The Big "O" Five

On December 18, Logan had his fifth birthday party at home. I tried to convince him to have a party at the dinosaur museum or some other location, but he was having none of it. He decided it would be fun to have a pajama party, with a movie, popcorn and brownies. You may not know this but, Logan "hates" cake!

The guests arrived wearing their cutest pajamas and ready to hang out. The movie of the evening was a Scooby Doo special. The kids seemed to enjoy it for about 45 minutes, then they all migrated to Logan's room. I was not allowed in the room because, apparently, I am not a member. At least that is what Logan was explaining to his friends as he shut the door in my face. Ahh, kids.

Castle didn't join the others in Logan's bedroom, he stayed in the living room stealing popcorn from his cousin Jack and dumping it on the floor.

After the club members adjourned their meeting it was time to play, "Pin the horn on the triceratops". Everyone had a great time, Caci, hit the target right on. It was probably woman's intuition. Or it may have something to do with the blind fold getting moved off of her eyes by her hand, but who knows. Bronson, insisted on being spun 8 times, he still landed it pretty much dead center.

The home made soft serve didn't turn out very well, but no one complained. Logan and his friends had a lot of fun, that is what I tell myself.

Santa Clause

Logan and Castle had a few friends over on Sunday afternoon and while they were playing they had a visit from Santa. The kids seemed to be shocked at first, they didn't know what was going on. After a little while they seemed to catch on to what was happening. Each one had a chance to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. Out of 11 kids only 3 had problems getting on Santa's lap.

Castle didn't want anything to do with Santa. He clung onto Auntie Dena trying to get away. You can see that he was fighting the jolly old man I think that is a right jab. .

"Steve" and Logan tried to convince Castle that Santa is a good guy, but he was not buying it. Logan, on the other hand was excited to see Santa and kept interrupting everyone else when they had their turn with him.

Caci could not be bribed to get close to Santa, this picture is a great depiction of her reluctance. Sena on the other hand was much more willing to visit with Santa.

When Santa walked through the door Alex let out a squeal of excitement. He let Santa know that he wanted safety scissors, it was soo cute. The simple things in life that makes kids happy. Alex was having a hard time not diming out his brother. When it was Jack's turn with Santa, Alex told him that Jack dumps out the dogs food dish. Ahh brothers.

Micah looked a bit freaked out but he tolerated the man in red so he could get his gift. Bronson, seemed a bit skeptical of his authenticity, but he played along and humored everyone.

Meghan was not sure about the man in the Santa suit. After her turn was over she was asking me who the man in the suit. Who is it? That's a beard. I love her, she cracks me up, I like to call her the heckler. Colton was very excited to see Santa, he had the biggest grin on his face the whole time. Mia had to be escorted to Santa's lap. Once there she gave a forced, cheesy smile. She survived and the reward was a toy.

Castle and his new diggs

Forgive me my grammer and flighty post, it has been a long weekend.......
Most of you know that Castle was running through the house with his beloved doggie on his head and tripped. To make a very long tiresome story short. He ended up with a spiral fracture of his right femur and a broken left tibia. As you can see he is in a serious cast for the next four weeks. Good thing I had their pictures taken for the Christmas cards taken already.

Logan was not home when it happened he was at Micah's house. So he got to have his first sleep over at a friends house. Kim said that in the middle of the night Micah and Logan were talking to each other while they were sleeping. She got up to tell them to stop talking and go to sleep when she discovered they were already asleep. She said they were having a full on conversation. Crazy kids.

The house has had many visitors. Castle was not very enthusiastic for visitors, but he has made out like a bandit. Christmas is only a few weeks away, but the kid has been given enough gifts to cover him for a few months, a bean bag from Papa and Pepi, a car from Grandma Denise, THREE toys and dinner from Kim a book and a tree from Grandma and Grandpa Kaul. The list goes on and on. Logan has reaped the benefits as well, he has new Power Ranger swimming gear, courtesy of Grandma Shar. He has been running round with the goggles and hand and foot flippers on. He does not really understand what is going on with Castle, but he is really trying to be helpful.

Trick or Treat

Logan was going to be the Rhino Ranger for Halloween, but I purchased the wrong size costume, so his Pepe gave him an Iron Man, muscle costume.  He was very excited to be Iron Man.  The mask was a bit uncomfortable for him so "Steve" painted Logan's face to look like Iron Man.  He did a wonderful job.

 

Castle was a skeleton.  He chose that costume as far as anyone needs to know.  I would like to say he was excited for Halloween, but  I don't think he was aware of what was going on.  He spent most of his time relaxing in the stroller.  

We went treating with the neighbors.  Our culdesac was left empty so we had Kim pass out our candy.  It was our attempt to avoid as much vandalism as possible. 

