We're back

We had a wonderful, white, snowy Christmas in Colorado. We are exhausted and a few of us are sick, but we had a blast. We are trying to recover from the 15 hours we spent in the car yesterday, find a place for all of the boys new things, put away Christmas decorations, and do a LOT of laundry. So after we finish that, I will post lots of pictures and few stories from our trip, promise!

Our little goobers

Things are crazy around here. I have some big projects to finish up for work before Christmas and we are celebrating early so that we don't have to haul all of the presents up to Colorado. (We are either in Montana or Colorado for Christmas, we alternate between our families and this year is my family's year) So all of our stuff has to be wrapped by the 19th! This month is crazy, but so much fun. We are having a blast playing Santa and we can't wait to see the boys faces light up when they see all of their surprises.

Anyway, these pictures are from last weekend. April took a couple rolls for our Christmas card. The boys were total goofs the whole time, Liam did not want to hold still and Landon was Mr. Cheesy grin. I thought these pictures were hilarious, because you can tell exactly what the other one is thinking. Landon is going Liam get off of me and then in the last picture Liam has his feelings hurt because he didn't get to do what he wanted! We did manage to get some good ones for the card, but wow what an ordeal it is get a family picture these days!!

Miss Minnie

Minnie just turned one. We can hardly believe it. We got her on New Year's Day this year and she was seven weeks old. She was harder to potty train than Landon and she chewed up more things in our house than I can count!! She has certainly tested our patience from time to time, but we love her to pieces. She is a little diva, in fact we wish we would have given her a sassier name! She hates going outside when it's cold or if the grass is even a little bit wet. She has to sleep under the covers next to me at night and she prefers a pillow in her crate instead of a blanket! She loves people and other dogs, which is sometimes a problem for dachshunds, but not this one. She has so much energy and can run super fast and jump way higher than her little body should be able to! She adores the boys, especially Liam, she loves licking crumbs off of him! Anyway, we think she is just the cutest thing. Her best friend is the Jackson's dog, Daisy, a chocolate lab. They love to go on walks together, go to each other's house, play fetch, and eat treats! They even have their paw prints together on a sidewalk by our house:)

Landon is a ham and a turkey

Landon just turned 3 and a half and speaks like a little adult:) Every where we go people always comment on his vocabulary, ability to pronounciate, his politeness, and interest in subjects many kids his age could care less about. He is reading like crazy, three letter words are a bore for him now (unless they have an odd letter sound like 'eye') He has a spelling book and when given the option of getting to spell or have us read him a book, he ALWAYS chooses to spell. He loves simple addition and subtraction. He has been writing his alphabet for a year now, he can write his name in his sleep. He's crazy, I don't know what we are going to do with him. Truly. He debates and corrects us on a regular basis and tries to reason with Liam who barely talks yet. Anyway, he is so much fun. We are so proud of him. We certainly don't take credit for his abilities, God has given him some special talents and all we have done is appreciate them. Here are his most famous quotes (they are from the past year and half):

Me,"Landon, you're a goofball" Landon,"No, I'm a ball and your a goof mom."

Landon, "Did we see the North Pole?" Me,"No, that was just some frost from the Schwan's man's truck,"

Kevin,"Don't be afraid of the lightening Landon, it's just God taking our pictures" Lightening strikes again. Landon,"Mom, did you smile?"

Landon,"Is Liam talking to me," Me, "No honey, he is just a baby" Landon,"Oh he just needs new batteries I think."

Me, "What cereal do you want for breakfast?" Landon, "Crappin Crunch mommy."

Landon, "Run they are going to get us." Me,"Who is?" Landon, "Big Bird and Jesus mommy."

Landon, "Stop picking your nose mommy."

Landon, "Does Daisy (the Jackson's dog) have false teeth?"

Landon, "Now pay attention everybody, we are going to space today...."

Landon, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got it baby."

Landon to Kevin, "Right on cowboy."

Landon,"I'm probably kind of sensitive mommy."

Landon at the dinner table, "So I'm going to be a daddy soon....but I will be a mommy first and then a daddy."

Landon to me,"Granddad was so happy about me going poops that he was speechless mommy."

Landon, "Honestly mom. Honestly."

Landon, "You are driving me crazy Nanna."

Thunder strikes. Landon runs to the nearest window, looks out, starts waving and says, "Oh hi God."

Landon to April, "God sure is handsome. And he has a brother named Jesus."

Landon to older large lady at grocery store, "Daddy does she have a baby in her belly!"

Landon runs into my room with breaking news, "Larry the cucumber (Veggie Tales) does NOT have a weenie because he is just a vegetable mom."

Landon,"So how does the baby get in the mommy's tummy?"

Landon talking about a mannequin in the ladies section at JCPenny, "That lady has on panties mommy. She looks pretty nice."

Landon, "Tell April thank you mom."

Landon to Kevin, "Daddy, thanks for being my Daddy."

