The Beards

Big Girl Bed

2011-10-04T22:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight my baby girl decided she wants to be a big girl. I had painted and decorated her new room and placed the toddler bed in there. Never did we pressure her to sleep in there. But we were always showing her her new room and telling her it was going to be her room when she wanted to be a big girl. Well, tonight she decided was the night. Without us saying a word, she went straight to her new room and climbed into her new bed. She had some trouble adjusting, and wanted us to move the crib into the room as well, but wanted to stay sleeping in the big bed. The end result...we moved the bed into her old room. Once she's used to the big bed, we'll move her into a new room. Too many changes at once is a bit overwhelming, especially if you're 2.

I'm excited for her taking this step all on her own. Yet, I'm a little sad. It's the first time we haven't had a baby in the crib.

First Day of Preschool

2011-09-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

I used to think that having a kid go to 2 years of preschool was a bit crazy. I thought this until I had Logan. Once Logan hit the age of 1 or so, I couldn't wait to get him in an environment that would be perfect for him. He loves learning and needs lots of stimulation. Without hesitation, we enrolled him in Explorer Center Preschool for this year. His first day was today. And he LOVED it! Once I picked him up from class and got him in the car, the first thing he asked was "Can we go back?" Coming from Logan, this is an excellent sign. I was nervous dropping him off. He has a tendency to not listen and do his own thing. He's very stubborn. But the teachers assured me that he did well and over time will get the hang of things. I'm so glad that he's going to school and actually enjoying it. I have to admit, I've enjoyed having the time too. Who knew you could get so much done in 2 hours with only one kid versus two. (I think I did at one time, but forgot.)

His first school art project. I was told it was supposed to be his face. Guess we have a Picaso in the family. ;)

Pony Rides

2011-08-12T12:18:00.001-07:00

Today for our play group, we went to Seattle Pony Rides, which is actually just 2 minutes down the road from us in Snohomish. There were a lot of kids, which meant, a lot of waiting and impatient children. But the kids loved riding the ponies. I'm not sure if it's something we'll do again...perhaps when the kids are a little older. But it was a good experience. Not only did they get to ride the ponies, but they got to feed them carrots too!

2 year stats

2011-07-18T13:16:00.001-07:00

Olivia turned 2 a few weeks ago,and she had her 2 year well-check a week ago. I'm just now getting to posting about it. (It's been a busy week.)

Anyway, those of you who have been around Olivia know she's a big girl. She's always been a big girl, even from day 1. Here's the proof of just how big she really is:

Weight: 33lbs (95%)
Height: 35 3/4" (95%)

But let's be honest. She's not really big, she's just big for her age. The Dr. said she's the size of a 2 1/2 + year old. And quite frankly, she's almost as big as Logan. (He's about 36lbs and maybe 38". I'm not sure though, haven't really taken the time to measure him.) My prediction for her adult height is about 5'8". I think she'll be taller than me for sure.

But enough about her height. This girl is all about the drama. She has to be heard. She sings songs almost 24/7 and more than half of them I'm pretty sure she makes up since I have no idea what she's singing. But it's fun to listen to her. Every time we go to a park, she runs to the swings while shouting "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!" (from Tangled) Apparently, that would make pretty much every day the best day ever. She cracks me up.

I love that she gets along so well with Logan. They play very well together and always seem to be concerned about one another. For the most part she's a happy girl, she does have her tantrums, but who doesn't? She hates getting into trouble. So it's been pretty easy to discipline her if and when it's needed. She is my little angel.

Day at the Beach

2011-07-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

Our second day at Cannon Beach was so beautiful that we spent it at the beach. Only makes sense, right? My kids are loving every minute of being here, and I'm loving every minute of watching them have so much fun.

Is this just not the cutest? I LOVE it!

I'm lovin' the beach. Maybe one day we'll live by one. I could spend every day here and be happy. Watching Sam play with the kids, and watching the kids have so much fun...yes, this is my heaven.

Our Fourth of July

2011-07-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

The 4th was celebrated at Cannon Beach, OR. We are having a wonderful time here. The weather is being very cooperative, which we always appreciate. The morning of the 4th we went to the Cannon Beach parade. It was so much fun to watch the parade, and the kids really enjoyed getting the candy.

Later that night, we had our own little fireworks show for the kids. Mainly sparklers and a couple little fireworks. It was the first time we did anything like that for the kids and they both had a really great time, even though they were a bit hesitant at first. We even let Logan stay up late and watch the fireworks on TV. He really enjoyed that.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

2011-07-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

My sweet little girl is 2!!! Can you believe it? I can't. She sure is a sweet little thing. She had her favorite dinner...pizza. And we had some family over for cake. Nothing big, but that's just perfect. Her favorite movie is "Tangled" so I got her a cake to match. She loved it!

We opened presents, which took longer than it should have. Olivia loves to show off and gets distracted easily. She got a lot of really good things, but she seemed to really like her "Tinkerbell" DVD. She's been asking for that movie for a long time. Another present she really liked was her bike. She couldn't even wait for it to be put together the right way before she got on it. I have a feeling she'll be wanting to go outside more often than she does now (if that's possible). Thank you Grandma H. She loves it!

She really had a great birthday! She sure is lucky to live nearby so many family members that love her.

This past week

2011-06-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

So my computer broke. That seems to be happening to lots of people lately, or so I've heard. We have another computer, but mine is where all the pictures are. Oh well. I sent it in to be fixed since it wasn't even a year old. One day I'll get it back. Until then, we'll just have to settle for words only, unless by some miracle I can find the cable that hooks my camera to this computer.

Anyway, this week hasn't had a whole lot of different things from the norm, but there are some things I wanted to document while I remember them.

First off, things Olivia has been saying....

*Did you know that play doh is actually called "Punk"? Well, it is, according to Olivia

*She had her first "official" time out the other day. Once she was sitting on the step and we told her she was in time out she replied "Ah NUTS!" Sam and I had to go to a different room and laugh. Even when she's in trouble she's still incredibly cute. But we have to learn to stand firm with her or else we could be the ones in trouble later.

*Some of her favorite phrases include:
"Come with me mommy"
"Follow me mommy"
"Watch this" (and then she proceeds to do some sort of dance move)
"I'm so silly"
"Where are you?" (while putting her hands to her mouth as if to be louder)
"I need a coat and socks and shoes" (She's very into dressing for cold outdoor weather and going outside)
"Logan, stop it, listen to me" (Yes, she's very bossy)

Both kids are into quoting movies as of late. They love to quote "Tangled", "Cars", and just recently, "The Incredibles".

Speaking of the Incredibles, Logan has become "Incred-a-boy" whenever he's outside and refuses to be called anything else. So I've learned to go with it and ask Incred-a-boy if he needs anything. But once inside, he's Logan again and he tells me so. It's very fun to watch him use his imagination. I was beginning to wonder about him, but it's appeared and I couldn't be more pleased.

Potty training is going very well for what little time we've spent on it. He's really good the first half of the day, and not so good in the afternoon/evening. But again, good at night when he decides to wake us up at 2 in the morning! Ugh! Oh well. We're getting there and then it will be Olivia's turn. Oh the joys of parenthood!

So that's been our week. Not too exciting, but the kids are growing and it's fun to watch, for me anyway. :)

Summer? time fun

2011-06-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

I question the summer part because frankly, I don't think that mid 60's and rain off an on make a good summer. Granted, we are in Western Washington, and this weather is to be expected. And, okay, so summer doesn't officially start for a few more weeks. But it makes it hard to want to go out and play. Despite all that, we've been trying to make the best of it so far. Hopefully the weather will cooperate later on and we can really get into the fun of summertime.

In the meantime though, we've been going to parks, indoor pools, and hanging out in the yard. I've found that if we leave the house each morning and I let the kids run around for an hour or so, I get 2 hours of "me" time while the kids nap. That's right, Logan is napping again. I've been working him hard. ;)

Another thing we've recently started to tackle....Potty training. I've been dreading this day since Logan was born. But it's here and I feel will be around for quite some time. Logan is actually doing quite well, but I was hoping for an overnight success. (HaHa) Go ahead and laugh, I'm laughing too. He fights me with having to go to the bathroom and wants to wear diapers, but I'm insistent that those days are over. The best thing I've found that works for Logan is LOTS of praise. I'm serious, I totally go overboard with the hugs and praise and kisses, but it works. I think he likes all the attention. The only thing is, Olivia is starting to feel left out and now wants to potty train too. I guess that's a good thing, but I don't have the energy or patience to potty train two kids at once. That's a lot of bathroom trips. Hopefully by the end of summer though, I'll be done with kids in diapers for awhile. That's my dream anyway.

A walk with Bailey

2011-06-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago (I've lost all sense of time recently), Sam's brother and sister-in-law visited. They have the cutest little girl, Bailey. I regret I didn't get any pictures with them, but on the last night, we all went for a walk and I was able to get some pictures of the kids together. We found frogs, played tether ball, and just had an all around good time being with each other.

A new addition to the family

2011-05-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

No, we're not pregnant. Yesterday we got ourselves this....

Isn't she beautiful? This was totally not planned. We had just been talking about getting a minivan at some point. We've always wanted an Odyssey, but knew we wouldn't be able to afford one so we decided to check out Kia Sedona's. Yesterday we decided that I would go test drive just to see what I liked better. I drove a Sedona and I liked it. Then I went to the Honda dealership and test drove a 2008 Odyssey Touring and I HATED it. It actually surprised me at how much I disliked it and at that point was determined to get the Kia. But then I test drove the above car, a 2011 EX-L-Res. I fell in love with it when I first saw it, without even looking on the inside. It "spoke" to me. I became even more in love with it when I learned it had everything I wanted, leather interior, entertainment system, and dual power sliding doors. The salesman was kind enough to let me drive it home to show Sam and the kids. They all fell in love too. Logan said it was "a pretty car" a "cool car". We decided that instead of buying it, we would lease. With all the specials going on for the Memorial Weekend, we got a pretty good deal. So this is our new family car for the next 3 years. We're all pretty excited about it.

On a side note, we traded in our Accord. The AC had just recently gone out and it needed a new windshield. Hence the reason we were discussing getting a new car at one point. We loved that car, but were very surprised to find out that it had been totalled at one point and rebuilt. It was missing parts! We had a carfax done when we bought it, and it didn't show any report of an accident. We were scammed. Lesson learned, don't buy from a private dealer.

I need to take more pictures

2011-05-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened lately, and I have no pictures to document. For starters, my recovery went better than I expected. By day 10 I was almost back to normal, day 13, pretty much normal. The only thing now is a tiny sore throat that's really not any worse than normal (for me anyway). I'm excited to have this be over with and to be able to not be sick ALL the time!

The kids had lots of fun while I was "away", but they were so excited to see that I was, as Logan put it, "not sick anymore". My kids are great. They drive me absolutely insane at times, but they are so fun.

Currently Sam's brother Joel, and his wife LeighAnn are visiting. They have a cute little girl, Bailey, who my kids absolutely adore. The three of them have been having fun playing together. It'll be sad when they have to leave. I think Logan will take it the hardest. Bailey and Logan are getting along great, so much so that Olivia has gotten a little jealous that she's not getting as much attention from Logan as she's used too. Wrestling has become a favorite sport of hers, not so much for Logan. It'll be interesting to see how she reacts to Logan going to pre-school in the fall.

