Landen Lately

I haven't done a post about Landen since his first birthday and he has grown so much since then. He does and says new things on a daily basis now. I love this stage and I love that he is finally learning to communicate with us. 

~still only has 6 teeth and is a pretty good eater

~naps once a day

~still in 18 month size clothes

~wears size 5 shoes but it is so hard to find shoes that fit because his feet are so chubby heighth wise!

~says mama, dada, sis, ball, bye, hi, papa, diaper, berry, all done, more, no, go, belly, balloon. I'm sure there are more that I can't currently think of. 

~points to body parts if you ask him to

~likes to "smell" things

~loves waving to people

~likes dogs from afar but he freaks out if they get too close

~doesn't care for tv

~continues to love and prefer his dad 

~likes dancing to music

~loves balloons and balls

~is suddenly a hitter and he is very sensitive and gets very sad if anyone is stern with him

~doesn't like loud noises

~loves Christmas lights

~blows kisses

~likes to "wrestle" and if you lay down on the floor you are fair game!

~is getting better and better at stairs and we don't always have to put the baby gate up now

~had his 3rd haircut and he still cries through the entire thing

~is all boy and loves cars and boy things. He does however enjoy putting on Sydney's play necklaces and other jewelry and carrying around her play purses :)

~likes giving high fives and knuckles

~loves reading books

He is getting to be such a big boy! 

Oh Baby Baby

The picture says it all :) Baby number 3 is joining our family! I am 14 weeks and due  May 20th. We are excited to add another sweet baby to our family! 

Arizona

The beginning of September I took the kids and went with my parents and sister to go visit my brothers family in Arizona. I was a little nervous to go, I had never flown with the kids and was worried about going without Marshall. Luckily my parents were on the same flights and they were a big help! Both kids did amazing the whole way there! It was such a relief. 

We had a great time seeing everyone, all of us siblings were together for a few days which rarely happens. My kids had a blast playing with cousins so many days in a row! While down there we celebrated my brother Tyler's birthday, attended his graduation and were there for the blessing of their newest baby. It was great being there for all the milestones. 

We had fun just hanging out with the family, eating good food, playing, going to the zoo and much more. By the end of the trip we (me) were exhausted from sharing a hotel room with my 2 kids and was definitely ready to get back home to Marshall. We had quite the ordeal trying to get home which is a super long story but we basically got stuck in Denver for an extra day with no luggage. It took us 2 and a half days of traveling to finally make it home. Yikes! Overall I was glad we went and were able to spend time with my family. We love family time!

Trying To Catch Up

Oh man. I am SO behind. When I get behind on the blog I just get overwhelmed with how much I've missed and I just stop trying. Then a few months go by and I finally decide to try and catch back up. So here's a start. There will be more to come!

Sydney's Birthday Celebrations

Sydney's birthday was on September 1st which fell on a Sunday this year. The whole day we did what she wanted to do. Her main request was to have my parents and sister over for dinner. And for dinner she chose spaghetti with meatballs, cottage cheese, and tomatoes. Its her fave! For dessert instead of cake she wanted brownies with ice cream. So we stuck candles in the brownie pan and sang to her (which she hated), and then she opened presents from us. We felt like this year as soon as her birthday hit she had a bigger attitude. I guess that's what happens when you are 4. It was a fun day spending time with her and family.

The weekend before her birthday she had a combined friend party with her cousin Livi. We had it at a gymnastics place and they had so much fun! After planning Landen's big birthday party it was nice to have it at a place where little planning was required! And it was just what the girls wanted!

Preschool

Sydney started preschool this year and so far it is going great! We have really gone back and forth with deciding whether she will start kindergarten next year or wait til the following year. We have decided that we will start her next year even though she will be barely 5 and the youngest in her class. I am excited that she is doing preschool this year to help prepare her for kindergarten. She loves going, she is doing great, and I love that I have 3 hours in the morning 3 times a week to do what I want! It has been so nice!

Arizona

The kids and I flew down to Arizona with my parents and sister to visit my brother Tyler and his family. I will do another post about this one later, but it was so nice to go and see family we don't see very often!


Birthday

I had a birthday and turned 26! My SIL Julie took my kids most of the day and I got to do whatever I wanted ALL DAY LONG. That NEVER happens and it was amazing! That night Marshall and I went on a date and it was just what I needed. It was a good day and I still feel like a teenager! Ha!

Anniversary

We celebrated our 7th Anniversary this year! It is crazy to me that we've already been married 7 years. I look forward to many more to come! We celebrated by going to dinner and then we went shopping for a new TV. Super exciting stuff. Haha! I love my hubbs and I am so lucky to have him!

That's it for now! Hopefully more to come soon :)

Our Girly Turns 4

Sydney turned 4! I still think of her as my little buddy. She is shy, sweet, smart and spunky. She is the best little helper and she is so fun! We love our Sydney!

