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!

Baby on board

Pregnancy #4, baby #2.  Crazy how different each pregnancy is.
With #1 I had no symptoms at all.
 #2 (Logan)  My nose was super sensitive and smells were mostly what made me feel nauseous.  I was mildly nauseous the first trimester and exhausted all the time otherwise there were no other big symptoms.
#3 I hated everything Dom said and did, he was driving me crazy...it was like in the movie Knocked Up where in the doctors office he is yelling at her "F U hormones, not you, your hormones!"  I'm sure that's how Dom felt haha.  I was not so much nauseous as I just didn't have an appetite and exhausted again but not too bad.
#4 (this baby)  I was way more nauseous then any of the previous times and although I wasn't throwing up I didn't feel good most of the evening.  This seemed to last longer then I remembered with Logan but by 15 wks I felt much better.  And again, exhaustion is the big one...although with an almost 3 year old to take care of, I'm never sure which child to blame the constant need for an afternoon nap on ;)

The other big difference between this pregnancy and Logan's is that with this one I feel like the belly popped waaaay earlier then with Logan.  I'm pretty sure that happens with your subsequent children but still it was surprising.  The good part is I'm not going to be a blimp in the middle of an Arizona summer!  Instead I get to do it in my first Colorado winter, hopefully this little heater will help keep me warm :)  Although that also means the need of an entire new maternity wardrobe as all I have from last time is shorts, tank tops and dresses.  This is probably a good perk of being pregnant a different time of year since just opening the box of old maternity clothes is a reminder of how much I hate them still.  Not that they were uncomfortable or anything, it's just you wear the same stuff over and over and over again and I still remember never wanting to wear anything in that box again after having Logan haha.  Or perhaps they are also a reminder of how the first time around you don't know what to expect and think pregnancy is oh so fun and nice and glowing and then you get to about 7-8 months and realize how not fun it is and how uncomfortable you are and you still have 1-2 months to go.  There is no glamourous exciting feelings about the physical aspect of being pregnant this time around, especially when you realize how long it takes to get back to normal afterwards.  But in the long run it's easier to handle pregnancy the second time around when you know it could be the last one should we stick with only wanting 2 kids.  I feel like this pregnancy is going a little faster then Logan's felt but that's probably only because we have been soooo busy the past few months and have soooo many plans the upcoming months too.  There's less time to think about it I guess since we are so preoccupied.  When people ask me how I'm feeling, it takes me a second to realize they mean because of the pregnancy they're not just asking how are you in a weird way haha,  I guess I sometimes forget myself since it's early on still.  Dom and I haven't discussed much in the way of this baby yet either, I guess we know what all to expect second time around and we aren't as anxious to get the room ready etc until we know the sex.  We have discussed names a handful of times and haven't really set one in stone as far as I know haha.  It's hard thinking of a boy name I love because I already used the best one on my list for Logan.  But there are strong contenders for first names, middle names haven't been brought up, so much time left for those.  We find out the sex October 1st (seems like a long wait now haha)  and maybe once we know things will start coming together more in the planning stages.  In some ways I feel more relaxed with things in this pregnancy and sometimes I feel more anxious because I know what to expect more this time around.  Hopefully time keeps moving along and won't feel like the longest 9 months ever!

Family of 4

Logan is going to be a big brother!  Baby Maes is due February 23, 2014.  But who knows what month he/she'll actually show up if they are anything like Logan, could be March...but I'll keep my fingers crossed for February!  This baby is a long awaited blessing and we've been trying for a keeper for a year (another loss in September 2012 made the process even longer), so even though this seems like crazy timing since we just moved (and the baby is due during our first experiences with snowy months ahhh!) it could not be more perfect for us.  We are all very excited and relieved and Logan is at a great age so he is "understanding" he will be getting a sibling soon.  (He will get his own post about all the things he says he will teach the baby, it's adorable).

