Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!!

Landon LOVED Trick or Treating this year!! He also really liked his costume (a bear) - he thought the hood part was a football helmet. Needless to say, we let him believe it :)!
He was so happy walking all over the neighborhood. And was a pro at knocking on doors (he would knock until someone answered, or we told him no one was home) and saying his version of "trick or treat." He loved picking the candy out of the bowl and even got really good at saying "thank you" at the end. Who knew we could improve manners on Halloween ... nothing like a little motivational candy!We had so much fun taking him around the neighborhood!! The first thing he said the next morning when he saw his bucket was "candy!" Oh dear!!

It was so cute it was worth the Halloween-excitement-hangover the next day!!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

My Little Cheeser

Lately Landon has decided to smile for the camera (when he can bother standing still long enough!) and it cracks me up ... his "camera" smile is so, so cheesy!
Helping to dig up our now-dead flowers out back!
Helping make dinner ... he loves these mini-pizzas and
LOVES to eat the ingredients while we're making them!

So cute! I just can't help but smile every time I see this adorably cheesy face!!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins

We just can't seem to get enough pre-Halloween festivities around here! Last Friday during fall break my little brother James and mom wanted to take Landon to the pumpkin patch. It was SO cute! They have a petting zoo ... Landon was in heaven. He seriously couldn't get enough. And they had a corn "sand" box too! (And bonus ... it was all free!) We petted the animals and played in the corn. James does a great job of getting down on Landon's level. He would hide his arm and when Landon started looking for it make it jump out and scare him. Little boy heaven I tell you!

Sunday night we carved pumpkins. Last year Landon LOVED it ... he couldn't get enough pumpkin goo on him. I thought this year would be even better. Wrong. He HATED it! Not only was he not interested in sitting there to help, but Jeff put some of the goo near him and on him and he got SO ticked. We washed him off and let him down where he had a much better time running around playing trucks with Grandpa.
Luckily he has a talented Daddy who carved his ghost pumpkin for him!
Tonight we headed back to the pumpkin patch with some friends for family home evening. Landon couldn't get enough of those animals and Jeff really wanted to get in on the action. They even had a free hayride. I'm telling you ... it will be a while before I want to pay for pumpkin activities again when this is free!
Halloween is still a week away ... I don't know how much more festive we can be. We'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend Jeff's parents came to town, and it was so much fun to have them visit. Landon was really excited to see them. I'm amazed at his little memory - as soon as they showed up he immediately remembered that Grandpa makes a funny noise with his mouth and tried to imitate it. Love it!

While they were up we went to a little pumpkin patch called Estrada Farms. It is in Lehi and is super cute. They are a nursery during the summer months and built a hay maze, corn "sand" box, and have a little ride and bounce house for the fall. It's perfect for the super-young crowd.

Landon was in heaven!! He especially loved the corn kernels that make up a type of "sand" box for the kids. Now if only his mom and dad were cool enough to get him one :)!We are totally getting ready for Halloween around here ... how about you?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Crossword

Have you ever noticed that things seem to "trend" on Facebook? You know ... checking to see if people delete you (although why you should care is beyond me), protesting or supporting a recent political statement, posting what color of unmentionables you are wearing that day (something I find to be a bit too much information for the general public personally), etc. The last couple of days I have noticed a crossword. You are supposed to look at it and the first three words you find describe you. (Here it is so you can catch a visual of what I'm describing)
I decide to play along. The first word I found? Fat.

I stopped immediately. I decided these sorts of things were not good for my self-esteem or sanity. And really ... who makes these things anyways? If you're going to they should be filled with all sorts of happy words ... like funny, cute, fabulous ... there is enough negativity in this world!

After I clicked off of the offensive puzzle I went and ate some chocolate just for good measure :)! Take that crossword puzzle!

Monday, October 10, 2011

A Case of the Poopy Mondays

Today has been one of those days. Why, you ask? Let me tell you ... We took family pictures yesterday and it was pretty cold out by the time we finished. So I woke up sometime around 2 am with my throat on fire. Don't you hate that?! (Once upon a time I got mono ... and now any extreme weather condition seems to make my throat feel terrible ...)

All seemed to be going better by morning (you know, the actual time people wake up). I was feeling better, Landon was sleeping in for my mom and I was off to work. I picked Landon up from Grandma and Grandpa's ... where they headed once he woke up and he was having a delightful time playing/commanding all their attention ... and we headed home for lunch.

And that is where I should have just thrown in the towel and gone to bed until Tuesday.

When we got home we found out that Ellie somehow got poop all over her (she is a dog after all), and spread it everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

I was stuck. Landon needed lunch, so for a few moments I had focused my attention elsewhere (where he was thankfully strapped into his high chair). Then it was nap time.

So I got to work. Do you know how much work it is to clean up all that? Multiple loads of laundry. Dog bath. Kitchen floor mopped. And Jeff is about to start cleaning our living room carpet in approximately 10 minutes. (Thank goodness my parents own a carpet cleaner they are generous with!!)

