Landon's Favorite Things

Landon is addicted to TV. It's almost as serious as his morning cup of milk addiction. We're working on it. It might be my fault. Kind of. If he didn't insist on waking up so early I might be more prepared to be a responsible parent. He knows the routine. I greet him with his morning cup of milk and then promptly place him in bed with me to watch a cartoon while I slowly come to terms with the fact that my day is beginning sooner than I had hoped. He LOVES to watch Disney's Little Einsteins. It is his absolute favorite TV show. (Should a one-year-old even have a favorite TV show?)

One item he insists on bringing into bed with us each morning is his blue blanket. He has become rather fond of it. If I forget to bring it with us, it usually means another trip into his room to retrieve it.

Animals. Especially dogs and cats.
Hiding. Especially when we tell him it's time for bed or a diaper change. Thankfully, he has yet to learn to hide well.
Cars. Landon loves anything with a car on it. For Christmas this year Santa gave him a box of fruit snacks that are in the shape of a car. He wanted to eat them all at once.
Lining things up. Landon has a funny habit of lining things up "just so". He will take his animals and line them all up against the bricks near the fireplace. Sometimes he will turn them on their sides all facing the same direction. He loves to build towers of blocks and sometimes he just makes one long line of blocks down the hallway. He likes order.
Cleaning. Landon is a great little cleaner. I can hand him something in any room of the house and ask him to take it to his room and put it away...and he does it. It's amazing. I wish he could teach Allie & Eric how to do it too.
Milk. He would live on milk alone if we let him.
Hats. He doesn't often leave them on very long; but he loves them!
Amber. Landon really, really, really loves his cousin Amber! His face lights right up whenever he sees her. He prefers her to me most of the time.
Closing things. It drives Landon crazy if anything (drawers, the fridge, the dishwasher, a cabinet door, etc) is open. I'm not talking accidentally left open. Just open. He sees it as his personal mission to keep everything closed at all times. It is nearly impossible to load the dishwasher when he is around. If I'm quick, and lucky, I can get one or two items put in before he comes along and slams it shut.
Light switches. Like all toddlers Landon loves to flip the light switches on and off rapidly and for long periods of time. One neighbor recently drove by at night while this was going on and called to ask me if we had installed a strobe light in our dining room.
Wrestling. He is all boy. He loves to wrestle. His favorite target is his unsuspecting sister. Thankfully Allie seems to enjoy it as much as he does. He is kind of rough. I don't suppose it will be too much longer before someone gets hurt and it's not so much fun for Allie anymore.
Shoes. Shoes are not safe at this house. If Landon spies a pair that have been left out he claims them. Grandma lost her shoes when she came to visit us on Christmas day. We had to search to locate them.
Coloring. Landon loves to color. Especially when Allie is helping him.

Christmas Traditions

December is such a busy time of the year! We have had a lot of fun spending time with our family and friends celebrating the holiday season. Allie suggested that recording some of our family's Christmas traditions would be a great idea for a blog post. She has been little disappointed by the number of posts recently.

One of our family's favorite traditions to kick off the Christmas season is new Christmas pajamas and a Christmas book for the children on Thanksgiving night.

We decorated our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We were a little worried about how we would keep Landon from pulling the tree on top of himself, however, he has been a very good boy. As of this morning we have only had one ornament casualty this year. That's pretty much a record for this house.

Allie has been begging me all year long to buy an advent calendar that has candy in it. We bought both of the kids their own and it has become a fun morning tradition. It was a great $2 investment because I have learned a very important lesson about my daughter. For some time now I have been thinking that she had a serious issue with remembering things that should be a part of her every day routine (you know...homework, making her bed, brushing her teeth, etc). Would you like to guess how many days she has forgotten to eat her piece of candy before she heads out the door for school? That's right. None. I'm on to her now. "I forgot" is not going to fly around here any more.

Another tradition our family enjoys doing during the holiday season is giving service. Over the years we have participated in a wide variety of service opportunities. This year we made blankets for the Linus Project and Allie and I also made toy cars for the Humanitarian Services of the LDS church with the Activity Day girls.

