Logan's Last Day of Preschool!

I'm such a terrible blogger!  One minute I am going strong with documenting life and another minute I want nothing to do with it.  Hmmm...guess that's life, huh?  One of my big reasons for blogging is to share stories, pictures and videos with friends and family...especially those that do not live close to us.  So, here I go...let's try this blogging thing again!

Logan's last day of preschool was on Thursday.  I always try to have a small gift for not only teachers, but everyone that impacts my child's life at school (including bus drivers, speech therapists, para educators, etc.,).  So, this is the gift that I came up with for this year.  We bought terra cotta pots and the boys painted them, added soil and chose their flower.  We then stuck a fork in the soil and added a photo with a little note to each person.  Between the two boys, we had 14 of these to make!  When we went to deliver them, everyone was very excited about them and the boys enjoyed giving them.  

School Gifts

Note attached to gift (I just love this 'Dear Teacher' font!)

Logan with Miss Jodie, his teacher

 His preschool did a cute little presentation, including music, receiving of certificates and a cap ceremony for the kidos who were moving onto Kindergarten (not Logan). This is Logan and his classroom singing a song titled, "Love Grows"!  Logan is constantly singing this at home (complete with hand motions as well!

Logan receiving his Certificate

 They even had a special snack for the kids and Logan was waiting sooo patiently for this part (which of course was his FAVORITE!).  I was chatting with Logan about the upcoming party before he went to school.  I explained that I wasn't able to stay for the whole thing because I needed to be home for when Carson gets off the school bus.  I asked Logan if he wanted to come with me when I left or take the bus home.  He says, "Mom, I'm staying at the PARTY!"  Well, of course you are!  Very funny and cute!

Logan just LOVES preschool and will greatly miss his teachers and friends.  Before school was even out, he was already asking "Mom, can I play with _____ this summer?"  So, I whipped up some little cards to give his friends so they could call us for a play date or something.

Carson's last day of Kindergarten is tomorrow, so I will blog about his fun day as well!  He can't wait!

Christmas Traditions

This holiday season, we have done some very fun things!  As usual, I am always trying to instill some family tradition into our holiday season!

This year, we added a new tradition....The elf on a shelf!  This is a great little package including a book (that explains the tradition of the elf) and an stuffed little elf.  You name the elf (the boys named ours Zap) and the elf's job is to be Santa's eyes.  At night, Zap flies back to the North Pole to let Santa in on the day of Carson and Logan.  When he flies back (in time to be back when the boys wake up), he finds a new spot in the house in which to watch the boys.  We added our own personal dimension to this...we have Santa write notes to the boys ("good job with making good choices yesterday", "work harder or I'm flying right past your house on Christmas eve", etc., ).  It's been fun, but it's been difficult to remember to move Zap every night!  My friend Angela assured me that this would be your key to good behavior during the holidays.  Well...I don't know about that, but it has helped a little, so I'll take it!

We've had a tough time with the boys' behavior lately.  The thing that has helped the most with their behavior is The Portable North Pole!  You enter information specific to your child like their name, hair and eye color, what behavior your child has been working on this year (and how well they have done with it), what they want for Christmas (and can even download a picture of it) and the program even makes a book with downloaded pictures that you add!  It uses this information to customize a video from Santa.  Once the video is made, you receive it via e-mail and the best part, you ask??  It's totally FREE!!

Carson was quite naughty on Saturday, so I made him a video telling Santa that he had been naughty.  Here is the video that was sent to Carson!  After watching the video, Carson looks at me and says "Mom, I'll try harder!" (finally, maybe something has gotten through to him!!)  And here is the video sent to Logan!

After several weeks of bad behavior, the boys FINALLY earned a trip to McDonald's and they were very excited!  After McDonald's, we went to the Morford Family Carousel and the boys had a BLAST!  There was a spinning cup (like the tea cups at Disneyland) and Carson loved that!  The boys rode the carousel 3 times and Carson rode the spinning cup all 3 times!

The boys worked on their letters to Santa this weekend.  Logan dictated his and Carson wrote his letter all by himself (dictated it and then copied what I wrote).

