Thank you Sid the Science Kid -- The First Day of School!

Landon Brough -- First day of Kindergarten!

I've been kind of a wreck about Landon starting school.

All of the worries -

will he be safe?

will the other kids be nice to him?

will he be nice to the other kids?

will his teacher love him and be so good to him? he will adore her -- will she adore him?

will he be strong and brave and true? in a kindergarten way?

will he remember to be good and make good choices?

will he still be excited about mom time, even with all the excitement that school brings?

But most of all

I will miss my little boy. I will miss being a part of this new part of his life.

Last night, about an hour after he went to bed Landon got up and came out to me in the living room. "I just thought of the perfect song for tomorrow and I HAVE to tell you or else I will forget it! Write it down... and put little notes on it so we will remember it is music."

I love my mom!

My mom is cool!

And now it's time -

to have some fun at school!

(I thought he had made this up as he was going to sleep, but he let me know he had learned it from Sid the science kid :)

He sang this all morning today, getting ready for his first day of school. He sang it on the way to school, holding my hand. (thank you for holding my hand Landon!) I sang it in my head on my way home after dropping him off.

Now it's time. My little boy loves me, and now it's time for him to have some fun at school.

Thank you Sid the Science kid for the sweet reassurance.

Landon had a great day. He is thrilled to be in Kindergarten!

Eat the good stuff

"Eat the Good Stuff" print by Kate at Cinnamonink

I have been loving all of the fresh fruits and vegetables of summertime! I've been working hard to eat better and go running as often as I can and it is just so exciting to be feeling so much better. I think I've still just lost maybe 2 pounds in the past 2 months of really working hard at this, but I feel so much better, and that is great.

Besides wanting to lose baby weight, I came across several things in just a short period of time that have been super motivating for me -- here are a few:

1. One evening when I had a chance to go on a run by myself (hooray!), I just felt so strongly what a gift my healthy, strong body is and that I have a responsibility to show my gratitude for this gift by taking care of my body the best way I can.

2. This line from a poster at the kids' doctor's office (I always forget where are those apostrophes really supposed to be...)

this phrase just sort of got stuck in my head and for days everytime I went to grab a treat I'd hear this in my mind! (And it is true!! (of course it is :) I do feel lot less junky when I eat even a little less junk food.)

3. A tiny excerpt I read from a favorite blog one day:

I will no longer use sugar to fuel my body.

As soon as I read that I knew I ought to make it my new motto. It just went right along with #1 -- I am so blessed to have this wonderful, healthy body and I need to take care of it! If I want to be a good mother to my children, I need energy -- and that means good, healthy food - not sugar.

These things have helped me make some great changes to how I eat that are really helping me feel better.

(Side note: a girl in my senior English class at BYU did her final research project on sugar and headaches. She was addicted to sugary treats and also had major issues with headaches so among other scholarly research, she used herself as an experimental study to see if these were connected. Her conclusion was basically this -- Sugar was directly causing her headaches. But, knowing this, when it came to the choice of eating a candy bar or saving herself from a headache - the Snickers would win. I remember thinking "that's crazy!!" and then "hmmm... that's me.")

I'm still enjoying all of my favorite treats - but the difference has been that I am enjoying them now as treats, not eating them constantly to keep my body fueled through the day. For me, that has made a huge difference.

Another great surprise has been that I like vegetables. I've always thought of myself as being super picky and not liking vegetables, but I've finally been realizing that really isn't true. There are definitely some that I don't like (squashes, peppers, brussel sprouts...) but there are a lot that I do -- And I guess I just hadn't noticed this. (example: Last night for dinner we had pasta salad w/ 8 different veggies in it that I liked - today for lunch our sandwiches had 6 veggies) Fun surprise!

And last, just a fun trick for eating more of 'the good stuff' --

When I'm preparing vegetables, I leave the veggies I like in big pieces and the ones I don't like in smaller pieces. So the less I like it, the smaller the piece. For example, in our pasta salad last night there were nice bite-size pieces of broccolli and carrots, and lots of teeny-tiny pieces of radishes and zucchini. For those things that I *really* don't like, I add them in pureed form to casseroles.

