Logan's Birthday Zoo Trip

Since Sean's Homecoming is just around the corner, for Logan's birthday we just decided to get together with some friends & head down to the San Diego Zoo. It was a great way to celebrate Logan's 4th birthday! We had a great day & once again realize how very blessed we are to have our military "family"!

Peyton wanted to ride alone so she was in a friend's stroller & her daughter was riding with Logan. She was so content to be a only child for once in her life! And Logan loved to be riding with a friend!

Here's the birthday boy checking out the giraffes. He thought the baby one was so cute!

They just opened a new polar bear exhibit at the zoo. Although we never saw the polar bears all the kids had a great time playing in & on the polar bear cave. Peyton kept crawling around roaring like a bear! Logan was sliding on the top. Too cute!

After a long walk up to the polar bears we decided to take the Skyfari back to the front of the zoo. The kids totally loved it!

It was a beautiful day in San Diego, we had great friends to celebrate with, and in a few short days we will be going to base to pick up Sean! Life is Good! God is Great!

Easter

One of the hardest part of being a military family during a deployment is facing holidays alone. Since we were home for the first part of the deployment we had our family there to celebrate with us. But now that we are back in San Diego that support system isn't there. However the blessings of military life include a stand-in "family". So with Easter approaching, I opened our house to a pot-luck Easter dinner & egg hunt.

We had 4 other mommies and their 6 kiddos come to dinner on Easter Sunday. We are so blessed to have such great friends to surround ourselves with and celebrate Easter!

The day started out with a visit from the Easter Bunny! Logan got a bunch new Geo Trax pieces! Including a "ding ding gate" which he LOVES! Peyton racked up on Dora stuff!

Next on the agenda was church. The kids & I have started attending Tierrasanta Lutheran Church and really love it! I truely feel at home there! I can't wait to bring Sean with us. This is the kids in their Easter best ready for church!

The egg hunt was the highlight of the day for the kiddos! The Easter bunny left a stash of eggs with all the mommies to hide for this egg-tra special hunt with friends!

I think the most memorable thing for the mommies was the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that shook the house pretty well. It was not my first earthquake but for some it was. It was cool at first until it continued & got worse. Then it was a little scary! Nothing was broken, the kids didnt even realize anything was happening, just a few mommies in awe of what had happened.

Future World Cup Player!

MCAS Miramar's youth sports program is awesome! In the fall Logan played Start Smart T Ball which was a parent participation, skill building program. This spring, because Logan is about to turn 4, he is on the big boy soccer team! He has 5 teammates & 2 coaches. Our first practice went great and Logan had a great time! He is definately his father's son!

Logan at his very first soccer practice!

He's doing really well kicking & running

Kicking straight is a challenge but Logan is up to it!

Peyton's Kitchen

Grandpa Jon & Grandma Pat gave Peyton a play kitchen for Christmas, but because we were in Atlanta we waited until returning home to order it. The kids and I went to pick it up from Wal-Mart where they were nice enough to load it in the car, however no one would come home with me to take it out... So I dragged it out of the van and somehow managed to get the 87 lb box in the house.

It was sitting here taunting me, Logan kept asking to put it together, so last night I finally broke down after the kids went to bed & opened the box... Here's what was in the box:

47 parts & a crap load of hardware!

Had it not already been spread all over my living room, I probably would have put it in the garage & waited for Sean to get home. But it was the point of no return!

Once I got going, it really wasn't difficult. I just wished I knew where the Allen wrench attachment for the drill was...

This was about 3 steps into it, less than 10 minutes.

I was thinking, wow I'm gonna have this done and be in bed early! But then about step 8, I made a HUGE mistake. I screwed the stove top part on without putting some of the hardware on the bottom of it to attach it to one of the supports. So 4 Allen screws in, 4 back out, take the top back off and assemble it correctly. Then 4 Allen screws back in...

So after the pain in the butt of removing the stove top, it was pushing my bedtime so I decided I would do a few more things & then stop for the night.

One & a half hours, more than half way!

We got up and the kids played a little but it was sitting smack dab in the middle of the living room so I decided to finish it up. Only now I have "help"... It only took about another 30 mins to finish it but it was a pain to get all the sections squared to fit the top on correctly.

Finished product!

Peyton LOVES it!

She's already on the phone, wonder where she gets that from?!?

So now my 87 lbs box is an assembled 87 lbs kitchen, sitting in the middle of my living room floor. I decided to try to slide in into place in the playroom and about a foot into moving it I heard some lovely wood breaking noises and the whole thing swayed backwards. I looked and one of the bottom edges of the left side was completed snapped off!!! OMG!! I thought I was gonna die! Luckily I called the manufacturer and they are sending a whole new left side to fix it. However it has about 7 other things screwed into it so it will be waiting for daddy to fix!

Finished kitchen with a book propped under the back left corner to "fix" my boo boo!

That's the day the teddy bears had their picnic...

Since we live here in beautiful sunny San Diego we try to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Lately our newest tradition is a picnic in the driveway! Logan begs almost everyday to eat in the driveway!

Here's Logan & Peyton yesterday having a Jack-in-the-Box picnic! YUM!

This morning I noticed Peyton carrying Logan's plate & cup from breakfast into the playroom. So I followed & this is what I found. She had found a stray pillow case, laid it out, put her plate & cup down and set off to find her Bubba's as well. I asked "Are you having a picnic?" and she looked up at me smiled really big and said "YEP!" It was just too precious not to share!

Logan the Builder!

The Stamps Library was overflowing! So today we bought a new bookcase for all the books. While Peyton was napping Logan helped me assemble our new bookcase. He had a hammer & screwdriver of his own, he held the boards in place, handed me the hardware as need, and even helped carry the shelves! He was truely Logan the builder today!

So proud!

And of course Peyton had to pose as well! (Don't mind the hair, she just got up!)

The finished, stocked Stamps Library!

(It will probably never look this good again!)

Valentines Day!

Logan & Peyton have been waiting for Valentine's Day for almost a month now, from when we put daddy's Valentines box together. They have both been wishing everyone a Happy Valentines Day for about the same amount of time. So cute!

I guess I could have gotten them dressed or at least brushed Peyton's hair but they were so excited about Valentines Day I just didnt want them to have to wait anymore!

Logan with his candy, he loved the sports balls on the box! And Peyton TEARING into her card.

They both got Duplo character building sets, Logan got Thomas the Train & Peyton got Dora!

Although Sean wasn't able to be here he still did a wonderful job of spoiling me! I got a beautiful bouquet of tulips, some very yummy chocolate covered strawberries, and a beautiful pink sapphire necklace & earring set.

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all!