Norton Notations

Christmas Vacation

2012-01-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Logan had a little over 2 weeks off for Christmas vacation. It started with freezing temperatures, fevers, colds and snow. At least everyone got sick and got it out of the way before Christmas. By the time Christmas Eve rolled around we were all better, mostly. We went to church on Christmas Eve. Logan and Megan participated in the pageant as sheep this year.

Ready for church on Christmas Eve.

Logan as a sheep.

Megan was a wandering sheep and didn't stay put well, she heard there were cookies after the pageant.

Later that night, we hung up our stockings.

Christmas morning, Santa had come.

This was the only gift Megan opened on her own. She wasn't interested in other gifts after this one.

A Cinderella doll.

Logan asked Santa for a stuffed Lightning McQueen and Mater.

Logan opening his other big gift. He asked for Lightning McQueen luggage.

---------

The rest of our vacation was spent at home or doing things close to home.

We did some reading......

....made messes.....

.....went indoor/glow in the dark mini golfing with cousins. Logan won with 79 strokes for an 18 hole mini golf course. Probably won't go pro anytime soon.......

....more reading.....

...trips to the Zoo and Aquarium.

Logan returns to school tomorrow, Dan and I will celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary and Megan will play. Sounds fun!

Catching Up

2011-12-16T16:35:00.001-07:00

It's been October since the last post so there's lots to catch up on. I'll do a quick run down. Logan has been doing very well in school. We had our first parent/teacher conference and were told Logan was doing very well and was one of the best students. Logan's done for the year and will return on January 4. It should be a busy couple of weeks. In the meantime though, Dan's parents came for Thanksgiving and we celebrated an early Christmas with them as well. Logan got lots of bike riding time, took them to his Explora class and had a great time.

Other events from the past few months:

Logan attended his first on stage performance when we went to see Blast! It was a long night but he had a great time and got to meet the musicians after the show and even got to play on their drums.

We took advantage of the wonderful fall colors from some trees at church and took some pictures. They really do adore each other.

Megan has become very vocal and will carry on a conversation with anyone (or anything that will listen). She had an intense conversation with Logan's Pooh Bear one afternoon, maybe he knew what she was saying.

Logan got 3 awards at school during the Kindergarten 1st Semester Awards Ceremony. He got an award for Perfect Attendance, Excelling in Language Arts and Excelling in Math. He was the only one in his class to earn all 3!

We attended the church's cookie bake off, dressed in our best Christmas 'ears'.

Megan stands on her own now, but won't walk. Though fearless in every other way, walking doesn't seem to be something she wants to do now. But we're getting close.

Logan won first place in the Children's Candy Category at the Cookie bake off. He made Oreo Truffles and they were a huge hit! Ruth also won 2nd in the Adult Bar Candy Category for Pecan Chocolate Chip Bars and 2nd in the Adult Candy Category for her Turtles.

With only 9 days until Christmas, Logan is bursting with excitement. Logan and Megan will both be sheep this year in the pageant at church. Until next time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Birthday's and Halloween

2011-10-30T16:44:00.000-06:00

Megan celebrated her first birthday this month. Other than a trip to the doctor for her check up, we didn't do much. We had a few gifts and cupcakes. Here's some pictures from her big day.

This was taken while we were singing 'Happy Birthday'. She only laughed at us for a few minutes.

Enjoying her cupcake. We got cupcakes with chocolate filling. We thought those would be less messy than lots of icing. And they were slightly less messy. Still lots of sugar and chocolate. Dan and Logan enjoyed them as well.

Licking every last bit off. No wasted cupcake here.

Meanwhile, we've been getting ready for Halloween. Logan wanted to be a firefighter this year and Megan was a pink bunny. We had the hat and goodness knows she has plenty of pink clothes so it was an easy choice. The kids dressed up for the Zoo Boo and for church. Logan and Dan will go 'Trick or Treating' tomorrow night.

The weather is getting cool here and Logan is preparing his list to Santa, I guess the holidays aren't far away. Megan still isn't walking. She has become a very fast crawler though and figures she can get anywhere she needs to faster crawling than wasting time walking. She is very adventurous and will get into anything and everything she can. Logan continues to do well in kindergarten. He'll take his first field trip tomorrow to a pumpkin patch in Los Lunas.

Finally a fun video showing Megan with some possible musical talents. Who knows!

Balloon Fiesta 2011

2011-10-05T10:02:00.000-06:00

It's October in NM that means it's Balloon Fiesta time. We decided to go this year in the morning. We were up by 4:45AM and out the door by 5:15AM. It wasn't too cold, in the 50's and it warmed up by 9AM and was really nice. The kids had a really good time. There were lots of new special shapes, some of our new favorites are Spider Pig and the Shark. Of course they still had the old favorites too, the cow, the stagecoach, the bees just to name a few. I think they had almost 600 balloons take off on Sunday. Here's some pictures from the field.

Logan is still really enjoying school. Megan is more and more mischievous everyday. Logan wants to be a firefighter for Halloween, so we'll be looking for that costume in the next few weeks. We're all doing good and looking forward to some cooler weather.

Birthday Wrap Up

2011-09-12T09:31:00.000-06:00

Logan celebrated his 5th birthday last month. With all that's been going on at home, I haven't had the time to post pictures. We've stayed very busy. Last week I was at the church all week, helping them take down and hang the new art gallery show. Megan helped too, in her own way. Logan's been busy with school. Homework started a couple weeks ago and he's been doing great. He had his 5 year well child check up at the doctor last week as well. He was promised there would be no shots at 5 years, but as it turned out they had just gotten the kids flu shots in, so instead of making another appointment and coming back he ended up getting a shot after all. Which didn't make him too happy. Other than that we've been staying busy with school and other activities. Here's some highlights from Logan's Dino Birthday Bash!

For Logan's party we went to the church's annex building after Sunday School classes. The kids started with a dinosaur egg hunt, they got to decorate bags to put their eggs in. There were lots of older siblings there to help the younger kids.

Then it was time for the egg hunt. The kids were all assigned a different color of an egg so they all had to find their own eggs. They had a great time.

Then it was more fun with 'Pin the Skull on the Fossil'.

Presents are always a hit. Logan got Lego's, games and cars. He was very happy.

Logan wanted a dinosaur cake for his birthday. Not sure how to make a dinosaur, we decided to just make and egg cake and the dinosaur could 'hatch out of his egg'.

Cake and ice cream are always a hit with kids. After the cake the kids played hide and seek for a while until the party was done.

As for Megan, she's become a very fast crawler. She can pull herself up on furniture and can walk with help. She's very mischievous and is into everything.

First Day of School

2011-08-19T10:21:00.000-06:00

Logan was supposed to start school on Tuesday, but we got a call on Monday that said that kindergarten wouldn't start until Thursday. So we got a couple more days of summer vacation in. We did get to go meet the teacher on Tuesday.

Here's Logan ready for school.

Walking to school, making sure Mom is still there.

Almost there. School is in sight.

Ready to go in.

All lined up when the bell rings. Now we look a little nervous.

Picking up Logan from school. Waiting is hard work.

All done!! And still smiling!

Logan's teacher said he did great and was a model student. We're looking forward to a year of fun!

A Month in Review

2011-08-14T15:18:00.000-06:00

We've had a busy summer. Lot's has happened since our last post. We've had lots of visitors, lots of trips to the zoo, aquarium, and museums, trips on the rail runner, baseball games and back to school prep. So we'll do a quick recap.

In July both my sisters visited and their trips overlapped for a couple days. What do you do with 8 kids? You take them to church, well kind of. It helps that we have access to keys at the church. One night we took all the kids, and did a pizza and movie night at the church. Here's all the kiddos.

Andrew, William, Zeona, Sarah, Megan, Logan, Elizabeth, Syndl

We used the big screen pulled up lots of chairs and settled in for Tangled.

We also took a trip on the Rail Runner to Santa Fe. Spent a couple hours there then returned home. Megan had a great time and loved looking out the window. She spent a good deal of the trip plastered to the window, until she finally gave in and took a nap.

There's always a few minutes to relax. What's a better way to relax than have a 4 year old walk on your back.

We squeezed in a few baseball games, and even stayed way past all of our bedtimes for fireworks one night. We had to wake Logan up for the fireworks and Megan was so fascinated by them.

Logan finished up his class at the zoo/aquarium. And we went on some non-class days just for fun. Megan likes to watch the fish so we spent some extra time at the fish tanks.

Finally one last pre-birthday gift for Logan. He's wanted to do a build a bear for years so this was finally the year. He picked his bear, named him 'Friendship' and 'stuffed' him.

Here's Logan putting the bears heart in....

...giving the bear a bath before picking clothes....

...dressing the bear, he choose a Cars 2 outfit for his bear. A pajama set with Lighting McQueen slippers.

Logan and Friendship. He really loves that bear.

Logan begins Kindergarten on Tuesday. He's very excited. His birthday is Sunday and we'll be having a Dino Bash Party on Sunday after church, I'll be preparing for that this week while Logan is in school. Pictures coming soon.

An Early Birthday

2011-07-03T20:35:00.000-06:00

We decided to get Logan his birthday present early this year, so that he'd have the summer to enjoy it. We got him a bike, with training wheels. We went to see Cars 2 on Saturday so it was only appropriate that we get him a Lightning McQueen bike. After dinner we headed out and rode up and down the street several times. He had a great time and did really well, even going up hill.

How did Megan spend our time out on our walk/ride? She ate her foot, or kept trying.

Here's a short video of Logan riding his bike.

Everyday This and That...

2011-06-17T14:48:00.000-06:00

Not much going on here. The winds have shifted so we haven't been getting as much smoke in the city as we were last week. The days are really nice and if it's hazy it's only in the evening and at night. Hopefully they'll get the fire out soon. Last night the news said it was 29% contained.

Logan started his zoo/aquarium class this week. We learned about marsupials. He made a wombat craft. We helped Megan make one too. The zoo has 2 or 3 new wombats, it's a brand new exhibit. Here's some pictures of the week.

Logan started the week off reading the Sunday comics, or at least looking at all the pictures.

