Winter Wonderland

The other week Landon and I went to Winter Wonderland. My mom and Jenn came with us as well. We were so excited about going. After all, it's called Winter Wonderland and we were expecting just that. We read that there was snow every night. The snow actually turned out to be a bubble machine. There weren't even any light displays. Just blow up decorations every couple of feet. The main attraction was an ice skating rink, but Landon was too young for it. Landon had a good time though. I was disappointed, but the night ended on a high note- breakfast for dinner at Denny's!

I did walk away with a few good pictures from the evening.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! We had a great Christmas this year. I took a relaxed approach to Christmas. I didn't even worry about pictures, which is very unlike me. I allowed Jenn to control the camera and whatever pictures were taken I went with it. I usually have so much control over pictures and want to capture everything. This year I just enjoyed Christmas. I enjoyed watching Landon open his presents and playing with him. I appreciated the moment rather than spending it worrying about capturing the perfect picture. I realized last night after Landon was already changed into his pajamas that I never got a picture in front of the tree. I think that was the only moment when I regretted not having full control over the picture taking. Jenn was a good sport and took our picture in front of my mom's tree so that I have one to share. Landon was over pictures by that time and was ready for bed. He refused to smile.

Christmas morning definitely didn't go as expected, but a good time was still had by all. I fully expected to see Landon get excited when he saw his presents under the tree. He could have cared less. When he ran out into the living room he just asked for milk and to watch Toy Story. He didn't even want to open up his presents. His stocking still has all of it's wrapped presents in it. We may try opening those this evening. It took almost an hour for Landon to open anything. He wanted me to open them and then hand him the toy. Landon didn't want to have to put any work into getting the toys! After a while he finally started to unwrap his presents. He tore through the last several presents in seconds. He didn't even take a second to see what the present was. It was one extreme to the other with Landon yesterday morning when it came to his gift unwrapping. I guess you never can predict how a two year old is going to react.

Landon does have a few clear favorite toys. Out of all of his presents I think he likes his simple Mr. Potato Head the best. He wouldn't put it down yesterday. He received some really nice toys and the Potato Head was what he got excited over...go figure!

Landon was an extra good boy this year. In return, Santa was extra good to Landon.

Here are a few pictures that were taken Christmas morning of Landon opening his presents:

Now the Christmas fun really begins- cleanup! I think I have to take the tree down today. I'm allergic to pine, but I am able to deal with my allergies. I take Benadryl to get through the day- no big deal. But Landon has been sneezing all night and morning. I was going to keep it up for a few more days, but I think I have to take it down today. I would hate to think that we will have to get a fake tree for now on, but it's looking that way. I just hate seeing Landon so miserable when his allergies are bothering him. I had to give him some Benadryl as well so him and I may just snuggle up and take a nap this afternoon. He's bound to be tired after all of the playing he's been doing all morning. I know I am!

Merry 3rd Christmas Landon Love! Mommy loves you!

Wonderful Christmas Time

The mood is right,

 the spirit's up.

 We're here tonight and that's enough.

 We're simply having a wonderful Christmas time.

 Simply having a wonderful Christmas time,

 simply having a wonderful Christmas time!

Please Touch

While we were in Pennsylvania, I took Landon to the Please Touch Museum. It was a great place to allow him to run around and explore. Not to mention it gave us a great escape from the cold weather. Landon had an absolute blast. The first stop was the water area. Of course Landon would find this area first. It has his absolute favorite water toys- rubber ducks! Landon had an apron on, but still managed to soak his pants and get me a little wet as well.

Right after the water exhibit there was an elephant and turtle statue. Landon ran up to them and said "cheese" which is my cue to take his picture. The elephant was made up of all different materials. I found it a little creepy, but Landon loved it. Maybe it was the ventriloquist dummy on it followed by the weird looking doll below it that freaked me out. I do know that I was glad once Landon spotted the turtle and moved away from the elephant.

We then came upon a walking piano. You know, like the one from the movie "Big". I was so excited to see this. Landon wouldn't walk on it at first. It took me acting like a fool and jumping all over it for Landon to get on it. I was more excited over the piano then Landon was. He did have fun on it in the end once he realized the keys made music when he stepped jumped on them like Mommy. The piano sure was a bunch of fun. I'm contemplating getting one for our living room floor!

I was also adamant about Landon taking a picture in front of Teddy Ruxpin. I loved Teddy Ruxpin as a child. I wish I still had him. I don't know what ever became of my Teddy Ruxpin, but I would love to find one for Landon. In my opinion, Teddy Ruxpin was the best toy EVER invented.

