3 more cousins in Feb

newest neice:

Lydia Julia Hall

born on Feb 2, 2012

newest nephews:

Anderson Aric Pavan (top)

Ben Wellington Pavan (bottom)

born Feb 18, 2012.

V-day

Brenan made the comment today when we got back from taking Evalyn to urgent care (she woke up from her 4 hour morning 'nap' with grey skin and blue hands and toes) that you don't realize just how full your heart can be with love until your child is sick and your heart just wants to break because of it. Ev's okay now, but it was really scary there for 20 minutes or so. Still don't know what's up - nothing we can really do other than keep a close eye on her and watch for more symptoms. Good news, McKay's hand, foot and mouth turned out to be less dramatic than I expected. He just got a rash on his elbows and a couple canker sore looking things in his mouth that are already getting better. Horray!

Happy V-day :)

sick but still smiling.

We've been sick now for weeks. Ear infections, coughs, throwing up, now hand, foot and mouth. Seriously. I'm ready for a vacation to a beach.. or even just a trip to the library to get out of the house. Even though he's been under the weather for a while.. McKay's still managed to make us smile. Here are some classics from him:

Brenan and I are "play arguing" about something silly while I was folding laundry in the living room. McKay overheard Brenan say "No" to me. McKay runs over to my side and says "don't say no to Mommy! Don't say no to my friend, Mommy." He's got my back.

We've started a new tradition in 2012.. Waffle Wednesday. Santa brought the Klains a belgian waffle maker. It has been on our wishlist for years and we finally got it! So, we eat waffles together for lunch every Wednesday (anyone is invited to join us!). McKay calls it "Awful Wednesday." The other day we were in the car, and McKay says (randomly) "I LOVE awful Wednesday!"

Brenan had finished work one day and was sitting next to McKay at the counter in the kitchen. McKay puts his hand up and pats Brenan's back while asking, "How's work going, Daddy? How's work going?"

I wrote this conversation word for word on our white board so I wouldn't forget it. McKay and I are in the kitchen and Brenan had just brought home a bunch of fruit in a basket from this co-op we buy food from sometimes. It was up on the counter and McKay can see some oranges.

McKay: "Is that fruit?"

Me: "Yep."

McKay: "That's pretty cool fruit! I got some fruit for Christmas when I was just a little kid... (pause)..... I was a little kid."

(McKay talks about Christmas a lot even though it happened 2 months ago! And I'm not ready for him to be talking about how he 'used to be' a little kid!)

A few weeks ago I was holding a rosette for a headband in my hand. McKay sees it and says "That's cute mommy! That's cute.... and Evalyn's cute!" Yes, we talk about Evalyn's cuteness a lot, so he now associates cuteness with Evalyn-ness.

conversation hearts, cosmo and captain hook

So, since V-day is just around the corner, I bought some conversation hearts. McKay loves them. He keeps them in his pocket (among other things) and pulls them out randomly through the day to look at them.. then places them back in his pocket. One day last week, McKay had this little button and this particular heart in his pocket. He was calling them his "special things." Before bed, he had to have his "special things" on his bedside table. He immediately put them in his pocket the next day. So funny.

Cosmo must be a really soft stuffed animal to fake her out for her blankie.. (inserted thumb).

skater boy/captain hook.

Along that same 'captain hook' line, McKay and I were pirates on Thursday. Oh yes, he wore that patch ALL DAY and if I ever took mine off (it was driving me crazy! So grateful for two eyes) he'd ask me where it was and insist I put it back on. I pick my battles with him, so I wore it all day, too. Oh, and since we were saying "Arghh, me matee," McKay calls the patch the "Arghh thing." We sailed around the living room in our laundry basket "ship", dug for buried treasure (aka more conversation hearts - straight to the pocket again), and helped the volcano erupt (clean laundry all over the floor). Then we decided to make our own volcano -- our first SCIENCE EXPERIMENT! woohoo! See, all of that college is paying off! Oh wait, I had to Youtube it to find out how to do it! So much for being a former scientist.

