Happy Birthday Landon

Landon's turned two years old and had a great birthday.We started out the days at Petsmart. Landon loves dogs and so I often take him to Petsmart so he can watch the dogs get haircuts. We then came home for naps to get ready for a little birthday party. My brother and his family joined us for pizza and cake. For his birthday he got some games, books, and interactive music book, and a big green dump truck. We are grateful to family members who helped spoil this cute boy!

A few things about Landon at two years old. He is starting to master his language development. Before he seemed very frustrated and would scream a lot because he couldn't communicate but now he can say up to 100 words and I understand about 85% of what he says. Less screaming means more patience, it makes a big difference in our house and things are just more peaceful.

Landon loves to be outside and his favorite thing to do is ride his bike. He loves riding his daddy's truck and is obsessed with any thing construction, he can't really tell the difference between a bulldozer, excavator, etc. so everything is a tractor to him.

He loves reading books and if time allowed, he would sit on my lap all day long to read books. He likes talking on the phone and likes talking on Skype even more. He loves making everything a game and I love seeing his fun and loving personality develop. He is 30% for weight and 70% for height. Definitely a Daddy's boy.

 

 Here are a few more pictures from his Birthday

 You tell him to say cheese and you will get this cute face!

 An attempt to get a picture with Chase and his cousins. 

We are so glad they could come to celebrate with us.

 The theme for his cake is Spot the Dog. Kept it simple to look like Spot's fur. 

He was fine with his cake until we the candles were lit. He was a little worried about the fire and refused to blow out his candles. Luckily he has an awesome brother to help him out!

 Enjoying the good stuff

Preschool

Chase has officially started preschool and is so excited. I did preschool last year with him at home but he loves feeling grown up and sending him to preschool will give him the independence he wants. He loved picking out his supplies and getting a new backpack. On the first day of school, he had no fear in fact on the first day of school, he asked if I would just stay in the car and let him walk up to the door all be himself. I told him just for the first day I would walk him to the door. So I did and he bolted into his classroom before giving me a hug or saying goodbye. I am happy he is eager to learn!

I always make a deal with Chase that if he can give me some nice smiles, 

I will always take one silly face picture.

In the meantime, I get to hang out with this cute boy for a few hours. 

(Can you tell he likes to copy his brother?)

I have enjoyed the one on one time and with Landon's personality, he needs this. I started doing a little preschool with him. His attention span is about what I thought it would be. SHORT! I usually can get him to sit for 15 minutes We start with reading a book and then we either play a game, sing songs, or do an art project. Right now I am focusing on colors. I am not sure how much he is understanding but at least we can both enjoy the time we have with one another.

Road Trip to Arkansas

Craig was heading to Arkansas for a week and asked if I and the kids wanted to come along, Arkansas? Sure, why not? It was a week before Chase started preschool so it was nice to have a little break from the everyday hustle and bustle and spend time together. We stayed in a smaller town of Bentonville which is where Walmart was founded. They have a Walmart Visitor center there  which was about the only unique thing to Bentonville that the kids would enjoy. We went there twice because there was not much else to do. The weather was cooler than Houston so we did enjoy time at a local splash pad, the park, and of course the hotel swimming pool.

The original Walmart Store, They had a museum showing the history of Walmart which the boys were not too interested but also a toy souvenir shop. The toy store was really cool and had all old fashioned classic toys; I picked up a few presents for Christmas.

We found a splash pad that Chase loved and with lots of space for him to run.

The fountains were shooting water pretty high so Landon never got in. He would walk to the edge  and then turn around and run away from the water.

Hotel swimming

This was Landon's corner. He is going through a phase where he refuses to where his arm floaties and is just as happy on the stairs.

Since there was not a lot of things to do in this town, I found random things to entertain the boys.

Chase spotted this old fashioned fire truck so we pulled over to take a look.

We also found a water fountain to throw money in.

On the last day in Arkansas, Craig got back to the hotel early so we adventured off to Missouri which was about 45 minutes away from our hotel. His co-worker told us about a fish hatchery that you could do see and feed the fish. This was the best idea! The boys loved it and Craig and I enjoyed the beautiful drive. We actually drove through hills and winding roads, something we don't experience in Houston.There was also a river called Roaring River. The water comes out of this cave and pumps out 20 million gallons of water a day.

One of the water falls. The water comes from the fish hatchery into the river.

Here is a video of the water fall

Right before we left, we let the boys stick their feet in the water. 

We let Landon just sleep in a bed with Chase and he did great. Both boys were wiped out by the end of the day and we got some funny pictures of them.

We decided to break up the drive going to and from Arkansas. On the way up we stayed at a hotel but on the way home we stayed with my sister in laws parents. For the last two Thanksgivings we have gone to their house and my boys love going there. Chase definitely considers my sister in laws parents as another set of grandparents. He calls them Grandma Vicki and Mike.

 Riding bikes was the popular vote this time around. 

 All of Landon's pictures are blurry because he was having too much fun to hold still but he can still see how happy he was. 

 I love love this picture.

 The boys definetlely enjoyed themselves and played hard. Landon's face shows it all!

 

And this is how we ended our vacation. That's all folks!