Somehow, she grew up and got married! We traveled to Denton for the wedding this weekend, and had a really great time. Logan still adores his Aunt Rachel, and Dawson got to meet her, and the rest of the M family, for the first time. And, we are honored that Rachel and her new husband Riley have agreed to be Dawson’s Godparents, too!
Handsome boy, ready for the marrying
Two handsome boyz
Beautiful bride
Proud Papa
Since Denton is about as close as we’ve ever been to where Brandon lives, I took the boys up to visit Brandon and his family on Sunday, while James and Jim enjoyed a round of golf. Those boys had a blast together! (the little ones, I mean. Actually, I’m sure the big ones did too…)
L.O.V.E. this.
Cousin fun
Yeah, this one’s pretty cute, too…
In other news, this weekend Dawson turned 5 months old. But that’s a rant for a whole ‘nother post.
Whew, what a weekend I’ve had! I slept alllll weekend. To be fair, though, I worked all night all weekend and we had our asses handed to us, we were so busy. But you don’t want to hear about all that.
You want to hear about what my boyz were up to all weekend. And that was a LOT!
First, Saturday morning there was the benefit pancake breakfast at Applebee’s. Then, there was Logan’s preschool fundraiser in the park, which = tons o’ fun!
I think he was starting to wind down to naptime…
They say he’s a natural at rockclimbing. Who knew?
His favorite teacher, Mrs Lisa, painted his Froggie Face
Then there was the Red Poppy Festival on the town square. The boyz hung out with Logan’s buddy Michael and his family. They even stopped by my work to say “hey” for a few minutes! They played hard and stayed out late, and I’m told they were all on their very best behavior and had the most fun. Wish I could have said the same for me!
We love a parade!
Sunday they went to help celebrate Pa’s birthday (for those who don’t know or remember, Pa, aka: Donny, is our neighbor and dear friend from our old house). Logan had a ball over there, playing with the new kids on the block. Plus, he simply ADORES Pa!
Potato Gun fun
Water Gun fun!
I was so sad I couldn’t be a part of all the fun, but how many moms can boast that their husbands can and do handle all that James does? Not many, I think.
After months and months of swollen feet, lower back pain and several weeks of contractions, DAWSON JOHN joined our family at exactly 11:31 on Tuesday December 20, 2011!! He is huge, and beautiful and perfect. How huge?
Nine pounds, eight ounces. Twenty-two and a quarter inches long.
Huge.
Thank God for great anesthesiologists and even better epidurals. Delivery was a piece of cake, I seriously did not feel a thing more than a tiny bit of pressure in my belly. In fact, as soon as he was delivered, I was watching the nurse weigh him, and I could see that the scale said “8.1”. I said aloud “Oh, 8 pounds, one ounce, the same size Logan was!!”
James said, “Uh, babe. That says nine pounds, eight-point-one ounces”. Whoa.
By the next day, I was feeling a little like I’d been run over by a Mack truck, so I guess the whole birthing-a-huge-ass-baby thing was not as much of a piece of cake for my body as my brain thought it was at the time.
Anyway, he is beautiful, and perfect, and so so sweet and snuggly. I just can’t even tell you, so just see for yourself:
Look how strong!! One day old, and holding his head up like that!
This baby boy loves to snuggle, and this Mommy love, love, LOVES that!
On Wednesday, our great friend Kathy, who was keeping Logan for us while we were in the hospital, brought him up to meet his baby brother. Oh my goodness, he was SO very excited and proud as proud could be!
We are 2 weeks and 1 day away from our due date for Thing 2. (Who, I’m happy to say, DOES have a name now! See what I mean? READY!)
Oh, but I’m not gonna tell you his name. Not yet. It’s a surprise. At least until you scrutinize the attached photos…
Anyway, there was a whole bucket list of things to do to get ready for this dude, and miraculously, they are nearly all done. Thanks to my awesome husband, who rocks. And they were done before this past weekend, which was dedicated solely to Logan and Family.
Saturday, Daddy and Logan took a tour of a Cement Factory! Logan loves factories (like his Dad) and has been learning all about cement and cement trucks lately so when James had the opportunity to tour a plant, he brought Logan along. From what I hear, they had a blast! Later that day we all met up for lunch with my mom and Aunt Romy. Then home for naps and we planned to head out to the Christmas Stroll on the town square, but couldn’t quite bring ourselves to do it. We were too tired and it was too darned cold and rainy!
Sunday after church, we came home and ate Daddy’s homemade breakfast tacos (aka: Egg Tacos – Logan’s favorite!). After naps, we had a surprise for Logan. We went on a family outing, but didn’t tell him where we were going. He got very excited when we arrived at the parking lot of the Cedar Park Center, which is where we watch the Texas Stars hockey games. So he thought we were going to see a hockey game, and of course got very concerned because Uncle Skynny wasn’t with us (that’s our hockey-watching pal).
