365 Days of Logan

(Edit January 7th, 2014) After 365 days I can say this for certain...this was quite an undertaking!  I know it is my own OCD that got the best of me but try as I may, I just couldn't help it.  In the end, I didn't stay on top of this as I should have so some photos at the end still need captions and cropping...but I did say that I wasn't going to caption them all so I guess I am true to my word.  Next up will be making a video/setting the slideshow to music...but that will have to wait.  Thanks for watching our little guy as he made his way through 2013!  It's been quite an amazing journey!




(Note: The most recent pictures will be at the end.  You may want to flip through using the left arrow instead of the right. I have tried to only use pictures that haven't appeared in another post.  Those with captions have been used twice...some are just too cute to pass up!)

Towards the end of 2012, I started to feel like I wasn't taking many pictures of Logan.  So this year, I am attempting to take a picture of Logan EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.  A friend of mine who has her own amazing blog inspired this idea when she did the same thing with her daughter a couple of years ago.  I think it will be amazing to see how much he changes this year...starting 2013 just shy of 5 months old and ending just shy of 17 months.  My plan is to choose the photo of the day at the end of each month and to limit it to one photo per day (hopefully one that has not appeared in another post), no captions (this will be tough!).  Some days there are just so many cute ones I know it will be hard to choose but I will.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!  Thanks for the inspiration, Kodi!

(edit 3/31) When I started the 365 days of Logan at the beginning of the year, I felt that captioning (is that even a word?) every photo for the year was a bit OCD out of control so I decided not to.  But then for many photos I found that there was a cute moment or story being lost because I wasn't captioning each photo.  I'm not saying that every photo will have a caption but I am going to start adding some in hopes of capturing those little moments without creating a new post entirely.  (If I ever get caught up and have nothing else to do...not likely with two little monkeys keeping me busy...I will go back and caption January and February.) I will indicate if the photos have been used twice.

(edit 4/30) There are two things I can take away from April's photos.  1.  Logan must be part Italian.  He is always "talking" with his hands.  2. Logan is quite possibly the happiest baby...ever!

(edit May/June) So many photos without captions because what more can you say that his beautiful smile doesn't already say?

(edit July) Less sitting, more moving...still always smiling!!

(edit August) Nothing much to say other than we are still having a great summer and don't want to see it end! Lots of photos that have already appeared in other posts even though I started the year trying to avoid that.  There are too many photos and not enough time to pick unique ones all the time.

(edit September & October) The theme of these two months is busy, busy, busy!  Logan is always on the move, crawling in September and walking in October.  He wants to do anything his big brother can do and is quite often successful.  He is living up to his nickname "Trouble Bubble" these days.  Thanks to Auntie Karin and Uncle Dan for filling in for us while we were on our anniversary trip.

(edit November & December) Logan was sick for a bit in November but still mostly smiley.  Such a trooper!  We enjoyed every minute of the holidays, including a visit from Omi and Grandpa and some extra time with cousins!

Beautiful Legacy

I see ornaments from my childhood on the Christmas tree

And I can’t believe you are gone.

I see gifts you gave the boys

And I can’t believe you are gone.

I hear you say “Hi, dear” as you did every time I called

And I can’t believe you are gone.

I see your photograph on my dresser; I can almost hear you laugh

And I can’t believe you are gone.

But then I remember, you are not gone

You live on in us all!

In the happiness of your children

As they enjoy their lives;

In the strength of your grandchildren

As they forge their own paths;

In the smiles and laughs of your great-grandchildren

As they learn about the world.

You have taught us all so much.

How to live life to the fullest;

How to be confident and courageous in times of strife;

How to look for the good in everyone;

How a good education can open any door;

How hard work leads to amazing results;

And how family is the most important thing in the world

I will always cherish this beautiful legacy you have given us. 

Christmas...Parts 2, 3, and 4!!

I titled this post Christmas...parts 2, 3 and 4 thinking that Christmas Eve was part one.  But if I am really being particular, Christmas with Omi and Grandpa was part 1, Christmas Eve was part 2, Christmas morning/Santa at home was part 3, Christmas at Uncle Dan and Auntie Karin's was part 4, the Dowding yankee swap was part 5 and opening the rest of our gifts earlier today was part 6!  No wonder we are wiped out!!
We had a fun morning at home with the boys, who were pretty excited to see what Santa brought, on Christmas day before heading to RI to begin the day with the Dowding's.  It is a hectic couple of days for us with lots of driving up and down 146 but I wouldn't want it any other way.  We were so overwhelmed and spoiled by everyone else that we waited a few days to open the rest of the gifts under our tree.

Christmas Morning - Santa Gifts




Christmas Day at Uncle Dan and Auntie Karin's


Christmas - Round 6 at home!!

Play Date with the Green's

Mark, Laura, Henry and Charlie were visiting family for the holidays in Massachusetts.  Even with the crazy busy week we have had, we couldn't let this opportunity pass without getting together with them and Nicole.  The boys had fun playing together and the adults even got a chance to catch up a bit (thanks to Mark's mom!). It was a relatively short but nice visit.  I only wish we could see everyone more often!