The young women in my ward at Church have been fantastic. They've been coming by in the afternoons after school to help with the kids so I can continue to rest a bit and get 100% better. That has been a tremendous blessing for us. The kids love the attention, and I love being able to rest some more.

I am so excited for the summer. I just hope the weather cooperates and warms up a bit. There are lots of little hikes I want to take the kids on and a bunch of other little outdoor things. Some day soon though, it will all happen.

While the cat's away the mice will play

2011-05-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

Since I've been laid up in bed, I have had my wonderful mom, husband, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law and wife help out with the kids. It seems that every time I'm laid up, the kids always have so much fun. One day though, I'll be having that fun with them. The kids have been pretty good, as far as I can tell. I haven't heard too much screaming from my room and that's always a good sign. Logan has become very helpful around the house. It seems my vacuuming days are over. Logan loves to do it. My mom told me that he wanted to vacuum so much that she told him to pick up the toys and then he could vacuum. Apparently he got so excited that he picked up the toys really fast and then vacuumed, not one room, but pretty much the whole house! Way to go Logan! While Logan is cleaning and such, Olivia has been keeping herself busy with coloring, art projects and tv. I'm glad the weather has been semi-decent, it gets the kids outside every now and then. They've even been so lucky as to go to the Children's Museum and Jump Planet. I'm glad they are having fun. I don't know if Olivia even misses me, but I know that Logan does (every now and then at least). He asks every now and then if he can lay down in bed with me because "that will help mommy be better". Really, he just wants to play in our room, which is off limits.

But my favorite thing to hear was a couple of days ago when Sam came up and told me that just before they said prayer for dinner, Logan said to Sam "we need to bless to make mommy better". So, he did, and once the prayer was over Logan said "Yeah, now mommy is all better!" Ah, the simple faith of a 3 year old. He was quite ditraught that I wasn't actually completely better, but he was reassured that it helped me to feel better, even for a little bit and that I'll get better faster. It still brings tears to my eyes. He is such a sweet and caring little boy!

Tonsillectomy

2011-05-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

So those of you who know me well, know that I get sick about every other week or so. It's almost always tonsillitis. So I saw a specialist and he agreed that my tonsils needed to come out. So last week they did. While I was getting ready I had a few nurses ask me some questions, one of them being, "Are you sick now?" my answer "No, not really, but my throat hurts." The anesthesiologist came in and asked some questions and asked me to tip my head back (they were going to put in a breathing tube and she needed to look I guess) once I did, she exclaimed "My goodness, I know why those are coming out!" Apparently they were pretty swollen, which I knew but had been used to it since it had been so long. Once I woke up and was in the recovery room the doctor came in and told me that it's a good thing we took them out. They were completely infected. Eww gross!

I had been told some rather horrific stories of adults getting their tonsils out. It freaked me out so much that I wanted to cancel. But my loving husband insisted that it be done. But those stories helped me prepare. I prepared myself for pain like I've never felt before. After a wonderful blessing from Sam the morning of, I was ready. Well, as ready as one can be for such things. It's been a week, and yes, there have been days that have been harder than others, but it really hasn't been as bad as I was expecting. True, there is pain, but it's just like having tonsillitis only a tad worse. I was told to stay in bed for 10-14 days. I'm on day 7 or so. Yes, it hurts, but I'm so glad I did it. I'm halfway through the "worst" of it. I'm anxious to get back on my feet and get back to a normal life. Who knew that having your tonsils out would be so exhausting. Of course, being on percocet every 4 hours is probably contributing to the exhaustion, and possibly helping me think I don't have as much pain as I could. I am so glad I did it and can't wait for summer to come and to actually be able to enjoy it with my kids. :)

Family Pictures

2011-05-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

I found a deal online one day for a 30 minute photo shoot with a professional photograher for only $40, which included pictures. I thought it was a great deal, so I signed us up for it. Normally I take the kids to JC Penney or do them myself, or my favorite, have my wonderful sister-in-law take the pictures...Seriously, she's amazing! But I thought it would be fun to try this out, for $40 I thought it would be worth it. It was a $350 value, so I figured why not? I'm glad we did. He was very patient with us. Sam and I do not photograph very well and the kids tend to go crazy after 2 seconds. But Les Hays did a wonderful job. Our pictures were scheduled for the week before Easter. To my surprise, he had a couple baskets with easter eggs and a live bunny rabbit as props. I was impressed. But I was even more impressed that he got Logan to smile. He didn't want to be there and nothing Sam and I did worked. But Les worked his magic and we got some great shots.

A day at the zoo

2011-05-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

The other day was beautiful. The sun finally showed and it was even a little warm, not too warm, but warm enough for jackets, not coats. :) A friend of mine was planning on taking her boys to the zoo and invited us to go along. At first I said no. I had no intention of taking my two crazy kids to the zoo without their dad to help. Even with my friend, we were still outnumbered, two 3 year olds, a 22 month old, and a year and a half old. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to chase after them. But after the awful beginning to the day, I quickly realized that staying at home would not be any good. I was quite proud of myself though, I got the kids fed and dressed, myself dressed,a picnic lunch packed and everything we needed for the day ready in about 20 minutes. We even made it to the zoo before my friend. We had planned to meet at 10. We live about 45 minutes away, and we planned this around 9ish. Needless to say, I felt really rushed, but I'm so glad we did it. The kids were very well behaved and had a great time!

This bear was awesome. He knew how to pose for the camera. He smiled for pretty much everyone and then proceeded to show off. I wish I had video of it. Hilarious!

She makes me smile

2011-05-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

The morning started too early for me. I'm not a morning person and therefore was in pretty much a bad mood. Kids wouldn't let me get them dressed (until I bribed them with the zoo), they kept running from me, wouldn't eat breakfast, etc... I took a time out. When I came back I found Olivia trying on my shoes. How can you not smile at this?

Tulip Festival

2011-04-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

We went to the tulip festival this morning. We went 2 years ago and had a good time, so I thought that we should take the kids up there this year and let them enjoy the beauty that Skagit Valley has to offer in April. We had a good time, but I don't know if the kids enjoyed it all that much. Logan preferred to run and run and run. Olivia was an angel as far as posing for pictures...well, at least she posed for other people's pictures. Not so much for me. I got a few shots of her, but there are many people who now have a picture of my little girl on their cameras. She would just jump right in front of them and say "cheeeese". They would all turn to me and ask if they could keep the picture because "she's just so cute". Oh well, what can you do? She is cute.

I would've liked to have gotten a family picture, or at least a picture with Logan and me, or Sam and Logan, but he just wouldn't stay still. He had no desire to have his picture taken. But that's okay, he was amused with the flowers and being able to run around them. We'll definitely go back, but maybe in a couple more years.

Happenings at home

2011-04-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

So much has been going on the past few days. The weather has finally become beautiful around here, of course, it is short lived as rain is expected again tomorrow. But, we'll take what we can get. The nice weather has prompted us to play outside a lot. We have even managed to get a little yard work in. Logan has really gotten into the "anything daddy does, I can do too" phase. It's really cute to watch him mimic his dad. He's even figured out that bedtime, "it's not dark outside, it's not bedtime yet" excuse that most kids give their parents. I was really hoping for another year or two before that happened. Oh well.

Olivia is still as sweet as can be. She's become even more of a mommy's girl than I thought possible. Lately she gives me big hugs, wrapping her arms tight around my neck and giving me kisses. She did so the other day and said "mommy, take picture" so, I did. It's one of those, hold your arm out as far as possible and take a picture and pray it turns out okay pictures. But considering the circumstances, I think it turned out just okay. I need more pictures of me with my kids anyway, I'll take what I can get.

Other things that have been going on around here...well, we've had the fun opportunity to watch Sam's brother's dog, Ollie for about a week. He's a really good dog, and the kids have had so much fun playing with him. One thing is for sure, it's going to be really boring around here without Ollie. Even so, Sam and I are still convinced to never get a dog of our own. A cat, one day, maybe...but definitely no dog. We figure, if the kids really want one, they can go next door (or 3) to their Uncle and Aunt's house to play with Ollie. (One of the many benefits to being neighbors. :) )

Love and 'Goodnight Moon'

2011-04-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

I love that they love each other! They love to read "Goodnight Moon" together. Logan has it memorized, so he reads it to Olivia quite often throughout the day. It is a book so beloved by my kids that we have 2 copies and both are pretty worn out and falling apart. I think it may be time to buy a new copy, before the other two completely fall to pieces.

Life according to Logan

2011-04-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

You don't always have to ask what I want for lunch, the answer is most always "grilled cheese"

Olivia's hair, when wet, is spaghetti noodles.

The game is not called "Lego Batman", but "wego badman and bobin"

It's more fun to play outside if you go out the front door instead of the back. Otherwise, "what's the point?"

If dad is in a meeting, then I must be in one too. (I hear a lot of, "I have a meeting" or "I have to go to work now")

Baths are always more fun with bubbles.

The house is in constant need of vacuuming, and I'm the guy to do it!

When asked what the number 1 rule in the house was, his response..."Take your shoes off!" (Which isn't a rule, his shoes are just always muddy.)

Fruit snacks are always yummy, unless they're from Costco. "I only want purple fruit snacks, they're yummy in my tummy and down to my toes!" (purple fruit snacks are betty crocker, that he gets on rare occasions....Costco are what we always have around the house. Oh, and I haven't figured out the "toes" reference, but that's what he says all the time if he really likes something.)

So what if I like to sleep with the door open, the lights on, and the radio playing quietly in the background? At least I'm not screaming all night long anymore.

I'm really good at making mommy feel better when she's sick. I just have to sit at her door and cry and wait for her to open it, then give her a big hug! If that doesn't work, then forcing myself into her room and jumping on her definitely will!

A not so typical Wednesday morning

2011-04-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hail, snow, sleet, and rain...A girl with a spoon on her nose....A little boy refusing to eat breakfast because he has to vacuum....2 tantrums....A mom with no voice(sore throat, not because of yelling :) ).

That has been our morning, and it's not even 9am yet!

Piggybear

2011-04-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

It's a piggy, it's a bear, together they are piggybear! Well, actually it used to be Piggy and Bear, but Livi got a little lazy and now calls them Piggybear. She takes these two everywhere. The three of them are best friends.

Don't tell Bear, but I think she likes Piggy better since that's who joins us when she can only take one of her friends.

I LOVE having a girly girl!

2011-03-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

She's into hair ribbons and bows and now headbands. Her favorite thing to say to me in the morning after she's dressed, "Look mommy, I so pretty!" Yes, she's a little vain, but I love it!

A rambling post, no pity please!

2011-03-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

It's been one of those days today. It hasn't been horribly bad, but the illnesses my family suffers on a constant basis is driving me insane. My kids get colds, get better, and a few days later have colds again. That's been going on since about January with them. But hopefully with the weather changing, it'll all stop. I've got another bout of tonsilitis and a migraine. Ugh! I remember back in June last year getting a cold that just never seemed to go away. I'm sure it did at one point, but I wouldn't know since I just got sick right after getting better. It's been going on longer than that, but June is when I last remember getting sick. And now I've got surgery scheduled for April 28th. Several times a day I am tempted to call and cancel, but Sam won't let me. He thinks it's important that this be done. I've been assured over and over again that once my tonsils are out, I won't get as sick, as often. That would be nice, but it is hard to imagine. My Doctor feels that my immune system is all out of whack since it's been fighting the infection in my tonsils for who knows how long, so that is why I'm always getting colds...low immunity.

