Heard at our House...

While taking a quick before-bed shower with Landon tonight I hear him say, "Mommy...I'm peeing." I look down to see him holding his little "junk" and indeed he is peeing...right on my feet! (Is it weird that I take a shower with my just-turned-two year old son?)

Diary of a Snow Day

This is a diary of our day at home on Wednesday, March 23rd.

For all my fellow Minnesota readers, you can all relate!

For my California blog readers, this one is for you!

This is what I woke up to Wednesday morning:

I know, right...I should be cheering and happy. Not so much. A snow day in March? The week before Spring Break? Nothing to cheer about. Now we have to make up this day in June. Ughhh!

This is the view from our front door. Keep in mind that this snow was virtually all gone when we went to bed on Tuesday night! We were getting so close to NO SNOW!

Bring on the day home with my kiddos! First, we had cranberry orange muffins for breakfast. No lie...Landon ate 9 of them. Yes, I said NINE! Oinker, as we say around this household.

It just so happens that Wednesday was also Addison's 8 month old birthday! It's getting harder and harder to take her monthly pictures these days. This is the best we could do!

While I was downstairs with Addison doing her photo shoot here's what I was hearing come out of Landon's smart little man mouth as he was laying under the kitchen table...

"I want to go to the park...we can't today...there's too much snow." Ohhhh heartbreaking!

So instead of going to the park, we:

played with trucks...

played with Sammie (our lone surviving shih tzu),

played multiple games of Candy Land,

made Easter cookies,

bounced in the jumper castle,

and practiced hitting the basebal in the basement with Landon's new batting tees,

I'm fairly certain that my kids were saving up all week for this day because I changed more poopy diapers in that one day than I do all week. This picture was taken mid-way through the day. Add two more to this pile by bedtime! Yes, I'm too lazy to walk them ALL the way to the garbage can so I just throw them in the garage and Darren picks them up when he gets home. I know.

I decided to be brave and take the kids outside. After all...this might be our last storm of the season. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be true! It was a disaster from the get-go! This is how little Addison felt about getting all bundled up to go outside:

We made one loop around the house in the sleds before I decided that enough was enough. It was too windy and Addison's nose was running like a faucet. So, after getting Addison inside...try getting a two year old to come inside that's having a ball shoveling the driveway. Meltdown city! (Not sure how our daycare mom Jenny manages to take multiple kiddos outside when I can't even handle two! I give her major credit.)

After meltdown recovery, we enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies:

This little gal was so tuckered out from our long day that even Cheerios couldn't keep her awake!

After a nice dinner of chicken tortilla soup and bread, we enjoyed some play time with Daddy, baths, and early bedtime! What a fun day! We can't wait for next week when we get to be home together all week.

A Future Goalie?

Not if this Mama has anything to say about it!!!

A Sad Sad Day

Carter

November 26, 2000 - March 16, 2011

Yesterday we had to make the very difficult choice to say goodbye to our beloved Carter. He was our 10 year old, 30 lb., cuddly shih tzu. We discovered yesterday after many tests at the Emergency Vet Hospital in Eden Prairie that Carter had high blood pressure, diabetes, as well as either kidney failure or Cushings Disease. We were told that the combination of all of these problems would be a long road for our poor guy and that even though he looked okay on the outside, he was a very sick boy. Darren and I knew what we needed to do, it was just a matter of ultimately making that decision and going through with it. During our final moments with him we told him that we would take him to the cabin one more time and take one more boat ride. (We intend to bring his ashes there this spring.) His ears perked up and we knew that he was happy to hear those words "the cabin." I am at peace with knowing that those were his last thoughts before he peacefully laid his head down and left us. I am happy that I got to be there with him as he left this world, just as I was with him as he entered it over 10 years ago.

I am confident that our big boy is enjoying his time in heaven. I'm sure he's having a great time

~playing in the water at the lake

~catching sunfish off the dock

~sitting in the front of the pontoon feeling the breeze on his face

~running up and down the dog beach in Huntington Beach, CA

~chasing chipmunks at the lake

~riding in the car with his nose sticking out the window

~getting his belly rubbed

~lounging spread eagle on the couch

~wrestling with the other puppies in heaven

~eating lots of doggy treats, especially Pigs in a Blanket

~sneaking table scraps and ice cubes to eat

~going for lots and lots of walks

We love you big guy and will miss you always!

