Parker and the Swiss Cake

A couple of nights ago after dinner, David gave Parker a whole swiss cake roll...what was he thinking?? I don't know, but Parker had the best day of his life because of that yummy treat.  He was eating some crackers first and then Dad just threw the chocolate on his high chair and Parker threw the cracker down and then grabbed the chocolate before anyone had time to take it from him.  He loved every minute of eating that yummy treat! Daddy got to clean him up afterwards too!:)

Hockey Game

 Maggie and David "watching" the hockey game

 Daddy and Parker

 David was dancing to the music!:) He has his dad's dance skills...

 In this picture my sweet husband had just tried to stick his tongue in my mouth...you can tell how much I like surprises like that!:)

Much better!:)

Some friends of ours love hockey and have invited us a few times, but due to sick kids or busy schedules we have not been able to go until this week.  The kids favorite part was the music and the dancing they got to do!  Parker was great too.  It was a fun FHE activity.   The Grizzlys were losing, when we left, but it was still a great game!

Maggie

 These are the sandwiches Maggie made for her Daddy for him to take to work for lunch.

Maggie Leigh is one of a kind!  We had her 4 year check up today.  She passed her hearing and vision tests with flying colors.  She is the best at the doctor's office.  The nurses and doctors always comment on how good she acts and how brave she is with everything.  She got 4 shots today and did not shed one tear.  The nurse was so impressed that she went and got her a book to take home as a special prize.  What a big girl! Maggie's stats: Weight 35 pounds (45%) and 40 inches (50%).  Just perfect height and weight for her age!  She is like a 2nd little mommy around here, which can be good and bad.  Good when she helps out with things, not so good when she tries to discipline David.:)  For the past couple of weeks she has really been into making lunches or special treats for Daddy to take to work.  She usually makes him peanut butter and jelly and puts them in plastic baggies.  I walked her through the first couple of sandwiches, but after that she just does it all on her own including putting everything away after she is done.  It is the sweetest thing!  She is such a sweet girl, even with the emotional roller coaster that she is some days!:)

9 Months

                                                                                                                               
9 months have flown by so fast.  Where has the time gone??  Look how much he has changed and how dang cute he still is!:)  He is crawling around like a pro. He is also pulling himself up and then when he lets go he can stand up on his own for about 30 seconds.  He is cruising really well.  He is saying “bye-bye” and just last night started saying “dada” it is just so cute!:)  He loves to eat.  He will not eat baby food anymore.  Only big people food.  He is doing well at napping. He usually has 2 naps a day about an hour and a half to 2 hours each.  If only he slept at night…he has amazing nights and then horrible nights.  I am seeing his top 2 teeth pop through just barely which explains why he has not slept well for the past week or so.  Oh how I love waking up every couple of hours. Oh no wait I don’t , I am just so sleep deprived. :)  The poor baby.  He is really amazing at getting himself to sleep.  We lay him in his bed and he grabs his sea horse and turns it on then talks for a few minutes.  Once all these teeth are in and he is not in pain I think that he will be a great little sleeper!:)  Pray for me if he is not.  He has some cute little habits.  When we go and get him out of his crib after his nap or something and we and holding him, he just scratches his little tummy about 3 times.  When he is getting sleepy he starts scratching the back of his head and his left ear.  He loves to throw anything and everything.  He will throw it and then go and run after it.  He loves to fight with Biscuit and take all of his toys.  He is such a sweet baby…a little high maintenance at times, but sweet and funny! I got his stats today and to my surprise he is small for his age...He is 19 pounds 3 ounces (25%), 27 1/2 inches (20%) and his head is in the 30 percentile.  I have never had a kids in the below average. The other 2 were always anywhere from average to way above average.:) The doctor was also very impressed, when he saw Parker throw his sippy cup such a great distance and said kids usually don't throw until about 15 months.  So Parker is very healthy and very advanced in his throwing skills!:)

Kids

Parker loves hanging out in David's tent

 Parker LOVES fighting with Biscuit.  He loves taking Biscuits toys away from him and then playing tug of war with him.  I can't tell if Biscuit likes it.  I think he does, but he also seems annoyed. They are hilarious to watch together. 

 Oh no, we have a child that can climb on our hands already.  I turned around to put something away and then turned back around and saw this monkey on the dishwasher.

 David was sick a few weeks ago and slept with me.  Biscuit snuggled with him the whole night. It was sooo cute!

 Parker always sits with his legs criss-cross.  It is really funny, because his legs are so chubby!

I love having kids that are old enough to help out with the baby.  David asked if he could feed Parker dinner a couple of night ago and I was very happy with it. He did a great job feeding his little brother and I think Parker really enjoyed having David feed him. 

This is Maggie's favorite outfit! She got it from Deedah for her birthday and asks to where it almost everyday!:) Also I love her face in this picture. She gets that from David...;)

Mailbox

So I came home a couple of weeks ago and found this nice little surprise, when I got there.  Somebody knocked our mailbox over.  They didn't leave a not or anything.  Also, in order for them to knock it over in this direction they had to be driving on the other side of the road and swerve pretty hard to hit it in this way.  I don't understand how this happened.  How are people such bad drivers?  David was able to salvage the mailbox, but it looks a little ghetto now.  When we have the time, we will try to replace it but right now it is not a priority.  Just so random and inconvenient.  Oh the fun little surprises in life!:)

Maggie's Princess Party

 The Food

 Princess dresses for the girls to wear

 Dance Time!!