Logan's Letter to Santa

Carson's Letter to Santa
Dear Santa,
Snow is here!  I'm sorry for being mean to my mommy.  I will try harder.
Please bring me Loopz for Christmas.
We will be in Roseburg, OR for Christmas with my cousins.
Carson George
(picture of Santa on sleigh and reindeers flying in the clouds)

After working on the letters, the boys took them to the post office to mail them!  I found this cool website.  If you include a return stamped envelope with Santa's letter inside, they will return the letter to you with the North Pole stamp on it!  We'll see if we receive our return letter!  The boys would get a huge kick out of it!

Tomorrow, we are off to the Garden d'Lights in Bellevue!  I hope the boys enjoy it!  It's FREE!  Check out the website for other free nights!

Well...I think that is about it!  We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

First Snow this winter!

It snowed for the first time this winter season (YIKES...you know, it's not even officially winter yet??) on Sunday night 11/21.  By mid morning on Monday 11/22, the were closing the schools early.  Both bus drivers called me to find an alternate drop off location since they didn't think they could navigate our streets!  Carson's bus was about 45 minutes late in arriving!  And, it took Kelly 2 1/2 hours to get home from work in Seattle!

By Tuesday morning, we had a good 6 inches on the ground!  And, school was CANCELLED!  It allowed us all an opportunity to go play in the snow, and that we did do!  We had lots of hills around our house (our gravelly road, our driveway, our hill onto our sports court and our neighbor's yard as well)...all these possibilities without driving ANYWHERE!!  Here are a few photos of our fun time together!

Taking the toboggan down the driveway!

I love these pics!  They are treating their toboggans like they are some cool snowboard!  Very cute!

This morning, Carson ran out into the snow and jumped in....FACE FIRST!  Silly Carson!

Playing in the backyard!

This hill is PERFECT!  The hill has a very nice slope and then there are stairs right next to the run!  How cool is that?

Getting ready for the last run of the day!  Look at those rosy cheeks!

The snow was sure fun!  We'll see how long it sticks around!

I'm very thankful for our warm home, fireplace and hot cocoa!  Those are the fixings after a cold day of play in the snow!
Enjoy the snow and stay warm!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Weekend to California!!

This past weekend, I ventured to California with Carson and Logan! My goodness, how did baggage get so expensive?? We had 4 bags to check (2 of which were car seats) and it cost me $80. Little did I know that you didn't have to pay to check car seats (so I had to call Alaska Customer Care and will get refunded $40 within the next week). YIKES...still, it's expensive! Kelly had gotten some free tickets for giving up his seat a while back, so for the 3 of us to fly, the tickets only cost us about $150 or so (which wasn't too bad!). We flew out of Seattle and were flying to Burbank. 

We brought a little 'map' for the boys so that they could see all the steps that had to occur along the way in order for us to arrive in Bakersfield! (Thanks to my friend Hartley who let me alter her document she already made!)  We would stop along the way and the boys would cross off the steps we had already completed!  It was very cute and it worked like a gem!  There were no constant questions like "when are we going to get there?"...the boys could just consult their maps to answer that question!

My parents were anxiously waiting for us in Burbank, excited to see their grand kids!

No trip to California wouldn't be complete without a trip to 'In n' Out' Burgers...and it was as yummy as ever!  We even got Kelly a new t-shirt (they are black now, instead of white, which was surprising).  Carson even consummated our Burbank arrival with throwing one big hissy fit in the parking lot (over what, I don't even remember).  Poor guy...once he gets himself past the point of no return, he's a goner!  All I could do was protect myself by holding him in an arm lock (so he couldn't hit me) and just be patient for him to get himself together!  It felt like 30 minutes, but probably was only 10 or 15 minutes long...but too long to be in a parking lot judged by all who see!  At least it was in the parking lot and NOT in the airplane!  I think this was Carson's way of saying that he was DONE with the travel stuff for a while (although we still had to drive another 90 minutes in the truck to Bakersfield). 

Once we got to Bakersfield, the boys were very excited to play with Pepper, my parent's new puppy, which is a miniature schnauzer!

The boys LOVED Pepper!  But, Pepper, didn't always love Carson and Logan!  Isn't that how it usually goes?  They all got each other wound up and we had to separate them from each other, just to get them all to calm down!  It was very cute to see them having fun with the little guy!  Wait until Christmas, when we'll have 6 little kids (under 6 years old) and two miniature schnauzers all under the same roof!  YIKES...

