Just a happy day today.

Played with Landon, cleaned up the house, spent some time outside, watched the BYU devotional, had lunch with Jordan... a fun day. :)

And, we watched Paul this afternoon too. It was so fun to watch him and Landon playing. For about 30 minutes, I sat up in Landon's room with them as they followed each other around. One would go to jump on the car bed and look out the window, and the other would be right behind. Then one would go jump on the mattress in the munchkin room and the other would chase behind them, giggling. Pretty cute, these boys!

Our neighbor, James, came over and chopped down more of the remaining pine tree, and hacked at the roots for a long time with Jordan. The boys just played around in the back yard - climbing on the toy motorcycle, sneaking into the shed, eating dirt, bouncing balls - just having  a grand old time.  And, since it's the end of the month - we took advantage of our starving student card and had a fun free pizza and breadstick dinner. 

Oh, and it has just been so beautiful lately. It seems like we have gotten a much longer Fall than usual, and I am just loving it. Gorgeous colors on the trees, falling leaves, lots of clear days and warm weather - so nice!

Well,  I'm blogging while Jordan does his Turkey Trot strength work out.  So far, he's got 20 super tough leg lifts and 10 pushups. Now he's cooling off doing crunches in the open doorway.

Tonight, I was reminded that I have more to learn to be a perfect mom. 

We went to the Leopard release celebration at BYU with Drew and Nathan.  It was pretty silly and fun - they had all sorts of little drawings and games and we even won 2 stuffed Leopards for Landon, though we didn't leave with a free (or purchased) Operating System. 

Landon, of course, was pretty wild during the whole thing. People everywhere, 2 flights of stairs to race up and down, all you can eat cookies and apple juice... he was a happy, energetic, wild boy! 

Unfortunately, when it came time to go, our bike trailer had a flat, so Jordan had to ride home to get the car and come back for Landon and me. This is where my mom-ness wore out. Landon was totally wired, had already thrown up cookies twice, and was running and climbing as fast as he could. After about 30 minutes of this (Jordan had some trouble with the car alarm once he got home...), I ended up in the HFAC basement where I had no reception so Jordan couldn't call to tell me he was there to get us. I finally made it up out of the basement, completely exhausted from guiding, manuevering, and carrying the kicking/fighting Landon to get where we needed to go. So when I finally talked to Jordan, though he was back and minutes away, I was in tears and exhausted!!

But, of course, Jordan took over and got us all home safe and sound and even got Nathan to come and stay here with Landon after I put him to bed. Then, Jordan took me out for a nice relaxing Los Hermanos treat. Now, we're home and our little one is sweetly sleeping - so easy to forget when I see him sleeping so sweetly of what a wild little one he can be!

So, that was the crazy Friday night!!!

But, as for sleep...

We are trying out a new sleeping technique for Landon: we moved him back to his car bed, and every time he gets out of bed, we just quietly put him back to bed. So, the first night, we did this 42 times throughout the night between 10:45 and 5:30. But, last night --- just twice! Could it really be that easy? 14 months of sleeplessness and could it really be that one of these nights we will sleep, sleep, sleep??? :)

Jordan and I have been learning about Pakistan. Our ward has a new enrichment group that studies and researches a new topic each month, and this month is Pakistan. I've never learned or known much at all about the middle east, so it has been really interesting and fun. I watched Gandhi for the first time and we've been reading a book together... I often miss school and the constant learning, but it seems hard to study in that school-way when you are not a student. So, this has been a lot of fun for me. 

This week, Landon went over to my piano students' house during my lessons. He loves playing with them, and it's super nice for  me not to have to plan things just perfectly to try and get him napping during that time. 

We celebrated our Anniversary this week with a simple celebration. We had a fun lunch together at Brick Oven, went and saw a movie, and had a fun homemade lasagna dinner. Nice and simple, and wonderful to celebrate our happy life together. 

A Snowy Work Day

 Today was the first snowfall of the year! It was super stormy all through the day, raining a bit, hailing a bit, slushing and sleeting a bit, and then snowing! We'd gone out to dinner to Village Inn with Nathan after a long day's work and Jordan and Nathan took Landon outside to experience the snow first hand. :)

Our new neighbor stopped by today and said "I've got a few hours, do you want to take down your tree?" So, of course, Jordan agreed and we spent the afternoon filling our back yard with pine branches! It was pretty fun, though scary, to watch our neighbor so high up in the tree as he chopped it down branch by branch. Their three-year-old came over for a little while and played up in the play house with Landon. Both of the boys had a blast climbing over the carpet roll and over the table and stools and such.  Our back yard seems like such a different place now without that huge tree there. It's nice and open, but maybe just a little too open for right now. We're looking forward to planting a fun tree in to take the place of this one. And, once we get all of the mess cleaned up, hooray for no more pine needles from that tree! Though, it does seem just a little sad to think that there was a perfectly good pine tree, just growing and growing away as hard as it could - and suddenly chopped down! Hmmm...

