"I have a tender heart" (says Landon :)

Here he is singing each of his animals to sleep one morning w/ his 'love you song' -->

Good morning Ellie girl!

On Tuesday, Ellie slept all night long for the first time ever! Hooray!!!

Ellie's First Haircut

Before --(such a big girl look!)After - (be careful not to look too close... :)

And such a cute little outfit (thank you Aunt April and Aunt Heather for the new wardrobe!)

Landon's new sweatshirt

We saw a cool dinosaur shirt at Target a few days ago that Landon loved, but it was only in toddler sizes. So, I found some sweatshirts for just about a dollar in the clearance and made him this one, which he just loves. He was so proud to show it off to Kelly last night when she came over to watch him (thank you Kelly!!) and to tell him the story of Mommy making it. :)

These are sweet days!

Wanting to help

I've been debating about using my personal money for these shoes for a while now, and was just about convinced it'd be a good purchase. (Jordan and I each get 'personal money' from our budget each month to do with what we want.) I'm still wearing my Chacos if there isn't too much snow on the ground...

(Photo from DeseretNews)

But, this morning as I was reading the news from Haiti and their desperate need for tents -- so that the people can have some kind of shelter -- I decided my fancy shoes can wait.

You can donate Here if you are so inclined. :)

A side note -- I've seen some pretty cool things in the craft-blogging world of people trying to do what they can to give help. Like this.

A boy full of great ideas

A typical moment from a conversation tonight --

(This week Landon and I are switching beds -- he's sleeping in our room while I sleep in his bed so that we can leave Ellie to cry-it-out more without Landon waking up...)

Can I sleep in your bed right now?

'You need to go to sleep in your own bed, But when you're all the way asleep, Daddy will come and get you so quietly and bring you to our bed to sleep the whole night!'

I have an idea!

Maybe I can go to sleep in your bed for a little bit, and then I can sleep in my own bed...

Or, from this afternoon

Mommy will you play with me?

'I need to do my work right now, but you can help me if you want.'

I have an idea!

Maybe you can play with me for a little bit, and then you can do your work...

-----

I'm so happy for these days when Landon's biggest hopes are usually for me or Jordan to play with him. We have a little FHE game I made where we would say ways to show love to each person in the family - Landon's turns go like this --

Daddy, hmm... I can show love to Daddy when I play with him.

Mommy... I can play with Mommy to help her be happy.

Ellie... I can show love when I play with her!

Landon... To make me happy, I can play with myself!

Getting to work

I've been attacking all of my junk drawers/boxes/bags/spaces again the past few days. So far, I've taken about three or four garbage bags full of stuff to DI and thrown out a few bags full as well. (And I think I finally have all of our Christmas stuff packed up too!) So nice to be getting things more organized and knowing where I'll be able to find all of these hidden treasures next time I need them. :)

I made this today to keep Ellie's hair clips together (Kathie and I made probably 2 dozen clippies just this summer and I think only 4 or 5 are still find-able) Now, they will hang so nicely inside of my cleaned out hair-things cubby!

A Happy Tuesday

After a week or so of yucky and grey days, we had a beautiful sun-shiny day yesterday and it felt so nice to have sunshine in our house, to breath fresh air and go adventuring and to just enjoy the lovely day and its happy moments!

Storytime at Orem library with Landon and Ellie (and amazingly avoiding a very near accident on the way)

A bikeride to the flower store on Jordan's lunchbreak ("Tuesday's are for flowers, don't you know?")

A rollerblading/running adventure after work along the river trail -- Landon even ran along with us for about half of the time

Ellie so excited to be practicing her walking (And Landon excited to go walking 'in Ellie's line' back and forth from me to Jordan with applause for him equal to Ellie's)

Making Chicken and Dumplings for dinner with Landon's help and Ellie (amazing!) playing happily on her own for a bit

Going to book group and listening to stories from the sweet ladies in my ward

Drawing pictures

Ever since I tried to draw a dog for Landon, and he wasn't able to recognize it, I've been trying to improve my drawing skills. I've always thought that I was kind of artistic, except for the fact that 'I can't draw at all'. Well, now I'm learning! I was coloring for Landon yesterday and he was thrilled to know that these pictures were all for him.

"Look at how beautiful they are!"

(Landon's been loving beautiful things lately -- walking around upstairs in Nordstroms "I want to stay up here -- it's so beautiful!" or eyeing Ellie's cupcakes "How beautiful those are!" But, yesterday he was in a grumpy mood. Trying to get his mind on other things, I started telling him about the beautiful, clean, blue-sky sunshiny day... so he said "I want a yucky day -- and what else did you say? (beautiful, clean, sunshiny...) I want a yucky and dirty day! I'm happy he really wants the beautiful things so much more often! :)

Rockstar Ellie?