We got a positive pregnancy test end of June and had our first appointment for a sonogram at 6 weeks along in July.  We decided to keep the news a secret from our families since we knew we'd be seeing them in person in a month.  We told Jeff and Joy whom we were living with at the time and Will and Laura knew since they were originally planning on coming out to Colorado during our wait and see time before our first appointment, otherwise it was our little secret.  We saw Candi and Charles first in Albuquerque when we met up with them to get Maya back and spend the weekend together.  We had Logan wearing his "Big Bro" shirt when we met them for dinner.  (We met with Auntie Dre and Lauren for this dinner too before the Maes' arrived and Lauren spotted his shirt instantly, while Auntie Dre had to be pointed to the news, it was fun!)  When Logan saw Candi and Charles he was super excited to be getting...A) Maya back. B)  to see his grandparents.  C)  a new baby or D)  a giant box of Legos brought from Phoenix.    The overwhelming winner was D- the giant box of Legos was pretty much the only news Logan wanted to share with everyone.  So when he saw his grandparents he was asking for the legos and nobody was noticing his shirt, then as Charles is pulling out the Legos from the car Logan is yelling "Legos!"  then sneaks in there, "I'm gonna be a big bwudda"...."LEGOS!"..."i'm gonna be a big bwudda"...this went on until the Legos were out of the car and we told Logan to tell them again what he was going to be.  Then the shirt got some recognition and everyone was excited.  Logan for the legos, everyone else for the new baby.  Oh and Maya too ;)  We waited to tell the rest of the Maes family we saw in NM until I got to tell my parents too.  So we saw my mom and brother two days after we got back to Colorado.  They came to help us move in, paint, etc and Erick is staying with us while trying to find a job here.  When they arrived at our new house we had Logan wearing his "Big Bro" shirt again  and when Granny Mo went to give him a hug he told her "I'm gonna be a big bwudda"  she looked at his shirt, looked at us, he said it again and you could see the light click on in her head then she says "oh shit!"  then censors herself then gives hugs all around, Erick was happy too in his low key brother way ;)  She said at first she saw the shirt and thought only of being a fan of Big Brother the tv show she was watching haha oh mom.  Once everyone that we were going to see in person found out, we emailed my dad in Mexico and mailed my sister and Amanda this picture of Logan with a "surprise" note on the back and waited for their calls once they figured out what the picture was of.  Everyone was ecstatic and once the immediate family knew we posted on facebook the same picture to tell everyone else we could unfortunately not tell in person.

We are "ready" for baby number 2 and can't wait to find out October 1st if baby is a boy or girl.  At first Logan said consistently that he wanted a sister.  Now the answer has changed to a brother more often.  Although of course he'd probably feel the same way about either, it's fun to hear what he has to say about being a big brother.

Welcome Home!

Well well my excuse this time around for being a slacker on posting is because we've been moving into our new house and fixing it up for what seems like forever already.  Luckily we've had a lot of help from family and friends with moving, painting, unpacking etc.  So it's all finally coming together.

 there were lots of pizza and painting picnic nights :)

 Logan wanted his own paint project so he painted a bowl for Maya

When we unloaded our stuff from storage Logan was so excited to unpack his toys, he'd been talking about his green garbage truck for about a month and I'm sure he'd forgotten about all the other goodies hiding away in the boxes.  He unpacked his room in about 5 seconds and spent the rest of the day(s) engrossed in his toys, which was very helpful for me trying to finish the rest of the unpacking during the day!

I'll post the before and after pictures once I feel like I can take after pictures haha.  (warning: We have a very very busy September coming up...and October for that matter! who knows when this will all happen haha).

The weekend after we got the house we met up with the Maes' in Albuquerque to get our beloved Maya bear back.  We were very excited to welcome her back home!  We had a fun weekend with the Maes' and got to stay with Auntie Dre too :)  There was big news for Logan to share too, so it was an exciting weekend all around.

Things I miss about Tucson...

