Halloween and a beautiful autumn

And once again I find myself doing a blogger catch-up! The boys keep me busy as well as work and housekeeping and my photography hobby.

The boys had a great halloween. Logan dressed up like a mad scientist and Brenden was the doctor. This was a pretty easy costume because Brenden is my sensitive caring child and Logan is my wild and crazy child.

The following photo even made the top "favorites" on the weekly I Heart Faces photo challenge for the week of Halloween:

The boys have been loving the cooler fall weather and all of the cool leaves to run and play in. We've had some amazing fall colors this year.

The boys continue to bring me joy every day. Logan's little personality is just erupting by the day. He sings and dances and tries to dish out some miniature atitude. Its hard to take him seriously when he's so darn cute. The kids loved going trick-or-treating. Brenden managed to charm the pants off of everybody and got more than his fair share of candy. He knows how to work those big brown eyes! Logan got a little scared of some of the costumes and decided he'd rather ride in the wagon and eat a "walley-pop" instead.

This has probably been the most trying time of parenthood for me too. The kids are both very strong willed, full of atitude and the need to be right. They fight constantly over things. Logan is a little bully! Brenden is so sensitive and Logan is so mischevious and its a horrible combination. Logan grabs B's stuff and takes of running and laughing his head off with little care that his big brother is in the background crying. So we're trying to not only toughen up Brenden but reel in Logan's crazy side. Its amazing how you can parent 2 children the exact same way and have them turn out complete opposites of each other!

Yesterday in Church Logan made the whole congregation laugh. They were doing a hymn after the offering and just as the hymn ended and the church observed a moment of silence Logan let out a booming "YAAAYYY!" for the choir's lovely song. Everybody died laughing. It was too precious!

We're trying to potty train Brenden through the night. He's perfectly trained during the day. We always put a pull up on him at night for safe keeping, but its becoming obvious that B is relying on that pull up to keep him from having to get out of bed at night to use the potty. Ah.. good ol' hind sight... always 20/20. Guess we know better than to let Logan off easy with the night time pull up when his time comes. Now B is wetting the bed and saying he doesn't want his underwear at night. I'm hoping we can work past this soon. I bought some training pants from Target. They were a gerber brand size 3T but I swear a 10yr old could wear them! They were huge and if anybody has ever met my son, you need a microscope to see his tushie! Its the tiniest thing ever! So I need to try ot find another brand or even a cloth diaper so he can feel himself get wet without soaking his entire bedding/pj's.



Two big boys

Once again I've gotten behind in my blogging. The boys keep me busy!

We've been loving this cool fall weather. It's so nice to let the boys run and play outside. We took them to a pumpkin patch and they loved it. Every day Logan asks if we are going to he pumpkin patch again. They had baby goats there to pet and feed and the boys loved that. They got free apple cider at the end and the managed to charm some free refills from the pouring lady.

Logan loves being in the 2 yr room at daycare. He loves that he can see brendens playground on the other side of the fence. He's getting his canine teeth right now and this is probably the grumpiest I've ever seen him. He cries every evening. It's so pitiful.

Brenden is reading really good lately. So proud of his enthusiasm to learn. As much as I hats video games I have to admit some educational games on my iPhone have taught him both reading and writing.

I'll post more photos later but here is what I have on my phone










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Catching up!

September started off with a wonderful family beach trip. The kids had a blast! (and the parents too!) My college best friend and her family joined us. I loved having our kids together to play. The boys did great. Logan was okay with the beach. He liked the sand and the tide pools. Brenden LOVED the beach. We couldn't ever just take a walk on the beach with normal clothes on because EVERY time he'd end up in the ocean splashing and giggling.

They both had fun collecting rocks and shells on the beach

Brenden had no fear of the water at all!

We spent a day at the aquarium in Fort Fisher. The kids liked looking at all of the fish.

On September 8th my little Logan turned 2 years old. I can't believe how big he is!! We brought cookies to the daycare and Thomas the tank engine hats.

Unfortunately Logan got sick with a tummy bug so we had to cancel his birthday party. We had a few cupcakes at home with just the main family. Logan mostly dipped his candles in the frosting and licked them.

Logan is your typical 2 year old. He's got some teeth coming in so he's pretty iritable. We're trying to also wean him off of his precious Sassy. We're trying to get him down to just bedtime use but with the teething thats been difficult. He's so independent and silly. Every morning when I get up he asks me if I had a good nap. Yesterday I stopped at the store on the way home from daycare and he immediately realized we were going the wrong way and said "where we goin' mama?"  I said the store. He said "the store? which store?" I said Target and he says "oh, Target!" Lol. i just thought that was pretty good conversation for a kid that just turned 2.

