Weeds

I HATE weeds. I never realized it till we got to Texas. Well, I never had to worry about it till we became home owners. One good things about some of the weeds, they do produce some pretty flowers, well maybe these aren't weeds, maybe they are wildflowers? I have no idea. They keep sprouting up in my back yard, and as angry as weeds make me, it's hard to be mad when they bloom some pretty little flowers. They do add a splash of color to our semi-grassed backyard.

A cute little bird decided to make a nest in one of my hanging baskets over my back porch. A few times, before I knew it was there, I would walk outside and a bird would fly over my head. It Scared the living day lights out of me the few times it happened. Then one day I looked and realized why. Hmph! Silly bird. The eggs hatched today, cute/ugly little things living in there, pretty neat though, as long as they don't poop on me when I go out back. ( I would have taken pictures BUT I CAN'T FIND MY CAMERA and it's killing me. Anyone seen a burnt orange fuji film camera?? my guess, LANDON??)

Sleepy Monday

Monday's are Mondays. Today was just a tired one. I didn't get much sleep last night. Greg got a phone call from one of his friends and they talked for a while, then Greg and I talked for a while. Then we went to bed, I was constantly being awakened. Either by thunder, lightning and wind or Greg snoring, oh yeah Landon crying. Next thing I know my phone was going off telling me it was 5am. Crap! I nearly slept through it going off I was so tired. When I woke Landon up this morning he whinned at me, "no mommy, stay in bed." Geez, I guess I wasn't the only one who was dragging butt.

Landon and I were watching Dancing With the Stars tonight while Greg was studying. I've been in to it lately, they are all really good and I am super dissapointed that Melissa got hurt and didn't/wasn't able to dance. I really hope she gets better and doesn't get the boot, maybe I need to vote huh? Anywho, Landon was really enjoying it, he started dancing along, spinning and twirling with his hands out and then BAM he fell into the TV stand thing. Nice big ol mark along his cheek. Poor baby. I had to put his boo boo bear on it. He cried and cuddled for a bit, I am sure it is going to bruise. I felt really bad, I hate it when he gets hurt like that, his painful cry breaks my heart.

Tomorrow is Greg's big day. Good Luck Greg, Landon and I love you lots and I am sure you will do great!!!!

I love my family

We are sitting here enjoying our Sunday evening. We just finished watching Amazing Race and watching the sky turn a weird shade of yellow-orange. We are in a tornado warning/watch. We are supposed to get some storms tonight. It is barely sprinkling and there is a pretty rainbow out our back door, and Landon is fascinated by it. What isn't Landon fascinated by? Right now there are so many things he just loves. It amazes me every day the things he remembers, and watching him study his little books, squinting his eyebrows together and asking lots of questions. I love seeing how happy he gets when he see's something he loves or is interested in.

We had a productive day today. Greg hung a towel rack in our spare bathroom, a curtain rod in Landon's room and a few hooks for towels in our bathroom. I feel like our house is becoming more "homey" every day. It is days like today when we do so much stuff as a family (we always do lots of stuff as a family though) that I feel so blessed and lucky to have such an amazing husband and son. I love them both to pieces.

These are the curtains I had in Landon's room in Germany. I JUST now hung them today. Greg says in the pictures they look pink, they are RED gingham. I have to wait till Target get's the pull backs that match the balls we got for the end of the rods. I may have to order them online then I will fix how they hang.

Yesterday was Landon and I's day together. Greg was at work so we ran errands. We went to Kohls to shop around. I bought some towels and a shirt. Then we went to Walmart for a few odds and ends and the stopped at McDonalds for lunch. It is of course Landon's favorite place. What child doesn't love McDonalds? The picture below is Landon whenever we go anywhere. ALWAYS has two sharks/whales in his hands. As soon as he gets in the car I have to turn on Shark Tale. He is then Mr. Happy.

We came home to eat and Landon dug right in to his nuggets, BUT, check out how he eats them, it cracks Greg and I up...

