Family, Running and Haircuts Oh My!

We've been staying busy and definitely enjoying the warmer weather. Now that Landon is running around so much (opposed to last Spring) we can really go outside for long periods of time and just play, which is a lot of fun. This is one of their favorite spots to hang out....Every time we get out of the car, Landon says "bench! bench!" and runs over and sits on it.

The weather has been so nice that we've taken the opportunity to eat outside, which the boys love!

Just thought this one was so funny! He really curls his lip when he's not happy about something!

A few weeks ago Brandon decided to run in another 5K, and this one was in Whispering Pines (about 10 minutes from Pinehurst), so it worked out great for a visit with Mimi and Popeye. Right after Brandon started running, Landon immediately started looking for him at the finish line, saying, "Daddo, Daddo, Daddo..." over and over again. Then he plopped down to enjoy a snack and wait for him.

Brandon beat his time from the last 5K, which was exciting!

These events are always fun for the boys because there are always great activities for kids....this one had a bounce house, so of course Grady loved the idea. Unfortunately, as Grady was bouncing (about 5 minutes into it) the whole thing started to lose air and collapse! As everyone was trying to quickly get all the kids out, it blew back up and was fine, but Grady was pretty traumatized and wouldn't go back in. Here is a picture of Mimi trying to explain to Grady that someone must have stepped on the plug, but cones were then put up so it definitely wouldn't happen again. (Of course Mimi completely made this up, but it made Grady feel better and he went back in a while later!) :)

Here are some other pictures from the weekend....

This is actually my Dukes of Hazzard Hot wheels bike from when I was a little! I have vivid memories of riding down the hill at our house in NY on this bike....so crazy to see my son riding it now! :) 



A couple of weeks ago I finally decided that it was time for Landon to get a haircut. I was actually intending to just let his hair grow because I think it's so pretty (blonde and wavy), but I realized it was quickly turning into a mullet because he doesn't have very long bangs (not the look I was going for!), so I decided to just trim a little bit off the back. Plus, everywhere we went people would tell us we had a beautiful little girl! :)   This is a good pre-haircut picture:

For Grady's first haircut, we took him to a salon, and he even got a "first haircut" certificate! Being the second child, poor Landon just got a haircut at home! :) He did surprisingly well with it...his favorite part was playing with the clothes pin that held his towel on.

We're pretty sure Landon is going through a major growth spurt because he is literally about to eat us out of house and home! He will eat an entire plate of food (and I give him a lot!), and then always asks for more. His favorite foods these days are blackberries ("ba-berries"), avocados ("cados"), green beans ("gee bees"), melon ("mel-yon"), yellow rice ("ice") and pasta with marinara sauce ("noonles"). The picture below is after he ate pasta, avocados and blackberries.  We also recently discovered that coconut milk is now available in the dairy section (half gallon)...not the canned stuff. Landon absolutely loves it!

We went up to Boone this past weekend to celebrate Uncle Scott's birthday. Granny's birthday is also this coming weekend, so it was a nice way to celebrate with her too.

Scott recently rescued a 10-year-old dog from the shelter, so we finally got to meet her! Her name is Esther, and she is so sweet! Landon loves dogs, so he really enjoyed meeting her too.

Grady has really taken a special liking to Scott's girlfriend Charlotte. It's really cute because he gets really shy and usually ends up whispering to us that he wants to sit next to her or play with her. They went to the park with us one day, and Grady found a spot where he could throw sticks and rocks into the water (one of his favorite things to do!).

Enjoying the warmer weather!

Landon turned 15 months old on Feb. 11th. We got a great report at his 15-month visit and found out he's in the 23rd percentile for weight and 94th for height (tall and thin)! We may have a future basketball star on our hands! :)  He was of course not too thrilled about his vaccines and after crying/screaming for what seemed like forever, he just kept saying, "Mommy boo-boo" over and over again. It was so sad! Since our last post, he has picked up several more words, some of which are stairs, diaper (biaper as he says), kisses and doctor. (He puts the play stethoscope around his neck and walks around saying, "doctor, doctor, doctor." He's used to always being Grady's patient, so now he wants a crack at being the doctor!) He has also decided to make up some words - for example, he now calls his shoes "boosh." We have no idea where this came from (and he actually used to say "shoes"), but it's kind of cute, so now we find ourselves saying it! He also calls his blanket "bup."

We have really been loving the warmer weather (as I'm sure everyone has!) and have taken every opportunity to be outside! Earlier today I took the boys to a big pond near where we live, and we spent a couple hours collecting sticks and throwing them in the water. I think they could have stayed there all day!

Grady decided he needed to lead Landon back to the car so he didn't get lost. :) Landon of course thought this was loads of fun!

Here are some other pictures from the last couple of weeks...(You will probably notice more pictures of Landon only because Grady is in a phase where he absolutely does not want his picture taken! Consequently, it's very hard to get a picture of him because the second he realizes what I'm doing he turns his head or makes a face. Hopefully the phase will pass soon!)

It doesn't get better than this!

Baby laughs are just one of my favorite things! I could listen to this all day! :)

What the boys are up to these days....

Landon turned 14-months-old on Jan. 11 and is into everything! He is a very active little guy and doesn't stay still for very long and especially dislikes being contained in any way (in his carseat, in the playroom, etc.). Since he started walking around 10 months, he's quite good at it and is extremely fast. He loves to climb now, so we definitely have to watch him very carefully. Just last week I walked into the playroom to find him standing on one of the little chairs (not holding on to anything). While he can't climb onto the couch quite yet, he has learned that he can climb onto other things to get himself onto the couch (such as the blue bouncy dog he got for his birthday from Aunt Kelly and Uncle Louis....video below).

