walt keeps it in a frame on his desk.  

Happy Birthday Claire, we love you.  It's hard to imagine the girl in this picture is a grandma of 6!  We wish you years of love from all of them.  

A Little More Laughter

I've seen a baby smile with her whole face before, but I've never seen a baby laugh with her whole face before now. 

After All the Blood, Sweat and Tears...

Here it is.  The light fixture and the mirror were some of the projects we worked on last weekend.  Eventually we will get a couple things to hang up on either side of the mirror and maybe a little somethin' somethin' for the middle of the table, but I'm not even going to think about that for a while.  

Well, maybe I'll think about it.  

Blood Sucker

Did I mention that my son may be a vampire?  Every time he sees direct sunlight he starts freaking out and yelling "No hot!  No hot!"  It started in the car and I figured it was in his eyes, and who isn't bothered by that?  But no, now he doesn't even want us to open the shades in the house.  See picture above.  (He was also really ticked because I was taking a picture when I should have been taking care of the offending blind).

No This Table!

You know that joke when you have a piece of furniture that's broken (let's say your dining room chair - all of them) and your friend simply tries to move it and the whole top comes off, and you say, "My chair! You broke it!" ?  You know that one?  It's gotten real old.  So we got a new table and chairs.  

.  

This is good news for everyone except Max.  Every time he walks in the room he says, "No this table.  Max's table!"  He wants the old one back.  I figured he'd get over it in a couple days.  Well, it's been a couple days and not only is he not over it, but rather than be disloyal to his old friend he now insists on using the high chair in which he hasn't sat in over a year.

Hopefully he'll accept the new table before his legs touch the ground in his high chair.

Going Green

A while ago I saw an Oprah Show about how to go green.   She challenged everyone to take one idea from the show and implement it into their life.  And since I never turn down a challenge from the missionaries or Oprah...  I started unplugging the toaster when I'm not using it, switched to compact florescent light bulbs, and have been meaning to buy reusable grocery bags, but I'm just now getting around to it.  

So the ones I really want are $25 each.  I'm not quite there yet, since I could just buy some at Giant for 99 cents, but I figure that the following are a good compromise.  The set of 5 is $35.  So now I'm trying to decide which ones to get and that's where you come in and give me your vote.  Or, if you know of other cute ones, let me know.  Here are your choices...

#1:
#2:

Home Improvements

Our marriage almost ended this weekend and all because of home improvements.  I am officially in the market for a handyman.  (Not to replace my husband - just in case that wasn't clear).  

A Little Saliva Never Hurt Anyone

I challenge anyone out there to blow better spit bubbles than Aviva Quinn Ellis.  I tried to get a picture but it turns out they're real hard to photograph.  So here's a little video.  Max calls them "yucky bubbles" and goes to get kleenex when he sees them so he can clean her up. 

Better Late Than Never

Yesterday was Shauri Shar's birthday and you know what that means...

1. Best gift-giver I know, hand's down. 
2. Her nieces and nephews adore her.
3. Amazing career karma.  I don't know anyone who gets themselves in more ideal situations.  
4. Our family will never ever become disconnected as long as she's around.  
5. She takes amazing photos.
6. She makes me laugh.
7. She put in countless hours to make me my favorite video on earth.  Nothing is sure to put me in a happy mood like When Kristin Met Abram.
8. I click on her blog at least 2 times a day.
9. She gives a real good lesson/talk.
10. She is undeniably loyal.

Love you girl.

My Kitchen Sink

I am a changed woman.

My New Year's resolution is to find a place for everything in my house.  I want to be totally organized.  Slowly but surely I'm getting there.  That's why my interest was piqued when i saw a post on Jamie's blog about being organized and a link to the Flylady  website.  

You'll have to go check it out to understand the significance of the picture below, but let's just say I was pretty proud of myself and my kitchen sink when I was done with it (Obviously, since I took a picture of my clean kitchen sink).  I will let you know a month from now if I am still a changed woman.

In cuter news.  Aida and Kristin came over last night.  We were in the kitchen and Kristin went over to the living room to see what the kids were doing.  This is it.  Just chatting.  Make sure you click on the photo so you can see close up just how relaxed Max is in his chair.  If only they always wanted to just sit and catch up on each other's lives. 

