Progress on Braydon's "Man Cave"

When we bought our house a year and a half ago we had plans of finishing off our basement so we would have more room.  It was put on our list, but wasn't a priority until Sydney was born and we ran out of space to house people when they come to visit.  Thankfully, we have some family that can help us get started!  Braydon's dad, Joe, came to help us get everything framed.  If you remember, Joe is the one that helped us build our deck last May.  If you don't, take a look here.

Joe came to visit this week to help us with the framing of the basement.  We plan on having an extra room down there along with a "man cave" for Braydon where he can go play.  Here are some pictures of our progress so far...

This is before we got started.  The white stuff on the walls is insulation.

Wall where the stairs are.

This picture was taken standing where the first picture is looking.

Starting the framing...

This picture shows the new closet (to the left) and the doorway that will lead to the storage area.  Later, that will be made into a hallway which will lead to a storage area and a bathroom.  We aren't going to do that until we need it.  Which is not now. :)

This picture is taken standing at the bottom of the stairs.  It shows the wall that will separate the two rooms.

View looking toward the stairs.

Braydon and Joe made a storage area under the stairs that will house all of Braydon's electronics which will be connected to his TV.  That way I don't have to look at all the cords or the consoles!!!  YEA!! :)  It will be enclosed with a door.  

You can see the doorway in this picture that will lead to under the stairs where all of Braydon's electronics will be.  He also put in some extra support for when he hangs his TV on the wall.

This is the cubby under the stairs.  I tried to utilize all the space down there for different types of storage.

It's so amazing how different it looks already!  We're really excited to get it finished and have a little more room to enjoy.  My dad will be coming out next week to do our electrical stuff for us (outlets and lights).  I'll keep you updated with our progress! :)

Here comes Peter Cottontail!

Happy Easter everyone!!!

We had a great morning!  The Easter Bunny came to visit Landon and Sydney and left them their baskets and eggs to find.  Landon was excited to find the eggs on the back porch, and was even more excited about them being filled with M&Ms. :)  Here are some pictures from this mornings events:

Landon's basket

Sydney hanging out with her basket

He was pretty excited to open his eggs he found in the house...

JACKPOT!!!  Just what he wanted.  :)

Here's some pictures from our mini Easter egg hunt on the back porch.  The Easter Bunny was nice enough to not put the eggs in the wet grass. :)  We weren't really sure how excited Landon was going to be about doing eggs, so the Easter Bunny only did a few.   Thankfully, he LOVED it!  We'll keep that in mind for next year. :)

We even had some bunnies for breakfast...don't worry...not those kinds of bunnies. :)  Landon loves pancakes right now, so I made pancakes shaped like bunnies with eggs and bacon.  Here's Braydon's plate:

They were delicious and we were all stuffed afterwards.  

We hope everyone had a fabulous Easter!!!!

Camping out in Landon's room

Landon has been on Spring Break this week and has been spending his mornings playing pretty hard.  He was so tired the other day that he started rolling around on the floor.  I jokingly asked him if he was going to sleep on the floor and he told me yes.  I was trying to get him in his room and in bed so I told him that he at least needed to sleep in his room on the floor (still joking).  He got up from the floor and walked in his room and laid down on the floor.  I got him a pillow and blanket thinking at any moment he was going to change his mind...he didn't.  He fell asleep on the floor in his room.  I had to take pictures cause it was just too cute.

A thank you to Monty!

When my parents lived in Texas, they were friends with another family that has a son a couple months older than me.  They were good friends and have continued to be friends even though they live far away now.  Thank goodness for facebook. :)  Anyways, their son lives here in Nebraska and when they come to visit him they try to stop and see us.  Last time they were in town they were visiting their brand new grandson, so they didn't have time to see us.  They've never met Sydney and wanted to give her a gift.  Since they didn't get time to come over, they sent a box in the mail.  We just wanted to say thank you to Monty for the thoughtful gift for Sydney.  There was also a gift for Landon which he is in love with right now.  

Sydney's gift

Landon's gift:  Magnetized numbers and letters (he loves them!)  That's all he will play with right now!

Also, a box of sidewalk chalk.  I told him to hold it up for me and this is what I got...whatever.

Thank you Monty for thinking of us!!!  Love you guys!

New Glasses

Landon has had his glasses since he was six months old.  They had been through a lot and were falling apart.  The pieces that went behind his ears were falling off and were making his glasses slide down his nose.  So, really they weren't doing anything for his vision because he was always looking over the top of them.

We needed to take him in to get his eyes looked at, so we decided it was time to get some new glasses while we were there.  Three years with the same ones...I think it was time.

We found these really cute ones and I was super excited that they didn't slide down his nose.  Landon tried the first couple times he wore them to slide them down his nose himself, but the new ear pieces weren't broken and didn't allow him to move them at all.  After he tried a few times...he gave up.  Here's my little man with his new glasses:  (He's so cute!)