A Christmas tradition that Eric and I both love is the adults only Christmas party that both of our extended families have. We have been abundantly blessed with many, many children in our extended families (our kids have 35 cousins and counting!). The opportunity to spend time with only the adults is something we treasure because it only happens once each year. It's amazing what you can find out about your siblings and parents without the distraction of small, demanding children present.

Every holiday season we go to see at least one family friendly movie. This year Allie is really looking forward to seeing "The Tale of Despereaux". She was a big fan of the book and can't wait to see the movie!

Here are a few more of our favorite things for the holiday...

• Driving around and looking at Christmas lights. This year we went to the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork and we hope to make it to Thanksgiving Point before the season is over.
• Aebelskivers for Christmas breakfast.
• Attending the Ward Christmas Party.
• Each member of the family gets to choose a new ornament from the store for the Christmas tree. We have quite an eclectic mix!
• Watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.
• Baking and delivering sugar cookies to friends and family.
• Breakfast on Christmas Eve morning with friends.
• Playing Bingo!

I Think I'm in Love!

This beauty has made my life better already. I am excited that I was finally able to convince my insurance company that having an insulin pump is a medical necessity for me.

Concentration

We know that Landon is seriously concentrating on something when he sticks his tongue out. He often does this when he is sorting things, building towers of blocks, and coloring. Tonight for FHE we had a picture for the kids to color. Landon was totally focused on the task at hand!

Allie's look of concentration is a little less intense.

Landon Speaks

And boy is it cute! For some reason every time we ask him to say Dad he says "Mama". It's really funny. We also love his quacking sound. Take a look:

That's what little brothers do

Allie has a new favorite phrase: "That's what little brothers do." She says it whenever Landon does something that irritates her. For example, the other day she accidentally left her purse and a pen on the table resulting in this unfortunate piece of artwork:

I thought that she was going to flip out but instead she just sighed and said "that's what little brothers do". Later that night she was asking me how many more little brothers we were going to be able to adopt. I probed a little, certain that she was expressing frustration about her brother's newly acquired habit of destroying her prized possessions. To my surprise she said she wants a lot of little brothers because they are "just so cute even when they do what little brothers do best". I am thankful that she sees Landon's antics for what they are...a little brother doing what little brothers do. I know. I have one.

TAG

It's been a while since I've been tagged. (And I don't think I ended up participating the last couple of times I was tagged...sorry) This time I thought I'd do it. I'm not going to tag anyone at the end, but if you want to play go for it!

8 TV shows that I like to watch
(Should this be hard? As I stated to my family recently, I need to watch more tv! I pretty much had to include any show I've watched in the last year.)
1-The news
2-The Office
3-48 Hours Mystery
4-John & Kate Plus Eight
5-Samantha Who
6-The Amazing Race
7-
8-

8 Things that happened yesterday
1-Landon slept in until 6:45!!! Yay!
2-I made chocolate chip banana bread
3-I cleaned out my portion of our home office.
4-I checked out the new health food store in our neck of the woods, Sunflower Market, and got some great deals on fresh produce.
5-I hung out with my Sister-in-law JaNae and made plans to conquer the world.
6-I fulfilled my calling by attending Activity Days--I still can't get over this twice a month calling. Crazy, but the good kind of crazy!
7-I expressed a great amount of distress at Eric's new idea for a career. Let's just say it involves way more school than I have any interest in being a part of. I think he got the picture.
8-I finished reading New Moon.

