Turkey Day 2012 Recap

Turkey Day has come and gone.  Seriously how fast did this year go by?  Sheesh. 

This year we went over to my sister's house in the Woodlands for some family and LOTS of food! It was my parents, my sister, her hubby and 2 kids, my Uncle and his 2 girls and my Memaw and of course the Parks family of 3.  So it was a nice group and we had plenty of laughs and stuffed ourselves. I even made a pumpkn roll, which I had NEVER done before and everyone commented on how tasty it was! We had a nice day just relaxing and talking, it was nice family time.  Everyone left that evening but we were staying until Saturday so I got some good quality time with my nephews! Hunter is getting so big and all he wanted to do was play Hangman and Candyland, but that was alright with me. And my sweet Hayden is a chubby bubby and just mostly wanted to be crawling around on the floor and getting into stuff.   The weekend was great (although myself and Bryan caught a nasty stomach bug....ugh.) Here are some pictures from the weekend, hope everyone had a great Turkey Day!

The Family! Thanksgiving 2012!

This was the best picture of the 3 of them!

Love my seester!

Paw Paw getting Hayden's toes!

Itsy Bitsy Spider with Grams!

Going shopping for the turkey!

Love my Daddy!

My Uncle JB and his girls, Sydney and Anne

MeMaw and her grand-daughters

Hunter-man and Logan (this one melts my heart!)

Hayden aka Chubb Chubb on his first turkey day!

Single Mom

...just for the weekend! And let me tell you after this weekend, BIG props to all the single moms out there.  Logan is in a very difficult stage so it is nice when Bryan comes home for me to have a "break".   Let's be real, the "break" is cooking, washing dishes or putting away clothes!

Bryan went to the A&M game in Mississippi on Friday with 2 of his very close friends.  He has not had a guys weekend probably since Logan was born, so I was excited for him.  And the Aggies won! Gig 'Em!

This weekend, Logan and I played lots outside, bubbles, bathtub paint, and watched a movie or two.  He was actually pretty good and VERY clingy...which he never is. 
Saturday night we ventured out with some friends to the carnival that was in town. Logan had never been to a carnival so I thought it would be fun to walk around and maybe ride a ride or two.  We got there and he seemed to be intrigued by all the lights and sounds.  I figured there was 2 rides we could go on, so I went and bought tickets.  We first went on the carousel.  He seemed pretty happy---until the ride actually started.  He cried the whole time, poor baby.  After the carnival, we decided to go to Chick Fil A and let the kiddos play in the play area.  Logan had lots more fun there than the carnival!
Guess he was not ready for the carnival--maybe next year. 

Before the ride started

Playing with Makenna at Chick Fil A.  Logan's hand placement and face cracks me up in this picture!

Bryan came home on Sunday evening and Logan was so happy to see him....as was I!

Halloween 2012 Recap

Last year Logan was a little small to partipate in all of the fun Halloween activities but I was so excited for this year! But I mean come on how freakin cute was he last year?! Omg.  I die. 

Well this year I had already planned (yes I am a planner!) that he was going to be a parrot! Bryan and I had some old pirate costumes from like 4 years ago (we are broke people, we aren't paying for new costumes.) We got them out of the attic and whooo hooo, it still fit me, boo-yah, go me.  My plan was to make him one so I would not spend a lot of money, but then I found a really cute one for $12 so I snatched it up!  I would have spent that much to make it and well let's be honest I am not too crafty.  I am the one that pins things on pinterest and thinks oh I could do that, and never actually do it. I am not sure if he liked it at first....

We first attended Logan's fall party at school.  I made rice krispy treat pumkins and all the kiddos had lots of sugar-y stuff so they were all hyped up by the time I got there.  It was open for parents to come but me and Bryan were the only ones (out of 4 other parents) that did.  Oh well, it was my baby's first party at school, I was there and being a mamarazzi!

We had some good friends over that night and we carved pumpkins.  Logan thought the insides were gross, but by the end, he was wanting to reach in and grab the seeds and put them in his mouth. Yuk.  He had fun and sat there while we carved for about 45 minutes!

We cooked ribs and I made a super yummy Pinterest dessert.  Cookie dough brownie peanut butter cup brownies....Wow.  They were great but really rich.  I did not take a picture because they were GONE as soon as I put them out!

Recipe:
I roll of cookie dough
12 individual wrapped Reeses peanut butter cups
Brownie mix

Place wax paper on 9 x 13 glass pan.  Spread the cookie dough on the bottom. 
Place rows of peanut butter cups (3 rows of 12) on top of the cookie dough
Mix up brownie mix and pour it over the top
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes
You can cut them into squares and each person gets their own peanut butter cup!