When Dr. Troia took a look at Landon's eyes, he said that his vision was looking a little better.  Thank goodness!!  I'm not quite sure what we are doing differently, but whatever it was, it worked! :)  He talked about Landon's left eye.  His eye occasionally wonders, but when Dr. Troia tested him (and he focused) he would do fine tracking objects with it.  I'm hoping now that we have some new glasses that will stay in place, his vision will continue to improve.  We will get a chance to see in a few months when we go back for a check-up.

Tummy time and Playdoh

I just wanted to share some pictures of the kiddies with everyone.  I've been working on tummy time with Sydney and she's starting to get the hang of it...doesn't mean she likes it, but I think she humors me. :)  Here are some of her playing:

I found this ring/star toy at a local consignment store in a bag with a couple other toys for $3 or $4.  It's just a little star with a smiley face on it that rattles when you shake it.  Sydney LOVES it!!  She just stares at the star and smiles at it.  It just proves that you don't have to spend a lot of money to make kids happy. :)

Those fingers must taste really good cause she's been chewing on them a lot lately.  The drool has also started...

Cute little playful smile

She was not happy when I flipped her over

But then was distracted easily by Heidi talking to her :)

Landon has been doing ok.  The other night he woke up with another high fever of 105.  I knew immediately what it was even though there weren't any visible signs.  The stupid cellulitis was back.  I called the doctor's office and they got us in to see the doctor that morning.  It was one of Dr. LaCroix's colleagues and he has only seen Landon a couple times.  After me telling him what I thought we should do, he sent us home with the antibiotic that Landon was on last time he had cellulitis.  I love how I had to tell him what I thought we should do. :/  I didn't want Landon to go back to the hospital and I was keeping my fingers crossed that the medication would help him and we wouldn't have to come back the next day for a trip to the hospital for IV antibiotics. :(  Fortunately, Landon's fever has gone down, and even though there is some redness in his chin, he is acting completely normal.  He even went to school today for the first time this week.  

Here are some pictures we took yesterday while he played with his Playdoh.  (He was actually instructing Heidi that he wanted them all rolled into balls so he could line them up on the table...with the colors seperated, of course.  My little OCD child.)

I was telling him to look up at me and he was in the middle of saying, "Mama...no!" when I took this picture.

I love him!!

Next week is Landon's spring break and Grandpa Joe will be coming to visit.  We're hoping to get the framing done on our basement so we can get going on it.  We've run out of places to put people when they come to visit, so Joe is going to help us get started.  Keep your fingers crossed there won't be any disasters. ;)

A new car seat for Landon

I've been looking forward to the day that I could put Landon in a large booster seat in the car.  I've been so tired of strapping him into the 5-point harness.  It takes forever to get him in the car.  He has a hard time climbing into the seat, so you have to lift a 30 pound kid and it's not an easy task.  Plus he doesn't really help out at all so it's even harder than it should be. And don't even get me started how hard it is to do the 5-point harness with a winter coat on...oh goodness!!!  ANYWAYS, so I was waiting for the day that Landon would keep his weight over 30 pounds so that I could get him a new seat.  Well, the time has come...Landon is officially in his big kid car seat!

The car seat was called the "Big Kid" seat so it helped me with explaining to Landon the transition.  He was excited to get to sit in it.  The next  morning on the way to school he was happy to sit in his new seat.

When I'm taking Landon's picture, I ask him to look at me.  This is the face I get...  He lunges at me and looks at me like a 15 year old saying, "What mom?!?  Can't you see I'm busy??"

Grandma Bonnie and Aunt Rhea

This past weekend Braydon's mom and sister, Rhea, came to visit.  We spent time together and got out for lunch one afternoon.  It was so nice to get to spend time together.  Since Bonnie opened her store Bumbleberry in Clarkesville she hasn't been able to come out as much as she would like, so we try to make the most of the time we get together.  We did some shopping and hung out at the house.  There were a lot of baby snuggles to be had for Rhea and Bonnie.  Sydney really loved Rhea.  She would smile and stare at her.  It was really sweet.

Landon had a blast playing with his aunt and grandma.  He has recently found a love for the game "Hi Ho Cherry Oh" and spent some time playing it with everyone.  We even went up to the neighborhood playground and Landon played with Rhea on the slides.  They were a lot of help while they were here.  It's always amazing to me how easier things are with one more pair of hands.  Thank you so much Bonnie and Rhea!!  We love you!!

Landon was showing Grandma Bonnie the page numbers

Things are going well here.  The weather is starting to warm up this week.  We've made it into the 60 degree weather!!!  Yippy!!!  I think spring is here to stay.  Unfortunately, that means that allergies are starting.  Landon and Sydney have had runny noses and sneezing.  This morning I woke up with the same thing.  Oh great.  I guess I'll take it though.  I would rather that than having to deal with winter coats and cold weather. :)