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!
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.
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!!
This past weekend we went to Colorado for a friend's wedding ... and just to have a little weekend getaway! We had such a great time. We have friends who live really close to where the wedding was taking place who decided to come along for the ride ... and they were sweet enough to volunteer to watch Landon during the wedding.
On Friday we went to downtown Ft. Collins. It is a beautiful town! They have a fun downtown area with restaurants, shops and a fountain. Landon was in heaven. We were with our friend Jacqueline's whole family ... and they lavished Landon with attention. Jacqueline's mom had a cat ... poor thing. She probably will never be the same again after all of Landon's attention and "affection." And Scott's parents had a water feature in their back yard. It is now full of rocks courtesy of Landon's incredible throwing skills. We were really lucky everyone was so patient and thought he is one cute kid, otherwise we might have had to find a hotel :)!
That night was the wedding. It was fun to see an old friend so happy! The wedding was very beautiful and unique. I think one of the biggest highlights for me was seeing my favorite teacher from high school there. We had a great time catching up. She is what all teachers should be made of - she is strong, inspiring and genuinely cares about her students. She immediately wanted to know everything I had been doing and remembered all kinds of things about me. Even now, all these years later, seeing her made me want to try a little harder and be just a little bit better.
Please excuse the weird lighting ... they had some really
beautiful decorations and lighting effects going on that didn't
quite translate in pictures!
On Saturday we drove to Elizabeth - where I lived during high school. Jeff hasn't ever seen it, or really met many people who knew me growing up, so the entire weekend was really fun for him. I have always told him Elizabeth was small and quite a ways out in the country. It wasn't until Saturday that he really got that! It is still SO small! They have added a Wal-Mart and Sonic. And maybe a few little businesses here and there ... but otherwise it is still a three stoplight town. Yes, you read that correctly. Three (that is a total by the way).
I was in the last class that graduated from the original high school, which is now a middle school. There is a new, bigger high school across the street. A sign that they are now a thriving metropolis? Nope, when you see the pics below you'll understand why!
The football field I cheered at (above) and the
gymnasium where we had basketball games and
pep rallies (below)!
We also got to see my old house and neighborhood. That was so fun! We loved that house. When I was just tiny (around 3 maybe?) my dad built me the cutest playhouse. And then, being the very dedicated parents that they are, proceeded to haul it to Oklahoma and then Colorado for me. Unfortunately, it had made enough moves that Colorado was where it had to stay. But I got a picture of Landon and I in front of that too.
It was so fun to see Elizabeth. It was a great place to go to high school and it was full of a lot of really fun memories. I had a great time sharing that with Jeff and Landon.
That night we went to Pearl Street in Boulder. It's quite the place! They were having a fall festival and are known for their street performers. It was really fun - we all had a great time. Landon especially loved the band that was playing!! Random people kept getting up and dancing along. I think they define "free spirits" there!
Overall, it was a fun time. I'm so glad we went!
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.