8 favorite places to eat
1-Lisa's (or anywhere she brings her baked goods)
2-Cafe Rio
3-Cabo Grill
4-PF Chang's
5-Red Lobster
6-Outback
7-Cheesecake Factory
8-Anywhere on the island of Maui

8 things I am looking forward to
1-The start of campaigning for the 2012 election
2-The holidays
3-Finishing up our adoption paperwork
4-Next year's tax return...new carpet!!!
5-Getting an insulin pump
6-Warmer weather
7-Eric's graduation
8-Our adults only vacation with the Toone family

8 things I wish for
1-Happy, well-adjusted children
2-Yearly vacations to Maui
3-A new car
4-Picture perfect health for all who are near and dear to me
5-A horse for Eric to ride all he wants after he graduates
6-Financial security for everyone
7-Less stress for all my extended family members
8-A long, healthy life

Dandelion Wine

You didn't really believe that I ran out of things to say...did you?!? Anyone who truly knows me knows that that will probably never happen.

Tonight I attended my monthly book club meeting where we discussed this book:

I really liked this book. I have to be honest and say that the title didn't really grab my attention (dandelion's are weeds afterall) but I was hooked almost as soon as I began reading. The book is really a collection of small stories about a young boy and his adventures in a small town one summer. Bradbury is a very descriptive writer and uses great metaphors. As I read through this book I thought a lot about people I know and love who are similar to characters in the book. Here are two quick examples:

*Colonel Freeleigh reminded me of Grandpa Hudson. The boys call him the living time machine because he seems to have seen and experienced everything.

*Miss Fern and Miss Roberts (two elderly women) made me think of Grandma Hudson and her friend/partner in crime Colleen. They have this contraption called the green machine that they ride around town in and they cause a lot of trouble.

Dandelion Wine is a uniquely written book that I really enjoyed reading.

I have been accused

of neglecting my blog. Maybe I've just run out of things to say?

A little taste of Oceanside

Eric downloaded all of our vacation pictures onto his laptop...and then left it at work. So, for now, I thought I'd share a couple of videos of the kids having fun on the beach.

Allie fell in love with Bodyboarding during this beach trip. She spent hours and hours in the water having fun. Allie was always the first one in the water and the very last one out. She couldn't get enough!

Landon hated the ocean and the pool! He would cry every single time we took him to the very edge of the water and put his toes in. We're going to work on that before our next trip to the beach. What he did enjoy was playing in the sand and chasing the seagulls all over the beach with his cousins Carly and Joe.

We had a really fun trip and the weather couldn't have been better. I love spending time vacationing with family more than anything else in the world. We are already trying to figure out how soon we can get back to sunny Southern California where the weather and the gas prices are a whole lot nicer right now.

"Car"

Since he is terrible about performing on cue for an audience, I decided that I would try and catch Landon on video saying a few of the words he knows. The only one I could get him to say was "car". He also says: Mama, go, dogs, eye, hair, ear, uh-oh, no, cow, hi, more, and Dad.

Things that make you go hmmm...

So last night Eric took his Young Men on a hike. He has a favorite trail near our home that he frequents. After hiking for a while the boys and their leaders stopped to rest. While they were sitting there enjoying the view, a conversation happened that went a little something like this:

YM Leader: Eric, do you come here very often?
Eric: Yeah, pretty frequently.
YM Leader: So...would this happen to be your electric razor?
Eric: (dazed and totally confused) Yes! Where did you find that?
YM Leader: Over there on the ground.
Eric: I've been looking for this for 2 months!

That's right. Last night while hiking on the mountainside Eric found the electric razor he has been searching for for the past 2 months! The case was a little sun bleached but other than that it was in perfect working condition. Just don't ask how it got there.

Mess Makers

Yesterday we had an early Birthday celebration for my Mom & Uncle Phil. The kids were really excited to share their birthday cupcakes....

Once Kambree saw all of the attention Landon was getting, she decided to join in on the fun. What a mess! More pictures of messy kids here.

Soccer Season

What a fun soccer season we have had! Allie is now in a new age bracket and it is such a blast to watch her and her teammates play. They work together and the result is a game that actually looks like soccer is supposed to. The best part of all has been the weather. The Spring season this year stunk! The weather was miserable for virtually every game. This fall has been picture perfect for every single game. Allie we are proud of you for practicing and improving your play. Way to go!

It's Been a While

What can I say? We've been busy. First of all, I would like to start by thanking those who have helped my family for the last couple of weeks while I have been recovering from pneumonia. Who gets pneumonia in 90 degree weather anyways?!?

