Holy cow I have a four year old.

Time is flying by with these kiddos. Landon is a little boy now, and not a toddler. My little preemie that came into this world weighing a mere 3 pounds is riding a bike and reading. I love looking back at all of his pictures and reflecting on what we were doing as a family, milestones he was hitting, milestones he wasn't hitting:), outfits he was wearing....and the list goes on and on. Watching him grow up right before my very eyes is bittersweet. I am so proud of his accomplishments, but at the same time it is hard for me to watch him loose a tiny piece of his innocence every day. He wants to know about more about heaven, death, jobs, places in the world, how babies get out of bellies:), how time works....concepts that make him understand more, but make him less innocent at the same time. And just so you know, we only tell him what he needs to know at this point on those subjects.


But at the same time I am eager to see what the future holds for my cheery, witty, blue-eyed little perfectionist. I know that he has many of the same personality characteristics that I had as a child and so I am hoping that that will help me as a parent know how to better meet his needs. On a side note, Kevin had a great idea...he thinks I should keep a running list of Landon's most famous quotes under my links on the right-had side of our blog. So be watching for that, I am definitely going to do that. Nobody should missing out on what Landon has to say:)


Well, on to the party! Landon's birthday cake turned out pretty cute despite my lack of time and desire to do it:) He wanted Little Einsteins this year instead of Thomas which is kind of earth shaddering. He actually got to have two parties, one small one while we were in Orlando and then another one when we got home. These are pictures from the second one. As you can tell he got a bike from us. He loves it and is getting more and more confident on it.

I'm finally doing it ladies...

To my dear friends who have tagged me...Jennifer, Lane, Kristen, and Lindy....I'm sorry it has taken me so long to do this. I guess I don't like talking about myself! I'm going to pick a few questions from each of your posts. Here goes.

-What is the nearest book to me? My Southern Living 'Our Best Recipes' is going to have to count for a book! I love cooking magazines.
-Gone on a blind date – Nope
-Skipped school – yeah, once my senior year in high school.
-Watched someone die – Thankfully, no.
-Been to Canada – yes, Calgary and British Columbia
-Been to Mexico – yes, Honeymoon and cruiz w/ my fam
-Been to Florida – Several times
-Been lost - Oh yeah. Few times as a kid and as an adult...driving w/ me in a new place is an adventure.
-Two things that you despise that no one knows about you - Weeds and negative people
-Name something fun you want to do in your life. - Live overseas, design our dream home from the ground up
- Something that gives you joy, then something that gives you happiness. - Aren't those like synonyms? Well....I would have to say my awesome little family.
- Biggest Fear in Life - That I will not do enough for the kingdom & that one of our children will die young.
- A secret talent you would like to possess - I've always wanted to be a professional ice-skater. Kristy Yamaguchi you are still my hero.
- Something that is consuming your thoughts lateley - preparing to launch our business, making sure Liam knows who is the boss, thoughts of being pregnant one more time, and my sister's upcoming wedding--which words can't even describe how rediculously happy and relieved I am that she found her husband.
- List 7 random things about yourself - 1) I say 'pop' rather than coke even though we live in the south 2) I can't stand the sound of styrofoam rubbing together 3) I've had two rather weird surgeries to fix the following- spigelian hernia and pilonidal cyst 4) I would rather drink water than anything else 5) I still suck my thumb 6) That was a joke. Seriously people, that would be gross. 7) I had a down-syndrome cat growing up-no lie.

Okay now you know way more about me than you ever wanted to:)

Fun in Florida

We had a great vacation in Orlando. We visited Animal Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon, Magic Kingdom, and Cocoa Beach! We went to Magic Kingdom on Landon's birthday and he wore a button that said it was his birthday so he got lots of birthday wishes!

I could go on and on about the trip, but I know you all just want to see pictures so I uploaded a whole album. Just click on my link on the top right hand side that says 'Our picasa albums' and then you will see the Orlando 2008 album.

Yee-ha ! ! !

I did not stage this. They put on their hats and decided to ride 'big puppy' all on their own. Aren't they adorable? I love my kids so much.

