Grumpy Pants!

Tonight Mark, Logan and I packed up the playpen and diaper bag yet again for another fun and exciting night. Tonight we went to Uncle Jerry and Auntie Geraldine's house for the Vanderveen get together. We had a lot of fun with all of the aunts, uncles and cousins. Everyone was there except for the Brands family... we missed you guys!! First the younger children opened up their presents from Grandpa and Grandma as well as from the gift exchange. (Logan had Brett's name, and I think Old Slow Coach was a big success!!) Then the rest of us did our white elephant gift exchange game. Talk about a lot of fun! Mark brought home some Christmas washclothes, dessert plates and mugs and I ended up with a tool kit. (Now Mark will have to borrow all of MY tools!) Logan has been an unhappy camper today, so he and I came home early so he could have a good night's sleep in his own bed. Mark will probably fall into bed pretty late tonight after several rounds of poker.

Christmas with the Wienses

We spent the last two days celebrating Christmas with Mark's family. The Wienses have a lot of Christmas traditions... the first being the annual skate on Christmas Eve Day at Bowness Park (except this year, because of conflicting schedules we went on the 23rd.) We then opened presents that evening and played a few rounds of buzz word. The guys also played some long awaited Guitar Hero III. (Which was hidden under the tree labled "To Mark, From Mark"). Last night we all slept over and early this morning Dad, Jon and Mark left to play hockey at Optimist. When they got back we had the traditional Christmas morning brunch (but again, a day early) and opened up the remaining presents.

A bit of fun at Dad's expense

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Wii!! It's Christmas!!

Teehee... get it? Last night we got together with my family for Christmas. We went to my mom and dad's for a Christmas dinner of steak and potatoes around six, had dessert, opened presents and played some Wii. We had a LOT of fun (mostly laughing at our lame attemps to play wii) and probably outwore our welcome by a few hours!!

Busy, Busy, Busy....

With Christmas rapidly approaching I feel like we are busy 24/7. There is so much to do in so little time. So many people to see, so many things to do. When I look at my day planner for the next week I feel severely overwhelmed!

The busyness started yesterday when Robyn and I decided to bake some Christmas cookies... only we didn't realize what we were getting ourselves into! Neither of us can remember ever making Christmas cookies before (what a sad childhood we must have had!!) So rolling out the dough, cutting out the shapes and icing the cookies was all new to us. And it didn't help that we made the most GIGANTIC batch of cookies EVER!! It took us HOURS and we are now up to our ears in cookies!! By the end my kitchen was a disaster zone and we (including Duke) were covered from head to foot in flour and food coloring!! But, we had fun and now have a freezer full of fantastic cookies (despite their Easter-like color frosting.. stupid food coloring!!)

Last night we also went out with Louis & Niki and Justin & Jessiya to Open Sesame to celebrate Christmas together. Open Sesame is very similar to the Mongolie Grill in that you fill your bowl full of your choice of veggies and sauces and then they cook it up in a big wok for you. It was very tasty and we had an excellent time.

This afternoon Mark and I ran around and did some last minute Christmas shopping. (It's only Friday and the stores are CROWDED!! Come on People.... why are you not at work?!?!) I also went and got a badly needed hair cut (just a small, barely noticeable trim). We wrapped (and in some cases, thanks to Duke, REwrapped) the remainder of our Christmas presents and enjoyed a little down time (Mark hid downstairs and played guitar hero II and Logan had a much needed nap.) Tonight we are to TJ & Kelly's for dinner and evening of fun filled games (our FAVORITE past time!!)

Tomorrow afternoon we're doing a practice run and are going skating at Bowness with a bunch of friends. (I am a TERRIBLE skater. I never mastered the art of stopping!) Hopefully this will give me a bit of an edge and I wont fall on my butt as much on Sunday when we go skating with the Wiens side.

Tomorrow evening we are having dinner at my parents house and are then opening presents with the six of us. Mark is also planning on bringing his guitar hero over so that we can make fun of dad... uhhh... I mean... so dad can dazzle us with his gaming skills. (Don't worry... I'll be sure to get it on tape!)

