Halloween Fun 2011

Last week we had a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so we decided to go outside and carve jack-o-lanterns.  Emmy LOVED helping carry the insides on her scooper and throwing them into the woods.  I think Landon just did it because we asked him too.  He doesn't really like getting messy! :)

The kids with the finished jack-o-lantern, Bears pumpkin, cat and spider pumpkin, and the tiny pumpkin we grew.

 We took the kids trick or treating on Friday last week.  We went over to the grandparents, Great Grandpa Vantine, and my aunt and uncle's house.  They loved getting dressed up and saying, "Trick or Treat."

Best picture of Landon as Lightning McQueen

Best picture of Emmy as a princess

We tried really hard, but couldn't get a good one of both of them smiling and looking at the camera!  Maybe next year.
As you can see, there are no pictures from our Halloween Party. :(  We had some people cancel a few days before, so we decided to not decorate/dress up because there would only be 6 people total.  But we did have a great night hanging out with the Fryes and Bergers!! :)

Happy Halloween!!

Favorite Words

I am very much enjoying listening to Landon and Emmy learn new words.  It is so entertaining to hear them try to pronounce new words.  So I thought I'd try to capture a moment in time because I'm sure they will soon have the hang of words and I'll forget how they "used to say that."

Landon (3 yrs.):

• disk-es
• livering room and diamon room
• shore (instead of I do, do, or yes)
• Ems (nickname for his sister)

Emmy (2 yrs.):

• down-day (downstairs)
• ow-eye (outside)
• up-peng (up please)
• baby, bankee, pih-woah, dough-wa (her favorite night-night items)
• na-nan (Landon) 
• To which Landon usually replies, "Ems, why do you call me na-nan?  I am LANDON."

Thistleberry Farm

Yesterday, despite the cool temps and blowing wind, Matt and I took the kids to the Thistleberry Pumpkin Farm with the Shaw family (Bart, Brooke, Bryce, and Cam).  The kids had a fabulous time, although we didn't really look at any pumpkins! :)  They were too busy doing everything else.  They had lots of different kinds of bikes to ride, a cow train, corn box, jumping pillow, huge slide, and more. 

The kids were too small to ride the bikes, so Matt and I had to push them.  We had a hard time convincing Landon to try anything else after he saw the bikes.

The kids rode the cow train (pulled by a tractor) all by themselves without tears!

Emmy LOVED the huge jumping pillow.  Landon wanted to get off right away!

The corn box was like a sand box, except filled with corn.  They had a lot of corn in their shoes and shirts when they were done!

Enjoying chips and cheese for lunch

Mommy and Emmy ready to race Daddy and Landon on the "four wheelers" as Landon called them.

Although we did meet the Shaws there, I realized I didn't get any pictures of them, except from the back! :)  We had great family time and made some wonderful memories.

Landon's Birthday Party

We were lucky enough to celebrate Landon's 3rd birthday on an absolutely GEORGEOUS day! He wore shorts and a short-sleeved polo shirt on Oct. 8th. That's not going to happen very often! :) He wanted a "Diego" birthday party this year. "Diego" is apparently not as popular as his cousin, "Dora", because he was hard to find!

Annual picture of him by his birth tree

We borrowed Cookie's Week from the library this summer and he absolutely LOVED the book, so we got him his own copy for his birthday.

Landon's friends: Grace, Tyler, Greyson, Emmy, Gunnar, and Baby Kenna in back with Amos

Daddy did and AWESOME job on Landon's Diego cake!!

Mary sent Landon a pedal car fire truck.  He loves riding around in it and Emmy is content to ride on the back!

Unfortunately, Emmy woke up on Sat. with a fever, so she didn't really get to enjoy Landon's party much.  She wanted to be held, rocked, and went to bed early.  But we were thankful that Landon felt pretty good after having a fever the two days earlier. 
Landon really enjoyed everything about his party.  He sat and opened all of his presents for the first time and really liked his Diego cake.  Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes to our special little 3 year old!

