Outdoor Play

We have been loving this spring weather! It has been so nice to wake up and open the door to our deck and let that cool the house off and smell the fresh air. Logan especially loves the weather. Last time it was this warm she wasn't even mobile so she couldn't enjoy it the way she can now! She has been spending most of her waking daylight hours on the deck where she plays around with the bouncy balls or her push toy or just sitting out there.

We usually get up and stay in our PJ's until after nap time but now Logan wakes up and starts to pull at the PJ's signaling that it's time to get her in her play clothes so she can play outside. It's definitely made entertaining a 13 month old a lot easier!

"Can I go outside, please, mommy?"

How can I say no to a face like this one?! We spend a lot of time in the early evenings going on walks or just sitting out front people watching (Logan could spend hours just sitting there watching). I'm sure we'll spend even more time out there after this weekend when the sun will stay out longer!

It's a whole new ballgame to have her play out front now that she can walk. I spend most of my time trying to keep her on the sidewalk and out of the road. BUT, she just loves being outside so much that we knew we needed to give her a little freedom to be able to play out there so we picked up some playmats and a few outdoor toys and set her up with her own little play area on the deck.

It gives her a lot more freedom! She spends most of her days (that aren't rainy) walking out that door and hanging out in her space.

It makes me feel so much better that she's able to get some quality outside time without it being dangerous!

Logan's Ball

I was at Walmart last night and passed that massive bin full of bouncey balls (you know, the ones that--if you're short-- you have to jump up and down to get a ball out of...yeah, laugh, it's ok) and grabbed one for Logan. The girls who watch her on Tuesday nights while Mike and I are in bible study said she just had a blast with the one they have there and for a $1 I figured even if she didn't like it, it wouldn't be a tragedy. Who knew $1 could create hours of fun?

Maybe a Righty?

Logan found a pencil this afternoon (we usually are obsessive about keeping them away from her) but she pointed at some paper I had on the desk so I gave it to her to see what she'd do. The result is in the picture:

She spent a good couple of minutes just doodling away. We thought that she might be a lefty because she tends to throw thing with her left hand but she only would pick up the pencil and use it with her right hand, so we're starting to think she'll be a righty after all.

Little Taste of Spring

We hit 65 degrees today and it is just BEAUTIFUL! It reminded us that winter does not last forever. I know, some of you live in places much much colder than we live in now...but I haven't lived in a place this cold since I was about 10 years old so it's been quite an adjustment! Mike and I took a walk to a local playground after Logan's first nap to let her play a little.

She enjoyed going down once, but once was enough. She definitely didn't want to go back up again! The park we took her too was a little too big for her, they had one baby slide but the rest of the equipment was for children a bit older so we took her back to the playground in our complex to use the swings.
She liked the swing less than she liked the slide, though! It's funny, because I took her there several weeks ago and she loved the swing, but she didn't want any part of it today. We walked around the park for a while:

Holding daddy's finger:

Then we came home, pulled her push toy out of the living room and let her play some more outside.

She much preferred just walking around the neighborhood, today, though.

She played with the mailboxes some:

Daddy held her up high so she could see what was going on other places:

More playing with mailboxes:

And running away from daddy (she reminds me of a little mouse in this picture):

She has finally mastered how to sit on her push toy and move herself along without being pushed around:

Then she found her puffs and wanted to have a snack!

So, we obliged, it was so pretty outside we didn't want to go back in!

She likes to really stuff her face:

We're hoping the weather holds up like this for good, as of now we've got a great forecast for the week with high's in the mid 60's and low 70's so maybe we'll get some more good outside time. Dare I say, "Welcome, Spring! We've been counting down the seconds for you to arrive."

Ordinary Day

We've had a pretty ordinary day here. Mike is closing tonight, so he got to spend the morning with us and we didn't have to babysit today so Logan got both mommy and daddy all to herself (which she LOVES). This made her one happy, happy girl:

Last month, at Logan's 12 month checkup, her hemoglobin levels were just a touch too low so they put her on iron supplements for the month to see if we could get it back up. They say it's pretty normal for a 1 year old to have low iron for a little while because their bodies have used up the iron reserves that they acquired while in mommy's womb and they are trying to adjust and figure out how to regulate themselves. It is really fascinating! So, we went in and she was all smiles:
Until they poked her, but she only fussed for a second and then was fine. Her levels did go up, which is great, but they didn't go up enough, so it's another month of supplements! They gave us some extra suggestions to go along with the supplements that she can have now that she's over a year that should help. They're just barely under what they want her levels to be so they aren't too worried, but we do have to go back in next month to check again.

