General pics from the holidays

John and I out celebrating New Years. What a fun night :-)



We didn't have a corkscrew at Grandma & Grandpa's, so we improvised!!


A picture of me and Kyle - can hardly believe he's so big! I remember him so clearly when he was the same size as my kids are now!!

On the way down for Christmas, we met my dad's cousin Christina in Medicine Hat for the very first time. We found each other on Facebook - so nice to make a new connection!!

Arlan's Christmas

Here's our family picture from Christmas day. We didn't plan the entire red shirt thing, promise. It just worked out that way!! lol
Arlan and dad on Christmas day. He really wasn't too sure what to make of the entire production. Poor kid!
Loved the tractors from Grandma and Grandpa. And loved when Cousin Kyle helped him get at his presents too!!




And the picture with mom is Arlan opening his new jammies on Christmas Eve. Landon LOVED his new jammies, wearing them for almost our entire visit. Arlan on the other hand was like "meh" lol

Landon's Christmas

Landon got skates from us for Christmas, and went skating twice in Moose Jaw. The first time Aunty Yvonne helped him out quite a bit, and he wasn't overly thrilled. But when we went the next day, and he discovered that falling isn't all that terrible, he enjoyed it a lot more. Since then, he's started skating lessons - every Sat with dad until March. He'll be out-skating both John and I by then I'm sure!!




Look at his face as he tears into the presents! He had lots of help from "Cousin Kyle" to open gifts as well. Landon loved all of his gifts, but the trains and tractors were the biggest hit I think.
On Christmas morning, Santa left a note for Landon and Arlan that one gift was too big to take to Moose Jaw, so it was waiting for them at home. When we got home, we had Landon all excited, racing into the house to see what Santa had left here. He got in the living room and looked under the tree - there was nothing there, he sat down so dejected! Poor kid -- he hadn't noticed the big, bright red play kitchen sitting in front of the fireplace! His eyes lit up a few moments later when he finally spied it!! Too cute :-)

Party Time!

Landon and Arlan had so much fun yesterday! We hosted a 'block' Christmas get-together with the other parents (aka other adults yearning for adult interaction!). So Landon got to play with Caitlin and Katelyn, Braden, Camryn, and the twins Dera and Evan, and his future wife Lexi (she's 8 months old, but Landon loves her. Well, he loves Lexi's older sister Camryn too, so there could be trouble there...*sigh*). Arlan thought it was pretty fun too - especially as Landon let him come into his bedroom to play along with all the kids (Arlan's eyes light right up every time he catches a glimpse of Landon's bedroom ... all those trains and tracks!).
We had a nice time too - it was pot-luck eat-all-you-can! So much food - but made it nice and relaxing for everyone. Hopefully we'll do more block get-togethers coming up ... we've been talking that we should just alternate hosts and do it monthly (wishful thinking - every 3 months would be more likely!!). But it was definitely nice, and all of the kids played SO WELL together it was awesome!

So now we're into the final stretch leading up to Xmas. We'll be assembling gifts and wrapping and packing for SK this week. Landon's so excited for Santa it's almost ridiculous. Arlan has no clue what's coming, but I'm sure he'll love the excitement of it all. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and visiting :-) Plus spending the time at Grandma and Grandpa's new house will be exciting!!

No preschool this week, not until Jan 12 :-/ How will Landon survive? He's loving it - making crafts (my first homemade Xmas ornament ... popsicle stick Rudolph :-D). Plus we've got Landon in skating lessons in January (new skates for Xmas from mom & dad), and Arlan in swim lessons (on one of the days Landon's in preschool, works out nicely). I really enjoy having that time one-on-one with Arlan, since I've never really had it up until now (except the day camp days in the summer, which Landon keeps asking to go to even now!).

Ok, so I'm a teensy bit excited for Christmas too. It is my favourite time of year! Until next time...

RIP Grandma Martha -- we miss you and I sure wish the boys could meet you! I know you're enjoying them from wherever you watch over us from.

