Ride On!

Logan has officially learned how to ride his big boy bike all by himself!  Almost exactly one month after he got his pedal bike he figured out how to ride without help (or ever any training wheels) on 10-13. He was really good at his strider bike and had been talking about wanting a pedal bike so for his birthday we bought him an Ironman one. At first he was a little cautious and worried he would fall so he did a lot of riding the Ironman bike as if it were his strider. Dom would help him get started and he could ride by himself on flat or downhill but he was still afraid so wouldn't go far once he realized Dom had let go. Slowly he got more confident and one day out with Dom he just got it and from then he figured out how to start by himself and now he can go all by himself!  He still needs a little help pedaling uphill since he's not quite strong enough for that yet otherwise he's an independent little bike rider!  We were all very excited for him and so proud. Such a fun moment for us all!

"Sleeping" according to Logan...

I've been documenting every time I go by Logan's room at night and find him in some crazy sleeping position.  This kid rarely sleeps like a normal person in his bed, he's always twisted some funny way or he has fallen asleep in the midst of reading.  They are too good not to share :)  

In his own words, this is Logan describing these pictures of his sleeping positions...

"why does it look funny.  cuz I'm laying under a book.  I'm laying there and I'm just hiding."

"that one looks funny because look at me, I am just doing something wrong..."

"Cuz look at me I'm just laying on my big pillow"

"it looks like I'm laying different..."

"haha I'm laying under a book... look my belly button haha"

"why am I laying under a book?  that's why, I'm hiding"

"I have no idea.  I'm laying funny because look at me, I'm laying in books!"

"that one doesn't look funny.  I'm just laying and closing my eyes."

"I'm hiding under pillows, that's funny!  I'm funny because look at me!"

"me and daddy are laying together.  Look 1,2.  Two of us."

"haha...uh...cuz I'm laying that way and that way (shows horizontal with his hands) on my bed.  What are my arms doing?"

"I am laying haha, one feet, look at my picture haha.  Cuz look, I'm just doing that funny, look I'm about to fall down of my bed."

"I'm laying on the floor because Auntie Panda is here"

Logan's answers version 4.0

Time for the questions to see how much Logan's answers have changed...