A Few Fun Projects...

So when you've got a sick kid at home for a week and many of those days are spent watching Dora and taking naps, a mom has got to have some projects to do, right? Well, I took full advantage and accomplished three projects on my list!

1. I wanted a "message board" of sorts for near my kitchen. You know...thank you cards, birth announcements, that type of stuff??? Well, I had seen one I LOVED on etsy, but for 70 bucks I knew it wouldn't go over well with D, so I bought this cute little metal one at Crafts Direct right before Christmas. It served it's purpose, but it just WASN'T what I REALLY wanted. So, I set out of make my own like the one I had seen on etsy.

First off, I needed a large old frame to repaint. I found the perfect one at The Porch, which is a VERY CUTE shop in Downtown Buffalo. Last weekend they were having their monthly sale and I was so happy to find just what I was looking for! I repainted it the same burgundy red in our kitchen and (thanks to my friend Allie at proverbs31girl.com) I was brave and tried a little "distressing." It turned out soooo cute!

Then, I found some corkboard in a roll at Menards for the backing. Super easy to measure and cut!

Lastly I needed to find some cute material to match the color scheme of our house and I found the perfect one at Hancock Fabrics in St. Cloud while I was in Cloudy Town with Addison on Wednesday for her flu shot booster. YAY!

So, I hot glued the fabric to the corkboard and then used my handy dandy staple gun to attach it to the back of the frame. I love it! It's just what I wanted in the first place and I couldn't be more proud of myself for saving the 70 bucks!

2. Landon's room was in major need of three things: a night stand, a step stool, and some shelves. So I found the night stand at The Porch and the step stool at a little shop in town called Second Hand Rose. Both were painted "Gumball Red" and distressed (again, thank you Allie!). They both turned out adorable and I love how they seem to bring his room together. I had these old white shelves laying in my room that I also repainted red and distressed.

3. If anyone has little girls, they can probably relate with me on this one...

It was driving me crazy having all of Addison's headbands laying in a big pile in a basket on her dresser. The flowers were all getting smashed and I could never find what I was looking for, not to mention that they were getting tangled! Annoying. So, I used an empty oatmeal cannister and covered it with a cute pink fabric that I had and VIOLA! A headband rack!

So I do have a few more projects on my to-do list, which will hopefully get accomplished soon.

A. paint two walls of the downstairs living room blue

B. make pillows with the leftover material from the message board for the upstairs living room

C. paint the kids bathroom

D. paint the guest bathroom/powder room

E. start reading my "Vegetable Gardening for Dummies" book that Darren bought me off half.com. I am telling you, our veggie garden is going to be bursting at the seams this year!!! (Can you tell I am excited???)

Oh yes, I forgot to add to my list of projects that I accomplished this week...

4. Disinfect ALL the kids toys with sanitizer wipes. That was fun.

A Big Big Boy Bed

After only a few short months of the transition toddler bed, we decided it was time for Landon to move up to a "big big boy bed." The headboard is still the back of his crib...I love that! I had my eye on this quilt and shams from Pottery Barn for over a year and found the coordinating sheets at Target. I wanted to keep the blue/brown/white theme going from his crib bedding but also bring in some sports to the look. I still want to find some more pillows to complete the bed. He got a protective railing that tucks in between the two mattresses to hide it when not in use, which I love.

Can you tell he likes it? He always wants to go see his bed and calls it "amazing!"

(Thank you to the Ramseys for the mattresses!)

Happy Birthday Landon!

Disclaimer: This is a VERY long post with LOTS of pictures. I will take no responsibility for your time away from cleaning, working, or watching your kids while you read this. Thank you!

