Fun Times

Last week we had a fun evening with some friends. Our zoo does a holiday lights event every year, and since we were members it was free! We bundled up the kids really well and had a great time.

I didn't take many pictures, but I did get my favorite part. Jack Frost came to feed the hippos some melons that the kids had decorated (Logan's name was on one of them). Annie was right up front totally trapped below all the people. I was the mean adult who wouldn't let children step in front of me because Annie kept checking to see that I was RIGHT behind her. I couldn't even back up to get a better picture of her.

Although we have an amazing zoom on our camera, I didn't need to use it for these shots. If I'd leaned over the rail I could have touched that hippo.

Those are some HUGE jaws! I am totally fascinated with this animal, but am very protective of my children when we are near their exhibit.

They would catch the melons and chomp down making the melons pop like a balloon. It was VERY cool.

Another evening last week, Annie sat through an ENTIRE movie. It's the first time she's ever done that. Upon inspection I discovered why... She fell asleep holding Daddy's hand! I had to share just because it's so sweet!

A New Year

It's a new year, and one thing that means for our family is a new schedule for church. This year we are on the 1pm-4pm time...not our favorite because that is nap time! The kids handled it well yesterday, though. They were really quite happy during church; they were just SO exhausted by the time we made it home!

I thought Annie was unbelievably cute with her pigtails and dress yesterday! (I have a wonderful video of her from last night as well; I'm hoping Jim can help me figure out how to post it!)

Logan is now a Sunbeam! (In our church, the children attend Nursery until the January that they are three. Then the join the older kids in a group called Primary. The class for three year olds is called the Sunbeam class.) He was a little hesitant about some of singing time, but he LOVED going to class and had so much fun with his new teacher! Every time I passed his classroom (I was the designated roamer yesterday so I was keeping an eye on all the classes) I heard lots of giggling. When his class came back to the Primary room for closing exercises, he borrowed scriptures so he could put a sticker on our scripture chart. (In order to encourage the kids to bring their scriptures, every week we sing "Scripture Power" and any child who remembered to bring scriptures can put a sticker on the chart. We have scriptures available for anyone to borrow if they don't have their own.) Our only dilemma with him during church happened right after the closing prayer; he did NOT want to return those scriptures! So I decided he would bring his own every week from now on. I was trying to figure out if I had a little bag that would make it easy for him to carry them, but ended up deciding to just make one. So, last night after the kids were in bed I spent 30 min. on this little project. I even embroidered an "L" on it so everyone would know it was Logan's.

I gave it to him today and tried to get him to pose for a picture, but didn't have much success.

A Sore Back

...is a good indication that I had a productive day. Humor me for a minute here because I am very pleased with what I accomplished this morning.

First, I neglected to comb Annie's hair... (I also have no intention of doing so because I think it's cute.)

Second, I failed to get Logan dressed... (In this picture he said he was camping and that the cushions were his tent.)

BUT we weren't going anywhere and I got a LOT done! I scrubbed, mopped, vacuumed, polished, picked up, washed dishes, did four loads of laundry,...

...put away our Christmas decorations, found the top of my dryer (that's where things live before they have a home), AND finished organizing the kids' closet! I took a picture of the closet because I am VERY happy with it. This closet was one of those that you opened CAREFULLY because everything was going to fall out on you and you could not see the wall at the back of the closet. I managed to clear out a big tub (the size of that gray one), four diaper boxes, two hiker packs that kids can sit in, a fan, and a humidifier and found a new place for them (AKA storage). I also reorganized EVERYTHING. Now I can get to EVERYTHING (especially the baby boy clothes that I will soon need) and there's tons of room for more stuff! (Some may be skeptical about that, but bear in mind how much I took OUT of there; I can fit a lot more in!)