1.  What color is your hair?  Brown

2.  What color are your eyes?  Blue

3.  What is your favorite food?  Pizza and ice cream

4.  What song do you like to sing?  Everything is awesome and the Star Wars song

5.  What are your favorite desserts?  Ice cream

6.  What is your favorite color?  Orange

7.  What animals do you like?  Sharks

8.  What books do you like to read right now?  Star Wars books

9.  What do you like to do with daddy?  Go in the garage and play

10.  What do you like to do with mommy?  Go to the toy store

11.  What is your favorite movie?  Lego movie

12.  What shows do you watch on TV?  Clone wars

13.  What is your favorite store? Toysrus

14.  Who are your friends?  Amirah, Emily, Molly, Paige and Patrick 

15.  What do you like to play inside? Star Wars 

16.  What do you like to play outside?  Ride bikes

Logan was very straight and to the point answering the questions this time around.  And I'd say I would have answered similarly for most of his questions.  His favorite foods are most definitely pizza and ice cream.  The two usually go together since our favorite pizza place, Lucky Pie, just happens to be next to the awesome ice cream shop, the Sweet Cow.  Once he is of age, he will surely appreciate how well beer fits into that scenario as well ;)  Logan loves to sing the song from the Lego movie, Everything is Awesome.  Too bad he doesn't know much of the words, but he just throws in whatever he thinks is awesome and it somehow makes sense in the song.  Logan does like the Star Wars theme song too since he has a stuffed dog from build a bear that plays it, he generally hums it starting off then branches into something entirely unrelated.  Humming isn't for everyone right.  I'm not sure Logan has a favorite dessert as he will eat ANYTHING sweet.  He's all for chocolate, vanilla, ice cream of many flavors, cookies, candies etc.  Sorry for that sweet tooth buddy, just keep brushing your teeth :)  Logan lately will constantly remind us how his favorite color is orange.  Anything he sees that is orange he always points out, "oh look ____ is orange, my favorite color".  And he's stayed pretty true to Orange being his favorite color this year.  I think Logan generally likes all animals fairly equally, there's not one that he is all about, but sharks would be a good answer for this time.  He got a submarine toy for his birthday and so he's into the ocean world right now.  Logan likes to read a lot of different books, but lately he has been more into comic books and at the library there are several Star Wars comics that he really enjoys.  There are also Lego Star Wars books, Sticker Star Wars books, Angry Birds Star Wars books, the original Star Wars books, the Clone Wars Star Wars books... so yes, Logan likes all that "Star Wars books" encompasses!  Logan does love going in the garage when Dom is working out there and playing around.  He likes to pretend to drive our cars or build "robots" with spare wood or play with his small tool box.  Of course he loves to go to the toy store with me, who else do I go there for haha.  Lego movie is Logan's number 1 movie right now and I think it will be for awhile considering his affinity for all things Lego.  It is a cute movie and of course, has a great song he enjoys as well ;)  Logan watches things mainly on Netflix so he does enjoy the Clone Wars show, of course because it's Star Wars!  He also enjoys SuperWhy, Lego super heros, Lego Atlantis, The Superhero Squad, Transformers: Rescue Bots and the Leapfrog shows.  Has Logan's favorite store ever not been the toy store haha maybe once he is a teenager this answer will change ;)  Logan has met a lot of new friends at school and each week he will talk about playing with somebody different.  The first few weeks of school it was all boys he would talk about, then the last few weeks he has been all about the girls: Amirah and Molly are the latest.  He says he loves Molly.  So Cute.  Emily is his friend from summer camp and even though she's not in his class this year at preschool they still had a play date together.  Paige and Patrick are our neighbors that he loves to play with at the park.  Logan got a lot of Star Wars toys for his birthday so he definitely loves to play Star Wars inside.  Either dressing up as clone troopers or playing with his little Star Wars action figures, he especially likes the AT-AT's.  Logan has gotten a lot of play time at the park in lately since the weather has been awesome and he has had a lot of neighborhood kids out and about to play with, he does ride his bike there and we take it around the neighborhood sometimes.  He is a whiz at the strider but we got him a pedal bike for his birthday and although he could do it and has a few times, he needs to work on his confidence before he can do it all on his own.

4 years old!

Logan is 4! The last year has been a big change for him. He definitely doesn't feel like a toddler at all, he's a preschooler and a smart one!  3 was definitely his more challenging year, 2 was easy breezy compared to 3 ;). Over this year he has become much more independent and confident in himself. He goes down slides at the park without fear anymore. He will glide on his strider bike, fall off, cry, then get back on.  He will let you dump water all over his head without having a complete meltdown at bath time. He will transition from one activity to another without warning and without all the hullabaloo he used to give us. He can identify letters and their sounds and is getting better at writing them. He will help in any way when mommy asks for help with Fiona. He is trusted to stay put in the toy aisle, the library train table, the park next door etc. while mommy or daddy walk away for a bit. He can get a snack or even a bowl of cereal all by himself. He can sing along to songs and actually remember the lyrics. He can hold a conversation with adults about fossils and how they're made from sedimentary rock, tornadoes and how they're rated on an EF scale, volcanoes and how they erupt. He will read books quietly by himself in bed before he falls asleep...ok most of the time that's true.   He is so grown up now. He's to the point where you know he's always listening to what's going on around him and always questioning the world. His curiosity and eagerness to learn is at a high and his retention for facts and just random instances is incredible. He continues to amaze me and I love watching him grow and learn and see him figuring things out in his head. While we have always known he was one smart cookie and the kind of kid that will always have something to say, it's fun to see where that leads him now. 

At Logan's 4 year old check up he was 41" tall which is the 66th percentile and was 37 lbs. which is the 60th percentile. So he's a little bigger then average but not by much. They did an eye test and while Logan said most of the pictures he saw they said he tested at 20/30 which is pretty normal at his age. He passed the hearing test with flying colors so no pretending he didn't hear me when I ask him to do something ;). Overall he is the healthy usual four year old: won't eat his veggies, can't sit still at the table, sometimes scared of going poo in the potty, starting to not need a nap everyday, and constantly asking "why". 

