Fall Family Tradition

Sunday marked the beginning of a new Fall Sevin Family tradition.  We headed up to Hillcrest Orchards in North Georgia to pick apples and load up on apple goodies.  This orchard had it all.  Apple picking, tractor rides, petting zoo, slides, play grounds, and of course, yummy, so horrible, but so good fair food. 

We were smart to get there early.  By the time we left, the place was packed! 

Jumping on the big air pillow, but not too sure.

Climbing up to the big slide

Guess who's in charge?

A little scared of the goats!

"What's in there?"

Cousin Love (and choke hold!)

Squishing apples

Little Boy loves his corn!

We bought a ton of apples and I already made a big batch of baked apples.  Logan and I have been enjoying them with a little granola on top!  Yum!  Next recipes on tap are homemade applesauce and cinnamon apple biscuit pops! 

I can't wait to go back next year! 

The Too Busy for Quiet Events Phase

We strung Logan along to our good friends Ben and Kendra's wedding a few weekends ago.  While he was good, he is definately is the "I'm a toddler and can't sit still or be quiet for more than twenty seconds" phase.  He was so busy it was even hard to snap a few photos. 
He lasted for about an hour and a half and then he was DONE-ZO!  Logan and I headed home while Chris and his parents enjoyed a fun night celebrating with friends! 

This is my favorite picture!  Mimi and I were walking Logan through the garden and he found a friend. 

Preschool Party

I took off work Thursday morning so that I could attend Logan's Fall Festival at his school.  I hadn't been able to see him at school or his teachers since open house, so it was such a treat to be able to go to school with him.  Pop meet us there so that he could party with us, too.

We got to go on a hay ride all around and way back in the woods, then jumped off to run over to the pumpkins just in time for a good down pour.  Logan walked around for a few seconds, then picked the perfect pumpkin!  It really was the prettiest one!  Pop helped us carry everything back inside and we played a little more in the class.

Then we said the blessing and the sweetest sight, was seeing those 7 sweet babies put their hands together all while sitting so still in their seats.  Ms. Stephanie and Ms. Cindy got the food and drinks ready and the kids were ready to eat.

Look how cute these placemats are!  Adorable!

It was also Griffin's birthday, so the kids got cupcakes.  Logan enjoyed his, don't you think?  :)

The Shell has Grown

We had a crazy case of the sillies the other night!  Logan kept playing with his turtle monkey upstairs so I figured he wanted to wear his turtle costume from last year.  I fully expected him to protest when we started putting him in it, but he loved it!  "The turtle" had quite a fun time running around with us and being silly. 

Who doesn't love to wear a colander on their head??

The little turtle had to stop and take a potty break.  (I love how he reads every time he sits on here!)

Look at my turtle from last year. 

(Yes, looking at these pictures made me get teary.  My little turtle is growing up.)

Little Rascals

We have had lots of fun the last few weeks, especially with our cousins.  A few weeks ago, we had our block party at school, where I had to brave the dunk tank.  Logan was not too crazy about seeing his Mommy go down so many times.  Who knew kids had such good aim. 
Besides the sunburn, we had a fun time and all of my students loved seeing Logan. 

After the Block Party, I picked up Mackenzie and we had a sleep over complete with movie and popcorn! 

Logan loves watching his big cousin!

This past weekend, Josh and I took Mackenzie and Logan over to Alabama for my cousin's wedding.  It was so fun to see all of the family, especially cousins Jack and Baby Anna!  We stayed with Melanie and Scott and with 4 babies under 2 it was quite a happenin' house! 

He loved to rock Baby Anna and checked the rocker every time he walked in the room.  Sweet Boy!

Don't worry, Anna wasn't in there!

L-O-G-A-N

L-O-G-A-N, L-O-G-A-N, L-O-G-A-N, and Logan was his name-o!

(A little fun at Mimi and Pop's house today)

At least he doesn't hide his emotions!

Logan had his first school pictures a few weeks ago, and just to remind you this was when he was crying ALL. THE. TIME!!  I think they are pretty darn cute for him to have been crying so much.  I love the second picture - the pouty lip!  I think he's showing his little personality so well. 

Rain, Rain

Nope, there wasn't a drop of rain!  Not even a little, but Logan decided that he wasn't putting his pants back on and that the only shoes that would do were the yellow rain boots.  It's crazy how opinionated he has become all of the sudden.  He clearly had some very serious business to take care of on the phone!

Logan also decided this blue soccer ball, that belongs to our neighbor, was the coolest thing ever.  I'm pretty sure we stayed outside for over an hour, just walking up and down the street and kicking the ball.  I had to "borrow" the ball just to get Logan back to our driveway.  Luckily, the neighbors are out of town, so we'll be sure to put the ball back before they get home.  I guess the 10 different balls we have at the house aren't as cool as a soccer ball.  Looks like we'll be making a trip to Target this weekend for a new ball!

Future Quarter Back!

Can you tell we are a little excited about our little man's first real game of catch?  It just makes it even better that they are decked out in their football gear. 

Because nothing is Fireproof

**Although this is not totally Logan related, I do feel like I want to share this with other moms and dads who read my blog.

