He's All Boy

On Sunday it warmed up quite a bit....to 53 degrees, which felt like a heat wave after the weather we had been having. So we got out to do a little yard work. Logan immediately found a mud puddle behind our house. First he walked through it. Then he squatted down to put his hands in it. Then he sat down (good thing he was wearing snow pants). Then he got back up and on to the serious business of splashing. This struck us as a very "boy" thing to do, although I'm sure there are plenty of girls around this age who would be happy to splash in a mud puddle as well.

Christmas Day

We had a nice Christmas at home this year....this was the first year that it was just Logan, Jon, and me. Logan opened a few presents (okay, actually just played with the wrapping paper). Then we drove up to the Lewisburg Saddle to play in the snow. Sophie and Tim met us up there for a little bit (Cole was napping, so he missed out, poor kid.....).

Early Christmas

We celebrated Christmas early with my family this weekend. We tried to get a nice family photo of Jon, Logan, and me in front of the Christmas tree....this is the best we ended up with. It's kind of hard to get a 15 month old to pose for the camera - and he really doesn't like to be still.

Cole and Logan didn't really know what was going on, but Sophie had a full appreciation for the presents under the tree and could hardly contain herself with waiting to open them. She really liked the pink umbrella (and raincoat and boots) that my parents got her. She also really liked the turtle nightlight that Jon and I got her, and had to make sure that everyone came up to her room to see it project stars onto the walls and ceiling.

Logan was mostly into the wrapping/tissue paper. So was Cole, but I didn't get a picture.

He also had a lot of fun playing in the puddles outside. Splashing is one of his favorite pasttimes. Then Mark got out his guitar and we sang some Christmas songs. Sophie accompanied on the drums. Logan thought that was pretty cool and wanted to give it a try too. Sophie was very sweet about trying to help teach him how to drum. :)

More Snow Pictures

First Snow

Well, it's old news by now, but we have been having quite a bit of winter weather lately. This is our fire pit and chairs. As you can see, we got about 3" in the first batch of snow.

Since this is Logan's first real experience with snow, I thought I would post a few photos. He doesn't really seem to know what to do with it, but he seems to enjoy it, at least for a little while. He even let us put his mittens on, but as soon as he tries to touch his face he gets upset because they are covered with snow and it's cold!

Christmas Cookies

Joani came over on Saturday and we made some Christmas cookies/candy. Joani rolled out all the candy canes, don't they look great?! Her first batch didn't look quite as good, but that was because she had a little 'helper.'

Logan also helped with the chocolate chips. He thought it was fun to drop them into the bowl. But then he started throwing them on the floor, so we decided he was done. We picked them all up, but did let him eat one. He seemed to think it was pretty yummy. :)

We also let him have one cookie, but all he wanted to do was feed it to Aunt Joani. Apparently he likes chocolate better than cookies.

O' Christmas Tree

Here are some pictures from getting our Christmas tree. I'm a little late getting this posted because we got the tree a week ago. :) Logan had fun playing "peekaboo" through the trees. It was a cold sunny morning - a great day to get a tree!











Later, Logan had fun with the decorations, although he got a little frustrated with this strand of beads.

November

It feels like it's been a long time since I blogged so I wanted to get caught up before Christmas time approaches. It's not that we haven't been doing anything, it's just that I haven't been taking many pictures. And it doesn't really seem like it's worth blogging without pictures to include.

So, what have we been doing? Well we have been watching the OSU football games, but the civil war was such a disappointment that it doesn't seem worth writing about now. We spent Thanksgiving day at my parents' house with Mark and Joani and my grandpa. The few pictures I am including are from that day. Logan got all the attention of six adults, at least when we weren't cooking, eating, etc. (he still got a lot of attention).