Sunday, after Church, as I mentioned we are skating with the Wienses and are then opening presents and sleeping over at Mark's mom and dad's. On the 24th we will have Christmas brunch after the boys play hockey at Optimist. Late that afternoon we head over to my Uncle Jerry & Auntie Geraldine's house for the Vanderveen Christmas (which reminds me, I STILL need to get my gift exchange gift... any fabulous ideas? Christmas day we will go to church and then head over to Uncle John & Auntie Florence's house for Christmas dinner with the Wagenaar's. And boxing day.. of course, Mark will be standing in some line somewhere for some deal.

I am sure by the end of this week I will be needing a vacation. (Why oh WHY did we cancel our Hawaii trip?!?!?!) Hopefully despite the hectic schedule Logan will be able to get some decent naps in and will be his normal cheerful self. I do NOT want to deal with a cranky baby when we are out running around and are at other people's houses. Aye ca rumba!

5 Months

What a month its been! Logan is growing by leaps and bounds. He is still one chunky monkey (I havent had him weighed since his four month shots... but if I had to guess I would say he is rapidly approaching the 20 pound mark.) This month he also giggled for the first time (Auntie Laura was playing peekaboo with him). He also learned to roll from his back to his tummy and vice versa. (Although he is MUCH better at rolling from his tummy to his back... I think that might have something to do with his hatred for laying on his tummy). He is quite the little character!!

Oops!

On Monday Robyn was in a car accident up in Edmonton. She, Megan and their friend Jordyn were the third car in line to turn left into the safeway parking lot. A man drove up behind them, but didnt start stopping in time for the icy conditions and crashed into the back of Robyn's car. This caused her to crash into the car infront of her, and that car to crash into the car infront of them. (Talk about a BIG mess!!) Robyn's car is done for... the back end is completely destroyed (in the one picture you can see her bumper is sitting in her backseat), the air bags deployed, her headlights were "smushed in" and the front grill fell off. The insurance company already had it towed to the scrap metal yard. Luckily no one was seriously injured. Robyn's hands are bruised and pretty stiff from the air bag. Something inside Megan's eye burst, so it is filled with blood and the area around the eye is bruised and cut up (all thanks to the airbag). The doctors think she will have to wear a patch and lay on her back for the next 8 days to help it drain. Again, luckily they think there is no permanent damage. I guess Robyn should start looking for a new car!!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

This week, Kristina, Cameron, Logan and I made a trip to the North Pole (aka Chinook Mall) to see Santa Claus. Logan sat on Santa's lap and told him all he wanted for Christmas. Only 12 more days!!

Diesel Face

Winter Wonderland

This afternoon we decided to take a drive out to the acreage for the afternoon. We wanted to check on our trailer (look for leaks or uninvited "guests") and swap our bbqs (the one at home hasn't been working very well lately, and we had a super good one at the acreage.) So we drove out there just the four of us (Mark, Logan, Duke and I).

Logan Making a Snow Angel

As usual, Duke had a blast running around like crazy. He would run and run and run until he was so hot that he had to roll around in the snow to cool off. However, at some point while we were there (we're not sure when) Duke cut his paw. It was bleeding everywhere, so we had to make an emergancy stop at Uncle Bill and Auntie Wilma's house on the way home to steal an old sock from them for a make-shift bandaid.

At the end of the trip everyone was pretty exhausted. Logan and Duke slept pretty much the whole way back to Mom and Dad Wienses.

Because I'm bored...

The Attack of the Duke Monster!!


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Lounging on the couch.

This is as flexible as I get.

Tummy Time!!

UhOh Logan!

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I guess his head is just too heavy!! But he is getting better!! He can now manage to balance that big noggen of his long enough to sit up for a couple of minutes before toppling over.

Talk about a drool monster!! All that slobber usually leads to a nice, warm bath!!

4 Months

This post is a few days late seeing as how Logan was 4 months on the 21st, but I wanted to wait until yesterday, we went and got Logan's 2nd set of shots done, before I posted anything. Logan didn't handle this set of shots quite as well as the first set. He cried and cried and cried when the nurse gave him the needles. He did however settle down quite quickly afterwards, so we still can't really complain. Mark also had his flu shot done yesterday and I had my measles/mumps/rubella shot done (because apparently, even though I had it done back in 1986, I'm not immune to rubella yet!) The nurse wouldn't give Mark his mumps shot, instead he has to wait until the mass distributing later this month to get it... how inconvenient!

