rainy day respite

I know I've complained about all the rain because it's hard to stay cooped up in the house with 4 kids. I am secretly loving this rainy day though. The crisp air felt so good this morning on my walk with the littles. Even though we had to run home half way through because the rain started earlier than I thought it would, it was a great start to the day. Mr. Cooper made progress on learning to start his bike on his own.

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Oh yeah, Logan learned to ride his bike without training wheels last Monday. Daddy gave him a pep-talk about how he was going to be a big four-year-old boy now, took him out in the parking lot, steadied him and away he went. The only thing Logan had trouble with was starting and stopping. He was our fastest learner yet.

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Syd is cutting more teeth and very clingy lately. I wasn't even neglecting Ms. leechy nut here she just walked up and went ballistic. Today I'm folding clothes and doing misc. things with the door open so I can hear and smell the rain. It's a great excuse to put off errands and chip away at my to-do list indoors. Good day.

I feel a renewed sense of purpose after watching our church's General Conference on Sunday. There were so many inspirational messages that I needed to hear and we had a great day together as a family. Dave and I slept in (heaven!), we fixed a big breakfast and watched conference in our pj's with the chillies, went on a long family walk, ate root beer floats while watching the last session of conference, ate dinner and played together until bedtime. It was a perfect Sunday together.President Monson's talk on Sunday morning was so great. My sweet Jessie would kill me if she knew I wrote down that she was even crying during part of his talk. One of the things he said at the very end of his talk has been running through my head ever since.

"Fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."
President Thomas S. Monson

I love that; The future is as bright as your faith! I really needed to hear these words. Be positive. Have faith in God and His plan and the possibilities are endless. It's such a simple yet motivating message. I wrote that thought on our bathroom mirror right after conference and plan on making it a more permanent addition to our wall somewhere.

Slumping for a spare

It's Monday Night and that means Family Home Evening- except we didn't stay home. Our little clan had a fabulous (that's how Logan described it) night bowling and eating In & Out. Fun Family Night outings are the best!

J and T have Book Bucks from school that they get to spend at participating merchants around town. One of the things they wanted to spend them on was a free game of bowling at Cloverleaf. Since Dave had one patient to see here in town we decided to go bowling, wait for Dave while he went to the office, then go grab a quick dinner.Bowling was awesome! Toby was the one who really wanted to go, and he definitely had beginner's luck. He was throwing spares every couple rounds. Logan didn't want to bowl at all, but we coaxed him up there once and he loved throwing the ball. He would lug his ball up to the line, turn sideways and fling it down the lane. Then he would run back to the chairs doing his best Joker cackle and watch his ball crawl down the lane. *sigh*Jessie.....this girl is such a perfectionist. She slumped around the entire first part of our game because she had not got a spare when everyone else had. J went bowling about a year ago with the beginner's luck that Toby was feelin' and she expected the same tonight. It didn't help that Toby was just out there for fun and mopping up the pins with his ball. Dave tried to help J with her technique so she would do better, but it almost made her feel more pressure. It's a vicious cycle with that one. Thankfully, she got her spare or she would have been a grump the rest of the night. Little Sydney picked up the object of this game in record time. We sat down to put on shoes and she was already trying to pick up the balls and take them out ot the lane. J let her roll a ball down the lane on her turn, and Syd would have followed it all the way down if we hadn't stopped her. I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of the score board before it reset. All the kids got at least one spare, and Dave beat me by 4 pins. I totally would have beat him but choked on the last round. Aaarrrgghhh! We all shared a basket of fries towards the end to tide us over for dinner, and headed out so Dave could meet his patient on time. Syd is a fry monster- those cheeks are filled with them (below).

*Tangent* Dave has started seeing patients here in town since a couple weeks ago! He is renting a room from the dentist we trade with. It is a dental spa with a room set up for massages that was rarely used, so Dave is seeing patients there on Mondays and Saturdays by appointment. He's excited that local patients who can't make it down to him in Sunnyvale can now see him on this side of the bay.

