The last day of 2006...

We spent the last day of 2006 at home relaxing. Connor got to play with all his new toys from Christmas and watched his new favorite tv show, Dora the Explorer, a few times. We also did an art project to commemorate the passing of another year. The last two years we've gone to a New Year's Eve sock hop for kids under 5, but unfortunately the organizer wasn't able to secure a space large enough for the event this year so she had to cancel it. I really miss it! It was so much fun and I think Connor would've enjoyed it even more this year. Hopefully she'll find a space for next year!

First, a shot of Logan enjoying some "solid" food :) (Look, Brent! He's wearing a bib you gave him!)


Wearing a geeky onesie :)


Here's Logan's art project. He didn't really like the paint on his hands and didn't want to unclench his fists long enough to put them on the paper, so we did the best we could. He did all the coloring though! We put a marker in his hands and in between chewing on the end of it he would bang it down and make some marks :) I added some of his "memories" of the last year - his birth, naps, diaper changes, his big brother, being "abandoned" in the leaves and snow, rolling over and drooling!


These are my handprints and a few of the highlights of my year - being pregnant, giving birth to Logan (aka the cabbage), turning the big 30, potty training the Conman, dying Easter eggs, So Do La Fa time, and the recent blizzards.


Here's Connor's colorful creation (very alliterative, eh?). He was more into cutting and gluing than telling me things he remembers from this year but there are a few on his paper anyway - ice skating, his birthday, baby Logan, friends and swimming.


And last, but not least, Daddy's artwork. He had to be coerced into it but he did it all by himself AND during the Bronco game. Well, ok, he paused the game to do it and watched the rest later but considering it was their last chance at making the playoffs I'm amazed I was able to pull him away at all! His memories include his softball championship, snow, Connor turning 3, taking Connor to storytime at the library each week, going to Nathanael's wedding in Ohio and, of course, having the Loganator.


2006 was a great year for us! Let's hope that 2007 is just as good if not better! Tell us about your 2006 memories!

WOW...

When Connor was almost a year old someone told me (or maybe I read somewhere?) that we should choose a grown-up outfit for him and take a picture of him in it each year. We thought it was a neat idea and chose a dress shirt and tie for him and put him in Daddy's dress shoes. We took his two year old picture in the shirt and tie a little late (February I think! oops!) and took his three year old picture today. Check them out! I can't believe how grown up he looks this year!


Age 1, 2, 3



And a couple more of him in the outfit today...

Snow pics....part 2 :)

I know, I posted pics from my Dad earlier, but now it's our turn! As always, don't forget that you can click on the pictures to see a larger version!

Here's what it looks like from our driveway looking south. Notice how nice and clean the street is? Gigantic plows came through around midnight last night and did this! They were incredibly noisy but amazingly they didn't block any driveways...


Connor sitting on a huge pile of snow and ice left by the plows...


What a ham!


Using one of his Christmas presents to plow the snow :)

Snow pics

Wow! Check out these pictures my Dad sent today...

Sue's Jeep Liberty


Just about 41"


Very cool icicles :)



The snow stopped here sometime before 4 am when I got up with Logan and we've just had flurries since. I guess it's pretty bad on the Eastern plains right now but it seems we've missed the biggest part of the storm here! Connor and Jeremy made waffles for breakfast and now they're playing out in the snow while Logan is napping and I'm blogging :)

Happy last Friday of 2006!

Blizzard, the sequel

Snow, snow, snow....
What more can I say? It's snowing again. The snow from the last storm hasn't melted yet, of course, so it's just new snow on top of old, dirty snow. And this snow is heavier and wetter than last week's so it'll probably be more difficult to clear. We haven't fully recovered from the last hit - stores are low on supplies and many gas stations are out of gas because they haven't gotten their regular deliveries, many side streets haven't seen a plow at all, and some people in Longmont haven't had trash service or mail delivery in a week! Jeremy went to King Soopers on Tuesday and said it was a strange sight - the produce, milk, bread and meat sections were decimated. We went to Wal-mart for a few items today and found that many items were severely depleted (almost all the bread, ground beef and ground turkey, even hot dogs and frozen pizzas of all things) but that the things we really wanted were there (milk, eggs, bagels, soup). Everyone's trying to stock up for this storm but the store's are too far behind from the last!

