Cheekwood Art Camp - Guest Post by Nana

Nana took Addie and Landon to Art Camp at Cheekwood June 6-10. Here is her recap of the week! Thanks, Nana, for writing about it and even more for taking them. They had a blast!!!

We are members of Cheekwood so we take our grandchildren there as much as we can. I received notification about the Summer Art Programs at the end of 2010. John Michael & Nathaniel had attended art camp as children and given Addie’s artistic abilities, I knew I wanted to take both Addie and Landon. The classes are highly prized and fill up fast. I was traveling on Saturday, January 22 on the sign up day and was frantically trying to get online, email and call to be sure we got a space. That afternoon the Camp Director left me a message that we were signed up. I WAS SO EXCITED!!! WE WERE GOING TO ART CAMP!

June 6 rolls around and John Michael brings Addie and Landon to our house. They were very excited. I was too. Landon & I were enrolled in the 2-4 yr Guardian & Child ARTStart – Summer Sampler from 9:00-11:00. Addie was enrolled in the 5-6 yr Mixed Media Madness from 9:00-12:00 then in Summer Sampler from 1:00-4:00. The “plan” was for Landon and I to hangout and wait for Addie, then have a picnic and Addie would go back for her afternoon session. Landon & I were to be flexible and hang out in the gardens or go to the office. The weather was beautiful and clear but HOT – 95+ degrees every day.

Miss Adrian was our teacher and we learned about lines the first day. We colored, pasted and painted. Landon enjoyed it. Addie’s morning teacher was Miss Aimee and she worked in water colors and made a nice painting. I packed a picnic lunch for us on Monday and Landon and I played with leaves and made airplanes to pass the time until Addie was out (note to self bring more to do tomorrow). After Addie went back to her class, Landon and I went to the office because the gardens are closed on Monday. We came back to pick Addie up and she did an amazing painting in Miss Rachel’s class (Miss Aimee’s non-identical twin sister). Addie was explaining that you can “fill the page with color” which she did. I think that was an AH-HA moment for her.

Tuesday we painted with large sweeping strokes. Mostly Landon was interested in eating all his snacks – that boy can pack it away! Addie brought home more watercolor paintings. A lot of the things she did had different things to add each day. She always came out of every class beaming! Landon and I picked up chicken strips at Publix and came back for another picnic. The locusts were still out so Addie basically sat in my lap, scared of the bugs. Landon and I spent the afternoon in the gardens visiting the bullfrogs and dragonflies in the pond and the train exhibit. We met up with Addie’s class at the trains also. Cindy Jo’s husband, John, is one of the train engineers at the exhibit. He let Landon hold Thomas The Train and wear one of the engineer’s hats! All the classes had outdoor time all week to visit the museum, the gardens, the trains and to gather items for class. While Landon and I enjoyed it, it was WAY too hot. We spent the rest of the afternoons that week at the office.

Wednesday, Landon and I worked with texture and made some clay tablets. Lunch, requested hot dogs from home, was eaten outside at the picnic table close to the building where there weren’t many locusts. After the first day, Nana knew to bring books, markers and paper to pass the time until it was time to go back to class. That girl NEVER got tired of drawing. Matter of fact, she drew at our house in the mornings until we left and drew in the car to and from class.

Thursday, Landon and I glazed our clay tablets and did resist printing. He enjoyed rolling the paint on the plexiglass. Addie continued to work on her projects to bring home at the end of the week. She always had a little something to show for her day though. We met Daddy and PaPa for lunch at the Sportsman’s Grill at the Hwy 70-100 split. It was nice to be in the air conditioning. It was cute, they both wanted to sit next to PaPa so he sat in between them.

Friday was hat day. We worked on small projects, as we were to clear everything out for the week. Landon and I made a mobile out of sticks and leaves he colored. Addie requested McDonald’s for lunch so Landon & I went out to pick it up. I was surprised when she said she wanted to have a picnic. We did and the locusts were not as bad. Addie brought some neat projects she made, a painted turtle made out of a bowl and an interesting sculpture head. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a self-portrait or not.

