Watch out...

She's traded in her princess dress for a 'pirate jacket', her ballerina shoes for 'pirate boots' and her crown for a 'pirate hat'. Welcome to our family Pirate Ellie!

Saturday

The boys got up a little early this morning for a backyard train game party. The rest of the day was a Saturday working day.  A rainy day was just right for cleaning up the house (with a kids dance party,  breakfast-for-lunch waffles, and nap time in the middle).

Now we're enjoying the 6:00 sunshine (a wonder of Logan Springtime - every day about 6:00 the sky clears a bit and the sun shines beautifully) with bathtime for Ellie and Owen and "The Mysterious Benedict Society" read by Jordan for Landon and me.

From Owen

From Owen tonight - "Let's read a book, Daddy!" 

(Current favorites: Joseph had a little Overcoat, Owl Babies, Mother Goose, Nursery Tales, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear, Brown Bear Brown Bear, Go Dog Go)

And a sweet moment from yesterday, I was resting on the couch (this cold bug is hanging on!)  Owen ran out of the front room, then came back dragging a blanket from my bed behind him with all his might  -- "I need to get a blanket for Mommy!" 

From Landon

Landon making his "sugar and spice and everything nice" recipe. 

This just made me happy to read from Landon's blog this morning:

back to school!

Today I get to go back to school!And guess what!Its library day at school!Just to get ready I made my bed before 7:00 also I said my morning prayer!What a exsiting morning!

I sure love this Landon!

Conference

Landon and Ellie stitched their names during Conference this morning and kept happily busy for most of the first session and a little of the afternoon (woohoo!) Such a fun project - and so fun that they enjoyed it so much!

After 3 weeks with sick kids, I finally managed to catch their long-lasting cold this weekend. So, conference was mostly a rest on the couch event for me with naps in between sessions.  (But the kids have been running around and dancing and singing and playing, so I have hope that I will soon feel better too!)   A favorite from Conference was the line "A child who sings is a happy child" -- if that's true, then we must have three very happy children!

Happy Birthday Owen Buddy!

The birthday boy w/ possibly his favorite gift - a squishy 'splat' egg from Uncle Nathan

This little Owen is such a happiness maker in our family. With the best hugs ever, and his new vocabulary full of copy-cat phrases and "I love you too!" and just enough of "No!" to show he's really two... And he just makes us smile and laugh and feel so happy.  He loves to sit in the rocking chair and read a book, talk about 'the big bad wolf outside' from his favorite three little pigs story, help make breakfast or muffins or dinner or anything that lets him sit on the counter and measure and pour and stir. He loves to give hugs and join in the fun with Landon and Ellie's activities and race to Daddy as soon as he's spotted upstairs from work. And oh how we love our little Owen guy!

a happy (sick!) little guy

Owen and Landon at the temple for Julia's wedding a few weeks ago

These two boys  (and Ellie starting today) have been sick for the past few weeks - off and on - with just enough off to keep me from taking them in to the doctor.  Owen had a rough few days and I finally made an appointment with the pediatrician yesterday, but then he woke up happy and great so I canceled. Then about bedtime, we got home from a bikeride and his temperature was over 103, so in we went to Instacare. The nurses gave him some ibuprofen and he just sweetly (though sleepy and miserable!)  rested with me while we waited for the doctor. As soon as the the medicine kicked in though,  he was happy to sit up and play and talk about the 'big bad wolf' again and again :)

  Finally after an exam and some chest x-rays the doctor let me know that it looked like pneumonia. (This was definitely one of those times I was glad I didn't just keep waiting it out)  Poor little guy!  Still with some antibiotics working hard in his system and a lunchtime picnic  today,  he was  running around us in the grass with a "watch out everybody" and a  "look at me!"  (I've not yet learned how to get these boys to rest once they feel even a little bit better.)  We'll be back to the doctor this afternoon to check up on how he's doing, but so far he is one happy guy to be feeling better!

A boy!

We're super excited to be having another little boy in our family! Landon and Ellie both decided the morning of my ultrasound that they were hoping for a baby brother, so they were happy with the news. (Ellie's wishes have gone along with her current favorite names  "I hope it's a girl so we can name her Sarah!" "I hope it's a boy so we can name him Nathan!")

Farmers Market

I just turned in an application to sell at the Farmers Market this summer, and I've been loving having a reason to make more clippies and other fun things.  I finally got my craft room cleaned up and re-organized, so I've had such fun just sorting through fabric scraps and pieces and finding new ways to turn them into something cute. (Since I'm unsure about whether people ever actually sell anything at the Farmers Market, I've stuck with making pretty much everything with things I already have -- which is a fun creative task too :)

On our way to library

There's a road we take to get the North Logan library and a favorite park where we always spot deer. There's a small apple orchard nearby that I suspect they come to visit. I still have to slow down and point the deer out to the kids whenever I see them - it just seems so fun and unexpected (even though we may have seen them there last week...) It's just such a funny part of living in Logan.   I love this quick drive/ride - farmland, cows, horses, sheep (and deer!) it always makes me feel like we live in a very country town.

Spring Break

Spring Break!

We're having a happy week with Landon out of school. No big plans, but the most beautiful weather which has us outside just as much as we can be. Poor Owen is sick (still!), so I've had lots of cuddling time with my little buddy,  while Ellie and Landon have had a great time running around outside with bungee cord 'tales' pretending they are Tom and Lucy Little or making up other great games.  And we've had two library trips already (with my new card, North Logan is my favorite but Landon still loves the Logan library so we had to go to both :) And, hooray! It's officially adventure season so we've been out and about with bikerides/runs all around town the past few weeks.  Happy Spring!