Painting, Pictures, and the Park

Happy Thursday!  It's been a pretty laid back week around here...trying to get as much done as I can with my "helpers" to get ready for our vacation, FINALLY!  The good part about going to the beach so late in the summer is all the big kids are back in school so it's not crowded, the bad part is having to wait SO long to go!!

Monday we just hung out at home...I decided it was time for Reags to start getting into school mode.  We've been working on letters and numbers and she can recognize most, but now comes the fun part of WRITING them!

She didn't last too long using her left hand :)

Her finished product...she did pretty good!

Oh and how I LOVE this little man, however these next 3 pictures are just a small glimpse at my sweet man throughout the day...(when he's not putting dishwasher tabs in the toilet, yes he did that yesterday!)...

pick me UP lady!!

Tuesday I finally took L for his one year pictures!  They turned out pretty cute, but trying to get him to stand for a picture was virtually impossible since he wanted to be climbing on everything.

This girl...what am I going to do with her?!

Work it girl!

The latest and greatest is all of my cookie sheets and cooling racks...they are pretty fun to get into!

Wednesday we just had a few errands to run and R found one of her new dresses for school/fall in my closet and HAD to wear it :)  She looked pretty cute, it just needs a big, fat, black "R" monogrammed on it!

She took her "dollars" to Target so she could buy a new Barbie movie to take on our car ride to the beach...she also insisted on purchasing a noodle for the pool too!

We had steak for dinner last night and Landon LOVES to use a fork now.  It's so sweet and he is SO proud of himself.  Each time he ate a bite we would clap and cheer for him!  The boy loves some steak and potatoes :)

Now the below two pictues I think I may have to frame someday...these are Landy's "kissy lips."  They are PRECIOUS and I could smooch them ALL day!  I'm not sure how this started, but he will make kissy lips whenever he wants a smooch :)  We were walking up the steps the other day and about halfway up he turns to me with the "lips."  I gave him a kiss, he smiled, and continued up the steps.  I think my heart may have exploded :)  Anyway, he was in a very kissy mood after his steak last night!

Other BIG NEWS of the day is Reagan got her letter from her preschool teacher!!  She is going to be a Duck this year and her teacher is Ms. Diana, the same teacher she had last year!!!!!!!!!  YAHOOOOOO!  We are SO excited!  Reags and I were literally jumping up and down and screaming when we got the letter yesterday.  It's going to be a great year for Reags!!

The weather has actually been totally tolerable this week, which is a VERY nice change.  We've had lots of outside time and today we went to the park.  Reags is a PRO on her bike now and I thought she would love the paths.  She did AWESOME.  We probably went for a mile to mile and a half long walk and there were some HILLS, the girl rocked it.  She needed a push here and there, but for the most part did it all herself.  (SO please tell me WHY she is still in her bed singing right now and not napping?!?!)  Landon loved walking around at the park too...he was a little unsure at first, as he's never walked there, but he quickly found a slide to climb up...he is a climber that's for sure!

Weekend Fun!

We had another fun, but busy weekend around here!  The Mills, our old neighbors, came to visit on Friday night for the weekend.  Of course they got to our house about 10 and I think I had already been asleep for about 2 hours :) We were able to hang out and chat for a little bit before we were all ready for bed!

Umm...Friday afternoon was just so fun around here...NOT!  NEITHER of my children felt as though they needed afternoon naps, I have NO idea why.  Just because I guess.  We played at one of our friend's houses on Friday morning, came home for lunch, and I was thinking "sweet naptime today for sure."  RIIIGHT!  Needless to say by about 6:15 everyone had HAD it, so we snuggled and watched some Dora before bed :)

Saturday morning R had soccer and couldn't wait for Mo-Mo to watch her!

After soccer we all headed to the pool.  It was a great pool day and everyone had so much fun!  This was the first time we had been since L has been walking and HOLY!!  Two busy, fearless kids at the pool is just CRAZY!

I brought this cutie home for lunch and a nap, then as soon as I got him down Keith brought R home for her nap...she was pooped!

Saturday night Margaret, Michelle, and I headed OUT!  We were all going to cookout at our house, but then decided the boys and kids could do McDonalds/pizza and the mommies were going out.  We had so much fun!  We went to Shucker's down the road, sat outside and closed the place down :)

The girls snuggled on the sofa this morning watching a Barbie movie!

It was such a fun weekend and we were even able to have our Sunday dinner together like the good old days :)

Big Boy Shoes!

It is official...Landon is a full time walking man these days!  He actually has been for about 2 weeks now :)  Crazy!  Seeing that he now walks everywhere, it was officially time to get the kid some shoes.  I have TRIED to get him shoes before, but his foot is very extra wide...so this was a challenge.  Last Tuesday we went to Stride Rite and I wasn't going to leave without something for the big boy!

