Basketball

Landon had basketball evaluations today and he's never so much as dribbled a ball. During evaluation they have the kiddos dribble, move side to side and shoot baskets. He had trouble dribbling but he made a basket during shooting!! We have started a new tradition at our house where daily we talk a out our high and low for the day. Tonight I told Landon that my high for today was seeing him make a basket and in the sweetest proudest voice I've ever heard him use he said "that was mine too". I know it seems minor and even silly but the pride he showed made me so happy!! He's growing up so fast and lately I think about how it seems like yesterday he was born and he's already nearly 6! I'm so proud of the ornery dude and I hope he grows up knowing how much I love him and how proud of him I am.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Landon - he's 5 years and 8 months old…and he started Kindergarten!

I'm 8 whole months late on Landon's 5 year old post…and I was 7 months late taking pictures.  Oh well - as they say, better late than never!

Wow - he's almost 6!  As trite as it may sound, it seems like yesterday that we were hurrying to the hospital on the day he was born.  The last 5 years and 8 months have been a frenzied blur of craziness, happiness, sweetness, orneriness and also full of blessings.  Our dude is growing up.

Landon's favorite color is orange, his favorite food is cheese ravioli (seriously, he'd eat it for every meal every day), his favorite thing to do is play on the iPad and he told me a few weeks ago that he likes his daddy better than me.  That's fantastic.  You know what, it didn't even bother me…I was actually just really happy for Jim.  Ha!  I know he loves me…and all joking aside, he's a pretty great kid! 

Landon absolutely adores his baby sister…and when they're not bugging the you know what out of each other they are so sweet together.  He protects her and she looks at him with great admiration.  I hope they always share a close bond.

Landon's learning so much every day.  He is very inquisitive and his favorite part of the day (aside from lots of time with the iPad) is story time with his daddy.  They have their special time every night.  They read books, tell stories and look up neat stuff on the internet.

Here are some pictures from our super late photo shoot.

Kindergarten!  Our dude started Kindergarten this year!  I think he was most excited about not having to take a nap in Kindergarten.  Jim and I took him to open house the day before school started to see his classroom and to meet his teacher.  He had to do a little scavenger hunt to find the important areas in the classroom and he got a treat!  I know he was a little nervous and I don't know how excited he was on the first day but he got right up, got dressed, ate breakfast and we took off.  We decided that dropping him off in the pick-up line would be best.  I was afraid if I went in with him he wouldn't want me to leave - and we had just been there the day before.  We talked all about it so he would be ready and he got out and with the help of the principal took off towards his classroom…and I cried all the way to work!  I wasn't sad about how fast he's growing up - I cried because I felt an enormous amount of guilt for not walking him in on the first day.  I surely didn't anticipate having that amount of guilt!  I kept envisioning our guy being lost and confused and seeing all the other moms and dads and wondering why I shoved him out of the car and made him walk in all alone.  It was awful.  I felt better after talking to Jim and Aunt Sissy.  Luckily, Landon never mentioned it and he had a great first day!!  He's only had a couple minor blips in the first couple of weeks.  One day he didn't finish his work and another he got a little warning for tackling a kid on the playground.  Not finishing his work was not surprising to us…tackling a kid on the playground, very surprising!  Our dude is not typically very physical with kids he doesn't know and would rather play minecraft than football…so, we got a little more to the story from Aunt Sissy (she works recess duty but wasn't there that day) and it wasn't a major deal.  We had talked to Landon about whether or not he was being mean or just playing and he didn't fully understand why he was in trouble so we kind of let it slide.

Overall, he's doing great so far!  He did ask today if Kindergarten was over though - so we may be in for a long year!  Ha!

Landon - you're a pretty awesome little guy and we love you to the moon and back and a bushel and a peck.  XOXOXO

Rosemary Beach 2014

We spent a week this summer in Rosemary Beach, Florida with our friends the Wades.  Rosemary is in the 30a area between Destin and Panama City Beach.  It's a cute little community with lots of fun shops, restaurants, and the beach there is beautiful.  We left on a Saturday morning at 5:30am and because I was nervous about how the kids would do on an all day road trip I planned a few fun things for the trip.  I made a map for Landon to follow, printed a fun scavenger hunt of things to find outside while you're driving, loaded up on snacks and bought several little treats and wrapped them up - they got to open one every hour or so if they were good.  They thought that was the best idea ever…according to Maddie Kate it was totally awesome!  Landon's favorite treats were the mystery mario figures.  It took us 13 long hours to get there and the kids were so much better than we thought they would be.  We saw this beautiful sunset as we rolled into town.

We spent the first day on the beach and the kiddos loved it!  Maddie Kate jumped right in like she'd been to the beach a million times and Landon did the same.  

One night we all drove in to Panama City for dinner and a sunset pirate cruise.  It was so much fun!  The kids got to have a water gun fight, dance and help shoot a pretend cannon!  We bought them souvenir swords and they practiced saying "arrrrrgh matey!"

We met up with the Hankins one day at Charlie's Donut Truck in Alys Beach and got to see them again one night for dinner in Seagrove at Louis Louis which is owned by a family from Little Rock who used to own restaurants here…the owner, whose wife tutored Jim in french, even seemed to remember Jim!  After dinner we visited Seaside for souvenir shopping and ice cream,

Landon learned to boogie board and loved it!!

We saw dolphins, played in the waves and built a sand castle!

The last couple of days there were quite a few jellyfish in the area…Landon even caught one!  After that, we decided we should spend more time at the pool.  The pool in the little community we stayed in was nice and we had it to ourselves most of the time.