I don't know why but he will eat the outside off and then after eat the chicken. He is so silly. Has anyone else ever seen this? Probably only Landon.

Greg tests for TSGT on Tuesday. I hope he does well, keep him in your thoughts and prayers on this day, this is his first time testing for TSGT and it's usually hard to make on the first time. They find out who made it some time this summer.

I hope everyone had as great of a weekend as we did. I hope this week is just as great. I am so lucky to have such an amazing family, I know I've already said that, I just wanted to say it again!!!

A little of this, a little of that

I've probably sat down about ten times this past week with intentions of blogging and I will go read someones blog, then I read another, and another and next thing I know I have been on here for an hour, no blog written and my husband is getting after me. Oops! Why is it so addicting to go and read other people's blogs?

This was a pretty fast week. I can't believe the weekend is already here, AND Saturday is almost over. I just woke up from a glorious two hour couch nap. I feel GREAT! My leg was a little tingly and numb from sleeping on it for so long and not moving. I haven't taken a nap in FOREVER it seems. Landon is still snoozing so I am hoping to get this done before the prince awakens.

I had a staff meeting one night this week after work. Of course Greg was working so I had to taken Landon over to a co-workers house so her sister could watch him. There were two other kids there, I guess Landon cried, he's been very clingy here this week and I am not sure why. That night he DID NOT sleep well and was having a hard time seperating at school. He seems better now. I guess he was just not happy mommy left him. He is so set in his routine when it gets thrown off he HATES it and lets me know. He's been doing really well at school. He got chomped on the wrist yesterday by a classmate. It doesn't seem to bother him, which I am glad. He went through a biting spell and I am so happy that it stopped. It never really got bad, THANK GOD!

We went to a Birthday party last night. The weather here in Texas is already hot. It goes from one extreme to the next. We can never have those perfect spring days, nope, it always has to go straight to the 90's here. Anywho, they had a big water slide at the party. Landon was too scared of it but he enjoyed playing in the pool at the bottom. Here are some pictures below.

Of course Landon had a shark in each hand!

We are already training him young to do push ups. Ha! He was copying the older kids, they were laying on the hot ground to warm up.

Landon and Zoey had fun splashing and running through the puddles. They then grabbed the hose and began getting the big kids that came down the slide wet. It was really cute. Landon nose dived in the mud and grass, It was really funny. He even chuckled and came to me and said, "mommy, clean my hands please." For some reason he is obssessed with having his hands CLEAN! WEIRD!!!! Boy did he sleep like a champ last night. He loved the water and I can't wait till the pools open to take him swimming.

I did some running outside this week, it was very warm out that day. It felt soooo good to run. Greg and I did two miles. It is definetly different running outside in the heat than on my treadmil.

Next weekend is Greg and I's anniversary gettaway weekend. I am VERY nervous about leaving Landon. Not leaving him, but I've never been away from him over night. It will be good for all of us. (Landon just woke up, yelling "come on mommy!" hahaha) (He woke up in a great mood, I love that) Greg and I definetly need some time together alone, it is going to be lots of fun. A baseball game AND a hotel, wow! I can't wait...

Yard Work Yard Work Yard Work

Today was a busy day of yard work. Maybe I need to re-phrase that, it was a busy day in our JUNGLE! Gosh I am really annoyed with weeds right now. I can't believe how fast they grow here. The right side of our backyard was just covered with weeds, and lots of pretty wildflowers, some of the weeds, I think they are called Thissle, were as tall as me. There were spiders crawling out, BIG HUGE TEXAS spiders, eek! Good thing it rained this week, it loosened the soil up which made it a little easier for us to pull the weeds out. I had to use my WHOLE BODY to get them out. Holy cow. It didn't take Greg and I very long. Landon was napping. Landon woke up after we were done with the back yard. We got it mowed and everything, now it feels and looks great out there. We also planted a tree that we got LAST year! It was still sitting in the bucket thing it came in. Poor thing, looks good though. I'll take some pictures tomorrow. When we were done we BBQ'd some burgers. Yummy.

