Brothers Forever!!!

 My boys must be the cutest brothers in the world! I love how they are together! All the things they do to make each other laugh and the sweet hugs and kisses and all the playing together. And I have to admit sometimes I even think their fighting is cute. Sammy, my funny little 18 month old! He is at such a funny age! He is so intent on everything being, "MINE!" and he's so persistent! Max is being awesome though. Even when he is frustrated, he is kind. I am so proud of that boy! They love eating meals next to each other. Usually they even want to sit right next to each other so they can eat off each other's plates :)

 They love matching! These jammies are funny because Max loves glowing in the dark and Sammy gets a little scared by them, but they both always want to wear them so they can match.

 This preschool I have been doing has been SO much fun! I am so grateful for these experiences. I think we are all really enjoying it!

 They love playing together outside!

 And another great thing about preschool is that I have been able to loosen up so much about messes. I used to stress so much about art with my kids but I don't even really worry any more, mainly I guess because I've been reading so much about how great it is for kids, I just realized finally that its more important to let them explore than have a perfect house :) not that it would be even close to perfect even if we didn't do art so I guess it was always silly to worry about it. But I have soo loved seeing them having so much fun with paint, and soap mud, and water tables, and cooking. It is so much easier just to let them make messes and clean them up instead of trying to get them to not make messes. Go figure :)

 If they get on the swings you had better believe there will be tears sooner or later when they finally have to get off them, they love them so much!

 For conference my plan of action in the past has always been as follows: Watch it.
This year I came across all these fun ideas from moms who are way cooler than me for how to make it more fun and exciting for little kids. How smart to try to make it special for them so they'll like it! Anyway I tried a couple and Max had a really fun time. One was like a game where every time someone said, temple, or missionary, or pray, or scriptures Max could get a candy. He ate a lot of candy over those couple days! I might try to have healthier snack options if I did that again but he loved it!

 Every week after preschool I ask Max who he liked playing with at school and he always says Sammy and that Sammy is his best friend. I'm so glad! Sometimes I worry that he will make good friends his own age, but I know we are so lucky because he really has quite a few good friends. This is one of them. Max may love Sammy the best, but he sure gets insanely excited when his friends come over. If we don't see anyone for a couple days (which usually doesn't happen that often) Max will pray for his friends to come over. And whenever they do he is so happy, he just laughs the whole time! And absolutely everyone who comes to our front door gets two big hugs! One from Max and one from Sammy. And if they are a girls they will also get a flower from each of the boys from our potted plant on the front porch. Max is very romantic. He loves giving flowers to girls, especially me :)

 Javier and Sammy like to do tricks. This ended up being a pretty good work out for Javier because Sammy insisted he keep doing it for at least 15 minutes. Whenever he stopped, Sammy screamed at the top of his lungs.

 Sammy is pretty much addicted to chocolate. I totally know this is my fault because I used to just eat so much chocolate, it was ridiculous. Ironically I haven't been doing that lately because chocolate has started making me feel so sick every time I eat it. So weird, but altogether probably a good thing since I was a little out of control. Too bad it was after I passed on my obsession to Sammy. Every time I turn around he's up on the counter trying to get into the chocolate chips. Sweet little silly.

 Its a good thing he is every bit as crazy about squash. This boy eats as healthy as anyone I have ever seen. He loves all fruits and vegetables. When I'm making dinner he will come up and beg me for pieces of the vegetables I'm cutting up.

 The other day the boys made dinosaur worlds in play dough. They had so much fun!

Max was super proud of his once he got it just right!

I so loooooove being not pregnant or nursing! This is the first time in 4 YEARS since I got pregnant with Max that I haven't been either one. I feel like a new person! I have had energy to do everything I need to and some extra which just feels like a miracle! I'm glad for this fun time with my two big boys! It wont last forever, but I'm going to soak it up for as long as it lasts!


As a random note, I was just looking through this post and thinking how funny it was that my boys seem to be in long sleeves and pants. Don't get confused, it is still super hot here, its just that the first week I woke up to find it was only 76 degrees in the house  I was freezing and dressed us all in pants and long sleeves only to find we were roasting by noon when it was back up to 100. Now I've learned my lesson and we're all wearing shorts again for another couple months at least. The weather here still confuses my mind a little.