He'll be talking soon, I'm sure

Landon babbles non-stop these days! I have no idea what he's saying, but he's meaning it! lol

We've had some good days with Johnny-cakes being gone. Last night Trish was over for a visit - it was nice to see her again before she heads back to Wpg today. Well, actually I saw her today too as I drove her to the airport :-/ So two visits - even better!

Landon and I have been sleeping in like sinners these past few days ... aiaiaiai Tomorrow morning we have to start getting up earlier, it's getting a bit ridiculous (and for all of you who know how much I love to sleep in, if even I'm saying it's ridiculous you can only imagine how bad it really is....).

So I'm trying to figure out how to fill our day tomorrow ... not sure what we'll do. Tonight - I don't really know either. Without John it's just sort of, well, I don't know what to do with us...lol I'll be glad when John's home on Sunday, that's all.
But with John gone, I did pull Landon into bed with me in the night for a few hours -- I felt like I was sneaking something forbidden - I've never done that (except when he's been sick and I've slept in the chair in his room with him, or on the couch). I couldn't sleep, so I got him into bed and laid there watching him sleep. Such a sweetie. Then when he started grunting and moving around I put him back into his bed. But it was very nice just to have him so close for a couple of hours.

Anyways, that's the news here. Not much unfortunately, we're just going through our days, playing, climbing, running, and giving / getting grey hairs! Until next time...TK

Old picture

Here's a pic my cousin just sent to me ... it's my sis, my cousins, and me at my Grandma's house I think? I say that because I think it's my Grandma ducking down behind us! LOL Tooooo funny!

Wednesday news...

We had a wonderful visit with Uncle Bob and Aunty Rosemary this week - although they didn't stay nearly long enough. They arrived Monday afternoon and already left us this morning :-( But we did get a nice visit in while we could. Yesterday we went off to the zoo, which Landon is enjoying more every time he goes. We tried out the new 'leash' for him, it works so-so, but he still doesn't particularly want to go in any direction we want to, so it can be frustrating for him and for me. Aunty Rosemary and I did some shopping yesterday afternoon as well, leaving Uncle Bob and Landon napping. Now John and I REALLY need to get to Saskatoon for a visit ... especially once Julie has her baby as I'll need a baby fix :-)

Landon and I are baching for a few days while John and his friend Matt are canoeing down the Kootenay River. They'll be back Sunday night, so Landon and I have several days to just kick back :-) Tonight we went out for a walk (well, Landon ran and ran and ran). Landon ran all the way to the park, and around the park, and part of the way home. When finally he demanded 'bup', he was sweating! Little stinker!! Of course, it wasn't nearly enough as it took him quite awhile to fall asleep tonight. He's pretty funny, when I finish reading him a story he immediately jumps down to pick out another book, not wanting me to be done reading bedtime stories quite yet. LOL Then he lays in bed babbling and talking forever before he falls asleep - tonight it was ~11:30. Poor kid - he's doomed to night-owlness like his mother (as I glance at the time....(*sigh*)

I signed Landon and I up for some Cardel programs, starting in a couple of weeks. We'll be doing a 'gym and swim' class, and I'm hoping to take him to more of the drop-ins as well. And starting in late October we'll do his next level of swimming lessons. He so much loves to swim!

I was going to sign up for a yoga class, but it was getting to be too many nights away. So today I bought a yoga book - we'll see if I can do some at home. I definitely need to do it when Landon's sleeping. I tried tonight, he was playing with my ponytail whenever my head was down, and as soon as I hit the floor for some moves he was on my back giggling and laughing as I tried to move. Soon enough I was laughing so hard that all yoga 'concentration' was lost. But laughing good too.

Anyways, that's the post for now. Landon continues to crack me up all the time - I just love the faces he makes, and he is such a little stinker! I won't have any new pics for a few days, John took the camera. But I will try to post again later on this week. until next time...TK

And it's Sunday...

A nice quiet, rainy Sunday it has been. Landon's only excitement was grocery shopping today - poor kid! lol Ah well, he's pretty good at running off steam by running around and around and around the kitchen. Cracks us up - he just runs and runs, huffing and puffing. He pretends we're after him even when we're not. We can be just sitting at the table, he runs one way, stops and squeals when he gets close to us, then turns around and runs the other way, repeating the entire process. Goofus!

What else have we been up to? Well, just watching Landon. He's starting to get more interested in 'colouring'. Not really colouring, but using a pen to make lines on paper. And to just chew on as well. Tonight he played at the table 'colouring' with a pen and flipping through a pad of paper for about 20 minutes. That might not seem like a long time, but it most definitely is in Landon's world! We also sat and coloured with crayons earlier in the day, but when it comes to crayons, Landon is more interested in seeing if he can hold all 8 of them at once or not, and then setting them down and picking them up, as opposed to actually colouring (which is what I did :-D).

