I will finish

Ok, I don't know what happened, but I cannot go in to edit and finish the post I just did-I don't know what happened to not get it all on there. I have redone it twice now, but some message keeps coming up about some "tag"...I am really frustrated......Have to go get Jordan but will finish my train of thought later!

Fits and Funny conversations

Fits
As expected, the closer we get to 18 months, in same fashion as his siblings, Landon is now showing his opinion in a most dramatic fashion. The "fits" as we have called them have started to set in:) Last night he had one and I had to document it!
After dinner, he kept scrounging for food in the kitchen. It was time to take a bath since he was so dirty from the park. So, we were heading up stairs. Well, Landon was not happy with that.

Here we go: getting mad at mommy,crying starts..... The yelling starts and hands go up in the air.....
throw self down on the floor....
and scream and cry some more.
Landon definitely knows he wants and lets me know!!


Here is a conversation we had in the car yesterday.

Sooo sleepy....

We went to the mall yesterday and didn't get home until around 1:30. Both of the boys were asleep in the car, so I carried them in one by one and put them down to sleep. I had just layed Spencer on the couch, then I came down to check my e-mail. A few minutes later, I heard Spencer whimpering, then he came running down the steps into the bathroom.

He usually wants help, but he charged right in there and did his business, buy this I mean a big poopy. It got really quiet after a few minutes, so then I began to wonder what he was doing. I opened the door and found him asleep on the floor!! If you look in this picture, he is cuddling his pants and underwear like he does his blanket. So he did his business half asleep and fell promptly back to sleep on the floor. He was laying there naked on the bottom, with the exception of his socks and shoes!!!

I slipped his clothes on him, put him on the couch and he continued to sleep for another 2 hours!! I guess his little legs were so tired from walking around the mall for 2 hours. What a funny kid:)) I really wanted to post the pic of the whole view, but thought it may be just a sight for his mommy-it is really cute, though.

I am not a soccer mom

OK, there have been so many posts lately entitled "I'm a soccer mom" that I couldn't resist!
We are just little kindergartners at this point. I was too late to get into a gymnastics class, and were on the fence with soccer, so we are just concentrating on school for now. I didn't get to do any extras when I was in elementary school so I don't think Jordan will be too damaged for now. She really does want to take gymnastics, so I have to look into that.

I thought I would share some new experiences we have had since school started.

The cause much of my...what's it called...oh road rage, but in this case parking lot rage these days! The dreaded kiss and ride line. It is, well how shall I say it...h#*^ every afternoon!!! You pull into the very small parking lot and form 2 lines.
You go around the curve, then ...
two lines become one!! This is the source of my frustration. Cars that don't let another car ahead. And I also hate that when I have sat for 10-20 minutes a car that came in behind me somehow gets ahead....ugh. I have tried going at all different times to minimize how long Jordan has to sit and wait, but since they bring the kindergartners out first, she inevitably has to sit forever. I ask myself how many years do I have to do this....the bus sure sounds soooo good right about now!!
This next picture isn't about school, just what the kids did with daddy when I asked him to occupy them so I could make dinner.
School Clothes: pink, pink, pink. Have you ever seen Steel Magnolias? This is what Jordan reminds me of:

Pink is my signature color....my colors are blush and bashful!!

I don't know how much more pink she could have in her wardrobe, but as long as she will wear it I shouldn't complain.

Pink backpack as well, and pink "princess" shoes.
I went to back to school night and this was on the wall. One of her first projects. So cute. I did talk to one of her teachers and asked if she was quiet in class. It was her Spanish teacher. She said that Jordan never talks in class....if only at home.....
Homework!!

Jordan's first homework was Spanish, so I told Darin he had to help her. He was frustrated because Jordan kept saying "my teacher told me how to do it." I guess part of the directions were cut off. They managed to do it, but Darin looked like he would rather have been in a dental chair:) If you know Jordan, she is pretty head strong...so homework will be fun! I was happy, though, because I know she is listening in class. A bunch of the parents said their children did not know how to do it. The teacher said she showed them 3 days in a row, and Jordan did just what she showed us on back to school night. Some of the parents are concerned that the directions will always be in Spanish. Good thing we have Darin-put his Spanish to good use:)

I could sleep all day...

well, if my nose and eyes would stop running like a faucet, if my headache would go away, and if I could stop cauging and actually breath when I lay down maybe I could sleep.