Landon had two clear favorite areas. The first was a room where you built styrofoam rockets and then launched them. It felt as if we were in there for most of the afternoon. Landon loved launching his rocket, chasing after it, rebuilding it, and launching it all over again.

Landon's second favorite area was a room with all sorts of ball activities. The first was where he could pick out balls of different sizes and colors and make them float in the air.

In the same room there was this contraption that pulled a ball up and then dropped it down a spiral thing when Landon turned the handle. It's really hard to explain so I will just post a video of it. This was another thing that Landon loved doing. He would get so excited every time the crank would catch the ball and raise it up to be dropped down the spiral ramp thing.

The Please Touch Museum really was a great place to take Landon. Even though he wasn't old enough for everything there was still plenty for him to do.

Milk and Chikin

Around here Santa prefers milk and chicken. At least Santa Cow does. When your family is as crazy about Chick-fil-a as we are, then Santa Cow is the only Santa that matters! Chick-fil-a had a gingerbread house contest this evening. I had never made a gingerbread house before, but wanted to give it a try. Of course I went to my mom's for help since she's so good at making cakes. I am really proud of the end result. We won 2nd place too. Not too shabby since it meant we came home with the coveted Chick-fil-a calendar and two stuffed cows for Landon.

Landon was even able to get his picture taken with Santa Cow. The set up was a little awkward and didn't allow for parents to take pictures. The way it was set up there was no room to get in front to take a good picture. I did get one from the side. It's not the best, but it's still cute.

Christmas is almost here and I am so excited this year. I just know that Christmas morning is going to be so much fun with a two year old in the house. I can't wait to see Landon face light up and hear his reaction with every present that he opens. Now if only I were able to get to our Christmas decorations, then we'd be good to go. I'm also looking forward to Christmas traditions. A few that I would like to carry on with Landon are reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve and giving him one gift to open on Christmas Eve, which will be a pair of Christmas pajamas. I think we'll even make another gingerbread house the day before Christmas Eve. One that Landon can decorate all on his own. I think that will be a lot of fun. I will make sure to take a lot of pictures throughout the decorating process to share with everyone. 

Making Memory Lane

Hi, my name is Amanda and I am a blog slacker. I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Life has been incredibly busy lately. At least I haven't been slacking in life and in the blog world. That would just make me lazy. I had a bit of an adventurous moment hit and decided it'd be fun to take a road trip across seven states with Landon and Tink. We survived and made it back with only needing the assistance of one fire truck and one cop car....not too shabby! In all seriousness we did have a lot of fun. Memories were made and that was my main goal. This was my view looking back at Landon for most of the trip: 

We did make a pit stop at South of the Border and boy did Landon have a good time. He ran up to each and every single animal statue and would say "Mommy, cheese! Hurry Mommy, cheese!" He wanted me to take his picture with each statue and so I did. I won't post all 20 animal statue pictures, but I will post a couple of them.

While at South of the Border we went up into the Sombrero Tower. There was an amazing view once you got to the top. I thought we would have to walk up several hundred stairs, but there was an elevator. Thank goodness because I really wanted to go up and see the view, but wasn't wanting to carry a tired 35 lb toddler up a number of stairs to do so. This was the view from up in Pedro's sombrero:

On the return trip home we were in North Carolina for two days. On the way back we decided to stop at the Nuese River Walk. I figured I would have Landon run off some energy before continuing our drive. It was so pretty walking along the river. Cold, but pretty. I didn't get a good picture of Landon at the river though. I forgot to check the battery level on the camera and the batteries were dead when I went to take Landon's picture. This is the only picture that I got from that outing:

 Our full day that we had in North Carolina was spent at the outlet mall. There was nothing else around where we were at. Landon didn't mind though because after every set of stores there were anywhere from two to four rides for him to ride on. His favorite of course was the Winne the Pooh ride. They did make going into the stores with Landon a little more bearable. All I had to do was tell him that if he behaved, then he could ride another ride once we left the store. I must have spent a small fortune in quarters on those rides, but it was well worth it to keep my sanity while shopping.

Landon also invented a new breakfast while at the hotel. I dread eating breakfast out with Landon because he can never eat anything. Most all breakfast items contain milk making eating out for breakfast nerve wracking. The only thing he could eat at the hotel breakfast bar was toast. He wanted syrup since Mommy had syrup on her waffles. So syrup is what he got. Only he didn't put syrup on waffles (since he couldn't eat those). It was put on top of his toast with strawberry jelly. Completely disgusting if you ask me, but Landon loved it and ate every last bite.

While we were in PA I took Landon to the Please Touch museum. I can't do that place justice with just a few quick sentences so I will write a post on just that place once I get the chance. Hopefully it won't take me another month to post!