Logen is Leaving on a Jet Plane....

Logen flies out to Las Vegas tonight to spend some extra brother time with Tyler. We will leave early in the morning for the long drive (10-12 hours) to meet up with him and Tyler, but Logen is taking the easy way with a short flight to the BIG city!

Logen is looking forward to the trip with just a little apprehension. He has never flown alone before so that makes he a little, understandably, nervous. The flight we are putting him on is a flight that makes just one stop but he will not get off the plane. Once he gets to Vegas he just needs to find the baggage claim area to meet Tyler. It was so much easier before 9/11, when people could actually go to the gates to meet the arriving plane.

I know they will have a great time hanging out together. Tyler does have to work tomorrow so Logen will go to the studio with him after lunch and learn about producing.

We are anxious to spend some time together. We have not seen Tyler since May!

I am also fortunate enough to be able to go to a show on Friday night to hear Tyler's band, Nothing with Numbers perform. I am really looking forward to it..........YEAH!!!

The Bus Ride

Colin LOVES riding the bus! Last week, after he turned 3, he was finally able to ride the bus home from school. I had always planned on taking him to school and he would just ride the bus home.
Here comes the bus with our sweet little boy on it.......
The bus driver was nice enough to let me on the bus to take a picture of Colin. This is what I took a picture of.....

Always a mom, I am helping Colin off the bus:
....what I did not take a picture of was him VERY upset because I took him off the bus! :) At that point...that very point....we decided that Colin should probably ride the bus TO school also because he seemed to enjoy it. Colin had been crying when I dropped him off at school, so we thought maybe the bus ride transition to school would be easier on him also.
The next day we started the ride TO school on the bus. This is Colin waiting for the bus, like a very big school boy:
And the bus driving off with Colin....I am amazed that I could see through the tears in my eyes to take this picture.

There is a New Mailman in Town

When I went to pick up Colin from school one day last week.....I didn't get Colin......I got a mailman.

Apparently Colin loves the area of the classroom where you can dress up and play in the "home" with the kitchen, babies, all that fun stuff.

Colin's teacher said that he did not want to take the mailman clothes off and she thought he looked so cute she would let him take them home to play with over the weekend.

#1-what a nice teacher
#2-what a smart teacher because she is right, he looks ADORABLE!!!

Don't you wish you had this cutie for your mailman?!?

Last Camping Trip of the Season

Last weekend we took our last camping trip of the season. We headed out for a short trip on Saturday morning to the same place our camping season started this year: The Bruneau Sand Dunes.

On this camping trip we invited Logen's girlfriend, Shelbe, to come with us. She had never been to the dunes so we decided to invite her to come with us.

We had a crazy week so we were not able to get out of town until early on Saturday. The drive to the dunes only takes on 1 1/2 hours so we got there in time for some lunch and dune hiking. The evening was absolutely gorgeous. No wind, not too hot....happy times!

After dinner we all headed back out to the dunes for a little more hiking, pictures and sunset watching. Shelbe found a very small lizard......Colin thought it was pretty cool.

Logen and Shelbe ran down the dunes....Colin slid down the dune on his butt! :)

We stayed at the dunes watching the sunset...have I mentioned what a beautiful night it was.....even Chloe enjoyed our time in the dunes. She just goes crazy running in the soft sand. Times like these I find it hard to believe that she is 12 years old! (12 X 7 = 84 dog years)!!!!

After our hike around the dunes we headed back to camp to get the campfire started. We had a plan to make "Pole Pies". Pole pies is a dessert we learned to make from Dennis' cousin at the family reunion this year. Simple enough....you just need to remember to pack a pole---like the one in the closet that you hang your clothes on. The other ingredients are: pop and serve biscuits, fruit filling and whipped cream. All the healthy stuff, right? The biscuit goes on the end of the pole, cook it over the campfire, after it is cooked the pole has made a perfect spot to fill in the fruit and top with the whipped cream. Its a nice change from the typical smores everyone makes at the campfire.

We had a great time on our last camping trip of the season. So glad we went even though it was a quick one night away.

I love this picture of Logen, Shelbe and Colin!!!

Preschool

On September 14th, Colin started preschool!

We decided that the afternoon session would be better for Colin so he attends the preschool Monday through Thursday from 1:00 to 3:45.

The first week of school went fairly well. There were tears when we left him but big smiles when we picked him up!