It's a little humbling when you pride yourself on never getting sick. I had this horrible memory, of when Darin had mono this time last year-If I have that I will be very sad!! I finally went to the Dr. and don't have strep, even thougth my temp was over 101, so this is one very mean and nasty virus. I thought for sure it was strep because I have had it a lot and my throat really hurt the same. She did give me some potent caugh medicine, so I went to bed early last night. I slept like a log until about 1:30 when I had to go to the bathroom, then couldn't sleep because my nose just drips non stop. This morning my temp was 100, so I loaded up on ibuprofen, Musinex and throat losenges.

So, here I am trying to entertain Landon inbetween wiping my nose and caughing. Thank goodness my neighbor Kelly came and helped me this morning, then took Lanny for a walk. We still got Jordan to school late and I had a little breakdown (yes, I cried in my overemotional state)because she had to get a tardy pass. (We have major morning issues in our house getting all 3 of the kids ready and out the the door on time every day, but that is a whole other post!!)I do not want the "late" kid in the class. 00000000000000 That was Landon's contribution to this po0st. oh, here comes morekffkhhfjjk.klkjvbhvmhm Oh, I took him down and now he is screaming and he is stinky.....

Man, your house falls apart when you are sick...I look around and don't have the energy to pick anything up. Darin does pretty well, but then the kids wake up and make more messes. Darin always tells me I can't get sick because I hold the house together...well, you can sure tell I am not feeling well by the looks of the house. I had even planned out a 2 week menu, stocked the fridge, but now don't have the energy to even cook....ugh!! At least maybe when I go to weight watchers on Saturday I will have lost some weight:)

Ryann-don't know how you're doing it with pneumonia!! Kudos to you!!

Gratitude

Many of our friends and family already know that for the last 2 years, Jordan has been able to be a "model child" in a Special Ed preschool. In her first year I was able to go and help out in the classroom twice a week. I really fell in love with all the children. It was amazing to see them progress. A couple of the children had pretty severe speech delays and could hardly say much. By the end of the year, I would walk in the room and they would yell "Wendi" really cute. I just loved em!! Jordan's favorite was a little boy who had a genetic disorder and couldn't walk or talk. She sat by him at lunch everyday. If you got right in his face and talked to him, he would laugh and smile.

Well, now Spencer is doing the same thing. He has the same teacher Jordan had when she was 3, so she again asked me to come and help twice a week. I go after they have eaten lunch, help clean up and read them books until time to put backpacks on and lineup to go out to the buses. It is really fun. I started last Friday and after the day, I had such a realization that I am truly blessed with 3 healthy, well developing children. There is a little boy with Down Syndrome in the class. He was a handful!! He kept smacking my bottom, would grab and pull on me, and kept trying to escape. He would grab all the books I was trying to read to the boys and plop himself down on my lap. I thought what a handful...but so cute. Then I wondered how it was at home with him. I wondered about his parents-how they cope with such a child.

So, each time chaos ensues in my house, I have to stop and think that my child has a brain that functions and she or he is clearly thinking about what he is doing. Like this morning when I told Jordan not to watch TV while I was making pancakes. I realized she was watching it with the sound off....a little sneaky, but great thinking!! When the kids are climbing, running away, jumping on the couch....etc, I need to stop and be thankful that they have two arms and two legs that work perfectly!! What a blessing!!

Thank you Heavenly Father for wonderful Healthy children!!!

Pajama envy

I dug out some of Spencer's old long sleeved pajamas for Landon last night, and it didn't go over very well. They are really cute with dinosaurs all over them. Well, since Spencer is very into dinosaurs currently, he wanted them. He had a major breakdown and almost started to strip Lanny down himself. He insisted that I take them off Landon so he could wear them-yeah, he wanted to wear 18 mos. pjs. Luckily he does have another pair he barely fits that has dinosaurs, so that made him happier. What will happen tonight?

In the midst of all this, I had changed into my pajamas. They are fairly new, plain pink with lace around the neck and legs. Well, Jordan fell in love with them instantly. She kept feeling the lace and the material. She insisted that I sew her some tomorrow that looked exactly the same. She said "I want the same ones mommy." I thought this was hysterical. I told her I would look for some new pink ones with lace, but she insisted that I sew them. Like that is ever going to happen!

I am not afraid to admit it.....

I went to the Celine Dion concert! I told Darin I would love to go, and he surprised me with tickets on Saturday. I know there are closet fans out there....It was a great concert. I was also pretty exciting because our seats were in section 400-the top section in the Verizon Center. We made it up the last escalator and there weren't really too many people around us at the time. There was an employee at the top of the steps. She asked us if there were only 2 of us, so we said yes. She asked if we wanted to move closer. My jaw almost dropped and I must have looked dumb founded. Darin said yes and we were given replacement tickets to move to section 116!The seats were right behind the control booth, just up from the last row of floor seats. They must have thought they weren't the greatest viewing, but they were great!

