Logan Turns 4

My Logan is 4 years old - I cannot believe it!! Where has the time gone?!! In the days leading up to Logan's birthday we talked and talked about how old he was going to turn and while the thought of him turning 4 was hard to digest...he kept joking and talking about turning 5 and 6 and even 12 and 13...I AM NOT READY!! It's amazing how quickly time passes but it's also amazing to watch what a wonderful little boy he is becoming.

Logan is the sweetest most thoughtful little boy.  Example: When I asked him what color cupcakes he wanted to serve at school he said, "Green for the boys and pink for the girls" - how cute is that?!  So yes, we celebrated Logan's birthday at school, on his actual birthday, with cupcakes for him and all his friends.  I was lucky that I was able to escape my classroom for a few minutes to enjoy the party...see below for cuteness:

LOOK AT THIS FACE!!

This is truly a Logan face...he's so genuinely excited and having so much fun with his friends - adorable!

Logan had so much fun celebrating his birthday at school that he fell asleep on the way home and took a nice little nap.  When he woke up and Daddy came home we opened the presents Logan had received from Papa & Mimi and Grandma & Grandpa.

 Thanks Papa & Mimi for the Tangrams!! Logan loves them!!

The following is from Grandma & Grandpa...

 Yes, it's a trampoline...so while Daddy put it together, we had cupcakes:

Here's Daddy reading the directions...

These are the birthday cards Logan's friends at school made him - he's so lucky to have such amazing friends!!

More of Daddy building the trampoline:

As you the can imagine the boys wanted to help but Daddy didn't love that idea so we sat and watched...

Then it was FINALLY finished:

Since Logan's birthday was in the middle of the week we had to wait till Friday night for our family to come into town to help us continue the celebration and attend Logan's birthday party.  We were so lucky to have my mom, my sister, my brother and his girlfriend (Madison), visit for the weekend.  Of course Saturday morning when we woke up Logan had to have his presents...

 ...more Rescue Botts to complete his "fleet"...such a happy (spoiled) child!!

I think Daddy loves the toys as much as Logan does.

After opening presents at home Saturday morning my mom and I went out to pick up the Balloons and Cake/Cupcakes for Logan's birthday party at My Gym later Saturday afternoon.  The funniest thing was since I booked the party Logan kept asking, "Where is my birthday party going to be?!" and I'd always respond, "My Gym"...which is what the place is called. Logan didn't quite get it and when people would ask him where the party was going to be he'd always say, "Mommies Gym" which is SO CUTE! 

Anyway - we packed up the car and the decorations and the cake, oh, and the kids and family and went to My Gym for the party.  Logan was a wonderful host and was so excited to play and celebrate with 99% of his class plus our neighbor.  My Gym runs a great party...the pictures speak for themselves:

Getting to know everyone's names...

Logan on the bar...fearless!!

Being a good listener :)

Logan with all his friends...

Playing a game

Surfin - check out the balance!!

SO FUN!

Emmett with his "friend" Kendall...so adorable!

Logan on that "flying carpet" and his friends doing the Birthday March...

CAKE!!

Makin' a wish...

Check out those blue teeth from the cupcake...I didn't realize how much of an impact that icing would have...

Emmett LOVED this girl and the stuffed octopus!!

Sisters

Logan's friends saying goodbye

This is Logan's "special friend" Eliana...she made him a special birthday card that she wanted to hand deliver - SO CUTE!!

Absolutely could have died watching this moment!!

So as you can see the 4th Birthday Party in our new location was a success.  Logan has made an amazing group of friends and he makes me (and his Daddy) proud every day.  I am so impressed with his love for school, love to play and his imagination.  His ability to make people smile and truly care about how people are feeling melts my heart.  Logan loves his brother more and more each day and he loves to see Emmett have fun and they love to experience things together.  It's been quite the adventure these past four years and my Logan is a true blessing in our lives.  Thank goodness we have another year of preschool ahead of us because it's going to take me that long to wrap my head around the fact that before long Logan will be going to kindergarten...OMG seriously?! 

Happy 4th Birthday Bug...no matter how old you get, you'll always be my baby.  