We went inside and found our seats, and that’s when he figured it out: there was no ice. There was no jumbo-tron screen. There was no Mighty Fine blimp up near the ceiling. There was no Zamboni. And there wasn’t a “Time Out Box”, which is how Logan refers to the penalty box. Heeeyyyy…. This wasn’t a hockey game!! There was a stage with pictures of a few of his favorite characters:
It's Yo Gabba Gabba!
Yo Gabba Gabba!! We had a dancy dance party right there in our seats while we watched YGG live, and LOVED it! And for the past 3 days has been saying “I sure did love that Yo Gabba Gabba. I want to go back again when they start again!”
Cool, huh? After that, we had to go grocery shopping. Since we were on that side of town, we headed to the huge grocery store that we don’t normally go there. To our pleasant surprise, a certain Man With A Beard had stopped by for a short visit, and Logan got to meet him.
I guess it's still the beginning of the season. Santa's looking a little lean this year, but there's still time for him to plump up!
Much to our surprise, and chagrin, Logan asked Santa Claus for a horse. And just to be clear, when I asked him later what kind of horse he wanted, he wagged his finger in my face and said quite matter-of-factly, “NOT a rocking horse. A REAL horse.”
Le sigh.
So…. that list of things we accomplished just in time for baby…
There’s the baby’s room. Crib set up, guest bed and furniture stowed away (don’t worry, there’s still plenty of room and places to sleep if you ever want to visit!!):
I put this Bible verse on the wall, right above the rocking chair where I will nurse him. I cut the letters from adhesive vinyl on my Cricut, then stuck them to the wall myself, without measuring or even using a line to make them straight because I’m impatient and just wanted it done. It’s a little hard to read in this picture but the caption tells you what it says.
"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him" 1 Samuel 1:27
There’s the (mostly) clean house, thanks to my awesome birthday present that James got me: a housekeeper for a year! Woot! (eh. no pics of that just yet, since it’s an off week for the housekeeper = not so much clean right now!)
There’s the hospital packing:
There’s some DIY art projects I did that (one of them) finally got hung. I needed some art to fill a big space on this GIANT wall in our front living room. I opted for the cheap route: 12×12 canvases (packs of 7 on sale buy 1 get one half off, or something = ~$20 for 2 packs), with coordinating scrapbook paper mod-podged onto them, then hung in a grid. All told <$25 (because I scored a crap-load of scrapbook paper at a resale shop for $.10 a sheet). I love the way it turned out! (I have a couple more sets of prints that need to be hung in our bedroom, one of which I made, and one of which I ordered from the interwebz. But I’m not pushing it… it will get done when it gets done!)
And finally, there’s the Christmas decorating:
Santa's Workshop Village
Advent Garland
Entryway mirror, with some random garland and bow stuck up there, mostly as a joke but I actually liked the way it looked so I kept it there!
Fireplace (I'm missing my annual poinsettias, but I'll get them this week, hopefully).
I am quite proud of myself for our stockings. Bought them cheap at Michaels. Found some cheap 18″x21″ swatches of holiday fabric at the WalMart, and ironed some Heat and Bond Ultra onto them. Then I cut the letters out of them using my Cricut (what a pain in that patootie, let me tell you!), and then ironed them onto the stockings. I felt they lacked a little something to make them “pop”, so I added some Stickles (aka: glitter glue) by outlining each letter with it in a corresponding color. Again, I’m really pleased that they turned out looking pretty nice!
And there’s Zerbet the Elf. He’s our Elf on the Shelf. Man, this is such a cool new tradition we just started and Logan LOVES it! He gets such a kick out of seeing where Zerbet has ended up each morning upon his return from the North Pole (where he flies to each night while Logan is sleeping, and gives Santa the report on what a good, or not so good, boy Logan has been that day). It’s usually someplace kinda silly!
Zerbet the Elf, just hanging around, gaining a new perspective...
That’s about it. Still left to do: finish up making and purchasing a few gifts. Wrap all the gifts. Make (some of) our annual Christmas goodies (namely, Texas Trash!). Birth this baby so I can order the Christmas cards/birth announcements already.
Huh. Seems my mid-pregnancy-psycho-freak-outs were completely irrational and unnecessary. We actually CAN get all this crap done. Sorry about that, babe…
Speaking of birthing the baby. There’s a bit of progress on that front. At my 36-week appointment 2 weeks ago, I was a fingertip dilated and 50% effaced. At my 37-week appt last week, still a fingertip, but 75% effaced. I’ve been having painless contractions semi-regularly for several weeks, which started becoming more intense and a bit painful 2 days ago. They’re only averaging about 13-15 minutes apart, conservatively, so it doesn’t really mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. They’re not really getting closer or more painful so it’s not really anything to get too excited over just yet. I figure, if I can walk, talk and sleep through these contractions, which I can, they’re not really that big a deal. However, with Logan I never had one bit of progress before 40 weeks, and never had one single contraction until after the initial dose of Pitocin was given in the delivery room. So this is all new and different and confusing and can be panic-inducing if we don’t keep our reality checks in line.