The preschool is for kids that have delays in their development. There are a total of 8 kids in the classroom with four teachers in the room. What a great ratio right now. They will be adding children throughout the year but will not have more than 13 total.....still a great teacher/child ratio!

Colin now receives all his therapies through the preschool program; speech, physical, occupational and developmental. In January we will reevaluate to see if all his therapy needs are being met and/or if he needs to add additional therapies outside of school. They also work on his sensory needs and seem to be very educated in the sensory field.

Colin has a two physical education classes a week, he goes to library once a week, he has a computer class once a week and also goes to the library once a week. He has a snack at school (he loves the chocolate milk) and goes to recess.

We all went to his open house last night and the teacher has been impressed with his transition the last two weeks.

This is Colin walking out with his class on the second day of school. Colin insisted on using his "Toy Story" Halloween bucket as his school pack that day.

A Day of Birthdays!

September 16th is a busy birthday day in my family. Each one of these birthdays are just as special as the next. They are all special people in my life.

It is my Aunt Joann's birthday today. My Aunt Joann is a wonderful person and I think the world of her. Aunt Joann is thoughtful and caring. She is also one of the most creative people I know. I unfortunately do not get to visit with her very often because she lives 3000 miles away but when I do get to Maine I love going to her comfortable home. I really enjoy the meals she has made me--she is a fantastic cook and a vegetarian, so I love having her cooking. She has an easy going personality and is very easy to talk to.

Aunt Joann & Uncle Steve-Summer 2009

It is also my Uncle Joe's birthday. My Uncle Joe is an amazing guy. He is super smart, very thoughtful, caring and an extremely fun person to be with! My uncle also lives 3000 miles away from me so we do not get to spend a lot of time together but I love hearing from him and my Aunt Connie. We keep in touch and I have high hopes that we will be able to get our family together for a visit someday soon.

Uncle Joe and Aunt Connie, summer 2009

Sadly it would have been Dennis' dad's birthday today also. Don would have been a young 66 years old today. We have great memories and we will be thinking of him today, as always.

Happy Birthday, Birthday and Birthday to my family.......loving wishes for a very happy birthday!!

“If you think my hands are full, you should see my heart.”

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

Homecoming 2009

Last Friday was the homecoming football game and then on Saturday it was time for the most anticipated event (okay, most anticipated by ME)....the homecoming dance at Logen's high school. Logen had asked his girlfriend, Shelbe, to go to the dance with him. He thought everyone was going a little overboard with all the planning, but he was a good sport about it all.

Friday evening Logen went to the football game at his high school not only to watch the game but to watch Shelbe cheer. :) Yes, she is a cheerleader! We met Logen and Shelbe's parents, Kristi and Wade, over at the high school during the fourth quarter of the game. The MHS Warriors played a great game against the Eagle Mustangs but unfortunately Logen's school lost the game 31 to 27. After the game, as tradition has it, a GIANT "M" is torched and burned in the school field in celebration of the homecoming.

Saturday morning started out busy. I had a lot of work to do for the homecoming dance preparations. Logen and Shelbe decided that having a home cooked meal before the dance as opposed to going out to a restaurant for dinner would be a good idea. Dennis offered to make Shelbe one of her favorite dinners, Shrimp Linguine. He added a side of asparagus and french bread to the menu.

I wanted to make the dinner special for Logen and Shelbe. We set up a table for two on the patio. The weather was gorgeous and great for eating on the patio. The colors for MHS are blue and gold so that is the theme I went with to set the table for them. The look on Shelbe face when she saw the table we set up made all the work worth it. This is the finished product.

Shelbe's mom, Kristi and I, served the kids. It was so nice and special. We all ate in the house while the kids ate by candlelight (even though it was still sunny outside) on the patio by themselves. As we served Logen and Shelbe and walked away I heard Logen say "awkward!" :o) It was so funny!

After dinner it was time for exchanging of the flowers and plenty of picture taking.

I can hardly believe Logen is a freshman in high school and attended his first semi-formal dance. He looked so handsome and Shelbe looked beautiful. I had tears in my eyes as I dropped them off at the dance and watched them walk into the gym. My little boy is growing up.......

