Happy Birthday Logan

 Cute boys all dressed up for church

Sunday walks to see Granny and Gramps

It's getting tougher to find room for the kids to sit on my lap

Logan after I put both kids to bed: he came out and laid down on the couch all cozy😂

This week track practice began. I go to the track every day at 4:30 and I actually have quite a few kids who come to my 400 workouts. I have a few ornery boys who think they're in the 4X400 relay but wouldn't show up to any of my workouts😒😑 ... so I had to hunt them down mid-week to make them run with us. Oher than that - the kids are fabulous and there are a couple that might actually do some damage at the track meets. That race is killer!

The trying-to-give-up-naps stage - doesn't always work out!

he's ready for summer!

checking up on baby 

Wednesday I took the kids to the park to play. I was done after 30 minutes from the cold, but they were running around barefoot as happy as could be. Rather than cut them off early, I decided to move to the car and wait for them to tell me they were done. I'd like to thank the Office Ladies podcast for making that afternoon pleasurable not only for the kids but for Mom as well.

When we got home from the park it was time to assemble Logan's birthday cake layers and put the first layer of frosting on. Logan passed out so Emmett was the only helper for this stage.

Later that night it was time for the rest of the frosting and decorations.

Thursday was Logan's birthday! We had bacon for breakfast and let him eat his heart out. He and I napped that afternoon and it reminded me of our first nap together when we brought him home from the birth center. I'm such a fan of the midwifery model of care: I was home two hours after Logan was born! I reminisced about all the aspects of his birth throughout the day, and day dreamed about my upcoming birth and who is going to be joining our family in June. We had all of Logan's favorite foods for dinner. Then Granny and Gramps came over for present opening and cake. Three year-old Logan is feisty and equally sweet. He will cuddle and give kisses, but watch out because he will also try to poke your eyes out. 

Our Octonaut birthday cake creation

Brushing teeth with the birthday boy

Things to remember about Logan at this age:

We love the way he says:

"Scooby Dooby Dooby!"

"Uh! Fine! WHATEVER!"

"Pweeeeease Mommy?"

"Mommy - you're sweet."
"I'm so HUNGRY!"

"Mommy - I POOPED!!" aka come wipe me please

when he says "Excuuuuse me" after a burp or fart.

We love the way he prays, and especially love when he prays for every family member, including baby. When he gives hugs or cuddles he rubs his head up against you. When he's eating something especially delicious, he closes his eyes and rocks back in forth, savoring every moment. I love when he takes his med kit and does a check up on the baby. He is a joy to have in our family and I'm SO happy that when Emmett was just nine months old and I told Justin I wanted another baby, he was game to try for another. These two are the epitome of "frenemies" and I love that they'll always have each other long after Justin and I are gone.

Friday morning I had a track clinic. Justin had some flexibility in the afternoon so we got to play as a family for a bit. We decided to order pizza for dinner. That evening we had beautiful weather - I sat outside watching everyone until sundown.

supplement lineup😂

Saturday Emmett was invited to a birthday party for one of his preschool classmates. The mom is from Missoula and she had several family members come for the party. As a Beal, it was truly an amazing thing to behold family members driving 5 1/2 hours for a six year-old's birthday party. Good on them, I say! It was great and the kids had a blast running around chasing balloons and each other. Emmett busted open the pinata on his turn so that was fun!

Justin quickly moved to prevent Logan from blowing out the birthday girl's candles. After all it was just two days prior that it was his job to blow them out. 

Puppy party theme

Baby was a little lopsided the other night 😂 

Spring Fever

Last Sunday I made Mexican corn chowder - yum!

Logan snuggled up to me while I was reading my scriptures😍 He fell asleep shortly after I took this

Justin's latest 3D printer project

Monday's weather was pretty nice so we spent a lot of time outside. We saw a lot of melting last week. When I drive to Idaho Falls and Blackfoot there is no snow, so I'm looking forward to ours finally melting away. 

I felt like Bernie Sanders in my lawn chair watching the kids with my legs and arms crossed. They might not mind temps in the 30's but I still do.

Emmett's glue/construction paper creation

Friend time at the church

Tuesday I had an appointment with my midwife. I used the I.F. trip to hit Target for some shoes for the kids and Costco for their gas and ground beef 😂. Gas at Costco is $2.29 but gas in Arco is $2.89! We try to never fill up here ha! I got a fb message from Dave Hansen asking if I'd be interested in helping out with track this spring. That night I had an official interview which was good face-time with the same people who will probably interview me when I decide to return to teaching 😂 Dave texted me the next day that the hiring committee was "very impressed" with me 😍 that always feels good to hear! So I'm the official mid-distance coach for both middle and high school this spring. My friend from AZ has a daughter that broke the Nevada state record in the 800 m (2:07!!!) and she runs a wicked 400 m (0:55!!!) so I have been getting track workouts from her. The goal is to look like I know what I'm talking about 😂

The kids love coming to Tabitha's house! Saying hello to her kitty

Time to break these babies down into 1 lb bags

Poor Pepper came home with a hurt leg. It looks like some animal got a hold of him and mangled him up a bit.

Wednesday we had temperatures in the 40's. We were in heaven! The kids insisted it was warm enough to play with their play chalk in the morning, but they didn't last long. We did some animal/dinosaur parade busy time and walked at the church while we waited for the warm afternoon. Later we went for a walk to Granny's where she had hot chocolate ready for the kids. We played in the backyard for hours. It was the best day! Thursday was the same story with walking at the church in the morning and play in the yard in the afternoon. As the snow melts it exposes all of Teddy's poop for the last 5 months so I slowly started to pick that up while the kids played. I took the kids to walk at the green belt and watched them play at the park. These days make for the easiest bed times!

Emmett found a "fossil"

Friday I could NOT force myself to do our grocery shopping at the A&A because it is so much more expensive, so I took the kids to I.F. yet again to go to Winco. We treated ourselves to Reed's Dairy on the way home. I hadn't seen much of Justin all week from his hard work on a project with a deadline, so I asked Mom to babysit so we could go on a date. When we got home, Justin saw a truck for sale in our price range. We've been looking for a pickup basically since we bought our minivan six months ago, so we set a time to take a look the next day.

Saturday we headed to Blackfoot to take a gander at it. We were able to talk him down in price and decided to get it! We grabbed lunch for the kids and ate it at the park. It was glorious sitting in the sunshine, no wind, watching my kids play with other kids having a total blast. We bought plane tickets to Seattle to visit the Roses for their spring break in a couple weeks. It was a big-purchase kind of day! 😅

Today we did 2nd hour church for the first time in a year. I was having a hard time holding back my tears seeing all my primary kids for singing time in person! It was so good to be back. Being the singing time person is my favorite calling to date.💗