All in all it was a good week and I was thrilled to get to spend so much time with my grandchildren. What a treasure! A few weeks later, I asked them if they enjoyed Art Camp. Addie beamed saying yes and she would love to go back next year. I asked Landon if he wanted to go back and he resoundingly said “NOOOO” - not just NO but NOOOO! Oh well, we’ll find something else special to do with him. It was still a great experience.

Landon and Uncle John at the trains

Nana and her babies!

It really was...

the "happiest place on earth." For the week at least :)

We got back from Disney World (two weeks ago) and had SO MUCH FUN! It was my first time to go (I love the reaction I get whenever I tell people that :)) and it exceeded my very high expectations.

We left Saturday morning around 8 a.m. To say I was dreading the car ride would be the understatement of the year :) (Airfare for four just wasn't in the budget due to the last-minute-ness of our trip.) We were set up with a new DVD player for the car - one that has screens for each headrest - and John Michael and I had discussed not turning them on until it was necessary. After all, we survived car trips as kids without them, right? We had a movie going before we were on the interstate :) Ha!

The kids were absolutely WONDERFUL in the car. Landon had one meltdown (again, this was before we had left town and let us know it was "time" for DVDs :)) and after that, they were angels. We stopped at an awesome rest stop (seriously) just past Chattanooga and got the kids popsicles and that just about made their day. We then stopped for lunch a little before Atlanta and let the kids run off some energy. I will say that if I didn't adore Chick-Fil-A before this trip, this would've really sealed the deal. LOVE that place :)

We kept on with our trip and Landon took a good nap. This thrilled Addie as she got to choose two movies in a row - ha! Once he woke up, we took an ice cream break at a Dairy Queen, and then headed on to our stop for the night in Valdosta. Our "BFF"s, the D'Amicos, had already arrived at the hotel and so we met up with them for dinner. We took the kids to a park and let them get out (nearly) 8 hours worth of stored-up energy, and then headed back to the hotel room to get some rest before completing our journey Sunday morning.

First, I have to say that my little chatterbox Landon was so stinking cute when we were trying to get him to fall asleep. He kept asking us all if we were still awake and talking to us about our day and how we were going to see Mickey. If I hadn't been giggling so much, he probably would've had an easier time going to bed. Hindsight. :)

So we got up Sunday morning and headed on our way - only four hours left to get to Orlando. The trip went fine - the kids were just completely tired of being in the car. We got to the rental house and their energy came right back! We searched vrbo.com to find a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house with a swimming pool that was about 10-15 minutes away from the parks. It was a great deal and it was nice to have the option to cook and also be able to wash clothes. The kids loved having the swimming pool right there, too. The one bummer is that the hot tub wasn't able to be used. That would've been reeeeally nice after some of our long days walking miles and miles at Disney!

Anyway, after a rough time getting the kids settled on Sunday night (and by kids, I mean the ones 5 years old and under and myself - I was soooo excited), our Disney week was officially underway!

Monday morning, we got to the park super early. We had planned on getting to the park (Magic Kingdom) right when it opened, which we thought was 8 a.m. After a few stumbles in the plan, we arrived at 8:30. I was a little disappointed, because I had heard about the "rope drop" that happens upon opening. Well, turns out the park didn't open until 9 a.m., so we were there with plenty of time to spare! We were thankful for our lolly-gagging kids and the wrong turns we had taken, after all, as waiting to get into the park for an HOUR would've really pushed everyone over the edge :)

Us waiting with our "1st Visit" buttons!

The rope drop was quite cute. All the characters came in on the train and they sang and danced for a few minutes. Then, they opened up the park, and we were off!

We rode all the good "little" rides (Dumbo, Peter Pan, It's a Small World - which I admittedly LOVED - Toy Story), watched Philharmagic (awesome!!!!), watched one of the shows at the castle (can't remember the name) and watched a parade (can't remember the name of that one, either :)). But the highlight of our day was when we went to see the princesses at the Town Square Theatre. Addie was excited, but I must say that Landon was ECSTATIC! It was absolutely precious to see both of their faces when we walked into the room with Cinderella, Belle and Aurora. And I must say that the actresses were absolutely wonderful. They were so kind and didn't rush the kids at all. And they talked to them like adults, which surprised me (I guess I admit that I expected "kiddie talk" or something :)). I may have been a little giddy myself, and I was never a "princess" girl growing up!

