A monkey party

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:28:08 -0600

Logan is our monkey around here, so what better theme for his party than a monkey theme! I found adorable monkey invitations and created the rest of the party around that! We loved celebrating with everyone and couldn’t have asked for a better day to do it. The weather was amazing so we opened all the windows and spent most of the time outside! Gotta love January in Texas!

I made a few simple decorations to match the colors of the invitation, but for the most part kept things very simple!

One of my dearest friends, Katie, gave Logan some monthly stickers and onesies when he was born. Of course I had to print one from each month and post them to show how much he has grown!

I was a bit ambitious this year and decided to make the cupcakes and icing from scratch this year and put birthday toppers on them. The chocolate cupcakes were good, the vanilla...eeehh. Note to self, make a batch for myself first and try them before serving to everyone at a party! At least they looked cute!

After the party was set up, the guest of honor woke from his nap and was ready to party! The party was at 4:00 so I made ham and cheese sliders and served those with fruit and a few dips and chips. Everyone played, stop for a bit to eat, played a little more, ate some cupcakes, and then played more! Like I mentioned the weather was amazing so we spent majority of our time in the backyard playing with everyone.

Logan cracked us up while we sang just tilting his head to the side and looking at all of us like we were singing the most beautiful song he had ever heard! He loved his cupcake, especially the icing and was successful at making a mess!

The only family pic we snapped and of course everyone isn’t smiling or looking. That’s near impossible these days!

The big kids enjoyed their cupcakes too!

After cupcakes everyone played a bit longer and then the party wound down. We finished with Logan (actually, the cousins and big brother) opening a few presents from grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.

And of course he had to show off his walking skills too!

We had such a great time celebrating!! Happy first birthday Logan!!

Logan is one!

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:13:12 -0600

Last Friday Logan turned one! If I thought Carter’s first year went fast, then this one was light speed! When I think back to the day Logan was born, it seems like forever ago, but when I think about the year it flew by! In this year we quickly learned how different he and Carter were, starting with their newborn cries and then taking off in opposite directions from there! Logan is my little outgoing daredevil that I am pretty sure will have a broken bone or stitches before his big brother. He is crazy and constantly keeps me on my toes, but we love it! It is so neat to me that you can see such personality, humor, and emotion in a 1 year and I cannot wait to see him grow into all of these traits even more!
Oh how things change in the first year of life!

Logan is growing and learning so much at this stage. He is saying lots of mamama, dadada, bababa, and attempting to say Carter (doesn’t sound much like it, but he’s trying!) He cracks me up with his babbling conversations and his intonation in delivery of sounds/words...not to mention he is loud!

Logan has started walking, but still prefers crawling since its faster. He is definitely still wobbly with walking, but gets better every day. It is so cute watching him walk and seeing how proud he is of himself! He also climbs on EVERYTHING! A few weeks ago I turned around for a second and when I looked at him again we was sitting on top of the kitchen table with a huge grin on his face! It’s amazing how strong he is b/c at times I see him doing a straight pull up trying to get up high enough so he can position himself to crawl on top of whatever he desires. Needless to say we have to watch him closely and there are lots of tumbles and bruises! Logan loves to be rough and tough and get in on the action with the boys, but he also has such a sweet side to him. He is my little cuddler/hugger. I love it!

On his actual birthday Carter and I had lots of fun celebrating Logan throughout the day! We started the day with our tradition of birthday pancakes and playing at the park.

After Logan’s morning nap then we headed to HEB for a car cart ride while I grabbed a few things for the birthday party and then went to get a birthday cookie at our favorite cupcake/bakery in the area. Logan LOVED the cookie and started crawling across the table to get some of Carter’s once he was done.

After all that excitement, we came home for another round of naps and then played outside enjoying the amazing weather while we waited for Daddy to come home. Logan loves pizza so that was on the dinner menu followed by another birthday treat at the end of the day.

The day was such a fun filled day celebrating our little one year old. On Saturday we had his little birthday party, so a post on that will come later this week, so check back!