Our little man turned TWO on Friday! I'm having mixed feeling about this. On one hand I am excited that he has turned into a "kid" and has grown up to be so fun and independent. He's smart, funny, adventurous, sweet, and opinionated. On the other hand, I am sad to see my baby grow up so fast! My saving grace is that he still loves to cuddle and gives us lots of hugs and kisses and "I love you's." Sigh.

So, Thursday was their last day of daycare for the week since Grandma Susan was in town for the big birthday and wanted to keep the kiddos home from daycare on Friday so they could have a "Grandma Day!" Landon got to bring treats to his daycare friends at Jenny's house on Thursday!

On Friday (Landon's official birthday) we went to Chuck E. Cheese in Maple Grove for some fun! Landon loved the rides and games! He was SUPER brave and crawled up into the maze of tubes and tunnels all by himself. Whew! I was having visions of having to crawl up in there to find a crying, scared child...but he did great! We all had a great time.

The kid was having sooooo much fun that he didn't want to come eat, of course! Darren got him to eat while sitting in the bus. After he got a taste of the pizza he was hooked and decided that he could take a few moments away from the fun to come eat!

Love this picture...he was dancing with his new-found-friend!

Now, on to Saturday...

The theme for Landon's party was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" this year. I had soooo much fun making decorations and going all out for this one! So cute and easy to be creative.

For the meal, we served soups and salad as well as a buffet of "caterpillar foods." I cut up the five fruits that the hungry caterpillar eats in the book.

The cake was caterpillar-shaped of course and pretty easy to accomplish! I also whipped up some cupcakes this year due to an allergy in my family. It was a nice addition, I thought.

The centerpieces I just painted "Eric Carle" style. Threw them in a vase with a nice little label and "viola!"

I only made two hats this year, one for Landon and one for Addison. Last year I made them for all the kids and nobody wanted to wear them, so I made life easier this year!

For goody bags for the kids, I whipped up these cute little coloring books with personalized crayons. I also threw in gummy caterpillars with a little label to thank them for coming. Target had the little gift bags as well as plates, cups, tablecloths, etc. (I have to admit, that's where I actually got the whole idea of doing this theme in the first place!)

I bit off more than I could chew with these silverware wraps this time. Took foreverrrrrrrr! They did turn out cute I do have to say!

Next, my favorite part of the decor was the banner I made. I love it so much that I haven't been able to take it down just yet. In fact, it might stay up until it's warm enough to open the sliding glass door to the deck.

This sign hung on the door to greet our guests as they arrived!

For a shower I threw for my friend and teaching partner, Carissa, I had come up with the idea to make personalized water bottles. I thought they would be cute for this party too, so here's how they turned out!

Here's the cute little sister sporting the butterfly hat!

And our guest of honor, Landon! The shirt is made from an iron-on that I ordered from a fabulous gal on etsy.com. She custom-made this design for me after I contacted her. I had ordered two of them from her at Christmastime for the kiddos, so she was more than happy to help out. Her etsy shop is called Baby Fables and she's got some super cute stuff! Check her out.

So, on to the actual party. Here's the gift-opening. Actually it was pretty much "Mommy opening the presents while Landon begged and cried to play with each toy along the way" time. He got sooooo many nice things and was very spoiled.

The dogs thought they needed to help open presents too!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to the big boy!

Miscellaneous:

The kids had a GREAT time playing downstairs in Landon's jumpy castle. Lilly had the craziest.hair.ever! from all the static electricity! Too funny.

Landon got so many fun new toys. One of my personal faves...the new wheelbarrow. Now he will have to help me with the gardening this summer! I am visualizing this whole little wheelbarrow spilling over with veggies from our garden! Oh how I can't wait!!!!!

I promised Uncle Chad and Uncle Lo that they would make the blog! They had a great time playing with Landon's new hockey net. Boys!

You gotta love these two sweet little cherubs! Irresistable!

To top off the night, Landon got to have lots of playtime with his cousins Bailey and Sam, who came down from Fargo to spend the night with us! They had a blast.

That's it!!! If you are still with me, thanks for reading. I Love Love Love having parties. Hmmmm...only five months until Addison turns 1!! Better go on that now. Theme: ladybugs.

Sayonara!