Oh aiaiaiaiai

Poor Landon - he has been in bed, so sleepy, since 7 pm. But he can't fall asleep because he has that annoying, dry, hacking cough. Poor kid! We gave him Triaminic at 7 to clear his stuffiness which I hoped would help alleviate the cough, but obviously it didn't :-( So I thought I'd try my kids Buckley's...here's where my rant begins:

I don't want to give my kids two different meds unless I KNOW that they don't contain the same medicinal ingredients. Only sensible, right? Well, the names of the ingredients weren't the same, but I wanted to speak to someone to be sure. Here's my 1st mistake. So I call Health Link (otherwise known as "we will only repeat what you can easily read on your product label; we provide no additional knowledge or help"). And I made my second mistake - I told them Landon's true age. They won't even speak about the products (or ingredients) because Health Canada recommends against giving kids under 6 cough and cold meds. So she reviews the non-med things I can do (which I've already done, this isn't his first cold with a cough), and gives me another number to call.
So I call it, and being a slow learner, I again provide Landon's real age. This dude goes off on me, making me feel like a drug-addicted slut of a mother -- how could I possibly even consider giving my 'under-6' kid cough meds? Well, because he's not going to fall asleep otherwise, he's been hacking for well over 3 hours already (which gets me to thinking that if I can repeat the Triaminic dose in 4 hours, then I can give him the Buckley's at 4 hours without worry about double-dosing ... blah blah blah). BUT I stay on the line with this dude, who asks me what non-drug stuff I've done, which I tell him. He proceeds to question it ("Where in the room did you place the humidifier?" "On the floor" ... it deteriorates...).
The real kicker -- this dude recommends against the cough meds (which I anticipated), and suggests LOZENGES!! Well, seriously. Landon has a very tough time not chomping down his candy canes in 2 seconds flat, when he's fully awake, seated upright, and I'm watching him. It's doubtful he's going to suck on a lozenge. BUT ... let's say he does, he figures it out. Now, he's laying down, hacking and coughing, half-asleep. I'm WAY more worried about choking than about giving him 'kids' Buckleys. Like seriously.

So I'm not impressed with this whole system. I'm doing my due diligence to ensure that I'm NOT double-dosing my kid (which is what got the cough and cold meds on the hot seat in the first place), and I get treated like I'm some sort of abusive parent? Then get told to give him a f#*%&@#*$g choking hazard instead????? *shaking head* Gimme a bloody break is about all I can say about that!

[END RANT]

Onto good stuff: it's warmer here, so we got to play outside today. Landon loves pulling Arlan in the sled, so we went down to the park for awhile. I can't believe Landon sticks with it that long, it's gotta be tough to pull that sled through some of that snow! The snow is only up just past my ankles or maybe mid-shin in some places, but that's knee-deep for Landon! Arlan was "meh" about the sled, but quickly recognized the benefits over trying to walk (or more like waddle) all geared up for winter. lol

Other than that, Landon's loving preschool. He always says he doesn't want to go in the mornings, but then once I start asking him which toys he's going to play with, he's gung-ho! It's helping us out too as he's less reluctant to help clean up toys (which has become part of our pre-bedtime routine), and he's much more self-sufficient in dressing and undressing his winter clothes (he's been well practised in undressing his inside clothes for months and months!!). He's definitely gaining more independence, and we hear "I don't want your help" much more often than we were even 2 months ago. I really noticed it at the mall yesterday: we had lunch and when we got to the table Landon got his burger and fries out and all set up all by himself while I was corralling Arlan. I looked up and he's happily munching away ... my big boy!

Arlan is adorable. He's getting more words, but still isn't nearly as vocal as Landon was (if I remember correctly). But he'll tell you a cow says "Meeeeoooooo", and a puppy dog says "ooof", and a chicken says "baak baak". He also says "Bauble" for bottle, and "cackers" for crackers, and "jus" for juice. He's getting better at asking for what he wants -- came up to me yesterday and said "bauble" so I knew to give him one. Now, I'd like him to get off the bottle, but he's loving that thing! He loves his milk in a bottle (will take juice in a sippy cup), and it must be warm (none of that COLD stuff, thank you very much). Hopefully I won't be sending him to preschool with the bloody thing!