We've been living in Colorado 2 months now and we, of course, are loving it!  It is everything we wanted it to be and we still can't believe that this is summer and that we are still outside everyday doing things in the "heat".  90-95 is considered "hot" here, but even though it might be in the 90s during the middle of the day the shade is still cool and the nights are too, so we can totally handle this so called summer.  I'm sure it will be a different story once winter gets here!  We really like the neighborhood we've been staying in with Dom's cousins and we are excited to move into our new house only 1 mile away in about a month.  The neighborhood is so family friendly and more secluded feeling then our Tucson neighborhood (although Target next door did have it's perks ;).  Our new house will be right next to a park and across the street from a ranch with horses.  It will be so nice to let Logan grow up here!
Among all these things we really love about Colorado, there are a few things that I miss about Tucson...
1.  Of course the number one thing is our friends and family!  Who will hopefully come visit us soon ;)
2.  Tucson has the best sunsets, Colorado hasn't been able to compare to that yet.
3.  The Tucson airport is the easiest airport ever!  And while the Denver airport is just as close to us as the Tucson one was, the Denver airport is a lot more complicated (not just a one way loop haha) but I managed it pretty well so far.
4.  The Tucson Zoo was great too because of how small it was and it didn't carve out too much of your day to get there, explore, see all the animals, snack and still be home by little man's naptime.  The Denver zoo is awesome and I do love it, but since it's so big it feels like we are rushing through it to try and see everything before Logan loses his marbles.  Maybe we just haven't perfected the timing yet!
5.  We went to a few different churches in Tucson before we ended up settling at St. Pius and although before Logan we were not fans of that church, after he came along we realized just how much friendlier and understanding the people were of kids there.  And we usually paid attention to the homily even if we were somewhat entertaining a child.  We enjoyed going to that church.  The Boulder area is seriously lacking in it's nice, friendly not too formal church approach.  We've tried a lot of different Catholic churches here and they all bore us to tears, the only one we've gone to more then once is because 1- it's closest and 2- it has a cry room...and those are the only reasons to go to it.  I told Dom that Colorado is sucking the Catholic right out of me.  I dread Sundays and going to church, Logan's getting easier to entertain and keep quiet but that doesn't make the actual service any better sometimes haha.
6.  Storytime at the library was one of Logan's favorite things and we went starting at 6 mos until we moved away and the librarian was so good with kids and he always had fun.   The Erie library is better in it's child book section and the fact that it has a train table and other fun toys inside, but the storytime is a snooze.  It's more like trying to keep Logan still in church then the Tucson version which is getting up and moving, singing, crafts and reading short books that keep their attention.
7.  We've eaten at some very delicious restaurants here and really it's almost hard to find a chain restaurant here as opposed to them being everywhere in Tucson.  So on that note Colorado wins on unique restaurants and there are a much wider selection of 'farm to table' sorts.  But there are some Tucson restaurants that I do miss, namely Oregano's- where else can you get green chili pizza and a pizookie!  And Ba-dar, we have yet to find a good chinese food restaurant and we always end up comparing it to Ba-dar because it's soooo good!  I thought I might miss things like Eegee's or Mexican food, but I haven't yet.  Probably because we have a place in Boulder called Snarf's and it's subs are a million times better then Eegee's and I guess I am not the hugest fan of icy drinks which is why you go to Eegee's right (unless you are hungover haha).  We did find a good mexican food place in Longmont about 25 minutes away, the other mexican we have eaten around here is just so-so, so I'm sure once we are here longer I will wish we had a Poco Y Mama's or Guadalajara Grill :)

All in all, each city has it's pros and cons but we couldn't be happier here, and these things just give us a good reason to go back and visit often :)

Answers 2.9

Answers 2.9 (2yrs 9mos old)

It's always fun to see what Logan has to say about things because he ALWAYS has something to say, he's not afraid to talk to anyone about anything.  So I asked him all the same questions from December again, funny to see how his answers change in 6 months...

LOGAN'S ANSWERS...

