Steve

That's the name of our Elf, our Elf on the Shelf!  He comes to our house the day after Thanksgiving, from the North Pole, and watches the kiddos.  He has magical flying powers.  You can't touch him or he'll lose his magic.  You can talk to him all you want though.  He was sent us by Santa last year.  It was like he was born into our family because we got to give him his name.  We chose Steve.  Every night, after the kids fall asleep, he flies to the North Pole to report to Santa.  He lets Santa know if the kids had been naughty or nice that day.  He'll even report any 'requests' the kids may have mentioned to him!  By the time the kids wake up the next morning, Steve has returned to our house, sitting in a new location!  Here are some of his 'lookout' spots he has chosen this year:

 The kids LOVE to find where Steve is every morning!  Molls is really into it!  He's watching their every move until Christmas.  After Christmas, we don't see Steve again until next Thanksgiving.  We love having Steve as a part of our holiday traditions! 

3/4 of the Way There!

Our baby is almost 1......9 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days to be exact!  She recently had her 9 month doctor's appointment and everything checked out great!

Miley's Stats

Height: 27 1/2 inches (49%)

Weight: 18 lbs. 1 oz. (37%)

Head Circumference: 17 7/8 inches (87%)

Fun Facts

a total of 4 teeth (2 top, 2 bottom)

pulling herself up to anything/everything and "cruising" along things

climbing stairs

waves good-bye/hello (we think she kind of says "bye" and "hi" too)

gives open-mouth kisses <3

loves to dance

very curious about the world around her - she points at EVERYTHING and in her own language says "what's that?"

primarily eating table foods

naps 2 times a day

drinks a formula bottle once a day, the other feedings still come from momma:)

can stand alone for a few seconds

chooses NOT to sleep through the night yet:(

So much more fun in store for our baby!

All GIRL

Molls let momma play with her hair one morning this week!  I had to purchase a new hair straightener and haven't had time to try it out on myself.  That's where Molls came in!  As most know, her head is usually full of curl; ringlets to be exact!  She was unrecognizable by her teachers at school that morning.

Momma's gonna have SO much fun with this hair!!  Our beauty<3

Doughnie Saturday

A regular occurrence at the Young house, but this was extra special because it was Miley's FIRST experience:)  She didn't eat that whole thing, probably a quarter of it.  So fun to have her be a part of it now!

Happy Halloween

These costumes couldn't be more fitting for my kiddos:)  Ideally, I would have loved for Miley to be part of the 'theme,' but my creativity was lost:(  So, we opted for the hand-me-down giraffe costume!  Maybe I'll be more on the ball next year.

Little Luigi

Hungry giraffe

Super Mario

What a team!

Road Tripping

Last weekend, we had the little sisters stay with us while my parents went out-of-town.  On Friday, Max didn't have school and I didn't have my daycare buddy.  So, I decided to make a last minute trip (with 5 kids, by myself) to eastern Iowa to my grandparent's.  My brothers were already there because that's where they were staying while my parents were gone. 

The kids had a BLAST!  We even got to celebrate with Grandma Connie on her birthday<3

The carload

Uncle Joey is pulling the wagon with the bike:)  

This was most of the entertainment for the weekend!

Basement treasures

The farm

(notice the wagon pulling in the background!)

Sweet potato picking time

Livvi's new friend

Loving getting dirty

Molls wanted to hold the caterpillar

The crew livin' the farm life!

Bonding with Gramps and the pup

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, for letting us barge in on you<3

Our Mini m&m's

The trademark of our family is that we all have the same initials: MMY.  Hence, the reason for the title of the blog (if you didn't already know!).  When Mike and I went to Las Vegas, we thought it would be appropriate to get the kids each an m&m shirt at the m&m store on the strip!  The only "girl" m&m is the green one, so we got that color for the girls.  Max got a blue one, mostly just because it's a boy color!  Mike and I contemplated getting a shirt for each of us, but decided we'd probably NEVER wear them.  It would have been a cool picture though, each of us a different color of m&m!  We'll have to settle for pics of just the kiddos!

Growing like a weed

Our baby is almost 8 months old and doing so many new things:) 

Miley pulls herself up to ANYTHING she can get a grip on!  It started with the ottoman, then the end tables, then the couch.  Her new thing is to 'cruise' from chair-to-chair under the dining room table.  Now that the weather is getting cooler, I have been putting socks on her.  She's taken a few more tumbles because of this.  The darn floor is so slippery with socks:) 

I've also been giving Miley some table foods.  I'm ready for her to eat meals with the family:)  She LOVES Cheerios!  She's also mastered buttered toast and Ritz crackers.  Milers doesn't have the biggest appetite for 'real food' yet, but every once in a while she gets into it!  She does great with only 2 teeth! It's so fun to see Miley 'chew' her food!

mmmmmm.....toast!

She kind of sucks on it and takes bites!  I don't have to break apart pieces for her!

A little morning 'bed head!'

Now we just need to start drinking from the sippy cup!

First Days

Both of our big kids are in school!  I can't believe it!  Molli has been waiting for this moment for a long time.

This year, both kids are going to Sacred Heart Preschool in West Des Moines.  This is a change from where Max went last year.  We decided that Sacred Heart was where the kids would attend grade school (K-8), so why not start them there now?!?!  AND, it's where mommy went to school, so that makes it even more fun!!

Max goes to school 4 days a week, in the afternoons.  Molli goes 2 days a week, in the mornings.  Both have experienced 1 day at school and they seem to be enjoying it already:) 

Since I am doing daycare again, for one child, I'm trying to figure out how to haul everyone for drop-off and pick-up.  First and foremost, I gotta get the babies on a good schedule.  Things will only get easier as they get bigger!!

Looking forward to a great year in preschool, times two!!

Young Hawks

College football has arrived!!!  What a fun time of year!!  I love getting the whole family 'decked out' in football gear on Saturdays.  This is us celebrating the season opener for the Hawkeyes.  The Hawks are daddy's team.  I enjoy the Hawks as well, but I married into it.  Growing up, I was always a Cyclone fan.  They still hold a small place in my heart!!  You won't be able to find any Cyclone attire in the house though:(

Where's Max?!?!

Those of you keeping up with our blog may be wondering if we even have a boy running around the house anymore!  Well, he's still here......but not really running around very much.  The following pictures will tell you exactly where Max has been, most of the summer:)

As you can see, Max has a tiny obsession with Mario!!!  Actually, it's a HUGE obsession......so much that he hums the songs all day long and it's the only topic of conversation he can be engaged in with anybody!!!  Everyday, he anxiously awaits for the clock on the stove to say 12:30!  That's when he's allowed to turn it on for the day.  Turning it off tends to be a very dramatic (or traumatic!) event.  He's getting better about it though!

With all of his playing time, he has become very good!  He finds secret/hidden things that dad doesn't even know where to find.  He'd prefer to play with dad or watch dad play.  He learns so much about the game this way.  All in all, Maxi is our "video gamer."  I've heard that daddy was the same way at this age;)  We may be seeing a Wii in our family's future!