Logan's First Bike Ride

It rained most of yesterday- not hard like it's supposed to do all day tomorrow, but enough it kept us inside. But, today was beautiful out, and we took full advantage!! Here's Logan on his new orange bike!!! He loves it! Wednesday when the sun comes back out, we'll be out on it again! :)

Oh, and of course, Trooper came for his first walk down the street!



It's hard to believe our little man is actually SIX years old- real six, not "fake six" as he calls it (since we do the half birthday celebration in the summer). Here are a few current "Logan Facts:"
* Has started kindergarten at Carolina Springs (where I teach)

*Is READING the emergent level books and phonemicaly sounding out most all words!!! (WOW!)

*LOVES: Legos, Pirates of the Carribean, Star Wars, Watching the "Wild Kratz" on PBS

*Still likes to cuddle when he's ready for bed and will still randomly say "I love you!"

* Has graduated to being able to play in the front yard with the neighborhood kids (of course, with his big brother helping to watch)

*Still idolizes his big brother, Austin

*LOVES playing video games with his Daddy (especially the Lego games, Skylanders, and Halo Wars)

*Likes to text on my phone (to Gam-ma, Aunt Haylee, and Brantlee

*LOVES having a new puppy, but he wishes he wasn't so much work

*Has Lost his first tooth recently

*Tries to turn his "grow button" ON when we tease him that we've turned it off (I'll have to get a video of this!!!)

*And, much, much more....I'm his Momma and could go on FOREVER about him! Love him to pieces and can't believe he's as big as he is! Happy birthday, Logan!

Gardner Christmas

If you are reading this blog, then you probably already know that my family does so many different Christmas things we could pass off as Jewish with EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS (insert Adam Sandler song here...LOL!). Our Christmas celebrations began the Friday we got out of school! That evening we all had dinner at Mom and Dad's wih Stevey and Boni! It was fun hanging out with everyone! Here's one of my favorite shots from the night! :)


Then on Sunday we had another Gardner Christmas(my side of the family again) at Rikki and Mike's house! My Granddaddy even came! It was a good mix of Christmas and Thanksgiving (due to the dinner we had!) at the same time! Gam-ma played Santa! Enjoy the pictures!!! :)

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Everyone was happy with all their new goodies...complete with Waffle House Hashbrowns (yummy!!!)! It was good being around everyone together with good times!!! Both my boys got their much longed after, Skylanders (thanks, Uncle Mike!)! Logan loves his Ninjas from Gam-ma and Granddaddy! He's been in his "own ninja mode" with them! Austin's skyscraper building kit is a little tricky, but we WILL master it! :) LOVE my family!!!

LOVE his facial expressions!!!

SKYLANDERS!!!!!!!!! Wahoo!!!

Gam-ma LOVES her cardinals! Someone did good!!!

Here we are with Granddaddy!


There have been many "baby steps" taken this year within my family! I hope that continues and turns into an even bigger step next year!!! Love you all!!! :)

Taylor Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with the Taylor side of the family the first Saturday we were out of school (Dec. 17th), but I haven't had a chance to post about it yet! It was a great day, as always! Here are LOTS of pictures from the day!!!

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EVERYONE was happy and had a great time!!! The boys got their 3DS as they had asked for, and we got our blender (and a gift card to Lowes to help get our paint for the walls!!!) We'll be back there to hang out (as tradition!) on the 1st!!!

Merry Christmas!

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What a fantastic day it has been! There wasn't much sleep gotten last night (despite the boys conking out by 9:30 and us in bed before 11) so we are all TIRED!!! Bree and Trooper didn't want to sleep last night, Austin woke up at Midnight thinking it was morning already (and again about 30 minutes later), and having an almost 6 year old plucked in the bed between us made it quite difficult to sleep!

However, the day has been great, and the smiles on theboys faces makes it ALL worth it a thousand times over!!! Here are some of the pictures from today! Hope you all enjoyed making good memories today too!!! Merry Christmas!!! (We still have two more to go....)

These pictures were included in the slideshow, but when I print out my blog, the slideshow won't print...so, these are for printing later! Some of my favorites: You KNOW they like what they opened when they do this...





We save the stockings for last!

Christmas Eve!

All preparations have been made for the big day tomorrow!!! I've made a ton of food (breakfast, snacks, and dinner) ahead of time so tomorrow will be more relaxing! The boys got to open their traditional PJ present, the Santa Key has been put out, reindeer food has been spread on the lawn, and cookies and hot chocolate (with a note that milk is in the fridge) are laid out for Santa! Now, both boys are snug in our bed...trying to go to sleep!!! Wonder how long it will take them to actually start snoozing!?! I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Christmas!!!

Our New Furry Family Member...Meet Trooper!

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The boys have been wanting a new puppy, and we didn't have the time for one until things slowed down a bit and I finished school! It took a little research and time to determine what type of dog we wanted to add to our family. We've been spoiled because Bree, our 12 year old Springer Spaniel, has been such a good dog!!! We knew we had to get a puppy that was allergy-friendly since Logan is allergic to dogs. We pretty quickly decided on a miniature schnauzer. The hunt to find one that would be ready to come to our home just before Chrismas (that wasn't too far away distance wise)took a little time. We were lucky enough to find a wonderful breeder in Chester, SC. Cindy was great! She kept us in the loop about Trooper the entire time, and she even sent us weekly photos! We looked forward to emails ever Tuesday! So, we drove about an hour and half on Tuesday to get our new little guy! He has been just wonderful! We think he is just adorable!!! We're attempting to crate train him, though it's a slow process. For now he follows us around EVERYWHERE like a little shadow, loves to cuddle, and pretty much reminds me of a newbon baby...wakes up for a bit (wide open) and then naps. I'm trying to get him to understand we don't have to wake up at 5 on th weekends...LOL! Not sure who is loving the Christmas present more...me or the boys!?!

