YL Christmas Party!

On Saturday evening was the Young Life Christmas Party. Thanks to the Murphy's for being such great hosts! It was a fabulous party! We are so blessed to have such great support and so many wonderful people involved in YL as leaders, committee, and other advocates in this area. The YL Christmas parties are always the BEST...the "Greed" game is always over the top!

Logan's shirt is so appropriate! He loves saying "Ho, Ho, Ho!"
(which actually sounds more like: "Ho, Ha, Hay, Hee!")


The whole group...what a crew!

Logan loved exploring the Murphy's house and seeing all the decorations! This snowman was just his size! He knew he wasn't supposed to touch, so he just stood and admired the snowman all night! And Logan was sure to get into all the white elephant gifts before the game...

Christmas Village

A friend of ours suggested visiting the Christmas Village set up in Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls. So, on Thursday night, we took advantage of the early-dinner-no-bath night scenario and ventured out (with homemade lattes in hand!) with Logan in his PJs! We didn't know what to expect and we weren't sure what Logan would think, but it was a huge hit! The park was lit up with thousands of lights and decorations. We drove through slowly and pointed out the houses, horses, people, snowmen, and Christmas trees. It was great!

At the end, there were storyboards with Logan's favorite Christmas story thus far, "Frosty The Snowman". So, we took advantage and drove along reading the story while Logan clapped and then fell alseep! It was perfect!

And to all a goodnight!!

First Snow!

We've been waiting for a morning where we wake up to snow...Wednesday was it! It was a beautiful cover of about 3" of the soft, fluffy kind! I couldn't wait to get Logan outside in his gear, to see his reaction!

Walking in all the gear isn't too easy...the first steps were a little wobbly!

Logan was so curious and we've been talking so much about snow that he was pretty excited to feel it for himself.

Checking it out...

The outing didn't last too long because it was cold outside and once Logan was down on his hands and knees, he had a hard time getting up by himself, which made him mad. So, we'll give it some time and then try again! When we came inside, we had snuggle time in my bed to warm up before we had to get ready for swimming!

Logan loves playing in our bed and pretending to go "nigh-nigh" on the pillows. I can't get over the silly things he picks up and imitates!

Just Can't Get Enough

Logan just can't get enough of creative activities these days. I'm having a hard time keeping up with new ideas! He constantly wants to draw, color, paint, etc. I'm seriously ready to just buy out the whole Crayola section of Target! This week we tried finger painting with Cool Whip! Yum!

A little unsure about that first taste (that didn't last long, though! Logan had his fingers in his mouth the whole time!)


Logan took a short break from eating the cool whip to create a little masterpiece...

Such fun!

"Cheese!"

Logan looked so cute in this outfit, I just had to find a reason to take pictures!


He sure knows what to do with a camera...I wonder where he learned???


"Say Cheese!"


Logan spend a lot of time climbing into his U-chair, sitting for probably less than a minute, then scooting down. He loves it! I think its super fun because its easy for him to get in and out by himself. He climbs everything in the house and always wants to slide down all by himself. Yikes!

That Wonderful Time of Year!

On Sunday we were home from all the Thanksgiving festivities in Stillwater and we made sure to take a trip out to Lowes Creek Tree Farm. We love it there. Tim and Therese are so sweet, the land is so beautiful, and its so festive this time of year!

John and I have both realized how excited we are for this holiday season - for Logan to experience Christmas with new eyes and a child's perspective. He is already so excited about the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, and the snow. Of course, we are also teaching him about Baby Jesus, which Logan recognizes in his nativity set and in the Christmas books. We're really looking forward to experiencing everything with Logan now that he is a little older and able to get excited about the novelties.

I love all the custom wreaths and potters - we didn't splurge on either this year,
but hopefully another time!

It was too cold for us to partake on the wagon ride this year, so we chose a beautiful tree from the lot. Maybe next year we'll be able to take a wagon ride to cut our tree down ourselves
(or at least maybe Logan and Daddy can go while I stay in the lodge with Baby 2).


Up close with the horsies ("neeeeeee!")

Logan was so cute all bundled up and was such a trooper!

Daddy teaching Logan all about trees...we decided on a nice, full, fresh Frasier fir.


The family!


When we got the tree home, we debated whether to put it upstairs or down. With the fireplace downstairs we couldn't resist the cozy atmosphere, so we decided to find a corner for the tree there.

Mr. Cool Guy on his firetruck...

"Wow! This Christmas stuff is going to be FUN!"

Baby Kumquat

Yesterday we had our first appointment with our OB at Luther Hospital. We love Dr. Dovre and he was so excited to see us, hear about Logan, and about YL. Our appointment was a little delayed, at 13 weeks, but we got to hear the fast little heartbeat and even see our baby on an ultrasound. It so amazing that we could already see little fingers, elbows, and its nose and mouth. It wasn't that long ago that we were doing this for the first time with Logan, but its easy to forget what a miracle it is!

John nicknamed Logan "Baby Grape" because we started keeping up with his development when he was the size of a grape. John has very affectionately nicknamed Baby 2 "Baby Kumquat" because our last update compared its size to a kumquat (who really even knows what that is?!)! We have two months until we can find out the baby's gender, but we're leaning toward a surpise for this time around. We'll see...

As of now, Baby Kumquat is due June 8th, which for us will most likely mean a scheduled cesearean around June 2. In case you have forgotten...John and I have huge babies and this is likely to be no different (Logan was 10 lbs. 12 oz!).

That's the update from here...check out Baby Kumquat's first photo shoot!