Our big four year old ready for picture day at preschool 

Welcoming Fall in Estes Park

That look!  He's up to something!

Kayaking at the Erie camp out 

Showing what a Popsicle in summer can transform a boy into ;)

May the FOURce be with you

9-14-14 gave us a 4 year old this year!  Can't believe he is 4 now, that seems so grown up. Our little man asked for a Star Wars birthday party this year, so Pinterest and I got to work. I had fun making most of the decorations and learning a thing or two about star wars in the meantime. Luckily Dom and my mom were recruited for help getting ready too! Logan came down from "nap time" to see all his decorations up and as he was walking down the stairs his mouth dropped open and he just said woooooooow!  I consider that a victory :) We decided to just invite a few kids over and keep it small this year plus uncle Erick and granny Mo, which was a marvelous decision if I do say so myself. So Logan invited his cousins Ella and Riley and our neighbor Paige and Logan's buddy from down the street Patrick and his sister Tatum. The kids came over and got to wear Jedi robes and have Princess Leia buns if they wanted then they each got a light saber made out of a pool noodle. Then they went to town beating the crap out of balloon storm troopers with their light sabers. It was total chaos but they loved it. We ate some dinner, pizza, the birthday boys favorite, then we had to open presents because Logan couldn't help himself any longer. He tore through those presents like a true Maes and then wanted to open every box right away too :) he got a lot of fun toys and lots of Star Wars stuff so he was on cloud 9. After presents we had cupcakes, vanilla with vanilla frosting per birthday boys request (he's been choosing vanilla over chocolate these days!) and sang happy birthday as Logan blew out Darth Vaders light saber candle. The kids ate then played with the new toys and Logan dressed up in one of his new clone trooper costumes until we were ready for the Death Star piñata. We took it over to the park next door and let the kids try for awhile until finally I got to swing at it for them and then the candy rained down and all was well. After that the party slowed down and Logan was engrossed with all his fun new toys for days!  He had a lot of fun and it was more fun for us this year to see the excitement and see Logan in the birthday spirit. Happy fourth birthday to our favorite little guy, he makes my heart so happy and I can't wait to continue to watch him grow!

the Jedi and princess Leia robes I made

 the death star pinata (a baseball pinata spray painted and decorated)

 the R2D2 cups we drew and the lightsaber napkins

 The clone troopers the kids got to hit down with the light sabers

 lightsabers out of pool noodles

 the birthday boy!

 Fiona was a little R2D2 and Logan had his Vader shirt on

 the kids giving me their jedi poses ;)

 ready for cupcakes!

 Happy Birthday Logan!

 time for some dress up!

 We had fun celebrating with Granny Mo and Uncle Erick 

 our little fam

 Logan's present from mommy and daddy was an Ironman pedal bike :)

First Day of Pre-K

Well the day has finally come.  Little man is not so little anymore, he's officially a preschooler.  Logan had his first day of preschool at WeeSchool in downtown Erie and he will be going Mon, Wed and Fridays from 8:40-11:10.  Three whole mornings where he is off making friends, learning, playing, getting into trouble and making his own memories.  And I get to be the one asking all the questions for once ;)  Logan got to pick out a backpack, he went with an R2D2 one since Star Wars is all he talks about these days!  He got a few new shirts, Lego movie won for the first day of school, and even let me do his hair for his first day.  He was all of a sudden such a big boy!  He had a great first day and has the same teacher from the 2 weeks of summer school he did, Mrs. Ryan, so that was nice.  He made new friends and still talks about the old ones too, even though he has a hard time remembering their names at first.  He is working on tracing letters and writing his name.  He gets to do show and tell on Fridays and the week of his birthday he gets to bring in a treat for everyone for snack.  All these things I remember doing with kids at preschool and now I get to see it from the other side.  I love all the projects he comes home with and all the thought that goes into it.  Logan seems like he's a good listener at school, he did have to go to time out for wrestling he told me haha but if that's the worse that happens then great ;)  I love dropping him off each morning for school, getting a few hours alone with Fiona and then picking him up again and trying to pry out the details of what all he did.  I'm so proud of the little preschooler he has become and how much he continues to grow and impress me.  Way to go Logan, I hope you love preschool and make many new friends!!

