summer break

ok, it's been awhile-no excuses. Let's see, we spent time at Mugga's house. The kids had a great time. We spent lots of time playing Star Wars. This consists of swinging a light saber (a stick) at poor defenseless trees-then later apologizing to them. The kids were great in NY at my cousin's wedding. After being home for 5 days, we went to Kiawah with the entire family. Landon spent most of his time chasing his cousin, Jack around the 3 story house. They were all into playing Wii. Kai had so much time at the beach. She had a blast in the water. She would point to it, try to jump (her feet never actually leave the ground) and say "bump!" (jump)  When you took her to the water, she kept trying to get deeper in the water. If you weren't paying close attention she would get a little too deep. She would also run after any bird she saw, pointing and yelling "doggie" It is hard to convince her that not everything on 4 legs is a dog. She is getting a good vocabulary. She has now spread out into dog, duck and bear, fish (in reference to goldfish, the snack, not the animal) 

Landon was a wild man in the water. He would play with the waves forever, unless of course he got saltwater in his eyes. He would then scream until he got his eyes wiped-usually on my swim suit. 

Landon starts school next week. He is so excited! He got to get new shoes, new clothes, everything-he has to wear a uniform. He loves it when I tell him not to grow up-that he is becoming too big and that he needs to stay my little baby forever. He giggles uncontrollably and argues with me about how he has to grow up big and strong. We have started to play a new game-we chase Kai around the house, occasionally stopping her and kissing her. Kai's little bottom wriggles side-to-side, and Landon imitates her, it cracks me up up-him too.

Soon to come, Landon's 4th birthday!

The Princess

Kai is becoming a princess before our eyes. She will find her shoes and hat, bring them to me and demand I put them on her. If I try to put the "wrong" shoes on her, she has a fit. She will even find a new pair of shoes to put on if she has been wearing the same ones all day. She also likes to have a bow in her hair. Her favorite toy is my cell phone. She was playing with the buttons while lounging back on a pillow. It looked like she was texting her friends. She typically will hold it to her ear and babble. It is very cute. She also loves to brush her hair and have it brushed for her. That almost always calms her down if she is upset-not that she ever is. Landon on the other hand, hates to have his shoes on, but has started to as for his hat when outside. He is old enough to realize that it blocks the sun and he can see much better. He wears one of Chad's hats so it is too big, but he loves it.

we got back from Belize a few days ago. It was the 1st time I had left Kai and it was for 10 days. It seems both kids did fine, but were a little out of sorts after the 1st few days. I got in too late to see them, so the next morning I got Kai out of her crib when she woke up. The look on her face said she couldn't believe it was me. She kept looking at me every few minutes with a huge smile on her face. She has been clinging since then, but is getting better. Landon tells me he was worried about me when I was gone, but is very happy we are back. He finally decided he wanted to go swimming, but that since he was just walking in the water, he didn't need to wear trunks, because those are for swimming. The first few times he went at my parent's house, he was au natural, It wasn't until the last couple of days that he wore undies. I have explained to him that he needs to wear his trunks and he did put them on yesterday to go. Anyway, we all are back at the house-for a few weeks anyway.

Landon's first boat ride (Kai's too)

Friends of ours invited us out on their pontoon boat this past Sunday. It was the 1st time for both of the kids. Landon wasn't too sure about it before we left, but we talked about the life jackets and the sun screen and he was ok. He hasn't been wanting to put the sunscreen on lately, but it was 86 today soo.... We get on the boat, Landon runs to his seat and says"ok mom, where is the sunscreen and my life jacket? Let's go!" He is all smiles. Kai on the other hand, hates the life jacket, which is understandable since the jacket is as big as she is-very cute, but huge. We dock on a little beach and he wants nothing to do with the water, but after seeing all the kids having fun, he gets braver. We went with 2 of Chad's soccer girls and he was in hog heaven. They played with him on the edge of the water. He even put on his swim trunks. Chad offered to throw him in and have one of the girls catch him-that didn't go over too well, he did it,but I doubt he will do it again. He got to sit on the edge of the boat with the girls and eat his lunch-he thought he was hot stuff. The girls just love him and he got to eat with the big kids. Kai got to wiggle around all over the boat and be loved on by everyone. we tried to get her to sleep in the pack-in-play-didn't happen. She usually sleeps for 3 hours starting around 12 or so. At 3:30 she was still up and running. We started back home at that point. She was out 5 minutes after we left. All in all, it was a great day. Landon wants to go back and we know Kai can have a good time too.

