Miniature Golf, Maximum Fun

I have been looking forward to taking Landon miniature golfing since before he was born. I recently did just that. It was the cutest thing watching Landon trying to get the golf ball into the hole. I thought he would smack the ball as hard as he could with the club, but he did just the opposite. Landon would slowly tap the ball all the way into the hole. After a few holes he then thought he was a golf expert. He would take everyone's balls and tell us that we weren't doing it right and to watch him. He told us that he was teaching us how to golf!

 Landon's "YAY!" dance he did every time the ball went into the hole!

Christmas 2011

It's been a while. I don't even know where to begin with catching up. I guess I will start with a couple of Christmas pictures. The above picture is the gift that Landon made for me with some help from his Aunt Jenn. Christmas decorating was very simple this year. Most decorations were handmade. Landon was at the perfect age this year to really enjoy making Christmas decorations. I think Landon's favorite thing to do was to cover pinecones in glitter. We then hung those pinecones from the hallway entrance. His second favorite decoration was the ribbon that I put on the front door. I think it was his favorite because he enjoyed tearing it down day after day!

We made some cinnamon ornaments as well, which Landon also had a blast doing. I was a little paranoid because I was afraid of him rubbing cinnamon in his eyes, but we came out unscathed and had rather cute ornaments to show for it.

 We also did different arts and crafts throughtout the month of December as well. Out of all of the different little projects that Landon made I think these three were my favorites.

One of my favorite pictures of Landon from Christmas wasn't even on Christmas day. It was from Christmas Eve when we set out milk and cookies for Santa. Landon snuck a bite of Santas's cookie and I caught him doing so while taking a picture. His guilty smile is priceless!

All in all Christmas was great. Landon received everything that he had on his Christmas list. A few things have already broken or never worked from the beginning. We have a few exchanges to do yet at the North Pole, but Landon has been getting plenty of use out of his presents so far, especially his skateboard and his Hotwheels wall track.

You Know You're a Mom When....

You know you're a Mom when you proudly display coffee filter flowers on the entry way table as if they were a dozen long stem roses. 

I came across this idea on a toddler craft site that I frequent. Landon is constantly making me Lego flowers and surprising me at random moments with them. I just knew he'd love painting these flowers. He had a blast and was so happy to see his final project in a vase as if they were real flowers. I think they are the best looking flowers I have ever received and as an added bonus these flowers will never wilt and die!

Writing to Santa

When did Landon become so grown?

 

 He's signing his own cards....

 ...and even making his own Christmas list for Santa!

There is not much that my Landon Love can't do these days. He was so eager to write his list to Santa. He really wanted Santa to know that he wanted a Mater car for Christmas. It's all I've been hearing for two weeks and counting! Every other sentence has been, "Mommy can we go to Santa's house to the North Pole? I want to tell him I want Mater." I finally convinced Landon that we could write Santa a letter. Landon wrote everything on the letter with the exception of "Roary" and "Hot Wheel Track." I held his hand while he wrote these because he said these words were "frustrating". Apparently Landon finds it frustrating to write a word with two "Rs" or to write long words such as "Hot Wheel Track". I helped him out on those two because the last thing I wanted was a frustrated three year old! I also spelled the words as he wrote the letter, but I think he did amazingly well for only being three. I'm so proud of him.

Today and Tomorrow

Landon decided to do some decorating of the walls once again. He told me that he wanted to show me something and pulled me by my hand over towards my bedroom wall. He then pointed out his new drawing. I asked him when he did it. His response was priceless, "today and tomorrow"...thanks for the heads up Landon that you'll be coloring on the walls tomorrow as well. I'll make sure to get a head start on hiding any and all writing utensils!

Fancy Shoes

I am now the new owner of the fanciest shoe around.

Alright, so it may not be the fanciest shoe. In fact, it's the ugliest shoe that I have ever worn. I've thought about asking my mom if she still has my old Bedazzler somewhere to try to spruce it up. I've also toyed with the idea of improving my crutches by tying purple ribbons around them. I wish I had some amazing story as to how I hurt my foot. You know, something along the lines of...I was running with the bulls in Spain and I wasn't quite fast enough so a bull ran over my foot. Or I was outside and noticed the neighbor's house was on fire and a child was trapped upstairs. I ran into the burning house to save the child only to realize upon exiting the house that all exits were now in flames. I had no choice, but to jump out of the window with the child and I broke my foot upon impact. The true story is no where near as good as those. I somehow fell off of a curb and that is how I am not the new owner of this fancy walking boot and crutches for the next several weeks. 