Landon to both of us, "If you eat lots of junk food, you will have a baby. And then the doctor will just help you get it out." (he made this conclusion all on his own)

Landon to me, "Jesus is in my heart mommy." Me, "Well, yes he sure is!" Landon gets a look of concern, "..............did I EAT Jesus???" Me laughing uncontrollably. Landon, "Yumm, Jesus was good."

Landon, "Why does that car have a smiley face on it?" Me, "Because he is happy. Why do you have a smile on your face?" Landon, "Because I love myself."

Liam is walking!

Everyone has thought that Liam was close to walking for 3 months now. He starting walking around furniture back in June and so we thought well he'll probably walk around his birthday. Well, that passed (July 17th) and then we thought we'll he's in no rush, he'll probably walk in a month. Nope! He took his first steps at least a month ago, but he would only walk a few steps and then get mad and go back down on all fours. So everybody has been trying to get him to walk! Everyone must feel sorry for me having to lug around all 27 pounds of him:) Anyway, something changed last Thursday night while we were at my parents house and he got more confident and excited about walking and pretty much ever since he has been walking like crazy. Today I have only seen him crawl twice. I'm so glad he is walking, maybe I won't have to hold him quite as much:) No laughing at my narrating of this video clip!



Oh and he has this push toy that has been like attached to him for the last two months and we were calling it his "Enabler". And we were thinking that we were going to take it way if he wasn't walking by the end of this month, but all of you who thought that was mean will be happy to know that we weren't really going to take it away and now he has proven that he doesn't need it!! Thanks to Aunt Nicci and Uncle Mark for this toy....I'm not being facetious:)...it truly has been a great toy and I highly recommend that every baby have something similar!

Stitches. Again.

Well for those of you who don't know. This is our third time to hold down one of our boys while they get stitched up.
#1 The first time Landon was running through the kitchen, slipped on a tupperware lid and the first thing to hit the tile was his chin. Kevin was out of town of course, that's when things always happen to our family, and I took him to a Minor Emergency Clinic where we had a HORRIBLE experience. The doctor was not good with kids, they did not numb him right, they kept messing with it to see how deep it was before he was numbed, and they made me solely responsible for holding him down. Now he was cocooned, (this is just putting their arms down and wrapping them in a sheet very tightly) but I could still barely hold him down. It was like he had rabies, I had never seen him fight like that. I had never seen a child so scared before. Thankfully my mom took Liam during the procedure and afterwards she sat in the car with them so that I could go and sob with out Landon seeing mommy loose her composure.
#2 So then we are on vacation at my Grandma's house in Colorado and Landon is playing chase in the living room. Well he turns to look behind him, trips, and his chin hits the edge of a chair. Kevin picks him, shoots me a look that I immediately understood, and I lost it. I started sobbing and left the room. Then I pulled it back together and helped everyone get loaded into the car for a 30 minute trip to the hospital. We decided no more clinics for stitches from now on. My mom got pulled over for speeding on the way, but the officer let us go of course! So by the time we get there, Landon has calmed down, and we get a room with in 10 minutes of our arrival. They did things much differently this time. The very first thing they did was put a very strong numbing gel on his chin. We chose not to tell Landon until right before hand that he was getting stitches again. When he asked what was going to happen, we just said the doctor is going to take care of you. So when they cocooned him he started getting scared and mad, but there was four of us this time and this doctor was faster and there was no shot needed and they didn't scrub it clean until after it was numb, so it went much smoother. Landon got three new trains, pizza, and a movie out of the deal. He loved showing everyone his stitches! Oh and by the way, it was not in the same place as the last time, it is slightly higher and to the left.
#3 I think this one was the worst for me, because I could have prevented it. Kevin keeps telling me to stop blaming myself, but it is so hard. This time it was Liam. Last night I was making dinner and holding Liam on my hip. I typical routine around here. I had just opened a can of olives and set it back down, then I moved over and started to stir my noodles when Liam started pulling away. I look down right as he is going for the can and I jerk him away. Well in the split second he grabbed the lid, actually picked up the can by the lid, and then when I jerked the lid cut him. He screamed bloody murder and was shaking. Oh my gosh what have I done. My poor baby. Then the scariest part started. Blood started squirting out like I have never seen before. I am running through the house with blood spilling everywhere looking for the phone. I hysterically yell at April my neighbor that I NEED HER NOW! She runs over and when she sees me and Liam covered in blood, she thinks there has been a stabbing. I tell her to grab a sock, tie it around his arm and drive us to the ER. So I didn't want to put Liam in his car seat, but I knew it was the right thing to do, so I sat next to him and held his arm up with him screaming the whole way. (Landon is in his underwear in his car seat and April's husband is meeting us there to take Landon) I jump out and go running in the ER dripping with blood and a screaming baby. The lady at the front desk, doesn't bat an eye, she asks his name and I can barely speak I'm crying so hard, and she says, "Oh it will be fine honey." Thanks lady for the comforting words, but I've never seen this much blood other than giving birth. So they take us back, clean us up and find that all that blood was coming from only a one inch cut down his thumb. Thank you God I said, the whole time I had thought that it was in between his thumb and first finger. I had been thinking about nerves, ligaments, and therapy. All that blood from his thumb. It had all happened so quickly and the blood came so fast in and such abundance, that I truly had no idea where the cut was. Crazy I know. Anyway, they wrapped it all up with gauze and it stopped bleeding for a while. They made us go back out to the waiting room and wait for 30 minutes to get a room. Kevin arrived from work very scared because he was envisioning the same location that I was. He was thankful to be greeted with it's his thumb and we only need a couple stitches. So my poor baby had to get cocooned, and he didn't get to have the numbing gel because of the location of his cut, but it went as well as it could have. He screamed during the whole thing, but we had my whole family and the Jackson's for moral support. For all of you who know that Liam is a thumb sucker, you will be excited to know that it is his right thumb that has the stitches. He still has good ole lefty to sooth himself with. So say a prayer for getting the stitches out and keeping it clean. I'm off to start another day that I hope will be less dramatic. And I will never let my kids come close to an open can again.

