mid-march

spring finally arrived this past week and we have been soaking it up (which is good because it looks like it is going to get chilly again. boo!). i am so done with winter and we welcomed spring by spending days at the park, playing in the backyard, opening the curtains and windows and letting the sunshine stream in and driving with the windows down and the radio turned up (or more often than not, primary songs pumped up). the sunshine (and warmth) is good for my soul!

with the arrival of spring i have been on a spring cleaning rampage. perhaps there are many of you that don't know this about me, but i love to deep clean and organize things. it makes me giddy (ask dave, he thinks it's a little crazy how excited and happy it makes me). i have taken garbage bags of clothes and stuff to the goodwill. i have gone through closets, drawers and cupboards and even though there is more to do, it feels so good! i told dave i felt like i was nesting without the pregnancy part (the mention of nesting elicited a look of panic. ha!).

i finished the second season of downton abbey about a couple of weeks ago and loved it! like so many i got totally sucked in and wish i didn't have to wait so long until the next season. and by the way, can they please add more episodes to the season? 7 just doesn't cut it for me.

i got 2 new colors of nail polish that i love, just in time for the warmer weather and open toe shoes! i painted my toe nails at playgroup a few weeks ago. the first and last time i do that. what was i thinking?! i swear, as soon as i pulled out that bottle of nail polish it was like a magnet, attracting little people to me.

i got some new yummy smelling body wash and the smell of it (black orchid and velvet hibiscus) makes my shower time seem more luxurious!

i got a new crock pot because the pot in my last one totally cracked. i still used it for awhile (with crock pot liners, so so worth the money), but finally i broke down and bought a new one. the timer feature is different than my last one and totally awesome! yes, i get excited about things like crock pots. what can i say?!

i love spring flowers! they are my favorites. if i could have fresh tulips in my house all spring long i would love it.

my friend megan alerted me to skinny jeans at forever 21 for $10.50! score! that is totally within my budget. i think i need to get a couple more pairs!

denver finally got an H&M at the end of last year and i still haven't gone. what the?!

it's amazing how quickly i can get in and out of costco when i go in the evening, without my kids and when there are no samples out. but i almost don't know if it is worth it without the samples!

the other night when i was driving 3 out of the 6 pre-sets in my car were playing the same rihanna song. wow denver, mix it up a little!

apparently i am a really loud typer/typist (what is it?). dave tells me it all the time (and just told me again).

logan and dave were just watching a video on you tube and when it finished logan said, "that wasn't a very good one. not yours, we need to watch one of my elmo ones." the boy knows what he wants!

i really want a mini van. make fun of me all you want, but i can't wait to get one someday. i keep daydreaming about cruising around in one.

a peek into our lives lately

sometimes i just have a lot of random pictures of us hanging out. so here's what you get, a post full of them covering the end of february and first half of march!

 

under the kitchen chairs, a favorite hang out spot for the kids

 

 emma loves to look out our back doors
(and who know where her other sock was)

 

 the kids have been going on adventures lately (usually under the kitchen table) complete with "adventure hats" and a flashlight. oh how i love them!

emma's face kills me in the picture below. pure joy! i think i need to crop this picture just with her in it. 

 the loves of my life

yoga mat picnics. logan thinks it's the greatest place to eat his lunch. i always hope i don't find a piece of cheese stuck to my foot during my next pilates class.

at the end of february logan went with dave to his work to watch a certification and competition for chefs. they found logan a extra small chef's hat and coat that he sported. isn't he just the cutest?! dave's boss dubbed him the CLC, certified little chef! he'll even put it on at home sometimes when he helps us cook. 

 

cuties!

 dave and logan went on a father-son outing and logan scored a new train. 

 we visited grandma lorrie for her 88th birthday!

 i was sitting at the computer and looked down to see that logan had pulled emma onto his lap. they sure love each other.

 another emma face that just kills me! she is such a happy, smiley girl!

 logan wasn't feeling great this day and apparently needed to rest in the swing. 

 logan helping his dad replace our headlight. he thought it was cool that he got to help dave.

 this girl loves to eat!

the nears come to town

i was just looking through our pictures and realized that i never posted these pictures of when the nears came to visit from utah over president's day weekend. it already seems like too long ago that they were here. even though emma and sophie are only 4 and a half months apart, it was logan and sophie who played together and emma watched them, looking like she wanted in on the action (but couldn't keep up). logan also learned that he has to share the toys at gammy and pappy's house. he is used to ruling the roost over there! i didn't really get any great pictures, although i guess they do depict accurately these busy little people. 

 gammy surrounded by 3 out of her 4 grandkids (collin was somewhere nearby in the room too). she was in heaven!

