Grace Funnies

Ryan: "Maybe Grace will marry a doctor."

Grace: "No. No doctor."

Ryan: "A lawyer?"

Grace: "Not a lawyer."

Ryan: "How about a cowboy, like Woody?"

Grace: "No cowboy. I want a farmer! I want to ride horses!"

Funny what goes on in her mind sometimes... I don't know why she thought a farmer, instead of a cowboy, was the way to go, considering she wanted to ride horses. ;)

Another one during lunch today...

Grace: "Shoo fly, don't father me!"

This is the face she makes when she looks up into the sky and the sun is bright. That scrunchy face makes us laugh every time! 

Logan's highlight: 5 months old

He's not really sitting up on his own... just propped up.

5 months already?!?! I can't believe it. This post is all about our little stud and I'm warning you now that it is a picture overload! He doesn't get a lot of pictures on our blog sometimes so here goes...

weight: ??? (probably 17 lbs)
height: ???

Big-Boy-Logan is now officially in size 4 diapers, due to his high volume of blowouts. However he has slowed down as far as his growth and weight-gain over the last month. He is still wearing a lot of the same clothes that he was at 3-4 months, which is a big surprise for us... We were so sure that by 5 months he'd be in straight 9 month clothes.

I love this view of Logan from the back...

Logan loves his mama. If I leave the house, he seems to sense it and he is NOT happy about it. On the nights I have gone out after the kids are in bed, he has woken up from a dead sleep and cried for an hour or more for Ryan until I come home. :( He must love me.

Logan and I spent some time in the kiddie pool the other day and he didn't whine at all about the cold water! Even when I kinda-sorta lost my grip and he got half-way dunked. Don't you just love that chunky belly and chest?

Logan was sleeping pretty well at night (about 8pm-5 or 6am) until a couple weeks ago. He started waking up every 2-3 hours again and wouldn't go back to sleep unless I nursed him. That told us that he was just super hungry and needed more in this diet. So last week we started him on baby oatmeal (mixed with breast milk) ... and my goodness, it was like we'd been starving him! He understood how to eat it right away and his eyes were so wide, like "Where has food been all my life?!" He now has about 1/3 cup of oatmeal twice a day and nurses 6 or 7 times a day. He likes to eat!

He naps about 2-3 times a day, depending on how long or short the first 2 are. Then he'll sleep from 7:30pm-7am, with a "dream feed" at 10pm and usually a feeding in the early morning. He either sleeps in his crib (if Grace isn't in there trying to sleep), in the pack-n-play set up in the office, or in his bouncy chair in our room. He can pretty much sleep anywhere if he's swaddled and it's quiet. I feel bad sometimes that he doesn't have a set place, like his own bed every time, to sleep in... but I know he's still at an age where he's versatile. We'll figure it out as he gets better at sleeping during the night.

When we set Logan down to sleep, we've discovered that he has to have something soft near his cheek. so he can rub his face against it. It must be his "comfort" thing. Either a soft blanket or his stuffed lion next to his cheek helps him relax and fall asleep. It's so sweet to watch him immediately turn towards whatever is next to him. (I always make sure his airway is clear, of course!) :)

Cutest picture ever, right?! My kids are getting so big.

Logan is still constantly chewing on something! His fingers, or my fingers, or his bib, or toys are CONSTANTLY in his mouth. He really enjoys being in his exer-saucer or laying on the play-mat with toys above him. He's getting so good at grabbing things and bringing them to his mouth and enjoys looking at/reaching for different things that are around him. It's so fun to watch him concentrating and learning. We're coming up on my very favorite baby age of 6 months and sitting up!!

Grace asks multiple times a day to hold Logan on her lap. He doesn't really like it... unless her hand is near his face and then he'll contentedly suck on it.

We truly love having Logan around! He makes us smile when he gives us his squinty eyed-gummy smiles and squeals. He is so strong and is growing up so fast. I want him to stay my "baby" for a whole lot longer but I have a feeling he won't stay this way for long. I love that Logan wants to be with me and needs me. I love that he will lay his head down on my shoulder when he's super tired. I know Ryan looks forward to the day when he can teach Logan to be a rough-and-tumble little boy ... but until then I truly adore my baby boy. :)

Daddy time & Father's Day

We are quickly running out of days with Ryan at home with us... 3 days left. :( We are both a little excited and a lot nervous for our own separate lives that are starting on monday. Ryan back at work, with 12 hours per day, 6-7 days a week of working, and all of that time learning and being tested on his knowledge. And for me it's all that time handling the kids and the house, and learning to live in a new city, by myself. But like I said, we're both still feeling some excitement for what's coming. 