We went to a fun Elders Quorum Activity game night last night. Landon had a good time playing with balls and climbing up on all of the chairs and tables. We had fun talking to people in the ward and Jordan even found somebody who was eager to play Carcassone!

That's all for now. 

More from Mr. Mischief, and just the day

This afternoon, I stopped by my Mom's new apartment with Landon. She had a kitchen chair out near her sink - and just the right height for Landon. He climbed up and spent the 30 minutes we were there playing with a few spoons in the sinks. As soon as he got home, he began experimenting with climbing on our chairs. He soon found that with a little help from the stool, he could not only get up onto the chair, but in the right position, he could make it all the way up to the counter.

Uh-oh.

I made applesauce tonight with a bag full of apples from Dad and Shauna's apple trees. I was amazed that an entire grocery sack full made just 6 1/2 cups! But, hopefully it will be delicious and worth the bit of work. 

Yesterday, we worked on cutting back all of the grape ivy along our side fence. It was fun work to do together, and we also got to meet our new neighbors while he was cutting down many of the branches of their apple tree. He's done a lot of landscaping, so we're excited to get his opinion on how to improve our yard, especially the corner island. He even offered to spend a Saturday with Jordan cutting down the giant pine tree in our backyard when we mentioned wanting to someday replace it with a more-fun tree. 

Still having sleep troubles with Landon. Last night, Jordan took the whole night shift and kept Landon near him in bed so that I could sleep. Tonight, we've been trying since just after 7:00 to get him down, but he just lays there dozing right off, then pop! his eyes open right up and he's wide awake again. We'll see what we can come up with...

Adventuring

We've had quite an adventurous weekend so far! Let's see...

On Friday night, we went out to eat to Brick Oven for our date night. Landon was the BEST he has been at a restaurant since he was about 2 or 3 weeks old. It was the first time in a long time that we had gone out to eat and got to visit more with each other and enjoy our own food rather than just trying to keep Landon calm and happy. Such fun! He just got a kick out of pouring the ice water down his front  through the straw hole in the kids cup the waiter brought. And, he did a great job practicing "please", instead of yelling at us through dinner. :)

After dinner, we took Landon to the Bean Museum and then stopped at the Creamery for Ice Cream. Trying to put Landon to bed after such an adventure was a bit of a struggle, but quite amusing. He was so tired, but kept spitting out his bink to roar like the bears and lions he'd seen, or to lick his hands for the last bits of remaining ice cream...

Today we had a hard working morning putting the baseboards back on. It's such a small thing, but of all our projects, it seems to be one of the most time consuming because of all the steps it takes. But, it's made such a nice difference to have that final touch complete in a lot of places. Landon was watching his Baby Einstein movie most of the morning, and he was so into it, that we were able to get a lot done. I've felt just a little guilty, because I'm not so sure he ought to watch the movie as much as he wants to. But, on the other hand, it is so nice to have something that keeps his attention for a little while and lets me get some things done! I guess that' s why kids watch so many hours of tv everyday!

This afternoon, Jordan and I each made a list of what fun things we would like to do, and then we filled our afternoon and evening with all those things! We went to the track (had to go to the outdoor one in the rain since the Smith Field House was closed) and Jordan ran his 1 mile - in 7 minutes and 18 seconds - Hooray for Jordan! Landon had a blast running all around on the track and on the lawn, but just before we were leaving,  managed to crawl/fall right into a hole filled with yucky water. 

Then, we had a delicious Brazilian dinner - our yummy rice with black beans and some cochina's picked up from Bona Brazil - so delish!

After dinner, we took Landon to Chuck E Cheese! We weren't sure what he'd think of it, but he really liked it. He rode in a moving jeep and on a clock thing that just lifted him around in a circle as he sat in a chair, he chased other little kids around a bit and watched and watched and watched. He played with the ski-ball balls and one of the arcade games with no tokens... He just had  a great time. It's fun, now that he shows some definite preferences, to try and think of things to do that he will like to do. 

And, to top off the night of adventures for our little Landon, we stopped at Macey's. While I went to get ice cream cones, Jordan rode Landon around in one of the car carts. Coming around an aisle and seeing him sitting in the little car just smiling away, I told Jordan - Landon is going to think he has died and gone to heaven! What a happy little guy!