Summer Camp

We officially have a preschooler on our hands!  I know technically Logan has been a "preschooler" since he turned 3 but this summer he went to preschool for 2 weeks for a summer camp so now I consider him a real life preschooler ;)  Right after we came back from our Texas vacation Logan got to start summer camp at the Wee School in downtown Erie.  It's small and cute and the teachers are too sweet.  I was skeptical that Logan would part with me so easily but we had been talking about what a big boy he was and how much fun he was going to have at school.  Since he has so many older friends that are already in school I think that helped seal the deal that school was cool.  And so he had a successful time leaving mom and dad, every time actually and that made me happy!
The first week of summer camp was a western theme.  Logan came home everyday with some super cute project he made and a story of what snack they ate that day.  The school provided them with a themed out snack too.  Hopefully that will get Logan to try more foods...although from what he told me he didn't eat anything new, oh well!  I asked him to learn the friends names that he likes to play with and in the beginning he kept saying he didn't know but eventually came home to tell me he likes to play with Emily.  Of course we were not surprised to learn that she was a girl and almost 5, that seems to be who Logan is drawn to...probably because they are the ones that talk just as much as he does haha.   Since these weeks of summer camp were everyday from 9-12:30 Logan was not so crazy about being home over the weekend, he wanted to go to school!  The second week of summer camp was a pond life theme.  Again he came home with the cutest projects and stories about what they had for snack. He had so much fun he wanted to do school at home.  So he chose a week of Dinosaurs, ocean life and a week of food so that has been fun too.  He likes to learn everything he can about the things he is interested in (lately he's been obsessed with Tornadoes!) and it's crazy how much information he retains!  He turned the corner in the last few months of being a 3 year old and turning into an almost 4 year old.  It blows my mind he will be 4 soon!  He is so grown up!
He starts preschool again in August but is only signed up for the Tues/Thurs afternoon class, so only a few hours twice a week.  I'm hoping space opens up in the Mon/Wed/Fri morning class but I'm sure he will have fun either way.  Until then he is doing swim lessons with daddy at the pool this summer and a gymnastics class every Thursday for an hour, it's a gym class in an old bus with a trampoline attached to the side, how cool is that haha.  He's been having fun playing with our neighbor, 6 year old Paige and whatever kids end up at the park when the weather is nice, oh wait it's Colorado, that's almost all the time ;)  We go to the splash pad at the Orchard shops too and he's getting better and better at being ok with splashing water in his face, baby steps for Logan, baby steps.  We spend one day a week at the library too picking up books for whatever his new thing is that week.  Last week he chose books on kayaking, scuba diving and jeeps ;)  He keeps us on our toes and always makes us laugh.  He's so inquisitive and talkative and smart he's going to be schooling us soon!

First day of summer camp!

 Our little cowboy after western week

Logan's Answers 3.5 yrs old

I intended to ask Logan these questions when he had just turned three but as things go, we didn't get around to it until January, so he was closer to 3 1/2.  Still I think this time around he answered most of the questions how I would have answered them for him...


1.  What color is your hair?  Brown
2.  What color are your eyes?  Blue
3.  What is your favorite food?  Mac & Cheese and Pizza
4.  What song do you like to sing?  Toy Story..."I love you, I love you, let's be friends together"
5.  What are your favorite desserts?  chocolate syrup, no it's pancake syrup...and frosting and marshmallows on top of the pancake.  No it's ICE CREAM!
6.  What is your favorite color?  Orange
7.  What animals do you like?  Tiger
8.  What books do you like to read right now?  Dora and Diego.  A dragon book.
9.  What do you like to do with daddy?  Go to Black Dog (local coffee shop)
10.  What do you like to do with mommy?  Go to the Library.
11.  What is your favorite movie?  The Frozen sisters.
12.  What shows do you watch on TV?  Magic School Bus.
13.  What is your favorite store?  the toy store.
14.  Who are your friends?  Stella & Cleo, Tate, Ella & Riley.
15.  What do you like to play inside?  Legos.
16.  What do you like to play outside?  Cars.