I have my 38-wk appointment tomorrow, and I’m sort of secretly hoping that the doctor will say I’m miraculously 5cm dilated and shuttle me on over to the hospital to have a baby within the hour. But probably not. And that will be ok. Whenever it happens, it happens. You all will be (among) the first to know. After the grandparents, family and close friends. And Facebook-land. 😉
Huh. Well it seems that Halloween sailed right on by, and Thanksgiving snuck up on me. It’s as if I’ve had my head stuck in a hole in the ground for the past month, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t…
Halloween was fun this year! Logan wanted to be a “Robot. With Buttons”. This made my heart soar because guess what it meant?
It meant that I got to MAKE his costume again! Probably for the last time in his life, because next year he will no doubt want to be a super hero or rescue hero or transformer or ninja or whatever it is that four-year-olds love to be. And I’ll have a 9 month old baby and an even busier schedule and even less time, and spending $20 on a ready-made costume will be too much for me to say no to… And then after that he’ll be old enough to know that Mom’s Homemade Halloween Costume is not cool. Not cool at all.
So, without further ado, I give you….
LO-BOT 2000
So, it was really pretty simple to make this costume. We took a couple boxes and duct taped them together, cut out a hole in the top and round holes in the side for his arms. Painted them grey with a small can of paint I got at the Habitat Re-Store. James drilled holes in the front of the box for the red lights around the perimeter. I had the red lights in my stash of craft/decorating stuff – they’re battery operated! The “buttons” are little square plastic thingies with colored foam squares glued to them – I got the square thingies at the Habitat Re-Store, as well as that beige dial thing. That’s actually a timer for lights/household appliances, circa 1970-something (I think). You know, the things your grandparents used to make the different lights come on inside the house to let prospective burglars think that someone was home, even if they weren’t? Oh, wait. Was that just my Grandma that did that?
Anyway, the red and silver circle is an LED tap-light, that I grabbed for a whole $1 bill at the Dollar Tree. And those two vertical plastic things in the middle? Why, those are glow sticks, of course (also $1 from Dollar Tree). And finally, the arms and legs are cut dryer vents. All in all, I think I spent less than $15 to make this costume.
Since I shot these photos with the flash, it’s hard to tell that the red lights, tap light and glow sticks are illuminated, but trust me… they were. And it was darn cool, if I do say so myself! I was pretty proud of it. Cheesy? Yes, most definitely. But that’s how homemade robot costumes are supposed to be, so I think I nailed it. Again, if I do say so myself!
So the Friday before Halloween, we went to a little street party on the square in our town. Several shops were open for trick-or-treaters, there was live music, food and just walking around checking out the costumes. We met our friends there, and LoBot got to hang out with his buddy Batman.
And, not to be outdone by the LoBot 2000, Baby Brother/Thing 2 was sporting a costume of his own…
Halloween night, Logan came home from school with a slight temperature. He said he felt fine and was acting fine, so we let him go trick or treating anyway. We strolled the neighborhood with our friends and their Baby Ava (sweet, cute little pumpkin that she is!). In less than an hour, and maybe 6 houses in, LoBot began to malfunction and eventually shut down. He was done, to the point of telling us that he “has enough candy” and just wanted to go home…
So we did, and lo and behold, that pesky fever had risen to over 101. Sad face. So we stayed home together the next day and he was good as gold by Wednesday morning.
It didn’t last too awful long because then two weeks later, he came down with the Croup, which had him down with 102+ fevers for four days! Ugh, poor, poor boy hadn’t been that sick in quite some time. But again, he got over it and is good as new now. Help me pray that he stays that way, won’t you?
Well, apparently I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, two and a half weeks had passed. Why does this keep happening to me?
Nothing major going on around here, but before something major does happen, I figured I may as well jot down a few memory-worthy tidbits about our boy-genius.
How big he is:
Age: 3-1/4
Clothing size: 3T with super long legs (several 3T pants, I’m learning as the weather gradually gets cooler, are far too short for him. But 4T’s are huge around his skinny little waist!)
Shoe size: 8, generally. Still has 1 or 2 pair of 7.5’s that fit him, and has worn a few pair of 8.5’s
Favorite color: green
Favorite food: He’ll tell you chicken nuggets and mac & cheese, but really he’s become a very good eater and will eat almost anything.
Best friend: Wyatt and Michael. And each day, someone new from his class (Bowen, Carson, Jace, Marek)
Favorite name for Baby Brother: “Zerbit” or Marek, like his friend at school.