Brenden is growing up by the minute too. He's reading words and spelling. His teachers constantly brag on how smart he is. He has the cutest little conversations with us. He just rolls out of bed giggling and talking his head off.

The kids are taking dance class at daycare. Brenden is also taking Soccer lessons. They both seem to really enjoy both classes. Logan and Brenden are now in adjoining classrooms since Logan is 2 now. Their playgrounds are separated by a chain link fence and when they're on the playground at the same time they will chase each other up and down the fenceline. I find it so funny that they fight over everything at home but when they have a chance to have their own space they are reaching through a fence to play with each other.

Where has summer gone?

Summer has just flown by. I've been eager to see some of this heat move on but with September comes Logans birthday and I am NOT in a hurry for that to arrive! How is my baby almost 2?!?!?

Logan has recovered well from his surgery. He never for even a second acted like anything was wrong. He's a tough little guy anyway!

I took Brenden swimming the other day. It was his first time trying out a big pool as a big boy. He tends to get timid in situations like that so I prepared myself for him not wanting to swim. Much to my delight he was a brave little boy. He let me take him out with his water wings on and he would kick his legs. He jumped in the water several times and let me catch him. I know this seems lime normal kid stuff but Brenden has always lead a very cautious life when it comes to new and unfamiliar situations. So it makes me happy to see him put on a brave face and try big boy activities.







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Logan's Surgery

Today Logan had his second surgical procedure. This was for a hydrocele. A hydrocele form when the membrane that surrounds the testicles has a small hole in it allowing fluid from the abdomen collect in the scrotum. The fluid can become uncomfortable and the hole can be a risk if his intestine ever were to get kinked in the whole. So today they put him under and cut a small hole in his abdomen and repaired the membrane and drained the excess fluid.

We had to be at the dr at 8:15 and we went through all of the pre surgery consults. Then they gave him a medication to relax him. He went back to surgery and was done with it all after about 45 minutes. It seemed so much longer than that. The procedure went well. However he came out if anesthesia violently angry. You could tell he was so disoriented and miserable. He began kicking and thrashing so the nurse advised he be given a small dose of morphine to push him back to sleep. So they gave him a dose and no change. The dr said he could have another. Much to everyones surprise he continues to scream and thrash. So a third dose was given. Finally he fell asleep and stayed asleep a good hour at least. All I know is we didn't finally leave until after 1pm. He seemed better spirits but still groggy. I had to stop at the pharmacy on the way home to fill his prescription and before we made it to the pharmacy Logan threw up all over the back seat. Ugh!

He got home and drank 2 cups of juice and ate more cheerios than I could even count and was much better after that. Then I put on wiggles and I laid on the floor. I was so tired. Well I actually fell asleep and when I woke up Logan had put his bunny pillow on the floor beside me and went to sleep too. So sweet and thank goodness he didn't trash the house while I was asleep!

He's doing great. Doesn't show any sign of pain or discomfort. I'm having a tough time keeping him inactive. Hopefully he continues to make good progress.








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Our (not so) fun weekend

This wasn't the most fun of weekends. Brenden has been really showing his 3yr old 'firm' opinions and Logan had a bad tummy bug. Its been so hot lately the kids haven't gone outside as much and I know that was part of Brendens problem. He was just bored and frustrated with being stuck inside. We try not to let him watch TV all day long so we've had to get creative in finding things to do inside. We introduced him to the world of CandyLand and he LOVES that game. We've had to teach him about being a 'good sport' and playing by the rules and its okay if someone else wins. Of course we all like to win games. He gets so excited playing it but if he starts to lose or gets a bad card he tries to put it back in the deck lol. Overall its been a good experience for him and its also fun to do some big boy stuff with him.

Friday night Logan was completely drained of all energy which is totally not like him. Saturday he got up and had some diarrhea. He didn't eat much all day and proceeded to have runny diapers all day too. Logan loves to eat so refusing food must mean he feels really bad. We couldn't go anywhere Saturday because of Logans tummy. We tried playing outside for a little bit but Brenden and Logan both started saying it was too hot and they wanted to go inside.

Sunday Logan seemed much better. He made it all morning with no tummy episodes. He ate a little breakfast and had loads more energy. So we decided to take the kids to Ikea. Its so huge its the perfect spot to let the kids run off some energy. Brenden thinks its so fun to try out every couch and bed in the place. He hops on one and rolls around on it giggling. We went to the cafeteria for lunch. I love their cafeteria because its cheap and they have a little area with kids tables and a tv w/some sort of Disney movie playing. Yesterday it was Jungle book. So the kids sat down and we sat a grown up table nearby and all was good. Logan wasn't eating but drank all of the milk that came with his meal and wanted more. Sean went through line to get him more milk and he sat back down and drank some of that too. Then he walked up to Sean and just stared at him and UP came ALL of the milk. ARGH. I felt so bad for all the people eating around us. Most people were pretty empathetic towards Logan and helped us by getting napkins and such. Then he throws up again. Brenden is oblivious to all of this as he's watching Jungle Book still. So we had to clean Logan and get someone to clean up his mess. We checked out our merchandise and left. Logan took about a 3 hour nap when we got home and actually ate (and kept down) a slice of pizza for dinner.

