Birthday's and Fires

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.