So I am very pleased with myself today; it's just a shame that I probably can't get off of the couch until tomorrow. :)

Alarmed

After last week's fiasco, I have been a bit wary about taking a shower when the kids are up. So today I did it while Annie was asleep. I shut the door, got in, and then Logan and I had ANOTHER interaction through the closed door:

"Mom, I need to go potty!"
"Use the other bathroom!"
(Is this sounding familiar yet?)

A couple of minutes pass during which I am frantically trying to finish my shower so I can catch him before he unrolls all of the toilet paper... I just can't get rid of my paranoia especially since I'd just scrubbed that floor again TODAY!

I get out, and hear the fan in the other bathroom go on.

"Mom, I am stinking up my bathroom!"

Alarm bells go off in my head and I bolt out of the bathroom to discover that he only went #1. He just thought it would be fun to turn on that fan (because in his mind that is HOW you stink up a bathroom.) I am NEVER taking a shower again...without a babysitter.

Fiasco

This morning, I decided to take a shower. I don't know what possessed me. It really wasn't very brilliant. While in the shower Logan and I had this interaction through the closed door:

"Mom, I need to go potty!"
"Use the other bathroom!"
"Okay!"
A couple of minutes go by...
"Mom, the water in the toilet is BIG!"

Great. I'm in the middle of a shower, with an overflowing toilet in the OTHER bathroom (because three year olds around here only use reasonable amounts of TP when Mom IS watching), and a one-year old on the loose who is obsessed with water and toilets.

"Logan, leave that toilet alone, and keep Annie out of the bathroom until I can help you!"

Yeah right. I really didn't expect him to follow my instructions, but it was worth a shot right?

I frantically get dressed, and enter the other bathroom to discover Annie playing in the water. Logan had continued flushing until I got there, so the floor (and his underwear that he'd left on the floor) was wet as well. Now, the problem should have been solved here because I was finally on the scene, but there is a skill that I have tried to master my entire life and have completely failed: unplugging a toilet. I tried anyway, and managed to get more (gallons?) water all over that floor. (So glad I'd just scrubbed the floor...) I threw towels on the floor, and the next obvious step was to call my mom for a pep talk. She advised me on a different trick for unstopping a toilet, but I decided I wasn't brave enough to try it (I'd probably manage to get more gallons of water on the floor anyway). So now the bathroom is off limits until Jim gets home and rescues me. (Thank heavens for a second bathroom!)
The plunger on top of the toilet is my version of an 'Out of Order' sign. And NO. Taking those bits of toilet paper off of the plunger were not a priority at that moment, but taking a picture so I could share my adventure was. :)

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We had a lot of opportunities to do things for others which was my favorite part, and the kids enjoyed making cookie deliveries. Logan really was happy to have his little gifts to give to so many people as well.

This first picture is out of order, but I can't seem to get it moved down... Anyway, this is what Annie found when she opened her gift from us. I decided to take the doll of out of the box so she could immediately play with it. She's been totally obsessed ever since. I can't believe how nurturing she is! She feeds her baby, reads to her baby, kisses her baby, and tucks her baby in bed.

Our Christmas celebrations started early, and quite by surprise! On Tuesday evening, my dad had asked if he could stop by to give the kids their presents from him, but he said he could only stay for a few minutes. When he showed up, his wife, Drenda, was with him and they had a bunch of food. Not long after, Josh and Sarah (my in-town siblings) and Dave (Sarah's husband) showed up too! We were having a party! I'd wanted to get together with my Dad and siblings sometime after Christmas so I could give my dad his Christmas gift, but we hadn't been able to set a date. My dad had been putting me off about it, and I was getting worried it wasn't going to happen! So their surprise really made me happy. I was feeling very loved that night. It was probably my favorite Christmas gift!