Favorite song: ABC’s, 3 Little Birds, Barney (I Love You), many, many more (he’s really quite the singer lately!)
Favorite movie: No one can choose just one. He’s loving Rio, Happy Feet, Shark Tale, and though we’ve not watched too much of them lately, he still loves the Toy Stories, Cars, Monsters, Inc and Finding Nemo. Plus all his Leap Frog Learning videos which are, seriously, AWESOME. If you have 2-6 year old kids and have no Leap Frog alphabet or numbers videos, get you some – STAT. Your kid will be spouting stuff about letters and numbers and rhyming and patterns and counting and adding and it will blow your ever-loving mind. Plus, you’ll get about 45 minute per video to yourself to get some stuff done, because I honestly don’t know anyone whose kids have these videos and are not completely riveted by them. (And nope, Leap Frog is not even paying me to say these things!!)
Imagination: incredible. Logan loves to pretend-play, and often pretends he is a robot, baseball player, cowboy (yesterday I picked him up from school early for a dentist’s appt while his class was playing on the playground. He was running around with a plastic sand pail on his head. He told me it was his cowboy hat and he was a cowboy at the “raydeo”. 🙂 )
Manners: pretty good and getting better. Lately I’ve noticed that he is really starting to grasp the concept of gratitude. The other morning I fixed him an english muffin with grape jam on it. He took one bite and got down from the table and ran over to me yelling, “MMMMMMM!!!! That’s YUMMY! THANK YOU, Mommy!!” and gave me a big hug. It was so out of the blue! Then last night, I gave him a pair of pajamas that had been handed down from a friend. They were Superman PJ’s and have a red cape with an S on it, which velcroes to the back of the shirt. The kid was in absolute heaven. He was running around showing off his cape, then ran up to me and said, “I love my cape! THANK YOU, Mommy!”. Sigh. Be still, my proud, proud heart!
Schoolwork: Excellent. He is in a 3-year-old class at pre-school this year, which actually follows a Pre-K curriculum, so he is learning SO so much. He does worksheets and drawings and is working on tracing his name, and other letters on the worksheets. They study a different letter and different number each week. He brings home papers that he worked on in class that teach him how to match pairs, or things that go together. He LOVES working puzzles and they keep him intensely focused. His teacher consistently remarks on how well he is doing, how he can recognize all his letters, and is a “leader” in his class (occasionally a little too much so, as he’s been known to tell the teacher how to run things!). He really truly loves to learn, and is intrigued by things that he learns. He often asks us if we know stuff that he’s learned. For example: “Mommy, you know that baby teeth fall out?” and “Daddy, you know that caterpillars eat leaves?”. I love it.
Church: he is doing MUCH better at staying still and quite during church. We’ve also enrolled him in a weekly “Bible class”, called Godly Play, and he LOVES it! They learn a Bible story each week, and then do a play activity about the story. Last week, they made Noah’s Ark. He is very aware of God and Jesus and how much They love us and help us. The other night, during bedtime prayers, I was going down the list of our friends and family that we ask God’s blessings for each night. Logan started saying some friends’ names that we don’t always include, and said to me, “Everyone needs a blessing”. Yes. Yes, they do. So sweet.
Sense of humor: ever present, and quite frankly, amazing. Several weeks ago, out of the blue, Logan said, “Looka my butt!”, and then started shaking his little booty, complete with hands on his hips. After a lesson about how we should say “bottom” instead of the other B word, he modified it to “Looka my bottom!” and did it again, and of course we cracked up again. Now he does it all.the.time. and we never stop laughing, so he never stops doing it, etc, etc. He’s a tiny glimpse of what it looks like:
Chatty-ness: Oh yeah, he’s got some chatty-ness going on. Like ALL the time. Constant with the chatter, and a month or so ago, we officially entered the “WHY?” stage. That’s fun, let me tell you, because like most kids his age, I’m sure, he doesn’t give up. Not even when we’ve run out of answers and have to resort to the old stand-by, “Because that’s how God made it”. It’s tiresome, y’all. But, we keep reminding ourselves that, “whoever asks the most questions, learns the most.”. Then there’s the stuff that is just so sweet and innocent and heart-melting. A few weeks ago, we were driving along and Logan was chatting up a storm in the backseat, talking about our trip to Florida. (mind you, this was over a month and a half after we’d gotten home from that trip). He was chatting about our vacation house, and playing on the beach, and how we went to Uncle Jim’s vacation house and ate dinner, then back to our vacation house. Then he said, “I like it at the beach!”. And I told him we would go there again next summer, when he’s 4. He said, “Oh, YEAH! Four! Oh, boy!”. Then I added, “And, we’ll bring your baby brother”, and he went nuts! “OH YEAH!! OH, I’m so EXCIIITED!!!!” Oh, it was about the sweetest thing ever.