Belle, Addie and Landon discussing the "Beast" on Landon's shirt (a tiger with the words "Wild Thing" :))

We headed back to the house and ate dinner in on Monday night, and then the four of us went back to the park for the Electrical Parade and fireworks (the D'Amicos decided to call it a day, and we almost followed suit, but I'm glad we didn't!). Ah-mazing. It really was magical. Addie fell asleep right after the parade so she missed all the fireworks, but Landon was awake to watch them and he and I shared a Dole Whip (yum). He fell asleep very shortly after they were done, and rather than try to exit the park with the thousands of others, we went against the crowd and walked around for another half-hour or so. John Michael and I really enjoyed this "quiet" time! Plus, it was quite cool to see everything all lit up :)

Tuesday, we pretty much took it easy all day (swam, played hide-and-seek) and then decided to head to Downtown Disney for dinner. One of my work friends had suggested T-REX for dinner, but when I had tried to make a reservation online, I had no luck. Kris called and was told that if we arrived before 4:15 or after 8:30, we should be okay. We thought that sounded way too early (the later time wasn't even an option with the kids, of course) but decided to head down to check everything out anyway. By the time we got there, we decided to give it a shot, and got right in (at about 4:45)! With a party of 8, we were pretty excited about this! The timing actually worked great for dinner, and the restaurant was SO COOL! Dinosaurs everywhere and they had a "meteor shower" every 20 minutes. Addie wasn't the biggest fan ("It's too scary!", but Landon, Holland and Quinn LOVED it! After dinner, we went to the Lego Store where the boys all built with the Legos outside the store, and to the huge Disney store where Addie got her most prized possession, her Cinderella dress (the other parts to the outfit were obtained day by day - she had actually gotten the gloves the day before).

Wednesday, John Michael and I decided to take Addie and Landon back to Magic Kingdom to revisit the princesses, see Mickey and Minnie and check out Frontierland and Adventureland. We did "It's a Small World" again and also rode "Splash Mountain"! Addie went with John Michael and I went by myself. I think Addie was braver than I was! I no longer apparently have the thrill-seeker mentality that I used to. I spent most of my ride trying to convince myself that I would more than likely not die so I should just relax and enjoy it. Yes, I'm serious :)

Thursday was another take-it-easy day with an evening in Downtown Disney. Our dinner was terrible (not to mention overpriced!) at a place called Cap'n Jacks. However, we found a margarita stand where I got an awesome grapefruit margarita :) And the kids played in some little water fountains and had a blast. Landon kept getting squirted in the face and he found it hilarious. Within a few minutes there were about 5 or 6 people who had gathered to watch him and they were laughing hysterically. I didn't know whether to be offended or giggle with him (and I know you all know which I chose :)). They were all commenting on how stinkin' cute he is. What a little mess :) We also walked over to Pleasure Island. It looked fun! It'll definitely be somewhere we'll go back if we're ever there with babysitters!

Our last day was Friday. This was one of the two days that we had "planned" out. And I still use that word quite loosely, because if you talk to many families preparing for a Disney vacation, they have every. single. hour. planned out. Not us, and I am SO glad we didn't. No room for disappointment :) ANYWAY - we planned for Friday to be our Hollywood Studios day because it was a Star Wars Weekend, and Holland and Quinn (and all the grownups, of course) love Star Wars. I admit - it was so cool seeing all the Storm Troopers walking around. We also got to see the Star Wars parade which was AWESOME and very well done! John Michael and Addie went on the Star Wars ride but since there was a height requirement, Landon could not go. We went with Quinn and Lynn to play at the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" area instead. Very cool, but Lynn and I decided it should've been called "Honey, I Lost the Kids" because it was pretty difficult to keep up with them! We also all did the Toy Story Mania ride (VERY fun!). For lunch, we did the character dining at Hollywood & Vine. Leo and June (from Little Einsteins), Handy Manny, and Special Agent Oso were there and walked around. Addie and Landon adored them. They were so excited to see them and give them hugs and get their autographs. We had hesitated doing this lunch because character dining is fairly expensive, but we were SO GLAD we did! The look of pure joy on the kids' faces made it completely worth it :) We then went to the Little Mermaid show and a Disney Junior puppet show. The kids were enthralled. Nothing like having all your favorite Disney shows all packed into one 27-minute show.

