Junk Food

We had ice cream for our FHE treat the other night...it was Annie's second taste ever. She REALLY enjoyed it. My favorite thing about these pictures is Jim's face.


This was her first taste ever of pizza...she was a HUGE fan.

There is a picture somewhere of me eating spaghetti that could almost be an identical match...definitely my daughter.
No, I do NOT normally feed my children pizza and ice cream...just in case anyone was wondering.

A Love of Books

Jim and I love books and I think it's wearing off on the kids. This is a VERY normal sight in any of the rooms in our apartment.

Just For Fun

Jim did an overnight trip up Pikes Peak last week. After unpacking, Logan decided he needed to climb in the pack.

This was too cute not to take a picture of.

Annie with Uncle Josh. She LOVES my brother. A minute before she had her head on his shoulder and he was rubbing her back. She snuggles with him almost every time he picks her up. I've never seen her snuggle up with anyone the way she does with him...not even me or Jim!

Gone Curly

I know I promised no more pictures of myself for at least six months but...a strange phenomenon has been happening with my hair lately...

I look an awful lot like my older sister this way!

Naptime??

My sweet little guy...
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
I am undecided if I should continue to NOT put Logan in bed for naptime. He continues to take one EVERY day...BUT he is sleeping better at night.

All About Logan

We love our little man. He's such a sweet, cute, funny little guy. I have a really hard time resisting him when he asks for hugs, stories, and (sometimes) cookies. He's got such a sweet little voice and innocence about him. This post is all about him.

All about Logan:

On Playing
A Boring Toy: Anything that Annie is NOT playing with.
A Fun Toy: Anything that Annie IS playing with.
How to give air kisses: First, go to your room for NOT being gentle with your sister. After time out, when asked to apologize and give hugs and kisses, stand three inches from your sister's face. Then kiss the air repeatedly in an effort to be VERY gentle...this makes up for your lack of gentleness earlier.
Toy Box: A box for sitting in while playing with toys. (Also creates a barrier between little sisters and the toy you don't want her to have.)

These were happenings from this morning. They really do play well together a lot of the time, and they weren't necessarily fighting over toys this morning. Logan likes to show Annie how he thinks the toy should be used...like the stacking tower he has in the picture. I think he got tired of Annie NOT stacking it right, so he barricaded himself in the toy box.


On Church
Logan loves anything related to church. He loves nursery, the people, the temple, praying, the prophet, scripture stories, and especially Jesus. We talk about those things all the time. He's figured out that I go to church more often than he does (I usually have two extra meetings each week) and frequently asks to accompany me.

The last time we went to the temple, he observed that I was wearing a dress and asked, "Momma go to church?" "No, I'm going to the temple." "Logan go temple with Momma." "Sorry buddy." That will be a wonderful day my little man.

When we help him with his prayers and say family prayers, he usually has something he wants us to include in the prayer...like giraffes, monkeys, garbage trucks...etc. It's helped us remember to be grateful for little things, too.

We have church at 1:00, I have choir practice right after, and Jim has a meeting every week at the same time, so we don't get home until 5:00 most of the time. Logan is a good sport. He takes his seat next to me and sings along with the choir. The picture below is from after church last Sunday. He was actually laying there almost asleep until he saw the camera and had to give me a silly grin.

On Sleeping
Lately, Logan has been getting up several times a night (I'm talking once every hour), and I've been exhausted over it. Between him and Annie's teething we've had some rough nights. I had a night this week that I was literally up with a child every 30-60 minutes. So we decided to cut out Logan's nap and see if it helps him sleep better at night. This started on Sunday, and so far he's managed to have a nap every day despite not being put in his bed. On Monday we snuggled to read story books, and he fell asleep. I didn't have the heart to wake him so we had a two and a half hour nap together (because he told me to close my eyes anytime he knew I was awake). Tuesday he fell asleep in the dining room DURING lunch and stayed there despite all the noise I was making. Yesterday we went to the zoo, and had a long enough drive in the car afterwards that he had a nap. Today, he fell asleep on the living room floor as soon as I had Annie down. He's two feet away from me and snoring like a bear. I figure that I don't need to prevent a nap if he's going to take it himself; I'm just not going to put him down anymore. He hasn't been having real long naps most days, and it does seem to be helping at night. He only got up once the last two nights!
Other Random Things
Logan loves music, but he has to pick it himself. Whenever we sing, we are not allowed to choose the song. Lately he's been giving me topics to sing about, and (amazingly) I've been able to come up with songs about everything (including the garbage truck, race cars, elephants, and apples). If I don't actually know a song about his object, I just use a familiar tune and make up silly words. He's going to grow up thinking there is a song for EVERYTHING. I really like it when he picks things that I already know songs about. Right now his favorite songs are the prophet song (Latter-day Prophets), the Daniel song (Follow the Prophet-the verse about Daniel), and the temple song (I Love to See the Temple).