Landon has been helping with my garden. He helps me dig the holes and water the plants. He likes to look for the baby fruits and veggies that are growing. Hopefully he will like to eat them just as much. Kai has helped too. She pulls out everything I just put it and brings it to me. She is so proud of it too.

In the last week Kai has outgrown her shoes and gotten 5 new teeth.She is growing fast!

Muffins with Mom

Landon's preschool class had "Muffins with Mom" this morning. The kids had made cute little crafts for us and we ate muffins and had juice together. I was just about out the door after having said goodbye to Landon. He was off playing with his friends when he saw me getting ready to leave. He yelled "Mommy, wait! I have to give a hug and a kiss!" It was so sweet and the best Mom's day present I could ask for.

Landon is sick

Landon has this weird illness. He will stop for a second and look like he may have burped up something into his throat, then he screams for a few minutes about it hurting. He then says his tummy, throat and head hurt all at once and wants to lay down. After about an hour, he just gets up and is fine. He did this today and at my brother's house when he was with his cousins and grandparents-in other words, when he was having tons of fun and wouldn't want to take a break. He id it again today, this time while we were at the playground, getting ready to play hide-and-seek, again, when he wouldn't want to take a break. I don't know, we hope it won't happen again.

He spent the weekend with his 4 cousins and had a blast. He got a new bike and wants to ride it all the time-too bad he can't use the breaks yet!

Kai is up and walking. She can take around 6 or 7 steps before she falls. She is getting the hang of it and I'm sure she will be up and running soon. Landon helped me plant my veggie garden last week. It is doing great-too bad it is supposed to get into the low 30's tonight-late April in North Carolina and I may have to cover my plants! Hope they make it, I don't want to start over. My lettuce is growing well. I had my 1st salad from the garden last week and it was so tender an sweet. Landon tried it from the plants and was not impressed. He loves to tell people about the veggies he planted. It will me great when we can just go outside an pick a snack from the vines.

Getting lost.

I was at the YMCA last week to teach a kids yoga class that Landon is in with me. I left him in the room with a counselor to go get my stuff. When I returned 10 minutes later, Landon was no where to be found and the counselor had no idea he was missing-that sent out an alert among the staff-we all know what to do-drop everything and find the kid. It took a few minutes and quite a few staff, but finally a member heard a little child screaming for his mommy in the bathroom. Landon had run to the bathroom without telling anyone-couldn't reach the light switch and couldn't open the door himself-it is very heavy. I have no idea who the member was that found him, but want to send a great big GOD BLESS YOU! I was very calm when it happened, but later that night I about had a meltdown. Until (not unless) it happens to your child, you have no idea how it feels, but every parent will experience it at some point. Luckily, we were at a safe place where everyone knows him. It happened to my brother when we were at Disney World, I was worried, but now I can't imagine how bad it was for my sister-in-law. My niece was only gone for a minute, but it seemed like forever. The night it happened, Landon came to me and said "Mommy, I was yelling for you. You should have been there." How heart-breaking is that! It did lead to a good conversation about what to do if he gets lost and can't find me. He started to learn our phone number but then decided he needed to have his own and made up a number. Not sure what country code he was using, but I bet it would cost a fortune to place that call!

Pictures finally!!!!!