We all packed up Friday night and left Saturday morning. Like all vacations, the end was bittersweet. We had so much fun but were of course ready to get back home! We had one more stop though - we stayed Saturday night and all day Sunday (we left at about 10pm...not smart...) at our friend Nick's dad's home at Lake Martin in Alabama. It was amazing. We actually got a full day to relax and enjoy the sun and water!

We didn't get home until 2 a.m. Sunday and boy, were we exhausted. But we had so much fun! The only complaint we had was that it was HOT, but hey - nothing we could've done about that :) We can't wait to go back!

This poster summed up our trip perfectly.

My Five-Year-Old

Addie Leigh,

Last Tuesday was your fifth birthday. FIVE! I can hardly believe it. I look at you every day and wonder where the time has gone. I love when you ask to watch "Addie movies," because it seems to me that you should still be as little as you were when most of those were taken! And although it sometimes makes me sad when I think how quickly you are growing up, my goodness - I wouldn't trade the fun we have now for anything! You're my sweet little peanut and my favorite "teacher," "cashier," and "mommy" when we're playing pretend. You'll never be the "student" or the "daughter" and it cracks me up every time - especially when I slip up and call you by your name and you so quickly correct me and say, "No, it's Miss Addie," or "No, it's Mommy!"

You have also decided that you like to be rocked for a few minutes before bedtime. I love that you love "rock-rock time" as it gives us time to talk about your day. Oh how I love this! I love how you tell me how many of your classmates got on yellow light or red light that day. It makes me giggle especially hard that you'll gloss over that part of school if you were one of the guilty parties - ha! Thankfully that is not too often. You are constantly bragged on by your teachers as one of the smartest, sweetest students in school!

You're still my little stinker, too. Your tantrums have definitely gotten better, but you still know how to throw a good one. But I guess you're just trying to keep things interesting, huh? :) That you do! There is certainly never a dull day with you around, sweet girl!

I just can't get over how the past year has seemed to really take you from being a baby to a little girl. Watching you every week at gymnastics reminds me how big you're getting! You're still super petite size-wise, but you look and act like a BIG GIRL! When did this happen?! If you wouldn't mind slowing down, I'd be just fine with that! ;) You told me the day before your birthday that you wish you could be four forever. I had to bite my lip to not tell you that I agreed! :)

Addie Leigh, you are my "favorite girl" and I love you "even bigger than a house"! I am excited about all the fun things we will do together while you're five years old, and also the fun things you'll learn and do on your own (not the least of which is going to Kindergarten! EEK!). Thank you for being such a precious baby girl. You make me SO PROUD to be your mommy!

Addie's five-year stats:

* teeny - 39 1/2 inches (3rd to 5th percentile)

* 35 pounds (25th to 50th percentile)

* wearing 4T clothes, although she insists she needs 5Ts now - she can wear some :)

* size 7 1/2 or 8 shoes - little feet just like her mama and daddy!

* loves, loves, LOVES to write words. She has lots that she can write on her own without any spelling help

* according to her teachers, can read quite a few words and can sound out a lot more. She is still playing bashful with reading at home but will point out some simple words to us and can find some words when asked. Dr. Hood seemed impressed with the reading (probably more recognition) that we could verify ourselves, so that's good!

* loves to play pretend - school, store, family, princess and dolls, you name it!

* loves to play UNO! and board games and is quite good

* so excited to start kindergarten!

* so excited to go to see Mickey next week!