Hooray for eating better and feeling better!

Congrats!

Drew and Sarah are officially engaged. Hooray!

Also, this is so cool (be sure to click to zoom in). Drew made it to propose to Sarah and I absolutely love it - so cool and creative. (And the idea just reminds me of how Jordan's brain works too - I remember overhearing part of a conversation between them- something like 'I wrote a program to go back and count the frequency of each word we've texted to each other...) These guys must be brothers :) I've had to go back and look at Drew's great creation several times because it is just so fun.

So happy for Sarah and Drew!

Reading!

Landon is in the Dick and Jane stage of reading now and he is so excited with this new discovery that he can really read. So fun!!

And he's five!

At five years old, Landon loves to...

• play - with mom and dad, with Ellie, with friends (!), with Owen
  
  showing off his San Diego Zoo
• take care of Owen - talk to him, read to him, draw pictures for him, be silly for him


• be amazing - Landon loves to impress, and to know we or others are proud of him (during kindergarten testing on Monday, his teacher said "you're blowing my socks off!" and he's been remembering that all week :)
• read - this morning Landon woke me up with a stack of books that he read to me!
• help - especially when he can tell his help is really needed and he can be 'Landon to the rescue'
• dance, do tricks


• color
• have special grown up friends. Like our wonderful neighbor Sister Huppie, the 'treat man' at Lee's (grocery store)...
• pretend - although I know this is fading. I will miss our morning wake-up pretending time routine.
• ride his bike - Landon is my exercise buddy. Every morning he rides his bike along with me while I push Ellie and Owen in the stroller and go for a little run.
• 

• question, wonder, imagine, "what if...?"
• play 20 guesses and I spy
• be silly
dancing on the picnic table at Aspen Grove
• have all of his bed games - Jordan inherited this job and loves it. After the usual jammies, potty, brush teeth, scriptures, water, etc. then come his bed games with Jordan - a drink of warm milk, 'read me a story', 'sleep with me for one minute' and 'tell me a story of when you were little', 'sing me all my songs' and 'give me a hug and kiss when I'm asleep?' (am I forgetting something in there?)
• take pictures, make movies, look at pictures from when he and Ellie were younger


• know the rules and follow them. (also know the consequences and weigh them...) Rules have always been important to Landon - even at one, I remember him asking for the gate to be put back on his bedroom doorway at bedtime "stuck? stuck?"
• Do the things the way they have always been done. Have routines, schedules, lists. (Like me! Is this inherited or learned?)
• sing
• listen to his favorite songs, especially in the car- these days 'You've got a friend in me' (toy story), 'Where I come from' ( Alan Jackson), 'Hakuna Matata' (Disney CD from the library) "Let's go driving in an automobile' (sesame street)
• Listen to stories or books, also w/ Grammi and Grandpa via skype.
• do preschool time
• teach and help Ellie
• Be sweet and show love. Smile. See our smiling faces. "I just love your smiling face!" "I just love to hear your laugh!!"

Oh how I love my son Landon!!

silly picture w/ mom on the 4th of July

Cowboy Birthday Party!

The boys arrived and got outfitted in their cowboy gear.

Then started their search for the cowboy outlaws.

Once all the outlaws were found, the cowboys sent them to jail.

Then on to lasso some wild horses

Landon's favorite was "Watch out for Snakes!" where they had to use a long stick or grabber to get rid of the rattlesnakes.

Meanwhile, the cowgirls were enjoying the party --

Then some target practice,

Panning for gold,

A cowboy lunch

A #5 racetrack birthday cake -

Opening presents

A little more playtime

And one happy 5-year-old cowboy!

When are you going to get done?

I was on the phone this afternoon when Landon got up from his resting time - his notes to me started as 'stop stop stop!' then 'go go go' then he got tired of waiting and practiced writing 'cat cat cat dog dog' then finally 'win r you goen to git ddun?