I finally got around to downloading pics-thanks for the dig Judy. The 1st is of Kai in Landon's favorite (and Dad's) soccer jersye. The 2nd is Landon in our only snow of the year and the 3rd is Kai sorting socks-see, I told you my kids are cute:)

Wii bowling

I got Chad a Wii for his birthday.-very good investment. Landon loves it (not to mention Chad and I do too). We can actually play a game together and not have to let Landon win. he can almost beat me in bowling. He is so funny about it. He really gets into moving the controller. He also likes tennis, but is a little too rambunctious with that one. We have to make sure Kai is not around-her head is the perfect height for him to whack!-which he has done a few times.

Landon wiped out on is scooter-I could just see his arm breaking, but after 3 minutes and 4 kisses, he was fine. I didn't even see his scratches until he was in the tubby. He is so tough.

Easter Princess

We went to Grandpa's beach house for the week and had a great time. Kai got a pair of Easter bunny ears and she loved wearing them. She thought it was hilarious to see herself in the mirror with them on. She would crawl over to them, pick them up and hand them to the nearest adult with a big smile. We were sitting outside by the pool one day and she had on her hat and sunglasses-the cutest little picture. One of the girls that played soccer for her grandpa is nicknamed "Queen." Bob sent her the picture with the caption "You may be the Queen, but the princess has arrived." Very apropo.

Landon was great the entire weekend-or at least for most of it. He has so much fun in the sand. We dug holes and ran races. His favorite is to stand at the dunes, with your back to the ocean. Then you have to run backwards to the water, then sprint back to the dunes. The boy is very fast. I actually have to run to keep up with him. He completely wore out grandpa.

Kai was holding onto a side table beside the couch. I didn't think she was strong enough to do anything. I was wrong. She pulled the table over on herself and fell flat on the hard-wood floor. She is fine, but was pretty upset for awhile. It also caused her "full" diaper to explode. She had pooh all over her back and I mean about 1/4 inch thick. But, she was crying so hard and I was afraid she was hurt, that I held onto her to comfort her. I didn't realize what happened until I felt something on my arm and then realized my pant leg was covered as well. Again, I couldn't put her down because she was screaming. Anyway, after numerous wipes and changes of clothes, she is fine and our clothes are washed.

standing and thinking about walking

Kai is pulling herself up like a champ. She can let go and stand by herself for a good but before she has to grab onto something. She is thinking about walking but can't quite get the coordination.

Landon was riding his scooter with his friend who lives down the street. She is 10 months older. They were at the top of a little hill-very little. He takes off like a shot as fast as her can. She started off slowly and hadn't gotten 2 feet when she fell and started crying like the world was ending. Landon reaches the bottom and loses it. He knows to jump off if he can't stop so he does and his scooter keeps going. I am know about 30 yards from him and he starts yelling "mommy!" I yell right back and tell him "you're fine!" so he stops fussing and runs to save his scooter, meanwhile, the little girl is still crying. It cracks me up the difference between boys and girls. She had a little scrape on her and he had no marks so she was hurt worse. The next day, Landon was playing outside by himself when I hear a very loud scream. I run to him and he says he hurt his back "how did you do that?" I ask. He points to a broken branch on a tree that is lying up against our fence. He has a pretty good scratch on his back. he then tells me he tried to climb the tree and fell off. We now have an agreement that won't try to climb a tree unless dad is around to help.

I took Landon to kid's yoga the other day-didn't make it too long and I had to take him out of the class. Yes my child had to be removed. Just like at his 1st soccer practice an he cried for the 1st 20 minutes. I am going to start teaching a new kid's class next week and he will need to go with me. Hopefully he gets better at it, just like at soccer where he is now doing great and loving it.