Anyway, I am having trouble focusing this week because I am so excited about our trip to Florida. We leave this weekend and will stay for a week. We are going to do Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, a water park or two, and go to the beach of course! We are meeting Kevin's sister's and their families and his parents down there. There will be FIVE grandsons all together for the first time and one of them we have never met and he is seven months old!! Kevin's family is rather spread out. We have a family in Canada, Colorado, Montana, and Texas. So we really try to make the most of our time together. We take a trip together at least every other year and do Christmas every other year together.

In response to my previous post, I am reading 'Seeing the Unseen' and HIGHLY recommend it!

Who is Oprah's biggest non-fan?

Well, hands down it is ME. I can't stand her. I watched her several times in high school (b/c we didn't have cable) and a hand full of times since then. I had always felt that she wreaked of arrogance, but had no idea just how much evil was in her. I'm sure that some of you have received the email about 'Oprah's Church' and watched the video and so you know what is fueling my anger right now. But for those of you who have not watched the video, please watch this before you finish reading my post:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA

How do you feel about that? Maybe it's because I'm really into 'spiritual warfare' right now (we should always be...I'm especially sensitive to it b/c of the book I'm reading right now) or maybe it's because I've disliked her for so long, but this video struck a chord in me. I had to post about it. I think Christians need to be aware of their enemies and I'm sorry for those of you who watch her show--but she is with the other team guys. What a powerful tool she is for Satan right now. So sad and so scary.

Anyway, I'm off my soap box now. And on a side note, Liam had his tubes put in today and did great! My little teddy bear just wanted his blankie and his mommy afterwards:)

My Latest Salad Creation

Kevin and I are huge salad people so I am always coming up with new twists on our favorites. I can get a little crazy sometimes and Kevin will say, "Okay Laura, I just want lettuce, tomato, cheese, croutons, onions, and ranch this time.....no wild ingredients!!"

So I feel like this last salad was a really good compromise! Here are the ingredients:

-Half a bag of Spring Mix
-Half of head of Romaine, chopped well
-1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
-crumbled bacon/bacon bits
-2 to 3 diced avocados
-1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
-1 to 2 good tomatoes, chopped
-1/3 of a purple onion, chopped
-1/2 carrots, thinly sliced
-Your favorite dressing

I didn't put any cheese on it, but crumbled blue cheese or feta would be really good on it. It makes a big bowl. I hope you give it a try....and if you omit anything...don't let it be the pine nuts or bacon...they are center stage in this salad!

The boys' rooms plus lots of pics!

I absolutely love decorating our house and well other people's houses too for that matter! It's always more fun when you are spending someone else's mula rather than you own right?!?! Anyway, I haven't done much to the boys' rooms but here are some pictures.

Also, I wanted to show a picture of myself at Landon's age. Now it is a common debate between our family and friends about who Landon looks more like...me or Kev. But I think he has Kevin's eye shape and color, Kevin's mouth, Kevin's texture of hair and hair line, his ears, and his torso. The rest is all me and I think it is pretty evident from this picture below.

Now when you guys figure out who Liam looks like...let us know. Ha. JK...I actually think the older he gets the more he is looking like Landon just with brown hair and green eyes and more meat on his bones.

Landon with my sister at about age 3 1/2.
Ldog and Kev about to take off down the mountain coaster....so fun.
And me at about age 3 1/2!
Liam's room. My mom and grandma helped me with the curtains and recovering the rocker.
This is Minnie's favorite place to be when the blinds are open...she has to bark at everyone.

This crib is nearly thirty years old! It was my cousins'. I think I'm going to paint it black or white for baby number three. (And no I'm not pregnant....but we do want one more:)

These letters used to be above his bed until one day I came in and he had pulled the 'i' down and was playing with the decorative thumb tack I used to hang it. Great right....

And this is Landon's room. He told me today that he would like to be called Landon Bradley Staples Stacey....whew...that's a long one and where in the world he got the name Stacey..we will never know.

My mom helped me make the curtain in Landon's room and Kevin and my dad made the shelves and I painted the train pics and made the letters. It was a family affair:) And now I am leaving you with my latest favorite picture of Liam.