So what does one do when they can't move around like usually and still has a three year old to look after? Go to a bounce house place, of course! That way Landon can run around like crazy and I can just sit back and watch. Landon loves bounce houses and a building with several of them in one room is a dream come true for him.

Landon's favorite thing was this large slide, but a close second was this little roller coaster type toy. He rode this thing over and over again. He was seriously on it for about half an hour! 

 

Landon has been so sweet to me this past week. He has been so helpful and attentive to me. He jumps at the chance to help me out and even insists that apple juice will make my foot feel better. He's constantly asking if he can get my foot some apple juice! I sure do miss taking him and Tink for walks or riding our bikes side by side. I'm just grateful that I will be able to do these things soon enough. Whenever I start complaining about the fact that I can't walk or do normal things, then I remind myself to be thankful for two working legs. Not everyone has that and I have to keep reminding myself that this is only for a short period of time. Until then, I will just enjoy my lazy days on the couch with my loving boy!

Halloween Pictures

Here are some Halloween pics finally!

We went trick-or-treating at the mall the night before Halloween. This is Landon with his friend- Woody and Buzz!

 My cowboy and cowgirl!

 Landon giving me a cheesy smile in front of his pumpkins!

Halloween 2011

I'm finally getting around to putting up a Halloween post only to disappoint with no Halloween pictures. Cameras were forgotten, disposable ones were bought and it will be another ten years before I get around to developing the film. Other than the camera issue Halloween went fairly well. Landon was the cutest Woody and Tinkerbell made a rather cute cow. Landon called it quits with trick-or-treating after about ten houses. He wanted to go home and sleep. He was so tuckered out that he forgot all about his Halloween candy until the next afternoon. I usually love Halloween because it's the one day of the year when I can find a little joy in Landon's milk allergy. Maybe joy is the wrong word. I never find joy in Landon having a milk allergy, but Halloween candy that contains milk is a big perk that I get from his allergy. I am able to indulge in some chocolate after dealing with his allergy all year long. This year Landon didn't allow me to have the option of having chocolate candy. Any time someone handed him a piece of chocolate he would tell the person, "no that has milk in it" and then he would take the candy out of his bucket and hand it back to the person or push the person's hand away before they could place the candy into his bucket. A few times I was a little embarrassed by this, but most people didn't seem to mind having their hands pushed away. They laughed about it and were impressed that Landon knew the difference between the candy with milk and the milk free candy. All of the time that I spend educating Landon on his allergy has really paid off. It was nice seeing this first hand on Halloween. Every time we go to the grocery store I point out different types of food that Landon can and can not have. I educate him on the dangers that milk poses to his body. Let's face it, Landon is safer sitting next to a pit bull than he is sitting next to a glass of milk. It is so important that Landon understands this and it was so rewarding to see it pay off on Halloween night, even if it meant less candy for Mommy! 

I was able to get a few photos of Landon trick-or-treating at the mall the night before Halloween, but forgot the camera card. I don't think I'm meant to share Halloween pictures of any kind! I'll post this and work on getting some pictures from that night up soon.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone! 

I will get a Halloween post up as soon as possible with the most adorable Woody that you have ever laid eyes on.

Science Experiments

I was reading a book to Landon and in the book Spider Man and the Hulk were conducting science experiments of some sort. They mixed blue and yellow vials together to get a green potion. Landon asked if he could make some too. I wracked my mommy brain real quick and told Landon that we could in fact make green potion. I filled two cups with water. Yellow food coloring was added to one and blue food coloring to the other one. I had Landon mix the two together. 

Landon found the end result to be rather tasty. I didn't have the heart to break it to him that it was just regular water!

 

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Day....

after day....

Landon had to sit like this at the front door because of all of the rain. Every now and then there would be a slight break in the storms and he could go outside for a  quick minute. 

 After about the fourth day of straight rain I couldn't take seeing him sit by the door any longer so he was allowed out with the use of an umbrella. Sometimes you just have to play in the rain!

Lotion Mayhem

 When you give a child an inch, they take a mile....

