Makenna Attempting to Feed Hollis

Makenna was suppose to be helping me clean up and the next thing I know she is trying to feed Hollis. I guess it looked more fun than her dolls -- this was the real thing! It just lead to a lot of frustration because every time she tried to give him the bottle he would try reaching for it and knock it away. It didn't take her long that she figured out the only way to make this work would be to pin him down.......poor little Hollis! Although, I think he thought it was a game and was a real trooper through the whole ordeal.

Thanksgiving with the Elliott's

We did Thanksgiving with the Elliott's this year. The whole family was there....yeah! That first picture is of Makenna snuggling up with Grandpa Russ with Mocha's travel blanket....YUCK! Anyway, we got there late Wednesday night and both of the kids got a cold Wednesday morning before we left. It was a night of H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS! I think that was the worst sleep I have got since Hollis was born. He would sleep for only about 15 minutes and then wake up crying.....that lasted all night. At 5am I finally had Dustin go out to the car and get Hollis's swing to see if he might sleep in that -- we had tried everything. Luckily, he slept in the swing from 5am-6am and then woke back up. That was the most sleep we had all night. Then my wonderful mother-in-law took him at that point so that Dustin and I could sleep for another 2 hours. THANKS JANIE! Every night was a little rough there but that first night was definetly the worst. I would always have to go to bed early when everyone else was playing games because I didn't know how much sleep Hollis would give me that night. Besides that, the food was good and we had a lot of it -- thanks Steph and Janie. They did all the work, I just made a few pies. The boys and Janie, Steph, and Becca played an early morning Turkey Bowl. I just watched from the car with my sick kids and recorded a little bit of it for them. We played cards and Josh and Becca taught us the game MAFIA which was a lot of fun. You can't help but really get into that game. Maybe I will teach it to my family at Christmas time. I am sure they would like it a lot. We also did a little shopping or more like "window shopping." Then Dustin took me, Janie, Russ, Josh, Becca, and the kids up to Bayfield, CO to see what it looked like up there. I really liked it up there. It is very pretty and it started to snow on us a little which I loved! The video is in the car on the way back from Bayfield. Makenna was making up her own song and insisted that Grandma Janie did all the actions with her. It was hilarious! She did it a few times. Anyway, we had a great time!

Tis The Season!

I just love decorating for Christmas! I decided we were going to make it a family night and I was going to listen to Christmas music while decorating, have Dustin get pizza, and then we would watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." I had Dustin go get the movie and pizza. Dustin really didn't want to watch the Grinch movie and wanted to get something else. I told him this was Makenna's night and insisted on him getting the Grinch movie with Jim Carey. I was so excited to watch the Grinch movie with Makenna for the first time and thought she would absolutely love it. Well, we only got about 10 minutes into the movie and Makenna was begging us to shut it off because it was SCARY! I guess I haven't watched that version in a while and truthfully, the Grinch is a little scary in this version for a 2 year old. I felt really bad and a little bumped out. Dustin then asked Makenna if she wanted to watch football or the Grinch and she actually said football. So we decorated for Christmas and watched football.

Little Dustin

Now you can't tell me that the picture of Hollis in just his diaper isn't totally a Dustin facial expression! I couldn't believe it when I saw it! As for the other pictures -- I am just trying clothes on Hollis for family pics. They are size 12 months and he is only 5 months (but a very big 5 months). They were really cheap at Target and it was the only black shirt I could find and the smallest size. I decided to take it home and try it on and if it didn't work I would just take it back, but I think it works good enough. As for the stocking in the background -- it is Hollis's for his first Christmas!

Veteran's Day Parade

My friend, Kristen, invited me to go to the Veteran's day parade downtown with her family. Dustin was working so he wasn't able to go with us. We had a very fun time but didn't stay for all of it because there were 109 floats and we were only on number 65 when we left and we had already been there for 2 hours -- not to mention, we were also getting very hungry. The kids had fun though. This was the second year we had taken them.

A Day at The Park

Russ and Janie came to Phoenix this last weekend so the family decided to get together and have lunch at a park. We brought Kristen, Keegan, and Tracee along because they are practically family and we love to spend time with them as well. Makenna and Keegan loved playing in this bouncy thing. We are not really sure who's thing it was but we let our kids play in there anyway -- oh ya, and Josh and Coe too! I guess it was just too tempting for the older kids. There mother had to go get them out of there. We really had to keep an eye on Makenna though because there was so many people there and she would just take off for the play equipment if we weren't watching. It was a fun day at the park though.

Trick-or-Treat

Angie and Cort came to visit over Halloween weekend and it was great to see them. Cort helped Makenna carve the pumpkin because Dustin was doing Physical Therapy volunteer work and homework at the school. Dustin then rushed home to make some Chili for our ward chili cook off and I made moms peanut butter pie which was so yummy! I was on the phone with mom a lot trying to make sure my pie crust was going to be okay and wanted to make sure my pie filling was the right consistency -- thanks mom! After the chili cook off the kids did trunk-or-treat. We then went to the Terry's like we do every year and ate lots of candy there as Dustin and Jamon took Makenna and Keegan to some houses in the neighborhood. Makenna had so much fun with Keegan. By the end of the night, Makenna who was suppose to look like Cinderella looked more like a drug addict. It was a very fun night and I am so glad that I have kids to dress up....so much fun!

Trying out the bouncy chair!