This morning he seemed okay and is at school today. I checked him out on the webcam and he's been active and playing all day so far. Thats good. I just hate when the little guy gets sick like that. He clings to you like "make me feel better" and there's just nothing you can do but hug them and cuddle them :(

I wanted to add a few of the funny things Logan says lately. Hes talking mostly in full sentences now. He'll say "look at me!" when he's doing something. If he messes in his diaper and you ask him if he stinks he'll say "no, dada stinks" or he'll blame other kids when he's at daycare. Last night Brenden needed to go potty during dinner. We sent him upstairs to go. Now Brenden has a BAD habit of waiting until he's got to go BAD before going. Then he takes forever to go to the bathroom.. Turn light on, turn hall light on, take off shoes and socks, take off shorts and underwear, forget why he's up there and start playing with something, etc. We have to tell him a million times (as he does his pee pee dance) Brenden just GO.. FOCUS!! Well last night before we say anything Logan gets up from his little chair, walks over to teh stairs, points his little finger and says "Brenden! Get! Go potty!" lol. It was too funny. Little parent (and school calls him little teacher).

trying out the chairs

enjoying lunch... for a moment...

Brenden likes us to make up stories for him before bed. His favorite are stories of him in a race (and of course he wins the race). It just makes him light up and you can see him imagining winning the race and everybody pats him on the back and says "way to go Brenden!" He's got such a vivid imagination.

Blogging via iPhone

I just downloaded the blogpress iPhone app in hopes that it will allow me to keep up with my blog better. It may not be fancy and may be full of typos but it's better than nothing.

There has been an Hand foot mouth epidemic in Logans class at school. He is one of two boys that haven't gotten it. I'm scared he is going to come down with it though. He's been "off" all day today. I saw him on the daycare webcam just laying around most of the day. He's been laying around most of the evening too. It's made for some nice cuddle time though. He's usually so active and won't sit still long enough to cuddle. I hope he doesn't come down with anything.

Brenden gave me some good cuddle time too. If you have an iPhone you should definitely get the sock puppet app. It is hilarious . It let's you make a little puppet show and it changes your voice to a silly puppet voice. It had me in tears laughing so hard and so was Brenden. It made his voice sound like he inhaled helium. So much fun!

Hopefully the blog app will make it easy to do quick little updates as this blog is really more of an online baby journal for me. 3 months from now I wont remember my silly night making puppet shows with my little buddy.











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Fun and full of LIFE!

I love this kid!! He lights up my life every day. He is so full of life and silliness and wonder and enthusiasm. Sure he's got his typical 3 yr old moments (a-hem ...whining!) but most of the time he is all smiles and silliness and the best little 3 year old friend a mama could have. I'm so lucky :)

We went to Montana a few weeks ago to visit Sean's family. We took the kids to the park early one morning and saw there was a splash park there. We didn't have a swimsuit so we just let Brenden run through the water in his underwear. He had a BLAST. I took so many photos and I couldn't pick any just one as my favorite because they all show a different silly emotion or expression on his face. He was laughing and squealing the whole time he played. He used to be so afraid of water and loud things (like splash pads) and now he's so brave and silly.

He's still surprises me by how smart he is. He's sounding out small words in his books now and he screams and cheers when he figures the word out. I need to get him a few early reader books just to continue to work with him on his reading. One day he says to me "banana.. b.. a...n... a...n...a" and I said where did you learn to spell banana? he says calmly "word world" -- who says TV is bad for kids?! lol. Between LeapFrog, Your baby can read, and Word world - Brenden has this whole reading/phonics/letters thing figured out. His teachers at school say they have to instruct him to wait until he's called on or else he'll answer all of the questions and not give any of the other kids a chance. They were saying this as a compliment, of course.

He loves to play with my iPhone, and frankly can navigate around on it just as well, if not better than I can. He's still a picky eater and pushes boundaries like any preschooler would. He likes to ride his tricycle, play baseball, kick soccer balls, play in the sand box, and of course reinact scenes from "Splashing" (Wipeout).