My stomach isn't feeling very good. I hope I am not getting a stomach bug. UGH why do I always seem to get them? man, hopefully it is just I got too much sun and stuff. Sounds good right??

You know this past week Landon has slept GREAT! I haven't felt so refreshed in the morning in soooo long. I sure can get used to this. Landon is also in such a good mood. He hasn't been having any melt downs, if he does they are small ones that are easily fixed, and he has just been so happy go lucky, cuddly, playful and funny. I love it. I hope this continues, I feel like a better mom and person when I get sleep, uninterrupted sleep at that! Hope everyone had a great weekend and hope this week is a good one. I am going to try to make it to the gym all 5 days this week. I want to get some outdoor running in AND try to keep my hand out of the sweets, I'VE GOT to loose some weight...

Tons of Fun

Gosh what a beautiful day it was today. I mean it was PERFECT weather outside. It was sunny, a slight breeze and about 76 degrees. AWESOME! We went to Zoey's 3rd Birthday party today. They had a bouncy castle and all. Greg and I couldn't get Landon out of it. He absolutly LOVED it. He giggled and laughed and bounced and had a blast. His poor cheeks, his entire face at that, was BEAT red. I had to go in after him to get him to actually come out and take a juice break. After a short juice break he was right at it again. He was really happy when one of his teacher's Miss Judy arrived. He was in the castle and pointed to her with the biggest grin ever and said "Miss Judy mommy!" It was tooo stinkin cute.

Lots of girls from work came. It was really nice to visit with everyone out side of work. I think we need to have parties or get togethers like this more often. It was a lot of fun.

Zoey was so cute. Look at her blowing out her candles. It was hard to get the kiddos out of the castle to come sing, but once they heard ICECREAM and cupcakes they came running. When it was time to open gifts all the kids were super excited, after a few, Zoey was ready to go play. She got a ton of stuff!!!!!

It was funny because Aften said Zoey didn't have any Barbies and she wasn't going to buy her any, something along those lines, so OF COURSE everyone had to go and buy her some Barbies. I think Zoey got 10 of them!!!!

We are all super worn out, Greg is snoring on the couch, Landon is half awake and watching Sponge Bob. I need to go and give Landon a good scrub down. I think he should sleep good tonight. I hope tomorrow is as beautiful as today. We've got yard work to do and I would really like to plant some trees/shrubs in the back yard tomorrow. We also need to clean out the garage. Today we took my car trunk full of stuff to the Salvation Army. Oh yeah, I was looking back through my posts and it seems Landon ALWAYS has a dirty face or chocolate on his face. I PROMISE I do clean my childs face and bathe him. I dont' want you guys to think I don't. He is a toddler and a boy, I think some of the cutest pictures are when he is dirty and those always seem to be the ones I choose!!!!

What a week!

Gosh I've been wanting to get on here every night to post but I've just been way too tired. I sit down and I look at the clock and I just go get in bed. Getting up early is tiring, but I love the hours I am working right now.

I finally got my cell phone back. Thanks Kenny for mailing it to me. I now feel back in the "loop" of things. I don't feel so naked either. How weird is that.

Today at work, and school for Landon, we had a ladybug release and the annual Month of the Military Child parade. It was beautiful today, perfect for being outside. We got some much needed rain last night, and I think we may get more tonight. Anyways, all week all the classes have been observing ladybugs. We changed their food and water daily, talked about ladybugs, did lots of ladybug projects and today we let the ladybugs go. Landon really enjoyed it. He giggled and screamed. He was brave and held them, they didn't last long once you picked them up, they flew away!

After the ladybugs we got ready for the parade. There was a school marching band, A fire truck and Sparky, Mcgruff, the Golden Chick chicken and all the kiddos, ages 6 weeks to 5! We marched around the front of the Child Development Center. All the parents watched and took pictures and the kids proudly marched. Before lining up for the parade the preschoolers were out on the playground and the band was warming up right in front of us. Of course Landon HAD to be in preschool with mommy. As he says "mommy's class." He LOVED watching the band. He danced a little but just stood and watched them.