Logan says the funniest things sometimes. Last night we'd just finished fueling the car, and he said, "Let's roll!" Jim looked at me and asked, "Do you say that?" "I don't think so. Do you?" "Not that I'm aware of."
The other night we were watching a kid's movie about airplanes, and Logan was sitting there straight-faced, eyes wide, and mouth open. Half-way through he said, "Awesome!" It was the only word he said for the entire 45 min.

Logan loves cleanliness and order. He doesn't like it when I change the location where somethings "belongs". When we clean everything has to be in its exact spot. He likes to help me vacuum, unload and load the dishwasher, wash and fold laundry, and scrub the bathroom. He isn't particularly fond of picking up his toys, though (he is INSISTENT that they go in the right spots however).

Slow Down to a Crawl

I've been pondering on this phrase the last couple of days. I'm thinking it should be "Speed Up to a Crawl". Two thoughts:

How to escape a diaper change: Lay on your back until Mom has removed the diaper. As soon as it's off, roll over, and crawl away as fast as you can. Repeat several times until Mom has managed to pin you with her feet.
Both of my kids love to do this to me...especially Annie right now. I'm wondering if she enjoys the freedom of a bare bottom.

How to scare Daddy: Last night while I was at YW, Jim had prepared the bath, and Logan had undressed himself and climbed in. Annie was in the living room (still dressed) and Jim went to prepare pajamas. The next thing he knew Logan was yelling, "Annie! Annie! Help!" He rushed to the bathroom to find Annie IN the tub. We're not sure if she fell in or if Logan assisted her in, but it sure scared everybody. By the time Jim arrived in the bathroom she was fully soaked, standing, and bawling. I'm relieved that she recovered so quickly. We have a new rule: Logan may not even open the bathroom door until someone is ready to stay with Annie. She LOVES her bath, and "Speeds Up to a Crawl" when she hears the water.

A Very Cool Toy

This toy has been in the top of the closet for at least six months...probably longer. It's one of those toys that the kids LOVE, but that drives the parents crazy after a while. The balls roll down the chute, and then come flying out the hole in the top, all while very loud carnival music plays. They've been fighting over it for a couple of days. I have to admit, though, when we first got it, Jim and I played with it for an hour...at least.

"Spring" Cleaning

I know it's not spring, but I've had the urge to rearrange and de-clutter lately. I did the kids closet the other day (it was packed floor to ceiling with boxes of baby stuff) and managed to give away four trash bags full of baby things to people in need. I also managed to more efficiently pack everything in and create some space for more stuff. I must say I felt pretty good about it.

After I'd emptied the closet almost entirely Logan decided it was a fun place to play. Since Annie is so mobile now, she followed him. I needed a picture...of course.

Exhaustion

Last weekend we went on an overnight ski trip, and left the kids with my mom. We had a great time, stayed up late, skiied hard (Jim boarded), ate TONS of junk food, and drove back late Saturday night. My mom had put the kids to bed at her house, and since we don't have church until the afternoon, we thought we'd sneak in and sleep there. Jim and I were totally exhausted and I had a major headache (probably from all the junk food). We arrived at midnight, and were almost in bed when Logan realized someone was there and guessed it was us. He called for me, and when I went in to him, informed me that, "I get dressed. All done sleeping at Grandma's house." We had two choices: fight him for an hour to go back to sleep and then drive home, or just drive home. We know our son, so we picked the latter. So we packed up both kids, and made it home around 1am. Everyone dropped in bed exhausted. I'm sure the kids were more tired than usual from being away from their own beds, and from the middle of the night interruption. After an early morning feeding I put Annie back to bed, and this is how we discovered her when Logan got up later. She must have fallen asleep sitting up. Too cute!