I just realized I have never written down anything bout the night Kai was born. I did for Landon, but not her, so here it goes. She was due on June 22, which was a Friday, but the doc didn't think it would take that long. The week before Diana had been out of town and my parents weren't there yet. She gets back and they arrive. I see the doctor on Monday and she says it will still be a few days. Then I start feeling a little strange that evening after dinner. About 1 in the morning it starts to get intense. Chad manages to doze a little, but not me. At 3 I say it is time to call the doctor an go to the hospital. We tell my mom and off we go. It is a 30 minute drive. We saw lots of cops-I dared them to pull us over, but Chad wasn't driving that fast-though he offered to speed up. When we get there, there is no one in the lobby so Chad pulls the car off to the side and walks in with me. Of course there are no wheel chairs as we go to the elevators with my contractions coming every 3 minutes. We finally make it to the maternity ward and still no wheelchair. We sign in and I get to the room about 3:45. Pretty much immediately they start the iv and the antibiotics because it is obvious the baby is on her way. Did i mention that we had just decided to change her name? It was going to be Kai Elizabeth, but is now Kai Emily. (sorry Lex). Move on to 6:30 and the doc says she is coming and will be out in 20 minutes-fast forward 35 and she arrives just after 7 am. Kai had her fist up by her mouth and that was what had made it take longer. She still has that hand up by her mouth all the time when she sucks her thumb. The 2nd time around was much faster and much easier than the 1st. The recovery was much less as well. I was up and walking around a little the next day.

Kai will be 9 months old next week. This morning I was sitting with her in the glider in the nursery when she pointed to a book (Goodnight Moon) We were reading it together when Landon came in, still very sleepy. He leaned up next to me and we read it again, it was very sweet. Landon is becoming such a big boy, it amazes me.
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first word!

KAi said her first word, though I think it was an accident. She has been practicing her B's lately so I tried a word with lots of B sounds and she got it. Bumpa. This is what we call my dad. She said it twice but when I tried to get her to say it on the phone to him, she just wanted to play with the lights on the phone instead. Congrats Dad! you were her 1st word!

trimming my plants-toddler style

I was upstairs, putting Kai to bed when Landon comes running in "Mommy, come down here, I want to show you what I did-close your eyes!" Is anyone's spidersense tingling yet? I told him he had to wait until Kai went to bed. After a few minutes, I come out and once again he comes running -'cover your eyes mommy! Don't look!" Mind you, we are on the stairs. He leads me to my Aerogarden-it is full of beautiful cherry tomato plants that are full of baby tomatoes. We have trimmed the plants together before. He had taken scissors and trimmed them again for me. "Mommy, look what i did for you!" The carnage was amazing. Little tomato cuttings were everywhere. He was so proud of himself. He actually did a pretty good job. He didn't cut any one part tooooo short. He just cut off the really long parts that were hanging outside the heating lamps. Didn't even cut off any tomatoes. I'm so glad he didn't destroy the entire thing. I am so close to having ripe tomatoes.

Kai is pulling up and really crawling well. She can stand up if she has a little help with balance. She doesn't need to hold on, just lightly put her hand on something.

Landon visited Chad's school today to see if he likes it for next year. He did a great job and didn't want to leave when I picked him up. I think he will do well there next year.

warming Dad's heart

Landon had just finished watching a movie, when he turned to us and said "Let's go play soccer." Chad just about fell out of his chair-or at least of the couch.Landon and I went and found 3 soccer balls-yes we have that many lying around, I have enough for at least a full team. We all went outside and Landon wanted me to throw it at his head and tried to head the ball. Chad tossed it at his head and I thought he would break Landon's nose. Chad tried to get him to kick the ball a little too forcefully. He didn't just let Landon start doing it on his own-which is the only way to go with a stubborn little boy if it is something you want him to like.. So Chad and I started passing the ball back and forth nd pretty soon Landon joined in. we had all 3 balls going at once and Landon was having a great time and doing a great job. Chad started doing tricks with the ball-chiefly, catching the ball on his back. Of course, Landon had to try-it was very cute.. He would put the ball on his head and try to let it roll down his back. He then started making up his own tricks. He was also trying to dribble the ball like a basketball, but flat soccer balls on grass don't bounce so well. When I put Landon to bed, I always ask him what his favorite part of the day was and he said "playing soccer." He asked if we could play again tomorrow.
Kai didn't have such a good day. She has a nice cold. She went to bed last night at 6:30 and slept until 8:30. She went to bed tonight at 5:30 and missed dinner. We'll see how much sleep I get tonight. She didn't seem to have a temperature. I hope she feels better in the morning.

she's crawling!