Anyway, I should get to bed. Just thought I'd better post. I have about 4,000 pics on the camera I'll upload soon, promise. Oh yeah, and I have Santa pic to scan too. Can't believe neither of them cried! Neither look particularly happy in the pic, but no one cried. And Landon was actually SO excited (but by the 3rd pic it was harder to see on his face) -- he gave Santa a long list of toys he wants, and got a candy cane, and coughed in Santa's face (Santa assured me he's taking his cold F/X, good thing!). Arlan was like "whatever". too cute :-)

G'nite

Landon's Santa Letter

Things have finally slowed a bit with Mia Bella (only a bit, I'm still busy!!), so I finally sat down with Landon and we got his Christmas letter to Santa written. The "wish list" is verbatim, I helped with the rest :-) And Landon spelled many things on the letter when we were done -- of note, the big I and the #2, and A and T beside his name, and the really well done L right under his name :-) He was so proud to "write" on the letter himself!!

We played out back a bit today - had to get Landon out!! We had another life lesson though ... no sticking your tongue on metal while outside in the winter. Landon licked a small garden shovel that was under the deck, and yes, ripped it off his tongue and bled like a stuck pig (while crying) for a many many many many minutes. By suppertime he was recovered, but I remember doing that as a kid and I know it hurts :-( Poor guy .... I wish he was patient enough to have waited for me to pour warm water over the shovel, but this is Landon we're talking about.

Arlan hasn't really been out much. It's so bloody cold! High in the -20 to -19 range. Landon - the heater that he is - doesn't seem too bothered by it; but Arlan's so little and just can't move when he's all bundled up to keep himself warm! So we'll have to try to get him out in upcoming days

I did take some pics, so hopefully I get them up here soon. Until next time...

PICTURES - Landon

Landon and Arlan had a ton of fun playing "command centre" on Saturday night. I knew I bought those old keyboards for a reason!!

And this is Landon getting himself dressed for grocery shopping. Yes, that's an orange shirt he's wearing as a ... ahem ... skirt. It took some fine negotiation skills to get him out of that and into pants. I mean really ... he's gone out in his Hallowe'en costume numerous times, dirty pants, shorts when he should've had pants, pants when he should've had shorts, but I had to draw the line somewhere, and "shirt-pants" is where. (especially since he didn't even have gotch on under there!! LOL)

PICTURES - Arlan

Arlan loves yogurt, and he loves to feed himself, and he loves to smear yogurt all over the place - can you tell?

Arlan's also learning to be a kitchen helper - even donning the oven mitts for mom (although we didn't have his pulling anything out of the oven!)

And Arlan loves to wear shoes -- his shoes, winter boots, Landon's, mommy's, and even daddy's cowboy boots (although he absolutely cannot walk in them - he fell over approximately .03 seconds after we took this pic)

All right already, I'll post!

We haven't been doing too much, or maybe it's just been so much that time is flying by and I'm not posting often enough (as I'm being reminded).

Hmmmm, let's see. Arlan has some new words. He says "Dank Youuuuuu" when he hands us something, or when we give him something. He always says "miiiiiine!" a LOT. And his fave new thing is to squeal VERY loudly when he wants something Landon won't let him have, then he cries like the world is ending and looks to mom and dad for sympathy. Pretty funny to witness actually. He hasn't done it too much because we aren't giving in to the ploy, but it is comical to watch.

Landon is turning into such a good big brother. He makes sure Arlan doesn't play with anything dangerous, well actually he makes sure Arlan doesn't play with anything at all usually!! But he does make sure to take away non-toy items and such, and puts them on the cupboard. He really does watch out for Arlan. That is heart-warming to see.

We went to Medicine Hat last weekend, stayed with Julie. It was a good visit, and the boys were well behaved (read: Landon didn't break anything this time). Both boys slept on the way down there, so the ride was HEAVENLY! Landon did pee while he slept though, so was pretty grumpy when he woke up to a wet carseat (and a pants change on 3rd Street downtown Medicine Hat!!). It also meant Landon was up until midnight, but he was very well behaved, so Julie and I visited and Landon went to bed with me. He got to play "camp-out", sleeping on a foam mattress on the floor in his sleeping bag. Now he wants to play 'camp-out' at home and sleep in a tent in the basement. We haven't ventured there yet, but maybe we'll have to let him try one night. One of us can always sleep in the bed down there in case he wakes scared or whatever.