We went to see a magician at the library this week. He's holding 2 doves that he made appear. Logan is in the hat almost in the center of the picture, he's a little to the right.

Finally a video of Megan laughing. She'll laugh at almost anything Logan does. In the video he's screaming 'Doggy Surprise'

Morning Fun.

2011-06-08T15:57:00.000-06:00

This was taken this morning. So cute, makes me smile everytime I look at it. Just some early morning fun. We're not even out of our PJ's.

Just like any kid, Megan loved playing with the box. I couldn't even get her to look at me for a picture.

Birthday's and Fires

2011-06-07T10:44:00.000-06:00

Just one birthday and one fire really. Dan's birthday was yesterday, but we celebrated on Sunday since Dan worked yesterday. We had a cake, Dan had his own individual cake. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting, the same one he wants every year. Logan happened to tell Dan that for his birthday he was having chocolate cake, and couldn't understand why Daddy didn't want a chocolate cake.

As for the fire, Albuquerque and most of New Mexico has been pretty smoky the past few days and it continues to get worse. The smoke is from the Wallow fire in AZ though not far from the NM border, as of last night it hadn't spread into NM but I'm sure it will. It's a huge fire, there's 0% containment. NM is cutting trees and clearing a path, I'm assuming they're hoping that if it runs out of fuel it will at least give them a chance to get it under control. Last night the smoke was so thick and so bad, I think the news said there was only 1 mile of visibility. You could actually see ashes falling from the sky. These are some pictures taken about 7:15pm. The orange/redish sky is all from smoke, not the sunset or a storm. These are views out the front and back yards. Though it looks like the pictures have had their color altered I assure you this is exactly what it looked like. It's supposed to be like this until Thursday at least. The days aren't too bad, it's hazy and you can smell the smoke but it not until the evenings and night that the smoke just lays over the city like this. Hopefully the firefighters will be able to get some control over this fire soon.

Building Planes

2011-06-03T09:58:00.000-06:00

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Logan finished pre school and got registered for Kindergarten in the fall. Megan got 2 teeth, her 2 bottom front ones. We finally got our swap cooler up an running and with temperatures in the 90's we got it up just in time. Last week we went to Lowes for a kids craft. Every couple of weeks they do a craft, it's free and Logan had a good time. The kids get an apron and a patch. This time Logan and Dan made a bi-plane. Dan did most of the hammering. Logan helped with some. After they were done building it there were stickers the kids could use to decorate their plane. I think Logan used every single sticker he could.

Meanwhile, Megan has been working on teeth. She got her first 2 teeth at the same time, a couple weeks ago. Her 2 bottom front teeth. Much like Logan there weren't any major signs she was teething, a runny nose and some drool but that's about it. Then up popped two teeth. She's also discovered she can stand by herself, as long as she's holding on to something. Her little play gym is just the right size. She's close to crawling but it hasn't happened yet. She scoots backwards on her tummy for now, but doesn't go very far.

Logan's zoo class starts in about 10 days. We'll be celebrating Dan's birthday this weekend. And hopefully we'll get to spend some time outside next week. No going out side today, smoke from a wild fire in AZ has covered ABQ and most of NM and it's no fun to be outside in it. Looks like we'll spend the day playing inside.

National Train Day

2011-05-16T12:13:00.000-06:00

May 7 was National Train Day. So of course we spent it at the train station. They had Rail Runner cars and engines you could tour as well as Amtrak cars. We toured sleeping cars and found where we would sleep if we ever (not likely to happen) took a train to Disneyland. They had lots of coloring books, and other kid activities that Logan enjoyed. Here's a few pictures of National Train Day.

Dan and Logan checking out the Rail Runner engine.

Sitting on the Rail Runner...ready to go! Logan made his Amtrak hat at the Amtrak table.

Logan checking out some of the controls on the Rail Runner.

Logan has 4 days of school (or 2 weeks) left and then he's out for the summer. It will be a busy 2 weeks.

Fun at the Park

2011-05-06T18:54:00.000-06:00

With the weather in the 80's here and NOT windy for once, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head to the park. We packed a picnic lunch and spent the morning there. After getting a tire fixed on the car it should be a quiet weekend. I'm not expecting much for Mother's Day, (we did go to the St. James Tea Room last weekend) especially after my conversation with Logan today:

Logan says to me "I'm working on a special Mother's Day gift. You want to know who it's for?"

So I say, "Who?"

Logan replies "DADDY!!"

Here's the park pictures from today.

Easter

2011-05-02T11:15:00.001-06:00

We had a great Easter. Logan had a good time and Megan enjoyed her first Easter as much as a 6 month old can I suppose. Here they are on Easter morning before church.

We spent Good Friday dying Easter Eggs and at church for a Good Friday Kids Activity Day. Logan made lots of crafts and had a good time.

We put out Easter baskets the night before Easter, Logan helped with Megan's.

The Easter Bunny came and left lots of loot!

Ready for church!

After the service at church, there was an Easter Egg hunt in the garden complete with candy prizes!

Later was dinner and we used some of our Easter eggs for decoration, dinosaurs and scuba divers!

For more pictures from our other April activities see the next post.

6 months

2011-05-02T11:01:00.000-06:00

There's been lots going on here. Easter, Megan turning 6 months and more. Since the weather has been nice (except for today) we've been trying to play outside which doesn't leave much time to do things inside.

This is Megan on her 6 month birthday. Her 6 month checkup got postponed, but we did weigh her at home and she's about 17 pounds. She's sitting up unsupported, is very strong and loves to laugh and play, mostly with her brother.

She had her first taste of solid foods, she was very disappointed to only get rice cereal. She knows there's much better stuff out there. I'm not even sure she swallowed any.

This picture was taken when we took the rice cereal away!

A few days later when she tried some avocado, well that went over much better! She was so happy and just couldn't get it fast enough. She's also had apples, which went ok, she didn't love them. This week she'll try bananas.

Logan has 4 weeks left of school then it's summer vacation. We're sure the next month will keep us busy with lots of end of the school year activities.

Park and 5 Months

2011-03-21T08:14:00.001-06:00

Last week was spring break. Logan didn't have preschool or his zoo class last week so we stayed home. We went to the park a few days and the zoo one day. But for the most part stayed home and did some spring cleaning and organizing. All closets, except 1 have been cleaned out and we now have large stack of items to get rid of.

While at the park one day Logan was talking to another little boy who was there playing and they were talking and the little boy asked Logan about his pets saying, "So what kind of pets do you have?" Logan responded with, "Well, I have 2 cats, 1 dog and a baby sister." Here are some pictures from the park.

Megan went down the slide for the first time with Logan holding on to her. She is clearly not sure about the whole thing.

Megan is now 5 months old and is 15 lbs 4 oz and 27 inches tall. She's in 6-9 month clothes and still eating and sleeping well. She'll start some solid foods in a few weeks. She's close to rolling over. Just hasn't had the motivation to go all the way, but she'll go on her side and play on her side for a while. She's sitting up with support but close to doing it alone.

Back to our routine this week.

Mardi Gras and Baseball

2011-03-15T10:04:00.000-06:00

We had a busy weekend, thank goodness we're on spring break, we sure need it after our weekend. We don't have any plans to go anywhere for spring break, but might go to the zoo or some museums sometime. But there's lots to share. First just some fun pictures of Megan from last week.

If she's in a good mood when she wakes up sometimes she'll play Peek-a-Boo with her blanket.

Peek a Boo!

These are just a few pictures that we took when she was laughing at Logan.

Last Tuesday for Mardi Gras the church had a potluck party for kids and families. They had a live jazz band there and prizes for the most colorful outfit and the craziest hat. Logan won one of the prizes for craziest hat.

Here he is picking his prize.

Logan got a ladybug, noise maker for his prize.

He wore his kangaroo hat which we made even crazier with a hat and some beads for the kangaroo.

On Saturday we went to the Isotopes park. Saturday was they day they released all the tickets for all the games on sale. So we had our games picked out and went to the park.

This is Dan waiting in line, he's in the blue sweatshirt.

Orbit came out to entertain people while waiting in line. Logan just loves Orbit.

After we got our tickets they had the stadium opened to walk around in. Logan and Dan went down to the field, while I fed Megan. They didn't let you on the grass, since they're getting it ready for games but you could walk around the field.

Logan and Dan in the dugout. They're there, center of the picture, Logan has an orange jacket and Dan has a blue sweatshirt.

Waving at the edge of the stands.

After the field we went to the locker rooms, or clubhouse. Since the teams in AZ for spring training it was empty. Here's Logan in one of the 'lockers' for the players.

They also had nice big couches in the locker room.

On Sunday Logan went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time. It was his friend Addisyn's birthday party. He had a good time but hasn't asked to go back, maybe he thinks it's only for birthday parties. We'll spend the rest of spring break organizing and cleaning out a few rooms and closets, probably nothing that exciting.

Nothing New

2011-02-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

There's not a whole lot that's new going on here. Megan is growing, she's now 4 months old. She'll go see the doctor tomorrow for her 4 month check up while Logan's in school. Wednesday mornings we're still at the zoo for the Biopark Beginnings class which Logan seems to really enjoy.

Dan and I went to see Wicked last weekend for Valentine's Day. It was a great show and we had a great time. The traveling company was here for 3 weeks, with a show every night and 2 on Saturday's and Sunday's, and I think they were sold out at every show. I know they were sold out at our show.

Here's a few pictures from the past week or so.

It's officially baseball season-the pitches are warming up!

Have a good rest of February. Now that it's finally starting to warm up here, we'll probably start spending more time outside. We would love to fix up our backyard and make it a fun place to play for the kids, so we're slowly working toward that. Until then though, we'll be at the park.

Birthday Parties, The Flu, and More

2011-02-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

We've had a pretty rough week here. I think though we're finally done with it. Before our challenging week started Logan and Megan were invited to their friend Addie's birthday party. Addie turned 3 and she had a dinosaur birthday party. Logan was so excited for the party. We knew there would be a clown there to do face painting and balloon animals so he was looking forward to that all week. Mary O'Net the Clown was very nice, funny and did magic tricks too. Logan got to help her do some of the magic tricks and was very impressed with it all. Then she did face painting, Logan didn't want his face painted so he got his hand painted instead. He wanted a 'wild animal' so Mary O'Net did a tiger, she also made him a tiger balloon animal later. Addie had a huge birthday cake and Logan and Megan had a great time.

