Tackle football player!

Daddy has taught Logan how to tackle. Well, Logan does love football - whenever he hears applause, he perks up and says, "Football?" But anyway, Logan loves to have Daddy tackle him. It leaves in giggles. Now Logan will (gently) tackle his sister. This makes her laugh and squeal like a little piggy.

So we had some fun on the floor just before bedtime (Daddy's derevving program). Logan pushed Daddy from behind to tackle Kayleigh; Kayleigh squeals; Daddy gets up; Logan pushes Daddy from behind yelling "tackle"; and on we go.

Then Logan tackled Kayleigh on his own. She laughed and laughed.

Bug wanted to get in on the action - Kayleigh is one of his favorite sources of tasty morsels. If anyone's going to tackle her, it should be the puppy she shares her Cheerios with! (and the only dog she knows the name of "Buh, buh".)

Body paints

Logan is a serious painter. Getting the correct sequence of scribbles is quite important and very difficult.

Here is the master painter with his avid fan.

But then the painter had a stroke of genius! Why not use these paints to paint on the body? Such a canvas God has made for us! Here is the painter showing off his latest creation (Logan, show me your tummy!)

Sweetness

Daddy and Kayleigh snuggle in the bathtub. She's a little snuggle bunny, and she loves her daddy.

Dedecked

Taking a play from the "Bob Callicott Playbook", the Little Flachman family is dedecked! All the boxes except for the lights are in the attic. It was raining yesterday, so no going up on the roof.

Logan is sad that the tree is gone - this morning he was looking for it to turn on the lights. He decided to stomp on the base of our side speaker (we have a foot switch for our tree). No lights came on. Someday, he'll be able to reach the lightswitch.

Bye-bye! *Kiss*

Logan was playing with some Duplo cars and people yesterday. One person was sitting in the front of the car, the other was in his hand.

Person in the car, "Bye-bye!"

Person in Logan's hand kisses the person in the car.

They do this again, and the person in the car drives off. What sweet little Duplo people we have!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Thursday, we all went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service. Of course, I was singing in the band and in one of the special musics (we sang "O Holy Night" heehee - Callicott inside joke), so I had to be at church at 4pm. Shane was left with the kids - by himself! Kayleigh fell asleep on the floor, so was well rested for the service. And you could tell she was wide awake, as she was "Ahhh"ing through all the special music, and trying to out-preach Pastor Brett.

When the candles were lit, Logan kept blowing his candle out. Shane would relight it, and he would bring his head closer and blow it out again. His lips never got closer to the flame, but his forehead did. The last time Shane relit his candle, Logan said flatly, "Daddy, ouch," and there was the distinct odor of burning hair. No more candle this year!

Our beautiful Christmas tree with presents underneath. I love how our house is so festive this time of year. Plus, the kids love the lights on the tree.

Christmas Day
Every morning, when Logan gets up, his first job (after kissing Mommy good morning) is to turn on the Christmas tree. The last week, when he got up at 5am, he'd turn on the tree and then come to our room. Christmas Day, Logan woke up late (he'd had a really late night), came into the living room, gave Daddy a hug, then went to turn on the Christmas tree. And wait! there's a huge truck behind the tree! How cool is that?!

Logan loved his Power Wheels truck. It took him about 10 minutes or less to figure out the gas pedal. Look at that grin - he loved it. Good job, Santa.

Logan and Daddy read the Christmas story from one of our Bible books. Logan looked at the picture and said, "Daddy, cow, moo!" Well, at least he knows that cows moo. Now maybe we'll put Jesus in the equation somewhere.

Our advent calendar is finished! Yes, there is a sheep on the top of the stable, but that's okay, Daddy said he's eating the straw on the roof. And the angel walks among us...

Kayleigh's favorite part of unwrapping presents was the paper. It was so yummy!

Mommy and Logan test out the truck. Logan needs a little steering help sometimes.

Bubba took Sissy for a ride. Logan really enjoyed having Kayleigh along, surprisingly. When he went out later, he got in the truck and then went back inside and tried to lift his little sister up to carry her out to the truck. He needed to have her with him in the truck. And Kayleigh had a great time - she played with the working radio, banged her hands on the side of the truck in approval, and grinned. There were times when Logan had to adjust his sideview mirrors, "Beep beep, Kayleigh" and he'd lean over her, but on the whole it was good fun with zero crying.