1. What is your favorite color? Purple
2. What is your favorite toy? Play kitchen and food
3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? Peppa Pig
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pizza
6. What is your favorite outfit? yellow shirt, skirt and grey leggings
7. What is your favorite game? I spy
8. What is your favorite snack? tomatoes
9. What is your favorite animal? giraffe
10. What is your favorite song?
11. What is your favorite book? We're Going on a Bear Hunt
12. Who is your best friend? Livi, Marcela, MaKenna, Layken, Noah (and on and on and on)
13. What is your favorite cereal? Granola
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the swing set
15. What is your favorite drink? milkor lemonade
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Cow blanket, stuffed animals favorite is currently Pig
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Granola

19. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? spaghetti and meatballs
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A mom

The Party

When I first started thinking about planning a party for Landen, I was only going to do a small get together and just do cake and ice cream. Enter Pinterest. I started just browsing ideas for birthday parties and I just got so excited to plan something bigger. I had SO much fun planning and putting it all together and even told Marshall that I could totally be a party planner and I would love every minute. I didn't want a character type party because c'mon, the boy is only one and he has no favorite characters at this point. I saw a few ideas for rainbow/primary color parties and I thought it would be perfect for a first birthday, so I went with it. I didn't want it to be too girly so I omitted the purple. Overall I think things went good, there are things I would change or do differently, but overall I was happy with how it turned out.

I really thought Landen would get into his smash cake, but he was very calm and relaxed about it and just took tiny little bites.

A few times he went in face first to have a little taste. And he kept wanting to share bites with anyone that was standing nearby. But he really didn't end up making too big of a mess.

He got a quick bath in the sink after cake so that he could go back to partying

Landen loves his Grandpas, so it was fitting that he spent a lot of his party hanging out with my Dad. He even opened presents with Grandpa.

He had fun playing with friends and cousins and we loved having so many people to celebrate with. 

Landen Turns One!

It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed. I remember so vividly the day and evening before I had him. It seems like just yesterday. It really is an amazing thing, adding a baby to the family. It always takes some adjusting and getting used to. But that new baby fits right in and instantly belongs, and that's how it was with Landen. He took his place in our family and we can't imagine life without our sweet boy. He just fits so perfectly. We love him. To pieces. We spent the day celebrating with friends and family and loving on him. I will post about his party later.

1 Year Stats:

Weight: 22 lbs 12 ounces (50th percentile)
Height: 31 inches (85th percentile)

~Has 4 teeth

~Size 18 month clothes and size 4 diaper

~Got his first haircut and screamed the entire time

~Took his first steps 3 days before his birthday

~Eats pretty much anything we give him

~Still naps twice a day and sleeps through the night, goes to bed at 7 and is up between 6 and 7

~Likes waving to people

~Will put his hand up to his ear if you say hello, he is pretending he is talking on the phone

~Started pointing at everything, and will even point to the right person if you ask him where someone is that he knows

~Loves being in only a diaper and will try running away when he sees me coming with clothes

~Is back to liking bath time again

~Will shake his head and wave his arm to say no no no

~Still loves and prefers his Dad, he loves his Grandpas too

~Loves being outside

~Gives the best loves

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby boy! We just can't get enough of him!

Silverwood Fun!

With Sydney being almost 4 years old it has been a fun summer doing things that I know are making fun memories for her and us. So when some friends invited us to go with them to Silverwood theme and water park we jumped at the chance! Waking up the day of our trip I think I was more excited than Sydney was. She had never been anywhere like this so it was a whole new experience. It is so fun to see her get excited and enjoy new things! We were able to leave Landen home with family so we were able to enjoy ourselves with just one kid!

We spent the first part of the day taking the kids (Sydney and her friend Noah) on the kid rides. We rode the train, Ferris wheel, giant swing, bumper boats, little roller coaster, and carousel. It was pure bliss! 

Around lunch time we started getting too hot so we changed into our swim suits and hit the water park! Ohhhh the water park. It was so nice. The kids got a little cold and they weren't tall enough to go on any of the slides but we still enjoyed it. We spent some time in the wave pool, and a lot of time in the lazy river. I love floating the lazy river! I could stay there the whole time and be happy! 

After playing in the water we hurried over to the last magic show of the day and were super disappointed when they wouldn't let us in because it was too full. At the last minute one of the workers snuck us in and made room. We were so happy! Sydney had been looking forward to it all day. She ended up sitting on Marshall's lap and staring in a trance the whole time. 

After the magic show Tiph and I got in line and rode a few roller coasters. It was fun to ride a couple adult rides. We left late that night to head back home, and we were all super exhausted from the fun day. Sydney still asks on a daily basis when we are going back and I can't wait to take her again! Maybe next year!

Our 11 Month Old Boy

It is so crazy that in just a few weeks we will be celebrating Landen's 1st Birthday. It has flown by so fast, much faster than Sydney's first year! Landen has been such a great addition to our family. We just love him oh so much! 