Oh and last but not least, we had his well check today...He measured close to 32 inches in height and 21 pounds 9 oz in weight. His height was above the 95% and weight around 30%! Seems as if he is following suit from his daddy and big brother! This is what he loved doing for entertainment once we were back in the room..

Happy 1st birthday Logan! Don’t forget to check back soon for the party post!

Christmas with the Petersons

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:59:10 -0600

Almost caught up! Finally the last Christmas post and then maybe I can get back on track with daily life posts, especially since we have a big birthday coming up next Friday!! That is way off topic, though. Back to Christmas. This year was the Peterson’s turn for Christmas day. Since everyone has kids (older than ours) on this side of the family, they all like to celebrate Christmas morning at home and then head over to the Peterson's by lunch. We followed suit, but invited NiNi, Gramps, Aunt Meg, Grandma Pete, and Papa over to our house for a simple breakfast and watching the boys open their presents from Santa and Scott and me. We loved having them all over to our house to start the day...such fun! I was too busy keeping up with the boys to snap many pictures, but I did get a few to document the morning. Since both Grandparents were giving some great gifts, we notified Santa to keep things pretty simple. Even with simplicity, though, Carter and Logan were thrilled with their gifts. Once Carter saw the guitar he wasn’t into much else for quite awhile! He insisted Scott go get his guitar and they played a little concert for us. Logan and I loved it!

After the stockings, we ate a little breakfast and then Carter and Logan opened their gifts from us. We started a new tradition this year that they each get 4 gifts under the following categories...a “want”, a “need”, a “wear”, and a “read.” This year we did a good job sticking to the theme gifts and I hope it is something we can continue over the years, although am not sure on it yet, still trying to figure out exactly how we want to do Christmas! It’s so easy to want to spoil them and give them everything, but we also want to teach them that Christmas isn’t just about receiving gifts. We are going to try our best to not let the things of Christmas cover up the things of Christ, what this whole season is about. That all said, we are not being Scrooge by any means! We are working through trying to find the balance, and who knows it may change every year! This year it worked to do the 4 gifts, we’ll see what next year brings!! Ok, back to the fun...opening presents! (Poor Logan isn’t in any of these pics...he we so pooped after stockings that it was time for nap. When it was time to open his presents later, the camera was no where to be found! He was there and did get to open presents though!)

Another hit gift was the movie Lion King. After presents, we had some time before Logan would be up and then head to the Peterson’s, so we put on Lion King for some rest and relaxation. Carter was so zoned in, if we needed his attention we would have to pause the movie. We all enjoyed watching it!

When Logan woke from his nap, we were off to the Peterson’s for Christmas celebration #3! Soon all the cousins were over there and everyone was ready to open gifts. Now, if you remember, at the Humke house, opening presents is a marathon. At the Peterson house, its more like a sprint! Everyone is opening at the same time and it is over fairly quick. Different from the Humke’s, but still fun! Because is moves so fast and chaotic, I barely captured any pictures, but I did get a few!

The wagon was a huge hit for all the cousins! First Scott had to put it together, but as soon as it was done, they were off taking rides! They all took turns having Connor do all the work and pull them around the house.

The rest of the day was filled with nap time for the young kids and rest time for the older ones. Followed by more wagon rides and some delicious food prepared by Grandma Pete. We had such a blast spending the day with the family and celebrating Christmas all together. We truly are blessed having all of us live in one town which allows us to celebrate the holidays together.

The holiday seemed to fly by with all the festivities and potty training mixed in. New Years Eve was very low key since kids have to go to bed well before midnight! Scott and I cooked a gourmet meal at home and watched a movie while enjoying our champagne. As uneventful as it was, it really was a great night with my favorite person, exactly who I want to be with to ring in a new year. After new years, Scott headed back to work after being off for 2 weeks and now we are full swing into 2012! Next up on the festivities will be a first birthday party! Lots to celebrate there! Thanks for checking in to see our holiday fun! Check back soon for birthday updates!