WAY Too Long Since the Last Post

Wow! So much has happened since the last time I had the time to post, but the good news is, I never let up on the camera/picture taking!!! The BIGGEST news is that I have officially FINISHED all my school work! I do have one more thing to do in January, but it is just an oral interview! I am so very glad that all that school work is behind me! I MUST give huge GIGANTIC praise to all three of my guys!!! The last 22 months was quite hard and I spent lots of time on the laptop, and they were all very patient and supportive! I couldn't have done all I did without their support and love!!! We are all glad to get OUR lives back together! Maybe now I can keep up with the laundry! Now, onto the "other happenings" from the past month....many of them are pretty big news and milestones too!

Logan lost his first tooth!!!
Here's how pitiful he was when it happened (until he realized that meant the Tooth Fairy would come soon)...

So, it wasn't actually loose until he and Austin were playing, and it got pulled loose! And, then our determined little child wiggled and wiggled it until it came out.

He was quite excited. Since it wasn't ready to come out when it did, it will probably take quite a while to grow in. I do have a cute video of him when it came out too!

Austin had his performance with the District Chorus (and the Lexington Choral Society). They sounded really good! I have a short video to post, but I think it will only let me post one video at a time.

I have much more to blog! We have had three Christmas Events already, we've seen Santa, and we have gotten TROOPER, our new furry family member- a black, miniature schnauzer! He is just precious!!! I'll have to do a whole post just about him! Stay tuned for more.....

A Little More Thanksgiving....and a Start to Christmas!

As promised, Here are some more shots from Thanksgiving!

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After Thanksgiving I shopped on Friday (EARLY) with Katelee and Austin...yes, Austin BEGGED to come with us! Surprisingly, I think he had fun! I didn't get to shop for the boys at all since he was with me, but that was still okay! :) Saturday we put up the tree and Christmas decorations! I know we JUST had Thanksgiving, but to me, Thanksgiving just gets me RIGHT in the Christmas spirit! I LOVE Christmas time!!! I love seeing everyone's decorations, the music, the good moods, and hearing all the excitement from all the kiddos!!! Honestly, as much time and effort that go into decorating, it really should be enjoyed all month! (The next photos are in backwards order, but I don't have time to fix them now)
Our Elf on the Shelf...aka "Fred" is out and already moving around. He apparently had a crash landing the first night, and this morning he was latched onto Austin's bank! Wonder where else he will go!?! The boys look for him as SOON as they wake up each morning!

The FINISHED product! It was quite an ordeal with the lights this year. We always do a fake tree because I like to put it up the Saturday after Thanksgiving...and, I don't like the way a real tree smells, the daily watering that comes with it, and the dried/falling needles! I got pricked to many times at my Meemaw & Poppa's growing up!
Austin tries to get the angel up!
Logan gets hoisted to put the angel up on top!
The boys LOVE going in the attic with their Daddy to get all the "stuff" down...this part FREAKS me out, but they are careful and look forward to it EVERY year!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I have MUCH to be thankful for, but these two pictures help show what I am MOST thanksful for!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all my guys!!!


I have many more photos from today (and lots more to say), but I wanted to get this up tonight before I went to bed!!! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!

Odds and Ends...

Some odds and ends from this month....

Last weekend we headed out to Batesburg for a night of playing games with the boys at Roger's parents' house! We see them out and about at the boys' games, etc., but we (Roger and I...the boys have!!!) had not been to their house since New Years! GOSH! It was long overdue...we have just been so darned busy, and Kathy & George stay on the go with golf too!!! You can see Logan digging into dinner making his own plate (before anyone else knew it was all ready) before we played games! It was a much needed family time for us and the boys...with all my school work and Roger's change in position (AND HOURS!!!!) theboys NEEDED a night just for them!




Last night Logan and I went to Family Movie Night at CSE! Twice a year our school hosts a movie night, and I think it is GREAT they do this!!! There was a HUGE turnout for this one...featuring Cars 2! Though we stayed and "watched" the entire thing, I could not tell you ONE thing about it! We got surrounded by lots of friends and my students (which Logan LOVED)! Hope we can make it to the one in the Spring too!


While we were at movie night, Austin was hanging out with friends at Bailey's birthday! Here's a picture they let me snap when I picked the boys up! Check out the fat lip Austin got while there.... OUCH!!! He and Bailey clonked heads while playing football! Looks like her head might be harder than is...LOL!

Trick-or-Treating

Well, we had another successful night of trick-or-treating! Austin decided at the last minute to join in (yay!!! Mom didn't like the idea of him not going this year!)! So, we had a Darth Vadar (no surprise there) and an Indian Crazy Horse (thank goodness for Pioneer/Indian Day last month for school)! I have never been a homemade costume kind of mom...not for boys! I could never pull off the stuff they have wanted to be! Nights like these remind me of why I love our neighbors! We all meet in front of our houses, and we trick-or-treat up and down our street as a group! FUN TIMES! They get PLENTY of candy from our wonderful friends and neighbors, and we get back home early enough to hand out candy to other trick-or-treaters! Now, if I can make myself stay out of all the chocolate!
One to show the height difference, of course!
Dad doing the "candy check" when we got home!
Some of our neighbors!!!