11 Months

-Refuses to hold his own bottle still

-Eats anything and everything, doesn't love baby food anymore unless its the pouches of fruit and veggies

-Loves bananas and avocados the most

-Waves, but only when he feels like it

-Signs "all done" but he does it pretty much the whole time he's eating so he hasn't quite figured out when to use it 

-Screams if we leave him, so if we get a sitter we wait til after he's in bed

-Already likes playing with cars

-Loves when we get him up on the couch, he likes to crawl across it and then dive head first off the end of it while we hold his legs

-Went from loving bath time to hating it and I have no idea why. He screams and cries through the whole thing now. 

-Does not like loud noises. Including (but not limited to) trucks, the blender, vacuum, hair dryer, motorcycles, etc. 

-Still in size 18 month clothes, we struggle with shoes because his feet are so darn chubby! Size 4 shoes give him plenty of room for his toes but most size 4 I can't get his foot into because they are just too chubby on top!

-Is quickly turning from baby to little boy. It amazes me how much he learns and understands. 

4th

I started off the day by taking the kiddos to the 4th of July parade. I was a little worried about taking both kids, but luckily my sister was able to come with us and help out pushing one stroller. Sydney loves parades and had been excited for weeks for the 4th. The parade was lots of fun and even Landen did great! He loved watching until the end when the fire trucks and police cars came through with their sirens on and he got scared pretty good. 

After the parade we got together with friends for swimming and a barbecue. Sydney loved having friends to play with and it we had lots of yummy food! We all left and went home and napped in preparation for staying up late for fireworks! When it was time we loaded up and headed to the Pasco side of the river to watch. The kiddos loved it and it was so worth keeping them up way past bedtime! The 4th is one of Sydney's favorite holidays and she is already counting down for next year.

We are so grateful for this country we live in and for the freedoms we enjoy! We are so blessed to live here! 

10 Months

Landen at 10 Months

-Loves food 

-Can climb the stairs now

-Likes to squeal very loudly

-LOVES his Dad. He gets so excited to see him and will follow him around the house

-Weighs about 20 lbs

-Is so good with naps and going to sleep at night, he prefers us leaving him alone and just putting him in his bed to go to sleep on his own. The only other place he will sleep is in the car.

-He loves swinging. We got him a swing for our swing set and he gets so calm and relaxed in it!

-He loves crawling and climbing over people, he will go out of his way to crawl over top of you instead of around you if you are sitting on the floor

Love this boy!

Let's Be Real For a Minute

I don't love posting about things that are difficult for me. I like to keep things pretty upbeat and happy around here. But I don't want to put up a front and act like life is perfect either. I feel like when people do that they aren't being honest, and I want to be honest. I don't like when people pretend like nothing ever goes wrong in their life or they never have hard days. Or that they have a perfect marriage and perfect kids. We all have struggles. Nobody's life is perfect.

I have struggled lately with how people perceive me. What people think of me. How they judge me. What people say about me when I'm not around. I would love to say that I don't care what others think, but I do. We all want acceptance, friendship and love. I have realized that no matter how I live my life or who I surround myself with SOMEONE will ALWAYS judge me or think negatively of me. This was a hard realization for me. I don't want anyone to think negatively of me. I try so hard to be a good person, mom, wife, friend, etc and to realize that people won't like me regardless is sad. I spent a lot of time on me knees on this subject and was so comforted to receive an answer one night after a rough day with lots of tears. Prove them wrong. That's the answer I got. Prove them wrong. It was reiterated the following day while chatting with a friend. Prove them wrong.

So I'm setting out to do this. I am a good person. I will prove those who think otherwise wrong.

And to those who are constantly thinking negatively, judging poorly, and talking about others when they are not around, we are all human, we all have feelings. Nobody should be judged unfairly, or talked bad about. So stop. This is something I need to work on also, we all do. So please, coming from someone who has been judged unfairly, please stop. Stop before gossiping. Stop before judging, and thinking or saying negative things about people. It hurts. And nobody deserves that. Just stop.

The girl

This girl is so much fun and is constantly making us laugh. She is so smart and she remembers EVERYTHING. She likes to be the boss and she is so beyond her years. She acts like an adult half the time. She is very shy around people she doesn't know and won't talk to most people. She enjoyed doing preschool this year with a few friends, and I enjoyed teaching every few weeks. Preschool is now out for the summer and next year she will be heading to a new preschool with a new teacher! She enjoyed doing gymnastics and dance class, and she loves playing with friends, especially at the park.

She is in sunbeams at church and she loves it. She received the most reverent award a while ago for being reverent. But really she is just so shy she just sits there and doesn't talk :)

Now that it's summer we plan to play at the park a lot, and on our swing set and kiddie pool. We are also taking a trip to silverwood and to the Oregon coast. Sydney is excited for 4th of July and has been counting down the months since last year. She loves the fireworks! 

She is such a great big sister and is so helpful! She makes sure Landen has whatever he needs, snacks, toys, etc.  She also makes sure he stays out of trouble and will carry him and bring him to me if she thinks he's doing something he shouldn't be. 

She is turning 4 in September and already can't wait for kindergarten. She has always been my little buddy and when I was pregnant with Landen I was afraid that would change. But she is still my sweet buddy that does everything with me! Love her to pieces!