Reach for it...

May 13th

Ok so reach for it is Logan's new motto and one his brother is beginning to dislike.  Logan seems to be reaching out for his toys more and more.  Keagan was completely happy with a little brother that just sat there and looked cute but now that he is needing to share his toys things are not so peaceful in the Yu household.  At least Logan can't run away with the toys yet!

Budding Photographer

Keagan got a camera for his 2nd birthday and loves to turn it on and take pictures.  He has not quite figured out that he can see what he is taking pictures of so he just puts the camera to his forehead.  Mom and dad hold the camera up to their faces so why not hold it up to your head instead? It is so cute imitating mom and dad.  And what does he take pictures of?


#1: His brother

#2: His horses

Playing outside

May 14th

We have gotten into the routine of going outside after breakfast each morning.  It is still cool enough to enjoy the nice day in the shade of our big pine trees in the front yard.  Of course mom puts sunscreen and hats on everyone and recently Keagan has decided that his sunglasses are cool.  His friend Max wears them frequently so now they are an ok accessory.  Logan loves his outside time just as much as his brother but gets restrained in the saucer or bumbo.   Being outside is the highlight of every day!

Good thing Logan does not mind the hats too much.  His brother just tore them off the first chance he got...

 ...that is until I found him this frog hat.  He loves to wear it every time he is outside.  I think it is adorable and love the little tails to keep the sun off his neck too!

Awesome sunglasses Keagan!

Grandma's gifts

Grandma Diane has taken up quilting since I had the boys and they just love her gifts she sews them each time she visits.  She is become quite a gifted sewer.







This quilt Grandma Diane made for us after our trip to Hawaii.  She got the fabric while in Maui and Keagan loves to find the fishes and turtles on this special quilt.  Of course it brings out the giggles in little Logan.  We think he remembers snorkeling with mom while brother had to stay on the shore with grandpa.

A special gift for Keagan's 2nd birthday was an "I spy Quilt." Keagan loves his search and find books right now and loves planes the most so Grandma Diane made him a special quilt with all sorts of things to find.  Of course in this picture Keagan has found the plane and is signing plane to us.  He started talking the day after his 2nd birthday but words he has a sign for he still likes to use his hands.  Who knows when he will start to say some words but it is nice he has started talking more.  

May 23rd, 2013

Logan received a special lcowboy quilt for his birth.  It has a nice dark blue soft material on the back to keep him warm all winter long and an adorable baby cowboy motif on the front.  Grandma and I picked this material out when I was visiting WI last summer 2012 and could not believe our good luck.  Of course I would love for Logan to be my little cowboy but I am not sure how a little boy could love his horses as much as his brother Keagan does!

Fun at John's house

Our day is not complete without a trip over to John's house.  We are never sure what we will do at his house but on the hot days the swamp cooler is nice to enjoy while Logan jumps in the jumperoo.  Logan could care less about our jumperoo but John's is just the best.  He loves bouncing in the jumperoo everyday.  Of course Keagan loved it too but the funny thing is that the best part of this toy is the tag on the monster.  Both boys loved to play with that tag every time they sat in it!

May 30th

Both boys love to enjoy Christie's company as well.  Of course being a Golden Retriever she is a mellow dog but there is a special place in her heart for the babies.  My kids both have stuck fingers up her nose, tried to pull her ears off her head, and stood up on her back.  She just gets a big smile on her face and asks for more.  Hannah loves getting a break from the kids.  She tolerates the boys but Christie truly loves them.

Some days we even make a mess over at John's house.  Keagan loves to do finger painting and one day he decided to take the paint over to John's house in his tricycle.  We had a great time getting all messy. Even Logan in the jumperoo managed to get paint on his face!  

The Playground

May 13th

Ever since we started visiting the playground at the annual trip to Bemidji MN last summer Keagan has been asking to go to the playground and most importantly down the slides.  Now every playground has its own set of fun but the Parker playground is a great place to spend a few hours.  Logan usually falls asleep in the car on the way to the playground and just sleeps in the stroller while Keagan runs around.

Watching brother playing

 There is a "little" playground in Parker but the slide is way too small for Keagan to thoroughly enjoy.  In fact by his 3rd visit Keagan climbed all the way to the top of the tallest slide and came down with a huge smile on his face.  I think Keagan will be an adrenaline junkie and I have a feeling he will just take Logan with him when he is old enough.  I will go gray quickly when that happens.  It is nice that occasionally Keagan still thinks he needs his mom for something every once and a while!

Eating...or Sleeping

It seems that Logan is still in the playing...sleeping...or eating (and then pooping) phase of his life.  The other day he actually combined 2 activities in 1.  While at the table and waiting for his brother to finish his lunch Logan fell asleep in the high chair.  I guess he needed more time for playing.  It was adorable that he just lost the battle of the eyelids.  Maybe he was dreaming of the day he would start eating baby food in the high chair.

May 18th 

Rolling over

Logan is on a roll now.  Literally!  He mastered sitting up and rolling over so close together.  So the days of being able to lay him down to play peacefully in one spot seem to have come to an end.  I guess the easy days are over for mom as she now is searching frantically for 1 kid or the other.  They never seem to go in the same direction and when she is trying to find one, the other one seizes the opportunity to run or roll away!