Landon is also talking a lot these days! The words he says are: Mommy, Daddo (what he calls Brandon), Ga-dy (Grady), poop, tuck (truck), bye-bye, go, shoes, ba (water, banana, balloon, blanket....depending on the situation), rice, ball, tigger (what we call a pacifier), cat, meow, more, nose, stuck, puffs, cracker, cookie, boop (book), no, teeth, boo-boo, go away (he heard Grady say this to him all the time!), lay down, Melmo (Elmo), uh-oh, milk, and yuck. His new favorite thing to say is PU! (pretty funny)! He understands a lot as well and can point to his nose, mouth and head when asked. He also understands many simple directions, such as go get your shoes, clean up the toys, give this to Mommy/Daddy, etc, go say night-night, etc. He also loves giving kisses and often times does this to random people he sees while we're out.

He also just learned how to open doors. His other favorite activities are playing in the trash can and toilet (well, trying anyway!). Isn't that lovely?! His newest trick is when we say, "Landon, it's night-night time," he lays his head down and pretends to snore (all with a huge grin on his face)! It's really cute! (I haven't been able to capture it on video yet.) We'll report more stats on Landon after his 15-month check-up.

Grady and Landon play a lot together now, and for the most part they get along really well. They love chasing each other around and being silly. Just recently they've been having a lot of fun dancing together too! Of course we are starting to see some arguing and fighting between them (mostly over one taking the other one's toy or something), but it hasn't been too bad (yet!). :)

In other news, Grady is continuing to enjoy preschool and is lately getting very interested in writing letters. I of course have tons of supplies/activities from my teaching days, so it has been a lot of fun working with Grady on letters. I find it really rewarding doing things like this with Grady - it's a great combination because I get to use some of my teacher skills with a little guy that I love and adore! :)  Here he is in action....

This is a picture of Grady after he tried to smooth is hair down because he said it was sticking up. I did this once a few days prior before leaving for preschool, and I guess he liked the idea! (He apparently used a hand towel for this because I found it in the bathroom sopping wet afterwards....not to mention the entire bathroom floor was also wet!)

Special thanks to Granny who came down to visit and help out with the boys!

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas with our boys and to spend time with both of our families, which is always fun! Kelly and Hannah flew up about a week before Christmas, so we got to spend some extra time with them. As always, Grady, Landon and Hannah loved playing together! They headed to Pinehurst the morning of Christmas Eve, and we spent the evening and Christmas morning in Chapel Hill. On Christmas Eve, we went to church (which entailed spending the entire time chasing Landon everywhere!), had a nice dinner at home and made cookies to leave for Santa. Grady was super excited and asked a million questions about Santa and how he was going to get into our house. It was really cute!

Landon has a talk with Santa....

 The boys were of course really excited on Christmas morning! For a few of the presents Grady opened, he screamed, "This is what I wanted!! Santa remembered!!" It was really cute! Landon spent Christmas morning wandering around, playing with wrapping paper and jumping on boxes. (Grady was very generous in that he helped Landon open all of his presents.) :)

The boys got a big tunnel, which they loved (as you can tell)!

We headed to Pinehurst the afternoon of Christmas day. We opened presents and had a great Christmas dinner cooked by Mimi! :) The boys got really thoughtful gifts from everyone and were of course completely spoiled!

Hannah got a new stroller for her doll from Grady and Landon. :) (Not sure who enjoyed the stroller more.... Grady or Hannah!)

It started snowing that evening, which was really exciting, and there was quite a lot on the ground when we woke up in the morning! We opened stockings (since we didn't have time for those the night before) and went out to play in the snow!

Grady and Landon got adorable fruit and vegetables for their new kitchen from Aunt Carleen and Uncle Kevin.

And personalized aprons and chef hats from Aunt Kelly, Uncle Louis and Hannah.....So cute!

Grady got a handheld little computer from Mimi and Popeye (among other great gifts)...he can practice writing letters, play games and listen to music! He loved it!

Here Hannah enjoys playing in a box of remotes! This box is every baby's dream! (Don't worry...the remotes don't work.)

 Here is Ma opening her crockpot from Brandon. (He drew her name for Secret Santa...)

Ma and Grady set the table. This is one of Grady's favorite things to do...he always helps Ma and puts the silverware and napkins out. (Of course we sometimes end up with three spoons each and no fork, but he tries!)

 We also celebrated Popeye's birthday while we were in Pinehurst!

One of Grady's favorite activities was helping Popeye shovel snow off the deck!

 The weekend after Christmas we headed up to Boone to celebrate with Brandon's family. We were actually supposed to go up the weekend before Christmas, but due to a lot of snow, we had to postpone our trip. We had a great time and got to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with them! Once again the boys were completely spoiled! :)

Here Grady and Gramps open their presents....

Granny passes out presents...

Here is Landon opening one of his presents....They got all kinds of fun stuff - a puzzle, car racer, block game, and a new Thomas train set to name a few. (You will notice a lovely scratch over Landon's eye in the picture below....he tripped and hit the corner of a table while we were in Pinehurst. It actually looks worse than it really was!)

Uncle Scott and his girlfriend Charlotte are working on a very challenging puzzle that we got Scott for Christmas!  He of course ended up figuring it out! (No surprise there!) Landon is providing moral support. :)

For some reason this was one of Landon's favorite things to do at Granny and Gramps' house! He loved running into this corner and hiding!

Grady and Charlotte play a game of air hockey!

Granny and Landon read a book together!

We had a really great Christmas! We feel so lucky to have such wonderful families who love our boys just as much as we do!