Diana

  

The last 6 months of my life...

I know it's been 6 months since I blogged last but things have been VERY VERY VERY busy.  I absolutely love living in Virginia and it's been quite the transition from small city livin' that we were used to in Mississippi. Here's a cliff-notes version of the last 6 months...bullet-style (cause that's how I roll)...

• Summer 2012:  
• We moved to VA and into a HOUSE - yes, that's right a house! We LOVE it and have truly made it a home...though it's taken me this long to really get a handle on everything.  
• Unfortunately my husband lost three grandparents and we spent a lot of time juggling schedules so that he could be in MN to mourn with his family.  The kids and I went to one funeral but traveling with little ones isn't easy and with moving it was easier on everyone if that was our only trip.  I was so fortunate to know all these wonderful people and they will be missed greatly.
• We joined the Jewish Community Center and spent most of the summer in the pool.  It took Emmett all summer to actually enjoy the pool, not just the climbing toys around the pool...but I just know he's gonna be a fish this summer as he's already begun swimming in the bathtub.  Logan is a natural and we did the whole swim lesson thing - he loved it!
• I got a job!! I am now working at the kids preschool as a lead 2 year old teacher.  I have my own class of thirteen wonderful two year olds and I love every minute of it.  Because it's a Jewish preschool I am rediscovering my Jewish roots and having so much fun.  It's also awesome to see how much the kids are learning...more to come on Logan's Hebrew in another post :).
• Fall 2012: 
• I began learning how to balance my work life and home life and Brennan's busy travel schedule.  It's taken me awhile to adjust to getting myself and the kids to school every morning between packing lunches and getting everyone dressed, but we've finally gotten it down!
• Work, work, work...is what I've been doing.  We have quite the curriculum for my class and when you're starting from scratch it takes a while to figure out what works and what doesn't...I still have a few more months then G-d willing I'll be hired for next year and be in a much better place with planning since I'll have a whole year under my belt.  
• Balancing visiting family - yay we live close by!! We've definitely taken advantage of living closer to family and have spent lots of weekends and holidays with my family in NC.  It's not too bad of a drive and since my sister lives halfway, we've utilized her in the car and she gets a free ride - everyone wins!!
• In September we helped my grandparents celebrate their 60th Wedding Anniversary!! It was AWESOME!! 
• Sick kids - I know I've blogged about sick kids before but we've had our fair share this fall/winter.  Emmett is still dealing with ear infections and has been recently diagnosed with Asthma-like symptoms which involve daily inhalers.  Both kids also had pneumonia at Thanksgiving which took a while to recover from.  I'm so lucky we're in a TriCare Center because I feel like we've been to the doctor once if not more a month lately!! 
• Holidays 2012:
• We were lucky enough to have my mom, Brennan's parents and my sister visit around the holidays.  We hung lights for the first time this year (in and outside the house) and it was so fun to be celebrating in our nice house! The kids loved lighting the menorahs and Logan even knew the blessings!! We also celebrated Christmas with Brennan's parents and now, between all the holidays, we have more toys than EVER!! (We had to add more shelving, but the kids LOVE it)
• We rang in the New Year with just us as I had my tubes tied (yes I really did) right before the end of the year.  Brennan also traveled a ton in December so it was nice to keep it low-key.

So now it's almost the end of January, Brennan and I just celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary and Logan turns 4 tomorrow.  I cannot believe Logan will be 4 and I have told him there will be no more birthdays after this one...he keeps talking about when he'll turn 5, 6 and even, dare I say it, 12?! I'm barely ready for him to turn 4...this means 1 more year of preschool and then Kindergarten?! I can't take it!! But I am extremely proud of the little human he has become.  PS Emmett it talking up a storm and more adorable/mischievous every day.  

I'm hoping in this new year, 2013, that my life finds even more balance and blessings and more time to blog.  I love having this blog to look back and remember events and I promise to do it more often.  I hope you've enjoyed my super cliff notes last 6 months of my life...tomorrow brings a birthday to be blogged about another day.

Thanks for catching up with me...now here are a few photos from the last 6 months...

Diana