The weather was very interesting in California!  We had two days of beautiful weather (in the 70's) and two days of rain!  The boys even got to wear shorts and sandals and were very excited about that!  Thank goodness I remembered to bring everyone's sun glasses, because you quickly realize how sensitive your eyes are when you are in the sun!  And...and quickly realize that we really have very limited sun here in the Pacific NW!!

We got to play at the park and the boys LOVED playing in the sand!  Grandma gave them some old Tonka trucks and some plastic bowls to help them dig and they were golden!

 Carson, of course, loved building his own sand castles!!

 And, Logan loved climbing the play structures!

Everybody at the park that day was in sweatshirts and pants!  Hey, come on...it's warm enough for shorts and sandals!!!

Friday night Carson started complaining about his tummy not feeling good.  By dinner, he was throwing up and pale as a ghost!  Poor guy!!  I slept with him that night and he only threw up once.  The next day came diarrhea and poor Carson's bum was quite chaffed.  I even made some special baby wipes to pat his bottom with so it didn't hurt so bad!  He had a hard time sitting and didn't eat too much.  But as the day wore on, his appetite grew and he was feeling spunkier by the evening. 

Saturday night, the boys went to McDonald's while I went to my 20 year high school reunion! Here's my picture from my senior year of high school (we went to Disneyland after our graduation)!

I was very excited to go to my reunion.  I didn't go to my 10 year reunion and there were a number of folks that I wanted to see.  I went through a nostalgic period where I perused my yearbook looking for familiar faces and then tried to find them in Facebook.  Some I found and some I did not.  But, I was hopeful that many of them I would see at the reunion. 
 
Kelly wasn't able to go with us to California because of some work issues going on at the time.  So, I contacted Tina, a childhood friend of mine, to see if she was going.  I was in luck!  Her husband wasn't able to go as well, so we planned to go together!  I teased her as we walked into the reunion, saying that folks were gonna think that we were an item!  Ha...my, how the times have changed, huh?
 
They did a really nice job getting set up for the reunion.  It was held at a country club in Bakersfield.  They had current BHS cheerleaders checking us in, BHS paraphernalia all over (class photos, newspapers, etc.,).  Our mascot was the Drillers (yes, the drillers!!).  Bakersfield is a hot spot for drilling oil, so that was an appropriate mascot for where we lived!  They also had a memorial table...6 classmates had passed away! (from cancer, car accidents, etc.,).  This is where I discovered that one of my friends had died in a car accident....very sad!
 
They gave awards to our classmates that were present...who had the most kids (6), who had the most grand kids (3...YIKES, 3 grand kids and you are not even 40 yet?? WOW!!), who travelled the furthest (Singapore), etc.,
 
I saw 3 friends that I was glad I saw...Tina Hunsaker Nickel, Melanie Evans and Joy Nybo Donald!

Tina Hunsaker Nickel...my childhood friend!



Melanie Evans...we lived across the street from each other!  Our parents still live there!

Joy Nybo Donald

They put our high school picture on our name tags, which was a nice way to sneak a peak at folks to see if you recognized them.  Unfortunately, once you got past 'where do you live?', 'what do you do for a living?', and 'how many kids do you have?', I kind of ran out of things to talk about....I was glad that I went, but I was disappointed that more of my friends weren't there!  Our graduating class was 700-800 (which is HUGE!) and there were probably 80-100 there...just a mere fraction of the class.
 
Many folks looked the same, many were very different!  It was weird to see everyone 'all grown up!'  Many of the guys were very grey and balding and many of the girls were just as pretty, or prettier than they were in high school!  It's hard to believe that we are all almost 40 years old!  WOW!
 
After a fun night on the town, it was back to reality for me!  We had to leave for Burbank bright and early in the morning and I think Logan crawled into bed with me before 5 am that early Sunday morning!  YIKES!!  We were out the door by 7am and stopped at McDonald's for breakfast on the way to the airport.  We took an opportunity to take a photo of grandma and grandpa with their grand kids. 

We ventured to the airport and began our journey home to Seattle! 

The guy who checked in our bags was super sweet!  He let the boys weigh themselves on the huge baggage scale!

