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Carnival Fun!

I tried to add these once before, and it didn't work. So here's try #2.

The bank had their anniversary party last weekend. It was amazing. They had free food, games, prizes, entertainment, rides... it was great!

Landon fishing for a prize!


Jumping in the "jumpy thing."
He had a blast in there. The lady running it said he was "tough."


Riding one of the rides. I could not get him out of this. He rode FOREVER!


I told him to show me his prize. There it is! LOL.

Tales of Potty Training!

If you want to know how to make Landon mad, I have the answer. Take off his pull-up, and make him walk around naked. Wow, does that get him upset.

Yesterday, he wet his pull-up and the new rule is that once he wets it, he has to take it off and be naked. So I refused to let him put a pull-up back on. You would have thought Lightning McQueen was killed or something. He cried and screamed and cried and hit me and yelled. He was pissed! He would walk out of the bathroom, ask for a pull-up and when I said no, run screaming back into the bathroom and sit on the potty.

I turned on Bob the Builder, hoping he would forget he was naked and come out and watch. He peeked out of the bathroom and asked if Bob was on. I said yes, come watch. To which he replied, I need a pull-up. I said, no, just come watch. And he ran back into the bathroom screaming and crying.

This just proves that he knows when he has to go, but won't do it! I knew he could do it, now I just have to talk him into it.

Happy Birthday Landon!

Landon turned 3 on Sunday. Amazing how fast time goes. I think he had a pretty good time. Daddy, mommy, Grandma Alice and Grandpa Dude got him a trampoline. He thought is was the greatest. I think he has jumped on it everyday since then.

We had his birthday party at the park and swimming pool. He got some great gifts! I think we have played with everything he got. Here's some pictures from the party!

I see him everyday, but I still can't believe how big he is. He's such a little man. I'm so greatful that I've been able to spend almost every day of the last 3 years with him. He's the greatest kid I know.

Happy birthday to my little man! I love you.

My Baby Is Turning 3.

"One for the road."

Saturday night we went to Richard's graduation party. As we were getting ready to leave, Beth asked Landon if he wanted some peanuts and M&Ms for the road. He said, "yes, please." (Oh he's so polite!!) So she handed him a little cup full of the mix. He walked over to the driveway and dumped it out!

I said, "Landon, why did you do that?" To which he responded, "It for the road, mommy."

I guess he's right! Beth then asked him, if he wanted some to EAT on the way home.
What a kid!!!

State Basketball Week

Well, Daddy didn't make it to play at State BBAll this year, but we all went to watch anyway. It was a pretty great week and weekend. We left Wednesday afternoon and stayed with Aunt Jennifer Wednesday night. After that, we had a hotel room, which was great because Landon had his own bed. And he actually slept in it, until 9:00 am. It was amazing!!

Landon get his pictures taken with a real bunny. They are the cutest pictures and he did such a great job. He was very excited when we got to the studio. He jumped up and down and clapped his hands. The photographer asked him what his name was and he said, "Two." Age, name, whatever!! So she called him Landon 2. When she brought out the bunny he went nuts. He was petting it, and talking to it. "Hi bunny! How you doin'?" It was pretty hilarious. I think we all had tears running down our faces.

When we stayed at the Holiday Inn on Sunday, Landon got to go swimming. He was having a great time! He jumped in and Daddy caught him. He had a great time. He didn't want to get out and cried from the pool to the hotel room. But when he woke up Monday morning, he got to swim again, which made him pretty tired and he slept well last night! Even went to bed early and slept late, which makes Mommy and Daddy very happy!!

PE Class

Landon and I went to school today for one of Mike's PE classes. Landon got right out there, with a basketball and stood in the middle of the gym with the rest of the class. Well, the class got in trouble, and Mike yelled, "Chin it." Which mean grab your ball and hold it to your chin. (Easy, right!) Well Landon dropped his ball when Mike yelled, and he had to chase it down. When he finally got it, he did "chin it." Then he stood there and looked at Mike, along with the rest of the kids. They all looked so funny, with their mouths and eyes so wide open! Mike said, get in the square, and a few of the kids did a sideways shuffle to get there, Landon included. He just looked so funny. Like he really thought he was part of the class.
After class, they had to run a lap for every year of their age. Well Landon ran about 7, which was great because he really got wore out for his afternoon nap. BTW, he slept for 3 hours today!! Worked great for me.

New Blog

Check out my other blog, about my pregnancy, at http://expectingbaby2.blogspot.com/

What A Morning!

It's been snowing for about that last month. So scooping snow is nothing new at our house. In fact, it's been snowing for the past 2 days. So this morning, I put on Mike's boots and gloves and went out to scoop the snow. Our neighbor was nice enough to use his snow-blower to clear the sidewalk in front of the house, so I just had to do the walk-way to our house. Then I tried to break-up some ice outside the back-door. After about 30 minutes, I was cold and ready for some coffee I had brewing in the house. So I pushed the button on the back-door to open it and nothing. The door was LOCKED!! The screen-door, the one I don't have a key for. Landon was standing at the door and I told him to OPEN the DOOR! He tried, kinda, and then left to watch TV. Thanks kid. So I pushed on the button, kicked the door and burst into tears!

