21 Months

I haven't taken many pictures lately. We're in a lull between summer busy and football busy, so I'm sure my camera will get a workout soon. Here's Logan after church last Sunday. He calls his belt a seat belt.

At 21 months Logan is smarter than ever. This is working against us. He officially started his "terrible 2s" about 3 weeks ago. I had no idea it would be so. . . .terrible! I keep joking that if he had started them any sooner we wouldn't have ever considered having another baby. Too late, huh?! Joke's on us!

In all honesty though, he is more precious than ever. God must know that to get through this time we needed toddlers to be extra cute and funny. I think we spend more time laughing every day and giving him adoring glances than we do being frustrated to the point of considering putting him up for auction on eBay.

"Don't like it." "Don't want it." "NO." These are phrases we hear several times a day just before he throws himself on the floor and uses the crocodile tears strategy to get his way. Once we do finally get him to say he's sorry (for hitting us - ugh) through his tears he gives us the sweetest, "I sorry" and hug. It's heart wrenching. Then WE feel like the bad guy.

We're reading books and talking to parents and are convinced we can nip this in the bud in the next few weeks. Haahahahaha. Seriously, we're being told this could last a few years. Excuse me? Needless to say, we're doing our best to find the most effective method for Logan.

Fortunately Logan's teacher has no idea this is happening at home because is a just a perfect angel at school (thank heavens!). He does "tattle" on people, we've noticed. If something is messy on the floor at school or at a restaurant he is quick to point out, "Simon did it." or "baby did it." And his teacher says she can tell if he's done something he's not supposed to because he will walk around with his hands over his face - "hiding." She is quick to look around and see what is out of place and to correct him.

I know I've said this before, but he repeats everything we say. Today Andrew drove us on all our errands and several times commented on women drivers. So now Logan is a little more sexist than he was yesterday. We are getting a kick out of saying things on purpose just to hear it from him. "forgeddabout it" (said like an Italian gangster) is our favorite.

Logan loves church. He walks in head held high, huge grin on his face, shaking the greeters hands and giving high fives. And at night if I forget to sing he says "Jesus" and reminds me to sing Jesus loves me. He repeats portions of our prayers and always says Amen. He knows which book on his shelf is his Bible and points to all the pictures and says "Jesus." It is such a joy as a parent to get to help mold his faith. He is truly a gift from God and we are so thankful that we were chosen to be his parents. God has big plans for your life Logan T.

Omaha

The best shot of the kids - pretty good we think!

Thomas Family 2010

The photographer was scheduled for 7:30 pm - almost bedtime. The younger kids were tough to get, so they're captured most happily in motion. Notice poor Logan's untucked shirt and red cheeks. He was hot and tired, but pretty much a big trooper.
Olivia and Addi are so sweet to Logan. They adore following him around and being right there with him all the time. He is mobile and vocal now so he is able to tell them when he's had enough. He talks about Addi and "Liva" all the time now.
The photographer couldn't get a good one of Mimi and Grandpa with the grandkids, so this was taken Sunday before we left town.

Andrew talks all the time about how he burried some matchbox cars in his front yard when he was a kid. On Sunday morning while I was packing the rest of the family was outside watching him dig them up. He remembered just where he'd put them. I just think its neat that he got to dig them up with Logan. I bet he never would've imagined at age 10 that he would one day dig them up with his son.

Sunday brunch outside
Yogurt face

Three Generations

At the farm. . .

Bob's brother Bill and his wife Margaret. Cousin Molly and husband Mike and their kids Cole and Jordan. I'm so lucky to be related to these super wonderful people!

Lunch with the big kids

Cousin Cole is very mature for his age. A kind and responsible young man. He was so great with Logan and is always nice to take everyone on gator rides.

Great corn!


At the zoo. . .


For Logan's 1st Birthday, Bob and Judy bought him a bronze butterfly at the zoo to support the butterfly exhibit. It has his name on it.



Logan rode this golf cart for several long stretches of time during our trip. One afternoon we're pretty sure we saw him doze off a few times while driving. He was pushing the pedal himself and we would crank the wheel so that he could just go in circles.

Easton's Visit

Two weeks ago my college roomy Lauren and her son Easton came for another visit. We kept the boys very busy riding the Trinity Park Train, going to the Fort Worth Zoo and at Ridglea's baby pool. Lauren I got to catch up some, but by the time the boys went down we were about ready to do the same.







Just look at how deep those precious dimples are!!!


Easton's not big on having his picture taken.







Barnes and Noble train table. The bookstore was not a the place to be if you were looking for a quiet spot in the 20 minutes we were there.

A Sneak Peak

We spent the weekend in Omaha with family and have lots of great pictures to show for it. Check back soon(ish).

Sick and Tired

Part of the reason I have been MIA for much of the summer is that we've kept pretty busy. Another part of the reason is that I was feeling pretty worthless for about 6 weeks. We are expecting another baby on February 13, blog readers! I am 12 weeks pregnant and just started feeling better (and I use that very loosely) last week. We told our family several weeks ago on Father's Day. I looked everywhere for a shirt that said Big Brother, but couldn't find one in time, so we made a sign for Logan to hold up on Skype. Turns out he's not much for holding up signs. Here's a picture from that day and a few more recent pictures of play dates.Cousin Raleigh came for a swim and dinner a few weeks ago. We saw them again last night, too, in Dallas when we met up with some of Derek and Andrew's cousins who were in town for a conference. Raleigh gives the best hugs. When you let go, she's still huggin' - SO PRECIOUS!

Our neighborhood friend Asher came over for a breakfast date one Saturday last month. His mommy and I are both looking for something to do with our boys at 8 AM on Saturdays, so they play while we drink coffee (in moderation of course - we're both pregnant!)

While our pool is great and all, Ridglea has a baby pool that makes swim time a little more relaxing for mom and dad. We've headed up there several evenings this summer and hung around for dinner. I foresee many fun family nights there for years to come!

My parents had Logan last weekend while Andrew and I went on our 8th annual river trip with our friends. They bought him a remote control train. He loves it. Video coming soon. (Oh and they also got him a drum just to get a rise out of us. But guess what?! He's not such a fan of that, so HA!)

Here's our group of river rats just before we headed out to float this year.

Modern Family

Logan is learning our names. His teacher took a picture of me and Logan few weeks back and told me that they were going to work on first names. So last week we're in the car and I heard something from the backseat that I had never heard before and it sounded a whole lot like "Marlie." I asked Logan what he said and sure enough!

Just yesterday Logan was playing and we heard him say Logan Thomas. We were shocked and asked him to repeat himself. His face scowled and he said, "Logan Thomas" with a firm voice. I call him by his full name when he's being difficult, so I guess he's caught on.

Here's a video from dinner tonight.