While we were gone...

While we were away on our vacation, one of my very best friends had her beautiful baby girl, Grace! You will have to check Mike and Sarah's blog to see photos of their new little one! Its so exciting...we are looking forward to learning from them as they grow into their "family of 4" just before us! Congrats Mike, Sarah and big brother William!

Our friend Ben Dodds launched his professional photography website, complete with portfolio, etc! We are so excited for him as he uses his great talent to capture many memories for other families! Check it out!

18 months!

Yes, it's true! Logan soon turns 18 months! On February 17th, Logan will officially be one-and-a-half, but we'll be away and unable to give an update, so I thought I would write a little something now while I have time! We remember when Logan was an infant, thinking to the "18 month" mark seemed so far away. However, time has gone so quickly and everything has continued to change so fast that we find ourselves with a little boy, not a baby anymore.

Logan is such a light in our lives. He keeps us smiling, laughing, and loving all day long. Some of his favorite things to do right now are to dance, listen to music, run, talk, read books, play with Elmo, and snuggle. The comment we hear most from the church/bible study nurseries and babysitters is, "He really is such a lover". Yes, he is! Logan loves to give hugs and kisses - he even makes sure to kiss "the baby in Mommy's tummy" when he gives kisses to us.

Words, words, words! Logan seems to pick up new words every day and some of them are very surprising! Of course, they are not always pronounced just right, but we can tell what he is saying. Here are a few of the most entertaining: helicopter, pickle, squirrel, go!, pajamas, tent, garbage, icky!, stinky!, eggs, muffin, bowl, pizza...the list goes on. I wish I could get video of him saying more words, but he's tough to catch these days.

When Logan says "cold" he shivers! When Logan says "stinky" he plugs his nose! He also loves to say OH BOY! and UH-OH! He loves Elmo - he has several Sesame Street books that he loves and he has grown pretty close to Elmo! He also really likes trains and says "Choo-Choo"! During the week, we watch out the window for the neighbors puppies, the garbage trucks, and the mailman. Logan loves to wave at people and greet them - he's become pretty social!

The video below is in lieu of photos because I haven't taken many lately. I took this when John was home for lunch today. Logan LOVES to dance and run! On Monday nights our friend Lisa Donnellan watches Logan and she taught him "On your mark, get set, go.....!". So, here you get to see him running and dancing a little...what a cutie.

*Just a quick disclaimer: at some point in this video I shout "Shake it!" - that's just because of the song - we don't really encourage Logan to shake it all the time! And, I'm still learning how to use this Flip Video we got for Christmas...its so light sometimes I get a little carried away and its really rough video. Enjoy!

Baby Bum

We just had to add these from tonight's bath time. Logan loves to watch the water fill the tub and throw his toys in before he gets in. Tonight he was so cute: kneeling on his stool, just like John was kneeling. He's definitely really into doing just what John does these days. Its so cute!

Love that bum!

Caught naked!

Warmer Weather!

We were finally able to enjoy some warmer weather this weekend! I honestly don't even have an idea of what the temps were, but the sun was out, the snow was melting and it wasn't windy. So, we took advantage of the time together to play outside. We tried to build a snowman, but the snow wasn't quite right for sticking together - and Logan mostly liked to demolish the structure! Nonetheless, it was great to get out and Logan loved playing in the snow! Here are some photos from the backyard adventures....enjoy!

Okay, this is John here making a brief addition to this post, just to clear something up.
My feet aren't actually that big!!! These boots are the biggest boots ever made.
This problem dates back to childhood. My parents always bought us boots like we grew up in the great depression. We called it the "Boots For Life" (BFL) program. The boots I first wore in 5th grade were literally still big enough for me when I was a senior year in high school!!!!
Try playing football in the snow during 5th grade recess in boots twice the size of your feet!!!!
No wonder I always got picked last. haha.
Anyway, now anytime I try on boots, my idea of what fits is totally warped and I buy them big enough for an elephant!!!
However, here's to you mom and dad. Now that we've started to think of buying boots for our kids, I can see why you did what you did.
Logan and Kumkuat have already been enrolled in the BFL program.

Boy or Girl?

The most frequent question we've heard lately about our future addition is whether or not we know if its a boy or girl! Inquiring minds want to know! Well, since your guess is as good as ours, we thought we would set up this little survey on the right hand side of the page. So, cast your vote and we'll see on June 5th whether we have a boy (maybe Luke, Lucas, or Bennett), or a girl (maybe Lucy or Nora)!

Superbowl Sunday

After spending the weekend away from Logan again, we were excited to see him on Sunday afternoon when my parents brought him back to Eau Claire. They came with dinner, so we all enjoyed pizza, snacks, the start of the Superbowl, and catching up on the weekend.

Logan and John enjoying a little football together. Logan got to try licorice! He was sure to make known that he loved it by letting out a big "MMMMM" after each bite!

Logan even got to have a snack at his special little table downstairs!

MCC 2009

We traveled this weekend to Madison for the 2009 Mission Community Conference. This conference is held every two years for our Young Life region (Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa) to connect, learn, fellowship, and grow together. We've been waiting since early fall for this chance to spend a weekend with our leaders and committee, so we had a great time!

Logan stayed in Stillwater with my family from Thursday-Sunday afternoon and did great. He loves all the toys and attention! We're thankful to have family so close and so willing to care for Logan! It would have been so much fun to bring him to the conference, but I also enjoyed the time getting to know the leaders better!

We worshiped, prayed, and attended conferences on club, camp, and adolescent culture. We spent our free time drinking coffee, playing lots of games, eating snacks, and meeting up with YL friends from other areas. It was a great weekend and we're so excited about the rest of the year ahead!

We were lucky to have such great worship leaders this weekend!

I have to admit that this was a highlight for me (since I am pregnant, I have no shame in admitting how I've been craving Oreos!)! We all ate out at Cosi on Saturday night and enjoyed these made-at-the-table s'mores! YUM! Toasted marshmallows, melted chocolate, and giant Oreos. What more could a girl want?

The girls' table at dinner! I guess we forgot to get a picture of the guys. We have about 6 returning leaders and about 10 new leaders this semester! We have college students of all ages and several post-college leaders on our team, as well. We were also lucky to have some committee members with us this weekend. I think we all have sore stomachs from laughing all weekend long!