We're preparing for Uncle Bob and Aunty Rosemary's visit tomorrow YAY! They will arrive sometime during the daytime. Landon will be so happy to have a larger audience for his antics, I'm sure! lol

So that's the news - it's not much, but c'est la vie. Until next time...TK

Forgot about the Great Sand Hills

Monday was a dismal day, so Landon and I headed across the ferry at Lancer to the Great Sand Hills. It was so incredibly windy there that we didn't spend much time ... we were getting sandblasted and Landon wouldn't even get out of my arms to run around. Until we found a bit of a hollow where he had run trying to climb.

The Hills were pretty neat ... to see these desert-like sand dunes rolling through the prairies. It's hard to show in pictures, so I only posted a couple. I found playing with the colours and contrasts makes it stand out more, even if the colours aren't necessarily 'true'.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Sceptre, visiting the museum, and then having a bite to eat at the local cafe / second hand store. I even found a treasure for myself -- a Yahtzee game exactly like Grandma Leisle's, brings back memories and Yvonne and I played a few games on Monday night.

We went back on the Lemsford ferry, and got back to Eston Park about 5 pm. That was our last day in Sask :-( We had a nice night visiting with Aunty Yvonne, and then Tuesday morning we packed up to head west again. The trip home was a bit quicker as we followed John's route straight through God's Country ... we'd have been home in just over 4 hours if it wasn't for the construction LOL

Learning Learning Learning

A couple of other things that Landon has been learning. John taught him how to drink from a straw at the river. We had tried a couple of times before, but not for a few months. So now Landon can drink juice boxes (and he loves them too -- much better than watered down juice!!).

Also, Landon is starting to feed himself. Last night he fed himself most of his applesauce (with a bit of help from mom and dad). And this morning he fed himself his cereal (Rice Krispies). I am pretty proud of him for that. He certainly seems to be a kid that sits and watches things to learn, then just picks up whatever the skill is he's been observing and performs it very well. He has shown very little interest in feeding himself thus far, and now in basically a day he's gone to feeding himself with very little spillage. But that's fine with me :-)

I think I'm catching a cold :-( I've been feeling miserable, and this afternoon I realized why. Silly! Landon was moaning and crying on and off for about 1.5 hours in the middle of the night as well, so I'm thinking he's not feeling particularly great either. Could be a fun weekend if we're both sick :-/ Hopefully John will avoid it and he can take care of us lol

That's all for now ...

Cabin Fun!!

Landon was lucky enough to get to go on the quad with Carla. His face never really changed from this expression - we think he liked it, he never cried or anything, but he never really laughed either. Funny kid.

Landon learned new things at the cabin too. Like popcorn twists are YUMMY! He ate many many popcorn twists, and even approached the bowl as if it was a trough :-)

He also had fun giving everyone 'five'. He was learning how to open beer cans with Dave as well ... a skill that may come in very handy in a few years...

Landon had so much fun just being able to run and explore. This last picture he's just running on down the road ahead of Aunty Yvonne. He sure enjoyed exploring everything, and amazingly he never landed in any cactus.

Like two peas in a pod

Whether Ryder likes it or not, he has a devoted follower in Landon. Whatever Ryder was doing, wherever he was doing it, Landon wanted to be there. From watching dvd's with Jackson, to doing headstands on the chairs, to just hanging out on the coffee table. You can just see the gears turning in both of their heads as they figure out some more mischief to get into!!

Still loves to help pack!

Landon still has tons of fun playing in the suitcase when I'm trying to pack. Last week he discovered how to pull the suitcase closed on himself...one of these times I'll be wondering where he is and he'll be stuck in the suitcase!!

Home again...

Well, we are home again after spending 5 days at Eston Park. It was quite nice - peaceful, relaxing. We went swimming several times, which Landon loved. He kicked, splashed, dunked his face in the water, blew bubbles (sort of). The pool was great, with a paddling pool, then a very shallow end of the big pool. So Landon splashed and ran in the paddling pool, and then in the big pool he'd run into the deeper water until it was up to his neck, then I'd catch him and we'd do it all again. He really really had fun.

We also did lots of walking around, it was very quiet out there so Landon was pretty free to run around. Makes it harder now that we're back home, he doesn't want to walk where we are at all, but it was great while there.

Carla and Dave, Jackson and Ryder were up for a few days too (to Eston). So Landon LOVED playing with Jackson and Ryder ... Ryder and Landon will be trouble-makers together for many many years I'm thinking :-/ They brought their quad up too, so Landon got to go for rides and he thought that was pretty cool.