A few other updates:

~ Landon is still doing well with potty traning. He rarely, knock on wood, has potty accidents. We are still working on the pooping thing. But tonight and Wed night he went on the potty. He told me "mommy, Landon scared, hold me" when he was going. So sad. But we are still going strong! Way to go Landon.

~ Landon's sleep issues are good. He's been sleeping A LOT better. We've noticed this week that he is crying for a sec and going back to sleep. And he isn't waking up an hour after he goes to sleep, it's been like 3 hours now and he'll go right back to sleep! Hey, that is progress to me. Hopefully it will stop all together VERY soon. He pretty much crawls in bed and goes right to sleep.

~ Yes I am still going to the gym. I have still been running. I usually do around 2-3 miles or so. Greg and I were going to run on the outdoor track yesterday but of course it rained. It feel so good to go the gym. Some days I just don't want to go, but then when I am done I am so happy that I went. I feel so much better.

Well I need to get to bed, I am very tired and I have one of those tired headaches. We have Zoey's Birthday party tomorrow which we are really excited about. I am also thinking we are going to get some more yard work done. I have some ideas as to how I want to do the back. I just hope it doesn't rain.....

Cell Phone-less

Oh my gosh, I left my cell phone at Greg's parents house on Sunday. I realized it about 30 min out. We didn't want to turn around. No biggie right, we called Greg's parents and they said they'd mail it. Cool!

Holy cow, I did NOT realize how much I use my cell phone. My teenage years I didn't have a cell phone, for that matter, I didn't even have a pager! ha! Greg and I never really had our own cell phone before we were married and moved to Germany. We had one from his dad, but never really used it. When we were in Germany we didn't get one till I was pregnant. We bought a prepaid one for me to have on hand just in case something happened. Again, we NEVER used it. When we moved to Texas it took us about 4 months before we got cell phones.

Now that I am without cell phone I did not realize how much I used that sucker. I use it for my alarm clock in the morning, I use it to check the time all the time. I use it for a night light when I have to walk through the house when Landon and Greg are sleeping, I use it for my calendar and appointments. We have our home phone set up for only local calls since we have such a great plan with our cell phones. I never realized how much I texted and relied on texting for communicating. Greg wants me to have the cell phone back, he says he doesn't like me not having it. Meaning, when he forgets something at work he can leave me a text or message and I can come to his rescue, ahhh, I hope my phone arrives soon....

Lots and Lots of Pictures

Happy Easter everyone. We had a really fun weekend. I am pretty worn out actually. I guess it doesn't help when you are getting sick. Our weekend started off with a Easter Egg hunt at school. And then when I got off work we hit the road for Austin. The drive through the Hill Country is always pretty, especially this time of year. The wildflowers are just beautiful. We arrived around 930. Landon was full of energy and ready to go. He played for a little bit and then we all went to sleep. Greg and I were both extremely exhausted from the week and the drive, and of course Landon DID NOT sleep well. He never seems to sleep good when we are some where else. Maybe it was his pack and play. I think he is getting to big for it. We even tried plopping him in bed with us, nope! So Saturday we all woke up a little grouchy and tired. But that didn't stop us from shopping and getting some Fajita's.

Alex, Jen and Ava arrived that afternoon. We all went to eat dinner at The Salt Lick. It is a BBQ joint. Very basic BBQ but very good. The peach cobbler, OH MY, it was so good. Landon enjoyed it as well.

After eating we came home and dyed the eggs. Landon LOVED it, he thought he was "cooking" the eggs. He splashed the eggs around, stirred them, dipped them again! He did a dozen eggs, then when it was time for a bath, he was pissed! After calming him down he told Oma and I "Landon like cooking potato's!" Oh we laughed, he thought he was cooking potatos, silly boy. I love him so much.

The Easter Bunny arrived and left eggs and candy outside for Landon and Ava to find. Mommy and daddy left a little surprise for Landon too!!!