(Logan growing from age 1-4 months)

Logan now weighs 17.5 pounds and is on the 90th percentile for weight, height and head circumference, (so even though he's big, he's at least proportionate!) He still hasn't mastered sitting up or rolling over... but he's getting there. I haven't tried giving him any more baby food since that last video... but the nurse said he looks like he might be ready, so maybe we'll give it another try.

Lastly, I thought I would include a picture of our "new" couch. (New to us at least!) A lot of the stuff in our house came free from family or friends - however most of our free stuff comes from people Mark has moved. Here's a list of stuff Mark has gotten from moves over the past year:

• Dark Green Sectional (in picture above)
• White round couch
• Blue Recliner
• Blue Gliding Chair (kind of like a rocking chair)
• BBQ
• Computer
• FIVE TV's (of which most work)
• Filing Cabinet
• Washing Machine
• Dryer
• Upright Freezer
• Queen Size Bed
• Dresser
• Christmas Lights
• Microwave

And there's probably some stuff I'm missing. Mark and I are ALWAYS up for free stuff (provided its in decent shape.)

Logan's first taste of cereal

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A Poor Man's Playpen

Logan is getting closer and closer to sitting up by himself... however, Duke is kind of hindering the learning process because everytime we try to play on the floor we get "attacked". (Duke likes to give face washes!) So... in attempt to help Logan learn to sit up, I've been sitting him in a laundry basket. This way he gets to sit without being trampled by an excited Duke and his toys can't get away from him. So far he really seems to like it and his stomach muscles are getting stronger and stronger.

Baby Picture Comparison

Below are pictures of Mark, Logan and I, all at three months of age. I thought it would be fun to compare and see who Logan looks more like at this point. Mark thinks he wins hands down... but I like to think Logan looks a tiny bit like me!! What do you think???

Aaron Gamble (left) and Mark (right)

Me, the most beautiful baby ever (Logan's a close second)

Logan

Mark (sitting on his mom's lap)

Me

Logan

The Zoo

Earlier this week Heather and Erin asked me to go to the zoo with them, unfortunately I was too sick with my cold... so Logan and I didn't get to go. We were pretty sad about it, so today when my mom said she and Brett were going, we tagged along with them.

We were only there for two hours, but we managed to see a few of the animals. We saw the giraffes, the elephants, the monkeys, and of course, the hippos!! We weren't allowed to leave any of the animals until we saw them "make a mess" aka poop! Boys sure have a strange fascination with poop! Brett made me take a picture of the hippo poop and the elephant pooping. (I think those were the highlights of his day!!)

Logan and I now have zoo passes (an early Christmas present from my mom), so if anyone wants to go, count us in!!

Photogenic?

I love my puppy!!

Yummy! My hands taste good!

What're YOU looking at?!

Watching volleyball makes me sleepy!

Trick or Treat!!

Yesterday we went out Trick or Treating with Logan and Duke. We walked around the neighborhood going to only the houses of people we know (mainly to show off how cute Logan was, but also to get CANDY!!) Logan dressed up as Winnie the Pooh and Duke was Superman.(My mom had bought Duke's costume last November for 50% off and everyone loved it!!) We got so many compliments on how cute he, and Logan were! (Although Logan was a bit upstaged by Superdog.) Logan did alright trick or treating. He pretty much slept in his stroller the entire time. By the end however he was pretty sick of his costume (I think he was too hot in it) and just wanted to go home to bed. As you can tell him and Tigger (Cameron) were pretty upset in that last picture. We ended our evening at Mom and Dad Wienses house where Logan slept the entire time in his car seat.

Surprisingly, Logan slept horribly night. He was awake crying every hour pretty much. So I had to keep going in his room to put his soother back in. When I got up this morning I realized why he might have been crying... his right eye is all red, puffy and swollen. I think he might have pink eye!! (Hmmm... I wonder who he would have gotten this from?????? AUNTIE ROBYN!!) We are going to see the doctor this afternoon at 3:10 to get it checked out. (I don't know if I can last that long.. Logan is super cranky and temperamental!!)