Christmas with the Humkes

Mon, 9 Jan 2012 13:57:46 -0600

The way the rotation fell this year was for us to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve Day with my family. Since both families live here, we alternate who gets Christmas day so we aren’t bouncing around so much with the kids. As much as we would love to spend Christmas day with both families, we decided it was better if each family had an entire day so we could all enjoy the whole day together instead of trying to squeeze a little in here and a little there! This year was also a bit different for all of us for a couple reasons... First, this was the first Christmas that Joey wasn’t there with us. It was probably the hardest on my mom, but we all missed having him around for the fun. We know he and Jenna had a great time with her family, but we definitely look forward to having them here for Christmas next year! Secondly, it was the first Christmas without my Grandpa. That struck me a bit more than I expected because I could just picture him playing with Carter as he opened his toys and making noises with Logan. We missed him greatly, but fortunately had many fond memories of Christmas with him to remember!

Christmas Eve morning we packed up the car with gifts and headed over to the Humke house just as if it was Christmas morning. As soon as we got there, my mom already had breakfast cooking and we jumped right into the stockings first! The tradition is to open our stockings, then stop and have breakfast and then come back to do the rest of the gifts. Opening gifts at the Humke House takes a LONG time b/c we take turns opening the gifts, so it’s important to be full on breakfast so you can make it through our marathon of opening! This year Mitch joined us and brought a new twist to opening gifts. We had to come up with clues for each gift and before you could open your gift, you had to guess what it was based on the clue. It was really fun bringing some of his tradition into our family! At first Gramps was a bit bah hum bug about the clues, but in the end I think he had the most fun with it! You may wonder how two little boys cope with gift opening taking so long, but honestly they do great! They just played with their gifts in between opening others and helped the rest of us open gifts too. I didn’t do a great job at pictures, and you will notice that Scott and I are barely in any, but at least I got some!

Carter opened a play circular saw and immediately had to go out to Gramps workshop to get some “work” done! We quickly moved his workbench inside so we could continue with the presents!

Nini, Gramps, Aunt Meg, and Mitch must think we need some help around the house b/c Carter also received a leaf blower and a weed eater in addition to his saw!

And you may start to wonder where was Logan during all of this?? Taking a nap for part of time and then climbing and playing with whatever new gifts he could find! (He especially loved the new kitchen from Nini and Gramps!)

After we finished opening presents we had plenty of time to play, take naps, and Facetime with Joey and Jenna! Grandma Gurry even participated in Facetime! Look closely and you can see Joey and Jenna on the phone talking to Grandma, she was quite amazed by this technology!

While the boys napped, Gramps decided he wanted an outdoor heater since it was cold and the fire outside doesn’t heat up that entire area of their outdoor kitchen. He was thrilled to realize that it was Christmas Eve so the stores were still open. He and Scott went on a wild goose chase to find the heater and after many stops, finally found it. Mitch, Scott, and Gramps spent the next short while putting it together and were like giddy school boys when it was all done!

After naps we decided it was time to get out of pajamas and get dressed for the yummy meal that Nini prepared for us all! Everyone cleaned up a bit and of course we had to snap a few pics! We didn’t get one of everyone, but at least got a few! (Just realized Logan was still in his jammies, but he looked cute!)

Nini prepared a delicious meal and then it was time for us to head home so we could get everything ready for Santa! Our church does their Christmas Eve service on Christmas Eve Eve bc that is when the school we meet at is available for them to use the building. It ends up being really nice though b/c then on Christmas Eve we get to go home and get everything ready for Santa and get to bed early! The only sad part about the Christmas Eve service this year was that Scott wasn’t feeling well, so we didn’t get to go as a family to the service. I went by myself and met Megan up there with my parents who joined us that night as well. I missed all my boys there, but maybe next year!

I don’t have any pictures of our Santa prep, but we put out cookies made by Carter and milk and reindeer food as well! As soon as the boys were in bed, Santa came and got everything together for the morning! Christmas gets more and more fun as our family grows and they get older! So there you have it, our Christmas Eve day! Check back soon for Christmas day with the Petersons!