Then our week began...Monday night and into Tuesday a huge storm hit New Mexico, we knew the storm was coming along with wind and freezing temps so we were prepared for that. What we weren't prepared for was Logan coming down with the flu on Tuesday. He was sick all day, didn't eat anything, finally kept some pedialite down and had a couple crackers at the end of the day. Wednesday he was better and back to his normal self. But by now it was too cold to play outside in the snow. New Mexico was hit with record low temperatures and Thursday was worse. We woke up to -7 degrees with the wind chill it was more like -24, just horrible. All Albuquerque schools were cancelled Tuesday-Friday. Kids will finally go back on Monday. Because of the cold temperatures there were gas shortages all over NM so the governor asked everyone to turn their thermostats down by 10 degrees to conserve gas. Friday government offices were closed to conserve gas. Back to the flu, Dan felt sick a couple of days that week and then it hit Ruth Thursday night. She was sick all night Thursday and Friday. Finally on Saturday things finally improved. Everyone is back to normal, hopefully we're all done being sick for the year. I think between colds and the flu we've been sick for about 3 weeks. Fortunately Megan has caught any of it. Things should be back to normal this week. Everyone is healthy and while the weather isn't back to normal at least we're not in negative temps anymore.

Here's a few pictures from the birthday party.

Logan getting his hand painted.

The tiger on his hand. He was so pleased with it.

Then it was balloon animal time.

Cake of course, poor Bethany (Mom of 5) forgot to get ice cream. But no one minded :)

Everyone was sent home with a gift bag with a plastic dinosaur, bubbles and more. They even made Megan a special gift bag with a stuffed dinosaur and a pacifier.

Here's some other pictures we've taken in the past few weeks.

Ready for church this morning.

These were taken about a week ago. I made the headband for her so I was taking some pictures of her in it.

We're hoping for a less exciting and warmer week here than last week. Hope your week goes well too.

Video of Megan

2011-01-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Cute video of Megan. Last week Logan was making her laugh every time he said "Hi" to her.

January Update...

2011-01-26T18:14:00.001-07:00

January has proved to be a very busy month. Megan is getting very vocal and is close to rolling over. She's already rolled over from tummy to back a couple of times and is very close to rolling over from back to tummy. She's finally on a schedule that seems to suit everyone and their schedules and she's made the big move to sleeping in her crib at night instead of in our room. So far so good. No favorite toy yet, though she is quite taken with any mirror.
As for Logan he's still in school 2 days a week and we've added a preschool class at the zoo/aquarium/botanical gardens that meets once a week. It's a 12 week session, we finished week 2 today. His class meets for about an hour and a half every week and each week they learn about different plants, animals and fish in and around Africa. We alternate locations each week, last week we meet at the aquarium, this week at the zoo. There's about 25 kids in his class and he's been having a lot of fun and learning a lot. The kids spend about 70 minutes leaning, singing songs and doing a craft about the topic of the day, then the rest of the class we go see the actual animal in it's zoo/aquarium habitat. Plus the class ends right at lunch time so we pack a lunch and after the class, enjoy lunch then spend the rest of the day at the zoo or botanical garden or aquarium. At least that's the hope, the past couple of weeks we've had some errands that needed taken care of, plus the weather's been a little chilly. Last week he learned about zebra sharks, this week zebras and coming up we have:

Palm Trees/Date Palm and Mediterranean Fan Palm
Cobras (Mom's not excited about this class and is hoping that the keep the cobra in his cage and not bring him to the class)
Sea Stars
Rock Hyrax
African Plants of the Mediterranean Conservatory
Giraffes
Giant Clam
Vultures
Millipedes
Chimpanzees

The classes run through April so it should be a fun spring and the trips to the zoo will be much more enjoyable as the weather warms up.

Here's some pictures from January:

Megan playing in one of her toy mirrors...

So close to rolling over, just another kick or two.

Here's some pictures from Logan's class today, zebra's were the topic.

Singing a song about zebras and counting, his teacher Miss Ann is in the middle.

Here they are walking, trotting and galloping like a zebra.

Visiting the zebra exhibit at the end of class.

The craft for the day, a zebra mask.

February proves to be just as busy for us. In addition to Logan's activities, Megan will have her 4 month check up, I'm jumping back into doing stamping classes full time after about a year off from the pregnancy, I have 4 events booked for February already, and Dan and I will go see Wicked when it comes to ABQ for 3 weeks. Lots going on, we'll keep you updated.

Finishing off the Year

2011-01-10T13:26:00.002-07:00

Right after Christmas, Megan was baptized. It was a pretty small service considering it was the first Sunday after Christmas. Both sets of grandparents were there and so was Ruth's sister Joyce with her kids.

Logan with his cousins, Syndl and Zeona

Joyce and her family stayed through New Years and we took the kids to the Natural History Museum. They had a great time.

Here's to a great 2011 from Megan and Logan!

Christmas in Albuquerque

2011-01-10T12:56:00.003-07:00

Our Christmas was very nice here. Dan's parents came and Logan enjoyed opening his gifts and Megan's. They were both in the church pageant on Christmas Eve. Logan was an Angel and Megan was Jesus.

After church Logan helped hang all the stockings and got cookies and milk ready for Santa.

There were plenty of presents to open on Christmas Day and lots to play with later that day.

Logan got a scooter which he loves. He rode it to the park later that day and around the house since then. When the weather get a little warmer we'll head back outside to play with it.

River of lights and Megan's 8 weeks old

2010-12-15T08:00:00.004-07:00

We went to the River of lights a couple weeks ago. We drove to Tingly Beach then took the free train to the botanical gardens. It was cold and crowded but it was fun. Megan was bundled up and carried around in her carrier. Here's a few pictures.

Logan and snowman.

Dan, Logan and T-Rex.

Logan, Ruth and Megan.

Dan and Logan with the train.

Megan is already 8 weeks old. She's more active now and is on the verge of rolling over. She's rolled onto her side a couple of times. At 8 weeks she's 11lbs 9 oz and 24 inches long. She'll be very tall we're certain.

Logan and Megan ready for church-one day before her 8 week birthday.

Here's her Christmas picture taken later that day.

Merry Christmas!

Megan and Logan

2010-11-22T09:07:00.003-07:00

Megan is 5 weeks old today. We've been adjusting well. She's a good sleeper so we've been getting sleep at night. It's been much harder getting her on a schedule than it was Logan, we just have so much more going on now and are out and about more often than with Logan. But Logan just loves her and plays with her often. Here's a few pictures of the 2 of them.

She had her 4 week check up last week and is doing good. She's about 10 pounds now and has grown about an inch and a half. We've already had to pull out the 3-6 month clothes because she's getting so long. We looked at Logan's baby book and she's right on track with her brother. by 4 weeks Logan was also right at about 10 pounds and had grown about 2 inches.

Hopefully we'll have some fun Thanksgiving pictures to post later this week.

Baby Girl Norton Arrives and Halloween

2010-10-31T20:06:00.005-06:00

Well it took a little bit of convincing by induction but we finally had the baby. Megan Ann was born on October 18, 2010 at 10:51 pm. We started inductions around 4:45 pm that day and 6 hours later Megan was here. She weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long.

Mom and baby are doing good 2 weeks into it. I'm off all meds I was on before. I'm no longer constantly nauseous and finally have my appetite back. Megan is doing well and sleeping in 3 hour stretches at night. We've had a few rough nights but for the most part it hasn't been too bad. I'll take a few sleepless nights anyday over throwing up for 9 months.

Logan's has been an excellent big brother, helping with diapers, playing and talking to her. Even though she was crying the first time they met.

Overall we're doing really well. We had friends bring us some dinners and I'm having a diaper shower this weekend. We should be well stocked after that.

Halloween snuck up on us this year. Logan and Dan went to the Zoo Boo yesterday. Logan trick or treated around the zoo. Megan and I didn't go but she was still dressed in her festive Halloween pumpkin outfit.

Logan was dressed up like a knight. We made the costume from grey sweats (the shinning armor) and a dressed up pillow case for the tunic. He helped make the crown and the sword and shield were bought at Hobby Lobby.

Up next Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Balloons, Fish and Flowers

2010-10-04T15:08:00.005-06:00

It's October in NM that means it's the Balloon Fiesta. They always kick off the balloon fiesta by sending up balloons at a few elementary schools around the city the Friday before it starts. This year the school near us was chosen. So bright and early on October 1 we got up early and went to see it take off, since we most likely won't make it to the actually balloon fiesta this year.

This is the only picture of Logan I got. His exact words were, "Can't you just take pictures of the balloon and not of me" Hmmm wonder where he gets that from? Here's the rest of the balloon pictures, without Logan in them.

Today Logan and I took a long walk around the aquarium and botanical gardens. Here's some pictures of that trip. Logan had fun and got good exercise and I'm just hoping gravity takes effect at some point with the miles of walking I've done in the past few day.

Inside a giant pumpkin.

Sliding through a tree trunk.

With a giant ant.

Yes it's October and we're still in shorts.

So that's all from here. We see my doctor again on Wednesday, if baby doesn't come on it's own by this weekend, we'll schedule induction for next week sometime or maybe the weekend. Hopefully baby will decide to come on it's own and we won't need to be induced. That's what we're hoping anyway, but it seems like baby has other plans. Either way we'll post pictures after baby is born and when we're home.

Logan's Birthday--a little late.

2010-09-12T06:17:00.003-06:00

We've had a really busy couple of weeks since Logan's party. I've been busy getting ready to teach a class of 20 people on Saturday and getting last minute things done before the baby comes. I've had Dr appointments every week. We've met with our doula and except for not remembering what floor is the maternity floor at the hospital we're pretty much ready.

Logan's birthday was weeks ago and it's taken me so long to get the pictures up. But here they are finally. Logan wanted to go to the zoo and ride the train so that's what we did. Both sets of Grandparents were able to join us and we had a nice day. After the zoo and nap, we went to my parents house for a BBQ, cake and presents.