Other than that, just been busy with candles, which is fun. Had a Xmas Faire last weekend. The boys came and spent some time at the child-minding area which was really cool. They had to sign in or whatever, and both of them stayed right there. Landon was loving the cars and playmat of course, and I think Arlan stayed because Landon was there. When I asked Landon at the end of the day what he did all day (because he did spend most of it at home with dad), he said "we played sharing!" and meant at the child-minding. So cute

Oh yeah, the boys did get their H1N1 shots, last Tuesday. Poor Landon - didn't know what was coming until they were swabbing his arm. We drove home from Medicine Hat and when we got to the city I asked him if we should go get vaccines. He was quite excited by that idea, so we went! No line-ups, which was fantastic. Both boys cried, but we had no reactions whatsoever, which is quite nice.

Well, Arlan's babbling away in bed, I'd best go get him. Sorry no pics ... will try to remember to take some soon. We need a new camera for Xmas Grandma *hint hint*
Until next time...

Hallowe'en Pics

I hope I don't scar Arlan for life with him being the Hunny Pot!! LOL
I just love these costumes -- so cute! Arlan thought he was quite something, posing and giggling with his costume on. Landon has been wearing his since it arrived, so it's getting a bit grubby, but still cute!!
So this pic doesn't accurately reflect Landon's mood. He was SO excited for Trick-or-Treating this year!! He was sick of pictures though - which is likely where this face comes from!! LOL

Playing playing playing

The boys are starting to enjoy bathing together. Well, Arlan usually hates baths, until he sees Landon in there!! Splashing and making as big a mess as possible....
Landon's absolute fave is to play in the shale pile in the field behind our house. Arlan gets a kick out of trying to climb it, Landon is busy moving as much of it around as he possibly can!! Every day "Let's go play in the dirt pile!" I only wish it was closer to the house so we could go out while Arlan naps, but c'est la vie.



And Arlan is getting pretty good at running. Especially for meal-times! Ask him if he wants to sit in his chair and eat, and he drops whatever he's doing to run to his highchair. He'll then stand with his back to his chair, sticking his butt out, like "ok, put me in. I'm ready!"

Things are plenty slow...

We are having some slow days around here. Mostly Landon just wants to go out back and play in the big pile of shale on the ball diamond - so we do that every day or so. Or go to the park, that's always fun.
Today has been really slow though, as Landon has a cold that is keeping him to a more normal level of activity! He has mostly been laying on the couch watching tv, although he did help me mop the floor, and we spent some time at a friend's house (she had an Usborne Books open house, so we ordered some). I must admit, I'm looking forward to the boys' bedtimes though!! lol

We decorated for Hallowe'en yesterday -- there's not much to it really, a few things up on the doors, our t-shirt ghosts in the tree out front. Landon loved the window clingies the most -- they're all piled on top of each other on the living room window, really high so Arlan can't reach them.

Well, I hear Landon crying, Arlan must be paying him back for something. Better run, until next time...

It's fall again...

Nice weather again - snow's all gone, snowman's gone, kids are happy to play in the sandbox together. Even the rain barrel is melting and draining - thankfully!

John and I went out for dinner last night for our anniversary. Tony Roma's for ribs - YUM YUM! We enjoyed it, but laughed at ourselves as it took about 20 minutes to relax and just enjoy the time. It's amazing how keyed up we always are having to deal with these kids all the time! But we did settle down and visit and eat - so nice.

We had a pretty quiet weekend, doing things around the house, playing with the kids, that kind of thing. Enjoyed swimming Friday again, we'll have to keep going even after lessons are done, both boys love it so much, but especially Landon. And he is doing so well, it's really nice to see.

So, not much news. Until next time...

If we're gonna have snow...

We might as well build a snowman!! Check out the beauty Landon made today in the backyard! I might've helped a bit, as he had some trouble reaching the top...heh heh Actually, I could barely lift the second ball on top of the first, the snow is SO heavy! But it was so fun, and Landon thought the snowman was pretty neat. He helped mostly by filling his dumptruck with snow, then backing it up to the snowman and dumping if for me. Then he filled a ride-on car and did the same thing. Except he kept telling me it was hard to drive through all that snow!! lol

And it's winter ...

Well, I finally got Arlan some winter boots on the weekend! And he loves them! He wore them around the house all evening. When I took them off, he grabbed them and tried to put them back on himself!! LOL

So we went outside today to explore this wonderful white stuff called snow. Arlan likes the boots, not too sure about the snow though :-/ He did walk a bit, but mostly just wanted to be carried. It wasn't hard to walk or anything, but I think he was a bit freaked out all the same.