We went to our church fall festival the Sunday before Halloween.  There was so much stuff for the kiddos to do, but not too much for the little ones.  They had a petting zoo which Logan loved and a train to ride.  Some of the games I helped him play. He had fun (although he thought the train ride was a little fast, so did mommy!) He also played on the church playground and has some of Daddy's sno-cone. 

Trick or treating! I was so excited for him to actually go and walk up to the doors and put candy in his bag.  Who cares he can't say trick or treat? We met up with friends that we went with last year, I think it is tradition now.  Their little girl is 3 and she loves her "Yogan".  This was them last year. 

And this year....

This is the best picture you can get with a 19 month old a 3 year old!

Yes, after Makenna saw that Logan was a pumpkin last year that is all she talked about being was a pumpkin like "Yogan".  It was too cute.  I hope these 2 grow up to be great friends!

We headed out and Logan was pretty good for the first 5 houses or so.  We let him walk because he is Mr. Independent and I knew if we took the wagon he would be out of it in 2.5 seconds.  He saw Makenna walking by herself so he wanted to also.  But he wanted to RUN.  So he had a few meltdowns while Mommy tried to explain to him that we have to hold hands.  That worked for a little bit.  Logan had a candy bag, but as soon as the person would put the candy in his bag, he would have to take it out, look at it and HE wanted to put it in the bag. Sure, not worth the fight on that one. 
We got mixed reactions as to what Logan was.  Rio, Tucan Sam, an Angry Bird and a penguin...really??!! I thought our outfits totally made sense.  But most people said he was just an adorable little parrot and of course I would have to agree!
We trick or treated for about 30-45 minutes and by the end, he was done.  We let Makenna go to a few more houses but we held our little "angry bird".  We made it home around 9:30 and our parrot was tuckered out! What a great night and we can't wait until next year!

Notice the DEATH GRIP on the candy?!

End of the night!

Aggie Game, 10 year reunion and Logan's new toy!

I have been at my job for almost 2 years (next week will mark 2 years!) and my building is right across from Kyle Field.  Growing up, my Dad was always an Aggie fan and we watched the football games and rooted for A&M.  I have always wanted to go to a football game, but with a little one, it is hard (and not to mention expensive!) Last year, Student Life put together a bucket list at one of our retreats.  I had 3 items: 

Attend a Silver Taps  Done! I went last year with my friend and it was an amazing experience. 

Go to the Messina Hof Winery (still not done, maybe my birthday this year?!)

Attend an Aggie football game Done! Thanks to the awesome Dean of Student Life! She knew I wanted to go to a game and had 2 extra tickets to the Arkansas game last month and asked if I wanted to go. Ummm YES!  I was so excited (and so was my hubby!) Our wonderful friends agreed to watch Logan and we stayed the whole time! Now,  I am not a football fanatic or anything, but it was a great game, our first SEC home win! The game day experience was all I could have imagined and more.  Gig 'Em!

My FREE tickets!

Before the game started!

10 years?  Has it been that long since I graduated high school? No, it can't be....I am only 28 years young! Alas, my high school reunion was in Brenham 2 weeks ago and I decided I was going to go.  It might be strange, but I have lots of close friends that I went to high school with.  Like, we still hang out on a regular basis.  So this was a perfect opportunity for us to all get together! And see people from high school too of course.   Our graduating class was big...well big for Brenham.  364 in our graduating class of 2002.  So I figured there would at least be 100 or so at the reunion.  Nope, like 50 tops.  Oh well.  We were there and they had free food and drinks, can't pass that up! It was a fun "adult" night with our friends and great to see lots of old friends too (however, most of them I can see on facebook!)

Some of the old crew

Yea, we might be older but ain't DEAD! We still have FUN :) My drill team girls and my BFFs still after all these years!

Me and my bestie Mark

For the past few weeks, everytime we come home and I attempt to make dinner, Logan has been very clingy.  We try to get him to play in his room but he either clings to me or clings to the doorknob saying "Ou-side" over and over.  We have a very large backyard with nothing in it for him to play with.  Bryan is going to build him a nice swingset when he is older, but he is too little for that right now.  Thanks to my boss, I found a page on facebook (it is like Craigslist...but better!) for local moms to post gently used items for sale.  I had been on the lookout for a toddler climber.  Those things are like $300 new and no way was I paying that! The other week I found one on that page and thought for sure someone had claimed it, but no offers! She was asking $100 OBO so we decided to go look at it and maybe we could talk her down to $75.  Logan loved it and it was in great condition so I offered her $85 and she took it! We loaded it up and took it home.  The next day it rained so Logan could not play on it.  On Friday we let him see it and he was so excited! Now everyday he wants to go play "Ou-side" on his big boy toy.  And that makes this momma VERY happy that I can now cook dinner without a crabby toddler hanging on my leg :)

 

A year and a half!