Moving on to more exciting things...Allie has her new glasses thanks to very generous grandparents. Thanks Mom & Dad! She has loved being able to see in class. The best part of all is that she has been very responsible with them.

Landon has become quite a thief in the last little while. While I was sick he would sneak into my bedroom and take things and I was too sick to chase him. Eventually Allie or Eric would intercept him and return the stolen goods to me. Now he thinks it's a fun game. One of his favorite things to steal is shoes which he will either wear or hide in his drawer under the stove. When he gets more creative with where he hides things we could be in real trouble!

When did he get so blond?

Landon has also invented a new game for himself. He likes to take his sippy cups and roll them all over the dining room floor. He will roll and chase a cup for a good 30 minutes. It's pretty funny to watch him in action.

On Labor Day we went to Thanksgiving Point to the Museum of Ancient Life. It was a lot of fun and because we got there as they were opening, it wasn't too crowded. We had a 5-year-old neighbor friend with us while his lucky parents were vacationing in Hawaii. We tried to get a picture with all 3 kids looking at us and failed miserably...

The water table and sand box are always favorites with the kids!

With Friends Like These I May Never Bake Again!

This post is a tribute to two of the very best cooks I know--Kristy & Lisa. When Kristy's boys were diagnosed with Celiac Disease I thought it would mean an abrupt end to delicious treats from her kitchen. I couldn't have been more wrong. Kristy has proven to be quite adept at baking with alternative flours and things turn out as yummy as ever. In fact, my own daughter requested a special gluten-free birthday cake after tasting one at Kristy's house. According to Allie it was the best cake she'd ever had. So...look what Allie got for her birthday this year:

The cake was delicious and the way it was decorated far exceeds anything I have ever even thought of attempting. My poor children. It's a good thing my friends take pity on them.

And then there is Lisa. On Sunday I had a meeting with the other Activity Day Leaders in our ward. Lisa pulled up just as I did and to my delight she had a treat. Lisa's baked goodies are always great. If you're ever lucky enough to attend a meeting with Lisa, you are in for a real treat (literally) because she will usually bring something delicious to share. The carrot cake she brought that afternoon was so yummy and I don't even particularly care for carrot cake. I happened to mention to her that I was craving it today and guess who showed up at my house this afternoon with a freshly baked carrot cake?

Guess who spoiled her dinner by eating 4 servings worth of carrot cake?

It's Great to be Eight

On Saturday Allie was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are proud of you Allie for making this important decision! We were reminded over and over again this weekend how lucky we are to have this choice little spirit in our family. Thanks to all of our friends and family for their support...we are truly blessed!

Back to School

I can't believe it is already time for Allie to go back to school! Allie is excited about being in 3rd grade and is really looking forward to learning how to write in cursive this year. I'm not sure why...she can barely stand to print 10 words a night for her spelling quiz. Oh, well. We'll embrace her enthusiasm as long as it lasts. Allie really likes her new teacher and is very excited about all her friends who are in the same class.

So worth the wait!

I am so happy with the produce that we are harvesting from our garden. It makes the hours of watering and weeding seem like a reasonable price to pay.

I am also pleased to report that after months and months of waiting Landon finally blew kisses for the first time tonight. It was so adorable that it definitely falls in the "so worth the wait" category. I'm just going to go ahead and pretend that it was me he was blowing kisses to--and not the dogs.

The Joys of Feeding a Toddler

Tonight we had spaghetti and corn bread for dinner. Landon kept saying "mmmmmm" over and over and over. By the end of the meal, this is what he looked like.

And, I've decided the pictures just don't do it justice. I took me 30 minutes to clean up Landon, his highchair, and the floor!

Be Careful What You Wish For...

