I call him Climber McClimbyclimby

Recently Logan has learned to climb both up and down the stairs with great proficiency, but today he also managed to climb on the Bounce 'n Spin Zebra and on the rocking horse. I think that that only leaves the dining table and the counter tops that he has not managed to climb on. If left to himself, I don't really have to worry about him falling, he has quickly learned how to carefully climb down, but if Emma or Alan interfere with him it scares me a little, so I spend a lot of my day taking Logan off of things only to have him cry, throw a little fit, and climb back up.

Also, today, for the first time, when I asked Emma how to spell her name she said "An E, and an M, and an M, and an A. " She is getting so big!Logan was so cute on the horse I just had to get a picture. And yes he had crawled out of his pants.

Of Course Emma and Alan had to get in on the fun. Look, here's a picture with all three crazy kids together!

Can you believe how big my "Girl Baby" it getting!

Emma is teaching Logan how to rock.

CUTE!

Cry Baby

Logan is at that age were he is starting to want to do things and figure out things on his own, like crawling with shoes on his hands.
When his experiments don't go as planned, or when I take something away from him, he gets very upset. It usually only lasts a moment and he does NOT want his Mommy to come pick him up. He is such a "big boy."

I like MEAT!

Alan was being so cute at dinner tonight. He loved the spaghetti and said with his mouth very full and with spaghetti meat on his fork "I like meat," and then burped.  Silly kid!

Cute Hair

My sweet Mommy recently sent me a little fun money and told me to do something for myself with it, and today I did. It has been about 5 months since I had gotten a hair cut and years since I got a hair cut that I really loved (probably not since just before I got married and Suzie did my hair), but today I got a totally cute A-line cute that I love. Thanks Mom! It is amazing what a trip to the salon can do for a tired mom's outlook.

Fancy Nacy Tea Party

Today Emma had a Fancy Nancy Tea Party with her new little friends. Our wonderful new ward has a cute little group of girls that Emma has started playing with. She had been begging to have a party and I gave in. We created "fancy" invitations instructing the ladies to come in their most lavish outfits. At the party we read a Fancy Nancy book, made some stylish accessories, and of course talked over "tea." For treats we had petit four cakes, mini croissant sandwiches, and peach cream cheese tarts. The little ladies had a lot of fun. Tonight after we put the kids to bed Emma came down and said "Thank you for my party." A few moments later she came back down and asked if I would make her another party. I am glad my sweet Emma is so good at making friends.The girls getting ready for the story

Making Fruit Loop necklaces

Enjoying treats

Emma just being cute after the party

A love of learning

Emma has recently started to show us a love of learning. She will point out numbers, letters, and colors when she sees them and she had gotten much better at writing her name. I am so proud for the big girl she is becoming. She is always so excited to go to school and I love laying down next to her at bed time and talking about her day and what she learned, and remembering all the fun things we did that day. I am always surprised at how much we did. I love that we have that time together. I hope that as the years pass I will always be able to to talk with her and report at the end of the day.

Alan has recently had a harder time taking naps so some days while Emma is at school we have a little Mommy and Alan one on one time. I love this time together. He loves to read to me and sit with me on the computer. He is learning how to type his name. He does well, but he holds the keys down to long so it looks more like AAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN, but not bad for a 2 year old. He also had a surprise for Daddy the other day when he came down the stairs and said "A-L-A-N spells Alan. We worked on spelling Alan boy, but he kept spelling boy D-O-Y. He also read his first words on Wednesday. He was "reading" me I'll Teach My Dog a lot of Words and when he got to one page he read "I'll teach him RED and BLUE and GREEN" while actually pointing to "RED and Blue and Green" as he read the words. Thanks Kathleen :)

Logan has recently really taken off talking. He says words like "Mom", "Dada"," Emma", "this" and "I want" often. There are a few other words that I can understand that aren't really words, but it is nice for me because I can understand them and know when he wants a nap or bottle or down. He will also randomly repeat a word he hears once. The other day while Alan was saying family prayer I swear I heard Logan say "Heavenly Father" and then "Jesus" during the sacrament last Sunday. One of my favorite things was when Scott asked Logan how his day was during dinner the other day, Logan took off talking gibberish for minutes. It was like he understood the question and was doing his best to tell Daddy.

