Jilli has been mastering the skill of riding a big girl bike. She looks so big peddling herself around.

Such a handsome little guy!

Fierce game of checkers.  We will often find Beckam playing a game of checkers against himself.  :)

Sweetness!

Happy to have celebrated 11 years being married to this guy!  Love him!

My ballers!

The Great Day of Service.  The kids worked so hard to help put together hygiene kits.

Taking a break during a shopping trip.

Dissecting a dead frog.

Mud, mud, mud!  Not sure if this makes me a fun mom or a bad mom.

"Take a picture of our ninja moves!"

So happy to have these kids!

Fearless Jaxton!

Learning to shop the ads at a young age.

* When someone sneezes Jilli will say, "They have the 'bless you's.'"
* Ever since Easter and all the talk about Jesus dying and being ressurected, Jilli now adds to each of her prayers, "And bless that Jesus doesn't die again and get all those owies."

Playing Catch Up

We started incorporating Jilli into weekly dates nights. For her first date she asked me to take her to her favorite store, Dollar General, where she got to pick something out. She was THRILLED!

Jilli loves to play tag, so Mac took her in the backyard and played a few rounds.  He's a sucker for his sister!

We ran our first family race in March.  Nate and I ran a 5k together and the kids ran a 1/2 mile.  Mac took 3rd overall (up to 12 years old).  It was a great experience for everyone!

These two love each other!

I have a soft spot for sleeping children! This time Jilli had fallen asleep half on me and half on Nate.

Pre-Easter prep.

Out shopping with my fellas.

Best buddies!

Just out for an evening stroll.  I love this girl with my whole heart!

Beck and Princess Jilli are ready for an ordinary day at preschool.

I've been busy painting murals at the gym.  This was my 3rd of 4 paintings.

Burning some energy when Nate was out of town.

Jilli is combing Nate's hair.  When she was all done she moved to his leg hairs.

Out to eat.

She loves her brothers!

Happy 1/2  birthday, sweet girl!

She threw a fit as we were walking into the dollar store.  A lady stopped her and kindly offered her a dollar for a smile -- it worked.  Bless that stranger's heart!

Jilli refuses to sleep in her "tobbler" bed because she says "its for babies."  She's been sleeping in her tent for a couple months now.  A few days ago, I finally stuffed her mattress inside her tent so she at least won't break her back.

Nate took the boys to a Bobcats vs. Thunder game for part of Mac's birthday present.  They loved it!

When we were in Chapel Hill, we ran into Marcus Paige, who is a UNC basketball star.

Mac's primary teacher sent me this picture of him, Olivia and Kaylee in class.  I love the pure joy on their faces.

Mac begs to go to the church to play basketball.  This was one Saturday when we finally gave in.

The kids and Nate were wrestling and Beck went to jump on top of the pile and instead hit his head on the couch.  He's such a tough kid.  He didn't cry because he knew if he did, the game would be over.

On a whim, I took the scissors to my bangs.  When I came out from the bathroom, the kids all gasped and Mac said, "Mom, what did you do?!?!" and Jilli keeps telling me that I look like a boy.  :)

This is Jilli on her first day of Primary.  I can't believe she's a Sunbeam!  Breaks my heart!

My three ballers!

Ready for church.

My fourth of 4 paintings.

Little Miss.  She said to Nate and I the other day, "Remember last tomorrow when we . . ." (she meant "yesterday").

Beckam-isms

On the way in to soccer practice, Beck and I overheard a dad getting after his son and as we passed them Beckam said over his shoulder, "Good luck with that!"
Mac was eating a pear and Beckam asked him, "What is that?" to which Mac replied, "a pear." Beckam then asked, "A 'pair' of what?"

I gave Beckam some minty gum the other day and after chewing on it a minute or so he said, "This gum makes my tongue all tingly and it makes my mouth feel like a hot tub." I think I see an excellent writing career in his future.

I received an e-mail this week containing this message:
"On Sunday I covered the CTR 7 class for the last 10 minutes of church.  I have to tell you how impressed I was by McCade!  The Maxfields left some delicious smelling microwave popcorn for their class but McCade politely turned it down, saying, "I'm fasting."  Even though all the other students were happily chomping on popcorn right next to him, he never waivered.  And he was cheerful about it.  I told my family the story on the way home and one of my children who is older than McCade but shall remain nameless said, "He puts me to shame".  True!!!  Our older kids are having a hard time fasting cheerfully and with purpose.  Patrick and I are wondering if you can share with us how you teach fasting to your kids."
One thing I know about Mac is that when he makes up his mind to do something, he's going to do it! He makes me proud!

For a very long time now, Jaxton has been adding in his prayers, "Please bless Heavenly Father and Jesus."  I've tried to explain how it isn't really necessary to say that since that's who he's talking to, but he just keeps saying it.  But, I suppose after all that Heavenly Father and Jesus do for us, it only makes sense for them to throw a blessing or two their own way.

Jaxton was chosen as the first Terrific Kid of the year.  His teachers had this to say about him:
Jaxton enjoys writing stories.  He really gets excited when he can share his stories with the class.  Jaxton likes math and reading too.  He knows the Eagle 4 classroom expectations.  Jaxton is respectful, responsible, safe and proactive.  We are so happy Jaxton is in our 1st grade class!

Whenever Beckam gets in trouble lately and I say something like, "Beck, stop doing that." He comes back with , "What?! It's appropriate!"  I'm not sure where he got it from, but he says it so much that Jilli now says it too, but hers sounds more like, "What?! It's approfiate!"

Since Mac has been baptized he has made fasting a priority each Fast Sunday.  The night before this month's Fast Sunday, he woke up in the middle of the night complaining of a stomach ache and then dry heaved, but it never amounted to actual throw up.  In the morning he woke up with a headache and when I suggested that this might not be the best Sunday for him to fast since he wasn't feeling 100%, he argued that besides his head hurting, he was fine and he wanted to fast.  Throughout the morning, his headache continued and when I went to warm up some leftover pizza for the other kids, I waved a piece in front of him and said, "I think this would help your head feel better," to which he firmly replied, "No.  I'm fine.  I'm fasting."  And bless his heart, he did fast his full two meals, despite his persistent headache and even me tempting him with food.  I do love that boy and his strong-willed ways!

Jaxton and I pulled in to our neighborhood today after church and Jax said, "Hey mom, what are those three flags for again?" I replied, "That one is for North Carolina, that one is for America and that one is the Centex flag." After thinking that over he thoughtfully asked, "Now what do they speak in Centex?" LOVE that kid! (fyi, Centex is the builder for our neighborhood)