Our 3 year old

It's true!  Our darling little baby boy is 3!  I know that people always say kids grow up fast and it is true.  Landon is such a blessing!  God had such a perfect plan when he brought this little boy to our family.  Landon is:

• smart
• He is working on odd and even numbers, memorizing scripture for church, repeating directions on how to get from our house to Grandma's, spelling his name, Emmy's name, and more!
• loving
•  "Emmy I love you.  You are the best sister! "
• funny
• "Ha, ha!  I'm just so funny, " he says.
• caring
• "Great Papa, I pray for you today."  "Mommy if you feel sick, I will give you a kiss and you feel better."
• happy
• "Oh, I'm so exciting!" he'll say over things that aren't too exciting for most adults! :)
• full of energy
• His "Diego" birthday balloon didn't last long.  He was having so much fun with it, it got a hole in about 10 minutes!

and so much more.  We have enjoyed so much about Landon.  He surprises us every day.  Love you, buddy!!

More pictues to come after his party next weekend!

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

This is it.  I finally convinced Matt to get a laptop, which he hasn't wanted.  And what we decided was that I'd get a laptop and he'd get a new tower with more power for our old computer.  So we're both happy!  And our Christmas and Birthday gifts are taken care of for this year!!  I really don't know anything about the laptop.  I just wanted to be able to download pictures (that works! :)), skype with people far away, and be able to surf the web without taking 20 minutes to download a page.  I think so far all of those things will work.  So now I should be able to do a better job with posts.  SHOULD being the key word there! :)

Surviving the last few weeks

We've had a very interesting last couple of weeks.  Below are some pictures documenting our experiences! :)
Our 6 year old house apparently had the worst built septic system that our septic guy had ever seen! :)  Yeah!  So the week before Labor Day, we had workers digging up our yard and rebuilding it!





We planted potatoes in our garden for the first time and the kids enjoyed helping dig up the potatoes.  We got quite a few good sized ones.

Landon had his first visit to the ER (it was after hours at the doctor's office) to find out he had a bronchial infection.  Sis wasn't far behind and they both ended up doing breathing treatments 4 times a day, while watching "Dora the Explorer".

The kids absolutely LOVE an ap I found on my phone called Kid Mode.  Whenever Em sees my phone she brings it to me and asks "Name?  Own?" (Game? Phone?)

I'm hoping things slow down a little, but with birthday parties, Halloween parties, and the holidays coming up, I doubt they will! :)

Week 3 of 3rd grade

Well, with school back in full swing, I finally got a fast internet connection to upload pictures! :)  Things are going well at school, yet still a bit overwhelming.  I still don't feel comfortable yet with the curriculum or my schedule.  It seems as though there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done.  I LOVE working with my 3rd grade colleagues, though.  We're having a great time trying to figure things out together.  And I'm sure with time, it will get easier.  Right now it's just a lot of long days and bringing work home.  But hooray for a 3 day weekend! :)

Visit to see Uncle Nate

At the beginning of August, we took the kids to see Uncle Nate in Evansville.  We were both a little worried about a 6 hour car ride with 2 2-yr-olds, but they did really well.  We were armed with videos, books, toys, stickers, coloring sheets, cars, and snacks.  I saw an idea online to give the kids "Travel tickets" in a bag.  Then every 30 minutes, they gave me a Travel ticket and when all of the tickets were gone, we were there.  This worked really well with Landon...Emmy just dumped all of her tickets on the floor.
When we got there, we had a great visit with Nate.  We went disc golfing, out to eat, and to the zoo.  We got to see his apartment and a little bit of Evansville too.  Landon's already talking about Uncle Nate coming to visit him on "Optober 2nd place" (his birthday!).

At the zoo with Uncle Nate

Posing in front of the parrots for Gma and Papa H.

They had a rhino that came really close to the edge of his cage.

Cheese!

4-H Fair

We had a great time at the fair this year.  We took the kids on a very hot day (but most of the days were hot in July!).  They didn't seem to mind the heat.  Em really enjoyed the animals.  Landon said his favorite part of the day was the stroller ride! :)

Emmy getting measured for the kiddie rides. (She was 2 inches too short!)

Waiting for tickets

Landon in the beginning of his train ride :)

Landon about half way through :(  He cried for about the last half of the ride.  The operator asked us if he should stop the ride.  We said, "No, just keep going!"

Emmy on her favorite ride...the "nay"

Landon wasn't too excited about the carousel either!