His Wife ~ Their Mama: April 2010

Friday, April 30, 2010

How'd you spend your week?

I can't believe this week is over already! With the end of this week the month of April is over. That means only 2 months until Landon's 4th birthday. Hold me.

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This week we~

Enjoyed a beautiful spring day at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Complete with a squirt gun fight with Daddy and Uncle Nate

playtime in the water sprinkler

and of course, bubbles!

We also tried out a new park this week. I am in LOVE with this park. It has a special area just for toddlers with toddler size toys!

It was an important day for Landon who finally mastered the monkey bars (thanks to the tot-friendly size) He was SO excited, and played on them the entire time.

So proud of you Buddy!!

Wednesday we had lunch with Amanda and her boys

and relaxed by the duck pond,

watched for bugs and had a great time!

We also went to Matty's T-ball game. Landon was SO exited to see his best buddy play baseball and hasn't stopped talking about it since.

Look at this little tot out there!

Way to go Matty!!

Travis and his Mini-Me

We had such a great time watching the kids play!

So that's how we spent our week!

How did you spend yours??

Monday, April 26, 2010

He completely missed the point...

We live in a dry, desert, foothill area...after all this is Southern California. Yesterday our neighbors killed a very large rattlesnake. It is really early in the season to see any snakes, so we were pretty surprised! We did actually have snow only a few days ago. The snow melted quickly and the temps warmed up fast. Raising two toddlers in a "snake area" is a constant stress for me during the summer months. I have never been a snake person myself, and I try hard not to pass on my fears to the kids. So we try and find a balance between educating them about the potential danger of snakes, and encouraging them to be curious and interested in reptiles. This morning I had a talk with Landon before he went out to the backyard to play. I'm hoping he got the point...

Me: "Landon, yesterday at Kyle's house they found a VERY big, dangerous snake. They took it away so it can't hurt you, but Mama and Daddy want you to be very careful when you play outside now. You are only allowed to play in the back yard and you have to stay inside the fence."

Landon: "Where's da big snake at Mom?"

Me: "They got rid of it! Anyway, listen to what I am saying to you. If you see ANY snake you need to run away and come and get me or Daddy right away! DO NOT try to touch it, or even stand there and look at it. Come get me and Daddy and we Daddy will take care of it!"

Landon: "Did Kyle see da snake Mom?"

Me: "Yes, Kyle saw a snake and he was very scared so he ran and got his Mommy and Daddy and they saved him and took care of it. So are you listening? Do you understand? Watch what you are doing while you play out back and come get Mama or Daddy as soon as you see a snake! Understand?"

Landon: "Ok Mom, if I see da snake I come reawwy fast and get you, or Dad! Annnnnd, I promise I will not touch any wolves."

Me: "Wolves?"

Landon: "Yep, no touching da wolves."

I don't even know what to say to that...

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Wordless Wednesday!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Potty talk

I was walking down the hall and out to the kitchen as I do every morning. As I passed the hall bathroom Landon called out "Look Mama, I can pee from all da way back here!" I peeked in on him and he was standing on his step stool 2 feet away from the toilet, with a pretty big smile on his face. I yelled at him to stop, as I watched pee splashing everywhere. I talked with him about correct potty form, and then cleaned the bathroom. This kid is a stand up comedians dream child! I could write an entire show based around his toilet humor alone.

It's a gloomy, rainy, cold day here in Southern Ca. Since it's too nasty out to really go anywhere I decided to stay home with the kids today and really tackle Brynne's potty training. We started trying to potty train her when she turned 2 in January. Unfortunately the kids and I were pretty sick for most of January and February. She didn't show much promise in those first days, and not having any energy I let it slide and just gave up. We decided to wait for a month or two and try again. So today is the big day! And I am happy to report, so far so good! Brynne and Landon were playing down the hallway, and she ran all the way to her potty, and made it in time! Landon and I sang and danced around and made a HUGE deal out of it. Brynne got a marshmallow, a sticker, and some M&M's. She was smiling from ear to ear so I am really hoping this day ends as well as it started!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Huntington Beach 04-07-10

Yesterday the kids and I spent the day at Huntington Beach with some of our good friends. The beach was pretty crowded for a Wednesday afternoon, but it is Spring Break. It was 80* and the weather was perfect, and we had such a great day!

We have taken Landon to the beach before, but he was pretty young at the time.

Here he is having lunch...

Brynne hadn't been to the beach before, but she always seems to go along with the flow, and was excited to see her friends. When we got there a ladybug nest was hatching, or something, because there were TONS of ladybugs flying out of the sand and onto everything we had with is. At one point I pulled 12 of them out of Brynne's hair!! It was kinda gross, but the kids liked the ladybugs.
Here's Brynne showing me a "laylee buh" like the one on her bathing suit!

For the first hour or so Brynne didn't leave Landon's side. He showed her around like he was an old pro or something.

Landon is always a little catious about new situations, and while Brynne ran full force to the waters edge, he took his time and watched for a while. Eventually he got right in with her and they were running from the waves.

Brynne does not like to be dirty! Don't get me wrong, she will play in the dirt for hours, but likes to use a stick or shovel to do so. She hates to have her hands dirty. So she kept whining to me about her dirty hands. I finally just told her that she was going to be dirty all day so we will clean up as soon as we get to the car to head home. That speech seemed to work and she stopped asking me to clean her off.

As the kids were running through the waves I could see that Brynne was getting more and more comfortable. One particular time she went out a little too far and I could tell that the wave that was about to hit the beach was a bit bigger than the ones that they had been playing in. I told her to come closer and she said "No, Mama, My playing in da water!" Needless to say the wave hit the beach and swept her off her feet. She quickly was rolling through the wave and ended up face down floating in the ocean. The wave was pulling her out further and further and I could not stop laughing long enough to grab her. I was balancing my camera in one hand and finally had to just run out into the water and yank her out by her arm.

The above picture is about 10 minutes after that big nasty ocean almost got her! She came out of that water hysterical and had sand on every inch of her body. She pretty much kept her distance from the waves after that!

Landon was is dump truck Heaven with all the sand!

While Brynne was resting and drying off after her fall she noticed all the seagulls. She loves animals and asked me over and over if she can hold the birds. Here she is watching them closely.

Brynne played in the sand for the rest of our day and would only go near the water if Mama was holding her tightly. I'm hoping the next time we go to the beach she will have forgotten about the fall into the waves.

There were 4 of us girls there and we each have 2 kids. 8 kids running around the beach can get a bit scary at times, but we never lost any of them, LOL!