Last friday, Ryan and I, the kids, and Amanda and her kids, drove into downtown Columbus (where my brother works) to meet him for lunch. We drove past Nationwide Children's on the way and MAN is it huge! I can't wait to take a tour myself and actually see where Ryan will be living for 3 years, hehe. Anyway, we walked with the Goates over to a big park area in the middle of downtown called the Columbus Commons. On the way there we walked through a farmer's market they hold every friday. 

This park is a HUGE field of grass and has a concert/stage area on one side where they hold concerts on the weekends. Definitely something we'll have to check out soon! But during the day there was a big children's play area set up on the grass with lots of free activities. It was so neat! They had kites and balls available for the kids, a water/bounce slide set up, a bubble machine, $1 carousel rides, things to build and climb on, etc. Grace and Owen were in love! 

 We got some lunch of hamburgers or pizza from the food stands there. My burger was pretty awesome, to be honest. The best one I've had since moving here, and we've been to 3 burger places with disappointing results each time - but not this time. :) So I was happy.

 The next day (I think?) it was still super hot and humid!! We pumped/filled up our new pool and let Grace splash around for awhile. Even Ryan joined in! It's SO nice having Ryan home... What will I do without him? We've been so spoiled.

 Sunday was Father's Day and I put together by myself the kids and I surprised our Daddy with some fun things in the morning. Thank you Pinterest! :) We had a nice morning hanging out and getting ready for church. I taught my lesson and then Grace had 3 accidents AND a poop accident before we finally went home to clean up. Yuck.

 On our way home from church it was sprinkling a little bit outside and we were laughing about how Ryan had to BBQ our dinner while it rained on him a little bit. Then... we get home and it turned into a total DOWNPOUR! Poor Ryan, but it was awesome! Our pool was turned upside down but it still had collected a ton of water which Ryan poured out. The picture is of the patio being flooded by the rain water.

"Happy Father's Day, Ryan!... Now go cook us some dinner in the downpour please." hehe

 We had some awesome kabobs! Sooo good. The chicken was marinaded with this and we will definitely use it all the time now. Ryan also requested stuffing (one of his very favorite things), and fruit.

 He also requested a lemon cake, which his his ABSOLUTE favorite dessert. I can't stomach lemon desserts, but he sure enjoyed it! I'm glad the kids and I could celebrate Ryan and give him a yummy meal. We love you so much, Ryan! I couldn't ask for a better Daddy for my children, or a better husband.

Behind again...

I just have to say that I have never felt this busy before! I miss my "boring" days in Henderson when it was just Grace and I and we had nothing to do but sit around and play. I'm a little bit behind again in my blogging but wanted to do some kind of update, so here goes... It's kind of long!

1. Grace got her first real haircut (finally, right?) a week or so ago. We weren't sure how she would react so we paid for the Cookie Cutter experience. She was perfectly still and quiet (thanks to Toy Story on the screen in front of her) but at least now I know she will probably do just fine in the future at a cheaper place. :) I'm just grateful she doesn't have a mullet anymore... and her hair has some amazing curls in it now that we're in the humidity.

2. Ryan bought a car! He got a 2003 Nissan Altima with a manual transmission. He's been super excited about getting a car of his own AND one with a stick shift. I don't know why exactly... but he loves it, so we're happy with it. I'm so grateful that I have my car to myself finally. It's been a long time coming and hopefully now I won't be such a hermit stuck inside all the time.

3. Logan is starting to laugh for real now! In the last week or two he has had a few moments where he gets the giggles. You can check out the most recent laughing experience on this video. He's such a stud!! I also wanted to mention that he's really good at grabbing things and bringing them to his mouth. He loves his exer-saucer now too. He's getting so big!!


4. Ryan starts his orientation week for his 1st year of residency a week from tomorrow. He is excited but admittedly very nervous. I keep reminding him that he's not only exactly what they wanted (reminder: he's the only male out of the 4 new pediatric residents... they only ever take one guy each year and they chose HIM as their top choice) but he's also a really fast learner who works super hard. He will do great! I am also nervous about what's coming as far as his schedule... but also ready to get started on our new "normal". We'll see!

5. In an effort to get to know our surroundings and do some sight-seeing, we tried to go to Kirtland to see the visitor's center, go on the guided tour, see the Temple, and do whatever the kids would allow us to do on a day-trip. It's a nearly 3-hour drive to get there, then we missed a tour group that started right as we were getting there, and the next one ended up starting an hour late (which is not normal). So we'd wasted a lot of time waiting around and the kids were already restless and hungry. By the time we were able to walk around for the tour we were out of time. We needed to find somewhere to eat lunch so we could rush over to the Temple and start that tour on time. By the time we got over there and found out that their tour (through the Community of Christ who owns the Kirtland Temple) is an hour long, I knew the kids would never make it. It was already 1:30pm and nothing was working out, so we just decided to head home. I was pretty upset about it all, with such a long drive and not feeling the Spirit that resides in those sacred places, and was a little emotional. :( I almost burst into tears as we left the Kirtland visitors center (after waiting forever for a tour) and the missionary couple apologized to us for the 20th time. We'll just have to go back again and do it without kids if we can manage it.

