We are a HAPPY family

We attempted to take a family picture for Christmas Cards this year.  It was a valiant effort but it was all wrong in about every way possible.

I thought I would share and maybe provide a laugh or two.  I'm pretty sure we made EVERY mistake that could be made.  EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Enjoy.

Christmas Cards

Again....its the most wonderful time of the year for my mailbox and once again I have failed to add to the joy of the mailbox season.  One of these days I'll get my act together and get an actual Christmas card sent out.  I'm so thrilled that we have some awesome friends/family who still send us one.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Here are the WRIGHT family top 10 Adventures of 2012

 10 - Trip to Utah (James got to have some quality Grammy and Boppy time.) (Feb)
9 - Trip to Mexico (while James was having some quality time with G and B) (Feb)
8 - Said goodbye to our Dear Grandpa Carlisle (April)
7 - Rocky picked up his Sister from her mission in Russia (April)
6 - Trip to California for a wedding - Loved spending time with the Wright Fam. (May)
5 - Rocky graduated from Medical School (THE Ohio State University) (June)
4 - Put our house up for sale in Ohio and sold it. (June/July)
3 - Moved to Alabama and bought a house - ROLL TIDE (June) (we couldn't have done this without our AWESOME family who came to celebrate Rocky Graduating and our gift to them was letting them help us pack.
2 - Rocky started his Anesthesia residency at UAB (June)
1 - Welcomed our 2nd sweet son, Logan Richard, to the family (July 10th)

Now we are just in recovery from June and July and loving the warm Alabama winter.

Merry Christmas

The splits

Today our ward got split.  It wasn't too much of a surprise.  It was just a matter of when.  They had been expecting it to happen for a couple of years now and when we moved in with 30+ other families it was definitely time. 

It is bitter sweet.  I am going to miss all these new friends that I just made.  I know we will still be friends but it isn't the same.  Man oh man.  I shed a few tears today.  Our little house happens to be right on the boundary for two wards and a totally different stake.  We are living on the edge so to speak. 

I am so excited for the growth here in Alabama, the Lord is preparing our little area.  In the next little bit we are getting a huge amount of missionaries (double I think).  I'm so glad to know that the Lord knows me, he knows where I live (right on the boundary lines), he knows my neighbors and he knows my heart. It is so wonderful.  Exciting times!

2 years and 8 months

James was feeling left out as I took photos of Logan.  In fact James was asleep when I started the process...by process I mean I thought - oh, James is asleep, Logan is happy, now is a great time for pictures.  I got Logan all set up and James woke up.  So...I had a BIG helper.  He was sweet and a little TOO helpful but we managed and got a few photos of Logan.  James wanted to have his photo taken too (of course) so the following are his best shots.  HA

Oh my, this boy keeps me on my toes.

He talks non-stop

He is so sweet and then so mean and then so sweet

I know he knows when he has done something he shouldn't when before I can tell him that he needs to go to time out he says, "I don't want to go to time out."

His sense of smell is over acting and everywhere we go he says, "What stinks in here?  Did you fart?"  It was especially fun when he asked me that today during stake conference.  

I should mention that this voice only has a LOUD setting.

He loves his friends, he hates to share his toys.

He is a super picky eater and then sometimes not at all.  So weird.

He is very observant and has a REALLY good memory.

He doesn't want to use the potty yet so we haven't pushed it.  I hope that this changes soon.  Those big boy poopies are so gross.  

He sleeps in his big/little boy bed (toddler bed) and does great. 

He used to wake up at 5:30 in the morning so we got smart and got him a night light (Night light on a timer) that tells him when its time to wake up, which is 8:00am.  At that point he knocks on his door (which has a toddler proof knob on it) and says "MOM, come get me."  Its working out well for both of us so far.

I love watching him figure things out and get excited when he gets it. 

He gets frustrated when he doesn't get something in the first few tries.

He hits and has now started pinching and pushing.

He loves to yell at his baby brother when he is sleeping.  

Oh my can you tell this boy is 2 years old and 8 months???

 

4 months

Hey baby, you are just chugging along and doing great.  Your dad calls you "Chunk".  James and I call you Loag, Loaggie, Loagger, Loaggie Lows.  You are getting into more of a schedule.  It has been nice.  The best was the two weeks you were sleeping 12 hours a night...and not getting up until 9:30 or 10.  That gave James and I a little time to get ready for the day.  But I guess you decided you didn't want to feel left out so now you get up at 5:30 - 6:30ish.  Then you eat and usually go back to sleep but not all the time.  Babies are changing all the time and once you think you have them figured out they change again.  That is you to a T.

You weigh 13.2 ounces (20%) and are 25 inches long (70%)  

You are doing really well on your tummy and hold your head up well for about a minute.  Then you get tired and put it down lower and lower and lower until its on the floor and then you get mad.  So really well is going from about 5 secs on your tummy to a couple minutes.  Way to go.

You talk talk talk.  We love it.
You are holding onto toys well and reaching for them when they are above you.
You eat every 3 - 4 hours.
You cat nap.
You still want to be where the action is...even if it just while you are resting.
You would love to be held all the time while you sleep.
You love to sleep with mom. 
You love your binky.
It seems that you like your brother more and more.  You two have your night ritual of laying in James bed together for stories.  You usually smile and kick your legs with excitement.
You don't like to be in your car seat if you don't have to be.  You can tell the second the car stops moving. 
I feel like you are just super aware of everything going on around you even when you are sleeping. 
You are so slobbery.  You always have drool or bubble drool on your chin.  The front of your shirt is permanently wet.
 You love to be in the tub and usually kick your little legs like crazy when we put you in.  