Jon's parents came over for the weekend and brought their new puppy. She's a Snoodle (Schnauzer/Toy Poodle mix). She is a very cute little dog, and pretty well behaved for a puppy. Logan wasn't quite sure of her at first, but he warmed up to her as time went on and thought she was pretty entertaining as long as she wasn't chasing or jumping on him (although she weighs so little she certainly couldn't knock him over or anything). We also went for a hike/walk out at Peavy Arboretum. Logan rode in the backpack on the way out, but on the way back he wanted to walk. I couldn't believe how far he walked/ran, especially because it was mostly in the direction we wanted him to go! He was one tired boy afterward and took a great map when we got home. :)

Logan is saying new words all the time. Recent favorites are car (which we hear a lot whenever we go to the store), tree (he learned that on our hike), bird, and of course the ever popular "n" word. It seems like he says something new every day! I can't even keep track of them all anymore.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving. We are trying to learn how to use our camera better (rather than just always using the auto setting), so some of them didn't turn out so well.

Happy Birthday

This past weekend we made a quick trip over the mountains to join Jon's family in celebration of his Mom's birthday. Matt and Kristi also made the trip, so we got to hang out with the whole family. It was a very fun time and we were glad we could be there to celebrate the special day.

Logan and his cousin Zach played together pretty well. Since Zach is 6 months older, he is bigger and stronger, so he won most of the fights over toys (resulting in some tantrums and screaming from Logan). But he's also learning to share, so he very nicely brought Logan toys sometimes too. It was pretty cute. And they made up a game chasing each other around the house, which was very fun to watch.

Logan has not yet begun to grasp the concept of sharing. He has, however grasped the concept of "no." His vocabulary seems like it has been exploding lately. Some of his favorite words currently are shoe, star, ball, dog, duck, car, and nonononoooooo! He just started that last one yesterday. He uses it sometimes when we take something away that he wants or prevent him from doing something he wants to do. I expect we will be hearing a lot more of it in the months ahead..... He's really a very good boy, but he's definitely entered the toddler stage.

Here are a few pictures of Logan enjoying the fall leaves and wheelbarrow rides during a break in the rain.

Palm Springs (La Quinta)

Well, we made it back from vacation. Here's a run down of the week:

We left early Sunday morning to fly from Eugene to LAX. Then we had a 2.5 hour drive to La Quinta (which is about 20 miles east of Palm Springs). It was Logan's first airplane ride and he did pretty good, in spite of the fact that he woke up at 4:00 AM and didn't sleep at all on the plane or in the car (thank goodness for the DVD player we borrowed from some friends). The house we stayed in was very nice (thanks to Robert and Sam for arranging it). We pretty much just hung out there until Robert and Sam arrived in the early evening (after 2 straight days of driving - I'm sure glad we flew!).

It was quite a bit warmer down there - highs in the mid to upper 90s. Most days we went for a walk/run soon after we got up (before it got too hot), had coffee/breakfast and hung out, fed Logan, went in the pool, and then put Logan down for his nap. While he was napping, we either rested or got back in the pool for a while. Then we had lunch, fed Logan lunch, and went to the store or something in the afternoon. It was mostly too hot to do much outside after about mid-morning. We did go out for a hike one morning. And on Friday it cooled down enough for us to go to the Living Desert (zoo, wildlife preserve?) in the afternoon, which was pretty cool. Logan isn't quite old enough to really appreciate seeing the animals, but Jon and I enjoyed it. :) In the evenings, both kiddos went to bed pretty early, so we got to hang out with Robert and Sam, play some games, and use the hot tub.

We came home late Saturday night. A weather system moved in on Saturday and the drive to the airport in LA was very wet (translate slow) once we got into much traffic. But the weather also caused our flight to be delayed, so we made it in plenty of time. The flight back was very bumpy (small plane, rough weather), but Logan slept through most of it. And he went right to sleep when we got home. He's such a good little boy!

We have realized that vacationing with a young kiddo is a lot different than vacationing without kids. While it was a really nice week (and we had a great time hanging out with Robert and Sam), it's still a lot of work taking care of a baby/toddler - you don't get a vacation from that. I've heard the remedy is to take grandparents along. :)

Thanks to Robert and Sam for putting this trip together. We're looking forward to our next adventure together. Although they weren't able to go on this trip, I think it's Nate and Jodi's turn to plan something for next summer.

