Random Things

I went a little out of order, but I was so behind that I don't mind at this point. So here are more recent things from the last couple of weeks (with more to come soon)...

- On tuesday morning a couple weeks ago, I got in the car with Grace, about to head to the grocery store. Ryan was home for half the day (getting ready for a night shift that night). I tried to turn on the car and it wouldn't start. :( It had been warning us for a few days prior to that, because it would take more of an effort to turn over each morning I would try to turn on the car. So neither of us were all that surprised. It was actually a HUGE blessing it happened that morning, since Ryan happened to be home! We tried jumping the battery but that wasn't working so Ryan finally just drove his car to buy a new battery. Total bummer having to pay that money, but really it could have been something much worse. This same thing happened to us in Henderson about 3 years ago with this same car. Anyway, it was totally fine with the new battery. Again, I'm grateful Ryan was home! I would have been totally stuck.

- Later that day I was making tuna melts for all of us for lunch and had a little clumsy moment while pulling them out of the oven. :( The pan toppled over inside the oven and there was tuna sandwich EVERYWHERE. I do this kind of thing a lot, to be honest... but I get so angry with myself with it does happen. Ryan knows this about me, and loves me despite those flaws. He was perfectly fine, being so positive and helpful, and insisted on cleaning it up. I am a lucky girl.

- Also later that day, the weather was so beautiful outside! I took the kids in the backyard and part of our grass was even dry enough that Logan was able to crawl around on it. It was a perfect afternoon.

- The next day I packed the kids and some snacks in the car, and we drove down to Dayton (Springboro) where some friends live. The Karrens and the Mortensens moved there for residency the same time we moved to Columbus. We are so blessed to be close enough to visit each other sometimes!  The drive down was so easy, only being 90 minutes, and the kids were perfectly happy. I didn't even need to pull out the DVD player. We stayed and played for a couple hours, ate lunch, and then drove 30 minutes up to Beavercreek where my cousin's family lives.

Melissa and her husband are so wonderful and sweet, and their kids are seriously like little angels. I haven't seen them in probably 3 years, and only got to see Melissa and her youngest daughter Brynlee on this visit. It was only a short hour, but I am so grateful to have them close by as well! It makes me feel closer to "home" when we can talk about our extended families and catch up like that. I look forward to having more chances to visit with them! The drive home was again very nice and uneventful. It had snowed a little while we were in Dayton so I was a little nervous about the drive home, but the roads were only a little wet by the afternoon and it was a very easy drive! I honestly want to do it more often... If only the gas prices would ease up a bit.

This was Logan being super silly in the car and holding his binky in his mouth backwards.

- A couple days ago I experienced my first ice storm. I've heard about them, and "freezing rain", but hadn't seen it myself in person. When we woke up the other morning, I opened the door and felt the ground with my hand. It was solid, thick ice, but bumpy with all of the frozen drops of water. It was so crazy! I am very happy with the fact that I get to stay home with my kids and don't have to commute in that kind of weather. Plus I was extra grateful that Ryan had been on an overnighter retreat with the other interns at the hospital and we not going to be driving home until that afternoon.

- Logan turned 13 months old on the 21st, and he is yet again surprising me with how much he is learning and changing in just a few weeks of time!! He is getting so big and old. He decided to start walking finally and will take as many as 6-8 little steps (at the most) so far. It has to be the right moment though, because he still prefers to crawl and only lets me help him walk once or twice a day. He also is saying lots of new things:
-"ba" for bath
-signs the word "more"
-"guh" for good
-"poo" for poop, hehe
-"dee dee" for stinky and shakes his head back and forth
-"ow"
-"hi"
-"dee" or "tzee" for please
I'm sure there are a couple more I am not thinking of.
Logan knows where his nose, ears, and head are. He knows how to make animal noises for dogs, monkeys, lions, bears and ducks. I LOVE this stage when they're starting to really soak things in and interact more. :)

Logan's look of concentration. Smooshy face! And those big lips just kill me.

I couldn't resist.

Another thing about Logan at this stage is that he is very, very unhappy a lot of the time. Honestly, it's MOST of the time. Throughout the day, he is most often crying/sobbing, having a tantrum (throwing his face into the ground or rolling around the floor and getting angry at anything in his way), whining, pulling at my pants to pick him up, and hitting Grace and getting upset with her even if she is being sweet to him. He is often inconsolable. It's really taxing on me. I don't know why a one year is like this... other than he is teething. I'm pretty sure that's it, but can't feel or see any areas of his gums that are particularly sore. He really is pushing my limits and patience these days, especially in church. Grace was just so angelic at this age... unless I'm remembering wrong?

So ornery!!

- He is also really silly though, just like his sister. They feed off of earh other's silliness and I can't help but sit back and watch the two of them speak their little language back and forth. They'll do funny dance moves, or make crazy noises back and forth, or belly laugh together, or play pretend kitchen with cups and spoons and such. I'm really glad they are buddies (when they are both in the mood to be).

Logan didn't want to eat his broccoli at dinner, and placed it ever so carefully on the tip of his sippy cup. Silly boy.

Grace was dancing in this photo (I think?) and Logan was trying to mimic everything she was doing. We were all cracking up!

- Grace dips her peanut butter sandwiches (and apples) in ranch. Gross... I just wanted to record that. ;) She is obsessed with ranch and doesn't seem to care about any "rules" when it comes to her favorite dips. While eating chicken nuggets and fries, she dips her nugget in ketchup and her fries in the ranch.

- Ryan is working NICU right now and it's been typical hospital ward hours: 6am-6pm on the weekdays and 7am-7pm on the weekends, plus lots of night shifts. :( He goes to the gym almost every morning which means he leaves at 3:30 am. It's really his only outlet, since he comes home, eats, and practically goes right to bed after work, so I understand his need to do something besides just working and sleeping.
He finally had a couple days off (yesterday and today) and I was able to go see the movie Safe Haven with some friends during the kids' nap time yesterday. When I got home a few hours later, I walked in to the front room and this is what I found! The COOLEST fort ever. All of the furniture was moved around and Ryan and pulled blankets from everywhere. It was pretty darn awesome, and they were all inside playing. My kids have a cool dad. :)

- Here is a random photo of the kids looking at a huge group of birds eating our grass seed...

- Today Grace gave the opening prayer in primary and she did such a good job! She didn't get too shy (which I was sure would happen), but walked right up to the stool, folded her arms, and let me help her say the prayer. It was so sweet. I am so proud of her! She honestly refuses to say the prayers at home. I ask her almost every time, and we went through a point where we wouldn't let her eat a meal unless she said it. Usually we would have to give in and say it ourselves because she would be stubborn and stare at us, or cry... We realized quickly that's not the way to do it. She is very slowly coming around, and she will surprise me sometimes by letting me help her say the bedtime prayer. She knows how to, and will add in cute things here and there, but we still struggle with continuity.

- Last night we went to get burgers at the brand new Smashburger location that was just opened a few days ago! It was yummy and tasted like "home" to me. :) We are excited to have a Smashburger only 20ish minutes away. Five Guys is here, but we really don't like their food very much. The other burger place we have tried that we really love is Inferno Burger. They have awesome burgers and awesome fries... however they do not have Dr. Pepper. We can't have it all, can we? ;)