Logan's 2nd BDay

Last Sunday my baby boy turned 2! Yup, he made it - through no effort of his own to keep himself safe I might add. We have a little Evil Knievel under our roof and I think every birthday is going to be a celebration of him simply surviving.

Logan's stages so far:

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

LOGAN SPENCER HARRISON
2 Years Old

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

Two of my favorite things about Logan right now are:
1) His enthusiasm for life and how he is always on the go. Every morning he wakes up, comes into our room and says, "Mommy, downstairs (and with great enthusiasm followed by running) Let's Go!"

2)His sense of humor. Currently his favorite thing to do is close his eyes so that he can barely see under his lashes and say, "I can't see". He pretends that he can't see and starts running into things on purpose chanting, "I can't see, I can't see". :D

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Since Logan was born on Nov. 1st, he gets the great pleasure of ending the Halloween celebrations with a party of his own. We didn't really do anything big because, well, he is 2 and doesn't know a birthday from any other day. So, we invited our best friends over, opened gifts, and ate some cupcakes. Possibly a little lame for a birthday party, but until he cares, we are going to keep it simple.

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

The funny of the night was when we sang happy birthday to him. He got so excited that he accidentally smashed his hand into one of the cupcakes. This was absolutely DEVASTATING to him as you can see:

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

After the drama was over and he had calmed down, he had fun being silly with his best friend Cyrus. These two are about a month apart in age and are two peas in a pod. It's common knowledge among our friends that when you get the two of these little dudes together there is bound to be trouble...but what cute little trouble makers they are...

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween...my favorite holiday. I love the October weather leading up to it, the silly decorations for it, the fun activities surrounding it, the joy of getting to dress up and be silly for a day, and the sheer bliss of getting bucket loads of candy from taking the kiddos around. (That last one is short lived once the scale comes into play, but for a few days it is absolutely delectable). Seriously, a month of straight fun that is topped off with candy...really what is better than that?!

This year we decided that we should throw a Halloween party:
19 Adults
22 Children
Cute Costumes
Pumpkin Painting
Cookie Decorating
Loads of Yummy Food
& Video Game Competitions...

From October 2009

...it was AWESOME!

We didn't get a pic of all of the kids because they were happily playing and we weren't going to mess with that. We did snag pictures of the adults though since most of us dressed up right along with the kiddos:

From October 2009

It was so much fun to play hostess and hang with all my gal friends while the men had a little healthy competition and the kids played to their hearts content. We had such a great time with wonderful friends from our ward and it is definitely something we will do again. Thanks everyone for coming!!

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The party continued the next day (Halloween) when we took the boys to the mall for trick-or-treating, attended our ward trunk or treat, and then had a pizza party with some friends. The boys loved showing off their costumes, but mostly loved the ridiculous amounts of candy that we ended up with. I had a ball playing dress up and was pleased with how my costume turned out- and although Mike's costume was not all that comfortable, he kept everyone laughing, so was happy to dress up as well.

The Harrisons:
A Nerd, A Halloween Pixie, Thomas the Train, and Stitch

From October 2009

We played hard, we had a blast, we've purchased all of our 75% off items for next year, and we are looking ahead to Thanksgiving. As usual, the season was wonderful and although I am a tad sad that it is over for a whole year, at least I have Korben to keep the fun spirit of Halloween alive...

From October 2009

Pumpkin Carving 2009

Our pumpkin carving was very laid back this year compared to the last few years. It was the first year we have carved pumpkins just as our little family and to be honest, it felt a little lonely without the craziness of having a lot of family around. However, the cleanup was soooo much easier that at least that part of being lonely was a positive.

It was fun to see how the boys participated this year:

Korben did stick a spoon in his pumpkin, but wouldn't touch the seeds or guts, called them yucky and opted to sit and watch the rest of us get dirty- but, he loved helping Mike carve a face in his pumpkin.

Logan on the other hand loved the seed and guts, played in them with a big spoon for a long while and when we got to the carving part (which requires holding still) he decided he would rather go to bed than sit through anything so boring.

...and that my friends is just one example of the polar opposites in the Harrison household.

From October 2009

We all have one thing in common though - we like to "oooh" and "ahhh" at our finished products. That is why despite the yucky insides, and endless scraping, carving with tiny knives, and sometimes feeling lonely, we will continue to carve pumpkins year after year - so that we can "oooh" and "ahhh" over little pumpkins families like these:

From October 2009

BiZi in October

Last weekend we made our traditional trip to Bizi Farms to enjoy the pumpkin patch, pumpkin launch, corn pit, pony rides, hay ride, hay maze, petting zoo, and hot cocoa (Whew! Say that in one breath...) This farm is seriously one of the most fun places I have ever been. It is perfect for the kids, and rain or shine, muddy or dry, it is always sure to be a blast. I could elaborate with a whole load of information of goodness, but this past week had many more events and I have much more to share - so here is a very quick, condensed version of Bizi Farms:

From October 2009

Okay, so...kind of condensed :D

Because I also want to share my two favorite pics from the day:

Picture #1:

From October 2009

L.O.V.E this picture of Logan...unfortunately the sun is so bright on his head that it is kind of annoying in the colored version...so sepia it is.

And the second one:

From October 2009

Who doesn't love a good shot of two little boys and their Daddy?

Why Boys Need A Daddy

Question: So what does a mom do when she has been quarantined to the house because of sick kids, she feels guilty that they have watched so much tv, and she needs to keep their interest in something other than destroying the house?

Answer: She gets out some games.

Result: Mostly boredom with a hint of fun

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Question: So what does a dad do when he has been quarantined to the house because of sick kids, he feels guilty that they have watched so much tv, and he needs to keep their interest in something other than destroying the house?

Answer: He lets them help make a volcano followed up by a ginormous fort.

Result: Shouts of excitement and lots of giggles followed by tears when it's time to clean up.

From October 2009

I'm pretty sure Dad wins out on this one.

Halloween Lanterns

A few days ago Kathy told me about these cute lanterns that were posted on one of the blogs we follow (http://www.ourbestbites.com/). After seeing how adorable they were, I couldn't resist making it a project for Korben and I. Korben loved helping me paint on the mod podge and he was very serious about which monster faces we should put on them.

From October 2009

The whole project only took us a little over an hour and they look so cute on our windowsill. Korben gets so excited to light them and then turn all the lights out so that we can see them better, and each night he says, "goodnight monsters, goodnight ghosts, goodnight pumpkins...see you tomorrow." How cute is that?!

Say What?!

A few weeks ago we received a call from Mom & Dad Harrison. They felt strongly that each of their children should have a sewing machine and, get this, they were willing to get us one! They even did all of the footwork of trying out all kinds of machines and getting the scoop on the best ones in our price range. All I had to do was find a store nearby that sold the machine and wait for the check to arrive.

So first of all I want to say,
THANK YOU MOM & DAD!!!

Second of all I want to say,
I LOVE MY SEWING MACHINE!!!

Here's my little beauty:

From September 09

It has only been one week since we set her up and already

I have no idea how I ever lived without such a blessed machine

So far, I have made a double sided table runner,

From September 09

a cute set of pumpkins,

From September 09

additions to my Halloween pixie costume,

From September 09

a bow tie
(made out of the leftover fabric from hemming Mike's Halloween nerd pants),

From September 09

and I have sewed one of my tops to make it more fitted.

From September 09

Now, master seamstress extraordinaire I am not, but I am excited to be slowly working my way up the ranks. Next up on the agenda: pajama pants.