I love my wonderful kids. I am so grateful for them. They make everyday so full. They amaze me with how much they are learning and growing, but really they teach me so much more than I teach them. I feel so blessed that I spend my days doing the best job in the world and that I get to watch my beautiful children grow.

Scott has recently ... I'm kidding. I am sure Scott is learning a ton everyday at school, but I am not going to report about here.

First steps

Today Logan took his first steps. I have thought that he might be walking a little and just not letting me see him do it, but today he took three steps right in front of me. It was totally out for the blue, but I guess that is just the kinda kid he is. He doesn't like to be told what to do. Every time I try to get him to walk or help him he just lifts up his feet or sits down.
In other news tonight after we had put the kids to bed, Alan came down the stairs and started begging me to come cuddle him in bed. Once he realized he wasn't going to get Scott or me to come cuddle him he marched back up the stairs saying "I just want to go to my bed by myself and I want to sleep by myself all day." It was pretty funny.

Funny Things Alan Said Today

Alan is such a funny kid. He said several funny things today, that I thought I better record before I forget. I really wish I could have a camera on him all the time so I could always remember all the funny things that he says and does.
1. We were in the van driving up to Scott's parents house, and just past Thanksgiving Point Eric was pointing out the windmills to Emma and Alan. Alan asked "Why are there turbines outside?"
2. I had asked Eric if he had met any cute girls yet at BYU and he said there was one girl in one of his classes. Alan got all wide eyed and told Eric "There are two little girls in my class." Then he giggled and got embarrassed. IT WAS SO CUTE!
3. At Grandma and Grandpa's, we decided to play pass the pigs. Alan ran up to Grandpa and said "You can be the big pig." Grandpa then said "You can be a big pig too, Oy."
4. When it was time to go home and we were getting in the van Alan said to Eric "You can't sit there, your bum is too big." He was telling Eric he couldn't sit on the back seat between the two car seats.
Well there you have it a days worth of funny Alan boy quotes. And I am sure there are many more that I forgot. Like when during the sacrament Alan noticed that someone had colored in the hymm book. He then explained to me about how naughty that was and that we only color in coloring books and that this was a music book for reading only.

(Logan is not wearing pants because he is so skinny that he always crawls out of them)
Lately Logan LOVES to do two things...

Play in the kitchen

and climb on things he really shouldn't be climbing on.
(look Alan has a mini me)

Emma was such a trooper and let me dress her up in the Goldilocks costume I made her last year and take pictures for my Ebay listing. She is so nice.

A Saturday in the Kitchen

I had a little left over heavy whipping cream after making a Peach Almond Shortcake for the ward BBQ on Friday, so Saturday I thought I might as well make another one. Emma and Alan were so excited to help. We also had a little lesson in cleaning the kitchen when we were done and to finish it off they got to lick the beaters. They are such good little helpers. Emma has become quite good at loading the dish washer and putting away the silverware. It is cute when she tries to help Alan do it. "Here Hun, it goes here." I love it when she calls him Hun.
Logan was a very good boy and loved to eat the peaches. I have a feeling that we may go bankrupt during his teen years trying to feed him.

As a side note, some times Alan gets a little upset and chooses not to wear a shirt for a while. Just before the fun in the kitchen was one of those times. I can't really explain why it happens, but there are few things 2 year olds do that can be explained.

Chantel and Reed

While sick I got an email from my friend Dene' about Chantel's Bridal Shower. I hadn't seen Chantel, Dene', or Brooke in years so it was so fun to get to see them. Anyway as it turned out Chantel needed someone to take her engagement pictures that weekend and I was able to do it. It was a lot of fun and great to meet Reed. There were a lot of pictures I really like. I posted a few of them on my Laura Hilton Photography site. I hope they like them as much as I do.