May 26th

Once Logan rolls to the other side he seems to have such a big smile on his face.  You can't blame him for wanting to practice his new skill.  He keeps looking longingly at Keagan running around.  It seems he can't wait to get up and play with his brother!

Can't keep them apart

Keagan loves being with his little brother, but Logan needs his sleep.  We have the swing for little Logan to sleep in the playroom which has a gate to keep the kids in...or out.  Logan-berry sleeps so peacefully if it is quiet, which means that Keagan is outside playing.  When Keagan comes inside he always wants to check and see if his brother is awake.  The closed gate provided a safe spot for Logan until Keagan put his mind to work.  

 Keagan pulled one of the kitchen chairs over to the gate and hopped into the play room to give Logi a kiss.  But then there was the problem of getting out.  So he pulled one of his little chairs over and now he can hop in and out to his content.  So much for Logan's peaceful naps!

Gardening

Keagan loves watching things grow so decided yet again to dig up the garden and plant some seeds this summer.  The drought has been with us for the last 2 years so we don't get very much from our garden but we can always try!

 The biggest challenge for us weeding once the garden gets growing.  You would think the tripods of water would give us plants but it seems to only give the weeds water to grow...well and little gourds.  We planted the little gourds the first year and they have just spread themselves all over the garden.  So come fall we always have decorations to put around the house!  We can't seem to remember where we plant anything as our garden area is quite big but John solved this problem for us this year!  He got these outdoor rubber mats for a project of his and had lots left over.  So we have placed them in the garden to help keep the weeds down and mark where we planted our seeds.  It worked great and kept the sticky clay mud off our feet

The lack of mud on Keagan's feet definitely helped keep the house much cleaner this summer as he has mastered the screen door and the sliding glass door.  We honestly cannot keep him locked in the house.  It is a good thing the back yard is fenced in with cat fence.  If the cats can't get out, Keagan can't either.

 

Keagan the gardener was such a good helper with planting the seeds this year.  He would get them out of his package and help me "dump" them into the ground.  We might not have had straight rows but they were put into the ground with such enthusiasm. 

May 2013

Logan is 5 months old

Time goes by so quickly.  I can remember rushing to the hospital this winter to give birth to a little 6 lb 6 oz little boy and now he is over 15 pounds.  The little stinker is only nursing and won't even take a bottle even when mom is gone on Saturday mornings at Dr. Grimes clinic in Elizabeth.  We are enjoying the nice summer weather and of course being outside is our favorite activity.  He is sitting up well and has graduated to the baby backpack.  This makes walking fun for mom as one kid goes up in the backpack and one is in the stroller.

                                                       

When we are not outside both boys enjoy the jumperoo.  I think Keagan still loves it more.  Logan will go in it but he still prefers the Saucer. Keagan's eyes got huge when we got this out for his brother and of course jumped right in!

Summer wheels

Keagan is fascinated with anything that that has wheels this summer.  Trains are his favorite but planes are a close second.  But honestly anything with wheels or that goes fast is fun for him.   We have spent lots of time touring the trains at the train museum in Golden.  Or just playing with his own train set in the basement where it is cool.

May 28th

Spotting planes up high in the sky is a favorite back yard activity.  When he sees a plane he loves to point it out to me and sign plane.  It seems that the flight path from Colorado Springs to DIA is over our house and some days the planes fly so low we can wave to the pilots.  One day this summer we saw Airforce One and waved to President Obama when he was visiting Denver.

Keagan loves driving his own tractor while we push him around the back yard as well.  The bucket is great for storing rocks that he finds all over the yard and dumping or transferring them into the wheelbarrow is a good way to keep him occupied.  John's big blue tractor is still a little scary but the smaller green John Deere mower is fun to ride around on.  Too bad we never get any rain to mow the lawn.

Of course going outside is never far from Keagan's mind and playing outside while brother sleeps is a great way to make sure Logan gets a good rest.

Wake up brother and come play!

OK...Let's try again.

So finishing up the summer blog while trying to move in September was a little ambitious.  Moving was such a huge disruption to our life, I did not want to start trying to update this until I felt I could do a good job and keep up with it again. So here goes again now that we are mostly settled into our house in Minnesota.  There are still boxes that should be unpacked out in the garage but with the high tomorrow of -25 F we are not going outside unless we have to.

Moving proved to be a monumental task with not all of our belonging fitting into 1 moving truck.  Poor Jeff had to fly back to CO after we signed the papers on our house in MN and make a second trip in less than 48 hours.  Luckily we had family to help us unload the trucks here in MN to make it all possible.  It was beautiful weather for a few weeks then the cold set in and honestly we are wondering if we moved to Antartica.  It has been an extremely cold winter so far and they boys and I have been a little squirrely being locked in the house so much.  We really do like the area and love our house, but would love to bring the Colorado weather with us.  We miss the milder winter and being outside more often! So we have been finding things to do indoors and imagine our delight when  we realized MN has already figured out there needs to be lots of things for the kiddos to do to stay out of the frightful cold.

But before we talk about the cold winter let us revisit the beautiful summer we had in Colorado.  It was a wonderful summer with gorgeous temperatures for the most part.  We can't wait to go back this summer and visit this beautiful place again.