Labor Day Weekend

We decided to have another camping weekend....since we are running out of summertime real fast. We went back to the same campground that we went to a few weeks ago for our family reunion. It is an easy 2 1/2 hour drive and Logen really enjoys the pool....So off we went on Saturday morning to meet up with Dennis' sister and her family.

Even though we have stayed in this campground several times we have never stayed in this particular area of the campground and I am not sure if we ever will again. We like the other area of the campground but this one seemed to have a fly problem. I DO NOT like flies. Everyone heard a lot of me saying "shut the door!!" --I do not like flies in the "house". Even if it is the traveling trailer "house". This picture is actually of Dennis and his sister, Trish, with fly swatters killing the flies OUTSIDE. That should give you an indication of how bad they were! ;)

We all love to camp and spend time with our family and friends relaxing with not much of a schedule to keep to.

The happy campers:

This smile usually remains on Dennis' face the whole weekend.

Colin and Abby enjoyed all the wagon rides they got. Abby is our niece and only 8 days younger than Colin.

Our little nephew Cameron wasn't too happy at this moment which is mighty unusual he is a cute, lovable 2nd grader.

Good bye to another year at one of Logen's favorite campgrounds that we stay at....until next camp season.......

A Reenactment

Not sure what got over me (a moment of insanity, maybe), but the other day I decided to be daring and take Colin to the mall to specifically go to the Disney Store. I was telling Dennis a couple weeks ago that it would be a long time before I ever took him to that store because he will want everything..... it is a stage he is going through. Colin enjoys a lot of the Disney/Pixar movies so there are "goodies" every where in the Disney Store that were going to be mighty tempting. But off we went......

I was planning on buying him one thing from the store...my intent was not to traumatize the poor boy by taking him in the store and not getting him anything. But since you all know me so well, you know it was my intent to shop the clearance section.

Colin was such a good kid-he sat in his stroller pointed out things so I would show him each item. I would say "do you want that?'', He would say "no" again and again--until we found the one thing he wanted:It was on clearance and I also figured that he would need to stomp on the "plunger" to get the rocket to soar....a good PT (physical therapy) activity. So we bought it along with a cute t-shirt (only $5.99) and a Mickey Mouse bag for me ($4.50)!

We took it home and he had a little trouble with the "stomp" but he still had fun playing with it. Later in the evening he was trying to wrap it on him like a belt. I could not figure out why he would want to do that but I was willing to help him out. I borrowed a belt from Logen and attached the "rocket" to his back. Next thing you know his arms went straight up in the air and he yelled "Colin fly" "Colin fly".

He was very anxious to get outside and try the rocket out, to see if he really could fly. He had a hard time understanding my reasoning of why he could not fly.....he had a rocket on his back shouldn't he be able to fly like his friends, Woody and Buzz Lightyear did in the movie Toy Story!?!

What a remarkable sense of imagination Colin has.........reenacting a scene from one of his favorite movies!

Showdown

Today is a much anticipated day in our house....the first game of the season for our team..... the BSU Broncos!

The game will be played on the famous blue turf here in Boise against the Oregon Ducks. The game will be televised live on ESPN starting at 8:15 pm MT.

We are all wearing our blue and orange colors today. We do not have tickets to attend the game so we will be watching it from the comfort of our family room.

All together now.......really loud.......

Go! Orange! Go! big Blue! Fight! Fight! B-S-U!

Colin by the numbers

Colin went for a check up today at the doctors! I had no idea that Colin's doctor was expecting a new baby herself, so it was very lucky we got the appointment when we did because she is due in three weeks! I really like Colin's doctor and value her opinion. I would have been most definitely disappointed if we would have waited longer for the apoointment and had to see her substitute doctor instead. These are Colin's new numbers:

• Colin weighs 34.4 pounds. He weighed 32 pounds the first of June.
• Colin is now 41 inches tall. In December he was 35 inches tall. Did you do the math? He has grown 6 inches in the last 8 months. It appears he may be tall, just like his Daddy!
  

We have a meeting with Colin's preschool next week and then he will be ready to start school on the 14th of SEPTEMBER! I cannot believe it is already that time. He could ride the big yellow school bus to and from school but I think I will take him to school and let the bus bring him back here. I know it will be very exciting for him to ride the bus and to go to school, learn and meet friends....I am so excited for him. We only worry that the communication will be hard and frustrating for him.....since speech is where his delay he most profound.

He is a great kid, super smart and I think the preschool will be the boost he needs!