Christmas Eve

If you are a loyal reader, you are probably familiar with our holiday traditions.  This year we stayed in MA instead of going to WA so that means that tonight we were at Aunt Linda and Uncle Louie's in Cranston, RI.  It is an amazing celebration with food galore and people every where you turn.  This year we were missing one very special lady, Gigi!  While it was difficult to know that she wasn't there, it is comforting to know that she is at peace and is back with Papa, celebrating together and looking down at the wonderful legacy that they left behind.  I think I'll let the photos speak for themselves mostly but as always it was a great night with so many of our loved ones!

Here We Grow Holiday Program

Today was Evan's holiday program at Here We Grow Preschool.  Picture this...twenty-eight three year olds singing and performing seven holiday songs and poems.  Can you say adorable??  They were all so cute in their holiday outfits.  Evan's class wasn't quite as into it as the other class but they still did a great job.  Most of the girls were paying attention and following along.  The boys...well...not as much!  It was a sweet little performance and I am so glad they do this for the parents.  He loved it!  Enjoy the show!



Jingle Bells - They were all great at shaking those bells


S-A-N-T-A - Sweet how quiet and shy they were on this one


Menorah Candle - They all got the "melting" part perfect


Frosty the Snowman - Props seem to help them sing louder (or maybe it's just on the familiar songs)


Reindeer pokey - This one cracks me up (as you can hear in the video)


Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus


We Wish You a Happy Holiday - Love the enthusiasm on "wish"

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...Everywhere you go...Including our house!  We went to Sleigh Bell Farm to cut a fresh tree again this year.  It's a fun family outing and we don't have so many needles on the floor at the end of the Christmas season.  Evan and Logan were excited to help pick out the tree and even more so to test out all of the "face in a hole"s at the farm.  We tried to get a photo for the Christmas card but...we'll you can see for yourself how that worked out.
We have had a lot of fun decorating the entire house, little by little.  For some reason doing things with a three year old and a 16 month old takes a lot longer!  The boys have been excited and interested in helping with everything but we have had to be a bit careful where we put some of the decorations.  There are some curious little fingers running around these days!  We even decided to put our tree in the back corner of the house so that it was a bit more out of the way.  It's been a great start to the holiday season continuing some old traditions from each of our families (making Oma's cookies and putting up a village like Papa's) while starting some new ones of our own.

Christmas with Omi & Grandpa

Since 2003 when Bruce and I were married, we have gone to Washington for every other Christmas.  This year, however, we decided traveling at Christmas with two little boys was a bit challenging and so Omi and Grandpa Bob came to see us instead.  They arrived in Boston last Thursday night and by the time Daddy brought them back home it was pretty late.  The boys had dinner and a special story with Omi then headed to bed.  But that was just the beginning of a really fun week.
Friday morning, Omi introduced Evan and Logan to the German tradition of St. Nikolaus who leaves small trinkets for children in their boots on the night of December 5th. Perfect timing Omi and Grandpa! Needless to say the boys were excited about the treats and toys they found in their boots the next morning.  Later in the day, Evan and Omi baked some delicious St. Nikolaus staff pretzel snacks for us to have with our lunch.  Saturday was another fun filled day...Early Christmas!!  The gift exchange was mostly for the boys, as it should be, and they were so excited with what Omi and Grandpa brought for them.  This also led to a few projects for Grandpa and Evan.  They worked to put together Evan's new step stool, the table that Grandpa made for Logan (and Evan), and chairs to go with the table.  Evan was quite the little helper while Logan mostly just played with the box.  Saturday night we went to see the light display at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro.  It was a pretty cold night and there were tons of people but we were able to walk through the light display and see everything just before everyone started getting cold.
After a busy Friday, Saturday and Sunday (MoS), the second half of Omi and Grandpa's visit was a bit more low key.  There were a few more projects in the kitchen with Omi and Evan and lots of time just enjoying the company of two loving grandparents who the boys unfortunately don't get to see all that often.  We will miss seeing them on Christmas but we sure are glad that they were able to come for this early Christmas visit.

Boston Museum of Science

Today we went to the Boston Museum of Science with Omi and Grandpa.  We were looking for something fun to do and while the MoS is a big more than what the boys, especially Logan, are ready for, we still had a great time.  We started with a little animal show with a story, puppet and live tarantula while we were waiting for Daddy and Grandpa to join us.  Then we spent some time in "A Bird's World".  Quite fitting seeing as we were there with Omi!  After checking out a few other exhibits on the lower level, we went to see the dinosaurs.  We saw the 65-million year old triceratops fossil and full size t-rex model. After lunch, we played on the musical stairs before heading to an electricity show.  It was quite loud and dark in there so Logan, Evan, and I didn't stay for long.  The boys had fun in the full-size model of the Apollo capsule and then had fun exploring scale models of all sorts of things including a giant grasshopper and a set of very large teeth.  We ended the day in the Science in the Park exhibit where the boys could run, jump, swing, play and explore before heading back to the car for a long ride home.  There is so much more that we didn't get to explore and we will certainly be heading back to the MOS many more times with our budding scientists!

Cousins!!

We have been having Kavanagh cousins get together's for a number of years now.  We have talked about having one on the Dowding side but never actually made it happen...Until now!  Well sort of.  We were missing 3 of the 8 cousins but at least we tried.  It was a low key night at Uncle Dan and Auntie Karin's not quite like the Kavanagh cocktail bracket from last year but I guess that just means there is room for improvement.  It was still great to see everyone and I hope that we can do it more often...maybe even sometime when everyone can attend!