After the appointment and a nap, Logan and I ventured out to the KidAround KidSale which is a large consignment sale that goes on twice a year here. I hadn't checked this particular sale out before but was glad I did! We got several bubble rompers for the spring/summer, a couple pairs of shoes and a booster seat/tray all for under $20. I think that for the fall one I'll volunteer so I can shop early because I went looking for some specific clothing that they said they had before the volunteer shopping opened up but were gone by the time I got there (5 minutes after it opened to the public). I don't know how they manage to stay open for two days, by the time I had been there an hour everything was pretty picked over and you could barely MOVE!

We got home and had a package from Logan's great grandma Natalie and her great grandpa Niels, it had two wonderful books in it that she's already torn into!

I'll get in a little closer in this picture so you can see one of my favorite purchases today. We only wear slippers and socks in the house during the day to avoid scuffing up the carpet and Logan's old slippers are pretty worn out so she needed a good pair of new ones and I found these gems that are essentially brand new (no marks, the soles are absolutely pristine) for a dollar!

I have to share that Logan has developed a great love for "talking" on the phone. She doesn't really do it when there is someone else on the other end (in fact, if you tried to talk to her on the phone she'd just sit there and make Mike and I look crazy for telling you how much she likes to be on the phone); but she likes to take the phone and put it to her ear and say "i" (hi) and bye-buh. Today I was talking on the phone as we were on the way home from the sale and Logan sat in the back with her hand to her ear saying "yeah, yeah, yeah" and then "bye buh" as I hung up. I almost had to pull over because I was laughing so hard! :)

Swagbucks and Budgeting

I'm not a huge fan of advertising on blogs because I think that a lot of people just skim over those posts and then avoid your blog because they think you're trying to sell them something but I can't give this one up. Today we sat down and tackled the big "B" word for our yearly finance checkup (budgeting) and I was actually really impressed with how well we've handled the finances the last year or so. We've definitely gone down a pay grade or two but are doing really well with it, all things considered. It's been an insane faith builder and for that I'll be forever grateful--being broke a lot of the time has actually been a blessing! :)

We've started cutting corner's in a lot of places to help us with the budgeting. Getting haircuts at home (yes, I know how to do men's hair now and actually really enjoy it), spending an hour or two on Sunday evening clipping coupons, spending an hour a week getting ready to go grocery shopping so that I know which coupons to use with which sales to get as many free items as possible, doing creative dates at home or cheap ones out, cloth diapering (which saves on average $50-75 a month in diapers) and other things. However, probably the biggest goldmine for us has been swagbucks.

It's an internet search engine (powered by google and ask.com) and you get random amounts of points for doing random searches (i.e. you don't get points EVERY time, but if you do 4-5 searches a day you're bound to get points for one of them) and you can trade in the points for prizes. Our favorite prize, by far, is the amazon gift card. We, on average, earn one $5 gift card a week. Just for searching the internet. No catch. Seriously. I've already redeemed them and used them so I know there isn't a catch. So, we're using our gift cards to get things for her basket and then we'll start saving them up for birthdays and Christmas. I've had friends use it and actually pay for Christmas presents entirely with swagbucks gift cards earned by searching the internet. What do you have to lose? Use one of the links above, or click here and register. If you use it, great, if not...well, you didn't pay anything and they don't spam you (I get MAYBE an email a month from them and you can opt out of those). Who knows, maybe you won't have to shell out a dime of your own money at all this holiday season. :)

Here's a picture of Logan (because I know you all read the blog just for those) doing her favorite thing in the world:

That's right, the girl would rather spend two hours tearing up paper towels than she would doing anything else. (I promise, I'll try and get some pictures today or tomorrow and do a Logan post to make up for this one-ha!)

Little Mama

Logan has been such a great little mommy lately that when we saw that Target's toddler play strollers had gone on sale this last week, we jumped at the chance to be able to get one for her to play with. She and I went to Target yesterday and she actually got to pick which color she wanted (I'm pretty sure I got it right...ha!) and then we brought it home and opened it up for her. As soon as we got it together she went and picked up a babydoll to put in it (so she knew what to do with it), mind you the baby was upside down, but we're getting there!