Yes, she was buckled in - the truck has Velcro lapbelts. Shane and I really enjoyed watching the kids play - and getting to play with our new toys. We spent a lot of time today in the backyard laughing with (and occasionally at) our kids. On the whole, it was a great Christmas!

My new camera

We've been talking for awhile about getting an SLR camera, and my sweet husband got me one for Christmas! I got a Nikon (breaking with the Callicott tradition, but I have a Nikon film camera body - so my flash and lenses will work). I'm so excited about it!

Logan - looking kinda like Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" minus the glasses.

Kayleigh-bob having a good time on the couch with laughing Santa. Look at those teeth!

My sweet husband on the phone with Phillippia - making sure she could get to Birmingham on standby passes. Apparently, the line for check-in was 3 HOURS long. Hobby had a little 2 hour brown-out today, backing everything up!

My sweet big dog - (the original) Hovering Bug. He's so big, he ate Cheerios off Kayleigh's tray this morning because she wasn't "sharing" fast enough.

I love my new camera! Such great pictures!

Logan's 2 year check up

Logan had his two year check up with Dr. Quillin today. He was a trooper and got 3 shots! He also got to stand on the big boy scale, not get weighed on the baby scale. He was 27lbs 8oz (42%) and was 35in (72%). So, still skinny for his height.

If you go off the old, double their height when they're two and you'll get their full grown height, Logan will be 5'10" when he's an adult. Heehee, no eating peanuts off of this mom's head, since we'll be the same height. This is also unfortunate, because I'll never know when he's brought back my "borrowed" car...

[Note: Since Shane and I are the same height, we never have to adjust the seats in the car, just the mirrors.]

Pre-Christmas dinner

Saturday night, Hope, Phil, and Angela came over for a pre-Christmas dinner. We even used the formal china! It was a nice dinner - ham, sweet potato casserole, bread, and steamed veggies.

We got to open our Christmas presents from them, and Logan got an airplane GeoTrax. He really enjoyed it. It falls down the side and he would laugh and squeal! We bought Hope and Phil a 16 piece china set, since they seem to have no matching plates. They seemed to like it!

We'll miss them on Christmas because Angela and Hope will be in Virginia with their parents, and Phil will be in Alabama with her family. But it was a merry pre-Christmas!

Dickinson Festival of Lights

This evening, we went to the Dickinson Festival of Lights, a free light display in the park by the bayou. Logan was so excited by all the Christmas lights (or fairy lights, wherever you're from), that he ran the whole time we were there. He LOVED it!

Kayleigh had a great time, too. She loved looking at the lights and watching her crazy brother run all around. She grinned (showing her teeth) and flapped her arms in excitement.

There is one place in the sea of Christmas lights that is a light "castle" with tin soldiers around it. In the back, there are bubble machines that send out lots of bubbles. Logan enjoyed the bubbles. Here he is trying to strangle one. Okay, actually, he's just trying to catch it, but it really looks like he wants to strangle the bubble.

Oh what fun!

The turrets of the castle in our second "snowfall" of the year.

Logan loved the trains - wooden or lit. They even had a train for the kids to ride on (the line was too long when we decided to let Logan do it). The train consists of beer kegs with holes in the sides painted festive colors for the kids to ride in pulled by a decked out golf cart. The kids seemed to have fun.

Happy Birthday, Logan!

Wow, I can't believe it has been TWO years since Logan was born. Time flies! It is awesome that a little NICU baby can be such a healthy boy! God has truly blessed us with our little Wolverine. He is an independent little guy, but he has such a servant's heart. He is happiest when he's helping (vacuuming, loading and unloading the dishwasher, Swiffering, mopping, dusting, pushing Kayleigh in the stroller, etc).

God, keep Logan in "the hollow" of Your heart, and may he keep You in his.

Night-night, Daddy

This morning, Logan didn't get up until after Daddy got home from work (~7:30). This is really late for my almost 2-year old. Shane was really tired when he got home, so we skipped the gym (we went this afternoon), and he went to bed before 8am.

I kissed Shane goodnight, and as I was coming out of our bed room, Logan stops me and said, "Mama, Daddy mmwah. Daddy mmwah!" He wanted to kiss Daddy night-night like he always does. So, I opened the door for him, he walked over to the bed, gave Daddy a kiss, and walked right back out.

I know that Daddy slept much better after getting a sweet kiss from his little buddy!