Then, another hour or two of work tonight on cleaning things up for Sunday and finishing up more baseboard work. 

Phew! What a weekend!

Our ever-learning boy!

We've been trying to teach Landon to sign please, and today we found success! I was feeding him cinnamon toast crunch (when I couldn't decide what to make us for lunch... :) and he started yelling for more. When I asked him to say please, he did! And then he did it again and again and again and all through the day whenever we tried it again his hands went straight up. So cute!

We had a campfire tonight in our backyard. We went on a walk to Macey's for matches and such, then Jordan built us a great fire out on our patio, and we sat around it and roasted some marshmallows for smores, and just enjoyed having a fun campfire in our backyard. :) Landon even managed to stay burn-free.

Landon is hooked on Baby Einstein World Animals. I'd tried to show him the Baby Einstein movies when he was littler, but he wasn't interested at all. Now, he stands right at the t.v. - just enthralled. However, he enjoys the movie much more with a watching-buddy, so every little bit he has to come and get me and push, pull, or otherwise move me into position right in front of the t.v. with him on my lap. 

Tuesday, October 9th

Today...

We went for a drive up Provo Canyon tonight to see the fall leaves. We'd tried to go several times before and it turned out that it was a little late because many of the trees had lost their leaves or were already brown. But, it was still lovely with lots of golden leaves and striking evergreen trees. 

We are trying to figure out how to teach Landon not to scream for whatever he wants. So far, our best option (next to squirting him with water each time he screams) seems to be teaching him to say please or sign please. So, we've been working at that, but with no success yet - hopefully soon! 

Jordan suprised me with Tuesday flowers today. Beautiful, happy, yellow daisies. 

I had set Landon into his car bed this afternoon for a nap, when I realized that I left his bink downstairs. I ran down to get it and came back to find Landon sitting, happily, on top of his changing table looking at a book I had left there!

Nathan's coming over in a few minutes to work with Jordan on a homework lab, so now I'm off to find some fun! :)

Monday, Monday

Another beautiful day - 

Spent a lot of time outside in the backyard raking up pine needles and letting Landon run around. He had fun playing with the lid of the green bin, as if it were a movable tunnel or fort or something. Those pine needles seem to be an endless job though! We hope sometime we can take out the biggest tree in the middle and plant something more fun like a cherry tree, or a walnut tree for Jordan. 

Went for a fun walk downtown with Jordan at lunch - we stopped at the new Provo Arts Center and asked about what they have going on - had a 'sneak peak' at the perfomance hall even. :)

Had a piano lesson with Emma - and thankfully got Landon to nap through the whole thing. Emma is fun to teach because she is so excited to learn and is really good at practicing - the only thing is trying to end piano lessons because she would stay and play all afternoon if she could.

Made pumpkin casserole for dinner tonight in celebration of the beautiful fall we are enjoying, went on a short bike ride/run and took Landon to the park - such fun! Oh, what a precious boy! And, lastly, had Family Home Evening together. 

Now, I'm going to go get Jordan to come and help me with our storage room. I took everything out to get to our winter clothes, and our room has looked like a tornado struck for the past few days. Time to get things cleaned up! 

Conference Sunday

This weekend we had our first experience watching Conference with a toddler - not quite the sit back and relax experience of the past, but oh, so fun.  Nathan came over yesterday and Drew went w/ Jordan to the Priesthood Session, then Jen and Kel came over for the afternoon session today. 

This afternoon, Jordan worked on the Turkey-Trot Training website some more, then after Conference, we all went for a walk around our neighborhood to show Jen and Kel the new school they just built a few blocks away. Landon was in rock-heaven walking around the unfinished grounds of the school!

 Later, we went for a short little hike up Rock Canyon to enjoy the beautiful, beautiful day some more just before the sun was going down. So many colors right now - with the great rocks, the green, red, yellow, orange, purple leaves, crisp blue sky - so wonderful. And little Landon had a blast picking up rocks, pulling at weeds and running as fast as his feet could carry him down the hill - with Jordan running along side him and saving him from falls all along the way. :) 

Put Landon down to bed after dinner and our fist family prayer and scripture study (trying Portuguese again...) - and oh, how sweet it is to put him down. Since he is in his new bed, I have to sit beside him until he goes to sleep or he will get up and play. Even though it takes a lot more time now, it is such a sweet time and I have put off trying to train him to go to sleep by himself because it is so precious to sit there with him as he drifts off to sleep.  

Now, Jordan is working on the dishes because - so sad!! - our dishwasher broke last night! We are definitely hoping that is a fixable and not super costly repair because neither of us are so into doing dishes. 

A lovely day!