Speaking of baby brother, we talk about him constantly, checked out a lot of books from the library about what it will be like when he comes home, etc. Logan is so, so, so excited. Every day, he pats my belly, hugs it and kisses it, and talks to the baby. Occasionally, he’ll forget and get a little rough trying to jump on me while I’m sitting on the couch or something. If I flinch or shield my belly or even just gently warn him to be careful, he immediately remembers, and rubs my belly and apologized to the baby. He’s just so sweet to that baby already. I sure hope it stays that way (for the most part!).
Here are just a few funny things Logan has said or still says, that I’ve been jotting down for posterity’s sake. Some of these date back from our road-trip to Florida.
Woozy-Anna: the state just East of Texas (Louisiana)
Miss Ippi: the state East of Woozy Anna. This is where the Rocket Museum is!
Amabama: the state East of Miss Ippi
Calm trees: trees that grow at the beach (palm trees)
Cosh Wash: what we wash him with in the bath (wash cloth)
Cash Tan: where you put garbage (trash can)
“But I CAN’T go to sweep, a-cause Daddy keeps yawning.”<– when Logan had to sleep in our room in Florida, and James was snoring too loud for him to get back to sleep.
"Is the baby wearing a swimsuit, too?" <– when we were getting into the pool
"I wanna bwast off to a moon, for REAL. Today" <– when he realized that the rockets we were going to see at the NASA museum were not ACTUALLY going to take us to the moon, but just for pretend. He got pretty upset for a while. I think we've finally convinced him that we can't really go to the moon because we are not astronauts and don't have spacesuits. He wanted to go buy some at the store. Then we explained how we have to go school for a LONG time and follow directions always, in order to be an astronaut. He's kind of backed off on insisting to bwast off to the moon, lately.
"You're not Mack!"
"Mayack? I ain' no Mayack, I'na Payterbelt!" <— quote from the Cars movie, when Lightnin' "De Queen" (as Logan calls him) is looking for Mack on the highway, and mistakes a Peterbuilt truck for his Mack truck. Logan's favorite movie quote, by far and he does it complete with the southern accent.
Speaking of southern accents, this boy has picked on up for sure. He has gotten in the habit of extending several one-syllable words into two-syllable words. For example: Bath = Bayath, pants = payants, etc. I know that James and I both have a bit of a drawl but neither of us have an accent that's THAT pronounced. Not sure where he's getting that from. It is a-DOR-able, though, when he comes into a room and says, "Whatch'yall doing?". Always makes me snicker!
So I guess that's it for now. I'll leave you some videos of Logan and his favorite songs:
It’s been a month. Sorry about that, y’all. We’ve had a thing or two going on lately, plus I’ve been too lazy exhausted to even pick up my camera very much lately. Plus, there’s usually this ridiculousness to contend with at the end of each day.
*SIGH* When will the cooler weather come?!?
3.5 weeks ago, we had Grandma and Grandpa J visiting. Grandpa and Daddy did a lot of hunting, Grandma and Mommy and Logan did a bit of shopping, playing, napping and other stuff around the house. And Daddy and I got to steal away for a lovely dinner out on my birthday, with friends, while Grandma and Grandpa stayed home and played with Logan. Sadly, my focus has been lacking (ha! no pun intended!) and I neglected to pick up my camera the whole weekend. I did get this sweet shot of Logan with his Grandmas when we all met up for lunch that Sunday.
One day Logan woke up talking about his cousin Brandon. He hadn’t seen Brandon since his birthday in July. When he woke up this particular morning, out of the blue, he said, “I wanna see my cousin Brandon. I miss him!”. Poor kid was close to tears. It was about the sweetest thing ever. Lucky for him, the next weekend , Grandpa Jack was coming to visit for a couple days, and Brandon and his mom and big sister were coming too. So Logan got his Brandon fix, AND his Grandpa Jack fix, and we all had a blast playing, swimming, visiting and eating! Again, poor memory-keeping on my part. But I was able to snag some pics that Desni took, plus a video of the boys driving the jeep.
Showing their "nuscles", as Logan calls them
Full Monkey Gear
I think he's ready for the fireman's calendar...
The week before last, Logan was again awarded the Courtesy Crown at school! This was extra special because he had a rough couple of weeks following directions at school and making good choices. After he turned his behavior around, we were so happy to see his teacher recognize him for his hard work!
Logan and his teacher (whome he LOVES!), Mrs. Lisa
That weekend, we had a whole bunch of running around, a whole bunch of laying around (seems I get worn out pretty easily these days) and a couple evenings chilling out with the neighbors and their sweet baby girl.
Logan and his Sweet Baby Ava, whom he also LOVES!