Anyway, since I'm spending the day in bed trying to get better for the week, I've been looking at old pictures and reminiscing about the "easier" days that really weren't so easy. :) Can you believe that my two little ones have gone from this

to this?

They are my joy! I love that they get along so well with each other. They hate being apart and are so protective over each other. It just melts my heart to watch them get along so well. Sure they have their moments of fights and such, but they are quick to apologize (due to me making them) and then they are right back to playing with each other like nothing happened. I can't wait for the summer to get here. Hopefully no one will be sick, the weather will cooperate, and we can go to parks and beaches and just explore what nature has to offer.

FIVE

2011-03-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

It's been five wonderful years of marriage today! Since we already celebrated by going to Hawaii earlier this year, we're keeping things pretty low key. We're planning on going out tonight to eat, exciting I know. But it's something.

These past 5 years have been something else. We have moved 3 times and have 2 wonderful kids. I think our only challenge we've really had to face (besides a 3 year old ;) ) has been that I've been sick for nearly a year with off and on colds. Now I get to have my tonsils and adenoids taken out next month. It's going to be brutal, but it'll help in the long run. Maybe I'll actually be healthy enough so that we can get out more as a family. That's something I really want.

We didn't do gifts this year, but I thought it was funny that Wood is the traditional gift. What's funny about it, is that I saw a wooden sand box at Costco the other day and thought that would be a perfect gift. It would give me the gift of my kids playing outside for hours on end. Logan has been asking for a sandbox for quite sometime. As I'm thinking this, Sam thought the same thing...get me a sandbox for our wedding anniversary, that way the kids can play for hours. We didn't get it, at least not for an anniversary gift. But we will most likely get it for the kids anyway.

I love that after 5 years of marriage, Sam and I think the same way.

Imagine!

2011-03-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

We spent Saturday morning at the Imagine Children's Museum in Everett. It was a blast! We easily spent over 2 hours there and the kids didn't even want to leave, even though it was lunchtime. It was so successful that we even bought a membership for the year. It'll easily pay for itself so long as we go even just 4 times this year. There were so many things to do, so there are a lot of pictures.

For starters, Olivia had to make her grand entrance on stage and sing us a song. Logan is in the background, directing and managing lights. :)

After performing, the kids had to build some things with blocks and other misc. stuff.

There was an airport area complete with airplane cockpit. The control tower had this neat thing where it would shoot up ping pong balls through tubes and they would race around the ceiling. We spent a lot of time here.

There was a fun water area where the kids played and played. It was a little too much fun. Even Sam got in on the action.

Logan also got to milk a cow, Olivia served us some of her delicious pizza, and I was able to teach Logan the fine art of hopscotch...on the roof!

It was such a wonderful morning. There was so much to do and I can't wait to go back and explore some more. When we got in the car Olivia said "I had fun" and Logan told us all that he did and all the fun that he had. I love watching my kids get excited over things.

Changing attitudes

2011-03-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

It's been a quiet few weeks around here. Quiet as in nothing is going on. We've all been sick off and on so it makes getting out and doing things a bit difficult. I think we may be starting to feel a bit better. I'm still battling sore throats, migraines, and fatigue, but I try to ignore it all and try to make each day fun for my kids. Am I succeeding? I'm not sure. I think things have been better this week than they have in a long time. Logan's refusal to nap has subsided and his bedtime tantrums have ceased. I don't know what happened to him, but for a few weeks he was a bit of a monster. But now that he's getting the sleep he needs, he's been much more pleasant to be around.

I finally came to the conclusion that I was putting too much on myself and expecting the impossible. (Actually, Sam so lovingly pointed it out to me. ;) ) Seriously, I was becoming a maniac, always expecting the house to be clean, the kids to be on their best behavior all the time, dinners to be perfect...now that I'm back to reality I often wonder "What in the world was I thinking?!" I'm not perfect, my house is not perfect, my kids are not perfect. Accepting that has made things almost perfect. It's a lot less stressful around here. There is more laughter in the house than there are tantrums and that is always a blessing.

I've come up with things to do with the kids on a daily basis so that we can get out of the house at least once a day. That helps tremendously! Changing the way I view things has really helped. Sure the kids can be monsters every now and then, but they're kids. And let's face it, as an adult, I have my moments too. But changing the way I react or think about things has really helped get through each day. I think the main thing for me is to keep the kids busy. The day goes by so much better when we're busy. Now, if spring/summer would just make its appearance so we can go to parks and play outdoors, the kids and I would be extremely happy.

New rules, new routines

2011-03-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

I think we've finally overcome Logan's fear at bedtime. He now sleeps with the door open and primary music playing quietly in the background. It took us awhile to figure it out, but it works and I'm one happy mom. Naptime is another issue. He has started taking naps again, but they are usually on Logan's terms and not mine, sadly. Oh well, at least he gets rest every now and then.

A rule that has been (or least will be) established in this house is that if it's nice outside, meaning not freezing or raining, the kids will play in the backyard for at least 45 minutes. If it's cold, I'll be lenient and give it 30 minutes. It gives me a much needed break, and it gives them some fresh air. The kids love being outside, so I don't think this rule will be too hard to enforce.

There's nothing like playing basketball with a bouncy ball and soccer ball.

Another new rule in the house has become something along the lines of less TV during the day. I'll admit, I had it on all day long when we first moved. It kept the kids entertained while I unpacked. And then it was just habit to have it on all day. It's actually become quite a nuisance. So now, I try to have it off as much as possible. The kids do have their favorite TV shows that they can watch (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, and Yo Gabba Gabba) but other than that, we have been trying to find other things to do. It's not easy, but we're working on it and I have noticed a difference in my children's behavior.
Art projects have become a favorite. Logan loves to cut paper with his scissors. He can do it for hours if I let him. Olivia on the other hand, loves to color. I'm still working with her on making sure her colors are only on paper. One day she'll get it. I hope.

A little about all of us...

2011-02-21T21:18:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks. Logan got sick, I got sick, and Olivia got sick. Nothing serious, just colds, but they tend to make life a lot harder.

Another thing we've been dealing with...fear at bedtime. Logan is terrified to go into his room at night. He won't even go in there during the day. He keeps telling us it's "too scary". We ask him what's scary, and it's always something different. At one point, he was convinced his bedding was scaring him so I packed it up, put it away, and took him to the store so he could pick out his own bedding. It worked for a week or so, and now he's convinced it's scary again. I'm not about to go out and get him new stuff everytime he thinks it's scary. We've tried telling the "scaries" to go away, yelling at them, even telling Logan they've left the house and there is a blocker that won't let them back in. We are out of ideas. It's getting ridiculous. He wants us to lay with him, but he won't lay down. Then he gets hysterical when we leave the room. It's become quite the annoying habit. I understand he's 3 and has a vivid imagination, but we are tired parents and completely out of ideas.

Olivia has been fine aside from her cold. But she takes it in stride and just smiles through it. She's pretty mild tempered still, but has become a professional at throwing tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants. I always just ignore her, or try to distract her. It seems to work. She hates it when I leave the room during one of her tantrums and it usually settles her down pretty fast.

As for myself, well I've had tonsilitis for who knows how long now. I'm on the umpteenth antibiotic. I've lost track as to how many I've had this past year. Sam and I are crossing our fingers that this one works, but if it doesn't then it looks like surgery. I've heard it's brutal to have your tonsils taken out as an adult. I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons. But I've had swollen tonsils for so long, I don't even remember when it started. It would be nice to not have that anymore. Other than that, I don't really know what the benefits are. I know I'll still get sick, but will it last as long, or be as bad? Things to think about.

Sam is doing fine. He is the only one of us that hasn't been sick in awhile. He's so lucky that way. He puts up with a lot from the kids and me. I make him work from home every now and then because I just can't take Logan's craziness. Sam has been absolutely wonderful at his willingness to work from home and help out a bit. Even though he has to deal with a lot, he doesn't complain about it, at least not much. :) He's the best!

A day at Grandma's

2011-02-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

I took the kids to see their grandma yesterday. I'm so glad I did. The weather was beautiful and their cousin Tanner even came for a visit as well. Logan has been asking for a long time to go see Grandma H. He talked about it all last night to his dad, and he's been talking about it all day today. I think we're going to have to make the trip to see Grandma and Grandpa on a more regular basis. The kids love it, and I do too.

Some of the fun things the kids did...

Swept the deck (Logan and Livi love sweeping)

Went for a very long walk with Logan while Livi slept

Colored (of course, what else would Livi do?)

Ate lunch

Played with the amazing truck track

Sunday Morning

2011-01-30T19:26:00.000-08:00

They're just too cute!

Whale Watching

2011-01-29T12:55:00.000-08:00

So, it has only taken me forever to get to this post, but I wanted to share what we did on our last day in Maui. We spent the morning just chilling on the beach and then packing for our trip home. That evening though, we took a sunset whale watching cruise. It really was the best thing we did on our trip. I brought the wrong camera though and didn't get the pictures I wanted. But aside from that, Humpback whales are incredible! Some of the awesome things we saw:

A mother and her calf swimming alongside each other and flipping their tails out of water.
The calf is the first hump you see, and the mother is just behind.

Two whales breach at the same time. (Okay, Sam saw that, as did everyone else on the boat. I got stuck behind a really tall guy that blocked my view. I just saw one of them and didn't get my camera to take a picture in time. Awesome though.)
This is the splash they made when they went back in the water. I'm still upset with myself for missing them out of the water.

Whales and spinner dolphins swimming and playing together. It was just so neat to see. They were pretty far off in the distance so my camera didn't get any good shots. :(
This is just a picture of two whales blowing water. It was the closest we got to the whales.

The beautiful sunset. Watching the sun go down while on a boat in the middle of the Pacific ocean, it just doesn't get any better than that!
I wanted to get a picture of Sam and me together since it was our last night and we had absolutely no pictures of us, but my camera died just after this picture.

We also heard the whales singing to each other. The captain of the boat lowered something into the water that allowed us to listen to them. It was just amazing. I'm talking jaw-dropping amazing! It was fun to listen to the whales below us and watching them every now and then make an appearance out in the distance.

Research is currently going on about these amazing creatures. Even the guys on our boat couldn't tell us what was going on, but we definitely knew something was going on. There were so many whales and so many dolphins together. It was as if something magnificent or terrifying was going on below. We speculated that perhaps there were two males after a female and fighting. That's really all anyone could come up with. I'm so glad we went to see the whales. We almost missed out on the experience. It's definitely something I would like to do again, if we ever get a chance to go back.

Road to Hana and beyond

2011-01-20T13:39:00.000-08:00

We decided that Sunday would be a good idea for a road trip, so we headed out on the road to Hana. That's a crazy drive. Lots of one way bridges, driving close to the edge of cliffs, very narrow roads, and tons of curves. It was an experience. We didn't venture on too many hikes, okay, none. But we did pull over a couple of times to enjoy the scenery.

Waianapanapa State Park

Where we ate lunch.