Here we are on the train, Dan and Logan avoiding the camera as usual.

Logan riding the train.

Looking at the camels.

In front of the engine. It would seem that neither one of them wanted this picture taken.

Presents, Logan got lots of toys, puzzles, books, enough stuff to keep a 4 year old entertained.

I don't know who likes the train more, Logan or Dan.

Logan's zoo train cake. With the animals strategically placed by Logan.

One last picture taken Friday of Logan playing with Chase in his room. Good thing Chase is a patient little puppy with Logan. Poor Chase was wrapped up in Logan's blanket and Logan had the door barricaded with pillows so Chase couldn't get out, but he didn't seem to mind it too much.

Baby's Room

2010-08-15T10:48:00.002-06:00

We finally finished the baby's room. Took months to clear it out and get it ready but it's finally done. We don't need anything, except diapers and wipes-those we need to start stocking up on. We have so much stuff left from Logan and we've already accumulated a few things from friends. The dresser is FULL of baby clothes just for the first couple months. The closet is packed with boxes of more clothes that will come out as baby grows. But we have plenty of toys and clothes and blankets and everything else a baby could need. We have about 9 weeks left assuming I don't have to be delivered early. There is some question about the baby's size (Dr is saying it's bigger than it should be right now) and I may have to be induced early. More ultrasounds and tests and Dr appointments in the next few weeks should determine that.

Dresser/Changing table, bookcase and toys. Logan's already played with everything to make sure it works and promises to teach the baby how to play with them.

Crib, car seat, bouncer and more toys.

More toys, and more toys. And what room in our house isn't complete without Mickey stuffed animal.

More toys and the dresser again. And a better shot of Mickey. Next to Dan's Disney Shrine in our bedroom this room may have the most Disney stuff in in. I guess that's our theme. The room doesn't really have any other theme.

Logan's Birthday is Saturday, he'll be 4. Even though he thinks he's going to be 5. We're not doing a party, we just couldn't deal with a party with everything else going on right now. But we are going to take him to the zoo to ride the train. He's been asking to do that for months. He also starts the fall semester of school this week. We'll be making cupcakes this week to take to school on Thursday, his snack day. We'll also make a cake for his actual birthday. He picked a train and zoo animals to put on top. Should be very cute.

We'll keep you up to date on any baby news. Right now this pregnancy can't end soon enough. In addition to the nausea meds that I'm still on, I'm taking iron twice a day to help with my anemia. The nurses have said that if my iron doesn't come up they'll have to do an iron IV transfusion before delivery. That probably won't happen though. But we'll keep you up to date.

A New Addition

2010-07-05T18:59:00.003-06:00

No not the baby, not yet. We did however get a puppy. Not sure why I thought that would be a good idea considering I'm 6 months pregnant and still nauseous sometimes. But Dan and Logan wanted a puppy and he was just so cute. Dan and Logan named him Chase. He likes to chase Dan and Logan and Logan likes to chase him. He's super sweet and super cute. Our friend found him a few days ago and since she already has a house full of pets she couldn't keep him. So we offered to give him a good home. He isn't really house broken. He's had a couple accidents but he's also gone outside too. He's some sort of terrier mix. We'll know better when we take him to the vet for shots and to be fixed. The cats are not pleased, as can be expected. Cinderella doesn't seem to mind too much but Orbit is pretty mad and has spent the day in 'hiding'. Here are some pictures of Chase's first moments home.

Not much else is going on. We still have alot cleaning and sorting to go through in the baby's room. Fortunatly I'm feeling a little better and can do some of it. Though I can't lift a whole lot. We do a little every weekend and slowly but surely it's getting done.

Last weekend we went to see Toy Story 3 in the theaters. It was Logan's first movie in the theaters and he did really well. He did get a little scared during some of the louder parts but he said he enjoyed it. After the movie we stopped at the Disney store and Logan picked a Toy Story Toy to mark the event. He got Woody and Bullseye toys. He said he didn't want Buzz, knowing that he might change his mind we picked up a Buzz anyway and we're saving it for his birthday.

That seems to be all the new news here. New dog, new toys I guess that's all a 3 year old boy could ask for, as well as a 32 year old boy.

Busy Week

2010-06-11T07:44:00.003-06:00

It's been a really busy week. I've been gone everyday except today. I haven't done this much in months.
Monday, we went out for a special birthday breakfast for Dan with some friends from church, then it was a little shopping.
Tuesday, Logan went back to school for the summer. He's in a new class but fortunately one of his friends, Malaki, was moved up too. So he at least has one familiar face in the class. Tuesday afternoon we had an ultrasound, more on that later.
Wednesday, it was a trip to the doctor for me. Everything went well. I still need to be on my meds for nausea.
Thursday, School again and then some errands.
Friday, finally a day at home to rest!

Tuesday we had the ultrasound. We decided that we wanted to know what we were having. We were surprised with Logan so we thought it would be nice to know. So we found out, and the technician that did the ultrasound said she's really confident to say it's a girl. People have asked if we're registering anywhere. We aren't going to register for anything. We don't need anything, nor do we really have to space to store anything new. Logan's old clothes/toys/bedding are all neutral so we're not worried about that, and there's so much of it. Now that we know we need to start fixing up the baby's room. Dan and I still have boxes in there that haven't been unpacked when we move, two years ago. The crib and dresser need to be put together. So that's what we'll be doing in the next couple of weeks.

We finally told Logan about the baby. He's very excited to be a big brother. He's said he'll share his old toys with the baby and that he'll help out with the baby. He did ask how the baby will get out. Dan's answer was "It's just going to pop out" Logan didn't really seem satisfied with that answer and I'm sure it would have led to more questions. So I said "Mommy will have to go to the hospital and a special doctor will take the baby out" He was much happier with that answer.

So that's how our week has been. Here's one of the ultrasound pictures that we were given.

This is probably one of the best ones we got. It's the profile one, baby's head is on the left. The technician had trouble getting good pictures because the baby kept flipping.

Temps still in high 90's here. The free lunch program the city does for kids started this week, today will be the first day we'll get to go. Hopefully it won't be too hot at 11:30 for lunch in the park.

Toy Story and Baseball

2010-06-06T08:15:00.004-06:00

Summer has defiantly hit NM. We've had record high heat this week, yesterday was 100 degrees and today it's going to be just as hot. Logan had a break from school last week and will begin their summer program this week. He'll still attend Tuesday's and Thursday's in the morning. As for me, I'm starting to feel a little better. Lot's of Dr Appointments this week.

Last weekend we went to Texas Roadhouse for an early birthday dinner for Dan.
Logan loves to eat all the lemons in every ones tea and water.

Every Saturday in June the Disney Store is offering free Toy Story activities for kids. Yesterday it was arts and crafts, next week I think it's Toy Story Bingo.

Logan got to put together Toy Story 3 figurines (made out of cardboard) to play with at home.

Then that night we went to an Isotopes game for Dan's birthday. They had fireworks after the game, Logan fell asleep in the middle of the fireworks, but had fun the rest of the game. Thank goodness we had seats in the shade, it did help with the heat a little. But temps were still in the 90's when we left at 10:30 PM!

Logan's favorite part of the game is the chili race that they do between innings. It's a race between a red chili, green chili, a jar of salsa and a taco. Logan loves this!

Salsa wins!

No sign of this heat wave ending anytime soon. With temps in the 100's we'll probably play inside alot, maybe outside in the early morning, when it's not so bad.

News and Easter

2010-04-16T10:04:00.002-06:00

We've been neglecting our blog lately. Constant morning sickness will do that to you. But at 14 weeks along, I'm slowly starting to feel better. Still on the anti nausea meds but hopefully not for much longer. Logan's been a trooper through all of this. Not knowing why I'm sick but being very supportive of Mommy being sick. He's brought me snacks and has helped out in his own ways. We've also made a few changes to our yard. In the front we've ripped out the grass and replaced it with more NM friendly rock. Part of the backyard has been prepped for a vegetable garden. Once I'm feeling a little better I plan to get out there and plant some tomatoes, cucumbers and cantaloupe.

I made it to church on Easter, first time in weeks. Haven't been back since though :) Logan had a great Easter. The Easter bunny came and hid eggs in the living room and his basket was full of goodies. A toy firetruck, coloring books, airplanes, plenty of candy and more.

At the Isotopes park a few weeks ago they had a major league weekend, where the Seattle Mariners and Colorado Rockies came and played 2 games. Dan has a friend at work who has season tickets to the Isotopes and was able to get Dan some great sets. Dan went alone, we knew I wouldn't be well enough to go and the tickets were kind of pricey so it was an outing just for him. I think he was 4 rows back right behind home plate. Dan took a lot of pictures. Here's just a few.

I don't really know what any of them are, I'm pretty sure the team he took pictures of is Seattle, that's why he went but I don't know who the players are or any of that stuff.

I think that's it for us. Our lives have been rather boring considering I've been stuck in the house. Even though I'm feeling a little better I still think it will be weeks before we can get back to zoo trips and stuff like that. I have good days and bad days and take each day at a time. Hopefully I'll continue to improve and can at least start cooking again. Poor Logan and Dan have been living on Dan's microwave cooking. He'll even purposely not buy something at the store if it can't be cooked in the microwave. So here's hoping I get better soon!!

Zoo

2010-01-29T11:33:00.002-07:00

Logan and I took a trip to the zoo to see how Daizy, the baby elephant was doing. We went last week, I think Monday?? It was cold and cloudy but we had fun. Here's some highlights from the trip.

The elephants stayed close to the back gate. Baby still stays close to Mama.

Chubby little prairie dogs. They were cute. Logan really liked them.

The giraffe was right at the gate for us.

Even posed for a picture.

Park Pictures

2010-01-13T10:19:00.003-07:00

We went to the park yesterday. It was a really nice day and actually not freezing-for once. We only needed light sweaters. Logan had fun running around a playing. He does the slides by himself now. I think preschool might have helped with that fear. He used to not go down by himself or wanted someone to catch him. Now he goes by himself and doesn't want anyone at the bottom. He still won't do the swings. But he's never liked swings, even his baby one.