Which brings us to this past weekend. My brother Bob was home from Alaska for just a couple of days. He brought with him some Elk Steaks, which James grilled up, along with a whole host of other “wild” dishes (dove and hog and wild rice and more!) and we hosted a whole Wild Game Dinner. It sure was good and and all the food was so pretty and looked so yummy. Too bad I can’t show it to you, because guess why…? Yeah. Bad blogger, right here. It was a great visit with Bob and Uncle Skynny and my mom. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
So that brings us about up to speed for the month of September. I do have a few more posts to share with you, and will hopefully do that this week.
If you guessed “it’s two weeks since we’ve returned from vacation, therefore time to post a blog about it”, you’d be right!
Really, it’s kind of a game now. Not to mention, it sure lifts a whole heap of pressure from my shoulders, knowing it’s cool if I don’t blog about something for two weeks after it happens.
So, what – you want to see some beachy vacation pictures? Ok, sure. But first, a short rundown of our week in our little slice of paradise in the Florida Panhandle:
Day 1: James and his buddy Jim and most of Jim’s family took a deep sea fishing charter all day. They caught a whole heap of fish:
Daddy caught a big old Grouper!!
Day 2: Lots of rain. And some galavanting on the beach at sundown (we also galavanted in the afternoon, but there are no pictures of that…)
Day 3: Lots more rain. Then beach time where we collected a whole bunch of Coquina shells (teeny tiny little clam-or-mussel-looking shells, with the animal (fish? organism?) still alive and inside of them. We took them home, rinsed them, then threw them in a pan (still alive) with some olive oil and butter, and sauteed them until they popped open. Then we (they. Thing 2 was a little averse to the concept this year) ate them. Logan loved them!
Teeny Tiny sauteed clams!
Day 4-6: Did I mention it rained a lot? Yeah, more rain. Can’t remember what else. (it’s been over 2 weeks!)
Day 7: No rain!! Pretty much all day on the beach, since it was our last. And some “Mommy Time” on the beach too, when the boys went in to take a nap. It was lovely.
Despite all the rain, we got plenty of sunshine and beach time. It was another awesome week doing a whole lot of nothing but beach combing, piddling around, eating awesomely, practicing photography, reading and napping. Heaven.
And now, the rundown in pictures:
Mexico Beach, Florida. A quaint little fishing village.
"I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean..."
View of the beach from the pier
Also occurring on the pier: "Mommy! Wooka dat beach!"
Then some pouting resistance to having his adorable picture taken. By the way, when and how on earth did he get so gosh-darn tall? Seemingly overnight, that's when.
And finally, a compromise. A compromise that went something like this: "Logan, if you smile and say cheese, I'll buy you an ice cream cone!" Voila. And that, folks, is how it's done. I've got all the answers to parenting, right here.
Another evening of sunset galavanting. This time, it was more like frolicking.
A storm over Panama City
A Logan-sized hole!
Last day of beaching. It was so beautiful!
All the storms all week left the water surprisingly clear, but very rough most days. The last day was not as rough as it had been - we got faces full of water several times playing in the waves, but it sure was fun!
Oh did I mention that Logan's Aunt Rachel and her family were with us? He is seriously IN.LOVE. with her. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the feeling might be mutual.
Don’t mind me, I was just practicing some random photography…
::LOVE::
And, the sun finally sets on another week in paradise. Until next year...
So I think I’ve mentioned before that Logan is obsessed with rocketships and is just DYING to blast off to the moon (for real, not pretend!). On the way home from Florida, we stopped off in Mississippi at the NASA Stennis Space Center for a tour. It was a nice way to break up the trip, and for a free tour, it was really quite impressive. In case you don’t feel like reading the link, Stennis Space Center is where NASA tests all the rockets that they use to send spacecraft into space. There are 5 or 6 test pads on the property (which is HUGE), and every time they build a new rocket, it gets tested here before they put a space shuttle on it and send it off into space. They put us on a bus and drove us all over the property, and then dumped us off at an interactive museum, which had a mock space shuttle cockpit with a video game type of thing that you could practice “landing the space shuttle!”. There was also a mockup of the International Space Station, with descriptions of everything from how the astronauts sleep, to how they shower and even how they go potty! Also, did you know they are growing vegetables on the Space Station?!? ‘Tis true. It’s really quite something. If you’re ever in the area of Western Mississippi at mile marker #4 on I-10, do yourself a favor and stop off for a couple hours. Really cool.
Rocket test pad
Space Shuttle cockpit
Apparently Logan needs some practice landing the shuttle.
Astronaut Logan!