Twinkle, Twinkle - Second Go-around

A couple of years ago, I posted a video of Addie singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," so when I heard Landon singing it a few weeks ago, I knew I had to catch one of him singing it as well. So here it is, a little late. He was a little more into watching whatever was on tv than he was into singing, but you get the gist. :)

Roughing it, and...not.

This past weekend, I went with the Lynns and Leslie to Atlanta for a girls' weekend! We left Friday afternoon and stayed through Sunday morning. What a blast! More on that in a minute. But first, what did John Michael and the babies do while I was gone? Well, Uncle Nathaniel was in town, so they did what he does best - went camping!

Okay, so I have to admit that when John Michael first told me that they were going camping, I thought to myself, "Phew! Dodged a bullet with that one!" Camping is not necessarily my idea of the most fun in the world. But I have to tell you, after hearing about their campout, I am super sad I missed it. According to all the grownups (JM, Nana & Papa, and Uncle Nate), Addie and Landon had a blast and spent a couple of hours in the tent talking and singing with one another. It brought back awesome memories of my childhood and my brother and I singing (loudly) at the campground some songs with choice words (nothing too bad, but we replaced half of the words to "Hotel California" with the word "fart"...hehehe...my parents were mortified to say the least :)). ANYWAY, John Michael took plenty of pictures, so here goes!

And about my NOT roughing it...we had so much fun in Atlanta! We ate, ate, ate and shopped. We started out Saturday morning at H&M and hit bank. It was definitely an "on" visit. Then we went to Ikea where I got some shelves I've been drooling over for months. That made for a cozy ride home in Lynn R.'s Saturn Vue - good thing Lynn D. and I love each other so much :) I was practically in her lap for the ride home. HA! Anyway, we then went to Flip Burger where we had awesome burgers and the most amazing milkshakes ever, made with liquid nitrogen. I got the Strawberry Shortcake one, Lynn D. and Leslie split the Nutella & Burnt Marshmallows one, and Lynn R. got the pistachio one. Mmmm...I need to figure out how to recreate those. Sans liquid nitrogen, of course, 'cause that's just crazy talk.

After lunch we went to Lenox Square where I got to see my "favorite friend" Elizabeth!!!! Oh how I miss her. I only got about an hour with her but we had a blast :)

Then we rushed to get ready for dinner at Woodfire Grill. I don't watch Top Chef, but it is Kevin Gillespie's restaurant, who apparently was second place on a season. Lynn D. and Leslie are huge fans :)

Hmm. I don't know if I have words as to how amazing this meal was. We opted for the five-course tasting, which meant that we didn't know what we were getting - for any course - until they brought it out to us. They brought each course and explained what everything was. After dinner (and after Lynn and Leslie telling our server how much they enjoyed watching Kevin on tv), they gave us autographed menus, complete with a header that said "Happy Birthday, Lynn." It was so much fun and we had lots of things I never would've ordered from a regular menu (quail, pork belly, beets, bison, sunchokes, I could go on - there was a lot of awesome food). I would very highly recommend going. Plus, the service was wonderful. Our server's name was Kristen so that probably had something to do with it, no?

We went to a rooftop bar after dinner where we enjoyed the "supermoon" and the amazing weather. Plus, I ran in to one of my closest friends from law school, Matthew, and his fiancee! What a small world! He does not live in Atlanta, but they were flying out of the Atlanta airport the next morning to go on vacation. Crazy.

We headed home late Sunday morning. Although we had an awesome time, I was quite excited to see my sweet little family! Addie and Landon had had a blast with Daddy, Uncle Nate, and Nana & Papa. I didn't get quite the overly excited greeting I was hoping for, but sometimes even mama can't compete with camping and being spoiled with love by your uncle and grandparents :)

Welcome to having a little boy?!

Two years old. Two years and five days old, to be exact. That's how long it took for Landon to enter true boyhood and get his first (hopefully only, but I'm not holding my breath :)) set of stitches. Ah, little munchkin.