Christmas and more

2010-01-04T15:01:00.004-07:00

I'm finally getting around to putting up the Christmas pictures. The last few weeks have been busy. Dan had a 4 day weekend over New Years and I was working, doing some New Years Eve crafting parties. We got a tiny bit of snow last week, just a dusting that was gone by lunch time, but it's been really cold. Logan goes back to school tomorrow and things should get back to normal. Here's some highlights from our Christmas.

On December 23 we made sugar cookies for Santa. Logan helped cut out the shapes and decorate them.

Here's some of the finished cookies.

On Christmas Eve Logan was a spider in the Christmas Pageant. The pageant this year was The Friendly Beasts. There were penguins and dogs and cows and sheep and a monkey and an alligator. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the pageant but they did let us take some picture before the service started. Logan got to bring up the Halo for Jesus, as the friendly beast story goes, the spider spun him a halo above his head. Other things brougt up were hay from the cow for a pillow, and wool from the sheep for a blanket.

Alot of the animals weren't there in time for the pictures.

After the pageant we came home to set out cookies and milk for Santa. This year we also left a carrot for the reindeer.

We hung up our stockings, and went right to bed.

Christmas morning Logan got to open his stocking gifts before Breakfast.

He got books and stuffed animals and games in his stocking, and also a horse.

Here's Logan with the horse he got in his stocking. Logan named it Peanut Butter.

Later we opened the rest of the gifts, and watched the Disney World Parade, while doing so.

We didn't get a lot of pictures of the presents. He got a lot of stuffed animals-or stuffed Disney Characters. Dan thought we had to 'complete' his collection so we now have a Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet. The 3 in bold are the ones he got for Christmas. Needless to say his room looks like a Disney Store display :) He also got some Sesame Street Legos, some socks and underwear and a few books and games.

New Years Eve, we stayed home and didn't do much. Dan was a little sick so he went to bed really early, before Logan, and the cats and I just watched a movie.

River of Lights

2009-12-16T09:23:00.004-07:00

We have a few pictures to share with you. We went to the River of Lights on December 1. Logan really like it this year. They had the usual favorites and some new ones that were fun to see.
By the ticket stands they had this new display that was really cool. It was all lit up and filled with glass snowmen and penguins and other winter friends and it had a working train running through it. This was one of Logan's favorites.

Then there was the dinosaur, always a fun one.

Logan and Dan in front of the airplane.

The rhino was new this year and was very cool!

It was a very fun visit and not very crowded a huge plus!! We think it wasn't too crowded because we went the first week it was open and in the middle of the week, or a school night. But we enjoyed not having huge crowds to fight with so we are already planning to go early next year too. Thankfully the weather wasn't too cold either.

Not much else going on. Tomorrow (12/17) is Logan's last day of school for the year. He'll return on January 5th. He'll be a spider in the Christmas pageant, practice for that is Saturday, other then that we're just staying at home trying to stay warm., at least there's no snow predicted for the near future.

Halloween part 2

2009-11-01T20:04:00.003-07:00

I thought I would show you our pumpkins that we put out for Halloween. We had a bunch of trick or treaters come by. Lot's of Dorthy's from The Wizard of Oz and lots of Transformers. Guess those were the big costumes this year.

These are so cute. They're little plastic pieces that you put in the pumpkins to make little animals. There's a bear, cat and dog.

Also here's an update on Logan's writing skills. He's doing really well for only 3 years old. Today at church we gave Lynda a birthday card. I used to babysit Lynda now she is a senior in high school and she helps with childrens chapel at church and Logan loves her. Today was her birthday so we brought her a birthday card.

It says 'To Ms Lynda' the 'Ms' is vertical on the card. But all in all it's pretty legible for a 3 year old. The only letters he really needed help with was the S and Y. He's very good at writing his own name by himself. He practices his letters on the chalkboard and on scrap pieces of paper.

Halloween

2009-10-31T19:34:00.001-06:00

This Halloween Logan was a spider. He said he was a nice spider though not a scary one.

On Friday we had a parent teacher conference at his preschool. Sounds like he's doing well, still very shy but participates in all the activities and projects and plays well with everyone. After the conference we went to the church. Lots of the staff there wanted to see his costume and they had bought him lots and lots of Halloween gifts. While we were there about 65 kids from the Methodist church daycare came trick or treating at the church so we got to help hand out candy and freshly popped popcorn to them.

Today we went to the Zoo Boo as we have for the past few years. It was packed as usual. But we had a good time and Logan got a ton of treats and not just candy. He got another football and chalk from the State Farm booth, coupons for McDonalds, toothbrush from the dentist and lots of pencils. When we got home we just rested the rest of the afternoon. I carved a couple of pumpkins, Logan played with play doh and Dan took a nap. We didn't go trick or treating around the neighborhood tonight. Logan has enough treats to last a while. Dan is going to watch the world series tonight and I'm handing out candy.

Logan in his spider costume.

This is the only picture we took from the Zoo Boo. The polar bears are loving our freezing cold temperatures the past few days.

Balloons and zoo

2009-10-12T12:49:00.005-06:00

Last Friday we went very early to the special shapes mass Ascension at the balloon fiesta. It was very early, around 6AM, and very cold. But we all had a good time. Logan was just fascinated once all the balloons started going up.

Logan loved the cow.

The bees, Logan liked these too.

After all the special shapes had taken off we headed to the Arts and Crafts show tent. After a little while in there we came out and there were a ton of teardrop shaped balloons coming onto the field. They were having a few different competitions, like dropping things (not sure what they were dropping) onto targets from the balloons. A key grab, they have truck keys on the top of poles and if you can get close enough to grab them you get the truck. And a few more competitions. Just when we thought all the balloons were gone, here they come back again.

This was at the glow on Saturday night, they had a lot of balloons up and ready for the glow but it got really windy all the sudden and they all came down. This is a new balloon the Wizard of Oz anniversary balloon.

Dan wanted to see the baby elephant so we went to the zoo on Saturday morning.

Logan is just fascinated with the crocodiles at the zoo. When we went this time one had his mouth open, which was very exciting.

One relaxed polar bear enjoy the cool weather.

Mom and baby elephant again but still cute!

Baby Elephant and Fish

2009-10-02T16:04:00.004-06:00

We're a little late in posting the news from September. Mostly because nothing terribly exciting went on. Lots of school and staying at home playing. We all took turns being sick with a cold but we're all over that now. We have plans to go to a Balloon Glow at the Balloon Fiesta on October 10 and we may venture out in the early morning for one of the Mass Ascensions. We haven't decided yet. We did do a few things in September, my Dad took Logan fishing and we went to the zoo to see the new baby elephant.

Fishing:

We went to Tingley Beach to fish. Logan got his own fishing rod and we waited and waited and waited. Finally we got a bite and Logan and Grandpa reeled it in and the fish flopped around. Logan cried and screamed, and the fish was thrown back and that was the end of the fishing trip, or so we thought. That night Logan started crying again, wondering where the fish was and if he was ok and it took a while but we finally convinced him that the fish was fine and was swimming around with his fishy friends. So we're waiting to go fishing again. Maybe when he's a little older.

Putting bait on.

We got one, reel it in.

A catfish, after the hook was taken out it was tossed back in the water.

The zoo:

We have been waiting almost 2 years for this baby elephant to be born. She was born on September 2 at 1:43 am and weighed 318 pounds. They named her Daizy (Mom's name is Rozie). We also found some crocodiles at the zoo. Apparently they've been there since 2004 but have never been on exhibit. John and Joe are 15 feet long and weigh around 1000 pounds. Right now they're in a temporary viewing place attached to the reptile house, they zoo is constructing a permanent house for them.

Not sure if this one is John or Joe.

Baby and Mom chasing a ball.

Here's a short (30 seconds) video of the Mom and baby. Logan asks me where the Daddy is in the video and the zoo isn't sure who the Daddy is. Mom was artificially inseminated so it's either one of the males here or one in Oklahoma. But I told him "the Daddy was just in a different part of the zoo", not sure which zoo but a zoo.

Bike Adventures

2009-09-09T14:58:00.003-06:00

We finally have some pictures of Logan and his new birthday bike. We found the little 'Logan' licence plate at Wal Mart.

On our way to get the mail and on our way back from getting the mail.

Here's a video of Logan riding his bike too.

Birthday Cakes

2009-08-31T10:14:00.002-06:00

I'm a little behind in posting Logan's birthday party. Most of the pictures of him opening his presents are blurry so I didn't want to post those. But I'll post the cake picture anyway. That one came out good. For his birthday he got a ton of stuff, toys, books backpacks, games and his favorite, a new tricycle! He loves it and has been riding it all around! Then our friend Lisa at church got him a bell and a horn for his bike, so people will hear us coming for sure! He had a pirate birthday party and here's the cake that my mom helped me decorate.

Then last week when we were at church for my Mom's group, Lisa had got him this super cute puppy cake. So we've had our share of sugar for this month.

When I get some pictures of Logan riding his bike I'll post them. I just have to remember to get my camera when we go out riding.

3 years old, the zoo and a train

2009-08-22T20:45:00.004-06:00

Friday was Logan's birthday. He's now officially 3. It's been a big week for him. He started preschool on Tuesday, turned 3 on Friday and tomorrow (Sunday 8/23) will be his first day of Sunday School at church. Until now he's spent all his time in the nursery, but now he is old enough to attended the kids Sunday School at church. Plus tomorrow is his birthday party.

Friday was also the day of the Zoo's Annual Members Picnic. Usually we pack dinners and eat there but since it was his birthday we went to the Route 66 Diner for dinner then to the zoo. Logan wanted to take his binoculars with him to the zoo to see the animals better.

This is the only shot I got of any animals. The jaguar, perhaps a little too relaxed on the tree?

-----

Saturday we took the Rail Runner to Santa Fe. The Rail Runner is a fairly new commuter train and we've been wanting to ride it for a while. It took about an hour and a half to get to SF on the train but it was fun. The train going was packed, due to the Indian Market being this weekend on the Plaza in SF. But luckily we weren't going to the Plaza, since I'm sure it was packed. We went to the SF train depot where every Saturday morning they have a huge farmers market and some crafts. Logan helped pick out some cucumbers, we tasted some watermelon juice and got a huge loaf of homemade fresh bread. After lunch at the newly opened Flying Star we hoped back on the train, not as packed this time and went back to ABQ. We got to ride on the upper level coming back, which was really cool.