My neighbor ended up popping the door open with a putty knife. I guess Landon knows how to lock the screen door. That's good to know for the future!

Doctor Appointment

Last week, Landon had his 2 year check-up. The Doc asked me if Landon had at least 20 words in his vocabulary. He told me I should keep a list during the day, writting down all the words he uses.

Here is Landon's list from August 16, 2006.

juice
dance
ready - set- go
car
stop
watch Elmo
mommy
outside
shoe
thank you
train
baby
night night
swing
ball
boat
baseball
square
Father-Son-Holy-Spirit-Amen
eight
daddy
car
truck
hi
hello
yes
no
ok
Days Our Lives
wow
oh no
Landon
world
nice puppy
Bug Juice
tv off
cool
bird

I think he learns a new word everyday, because the day after I made this list, he came up with at least 10 new words, that weren't on this list.

Beverly Hills

4th of July Fun!

"Party Like It's 1999!"

My husband's family knows how to party! I mean it. These people have a good time when they are together. I'm so happy to be part of this family. There is nothing better than a room full of people who truly like being together.

Saturday was Uncle Chuck and Aunt Barb's 40th wedding anniversary party. Their kids threw a great party. There was food, beer and karaoke. These three things combine to make one hell of a good time!!
My nephew sang Honkey Tonk. He did a GREAT JOB!! He got a little help from Grandpa, but when it came to the chorus, it was all him.

Landon loved it. He danced and danced. After each performance he clapped and yelled. It was very cute.





But the best part of the night was my husband. I found Baby Got Back in the list of songs and somehow convinced him to sing! He was a hit.

He even had Fly Girls!

It was a great party! I always look forward to this family getting together!

Mr. Mom

My husband said something funny the other day. Let me start at the beginning...

We had people staying at our house this past weekend. I spent Friday and Saturday cleaning and picking up the house. Then Saturday, Sunday and Monday night I had to work. So Mike was pretty much running the house.

Tuesday night, after we were cleaning up supper, he gets really serious. "It's hard to keep the house clean with so many people in it. I mean, I've been trying to pick everything up each night and keep it clean, but I was walking through the house today, and I thought 'This place looks like crap.' "

I wanted to laugh out loud and scream, "SEE, SEE what I do EVERYDAY!!" But instead I just said, "Welcome to my world."

It's always nice to be around for those lightbulb moments.

Backyard Project

We were at a graduation reception this weekend, and the owner of the house had this great fence set up. Mike and I were in heaven because we could let Landon run and play with the other kids and not have to worry about him going out in the street or disappearing. So we came home that afternoon and measured our backyard for a new fence.

This is our current backyard. We have a neighbor that drives just a little too fast down the alley and Landon doesn't really like to stay in our yard. I am so excited to get this fence put up. It's going to make going outside a lot easier.

So I used the Digger's Hotline website and put in a request to have them mark all the important things in our yard. So far so good.

Today, the internet guy came and made a few marks in our yard. Nothing that is going to be in the way, but a strange pattern for the telephone wires.

So hopefully, Mike will be home next week and we can get the fence up in time for the summer.

Speaking of summer, I put Landon's swing set on layaway yesterday. He will love it!

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My flowers are starting to bloom. I think my garden will look pretty good this year. I hope they all bloom about mid-summer and at the same time. Then I can see if my colors go together. Most of the flowers came from other people, so I'm not really sure what colors I have planted.

Our other project is a burm. ( I think that's the right word.) It's really just a mound of dirt. It's going to go in the back of the yard around the trees and replace the rosebushes that were over grown and growing all crazy and out of the control.

Mike has already started the process. I think we need to put up the fence first. The back of the fence will run along with back of the mound of dirt. ( We are going to put wood chips on top of the dirt. To make it look a little nicer. ) Then we can get rid of the white trash dog pen and give Lucy a little more room to run.

Ready, Set, Go!

Friday I subbed for 1st grade in the morning and HS PE in the afternoon. So I woke up early, got dressed and then woke up the sleeping boy. He got dressed and ready to go and I loaded him in the car. I backed out of the driveway and as I was putting the car from reverse into drive I heard him talking in the backseat, "Ready, Set, GO!" (It sounds more like, "Ree, Sea, DO!" but a mother can understand her child better than other people. Which is good for the times when he screams, "Ho Pap."; Holy Crap in public.) I had to laugh. I guess he was a little more ready to start the day than I was.

The school had a program for the children in the morning. So I got to ride the big yellow bus. It's been about 8 years since I've been on a bus and I now remember why I haven't been too excited to get back on. The program was good. A fitness show with lots of cool toys. The kids were all ooohhhing and aaahhhing.

I spent Saturday at an auction. Of course I didn't buy anything, but it's always fun to look at all the junk, uhh, treasures that people collect over the years.