Wow! Looks like his daddy -- did you see that eyebrow facial expression? He always looks at the camera this way -- like, what is that thing? So we decided to try the bouncy chair. He liked it for a little while but didn't really get the bouncy part down. Maybe he will like it a little more once he figures out how to bounce. He mostly just stared at the lights a little confused and sucked on the edge.

Day At The Park

My friend Amber and I took our kiddos to the park to get out of the house. The weather is getting so nice here in Phoenix -- I really should get the kids outside more since they have been cooped up in the house all summer. They loved being able to go outside and play on equipment that wouldn't burn them. We decided to have a little picnic while we were there and that was fun also. Hollis is next to McKenzie who is 3 months older than him but only a pound bigger....crazy! She is always trying to roll over and eat him with her new teeth when we lay them next to each other. FUN TIMES!

Sleepy Makenna

Just a funny video -- I think it is so funny when this happens to Makenna. It is so entertaining and then I start to think that maybe I should stop filming and actually put her down for a nap.

Dressing Up!

Makenna decided to play dress up while Dustin and I were watching football. I guess she was getting bored of us. She had so much fun just doing her own thing.

Just Bored!

I was just bored so I decided to try and snap some pics of the kiddo's. As you can see, I have just gotten them ready for the day but I have yet to get myself ready....oh well. Makenna was having fun with Hollis on the floor. You can tell that he likes Makenna.

Another Tea or "Hot Chocolate" Party

Tea Parties have become an every day occurrence in our house. It is the first thing Makenna wants to do every morning and that is usually how I get woke up (thanks a lot Gabe.) I decided to spice it up a little bit this time and we had real hot chocolate with water and milk to pour in our cups with Oreo's to eat....YUM! You can see a little hot chocolate moustache on Makenna in her pictures.....she really liked that hot chocolate even though it didn't mix real well. I mostly enjoyed the Oreo's. Hollis was a supervisor at our tea party and was a good sport while we had it. I can't believe Makenna actually let me take a picture of her......now we just need to work on the smiling.

Little Man is Growing!

So everyone has been harassing me for pictures of Hollis.....so here you go! Hollis had his 2 month check up today at the Dr. and everything is good. He said not to worry about his bowl legs or his problem with bowel movements. I guess not having a bowel movement for days for a breast fed baby is more common than people know about. He weighed in at 13.12 lbs (50-75%) and 25 3/4 in length (95%). Just a really healthy boy! He had to get 5 shots and this is why he has so many band-aids on his legs in the picture. He is a very happy boy and I tried to portray that the best I could in the video....enjoy!

You Can Fly, You Can Fly, You Can Fly!

Makenna loves playing the piano at Grandma Janie's house. She also loves the movie, Peter Pan. This is the best I could do for getting her on camera singing....you can fly, you can fly, you can fly! It was hard to be sneaky about it and not let her see me. The was an everyday thing....along with some Cinderella songs and Troubadour.

Makenna's First Tea Party

Uncle Gabe got Makenna a Disney Princess tea party set while we were up in New Mexico this last week. She absolutely loves it and plays with it every day. Grandma Janie gave her real water to pour and a marshmallow for everyone's plate. Grandpa Russ made it even more fun by really getting into it! : ) Makenna loved that grandma, grandpa, and Gabe all sat down with her for some fun. When they aren't around she will sometimes get her dolls and set them up to have a tea party with her. She was given another tea party set from Alina's mom when she was first born that is so dang cute except that it is real porcelain and I don't want her to break it so we are saving that one for when she gets a little older. I don't think I ever had a tea party set when I was growing up but Makenna makes it look like so much fun!

Utah in July

Makenna, Hollis and I went up to Utah over the 24th of July for a week and a half. Dustin was at Lake Powell with his family and I didn't want to even try to attempt that with the kids so Julie came and picked us up in Page.....thanks Julie! Probably one of my favorite things when I was up there was just having some adult conversation through the day and Julie would watch the kids for me everyday so I could take a nap.....loved it! Mom also got a little kiddie pool for the kids to play in and they really enjoyed that. While we were up there we got to see Ryan and Meagan and their kids. Makenna really loved getting to know her cousins better. We watched Julie and Meagan run in a race....props to them! We were also able to go to Spencer's birthday party and baptism. Crazy that he is already that old! I was also able to go see Ange Durbin and she so graciously cut and colored my hair for a spoken deal.....thanks Ange! We also went to the Berezay Ranch and saw Dacia (and the new babe, Brooklyn), Don, and Janice and had dinner with them. Makenna loved the chickens, ducks, dogs, slide, swing, trampolene, and kiddie pool they had out there. She just loved being outside since she never gets outside here. Janice went and showed all the kiddos the chic's that they had there and Makenna thought that was great also. And last but not least, we got to go to the Mecham's and catch up with all of them. It was so great to see Heather. Her little girl, Liv, is so cute and looks just like Heather. While we were there Makenna got to go out and see the little pony they had there. We just had so much fun.....thanks to everyone who made it fun for us!

HOLLIS IS FINALLY HERE!

Can't take the time to write about this blog because Hollis is crying and I need to go and take care of him.

Bowling Fun!

I was very lucky to have a very supportive family to be there for the birth of Hollis......well, atleast they thought they would be there. Janie was there for about 3 weeks waiting for Hollis, Julie was visiting me for the summer, Russ and Coe came down for the weekend, and my parents were there for a whole week, and no baby! I felt so bad that Hollis hadn't come when everyone was there. He decided to come 5 days late and came on the 23rd of June. Anyway, while everyone was here we were all able to go bowling together and had a very good time.