This is the train we got off, leaving the ABQ station.

Logan on the train, getting ready to go back to ABQ.

Mommy and Logan.

Logan wearing Mommy's sunglasses.

Logan and Daddy, enjoying the ride.

Here are some pictures Logan took by himself.

Daddy

Dan's Parents.

First Day of School

2009-08-19T14:04:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was Logan's first day of pre-school. He'll be going to All Angels Preschool. We toured the preschool a few months ago then were put on the waiting list. We got the call that he was put in for the fall semester and ever since then we've been talking about it. When we toured, the thing Logan remembered most was snack time and so when we talked about it he kept saying 'and they'll have snack time'.

He goes to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-12:30. They start in the chapel for a couple of quick songs and a lesson. Then all the kids go to their individual rooms (there's 3 different class rooms with different ages, Logan is in the Rabbit Room for 2-3 year olds). Logan is in a class with 11 other kids and 2 teachers. When they get into class they have circle time of stories and songs and games. After that they have snack, then play, do crafts, and more. They have lunch at noon and I go pick him up at 12:30.

He did really great on his first day, no tears at all. The teacher said he refused to take his hat off all day, but I assume it was a security blanket type of thing. He did say it was a little scary on the first day but he's excited about going back.

We're excited too. They have an open house on the 28th, so we're excited to see what else this preschool has to offer.

Here he is with back pack on and lunch box in hand ready for school.

Off he goes. This is just our front yard, it's just the walk to the car. I hope I can get more pictures of him at school soon. For now I think we'll stick with quick goodbye's until Logan gets used to school. Parents are welcome to join for chapel time so in the future I may stick around for that.

Here's Logan on the car ride home. What a busy morning, wore him out.

Reading

2009-07-19T14:08:00.002-06:00

The other day when Logan's Highlights Magazine came he ran to his room and got Mr. Potato Heads glasses and put them on so he could read. We're not sure why he needed them especially since they don't really fit but he put them on anyway and read his magazine while I made dinner. Dan and I couldn't stop laughing.

Butterflies and Fish

2009-07-14T16:10:00.004-06:00

It's been a while since we posted. We haven't been doing much. We've spent time with cousins who have visited. Logan moved into his big boy bed, it seemed to be an easy adjustment. We've been spending alot of time potty training. He's doing really well. Hopefully by his birthday he'll be able to go completely by himself. He starts preschool on August 18. We had been on the waiting list at All Angels but finally got in. So he'll go every Tuesday and Thursday from 9-12:30.
Today we went to see the butterflies at the botanical garden. They have a nice butterfly pavilion during the summer. Then we stopped by to see the fish at the aquarium.

Fast Food Cupcakes

2009-06-17T19:42:00.001-06:00

I saw this super cute idea on the Bakerella blog, mine aren't anywhere near as nice and yummy looking as her's are but still kind of cute. The 'bun' is a cupcake the 'hamburger patty' is a brownie and the lettuce and tomato/ketchup is colored icing. For the first time making them, not too bad, super cute dessert for a BBQ though.

Tent Rocks

2009-06-17T12:46:00.004-06:00

Dan had a day off this week and we had heard about a place called Tent Rocks. I had never heard of it in all the years I've lived here. But it's only about an hours drive NW of Albuquerque so we decided it would be a nice day trip. Julie is also in town visiting this week and when I told her we were going, she wanted to go too. So we all went. It was great weather not real hot. And it was a really nice monument. The rocks are shaped like tent, hints where the name came from. They were formed that way from a mix of volcanic eruptions and floods flowing through the area. So here are some pictures from it. The kids loved the many lizards and bug we encountered along the way, I think more than the rocks. Logan did great and walked the whole way except a steep, slippery part of the trail.

Here's Logan beginning the hike.

There were lots of cacti blooming.

Here's the four kiddos all together, Sarah, Andrew, Logan and Elizabeth.

Sarah and Logan holding hands while walking the trail.

Some scenic shots......

Dan and Logan.

Dinosaurs and Disney

2009-06-08T07:29:00.006-06:00

Busy week last week. Dan's parents were here to visit for the week. We went to the Natural History Museum and a Disney Train made a stop in ABQ over the weekend. More about that later.

Here we are at the museum. Logan did great at the museum. He didn't care for the 'dark' parts of the museum (the volcano or caves) but he liked looking at all the bones.

I took a picture of this before Logan erased it. It's his first word that HE wrote. I wrote the one on the left and he copied me on the right. He can almost do his name, the G is hard for him right now, but we'll keep practicing.

So onto the Disney Train. It was in ABQ Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We went bright and early Saturday morning. Dan had hoped Mickey would be there to greet people. But no sign of Mickey. But the reason the train was in town was because it was promoting Disney's new Holiday Movie The Christmas Carol. For more information on the movie or to see a map of where it's going you can click here. It will end in NYC on Nov 1, so there's still plenty of time to see it. And it's FREE! The train uses all state of the art digital technology to make the movie and it gave us a look behind the scenes of how they did it.

Walking to the front of the train for the tour.

Here's the first car. It was the costume car. Some of the actual costumes used in the movie and in the glass cases were some original Charles Dickens work.

The next car was the concept art car. Where we saw pictures of how artist made the different scenes.
Here's a shot of all the concept art pictures. They were in digital frames so the images kept changing.

Here's a close up of one of them.

The next car was the 3-D models for the movie. Here's Fred house.

Scrooges office.

The next car (which I didn't get a picture of) was of the digital suit that the actors wore to and their actions were stored as digital information. Then we moved onto this car where we saw how they used that action to create the movie.

Then there was an interactive car where you could play a 'quiz' like game about the movie. And they had different screens that you could 'morph' your face into a character from the movie. We didn't do that though.

Here's Logan enjoying the quizzes. He liked pushing the buttons on the screen.

Here we are in the last car, they had a fireplace and some final art images from the movie.
So we could see how everything came together.

Close up of one of the final art scenes.

The engine, of course.

There was a preview for the movie after the tour but the noises from the outside scared Logan so we waited outside, while Dan and his parents saw the preview.

So that was our week.

Really Cool Video

2009-06-02T07:34:00.002-06:00

Ice Cream, Baseball, Orbit, Fireworks and Flags

2009-05-25T08:13:00.005-06:00

There's lots to cover from the title. So we'll get started with Ice Cream. While watch Rachael Ray a few weeks ago she showed us a cool recipe to make ice cream with kids. So last Tuesday we finally got a chance to try it. Here's the recipe:

1 Tablespoon Sugar
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla
Combine those ingredients in a small (sandwich size) ziplock bag.
Fill a large (gallon size) bag with ice and 6 Tablespoons of salt. Put the small bag in the large bag and shake for 15 minutes. Then you'll have ice cream. You can add chocolate chips or crushed oreos to make any kind of flavor, but since it was our first time and I was a little skeptical we just stuck with vanilla. But it really worked. Need a summer time activity for your kids, this is a good one and it will occupy them for 15 minutes. So here's Logan shaking it. I had to give him a towel to hold the bag in because his hands got so cold.

Boy 15 minutes is a long time when your waiting for ice cream.

Mmmm, but it's worth it.

Next on to Baseball. Last night (5/24) we went to and Isotopes game. The church had a bunch of tickets for a church night last night. I think there were about 55 people from the church there. Pretty good turn out. We had good seats right behind home plate. They played the Salt Lake Bees. The Isotopes lost 3-2. Oh well, next time maybe they'll win.

The Isotopes are in the blue jerseys.

"Where's my hot dog Dad?"

Now we're enjoying the game.

Of course the highlight of the baseball game for Logan is to see Orbit. No one is quite sure what Orbit is, but he is funny. In the past Logan has enjoyed seeing Orbit from a distance but this game Logan went up to Orbit where he was signing autographs and had Orbit sign his ticket.

Orbit meeting with a little girl in line in front of us.

Here's Orbit signing Logan's ticket.

Wow!!! He was so excited about it after Orbit signed it. We put the ticket in the diaper bag so that it wouldn't fall apart and Logan kept asking where it was during the game and on the way home. He's so excited about his Orbit autograph.

We don't normally stay for the whole game, Logan either is fussy and tired or they just go to long. But since they had fireworks after the game we tried to stay for the whole thing. Logan did great and so we stayed. The fireworks were great after the game and we left by about 9pm.

Today is Memorial Day and Dan has the day off. We hung our flag out this morning.

Well I think I covered everything. We'll be making ice cream later for dessert but we'll do it in the ice cream maker, not as exciting as a bag of ice.

Have a good Memorial Day!

Strawberry Shortcake

2009-05-19T10:26:00.002-06:00

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Logan's had a rough week in addition to our busy schedules. We were dealing with a minor case of heat rash last week. So most of our time was spent inside and he played in the tub once a day. It's finally cleared up except for a few spots where he itched it. Then yesterday he got sick during naptime, and threw up all over himself and the bed. Once he and the bed was cleaned up, he spent the rest of naptime, laying on the couch watching Bolt (which is an adorable movie if you haven't seen it). We're pretty sure it must have been something he ate. He didn't have a fever and was fine all afternoon. Running and playing as normal. Then last night while running he slipped and fell face first on the floor and cut his lip. Rough day for him.
On Mother's Day, Dan and Logan made strawberry shortcake for dessert. I'm just getting around to posting them now. Here's a couple of pictures of them getting the strawberries ready. The pictures aren't great. We have the sun coming in the back door in the afternoon and the blinds weren't closed so they're pretty bright.

Slicing the strawberries using an egg slicer.

Logan helping Dan core the strawberry.

I think the next few days we'll just spend at home and rest. We're going to an Isotopes game on Sunday. Hopefully Logan will have a good nap Sunday and he'll be nice and rested to stay for the whole game. They're supposed to do fireworks at the end. We'll have pictures of the game next week.

Another Zoo Trip

2009-05-08T13:46:00.004-06:00

Another day, another trip to the zoo. As long as the weather's nice and since we have zoo passes why not. There were a lot of people this trip. I think all the schools were taking end of the year field trips. Here's a few shots of our trip this morning.