Logan LOVES pizza, I'd definitely put that as his favorite food.  Mac and Cheese I'd say is number 2.  He still is about anything covered in cheese.  Luckily he's a fan of most fruits too but I can't get the child to eat a vegetable unless it's a shred of carrot!
Logan knows the words to a lot more songs then he ever lets on.  There's the usual kid songs that he knows all the words to, but there are a few that he will randomly sing that are just songs we listen to in the car and I never knew he knew that many words to them.  His favorite song on the radio has been Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" for awhile now.  He does like the Toy Story theme song although he wasn't exactly singing the right words for it ;)
It's no wonder Logan had a hard time deciding on what his favorite desserts were, he has a major sweet tooth, sorry kid!  Anything chocolate is usually fair game.  He does love ice cream like his daddy does, usually his go-to combo is chocolate with sprinkles and M&Ms.
Logan has always said Orange or Blue as his favorite colors...maybe he was born to be a Bronco's fan... atleast he will be too young to remember how badly we lost the superbowl this year!
Funny that Logan always answers Tiger for his favorite animal.  While he did always like to look at them in Tucson, when we go to the zoo here it's never really Tigers he asks about.  Last time we went he was all about going to see the fish, crocodiles and hippos.
Logan loves lots of different kinds of books right now.  He's branching out from the usual characters sometimes and enjoying any kind of new book from the library.  The last ones we got were about Dora and Diego which is why I think he answered that way, while he does like them, I wouldn't say those are his favorite.  The books he has been really into lately are Berenstein Bears, The Magic School Bus, any kind of Disney cd books- especially Tinkerbell ;), Transformers- Rescue Bots, and any kind of Lego book.
Daddy and Logan have started going to Black Dog, the local coffee shop, together for a few hours every Friday morning and getting some quality time in together.  Logan looks forward to it every week (even if he has a mini freak out about me not going the morning of!).
I'm not surprised Logan said he likes to go to the library with me, we are there all the time!  He likes to play with the train table there and request a ridiculous amount of books for me to search for on the computer and put on hold, he loves when the book he's been waiting for comes in.  We also just started a "music storytime" type class there on Fridays, granted we will only get a few classes in before Fiona gets here, he still enjoys it for now.
The last movie we went to see was Frozen, so again, not surprised he said that was his favorite.  He did enjoy it and will randomly try to sing the "Let it go" song from the movie.  I'd still say his favorite movie is Toy Story though.  He does like Wreck it Ralph still, but has some kind of internal conflict with Ralph being a "bad guy".  He is to the age now also where certain parts of movies or tv shows will scare him and he will obsess over whatever the scene was and question it until something new comes along.  We are going to take him to see the long awaited Lego Movie this weekend and I have a feeling that will quickly become his new favorite.  He's obsessed with Lego's!
Logan's TV shows are whatever we find on Netflix (which is a lot!).  He does love the Magic School Bus shows but those sometimes fall into the category of shows that scare Logan, so I've been trying to get him to watch some other more age appropriate shows.  He likes Busytown, SuperWhy, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and Mickey Mouse among others that are less likely to have some part that scares him.
The only other thing I'd comment on is that Logan has been more into playing on the playground equipment, digging in the sand with construction trucks, riding his strider bike or scooter, and playing tee-ball outside then just playing something like "cars".  When the weather is nice at least!  When we have snowy days Logan is all about going outside to go sledding or trying to build a snow man (which we don't always have the right kind of snow for!).

That's my take on our little 3 1/2 year olds answers. He has such an imagination and I love to just watch and listen to him as he plays by himself, you get a little sneak peak into how he thinks and reasons and it's a lot of fun to watch his play evolve. He's grown so much lately and I can't wait to see what he will be like as a big brother.