gammy and pappy with all FOUR of their grandkids! i can't believe there are already four kiddos! they are such fun grandparents!

 we already miss the nears! come back and visit soon!

emma: 11 months

this past sunday emma turned 11 months. i don't want to talk about the fact that next month she'll be a year. i am in denial. she continues to be sweet, happy and willingly gives smiles to anyone (unless she's tired, and really who wants to smile then ;)

• she went through a faze this past month of scrunching up her face, sticking out her chin and giving big, cheesy smiles. 
• she moves all over in her sleep. i love to check on her and see where she has ended up in her crib and what position she is sleeping in. i love when she sleeps with her little bum in the air. at nighttime tickling her face makes her instantly sleepy and she often sleeps with her lovey on her face. 
• she is "talking" constantly now and it is so fun to hear

• a couple of weeks ago dave and i were mentioning that emma doesn't laugh spontaneously, only if we really work at it and tickle her (and not necessarily even then). it's almost like she must have heard us because since then she has been laughing and giggling constantly. i love to hear her throaty laugh! 
• she loves to turn on dave's xbox and is instantly attracted to cords. our printer (which is on the floor under our desk) is one of her favorite places to play (it was logan's too).

• she is a disposal (i was going to put garbage disposal, but we try to steer clear of feeding her garbage). she can eat and eat, she's like a bottomless pit. i guess it takes quite a bit to sustain those cheeks, belly and thighs (she is one chunky gal). we still have yet to find something she won't devour. she doesn't really eat baby food anymore. she prefers whatever we are eating. we just have to watch that she doesn't eat too much. last week she overate twice and ended up throwing up (one time all over daddy). 
• this girl is a pooping machine (probably has something to do with her love of eating). probably not what you wanted to read on this blog, but what girl wouldn't want to look back on her younger years and know that piece of info?! ok, enough about poop. 

• she uses whatever is around to pull herself up to kneeling and standing. she loves to stand, although sometimes she has a hard time figuring out how to sit back down.
• she crawled up the stairs on the stand at church a few weeks ago. dave was getting the sacrament stuff ready and left her by the sacrament table and the next thing he knew, he looked down and she had crawled up the "stairs" to where he was in the sacrament prep room. 
• all of the sudden her hair is coming in thicker and darker

• she's got 3 more teeth coming in (in addition to the 4 she already has), hence the drool.
• she loves to sit on our laps and bounce and she still loves to be held upside down. if she's sitting on our lap she will often arch herself back until she's hanging upside down. 
• she weaned herself about a week and a half ago. i tried to nurse her 2 separate times and both time she screamed and pushed away from me. and so just like that she decided she was done. 

logan: two and a half years old

logan turned two and a half last month and i wanted to write down some of the things he is saying and doing lately. he's at such a fun age and for the most part i such a sweet, good boy (although he has definitely got a sassy and defiant side). he learns so much everyday and i often forget when we interact that he is only two and a half (although in general i can't believe he is already two and a half. where did my baby boy go?!). we're so happy this little dude is in our family. he brings us such joy (and sometimes exasperation. but mostly joy)!
i know this is long. i don't blame anyone for skipping this post :) it's mainly for our records since i know there is no way i'll remember all these little things, but i really want to! 

*he calls the door bell the ding bell and always want to push it when we go to people's houses
*he likes to bite his food into different "shapes." usually it is a dinosaur or some other kind of animal
*he loves to help: cook (especially if he gets to wear his chef's hat), unload the dishwasher, put clothes in the washer or dryer, make emma's bottle, feed emma.

*he can pray on his own and says the sweetest prayers. there is something so sweet and genuine when a child prays.
*he still is attached to his lovey (blanket). it is never far from him.

*when he is not feeling well it totally changes his personality. we're always anxious for him to get better, not only for his heath, but for our sanity (he gets whiny and acts up more)

*he is super social and loves to make friends. wherever we go he says hi to people and waves. he loves to show off for others.

(logan and his friend finn at our ward chili cook-off)

*he loves emma! 

of course he sometimes takes toys away from her and he's learning not to freak out when she breaks his train track, but 99.5% of the time it is all love! he calls her emmy and it is so cute! if he wakes up first in the morning or from a nap he begs to go in and get her up. when she finally wakes up he can't wait to go in her crib with her. he has requested a few times that she take a nap with him in his bed. i love how he cheers her on in whatever she is doing and celebrates her accomplishments. he'll say, "good job emmy! you did it!" whether is is crawling somewhere, feeding herself or any other random thing she might do. he also likes to show off for her, "emmy, watch this." he also keeps her up to date on what is going on, "emma, we're going to get in the car and go to the store" (or whatever i've just told him we're doing/eating etc). whenever i am taking a picture of emma it's not long before logan is making his way into the picture. he often requests i take a picture of the two of them when they are sitting next to each other. lately he has been saying, "i love emma. she is my best friend." tonight he said, "emma is my little sister and i take care of her." and he does! when i went to pick the kids up from the kids' club at the gym, one of the workers mentioned what a good big brother logan is and how he protects emma. wherever we go he points to emma and introduces people to her. he is a proud big brother. and the love is mutual. emma lights up when she sees logan and wants to be wherever he is. it has been the sweetest thing to see the two of them become friends and love each other. 