Last Friday, I was volunteering downtown for the Tennessee State High School Mock Trial Championship. I was a "floor monitor," helping make sure things were going smoothly on one of the floors of the courthouse where teams were competing. I had left my personal phone downstairs at the volunteer check-in center and only brought my work phone upstairs. In between rounds, I went downstairs to get a drink and checked my phone. I saw that I had a missed call from daycare along with a voicemail. The missed call was at 4:45, so I knew that wasn't a good sign, since we normally arrive a little after 5:00 to pick the kids up (by that I mean that usually if it's that late in the day, there's no need for them to call us for minor illnesses, etc., since they know we'll be right there). I listened to the voicemail and it was the Assistant Director saying, "Hey Kristen, it's Judy - Landon just tripped and fell and has a little cut on his head. I'll just give John Michael a call." I couldn't figure out why she needed to call either of us for a little cut so close to the end of the day, so I just called John Michael. He was already on his way and had talked to Judy. He said she told him it was bleeding quite a bit and so he told me he'd call me once he got there.

My phone rang about 15 minutes later and he said, "Yeeeah...we're gonna need to be seen for this." Yikes. He called the pediatrician's office and they said to go on to Vanderbilt E.R.

I went back downstairs to tell the Mock Trial leaders that I was leaving. Actually, I ate dinner first because I knew they were still in Spring Hill and I had time :) Then, I left and headed over to Vanderbilt, and John Michael and Landon arrived a few minutes after I did.

I was impressed again with Vanderbilt. We waited for about an hour and a half, which at the time seemed like a long time but I know it really isn't in the grand scheme of things. They put some numbing gel on the area right when we got there, so he never had to have a shot or anything! The staff were amazing with Landon, and he had a blast in the waiting room (although he did keep coming over to me, grabbing my hand and saying, "Come on, Mommy! Let's go home!"). He charmed a few of the parents in the waiting room and made friends with a six-year-old boy. He also crawled around all over the floor and stuck his hands in his mouth. Still shuddering about that, almost a week later. Ew.

When it was our turn, we went upstairs and the doctor confirmed that stitches it would be! He and the nurse kept telling us to be prepared for Landon to be really upset and cry a lot because they'd be swaddling him while they did the stitches. Our little brave boy barely cried, and only after the fourth stitch (out of five)!!! He was so good. Both the doctor and nurse gushed over how well he did and told us how they had never seen a two-year-old be that good! I know it's just that he wasn't aware of what was going on, but I was proud nonetheless.

Thankfully, they used absorbable sutures, so we don't have to go back! I'm not sure that he would be as good as he was for a Round 2 :)

(Okay, I took one picture and it makes his injury look FAR worse than it was, so I've decided not to post it...but rest assured, he was adorable and quite happy most of the time while we were there!)

Baby boy

(I got scolded the other day by one of Addie's classmates for calling Addie "Baby." I told the little girl as nicely as I possibly could that I would call my children "baby" as long as I wanted to :))

My sweet baby boy is TWO YEARS OLD! I truly cannot believe it has been two years since I wondered whether my heart would grow to love another child. I think it's hilarious to think about that now :) Landon makes my heart so happy. He is just about the cutest little boy I think I've ever seen. He is such a happy little guy and gets so excited about things! His emotions are so strong. His tantrums make us laugh hysterically because he is so. very. serious. about them. I think Mike (Papa) said it best when he said that they are really quite ineffective. We do at least try to hide our laughter, don't worry :)

Today we had the grandparents and D'Amicos over to celebrate Landon's birthday. He has been so excited for his birthday. This morning he kept telling us, "I be four! I be four!" Awesome. Landon had so much fun opening his gifts (with the help of Addie, Holland and Quinn) and gave us all a laugh when he excitedly said about his first present, "IT'S A BOX!" Too cute. He didn't realize there was something even more fun (in the adults' eyes, at least) inside! The next one he opened was a tall skinny box, and as soon as it was unwrapped he said, "IT'S A RECTANGLE!" The kiddo loves his shapes :)

(p.s. I know parents say it all the time, but why do we not just give our children boxes for their birthdays? :))

I think he had a wonderful birthday today. He was extra good today, too, so I'm hoping this is an indication that we'll have the "terrific twos" instead of the "terrible twos" (ha!). Either way, I'm sure it'll be another fun year with my beautiful baby boy. Landon, we love you SO much, sweet boy!