Our Halloween

So about 2 months ago Landon told me that he wanted to go as Peter Pan for Halloween. So I got online and did a Google image search for the cutest Peter Pan costume. And whoa la I found the perfect one and it was only 19 bucks, so I booked marked the site. Then two weeks ago, I had just a few minutes before I had to leave to go somewhere but I decided to go ahead and order it. So I hurried through the check out and was so excited about this super cute costume when all of a sudden the dollar sign changed on me. That's right, it morphed into the sign for U.K. currency. Oh crap. This is not from America, how much is this really going to cost. So I pull up a currency converter and it comes out to be almost $30, so I'm like no big deal, so I didn't cancel the order. Then Kevin looks at our online banking and lets just say that I must have converted the wrong currency. After I payed for the costume, a currency converting charge, and shipping from the U.K our little Landon was sporting a $60 costume this year. Then, as if I'm not embarrassed enough, I open up the goofy thing, and it is from the DISNEY STORE. Yeah, that's right, don't we have like 3 of those in Dallas. Yep, add that to your list of Laura stories.

But we had SO MUCH FUN trick or treating with the boys this year! They were both precious. Liam wanted to get out of the wagon and go up to each house that Landon did. Landon loved the houses that were decorated and wanted to skip the ones that he didn't deem festive enough! Liam got to eat part of a Three Musketeers, a Kit Kat, and a Twix. He went crazy over the chocolate! We were really impressed with the turn out in our neighborhood. We have had so many new families move in the last couple years. The first year we lived here, I think we may have had two kids come to our door. This year we went through six bags of candy! I'm sure part of that had to do with leaving the bucket out while we were gone part of the time:) Anyway, we had a blast and I'm hoping that Liam wants to be Peter Pan when he is three, that will make me feel better about our litte investment:)

Pumkin Patch

We went to the Aubrey Pumkin Patch this past weekend and the boys loved it! Nana, Pops, and Aunt DeeDee came along too (Kev was sick and didn't want to be around the hay) Landon soaked it all up as usual and is now BEGGING to make a scarecrow. So I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to do that:)

We are all suffering a bit from being around the hay. Landon can't stop coughing. For that matter, Kevin and I can't stop either and we are SICK of it. At least one person in our family has been sick for the last two months! I keep telling my pediatrician that I really don't like to see her as much as she thinks I do!! I can't imagine having three or four kids, you would be at the doctor every other day during "sick" season.

Liam and the fourwheeler

I can't flip this video, so your just going to have to turn your heads! Liam was cracking us up on the fourwheeler last weekend, so we got this short clip of him doing his thang. He is watching every move that Landon makes these days and it was evident from the minute he saw big brother riding the fourwheeler that he was going to conquer this riding machine as well:)

We tried to put him on it again last night and he was scared, so who knows how he really feels about it. Both of the boys tend to HATE things that come to "life". We have two toys that make them cry hysterically, Elmo and a dancing chicken. Kevin turns them on every couple months to see if they have changed their minds!! Landon runs and begs us to turn it off and Liam crawls as fast as he can and usually hides under the coffee table. It is so funny. We can't wait to see what Liam does with Santa this year:)

Aren't they handsome?

I might be a little bit bias, but I think they are so handsome. If I ever tell Landon that he is cute, he corrects me and tells me that girls are cute and boys are handsome! I took this picture of them after church a few weeks ago. Liam LOVES the camera, so just so you all know he will be smiling in pretty much every picture that I post.

We have surrendered.

Well, I couldn't take it any longer. Everybody has a blog, so here we are. I'm pumped about being able to rant and rave about the boys. Pictures say a lot, but sometimes you just need to write about what is going on in your life ya know!

So here we go. Get ready for some crazy posts from me and the Kev miester, you never know what we'll share:)