Interview with Landon

Yesterday Landon was in our room and I started asking him a few questions. It was so fun to watch him try to figure out his answers. He was very thoughtful about each one. (And when he is thinking, he taps his chin with one finger...the cutest thing ever.) Here are his answers.

What's your name? Landon

What's your whole name? (Shrugged Shoulders)

Us: Seth Landon Taft. Him: Oh yea. Seth Landon Taft

(It sounds little like it's written. It's more like Sep Landon Tapt)

How old are you? Three (while holding up three fingers)

What's your favorite color? Blue

What's your favorite animal? A Tiger

What's your favorite toy? My motorcycle (surprise surprise)

What's your favorite movie? Lightning McQueen

What's your favorite ice cream? Rocky Road (see evidence above)

What's your favorite food? Oatmeal (which sounds like Hoat-meal) and he would eat it three meals a day if he could. I know you like that, TL.

What's your favorite letter? (Lots of chin tapping on this one....) He held up a number 3 again and Scott and I both said, no a letter, not a number.

He said, a little exasperated, It's a W!!

Oh, right. It does look like a W as well as a three. :)

And my new least favorite thing he says.

I said, "Are you my boy?" and his response?

No, I'm daddy's boy. You're a girl. Darlin' is yours.

So, I guess for a while anyway, until he figures out that he can be a mommy's boy even though I'm a girl...I love him to pieces. He is so cute and it's so fun to watch him really grow and learn. Scott's been taking him out on the little 50 Honda teaching him all about throttle control. He's already got the steering down. I know his dad is itching to take off the training wheels. I don't know how I feel about that really-but I do know that I love my boy to pieces.

Reason number 247.....

why I am DESPERATE for grass.

A (nearly) 2 year old in a white outfit who finds a mud hole in the yard.

Thankfully we are working on it. Slowly but surely someday I will hear the Hallelujah chorus as I step out onto my green manicured lawn.

It's just not going to be today. Or next week. Or maybe even by the end of summer.

Until then....my payback is getting to clean her off with the hose. The water was freezing!!! (I did follow up with a warm bath. After all, I do still have a heart.

Happy Father's Day- 2009

I know it's a day late. But I didn't want Father's Day to pass without letting my kid's daddy know just how much he's loved.

I wanted to do something for Scott this year to compliment what we did last year. Remember this? Well, I decided to take the kids over to my parent's porch and take their pictures and try to frame them to go with the collage we did last year. Here's what we ended up with.

When I asked the kids to tell Scott one thing they loved about him here's what they came up with.

Parker: Because he's good at everything. (and then added-he's a really good motorcycle rider)

Pacie: Because he helps me with hard stuff.

Landon: Jesus. (??)

Presley: (Me- Do you love Daddy?) Yea. (Is Daddy nice?) Yea. Daddy nice.

Me: One thing I love is how he always makes sure we're taken care of.

Scott-you know there are infinite reasons why we love you. Thanks for being the best daddy to my kids that a girl could ask for. You really are your "son's first hero and your daughters' first love".

Here are a few "honorable mentions" that didn't make the cut-but pictures that I love and wanted to share anyway. (I didn't do any editing to them to remove shadows or anything..probably should have, but these are just the raw shots.)

A couple of Landon-isms

Yesterday during church there was a HUGE hail storm.  And they were big pieces of hail. They were piling up just outside Landon's classroom.  His teachers took them out into the hall to look at it coming down and Landon said, "Look!  It's raining ice cubes!"

Then when Parker went to pick him up-he exclaimed, happy as can be.  "Yesss!  It's MY Parker!"

Just didn't want to forget.

The Worst Day

It's been a while since I posted something.  And as sad as the following is-it was something that affected our whole family and something that was also a really hard parenting experience.  I'll try to keep it short.

The same day that school got out-things got hectic!  I did all of the festivities with the kids and then we came home to celebrate.  Scott's dad was in town so they were busy.  They also had plans to go riding later in the evening.  I got called to go and do some service by making 10 cheesecakes for a wedding reception.  No big deal.  Parker then got a call to go and play at a friend's house.