1.  What color is your hair?  Red, no, Black, wait i need to look in the mirror (after looking in the mirror for questions 1 and 2...) it's black

2.  What color are your eyes?  Green

3.  What is your favorite food?  strawberries

4.  What song do you like to sing?  let me go get the guitar upstairs...(comes back downstairs with guitar and sings) "old mcdonald had a farm"...

5.  What are your favorite desserts?  chocolate

6.  What is your favorite color?  green, purple

7.  What animals do you like?  a dinosaur

8.  What books do you like to read right now? cars, buzz lightyear and woody

9.  What do you like to do with daddy?  go to work with him

10.  What do you like to do with mommy?  shop

11.  What is your favorite movie?  wreck it ralph

12.  What shows do you watch on TV?  chuggington, doc mcstuffins

13.  What is your favorite store?  library, toy store

14.  Who are your friends?  Ella and Riley, my cousins

15.  What do you like to play inside?  buzz lightyear to the rescue

16.  What do you like to play outside?  with Ella and Riley in the playhouse

Mommy's answers...

1. Logan's hair is not as blonde as it used to be!  It's slowly gotten to be a darker shade of light brown haha, I describe it as the same color as my brother's hair...but no Logan, it is definitely not black haha

2. Those baby blue's have not changed!  Lady killers one day, watch out!

3. Logan does love strawberries, they are always eaten when they are on his plate. He really loves all kinds of fruit. I would have to say his usual favorite foods are oatmeal, eggs, jelly or cream cheese sandwiches, anything with cheese- mac and cheese, grilled cheese, quesadillas etc.  bunny grahams, applesauce and raisins.  He's getting a little better at trying new foods but he is stubborn!

4. I'm surprised Logan started singing Old McDonald, but really he loves music, instruments and singing so he will sing anything.  He got a new cd that has a song about pirates on it and he always asks for it when we drive my car so that would be his current favorite I think.

5. Logan may not have much of an opinion on normal foods but dessert he knows, chocolate chocolate chocolate.  This kid has my sweet tooth!  Anything with chocolate he will try, especially if it has sprinkles or M&Ms on it too ;)

6. Logan originally said green as his favorite color but then changed his mind and said no, purple. Probably because we are surrounded by pink and purple for a change in the basement with all the girls' toys!  Otherwise I'd say he usually chooses blue, green or orange when he has a choice between all the colors.

7. I'm not surprised he said Dinosaur as his favorite animal since we have had more dinosaur books and shirts lately but he still usually says Tigers in other situations, so who knows!  He may like animals, but bugs are a no no, he does not appreciate them at all right now- as I found out when I took him to the bug museum here and he lost his mind haha.

8. Logan's been into books on cd lately and the one he is currently reading over and over is toy story 2, so that explains the buzz and woody answer.  Cars, I guess he has a few books about the movie cars but maybe he meant any kind of car books, either way it's all true, but I wouldn't call those his favorite. This kid LOVES books and he is always excited about the little critter books, berenstein bears, lego city, clifford, curious george, anything with construction crews, dora and diego books, any books on cd of course.

9. I guess take your child to work day left an impression on Logan because he said that was his favorite thing to do with daddy even though he's only done it once ;)  Maybe he also means when we go get daddy on fridays for lunch in the park together...

10. You can tell what Logan and I have been doing a lot recently I guess by his answer of shop with mommy haha.  Thanks for the birthday money everyone ;)

11.  Logan will watch almost any animated movie but there are certain ones that will hold his attention the entire time, Wreck it Ralph is still a favorite as he said, he also loves Peter Pan, Toy Story, Cars and Thomas.

12.  Logan likes anything on the disney junior channel, Chuggington and Doc McStuffins are definitely favorites, as well as Mickey mouse clubhouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Little Einsteins.

13.  Logan's favorite store is for sure the toy store, they have some cool unique ones here in Colorado that we've been too.  We go to the library at least once a week too, he likes to play with the train table they have there and picks out lots of books for the week too.