Logan, Colton, Mia and Meghan

A few blocks away from your house a family does a haunted house every year.  It really is pretty cool.  He converts his two car garage into a small fright zone and it is a huge hit.  I took our crew through and they all enjoyed it.  This is a picture of them in front of one the displays in his front yard. 

Mia, Logan, Lauren, Ella and Meghan

By the end of the evening Castle had gathered three pieces of candy on his own and was ready to go home.  Logan was complaining "I can't carry one more piece!  I have no more room.".  I think this year Logan caught on to what was happening.  He knocks on the doors of strangers and they give him candy.  He was not shy and let them  know when he was giving him nut candy and tried to get them to take it back and give him something he could eat.  It was hilarious.  

Logan's First Jack-O-Latern

Logan helped his Papa and Pepe plant a garden at the beginning of the summer.  One of the things that were planted was pumpkin seeds.  The pumpkin vines produced five pumpkins.  One was Logan's.  His Pepe brought over the pumpkin so Logan could carve it.  Typically Logan chooses a stencil and "Steve" carves the pumpkin.  This year was Logans first year carving his own Jack-O-Lantern.  He was very excited.  He started with gutting the thing. 

This picture is an illusion, he HATED the feeling of the pumpkin guts. 

After an hour of sawing on the pumpkin the end result was a cat.  Doesn't it look exactly like a cat?

Logan did a happy, "Thank you for letting me carve my own Jack-O-Latern." song and dance. 

After the carving event we went outside to display the work of art and discovered it was a beautiful night.  "Steve" took  the opportunity to rake some leaves.  Logan ran through them, and "Steve" raked them again.  It went on like that for a while, but they were having fun.  The video is pretty dark, but you don't have to watch it. 

The Sandbox

On October 12th I posted pictures of the boys playing in the snow. Now it is October 26th and the boys are playing in the backyard, in the sandbox. No coats or socks. If I weren't properly medicated I may develop mental issues from the schizophrenic Utah weather.

The sandbox is a beloved spot to play. At Micah's house Logan used to play in a flower bed that has not had any flowers planted in it. The two boys would play in the dirt for hours, often they were caught relieving themselves in different corners, always blaming the other. "Steve" recognized how much Logan loved to dig in the dirt and decided to build him his own sandbox. Logan loves it, but I have to say I think Castle enjoys the sandbox even more than Logan. If Castle goes in the back yard he heads for the sandbox. While he is in it if I turn my head Castle will eat the sand. GROSS! He has done it more than once and was doing it before I took these pictures. When I was much younger I heard that we have an appendix because we used to digest rocks........ I don't know how much I believe that, but if it is true, maybe he still has a hankering for them.

Logan typically is a very good sport when it comes to his brother. To my surprise I have witnessed him give up a lot of toys to his brother just to keep him happy. This is the rare occasion when Logan will stand his ground. As you can see Castle doesn't give up. He is demanding and pushy where his brother is concerned. He also speaks caveman, I am not sure the dialect, but you can hear it here.

Logan claims to understand what Castle is saying. He insists that Castle is speaking baby. Maybe it is true, who knows. I will look back and miss days like this when they are throwing real punches in my living room.

Halloween Party

Logan had his first Halloween party on Saturday the 25th. He was very excited to have costume clad friends come over to his house.

The party started off with the oldie but goodie, eyeballs in guts game. The kids enjoyed reaching into the spaghetti in search of rubber eyeballs and shrunken skulls. The kids then moved on to a candy corn game, I won't bore you with the details. They them decorated sugar cookies, most of the kids ate the cookies "without decorations", children after my heart. Next was the ghost pinata and finally the monster under the tramp.

Near the end of the party Castle found the guts and was entertained the rest of the evening.

All and all I think the party was a success. It seemed all of the kids had fun and went away with a bunch of little party favors their parents will be finding in their cars for weeks to come.
I have to confess, I enjoyed the planning and decorating, after all Halloween is the best holiday. Logan had many people help him prepare for his party. Grandma Shar, Grandpa Danny, Kim and Dena all helped with the preparation and execution. At the party James B. enthusiastically agreed to be the monster under the tramp and he did a phenomenal job. I only wish we were able to capture a picture of him. But I do have a picture of the decorated tramp. Grandma and Grandpa brought cupcakes and several decorations to help create a festive environment. Kim provided almost all of the party favors as well as the sugar cookies for the decorating table. Dena was dressed as a witch, her makeup was excellent. It was so well done that Castle was afraid of her for a little while.

Lanissa brought the ever needed vampire fangs and Jackie brought the dry ice for our spooky root beer.

I am trying out a slide show, you can see pictures from the party in the show to the right.

SNOW!!!! For a Minute

"Steve" got home from work this morning and let me know that there was snow on the ground. Logan has been practicing his snow angels on the kitchen floor, we knew that when he woke up and I told him about the snow he would be excited. I mean snow in October!!! We have all heard it and most of us have lived it, "Utah Weather.", my oh my.