We did some golfing as well on their very nice 9-hole course. And the kids did some mini-golfing too.
John was down for the weekend, it was a lot of driving for only one full day, but he enjoyed it too. And Yvonne was there for most nights (had to work during the day), and even Greg and Kyle came out on Friday for a visit too.
So it was a great weekend in Eston. Has John and I dreaming of buying a cabin again .... *sigh* We're just debating if the 4.5 hour drive is worth investing in a cabin or not .... hmmmm

So now we're glad to be home again. Funny how that works - you look forward to going away for a few days, then you're glad to be home again. Huh. Uncle Bob and Aunty Rosemary are planning to come next week Monday. And I'm debating about heading to the farm for the long weekend --- maybe I'll just stay home, that's a lot of driving. We'll see ... it all depends on how long it takes me to recover from this last trip. Even though Landon travels incredibly well.

On to other news...
Landon's learning to feed himself now, he did pretty well with apple sauce tonight. At least there wasn't any applesauce all over the house.... So that's good stuff I'm thinking, I'll be glad when he gets better at that.

That's the news from here for today. I'll get some pics up soon...until next time! TK

What we're up to now...

Landon is a stinker. There's no two ways about it. But he's fun too. He still loves birds (pronounced buhhhrs), and points to them all the day long. He's starting to notice the airplanes too, so I'm sure that will provide us with lots of entertainment in the months to come.
He is starting to work on two syllable words now, he intonates more than pronounces I guess, imitating our sounds, pitch, etc more than the phonics of it all. But he says something like 'dahkder' for tractor, still 'guck' for truck and duck, although now he'll tell you ducks say 'kack kack'. Sheep say 'baa baa' too, don't you know. And he distinguishes between 'gucks' and 'gars' too, which is fun because he's always yelling about something he sees through the windshield.

The last few nights he has really cracked us up. He must be over his growth spurt as he isn't eating as much, and when we put him to bed he's not quite ready to sleep yet. So he lays in bed for an hour or so, most of the time playing quietly. But every now and again a rousing chorus of either 'baa baa black sheep' or the 'a-b-c song' comes from his room. Now imagine, he only says 'baa baa baa baa', but to the tune of baa baa black sheep / a-b-c song. He goes to about l-m-n-o-p ... then stops for a minute or two, and starts over again. Loudly. It's pretty funny - although I'd much rather he was going to sleep :-/

Another fun trick of Landon's is to jump around the house ... jump jump jump. Both feet off the floor, he jumps around. Pretty cute. Add this to jumping from whatever he can stand on onto the couches, sometimes from the couches to the floor, and often enough right onto his head, and I'm getting plenty of grey hair!!

So tomorrow Landon and I are off to Eston Park for 5 days or so. Very much looking forward to it. We'll have a couple of cooler days, to be followed by a HOT weekend (if the forecast is at all accurate), so I'm glad about that!! Lots of swimming for us :-) Yippee!! John will join us for the weekend, Aunty Yvonne will be there for several nights (except the weekend, when she's off to S'toon for a wedding), and I think even Carla, Dave and the boys will make an appearance for a day or two as well. Should be tons of fun!! Which reminds me, I'd better get packing...

until next week -- I'll post again when we get home. Have a great weekend! TK

Heritage Park - Monday

Yesterday we went to Heritage Park with our friend Howie from Winnipeg (in visiting his sis for a week). It was a cool day, which was probably good because that meant it wasn't too busy. Landon had a pretty good time exploring and seeing things :-) We explored through some train cars from the early 1900's, and he even sat on the seats (he fits quite nicely under the ropes meant to keep people off the seats). And we went for a boat ride on a paddle-wheeler. Landon loved the birds, as usual, and was pointing at a sail boat I believe in this picture. (He points at everything and nothing these days, I usually have no clue what he's trying to show me).

We also went for a ride on the real train - Landon was glued to the window watching everything go by. The first time he heard the whistle (we were outside the train) it scared him, but after that he was good.

Heritage Park was really nice, and is definitely someplace that we'll take Grandma and Grandpa when they come to visit again. I think Grandpa would really get a kick out of it :-)

PICTURES!

Landon has been enjoying his new drums (did I say thank you, Grandma and Aunty Vonnie ... let me thank you again!!). He and dad play with them often, although the drumsticks are still hidden (Landon likes to drum on everything in the house!!).

And isn't that a troublemaker smile! aiaiai He was having fun climbing all over the patio furniture last week. He has fun climbing all over everything, man oh man.