The only way to drive the road to Hana.

We didn't make too many stops because our goal was to reach the Oheo Gulch, or Seven Sacred Pools. We were determined to do it. We had left around 10am and made it to Hana around 1:30pm. The pools were about 45 minutes past Hana. We had gotten used to the crazy road, but we were nowhere near ready for what was about to come. The road got worse. It was basically a one lane road with lots of curves, no bridge guards and we were on a cliff pretty much the entire time. No doubt it was a beautiful drive, but there were times when I feared for our lives. It was crazy! It made the road to Hana a piece of cake! I would like to say that the drive was worth it, and it was to an extent. But the pictures we saw online were basically what we saw. If we ever go back to Maui, I highly doubt we will do that drive again. It was too intense. Beautiful, for sure, but intense.

We didn't go swimming. I would've liked too, but we both agreed that we needed to head back home before it got dark. Neither one of us wanted to be on those roads in the dark. It was crazy enough in daylight. We left around 3pm and got off the highway around 5pm. It was definitely easier driving back than it was there, but I think the fact that we had been on it already helped a bit. We were exhausted after that. It was pretty intense. Poor Sam, he had to drive the entire time. Both of us were worn out, but I'm sure he was worse off since he had to actually drive it.

'Iao Valley

2011-01-20T13:16:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we decided to head out to 'Iao Valley. It is absolutely beautiful! The history there is incredible. Maui warriors once used the 'Iao needle as a look out point during the war in 1790. They lost though, but it led to the Hawaiian islands being united. It's been a few days, and I'm still in awe.

Maui, Days 1 & 2

2011-01-14T22:54:00.001-08:00

Well, we made it. It was an incredibly long flight with lots of turbulence. Landing was a pain. Still dealing with a sinus infection made landing a painful experience, but it's over.

We arrived to cloudy skies and the threat of rain. It had rained hard that morning and the previous day causing flash floods. Most of the flooding occurred in Kihei, which ironically enough is where we are staying. :) It instantly brought us back to 5 years ago on Oahu. Ah, memories.

Our hotel isn't too bad. It's a Days Inn, so it's not great, but the bed is awesome. It's a Tempurpedic bed and you can't go wrong with that. Plus, the ocean is just steps away!

Our hotel is the 2 story building on the left, not too far from the beach!

We had clear skies today and enjoyed it as much as we could. Since it had been raining, the car rental agency had a special going on their Mustang convertables. Since it was hardly anything at all, we took one! It was great driving through Upcountry with the top down. We had heard that there were things to do, but I think we missed it all. Oh well. It was still fun driving around.

We wanted to spend some time at the beach, but with all the rain and flooding, sewage had made its way to the ocean. Needless to say, the water has not been all that appealing. We're hoping for a change tomorrow. :)

I need a selfish moment...

2011-01-10T19:05:00.001-08:00

Yes, I can be completely selfish, and right now is one of those moments. I'm sick! I feel awful. Nothing seems to help. It's been going on since before Christmas, so yeah, I'm getting a little tired of it. I have been to 3 different doctors who have had 3 different responses.

Doctor #1: Sinus infection, tonisilitis...take amoxicillin twice a day for 10 days.
Okay, that sounds easy enough. I even started to feel a bit better the next day before all the side effects hit me. It made me feel as if I had the flu on top of everything else. This past Saturday was the worst, so I went to a walk in clinic on Sunday morning out of pure desperation. I just wanted the antibiotics changed and end the misery.

Doctor #2: He didn't think my symptoms were from the antibiotic. I was positive they were. His diagnosis? The sinus infection had gone up to my brain causing swelling. Hence the massive headaches and nausea. Okay, a little wierd, but he's a doctor so I went along with it. He also shined a light in my eyes to look behind them. He said there was definite swelling back there and I needed a cat scan right away and to see an eye specialist first thing Monday morning. Did the cat scan, it just confirmed that I have a sinus infection. Saw the eye specialist today...nothing is wrong with my eyes, or my brain for that matter, thank you very much. I won't be going back to that clinic any time soon.

Doctor #3: The same place I went to when I saw Dr. #1. I was determined to get a new antibiotic. I just knew that that was the reason for my being miserable. Her diagnosis? Mononucleosis. What? Seriously? I highly doubted it and told her so. I was adamant that it was the antibiotic. But I humored her and let her do the test. It was negative. So, she gave me a new antibiotic.

I'm happy to finally have gotten what I wanted, but I'm still miserable. My own diagnosis is in fact the sinus infection, tonsilitis, and perhaps I got hit with the flu these past couple of days. I can't get rid of the fever. It comes and goes. I've never had it go so high before (that I can remember). At least the massive-pounds-so-much-you-want-to-die headache has disappeared. That does help. But here's the really selfish part. Sam and I are leaving on Thursday to go to Hawaii. Is it too much to ask to feel better so that I can spend some quality time with my kids before we go? Or to feel better enough that I can at least pack? Or clean the house for my in-laws while they stay with the kids? I'm stressed out about the whole thing. I know life isn't fair, but this is ridiculous!

Okay, selfish moment is over. Thank you.

18 months

2011-01-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

Let me start by saying, I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!

She is a pure joy to have! Even at such an early age, I can tell she's going to touch many lives. She has this spirit in her that I could only wish for. She's friendly, outgoing, energetic, loving, curious, competitive, compassionate, caring, care-free, stubborn, sensitive, and just awesome! Hard to believe she's all those things at only 18 months. She's the first to give me a hug (and not let go for some time) in the morning. She calls out "MOMMY!" with a huge smile on her face multiple times a day, to which I respond "LIVI!" She loves it! She is so hard to get mad at. She crys when I get after her for doing something she's not supposed to. While crying she says "I sorry." Then gives me a big hug and kiss. How can you possibly stay mad at that? She's always quickly forgiven. She's my little angel and I'm so glad that she is with us. She is a blessing to all of us each and every day.

She had her 18 month appointment today. She is now 29lbs 6ozs (above 95th%) and 33 inches tall (95th%). Her vocabulary is quite extensive, even the doctor commented on how well she talks and how many words she says. Some of her favorite, or most used, phrases are:
"I stuck"
"I sorry"
"it's a book!" (when she wants you to read to her)
"it's a cree" (crayon) when she finds a crayon she immediately starts to color. She can almost spell her name. I've been working with her on that. She'll be on the floor scribbling while saying "O, I, I, A, O, L..." it goes on and on.

I suppose I could go on and on about her. But I won't. I just hope that as she grows she'll continue to be so good to me, her dad, and her brother.

What I wish for my family in 2011

2011-01-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's been almost a week of the new year, but it's still a new year. There are a few things I'd like to see happen this year. I'm not sure if it all will, but it's nice to hope. Honestly, I feel my family has been blessed in so many ways. There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not thankful for what we have. We haven't had too many challenges, and for that I'm incredibly thankful for. But onto the new year and what I hope it brings us:

1. Our Bothell house to sell...and fairly early in the year too.

2. Logan to be potty trained

3. Olivia to be potty trained

4. A minivan (even if it's on the last day of the year)

5. Very few illnesses. We've had our fair share in the last couple of years. I would like us to have a healthy year for once.

6. Logan's speech to improve. He's a bit behind his peers, but I think it can quickly be solved with the right help.

7. More dates with Sam. We haven't done so well in the past, but I'd like to at least start with one a month and go from there.

8. More one on one time with the kids. (daddy/daughter, mother/son dates) I think it will help everyone.

9. To go to the Temple more often. I'll admit, it's been awhile, but maybe we could try going once a quarter for starters and see where that takes us.

10. Logan to enter primary and not have to worry about him. He turned 3 last year (okay the last day of the year) and technically should be in primary at church. But seriously, if his birthday was 1 day later, he would still be in nursery for 1 more year! Luckily the primary presidency and nursery leaders are okay with whatever we feel is best for him. And right now, we don't think he's ready for primary. Maybe in a few months, but not now. Besides, he's the only sunbeam! So there really isn't a whole lot of pressure. But I would like to see him in primary by the end of the year.

So there you have it. The things I hope happen this year. It'll be fun to look back at the end of the year and see where we stand with it all. :) Happy New Year!

Look Who's 3!!!

2010-12-31T15:08:00.001-08:00

My little boy turned 3 today. It's true what they say...Time really does fly. We've got some exciting plans this year for Logan. We may enroll him in a gymnastics/preschool class and of course, there's potty training. I'm excited to watch him grow this year. It's fun to learn things all over again from the perspective of your kids.

We had a little party for him this morning. It wasn't anything too spectacular, but it was fun. He got lots of presents. His favorite was the computer his grandma and grandpa H gave him. Once he saw that, he didn't want to open any of the other presents. We had to hide it and tell him he could have it once everything else was opened.

He loved being sung to. I've never seen him so excited before.

And of course, his cake was a big hit too.

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T11:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas was awesome this year. We started Christmas Eve by going to Buca Di Beppo for dinner with Sam's family. Afterwards, we went to his parents house where we had the kids (and Sam) participate in the Nativity. I have to admit, I've not seen a cuter Mary or shephard. Joseph was pretty good looking too. ;)

After the nativity, we opened some presents. Logan was thrilled with the thought of opening presents and wanted to open all of them. It took awhile to get the kids to settle down when we got home. Bedtime was later than usual, which made for a later morning. We had a good time opening the presents that Santa left behind at our house. He brought Livi a ginormous doll house that both kids fell in love with. They even tried climbing into it themselves. (Good call on the doll house Santa!)

I'm not sure how it happened, but Logan sure did get a lot of good stuff this year!
You can't tell from her expression, but she was so excited to get this from Grandma and Grandpa H. She absolutely loves it! Coloring and music are 2 of her favorite things, so it only makes sense that she would love the Crayola color wonders toy.

Once our presents were opened, we drove back up to Sam's parents house to visit for a bit and open more presents. (The kids were pretty spoiled this year.) One of my favorite gifts that Logan got from his Grandma B was a photo book of his "Awesome Summer". It's something that he can keep for years to come and one day show his kids. It was brilliant!

We travelled to my parents house later in the day where we enjoyed a delicious dinner, time with family, and yes, more presents! I really wanted to not have the focus of Christmas this year be on presents, but it was worth it to see their faces. We had some fights over toys, and a few tantrums, but overall, I think it went pretty well.

Merry Christmas!

A Goodnight Story

2010-12-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

Last night, Olivia was having a hard time going to bed. I would hold her, she would scream. I would put her in her crib, she would scream even louder. Finally, I gave up and let her go into Logan's room to try to sleep in the toddler bed. Logan was thrilled to have his sister in his room. She just wanted to play. She jumped on the bed, laughed, held teddy bears...finally she got into bed with Logan. They seemed content, so Sam and I left them. I was standing outside the door for a few minutes when I heard Logan ask Livi a question. "Do you want to read 'Goodnight Moon', sweetheart?" And then I heard him "read" the book to her. (He has it memorized.) It was such a touching moment. I was so proud of my little boy. Such a wonderful big brother!

Logan, I love you so much!!!

The night didn't go that smoothly for much longer. Soon, Olivia wanted out of the room and eventually went to sleep in her own bed. Logan was very upset that she left. He kept crying for "Eeya" to come back to bed with him. I'm so glad that he wants to share his room with her. One day it will happen. But for now, I'm not ready for her to sleep in a toddler bed. I'm just fine with her being in the crib.