Merry Christmas from Santa's Little Elf

Merry Christmas from Santa's Little Elf!

Kayleigh will actually wear a Santa hat - Logan, not so much.

Walking Kayleigh

Logan loves to walk Kayleigh in the stroller. He doesn't push her, he wants to walk her! And Kayleigh doesn't seem to mind. She sits in the stroller and talks and sings. Apparently, running into the grass doesn't bother her at all. The dogs are not fond of this new arrangement, as it is way too slow for them! But they should be grateful they're even getting out!

I just think this in hilarious! And Logan will not allow you to help him. Such a little Mr. Independent!

Logan's SECOND birthday party!

This Friday, my Logan will be TWO! TWO! Crazy. So while the grandparents were down, we had a little birthday party for him. The aunties came over, though they were running a little late. Logan heard us talking about how Hope and Phil were going to be late, so he ran to the door and tried to open it, saying "Shope! Pheel!" He was ready to go get them (I think, like Zoe, he likes their house better than ours).

For a second birthday cake, he had a three layer yellow cake with strawberry icing. Yeah, it's pink, but his favorite milk is pink milk, so we figured he would love the strawberry flavoring. Here he is with his munchkin face while we're all singing to him (after he'd blown out the candle the first time!). He thought it was great!

And since everyone was taking photos, Logan took Hope's camera and took some himself. I'm sure their mainly of people's knees!

We had some pizza - okay, a LOT of pizza for Logan's party. Seriously, a 28" pizza! Yum! And as you can see, Logan made out like a bandit! So many presents!

When it was time to open the presents, Logan decided the best way to do this was to use the firepoker from the fireplace and slide it under the wrapping paper. Quite ingenious actually, but bound to put his eye out (sound like a mom off "A Christmas Story"?), so we helped him start ripping with his hands.

The Green City from Gram and Bapa. Notice, the cars are ready to go on the road! And there's the Little People plane from Auntie Hope and Auntie Phil.

Logan loved the GeoTrax from Grandma and Grandpa. Shane and I had never heard of these, but they're really neat! Logan led Daddy over, plopped him down on the ground and crawled between his legs and gave him the train remote. He was ready to play trains with his Daddy!

Here he plays trains with Auntie Phil. Logan would watch the train go around and cry, "Train! Hoo! Hoo!" He had a blast!

From Mama and Daddy, Logan got a "new to us" easel and finger paints. Here he is trying them out! What an artist!

Grandma and Grandpa visit

What a wonderful long weekend! Grandma and Grandpa flew down from Indiana on Friday and stayed until Tuesday morning (before the crack of dawn!). I love to watch all the grandparents with Logan and Kayleigh. The bond between grandchild and grandparent is completely different than child and parent. It's such a beautiful thing!

On Friday, Shane and the kids picked Grandma and Grandpa up at the airport while I crammed in picking up the house, cleaning the bathrooms, and getting a shower. Amazingly, I made the deadline (thank goodness for traffic and Walmart!). Bless Barb, she said my house must not have been that bad if I could clean it in such a short time! See why I like her?!

Saturday, Mike and Logan made tenderloins - thin pork chops that are breaded (and then eventually fried - fair food, so calories definitely DO NOT count!). Logan helped bang out the pork with the meat hammer.

Then Logan played Wii bowling with Grandma. He did pretty well for about half a game, then lost interest. The second time they played it, he stayed around for the whole game! He like to cheer Grandma on, too!

And here is a sweet grandpa with his tired baby. It must be a universal thing that grandfathers fall asleep while rocking their grandbabies to sleep.

Grandpa, Logan, Kayleigh, and Grandma hang out on the couch and watch a Baby Einstein. Logan and Grandpa were having fun naming all the animals.

On Sunday night, we did a little Christmas. Logan was a pro at opening gifts after practicing the day before at his little birthday party (more on that later). So he was such a helper, and helped Kayleigh open her gifts. He forgot to mention that eating the paper doesn't get to the present faster!

Then Monday night, after getting pictures at JC Penney and going to Logan's Roadhouse to eat, we came home and our Logan decided he wanted to go for a walk. And while on that walk, he wanted to "walk" Kayleigh. So we went around the block looking at lights, and Logan pushed Kayleigh about a third of the way (the way back). But he was not going to let Grandpa help, so Kayleigh and the stroller went into the grass every few meters.

It was a great weekend! We can't wait to see them again!