The only thing we saw... the outside of the Whitney store.

6. We love, love, love our backyard! We have played soccer and volleyball back there, had picnics, had hand-stand contests, played in the pool, had a BBQ and ate dinner on our patio, and are currently enjoying watching all our veggies and berries grow! We already picked our first zucchini and basil leaves and I'm planning to use them in this recipe. It feels so good to eat fresh things from our own garden! Ryan works so hard out there trying to get everything to flourish, and especially works hard on our grass. It needs a lot of work with all the clover and dry grass. He bought himself an electric lawn mower and loves it. :) I'm happy he enjoys working in our yard so much.

7. Another place we visited last week was Slate Run Living Historical Farm which is just a 15 minute drive or so from our house. It's a self-sufficient, 1880s farm that doesn't use electricity or anything gas-powered. We were excited to see the animals and the farm house with ladies actually canning, gardening and doing typical day-to-day chores on the farm... but... as is our luck when it comes to stuff I plan, we got there about 20 minutes before it was closing. Yeah, I guess I didn't do enough research on it first. We saw a few things and Grace especially loved seeing the sheep, cows, and horses. We'll have to go back sometime and see all the other stuff!

On the way home from the farm we went over some pretty awesome hills... up and down and up and down, going a good 40 mph or so. It had a fun effect on the stomach! However Grace was FREAKING OUT. She wouldn't let go of her toys or her cup just incase something happened to them while her stomach was doing flips or something. Poor thing. We enjoyed it though!

8. Two words: Potty. Training. We started 6 days ago and it feels like an uphill battle even 6 days in. Her first day went as expected: lots of accidents but she was super excited to try and learn what to do. She got 1 M&M for sitting on the toilet to at least try, and 2 if she was able to potty in the toilet successfully. The second day was still so-so for her. She was getting better at peeing in the toilet and had less accidents. Day three however was when the monster came out of her. She would SCREAM and yell and kick and not want anything to do with getting on the toilet when we asked her to try and go. Serious attitude issues that day, like she woke up and wanted nothing to do with this new skill. However it was also the day we learned two things about her: she is a little bit pee-shy and I have to pretend like I have something to do so I can leave the bathroom or she can't go very easily, and she will absolutely only use the toilet when it's HER idea. When we have somewhere to go, or it's before nap or bedtime, she will not go to the bathroom just to "try" unless it's her idea. Even if she's dancing around and clenching her legs together because her bladder is full, she still says "no" if we ask whether she needs to pee. It must be her idea or she won't. Today was day 6 and we went to church without a pull-up. I took 2 changes of underwear and leggings, which she went through within 2 hours. :( She also went #2 and got poop all over her dress as well. Yuck. :( We're working on it but I swear her attitude is so terrible lately that sometimes I seriously can't handle it. I hate potty training, but it's a necessary evil.

Someday she'll hate me for posting this, but it's so cute.

Here she's saying "I get 2 M&Ms"

9. One funny thing about being in the same ward as family AND our landlords (who is the ward clerk) is that everyone knew we were coming. The Bishopric already had callings for us and issued them to us the first sunday we were there. :) I am now the sunday school teacher for the 12 and 13 year olds (which currently is just 4 girls and no boys). Ryan is the YM's secretary and the Scouting Coordinator which means he works with my brother Ben who is the scout master. So far we're both loving our callings. I'm still nervous every week teaching these cute girls but I need to stop being nervous. Teaching anything is not a calling I'm comfortable with at all, but Heavenly Father knew that I could handle the sweet 12 year olds, and I know He's right. :) We also were asked to speak in Sacrament meeting last sunday. Our topic was {no joke} "the Law of Chastity". haha Fun right? Like "Welcome to the ward! Talk about Chastity to a bunch of people who don't know you yet." It turned out fine though. Ryan focused on speaking to the men about being worth to hold and use the Priesthood, and I spoke to the parents and the youth about how to have peace in our lives by being morally clean and teaching our children to be as well.

10. I seriously love living here. I know I just said that in the last post, but I really do. Today it rained on and off all day... like really RAINED hard. Lots and lots of water. Our kitty pool gathered a whole bunch of water in it just from the rain. I absolutely love the rain and always have. Tonight I was driving over to my brother's house and had my windows down while it was just sprinkling a little bit. I was thinking to myself how beautiful it was outside with all the wheat and corn fields on each side of the road, and the cool evening air coming in the window. And right then a deer ran across the road and was walking through the golden wheat field on the other side. I honestly said a prayer of gratitude right then because of how happy I am to live here. haha You're probably laughing at me right now, but I'm happy. :) I just wanted to share that... again.