Here comes Santa Claus

2010-12-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

Today we had our church Christmas party. We had breakfast, enjoyed looking at displays of different countries and their Christmas traditions, and even got to visit with Santa. Santa, of course, was the highlight for Logan. It's all he talked about on the way there. He just wanted to see Santa. But when we pulled into our church parking lot, we had to wrestle with Logan to get him out of the car. He was determined that we had tricked him into going to church. We had to reassure him over and over again that, yes, Santa would be coming by. When Santa made his grand entrance, both of my kids were in complete awe. Olivia started laughing and ran right for him...Logan wasn't far behind. However once they got closer to him, they both froze. I should be more sympathetic to my kids. Afterall, a guy wearing a big red suit with a white beard can be intimidating. But I just thought it was hilarious to watch them react in such a way. We had to force them into the picture. Olivia screamed her loudest scream and Logan clung onto Sam for dear life. Maybe next year it will work better.

12 days of cookies, not so much

2010-12-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

The 12 days of Christmas cookies hasn't gone over very well. Here's a rundown of what's happened so far.

Day 2... we just put frozen cookie dough on a cookie sheet. Still yummy, but not as fun.

Day 3... we decorated Nabisco Nilla Wafers with red and green frosting. This, the kids did enjoy. It was a fun time and maybe something we will do again. It was easy and didn't require baking any cookies.

Day 4... we didn't do anything. But some friends of ours came by and delivered a plate of cookies. Does that count?

Day 5...nothing. :( It's sad but true. We just weren't home enough to do anything. But that's okay by me.

I'm not sure anything will get baked tomorrow either. Honestly, if it wasn't for this nasty headache I've had for almost 2 weeks, I might be in more of a baking mood. But really, I'm just trying to survive hour by hour. We have enjoyed other Christmas activities though. We have looked at neighborhood Christmas lights, decorated some ornaments and colored lots of coloring pages of Christmas stuff. We've had fun so far with Christmas activities, cookies or no cookies. :)

12 Days of Christmas...Cookies

2010-12-14T12:18:00.000-08:00

It's a lot of cookies, but I found this idea in a magazine and thought it sounded fun. My kids aren't quite old enough to enjoy the making cookies part, but they sure do enjoy eating them. Today was Day 1. We made "Twinkly Trees". I don't think they turned out quite as well as I would've liked, but they look cute enough.

Logan did his own tree. It's the top left.

Garden d'Lights

2010-12-13T20:40:00.000-08:00

We went to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens tonight to look at their light display that they have each year. 5 years ago, Sam and I went to the garden to look at the Christmas lights, and it was here 5 years ago that he almost proposed. (He chickened out though and didn't propose until much later that night.) We had a great time. The kids absolutely loved the lights. One thing I should mention about our venture was that it was raining. It wasn't your typical Seattle drizzle/rain, no it was downpouring rain. We were soaked after just a few minutes. Still we had fun and the kids enjoyed jumping in the puddles while we waited for Sam to bring the car up. We may make this an annual event...then again, we might look for other light displays closer to home.

I don't have many pictures of me and the kids, and tonight I remembered why. I had to hold them tight just to stay in the picture. And of course they wouldn't look at the camera, that's just not near as fun as running around in the rain.

He only thinks he's ready

2010-12-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

Logan wants to go to school. The past couple of days he has put on his backpack and shoes, yelled out "good bye" to me and gone to the front door to leave. Today he even grabbed a book (a cook book, but still a book). Only he's stopped because we have the doorknob childproofed and he can't open it. He begs me to let him go to school. I think it's great that he wants to go and learn. He understands that at school you learn things and get to play with friends. I feel bad, I would like to enroll him in preschool, but he refuses to be potty trained. I've told him that if he learns to use the potty then he can go to school. He told me "I have to think about it." I think it's pretty straightforward, but apparently, he needs to mull it over.

How my almost 3 year old thinks...

2010-12-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

One of my black friday deals was a dual DVD player for the car. It's nice, it's portable, and the screens fit on the back of the driver and passenger head rests. We tried it out for the first time last Tuesday when we had to pick up Sam from work and head to a doctor appointment for Logan. The kids enjoyed every minute of being able to watch a movie while sitting in the car. And honestly, it was the best drive I've had in a long time. No screaming, crying, hitting, whining...it was great! Today Logan was begging to go to his "carseat". Here's the conversation that followed:

Me: "Why do you want to go in the car so bad?"

Logan: "Want to watch Cars in my carseat." (Cars is what I had playing on Tuesday)

Me: "I'm sorry bud, but we can only watch movies in the car on long road trips, like to daddy's work or Grandma and Grandpa H's house."

Logan: (a long pause as he looks on thoughtfully) "Logan wants to go see grandma and the kitty cat" (my parents house)

Me: "Are you sure you want to see grandma? Or do you just want to watch the movie in the car?"

Logan: (Another thoughtul pause) "Nope, want to see grandma....and watch Cars"

I love how he thinks. He took his time in answering my question, as if getting the right answer would allow him to ride in the car. Needless to say, we didn't go to my parents house today, but I did cave and took them with me to donate some unwanted items that we had lying around. We took our time, and I let him watch his movie while we did so.

Baking Cookies

2010-12-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

I know, I know...shocking! To think I actually had time to have the kids help me bake cookies! It was fun. Okay, in all honesty though, it was frozen cookie dough that I bought from a school fundraiser, already shaped and ready to be placed on the cookie sheet. So that's what we did. I opened the box and the kids put the cookie dough on the cookie sheet. Once it was in the oven, the kids just sat and watched them bake.

The excitement was too much for Livi, she just had to dance and hop around. At one point she even demanded for me to open the oven door and get the cookies out.

You would think that once they were done that she would want to eat one, but she didn't. She just wanted to look at them. Logan on the other hand, couldn't wait to devour them. :)

A visit to the ER

2010-11-29T21:22:00.001-08:00

Olivia had her first (and hopefully her last) ambulance ride this morning. When I wasn't paying close attention, she had gotten into one of the kitchen cupboards (not unusual) and pulled out a couple of things. One item she pulled out happened to be a blade that went to a hand blender thing. It's not very big, but it's very sharp. I saw a few of the bowls she got out and didn't pay much attention to anything else. I was busy getting dinner into the crockpot and planning a trip to the mall to let the kids play at the play area. Just as we were getting ready to go, I went to do last minute diaper changes. Olivia started to scream. I still hadn't noticed anything unusual, she always screams when she doesn't want to be disturbed. It took me a few seconds to realize her foot had been cut. I had no idea what or how it happened. Logan had to show me the blade. When I took a better look at her foot, I realized this was bad...very bad. It had cut the bottom of her foot about a quarter of an inch deep and it was a long cut. I made some frantic calls to family to get help. Then I called 911 when I realized there was no way I could drive her to the ER while putting pressure on her foot. The EMT were quick to respond and we were on our way. Olivia loved the ride. She even got a stuffed animal from the crew. We got checked into the hospital and we were both well taken care of. I had my mother-in-law follow us there. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle this alone. It was nice to have that extra support. Olivia did very well. She was so brave during the entire time we were there (which was almost 5 hours). She received another stuffed animal from the volunteers that were going through the halls of the ER. The staff and volunteers were absolutely wonderful and made things easier to handle. I think I had a worse time of the whole ordeal than Olivia did. But several hours and 5 stitches later, we were on our way home. Once we got home Olivia was her happy little self. You wouldn't know she had gotten hurt, except for her hobbling around on her toes. She's a brave little thing. Much more so than I am.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T13:09:00.000-08:00

This year Thanksgiving brought us great food, wonderful family and lots of snow. We woke up to a few more inches of snow on the ground, so we spent the morning shoveling snow off our driveway and Sam's brother-in-law's driveway. We were having Sam's family over to our house for dinner and wanted to have at least the driveways clear for parking. Logan was an excellent little helper when it came to clearing his uncle's driveway. He spent a good amount of time outside. He can never seem to get enough.

The afternoon came and so did the family. After some struggles of getting up the snowy/icy hill everyone had arrived safe and sound. There was so much food to go around. It was amazing. I didn't get any pictures of our feast, my kids made it pretty much impossible for such things. Later on we got the computer out and through the awesomeness of webcams we spoke with family not here. It was so cute to watch the kids gather around the computer to talk their cousin, Bailey, and Uncle Joel.

The rest of the day was spent watching old football games and talking strategy for black friday sales. My sis-in-law (Lina) and I were actually crazy enough to go out in the early morning hours to shop Target and Kohl's. We had fun. It was pure craziness and we aren't sure we'll do it again (too early) but we just might be that crazy again. Afterall, we scored some good stuff.

Snow

2010-11-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

It snowed yesterday...a lot! Well, a lot for around here. It was beautiful to watch and fun to play in, but horrible to drive in. Today we've been snowed in our house. The roads are all covered in ice. And since we live on a hill, driving down and then back up is not something I would like to try and attempt. The temperature has been in the low to mid 20's. Yes, the 20's. CRAZY!!! We are not prepared for that kind of weather. I am lacking a winter coat for days that are that cold, no one has snow boots, and Sam doesn't have gloves. Oh well, hopefully it won't last for too long and we can get the ice to melt a bit before everyone comes over for Thanksgiving. I much prefer the rain and 40 degree weather. :)

Our house, just as it was starting to snow.
The trees next door. I thought they were pretty.

The kids just loved it. Logan kept asking for the snow to "turn on" if it stopped snowing. This morning he wanted it on again. I'm okay with it being "off". We really didn't get much, I'm guessing maybe 2-3" at most. It's the ice that's the problem. Oh well, it will melt one day.

What they do for fun

2010-11-18T15:16:00.000-08:00

I think my kids are getting bored with staying inside during rainfall and cold weather. I've taken them to different malls to play in the play area. I'm just running out of ideas. There isn't a whole lot of free things to do inside for little kids (at least, not that I know of). So until I figure something else out, this is what my kids have been up to.

Logan loves to play with his cars and trucks. He has those rugs with the street and buildings on them, but instead of playing with those, he has chosen to play with the rug. You can make mountains out of it, you know.

Olivia loves to color...so much so that I have to keep my eye on her or else her artwork ends up in places I don't approve of, such as the stairs, walls, table, floor...you name it, she's drawed on it. Even as I type, she has found some more crayons and putting her artwork on a wall I just cleaned. Ah, it never ends.

( One of her first watercolor and crayon "drawings")

I'm hoping that the winter doesn't last too long, but that's just wishful thinking. I guess I better come up with some solutions, and fast before we all lose our sanity. :)

Conversations with Logan

2010-11-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

Logan has been having some pretty interesting answers to questions I've been asking him lately.

Me: What's your favorite thing about our new house?
L: It's beautiful...and leaves (we have trees around us finally and he loves watching the leaves fall)

Me: What would you like for Christmas?
L: Candy! And see Uncle Dan, Hannah, and Jane (we don't know if we'll see them or not, but he sure talks about them a lot)

Me: What do you want for your birthday?
L: BALLOONS!!! CAKE! CANDLES!

