Keeping it interesting around here!

While Jeremy is out out of town, I always try to think of fun things to do so that we can get out of the house.  I have to really give it to single parents.  It is a hard, hard job!  Even when I have to do it for a day, I feel totally closed up inside a little box.  This is where our adventures come in.  They help get me out of the little box and out into the fun world of kids activities!  Yay for me!

This week, Jeremy went on a baseball trip to watch the Red Sox play in Kansas City, and Logann was out of school on Monday.  So, my planning went into overdrive and we did lots of fun things all crammed into two days!

On Monday, we raced over to the library for story time.  They do a great job of reading, singing, and playing games for 30 minutes.  If I were a kid, I would totally dig story time!  As the parent, I totally dig putting on my running shoes and to getting out of the house with the kids.  (The running shoes come in handy when Merritt decides to ram herself into the cardboard props used for the final story or for when she decides it's computer time but changes her mind and decides it's puzzle time but then rethinks it and heads over to rearrange the furniture.)

As soon as story time ended, we threw on our socks and headed over to JumpZone to jump ourselves silly.  Logann mastered the flip inside the bouncy houses and Merritt managed to climb in and out of every toy One Million times!  They laughed and played for a couple of hours before our tummies got hungry and we just needed a McDonald's burger!


Climbing the ladder (but not to the top)

Giving a ride "to the library"

Learning to do the tire swing

 Since Logann was out of school, we took the time during Merritt's nap to create a yummy, "healthy" snack.

We sliced 2 bananas

topped them off with peanut butter

dipped them in chocolate

and froze them to make a popable treat!

On Tuesday, I took Merritt out to run errands while Logann got to enjoy a WHOLE day of kindergarten.  Apparently Merritt had enjoyed so much juice that we had to check on out at Hobby Lobby and change her clothes in the car.  We had to make one more stop, so she paraded into Kohl's wearing clothes that didn't fit over her little belly, but she wore them proudly!

That evening, we cleaned up after dinner and headed to the park to fly a kite.  This was our first attempt, there wasn't much wind, and our kite was from the "Dollar Spot" at Target, but it turned out pretty successful.  We were able to launch it several times, and Logann giggled as she ran around the park with her pretty kite soaring over her head.

so much fun

happiness



trying to push sissy on the swing

giggling girl

 We enjoy our fun times together, but we are sure glad when our Daddy gets home!

Unexpected adventure

Anyone that knows me well knows that I am not a big fan of adventure, much less unexpected adventure. As a mom, I try to plan adventures every now and again so that the girls can see more than the inside of our house. Now, by adventure I'm not talking about water skiing (long story on why I won't do that again) or hunting squatches in a wooded area. Our type of adventures include Story Time at the Library or riding in the Jeep with the top down on an adventure to Sonic! That is real fun! This morning we had nothing on our agenda, so I decided that we would go out and take a walk. We got around, finished an episode of Elmo's World, and set out on our walk. Spur of the moment, we decided to walk towards the west side of our neighborhood so that we could take in some new scenery. As we walked along the winding sidewalk, I asked the girls if they wanted to head over to the playground across the street from our neighborhood. Of course they did!

We arrived at the playground and played around for a bit, all the while admiring the little pond and its ducks that sat behind our area. Logann decided that she wanted to check out the ducks, so she made her way towards the water to observe the animals. (I'll squash the anticipation now about what happened to her at the water. She did not fall in--she has made great strides since this little blog began.) She heard my many warnings to stay back from the water or to leave the ducks alone. As she made her way around the water's edge, she yelled, "MOM! You've got to come see this!" Merritt and I made our way down to the bank and saw tons of turtles poking their little heads out of the water to observe us. None would actually find the courage to step up on the land, but the girls loved seeing and counting the little turtle heads bobbing in the water. Logann wandered around the pond a bit and again shouted for us to come and see. We stood back to admire a nest full of eggs. She was amazed!

In order to keep the animals from little kid danger, I took Merritt back up to slide and to play. Logann just stood at the bank of the pond and took in the scenery.