So- the gal that was supposed to open the office for Dave was late which put us waiting for over an hour. I asked Dave on the way why he didn't have a key to the office because I thought the staff was going to get sick of being there for him on the day they were closed. He has a key now. ;)

Chillies did some schoolwork in the car, Logan made a spider web in between the "Oh S%$#" handles with our tie-downs for the roof rack, and Squidy loved exploring all the seats and treasures in between them. The chillies attention span is about 30 minutes to wait in the car. Mine is not much longer. We far exceeded that half hour and got out to run around just before Dave finished.

Since it was late and we were starving, we finished our adventure at In & Out for burgers and more fries. :) The kids had a great time, we entertained our half of the dining room, and we consumed enough junk food calories for the week in one night. yeah.

While Dave and Mr. Cooper were outside In & Out they saw a woman light up a cigarette. Coop turned to Dave and said, "Dad, why does that lady have a catastrophe?!"

Logan's #4!

Happy 4th Birthday Mr. Cooper!Phew! We had a great day celebrating Logan's b-day and are just now winding down with kids in bed by 10 PM.

It's tradition that the kids get to eat almost whatever they want and do something special of their choosing for their birthday. If Logan had his choice he would eat sugar all day every day, so we had to add a stipulation of some good food today. After his apples and toast for breakfast, Logan cracked the eggs and mixed up all the ingredients for his sprinkle cake. He has always loved helping me in the kitchen. He was in heaven eating gum and chocolate between meals and an out-of-the-ordinary dinner of pizza and soda. We played ball and climbed trees outside then Logan got to play the Wii all by himself. It was funny to see him do a double take when I said "YES" to his request to play Lego Batman and watch Sleeping Beauty.

While Sydney took a nap I whipped together Logan's Lightning McQueen cake. For 2 years running, he wanted Lightning McQueen racing Chick and 'the King' all on his cake. I could only fit two of them but he still loved it. This was my second attempt at a fondant cake and I learned a lot more than the first time. Yes, I realize the bottom border is not even all the way around. It gets worse in the back, but considering the time I had and the fact that I was flying by the seat of my pants, it's not bad. It took me about 4 hours to do with breaks in between to get J from school, feed the kids and myself, pee, etc. Everything is edible except the cars straight out of Logan's collection, and the candle, of course. Dave was surprised I wasn't going to make the cars out of sugar too. HUH?! He's got a lot of faith in my rookie cake skills if he actually thinks I could make sugar, fat and food coloring look remotely like the real things. Considering I was in bed with a migraine most of the last 2 days I didn't even think about attempting that one. I am pleased with the results and all the kids loved it.Our Mr. Cooper has been talking about going to the Jungle when it was his birthday since Toby had his birthday in January. We surprised him by inviting a friend to come with us to spend the evening at the Jungle. Dave met us there after work and we played, ate junk food ;) and spent a couple handfuls worth of tokens in record time. Dave relived our dating days by kicking my can at air hockey and we called it a night. We were the last ones out of the place at 8:30 PM. By the time we got home at 9 o'clock it was crunch time. Coop opened his presents, we ate cake and ice cream, and played with Coop's new race track before getting the kids in bed. Mr. Cooper has been in some sort of funk lately, but it was nice to see his happy, Joker-smile and sweet personality today. Happy Birthday Logan! We love you so much!

Logan right now;

*sigh* Our dear Logan. This boy has been giving us fits lately. He has gone into snake mode, we call it. He will eat really well one day and then not eat for days on end. He'll pick at stuff, but not eat a decent meal. At every meal these days, Logan can be heard saying, "I hate ______(insert any food he used to like)! I'm not eating that." Grandma Evie took him out for lunch yesterday to Rubios. He usually devours the chicken tacos there but he wouldn't touch them........hoping that passes soon.

Logan really, really, really likes sweets, movies, and video games. I don't know what happened. The kid bugs me numerous times a day for all of the above starting as soon as he wakes up. The other kids don't do this. I've learned to ignore and redirect pretty quickly. Some of the things that he loves doing after I've got his mind off the sugar and electronics are puzzles, Playdough, playing with cars and blocks/Legos.