We have about 4 inches of new snow tonight and it's piling up quickly; I just heard a report that Boulder has 13" of new snow tonight! Jeremy's work announced it will be closed tomorrow around 2 pm today - it hadn't even really started snowing at that point but the forecasters had us all on high alert. Connor's preschool is closed tomorrow too. Ordinarily that would be ok but it's particularly sad this time because it was to be his lead teacher's last day. Wendy has been his teacher the whole six months he's been there and it's sad to see her go. She's leaving for a good reason, though...off to teach kindergarten at the same elementary school her daughter attends, just four blocks from her home. But we'll miss her!

I'll update on the snow tomorrow, but here are some pictures from yesterday and today for your viewing pleasure :)



A picture of Logan's first taste of green beans. He really did taste them, too, not just wear them :)


The boys hanging out in Logan's room today.


Connor was saying "I love my baby Logan" in this pic while Logan appears to be thinking either "Eh, you're ok too." or "Mom, help!"

Christmas

Whew... finally a chance to catch my breath! Christmas was fantastic! Here are some pictures from the last few days...

Decorating Christmas cookies for Santa and to share with friends at the Christmas Eve service...





We left cookies and milk out for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Santa ate all his cookies and finished most of his milk. The reindeer ate most of the carrots but left some teeth marks in a couple - they must have been in a hurry to finish them! :)

Here's Connor (wearing his Christmas pj's) pointing out all the presents that appeared under the tree overnight. He was really excited!



The tree and presents...


One of the great views on the way up to Dad and Sue's house...


My favorite part of the day was when Connor played Santa and passed out everyone's presents. We had printed everyone's pictures on mailing labels and used them as gift tags. Connor just had to look at the picture to see who the gift went to - no reading required! Every time he would see his own picture he got so excited! :)

Connor helping Papa open one of his presents...


In this picture, Papa is explaining some of Connor's responsibilities that come with the present Connor was about to open - he can only use it when Mommy, Daddy or one of his Grandma's or Grandmpa's are around, and when Logan is older Connor has to share it with him. Connor seemed to understand :)


And then he got to open that present...


Here he is sitting in his new Jeep! To say he LOVED it would be the understatement of the year. He wanted to eat in it, sleep in it, put all his other new toys in it, etc. :)


Connor asked several times for Logan to sit next to him...


Here's Connor getting a ride in Papa's Traxter (not a Christmas present, just one of Papa's toys). He had a ball...


And here's a video of him riding in the traxter...(careful! It's loud!)


A shot of Daddy and Logan while Connor and Papa were on the traxter. Daddy borrowed one of Papa's hats - looks like he should be holding some vodka instead of a baby :)


Connor sitting on another of Papa's "toys" - a tractor with a snowblower on the front and a plow in back...



Santa was really nice to us this year! We all got fun and useful presents and had fun spending time with family. We hope you had a joyous holiday too!

P.S. We passed the 7500 mark on Christmas - since we got our current digital camera in 2003, just before Connor was born, we've taken 7500 pictures! Hmmm...that's an average of 2500 a year or 208 per month or almost 7 per day - haha!

Twas the Friday before Christmas...

Jeremy had today off (this is their observance of Christmas Eve day since it falls on a Sunday) and we had a pretty relaxing day. We did manage to make it out of the house for the first time in almost two days for some last minute Christmas shopping. Connor was able to go to preschool and had fun playing in the snow there with his friend Ryan. They also made and decorated gingerbread men ornaments as gifts for the parents. Connor was excited that his was the only one to have a RED scarf - the other kids' gingerbread men had yellow scarves. :) We finally got some of our Christmas presents wrapped while Connor was gone, though they're not under the tree yet because we're not sure he could control himself and not open them!

