Sunday, July 22, 2012

Landon's new camera


My mother-in-law called me some time before Landon's birthday looking for ideas of what to get him as a gift.  I was kind of at a loss myself, but I gave her some ideas I thought would work.  She owns a yarn and gift shop in Clarkesville, GA (Bumbleberry. Whoop! Whoop!) and had noticed a little girl that came in to her store with a child's camera.  She said that this little girl was taking pictures of everything and enjoying herself.  She asked if I thought Landon would like one.  I figured he would like it because he's always wanting to look at my camera when I take his picture.  We decided to give it a try.

When we got the camera in the mail, I wrapped it up and gave it to him.  He LOVED it!  The video is of him right after we opened it.  He got the hang of it pretty quick! :)  It's pretty awesome.  It is just like a grown-up digital camera, but totally kid proof.  He can't break it, and we can download all his pictures onto the computer.   There is even a button that puts funny hair or hats on the person you are taking a picture of.  It's really cool!  I'm sure he'll enjoy it for a while!

Thank you Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Joe!!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Landon's Pirate Party

Landon was very excited about having a birthday party this year.  He picked out a pirate theme to do and I was so thankful because there is a plethora of pirate things out there for kids his age.  It made finding things very easy!  We all know that I like to torture myself with very obscure party themes (see Sydney's first birthday) so I was so pleased with pirates.  So was dad. :)

We planned to have Landon's birthday at the same park we had it last year.  It was such a hit with the kids and was super easy.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  I was able to have the whole pavilion to decorate and we had so much fun hanging out with everyone.  I was hoping that this year would be the same, but with it being a public park, you just never know...

We arrived at the park (which also has a handicapped baseball field) and apparently the club was having their championship game!  There were TONS of people there!!  I started to panic, but figured we would just make the most of it.  As we were walking up toward the pavilion, I saw an empty picnic table right next to the splash pad!  It was like there was a ray of light surrounding this table.  I was so happy just to see an empty table!  We quickly snagged it.  Although it was right in the sun, I didn't care.  We made due.  Who would've thought it was going to be that busy!  So, things didn't turn out exactly the way I planned but Landon didn't know a difference.  He had fun anyways. :)


I made little buckets for all the kids to take home filled with the typical party favors: a pirate pencil, some stickers, a few pieces of candy, some pirate dabloons (gold coins) and a silly straw.  I also included an eye patch and bandana in hopes that the kids would dress up and have fun with it.  Aiden and Aurora really got into it!


Aiden


Aurora

We had pizza for lunch and the kids played like crazy.  I don't think I saw kids very much because they were all having fun.  That's the way it should be. :)


Dad out in the splash pad with Sydney


Heidi and Hunter



My cute little watermelon pirate ship.  I had it filled with fruit, but the fruit was a hit and most of it disappeared.  Who doesn't like fruit on a hot, sunny, summer afternoon?


Sydney hanging out with Ms. Theresa


Dad the pizza eating pirate. :)


Little Nevin and his dad, Brad

One of the families had to leave, so we started opening presents so they could see Landon open theirs.  Landon got so many new toys, and he was so excited about opening the presents.  He kept saying, "I want to open another present!"  I think he's getting the hang of these birthdays. :)




 Like I said, this party was hot.  And in the sun.  Bad combination with a cupcake cake...


It melted...  Well, what are you gonna do?  

We decided not to light Landon's candle since it was windy and it wouldn't have stayed lit anyways.  So we just sang "Happy Birthday" and he was happy with that.  Although the picture doesn't show his happiness, he was smiling as soon as we said his name in the song. :)




Hunter devoured his cupcake.  The only thing was, he didn't use his hands the whole time.  He would not pick it up.  I guess the melted frosting scared him off. :)

After that came the skull pinata!  It's one of those pull the string pinatas so the kids don't hit each other with a bat.  Braydon was in charge of putting the candy in the pinata, and as the kids were pulling the strings one-at-a-time, he said to me, "I hope there wasn't something I needed to take out to make all the candy fall"...apparently there was.  Sigh.  The poor kids patiently pulled all the strings off, and the candy never fell out!


Thankfully, my father-in-law's nickname is "Ram-n-Jam", so he easily tore into the bottom of the pinata to let out all the candy.  That pinata never saw it coming. :)



A big thank you to everyone that came!  We had so much fun!  Although it was hot and the cake melted, it wouldn't have been the same without all of our friends and family there.  A big shout out to my husband for helping me out that morning to get everything together for the party...you're wonderful! XOXO

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Landon's birthday day.