Daddy time

Next to playing tag around the loop upstairs, Landon and Ellie's favorite activity is playing on the 'table slide' in the basement. Lately, that has meant jumping through the air and crashing into a pile of beanbags rather than actual sliding.
And then there's this little guy :)

Sigh. or In the Mail Today

The day the school district packet came in the mail was always such an exciting one when I was a kid. School was coming! Hooray! Read all about it! (Why I was so excited to read about the district news and school lunch info, vaccine requirements, PTA information... I don't know. :)

But now it means my little boy is going to school! I'm still not quite ready for this. This beginning of having to let my children go... Can't I just be a mom of little ones forever?

Nothing is Impossible

Yesterday Landon found a photo book one of my college roommates made for me, and he asked me to tell him about all the pictures.

Me - And here we are at a little lake...

Landon - Oh, I thought that was the moon...

I love that it wasn't even an exclamation - just a statement. Mom and her friends were just taking pics on the moon. :)

(Looking at these pictures was so fun - I sure had some great roommates!)

new shirt

I love seeing Ellie wearing something I've made. Such a thrill for me :) I made this as a little dress last year, but didn't love how it turned out so I threw it back into my fabric stash. I uncovered it when I was cleaning up last week and happily found that it was a great fit as a shirt. And what a cutie this Ellie is!

Side: all 3 kids are napping at once today (!!) and I slept reasonably well last night, so I'm getting more caught up on posts here while they sleep. (It's amazing what just a few hours of sleep in a solid stretch can do for me.) Next up is laundry catch up... :)

Provo trip

Jordan had a meeting with RELATE in Provo a few weeks ago, so we all went along and had a fun super-quick trip. While Jordan worked, I took the kids to some of my favorite spots.

- Went running at the BYU track (where Landon very nearly won in a race between us and we randomly ran into my sister- hooray for an unexpected minute to visit!)

- Visited the Bean Museum just in time for a live reptile show (where Landon got to tell about his favorite - the Gila monster, and Ellie was in a constant state of "Look at that!" and worked hard to 'be brave' enough to look at the giant bear)

- Read books in our favorite spot at the Orem library (and remembered happy story time days)

- Ate lunch and ice cream at the creamery (wow- things are changing at BYU -- the broadcast building and the new dorms going up are beautiful!)

- Bought mint brownies to take home and enjoy.

A happy quick trip to one of my favorite places!

Look at this cute guy!

4 months old and such a wonderful little guy! Loves to dance, stand, have tickles and kisses, watch Landon tell stories/sing/play with him, observe and take in all the exciting things happening around him. Chomp on his hands, look at interesting things, finger things in his little hands, listen to music, wiggle w/ excitement, laugh and giggle a bit, smile... Such a happy boy!

Fun Run

As part of the Pioneer Day celebration, our ward had a "Pioneer Haul" 1- mile fun run. It was really great. They had bib numbers, an aid station (with water and fruit snacks :), posters set up along the way, designated cheerleaders and finishing prizes. Such fun!

Landon, filling in the troops on pre-race strategies

Side note: Landon and I had a short race the other day when we were at the Provo track - I was pushing Ellie and Owen (so I did have a slight disadvantage), but it was a very close finish. I decided if my 4-year-old is running as fast as me, it's time to really get working!

Also, Landon is an incredible biker. He went along on a run w/ Jordan and April at the beginning of the summer and biked the first 5 miles with them (!!) We have a major hill between our house and the main part of Logan, which I've never been able to bike all the way up without Jordan helping push me from behind (and even then it is still killer). Landon can do it. On his little bike w/ no gears to shift down and just a few 'turbo-boosts' from Dad. Wow!

I've been much more focused in exercising these days (running most mornings!) If I want to keep up with this little guy, I'm going to need to be one tough Mom!

Made contest

(My 3 entries above)

One of my favorite sewing blogs (Made) is doing a "design my header" contest this week - so fun! I had so much fun making a few designs (using some of Dana's great photos) and also seeing the creativity of all the other unique entries. (This also made me realize that it is about time for my own blog to have a new look... especially since my header picture has our family w/ Ellie at Owen's age :)

(A few more that I made below)