A moment in time when the boys were actually getting along!  Gotta photograph those moments, right??

We had to trade seats with a lady in order for us to all sit together.  She seemed nice at the time and even commented to me in the bathroom that she had grand kids of her own.  I was thinking that we had it made.  About 3/4 the way through the journey, Logan really ticked her off.  He had accidentally kicked her seat and she just about bit his head off!  But, rather than chatting with me about it, she began attacking HIM!  YIKES...not good!  In my opinion, this had been a good plane journey and she should be thankful...she has NO IDEA of the potential of a disastrous plane trip!  Oh boy...don't even go there!  So, we kept to ourselves and just did the best we could with what we had!
 
We were thankful to see dad at baggage claim!  Thankful to find our van, make a quick trip to the grocery store (since the snow was coming that night and we needed food!) and mostly thankful just to be HOME!

Halloween Fun

YIKES!  It's almost 11pm and what am I doing??  Scrapbooking and blogging!  I've made it this far (scrapbooked the pages), I may as well share them with you before I go to bed, right??  (Yeah, tell me that in the morning when I'm the cranky, tired one!). 

So, here is our Halloween adventures this year!  The pages may look redundant (the design is, the pictures are not!), but the first two pages go in Carson's scrapbook and the second two pages go in Logan's scrapbook!  If you'd like to get a better look at the page, just double click on the image and it will blow up the page for you (that way you can read the journaling).  Anyways, I'm going to let the pages speak for themselves and go tuck myself into bed (guess I'll be taking a nap tomorrow, huh?)

Again, as usual, I'd LOVE to hear your comments!

Carson's Album

Carson's Album

Logan's Album

Logan's Album

Logan's School Picture

We got Logan's school picture today!  Isn't it just adorable??  He was soooo excited to go to school all dressed up in a tie!  I just can't get over how big the boys are getting...they are just growing up so fast .

Logan, 4 years old

Have a fantastic day today!  Have you hugged your kid today??

Birthday Party

Here are a few photos from Carson and Logan's Birthday Party at The Bouncy Place this past weekend! These pages are for Logan's scrapbook (I haven't finished Carson's pages since his birthday is this coming weekend)! We had a wonderful time at the party...a lot of our friends came to bounce with us, we ate yummy food and the kids had a lot of fun! What more could you ask for??

I'm so ready for October to be over! We've had five family birthdays this month...two of which were Carson and Logan, one big birthday party, family visiting and Halloween! YIKES...I'm ready for a break in November because here comes December...Christmas is just around the corner!

Oh, by the way, did you notice my cool new look on the blog?? Just in time for Halloween! Many thanks to my friend Carrie who helped me change my look...Thanks Carrie! Happy Halloween to everyone!

Birthday Video and Logan's Birthday

Yesterday was Logan's 4th Birthday and boy was he excited! He got to bring homemade chocolate chip cookies to his preschool to share with his friends. He was tickled pink when they gave him a birthday crown all of his own. We usually have a combined birthday party for both boys since their birthdays are so close to each other, but on their own birthdays, we try to do a little something special for them. On Logan's special day, he requested cookies and ice cream with chocolate, whipped cream and sprinkles...and 4 candles of course! So, that's what the little boy got! He also got to open one of his birthday presents and this year he got to open a present from Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell...it was his very own talking Jessie doll (from Toy Story 3) and he just loved it!!!


In honor of Carson's 6th Birthday and Logan's 4th Birthday this month, I have made a Birthday video for them! It is a compilation of inspirational music (thanks Ang for some music suggestions), photos and video clips from the last year! I've had a lot of fun reminiscing about the fun times we've had together in the last year! It's exciting to see what fine boys they are growing up to be!

If you'd like to blow up the video to fill your computer screen, just press the button in the lower right hand corner of the video screen that looks like 4 arrows pointing outward.

I'd LOVE to hear your comments!

Soccer Trading Cards

I made these last night using my digital scrapbooking program (Storybook Creator Plus by Creative Memories). I got cheap and didn't want to pay for the professional trading cards, so just made do with what I had and made them myself! I think they turned out pretty cute, if I don't say so myself! If you'd like one, let me know and I'll print one off and send it to you!

Apple Picking Time!