Our busy year!- Updated!

The last half of our year has been crazy busy!  We have been lucky enough to have a lot of friends and family come out to Colorado to come visit us.  We've celebrated Logan's 3rd birthday with all our family coming out for the weekend (except Ashley, we missed you!) we went to ride Thomas the Train and Logan had a blast.

Logan's birthday just happened to fall on the one day of sunshine and no rain we had seen all week, we've experienced a lot of weather in Colorado already that everyone says "this never happens" about.... the 3 day blizzard in April 2 days after we moved here, a tornado that touched down in Erie while we were out of town in Albuquerque, and a "1000 year flood" which happened to be the week of Logan's birthday which led to fun times wondering if our basement was going to flood when the electricity went out (we also had no candles since we got rid of them all when we moved haha)...which powers our sump pump down there, luckily we made it out ok and are now more prepared for these things called "weather" that Colorado throws at us ;)  

The day after all our Family left we had the Kelsey's come stay with us for a week and Logan was in heaven.  He loves playing with Stella and we were happy to be able to spend some time with our bffs.

waiting for Stella in the airport

 the first hug

 they wouldn't let go of each others hands in the airport and wouldn't stop talking, so adorable!

 enjoying the orangutans together at the Denver zoo

 embarrassing bath time pics for their futures ;)

 hiking was fun...until we asked Logan to take a picture haha

October brought our usual busy month!  This year we started it off on the 2nd with finding out Logan was going to have a baby SISTER.  I was surprised!  Dom and Logan both thought it was a girl, I thought it was a boy but the only dream I had about our baby was that it was a girl (same thing happened with Logan, I thought he was going to be a girl but the only dream I had about the baby was that it was a boy...my dreams know better then I do!).  Logan only talked about wanting a sister, I tried to prepare him that it could still be a brother, that we don't get to choose so luckily when the ultrasound tech said Logan was right he was happy with a sister...I wonder if he fully understands what a sister is haha.  Everyone was very happy for us and we were thrilled as well.  

Logan got to push the button on the ultrasound machine to take a picture of his sister, here he is showing it off :)

The next weekend we drove to Albuquerque to visit Auntie Dre and go to the balloon fiesta.  We got to see our friends again (yay!) since they all came to the balloon fiesta from Tucson that weekend too.  We had a fun and busy weekend seeing everyone, the balloon fiesta was nice but Logan cried almost the entire time once the balloons started going up because he said he was cold, we had him in the stroller and covered up with many things but nothing was working, finally after maybe an hour he got more specific and said his toes were cold.  We took off his shoes, sat him on daddys shoulders and put his mittens on his feet and all of a sudden he was a happy kid again.  Lesson learned, Logan will wear his snow boots next year haha.  

the bee family and our family

 watching the balloons with Melanie and Nancy

 group shot with all the balloons

Logan's mitten shark feet fighting with Nancy's Wilbur mittens

 Finally a happy camper for the balloons!

Checking out the balloons on daddy's shoulders is the best view!

 Logan was all about buying this balloon souvenir that he had fun flying around the rest of the park

Chasing balloons, we didn't have a great spot to help many land, but we got this cute shot of Logan ;)

 Always our favorite vacation of the year!

 The following weekend after the balloon fiesta we went to the pumpkin patch with the Valania's to pick out our pumpkins.  Logan had fun with all the activities going on and finding the perfect pumpkin.  Logan also learned a lesson (and we did too) about getting lost in a crowd!  After we made it through the food line, we thought we saw Logan following the Valania's outside to eat and when we made it through the crowd to where they went, Logan wasn't there.  We went on a search of the food area inside and couldn't find him, he had wandered off out the wrong door towards the opposite side we were at and Dom found him outside meandering.  We have talked to Logan before about what to do if he gets lost, but I guess we forgot the crucial part of "if you don't see us, don't move, don't try to come find us".  I know that won't be the last time with him but hopefully some of the things we try to teach him about getting lost will stick next time around!

my little pumpkin!