Landon got these adorable flip out dinosaur glasses. He put them on and then looked up at us. It was soo freakin cute.

Then it was outside to blow some bubbles, notice the paper boy hat, I LOVE that he wore it, well he wore it long enough for me to snap some pictures of him in it. Then it just ended up on the floor.

It was also Greg and I's 6th anniversary. I got Greg tickets to a Rangers game in May and I booked a hotel room for the night. My friend Aften is going to watch Landon over night so we can go and enjoy our selves and have a good time. He was so happy and surprised, I can't wait to go. I got a beautiful jewlery box from Greg. After lunch we drove to Wimberely to the bed and breakfast where we got married to look around. Turns out the place isn't being run by the same people so it looked VERY run down. It was kinda dissapointing for Greg and I. But it was nice to go there and talk about our Wedding day and re-live the memories of the special day. Plus we had Landon with us which it was kinda nice for him to go where we got married.

After our little drive it was time for dinner. Tina cooked all day, we had ham and everything else you could imagine. Landon helped set the table with daddy. Then it was apple pie and pumpkin cheese cake for dessert. Finally toward the end of the night Greg's cousin Rene' who is visiting from Germany gave him a tattoo. Greg got Landon's name tattooed on his right forearm. It looks really nice. Rene' did a awesome job. Greg didn't flinch once, he was a tough man!! hehe After all the festivities it was time for our drive home. It was a long drive home, Landon slept most of the way considering he DIDN'T nap all day. When we got home we had a nice package waiting on the door step from my dad and Alma. Inside Landon got some really cute books, which he LOVES by the way, and we got this AMAZING basket of chocolate goodies. OH MY! have you ever had chocolate dipped oreo's? Chocolate dipped Peeps? Wow, thanks Dad and Alma, it was a wonderful surprise and a tasty one at that. I am slowing making my way around the basket sampling everything!!!!!

Today was a nice day, I don't remember much since I was so tired. I do know I came home to a messy house with NO groceries, so Landon and I cleaned and made a trip to the store. He is already asleep, and I am dozing off here as I type, good night!!!

Easter Bunny

We are in Austin for the Easter weekend. We left last night when I got off of work. We decided to go shopping today. Our first stop, my favorite place, TARGET! This is a Target Greatland which makes it even better. As soon as we walked in we saw the Easter Bunny. Landon was excited until I went to set him on his lap. He calmed down once I gave him some chocolate. As you can see, the carrot is as big as he is!!!

Right now we are boiling eggs for dyeing tonight, Landon is taking a nap, which he HIGHLY needed and soon we are headed out to eat at The Salt Lick. We are going to get some good Texas BBQ. Happy Easter everyone!!!

Blown Away

Gosh the winds are terrible here in Abilene today. We had a pretty good dust/sand storm earlier, and now it's just plain windy. There are grass fires popping up everywhere around here. Makes me nervous again considering there is a big open piece of land behind us. This morning was beautiful. Then out of no where it hit us. When I got home from work I was about half way down my street and realized my trash can was there! It made it about half way down the block. (my street is not big at all) but it was laying there in the gutter on it's side. I am also not very bright, I left my small window above my kitchen sink open today. I always leave it cracked. Now there is a layer of DUST on EVERYTHING! ugh... I hope the wind stops or dies down. We have our Easter Egg hunt at school tomorrow. I'd hate for all of our eggs to be blown to one side of the play ground.

Speaking of Easter. We found out today Greg got Saturday off. We knew it was possible he might get the day off, and today we found out for sure. Sooo now that Greg has a three day weekend, whats the point of spending a holiday alone if we can go to families house? So looks like we are headed to Austin tomorrow when I get off of work. I am excited. It's also our anniversary on Sunday. We got married in a little town called Wimberley at a Bed and Breakfast. We are planning on driving to it and looking around. I am excited, I haven't been there in ages! It actually may have been 6 years!!!