 Gabby had all the girls dance around her

 Time for Cupcakes

 Presents~Maggie got some great presents from her friends!

 Maggie's Princess Cake

Maggie really wanted a princess party this year for her birthday.  So I went for it!:)  We had the girls make tiaras, when they first got there.  Then they did some dancing in their princess dresses and crowns.  We had some pizza and then presents and cupcakes.  It was a fun little girl party.  There were about 5 girls there and David. He mostly hung out upstairs with his friend Hyrum, but came down for dancing and cake. I love having a little girl to plan girlie things for and Maggie is definitely girly.  I think she had a good time hanging out with her friends...and did I mention how glad I was to finish the year off with my last December party.  It felt good to not have anything to plan after Maggie's party!

Big David’s Birthday

The kid's cake for Daddy!

Crap, you’re old!!!
David had his 31st birthday this year! He went into work on his birthday for the first time in I don’t know how long.  He also had a very specific request for his cake the day before his birthday.  He sent me a link to the funniest birthday cakes and showed me the picture of this cake…I thought he was joking at first. It turns out he wasn’t joking at all.  So I made him a cake that looked like poop.  The kids were pretty offended by this cake and wanted me to make another one too, so I made another one…and put a water balloon in it. The kids were so excited. Oh and by the way a couple of weeks ago little David came up to me and said, “Mom, do you remember when dad put a balloon in my cake and ruined it? I think we should make him a balloon cake for his birthday!”  I was laughing pretty hard! It was just perfect.  So we made Daddy his “special” cake.  Then we told David that he could serve the kids, while we got him his piece.  He did and the balloon popped, the only bad thing was that he used a butter knife instead of a sharp knife, so we didn’t get quite the explosion that we would have liked.  It was still pretty funny though.  I had some issues putting it together earlier and had to have Gabe help me. The balloon I made first was too big and you could totally tell it was a balloon, so as I was taking it out it popped all in the cake…then there was water all around and inside the cake.  But we got most of the wetness gone and fixed it to make it not so obvious that there was something in the cake.  The funny thing is that Trish and David both noticed that the cake looked strange, but didn’t say anything.  Then after David cut it, they both confessed that they didn’t know why it looked a little wet on the sides.  It was pretty funny! We got David a miter saw for his big present and some clothes and a tie.  We tried to make sure Maggie’s wish came true!;)  It was fun to help David celebrate his birthday and we are so lucky to have him!! Happy Birthday, Baby!!

Maggie turns 4

                                                                                   My poor Maggie has her Birthday on December 26th.  We try really hard to make her day special, but it can be a challenge.  One, Maggie is usually done with parties by the time it gets to her birthday. Two, she is usually so excited about her new toys from Christmas the day before and always says she just wants to play with her new toys.  It makes it pretty easy to please her, but I don’t want her looking back and saying we never tried to celebrate her birthday.  This year we got her doughnuts for breakfast and let her open her presents.  Then we went to Chick-Fila for lunch with Trish, Gabby and Gabe.  Then I kept asking her if she wanted to do anything special for her birthday, but she just kept saying she wanted to play in her room.  Then later that afternoon she finally said she wanted to go to the store and pick out a special toy.  So we went and she picked out 3 things.  A wand, a noise maker and some ball making stuff.  She was so excited about her presents that she picked out! Then we were walking through the mall and saw a fountain.  I told her she could make a wish, if she threw some money in it.  So I gave her 2 pennies to throw in and I heard her mumbling something before throwing in each penny.  I asked her what she wished for and she told me she wished that Daddy would get new clothes and tools for his birthday and that he would have a good day.  How sweet is that?! She can be the most considerate little girl, when she wants to be!  I am so glad to have a little daughter.  She is so thoughtful and loves to help everyone around her.  She loves to play make believe and I always hear her in her room talking away, when no one is in the room and then she just makes up songs all the time too.  She also loves singing church songs and has an amazing memory.  She is like a second mommy to Parker and is always by his side, when he starts to cry to try to make him stop by any means possible.  She loves to shop and never gets tired of it.  She is still very shy unless she really feels comfortable around you.  She has a bit of an attitude and a little temper as well.  Her feelings get hurt at the drop of a pin and she can go from sunny and happy to amazingly mad in the blink of an eye.  She has the “DeVaux Scowl” as some refer to my family’s mad face.  She hates to be told what to do, but will do almost anything when you ask her VERY nicely.  She loves church and loves learning about Jesus and all the prophets.  She loves art and will just sit in her room drawing pictures for hours.  She loves music and always asks me what the song is talking about or what the words mean.  I love her sweet hugs and how she goes up and gives very fast and secretive kisses on our arms or wherever she can reach and then run off. I love how she colors pictures for us and folds them to be like a letter for us.  There are so many great things about Maggie! We are so lucky to have you in our family and keep us entertained!! Happy Birthday Maggie!:)