A Year of Landen in Pictures

My 3rd and final installment for my eldest. :)

2009 was a good year for Landen. He, too, had some fun firsts...he learned to go off the diving board at the pool, became among the "big kids" at his school, and turned 7. He can drive lawn mowers and dirt bikes with the best of them, and is just an all around fun kid (when he's not bugging his sister!).

Speaking of being a "fun kid", it was his idea to break the leftover flour-filled balloons, from the fall PTO carnival.
We took a few days to go to Branson. He of course had to call Grandma.

We spent some time at the local carnival. I believe he and Lily were waiting to ride a "zipper" type ride, for the first time. Lil' loved it. Landen looked mortified!

There were farm animals at our VBS. Landen is a lover of all things four-legged and furry. :)

Landen lost a LOT of teeth last year. This one was obviously fresh...his empty tooth socket remains bloody. Whoops!

Our kids love going to our local airport for barbecue. Watching the airplanes land and take off is probably the real love.

Landen celebrated his 7th birthday at Monkey Bizness. He really had a great time climbing the rock wall. It was a fun party!

Landen went through a time where he was obcessed with moustaches. He got a couple out of quarter machines around town. He decided to make his own, involving crayoles and scotch tape, as evidenced in this shot.

Landen had his first broken bone...the left side of his collar bone. I didn't witness the accident, but I believe it was an Evil Knievel type move, involving ramping his bike, and him flying over the handle bars. He went several days before we realized it was broken. I think a soccer game is what finally did him in. Not that you ever want a broken bone, but I do have to say, the recovery was a non event. He wore a figure-8 brace, which you can see in this picture. It barely slowed him down. He had to sit out of PE as a precaution, but continued to ride his bike and play among the best of them!

As I said, he loves to drive lawn mowers. He thinks he's pretty cool on Dad's zero-turn. And, I must say, he has better control than I do with the silly thing!

Christmas is always tons of fun. Landen was putting food out for the reindeer in the middle of a heavy snowfall on Christmas Eve!

Santa was good to Landen...brought him a Nintendo DS. This is what we saw for a couple weeks. Thankfully, the new has worn off.

This is one of my favorite shots of Landen, from 2009, with a bit of a twist on the color. It's hard to believe Landen is pushing 8...time flies.

A Year of Lily in Pictures

2009 was a year of a bunch of firsts for little Miss Lily Grace. She had her first dance recital, last year...doesn't she make a beauty of a 50s girl?












Lily got an "iPod" for her 5th birthday, which is really just an MP3 player, but she might just be ready for an iPod next year. She loves it.












Lily had a Hello Kitty pool party for her 5th birthday. We had a great time! If it's up to me, we'll do pool parties from here on out. :)














We definitely had some good times outside, last summer. We definitely did our share of time at the park!












All the kids loved the carnival. Here, Lily is holding her junk, er, I mean, prizes she won! She in fact whipped up some tears because she didn't have enough tickets to get the stuffed animal that she wanted...the carnival guy fell for it!!!












We always have a great time at VBS. I couldn't find a solo picture of Lily, but it's a family affair, anyway. ;)












Punk rocker Lily...really? No caption needed.

















Lil started kindergarten. Little Lily, big school! She's got her big brother looking out for her, at least.













Lily was a bleacher creature at a football game, last fall.












Our little cowgirl Lil for Halloween. The entire fam was cowboys/girl.












We had a great time at the pumpkin patch, as always. Grandma's patch actually produced this pumpkin.












Lily finally got a DS, which she's been asking for, for a year or better. She's all about it, and shockingly good at it!

A year of Lawson in Pictures

My first installment of three. :)

I'll start with one of my very favorite pictures of Lawson, from 2009. Coincidentally, it was also among the last taken. I took it during winter break, when we were bowling.












We spent some time at the soccer fields this year. This was during Landen's spring soccer season.












Our major goofball...












Lawson, of course, tries to be as much like Daddy and big brother, as possible.












Unforunately, for me, he LOVES chocolate.












He got himself a fat lip this year. Crazily enough, I don't recall how it happened, but I do remember taking pictures.












Just pure, summer silliness.












I think he may grow up to be a rockstar, but hopefully a clothed one.


















Or maybe he'll grow up to be a cowboy...he could use some Wranglers.


















No caption needed.


















Lawson learned to ride a bike. Granted, it has training wheels, but come on...he's 2!































He also lost his "baby" status in 2009. Funny thing...I think I felt some of the baby's first flutters as I was creating this post.












Christmas morning...he got his very own "puter". It's really a DVD player, but it's just his size, and he loves it.

More Panther pride

Just having some fun with my little Panther. :)

Panther pride!

I thought he made a cute little Panther fan. And he's obviously very happy about it.

My computer whiz

Gosh, they learn early, huh? He likes to try to play internet computer games, like his big brother and big sister, but normally, he ends up needing a credit card or finding an opportunity to date. It ends up being a lot of work for mom. But sometime this weekend, the kids ressurected a Dora DVD. It takes up the entire computer screen, and it's impossible for him to exit it. Bonus!

Happy New Year!

Aside from last year, when I had to work and it was Jimmy and the kids, I think this is the first NYE where we've stayed at home with the kids. Lawson was quite festive with his horn. All three kids made it until midnight! I believe we tucked them all into their beds at approximately 12:03.














This picture was from earlier in the day...our friends, the Storms, were over, and all the kids (minus slumbering Lawson) played in the slow. This is how you warm up...by the little bitty fireplace that puts out about as much warm air as I could blow on them. ;)

Let it snow!

I've never been a huge fan of snow. But I got to thinking, I used to travel 30,000-40,000 miles a year for work, and I had to be at various schools, a gazillion miles away from my house, usually by 7:45 or 8 in the morning! I had to set up the Space Station, and push all those blasted carts into the schools and back out into the trailer. I had to drag 12-14 5th graders through the snow, into the trailer, and it made for a yucky mess! For a couple years, I had to be at class, or various clinical sites, sometimes by 6:15 a.m.! So, snowy and icy roads didn't really fit into my schedule back then!

And now, even though I travel 40 miles, round trip, to work, it's decent roads, usually. AND, it doesn't have to be done early in the morning! Driving home can be a challenge at times (like this morning, when I couldn't find my keys, and my friend Molly drove me home...and we had some fun adventures :) ), but all in all, it's not that bad. And, my kids think it's the bomb. So, I've decided, I don't mind the snow. Now, -2, I kinda mind, but that's neither here nor there, I guess.

In the 3+ years we've lived in our home, I don't think I've ever gotten snowy pictures of the house...they're just pretty and peaceful. So, here they are.