Tummy hurts!

When Logan's tummy hurts, he goes to the freezer, picks up a reusable freezer pack, puts it on his tummy, and then puts it back in the door. I guess ice helps any type of hurt!

Papa would love this...

My sweet Papa would have loved this...Kayleigh's favorite place to cruise is his old coffee table. She loves to cruise around it, and then since it has the "second level" under it, she crawls through it. Hilarious! As she was having such a good time, I was thinking how much fun Papa would have had watching her. He always loved the babies.

Papa would have also liked this munchkin smile. I know her Bapa and Grandpops love it. Hard to resist!

And two of Papa's special girls - among all his other girlfriends. That man had more women...

Bubble fight!

After a day of leveling the backyard, setting up the pool, and just generally getting sweaty and dirty, my boys took a bubble bath. And somehow, one thing led to another, and they were having a bubble fight! They would grab handfuls of bubbles and shove it in the other's face. Yes, one of these boys is 33! The two of them have such fun together!

The cheering section

Kayleigh and Logan like to babble back and forth. Kayleigh will say, "Dadada" and Logan will answer in the same way, "Dadada". So funny. Of course, it can get quite loud, and is especially loud when you're in the car and they're staring at each other doing this.

We took William out for dinner the other night, and he sat between him. Poor guy, I think he's lost some of his hearing because of the "lining" the kids do.

Also, you'll notice, Kayleigh likes Bug. And Logan is a big fan of Daddy's. I have a little fan too - sort of.

Okay, apparently, Blogger is having problems loading this video. Will try again later...

Putting up the pool

On Sunday, April 25, we put up the pool. Shane and I spent about 2 hours leveling the sand under where the pool was supposed to go. Thank goodness it's a beach out there right now! It made it much easier. Then we laid out the under-plastic, then laid out the pool. Here's a picture of how we checked the depth of the water - "Logan, go give Daddy a kiss. Water's a little over his toes. Okay, Buddy, go give Mommy a kiss." Hey! It worked.

Boys and their hoses...Logan loved filling up the tub.

Kayleigh did pretty well in the swing for a long while. And after a half an hour, she forgot she was wearing a hat...thank goodness for Velcro though!

While we were out on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, we saw a "Daddy Plane" coming in. When the wind is blowing from the north, planes going to land at Hobby fly over our house. And of course, all Southwest planes are "Daddy Planes".

This is the birthday cake our friend Rosemary baked for Shane. Her husband, JJ, said it was sad that on Shane's birthday he brought his own cupcakes in. So she baked him a strawberry cake. Yum, but not helping me get into a bikini! Someday I'll look good in our pool - hopefully before it springs a leak.

Pretty much done. The waterfall still works, the light works, the pump works, and on occasion, the husband works (heehee, just kidding)! So now, all we have to have is salt and some warmer days. And of course, swim lessons at College of the Mainland for both kids. Fun times - Summer, here we come!!

Kayleigh Shayne - 12 months

It's hard to believe that Kayleigh was a big baby! She's pretty tiny compared to all the other girls, now. She's 29 1/4 inches long (49%) and weighs 18 lbs 11 oz (11%). When I told Dr. Quillin that she was just cruising, not walking, he said, "We have a term for that. A blessing."

Dr. Quillin also told me that Logan is "all boy" (heard that many times before), but that he sees some of that same gene in Kayleigh. He said that Logan might go on the roof because it's cool, and Kayleigh will probably do the same. She'll just start crying when she gets up there. Not because she's scared, but because she wants someone up there to socialize with!

Though Kayleigh is not walking, Dr. Quillin said her cognitive skills are that of a 15 - 18 month old. She was looking around for her milk the whole time we were up there (he gave her a sample of vanilla PediaSure), and was very wary of him, but once he washed his hands, stepped away, and said "Bye-bye", she stopped crying. He said that was very typical of an 18 month old.

We do feed her. She can eat half a pound of strawberries if you let her - of course, I think that's part of the diaper rash problem. She also LOVES pasta. She's also not quite as good at drinking milk as Logan, and still would rather have it out of a bottle. Sippy cups are for throwing on the ground.

Most of the time, she's a fun little chica!

Birthday Party!

Grandma and Grandpops came down on April 18th to celebrate Daddy and Kayleigh's birthdays. Here are the birthday people with their cupcakes. A strawberry cupcake with strawberry cream cheese icing for Daddy and a self-filled chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing for K-bob. YUM!

After Logan helped Kayleigh blow out her candle, she was all about the cupcake. She dove in to it!

Let's face it, though Daddy might not like chocolate, it sure shows up better in pictures!

Logan was sure that to eat a cupcake, you need "Fire" on it. So he got a candle and a "Happy Not Birthday to You" song. The next day, when we had muffins for breakfast, he wanted "Fire" on his muffin as well. Hmmm, hopefully, this is not a recurring thing...

