New Traditions

This December we stayed here in Houston the whole month and did not travel at all.  This was a big deal for us as we always go to New Orleans for Christmas.  While we missed our extended family (big time), it just felt right to start this new tradition of spending Christmas day in our home.  Another tradition we started was adding a second advent calendar into the mix. We have a traditional 25 day count down calendar to christmas day but this year we added 25 small little envelopes that the kids opened each day.  Each day we read a new story from our Jesus Storybook Bible and really tried to have an intentional Christmas. By intentional, I mean keeping Christ in Christmas and retail out.

Brian and I were amazed to see such a massive change in Logan from last year to this year.  He was 100%, completely obsessed with Santa Clause.  He wanted to read and re-read any book we had about Santa, reindeers, snow, lights, sleighs, stars, Jesus, and trains (b/c all trains do end up at the north pole).  He would keep count of his good deeds and how he was on Santa's good list while informing Catherine (and others) when they were on the naughty list.

Brian's parents came up for three days the week before Christmas and it was such a fun visit.  We cooked all sorts of delicious meals and did various holiday things.  We went to Zoo Lights and my children were completely entranced.  They were so into MiMi and Popi's visit; it was almost like Brian and I did not exist.  Which I was completely OK with.

All in all, it was a beautiful Christmas and we are very thankful for so many things.

Breakfast at St. Rose

A dear friend gave me this book and we love it

The best cosmos ever

Mimi and Popi

I made every one where matching t shirts all day

One of so many adorable gifts

Our chefs

Phillips 66

Last Wednesday Logan skipped school for a date with mommy. We went to the dentist (for him) and then the ENT (for me) and lastly we went to meet Dad at work.  Brian was not at his normal office but rather was working with the Phillips 66 private fleet at Bush.

This trip sealed the deal as far as Logan worshiping dad and dad's work.  We met Brian at the hanger and had our own private tour of the jets with our very own pilot.  Logan is completely obsessed with air travel and it was so much fun to see him walk through the planes.  As we were leaving, the pilot offered Logan a candy bar and he was completely obsessed from that point on!  It is so much fun to see and feel a child's energy as they explore the world around them.

YoYo

Endless Energy

Three is such a fun age; I absolutely love it.  Because Logan is my first child, I have no idea what to really expect with each year.  I know kids grow up and I see examples all the time but I never realized how fast my own child would grow.  I did not realize that my little baby would be having conversations with me, telling me not to worry about Santa’s sleigh breaking down because Santa could use his green rocket.  Or, when I came home from my sinus surgery, Logan told me that he did not want to be a pilot anymore, instead, he wanted to be a doctor so he could take care of me.  Or, that he would ask me to marry him.  ( I explained that I could not because I was already married to his dad so he said that was ok because he was going to marry his teacher, Ms. Aimee.) 

When I drop him off at school we have to do a hug, a kiss, high five, high five under armpit, and then another kiss.  If anything disrupts this, we have to start all over again, in the exact same order.  I love this little routine.  I know it won’t last forever, obviously, so I am enjoying while I can!

When Logan was 2 ½ and Cat was 1 ½ it was almost like they were the same age except Logan talked a lot more.  But now that Logan is 3 ½ and Cat 2 ½, I feel like they are lifetimes apart.  Logan understands the reasoning and logic behind certain rules or concepts (Catherine, well, not so much).  For example:

• Holding hands in a parking lot because you might get run over (It is not a power        struggle as it actually makes sense)
• Mom can’t pick up anything in the back seat while she is driving (because both hands have to be on the wheel)

Last but not least, I am learning that young children are so impressionable.  Logan’s oldest cousin, Kayne, came to Houston for Thanksgiving.  From the second he got in our car, Logan was obsessed!  It was so darn cute.  Conversations were like this:

Logan: Do you like chocolate milk?

Kayne: Yes

Logan: I like chocolate milk too!

Logan: Do you like Chick-fil-a?

Kayne: Yes

Logan: I like Chick-fil-a too!

Logan: Do you like root beer?

Kayne: Well, actually I like sprite.

Logan: (long pause) I like sprite too.  Mom, I want a sprite…

Christmas Photo Outakes

We took a lot of photographs this weekend of the kids to try and get our christmas card sorted.  Logan's favorite book is currently One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Suess.   They talk about winking in the book and man oh man he likes to wink.  But truth be told, he can't really wink, he just kinda wraps his hand over his eyes and loves it.  Anyway, about 98% of our pictures had a winking Logan.  

We were able to add Winston back into the mix this year which was fun.  I can't say that Winston was as excited as we were about his addition.  We really do love our skittish Ton.