Fall

I love the leaves changing colors.  I love the crisp air.  I hate the time change.  

Here are some photos of the changing leaves and us enjoying the crisp ai.

James and the neighborhood orange cat

Me showing the boys how to properly poke orange cat with a stick. (if your going to do it you might as well do it right)

Loggers

Our best attempt at a cute photo. 

Logan likes to keep bubbles on his chin.

James LOVES to pick flowers.  Then he rips them up.

Showing dad a pre-ripped flower.

Everybody wants to sit on dad.  I did too but someone had to take the photo.

The changing leaves on our street.  LOVE IT. 

Our House

I finally got around to taking a photo of the outside of our house. Here she is. 

I call most things a she.  Rocky doesn't like it.  James blanket and binkie and stuffed animals seemed to be genderized as "she's" by me.  But I grew up in a home where all my siblings were girls and the cat was a girl.  SO that's my background.  But I guess I could/should say here HE is.  Now that I'm surrounded by boys and our refrigerator is definitely male (it shoots out water from the dispenser.  Many people have tried to place their cup into the dispenser where they would think the water would come out...they were wrong and they got wet.) I guess the home can be male too. 

Anyway since we were in a condo before we didn't have to worry about things like the lawn....and bugs...and shrubbery and fixing leaking things. 

When we bought the house it had a nice green lawn, then we took over and well it has gone from green to yellow to brown to looking dead to coming back to green, then an unnatural fertilized (by first time fertilizers) green/yellow.  Side note about the fertilizer, it was supposed to also be a weed killer.  It killed ONE weed.  I guess we were expecting more than that. 

We have BUGs and I found out that the state of Alabama is basically one big FIRE ant colony.   These are huge spiders that were in our neighbors yard.  I was so glad they weren't in ours and then a few days later I found one on the garage door.  Yuck!

I've taken the role as the tree shaper.  I probably need to find a different role.  I'm hoping this weakness becomes a strength and that our trees can survive the process.

 

 The white is the shape the bush turned out.  The yellow was what I was going for.  Somehow my hands and my brain weren't syncing properly and before I knew what was happening the tree started begging for mercy.  I've had a bad haircut too so I totally sympathized.  (I also have a new appreciation for those who can see the vision and cut the vision)  I'll try again when it fills out again. 

We have only had a few leaks.  The water heater twice and the disposal.  But considering we have only been here 5 months I think that is a few too many. 

Welp...there she/he is.

Matching

The other day I came home from the store with some ties for the boys.  Rocky asked me why I thought we needed more.  James has plenty.  I explained how these toes were different because they are matching sets.  So now the boys can match.  So cute - just what boys want right?  Well when you are two - Yes - it IS what you want.  James loved matching Logan.  And the chance to match Logan gave him an incentive to get ready for church. 

AND besides the fact that it is fun and cute....there are only so many ways to accessorize those boys so I've got to take advantage of ties, hats and well ties and hats.  (see what I mean)

3 months

Little man can you believe it has only been 3 months?  I feel like you are older than that and that you have been with us forever.  You are just a perfect little guy for our family.

You have such a patient personality....sometimes.  If we are around and you can see us/hear us you are patient.  Otherwise you usually get upset.  You have a sixth sense in knowing when I am around.  Even when you are asleep.  I can leave you napping during the day and you usually wake up 5 minutes later if I have left your side.

You seem to get a little nervous around your brother.  I don't blame you.  I would feel the same.


You are starting to grab at toys that are hanging over your head.
You try to pull your head up when you are on your back.
You love the tub.
You smile when we talk to you.
You seem to try to talk to us with a purpose.  Like you are really trying to talk.  Not just babble.
You sleep about 10 -11 hours a night.
You have lots of little naps during the day.
You eat about every 3 - 4 hours.
You do really well in your stroller
You don't like the baby bjorn carrier

You are so fun and generally happy.  We just love ya.

Knights and Dragons

This year for Halloween the boys were dressed up as (they didn't really have a choice) a knight (James) and a dragon (Logan).  Luckily James was really excited about being a knight.  I think its because he would get to use his sword in his costume.  Which he rarely carried around.  I also found some black snow boots* that we called his knight boots...he was pretty pumped about those puppies.
*I got them at a consignment sale a few weeks ago for $6.  They looked brand new.  I saw them at Childrens Place (kids clothing store) for $25.  I was feeling pretty good about my purchase.  

Logan got to be a Dragon*, because he HAD to match his brother somehow.
*Again, another purchase success.  Logan's costume was from Ebay.  Only $5.   

The boys got to wear their costumes a lot this year.  We had lots of fun parties and got WAY too much candy.  Does anyone want the candy.  There is a huge part of me that wants to get rid of it and then that little part of me that wants to KEEP IT ALL... FOR MYSELF.  Ackkkkk.  Candy - why why why do you temp me so?

Our neighborhood has a fun little Halloween get together.  We invited some of our friends to join us.  It was so fun.  We had 6 kiddos with us.  All 2 and under.  Yes we are crazy.  (Is it bad that 3 out of the 4 strollers were mine...and that isn't even all of them??)

Here are some fun ones....

Our Little Dragon

Logan in my sad attempt of a Dragons Lair

Sword AND Shield (little Logan photo bomb)

Best Shot of my two little ones together

How most of the shots of my two little ones together turned out.

My favorite of James....it's his KNIGHT POSE

Side view of Logan....hey Logan lay off the candy.

James and one of his best buddies (missing our other friend)

One of the partial group.  Can you tell who was sick of pictures?  Also NO one is looking at the camera...Oh well.