11 months old

Thu, 5 Jan 2012 14:38:00 -0600

This crazy monkey is 11 months old (11.5 now since I am so far behind!) He hair is still pretty crazy, except we did take him to get another hair cut that tamed it down a bit. I have to admit I was kind of sad doing that b/c his hair was cracking me up, but it was needed! Logan gets more and more personality with every passing month and I am starting to realize he will probably give me a good run for my money when he is 2! He knows what he wants and is MAD when he doesn’t get it! Beyond that, though, he is just as sweet and as happy as can be. I can’t believe he is only a few weeks away from turning one! Better get busy planning that party!
His thoughts at this point were ...is she watching me???

This month he has become very steady standing. He will stand by himself without holding on to anything for long periods of time, so it makes me think walking is not far away. He walks pretty steady holding just one of my hands and likes to find anything he can push around so he can walk. But if we wants to get to something really fast, he is down on all fours speed crawling. He continues to take two great naps and sleeps about 12 hours at night. He is down to 3 bottles a a day and we are slowing weaning him off of those and adding more solids and sippy cup time. He truly is trying to live out the nickname I have given him as my little monkey, but he is CONSTANTLY trying to climb on top of things, across things, and as high as he can get on anything. He keeps me on my toes and has already had some hard falls because of this! With this trend he will have a broken bone before Carter does! And now for what you have been waiting for, some of his 11 month pics...

And last but not list, this one cracks me up. He wanted to share his flirting/bashful look with all of you!

Happy 11 months Logan!! We can’t wait to celebrate your birthday soon!

Way behind!!!

Thu, 5 Jan 2012 14:13:02 -0600

I am embarrassed with how behind I am on the blog since the holidays! We were just too busy having fun with all the Christmas festivities, plus Scott being off for 2 weeks (yes I did say 2 weeks, we were in heaven!)! I’m not sure I even remember everything that I would have liked to blog about, but I will make my best attempt! This first post will be designated Pre Christmas festivities...everything leading up to Christmas eve! Warning, it may include a lot, so be prepared!

First up before the real holiday festivities began were a few baby showers. Taylor and Merrick (the D’Andrea twins who will be here soon!) were the first we showered, and of course their momma, Kat, too! We had a blast hosting it at black walnut and bringing all sorts of yummy desserts to enjoy after dinner!

Next up was a shower at my house for Rochelle. I would like to think that I was being such a great hostess that I was too busy to take pics, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the case. I just plain forgot! I promise it was lots of the fun and the momma to be (of Lily, who just arrived last week!) was showered with lots of fun gifts!

With a day in between both showers, we didn’t want to miss out on any fun, so Scott and I enjoyed the Anadarko Christmas party. We had a great time with all his co-workers and loved a fun night out all dressed up! Anadarko puts on a great Christmas party full of delicious food and drinks, a comedian, a casino, and a concert by Big and Rich and Gretchen Wilson. It was lots of fun!

Next up on holiday party schedule was our Annual Cheesy Sweater party. This year we opted for a later start time to have the kiddos go to bed and enjoy some adult time. I think we all enjoyed it that way! Who knows what we will do next year, but it was a blast as usual having everyone over in their lovely attire and catching up before Christmas. Again, I forgot to take pictures until the very end! So bummed that I didn’t capture more, but at least I snapped a few!

Of course we had to make some time to bake some cookies for Santa too! Nini graciously hosted us to her house to make a huge mess and prepare the goods for Santa. Carter loved pressing the cookie cutters in the dough and decorating the cookies when they were done baking. He spoiled Santa with some great treats that were thoroughly enjoyed! Logan didn’t helped much with baking, he just worked on looking cute and playing on the ground around us!