I don't even know what is going through Yo Yo's mind!

Wink

Wink Wink

Catherine is actually Winston's greatest fan

Our family in December 2009, 5 months pregnant with Logan

Independent, Caring, and Fearless

Baby girl is growing way too fast.  She is 28 months but sometimes I feel like she is seven.  Her personality is continuing to evolve and she is independent, caring, and fearless. 

Independent- “Me do it.  I want to do it.  No, me do it!!”  These are common phrases she states in regards to just about everything.  She insists of choosing her clothes and is not happy when she is forced to do something, like wear a coat in cold weather. 

Caring- She takes care of all of her stuffed animals and dolls on a consistent basis.  She walks them in her stroller, feeds them, bathes them, changes them, enforces naptime and time outs, and now offers medical care as needed.  The other day she put Band-Aid’s on all her animals that had tails… and she was frustrated with the ones that did not have tails. 

Fearless- We went to a new park the other day and in a split second Catherine was gone.  She had climbed all the way up to the tallest slide and slid down it. There was an older school age boy who was clearly impressed a little girl just slid down that slide.  Logan was impressed too.

Likes- She loves balls, any and all types.  Catherine continues to be a big fan of “Yo Yo”.  L’s are still hard for her to say so she still calls Logan Yo Yo and it is so darn cute.  She definitely likes the color yellow and wants everything to have yellow on it or in it.  She adores her teacher Mrs. Christina and really likes going to school on M, W & F.  She is definitely in a daddy phase and some days she does not process Brian’s absence very well.  The other morning, at around 8am, she heard a car beep and ran to the door screaming “Daddy’s home.”  Of course, he had not gotten home that early and she was pretty upset when I explained it was actually the neighbor’s car.

Dislikes- She does not want things to be done for her, as she wants to do it herself. 

Sleeping / Eating- Her appetite has slowed some.  She used to eat anything any everything but now she is a bit more demanding.  She will pick out all the sausage from her red beans and act shocked that she is expected to finish other things on her plate before she can get seconds.

Working On- TEMPER TANTRUMS. 

Favorite highlight from this past week- Catherine turned to me, unsolicited and said  “I love you so much my mommy.”

Game Day

We took some fun photos this afternoon while waiting on Brian to get home from work.  I found LSU hats and gloves in a box and the kids thought it was hysterical.  (I am still not sure why they thought it was THAT funny.)

These Saint's photos are from earlier this fall.  Sadly, Logan will not fit in his jersey after this year.  He has worn it for 3 football seasons.

This was taken on the Saturday Auburn played LSU.  I love this picture with MiMi laughing, Catherine cheering (I guess?) and Logan clearly watching the game.

Only picture I have of Catherine wearing something Auburn!

Logan's first year as an official Saints fan!

Feeling THANKFUL

I am thankful the week is over and it went very well.  I had a Ballon Sinuplasty procedure done on Tuesday that successfully opened up my nasal cavities and will allow for proper drainage.  It was  painful and follow up care was not pleasant.  I told my ENT that childbirth was better because at least you get a cute precious baby at the end of it all.   My parting gifts on Tuesday were a bloody nose, antibiotics, vicodin and nose rinse tools.  

But just four days later, this morning, I woke up  and took a deep breath through my nose and it felt SO VERY good.

I am thankful that my sweet parents came out west and helped run the show here at 1547 Hewitt.

And last, but never least, I am thankful for Brian's humor and companionship.   He had me smiling and laughing on Tuesday when I really wanted to be evil Joan.  

Costco

While sorting through iPhoto in an ongoing attempt to get my photo's organized,  I came across a few Costco shots that are too cute not to share.

March 2012

August 2012

November 2012

April 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

Louisiana Children's Museum and Audubon Zoo

People often ask me if New Orleans is a kid friendly city and I  always respond with a YES.  I guess  they think it is tailored for the adult crowd due to obvious reasons such as Mardi Gras and Bourbon Street.  But the truth is, NOLA has fabulous things for children of all ages.  This past visit we hit two of them: the children's museum and the zoo.

I have loved the Louisiana Children's museum since I did my high school community service hours there.  It has the standard attractions that you can find at most CMs, like a grocery store, toddler play area, bubbles, ect...  But, it also has some local touches that make it unique such as driving a street car and piloting a river boat into the Port of Orleans.

The Audubon Zoo is favorite as well.  It is in the Riverbend area adjacent to Audubon Park. We had a few minutes to kill before we entered the zoo and walked over to the "mighty" Mississippi River which is just 100 yards away.  Logan is fascinated with barges and river boats and still wants to know why we call it the "mighty" Mississippi.

Uncle Donald in the bubble