On July 5th, my little man turned 5.  Wow!  Five years.  It seems like not that long ago, but it also seems like he's been here forever.  I don't really remember life before my kids.  It's all a blur.  What did I do with my time then??  ;)

Anyways, we spent the day together to celebrate.  I made Landon homemade birthday waffles for breakfast and his favorite beans and weiners for dinner.  The rest of the day was filled with presents and time spent together.  Braydon had the day off, so that made the day a little sweeter. :)

We started out with a scavenger hunt for the present we knew he would love the most.  This little guy is called Pocoyo.  He's on a show on Nick Jr. and it's all Landon talks about.  It's his motivator right now.  So, Pocoyo played hide-and-seek with Landon.  Landon woke up with a note that said Pocoyo was playing hide-and-seek.  We had him go to different places in the house that each had a note to tell him where to go next.  It lead Landon all the way to the basement where Pocoyo was hiding in one of the cabinets.  He was so excited and has taken Pocoyo pretty much everywhere with him.  He loves him. :)


After that, there was more present opening after breakfast....




Team Umizoomi stuff makes Landon very happy. :)


What a cute birthday boy I have. :)



Some Lightning McQueens to add to the collection.


After getting dressed and playing some, came more presents...


A Jake and the Neverland Pirates pirate ship,



Mickey Mouse coloring books from Sydney, 


A big giant pencil for sidewalk chalk,


And a sword to beat up dad with. :)




When I was a kid, every year my mom would make me or my step-sisters a home-made birthday cake of our choice.  It could really be anything.  Cookie cakes, cream puffs, carrot cake, there were no limits.  After all, it is your birthday. :)  So, I decided I wanted to try to carry on that tradition with my kids.  I asked Landon what he wanted and he told me chocolate cookies....so that's what he got. :)  We stuck a candle in it and sang to him as he smiled at us.  Normally, Landon would need help blowing out his candle.  He's never blown out the candle on his own.  This year, he did.  I was SO proud. :)


Just a little help from mom and....


It's out!! YAY!!!!

I'm pretty sure Landon had a great birthday this year.  We'll do it again in another six months for a two year old. :)

Friday, July 13, 2012

Grandpa Joe is a good playmate :)

Braydon's dad came to visit us this past weekend.  From the second he walked in the door Landon wanted to play with him.  He wanted him to sit next to him at dinner, and be there when he was going to bed.  Every second of the day was spent with Grandpa Joe.  Sydney barely got any time with him, although she would squeeze herself in there to get a hug every now and again. :)



Landon got a new game for his birthday and Grandpa Joe got to try it out with him. :)





A quick second to play with Sydney.  She liked being bounced on the trampoline. :)


We're so thankful for our family.  They are all so understanding to our situation and come to visit us.  One day we will make the trip back home to see everyone, but we're happy that they don't mind coming to see us for now.  :)

It was such a nice visit with Joe.  Every other time Joe has come to visit, we've been working on some sort of project.  Last time he was here, we were working on framing our basement.  The time before that, he was helping us build our deck.  He jokingly said to me that it felt weird to not have something to work on.  He enjoyed just being able to spend time with the kids. :)

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Fourth of July fun!

We didn't have our normal fourth of July this year.  Normally, we have friends over to BBQ and we hang out and shoot off fireworks and watch my neighbor set off his crazy display!  This year, I had a lot going on with planning Landon's birthday party and birthday, doing a garage sale the weekend before and having family come into town.  I actually lost track of time, and everyone already had plans by the time I got to asking. :(  Oh well, maybe next year.  

The night before the 4th, the neighbors down the street were doing their fourth of July bash.  They were setting off fireworks for several hours and we took the kids outside for a trial run for the next day.  Sydney was fascinated so we knew she would do great.  She sat and watched the fireworks with us for a good while until it was bedtime.


Daddy and Sydney checking out the fireworks.







She kept pointing to the sky and trying to say "firework".  A-dor-able!


My handsome boys



On the fourth, we actually had a pretty relaxing time.  We had both kids lay down for naps that day so they could stay up late and watch the fireworks.  We grilled out and went to a firework stand.  We walked around aimlessly looking at all the choices of things to blow up.  Since we come from Georgia where fireworks are illegal, we had no idea what we were looking at.  We picked up a few that Braydon thought would be fun, and a little kid pack of things to light.  The kids had fun watching the things we lit for them.  Sydney wanted to get in there and help (of course) and loved the big booms!  Landon loved the little poppers you throw at the ground that make a snapping noise.  He would just laugh!!  We had fun watching our neighbor light off his.  Their family has a Fourth of July party every year where his friends and family come over and light a ton of fireworks!  Landon actually wanted to go to bed, so Sydney, Braydon and I stayed up at watched the display from next door.  Sydney LOVED it!  And Landon actually slept through it!  My kids are very heavy sleepers. :)


Landon voluntarily got on his tricycle!!  I thought I might want to take some pictures of this momentous occasion!  He's never gotten on this on his own.  He scooted around on the driveway and in the garage.  I was glad to just see him on it! 


Sydney had to push hers around too.  I got this tricycle for $2 at our neighborhood garage sale!!!  I was so excited, I told everyone!!  I'm just glad she's showing an interest in it.  Her legs aren't quite long enough yet, but she'll grow into it soon enough. :)



Me and my cute kids!


Sydney felt like she needed to help Landon with his tricycle

Although we didn't have our "normal" fourth of July, we made it into our own.  I'm glad that our family got to spend time together. :)