We went swimming this morning - first time in quite awhile at the pool. Landon loved it. He's now big enough to walk and splash and stuff. So we 'swam' for awhile, playing and singing, then I let him play in the shallow water, climbing in and out (of course!). He did a full head-under-the-water event when he got all excited and fell face first. Didn't bug him though, he just sputtered, laughed, and kept on going. Then a few minutes in the hot tub and we came home. He was pretty hungry and very tired when we got home, that's for sure. But I am very much looking forward to lots of swimming at Eston next week!! YAY -- only 5 days 'til we leave!

Grandma - you're welcome ;-)

TK

Lots of fun at the zoo...

Landon has been having so much fun the last day or so! Last night, Pam & Kevin and the girls were here (on way through to Banff), so Landon, Taya and Frankie played played played. Then this morning Sheri stopped by with her girls, Ava and Prue. We had some lunch and headed off to the zoo. Prue and Landon are 2.5 months apart, so it was fun to watch those two play together. They are both climbing monkeys :-)

Tonight a friend of John's is stopping for dinner as well, with her daughter. We've had a lot of company within 24 hours -- when it rains it pours! After that I think our week slows down, so hopefully I'll get a chance to go over to Ricki's so that Landon and Keaton can play in the backyard.

And I play volleyball tonight too ... I'm a bit hungover today, so I'm not really looking forward to it. But I'm sure I'll survive. Heh heh...

Anyways, just a quick post for today...will post again soon and will see if I can get some pics uploaded too. Until next time...TK

Landon - the MAN

Ha, this little stinker drives me nuts every day (yup mom, I knew you'd like to hear that!). But he's pretty darned cute too, so we'll survive.
Last night he cracked me up. I was wiping the kitchen table off, and got distracted with something. I walked away, leaving the cloth on the table. Up the chair scrambles Landon, to grab the cloth and finish wiping for me. All the while with a huge grin on his face. So if this is the 'helper' phase, I'm welcoming it -- I think.

Tonight Landon grabbed the vacuum cleaner and ran all over the house with it. He was making 'vroooom' sounds, like it's a car or something. This is a BIG change from the Landon that was sooo very scared of the vacuum as recently as last week!

And I've been wondering when he'll start using a fork or spoon to feed himself. He's great with his hands, but when it comes to cereal or mushy stuff, we still feed him because he has shown very little interest in feeding himself using utensils. Until last night. Again, I got distracted after getting his cereal ready and putting it on the table. And again Landon scrambled up on the chair, and while standing on the chair grabbed the spoon and got some cereal into his mouth!! When I got back he was a bit shy or something I guess (or lazy, wanting mom to feed him...). But I sat him on my lap, and keeping his hand on the spoon I just guided it for him from the bowl to his mouth. And if I was too slow in getting the spoon to his mouth, he did it for himself. So maybe, just maybe, eating will get a whole bunch messier very soon!!

I had a pretty busy last 24 hours. I finally found a colour and painted our great room. I started prepping last night, filling holes, washing, taping, etc. I finished that at 1:30 am, got up this morning, and painted 2 coats by 3 pm. My arms and legs are tiiiired!! But we got the tape off, the drop cloths put away, and all the furniture back tonight and the room looks GREAT! I love the colour (I love any colour down there....that white on white was a bit too stark for my tastes!). We are also getting some new blinds for the living room, which should be here in a couple of weeks. Tomorrow we'll hang pictures (I wanted one night with hole-free walls!! lol), and then I'll start contemplating when I'll move on to the entryway, hallways, laundryroom, bathrooms, staircase, bonus room, and bedrooms. Aiaiaiai ... I might tackle the entryway and downstairs hallway next week, but I know I'll be avoiding bathrooms for as long as possible! lol Bedrooms - well, maybe later in the fall. Although they are a bit easier to paint it seems, less windows and fireplaces and cupboards to go around :-)

So that's the news from here. Just glad to be home on this August long weekend :-) Hope all is well with everyone! Until next time...TK

Back on the computer...

Had a computer 'glitch' for the past couple of days - sorry if you've tried to reach me and I haven't been able to respond. It's fixed now, thanks to ~3 hours on the phone with Dell Tech Support today.

Things are going well here. Warmer again, but not as hot as it was so we're managing to stay cool enough. Landon is climbing and jumping all over the house, non-stop. Tires me out!! lol He's pretty entertaining though. Today he had a rough day - had to cry about 5 times because he'd hurt himself on various things: slammed his hand in a drawer, hit his head, fell down I don't know how many times. Poor guy - real, big, alligator tears :-( But a snuggle with mom usually fixes it all up again.
It's funny how he has to be around me all the time now ... dad just isn't good enough right now. I'm looking forward to dad being the be all and end all - give me a break. As it is, I don't even get a break when John gets home from work because Landon just follows me around everywhere I go. Stinker!

So that's that. Just a quick note...hope all is well with everyone! Until next time...TK