I wanted sandals and sneakers for him...problem is that we can't even get his foot into the sneakers!!  Seriously...it is so chubby from the bottom to top of his foot that it won't even go into closed toe shoes!  What on earth am I going to do this fall and winter?!  :)  We'll figure it out and for now, these are Landon man's brand spankin' new first pair of shoes! ...the only ones that would fit!...

He is pretty darn proud of himself and for my memory they are a size 7 XW!!

Now that he can walk everywhere, playing outside is MUCH more fun for him now!!  We're talking he was pushing sister's convertible all around the driveway...too cute!

Trip to PA

On August 8th we headed to the PA state for another trip!  My mom stayed down so that she could do the car ride with me and man does that make such a difference.  It was too funny though because earlier that week I had turned L's carseat around to face front and on our drive he would NOT fall asleep.  I said maybe he needs to face backwards?!  I pulled over on the side of 85, turned his carseat around and within 2 minutes he was OUT.  Go figure!

That Friday I took J and R to the beach for the day.  My dad was there again so it worked out to see him there.  OF COURSE it was a MONSOON that day, seriously.  It took us an extra 45 minutes to get there because it was raining SO hard.  I kept asking myself WHY I thought this was a good idea?!  We had a great time though!  We went out to lunch, then Grandpa took R to the Disney store, we went to the boardwalk for a bit during the clearing, and then the heavens opened up again so we just headed on back!

Here is Reagan, I mean Rapunzel with her new fancy hair from the Disney store...that and some new light up Cinderella glass slippers were her special treats :)

Catching a ride from JJ :)

Grandpa stomached the Merry Go Round with R :)

Check out that braid!

Riding the helicopters :)

Saturday morning it was up and at em to get ready for my sweet, sweet Heather's shower.  This had been on the calendar for MONTHS, so it was crazy that it was finally here.  It was so cute and was so much fun!  We are all SO happy for Heath to welcome a sweet little babe in just about a month!  Seriously though, she looks great and I think her 8 month preggo belly looks like my belly did at about month 4 with both of my kids :)  After the shower I went to her house, we all hung out and chatted, it was so fun!

We were ruffle dress twins :)

Sunday morning after L's nap we went to see my Grandpa.  We hadn't seen him the fast few times we were up, so I was SO glad that it worked out!

This guy liked playing with Pappy's remote!

Sunday was "celebrate Mum-Mum's birthday day" too.  When we got back from my Grandpa's Gran and Gramps were at my mom's too.  We all went out to dinner on Sunday evening to Carrabbas, which was pretty tastey!  It was fun to be able to be home to celebrate!

The kiddos and I left on Monday morning to head back to NC!  It's always an adventure, but after a "picnic" lunch in the van, lots of traffic, a pit stop to hold Landon who had HAD it in his carseat, we made it!  Let's just say I'm not planning on another solo 370 mile trip for a little while now!

One Year Old Stats!

Man, I'm so behind on blogging...I'm trying to get all caught up now while Keith is at a Fantasy Football Draft Party :)

The Tuesday before we left for PA Landon had his one year well visit.  Everything looks great!  The doctor thought he MIGHT have heard a heart murmur, which you know made me start crying right away, but he had another doctor come in to listen and she didn't hear it, SO hopefully it was nothing and they'll listen again at his 15 month well visit.  He had to get a toe prick, to test his iron, and then FOUR shots.  My poor shug!  My mom and Reagan came too, we were thinking we'd be out in time to go to Chic Fil A for lunch, however we were in there FOREVER...anyway...here we go again having Reagan in the room while L got his shots.  Poor things, I don't know who was crying more!  Reaggie said it "broke her heart" that Landy had to get shots and was crying.  Bless her.  It was pretty funny though because Reagan was crying worse than Landon at one point, so the doctor came to get Reagan to give her stickers.  ha!  That helped her feel better!

Landon man is a big boy, as we already knew!  Here are the official stats:

Weight:  30lbs. 7.5oz. (>95%)

Height:  32.5" (>95%)

HC:  50.5 cm. (>95%)

All 12 Months...

At Landon's party it was hard to get a picture, but I had all of his monthly pictures hanging on a ribbon across the windows in the kitchen.  It was so fun to look at and I hated taking it down!  I scanned in the pictures though, I'm so technological...ha!, because they are just too cute not to look at again and again!

Pre-Party Fun!

The Friday before Landon's party was Gran's birthday!  Since Gran, Gramps, my mom, and John all came into town on Friday we were able to celebrate Gran's big day as well as a belated celebration for Keith!  My mom made a DELISH cake for Gran and a yummy banana cream pie for Keith, his fav!