Me: Do you want to take a nap?
L: No, but mommy does. (stated very matter of factly, and he's right)

Halloween

2010-11-08T10:52:00.001-08:00

This year was interesting. We took the kids "trunk or treating" at our church's party. That way it was limited to how many places they could go and not get as much candy as they probably would have if we had let them go trick or treating. Olivia was not a happy camper since it was near her bedtime. This girl loves her sleep and doesn't like change from her routine. But she made a cute little ladybug regardless. Logan was a little more cooperative this year with the costume. He wanted to be a penguin. It's his favorite bird, animal, whatever. He made a cute penguin. It took some convincing to get the costume on, but once we had reassured him several times at how great he looked and that he would soon be getting candy, he was happy.

Goodbye Bothell, Hello Snohomish

2010-11-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

I have had mixed feelings about moving. This house was our first home with kids. It's where our two kids took their first steps, said their first words...lots of memories. It's hard to say goodbye, but we have been looking forward to new adventures.

October 23...what a day! We woke up early to finish packing. Sam left to get the rental truck early in the morning and I tried to get as much done around the house as two toddlers would allow. Around 10am we had some guys from church come and help us load up the moving van. It really helped us to have so many come and help. What a relief! Even Logan wanted to help. He was really good at making sure his toys got put on the moving van.

I left the house around 11:30 to take the kids up to Sam's parents house. I had to get to the new house by 12 for the cable guy to come and to get the house semi ready for the move in. The day went by much faster than I had expected, but things went rather smoothly. We had lots of help show up on the unpacking side as well. It was a very long day. A couple of mishaps happened along the way. Sam lost his keys and I lost a few boxes that I have yet to find. Sam's keys ended up in California, but we got them back. Guess they wanted a vacation.

Our Snohomish home is bigger and has lots more room for the kids to run around inside and out. It's been an adjustment, but I think once we get things unpacked and cleaned up it will feel more like home instead of a house. Snohomish is a cute little town with lots of charm. We really like it so far. It's definitely different, but a good different.

Last walk in Bothell

2010-11-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

I had been taking the kids on daily walks around our neighborhood in Bothell. I decided I should take pictures of where we walked. It is just too pretty to not document. It was sad, as it was the last time we'd be walking this route.

After the walk, we played at the neighborhood park. It has been a favorite of mine and the kids. It was easy to get to, and we spent many afternoons playing there, waiting for dad to come home.

The Farm

2010-11-08T10:09:00.001-08:00

Back on October 16, we took the kids to a pumpkin patch in Snohomish. It was incredible. It had a pumpkin patch (obviously), a corn maze, a kids play area, a petting zoo area and lots of other things that I can't even remember. We didn't plan our day very well. We didn't expect there would be so much to do. But we still had fun and plan on making this an annual trip.

The corn house was a huge success with the kids. It was a little barn filled with corn kernels for the kids to play in.

Livi loved watching the ducks and quacking at them. Logan loved to play on the tractor and other toys.

Logan's Vocabulary

2010-11-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

**I will blog about the new house and all our adventures one day. Right now I'm just focused on trying to get the house in order a bit.

I thought I should write down some of what Logan says. His vocabulary has increased immensely since he had the tubes put in his ears. Along with that though are words that aren't even remotely close to the actual word. Here are some of them...

Milk = Noke
Chocolate Milk = Chananoke
Soy Sauce = Sea Foss
Cheese = Fees
Grilled Cheese = Toe Fees
Vacuum = Backum
Bedroom = Bebbum
Spaghetti = Lageggi
Tacos = Kockos
Yogurt = Logurk
Fruit Snacks = Boot Dask

For those of you who see Logan, you should now be able to understand him a little better. :)

"Chananoke"

2010-10-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

Logan has an interesting way of saying things. "chananoke" is how he says "chocolate milk". It is his very favorite drink. He has to have some in the morning with breakfast and at night before he goes to bed. Lately though, he's only wanted chocolate milk. We've had to say no to him several times. After hearing no a little too much, Logan decided to take matters into his own hands and make himself some "chananoke". He just took the lid off the mix and put it to his mouth...so gross! It was quite the sight though.

Manic Monday

2010-10-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

It seems like forever ago, but Monday was only a few days ago. It was crazy, to say the least. It started Sunday night actually. We had gone to my parents house for dinner...DELICIOUS! Around 7:30 I had that feeling that I ate too much, not surprising since I loved what my mom made. At 8:30, we made it home, just in time...I got sick, very sick! I couldn't believe it. After about 4 hours or so I could barely move and Sam had to take me to the ER. No fun, but I was grateful for the meds that helped me feel a bit better. We were there til after 5:30am. The kids had surgery starting at 8am with a check in time at 7. We got home just before 6am. I was way too sick to go with the kids, which really only made me feel worse. Sam wasn't feeling too great either, but someone had to take the kids to the hospital. Luckily Sam's sister was able to stay at our house while we were at the ER and also went with Sam and the kids to help out. We are so grateful to her for that! I was told the surgeries went well (they had tubes put into their ears). I just felt so bad that I couldn't be there with my children. I just wanted to hug them and make them feel better, but there was no way I could do that. Sam's mom came to help with the kids, as that was the original plan...I'm so glad we had planned on that, because as it turned out, she watched the kids while Sam and I slept the day away. Luckily, Sam was feeling better in the afternoon and was able to take care of the kids. It took me a few more days to recover. I thought I had learned my lesson a couple of years ago to ALWAYS get my flu shot at the beginning of October. I procrastinated just a little too long and suffered for it. Thank goodness Sam and Olivia had theirs already. Logan got a little sick too, but not as bad. It was a crazy day. I'm just grateful for loving family and a wonderful husband, who despite how lousy he was feeling and with very little sleep, was able to take care of the kids.

As for the tubes, they seem to be doing wonders. Olivia has been sleeping better at night. She hasn't woken up screaming in the middle of the night since they were put in. Their hearing seems to be better already since they respond quicker to things. Logan is even starting to talk a little clearer. (just a little) I'm forever grateful to a doctor who finally listened to me and understood my frustrations. I was nervous about the decision to do this for them, but it definitely has proven to be the best decision for them.

15 months

2010-10-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

Where has the time gone? My little baby is 15 months old now. She's as darling as ever. Her personality is shining through each day. This girl knows what she wants, and when she wants it. She is my little drama queen. She makes life interesting...seriously, there is NEVER a dull moment in this house (unless of course, she's asleep). She loves to sing and dance. She loves to make us laugh. She loves her mom and dad. She loves her big brother. She loves to cuddle, give hugs, and blow kisses. She loves to give "high 5's". She's a one of a kind, special girl!

And of course, I can't leave out the stats:
Weight: 26lbs 6ozs (95%) (Crazy, that's exactly what Logan weighed at 15 months)
Height: 31 inches (90%)

Something that makes a mommy proud!

2010-10-01T09:59:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud of my little guy. This morning while I was going through the house and cleaning the kids were upstairs playing quietly. Olivia has been having a hard time with the concept of going down the stairs on her own. She refuses to go down for me, insisting that I carry her. Sometimes she'll do it for Sam. However, it seems she'll do it for Logan. While I was in the kitchen cleaning, I heard Logan talking in a very comforting type way to Olivia. He was saying "It's ok eeya (Olivia), you can do it! Come down...keep coming...good job!" I had to go over and see what was going on. To my surprise, my little guy was helping Olivia come down the stairs, and doing a very good job too. She only had 3 steps left to conquer, but once she saw me, it was all over. Oh well. Good job Logan! You are an awesome big brother!!!

Kids will be kids....

2010-09-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

I let the kids play out in the backyard while I stayed in to do so much needed cleaning and organizing. After a few minutes, I realized it was quiet...a little too quiet. So I went outside to check on them.

The sand and water table had collected lots of water from the rain over the last couple of days. My guess is Logan decided to make mud by mixing in nearby dirt. They then preceded to fling it up in the air (aiming for the house mostly). They were having so much fun, that I just let them continue. I figured it's just dirt and baths can take care of that. :)

You can't really tell from the pictures, but they were soaked, and very dirty...but they were happy.

Running, Jumping, and Tumbling

2010-09-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

That is the kind of morning my kids had. They were in heaven. If anything allows them to run, jump, tumble, throw balls, or whatever, my kids are lovin' it. I had never heard of Northwest Aerials until recently. A friend of mine who works there told me about it. On Friday mornings, they have an open play for kids ages 5 and under. I'm so glad we went. It wasn't too crowded and both kids had so much fun that they crashed when we got home. And, in my opinion, anything that can wear out my kids like that is AWESOME! I'm thinking we'll do this more often.

A morning with Tanner

2010-09-14T13:08:00.001-07:00

Tanner is my absolutely adorable little nephew. He came over for a bit while his dad had a meeting to go to. We ventured over to the neighborhood park to play with the playgroup, then took a nice walk. Once we got home, we had lunch, and Olivia passed out on the floor. She never does that. But Tanner had both kids so excited, that I'm not surprised she was so worn out after only a couple of hours. We spent the rest of our short time together playing with toys. Once Tanner had to leave, both Logan and Olivia started to throw fits. Logan kept asking "where did my Tanner go?" Olivia was just mad. She kept pointing at the door. I guess we'll have to get together more often with little Tanner since the kids had so much fun.

Date night

2010-09-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Sam and I rarely go out. It's not for the lack of babysitters and what not, it's just that we're too lazy to ask anyone to watch the kids. Then there's the feeling guilty that someone else has to take care of our kids while we're out having fun...The list could go on and on as to why we don't go out. But we have been needing a good night "out". So the other night we decided to have a date night - in. We put the kids to bed (we're lucky they sleep through the night, mostly) then Sam made Orange Julius and popped popcorn while I ran out to a Redbox to get a movie. The movie of choice...appropriatley titled "Date Night". Hilarious. The rule was anything goes...but we couldn't talk about the kids. It felt a lot like it did when we were dating. Good times. I think we'll have to do this more often. I'm surprised it took us nearly 3 years to figure it out.

Miss Independent

2010-09-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Olivia has started to use spoons and forks by herself. We used to be able to sit down and help her eat. Nowadays, if we even try, she'll shriek at us. She loves to do it all by herself. So, no matter how messy it gets (and it gets pretty messy) we let her do it by herself. Afterall, she's not so little anymore. :(

After nearly 14 months...

2010-09-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

I finally have a semi decent picture of my kids, together. It's been pretty much impossible to get them in the same shot, and it still is. I just got lucky with this one.

31...It's just a number (that's what I tell myself anyway)

2010-08-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

I told myself when I started this blog that I would never blog about my birthday. Well, I'm taking it back. Today is my birthday and it was such a perfect day, that I just have to blog about it.

It started with me waking up after 9am and realizing that I actually got to sleep in! It was an amazing feeling, which quickly vanished when I realized that Sam was going to be very late for work. When he told me that he had taken the day off, the amazing feeling came back. I was going to have a day off from taking care of the kids!!! That's really all I wanted. My wonderful husband gave me the option of him taking care of the kids while I went and did whatever I wanted to, or to pack up and go to the zoo. At first I thought it would be great to go do whatever I wanted to do, but knowing myself, I knew that I would go out for an hour or so, and then come back home, try to relax, only to hear the kids crying and screaming, and me racing down to help Sam take care of them. So, in the end, I chose to go to the zoo with the family. It was great. The weather was beautiful, and the kids had so much fun. Logan loved the penguins and Olivia fell in love with the Meerkats.