She was so cute as she admired the animals. We have already decided that we must go back with some bread crumbs so that we can entice the turtles to come closer. For a spur-of-the-moment adventure, we had a blast finding unexpected treasures. Our only set back was trying to get Merritt home.

You make me proud

The saying rings true that all parents find that their kids win the contest when looking for the cutest kid in the picture or the best athlete on the team or the sweetest kid in the class or the smartest kid in the school. Honestly, this is the truth at our house. I'm sorry to break the news to the rest of the world. I have the cutest, smartest, nicest, most athletic children in the world, and that's no secret. I am a PROUD mommy!

As a parent, and frankly as a person, I struggle with being proud of myself. I often compare myself to those around me. I've done this as a kid, and I continue to do it as an adult. This comparison causes unnecessary struggles and an unhappy attitude that I constantly strive to undo. I don't want these struggles to cast a shadow on my children's perception of themselves or of their mommy. Daily, I pray that God will give me positive words and affection (another area in which I struggle-that's another story) to lavish on them so that they know they are loved and cherished and adored and admired and sought after! So, even if I struggle every day, here is a list in which they can always refer to know that their mommy thinks beautiful thoughts about them every day!

Logann-I was so proud of you when worried about where the contestants on "Biggest Looser" were able to go to church. You have a heart for God, and I pray that you serve Him with it everyday of your life!

Merritt-You made me smile with delight when you were the only kid in the nursery who was able to keep your cup of Cheerios in the upright position. I cheered quietly when you were appalled that the other children would eat Cheerios off of the carpet. You left the herd and sat alone to enjoy your clean cup, and that made me proud.

Logann-You make me so proud when you talk and answer Merritt's constant questions. You don't mind couting school buses in your best Sesame Street "Count" voice. You are the best big sister. I have always wanted a sister, and I really miss the sister I don't have when I see how good you are to your sister. If I could pick a sister, I would pick you becuase you are the best!

Logann-I celebrate your sweet spirit when you came home from church telling me about how you helped a boy in a wheel chair. You didn't mind missing out on your activity because you wanted to wheel him inside and play with him so that he wouldn't be alone. I couldn't have been more proud of your sweetness!

Merritt-I am proud to take you everywhere because people always comment on how well you talk and how cute you are. Even when you sport a mullet hairdo, your blue eyes are stunning! As a baby of 20 months, you can tell me what you need or want. You are a beautiful genius!

Merritt-Your manners make me so proud! I've never harped on you to say "please" and "thank you". But anytime Dad or I tell you that you look pretty, you respond immediately with, "Thaaank Yooouuu!" I can ask you a question and without delay you say, "Yes ma'am!" I think you were just born sweet!

Logann-I am proud of your reading in kindergarten. Ever since you were 3, you would tell me that you could read, then you would proceed to make up the words on every page (if I could get you to sit down long enough to look at a book). Now, you read to me, and you listen to chapter books. You are a good reader, and I hope you learn to LOVE reading!

Merritt-I am proud to pick you up from the nursery every time we attend church. The teachers always tell me how sweet you are and how smart you are. They love that you work every puzzle on the shelf and you sit and read all the books. I am proud to drop you off at your class because I know you will entertain your teachers every time!

Logann-I'm proud of your independence when it comes to fashion. You are confident in your choices of outfits, even when you look ridiculous! You know what you want, and you are not afraid to pull it off. You are a fashionista, and I love you for it!

Logann-I love the way you clap along with every song. Even when you are off beat, you keep clapping until the music catches up to you.

Logann and Merritt-I love watching you dance. My favorite activity is to turn on the music in the living room and watch you, Logann, choreograph a song and you, Merritt, spin in circles. This makes me happy!

Logann and Merritt-I am proud of you for stating your opinions. Even when you disagree with me and I have to make you mind ME, I am proud that you are not afraid to speak your mind. I hope that never changes.

The list to be continued...

I heard a song on "American Idol" tonight that made me think of you both. It said, "Pretty, pretty please don't you ever ever feel like you're less than perfect, less than perfect. Pretty, pretty please if you ever feel like you're nothing, you are perfect to me." You both make me proud every day to be YOUR mommy. I am proud to call you MY daughters, and I am so amazed that you call me MOMMY! You make me proud!