House Tour

Welcome to our new home!

This is the view from our front porch, looking to the left...

And looking to the right.

Our 2 car garage. Ryan spent a TON of time organizing and cleaning up our garage so everything has a place. It helps a ton that there is a crawl space to store things in.

When you first walk in the door, you walk into the living room. On the right is a staircase going upstairs. I know it still seems a little sparse as far as decorations or colors... We'll add things as we go along. :)

On the left is our piano and an open area to play in.

Here is the TV part of the living room. 

 Here's the kitchen. I'm getting used to it's size... and how there is pretty much NO counter space, and hardly any room for food or dishes or storage. Even with a pantry behind that wood door (which is actually where we put our appliances and tupperware, etc)! We've pulled out our table to the oval size twice in the last week and there's hardly any room to move around or fit 6 people when we do. haha. It's ok though! Really. We're getting used to it.

There is also a door to the backyard.

 Looking from the back door into the kitchen. There's a half bath to the left, behind the table.

 This is the hallway off of the kitchen and living room that leads to our bedroom. The first door on the right is the laundry room and the next one down goes to our garage.

Here is our bedroom with windows that look out to the backyard. We really love our new bed and dresser from Ikea, and our bedding and curtains from Target! Ryan and I decided that instead of going on a graduation trip we would use that money to buy some new things for our home. I'm glad we made that decision now that we have it all in place! After 6 years of old or used furniture, and rugs and towels that had gotten gross or ruined, it's so nice to start fresh with some new things. :) I do need to add some decor to the walls still. I'm in no rush though.

This is looking back towards the hall and you can see our master bath as well.

Now, as for the second level... When you walk up the stairs, you turn to the left and see the loft area. We decided to make this the kids' playroom with all the toys and books, and have the computer here as well. We still need to build the little bookshelf we got for all of the kids books... and need to put things on the walls so it's not so boring!

If you turn to the left, you go into the kids' room. Yes... we have the kids together in the same room! It works out some of the time and Logan is still little enough that he can nap down on our bed during the day if we're worried he'll wake up Grace, or vice versa. We can always change our minds later if we decide it's not working. But it's such a huge room that it makes sense right now!

Logan's crib and changing table are on the left side of the room...

And Grace's furniture is on the right side. We got the kids some new bedding and they use the same color scheme of pink/brown/green for Grace and green/brown for Logan. I think it turned out really cute for a boy/girl/nursery/big-girl room! haha 

I still need to get Logan's name up on the wall soon.

 Ryan's office (the smaller bedroom upstairs) is to the right of the loft. He has a desk, his books, his OMM table...

 and his awards and diplomas up on the wall already. :) We're still waiting for the Touro diploma to come any day. This room will also be our guest bedroom whenever people visit.

 This is the 2nd full bathroom which is just to the right of Ryan's office. It's also the kids' bathroom. I need to do more to decorate in here too. All in good time. :)

 Here is our back yard! There is a patio where the back door is, plus our barbecue.  It's so fun having all that grass to play on. It needs a lot of help so the clover will die and the grass seed will grow thicker and softer. Our landlord is helping with it and I'm sure by this time next year it'll be a lot nicer!

The other walled-off area is our garden which is already producing some yummy things like zucchini and little tomatoes just starting to form. The other things that are growing are: cilantro, basil, peppers, watermelon, pumpkin, and maybe a few others I'm not thinking of right now. Our jalapeño plant already died for some reason.

Our landlord had already planted 2 blackberry bushes and they are doing really well! There are little, green, baby blackberries growing and should be ready to pick really soon. I'm so excited!

On the side of our house there is a whole row of about 20 or so strawberry plants. They had already produced a bunch of fruit a couple weeks before we moved in and were pretty much done for the season. But in the last couple weeks there were a few teeny tiny strawberries that I found. Cute right? :) I'm looking forward to next year when we can harvest a bunch more! Problem is that you have to keep the bunnies and birds from eating them before you can get to them.

Well there's our house! We really love it here. I wish I could somehow show you all what's it like to drive to our house... winding through the farm fields. It's so neat! I never thought I'd love the "rural" feel so much, but I really, really do. It's beautiful here. The grass and the trees and the ponds and the corn and wheat fields are all beautiful. Even in the last 3 weeks, I feel like I've watched the local corn fields go from short green stalks to beautiful golden stalks that are now almost waist-high. It's amazing how quickly everything grows and how absolutely OPPOSITE it is from our last home.

Needless to say, we're happy here in our new place. It's a perfect place for us to be for the next 3 years. :)