*this kid loves to watch movies and shows. he is constantly begging to watch something (much to my chagrin). i frequently hear, "let's watch one movie, okay" while he holds up his pointer finger. he'll also say, "after this show is over we'll watch another, okay?!" here is the progression of shows that he has liked over the past year or so (he gets on a kick and wants to watch certain shows over and over again): elmo youtube videos --> thomas the train --> backyardigans --> caillou --> dora the explorer, diego and dinosaur train. his favorite movie is "cars"
*if he gets hurt or upset he will often say, "i need to watch a movie so i feel better."

*he loves music! we listen to it throughout the day (usually primary songs) and whenever we drive he asks me to "turn up the music." most nights i sing him primary songs before he goes to bed. the most requested are "families can be together forever," "i love to see the temple," "i am a child of god" and "child's prayer." he also loves to sing "follow the prophet," "popcorn popping," jesus wants me for a sunbeam." i am amazed at how quickly he can memorize songs.

*he has an incredible memory. for songs, names, words, things we read in books (he memorizes parts of books so quickly). as a result he has an amazing vocabulary (we are constantly wondering where he has learned words and concepts). i wish my memory was as good as his.

*he loves to play basketball. he got a little hoop for christmas and plays all the time (and is surprisingly good).
*he likes to play hide and seek. he loves to play behind the rocker and in a little corner behind emma's crib. we always find stashes of toys in those 2 places.

*he'll often say, "when i get bigger i will ____"
*he is so adept with technology. he can navigate an iPhone and iPad with no problem, move the mouse on the computer to open what he wants, loads dvds into the xbox and can open netflix on our phones and start a movie or show. yikes!

(watching diego while we cleaned the church)

*he loves his cousins!

*he loves both sets of grandparents! it is so special to watch the relationship he has with each of them.

*whenever we get in the car he asks if we can go fast. when a light turns green he will often say, "and now we go."

*in books we read if there are 3 of the same animal he will often point to them and say, "that's a mommy ___, that's a daddy ____ and that's a logan ____." we just checked out the "three bears" from the library and instead of it being baby bear he calls it "logi bear." 

*he always says, "hey! i've got an idea!"
*he likes to hold up/count his fingers (1, 2 and 3 fingers)
*he likes when i tell him "the plan" for what we're going to do
*he loves to count things and is good at pointing and counting.

*the last couple of weeks he has started to talk in his sleep and have bad dreams (at least we think they're bad dreams). it is so sad to hear him cry out.
*if we tell him something is "special" he is more likely to cooperate and do what we've asked him to do.

*he loves finding coins and putting them into his piggy bank and we have used this to our advantage ie- "logan if you are reverent during scriptures and prayers, you can put a penny in your bank." it usually does the trick! we might need to use it as incentive when we start potty training (which i really don't even want to think about)

*he has been sleeping in his big boy bed for almost 3 months and still stays in bed when he wakes up and calls out to us to come get him. we're enjoying it for as long as it lasts! when we come in to get him he always announces, "i waked up!"
*he is the most snuggly right after he wakes up. sometimes i am lucky enough to just hold him and have him lay his head on my shoulder. it melts me every time it happens.

*he can count to 20, although 16-19 is a little sketchy
*he recognizes the letters D, E, L & O. he finds them in books, on store signs, everywhere. he will say, "D stands for daddy. E stands for Emma. L stands for Logan." he can also spell his name. he also recognizes the logos for king soopers (our grocery store) and 24 hour fitness (he calls it kid's club).
*he knows his full name, his birthday (month and day) and what street we live on.
*he pronounces "th" as "f" ie - "fanks" instead of "thanks"

*his imagination continues to grow and it is so fun to watch him pretend. a few weeks ago he went on an "adventure" with gammy and ever since, he talks about going on an adventure.
*he likes to add "ie" to words ie - "piggie," duckie," "goosie"
*he talks about what he did "yesterday" a lot. sometimes it really was yesterday, sometimes it was weeks ago and sometimes is was just a few hours ago (like before his nap).
*when he's upset he always cries for someone who isn't there. usually it is either mommy or daddy, but sometimes it is random, like his cousins.