January 2012

I'm done with printing out pictures. I just don't do it, and then when I do it's too overwhelming to get them organized. So I'm trying the blog again for 2012's family journal.

January started out with a lot of this:

paying good money for furniture you have to assemble yourself! We moved into our new place (just down the street from our last place) in Provo. It's taking a while to get it feeling like home: we killed the mouse in the basement, set up ikea furniture, and have taken down the wallpaper in the kitchen.

We ARE grateful for the newer carpet this new place has, as one of Evalyn's favorite things is to burry her face into the carpet - mouth wide open. It also has a finished basement so Brenan doesn't have to wear his snuggie ALL of the time - just during the winter - while he's at work.

Peeling us some potats. McKay is Mr. Independent and Mr. I WANT TO HELP! He was all about peeling potatoes on his own. Luckily, no fingers were grated into our mashed potatoes.

This January has been so warm! We had temperatures in the 50s. Amazing. We spent a lot of time at the park the first few weeks, that is, until McKay came down with an ear infection and both kids got a hacking cough.

Out for a walk while dinner was cooking. McKay was insistent on pushing Evalyn's stroller all by himself. I wasn't even allowed to help him steer. We made it half a block.
This is how "quiet time" goes. He just doesn't like to stay in his room... I found him in our closet fast asleep. Oh ya, and he'd pooped so - courteous as I am - I at least opened one side of the closet door so he'd have some fresh air while he slept. :)

Our beauty baby. It is just so much fun having Evalyn around. She is a ray of sunshine in our family. McKay and Evalyn love to play peek-a-boo in Ev's room. I'll be sitting with her on the rocking chair, McKay will hide behind, and Ev will peek around to find him. They both squeal because it's so much fun for them. McKay also loves to roll on top of Evalyn - steam roller style. Brenan and I are always so concerned, but Ev loves it. She giggles the whole time, until a limb actually gets stuck or something. Ha.

Out for a jog while Ev was taking her nap - I think the sun was too bright so McKay hid inside his toque and drifted off.

Broccoli debut. Huge mess. My friend reminded me to look at crumbs/messes (aka endless sweeping) as signs of life. I sure am glad to have 2 little lovees making such messes because that means I have two little lovees.

Big boy car seat! He doesn't fight the buckles quite as much as before, now that he has a seat belt that goes on like Mommy's and Daddy's seatbelts.

Pee pee in the potty. Happened once and has yet to happen again. BUT, he earned some sweet smarties for it. Now, every time someone else uses the potty, he asks if we get smarties for it. Ha. I told him that the smarties are especially for him, when he uses the potty.

Quiet-time creation: "I built a temple for you, Daddy!"

A cake I made for my friend Alisha's little girl, Jaidyn. So fun.. and I had SUCH good help, too.

What better place for a baby shower than at a chocolate cafe? Such a fun evening.

Becky Meng, me, Sarah Metcalf (guest of honor), Amber Perkins, Lacy Anderson.
And lastly, a few of Miyagi's quotes this month:

McKay loves to snuggle in bed with us in the morning.

Brenan, pointing to me: "This is my special woman."

McKay (snuggling with me): "No! She's MY special woman."

A few minutes pass in silence. Then from McKay, "I love my special woman."

McKay, in the kitchen: "I do a cool trick (hops to the side). I do this cool trick on my skateboard."

Dad and McKay playing in the living room. I'm taking wallpaper down in the kitchen. I hear McKay say to Daddy when he catches the ball, "Good job my boy!"

McKay, climbing onto a bar stool in the kitchen. He looks at me and says, "You're special mommy, you're beautiful." Brenan's got him trained right ;)

yagi yag

McKay loves to snuggle in bed with us in the morning.

Brenan: THis is my special woman.

McKay (snuggling with me): No! She's MY special woman.

A few minutes later, McKay says, "I love my special woman."

"I do a cook trick (hops to the side). I do this cool trick on my skateboard."

Dad and McKay are playing in the living room. I'm taking wallpaper down in the kitchen. I hear McKay say to Daddy when he catches the ball, "Good job my boy!"

McKay, "You're special mommy, you're beautiful." Brenan's got him trained right ;)