Here's the control area with all the computers, etc. It was cool to watch the cameras change on the monitors. At one point they steamed in a video of Andrea Bocelli and there was a monitor with just him, just Celine, and one together. Celine is so tiny!! She wears very high heals and moves around with ease!! The ramps were really steep on the sides, so I was impressed with how easily she moved around. She was pretty showy and dramatic-moving her hands around, etc. But man can she sing!!! She also sang a song in French and I really liked that.
There were lots of elevator lifts that moved her and the awesome dancers up and down.

Of course she ended with the titanic song, but the audience completely ate it up. The ladies behind me saw me looking at my pics on my camera and offered to pay me to e-mail them. So I have 2 email address and one sweet girl was by herself and didn't have e-mail, so I got copies made to send her. She was sooo excited about getting to move down closer.
So there ya have it...I loved it and still love Celine:)

Oh, I almost forgot, the opener was hysterical. His name was Gordy Brown and he was a comedic singer impersonator. He made fun of a ton of singers and actors and was soooo funny. Look him up if you want to laugh.

OBX ( Outer Banks)

I have been working on this post forever, and finally get to finish it. Thanks to the help of both the boys falling asleep in the car on the way home from picking Spencer up from pre-school.

So have a seat and get comfortable, this is a long one. We were so excited to go to OBX because we had never done the beach house thing. We stayed 4 days in a hotel once when Jordan was tiny. Anyhow thanks to the preparations of Hannah Smith, we had a nice house to stay in and great company for the week.
Here is "Sea Elegance." She took good care of us for a week. Through the week, there were 6 families in and out of the house. The children had a great time playing with each other. We did so many fun things-beach fun, pool fun, visiting a couple of lightouses, seeing a rescued wild horse, shopping-for me, eating at a nice restaurant-Darin and I, playing with each other. Here are some of my favorite photos of all our fun outings. I know it's a lot, but that's me folks:)

The beach was wonderful. We had walks on the beach, built a big sandcastle, got caught in the waves, flew kits, played in sand, ran in waves-we could spend all day on the beach. So much fun!!!


Man are these two beautiful! This is Alyssa Kotter and she and Jordan were "sisters" for the week. According to Jordan-this also included Gladys Smith. Do you think she wants a sister? May be a while:)
Having fun burying mommy
I LOVE this shot of Darin....exactly what he didn't want to happen:) Sweet Lucy-what an awesome baby on the whole trip. She could sleep anywhere and always looked soo cute!!
Jordan is my sand lover-she could hunker down with the crabs:) The little boy in the top center picture was there for part of the week and one day she was looking for her "boyfriend." Yikes:) Jordan didn't like going too far in the water, but loved running and jumping in the waves.

The water was wonderful-not cold at all. I went really far out and it was so nice. I would float in the waves, it was so fun. Had to be careful with the kids, though because it was a pretty good surf.

The boys like the sand as well.
Walking to the beach. It wasn't a bad walk from the house.
Spencer
One night the wind ws blowing really hard. Look at the hair-can you say Jason Priestly in the 90210 days?

The day after we got there we celebrated Spencer's 3 birthday. I held this stinking cake for 3 hours in the car. We stopped to get it at shoppers because we weren't sure what we would find when we go to Duck. Lesson learned: If we go the same week next year, Food Lion has lots of nice, smaller cakes:)

We went to the Aquarium the day it rained and had lots of fun.
Sometimes I just can't believe how cute this kid is!! Am I a biased mother or what?

Few more random shots at Currituck Light house in Corolla.
Phew, I made it. What a week. We had so much fun, at the best food, and decided we are going back. Have the real estate books and are starting to plan. Who's in?

Spencer is in Pre-school!!!

We weren't sure if they were going to let Spencer start today for sure because of his physical being just a week over a year ago. The ladies in the office were super nice. I did all the paperwork, then ran to the doctor and copied his shot record and took it back to the school.