Almost Time....

I can't believe it's almost time to leave for Palm Springs! Actually, we're going to La Quinta, which is about 20 miles from Palm Springs, but close enough. :) We have some fun things planned, but I think a lot of our time will just be spent hanging out around town and at the pool (since Logan loves the water so much). We will be sure to take lots of pictures and post about it when we get back.

My dad came down today to watch Logan so I could get all my work wrapped up and run a few errands. Logan had a great time with his "Papa" and I definitely appreciated the opportunity to get things done.

If you are awake and you think about it, you can pray for us early (6:00) Sunday morning. That's when we take off for Logan's first flight....

7 Random Things

Okay, since Sam "tagged" me I will make an attempt at seven random things about me. I don't think it will be as creative as Sam's or Joani's, but here goes....

1. Even though I'm not a car person, I really like watching the show Top Gear on BBC America. Jon loves it of course (he really likes cars), but I like it almost as much because the hosts are so entertaining.

2. I don't like clutter.

3. Sometimes I think about nothing (Jon has a hard time understanding that).

4. I like just about all outdoor activities except any form of white water rafting (I'm afraid of whitewater and although I'm a decent swimmer I kind of have a phobia of swimming in any water except a swimming pool - there might be things down there).

5. I really like playing city league volleyball and softball now. I kind of wish I had played them earlier in life...

6. I love fall - leaves, pumpkins, frost in the morning, etc.

7. I used to like intense movies, but now I pretty much only choose chick-flicks, action adventure, and comedy. It may be because it feels like too much work to watch something with much suspense.

Pumpkin Patch

This fall has been full of many visits to the pumpkin patch. Since the weather has been so great, it's a nice afternoon diversion to take Logan out where he can walk around and see other kids. Our nearby favorites are Davis Family Farm and Heavenly Harvest. Logan really likes the "corn boxes" at Heavenly Harvest (big wooden boxes filled with dried corn kernals - the kids get in the box and play in the corn). He even did the straw bale maze (with some help from mom and dad). He wasn't quite big enough for the corn cannon, although we all enjoyed watching people shoot ears of corn a long way. Maybe next year.... :) And Davis Family Farm has fresh donuts!

Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to take the camera along. Fortunately, my dad took some great pictures for us. Logan "fixing" the tractor, Logan "driving" the tractor, and Logan with the pumpkins.

Bend Weekend

This past weekend, we packed up and headed over to Bend with Nate, Jodi, and Bekah. Jodi's aunt and uncle have a house in Bend, but they are down south for the winter, so Jodi and Nate get to use it as a "vacation house" pretty much whenever they want (nice, huh). Of course, it was nice for us too. :)

The guys went for a mountain bike ride with Robert on Saturday while Jodi and I took the kiddos out for a run, which actually turned out to be more of a walk (sorry Jodi). It was a very cold, wet ride for the guys, but they had fun. Well, at least I know Jon had fun, he had pertty warm gear on. I'm not so sure about Nate.....

Logan and Bekah had a good time hanging out. Bekah tried to show Logan how to buckle her "baby" into a car seat. Bekah is very good about trying to show Logan how to do things. And she almost never gets upset at him (well maybe occasionally, but she's too sweet natured to actually do anything to him). Logan is still pretty much clueless when it comes to interacting with other kids. He usually doesn't get upset when another kid takes something away from him, but I'm sure the day is coming.

We also got to see Robert, Sam, and Emma while we were there. Emma is growing so fast! At just over two months old, she's definitely a cutie. And we had dinner with our friends Brady, Becky, and Delsey. It's been a while since we've seen them, so that was fun. Delsey is getting really big too. For 20 months old, she is really coordinated (and has a really good arm). :)

In spite of Logan having some sleeping issues the first night and no real naps, it was a lot of fun. It was kind of a last minute trip, and all of us (Nate, Jodi, Jon, and I) thought that it almost felt like we were being as spontaneous as before we had kids. Hopefully we can do it again soon!