As suspected when Logan woke up and was informed about the snow, he was very excited to go outside and practice his snow angels. He also had great plans involving his sled. I had to explain that there was not enough snow for the sled, and if we didn't get outside soon, there would be no snow at all as it was already melting.

I bundled Logan and Castle up, preparing for the wet that would come with the snow and we headed outside. Logan dropped to the ground immediatly and started making his snow angel. Castle had not played in the snow before and was very confused about what his brother was doing. He wasn't going to ask any questions though, the outdoors is his favorite place and he was not going to jeopardize his good fortune.

Castle caught on after a bit and began to throw snow at himself and even sat down to play for a little while. As you can see the snow was not very deep and it had all melted by 10:30, but the boys enjoyed the wet wonderfulness while they could.

Woobie

Many of you have met Wolfy. Logan's favorite pet and best animal friend. Wolfy was purchased at the Hogle Zoo in December of 2004. This picture is not a close up but if you click on it the picture should open up into a larger window for you to see. Wolfy has been and still is deeply loved by Logan. He chewed his nose off, "Steve" sewed it back on. He has chewed off the tip of his tail a few times. "Steve" has given the proper medical care to Wolfy, including the necessary stitches.

There have been several attempts to replace Wolfy with shiny new Wolfies, but Logan could not be fooled. He knows an impostor when he see's one. I guess smells one would be more accurate. He will pick up Wolfy and take a big sniff, umm smells good. Mind you we do give Wolfy baths regularly, but he still has an aroma about him. Good is not exactly how I would describe it the aroma, but who am I to judge.

Doggie is Castle's woobie. Doggie was given to Castle before he was born. He was a baby shower gift from some old colleagues at CompHealth. Castle loves Doggie, he can't go to sleep without him. Castle likes to hold on to Doggies tail and rub it under his nose when he is dozing off. Doggie does not look as rough as Wolfy, but give him time.

Ahhh the simple pleasures of childhood. Watching these two makes me glad for the things I have. When all of the worlds problems go away with the love of a raggedy old dog............. ahem.

Injuries

We have shared Logan's stories about stitches on the BLOG and Castle is proving to be as graceful as his brother no stitches yet, but he has bonked his head a few times in the past month. In both cases he tripped over some obstacle in the house and hit his head. He cried for 10 seconds and continued on his way. I was home for the forehead injury and "Steve" was witness to the black eye. We were both amazed at the size of the injury as Castle hardly cried. I was at a baby shower for Stacy today and one of the guests asked Castle, "How did you get the black eye?". He pointed at me and began to say something in Castle jargon. Thank you son.

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Cousin's

Logan and Castle were lucky enough to have their cousins, Alex and Jack over for a play date on Saturday the 27th.  Jack is just over a year old and he doesn't seem too interested in walking just yet.  He seems to prefer scooting.  It is very cute and works wonderfully for him. I would love to place the video right here, but I am having technical difficulties. It is at the end of the post. 

   Grandma Shar and Grandpa Danny came to the game to cheer Logan on as well as pick him up for a sleep over.  The first thing Grandma Shar said when she saw Logan, Alex, Castle and Jack sitting together was, "Oh you can't tell they are related.".  It is uncanny how similar they look I didn't notice until they were right beside each other. 

With his cheering section eagerly awaiting another stellar performance. He didn't let us down, he scored a goal!  Alex was cheering "Go Logan, Go Blue Rhinos".  It was so cute.   Logan did very well.  He was an excellent sport and a fantastic team player.  

Here is Jack and his scoot. Soo CUTE!!

Soccer Star

I signed Logan up for outdoor soccer a few months ago. He had been bugging me to let him play again and I finally caved and did it. Well the sign up and the start of soccer were about 2 months apart. By the first game he didn't want to play soccer anymore and he forgot he asked to play. The first game was September 13. He cried a lot of the game and kept telling me he didn't want to play. That could have had nothing to do with his mother not following directions and getting lost, making us late for the game as well as tired from walking about a mile to the correct field!

The second game went a little better, there were no tears but Logan did ask the coach how many more minutes were left about every 45 seconds. By the third game Logan was ready to go. He didn't cry or ask how long was left. He ran after the ball and even scored a goal. As you can see he was very proud of himself.

Today was his fourth game and the middle of the season. He had a great time. He played almost the entire 40 minutes. He didn't cry, he chased the ball without walking and when he was sitting out he was cheering for his teammates. I was soo proud of him. Our team scored 4 goals and 3 of them were by Logan! He was so excited, he called his dad and recounted the events of the game and then called Grandma Shar so he could brag about himself.

On the way home I told him I was proud of him and asked him if he knew why. He said that I was proud because he took all of the things we had been teaching him and put them all together. That he tried, he didn't cry, he didn't ask the coach how long til the game was over. That he cheered for his team and he scored 3 goals.

I am so proud of him, just when I think he isn't listening to me, he pulls off something like that.