Mountain Lions.

Polar Bears. When we got to the polar bear exhibit the bears were in the water playing or fighting. It was kind of hard to tell, there was growling and biting so I don't think it was all happy play. Then they walked back to their den and they were friends again so who knows what was going on.

Then we saw baby ducks, and these were little babies, probably just learning to swim. They were so tiny and cute. And stayed very close to Mama.

Pine Cone Bird Feeders

2009-05-06T15:53:00.003-06:00

We brought back some pine cones from the park in Las Cruces so that we could make some bird feeders. We finally got around to that today after the pine cones have been sitting on our counter in a bag for 3 days. We spread peanut butter on them then covered them with birdseed.

Here's Logan after we hung them up outside.

We're becoming the best bird feeding spot on the block.

Here they are again.

White Sands

2009-05-06T07:24:00.006-06:00

Last weekend my sisters and parents all met in Las Cruces for a family reunion.

We left early on Friday so that we could stop at an outlet mall outside of El Paso. It's a pretty new outlet mall, but very nice. They had a Carter's outlet so Logan got a couple of new PJ's and some summer outfits. They also had a Bath and Body Works outlet so I was pretty happy. Everyone else arrived around dinner time, Julie and her family were a little later.

On Saturday we drove to White Sands for the day. We had hoped to spend most of the day there but our trip was cut short due to the wind. It got pretty bad around lunch time. You can click the pictures to make them bigger.

Here's all the kids, well everyone except Logan. All the kids got buckets and shovels with their initials on them. Getting them to stay put for 1 minute while we took the picture was a little challenging. Elizabeth (in the center) was already putting her shovel to use.

Logan had no interest in climing the dunes, so he stayed at the bottom and dug, played with trucks and buried dinosaurs.

Dan carried Logan to the top of one of the dunes.

Hold on to your hats, here comes the wind.

Here's Elizabeth, the youngest of the 7 cousins, determined to make her way to the top.

Some scenic shots of White Sands.

The rest of the weekend was nice. Saturday night was dinner with everyone at Dions and dessert at Scoopy's (a yummy frozen custard place, wish they had one here).

Sunday we spend the morning at a park, then William and Andrew got to open some birthday gifts, they're birthday's are both next week. Then it was lunch and everyone hit the road. We were home by about 3:30pm.

New Bird Feeder

2009-04-21T15:51:00.003-06:00

Logan and I found these cute bird feeders at the Dollar Tree a while back. Just now getting around to filling them with bird seed. But since we have the birds have loved our yard. It's a little difficult to see the birds in the picture's but they're there. We had to take the pictures through the window inside since they are frightened easily. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

There's the bird on the ground, just to the right of the bird feeder. He blends in nicely with our rocks.

This one the bird is on the feeder on the left side eating.

Since our yard has become a nice snack time for the birds, it's also attracted some neighborhood cats. Who like to wait for the birds and then hunt them. I don't think any birds have been caught yet. I don't think that the cat that stalks our yard is a great hunter, he/she is a little clumsy and usually isn't real quiet when sneaking up on the birds. But I was able to get a picture of the cat watching the birds.

The cat is white, hiding behind the tree in the top center. There's two birds on the ground on the left side of the picture.
About 5 seconds after I took the picture the cat charged at the birds, but got no where close to catching them.

So that's been our entertainment lately.

Sesame Street Easter Eggs

2009-04-11T18:40:00.003-06:00

We haven't posted anything in a long time. We just haven't had any exciting adventures. Lately we've been spending most of our days in doors staying out of the horrible wind. It seems this spring is windier then usual. We always have wind but it seems much stronger this year.

Yesterday we went to church for the Good Friday Kids Activity Day. Logan is still to young to participate, so he played in the nursery while I helped with a craft. Logan did come down to do some crafts but only wanted to do one, the jelly bean one. I did wish I brought my camera yesterday since there was a bat in the church which would have been fun to get a picture of. We're not sure how the bat got in the church but he was found sleeping in the corner of one of the rooms.

So today after a trip in the pouring rain and hail to the post office, Sams Club and Walmart we spent the day watching baseball and dying Easter Eggs. We found a really cute Sesame Street egg dying kit that Logan loved. It came with a ton of stickers. Logan only wanted to use a few. He wanted to save the rest for later. We used white crayons to draw on our eggs before dying them.

Here we are drawing on our eggs.

Hmm, which color?

Looks like we choose orange.

Even Cinderella wants to get into the egg dying fun.

Here's the finished eggs. Some of them have stickers, some don't.

The kit came with stickers to make Abby and Elmo.

Finally a picture of Logan that he agreed to. Could his camera shy stage be over.....?

Daddy holding the Abby Cadabby egg.

Happy Easter.

Zoo Trip

2009-03-08T13:08:00.004-06:00

We took a trip to the zoo today. We finally had some good weather after 3 days of windy, windy, weather. We had lots of leftover stale bread so one of our first stops was to get rid of it and feed the ducks. Good thing we had a lot of bread, because there were a lot of ducks.

This duck was so patient and waited for some bread while the others fought over it.

Swarming for one piece of bread in the middle.

Logan feeding the ducks.

Baby Camel. A little difficult to see but there's a fluffy grey one sitting next to the mama. Really cute.

Hard to see through the glass but there's a chimp swinging from the rope.

Gorilla having his lunch upside down.

Marti Gras

2009-02-25T13:07:00.002-07:00

Last night was bunco night. We had a Marti Gras party there and eveytime you rolled a bunco, or 1,2,3 you got to put on beads. Well at the end of the night I had 12 strands of beads. So I brought them home to give to Logan. He's had a good time playing with them. You wouldn't know it by the picture though. He is still being camera shy.

St James Tea

2009-02-18T20:06:00.002-07:00

Today Dan and I went to the St James Tea Room. I love that place. I had a couple of gift cards that I was given for my birthday last year and we were waiting until Dan had a day off and the menu looked great so we made reservations and went. The tea was yummy, we had Lady Londonderry (or was it Londonberry?), Black Pearl and a green tea, Garden something, something Garden, I can't remember. We kept joking that we would be kick out of the castle if we had tea with the Queen, Dan almost spilled tea on the crab cakes and we were very clumsy with the sugar cubes.
Here's what was on the menu for the month:

Savories
Deviled Crab Cake
Egg Salad Stuffed Cherry Tomato
Artichoke, Spinach & Brie Cup
Sweet and Spicy Pecans
Traditional Tea Sandwich: Watercress and Cream Cheese Heart

Scones & Bread
Rose Flower and Almond Scone
Traditional Cream Scone with Clotted Cream and Pomegranate-Rose Curd

Sweets
White Chocolate Cup with Lemon Mousse
Champagne Cherry Sorbet & Vanilla Gelato Cup
Queen Victoria's Indulgence

They put the pecans in the little boxes on top.

Here's the best part of tea, though the savories were very good this month. The chocolate heart is what they called Queen Victoria's Indulgence. It was chocolate, with chocolate, with chocolate, topped with chocolate. The cherry sorbet was very good too, Dan didn't really care for it though, it's made with champagne so rightfully so has a champagne taste that Dan didn't really like.

We had a great afternoon at the tea room.

Logan in the Disney parade

2009-02-10T16:10:00.001-07:00

We saw this link on the weather channel website and created our own Disney parade with Logan as the star. To see our video here. Or make your own here.

Who's under the blanket?

2009-01-25T18:45:00.002-07:00

Tonight while Logan was talking to Dan's parents on the phone he decide to hide under the blanket for the majority of the conversation. Here's a couple of shots we got of him hiding.

There he is!

Logan making us laugh

2009-01-01T13:11:00.002-07:00

Last night at dinner we were having our pizza and salad and Logan didn't want his crust, so Dan asked him if he could have the crust. Logan replied "No Dad". Then after a few seconds he said "Oh now Daddy is sad" It was too funny. Logan still didn't give Dan his crust, but it was too funny.

Christmas a week late

2008-12-31T12:45:00.003-07:00

Haven't had much time to post recently. But here's what our house looked like Christmas morning. Tons of presents under the tree. Logan had fun unwrapping his gifts and helping with everyone elses too. We took this picture before Logan got up.

Here's Logan checking to see if Santa drank his milk and ate his cookies.

Here he is checking out the loot!

Logan's been a little camera shy lately so we didn't get any of him opening his gifts, or any since.

No big plans for us for New Year's. We're getting a pizza from Dions and staying in all night, we'll watch the ball drop in NYC later on TV. Nice and warm.

See you next year!

Gingerbread House

2008-12-23T13:23:00.002-07:00

This was the first time we've ever done a gingerbread house. Logan had fun. Though the kit that we bought didn't have the greatest icing. It was really hard to spread making construction of the house pretty difficult. But Logan had fun sticking candies all over it. I just put the icing on both sides of the roof and let him stick everything on. He did a really good job and we like it very much.

River of Lights

2008-12-22T09:19:00.002-07:00

We went to the River of Lights on Saturday. It was pretty cold, but we bundled up. The River of Lights is a light show that the Botanical Gardens put on every year. They decorate the gardens with tons of lights. It's very cool. It was really nice this year, they had some new lights up. Some interesting facts about the River of Lights that we learned in our Bio Park magazine.

Set up takes takes 2 months, they start on October 1.
The dinosaur (you'll see him in minute) is 8 feet tall, takes 2 months to build and 8 days just to string the lights.
It takes 5 miles of extension cords and close to a million lights to do the event.

Here are some of our favorites. Some of the pictures aren't great, but you'll get the idea.

Elephants

The butterflies in the tree were new this year.

A submarine diving into the lake, also new this year.

Our favorite-especially Logan--the dinosaur, he's new this year too. His arms moved and his mouth opened and closed. Hard to see in the picture, but in the picture above you can see Logan looking at the dinosaur.

Snow Day

2008-12-16T08:20:00.004-07:00

Not that it matters too much to us, but it's official schools are closed today. We only got about an inch, maybe a tiny bit more at our house. But the news said that parts of ABQ had 2-3 inches. Here's what our backyard looked like at about 7AM.