Landon has gotten right into it - so excited to play in the snow! I love it, because he still wants to go out to play (of course, I hate having to dress and undress him all day long, but c'est la vie!!).
Arlan was watching Landon eat snow with this look on his face like "Really? EATING it????" But then he tried it out himself. Arlan doesn't like anything cold (even ice cream is questionable), so I don't think snow will be at the top of his list of edibles.

Swim lessons

Here are a couple of pics from the pool a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, Landon loves to be distracted by anything, particularly mom with a camera! So I didn't take many shots.
Arlan has so much fun splashing around the tot pool while Landon has lessons. Then we all go into the big pool for some fun. And mom's favourite is always the hottub at the end :-)

Another new tooth!

Arlan is continuing on his tooth-popping expedition, with another molar. The top left this time :-) He seldom lets us anywhere near his mouth, but I managed to feel it in there yesterday!! Could explain why he's been crying out in the night, maybe. He likes to cry out, but we try not to go in there too much. Usually a soother plug and he's back to sleep, but it'd be nice if he'd just quit throwing the soother out of the crib -then he could find it and plug it back in himself!! LOL But he doesn't sleep with a night-light, so it's very dark in there at night - no wonder he can't find his soother.

We've been having fun with swim lessons. Arlan goes Thursday morning, Landon on Friday. Because John hasn't been working Fridays, we all go swimming together, and that is a really nice time. Landon is doing SO well ... he can 'swim' with a life-jacket on, loves going down the slide, can almost relax enough to do a back float. He loves loves loves to swim, and I love watching him. He's splashing along, swallowing water and the whole 9-yards, and is completely happy. Next summer will be even better at the lake (assuming it's not miserable the entire time we're there!).
Arlan's doing well too. He'll let us get his head wet, and today I dragged him through the water for a couple of seconds (under the rope) -- no resulting tears!! He loves to fall off the edge, with me to catch him. And even was standing up to fall to me today. But most of all he loves going down the slide. Today we had him in a life-jacket and I'd almost toss him off the slide to John in the water. Then he'd get out and have huge smiles anticipating all that fun to happen again. It is such a fun time to swim with those stinkers!!
Must be tiring too - Arlan has nice long naps, and Landon is quietly playing play-dough with John!! LOL

Other than that, we are seeing winter settle in ... BRRRRR! Landon had fun playing in the snow this afternoon for a bit ... driving his loader around the backyard making tracks. I'm not ready for it though! In more ways than one ... primarily I need to get winter boots for Arlan!! Poor kid, can't get out to play yet ... Maybe I'll have to make a concerted effort to get them this weekend.

Our weekend will be quiet. Mom & dad were going to come up, but plans changed, so we're hanging out at home ... nice and quiet. Hopefully get some shopping done, and I'm planning to do a good long run in preps for my 10K race in 2 weeks. I contemplated painting, either our bedroom or Landons....we'll see if I find the energy to pick out paints today or tomorrow.

Oh yeah, we got the boys' Hallowe'en costumes in the mail the other day (ordered on ebay). Landon has been Winnie the Pooh ever since! He wakes up and wants his Pooh costume! I hope it lasts until Hallowe'en!! We put Arlan's "hunny pot" costume on him, and he loved it too. He's such a ham -- he knows he's adorable, and parades around for our entertainment!! LOL But at least he's not wanting to ALWAYS wear it, so he'll be good for Hallowe'en. I'm sure Landon will be fine too, although he may be a bit dirty...

Other than that - life is good :-) Until next time...

TWO new teeth...

Yup - two new teeth in Arlan's mouth. Both on top - upper right first molar, and upper left of his front teeth. So now he has four front teeth, top and bottom, plus the first molar on the right side, top and bottom, for a total of 10 teeth. Actually, I think the molar may have been in there for a day or so, it's quite visible, but he won't let us near his mouth -- we really have to fight with him to get a peek!! But the other front one on top is just barely squeaking through, we've been watching it for the past week or so, I sure hope it makes a full breakthrough tonight!