Before Christmas Logan did turn 11 months old! But, that deserves a post on its own, so check back for that soon! That’s it for the pre-Christmas festivities. Only a few more posts to go to catch up! Oh and I forgot to mention, thrown in with the chaos of the holiday, we decided it was time to potty train Carter! By the third day of training, he had peeing down! It has taken a little bit longer to get down #2, but this week he has made much progress! He has done a great job so far, we are super proud of him! (Sorry if that’s more information that you wanted to hear!! Had to share it for the blog archive!) Check back soon for more updates!

Santa

Wed, 7 Dec 2011 13:58:09 -0600

Today was the special day that Logan and Carter visited Santa. Knowing Carter well, I talked about it all morning long so he wouldn’t be completely surprised by us going. He was thrilled to go see Santa and talk about reindeer, but not so sure about sitting on Santa’s lap. He also insisted that “Elfie,” our new friend for the holidays, needed to go with us to talk to Santa as well. As soon as Logan was up from nap, we picked up Grandma Pete, and headed up to Market Street. Santa was due to be at his chair around 11, so we arrived just after that. It couldn’t have been better timing b/c Santa walked in ringing his bell just as we walked in and the two kids ahead of us were a little older and absolutely thrilled to sit on Santa’s lap. Had it been a long line and lots of crying kiddos, then Carter probably never would have even gotten close to Santa! When it was our turn, of course I had to carry Carter up there b/c as he repeatedly said, “He’s scared of me!” (In Carter language that means he is scared.) At first he ran “Elfie” up to Santa to hand it to him and then quickly backed away.

Eventually, though, he inched his way close enough to stand by Santa so we could snap some pics!

Meanwhile, Logan was pretty enamored with this man with the beard in the big red suit!

Since it was a pretty slow morning at the office for Santa, while we waited for our pictures to print, there was some down time in between kids coming in for pictures. During this time, Carter decided he wanted to go back and talk to Santa and with the set up, he was able to do so. That was my favorite time while we were there. Santa was so sweet to Carter talking about the reindeer (which brought so much joy to Carter!) and Elfie and presents, etc! I was so grateful that he was so friendly and the place was willing to let our slow to be brave little man have his time.

All in all it was a great visit to go see Santa. Carter can’t wait for Santa and his reindeer to come!! Hope he behaves until then because Elfie is watching!!

Neglected

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:12:50 -0600

Oh my goodness, it has been almost a month since I last blogged! Can you tell we have been busy! Several times in my head I have planned out posts of different happenings, but finding the time to sit down and pull it together kept being delayed. I am a bit overwhelmed by all there is to catch up on the blog, so I am going to split it up into 4 posts... the races, 10 months old, the zoo, and Thanksgiving. Here’s to hoping I can get them all done tonight! Make sure you check out all 4 posts! (For the technology challenged...You can click on each of the words below and it will open a new window with each post. =))

Races

10 Months Old

The Zoo

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:41:28 -0600

This past week was jam packed full of festivities for Thanksgiving. The rotation for holidays was to have Joey and Jenna here for Thanksgiving this year, which also meant it was the year we eat the meal with my family and dessert with the Petersons. It’s hard keeping up with the schedules!! Since Joey and Jenna were here and won’t be for Christmas, we tried to do as much as possible with the Humke clan. Plus Aunt Meg was off from work for a couple of days, so we were thrilled to get some time with her (and Mitch) as well!

The Thanksgiving festivities actually started a week before Thanksgiving with Carter’s feast at school. Logan and I got to join him for that and loved seeing his class in action. Even though the pictures don’t really show it, he LOVES both of his teachers, Miss Ingrid and Miss Shannon!

What was Logan doing while I snapped some pics of Carter?? Trying to steal food from another sibling!

Wednesday night kicked off the festivities with chili at our house. We love hosting everyone over here when we can, so the boys can be on their turf and show off/play in their stomping grounds, plus when they go to bed then we get some adult time. A few people (no names...Dad and Joe!) were a little late getting her and Carter was ready to eat, so he headed in to enjoy the first course of his meal in a quiet room.

After his first course, it was back to playing with all the fun people around. Once everyone arrived, we enjoyed the meal, put the boys to bed, and then enjoyed some hang out time with the adults. Scott introduced Jenna and Mitch to his eggnog speciality and was thrilled that he got them hooked on the drink!