Library Day

Since Logann attends afternoon kindergarten now that we live in Oklahoma City, I am striving to set a schedule of playtime, activities, learning, and free time to help regulate our days. Our local library has a story time every Tuesday and a craft day every other Thursday. So, once I heard about these, I quickly added them to our routine!! This past Thursday, we attended craft day, and the girls really loved it. We weren't sure if it was going to be big kids making elaborate paper mache' or painting masterpieces, and since we all know Merritt would delightfully assist in someone else's projects, we hesitantly drove to the library to attempt to get our craft on!

Once we arrived we saw there were stations set up and activities for all ages. The girls went to each station at their own choosing and spent as much time there as they thought necessary. Both girls created a bean shaker that they decorated with stickers.

Merritt enjoyed the color station where she got to place objects into the correctly colored crayon container. She actually followed the rules and matched up her colors.

Both girls enjoyed the rice buckets. Logann dug for treasures and was thrilled when she found a flower and a sea shell. Merritt played there for the longest time just pouring the rice into another cup and all over her legs.

By the end of the morning, they had done macaroni art, yarn art, played with rice, matched colored objects, and made a bean shaker. Whew! But, we weren't finished yet! When we completed all of the centers, Logann registered for a library card and checked out her first 2 books. She got "Julius, Baby of the World" on CD so she could listen to it in her room and some other weird book about an old hag. The librarians created her library card and made her a certificate to commemorate her first official check out!!

Now if we can just remember to return our books on time! I must build that into the routine!

Logie Turns 6

Where did the past 6 years go? People always say that kids grow up so quickly. I always nod along as I just try to make it through a day with my crazy 2 girls. But as we celebrated Logann's 6th birthday this past weekend, I constantly found myself wondering how my tiny baby turned into a big teenager wanna-be!

Luckily, school was out on Logann's actual birthday, so she took treats on Thursday to share and celebrate with her class.

We were able to spend Friday trying to do all of Logann's favorite things as a family. She decided that she wanted her ears pierced, so she picked out her favorite outfit, and we started the day at the mall in Norman by going to Claire's to pierce those tiny, 6 year old ears. She took it like a champ and just smiled through the whole process. I, on the other hand, couldn't look because I didn't want to see her jump or cringe in pain.

After the piercings, we headed to lunch at Bison Wiches to grab her favorite food...a sandwich. Jeremy tried to talk her into pizza or something fancy, but she just wanted to have a sandwich. Yumm!

Once lunch was complete, we ventured over to Ulta where Jeremy waxed his eyebrows (if that doesn't say, "Happy Birthday, Logann!" I don't know what does!), and Logann got a makeover! That evening she chose McDonald's for dinner and we topped off the night with the movie "Radio Rebel" on Disney Channel.

Logann's official birthday party was on Saturday, and she had a cheerleader party at our church. Her little friends and cousins cheered with some older, "real" cheeleaders.

She opened presents, which included a jewelry box, earrings, a shirt, toy cash register, LaLa Loopsy doll, Lemonade Mouth cd, stilts, and a plasma car. After presents, we enjoyed chocolate cupcakes, vanilla ice cream, and punch! It was a great time to see friends, play with family, and hang out together! The cupcakes were pretty delicious, I might add!

What a great weekend! What a sweet girl! What a crazy 6 years we have had! It hit me that as parents, we have completed 1/3 of our time raising our girl! As a glass half empty girl, this made me sad that that much time is already gone. But, as the a glass half full girl, we still have 2/3 of our time left to teach, influence, direct, guide, discipline, hang out, laugh, and love! I love you Logie Bear! I can't believe you are already 6 years old, but I look forward to watching you grow every day! I can't wait to see the funny, smart, crazy, sweet woman you become!!