Good day today - some retail therapy out at "Mallzac" ... that's the nickname of the big Cross Iron Mills mall at Balzac. It was Monday morning, so nice and quiet = happy shopping experience + several employees asking if I needed help! WOW Bought new 'stuff' for the boys bathroom. Landon picked out the shower curtain and rings (with only a minor amount of influencing), and the bathmats (I gave him the choice of colours). We also bought new garbage can/tumbler/soap dish and new towels, so it's all decked out and looks GREAT!

Much better than the old curtain - which I loved, but just didn't work in that little bathroom. Mom and dad get the old curtain (with rings) + soap dish/garbage can/tumbler, so I can still enjoy it when I go to their house :-D

Other than that - poor Arlan's been crying on and off tonight, so I hope that means more teeth and NOT a cold! I also have him in a warm sleeper and a sleep blanket, so he may be warmer than he's used to. But he's always cold in the morning, so I thought we'd best dress him better at night.

oh yeah, and Landon is sleeping for the first night without his bed rails on. We'll see how it goes. But he was SO pumped today to turn his bed into a "true" big boys bed ... by removing the rails and (finally) sleeping with the Thomas quilt Grandma made for him!! YAY He thought that was just the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen today, more excited now than when he originally got it. Better late than never I guess, hey? So hopefully he doesn't fall out ... *sigh*

That's it from here for now, until next time...

This week in our lives...

Well, swimming lessons with Arlan went well again. He loves to 'fall' off the side of the pool, and will even let me get his face wet sometimes :-) He giggles and laughs, but mostly wants to do his own thing, not what the 'class' is doing (that's the trouble with waiting until he's over a year for lessons!). But he's enjoying swimming, that's for sure.
Then on Friday we all went to the pool with Landon for his lesson. Arlan, mom and dad swam in the tot pool while Landon had lessons, then we all went in the big pool. Both boys loved it so much, and it was really nice to have us all there swimming :-) Landon's doing really well ... they go in the 'deep' water holding floatation things (in this case it was foam 'dumbbells' they had under their arms), and practise floats and putting their face in. Landon's loving his lessons, looking forward to them every week.
So Saturday morning, Arlan brings me his swimmer diaper and goes to the front door ... like "let's go swimming mom!" LOL He loves is that much. Today we went to a b'day party in Airdrie, and the pool there has a big waterslide and stuff, so we might have to check that place out with the boys one of these weekends. Landon was very excited for the waterslide.

Both boys loved the birthday party today. It took Landon awhile to 'settle in' with the large group of kids, but by the end he was shedding tears because we had to leave. We played with one of those big parachutes, which Landon was ok with as long as he was beside me. Arlan, however, was right in there, shaking the parachute and giggling as usual!! lol The lunch room had a big play structure too (like a McDonald's Playland sort of thing), which Landon loved and Arlan did too (although he was too little to climb all over it). They had such a fun time - it was nice to see them enjoying themselves.

That's about the extent of our excitement. It actually has been pretty good. The swimming has been a ton of fun - I love having something I do with just Arlan, and to see Landon so excited is heart-warming. We'll have to be sure to do more and more swimming.

Until next time...

Arlan's Antics

Arlan has taken quite a liking to helping me sweep ... which makes getting the sweeping done a much more time consuming job than it should be. But it can be cute, nonetheless, considering just how much bigger that broom is than Arlan!!

Arlan crawled into the toybox yesterday - just to have a good seat to watch the goings-on by the looks of things.








Arlan, forever the kidder, put this hat of Landon's on, and thought he was just so funny. He strutted around, giggling and showing off (so much so, that Landon had to steal the hat and wear it himself!)

And I was making dinner, looked over to this scene. Made my heart jump, to say the least. The pics were taken as John is right there, just out of the frame. Otherwise he'd have just been scooped down lickety-split! SUCH a climber (where Landon was a jumper), he's always up on everything!!

Here's Arlan enjoying playing on the chairs, just like Landon used to do. And now he's taken to "dressing up" in the Tigger costume (Landon's been wearing it all summer long ... this is the first time Arlan 'requested' it). Good thing too, with Hallowe'en coming up. What will they be? Landon is going to be Winnie the Pooh (his request), and Arlan will be a Hunny Pot. Do you think I'll scar him for life?? Nah ... I'll just have bribery pictures down the road....