Egg Hunt

Easter was a very good day in our house.

The little ones didn't sleep good the night before so everyone in the house was a bit on the foggy side all morning. Very mellow.

I made us all a HUGE breakfast of french toast, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, and fruit salad. Debbie K. eventually joined us and she brought over some of those amazing muffins from Westside Bakery. Add to that Black Forest ham, zucchini bread and butter nut pound cake - we had more than enough food for the day. In fact, the leftovers should last all week.

The skies were dark and the forecast predicted rain after 11am. So my neighbors and I had a two backyard egg hunt with all of our kids. They had such a good time! Logan was not exactly sure of why he should be picking up the eggs, so Bob let him open one and eat the candy inside. My kids have huge sweet tooths, so they got the hang of it really quickly.

Katya played Easter bunny this year and did a great job of putting the 100 or so eggs all over the backyard. It is nice to finally be able to let the kids roam our huge expanse of a backyard. Watching them trudge across our yard with their baskets in hand was pretty cool.

The post-egg hunt nap was pretty sweet too. What a great psueudo-lazy day!

Playtime With Logan

With Alexis going to preschool in the mornings, this frees up some time for me to do some one on one with my litte dude.

While Alexis was in her first day of preschool, Logan and I spent the morning together.

We started off having breakfast together. I had to kind of mesh that with a Campfire event meeting, but he didn't seem to mind.

Afterwards we headed over to the children's museum only to find it closed.

Sooooooooo, we then high tailed it over to the High Desert Museum. We had such a nice time there.

Logan loved just standing there watching the salmon in their stream swimming. And then there were ducks... and some other birds... and some statues - I had a hard time getting him to go inside the building at all.

Once inside he loved the turtles and the Lynx. The Lynx was lounging in the sun and kept staring at Logan through the glass. He just kept saying "kitty". Yup, that was a really big kitty. Then we walked all around the outside and this included the bird exhibit. We learned what owls sound like and he was totally enamored with the Golden Eagle. He was jumping around his enclosure and spreading his wings to catch the breeze. They are beautiful birds.

The River Otter exhibit was his favorite and I had to eventually leave because he kept trying to climb into the enclosure. My little monkey boy.

We finished off our morning with an oatmeal cookie and juice before we headed to the car to go and get Alexis.

All week we played. We hit Barnes and Noble as well as the Children's Museum.

I know that Logan will be ready for preschool all too soon, so I am enjoying this time with him.

It's All A Matter of Perspective

To me... I see a lot of work. Hours of sorting, washing, folding, dripping dry, putting in drawers and hauling loads up and down the stairs.

To them... they see quicksand, a hidout, a soft spot to rest, soft things to throw around, undergarments to put on their head and walk around the house growling like tigers, and endless giggles.

I have to remember to try harder to see what they see.

Cupcake Party

Last weekend we had a little BBQ get together thingie to mark and celebrate the babies birthdays. They are too young to have friend parties, so we just use it as an excuse to have our neighbors and friends over for good food and some visiting.

Things I learned at the party:

1. The babies are very VERY good at opening presents now

2. Alexis really, really, really likes to blow out candles. In fact, she blew out her cupcake candle four times before she let us sing for her and THEN blow it out. Then later that night she blew otu the same candle about another ten times.

3. Cupcakes are evidently best eaten from the top down.

Happy Birthday, Logan!

Today my sweet little surprise baby turns 2.

Man...it goes so fast. One day you bring them home from the hospital and the next they are running around and dramatically telling you "no" (with a hand out and everything).

It has been crazy having a little boy after two girls. He is a rough and tumble kind of guy. He loves to jump on you, hang on your arms and bounce on your stomach. He loves to hug and cuddle and share his toys with you. He will eat just about anything (unlike his picky sister) and likes his chocolate Ovaltine milk. He LOVES his binkies.

So, happy birthday to you little man. Love you lots!

Mom

Toddler Follies

I was downloading pictures from my cameras (I still haven't looked at the CDs from David yet) from the Christmas holiday so that I could organize and share them all with you. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these tell what life has been like with the little ones for the past week.

Princess Alexis

Logan coming up with new and creative ways to play with the little kitchen

Breaking her arm doesn't keep her off the trampoline she fell off of

Logan cruising on his little Kawasaki - Bob can't wait to get them on dirtbikes

Meaningful Names

My sis-in-law, Mandee, posted a blog about a cute website that she found that has tons of baby names. It's called "What a Lovely Name" and it is a lot of fun. I especially like how they show names all decorated for use on scrapbooks or blogs. They offer all kinds of ways to change the backgrounds and colors too. Very cool.

I have no intention of having any more children, but I was interested to see what it said about our names meanings. I am a firm believer that you grow into your name.