Obviously, Kayleigh got a little dirty eating her birthday cake. So, Grandma was nice enough to give her a bath before opening presents. Yay! Kayleigh got a pretty cool walker from Grandma and Grandpops. She loved pushing it around the house. And Logan was quick to point out that he and Grandpops fixed it (they put it together).

They also got her a big red ball. She loved it so much, she kissed it. K-bob loves to play with balls - the two kids and I will sit on the floor and roll balls back and forth to each other. Such fun!

Grandpops and Logan had fun watching Kayleigh open presents. She's not quite the gift-opening-aficionado that Logan is.

Mommy and Daddy got Kayleigh a bubble machine. There was much squealing and shrieking and jumping in the house because of all the bubbles. A HUGE hit! And just think - it sort of is cleaning my floors at the same time! Awesome!

Sometimes the bubbles take a long time to pop. This is Kayleigh the next day - the bubbles are from that day too, but just take several minutes to pop.

We also got Kayleigh a little dog that sings songs and all that good stuff. Logan loves it because it sings "Head and Shoulders", which he this is a great song. (His favorite songs are "Pop Goes the Weasel", "Head and Shoulders", and my made up chant, "Up! Down! Shake it all around!")

Auntie Hope and Auntie Phil gave Kayleigh a Little People car with a mommy and baby. They also gave her a Leap Frog Dog named Violet. Such an awesome dog - it comes with a USB, so you hook it to your computer, put in the kid's name, favorite food/color/pet - and it talks and sings with your kid! So neat! The dog sings, "Me and my friend, Kayleigh" or says, "I love you, Kayleigh!" Just so crazy.

Here, Kayleigh digs deep for some more tissue paper. Tissue paper is FUN!

Today, we got a HUGE box from Aunt Amy and Uncle Chris with a whole bunch of super cute clothes in it. Wow! Plus, they got her a Kokeshi doll - blue with little sakura fans on it. Very beautiful!

Oh, and Shane did get a present for his birthday. "Avatar" the movie came out on his birthday. I went to the grocery store after going to the gym to shop and pick up cards and the movie. With just the freezer section left, Kayleigh lost it. So there I was holding a baby, pushing a full shopping cart with the plastic car on the front with a little boy in it who likes to put his head out and wave. Needless to say, I forgot the movie, and by the time I got home, Shane was awake.

SO - while I was cooking lunch, Shane went out with Logan and bought the movie for me to give to him from me. Yeah, I won't be living that down for a while ("I had to go out and buy my own birthday present!").

French drains

So a few weeks ago, I posted that someday I might actually get French drains in my yard. Well, that day has arrived!! Here is the "pre" picture. Exciting, a long black tube.

But add one truckload of sand, and it gets more exciting! Logan loved watching the dump truck back up on our driveway and dump the sand. Our friend, Rosemary Cervantez, was so nice to come out and really help us. She's a dump truck driver herself, so she knows a lot of people! Nice to have connections!

Bianca, Rosemary's daughter, came over with her today. The kids had fun shoveling in the sand. Logan didn't quite grasp the concept that you put the sand in the wheel barrel, but it's a start! The two kids had fun playing indoors as well, and played on the swingset outside. They did pretty well together - especially since they were together for several hours.

Rosemary was able to hook us up with two day-laborers, Benjamin and Miguel. She was also our translator. Thank goodness, because my Spanish skills are lacking. Too bad they don't speak German... Benjamin and Miguel worked really hard, and saved Shane at least one weekend of work, if not two. They were impressed with how far he'd already dug the trench, and were amazed that I actually helped install the tube, put in pea gravel, and fill up wheel barrels with sand - when I wasn't chasing after kids. But as Rosemary said, things go faster when you help out.

The finished product. The trench was about 10" - 13" deep, then black weed fabric was put in, the pea gravel, the convoluted tubing, pea gravel on top, then burrito wrap them in the black fabric. Finally it was all covered with the sand from the driveway. In theory, the grass with grow over the sand.

The backyard - we included the gutters in the plan as well. So the gutters go directly into the drain system. Here's hoping we don't have to clean them out!

We got a second dump truck of sand to level both side yards. Basically, a dump truck full is about 12 yards of sand - or about 60 wheel barrels full. Fun times! Here Logan watches the dump truck put the sand on our driveway. He was just as fascinated the second time as the first. He stood stone still with an amazed look on his face. His daddy, not so amazed.

Down comes the sand!!

Helper boy Logan filled up the back of his truck with sand,

then dumped it in the side yard. Such a helper!

After all the money and time we spent, we have our fingers crossed that this new system works. I guess we just wait for the first good Houston rain storm - which we have been promised for the past 3 days, but nothin'.

Mama, tiss it!

Whenever Logan gets hurt, "Ouch, hurt me!", he asks me to "tiss it". This happens when he slams his fingers in the door, gets his foot stepped on by Bug, the lid of the toilet falls down on his penis (yeah, kissing your fingers does work!), etc.