Almost Doesn't Cut It

Here are a couple clips of Aviva almost reaching milestones.  She's actually been laughing for a while now, but try as we might, we can't get a good one on film.  She also rolled over yesterday for the first time.  The second clip is me trying to get her to do it again.  I think she senses her power when she sees the big black camera coming her way.

I Kiss it Better

Last night I was laying in bed cuddling with Max while I sang him a good night song.  Once the lights go off I always whisper with him.  After the song we accidently bumped heads.  I said "Ow" and laid my head back down on the pillow.  Max thought he had hit my ear.  So he sits up and in this really funny husky whisper, says, "I kiss it better," right into my ear.  I of course start cracking up, cover my ear and say "No!"  The funny thing is when he saw me laughing he didn't start laughing with me, per usual.  Instead he just kept doing it over and over in that funny whisper ("I kiss it better") right in my ear until I finally stopped laughing and squirming away and was able to let him kiss my ear better.

Who Knew?

Today was the first day of 3:00 church for the coming year. Before you prepare yourself for griping and complaining... I loved it.

We had a leisurely morning and got everything ready for church before noon. We put both kids and ourselves down for naps at 12:00, got up at 2:30, and walked out the door arriving with plenty of time to spare. Max went off to nursery and Aviva had already had 2 good naps, so missing her 3rd wasn't a big deal. We got home, ate dinner and put Max to bed.

I couldn't ask for a better Sunday.

Creative Genius

Last week Max was scribbling in my journal while I played with Aviva. At one point he stopped and said, "Mama! Look. Apple."

And this is what he drew! It totally looks like an apple! Unbelievable. He is a genius.

Happy Birthday Delsa

Reasons why I love you...

1. Because Kristin is your clone
2. You hate to take your make up off before bed, which gives us 30 extra minutes at night with you.
3. I'm a lookin' and I'm a likin'
4. Best roommate ever
5. Rolls
6. You taught the only Sunday School lessons I could sit through
7. Quilt group adopted me like one of their own
8. You're one of the reasons I came back
9. "Delsa always feeds the missionaries these steaks."
10. Absolutely, positively, the world's best mother-in-law

"That Hurts My Feelings..."

Well, New Years can't keep me up past 8, but it looks like the democratic debate can.  Did anyone watch it?  It was so good.  I don't think I've ever watched an entire debate - I get way too fed up with the dodging of questions.  But I thought these guys did a great job (except Richardson, he was so annoying I had to cover my ears every time he started to talk).  In fact, you know I love Obama, but I thought Hillary rocked tonight.  I really really liked her.  Didn't see that coming.  I just love feeling like there are real options and I'm not just picking the lesser of two evils (2004 anyone?).  

Thank You Shrek

A few days ago Abram was home for dinner.  We sat down to eat and said, "Max, let's say prayer."  We all folded our hands and before Abram or I could say anything, Max started praying.  We heard "Heavenly Father," some  unintelligible  words, and a very excited "Amen!"  He said his first prayer!  It was super duper cute.   He's been praying alone ever since.  

This morning's prayer went something like this:

"Heavenly Father, thank you day, mommy, daddy, viva, thank you Shrek, Amen!"

I don't know if Heavenly Father has ever been appropriately thanked for Shrek, so I'm glad Max thought to do it.  

New Year's Day

The Viray's had us over for cheese and chocolate fondue today.  It was delicious.  Man, how I love a tradition that includes good food.  Anyway, the really big thing to write home about though, was that we went the whole night without any of the kids getting a time out.  Really.  

In fact, for the last hour or so, the four boys just ran around and around, up and down the stairs screaming.  I didn't even mind the screaming because they were having so much fun.  I think that the only tears came when Nikolai managed to lock himself in the bathroom (we'll just hope Noah and Max didn't lock him in there).  That was quickly resolved and he went right back to running and screaming.  Isaac Bell was initiated into the group tonight and didn't get the whole screaming thing, but just kept following the crowd wherever they went.  Probably thinking to himself, "I don't know where we're headed, but it's got to be somewhere good with all this excitement."  

Thanks so much Marianne and James, it was a fantastic night. 

Sleepy Head and Bed Head

And for Kristen...