At lunch today, Landon was in his zone of serious thinking, so after a while I asked him what he was thinking about.

His reply --

When Ellie grows up, um... maybe she will be a rockstar

Somehow I can't picture it :)

Jordans Latest

Jordan's been out practicing his Ripstick since we got home from Christmas. Nevermind that our highs have been in the 30's -- he's determined to learn to ride and is getting really good at it. He and Landon rode (Landon scootered all the way!) to Denny's last week for our Thursday kid-days activity. Two super-tough adventuring boys!

One year!

Sweet, smiling, tender hugs and loves and cuddling close

Learning to venture out a bit, loving steps and stairs

So happy, collapsing to the side with her pleased, content, Ellie smile

Letting us know how she is feeling and what she wants -- though she still has a bit of mystery in her

Just figuring things out - starting to get herself around where she wants to go, thinking things through, trying things out as long as mom or dad are nearby

A happy little adventurer, loving to be out and about or up and about in the backpack

We love this little one-year-old Ellie!

Happy Birthday Ellie girl!

Here's our little sweetie, just daintily eating the frosting off her cupcake one tiny pinch at a time... (though the one-year-old in her did soon come when she realized just how yummy birthday cupcakes are!)

April came to visit and celebrate Ellie's birthday with us, along with Grammi and Grandpa via Skype.

We may not have had a real celebration, but Landon was just so excited with all of the anticipation for Ellie's birthday. Ellie new 'Birthday' was something sweet and gave us a happy little smile with each mention of the birthday girl and each birthday song she got. Ellie wasn't too excited with opening presents, but Landon was happy to help. :)

Our little birthday girl - one year old! - in her new skirt from Grammi

Happy happy birthday Ellie dear!

If you're happy and you know it...

When Ellie is really happy about something, she shakes her head back and forth (like saying no) with a big smile that always makes us laugh.

On Sunday, Landon enthusiastically volunteered to be a helper for 'If you're happy and you know it clap your hands' in primary singing time. The chorister asked what he wanted to do for his actions -- 'do you want to stomp your feet... roll your hands...?' He stood for a minute thinking, then emphatically shook his head - so the primary joined in with "if you're happy and you know it shake your head'

So with this along with jumping up to be sung to as a new visitor last week, dancing with Emma in the first Sunbeam row, singing his little heart out to all the songs he can... Landon's making a place for himself in primary. :)

Sweet and funny things to remember from Landon

"You're the best Mommy in the whole world!"

Jordan suggested that Landon was ready to learn to ride a bike, since he just figured out the motion to ride his tricycle. I said something to discourage the idea till he was a little older, so Jordan asked Landon if he wanted to learn to ride a bike, and Landon responded something like, "Um, yeah! I'll try!"

But, unfortunately for Jordan's intentions, Landon had been listening to closely to Mommy. So later when Jordan was ready to go and ride with him, Landon said "Maybe when I'm older... um, maybe when I'm dying." (He recently learned that people die when they get really, really old).

It came up that we might move someday, and a little later Landon said, "But I love Provo! I want to live in Provo forever!!" (And in response to what he loves about Provo -- Macey's, Carl's Jr. (playplace), and Wendy's)

His latest thing is getting into some funny position (hands down on the floor, one foot down and one sticking up in the air or something) and showing it off to us "Did you know I could do this?!?"

Landon trusts his Mommy so. Whenever he's unsure of something he checks in with me to see what the real deal is (pressure for me!) At the airport, he was playing with a few boys, and one asked if he was 3 1/2. "I will go and ask my Mommy if I am three and a half" "Am I 3 1/2?" "Mommy says I am three and a half!!"

Tonight I was standing on the edge of our couch and reaching over to our bookshelf to put a few books away (with one foot up on the mantle to steady myself...yes, I should have just grabbed a chair.)

Landon, watching, said "That's a really amazing trick you're doing their Mommy!" and later "That was a really cool trick you were doing, but you're not supposed to stand on the couch. You told me that rule to not stand on the couch, so you shouldn't do it either."

A few fun memories

"I can make everything I want! Rocks, snakes..."

Landon's first day of primary today!!!

Cute curly-locks with a delicious biter cookie :)

Ellie's favorite spot to sit - right on top of that lego box

Choco-holic in the making

A conversation with Landon just after he finished eating a chocolate dipped Biscotti cookie --

A whisper to Mommy -- We didn't have dessert yet.

(something like, 'no dessert? We just had those yummy cookies!')

Thoughtfully -- But, some parts of those cookies didn't have chocolate on them.

Very seriously --- we need to have some more chocolate.

:)