Logan is doing great and is also getting big and smart just like his brother. His teachers say he's their junior teacher. He tells the teachers what to do, he tells the kids what to do, he tells me what to do lol. Today I was trying to take a picture of Brenden in his pool and I stood on a chair to try to get an overhead shot and I was quickly told by Logan "mama! get down! no stand chair!" We went to a Wiggles concert a few weeks ago. My boys L-O-V-E the Wiggles. It was a 20th anniversary for them and they had this cake prop that had whipped cream on top. Throughout the show Anthony would get hit (in silly ways) by the cake in the face. EVERY time, Logan would BAWL and cry. The first time I had no clue why he was suddenly crying but then he kept saying "Anthony's NOSE! Anthony's NOSE... Whaaaaaaaaaa" It was so sad and pitiful and HILARIOUS. To this day he goes around telling people how Captain hit Anthony's nose with a white cake. But now he says its silly because we had to have a LONG talk with him about how Anthony's nose was not hurt, and the cake was silly and he could laugh instead of cry about it. Its funny because when my brother Joe was little, he too would cry if he saw someone get hit in the face with a cream pie. It lead to a very strange phobia of cream pies. It was always something we thought was just a funny Joe thing, and here is my Logan having the same reaction to seeing a cream pie face. :)

Happy Birthday Gramma!

Zoo, Kitty, and baby birds!

We've had a lot going on with animals around our house lately. The first animal adventure came almost 2 weeks ago when our 3 month old baby Rockie ran off the deck and went venturing in the bushes and came back with a bleeding eye. I took her to the emergency vet and turns out she is a HE (whoops) and they determined the cause of bleeding to be a copperhead snake bite. Copperheads are pretty regular in this area. They are not aggressive unless provoked but you can imagine a curious little kitten would definitely provoke a snake. A lot of vet bills later Rockie is making a great recovery. Its likely her vision will be partially if not fully lost in that eye but we have to give it time to heal to know for sure. He's a trooper, you would never know anything was wrong with him (as he is on the computer desk now attacking everything he can find to play with).

Every year we ALWAYS get birds building a nest in the corner of the front porch covering. We try hard to prevent it (because you can see the mess behind the birds that it makes) but its inevitable, the birds LOVE this spot. Yesterday I happened to notice 3 baby birds staring me down and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to photo shoot a few baby birds at close range. Its hard to tell here but there is a 3rd bird behind the two in front. I'm glad I took the photo yesterday as today they are gone.

Then we ventured out to the Asheboro Zoo. I love this place. Its so cheap considering how large of a zoo it is. You can pack your own lunch and make a day of it. This year Brenden was REALLY into all of the animals. Logan was definitely engaged too but Brenden had a BLAST.

Here they are posing on an armadillo statue. We asked Brenden if he could hold onto Logan, so he grabbed him by his head... and Logan still attempts to smile for the camera. Love those silly boys! 

Here is Brenden posing on the elephant statue. He was more interested in this than the real live elephants :)

They had a few of these little mist blowers throughout the zoo. I love how Brenden is so interested in the big kids and being like them.

Logan passed out right around his usual nap time and got a good long nap in the stroller. He was in love with that juice bottle and wouldn't let us take it away from him. He wasn't drinking it, he just had to hold it.

This polar bear was the life of the party! This adorable creature would jump up and splash in his pool.. swim front and backwards, would toss his ball in the air and catch it. Brenden would just ooooh and aaaaah and clap his hands and say that polar bear is 'weally coowl!'

It was a fun zoo day but it was HOT. We came home and it was actually cooler at our house (the zoo is usually cooler because its further away from the city). The kids enjoyed getting some play time outside.

And of course to all of the dad's out there Happy Father's Day!!!

Not a whole lot to update on the boys since last time. Brenden is learning so many things. He likes to say words and figure out what letters they start with. I like how he initiates these things all on his own. He'll say mmmmmm-milk... milk starts with m? and I tell him yes and he gets so excited. He continues to make us laugh with his silly 3 yr old thinking. Yesterday he heard a song on his dvd about counting from 1 to 10 and he said "1 to 10... that's silly, its 1 2 3 not 1 2 10!" Lol.

I had a parent/ teacher meeting with Logan's teacher and she was bragging on how smart he was and how he was picking up language way above his age level. She said he was drawing on a magnedoodle and the shape looked like a crescent and he took it to the teacher and said "nana" (banana) she said that was really higher thinking than most 1 yr olds can comprehend.. drawing abstract objects and associating them with 3-D objects. He still loves to eat. I was told today during lunch he ate all of his pizza and then started scavenging off of his classmates plates.

They are getting so big, so fast. Its impossible to believe that Logan will be 2 soon. Didn't he just turn 1? Gosh I wish I could slow this whole childhood thing down!

Lovin' my iphone

 I love using the photoshop, instagram, hipstamatic and camera + apps on iphone. It makes it easy for taking photographs anywhere I go. I will try to make it a habit to do a little iphone photo dump since its so easy!