Christmas 2015

We have had a wonderful weekend celebrating our Savior's birth.  This year was peaceful, stress-free and we enjoyed time with family.  C took the big kids to see Star Wars on the morning of Christmas Eve... Owen called it "epic" and couldn't help but share all the spoilers with me as soon as he got home!  Logi napped and I was able to wrap every last present and get them under the tree. 

Every year, we have an early Prime Rib dinner at the Keg.  I am pretty sure we started this about 7 years ago when Owen was just a baby because I just wanted to not have to do dishes one night of the year. :) We love it and have continued this tradition each year.  We don't spend a ton of money eating out so this is a pretty big treat.

We came home and of course the kiddos get to open one gift on Christmas Eve, which is always new pajamas.  We all sit around the tree and Logi entertained us this year by dancing to Christmas music. 

The kids sprinkled their Reindeer food on the porch and set out the cookies for Santa.  Owen was so excited that each time I checked on the kids, he was wide awake.  I think at 11 I told him Santa was already in New York and that did the trick... he was out in minutes.  Whew.  Mrs. Clause is getting too old to be up late. 

Logi woke up the house by 5:30 in the morning ready to party.  Owen was thrilled with each present he opened... he got Disney Infinity 3.0 and some Imaginext toys.  Kam got clothes, boots, and a new iPhone.  Logi just wanted whatever the Kam and Owen opened, but he got a few bath toys, instruments, blocks and a truck.  We keep things small, just a few gifts each and everyone was ready for breakfast.

Grandma Kathy and Mark came by to visit and exchange gifts but I didn't take a single photo (bummer).  We headed over to my parents for lunch and time together.  My dad made some amazing food and the kids played hard.  My mom is still healing up from her Femur repair and Nana is showing Alzheimers who's boss!

Nana was super interested in my phone so I was showing her how to take a selfie.  She kept swiping the iPhone screen to see what would happen and then get excited.  We had such a fun time with my family.  I never get pics of the guys.. they are always talking Football and Guns so I hang with the girls.

Saturday was another perfect day of relaxation and trying to find places to store all the new toys and gadgets.  Saturday evening we celebrated Christmas with Carson's family.  We had almost everyone there, but missed Janesa and Karlee.   Monica made a super yummy meal, the cousins traded gifts and the adults played our good gift/gag gift exchange game.   There were lots of laughs and the cousins had a great time together!

If you notice in every picture, Owen loves to cross his arms like this in pictures.,,no idea why? So the older boy joined in. I swear these kiddos were all just toddlers.. like yesterday.  Now they are all getting cars and talking dating.
My heart is so full!  We are so lucky to be surrounded by so much family and love.  I enjoyed this holiday season so much but we are ready to move onto 2016!  I am looking forward to one more week of sleeping in and hanging out with my crew.   I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday!!!

Christmas and Birthday Fun!

It's officially Christmas Vacation around here.  We have our tree up and half decorated, thanks to a tiny toddler that thinks ornaments do NOT belong on the tree.  I am finished with all my shopping and am finishing up some last minute projects for family.  Yesterday we celebrated Logan's first birthday with family but we spent his actual birthday running around town using all our birthday freebies.  Logan had the best time! 

 Thanks for everyone that came to his party.  The weather was perfect and Logan had a great time. 

Our Elf, Emporer Moriarty (Star Wars and Sherlock references),  came back and has been pretty hilarious this year.  I think I am very excited that he will only be here for a few more nights.  Owen loves that Elf and gets so excited to find him each morning... it's so worth it!  He doesn't really buy the whole theory of the Elf is watching you and reporting to Santa.  The kids had fun decorating the tree, even though it looks like a hot mess now. :)

We had a great time at Carson's work party at the Tempe Palms.  It was a poker night with real chips (fake money), so it was easy to gamble away "fake" money.  I killed it at the Craps table and we had upwards of 100k before we left to put into raffle baskets. We had a lot of fun!

We missed a few parties, but made it to the Heart Transplant Christmas Party at the hospital.  Owen really wanted spicy chicken wings from the cafeteria and ate in the corner.  After photos with the Superheros, he fell and smacked his forehead on the floor and has a giant bruise on his head.  He was fine until the DJ started playing and then his head started pounding.  We visited with friends, had a quick chat with Santa and it was great to see some of the nurses that took care of Owen in the spring.