Bob : Meaning "bright with fame". Shortening of the name Robert. Can also be given as an independent name.
Tags: American, friendly, intelligent, strong

Deborah: Deborah is a Biblical prophetess and judge who was instrumental in the victory over the Canaanites. She was also Rebekah's nurse. In Hebrew Deborah means "a bee." Nicknames for Deborah include Debbie and Deb.
Tags: athletic, funny, Hebrew, strong

Katya (I had to go with a combination since they did not have hers): Katyayani. This sis a name of the goddess Parvati.
Tags: beautiful, funny, Hindu, leader
Katherine. This name is derived from the Greek root "katharos," meaning "pure, unsullied." Tags: English, intelligent, strong, wise

Alexis: Originates from the Greek word Alexein, meaning: "to defend, to help." Tags: American, brave, fun, strong

Logan: Meaning "dweller at the little hollow". Taken from the Irish surname, a diminuitive form of the Gaelic word "lag," meaning "hollow".
Tags: American, calm, happy, independent

So according to our names, Bob will be famous. He already is in his business circle for being an extremely talented and hardworking engineer.

I am a strong woman who can conquer injustice in the world. Man, how I wish I could. However, I am a major rule follower. My view on what is right and wrong is pretty clear cut. I am a hard worker and I would like to think I am strong.

Katya will continue to become a woman who is strong, wise, a leader, and funny. She already is all those things now. I hope they are qualities that she nurtures as she continues into adulthood.

Alexis will become a helper to the world, brave, fun and strong. All excellent traits to have.

Now for Logan. He is going to be my happy, mellow, independent little dude who likes hanging out in his house. Not too shabby. Happiness is a wonderful personality trait to have.

Holiday Photo Shoot

It is that time of year again to get holiday portraits done of the kids for Christmas gifts for the family. Sears is always a good bet for us since it is affordable and they work so hard to try and get good pictures.

This photo shoot was just as painful as previous ones since Alexis has again decided that getting her picture taken is just about the worst thing in the world. I had to opt out of a group shot of the three of them together and instead I ordered some collages.
Logan was awesome! He loved the props, smiling for the camera and being the center of attention. The only problem with him was that he was so busy running in circles, jumping, rolling on the floor....etc that we had a hard time getting a picture of him standing still.

Katya of course took amazing pictures. She is so beautiful inside and out. I had the hardest time picking which pictures of her to buy.

Since getting a picture of the three of them was going to be impossible, I settled for a picture of Katya with her little brother. This is so cute!

Debbie K's Camera

I had noticed the last time I was visiting Debbie K that she had some really cute pictures of my kids that I had never seen. I asked her to kindly hand over her memory card so I could copy them off. She did.

These are some of the pictures that she had captured over the past year of my little ones that were too cute not to share.

Halloween

I was so not feeling the "mood" this Halloween. Not sure what my funk was, but I was not motivated to do much of anything Halloweeny. Katya was going to a football game and then movie night with some girlfriends, so she was MIA.

Lucky for me, my husband is a social butterfly and he had accepted an inviation to a family Halloween party with some friends of his. I actually had to don a witch hat and cape that I had stashed away so I could at least say I was dressed up. Bob put on a mullet wig and looked pretty funny.

Alexis was dressed up as a flower and she didn't want to take her costume off for anything. Logan was a dragon. He couldn't have cared less that he was dressed up. But he looked cute.

When we went with the whole crew trick or treating I wasn't sure how the kids would do. Alexis worked the "Trick or Treat" and often scored herself an extra candy. Which she promptly put into her mouth paper and all if she got impatient.

Logan refused to say "Trick or Treat" and instead resorted to the cute parade wave that he has going. Being a forceful guy, he would just reach in and grab no less than three pieces of candy a handful. That is skill.

Afterwards we went back to their house and noshed on BBQ meatballs and pumpkin cheesecake until bedtime. It was fun and hopefully next year I will be feeling more festive.

More Pumpkin Patch Fun

On Sunday we returned to the Central Oregon Pumpkin Company - only this time as a family.

We had a lot of fun this year since both kids could walk and had an attention span of longer than 30 seconds. We hit the petting zoo, which was remarkably low on goats to pet. Then we got a caramel apple, yum. With dark chocolate chips on top. Double yum. Then was the train ride, the archery challenge, the pirate ship and slide, the beloved pumpkin canon (I missed hitting that beat up old car by "that" much) and finally the maze.

Bob went on the train ride with the kids while I went with Katya to the archery challenge. She got five arrows and on her fourth hit a BULLSEYE. Right on! She is so cool.

After the archery we went to the pumpkin canon and I got to launch a cannon for the first time. I loved it. What a feeling of power when that thing launches. I so wanted to see it splat all over that beater car. Next year for sure!