We usually turn on some music and play/work in the morning until noon. Logan likes Michael Buble and says, "can you play my Jazz?" when the music starts playing. His favorite song is Sway and he and Syd dance around the living room whenever it is playing.

If Logan gets upset or frustrated he will start to threaten with anything he thinks is important. Yesterday it was, "Mom, if you don't let me have more (chocolate) I am going to throw you in the garbage!" I wouldn't mind being thin enough to fit in the garbage...........

Logan loves his Daddy so much. He is so attached to him right now and doesn't want him to leave for work in the morning. The first thing Logan does after he wakes up every morning is come in to Dave's side of the bed and asks him if he's going to work today. No amount of "Dad has to go to work to buy you food and clothes" reassurances will suffice. Some mornings when Dave leaves before we are up Logan will wake up and cry. On the flip side though, he is so excited and happy to talk Daddy's ear off on the mornings he is home. Sweet boy.I think Dave and Mr. Cooper look so much alike. They act alike too, sometimes. They have become quite adept at pushing each other's buttons. Sometimes I have to put them in separate corners. :)

I mentioned already that Coop likes to work in the kitchen with me. He unloads the dishwasher like a champ and loves to lick the beaters and bowl when we bake.

One of Logan's hobbies is speaking his own language. He keeps us on our toes with new names for things and often we are rolling on the floor laughing when he gets on a roll. We all have our own names in Loganese. Daddy is Jinx, Mom is Boppy (since he was 18 months old), Jessie is Hawks, Toby is Pomcheeks, Sydney is Meeks and Logan's name for himself changes all the time.

Logan, you are such a smart, sweet boy. Dad and Mom love you so much and are thankful you are in our family forever!



Oh what a difference a day makes. I'm so thankful I felt better today to make it a great day for Logan. The 2 Ibuprofen I popped this morning as a minor insurance policy might have helped a little.

Whitty title here..

So.....
it's April Fools Day. Not my favorite day of the year. When Dave and I were first married, I basically said, "I really don't like April Fools Day and if you ever play a mean joke on me it's likely I won't forgive you." When I found out Logan was to be born around April 5th, I prayed he would not be born April 1st. I got my wish and he was born one day after, thankfully. I understand the fun, harmless jokes like food coloring to change your food, but I am not a big practical joker. I guess it's my current mood and bad health that prevents me from getting in the spirit of the day this year. It's just another day for me today. I do love to hear about a good joke though. Anybody do some fun things this year?

I stopped nursing my sweet Sydney about 3 weeks ago at 14 months old. I put it off as long as possible because I do enjoy nursing and this was my last chance to do so. I think I finally drew the line when Sydney was getting so attached to me that she wouldn't keep her hands off me. She perfected her own "nipple-fishing" technique by shoving her hand down my shirt until she found my nipple. Then she'd squeeze the Charmin just to reinforce what she wanted. Not exactly appropriate while I'm talking to someone in public or checking out at Target. She still tucks her hand inside the top of my shirt for comfort, which I do think is so endearing, but not as often now that we are not nursing.

I weaned Sydney very gradually, but now that my hormones are shifting back to 'normal' it is really messing with my body. I've had a few killer migraines that have laid me up for entire days and now my monthly 'friend' has worn out her welcome over the past 7+ days and draining my energy big time. It seems I get really sick from one thing or another at least once a year, and it reminds me how thankful I am for an otherwise strong, healthy body. Ironically, Sydney has been sick the last 2 weeks right after I stopped nursing her when she could have benefited from the antibodies and milk. Dave has been so patient and helpful by fixing meals and not complaining about the condition of the house when he gets home.

The first time I was down with a migraine it was all I could do to make sure the kids had food and got home from school. I picked up Jessie from school at 3, and told her she was in charge because I had to go lay down. She came in at 6 o'clock with Logan carrying a tray with dinner in bed. She even made a little card signed by all the kids saying they "lurve me!" It was so sweet and I felt a lot better after sleeping for 3 blessed hours. I guess it's been a weird blessing in disguise that Sydney has been sick too, because she has slept whenever I needed to. Anyway, I'm looking forward to having my body back to normal and feeling better. I pray that time is soon. :)