The Maxey Pad: August 2017

I am pretty bad at this blogging thing. Maybe when I get my own computer I can be more consistent. For now, I'll try to update you on a couple of things that have gone on over the last year.

Lenayah loves to swing at the park!

Myles is about to start the school year. If everything goes to plan, only 3 more semesters until he is done! That means he will apply for professor jobs next fall. He is doing amazing, pioneering work in disability research. He is focusing on getting his dissertation rolling (hopefully he will propose by the end of September) while also working on a variety of other research studies. He is doing well balancing school, 3 sources of income, fatherhood, husbandhood, church callings, and many more things that pull his attention. He feels overwhelmed pretty often but together we have managed to stay grounded and focused on what matters most.

Lenayah turned 3 last month. She is a little diva! She is saying the funniest things lately. One of my favorites from last week: She had finished all her morning jobs and had earned some TV time. She came and told me she was done and I signed into Netflix on the iPad and handed it to her. She beamed up at me and said, "awww! Thanks, Mom! You're so sweet!" Now, to help you understand she is not always the angel that story portrays I'll tell another. She doesn't always do very well playing nicely with Beckett. After on particularly unkind encounter that involved the laying on of hands and being sent to her room I followed up with her on her bed. I asked her if she understood why I asked her to go to her room. I really had a hard time keeping a straight face when she said, "Me being rude my Beckett boy..." She claimed him! So cute! Starting this week or next she and I are going to be working on school work. Colors, numbers, letters, our address, her diction, etc. I'm about to have a whole new appreciation for what my mom did for 15 years.

Does this with almost all dinners...

Beckett is just 2 weeks shy of being 1 year old! He isn't walking but he does have a very speeding crawl. He pulls himself up onto just about everything, especially if it's something that can be unloaded. Like a laundry basket, or the garbage can. D: This very moment he is unloading a bag of food that is supposed to move at the end of the week into his aunt's new apartment. He is a FLIRT! Last night I saw him waving back to someone for the first time. I look to see who and it is a little girl who looks to be around 2 the next table over. HAHA! Then when I tried to get a video of it he was a snot and just clapped instead. He adores Lenayah and wants to be with her, always doing what she is doing. Most of all, he loves ME! Beckett is so attached to me, it's almost too much. Many times it is too much! But then he snuggles his face into my neck and I'm okay with it. Beckett also loves to splash in water and play with a running hose. We spent the day at a lake during our reunion a few weeks back and he would have spent all day with me holding him in the water if I had been willing! He is such a blessing in our lives! I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by! It has been quite the experience to watch him grow!

As for me, I feel like I have no news to offer. Maybe I should get Myles to write this about me.

Beckett LOVES berries

McKay is busy being a great mom. The kids truly adore her and love to spend time with her. She definitely keeps the house running, especially with the craziness of my schedule with writing articles for journal submission, dissertation proposals, conference submissions, and conducting research. McKay is getting the family on healthier eating, which everyone enjoys (99.9% of the time at least, ice cream is still tempting). She also continues to enjoy working as a massage therapist at the chiropractic office, while also doing some massages at home. She likes being able to help people in their recovery process and in living healthier lives, free of pains and discomforts (at least those that deal with the body). As part of her massage practice, she also has been introducing essential oils to help people in the maintenance of optimal healthy. McKay also enjoys spending time out in the garden and we are hopeful for a bountiful harvest (a late snow slowed things down quite a bit, but things are coming in pretty well now). She continues to lead the choir in the ward and is happy that more people are starting to come out and lend their voice.

Thats all for now. We have some exciting changes coming that will get their own blog post when they become official. I'm so thankful for this little family of mine! They make my world stop and go around all at the same time! Ta ta!