We rushed out the door to get her there and as I backed out, I noticed little Cleo, Pacie's new kitty on the sidewalk.  She was having what looked like a seizure and then she stopped.  I realized, a little too late as Parker and I looked on, that I had run over her and consequently, had killed her.  It was awful.

I rushed into the house to grab Scott (thank HEAVENS he was home) and told Parker to stay in the car.  

To abbreviate-all were very upset. Especially me (for having run it over) and Parker (having seen her die.)  

Scott buried her and I took Parker to her friend's.  And then I had to come home and tell Pacie the news.  I was bawling and told her that I ran over Cleo.  She just stroked my arm and said, "it's okay mommy."  I then had to clarify-Cleo was dead.  Tears and more tears and more tears. 

I explained to Pacie that I should've looked under the car before I left and that I had learned my lesson.  She was very sweet.  

That night, she was treated to a Sonic Slushy, a pedicure by mommy, and lots of love.

The next night, she was treated to a brand new little orange kitten which she named Sunny.

She woke up and told me:

" Mommy, I'm still upset about Cleo.  I know she is in the ground and she looks like she is sleeping.  And I know you learned your lesson."

Then headed out the door.

I learned another lesson that day.  Don't say anything to your kids that you don't want repeated back to you.  

We are all doing fine.  Just a really really hard mommy day. 

Please watch for a fun post coming soon. I promise, it won't be this depressing!

School's OUT for Summer!

The above are my girls best "jump for joy" pictures.  Gotta say, I love them.
I've had that trashy  "School's out" song in my head all day long.  Just because-well today it's true!!

I'm one of those moms who loves to have their kids home.  I like to ditch the schedules and just fly by the seats of our pants all summer long.  I've never been one that it too structured.

The girls both had wonderful years and it did go by really fast.  Pacie really enjoyed Kindergarten and her Oregon Duck loving teacher, Mr. Byrd.   Parker enjoyed her teacher, Mr. Cronin.  I will admit, I was a little nervous for  first year, male teachers-but I also have to say they both met my expectations.  After posting this, I realized that both of my girls are holding their hands in the same kind of nervous awkward way.  I LOVE it!

So here are the girls on the last day with their gifts for their teachers.  (It's a lot harder to shop for males I've found out.  We did Applebees giftcards and M&M's.)  I love the girl's tired faces too.  As you can see the nazi mom  who has to have her kids in bed by 8:30 is slipping by the wayside.

This is a tradition I started last year.  I decided to take their picture in front of their school on the last day of school every year.  So, here are the girls-Kindergarten and 1st grade graduates.  We're going to live up every second of summer that we can because I know that all too soon I will be posting first day of school pictures again.  Good job girls!  We are so proud of your report cards and all of your hard work this year!!!

We have SPIRIT-yes we DO!

Parker and Pacie had spirit week during the last weeks of school.  They were kind of random choices-but we made the best of what we had.

Day One: Sports Day

As we didn't have any Denver Broncos apparel for the girls, (Scott's jerseys were way too big on them) we went with one of Parker's motocross jerseys and Pacie went with one of her Uncle Matt's old gridkid jerseys.  They looked super cute.

Day 2 was Nerd Day.  After we got them dressed, I realized that they could be dressing more for "80's Day"-but like I said, we did the best we could.  Pacie was really hateful with the suspenders and Parker only wore the glasses for a bit.  But at least we got a good laugh out of them before they left.  ( I had to bribe Pacie to wear socks with her sandals.  She was not happy about it.)

Day 3:  PJ Day.  Easy and for some reason the kids love wearing their pajamas to school.  Maybe they feel like it's a little rebellious.

Day 4:  White t-shirt and jeans day.  Both of my girls were insistent that they had to wear jeans.  I convinced them that jean shorts were okay.  

The same day as white t-shirt day, Pacie had her zoo field trip.  Three times to the zoo for me in a weeks time.  It was fun though to be with her and watch her interact with her Kindergarten friends.  I know she will miss them and her teacher, Mr. Byrd.  Watch for the last day of school post to follow soon!  Presley also got to tag along.  We had a great day together.