It was that catastrophic. And please keep in mind my throat is starting to feel worse and worse. Luckily I finish everything up just before Landon wakes up from his nap.

I'm thinking, ah ... I did it. Now the day will go smooth.

Wrong again.

Normally Landon is a really happy go lucky kid. Sure, he has his moments, but as a general rule he's easy going. And then there was this afternoon. It was one long string of "moments." He has learned a couple of very important toddler things to know ... 1. How to say "no!" to everything 2. How to throw a fit and 3. To dislike sharing. And today he employed all that knowledge. All. Afternoon. Long.

We went to the playground to play with friends. Bad idea. When he wasn't sharing he was hollering about someone (okay, me) asking him to be nice. Scratch that idea.

Next up? A quick errand. I told him we were going "bye-bye" and he thought that meant a walk, and did not involve the car/car seat. Major fit.

On to K-Mart. He actually did pretty good there. Until he realized he had to get back in the car to go home. Fit again.

You get the idea ... it's pretty much how our day progressed. He even threw what I would consider a tantrum. It lasted longer than a fit, but when I didn't even acknowledge his flailing and screaming he quieted down pretty quick and started playing with his toys.

And then I decided to make dinner. Corn chowder - pretty easy right? Oh gosh. I should have just ordered pizza at this point. You have to understand, I'm not a great cook (I can bake though!!). And Jeff normally makes this soup. He just happens to get home at dinner time, which really prevents him from making dinner!

It was a disaster ... I almost scorched it. The bacon was shooting grease everywhere. I couldn't manage to multi-task enough to make the corn bread to go with it (we ended up with refrigerator biscuits), then I moved something off a burner, only to forget it was hot and set and entire bag of marshmallows on top of it (Landon handed them to me in a busy moment). Marshmallows melt quickly. Let's just leave it at that.

Luckily Jeff walked in about that time and saved the day. And wow, what a day it was! I'm hoping for a really boring Tuesday.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

FHE Idea Share

In the last couple of months Jeff and I have been feeling like we need to be consistently having FHE with Landon. We've tried before ... and it just seemed so difficult we always gave up after a week or two. But we both feel like it is really important ... so here goes!

To make it a little easier to focus we came up with a list of monthly "themes" so we at least have a starting point each month. Then he and I have just been brainstorming what we think will work and help Landon learn something about the gospel. Our lesson/activities last about 5-10 minutes tops, but so far Landon seems to be having fun with them. I thought I would share on here the themes we've picked out and a few of the things we have done in the past few weeks. We are SO brand new at this I would love to hear ideas about what has worked with your kids, where to get cute activity ideas/print offs, etc. The more ideas we share the more everyone benefits!!

September: Preparedness

In September we went to the store and bought food storage (separate from an actual grocery shopping so it was more obvious what we were doing) as a family and talked about it, we taught Landon how to turn on a flashlight in case of an emergency and talked about how light makes dark less scary, and then we packed our car with an emergency kit. That was my favorite activity because Landon has a little car that he can ride in and that is the car we had him help us pack. It was a good hands-on experience I think.

October: Temples

Monday night we took a picnic to the Provo temple and ate dinner and talked about the temple. He loves the temple and points them out as soon as he sees one, so I'm feeling good about this month's theme! Next week we are going to color "I love to see the temple" pictures and practice the primary song. Other things I have thought of are: talking about how we get ready to go to the temple someday (with some kind of hands on activity), and then talking about how Heavenly Father gave each of us our bodies, which is its own kind of temple then talk about how we take care of our bodies. That sounds much more complicated than it will actually turn out ... but you get the general direction I'm going.

The rest of the themes we came up with:

November: Thanksgiving/Gratitude
December: Christmas
January: Missionary Work
February: Love One Another
March: Families are Forever
April: Easter
May: Nature/The World
June: Country/Patriotism
July: Pioneers
August: Reverence (although I'll be honest ... he could really use this one now :)!)

Then we'll start back over with Preparedness or adjust our list. I'm sure there are books out there, but I usually feel like they cater to older kids. However if you know of any that are great for the toddler to preschool age, please let me know or if you have any thoughts, ideas or reference material you can pass along it will be appreciated!!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Fall Football!

What's fall without a little football?! Landon talks about football constantly and is a pro at the "rah-rah" part of the Cougar fight song ... so on Friday night Jeff, my dad and I took Landon to his first BYU football game! He loved it! I'm not sure what he loved more - the actual football game, getting to sing the fight song with thousands of people, or getting to watch the jumbo-tron (a big thrill in and of itself).
My dad is as true-blue of a fan as you get,
so I'm glad they got to go together!

Jeff loves Landon's football obsession ...
I think it's because it gives him an excuse to watch more!
Go Cougars!!
He also took a walk around the stadium with dad. He found a whole bin of footballs ... and that was too awesome not to play with. He loves footballs but he wants the real thing not a baby-sized one.
It was so fun to take him to his first game and let him watch his favorite sport live. Go Cougars!!