My giant boys

How big does Hawken look next to Matix? He is almost 3 months old, and Matix is almost 18 months old. Matix is pretty big for his age already, but look how fast Hawken is catching up. Yikes! :)

Girl's Night

The other night a few of us got together for a girl's night. It was the first of (hopefully) many. We had snacks, did our nails, and talked. We were planning on watching a chick flick, but never got around to it. Next time hopefully more girls can come. :) It was way fun.

This is Angie, Paige, Chelsea, Kelly, Sarah, Liz and myself...

Paul stayed home with the babies (they were already asleep), so he got in an extra hour and a half of studying. :)

Helping

Sorry about not returning emails, or uppdating the blog. Our internet was out yesterday, but when I checked this morning it was working again. Hooray! Story time here at our house was a success. I was a little nervous, but I used some of the videos I had used in my classroom, and the kids seemed to enjoy them.

Today I thought I would share some brotherly bonding moments. :) I just love these! Matix likes to "help" with EVERYTHING, as you may know. And his latest interest has been in Hawken when he is taking a bath.

We have this little baby tub thing that we put Hawken in, then put that in the tub (for the water that spills over the side). Matix then gets into the tub too and helps rinse Hawken off when I tell him it is time to. Yes, I censored the picture. Lame I know, but we have a public blog. :)

After the bath we wrap him up in the duckie towel and Matix again helps by patting him dry. :)

Look at Matix's scrapped up knees. He is SUCH a little boy!

What to do in Dominica

Here in Dominica there are tons of things for kids to do. Play on the beach, swim in the pool, explore... But a few of us thought there should be more... So, last semester a few of us started a play group. It is still going on this semester, although the days are now Tuesday and Wednesday. Same time, 1pm at the CAC on the 3rd floor. Please come if you can. It is nice to have lots of people there.

Of course Matix is fighting for a toy in the picture. :) These are some of the kids at play group a few weeks ago in order of age.

Hawken met his first girlfriend. Jazz. :) Isn't she cute.

Watch the placement of her hand.

She is going in for the kill. :)

Holding hands. So cute.

After all that hand holding, Hawken crashed out on the couch. :) What a good boy.

This semester another group of moms started a "story time" activity for the kids. :) YAY!

It is more for the older kids than Matix right now, but we go anyway. :) He doesn't get a whole lot out of the books they read, but he enjoys being around other kids (and I enjoy the other moms) and he LOVES the songs they sing in between the books. :)

Story time jumps from house to house and this week (Friday the 26th) will be here at our house. So, if you can come, please do. :) It will be at 10:45 at our house... it's the blue and white house on Lizard Trail. Email me if you don't know where that is.

After reading books and singing songs, then all the kids get to play for a bit before it is lunch time and everyone goes home or up to campus to eat together with their families. Matix had fun with all the kids.

And Hawken fell asleep on the couch again. :) How cute is Tate? Very interested in the sleeping baby. :)

The Little Chef

Love it. :) He is so creative.

Cheesy Face!

Lately Matix has been making this cheesy face. Eyes squinted almost all the way closed, crooked smile... but I love it. :) Usually I take many pictures of the same event, so that later I can dig through and find the ones that I like. Well, now the majority of them look like this... After collecting quite a few, I thought maybe I should share them. :)

Success!

Paul and I made a plan for who has which kid at which time during church so we would have a better time than last week. :) And, it was a success! I am so thankful to have such a dedicated husband who helps me when I need it. I really feel like we are a team and am so appreciative of our relationship. :) How successful was it you ask? Well, here is photographic proof of how well it went.

Matix fell asleep on the floor, paci and blankie in hand. :) It wasn't perfect and there were crying moments for each boy, but all in all MUCH better. Thank goodness.

A boy from church, Jemuel, came over after to play the ukulele with Paul. Fun. :) He looks very serious in the picture, but I promise he had a good time.

Love is in the air...

Don't you just love this?

Can you tell they love their Daddy?

