Janie and Jack

I won't lie and tell you that my favorite children's store is somewhere like Walmart or Target where I can get kiddie clothing for a nice, frugal price, because I'd be sorely mistaken. I can't even tell you that it's Carters or Kohls, though they come in a close third and fourth (respectively). No, if I had all the money in the world, I'd buy Logan's wardrobe (in it's entirety) at Janie and Jack. Think....Dick and Jane meet 2009. Very sweet, classic, well made children's clothing. Sometimes I just sit and look through their website drooling and check repeatedly for my favorite items to end up on clearance.

When we lived in Miami, we HAD our own Janie and Jack at one of the local malls. Oh yes. I spent too many hours browsing their racks when we lived there trying to figure out what combination of body parts I'd have to sell to outfit L's wardrobe for fall/winter/spring/summer. Arm and leg? Two legs and an arm? Still probably wouldn't be enough. I'd probably have to break out the big guns and sell an organ to get all of the things I really wanted. It'd be a viable option if I didn't need them so much. :) (really, please sense the sarcasm dripping in the last paragraph and don't call me asking me why I'm psycho)

Anyway, on rare occasion, if I looked hard enough (and they were having a sidewalk sale), I could find some items that I'd previously drooled over on a super clearance (and by that, I mean MOST of the items were under $15), meaning that I could (kind of) afford it. Enter this outfit:

Umm...really? Look at that outfit and tell me it's not the most adorable little thing you've ever seen. I could seriously just look at it and smile. (not to mention the model is pretty stinkin' adorable)
Last spring, when they had their sidewalk sale I found several fall/winter items on clearance and picked them up, once again, thinking that the time when she'd fit them would never come. It has, though, and I was so excited to pull these items out and put them on her yesterday. Even though she does look like a little French baby.
She happily kept her little Beret on all day long, pulling it off only once to show me that she was still in charge of what gets put on her head (ha! I have news for her!).
Then, she found my scarf and wouldn't leave it alone, so I put it on her and she just smiled and smiled...until she tried to crawl when she decided the scarf tripped her up a bit too much. She hasn't touched it since. Score: mommy: 1 Logan: 0

Christmas Tree Pictures

It became apparent to us yesterday that Santa Claus does not know that we are in a recession as the price to take a picture with him was a whopping $17 for one 3x5 print. Really, Santa? No thanks. So, we SHOWED Logan Santa, waved at him and went to find a Christmas tree to get a family picture in front of. Santa can wait for another year, maybe he'll lower his prices? Doubtful.

This was our family Christmas tree picture last year:

As you can see, we were hitting the point where we were getting anxious to meet our sweet little girl! And this year we added this sweet pea to our mix:
What a fun addition to our family. She has brought such a light into our eyes and we are so excited for her first Christmas this year! She was full of precious smiles during our little family photo shoot.

Isn't her dress adorable?! Her great grandparents on her daddy's side got it for her. We thought it'd be just precious in our family pictures.

Our family Christmas tree picture this year:

It's so much fun adding members to our picture! We can't wait to add more little ones to our brood in the future.

And for good time and memory sake, here's a little collage of our Christmas tree pictures over the last three years of our marriage (click it to enlarge):

Little Tastes of Christmas

I thought I'd go ahead and share with you all a little taste of what Christmas looks like at our home this year (as far as decorations go). I'm pretty Christmas crazy already and usually have the decorations sitting out and ready to be put up BEFORE Thanksgiving and this year really was no different. We had to wait a little while before we got a tree because we wanted a tree that was a little bigger than our 4 footer from last year but weren't sure what to do--buy a real one and get another one on sale after Christmas or just bite the bullet and pick up a fake. As it turned out we found a great one this year at Walmart and love it! We got to put it up with Logan and decorate it with her and it was such a fun tradition to carry on with our own little family.

(don't worry, I made sure to strategically place Logan in a lot of these pictures)

And we have no mantel this year (nor did we last year, I guess), so we have our stockings on the little ledge that looks into the kitchen. We had two stocking hangers and I had quite a time trying to find one to kind of match them! I should have picked up a few more in anticipation of future kiddos, but they didn't have a whole lot in stock. Carolyn made Logan a gorgeous cross stitched stocking that we're waiting for to put up--but for now we went ahead and put out the decorative ones.
Speaking of handmade stuff, I did a lot of little handmade things this year for the house because it's cheaper than buying new stuff (and it creates nice memories). Here's a little taste of our tree skirt:

And our custom family wreath:

Merry Christmas!!

Holiday Traditions

So, when I married Mike, I became privy to an incredibly delicious recipe for holiday sugar cookies. For Mike, the holidays don't officially start until he's had his first batch of these puppies. Around Halloween, he starts talking about his mouth watering in anticipation for these cookies...but I'm not allowed to make them until it's almost or right after Thanksgiving because they are a treat that is to be enjoyed for a very select period of holiday time, otherwise they lose their specialness. Last year, as I baked the cookies (a lot slower, mind you, I was 8 months pregnant, after all), I thought of how much fun the years to come were going to be when I'd be able to share this tradition with our new baby and with any future babies God blesses us with.