Logan and I went to play in the snow after breakfast. Our plan was to make a snowman and we even took supplies out with us, a scarf, and other snowman essentials, but the snow is too powdery and doesn't hold together well. So we just played. Logan threw handfuls of snow at me. Then we followed some cat foot prints around the yard. We obviously had a visitor last night. Logan wouldn't let me take his picture. He doesn't like anyone to take pictures of him recently so the only pictures we get are the ones where he doesn't know we're taking them.

We're supposed to get more snow tomorrow and Thursday.

Logan saying "No Mommy, No Picture, NO NO NO!"

Gingerbread house and tree

2008-12-15T07:01:00.005-07:00

We had a busy busy weekend. Saturday we went to Dave Slade and Associate's client appreciataion party. They're the real estate company that sold our house last spring. So we went to Albuquerque Uptown, (an outdoor shopping center). They had the party in a restaurant there. They were doing door prize drawings for gingerbread houses that the agents made. There were 6 or 7 of them. We won one and got to pick our house. We let Logan pick his favorite and he chose this one.

In the parking lot of ABQ Uptown, we saw Santa walking to his car. He was nice enough to stop and say 'Hi' to Logan.

Sunday we put up our tree and spent Logan's nap time wrapping presents.

Hard to tell in the picture, but the tree is lit.

It's supposed to snow today/tonight so if we get a good amount I'll take pictures.

Christmas Party and Cookies

2008-12-10T10:35:00.003-07:00

Last night we went to Blue Sky Tours Christmas Party. It was held at Gardunos on the Green. Gardunos is a mexican restaurant in ABQ. They're really good. The location we went to is by the hot air balloon museum and I think they only rent it out to people for parties. It was fun, the food was good. The party was sponsored by one of the resorts, Pacific Beach Hotels (I think) they drew names and everyone got to pick a wrapped gift, then unwrap it. There were I-pods, toaster ovens, coffee makers, tv's and a bunch of other things. Dan was one of the first ones called, he picked a digital picture frame. We've been wanting one for a while so it was a nice surprise.

This morning Logan and I baked cookies. I'm doing a cookie exchange tomorrow so we made cherry-nut bonbon cookies. I've never made them before, but they came out really good. This is us cutting the cherries for the cookies.

Check out A letter from Richard

2008-12-02T06:58:00.001-07:00

I saw this on another blog and thought I would share it in case anyone is interested. The copies are only available while supplies last.

Richard Paul Evans is giving away free copies of his best selling book The Christmas Box. I want you to take a look at: A letter from Richard

Zoo trip

2008-11-21T13:26:00.005-07:00

We went to the Zoo this week. Wednesday actually, this is the first chance I've had to get the pictures on the computer. It was cold so a bunch of the animals weren't out. But the ones that were out we had fun watching.

We saw the seals getting fed.....

aa baby snow leapord...

a mountain lion....

a rhino...

a cheetah....

a lion playing with a pumpkin...

still playing....

now what? He took his pumpkin and put it behind a tree and layed next to it.

Never too young to help out

2008-11-10T10:07:00.002-07:00

Here are a few shots of Logan helping with the leaves in the back yard. He had fun raking them and wouldn't let us help when we thought he needed a hand.

Pumpkins

2008-11-03T10:46:00.002-07:00

We found these cute pumpkin accessories at Walmart. They are like the Mr. Potato Head accessories but made to stick in pumpkins so that small children can help decorate pumpkins without the mess and sharp tools. Logan helped me with these. We had 2 large pumpkins and we put one on each side on Halloween. Logan wouldn't let me take a picture of him with the pumpkins.

Our pig.....

Cat....

Dog.....

and Bear.

Logan used his crayons to color the pumpkins too.

Trick or Treating at Blue Sky

2008-10-31T14:57:00.002-06:00

Dan's company, Blue Sky tours lets their kids come trick or treating around the office on Halloween, so Logan and I went to visit Daddy at his office. He got alot of candy and lots of compliments. We had to run to the bank and post office on our way to Dan's office and there were lots of compliments and candy given out there too.

Here's a picture of Logan getting a special treat from Daddy.

We'll have more pictures of Halloween festivites later this weekend.

Zoo Boo

2008-10-25T20:20:00.005-06:00

What a busy week it has been, fortunately Dan had a few days off, which is why we jam packed everything into one week.

Wednesday we had appointments super early to get flu shots, Wednesday afternoon Logan got his hair cut.

Thursday was a trip to the mall for some early Christmas shopping.

Friday Logan had his first dentist appointment. The dentist said that everything looks good and his is happy with Logan mouth. After the dentist it was a quick trip to Sams Club for some Halloween candy and other bulk items. Then home for a quick nap, after nap was a stop at our early voting center then grocery shopping. Whew! But that wasn't the end to our busy week.

Saturday was the Zoo Boo. It's an event that the zoo holds every year, where children get to get dressed up and trick or treat around the zoo. Most animal exhibits have a table sponsored by a local business that give away candy and other items to the kids and coupons and brochures to the parents. State Farm was giving the kids footballs and coloring books, and while we were in line for our coloring books Logan tired to put as many footballs as would fit in his bucket. After explaining that he only got to keep 1 he put the rest back. Molina Health care gave us toothbrushes, McDonald's gave us coupons for free ice cream just for a few examples. Logan also got a lot of candy, more than we probably need.

Logan's tiger costume from last year still fit so he went as a tiger for the 2nd year. Though this will be the last year since the pants were getting a little short.

We had fun at the zoo and saw lots of animals. The zoo keepers had decorated all the animal houses with Halloween decor and made all the animals paper mache balls, the monkeys were eating theirs when we got there. We made it home just in time for a nap.

Looking at the polar bears.

Getting candy and goodies from the polar bear exhibit. This one was sponsored by a local dentist office.

Monkey eating the paper mache balls.

Baby zebra.

2008-10-25T20:06:00.003-06:00

Poor Cinderella... she is always looking for a friend. We have been having some neighbor cats visit our yard recently and Cinderella has tried to make friends with them. This normally happens during Logan's naptime too. She'll meow and meow hoping to make friends, but unfortunatly the other cats hear it as "get out of my yard" and quickly run away which makes poor Cinderella even more upset. The video is just the last part of her meowing. Prior to me grabbing the camera she had been meowing for at least 2-3 minutes. And even after the camera was off continued to meow for another couple of minutes. Orbit, on the other hand when she sees other cats will act like normal cats do and growl and hiss and scare them away.

Please don't look too closely at our backyard-as it's work in progress.

Balloon....In our front yard.....?

2008-10-03T11:29:00.005-06:00

Well, hot air balloon season is here. The balloon fiesta starts tomorrow, so balloons have been seen all over Albuquerque for the past couple of weeks while ballooners arrive and set up and practice their flights.

It's not uncommon this time of year for us to hear the burning of the propane over our house as they fly over but this morning it sounded louder than normal, so I looked out the window and coming down, almost right in our front yard was a balloon. Logan and I ran out into the driveway, camera in hand to see the balloon.

Diagonally across the street from our house is an open field and they landed there. We went back inside to get shoes on and we went to see if they needed help. They didn't, they were waiting for their chase crew which showed up about 5 minutes later. They let the passengers off and the pilots went up again, and landed somewhere else. I don't know if they needed more space to land (the field they landed in was right next to a ditch so they couldn't have laid it out flat as they probably needed too and there are lots of other obstructions, like fences or houses) or if they were burning up fuel. But for whatever reason they took off again with the chase crew following.

Very exciting morning. Logan really didn't like the burning of the propane. It's loud and hot and probably very scary to a 2 year old. We'll watch the balloon fiesta tomorrow morning on tv you can see live coverage of it, starting at 7am NM time at our local ABC station's website

Just landed.

Logan in our driveway looking at the balloon.

Chase crew arrives.

They had to move the balloon from one side of the fence to the other to let passengers off. How they did it...they tied a rope to the balloon, tied it to the fence and the balloon went up, they pulled the rope and the balloon landed on the other side of the fence.

It was the Trader Joe's balloon.

Off to land somewhere else.

Mickey Mouse Sweater Vest

2008-09-28T18:37:00.003-06:00

Ready for church! Logan was so excited to wear his Mickey Mouse sweater vest to church today. He normally fights sweater vests, but when I showed him it had Mickey on it, he was more than happy to wear it. Plus Mickey is in a train which makes it even more exciting. He told us that Goofy (of Goopy as he says it) was driving the train. Too funny!
I wonder where he gets his Disney obsession from?

Weekend of playing!

2008-09-21T13:00:00.006-06:00

Logan has had a weekend full of playing and fun! Saturday he spent all day playing with Daddy while Mommy went to a party. Saturday night after bathtime. We watched some baseball on tv, which inspired Logan to get his foam bat and practice his hitting. He kept trying to swing the bat like the players on tv, when they lift up one leg right before they swing. Logan found it difficult to lift his leg AND swing at the same time.

Sunday morning we went to the park to play for a little while. Logan had a great time. We got a little rain last night and didn't think about the playground equipment being wet, so Logan (and Mommy) got a little wet sliding down the slides.

Steering the big wheel.

Through the tunnel

You made it out!

Looks like Daddy's driving now.

Later at home, we built a fort and played in that for a while until we got Logan's tunnel out to play with, he and Dan were both standing in it and walking around the room.

Going to Work

2008-09-12T17:47:00.002-06:00

Logan likes to pretend he's going to work like Dan. Here he is ready to go with Dan's shoes on and keys in hand. Sorry for the blurry pictures, they were the best we could do. Logan didn't wand to stand still.

Ruth's State Fair Entries......

2008-09-08T06:59:00.003-06:00

We went to the fair on Sunday and found out that 2 of my entries for the fair won. I won first prize for my birthday card that I submitted and second prize for my framed image.

Baking Cookies

2008-09-03T07:13:00.003-06:00

We made peanut butter cookies yesterday. Logan was so excited. Though not at the part where the mixer was running. He's not a fan of loud noises (even though my mixer isn't that loud) and stood in the kitchen crying while it ran and wouldn't deal with the logic of 'if you want cookies it has to be loud for a few minutes' Once the mixer was done, I rolled the dough into balls and Logan got to smoosh them with a fork.