I am in love with life right now. I feel so lucky to have 2 happy, healthy babies and such a wonderful husband. We live in this awesome paradise. I get to be a full time mom. My husband is going to school to become what he has always dreamed of. I don't know how else to explain it, I am in love. :)

Hide and Seek

Our neighbor from across the street likes to come over and "babysit". Her name is Rianna and she is 12. The other day they were playing in the backyard and she made this video of them. She has her own youtube account and uploaded it. I thought it was cute, so I thought I would share it. :) She calls it hide and seek, but I think it is more like peek-a-boo. Either way, they both had fun. :)

Our Backyard Adventures

We really lucked out with the house we have. It is close to campus, has fairly cheap rent (for Dominica at least), and best of all it has an AWESOME backyard! :) Matix spends hours each day exploring, hunting lizards, collecting rocks and other little treasures... And since it is fenced in, he can be out there even when Hawken and I are inside.

We have a banana tree, mango tree and a coconut tree in it too. Paul cuts down coconuts sometimes and he and Matix drink the milk. I don't really like it. :) We also have a few mangos growing, and can hardly wait to eat them. :) It isn't all jungle though, as you can see, most of it is just grass.

I just HAD to take a picture of this leaf. It is bigger than Matix and it is not an optical illusion. It really is that big!

Poor Hawken hardly ever gets his picture taken because for the majority of the day, he is strapped to me like this, so we can go chasing after Matix. :) And he is getting better with the wind and doesn't seem to mind it as much as long as I am holding him.

mud puddle

It has rained since Monserrat's volcano got us with ash a week or so ago, and thank goodness. I was getting tired of having dusty feet and dirty floors. :) Matix was excited about all the muddy puddles. :)

videos

Here are a couple cute videos of the boys. The one of Matix is from when we were back in the states in January. He loved to play the chasing game. I would chase him, he would chase me, SO fun. :) This is a video of us playing that game... until he gets stuck. :)

This is a cute video we got a few weeks ago of Hawken lighting up when he sees Paul. SO sweet. I love it.

Valentine's Day Party!

Our branch had a Valentine's Day party on Saturday. It was really fun. Lex came with us too.

First we decorated cookies. Paul made one for me. And I made one for Paul. :) Very romantic, I know. :) Hawken, of course, hung out with Paul in the backpack the whole time. What a good baby!

Matix had a great time... frosting the cookie, tasting the frosting, adding sprinkles, tasting the sprinkles...

Then we decorated some Valentines. I made one for each of my boys, and Matix made some for a few of his girlfriends from church. :) He also made one for Hawken and Daddy. :)

AND... drumroll please... Matix hugged Emmy and she didn't scream! :)

Well, after he got this hug, he kept trying to get more from her, but she was only happy with the first one. :) Keep trying Matix. :) Happy Valentine's Day!

Today

Today was a tiring day. :) We went to church early for a meeting, then stayed for the full 3 hours... During which Matix and Hawken took turns crying....

Sacrament meeting (hour #1). Paul is the first counselor and sits at the front of the congregation facing us, so he had Hawken and I had Matix. Hawken is a little less distracting than Matix to have at the front. :) Both boys were okay during this meeting (thank goodness).

Sunday School (hour #2). Paul teaches a class to some of the new members in our branch to help them understand things more clearly. It is hard since there are some language and cultural barriers, so it would have been nice if he could have concentrated on the class and not on Matix laying on the floor in the middle of the circle of chairs. Matix was getting tired, and cranky, but I couldn't take him since I was feeding Hawken in my Sunday school class. When he was done, we switched, but both boys were not happy with the switch. They both were crying and upset on and off for the rest of that hour.

Priesthood and Young Women's (hour #3). Paul had Hawken who was now SO upset Paul took him outside so as to not disturb others. So I had to take Matix into the Young Women's class that I teach. Matix of course got into EVERYTHING, and was very distracting. Then he thought it would be fun to knock on the door until someone outside of the room came in to ask if I needed any help. I said, "yes please" :) Paul came and we switched boys, which made all the difference in the world. Matix calmed down for Paul, and Hawken fell asleep for me.

After church Paul had another meeting and couldn't walk home with me. Both boys NEEDED a nap, so I walked home pushing Matix in the stroller and having Hawken in the backpack. Needless to say, I was POOPED!

Paul got home and let me take a nap when Hawken FINALLY decided to go down. After which we had a nice family dinner and now both boys are down for the night. We talked and figured out a better schedule for next Sunday... and a few more after that and Matix will be 1 and 1/2 and will get to go to nursery!!!! YAY! That means he will only be with us for the first hour.

Now, we are going to watch the Goonies (one of my Valentines Day presents from Paul) and relax. I would just like to remember GOOD days, so here are some pics of our normally HAPPY and CALM boys. :)