Last week, Mike worked like a DOG trying to get his biggest paper of the semester out of the way. The poor guy had no free time. He'd get home from class and burry himself in books. He'd get home from work, and spend hours on the computer typing away and running ideas. He took breaks only to eat and to play with Logan and occasionally to sleep. After a couple of days of this, Logan and I decided it was time to give something back. What a perfect thing to come home to right before crunch time to finish his paper than a batch of these savory holiday cookies, right?

To start things out right, we had to make some aprons. What's a holiday cookie fest without matching mommy/daughter aprons? (p.s. have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE my embroidery and sewing machine? I mean come on, the projects are literally endless)

Mine is cute, but I absolutely cannot get over how adorable the little one is--thanks for the fabric mom!

After our first project we got started. I worked on the batter while Logan tinkered around the kitchen and posed for the camera.
As time progressed, tinkering was just not enough for her, so she got into some flour and also began to tear apart the contents of my wallet, which you can CLEARLY see behind her in this next picture:
Oh, well, if it keeps her entertained and out of danger, one can't complain, right? She also really loved the rolling pin. I set it down next to her little flour covered body and she went to town. Maybe next year I won't have to stage baking pictures and she'll actually be able to help a little.
It was SUCH a great surprise for Mike! He walked in and his eyes immediately lit up and it was like he was 5 years old all over again. It's officially the Christmas Season in our household (in fact, we're headed out today to pick up our tree) and we are so excited! Christmas is going to be such a joy this year with a little one around. I'm a Christmas nut, but I don't think I've ever been this excited for one to roll around and I'm not even excited for myself, I'm excited for her. What a blessing!

(We did manage to get one snapshot together after daddy got home, I couldn't find a place to get the automatic picture taken without cutting parts of us off so we waited)

10 Months Old

We are going to ignore the small fact that this post is 2 weeks late, ok? :) Life is a bit hectic here at the moment, what with Thanksgiving, a mobile child, Christmas, one who does not sit still, anniversary (3 years!), a child who moves constantly...did I mention that we have a mobile child? She can no longer be left just hanging out while mommy blogs--I usually have to wait until she's down or Mike's around to do it.

Anyway, Logan Elizabeth, you are 10 months old today (the pictures were actually taken on the 10 month anniversary of her birth)!! What are you up to?!

- For starters you are SUCH a good stander! You love to just hang out holding onto the coffee table, it gives you such (restricted) freedom. You really got a good hold of the pulling up thing. You even try to stand by yourself every once and a while. Usually it freaks you out and you immediately sit down, though. (It's ok, we can hold off on walking for a while...no rush!)

- You have started trying more and more table foods. Right now you can eat little tiny banana chunks (which you love), you've tried mac n cheese, bread, tiny pieces of chicken, cheese, small pieces of crackers, cheerios, gold fish and some steamed squash and carrots. It's so much fun to watch you put them in your mouth-you get such an accomplished look on your face!

- You HATE the vacuum cleaner. I have to sneak it out to use it (and I HAVE to use it all the time now since you'll eat anything off the ground) otherwise your eyes get huge and you grab onto my legs preventing me from moving. When I turn it on you pretty much just crawl to the nearest hiding spot until I'm done.

- You love to sing. We'll catch you singing in the car or to something on TV (usually Little Einsteins or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), of course when we start watching you you stop.

- You're getting so good with your signs! You have "more", "all done" and "down" mastered and can differentiate between them. For example, the other day I was giving you a snack and you signed for all done and when I got up to put it away you made a noise, I looked back and you shook your head no and signed for more. :) It makes me so proud! We're working on

"please" and "thank you" now and hope to get those down in the next few weeks.

- You're vocabulary is starting to develop a bit. You now say "mama" and "dada" and know what they mean (whereas before it was a lot of just jumbled babbling, now when you see either of us you know what to say), you can say "baby" and "bye bye" (buh-buh) and you just learned how to say "night-night" (nah-nah) and you say it when it starts to get dark or when we walk toward your rocker or when you see your lovey.

- We just started you on a new sleep schedule because we'd had such a rough go of it for a while. You're taking two naps a day totaling about 3 1/2 to 4 hours and then you're going to bed between 6:45-7:30 a night waking up only once or twice to be comforted for a minute or two. More sleep really does promote more sleep, I guess!

- You recently started to really enjoy playing in your room. For a while you hated it in there but now you'll crawl back there by yourself just to play with your stuff. It's been fun for us to be able to spend time in there together.

- You love to read. I think if we did nothing but read book after book after book all day long (only breaking for food), you'd sit still the entire day. It's about the only time of day, besides bed time or when we're with other people, that I can get you to just sit in my lap and relax.

- You love your baths. When we were in Miami this last month, your grandparents got you some bath squirt toys and they make it so you never want out of the tub. In fact you'll fuss and complain when you see us pull a towel out because you love it so much.