Time for some milestones (size ones coming after Friday's checkup...). At two years old, Landon is:

* still quite the chatterbox. He says the FUNNIEST things now and his vocabulary seems to grow exponentially from day to day.

* a book lover. His favorites are Panda Bear, Panda Bear; Baby Bear, Baby Bear; and Polar Bear, Polar Bear. He has them all memorized. He also loves Everyone Poops (or as he calls it, "My poopie book!")

* slightly obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (which, by the way, we figured out that this where he learned about octagons!)

* becoming a pickier eater. He sometimes worries me with how little he eats lately. We'll see at his checkup!

* so loving and lovable. He asks constantly, "Where are Mimi and PawPaw?" and "Where are Nana and Papa?" and "Where are Honnen and Ken (Holland and Quinn :))?"

* making his thoughts on potty training clear - it's for the birds! When I change his diaper, he often says, "No potty big boy!" Eh, we'll get there :)

* a paci/blankie baby. He thinks it's hilarious when I tell him we'll be giving his pacis away soon. I think the goal may be the end of the month (the first weekend we'll both be home the whole time - eek!)

* so incredibly ticklish still. He has the most contagious laughter ever, too.

* genuinely sweet and compassionate. It's adorable.

Sometimes my heart hurts from loving this child so much. I am so lucky to be his (and Addie's!) mommy!

(Photos to come soon!)

Oops.

I just realized it has been over a month since I last posted. Oops! I think that is a new slacker record for me. I have been in a slight funk lately, to say the least. Work is going well, but it is super busy and it seems like I have been working a lot of evenings lately (or going in early). By the time I get home I am DONE with thinking and just want to zone out. I also tend to kind of become super introverted when I am stressed, so I guess that's the explanation, too. I've been a turtle and retreated into my home. I'm feeling a little better now :)

SO, I have missed writing lots of cute things the kiddos have been saying and doing. I hope to catch up over the next few weeks! We have also been slacking a bit on the picture taking but hopefully that will pick back up with the weather getting nicer, too!

Fun with Shapes

Yesterday, Landon and I went with our sweet friends, the Hills, to celebrate the adorable Kate Kelley's second birthday. As he and I were marveling at the beautiful spread of food Jessica had set out, Landon started saying, "Sickle!" (Circle) "Sare!" (Square) And then I heard him say "Ock-a-gon!" Sure enough, I looked down and there were circular, square, and octagonal-shaped crackers! I was amazed!

A few minutes later, he and I were coloring with one of the Kelleys' family friends, and the nice gentleman was drawing shapes for Landon and telling him what they are. I decided to "test him" again and draw an octagon. I said, "Hey Landon! What is this shape?"

"Ock-a-gon!"

The man and I were amazed. I decided that I just HAD to try with some other polygons. I drew a hexagon and got excited to see what would happen. "Hey Landon! What is this shape?"

He looked at it thoughtfully and got a huge grin on his face as he said,

"A BABY ock-a-gon!"

Well played, kiddo. Well played. :)

Christmas 2010

I am home today for a snow day so I figured what better time to catch up on posts! I may be nearly three weeks late from Christmas Day, but thanks to my friend Jessica, I realize I'm only four days past the last day of Christmas :)

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas Eve & Day! We started by having brunch at my parents' house on Christmas Eve (we decided to bypass our annual lunch out at a restaurant after three of us got a little touch of food poisoning last year!), and then we had everyone to our home on Christmas Eve for appetizers. I have to say that this is my favorite part of the holidays now! We had our usual brie en croute, mini quiches, and some new vegetarian options, thanks to Aunt Rissa and Uncle Nathaniel!

Trying to get a good photo of the kids at my parents' house, in hopes of using it for our New Year's card...

Instead...

Almost, except for Landon flashing the camera...