Tragic Day in Logie's World

As a kid, I always hated the scene in Pollyanna when the pastor yells to the church, "DEATH COMES UNEXPECTEDLY!!!!" I just never grasped the point of that coming from the pupit. Well, after our day today, I keep replaying that scene in my head over and over again. We experienced our first unexpected death this morning when Logann when into her room to feed her fish. (Keep in mind, we have only had these fish since last Wednesday. So, we are going strong on six WHOLE days!!)

This morning she went in to give "Ephraim" and "Finnley" their breakfast, and as she entered her room I hear her yell, "Mom! Something's wrong!" I arrive to find "Finnley" floating on his side as "Ephraim" happily swims circles around the bowl. The water felt a bit chilly so I moved the bowl into the kitchen with the thought that her room must have been too cold causing the fish to die.

We sadly called Nana and Poppa (since they so thoughtfully gave us the fish) to tell them the sad, sad news. Logann bravely explained to them her hypothesis on what happened to her beloved fish. Nana tried her best to help Logann feel better by telling her that goldfish usually don't last too long in a fishbowl. (Little did we know how true this statement would become!)

Nana and Poppa surprised us with a visit and with a new "fancier" fish to take "Finnley's" place. Pop cleaned out the bowl and placed the second "Finnley" in his clean, new home. I noticed "Ephraim" had a funny look in his eyes. Maybe he wasn't fond of his new friend or maybe he was just mourning the loss of his buddy. We left them to bond over their clean rocks while we all went to eat lunch, only to return and find "Ephraim" floating on his back. Logann took this bad news a bit easier this time. We carefully removed "Ephraim" from the bowl and placed him in the funeral cup in which we saved the bodies until Dad could get home to say good-bye. Again, I noticed that "Finnley 2" had that same weird look in his eyes. I just brushed it off as a coincidence. Seriously, how could we loose 3 fish in 1 day? Impossible! He was just in shock from a traumatic day.

Well, according to Pastor Pollyanna, "Death comes unexpectedly!" Now, I'm thinking he should have changed it to EXPECTEDLY! By mid-afternoon, "Finnley 2" did pass away. He was added to the death cup, and once Jeremy got home from work, we sang "Amazing Grace" and gently flushed the ol' boys down the toilet. I've heard a saying that death comes in 3's, and we definitely experienced that today. Who would have guessed 3 fish in one day?!?!

Logann was such a champ through it all. At the end of the day she said, "I don't want any more fish. It costs too much to keep loosing them so fast." For such a tragic day, she handled herself so maturely. Even by the end of the "funeral" she was more amazed at how they swirled around in the toilet to even be bothered that they were gone forever!

A Day of Great Surprises

This morning as we sat in the middle of our Christmas tree boxes and ornament tubs that wait to go into the attic, we just decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to the zoo. We quickly dressed everyone in warm clothes, packed snacks, and headed out to see the animals.

Once we arrived at the zoo, Jeremy presented our coupon for one free admission. The zoo guy surprised us by handing us three tickets and saying, "Mondays are FREE in January and February!" Well, don't mind if we do and thank you very much! We tossed our coupon in the trash and headed in for our FREE day in the zoo. Did I mention that it was FREE??!?!

The day consisted of cold air, leisure walks, and great family time! Merritt loved being nose to nose with the goats. She loved walking around with them, and she would have stayed there all day except we scooped her up once they started laying little pellets from their back sides! Surprise!

Logann was hoping to see the alligators, but they must have been inside because of the cold. To make up for it, she loved the gorilla who was napping on the hill. He had snatched a blanket and was snoozing in the sunshine. We laughed so hard to see him just lounging out in the grass!

After we completed our trek at the zoo, we surprised ourselves by deciding to head to Pop's in Arcadia. We each grabbed a bottle and sampled a specialty soda pop. Logann and Jeremy tried a cream soda and Merritt and I shared an Orange Cream. Deeeelish!!

Once we had chugged our pops, we drove over to Home Run Slider's for a burger. The restaurant, tucked neatly off of the UCO campus, offers slider burgers, fries, and specialty ketchups. Logann and I rotated between the Dr. Pepper ketchup and the strawberry ketchup. Yumm!

After dinner, we headed home for an early bed time. What a fun day!! Tomorrow is back to the ol' routine!