Landon had a few milestone moments on our trip!  He decided he would swim without his floaties at the pool and we were so proud!!!  He also lost a tooth!  

The tooth fairy found him and left him $5!  

We had a fun trip with our little family and can't wait to visit the beach again soon!

Potty Training Progress!

MK's teachers send home a daily report and for the last several days we've seen this!!! Yahoo for progress!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Dad's Day!

Happy day to the best daddy our kiddos could ever ask for! Jim is such a great daddy. He spends a lot of time with our kiddos and he just gets a little better every day. Two ornery kids tend to push all the wrong buttons and teach us both a little about patience and love. We are both a work in progress but we share a common goal and we love our little family. Jim takes good care of us and is a great leader.

This morning we let him sleep in a little and then cooked him a yummy breakfast! We went to mass and then had his family over for a fish fry. It was a great day and we love him a whole lot!!

Thanks Jim for being a great dad and an even better partner.

We love you a bushel and a peck and to the moon and back!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Landon lost a tooth!!

I wrote this several weeks ago but my iPhone app wouldn't publish it. I finally got it to work today!

Last week Landon showed me that he had a loose tooth! I couldn't believe it! I texted several friends to see if this seemed early to them and apparently it wasn't. I think I forget sometimes that my baby boy is 5 and is growing up! He wiggled it around constantly and I just knew it would fall out very soon. On Saturday he had a t-ball game and MK and I missed it because we went to a baby shower for a friend in Augusta. Jim sent me a text that Landon lost his tooth during the game! He said that Landon waved over to him and then Jim saw him looking around on the ground. Jim went out to see him and sure enough, Landon's tooth was gone! Jim crawled around left field (while the game was still going on!) and he found it!! Yay! Best daddy ever! We left his tooth by his bed for the tooth fairy and when Landon woke up this morning he yelled, "Mommy!!! Come see what the tooth fairy left me!!" He sounded sooo excited! She had left him some change-mainly quarters since she knows how much he likes video games...and she also left him a fun dip!!! I'm certain Landon thought that was just about the coolest thing ever!

I still can't believe our big boy has lost his first tooth! It's actually his third...but this one happened all on its own!













- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Potty Training and Gum

Oh Sweet Maddie Kate!  Bless her heart she's just too strong willed (some may say stubborn) for her own good and I have no idea where she gets it.  Oh yeah…she's double whammied.  Her daddy might tell you that I'm a little "strong willed"…surely not!  I might say the same for him - only he'd agree.  Our girl knows exactly what she should do and I'm pretty sure she "feels the urge" in time to do it…but she's just not going to do it until she's darn good and ready.  How do we know this?  Because several weeks ago she was at her Nana's…Aunt Sissy was there and saw MK assume the poop position.  She always squats to do her business.  I guess it helps her.  Anyway, Aunt Sissy suggested that MK try to go poop on the potty and sassafras Maddie Kate told her, "Aunt Sissy…I'm NOT toiled trained yet!".  Well, there you have it!  She's too smart for her own good…we can have an intelligent conversation with her but we can't convince her to pee on the pot!  She'll say, "I'll go on the potty next weekend" and she'll say it with her finger in the air pointing at you as if she's in charge…and let's face it, we all know she is.  I do think we have turned a corner just this week!  She started at Camp Sunshine this week and she's gone on the potty all day there!  Her bribe of choice is gum.  We didn't give in to it very easily after she continued to swallow it but then Nana did her homework and learned that gum doesn't actually live in your colon until you enter the pearly gates.  So, gum it is!!  And it's working!  And can she throw a FIT if you don't come through after a trip to the potty!  This girl is gonna give us a run for our money!  Good thing we think she's awfully cute.

Last Day of Pre-K

Our dude had a great year!  He learned a lot and we learned a lot about him.  We are so thankful for Christ the King and we are looking forward to kindergarten!  I can't quite believe we have a kid old enough for kindergarten but it seems we do!  Landon has improved so much this year.  He can write his name fairly well and just recently when we're driving he'll pick out a sign and say the letters asking us what they spell.  He seems to be interested in learning and we hope that continues.  His teacher put together binders of his work from throughout the year and it's neat to flip through it and see his progress.  One of my favorite things they did is the monthly journal.  Each day the kiddos did a journal page.  Typically it was a drawing based on a question like what they did over the weekend and sometimes they got a free day to draw what they like.  His drawing skills definitely improved!  He seems to have a knack for numbers and can even understand basic math.  We have enjoyed watching him grow and talking to him about the things he's learned.

Here is Landon on the first and last days of school.  We started out the year tucking in shirts and ended a little lazy.  The night before the last day of school Landon had a t-ball game and was up way past bedtime…so, it was a rough morning!

The Pre-K class puts on a musical program at the end of the year.  Aside from trying to get pictures of our ornery boy afterwards, he did a great job!  He was on the front row and watching him perform up there with his buddies was the highlight of the year.  At the end of the program they all had a part to Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World.  That was my favorite.  A few times during that part Landon really got into it and you could tell he could almost feel the music.  I don't know why exactly but that made my heart so happy!!  I see so much of myself and Jim in him…he's ornery but he also has a sweet, sensitive side.

At the end of the year they also had a field day.  I went for a little while to watch and all the kiddos had such a great time!  Watching them was fun but I think my favorite part was watching my dear friend Marie man the rope on the rock climbing wall while wearing sweet Annabeth.  She is absolutely amazing!!  Definitely the highlight of my visit to field day!