Well, that’s all I’ve got for tonight. I do have some more to tell you, just about Logan and all the nutty things he says and does (I wrote a bunch of them down from our vacation!) but that should be a whole new post in itself, so stay tuned…
Logan turned THREE years old last week! Wow. Three. I can’t freaking believe it. He is getting SO grown up, and still so stinking smart, he blows our minds constantly. He loves rocketships and is obsessed with the moon and outer space (thank you, Leap Frog’s Math Adventures To The Moon!). He insists on dressing himself, and can’t stand to be messy or sticky or generally have things on his skin. He’s becoming quite the little fish, but still has enough trepidation and respect for the water to be cautious, thank God.
He is a whiz with the alphabet, can spell his name, can recognize every capital letter, and most lower-case letters. He can also tell you what sound each letter makes (thank you, Leap Frog’s Letter Factory!). And his favorite letters are L and P. L, because his name starts with it, and he will tell you that every.single.time. he sees an L. P because… I have no idea why he loves P, but when I asked him what his favorite letter is, that’s what he told me.
So funny story about the letter L: In his class at preschool, they go swimming twice a week. He has to wear water shoes to walk to and from the pool, which we’ve sent to school, and I wrote his name in the insole. His shoes are size medium, so they have an “M” on the insole as well. Another boy in his class has the exact same water shoes, only that boy wears a size large, so his have an “L” on the insole. One day after swimming, Logan’s teacher put his water shoes on him, but Logan got very upset and worked up, insisting that the teacher had put the shoes on the wrong feet. She explained over and over to him that they were on the right feet, and he threw an all-out fit, arguing with her. When he got home that day and I read about his fit on his daily note, we asked Logan about the shoe incident. He told us plainly that Mrs. Lisa put his shoes on the wrong feet. Then he said they were “Carter’s shoes”. I asked him what Carters shoes looked like and he said blue and black (like his) with an M (mind you, at this time I’d completely forgotten what size Logan’s shoes were, and that it was printed on the insole). So, still confused, when we got to school the next day, I asked him to show me which shoes Mrs Lisa had put on him. He showed me his own shoes, then showed me Carter’s shoes. Carters were exactly like his, but they had an L on the insole and Logan’s had an M. It finally dawned on me that Logan was completely convinced that his shoes were the ones with the L on them, since, you know, “L is for Wo-gan!” So I then wrote his name on the OUTSIDE of the shoe, and tried my best to explain to him that while yes, L is for Logan, it is also for “Large” and “M is for medium. I think it worked, because to our knowledge, there haven’t been anymore issues of having his water shoes on the wrong (kid’s) feet!
On having a new sibling: We have not had a formal sit-down chat with Logan about this baby in my belly, and what that all means, but he gets the gist of it. He knows everyone has been making a big deal about him being a big brother, and he has lots of friends who have brothers too. He knows that every night for the past year we have included in our prayers that God “please bring me a healthy baby brother or sister”. He also knows that mommies have babies in their bellies, and when the baby is done growing in the mommy’s belly, the mommy goes to the hospital and the doctor helps her take the baby out. (Our neighbors and close friends had a baby girl back in April, so he saw Mrs Kelli through her whole pregnancy and we went to the hospital to visit when the baby was born, so that’s how he understands all that). But, we’ve never actually laid it out to him that there is a baby in MY belly, and that I’ll go to the hospital when it’s done growing, and then we’ll bring the baby home to live at our house. I have a strong hunch that he knows, though. Yesterday when we were driving home from school, he was telling me about one of his classmates who has a brother. I asked Logan if he (Logan) has a brother, and he said no. I asked him if he’d like to have a brother, and he said “Yeah…. or a sister. [pause] But, how ’bout a brudder?”. Then I asked him where we would get a baby brother or sister from, and he first said, “I don’t know”. Then he said, “The North hole?” (incidentally, this is where Santa lives… The North Hole. In case you didn’t know). So I said, “Naaah! Not the North Hole!”. Then he giggled and said, “Nooo. From-a you tummy!”. Oh and just so you know, July 28 is the day we should (hopefully) find out if it’s a baby sister or baby brother. You know we’ll keep you posted on that.
So, Logan’s birthday was a big deal this year. We had his party on 7/3, since we were out of town for his actual birthday (yep, I’m still on schedule with being 2 weeks behind on the blog posts. At least I’m consistent…). Being that it was 7/3, I felt it only fitting that we have an “All-American Boy” party. It was so fun, although I will admit that (as James says) by the time everything was set up, it was apparent that the Firecracker Fairy had thrown up in our house. Red, White and Blue EV.ER.Y.WHERE. It was festive, to say the least!
(Disclaimer: We were all a little busy the day before and day of the party, and more than a little frantic. I completely forgot to take pictures of all the party details! Mucho thanks to my BFF KC, though, for having the forethought to snap a few for me, and for Brandon’s mom Desni who also snapped a bunch and shared them! And also, KC, her kids, my neice and nephew, and especially Desni were absolute lifesavers in the party preparation. Being pregnant really takes a lot out of a girl, and I am so thankful for all the help from my people!)