As part of our last minute Christmas shopping, Jeremy and Logan and I went to Target. Jeremy was carrying Logan in the Baby Bjorn (front carrier) and not once, not twice, but THREE times WOMEN said something like "Oh what a cute little girl!" or "Wow she is sure having fun!" SHE?!?!?! Ok, "she" was wearing white socks (gender neutral, I'd say), blue pants (didn't we just learn that blue is for boys?) and a gray onesie covered in blue footballs and red football helmets. Now, obviously these women weren't close enough to distinguish that they were footballs and helmets so I'll throw that part out, but weren't the gray shirt and blue pants enough? Or do people assume that if a baby doesn't have a lot of hair that it's a girl? Or does Logan look particularly "girly" (whatever that means)? Or is it just as simple as people assume a baby is the same gender that they are? One of these days I'm going to get up the guts to say "Excuse me, but what makes you think this baby is a girl?" For now, though, I just bite my tongue, say thank you or smile or whatever seems nice and semi-appropriate at the time and we walk away and laugh. :)

The BIG news of the day, though, is that LOGAN IS LEARNING TO BE MOBILE!!! He is lifting up his body and trying to figure out how to get in a crawling position! He doesn't really move - yet - just the occasional backwards slide as his knees slide out from under him. It's so exciting! He'll probably be crawling all over the place before we know it - and definitely before we're ready!

Look - his belly is off the ground!


Lovely drool - but here he is with belly off the ground again!


And, of course, we're in love with YouTube these days so here's a video of it! He lifts himself up twice and you'll know it's coming when Connor walks in front of the camera...haha! :)




We are watching our friends' dog, Chance, while they are off visiting family for Christmas. Chance is the sweetest dog ever and so great with kids - he lets Connor hug him and even let Logan pet him and pull his hair a bit today.

Anyway, here's a shot of Connor and Chance...

Snow Day part 2 :)

We're stuck at home again today and enjoying every minute of it! Jeremy thinks we got about 24" and there are drifts to about 3 or 3 1/2 feet in some areas of our backyard. Some of our neighbors have diligently shoveled their entire driveways but we're too busy playing in it for that :) Maybe later...

Here's the obligatory "Hey, Mommy abandoned me in a snow drift!" picture...


Connor joined in the fun...


We didn't really leave the poor baby in the snow :)


Stuck in the snow


Hmm...really stuck now



But having fun!



And here is a link to a video Jeremy took of Bailey running/hopping through the snow in our backyard. She would only go where Jeremy had been so he ended up making several paths for her :)

Snow Day :)

Jeremy and Connor made it back home safely around 11:30 and we spent the afternoon mostly inside with one short adventure into the snow in our driveway. The biting wind and driving snow made it nearly impossible to play outside today but I'm sure it will stick around for a while and give us ample opportunities for making snowmen! Looks like we'll have a white Christmas too!

All bundled up...


Helping Daddy shovel...

Bailey staring at the dog across the street...

The drift by our backdoor at 4:30 this afternoon. Jeremy shoveled it once to make a path for Bailey and it is now around 9 pm and it's at least a foot higher than this!


Playing in the snow...


Hanging out on Connor's bed, trying on every hat in the room...

SNOW!!!!

It's snowing and the weather forecasters are calling for 16 to 26 inches by tomorrow! Whoa! We haven't had this much snow since March of 2003 - a memorable storm for this family since Connor was born 9 months later!! :) haha Anyway, Jeremy took Connor to preschool this morning and then went to work but it looks like they'll be returning around 11 to make it home before the roads get too bad. It's a good day to stay inside and drink something warm!

Holiday Creek Walk

We went to Longmont's Holiday Creek Walk tonight. The city and a bunch of sponsors light the pathway from Roger's Grove to Izaak Walton Park and have several fire pits, carolers, and hot chocolate/cookie stations along the way. It was pretty cold out but we bundled up the kids and had a lot of fun! Connor got to sit on Santa's lap again (4th time this year but he hasn't noticed that each Santa looks different yet). He liked watching the guy carve bears out of wood using a chainsaw and he was fascinated by the orchestra and the carolers. Here are some pictures from today:


An outside picture before lunch



I moved a bit while taking the picture but it still looks neat :)



This is THE Prancer! "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and..." :)


And here's our first uploaded video to YouTube...a few seconds of the light show at the end of the creek walk. The video doesn't really do it justice - it was really neat! In case you're wondering, Connor was right next to me :) haha