 (This was just before Logi reached down and pulled Santa's hat right off his head.)

We have busy week of fun planned and lots of baking to do.  I have so much wrapping to do and it's my least favorite activity.  Good thing Carson and Kam are so good at it! :)  Kam finished finals with a 4.2gpa and is looking forward to a long two week break! 

Here's to a relaxing and FUN Christmas Vacation!!

Happy Birthday Logan!

How has it been a year? It has been an incredible year and we are so happy Logan is here. He is the happiest little baby with the most funny personality. He gives the best snuggles and crusty faces. He is mischievous and gets into everything he knows he shouldn't. He loves to hide things around the house...the remote in a loaf pan stacked into a pot or I may open the pantry and find 5 cans of soup in a box with a board book or two thrown in. It always puts a smile on my face to find his hidden treasures.

Logan loves to eat! Bottles are a fave still, but he loves goldfish, pirates booty, pizza, waffles, pancakes, yogurt, applesauce, any meats...pretty much everything. He isn't a huge fan of sweets and if he doesn't love something he spits it out immediately and pushes your hand away.

We are finally sleeping through most of the night, usually waking at least once or twice for a quick cuddle. I don't mind one bit because I know how quickly it ends.

There is never a question about what Logan wants. His communication and facial expressions are crystal clear. He babbles a little...Dada, Bobo, Mama are his faves..the rest is just nonsense babble We love when he blows raspberries and pretty much any noises he makes has us swooning.

Logan is the most active of our three. He is running around, dancing, climbing in the dishwasher, scaling every piece of furniture he can and even jumps off our bed like a pro. Be is super strong and loves to push or carry anything heavy around the house.

The biggest dislikes are getting diapers changed, getting dressed, being in the car seat too long, and when someone tells him no. He started pouting when things don't go his way..he walks put of the room just far enough so that he makes sure you know he is not happy and pouts. It's adorable but I can forsee the terrible threes and they aren't gonna be pretty.

 Logan loves his big sis and little brother the most. Kam gets snuggles and loves. They have a morning routine where he waits for her to go downstairs in the morning for breakfast...he runs to her and jumps into her arms so she will carry him down. Oh my heart. With Owen, he loves to antagonize him and pick fights. He will pull his hair, not enough to hurt him, but just enough to say "let's wrestle". Those two will wrestle and play forever and the giggles are cherished. They have the sweetest brother relationship! Daddy gets the warmest greeting after work each day. Logan meets him at the door and pulls on his pants until he picks him up. He loves to rub daddy's thumbnail and play with his hair. Whenever he can he is up in Daddys lap. I could be jealous of all the attention he gives but I get the snuggles. All day long he is my shadow that follows me around. He loves nothing more than to sit on my lap with a book or snuggle to sleep in my arms. Nothing is better than that. Nothing.

Logan, my naughty monkey, we love you so much! Thank you for making our family complete. You make us all laugh and you can make us a little crazy at times too. We are so lucky you belong to us. Happy first birthday buddy!   My heart is full.

Time to CELEBRATE!!!

Rockin' Dancing Logan

Kam has been choreographing a dance for her Christmas Concert at the High School and Logan didn't want to be left out. He just started shaking his groove thing. As soon as the song ends, he finds the control and knows how to restart it on Youtube. Smart little stinker.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!  My week has been a little crazy, but we have had the best time celebrating with family.  I had two sick boys going into Thanksgiving week.  A mild cold in Kam, turned Croup in Logi and Owen took a turn for the worse on Sunday night with fevers.  The pediatrician found no source of the fevers on Monday and Logi was running around like his nasty cough wasn't bothering him one bit.  It took a few days of R&R and both boys were back to a mild congestion... just in time to enjoy a lot of family time later in the week!

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with C's side of the family.  There was a full house at Larissa's.. the food was delish and the cousins had a great time together.  Owen took one look at the food and said "The food is all gross.. I don't like Thanksgiving food.. there's nothing to eat."  So we ended up at a drive through at 5:00 at night for chicken wings.  Sigh. 