So, here is our new preschooler!! Wow, he looks like such a big boy-I can't believe it!! The backpack is as big as he is!!
My Two students off to school. I was taking Spencer's picture and Jordan wanted in on it as well.
We found Spencer's shape on the wall. I am not sure that at this point he really know what was about to happen, but when I turned him over, he walked in and didn't look back!! I think I cried more then than I did leaving Jordan in kindergarten. I know he is ready,but I just worried that he would be scared. He has the same teacher that Jordan did-Ms. Sally; but a different assistant-Ms. Mary. I know her pretty well through a friend in our ward, and she is wonderful.She has a grandchild the same age as Landon. He is pretty good hands:)
Here's my happy boy! All ready to go. I was very happy to get a glowing report when I picked him up and my worries were for nothing!! He told them when he had to go to the bathroom so he had his original clothes on. Here are some highlights from the teachers:
1. He told them when he had to go to the bathroom-yeah!!!
2. He held a little boy's hand when they were walking outside, and the little boy was crying. On his own, Spencer said "you don't have to cry." Spencer sat by this boy at lunch, and the boy didn't cry as much the rest of the day.
3. At lunch, he said to the assistant "I smell poopy." She asked him if it was him, and I guess he very emphatically said "nooo" and sure enough another little boy had a poopy diaper.
4. Miss Sally wrote in his book that he did really well and will be a wonderful addition to the class.

Yeah Spencer-way to go!!! Mommy is so proud!!

For Jill and Andrew

We were so excited to get a call yesterday morning from Andrew telling us that Jill's water had broken. They brought Lizzie over and she went to school with Jordan. We were thrilled to hear that baby girl Nielson arrived safely and that she and Jill are doing well. We can't wait to meet her and Jordan is especially excited to pick out a present for her!!

We had a really fun day yesterday so here are some pics for mommy and daddy to see. I don't know if you will be able to see them today, but they are here when you are can look!!

We tried having a "slumber party" but after a few attempts to quiet the girls, we put Lizzie to sleep in our bed. Lizzie cried a bit because she missed her mommy and daddy, but she feel right to sleep after I put her in our bed.

Right after getting tucked in. A little play time after taking baths. They were thrilled to wear matching nightgowns.
Having some lemonade and watching a little TV after coming in from playing outside after school. They were hot and "sooo thirsty"
It was really cute when we gathered for our family prayer. I told Lizzie "you are a big sister." She had a huge smile and gave me a big hug. She is really excited about her new sister.

Here's the beautiful big sister!

Another try at tucking them in. Lizzie said "I'm not tired."
Ah, sucess. This is Liz when I put her in Jordan's bed when we went to bed. How sweet!! I had a pic of them sleeping this morning, but Landon is on my lap to avoid scraming at the top of his lungs, and all of a sudden the picture is gone.Here they are when I went to wake them up at 7:00 this morning. Lizzie jumped right up.

Off to school!!
Lizzie was an angel this morning. She was hungry right away, ate a good breakfast, picked her outfit with relative ease, ( I told her it was a shirt and leggings but she quickly corrected me because it is a dress and leggings!!) and sat still when I did her hair. I thought that she did great, considering she was up a couple times in the night crying for her mommy and daddy. One time she woke up and realized the lamp was off and needed it back on. She fell right back to sleep when I turned it off. This was in between the times Landon decided to wake up as well. I heard Jordan moaning and wandering around about 4:30 am and apparently she had fallen out of bed. I put her back and moved Liz closer to the wall. Jordan is used to sprawling out on her whole bed so I guess having an other kid in there cramped her style:) I don't think she even remembered it happened.

We love having you Liz!

Kindergarten here we come!!!

It is finally here....the first day of school. Jordan is now officially and elementary school student!! A whole new chapter in her life! We had been talking about it our whole vacation and the night before, so she knew what was happening. I set out some outfits, and to my surprise she picked the shorts instead of the skirt. Anyhow, here we are getting ready to leave. Off we go, getting into the car. We get to drive her everyday since she is going to a school she is not assigned to. And today we got Spencer in preschool at the same school, so I will be there morning, noon, and after noon! They had all the kindergarteners sit at tables in the cafeteria. At this point, Jordan seemed a little nervous. We didn't think we could see her room, but then they announced that we could follow them to the class.
Here she is lining up to get goin to the class.
It's official Jordan-you are in Kindergarten!! This is the sign on her classroom window. Her class is the first one right at the end of the hall you walk down. She has english in the morning with Mrs. McDowell, and Spanish in the afternoon with Mrs. Hoo. ( I know, funny name for Spanish teacher.)

They had to find the desk with their name on it and put on their nametag. Jordan is a green rectangle.

These are for Jill, who didn't realize she could come in with Liz. I was previously told that we couldn't go further than the hall way and we didn't have our cell phones to call Jill....anyhow here is Lizzie when whe found her seat. She and Jordan are in the same class!!
Jordan was excited to see me when I picked her up. She didn't really give too many details right away, but did seem disappointed when she said "we didn't even get do any homework." She mentioned playing on the playgound, and remembered the name of one little girl in her class. Can you imagine trying to learn the names of 24, well for Jordan and Liz 23 other kids and 4 teachers? WOW!!

Here we go into the world of elementary school!