After the zoo, the kids took very long naps, which I can only assume was their present to me. (And I loved it!) During that time, Sam and I planned a trip to go to Maui in January. That is something that we have been looking forward to for quite some time and now only have to wait a few more months. Soon dinner time was approaching and Sam had one more birthday surprise for me. He took me out to dinner to El Gaucho. It was fabulous! The whole day was fabulous! I'm so glad that Sam stayed home to help with the kids and that we were able to do so much in one day. I may be biased here, but I think I've got the world's best husband.

Another fun day in the sun...and water

2010-08-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

Since it was so hot outside, we decided to head out to Mukilteo Lighthouse Park on Saturday. The kids had a blast. Logan enjoyed spending lots of time throwing rocks into the water. We watched a ferry leave the terminal. We watched a ferry come into the terminal. We even saw 2 trains pass by while we were there. The kids were in heaven. It had everything they love...water, boats, trains, and a park. I enjoyed all those things as well, but also enjoyed the views of the mountains, and the lighthouse. I love the Seattle area!

A fun day in the sun..and water

2010-08-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

My neighborhood playgroup went to Willis Tucker Park, in Snohomish, yesterday. We had been there before, only this time, I remembered the camera. Anything to do with water makes Logan one happy little boy. Olivia enjoys it as well, but I think it may be another year before she fully enjoys it as much as Logan. Of course, it would probably help if she didn't stick her face directly into the sprayer while it's off, only to have it turn on. (It was pretty hilarious to watch though.) I'm glad we are getting some summer weather around here, and that we can finally enjoy it!

1 year pics...Finally

2010-08-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

It amazes me at how fast she went from this...

To this...

My little artist

2010-08-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

I bought Logan some watercolor paint the other day thinking that maybe he might enjoy it and give him something different to do. Well, it worked. He LOVED it! He kept talking about his "colors" all day. Now I know to keep some extra paper around the house. The kid can't get enough of painting and drawing.

Sick and tired of being sick and tired!!!

2010-07-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

It's summertime. I've planned many activities to enjoy outside with my kids. I have been looking forward to this time since Olivia was born last year! Unfortunately, we haven't been able to do anything since the weather warmed up because we've all been sick. It started mid June with Logan catching a cold that led to double ear infections. We got him on anti-biotics in time for our trip to Moses Lake. His last dose was taken on the last day we were at Cannon Beach. A few days after getting back from Cannon Beach, Olivia had her 1 year check up where it was found that she had an ear infection, but Logan's had cleared up. Meanwhile, I got sick and had an ear and sinus infection. All 3 of us hadn't been doing so well, but we all had antibiotics, so I figured we would be on the mend shortly. Just a few days after Olivia's appointment, Logan got really sick again, so I took him into the doctor to get checked again. Double ear infections!!! He was given another antibiotic. Two days later, I went in to the doctor again because I was feeling worse, not better after my antibiotics. I have bronchitis and a sinus infection, and 2 ear infections. It has been a week since my last appointment and I'm only feeling slightly better. I'm afraid to make another appointment for myself, I don't know what else can be done. It's quite irritating. What bothers me even more is that my kids do not seem to be getting any better. So, I took them to the doctor again today. Logan still has his double ear infection. It looks like the antibiotic he was on, did absolutely nothing for him. So, he's on his third round of antibiotics! If this doesn't work, then we will have to discuss putting tubes in his ears. At this point, I don't care what it takes. I just want my little boy to be healthy again. As for Olivia, her antibiotics did nothing! Her slight 1 ear infection has turned to a severe double ear infection and she has a sinus infection. Poor kid. I really hope this second antibiotic works for her.

So, here we are entering week 8 of being sick. Sam started getting sick last week. I'm really hoping his isn't like the rest of ours. He seems to be getting better though, and he hasn't been to a doctor...yet. We have reached a combined total of 9 ear infections, 8 weeks of being sick, 7 antibiotics, 6 or more boxes of tissues (I've lost count), 5 doctor visits in one month, an illness that has affected all 4 of us, 3 cases of cabin fever, 2 sinus infections, and 1 of us with bronchitis (for now, anyway). I have never been so irritated. All I want is for my kids to be healthy, and for me and Sam to be healthy again too. I want to take my kids swimming and to the park, and be able to enjoy it! I have to take the kids back to the doctor in 10 days to see if the meds have helped any. I really hope they do. I really would like to be able to enjoy the summer weather while we have it. Oh well, we'll deal with whatever comes our way.

Cannon Beach

2010-07-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

We spent about a week at Cannon Beach, OR. Unfortunately, during that week, I was sick, Logan was getting over double ear infections, and Olivia wasn't doing so great either. We didn't get to do a lot of what I wanted, but we were fortunate enough to have great weather. Logan enjoyed playing on the beach, and weeks later, still talks about it.

Three Beard men, digging in the dirt. It cracks me up at how serious they all were about making the water go in different directions. I really wish I had video of it. Maybe next year...

Papa and the kids on a treasure hunt.

Olivia trying to convince Ollie that he's needed on the phone. :)

Olivia and Rebecca

A gorgeous sunset

A beginning post about Cannon Beach

2010-07-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

I will post about our trip to Cannon Beach, but I'm still trying to figure out how to word it all. In the meantime, I just had to share my most favorite picture of Olivia right now. We had all gone out to breakfast and Sam and I ordered the kids a meal to share. Logan only ate the scrambled eggs, and we ended up ordering 2 more side orders of scrambled eggs. (that's his favorite thing for breakfast, pretty much all he'll eat.) But the other part of the meal was sausage and pancakes, which Olivia was thrilled to get. I just love how absolutely excited she was!

Moses Lake

2010-07-13T16:25:00.001-07:00

On July 2, we made our way to Moses Lake for a family reunion. I was very nervous about going since both of our kids had been sick, and Logan had just been diagnosed with double ear infections earlier that morning. But, Sam and I agreed that we should at least attempt it. The kids seemed to be doing better, so why not. We got in the car that afternoon, and not 15 minutes into the 3 hour trip, we had to pull over. Olivia got sick in the car! Yikes, not fun. But we were expecting it since she had been getting sick the previous day, especially if she choked on something, which she did. A french fry from McDonald's is what we blame, although, who really knows for sure. I was ready to turn back and go home, but Sam was determined that we go. And I'm glad we did. We had no problems the rest of the way, and Olivia and Logan seemed to be much better by the time we got there.

We didn't do much, just hung out at my grandparents house. But that's really all I wanted to do anyway. It was nice to visit with family.

(some of the great-grandkids playing in the backyard)

(Olivia with Grandma H.)

(Olivia with Great-Grandpa J.)

(Sam with most of the kids, they all like that yellow chair for some reason)

We did have to cut our trip short since Sunday morning I woke up not feeling well. So, instead of leaving Sunday late afternoon, we left early Sunday morning. I still feel bad about having to leave early, there were a couple of pictures I wanted to take of my grandparents. But, I didn't want to get anyone else sick and we had a long drive ahead of us on Monday to go down to Cannon Beach for yet another family reunion. So, we felt it best to get home earlier than planned and rest for a bit.

1 year stats

2010-07-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

Weight: 23lbs 4ozs 80%tile
Height: 31 inches 95%tile

Unfortunately, like Logan and myself, she has an ear infection and she is a little low on iron. But other than that, she's healthy and perfect!

Happy 1st Birthday!

2010-07-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Olivia is 1 !!! I can hardly believe it! This past year has just flown by. Livi's birthday was celebrated over the course of many days, since we were out of town with multiple family reunions. Her birthday "week" started on the 2nd, with presents. She had a good time opening her presents and finding that she had a few new toys to play with. Logan was really excited as well, and kept saying "happy birthday". It was cute to watch them open her presents together.

The next day, her actual birthday, was spent in Moses Lake, WA with her great-grandparents and extended family. She was a bit under the weather, but she kept a smile on her face. The cake was exciting to her, but she was so careful about eating it. I've heard that most kids will just dive into their cakes, but Livi carefully used her fingers to take bites. Very cute!

She also got a cake on the 6th that she shared with her Aunt Lina while we were at Cannon Beach, OR. She wasn't too much into the cake this time, but then again, it was approaching bed time so she just wanted to go to sleep.

I think she had a pretty good first birthday, especially since it lasted for awhile!

Family First

2010-07-01T09:53:00.001-07:00

So, I found out yesterday that my cousin's little boy, Austin, isn't doing so well. He is currently at Spokane Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in the ICU. He caught E.Coli which caused him to get HUS. (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/779218-overview) It breaks my heart that this little boy, only 2 years old, is going through this. And my heart breaks for his family who have to watch him go through this ordeal. His kidneys are not working right now and he is having to go through dialysis and blood transfusions. Austin is constantly on my mind, and I pray that he recovers fully and quickly.

I'm not one to normally ask for favors, but it is my family, and family is very important to me. So, if you would, please pray for this little boy and his family that all will turn out right. Also, if you are willing and able, please consider donating blood to your local bank. For those in the NW, if you can, you can donate to an Inland Northwest Blood Center to donate in Austin's name. It doesn't have to be his blood type, it can be any. It will help to offset the costs that his family has with the blood transfusions, as well as replace some of the blood they are using. To donate in Austin's name, you will need his address which is

Ben and Cortney Jones
1710 W Hillcrest Dr.
Apt #134
Newbury Park, Ca 91320

I've never been a fan of donating my blood, it always makes me sick...but you never know when a friend or loved one will need it. As for me, once I get over this cold, I will be on my way to help

Animal Farm

2010-06-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to an Animal Farm today. My neighborhood playgroup was supposed to go there anyway, but the weather wasn't cooperating. It was much different from the other day...drizzling, cold, not pleasant. But I had promised Logan we would see animals and he was just too excited about it that we had to go. I shouldn't have done it, but Logan was jumping up and down all morning asking when we were going to see the "amimoles". So I packed up the kids and headed to Forrest Park in Everett. It's a beautiful park, and the animal farm was a huge success with the kids. Logan loved all the animals, and Olivia was rather fond of the horses. Of course, one of the horses gave her a kiss, so I'm thinking that's why she liked them so much. :)

Cool-Pool Party

2010-06-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

The other day it finally got a little warm. I figured it was warm enough to get the pool out. It wasn't a hot day by any means...maybe only mid 70's, but the kids were bored and so was I. They loved it! Logan played in the pool for a couple of hours off and on. Olivia was okay with it for a bit, but quickly got tired of it. It was still fun though and I'm glad we were able to use it at least once. I hope summer decides to show up and stay around awhile very soon.

Bed Head

2010-06-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

This is what my little girl looked like after she woke up this morning...

Poor thing, I hope she doesn't have this much trouble when she's older. :)

Garage Sale

2010-06-19T21:40:00.001-07:00

Today we had our first ever garage sale. Will we do it again? Probably not, at least not for awhile. It was hard to do with Olivia screaming inside the house because she only wanted to be with her mom. For some reason or another, dad just wasn't good enough today. (Sorry about that Sam) Logan of course was dying to be outside as well, so once he got dressed, he spent the day outside with me, managing inventory. :) He was quick to pull items away from people's view if he thought they might want to purchase. Who knew a 2 year old would be so attached to a desk he never even used. He screamed for a good 15 minutes after it got put into the back of someone's truck. He also had a tantrum when our old weed wacker was purchased. He was okay with letting some of his toys go though. Strange! He was very protective of a stuffed bear. He kept saying "eeya's bear" (olivia's bear) and taking it away just as people approached. Perhaps it was a good thing he was so protective, Olivia held on to that bear the rest of the day once the sale was over.