This mess that Landon got himself into reminded me of this post. Someone really should be watching this kid during the day! This time Landon upgraded from markers and got himself into a much harder to clean mess. He managed to get almost an entire container of lotion all over his body. Even after being bathed he was still incredibly oily. I decided to keep him busy the remainder of the evening and he made a pumpkin. 

Leftover Chicken Solution

I throw out so much food at the end of the week that it almost always makes me want to cry. I hate how much food I have to constantly throw out. There's only so much that Landon and I can eat at dinner time and it's so hard for me to cook for 1 1/2. The one thing I hate throwing out the most is leftover rotisserie chicken. After two days or so I am having to throw out at least half of a chicken. It's so wasteful, but you can only eat the same chicken for so long without getting tired of it. Every now and then I will take the chicken and put taco seasoning on it and freeze it for whenever I am in the mood for tacos (Landon won't eat them). I finally came across a solution that Landon absolutely loves. I pull the chicken apart and mix it with barbecue sauce. I then take crescent rolls and roll them out. I place the chicken onto the crescent rolls and wrap them up in a pigs in a blanket fashion. I will usually top my portions with cheddar cheese before rolling them up. Landon devoured them. I couldn't believe how much he loved these chickens in a blanket. It took me by surprise because I've made him pigs in a blanket before and he has never eaten them. I'm so happy that I finally found a solution for all of the left over chicken that I usually throw out. The only problem is the fact that I can't open up the crescent roll canisters. I have a serious phobia when it comes to those things. I wish I could say I was kidding, but I'm not. I can't open those things without having a panic attack leading up to the popping sound. It's to the point where I buy rolls in resealable bags and pay outrageous prices for them. I just have to always plan on making these for Landon when someone else is around, which unfortunately is not very often. It's just more of an incentive for me to get back out there and find a husband...it'd be nice to have a biscuit canister popper around! And an extra plus if he cleaned the bathrooms and put the laundry away! That's not asking for too much, is it?!

Zebras!

I had an opportunity to take Landon to a preschool class at the zoo. He had a blast. The topic of the day was zebras. Landon even learned a little song that he still sings two weeks later! They couldn't fit a zebra into the classroom so they had two smaller animals for show and tell. Some African snake of some sort. I'm fuzzy on the details because I am trying to block out the image of a snake being within inches of me! Landon actually touched the snake, but I passed.

They then brought out a black and white rabbit for the kids to touch as well. Landon started sneezing afterwards so I guess there will never be any pet rabbits in our house.

I think we both liked the craft portion the best. Landon and I are always doing little art projects at home so we were equally excited to be making a bobble head zebra. 

 

T-I-Double Guh- Err!

Landon came across his second Halloween costume and insisted on putting it on. He didn't care that it was a size 18 months and that he currently wears a 3T- 4T. He squeezed himself into it and bounced around the house for several days as Tigger. 

                       

Rock Star Landon

Landon loves playing with his guitar that he received from his Aunt Keyko on his last birthday. Lately, Landon has been making up songs to sing along with the guitar. I wouldn't exactly call what Landon does singing- it's more like yelling the same phrase over and over again. I still find it incredibly cute. I guess that's why I'm called Mommy! I especially loved his foot tapping and his jump at the end of his "song"!

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We recently took Landon to the pumpkin patch that we have been going to since his very first Halloween. You can see the previous posts here, here, and here! I love looking back on some of the pictures that are taken on the same props year after year; even if they make me teary eyed! 

Landon had a blast this year picking out his pumpkins. We told him that he could pick out three pumpkins, but somehow he managed to bring four home! 

The fourth pumpkin was the one that Landon went nuts over. He was so happy to have found this pumpkin. It was actually being used as a prop for a photo spot, but Landon picked it up and started hugging it. Kevin didn't want to cause Landon to stop smiling so that fourth pumpkin was added to the wagon. Once we came home Landon helped Daddy to line all of the pumpkins up onto the table. Later on, Landon told me that they were "Daddy, Mommy, Landon, and Tinkie." How silly of Daddy and Mommy to forget about a Tinkie pumpkin....I guess it was a good thing that Landon remembered! 

 

I can't stop thinking about all of the pumpkin baking possibilities now that there are pumpkins sitting on my dining room table. I love anything pumpkin- pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes (Landon has been asking for these for about three weeks now), pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. The possibilities are endless. I can't wait to start baking some pumpkin goodies this week!  I'm going to end this with a few more pictures and then start pulling out the cook books!