- You took your first airplane ride this last month and you'll be taking your second one this coming month! You're quite a traveler.

- You had your first Thanksgiving this last month and you'll have your first Christmas before your 11th month hits and WE CAN'T WAIT! We just want to pull your presents out and give them to you now!

You are so much fun to be with. This is such a fun age for us to watch! Everything is so interactive with you and everything is so new that you're allowing us to see everything through a child's eyes again. It's really such an incredible blessing to be your parents. We love you (and if you could stop growing for...oh, another year or so before we have to start planning your first birthday...we'd appreciate it)!!

(click on image to enlarge)

Logan's First Thanksgiving

Truth be told, I've tried to do this post numerous times. It just never made it to the publishing stage because as soon as I'd get to writing (fingers crossed this time), Logan would either wake from a nap or get fussy and clingy which makes for a bad combo when trying to get some blogging done. Pardon the picture overload on this post, we figured we couldn't get enough pictures of her first Thanksgiving and so they just kept coming...and coming....and you get the idea.

We had a great Thanksgiving in Ocala with my side of the family. We were all able to get together, which was a huge blessing, given that we're not sure when it'll happen again. Logan was a champ with only two 30 minute naps that day--she didn't get fussy much at all. We started the day with some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, went and hung out with my siblings and then had an incredible Thanksgiving lunch with the family. To top it off, we got to watch the Santa Clause that evening, which is usually what John, Carolyn and I watched on Christmas Eve together, but since we won't be together we pulled it out early. Even Logan got to watch it this year!

Here's our first family picture on Thanksgiving as a family of three:

Mommy and Logan on Thanksgiving morning showing off Logan's Thanksgiving ensemble:

Two beautiful girls:

Logan and her Nana (not sure what's up with her face):

Logan had a great time playing with her Titi Carolyn, who indulged her and let her climb all over the place:

She got to spend some good quality time with her great grandpa Carlsen, too!

And even cracked a smile for some pictures, probably because someone allowed her to play with the phone she's holding:

She was a real trooper letting herself be passed around this last weekend. We were sure it was going to be a clingy one, but were hoping maybe we'd turned a corner when she allowed herself to go round and round the room--of course as soon as we got home, she wouldn't let either of us put her down or go near another human being...sigh. (side note, this picture is NOT a photoshopped picture of my dad 20 years ago that we pasted Logan into...he really does look THAT good)

While we ate dinner, Logan enjoyed a feast of cheerios, which she has learned to put in her mouth by herself:

We even gave her some mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes (all of which she L-O-V-E-D):

Photo Op with mommy:

Photo Op with daddy:

I actually have a comparison picture of the three of us from last year but I looked like such a horse that I decided to spare your eyes. :)

A whole family picture:

And one of the kiddos:

Happy Thanksgiving Guys! Now, bring on the fat guy in the big red suit!

Friday mid-moring the girls took Logan with us to Kohl's for her first Black Friday experience. She had a great time, which makes me SO happy because shopping is so much more fun when you've got someone with you, and now I have someone to go with me all the time (who can't say no yet...haha)!

A Girl and Her Dog

Every once and a while, before we left for Miami, I wondered how Logan would feel about the dogs my parents have. I became a little worried after we had a playdate at a house where there was a dog and Logan freaked out any time the dog looked at her and began to pray that:

a. she'd tolerate being around the dogs.

and

b. the dogs would tolerate her being around. The older of the two dogs tends to be a little more fickle and I was really worried she would not take Logan's curiosity.

Logan spent the first couple of days staring down the dogs like so:

That was her "don't mess with me dog" face. She liked to look at them and would even crack a smile every once and a while but she did NOT want them near her. In fact, she'd watch and even crawl up to the dogs until they turned around to eye her, and then she'd quickly turn around and get an "oh no!" face and scramble to the nearest adult. This was until she realized that they make great playmates, that is! I was pleasantly surprised when Cookie, the older dog, took to Logan and allowed her to poke and prod her without so much as batting an eyelid. Logan followed cookie around everywhere and whenever I took Logan out of the room, Cookie followed us, as if she was trying to protect L. It was very sweet.

Logan affectionately named Cookie "EEEEE" and you knew when you heard "EEEEEEE", Logan was either playing with Cookie or looking for Cookie. Any time that Cookie was outside, Logan sat or stood at the window and patiently waited for her to come back in (all while calling "EEEEE" loudly and pounding on the window).

By the end of the week, the two were best buds. Cookie sat and watched TV with Logan:
First thing when Logan got up, she'd go looking for "EEEEE":

And Logan was sad to say goodbye to her the morning we left. Ok, so I was sad to see her say goodbye to Cookie. I guess I don't really know what Logan was thinking, but she looked a little forlorn as we left the house, so one can assume, right? Maybe one day we'll have to get Logan a dog (this, of course, won't happen until she's old enough to be able to do some of the things I HATE to do--i.e. dog baths and cleaning up dog poop).