Closer, but still no cigar (at our house)

Addie and Landon went to bed fairly early on Christmas Eve and Addie was super excited to see what Santa was going to bring her. It's a good thing they were in bed early, because John Michael and I had a looong night ahead of us, helping Santa assemble some of the kids' gifts. Addie got a beautiful dollhouse that Santa began building on Black Friday and worked on every day between then and Christmas. We were up until 2:30 a.m. on Christmas morning when we decided we had to call it quits. It is absolutely beautiful! Word on the street is that Santa is QUITE proud of his handiwork and that of his elves :)

Part of the inside

The kitchen and dining room (yes, that is miniature hardwood and linoleum flooring)

Christmas Day was lots of fun, bouncing from house to house (ours, then Nana & Papa's, then Gran & Pop's, then Mimi & PawPaw's). It was exhausting, but it was our traditional Christmas and we loved it. I have to admit that one of the best parts was that it was a WHITE CHRISTMAS! We got a beautiful snow - it was gorgeous on the trees and ground, but the streets stayed clear until later in the evening.

Landon got a little overwhelmed and started saying "No more presents." That was 6:30 a.m.

So we ate a lot, played a lot, and spent a lot of time together. It was pretty perfect! I don't mean to wish my life away, but I'm kinda already ready for next Christmas :) We hope your families had a great set of holidays as well :)

Ahh, pure joy!

I LOVE this time of year! The smells, sights, sounds - perfect. I have to say that this year has been even more magical than years past, because Addie is REALLY getting into the Christmas season (admittedly, she is excited about the impending gifts, but we're working on the true meaning :)).

We started decorating on Black Friday and got our tree the first weekend of December. It is my year for the tree, and I decided to do something a little different and got a Douglas fir. I am actually trying to convince John Michael that we need to get this same kind every year because it kinda looks like a cross between a Cedar and a Fraser fir. He is not buying it ;)

Addie has had a BLAST decorating the house (and Nana & Papa's house, too!). I have taken her to the Dollar store three times to let her pick out more decorations (for her room - our Dollar store has a limited selection... :)).

Yes. Yes, I did.

We have also started the Elf on a Shelf tradition this year. Our elf is named "Snowman" and he sure does love to hop around from place to place in our house! Addie and Landon both get a kick out of finding where he has moved to each morning. I have heard other parents say that they get a good solid month of outstanding behavior out of their kids due to the elves - we were this lucky for about two days. Ha!

*photo credit: Addie Corn

We went to go visit Santa last weekend. Addie and Landon were so good while waiting in the long line. They were both excited to see Santa and kept peering around the people to see him. It was absolutely adorable. I was a little surprised that Landon was so excited given his age (and remembering how Addie reacted to him at around the same age), but he was thrilled. Until we got to him. As soon as John Michael placed him on Santa's lap, he completely lost it. Addie did great and sweetly told Santa that she wants a doll house and a baby doll. Her meltdown began as we were leaving - turns out she thought she should get her presents right then and didn't quite understand it. Makes sense to me! ;) She also flipped out because the photo package we purchased came with one stuffed animal. Because Landon had been so traumatized (and at this time Addie was still smiling), we let him choose which one they would take home. She had just about the worst tantrum I have ever seen from her. I had to strap her in Landon's stroller to get her out of the mall. She was screaming and crying - I was *that* mom. It was pretty amazing. John Michael and Landon walked behind us, gradually falling more behind so as to not be associated with the crazy lady who couldn't control her kid - HAHAHA!

Well, I have honestly thought about taking them back for a second shot, but this one may just be awesome enough to keep. We'll see...

Today we got the ultimate Christmas-mood-setter-inner in the form of a little over an inch of snow (thus far). The weather forecasters said that it would happen, but I just knew it'd be a bluff. I thought they had said it would begin Saturday night/early Sunday morning, so when we woke up to NO SNOW this morning, I made a little bit of a pouty comment about it and went on with our morning. Then it started really coming down around lunch time, and by 1:00, the ground was covered enough for us to break out an early Christmas present (a sled) and put it to good use. HOORAY!

We went out for Round 2 after Landon woke up from his nap and he was thrilled with sledding. I admit - I hope this is the first of many snows for this season. And I wouldn't hate if the next one came in approximately two weeks. Just a thought :)