 Logan, Riley and Ella stuck in jail

 showing off our pumpkins ;)

 I think we picked a good one!

 yee haw!

We had fun getting ready for Halloween the next few weeks.  And Nancy was able to come visit us for the week too.  Mark was able to come over the weekend as well so we had fun hanging out with them and spending a night at our favorite cabin in Estes Park.

Logan drew the face for his pumpkin to be carved and decorated baby sister's pumpkin 

 Showing off his pumpkin face

 Captain Hook on Halloween

 Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee

 Mr. Smee and his belly 

 Peter Pan ready for the cold and wind outside!

 Nancy came into town during Halloween so she got to go trick or treating with us!

 Ella, Riley, Logan and Tate trick or treating, Logan loved trick or treating until one house that had a scary guy jump out, after that he didn't want to go to any doors alone 

 We got to experience a true "Fall" season this October!  Logan was put to work raking leaves ;)

 He enjoyed jumping in them, being burried and...

 throwing the leaves!

Nancy and Mark helped us ring in November.  

And Uncle Erick was nice enough to babysit Logan for us so we could go out for a date night with Nancy, Mark and Jenny at a wine and cheese bar.

 enjoying a child free few hours!

 The wine and cheese professionals!

 Our sampling of delicious cheesy food

The beginning of November also brought an early visitor to our mall.  We went with the Valania's to see Santa come in a fire truck to the mall to start the Christmas season.  I think Logan was more enamored with the fire truck then seeing Santa haha.

They gave out free Santa headbands and free cocoa and cookies

 waiting for Santa to arrive

 Logan decided at the last minute he would be brave enough to shake Santa's hand

 Riley and Logan checking out Santa's truck

 Smiling for the camera for once ;)

 Making siren noises as he sat in the passenger seat.

We had a few quiet weeks in November, We got a nice snow storm for which Logan was probably the only one prepared for that cold of weather ;)  He likes playing in the snow and wants to build a snowman everytime but we just haven't had the right kind of snow or enough to make one yet.  He enjoys sledding with daddy at the park next to our house and throwing snowballs.  I showed him how to make a snow angel but he wasn't one for laying in the snow haha.  

Before Thanksgiving, Erick got his new job in Boulder and found an apartment (right across from Dom's work in Boulder).  He moved out and we will miss him but luckily he's not far away and we have seen him often.  Plus that meant we could finally start getting somewhere on baby's room. 

For Thanksgiving we drove to Phoenix to spend time with Dom's family.  It was a long 14 hour drive, on the way there we broke it up and spent the night in Holbrook so we only had 3 hours to go the next day.  Logan did really good on the car trip, we came prepared with a lot of books and dvds from the library and that helps.  We had fun spending time with Dom's family, doing Thanksgiving with them and the Kelsey's, black "friday" shopping (I hate that it started so early on Thursday this year!), and seeing our friends from Tucson to celebrate our secret santa gift exchange, go see Catching Fire (loved it! and Ashley came too so it was nice to see her there!) and celebrate Will's 30th birthday with dinner at a Mediterranean place, complete with belly dancer who got Will up to teach him some moves, then walking around old town Scottsdale.  The drive back to Colorado was especially long as we didn't want to stop and spend the night anywhere since that would mean we would hit CO springs and Denver traffic so Dom powered through driving us the whole way home in one shot, Logan was not such a fan of doing things that way, and neither were my swollen feet but in the end I'm glad we did it. And we have already decided we are never driving back again, flying from now on!

 (Logan was bribed with M&Ms to smile for a picture haha)

 Will enjoying the entertainment

 ...and becoming the entertainment!

 Back in Arizona!

After Thanksgiving, it was already December when we got back to Colorado which meant I went into a mini panic mode about not being prepared at all for Christmas!  So Logan and I did a lot of shopping and shipping and wrapping and decorating and some baking too.  

After reading "If you give a cat a cupcake" Logan wanted to make cupcakes...

 showing off his creation

 my sprinkle helper!