My baby is 18 months old......that is a year and a half! So in 6 months he will be 2.  Whhhhaaaaattt? I will probably say this on every "Logan" post, he is getting too big too fast!

We went to the doctor last Friday and he is doing great!
Height:  34 inches (91%, tall boy!)
Weight: 26 pounds (still on the lean side in the 52%)
And he had a meltdown as soon as we walked in of course.  But no more shots until he is 4! (Ummm I don't want to think about my baby being 4.)

Talking: Ma-ma, Da-da, outside, dog, uh-oh, look, Matt (funny story about that...) He is not saying much, but he knows what we are asking.  We will say Logan where is your (body parts..hair, toes, nose...) and he will point to it and smile! Then he loves to also point out mommy and daddy's body parts too.  He will just come by and lift up our shirts to find our belly buttons.  Its ok at home, but sometimes he wants to do this in public.  Not so much ok then.  We ask him to go get his cup and he will search all around, or we say things like go take this to daddy and he will.  So he is a boy of few words, but understands what we are saying and that is more important to me, he will talk when he wants to.  Remember he didn't walk until he was 15 months....he is just a late bloomer!

He is a little silly boy that will "dance" on cue.  He also will spin and spin until he falls and he thinks that is hilarious.  (He does not dance until the last part of the video...)

Eating-this boy will have second helpings one night and another night eat a cracker.  Not kidding.  But for the most part anything we put in front of him he will eat.  He loves, beans, cheese, yogurt, pudding, chicken, beef.  We made chili last night and he was an oinker! We are still trying for him to eat more veggies but not going to force him.  He likes green beans and will eat some peas.  I will take what I can get. 

This was his attempt at pudding.  He ate most of it, then just wanted to play with it on his tray.  Daddy had fun cleaning it up. 

Doing: He loves to go outside and play.  Little does he know that it will be getting cold soon (well maybe) and those days are getting shorter and shorter.  I am going to have to come up with some creative inside play for those winter months.  But heck, we are in Texas.  Winter here is from December-February!
For his birthday we are really looking into buying a nice swing set for him.  Bryan also wants to build him a treehouse so we will see. 
He loves animals.  We take him for a ride in the wagon and anytime he sees doggies or cats, he giggles and points.  I would really love to take him to my uncle's farm that has goats, pigs, cows and horses.  He would love that. 
Dancing and spinning. 
Chasing the dog around.
Squealing.  Like loud.  He thinks it is so funny.  He will just run around the house squealing as loud as he can.  Whatever keeps him happy right? 
Being silly. 
Giving hugs and kisses and oooohhhhh do I soak those in. 
Pushing things (chairs, toys, his stroller...)
He thinks every door leads to outside.  He will be in his room and close his door and pull on the doorknob and say outside, it is pretty funny. 
Makes vroom vroom noises when he playing with a car or truck.
Climbing.  This scares me.  I am crossing my fingers and toes that he will not learn how to crawl out of his crib....not ready for that yet. 
He likes "reading" his books by himself.  At night, I try to hold them and read them to him and he wants to do it.  He likes turning the pages and then putting the book back on the shelf. 
He brushes his own teeth now also (well more like biting the toothbrush, we have to help him). 
He is doing so many things on his own, but also clings on to me at times and when I am busy and cannot pick him up....oh he throws a tantrum...yep he does at 18 months.  Fun times ahead ;)

Clothes-He for the most part is in 18 and 24 month shirts, 24 month pants and 24 month/2T (I am not sure the difference, isn't 24 months 2T??) jammies.  He skipped over 18 month pants.  They fit him in the belly but wayyy too short.  So we got the pants that can be adjusted since he is skinny.  We went to Target and bought him some 2T jammies for the first time the other night. Looking more and more like a little boy.

The funny story about him saying Matt.  He has a gloworm and the other night I was putting him to bed and reached for it and clearly said Matt and pointed to it.  Matt, Matt, Matt! He kept saying over and over.  I was really racking my brain trying to think of why he was calling this thing Matt.  All we can come up with is that Bryan's cousin's name is Matt and we were over at their house (months ago!) and their son has a gloworm just like his.  But he calls that thing Matt now and we just crack up.  We say where is Matt and he will go get it, it is too funny. 

Yes, I am already planning Logan's 2nd birthday party and I already have the theme and the invitation in my mind.  My husband thinks I am crazy (maybe I am) but hello 6 months is going to go by fast! It is a really cute monkey see monkey do theme.  Everything yellow and brown and a build your own banana split bar, how fun right?  We are probably going to rent a bouncy house for the kiddos.  I am excited to start planning it. 

Logan, my sweetness, you are my world, my sunshine, my everything and I love you more and more everyday.  It is so fun watching you grow and learn new things every single day.  Always something new or funny and keep us on our toes but we love it!