14. Ella and Riley are the little girls we are living with right now so that makes sense that they are the only friends he listed, he has a lot of fun with them!  In some complicated way, they are his cousins technically...I think haha.  At least the only ones he will have for awhile!

15. Logan does love his buzz lightyear doll (he has many in different sizes haha) but he also enjoys playing with his new train table, cars, guitars, legos, puzzles and his marble run.

16.  We have been doing lots of playing outside since we live in a place with a real summer!  They have a play house in the backyard that Logan has played in with Ella and Riley before.  He also likes their water table, baseball, basketball at the park, riding his scooter and new bike, and going to the park to play with his construction trucks in the sand.  He's becoming quite the hiker lately too as we have been doing many hikes since we have moved here.  He usually walks a small part of the hike then rides in the backpack carrier for the rest.  Either way, he loves being outside, no matter the weather!

Everyone always comments about what a good talker Logan is, he has a lot to say and will say it to whoever is listening! He is very good at communicating and explaining himself and his feelings.  Lucky for us!  I feel like he has always been this way, even before he could talk he was always very vocal and once he found the words, he just never stopped!  It's a blessing really and if only the other kids his age would talk back to him and not look at him funny when he just blabbers on at them then maybe he'd make some new friends haha.  But for now, the older kids get him and he's happy to talk to them!

backyard baseball

 exploring outdoors

 hiking to Alberta Falls

running through the splash pad on Pearl Street

 laughing at his library books

 Putting together a mickey mouse puzzle in the backyard

 Logan's book on cd station on the couch ;)

my little cowboy!

Basement Living

We've been living in Erie, Colorado for a month already!  We are starting to figure out how to get places and how to all live comfortably together in the basement.  We are fortunate to be living with an awesome family and Logan has enjoyed spending time with the "big" kids Ella and Riley.  Their basement we have been staying in is more like a small house haha.  We have a lot of space and really the only thing different from usual besides the size of the kitchen is sharing a room with Logan at night, but luckily it has been going very well and his sleeping schedule hasn't been affected, phew!  The house hunt begins soon as we closed on our house in Tucson last week on Dom's birthday, what a present ;).  We are looking forward to finding something we both like and hopefully somewhere in either Erie or Lafayette, those seem to be the cities we are most drawn to.  Here's hoping the house buying experience here goes as well as the selling part did in Tucson!  Can't wait to have a place of our own if only to have our animals back!  We miss them!  Luckily I have made a little kitty friend here to keep my company :)

Calla my furry little friend (they have another cat, Cassie but she keeps to herself)

Here's a look at our basement living:

Enter the basement and to the left we see the girls' toys, Logan's are back behind the pool table too.  He's enjoyed all the new girl toys he's never played with!  The door to the left is to the bedroom.

Here's the bedroom, queen size bed and dresser, it's a big room!

 to the right across from the bed is Logan's bed (luckily they had a crib we could use as a toddler bed!), chair and another dresser.

 Exit the bedroom and to the right we have the rest of the "toy room" with our computer on their desk.  The door open to the left is the bathroom.  To the right is the living room and kitchen area.

As you can see in the picture above, this is a close up of Logan's new train table I found at a garage sale for ONLY $12!! It came with all the tracks and some trains too, Logan is in heaven!  And I was super excited to find one for such a deal!

 Bathroom, don't need much more then this!

 Living room- I want this couch, it's super comfy! Our little card table we use for meals and take down when we are done and to the right of the room is a giant screen for the projector, we are being spoiled living with it! You can see the bar separating the kitchen area.  (oh and there's Logan reading a book!)

 Sink and counter space in the kitchen

 Fridge and a stack of food!

We are lucky to be able to stay here and everything has gone wonderfully so far.  Amanda comes to visit in a few days for Memorial weekend and we are looking forward to showing her around...atleast what we know of it so far!  It's been fun exploring and finding new restaurants and fun places to go.  And we have so much more to find still!