After the boys got home from school, we went in our backyard to pick some apples! The boys always love this activity because they get to climb on ladders or even climb the tree branches! This year there was an added bonus....our neighbor's horse was nearby so we fed him apples as well! Love it! Here are some photos of Logan...Carson's photos will be posted soon! Enjoy!

Wonderful evening with the boys!

Silly Mom & Logan  (Carson is photographer)

 So, for those of you who missed it, I recently quit my job as a pharmacist and became a stay-at-home mom to our two crazy boys! To be honest with you all, I was scared to death to have quit my job...I was in tears! I knew it was the right thing to do, but I was very scared...scared that I would just be a crazy, screaming and hollering kind of stay-at-home mom. Our boys have had their own set of behavioral challenges and I was afraid that I wasn't up for the challenge.

Silly mom & Carson (Logan is photographer) 

It has been 5 weeks since my last day of work and I am happy to report that I am LOVING my new job!!  I am getting tons of stuff done (I've redecorated and painted Logan's room, re-stained the outside play structure, helped to add additional wood chips to the play area outside, yard work, touch-up painted the entire interior of the house, cleaned out the garage and computer room, donated to Goodwill and have gone to the gym about 5 times a week (and have lost 7 pounds....YAY for me!)), am here for the boys before and after their 1/2 days school programs and became a soccer mom (with 4 days of either practices or games a week between the two boys)!!  WOW....that's a lot of stuff for 5 weeks!

This past summer we started working with a behavioral therapist through The Institute for Family Development (recommended by our developmental pediatrician) to tackle some of the boys' behavior challenges.   When we started, I was depressed and very down on my parenting abilities and was completely overwhelmed on how to even begin to tackle these issues.  After some hard and persistent work with the therapist, I have become more confident in my parenting abilities and now have a better plan for how to handle the boys.  This is HUGE and it has made a significant difference in my ability to happily be home with the boys.  I am very thankful for Hannah's help! 

Our home life has become more organized and relaxed and you can really see a HUGE difference in the boys and in our home!

So, one thing that I started doing (idea from our therapist) was giving the boys poker chips for doing certain things that I WANT to see (not peeing their bed, brushing their teeth WITHOUT complaining, staying in their room at bedtime and for any little things that I see throughout the day that deserve recognition).  The boys collect their poker chips in a small jar and when the jar has been filled, they get to go to the dollar store and buy ONE item.  Pretty simple, huh?  Well, let me tell you, the boys are bending over backwards for poker chips!  They are picking up each other's clothes off the ground, being nice and helpful to each other (most of the time) and helping mom when asked to help!  And....it "costs" me ONE DOLLAR!  YIKES...I should have started this eons ago!  Amazing...

So, tonight I made dinner and dessert (I rarely make dessert).  The boys gobbled up their dinner and were anxious to have some of that yummy chocolate dessert that mom made.  But, I got clever....there were dishes all over the kitchen and dishes in the dishwasher that needed to be put away.  I told the boys that if they help me with the dishes then they could have some dessert.  They BOTH say, "OK mom!"  Hmmm....really?  You're going to help me?  You guys ROCK!  So, we all started tackling the dishwasher and before I knew it, Carson was hand washing some pots and pans and Logan was spraying down the counters with 409!  OMG!!  I was in heaven!  All over dessert?  Really?  I ought to make dessert more often!

After the boys helped clean the kitchen and ate their dessert (and Carson even hand-delivered a bowl of dessert to dad BEFORE he served himself...are these really my children??), we had to pick out Logan's clothes for school pictures tomorrow (he really wanted to wear his tie...he's going to be so cute!) and then we hung out in Logan's room and read books.  The boys went and got the big cushy pillows from the playroom and we put them on Logan's big bed and we all contentedly read books and talked about tractors and dinosaurs!  It was so much fun!  In one of the books I was reading them, it said something about the "United States" and Logan pipes in and says, "of America, mom!"  Is was so cute!  Then before I knew it, Carson puts his hand over his heart and starts reciting the Pledge of Allegiance!  It was all very priceless and it was by far one of the best evenings I have had with the boys in a long time!  Loved it!

So, if you need to change some of your child's behaviors, I recommend poker chips and chocolate...it works for me!