My kids were totally exhausted and in bed by 6:30 Thanksgiving evening.  This little drool monster had a great first Turkey day!!

Friday after I finished my online shopping (mostly for the 50% off deals and free shipping), we headed over to Karlee's baby shower.  My oldest niece is having a baby girl and I am thrilled for her.  I will say that I feel super old because she was just six when she was a flower girl at our wedding.  Mom to be in the brunette one behind Kam. 

Logi was a little monkey at the shower and loved having all the girls shower him in tissue paper.  I think he was a little more intent on getting Karlee's Starbucks tea and guzzling it.  He had his eye on that drink the entire time.  Congrats Karlee.. can't wait to meet baby Emerson.

Saturday we celebrated Bridgit's 3rd birthday.  Owen was having headaches all morning so he chilled on the couch for most of the party with Gma.  He also insisted on wearing his pajamas.. all. day. long.

Happy Birthday Bridgi.. we love you!

After presents, Kam took Logi on the trampoline for the first time.  He was not a fan.  Bridgi was happy to swap places with him and jump with her "bo" (Kam). 

It has been a great holiday weekend. I say it all the time, but we are so grateful to be surrounded by family.  The kids love their Cousins and get to see them everyday.  My parent's and Carson's are very involved with their Grandkids.  My heart is full.  We have so much to be Thankful for.  I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful as well!

November Update

It has been way too long since I sat down and posted. November has been slipping away and we have been as busy as ever. I don't know what it is about this month, but I always go into nesting mode.  I like to clean out closets, scrub appliances, organize the garage... you get where I am going with this.  Carson took a few days off around Veteran's Day so that was helpful. 

Time for a quick mid November update and then I will be posting more regularly this week because I have a lot to catch up and we have a busy two weeks ahead of us full of blog worthy posts.

Owen had his monthly transplant clinic at PCH with Dr Z.  His echo looks about the same... the right vent has normal function and the left vent is still working a little harder (low-norm function with EF of 55).  His weekly labs have been less than exciting, but we finally got a decent med level so we get a two week break!  While Owen doesn't mind labs, he is happy to get a little break from the needle.  All other labs look pretty good.. his BNP is still sitting in the 3000 range.. but not increasing at the moment.  His HR is still around 135-150 range which we are calling his "new normal" and his BP is on the low side, but tolerable.  All is well and we will take it!

Enough of the medical stuff... Owen is loving school.  That is, not actually GOING to school, but having his teacher come to the house every afternoon school.  He is cruising along and is finally picking up on things that he missed.  He is a pretty great reader and is reading chapter books each day.  He is great at memorizing things and retaining information, so reading came easy as he would just memorize sight words. He just skipped over all phonics and couldn't spell a single word, but could read an entire book.  His teacher is going back through all the phonics that he skipped over and now he is spelling like a champ!! :)  He is also catching up on all the common core math that he missed.  Again, since he is so great at memorizing, we just worked on math facts over the past two years.  Now he is going back with his teacher and breaking it down into math "families" (don't get me started) and it will help him understand the curriculum moving forward.  This little guy has no desire to go to school and he has very valid reasons why he doesn't want to go.  I figure we will give it until the first of the year and we keep it a daily discussion.  On the positive side.. he is staying super healthy!!!

Kam has been doing fantastic at school as always.  She has dance concerts this week that she has been busy working on for a few months.. I'll be sure to post videos.  She is always doing projects, writing papers, spending time with her brothers, helping me in the kitchen, and is the best daughter ever. She came home sick on Friday with a head cold and spent an hour on the couch reading Spiderwick Chronicles with Owen.  She has been driving more and more and I'm still as terrified as ever.  It does get easier right?!  She is counting down the days that she will finally ditch the braces.. I think we only have a couple appointments left!! 

This little monkey is walking ALL over the place.  He is into everything and he always finds the naughtiest things to get into.  He is easily distracted and just so happy all the time!  I have his 10 month and 11 month posts coming the next two days so I'll save all the goodies for those.  I took video of him at the cardiologists office because he was all over the place.  Love that Owen is chilling and eating his pretzels while Logi does laps around the room.  This is my day...

I wouldn't have it any other way! :)