Also Happy 50th Birthday to Tina!!!! (Greg's mom) Hope you have a wonderful birthday, I know you aren't feeling well though, that stinks. Hope everyone is having a good week so far. I know I am looking forward to the weekend like always!!!!

Happy Moments

This is going to be a picture less post but with some happy moments from my day today. First off I am soooo happy my mom finally started a blog. Now she can COMMENT (hint hint) on mine and I can read about stuff going on with her daily. Yay Mom!

A second happy exciting thing for me is that I FINALLY ran the 3 miles I've been wanting to run this afternoon. AND it wasn't that bad. I actually felt really great and accomplished when I was done. When I started running today I was ready to stop right away. I kept telling myself, just run a mile then walk, then I'd get to that point and say do 1.5 miles. And it just kept going that way. When I was at about 2.8miles I was sooo tired and wanted to stop, but I was so close. I just upped the speed and sprinted my way to 3 miles. yeeeehaw! I was so happy. Hopefully each day I can go longer and longer. I think my total time running the three miles then my cool off walk was 40min. I burned a good amount of calories as well. (that makes me happy too)

So my third happy moment today was when I was finished cleaning out my closets and doing laundry. My closet was jam packed. We could barely walk in to our walk in closet, it was bad. So I went in with some assistance from my big helper Landon and sorted through everything and got it back to a working walk in closet. I put about three loads of laundry away and wash and dried three more. I got a huge pile of stuff to take to Salvation Army tomorrow, lamps, magazine racks, clothes and all! I got all this done with my big helper helping me. After dinner we then tackled our coat and jacket closet in my mudd room. Shoes were thrown in, jackets tossed in there as well. Combat boots taking up lots of space, my winter boots taking up lots of space, it looked like a tornado hit. I put my winter shoes and Greg's combat boots away in our walk in closet since there is room in there. Which now means we have lots of room and you can see where you shoes are and find a jacket! WoohoO!

Between work, taking care of a two year old, running 3 miles and cleaning my booty off I am tired! Time to go and enjoy some quiet time while Landon is sleeping. Goodnight.......

Stuffed

Ohhh my gosh I am stuffed! I made a baked Rigitoni with Italian Sausage tonight for dinner. It was VERY cheesy and yummy. I just ate wayyyy to much. I can barely move. The back of my legs are super duper sore too from bending over and picking weeds yesterday. So I can barely walk from eating too much and sore legs. What a sight huh?

I got to go shopping for Landon's Easter basket today. I was all by myself and it was sooooo relaxing. It felt like it was just me and Target. I felt like there wasn't another person in the store! It WAS packed though, especially on the Easter Aisles. Landon's theme for his basket this year is Dinosaurs. I wanted Sharks but they are hard to find. I got him a stuffed Dinosaur that has bunny ears on it. Very cute. He will like it. I don't know why I am doing a "theme" I just started picking out dino stuff. Last year it was mostly Elmo and his first Easter it was Firetrucks. Check out the pictures below.

Landon's first time dying eggs. This was in Germany in 2007. We decorated eggs with the Yonkers family; Ryan, Krista and Mia. We miss them so much.

And below is Landon with his Easter goodies from Grammie and Poppa Bob. He was so small, about 5 months old.

This was Landon dying eggs last year at Oma and Opa's house in Austin. He was about 16 mos. Below he is sitting with his goodies from Grammie and Poppa Bob. Check out how long his hair was!

I couldn't blog with out having a picture with Landon and chocolate on his face.

This year for Easter Sunday I think it is just going to be us. Greg will get home from work Sunday morning. Sunday is also our Anniversary. I can't believe we will have been married for 6 years. There is a brunch on base that we might go to, we may have a small get together with Easter dinner. Who knows. For an Anniversary gift for Greg this year I am getting him Rangers tickets. I wanted to keep it a surprise but I wanted to make sure I picked the right seats and stuff. I'd hate to mess that up! It should be fun. The game we are planning on going to is the first weekend in May. We are also trying to decide if we are going to take Landon with us. I think he'd like it, we just aren't sure yet! Have a great week everyone, Love you all!!!