Sunday afternoon, I was sleeping on the couch when my phone rang. It was my mother so I ignored the call and put the phone on silent. Not two minutes later, she called again. This time she left a message. When I listened to the message, she sounded urgent so I called her back. Turns out, the police were looking for Mike. He stole gas from a gas station in town. Of course, this couldn't be right. After I talked to Mike, I got the whole story. Turns out he stopped for gas and pressed "Pay Inside." He went in, got some food and paid for it. He told the cashier that he had fuel on pump number #2. Well, she forgot to ring it up. Instead of calling her manager, she called the police and told them that Mike filled up and drove off. WOW!
After a day of phone calls and worries, everything worked out. The manager came in and cleared up the problem. She told the police she didn't want to press charges. Mike got a $5 gas card and a free large pizza and order of breadsticks. Everything was fine... well for us. The cashier might be in a little bit of trouble. She made her first mistake by not ringing up the fuel and instead of calling someone who could help her, she made her second mistake of reporting a theft to the police.

It was quite a weekend. Hopefully this week won't be as exciting!

Stay At Home Mom

I was watching The View this morning. For the most part it's a pretty entertaining show. I mainly just watch the first 20 minutes for the "Hot Topics." This is the part of the show where the co-hosts talk about events going on in the world.

One of today's topics was directed towards Stay At Home Moms. Elizabeth said that one of the back-stage employees had called in and said she was going to stay home and spend some time with her kid. The show was going out of town for the Day Time Emmeys and she was going to miss her kid and just wanted to spend a little time together before they left.

Star wanted to know what the employer would do if someone called in and said they wanted to spend the day with their husband. Would they allow them the time off? The answer was NO. She thought that spending time with the person you are married to is very important. Which I agree with.

The conversation then turned to talk about taking care of your husband. Star made some point about having to be with your spouse and take care of them to keep your relationship going. Of course Joy did not agree. She is always the one who talks about how women shouldn't do too much for their man. Today she made it sound like anyone who would cook and clean for a man is a total idiot. This could be why she's divorced.

I get so sick of her liberal talk. She thinks women should work (outside the home), kids should go to daycare and men should work outside the home also AND cook, clean, do the laundry, etc. I guess this gives the women the upper hand.

I don't quite see it that way. I love being a stay at home mom. I do work, hard. I might only have one kid, but I still put in a full day with him. He is the most important thing to me. I love my husband too. I like taking care of him. I want to be the one to clean and cook. He's the one that earns the money, and I'm the one who takes care of the house. It seems like a pretty fair split to me.

If other women want to work in an office or whatever, that's fine with me. I don't go around telling other women how they should live their lives. What makes them happy is fine with me. Being here, with my kid, makes me happy. What is so wrong with that?

It's a typical liberal attitude. What they believe is the only right way to do things. Anyone who doesn't agree is just stupid and trying to argue with them. BUT, if they don't agree with someone else, that's fine. They believe they have a right to their opinion, and everyone else has the right to agree with their opinion.

I think that as women, we should support each other. We are the only ones who can give birth, and feed our child. Men can't do that! Why isn't that something that we celebrate as much as a woman who runs her own company? I think it's a pretty special thing and I'm proud of that.

We need to get past wanting to be equal to men. If a man and woman do the same job, then they should be equal. They should have equal chances of getting jobs, into college, etc.

But we should also celebrate what makes us special. Instead of bringing each other down for choices we wouldn't make for ourselves, we should build each other up and be proud that we can make choices for ourselves. That is what it takes to make men and women equal.

My Little Man

It's amazing to watch how fast he's growing. One minute he is this tiny baby, that cries and never sleeps. Now he's a little boy. So grown up and independent.

My favorite time to watch him is when he thinks no one is paying attention. Sometimes he just sits in front of the tv, really watching.

It might be Dora or Diego, or a Baby Einstein that he's seen 100 times. It doesn't seem to matter. He watches like he's never seen it before. It just makes me smile because it's such a grown-up thing.

This afternoon, I came out of the bathroom and he was sitting in the rocking chair, head resting on his hand, legs crossed, watching Dora. He looked so sweet. I had to walk over and give him a kiss just because. Because he's mine. My son.

He's been playing in his room, alone, more often. I'll find him in there playing with his tractors or sitting at his desk, drawing a picture. He takes his chalk and scribbles on the chalk board, checks it out, and then erases part of it. Like he's making a masterpiece and wants to get it just right.

Tonight, we were playing in the sand box. He would take his shovel and fill up the empty flower pots with sand. He'd scoop up some sand, and distribute it evenly between the three pots. Then he would pick them up, dump them out and start over again. He'd have to check one last time to make sure they were empty before filling them again.

Sometimes, I sit in the rocking chair and just watch him. He's got a busy day planned, and wants to get everything done. I just sit, and watch and smile. He's my son. My little man.

Quarter Moon Bar and "Grill"

This is what's left of the Quarter Moon. (Also known as the Half Moon, Full Moon and The Moon.)

They say the fire was set by someone. It's pretty sad to think about this buidling being gone forever. I'll have to go the the library and find out the history.