Someone Else is Having a Rough Day

Poor Logan.

Annie is very mobile now, and that means that when I put her in her crib for naptime, she likes to crawl around for a while before she goes to sleep. That would be fine except it bothers Logan. He screams and cries for, "Annie go to sleep! Momma cover Annie!" Yesterday she was actually laying down initially, but she had her feet up against the bars and her toes sticking out. He had a major meltdown over that. He doesn't understand that I can't force her to lay down...and he especially doesn't understand that she'll go to sleep on her own a lot quicker if he would go to sleep himself. He's had a meltdown over this every day for a week.

Poor Logan.

Someone is Having a Rough Day

Logan's Day:
-"Work" on the computer (AKA hitting random keys...a big NO NO)
-Push his sister repeatedly
-Go to his room for time-out repeatedly
-Attempt to unload EVERY toy minutes prior to Annie's nap time (we always clean up at nap time and he knows it)
-Empty the sugar bowl
-Unload dirty dishwasher
-Unload bookshelf
-Empty Mom's dresser drawer
-Unload construction paper
-Unpack overnight bags (I'd packed them minutes earlier)
-Play with marker on parent's bed
-Climb in the dryer
-Rip story books
-Strip down naked and run away from Mom

My Day:
-Place computer out of reach
-Repeatedly comfort Annie and send Logan to his room
-Clean up ALL the toys
-Clean up the sugar
-Reload the dishwasher
-Reshelve books
-Reload my drawer
-Restack construction paper
-Repack overnight bags
-Place marker out of reach
-Pull a two-year-old out of the dryer
-Repair story books (that I'd fixed YESTERDAY)
-Chase a naked child in an effort to put a diaper on him (he's still not fully dressed)
-And of course all of the regular every day things required to take care of and entertain two children.

It seems like every time I turn around today he's in some sort of mischief...I didn't list them all.

SOMEBODY is having a rough day...and I'm not so sure it's him.

Annie's Week

This has been quite the week for Annie. She started teething finally, and has had a few rough nights. At ten months old, she still has no teeth, but I think she's getting more than one now. I'll be really glad when they come in for more than one reason: she won't be hurting anymore AND she can learn to chew. She's pretty much eating everything we eat as long as she can gum it. She gets upset when I won't let her have something that she can't chew.

Yesterday she figured out two big things. 1. How to go FORWARD. 2. How to pull herself up to stand. She hadn't realized that her legs were useful for movement, and she'd been trying to do everything with her arms. That was really frustrating to her, of course, because those little baby arms are not strong enough to pull her body weight forward or up. Then it was doubly-frustrating because in her efforts, she would move backwards...AWAY from her goal! So yesterday, she started using those legs, crawled across the room to me (I was laying on the floor watching her), and (before I knew it!) used me as a prop to stand up. She never learned to travel by rolling, or by scooting on her tummy or bottom; she is actually CRAWLING one hand and knee in front of the other. I am SO excited. Time to go baby-proof a little more thoroughly...

Obstacle Course

Sometimes I wonder if Logan intentionally creates obstacle courses. It seems he always places large toys in doorways. This one happened while I was drying my hair.

Josh's Big Day

On Saturday, my brother Josh went through the temple, and we were privileged enough to go with him. Jim was his escort, and it was a really special experience. I'd have to say it was one of my best days ever. Josh is such a wonderful person...now we just need to get him married. Does anyone know any wonderful single girls? :)

I forgot my camera, so we didn't get a picture at the temple, but my mother-in-law used it to take a picture of Logan napping with Jim's dad while we were gone.

Cheerio

There is a hidden Cheerio in this picture...look really hard.


The funny part was that Logan didn't realize it was there for several minutes. I had to take him to the mirror before he knew. Then he thought it was hilarious, and attempted to make more stick.