Sunday I was released from my calling as Primary President. Just a week or so ago I told Eric that the combination of our 2 callings was getting to be too much for me (especially with Eric still in school 2 nights a week!) leaving far too little time left over for our family. It seemed as if one or the other of us was always headed off to a meeting, activity, interview, or camping trip. When I got word that the Bishop asked to meet with both of us I immediately knew what was coming and I wasn't as happy about it as I thought I would be when the time finally came. I was dreading that visit as much as I did the last trip in there when I was called to serve as Primary President--I think sometimes you just know. Eric tried to ease my frantic mind by telling me that "maybe the Bishop just wants to ask our opinion about...something". Right. He kept telling me that he didn't think that I was being released to which I eventually responded "that only leaves your calling to change then". That shut him up. He LOVES being the Scoutmaster and has no desire to ever be released.

It took a little while for all of this to sink in for me. I have wondered what I am going to do with the hours of time I will now have each week that used to be taken up by this busy calling. How will I like going to Relief Society after a 6 year hiatus? What about all my friends, old and young, who I have grown to love so much? What am I going to talk to Cindy and Lisa about every day? (Okay, I've got to admit I'm not really worried about this. But I am worried that life will get busy and I won't see or hear from them as much I hope.) I also want to publicly acknowledge all that Cindy, Lisa, Rachel, Amber, and Julianne have done to support and sustain me in this calling. Your friendship and encouragement through the years has meant more to me than I could ever put into words. Change is good, but it is hard. Here's to new adventures as well as the new learning and growing opportunities that lie ahead for me.

Happy, Happy Birthday Allie!

Today is Allison's 8th Birthday! Allie and her Dad are busy having fun on an overnighter at the Big Horn Ranch. They took Grandpa Swain and cousin Larkin along with them. I really hope that they don't come home with any terrifying bear stories this year. A mother's heart can only take one of those in a lifetime. I am going to ask Eric to do the blogging about this weekend's trip sometime in the next few days so keep checking back for the scoop--it's sure to be interesting.

Allie is growing into a young woman right before my very eyes. She has changed so much in the last couple of years. She is maturing and becoming more and more sophisticated and independent. It is so amazing to watch her as she continues to develop and learn and grow.

About a week and a half ago Allie was called to meet with the Bishop for her baptismal interview. The whole family got to tag along. The Bishop greeted us outside his office by saying "Allie, I hear that you have been waiting for this day for four years". Apparently this was something Allie confessed to the Bishop's daughter a few nights earlier when she went next door to help her weed a neighbor's yard. It made me laugh and it also made me think. Allie has been anxiously anticipating this day for as long as I can remember (and to be honest, I'm certain it's been longer than 4 years). She has such a tender spirit and a testimony and understanding of the gospel that humbles me. We are lucky parents to have been entrusted with this precious child!

I can't wait for her to return home so that the celebrating (with Landon and I) can begin! We are going to dinner with some friends and then over to another friends house to play games and have delicious gluten-free cake and ice cream. Really. It's tasty. Allie put in a special request a year ago for a gluten-free cake and today she's going to get her wish.

Happy Birthday, Allie. I love you!

A Sunday Evening Up Provo Canyon

Our AC has been acting up making all of us a little grumpier than usual. When we got home from church on Sunday our house was 84 degrees and climbing. We decided to take our dinner and head up Provo Canyon to Big Springs Park. It was a nice respite from the oppressive heat and it was so beautiful. We definitely don't go often enough.

One of Landon's favorite toys is his stroller. Just don't try and buckle him in. That ruins all the fun!

Landon has a flair for the dramatic. Even while drinking his milk.

Allie brought along her fishing pole to practice casting it. It was entertaining to say the least. She has "made up" all kinds of different ways to cast her line such as: the magic wand, golfing, and fly fishing. I think it's a good thing that there isn't a hook on her fishing line.





Landon loves to wrestle with Allie and I. Eric is always trying to get Landon to rough house with him instead. It never works. Maybe Landon is intimidated by his Daddy's size and strength? When Eric rolled over onto his stomach Landon took advantage of the opportunity to catch him off guard.

When the sun started to set, the canyon was so beautiful. We kind of wished we could stay there instead of coming home to the miserable heat.