Well, today, Logan ran over my toes with his tricycle. "Ow, Logan, you hurt me!" "Logan, tiss it Mommy." So he kissed my toes, and all was right with the world.

What a trike is meant for...

Kayleigh has found what trikes are really meant for - walking behind! Isn't that what Mommy and Daddy do most of the time?

The best part is her brother telling her to "Get Logan! Get Logan!" In other words, "Run me over, Kayleigh! Hit me with your best shot!" Yup, he's a boy.

Happy Birthday, Kayleigh-bob!

Hard to believe that 1 year ago today, we were celebrating the arrival of our little highlighted beauty - Kayleigh Shayne! She still has highlights, but now her hair is a dark blond with red and white highlights in it. She's still got a mess of it though - never lost her hair!

Kayleigh loves the dogs - they are the first "people" she wants to see in the morning. "Bug?" Second is "Buhbuh?" as in "Bubba". She does love her older brother! In fact, she'd rather play with a ball (bah!) and cars than a doll.

She is her father's daughter - she loves the outside. She enjoys crawling in the grass, swinging on the swing, and sliding down the slide (with a little push from Logan). When she was a little baby, she didn't like the wind in her face, but now she giggles. So I'm hoping she'll have a great time on the boat this year.

We're holding off on our "big" celebration (you know, cupcakes, presents, and a few extra people), until Grandma and Grandpa get down here on Sunday. But we got a phone call from Grandma saying "Happy Birthday", and Kayleigh got to see Gram and Bapa sing to her over Skype. I think they got to see one of her megawatt smiles, so it was a successful chat!

But we felt like we needed to do something for her birthday. So we went to Chick-Fil-A after dinner for some ice cream. Kayleigh is very adept at climbing out of high chairs (and landing on the floor). She's also a speedy crawler - earning her the nickname, "Zippy". Seriously, how fun is it to say, "Come on, Zippy!"

K-bob enjoyed the strawberry milkshake a lot more than the ice cream. She's a pro at using straws. What took Logan a long time to learn, she had down pat several months ago. She can't hold a juice box, but she can slurp one down!

Logan is glad his sweet baby sister was born - because he got ice cream! He loves to give her hugs (tightly around her neck), pick her up (again, by her neck, agh!), give her kisses, tackle her (okay, get off her now Logan), and he occasionally likes to share his cars with her. He looks after her at the gym and makes sure that I don't leave without her (like I could do that - I'm signing them out).

Kayleigh is so excited to be ONE that she is flapping her arms! God has blessed us with a beautiful, independent, cuddly little girl. We pray that she will grow in favor with God and man - and follow in the footsteps of the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

Logan's first car crash

Logan is learning to steer his car much better, however, he still gets left and right mixed up a little. So today, when he backed out of the garage (his truck is on the only vehicle in our garage - the boat takes up most of our garage), he didn't straighten up, and hit the back of the car at full speed. OUCH! Or as he says, "Mommy! Hurt me! Hurt self!" Then he ran into our mailbox. But the truck is as tough as the boy, so they both survived without many scratches.

Happily, the accident involving the car Kayleigh was not involved in, but she was with him when he hit the mailbox. And she was as surprised as he was!

Just so you know - women claim the radio before they're 1! You are obviously driving and can't find a decent station...especially if you're not even looking at the road!

Oh, and Logan is wearing his new favorite shirt - Night Fury, one of the dragons from that "How to Train a Dragon" movie. Anyway, funny thing is after we came in, he went potty (he now has to stand up to teetee - not cool, because it goes everywhere, even more than Daddy's). Anyway, I had put a towel down because the last time he went, the entire floor got wet. Well, the towel slipped from out from under him as he stood on his tippy-toes to teetee. He landed in the potty head first - so favorite dragon shirt got wet. Then the seat fell down on top of him. It was really funny! Wish I'd had my camera with me! He finally calmed down, and was okay with wearing his train shirt instead of his dragon shirt.

She stands!

Kayleigh can stand all by herself! She started it April 5. She'll only do it for a few short seconds, but she's slowly getting more daring!

Playing outside

Crazy hair, thy name is Kayleigh. Okay, so the wind didn't help matters. But boy! what a poofball!

Woohoo! Swings! Both kids love to be on the swings - Kayleigh kicks her legs excitedly, and Logan runs in the air. So funny! Of course, they both love the slide as well - Logan figured out today that he can climb up and push his baby sister down. They both think this is good fun. Of course, I have to play catcher, so no pictures of this.

Logan pulls his sister around the yard in the wagon. It was a lot of stop and go, but he did it.

My roses are in bloom already! The red bush has 6 buds on it and the yellow has already bloomed. This is my new knock-out rose - more like an old fashioned. It's also more bushy than the other plants. But I love it's vibrant color!

This is not the yellow rose. It's supposed to be a tea rose with pink on the tips. But it's all good - I love yellow roses, the rose of friendship, so I'm not complaining at all!