Mmmmm...chocolate!

Logan has really started to love helping in the kitchen.  He's a pro at adding ingredients (even if they do end up more on the counter than in the mixing bowl!) and stirring batter.  I don't do a whole lot of involved cooking, but we do a fair amount of baking and usually Logan is a superstar helper.  As the weather turns cold, I think we'll have lots more days like this in our future...it was a fun time!

Logan wanted so badly to put his finger in the bowl when we were mixing up these yummy brownies.  I wouldn't let him, but when we were done, I told him he could have the beater.  He looked at me with his big brown eyes, as if to say, "Really...the whole beater, just for me?"  You got it buddy.  Enjoy!

One of the joys of baking with mom as a kid is trying so hard to get every last bit off the beater...remember those days?

"Did I get it all?"  Well, he did a good job cleaning off that beater, but I think quite a bit landed on his face and in his hair. :)

PS - These were super easy, fun brownies: one chocolate cake mix, chocolate pudding mix, one cup chocolate chips, and two cups milk.  So easy and super delish.  ;)

Just Plain Silly

One evening last month, Logan decided he wanted to ham-it-up.  Big time.  He was running around with these glasses on saying, "I'm going crazy!".  I couldn't have laughed any harder...kids are the most fun!

Its a toss-up: Logan is sometimes begging for his picture to be taken; other times he is totally anti-camera.  You never know, but its always worth a try!

MN vs. WI

After Bennett's baptism on Sunday, we took some time out of own day to watch the Vikings vs. Packers game.  We typically don't watch much, but since it was a historic match-up this year and we're technically Vikings fans living in Packerland, we thought it was worth tuning in.  Logan was surprisingly into the game saying, "tackle!", "go guys!", "run fast!", and "yay Vikings!".  What will our boys think when we've raised them to cheer for the "away" team?!

The boys watching the game!  If I stay this outnumbred, I think I have lots of weekend afternoons watching football in my future.

Warm Up!

Since we've already had our first couple snows (click here to see Logan's first day in the snow this year), I went on a mad mission to get the boys outfitted with all the winter gear we could possibly need.  I have found that with kids' clothes, once its gone from the stores after the first cold snap, its hard to find anything you need.  Grandma Deb bought this new little fleece bunting for Bennett this year, and it couldn't be cuter!

All smiles, as usual.  Not much can wipe Bennett's grin off his face!

I had to order the 12 month size because I knew B would outgrow it too soon if it was any smaller.  Sadly, the 12 month size doesn't come with footies, but that is probably ok since Bennett's feet seem to be growing at an exponential rate!

Winter baby - all set for snow!

Bennett's Baptism

Today, at almost 5 months, Bennett was baptized!  He was (surprisingly) able to fit into the same outfit Logan wore for his baptism, which was great.  And, just like Logan, Bennett was a superstar.  No fussing, not even a peep the whole time.  We were honored to have both sets of parents and even my brother, Kyle, and sister in law, Allison here to celebrate with us.  All of our siblings and spouses were named Godparents for Bennett, but Kyle and Ali did a great job representing everyone!  A special thanks to K & A!

Poor Logan was so tired from the Halloween craziness yesterday that he slept through the whole service!  Oh well, he certainly needed the nap!

I thought this photo of Bennett and Baggie was so cute.

Bennett's little cake was so cute!  Logan was asking "Mommy, can I touch it?" and saying "I LOVE cake!"  We've had our fair share of sweets lately between Amy's wedding last weekend and parties this week!

Logan really enjoyed "hosting" today, putting on his toothy smile for us all!  Love it!

Playing cars....always.

Papa and Nana with the boys!

B & B with the boys!

Godparents with Bennett!

We had so much fun spending the day with you all!  Thanks for making the trip for Bennett's special day!  It was great!

BOO!

We had such a fun Halloween with our boys!  We've been ramping up for our costumes for a while, but I have to admit that I was not sure if Logan would want to wear is costume or not.  He's at an age where he wants only what he wants and its pretty tough to change his mind.  I was lucky enough to find two perfect costumes to borrow from friends and they couldn't have been cuter!  Here are a few warm up shots from a couple weeks ago when we gave the costume a pre-Halloween gig:

As you can see...Logan wasn't wild about having his photo taken, but he was actually pretty into the monkey thing and was making good monkey noises!

John came home early one afternoon last week (yay!) to carve a couple pumpkins.  Logan was so excited!  I almost forgot that John is the master pumpkin carver.  He takes out the seeds, scrapes those babies clean, and carves quicker than anyone I know!  Its great!  Logan was pretty into it this year, which made it superfun for all of us!

Logan picked out which pumpkin was "his" and was talking to it and hugging it the whole time!  Hopefully what happened next was not too tragic...

Ooooohhh...the insides!

You can tell by this sequence of photos that Logan loved the adventure of touching the pumpkin's insides.  We eventually got him to reach in and pull out some seeds, but he didn't really like the feeling and asked for a "washcloth" after!  We had really big pumpkins this year, so Logan's arm could barely reach the bottom.

We were lucky to have a coupe Halloween parties to go to this year.  It made the day extra special.  The first was before lunch and it was a birthday party for our friend, Andrew.  John was busy with a service project for YL, so I got the kids (and myself) all dressed and costumed and out the door by 10:30.  We got to see friends, play, and eat lunch in our costumes!  John finished up early, so he even got to meet us at the Crowser's new house for part of the party.

The boys and I were the first to arrive, so I had them get a quick photo of us!  I wasn't sure how long the costumes would last, so I wanted to be sure to have a photo!  I did my best attempt at dressing up a little and getting in the spirit - it was really fun and Logan loved that I was a ladybug!

My little Bennett Bear

My talking Monkey  :)

Bennett enjoying some time with Daddy while I chased Logan around...

He had TWO lollipops, so it was big trouble in the sugar department!  What a fun morning!  Then it was off to home for naps and to get ready for the next party!

While our friend (and YL leader), Katie, stationed herself at our house to hand out candy (trick-or-treating runs only from 6-8pm in EC), we went to Jayni's house for the big Halloween dinner.  It was amazing!  Tons of kids in their costumes, tons of festive food for dinner, lots of playtime, and even trick-or-treating in their neighborhood.  We had a great time seeing friends and watching Logan play and run around in his little monkey costume!

All the kids were so excited, just waiting for the clock to be at 6!  Logan did so great, saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" at each house.  He's getting so big!  Click here to see last year's Halloween post and how much Logan has grown!

Our little trick or treaters!
It was really cold out, so we didn't visit many houses: just a few at the party and then a few of our neighbors' when we got home.  Logan proclaimed "I love Halloween!" when he looked into his basket of yummies.  We let him have a tootsie roll and then it was off to bed!  What a fun day!

Foot In Mouth

This all started when I told John that I really wanted to get a photo of Bennett with his feet in his mouth.  Bennett is really enamored with his feet and toes - he can entertain himself for a pretty long time just with his own feet!  As soon as Logan saw me lay Bennett down for a photo, he had to ham it up by "one-upping" Bennett with the foot in the mouth trick!

We were all laughing so hard Logan could hardly even lay still enough to aim his foot!  He's still pretty flexible, getting the foot in the mouth without any difficulty!

Of course, I couldn't really get Bennett to do the trick...probably because he was wondering what was going on with his crazy family!

Then Benny got some encouragement from his big brother...

and sure enough, it worked!

All stretched out!  Just shy of 5 months, Bennett is super long and lean!