If someone asked me if having a baby changed my relationship with my husband, I wouldn't even hesitate to say yes.  Yes, it has made us communicate more.  Yes, it has made us re-examine thoughts and principles that we once considered rock solid.  It has also bought a new love into our home that we could have never imagined.  It also opened up an entire new view and appreciation for each other as we watched each other fulfill a role we had dreamed about for so long.   Along with all of those wonderful things, it has also made us exhausted, a few times (or more) it has made us quick tempered and on those sleep deprived days it has even made us argue or reach a level of frustration we didn't know we had. 
I still have the same love I had for my spouse the day we married, actually more now, but recently I found myself having to force myself into the "wife" role when I really just wanted to crash as soon as I put Logan to bed.  I wake up at the crack of dawn and throw on my teacher hat.  I perform an exhausting job all day, and rush home to be with my family.  I am normally in the mommy role at this point.  Cooking, cleaning, chasing, wagon pulling, swing pushing...you guys know, the list goes on.  By the time Logan goes to bed, and I do an hour or two of school work it's nearly 9 or 10 at night.  When you wake up at 5:00, this is way past bed time.  Chris and I found ourselves having a conversation about how to create more quality time for ourselves and put a focus on nurturing our relationship. 
I just happen to be browsing the Target book section and this book caught my eye. 

The Love Dare

As I flipped through it, I knew this was exactly what I had been praying for.  40 days and 40 assignments that allow you and your spouse to focus on each other and your relationship.  The other thing that caught my eye was the sticker on the top that said, "From the hit movie Fireproof".  Of course, I had to go rent the movie.  I tried Blockbuster Express, and two different Red Boxes, but ended up having Chris find it at an actual Blockbuster store.  We planned a special time to watch the movie, and promised to not have any distractions during the movie (so I had to put my phone and computer away!)

If you can get past the very cheesy acting, it was a GREAT movie!  The message was loud and clear!  I'm not going to get too much into the movie, because I really want to encourage other couples to watch the movie and take the Love Dare.  Even if you think you and your spouse are the greatest you've ever been, I would still recommend this.  If you happen to watch it or get the book, I would love to hear what you think.

Chris and I are going through the book a little slower than we thought, but there has already been a significant change between us.  I feel like it's actually making us better as a couple, better Christians, and most importantly, it's allowing us to be better parents for Logan. 

Mommy's Proud!

Not only did I get Logan's first hand print fall tree, but check out the note I got from his teacher on Tuesday!

(The note says: Logan had a GREAT day!  We are so very proud of him.  When Logan had his picture made we even got a grin from him.  :)  )

It was picture day and I was terrified that his little picture was going to be him with tears streaming down his face.  Luckily, it sounds like we might have a cute picture on it's way. 

I am so proud of my big boy!  He is off from school next week, but hopefully he does just a well once he goes back! 

Dinner Plans?

My little chef loves to play in our kitchen, organize the pantry and is learning early the art of standing in front of the open fridge.  I had just gotten an egg out of the carton to make cornbread and OOPS, I forgot to close the egg carton back.  My little chef decided to take it upon himself to make eggs RIGHT ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR!  Not only did he drop and crack the egg, but before I could get the paper towels to clean up, Logan was on the floor mixing the eggs.  In the midst of cleaning up raw scrambled egg, trying to keep the dog away, and trying to keep Logan from stomping on the slippery mess, I was also now freaking out that Logan was going to stick his possibly e-coli infected hands in his mouth.  (Okay, I know that's a stretch, but I was sure he'd start sticking them in his mouth.)

Needless to say, we went straight up to bath and raced back down so that we could get our cornbread out before it burnt! 

Gotta keep my eyes on this one!  He's fast!

Wordless Wednesday!

I Have "That Child"

Logan has been attending his little preschool for 4 whole weeks now.  He goes Tuesdays and Thursday from 9-12.  His teacher called me after the second week to let me know that he was having a rough time adjusting.  She explained that the only time he was not crying was in the swing on the playground.  She told me they ended up trying him in an infant swing in the classroom just to calm him down.  She told me not to worry and there are always one or two kids who do this.  I immediately felt so horrible and guilty, like I had done this to Logan.  Had I made him too attached to me?  Had I not left him with strangers enough? 
She suggested that he only do 1/2 days (which would only be 9-10:30) for a week to see if that helped.  My amazing mother in law and father in law also volunteered to go in and for an hour or so each day just to be with him in hopes it would calm him down.  He responded very well to Mimi or Pop being there, and barely cried while they were there.  The part he was still struggling with was the rule about only having his snack at the table.  The kids have to sit in their chair for snack and if they get up, their snack is taken away.  Logan did not like that rule AT ALL.  There was several days of no snack and tantrums on the floor.  Again, after feeling horrible, I decided we would try this rule at home.  All snacks and meals would be eaten in his highchair.  I also moved the high chair down to our dining room table, so that he would feel like he was at the table with us. 
All of our efforts must have helped because this is the note I got from his teacher last Thursday:

It says:

Mom,

I had my very best day yet!  I sat and ate snack with all my friends.

YAY!!  Now just pray tomorrow goes as well!

The 30 second crouch

I have to giggle at myself because I have found over the last few weeks, while I am at work, the only time I can actually take a breath and relax are the 30 seconds I am hovering over the potty doing the 30 second crouch.  I don't know if I always feel this way at the beginning of school, but I. AM. WHIPPED!We just finished week 4 of school, and I still feel like I can't keep my head above water.  I can't stand to have emails sitting in my inbox, but I can't seem to find the time to complete the tasks.  I also started my gifted endorsement classes again, which will be every other Wednesday until May.  Did I mention the worst part?  They are until 9pm!!  YUCK!  What was I thinking?  At least I have an amazing husband and in laws who are so willing to help me at any second.  I am so blessed and I try to remember when I am feeling so overwhelmed. 

I hate that I haven't been able to blog as much, but I am hoping to get back on track.

Speaking of bragging, we ventured out to Babies R Us last weekend, where we purchased Logan's first big boy potty.   We have it in the living room, in hopes that he will get to know it and practice sitting on it.  It didn't take long for him to hop on and try it out. 

Then, we of course, had to try it with his pants off.  No pee pee in the potty yet, but Logan did Pee Pee up the steps.  Does that count?  :)