Happy Birthday Trevor!

Trevor turned one March 9th. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. We lived in Spokane the first half of the year and now live in New York. Packing, moving, and getting settled seemed to take up much of the year. Fixing up the house and getting settled in a new house has also been keeping us busy. Before we knew it this little boy turned one!!

Trevor is such a sweet boy. He is pretty even tempered and loves to explore and play with his brother Brennan. Sleeping is the only things we've struggled with when it comes to this boy. He doesn't cry himself to sleep like Brennan would. Trevor can cry 3 hours in the middle of the night and then FINALLY fall asleep. Naps are hit or miss but still VERY needed. We've been playing off and on with one nap a day, but the days he only gets one nap he's too grumpy by late afternoon. Trevor will uusually talk/cry/lay in his crib in the afternoon without falling asleep. Even if I bypass that "quiet time" he falls apart by 4pm.

We sure love him! Happy Birthday Trevor!

Our cute little birthday boy! He's crawling all over and cruising like crazy. He stands on his own occasionally by letting go of things but then topples down.

Brennan giving Trevor a birthday kiss. We sang the LDS Primary birthday song to him over and over all day. Trevor loved it and would sway side to side while clapping his hands.


Checking out his one and only gift. Brennan opened it and read it. Trevor just watched. I guess older brothers are sometimes too helpful.

Trying to get a glimpse of the book.

We facetimed Grandma Dance while Trevor opened his gift and blew out his candle. Brennan is enjoying the color book more than Trevor :)

I had to hold Trevor's arm so we could get a picture before he ruined the cake. Although he only got a cupcake. (notice the nasty orange wall paper and counters in our kitchen. They will be replaced in June when we update our kitchen! I'm pretty excited.)

Brennan helping Trevor get the cupcake into his mouth. This really helped Trevor decide he liked it and wanted more.

Slowly having his own tastes.

Brennan didn't eat all of his dinner so we told him he couldn't have any cake and ice cream until it was gone. He took every chance he could to sneak tastes of Trevor's cup cake. It was quite humorous actually. He even got on the ground to pick up crumbs to eat.

I love Trevor's faces!

Happy Birthday Trevor!

Thomas the Train.

Brennan loves Thomas the Train! I recently found a bunch of trains on Craigslist. The lady (or her son really) was selling his Thomas trains for $1 each. This was a steal since they are $13-$16 in the store new. I took the boys to her house and let Brennan choose which trains he wanted. He was in heaven. This boy owned so many trains and had a huge table with lots of track. Brennan choose 21 trains (2 Thomas trains).

My sister in-law also gave us a Thomas shirt this summer. Brennan wants to wear it everyday! If he sees any part of it in his drawer he changes his mind of the other shirt and requests Thomas. I'm sure it will be worn out in no time.

Trevor also loves to play the trains. He's been doing a great job and not pulling the track down anymore. He actually drives cars and trains around on the table without always pulling down track.

Even though Trevor is pretty good at leaving the track in place, he gets curious every now and then . . . These pictures were taken a few weeks ago. Trevor is better now.

Brennan freaking out.

Our cute boys.

Living room project

We've been slowly trying to make our 1930's home feel more modern and updated. It's been quite the process to say the least and we're not even half way through. We have high hopes of updating parts of our kitchen later this spring/early summer. But for now here are some before and after pictures of our living room. It's still not 100% done, but I figured I'd blog about it while it's still new to us.


*Before - All the walls and trim were white. The fireplace was painted white brick with a large mirror fixed to the wall above.

*Before - Empty corner for creating piles and old light switch plate. Not to mention the old chair that came with the house :)
* Before - White walls with simple decor. Oh, and the old chair again.



**After - First off we replaced the old chair with a brand new one! That's right Logan and I actually purchased something new from the store and not craigslist :) a huge step in our marriage.
Trying some paint colors on the wall and taking a good look at our old chair. It was in the house when we came to NY house hunting last April and the owners left it (along with some other furniture we've tossed). We figured we'd use this chair until we bought couches and other furniture to sit on. It served us well (and is actually now sitting in our den).
Pretty neutral colors and classic style. We needed something that would go with our couches that wasn't so modern.

Before -

After - We painted the walls green and got a piano! I've wanted a piano since the day we moved in. I knew one would fit perfectly in this corner and it does! Only a few inches to spare. Green paint all over and a satin gloss white molding and trim (we still need to finish the baseboards). The flat white walls were tricky. Every time anything touched them it left a mark.

The real project: A new fireplace!!

Logan did an amazing job creating a new fireplace front. The old brink front was such an eyesore, to me. Logan took some time figuring out how to drill into brick and cut the molding. Once he figured it out things seemed to move rather smoothly.
We also took down the attached mirror and added our own. We haven't hung it on the wall yet and don't know if we will. We kind of like it propped up.

I still have throw pillows to make (to add some accent colors) and decor to go onto the walls (to complete the overall look for the room). We need to stain the book shelf, to the left of the fireplace, dark to match the doors and front window, oh! and paint the baseboards. I don't love the high-water length, dated curtains either. I've been on the look out for something great to replace them with.

It's been a nice change and we enjoy being in the living room to see our work (or should I say Logan's amazing fireplace!).

Logan's Birthday

I'm a little late on this post (almost a month). We enjoyed a nice day as a family together on Logan's birthday. We worked on our living room together and pretty much kept it low key. Logan requested brownies instead of a cake. Brennan was a little confused by that. We called them "birthday brownies". Yet, I kept saying, "we're going to have birthday cake for Dad . . ." At times he thought we were having cake AND brownies. Whoops.
Logan and his boys. They both sure love him! Brennan runs to the door everyday he gets home from work chanting his name. Trevor screams until Logan picks him up and gives him attention too.
Trevor was a bit curious about the food Brennan was eating. We gave Trevor a taste too so he wasn't missing anything.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Snow Plow

One of the first things we purchased this fall was a good snow blower since Rochester gets so much snow every year. We also live in the snow belt 2-3 miles south of Lake Ontario. Ever since we bought the snow blower Brennan has been so excited to use it with Daddy. Logan told Brennan all about how to use it when the grass was still green outside. He couldn't get enough of the lawn mower and NOW the snow blower! So much excitement for a 3 year old.

Well, this winter has been unusually warm and dry (snow wise). It would snow a bit and then melt. Or it would snow and only be a dusting. A few weeks ago we had a real snow - 4"+. Brennan was so excited to get outside with Dad and plow the snow.

Trevor came along for the ride as well. This is a 12 month old snow suit that our neighbors in Madison gave us. I don't know what 12 month old boy is this tall. I guess it was nice to keep his feet covered since he's not walking yet.

These are taken from inside our house. Trevor and I went outside to watch the first half of the driveway. Brennan wanted to walk with Logan the whole time. It made for a slow clean up. Hot chocolate is always in order after playing in the snow - Brennan knows that.

Ladies Man!

While we were eating dinner at the Christmas party, I looked over to see Trevor surrounded by some young girls in our ward. It was pretty hilarious! They had placed a Santa hat on him and were laughing and talking to him.

Trying to get him to look at me for a picture.

Santa!

At our ward Christmas party last weekend, Santa made an appearance. Brennan was excited to tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Trevor, however, was just a little confused and curious (below).

Brennan 's a cheese!

Telling Santa he wants a slinky for Christmas. Ever since our friend in D.C. had a slinky, Brennan has wanted one. We told him "once" he should ask Santa for one and he remembered. A few days before the ward party we told Brennan that Santa would be there. He brightened up and said, "I'm going to tell Santa I want a Slinky!" I love his memory and am sometimes surprised by all the things he remembers.

Merry Christmas!