The night ended a bit on the early side since we knew we had a full day the next day with Thanksgiving. Scott and I opted out of the local Turkey Trot this year b/c it was getting harder for both of us to be able to run since no strollers were allowed, plus the day is already so busy, it was so nice to not rush out the door that morning. We each got a run in on our own and then headed to the Humke house for a delicious meal. We also snapped some family pics for Christmas cards, but I can’t post those! Here are a few others from the day though...
Carter wanted a scarf just like mommy, so Meg gladly hooked him up with that...

The girls (minus mom and grandma!)

Meg and Grandma

After we were thoroughly stuffed from food and the boys napped, we headed over to the Petersons for dessert. Not everyone was there, but we loved getting some time with Grandpa and Grandma Pete, Aunt Kelly, and Kaitlyn. Carter and Kaitlyn decorated some Christmas cookies. Carter did more of the spread some icing and take a bite method, but Kaitlyn did a great job decorating!

Friday I was up early to go with Jenna and Megan to do some black Friday shopping. It was a huge success for us as we found several Christmas presents! We left around 6:15 am and were finished by 11. Since a lot of the stores were open at midnight, the crowds weren’t too bad and most everything was restocked by the time we got there...it was great! I am thinking it may be a new tradition! Friday night we did “Christmas” with Joey and Jenna since they won’t be here this year. Basically we all brought our gifts for them and they brought for us and we exchanged...the rest of us will celebrate at Christmas. I think that will be a new tradition on the years they are here for Thanksgiving. I failed to take pictures though...sad! Friday night once we got home and put the boys down, Amanda and Will came over for some hangout time since they were in town. We absolutely loved the time catching up with them, but once again I didn’t take a pic!

Saturday was another full day! We had lunch with the Humke crew at Lupe before J & J left head back to Nashville. Then after naps, headed over to the Nadolski house because Amanda and Will were having a get together with friends, including Rach and Justin. They didn’t get to see the boys when they were here on Friday night, so of course we had to make that happen!

Sunday, the fun wasn’t over yet! To finish out the Thanksgiving week of craziness, we celebrated Craig’s birthday at the Peterson House. It was the perfect end to the holiday week, especially since all of the Peterson’s weren’t together on Thanksgiving day. We loved getting to celebrate Craig’s birthday and having everyone together after missing out on that earlier in the week! We took a big family pic for the Peterson’ Christmas Card, but I better not show it yet in case some of you might receive their card! Here are two other funny ones though...

So there you have it...our Thanksgiving week! We have so much to be Thankful for and loved thinking on that and celebrating this past week. Happy Thanksgiving!!

the Zoo

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:21:25 -0600

This past week on Wednesday we made a family trip to the zoo. Scott had the day off and the forecast was beautiful so we decided we were due for a zoo trip. I had taken Carter once before Logan was born, but Scott and Logan had never been, so we especially wanted to go. Joey and Jenna were in town and were able to join us too! We would have loved for everyone else to make it down there with us, but between jobs and prepping for Thanksgiving, people were busy!

First up were the elephants. Carter was amazed by their size and Logan was too busy drinking a bottle to notice them.

After the elephants we saw the hoofed animals, the African forest, the rhinos, and then the giraffes. Next to the giraffes was the carousel which was a hit as well! After that we headed to the Children’s zoo area which had lots of fun things for kids including a petting zoo!

After all that fun, we took a break to let the boys play in an outdoor play area and met up with the Delzer’s who were there enjoying the day as well!

The last section of the zoo we walked through was the “cats” area. Probably Carter’s favorite! (And I didn’t manage to snap one pic...woops!) We saw lions, jaguars, leopards, tigers, and cheetahs. Carter loved it! All in all it was a very fun day at the zoo! I wish we lived closer so I would go more often, because Carter was in heaven checking out the animals and pretty soon Logan will be too! Hopefully we can get back there again sometime in the spring!