Kai started crawling this week. Mugga (my mom) was actually the first to see her do it. She is alos trying to pull up. When Landon andI play with his train table, she tries to pull herself up enough that she can see over the edge. It is so sweet-all you can see of her is her eyes, but you can tell she is smilling.

Landon and Chad went to Duncan Donuts the other day-first time ever, but man, does that boy love chocolate donuts. While they were there, Landon had to use the bathroom. Chad told him to go by himself. The door was heavy and Landon couldn't open it by himself. He comes over to Chad and says-"Daddy, it's locked, I need your keys." Chad gave him the car keys and Landon proceeded to try every key to unlock the door. The clerk was crackng up. Chad finally had to help him open the door.

cute faces

Kai likes to stick her lower lip out as far as she can, then she sticks out her tongue and then smiles, all at the same time. It is hilarious, especially when she does it while eating. it cracks me up every time. Landon, has his own funny moments. I always get him up just before I go to bed to use the bathroom. He doesn't really wake up when I do this and barely registers that I am there. I will carry him the the toilet, and pull down his pants for him. His eyes don't open the entire time and his head is usually resting against me as he is still asleep. I did this the other day and I could barley get him to stand up, he kept falling to the floor he was so asleep. He is all floppy and sweet. Kai likes to give raspberries. She sticks out her lipes and makes funny noises, all while drooling madly over everything. It is adorable but wet. Landon has been practicing making funny faces in the mirror. He is getting very good at a few different ones. Ask him to do one for you the next time you see him.

playgroup and perfect moments

I had one of those perfect moments you occasionaly experience as a mom. Chad brought Kai to me in bed this morning. Then Landon came in, he usually asks to watch tv, but this morning he crawled under the covers with Kai and I and the 3 of us talked and cuddled for a few mintues until I had to get up. It was very sweet. Yesterday's playgroup went very well. There were 2 other families there. One was a mom and her little girl. The other was the mom and dad and their 3 little ones. After a while, one of my neighbors showed up with his little girl. All the kids had a great time and we spoke a lot of spanish. I think it is going to be very helpful to all us -no matter what language we will be working on. The other families seemed very happy to be included. This may be one of the first times the one family has been at an American's household that she did not have to clean and was a guest. We have decided that we need to keep getting together and are going to invite a few more families. Kai is so close to forward progress on her crawling. She can almost get it, then she falls flat. It will be any day now. I really need to put the baby gates back up. She almost pulled herself up today, got half way up then plopped right bak down.

teenagers can't drive!

Ok, not about my kids as much. We had another of those car accidents caused by teenagers being dumb. A teenage boy was driving 85 and racing on a little road with his 12 year old brother in the car. Not a good ending-from what the pictures show, there is not much left of either the boys or the car. They both died and the boy in the other car is in critical condition after being ai-lifted out. A girl in my Sunday School class (all high schoolers) tried to argue with me and tell me that some teenagers are good drivers-haven't met one yet. By definition, they aren't good at it. The problem is, they think they are. I can't imagine how hard it will be to let my kids drive, or worse, ride in a car with another teen. Kids can take driver's ed at 14 1/2-way to young! Every teen I know that age is way to distractable and impulsive. I have been drving a long time and I still make lots of mistakes. Landon will be the oldest in his class and will want his license before everone else. Yes, I know we have more than a decade to wait, but if you are a parent, you know what I am talking about.
Took the kids to church today, made it thru both Sunday School and the service with out getting paged to come to the nursery to take care of Kai. They love her down there. She is always smiling-and her smile is sooooo cute.
We have a playgroup coming over today-I will s[eak the best English and the worst Spanish of anyone here. In fact, I may be the only one to speak English. Hope it goes well.

new teeth!