We also came back to a really really cold week in Colorado!  It was snowy and in the teens during the day and in the negatives at night, brrr!  And of course that's when the Denver parade of lights was going on in downtown Denver so we braved the freezing 0 degree weather to meet up with Jenny, who was nice enough to make us some yummy chili before heading out, and walk to the parade to see the lights.  It was really cold and we had every layer of clothing on possible, Logan was in full snow suit gear.  It was a wreck of an evening though and although we saw some lights, Logan was cold and tired and not in the mood.  And on a side note I dropped my camera on the ground which exploded into pieces, I said a few choice words, and Dom tried to put it all back together.  It looks like everything was ok but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed it works!

 maybe some hot cocoa will help!

 that's a lot of layers!

A few weeks before Christmas we took Logan ice skating in Louisville and he loved it!  They have special ice skates for kids that are double bladed so it's easier for them and this rink had a lot of different sleds that Dom could pull Logan around the ice on.  They had a lot of fun!  Once Dom's official vacation started the week of Christmas we took Logan to see the movie Frozen at the movie theater, I loved it, Logan and I came out singing the "Let it go" song, he still randomly sings it any given day, so cute.  We also went bowling and played arcade games a few days before Christmas.  Logan beat us haha but he did have the bumpers, I blame it on the bumpers!  

 who's teaching who ;)

 Logan liked riding the sled and making daddy to all the work haha

 our little eskimo

Christmas eve we spent at home, going to church then going over to Logan's friend Tate's house with the Valania's for some appetizers, cookie decorating and reindeer food making for the kids.  Logan had a lot of fun running around and playing and wore himself out!  Christmas morning we were once again waiting on him to wake up haha.  Logan had asked Santa for "a little orange thingy" which meant he wanted a spaceship with the orange fuel tank and side boosters, just like the real ones.  So he was happy to come down and see that Santa got him just what he wanted!  Logan had about a million presents to open!  And he is a total Maes when opening presents, rip the paper, look at the present, put it off to the side and on to the next, all in about 30 seconds.  He got a lot of fun stuff and has enjoyed playing with all his new toys the past few days.  I got Dom an espresso maker and some coffee accessories so he can perfect his perhaps newly founded caffeine addiction, the cold will do that to you ;) Dom made me a picture complete with scans of my Nana's old love letters to my Papa.  It is perfect and very meaningful, I cried when I opened it, I won't blame the hormones for this one haha.  Erick came over and spent Christmas with us and we did our usual making appetizers throughout the day and staying in our pajamas.  We went over to the Valania's and spent some time over there and ate dinner.  We had a good Christmas and are still enjoying our Christmas vacation together!

Christmas Eve

 Showing off his rocket ship and "little orange thingy" from Santa

 ready for daddy's overnight french toast, mmm sugary!

 His favorite toys ended up being the Transformer Rescue Bots

 The aftermath!

The rest of Dominic's break we spent shopping to spend our Christmas money on decorating our house.  It's finally feeling lived in and more personal, although we still have a few big blank walls to fill!  Logan was a champ coming along for the all day shopping event.  We also took him to Build A Bear at the mall which he has always asked to do, he got money for Christmas from Dom's Nana so he got to go pick out an animal to make and dress him up.  He was a little cautious at first about the whole thing but once he found a sound he liked to put inside the dog he chose he was happy.  He randomly chose the Star Wars theme song (we don't know much about Star Wars in this family ;)  I assume Logan knows Darth Vader from the Darth balloon at the balloon fiesta that he likes)  and dressed his dog up like Darth Vader.  He was very excited about the dog once he was all done and he carried him everywhere that day.

 Vader dog

To end our Christmas time together, Dom decided to have a "sleep out" as Logan calls it, in our tent in the living room.  Logan was so excited and he did really well sleeping in the tent without any problems.  (Our camping trips haven't always worked out that way haha).  They got their sleeping bags and watched some Turbo cartoon on Netflix in the tent before going to bed.  Logan was thrilled and I'm sure he would do this every night if he could!  Just one of the many fun things Dom does with Logan that mean so much to him!

 Ready for some indoor camping!