All in all, it was a good experience. We were able to get rid of a bunch of things that were taking up too much space. But perhaps we should hold off on any other garage sales until the kids are a bit older. It might make things a tad bit easier.

On another note, I just have to mention what Olivia did the other day. I was trying to do her hair and she kept grabbing at her head and gave me a very stern look. I continued to keep trying to put her hair in pigtails. After a minute of struggling, she turned and looked at me and sternly said "NO NO MAMA" while shaking her head no. This girl is going to give me trouble. But she's still very cute.

Mr. Independent

2010-06-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

This kid loves to go outside. He just unlocks and opens the back door with no problem. He even does it after I tell him not to. It can get very frustrating. Lately I told him that he can't go outside unless he has shoes on. So, one morning when he wanted to go out and I wouldn't let him, because it was 7:30 on a Saturday morning (I knew the neighbors wouldn't appreciate him making all the noise he makes), he went ahead and found his rainboots and put them on and headed outside. Sigh! I just don't know what to do with this kid. But I love him anyway!

Playing together

2010-06-09T10:53:00.001-07:00

Actually, I don't know if that's what they were intending to do, but they both enjoyed it. I love it when my kids are happy and get along.

He's saying "big truck" and I'm guessing he was talking about going to get his dog that he got in the end. I'm not sure though, he's a hard one to understand.

And she's off!

2010-06-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Olivia is walking! Well, sort of. She's great at walking while holding on to things. She loves to push anything and everything and walk behind it. Shortly after this video, she took her first official steps! (Which was yesterday) Unfortunately it happened right after I put the camera away, go figure. She's working on it though, today she practiced some more. We think in about a week or so she'll be walking some more.

Oh, and some more bragging about her. She's trying to say more words. She's attempting to say "Logan", "cat", and "socks". It's pretty cute, she'll point to what it is and try to say the word. I should really get it on video. Her favorite thing right now is to drop something and say "Uh oh" and to clap her hands and say "yay". So cute!

Rain or Shine

2010-06-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

It doesn't matter what the weather is like to Logan. He loves the outdoors. The other day when it was pouring he went and got his rainboots and rain coat, put them on, and headed out the door to play in the backyard. He was out for quite some time. When he was finally done being outside he came in and said "Momma! Very, very wet!" (pointing to himself)

WHY????

2010-05-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of my "why's?". I can't wait until Logan has his...ummm, I take that back, yes I can. :)

1.) Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are almost dead?

2.) Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they already know there is not enough money?

3.) Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars; but have to check when you say the paint is still wet?

4.) Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

5.) Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

6.) Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?

7.) Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

8.) Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

9.) Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

10.) How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

11.) When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart than apologizes for doing so, why do we say, 'It's all right?' Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, 'That really hurt, why don't you watch where you're going?'

12.) Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

13.) In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

14.) How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

15.) and my FAVORITE...... The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

Eye Doctor

2010-05-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Olivia had her first visit to the eye doctor yesterday. She did very well. She didn't fidget too much, so the doctor was able to get a good look at her eyes. They seem to be developing normally for her age. She still has some far sightedness, but Dr. Clayton told me that all babies are born far sighted and that the faster they lose that, the faster they become near sighted. So, to hear that Olivia was in the normal range was a big relief. Hopefully, she'll continue to stay in the normal range for some time. She does have some astigmatism though. It's nothing to worry about now, but he will check it at the next visit. Of course, that won't be until she's 3 years old. I'm just hoping that all goes well with that visit too. I don't think my kids will have much luck with their eyesight, but I am hoping that it doesn't come until much later.

While Sam was away

2010-05-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

Sam's grandma passed away the day before Mother's Day. As a result, he and his family travelled to Salt Lake City to attend the funeral. He left Friday morning and came home early Sunday morning. That meant that I had two days and two nights alone with the kids. Not a big deal, really, but they can be a handful and I depend on Sam coming home in the evenings after work to help out. Needless to say, I panicked. Luckily I had the help from my brother on Friday to keep the kids entertained and Sam's brother and sister-in-law came by both Friday and Saturday evenings. All of them were lifesavers!

Friday morning I packed the kids up and we headed down to Renton to visit Uncle David and cousin Tanner. We had a great time at Lake Boren Park. The swings were favorites of both kids, but Logan seemed to enjoy running in the big open space. Logan even befriended a dog that was out playing catch. He got a kick out of watching the dog chase after the ball. Olivia and Tanner were content to sit around and watch, seeing as how they really can't do much else. :) It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous park. Thanks Uncle David for letting us join you and Tanner!

Thank goodness the weather was great! It allowed us to go for many walks. The kids just love their wagon. Every afternoon we go out for a walk and then stop by the neighborhood park to play for a bit before dinner. (this picture was taken with my cell phone, not the best quality.)

It was pretty interesting though to see how the kids knew their dad wasn't around. Both evenings around 5pm, they got all out of sorts. Luckily Uncle Caleb, Aunt Lina, and cousin Rebecca showed up. It really helped to have them here, even though I know it must've been a hassle to pack up their stuff and bring a brand new baby. I don't know if they'll realize just how grateful I am that they did it though.

Sunday came and Sam was home. Olivia was the most excited to see her daddy. It was so cute to watch the excitement on her face and how she couldn't stop jumping around the way she does. Logan was excited to see his daddy too, although I think he was a bit hesitant to get too excited. I think he may have thought that dad was going to leave again. At least things are back to normal...for now.

Standing, Talking, and other things

2010-05-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

My kids amaze me! Every day they teach me new things, or remind me of things long forgotten. They are persistent about reminding me to have patience. Maybe one day I'll get it down. Until then, I'll just try to enjoy the moments I have with them while they are young.

Olivia is now standing on her own and talking. Yes, talking! She's been standing on her own for awhile now, but I only just got a picture of it.

She is so stinkin' cute, I can't stand it! I'm not sure what her official first word is, but she's got a vocabulary. It's small, but it exists. She can say "All done", "Bye Bye", "Daddy" (and know that it's daddy she's talking about) "Mama", and "yes". What really cracks me up are her head shakes and nods. She'll shake her head "no" or nod "yes" to the appropriate questions. I still think of her as my little baby, and no doubt she still is, but she is growing up. I'm having a hard time accepting that.

Logan is all over the place. He has so much energy! I feel bad for him though. There just isn't enough room for him to run around at our place. We do go to parks, but that gets complicated since Olivia can't walk just yet, and Logan is always running away from me. I foresee sports activities in his future. Maybe that will help him with all the energy he has.

Red is his favorite color

2010-05-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

Logan loves the color red. Everything has to either be red, or have red in or on it. His shirts, his shoes, his toys, his bedding...all have to have red, even if it's just a little bit. He's not against any other color, and if by some chance there isn't red on his toy or clothes, it's not super bad, but red does help. He'll eagerly put on clothes when red is present, but it's a struggle if it is missing.

We recently got him a tricycle and it just happened to be red. He loves it! It doesn't matter to him that he can't figure out how to ride it, it's red and that's all that matters to him.

10 months

2010-05-04T18:37:00.000-07:00

And still so cute!

One horrible night

2010-05-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Last night was awful, terrible, unforgettable.

It started in the afternoon when another one of my migraines hit in full force. I have medicine for them, but try not to use it as one of the side effects is nightmares. Strange, but true. But I needed it, after all, it works. I went to bed pretty early and all was well...for a bit anyway.

Around 3am I woke up due to one of those nightmares. I was a bit freaked out to be honest and really had no desire to leave my bed, or to go back to sleep. I was pretty much wide awake for a bit. Around 3:30, just as I'm starting to doze off again, I hear "BEEP BEEP BEEP..." and I'm wondering "who has their alarm going off at 3:30 in the morning, that's just ridiculous." (thinking it was one of the neighbors.) After a few seconds, I realize that it is OUR house alarm getting ready to go off. I fly out of bed, forgetting my glasses, and start running down the stairs to turn it off before the alarm hits in full force. I was too late. Halfway down the stairs, the alarm starts shrieking! I freak out yet again, and continue down the stairs, on my back. Yup, I fell and slid to the bottom.

As I'm sliding down the stairs, I'm thinking to myself "Man, whoever is in this house is seriously gonna get it! No one breaks into my home and gets away with it!" Then I start thinking, "Good grief this alarm is loud, it better not wake up my babies." Yeah, not very logical thinking.

I got to the bottom of the stairs and start running to shut off the alarm, and then I made a mad dash through the house looking for the culprit. (Again, not very smart... I realize this now.) But no one is there, the door is still locked, and no windows are broken. The wind was howling though, so that is probably what triggered it to go off. Then I turn around and see Sam. I initially thought he was the burglar, but soon realized it was my husband. That's when I lost it, I just broke down in the middle of the dining room. I suddenly realized that I was completely stupid to just run downstairs the way I did. What if someone really had broken into our house. I just couldn't handle it. It had been too much. Nothing happened, and I'm so grateful for that. And, my kids slept through it all, thank goodness! It is something I never want to live through again, and hopefully we won't have to.

Yup, definitely related!

2010-04-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

There's no mistaking it. Olivia is most definitely my daughter!! The first picture is of me around 7 months old and the second is Olivia at 9 months old. We're even wearing the same outfit!

Daddy/Daughter Love

2010-04-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

There's nothing else like it!
She absolutely adores him.

Wishing and Hoping

2010-04-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

For what, I'm not sure, but Logan sits on the piano looking out the window quite frequently. It's as if he's longing to be outside (which I'm sure is the case), yet knowing that it's not possible. My favorite part about this is that he'll turn on the piano and have it play classical music as he just sits and stares out the window. I love that he can enjoy some quiet time, and hopefully soon, I'll be able to get him outside more often (just need to get my migraines under control once more).

9 Months

2010-04-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

Another milestone reached! Olivia is 9 months old now and just awesome! Here's some of the things she's up too:

Weight: 20lbs 14ozs. (75%)
Height: 28 1/4" (75%)
She has 3 teeth (2 top, 1 bottom)
Prefers to eat food that she can feed herself with (cheerios, puffs, bread, etc)
Loves to pull her self up to a standing position
Starting to cruise the furniture a bit
Recently found out that she can climb the stairs and loves it! (much to my dismay)
Loves competitions with Logan, the favorite right now is "who can scream the loudest"
Sleeps through the night, most nights. (7:30pm-7:30am) Other nights, she'll wake up early in the morning, but once she's had a bottle, goes right back to sleep.
Loves to play peek-a-boo
She is a great "parrot". She'll copy a lot of what we say, like "OK", "All done" "I did" "yes" "good night" and a lot of other short phrases. It's pretty good too, since we can understand her. The other day I told her something and she looked at me and said "ok" as if she really was answering me.
Loves, loves, loves attention from mom, dad, and especially Logan!

She is such a sweetheart! I find her to be one of the easiest babies to take care of, I just hope she stays that way. :)