I largely forgot about my camera that night so these were the only two pictures I took. After we opened the gifts my dad brought, I gave him, Josh, and Sarah my gift. I can't deny that this gift was a really big deal to me. Back in March, my dad had mentioned a wish to have all of our old home videos on DVD. It took me about two seconds to decide that would be my family's Christmas gift this year. I "borrowed" (it's still borrowing even if the lender doesn't know about it right?) the old VHS tapes in April, and then wasn't able to get the project started until November...but I was planning. I had to pay someone to convert them to DVD, then Jim had to rip them onto our computer so I could edit them with some free software he'd downloaded. We ran into some difficulties, and I had only finished the videos on Monday. It was just in time! I was so glad they were finished and wrapped when my family surprised me that night! We even watched some of the eight hours worth of footage that evening, and enjoyed laughing at ourselves together!

On Christmas Eve we went to my mom's house; my in-town siblings were also there.

Josh was displaying his festive outfit.

Annie received a bag of dress up hats from my mom, and we had WAY to much fun with those that evening.

This one isn't really a hat...

The kids also received mini-brooms from my mom. When Logan pulled his out of the bag, it stayed in his hand while he opened the rest of his gifts. Loving the broom grandma!

I have no words to describe...

We put the kids to bed (even though we weren't staying the night) and stayed up playing games.

On Christmas day, we spent the day with Jim's family at their house.

Once again, I largely forgot about my camera, so I only took two pictures. The kids both fell asleep while we watched a slide show of their old family photos. Jim had "borrowed" (we do plan to return them I promise!) all of his family's old photo slides, and had spent hours and hours scanning them to create digital copies.

We returned home that evening for our last round of gift opening. We'd saved our gifts to each other for then, as well as the family devotional that we like to end our holiday with.

The kids received bubble bath in their stockings, and we had to let them use it that night. I accidentally poured a LOT of it in the water, though, so in addition to being the first bubble bath in months it was also the most bubbles they've ever enjoyed at one time.

The water was so soapy already, that I really had to wonder why I was scrubbing them with more soap when I got down there to help them wash.

The next day I had fun playing with Annie's new hair barrettes and bands. She had her very first pigtails! So cute! They even stayed in thanks to teeny tiny rubber bands.

The Other Big Deal

I don't want to take away from the next post, so this one will be really short. For the big deal this week, read below...this is the other big deal! Yesterday we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary! I am so happy to be married to my wonderful Jim. Our eternity together has really only begun, and what a happy eternity it is has been so far! Happy Anniversary sweetheart!

GRADUATION!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: I am near tears with joy at being able to share this news. JIM HAS GRADUATED! He took his last test on Thursday and we attended commencement on Friday. Then we had a party for him and two of his best friends (who also graduated) on Saturday. I am SO HAPPY! Even though I wasn't the one taking classes, I'm convinced his classes were harder on me than my own were (and equally hard on him).

We have a wonderful zoom on our camera...

This is how far away I was actually sitting.

The happy graduate. Hooray!

The equally (or more) happy wife with the happy graduate!

The kids don't know it yet, but this day means they will get a lot more Daddy time!

Jim Sr. with Jim Jr....there is officially another engineer in the family!

Jim's family who were able to be there...

Jim and Ben

The big joke at school with Jim's classmates this semester was that he had two kids and one on the way...very few of them are even married. I think that made him a super-student!

Congratulations Jim! You are WONDERFUL!

Christmas Fun

This year, I've been doing an advent calendar with the kids so we have been doing something a little extra fun each day of December. One of our activities was gingerbread (okay graham cracker) houses. This was probably the biggest hit.

Logan was obsessing about keeping his hands clean...seriously. Otherwise he would have been less inclined to lick and lick and lick.


Still keeping those hands clean...

That is a well-disguised cheerio.

I finally convinced him to stop licking all the frosting off of his hands.

Okay so this picture is not Christmas related...but she's so darn cute!

Logan helped wrap all of his ornaments (see earlier post) and they fit perfectly under our tree. (We don't have room for a big tree this year.)

Body Language

If it weren't for that countdown on the side of my blog here, I probably wouldn't know how many weeks pregnant I am...usually. This week, though, I think my body is trying to send me a message. The message: Welcome to the third trimester! Ow!