All told, we had 7 pre-schoolers (plus Logan), 6 older kids, and about 15 adults (and the sweetest little 2-month-old baby girl who never made a peep!). So yeah. It was a houseful. A mad-houseful! But so fun, and although he was slightly under the weather, Logan had the MOST fun with all his friends! Check it out:
All-American food spread (in the foreground is a "Fruit Flag" with blue berries, banana slices and strawberries on skewers, but we forgot to get a better picture of it.)
Red (red velvet cake), White (buttercream frosting) and Blue (sprinkles and toppers) cupcakes. I loved how they turned out this year!
Red-White-Blue table
Party Bags, a little blurry. I made the toppers and the "Thank You" stamp, and then used Stickles to paint the names and some firecrackers on them.
Wyatt Earp?
Best Cousins!
Looks like this All-American boy is ready for some All-American swimming
Uncle Skynny chill-axin'
Cousin Christopher, AKA - The Human Fish
Logan and Michael take a cruise in the "boat"
Hi Brandon!
Uncle Tommy can snooze anywhere. It's a gift, really.
Fearless Wyatt! (But look how Big Sis Ella watches out for him!)
Silly Daddy
There's our All-American!
All-American Brandon and Alannah
All-American Michael
All-American Wyatt, eating an All-American dog
All-American Boys (Jacob and Connor), doing what All-American Boys do
Gasp! MOM! That's FIRE! NEVER, NEVER PLAY WITH FIRE!!
Watching everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to him. When they were done he yelled (without prompting, even!) "Thank you for singing Happy Birthday to me!!"
Hooray for THREE!
Hooray for cupcakes!
A monkey mask, from none other than his monkey-pal Wyatt!
Logan got lots of great toys and games from all his friends!
Mammaw lovin'
This must be the cool kids' table
Deff! Do eet again, Deff!
Posing with Mammaw
Great Uncle Skynny! He's Great!
Beautiful girls
Super cool party people!
The After-Party Party: getting ready to go sprinkler-hopping (Wyatt says, "It's not what you think - I swear!)
See? Sprinkler-hopping. Through all the sprinklers on the block!
More nighttime sprinkler fun
Peace out, yo!
Censored, but it's still too cute not to show you...
Yes, I’m just about a week two weeks behind. That’s actually not too bad, historically speaking.
Father’s Day weekend was GO-GO-GO for us! Friday night, we went out to the Round Rock Express baseball game, along with some friends who each have a son in Logan’s school. Those three boys had a blast together, running around, watching baseball, and being super silly.
See? Tons of fun!
That's much better
While we were there, we learned that Saturday night’s game would be followed by a concert by Jack Ingram – who just so happens to be one of our favorite singers. So, we ended up making plans to go to Saturday night’s game too. But first we spent our Saturday shopping, swimming and cleaning the house. Then we drug our friends the Carr family to that game, and Logan got to hang out with his buddy Wyatt. After the game, they let us all onto the field to watch the concert. It was super cool, and Jack was awesome as usual.
Best Buddies Wyatt and Logan. Their shirts even prove it!
I have no idea what's with the monumental pout, but it's sort of irrisistable, isn't it?
Boys in hats are so CUTE!
SO cute!
Aaaand, there's my Jack. Yum.
Goofing around in the outfield
Cotton candy for the 2-year-olds at 9:30 at night? Sure, why not?!
It's always awesome to catch up with my best gal pal
When we got home from the game, Grandma and Grandpa J were at our house! They came in to celebrate Father’s Day with us. We all went to bed and got up early for church on Sunday. Logan was about as well behaved as he could be in church, which is not at all normal.
After church, we headed over to Leander to check out the newly opened Quarry Splash Pad at Williamson County Regional Park. Logan had a BLAST!! He loved it, and we were pretty impressed by it too! It wasn’t horribly crowded, and he got plenty wet.
After splashing, we grabbed some lunch, then headed back to the house where my mom and Uncle Skynny met up with us for visiting and swimming the rest of the afternoon. We said goodbye to all the family as they left in the late afternoon. Logan skipped his nap that day, and by 6pm, we thought he was pretty much sleeping while walking. He got to bed super early, and left Mommy and Daddy to marvel at all the time we had to relax together before bedtime. Hmmm… maybe we should start putting Logan to bed before the sun goes down every night! Well, that was over 2 weeks ago, and it hasn’t happened again since…
Later that week, I finished and mailed these:
Due to busy summer schedules, we decided to have Logan's birthday party a week early this year. Hence, the July 3rd party date.
So, seeing as it’s July 4 when I’m finally finishing this Father’s Day post, it’s safe to tell you that the All American Birthday Celebration was a smashing success. I’ll give you all the details, plus photos, in the next post (which hopefully will be done in less than 2 weeks!)
When Three Became Four 