Kai not only got her 1st tooth today, but she got her 2nd as well. They are little tiny, but man, are they sharp. Very pointy! She wasn't even being that fussy. Landon found my tape measure this afternoon and has been measuring everything. He keeps saying "sorry mom, this is taking a long time!" Not sure why he likes that phrase. We checked out the Montessori school where Chad works. I'm pretty sure we will put him in next year. It will be 5 full days a week. It will be a big change, but it will give me a chance to work more hours-hope I can find enough.

Most people have at least 1 story about when their kids were baptized. Landon has 2. He was baptized when he was 6 months old. His Mugga (my mom) was assisting and she was hold the baptism candle. He kept trying to get at it. The last time he tried, he almost got ahold of the lit candle-made everyone laugh. Now, fast-forward 3 years and it is Kai's turn. She is 2 months old. Landon was up front with us and ancy. he walked around a little and the elder who was with us motioned for him to sit down-at the piano bench -and it was open! He sat down and gave me a look that said " I am about to get into trouble, but it will be worth it!" He slowly pressed a key-not too loud. He then did it again! I finally had to go and get him. The worst part was that another couple was having their daughter baptized at the same time and it wasn't just us. I heard many stories that day about what other children had done and compared to those, Landon was tame.-lots of little boys stripping in the aisle. I did talk to a friend of mine who was at church that day and she said she didn't realize he had played the piano because it was so soft. Ah the joys of having kids...

to Grandpa's house we go....

We spent the weekend at my father-in-law's house. The kids had a great time-me too. They were great in the car. Landon had to stop to use the potty multiple times. It is not that easy to fit in those little stalls with a baby in a car seat, a 3 year old and an adult. Thank goodness for handicap stalls. Landon went to a State Park that had a touch tank. He worked up the courage to touch a sting ray.The last time he tried, he wouldn't even let me touch it. He was too afraid. He was really brave. He talked my ear off about it. He got to push buttons and listen to bird calls and baby alligator cries. A big day for any kid. Kai was a big hit. One person at the house was quoted as saying "I saw that smile of hers and thought 'what can I buy you?'" She is almost ready to crawl. She gets up on all fours and starts to rock. She manages to push her self backwards. Their arms are stronger than their legs and it makes them go backwards. She gets so frustrated that she can't go forward. If she gets any forward progress, she is so proud of herself. Their grandpa has full-length mirrors on the closets in the bedrooms. Kai had the best time playing in front of them. Looking from herself, to whoever else was in the room with a great big smile. The house has a great couch. Some of the seats are reclines. Landon had the best time pulling them out, sliding head first off of the them and jumping from seat to seat. It is a wonder he didn't break something. It was an interesting weekend and I am glad I took them. I was a bit nervous about driving them both by myself, but everything went well.

let me try this again

OK, maybe this time, my computer will work-last time, I ran out of juice because the power cord was shredded-could the culprit be the dog or the vacuum cleaner? Guess we'll never know. Landon is getting so big, which he constantly reminds me of. He will be 4 in September, but looks like he already is. We went to the sandbox today-he loves it and it is warm enough for us right now. We played the "attached to you game" with his sister. We take turns being attatched at the cheeks to each other. I am stuck to Kai and he ia stuck to me, that kind of thing-very cute. Kai is showing her personality already and she is stubborn. When I go to wipe her nose, she turns from me and keeps her head turned for a couple of minutes so I can't get to her, mind you, she is only 6 months old. We bought a "tickle machine" to cut Landon's and Chad's hair-it works well. we told Landon that he either had to get his hair cut or his fingernails cut-he opted for the hair-he hates the fingernails, he will scream like we are beating him the entire time we cut his nails. We literally have to hold him down to cut the nails and it takes both of us. Anyway, last night, we told him he had to get his nails cut and he immediatley said "no, I want my hair cut" then proceeded to pull the chair into the bathroom, climb on it and scream. If it wasn't so loud, it would be funny. The nails are cut and we live to tell another tale. Kai is asleep and Landon will be shortly. I am off to have a Margarita -yum