By this point Alexis became demon child. I had to forceably strap her into the stroller and ignore her screams and tantrum throwing for seemingly forever. Luckily the "thump" of the pumpkin canon drown out her screams. Even kettle corn wouldn't appease her.

Then we got to the pumpkin patch to find our pumpkins. It took for freakin' ever because all the crazy frost had caused a bunch of pumpkins to start rotting. Alexis asked nicely if she could walk so I let her out and she roamed the patch for about an hour trying to touch the yulky ones. She became so happy that she started randomly hugging Logan. It was pretty cute but Logan wasn't loving it. I'm thinking that if a gigantic garden is what makes her happy, we are all over that next Spring.

It was fun and after several hours we headed home. I wish I could say that they fell asleep on the way home, but they didn't. I think the caramel apple and kettle corn might have been to blame.

Snugglebunnies

Kids are cutest when they are asleep.

Especially if they are toddlers who have given you a hard time all day.

Last night when I was checking on the kids before I went to bed I found them snuggled up together in the race car bed - laying backwards. They were so cute I just grabbed a blanket and covered them up.

The Room Is Decorated

The kids' room is decorated as good as it is going to get for quite a while. I am a bit frustrated that it did not turn out quite as planned due to the frustrating habit that those self-stick borders had of NOT sticking to the walls. Every time I walked into the room it had peeled off. I managed to glue Tinkerbell up, but the Cars border fell down on top of Logan who promptly crumpled it into a nice big ball. Oh well.

Although the room is not exactly what I wanted it to be, I think it is pretty good. Logan's walls are silver and have some of the Cars characters on it. They are still sticking, thank goodness. Alexis' walls have Tinkerbell and courtesy of Elmer's Glue, her border is still up. I had Bob put up a curtain rod and I hung some curtains to dim the light a bit more for naptimes and it is working well already.

The kids are still enjoying looking at the walls and telling me the names of all the characters on it. I still want to put some stars on the ceiling, but I might have to have someone bring them up from San Diego at Christmas since I can't find them here.

The room itself is pretty small and with the addition of the extra huge car bed, there is no room for playing in the the room itself anymore. Luckily, the closet is a walk-in so they can play in there. It should be a fun and happy room for the next few years.

Pumpkin Patch with MOPS

This year my MOPS group arranged for us to go to our local Central Oregon Pumpkin Company as a group on Thursday. This meant that we got to get the kids in for $5 each and we did a rotation of the offerings that they had there.

We started with a "train" ride. Actually it was a tractor with a train nose attached to the front. The kids LOVED it! We rode around the property and looked for all the painted characters out of the movie "Robin Hood". The trip took us next to the horses in their grazing area and the big chicken and duck coop. Alexis had a fit when we got out of the train and before we left we got to ride it one more time.

Then there was storytime (my kids couldn't have cared less, too young), the petting zoo, the play area behind the petting zoo, and the pumpkin patch. There were organized trips through the maze, but I couldn't keep them both together so we left that early. They had a patch just for school groups with little pumpkins and each kid was able to pick out one. It was a crisp 46 degrees so we bought a hot chocolate and a funnel cake that we shared with the other kids.

Alexis did her level best to avoid ever getting her picture taken and not once actually looked at the camera.

Then the end of the visit was their seemingly favorite part. They found a flat bed trailer and had the best time jumping, singing and running on it. I recorded some video of their frolicking.


It was such a good time and they were wiped out when I put them back in the car to go home.

We are still going back as a family next weekend, but it was a good time for us to go with all the other MOPS moms.

Bend's Fall Festival

This past Sunday we all headed downtown to attend my favorite event of the year - the Fall Festival. Fall is my favorite time of year with the leaves changing colors, the crispness in the air, wearing sweaters and fuzzy boots, hot cocoa and snuggling under layers of blankets in the living room while watching tv.

Well, the weather noted the festival was here and did an abrupt about face from the 80's a week ago down to the 60's with a cold wind.



At first we just wandered around looking at all the vendors offerings. Katya and I both got new shirts and we came pretty close to actually buying something to put on the wall of the laundry room.

When the kids had decided we had done enough shopping, we headed over to the kid area and did some pony rides! Alexis went with Bob hovering next to her and Logan rode with Katya firmly holding onto his jacket. They both loved it! At first Alexis didn't even want to get on the horse at the last minute and then it became getting her off of the horse was the problem. Logan love it and was screaming something (I think he was saying horse).

After the pony rides Bob and the little ones had fun running around the maze while Katya was visiting with some friends that she spotted.

Then after having some lunch we headed back to our car and walked right by the giant blow up slide. Well, that was a fun thing to pass up so Katya went with Alexis and Bob went with Logan. Both kids would gladly have gone again and again, but we were out of tickets and it was nap time.
All in all it was a great time and I am looking forward to next years!