Sienna Signing Itsy Bitsy Spider

Turn up the volume and enjoy Sienna signing her version of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Sienna In A Box

Family Pet

For those of you who don't know Jack is our family pet and is loved by the kids.  Life has changed for Jack over the years.  He went from a nice quiet house with Travis and I, to a house filled with noise by two kiddos that love him.  I really don't think he would have it any other way as he is very protective over the kids, but is a big sweetheart overall.  Sienna has been known to use him as a step stool when trying to get on the couch, poke his eyes and pull his ears, all to which he responds to by licking her.  He has a few issues, because you would think at 7 years of age he would have mellowed out by now, but not our Jack. 

Landon Don't Grow Up

Mom - "Landon, why do you have to grow up so fast?"

Landon - "Mom, I will still sleep with you when I am 10."

Crazy Week

Last week with the start of a new semester my life seemed like it was out of control.  I was so busy at work trying to play keep up with things that the blog wasn’t a priority.  So I’ll try to do my best to get caught up.

We spent a fun family night at Chuck E Cheese, where I think daddy always has as much fun as the kiddos do.  I usually spend my time chasing Sienna around while Travis and Landon play games. 

We also spent time at Yunker Farm, the children’s museum, in Fargo.  Sienna loves to paint and could sit there forever painting, if I would let her.  It’s such a neat place to let the kids run around and just have fun exploring new things.

Other than that nothing is really new around our household.  Swimming lessons has started up again after a three week break, which I love the fact that Landon can burn off energy, but hate, hate, hate that I have to go back out in the cold in the evenings again.  I will say that I think swimming lesson night is almost my favorite night for relaxing.  Our neighbors offered to take Sienna, since she is too young to do lessons on her own yet, and Landon and I head off to swimming lessons.  He swims for 45 minutes and I get to relax in a warm building and talk to another mother.  It’s very relaxing just being able to sit and talk for a while without interruption.  The best part is that Landon loves to swim so it’s a win, win for both of us.  Sienna I think makes out the best because the neighbors spoil her rotten while she is at their house. 

The Morning

This morning wasn’t anything unusual as Travis was still sleeping when we got up and ready for the day.  Usually the dog is also sleeping in the bedroom with Travis too.  Landon starts talking loud and then I need to remind him to hold down his voice because people are sleeping.  Sienna responds back with, “shhh Landon, Jack is sleeping.”  Apparently, she wasn’t concerned about her dad, but she was concerned about her sleeping dog.

Literally, from the time I wake Landon up in the morning until we get to daycare he talks non-stop, literally!  I usually only listen to about half is what he is saying.  I know it’s bad not to listen to your kids, but when they talk non-stop you have to tune out a little bit.  As he kept talking and talking this morning, I just kept saying sure Landon, sure Landon trying to agree and get him to stop talking for a few seconds.  After a few times of saying sure he responds back with, “mom, why do you keep saying sure?”  I think he was a bit annoyed with me, but right after that I had to ask him we if could please have a couple of seconds of silence.  He cooperated, literally for about two seconds.  I guess I only asked for a couple of seconds and he cooperated and gave me a couple of seconds.

The Ride Home

On our drive home last night Landon asked me a very random question, I don’t know what goes through a 4 year olds mind some days.  He asked me if someone’s head fell off what would happen.  I told him that you needed your head, so if you didn’t have it you would die.  He thought about it for a bit and responded back with, “you can just tape it back on mom.”  “No, Landon you can’t tape it back on.”  “Well, then an angel can come and make you a real boy.”  Confused, I was wondering what he was talking about?  Then it dawned on me after he said, “mom, that’s what happens in Pinocchio.”  Interesting what 4 year olds think and what they pick up from others.

Dr. Visit

Over Thanksgiving Landon developed a terrible cough, actually both kids ended up sick that weekend.  We took both kids into the doctor and Landon was diagnosed with croup at that time.  Ever since that time Landon has had a terrible cough that he can’t seem to shake.  When he runs or gets worked up he coughs and coughs.  Since I have asthma and Landon has a history of allergies and eczema, which all go hand in hand together, the doctor thought he could possibly have asthma too.  At this age, they can’t really do a breathing test to make a diagnosis for sure, so they put them on medicine to try and curve a problem if there is one.  So since December 28 Landon has been using an inhaler in hopes his coughing spells would cease.  Unfortunately, this has not been the case at all.  His cough has seemed to get worse and the other night he woke up screaming his ear was hurting.  We decided we would take him into the walk-in the next day.  So last night I took him into the doctor to find out the poor kid has a terrible ear infection and a possible start of pneumonia.  Currently, he is on an antibiotic, so hopefully this helps get him well. 

The Drive Home

This is a typical drive home for me with both the kids.

Sienna - "Landon's naughty."

Landon - "ummm."  note: add a shrieking sound to it

Sienna - "Landon's naughty."

Landon - "ummm."  "Sienna, I'm ignoring you."

Me - "Landon the whole point in ignoring someone is not to tell them, but just to block them out." 

This was then followed up by, "Mom, we should just play the quiet game."

Yes, kids playing the quiet game would be a great idea right about now!

Random pictures

Add caption

How do you make two kids cry

In my house to make kids cry you need to give the 4 year old a haircut, which he has hated and freaked out about since he was little, and when he cries so does the 2 year old.  Sunday night brought me giving Landon a haircut, which always brings on a freak out session.  As he was crying about his hair cut, Sienna started crying because Landon was crying.  After it was all done things where much better and he was actually excited to show the kids in his class his new haircut. 

New Year's Eve

New Year's brought another blizzard, UGH!  Travis and I had plans to attend my co-workers wedding, which we still did.  The kids spent the night at the neighbor's house, which Landon was very excited about.  This left a night to Travis and I, which is rare so we had to take advantage of it.  We attended the wedding, which was beautiful, but small due to the weather.  Then headed over to the reception for a meal and a couple of drinks.  We stayed at the reception until 10 and then took in the New Year with some great friends, Joe and Brianne.  The next morning Travis and I got to sleep in and wake up around 9:30 to do, hold on....SNOW REMOVAL! 

Blizzard

Thursday, December 30, brought a blizzard to the Fargo-Moorhead area and it was not fun!  I headed out from work at 4 pm to pick up the kids.  While trying to get into daycare I got stuck, I was able to get myself unstuck and then into the daycare parking lot.  When I got towards home, I noticed a car stuck in the east side of our alley, so I thought I would try the west side.  During the whole ride home Landon was sleeping, which was probably good because then I could concentrate on the roads instead of kids fighting.  On the west side of the alley there wasn't much snow so I floored it and hoped for the best.  I got stuck again!  I was able to get myself unstuck and then hoped and prayed for the best.  Floored it and got stuck, thank god for two wonderful guys that pushed me out and then I was finally able to get into the alley and into the garage.  During this whole commotion I had Landon waking up and going, "Mom, this is why you hate winter, isn't it?"  Yes, Landon you are right, I do hate winter for this exact reason.  I also had Sienna crying because I had my window rolled down a little and snow was hitting her in the face.  So when we finally got home, I breathed a sigh of relief that we were home safe and had enough food to NOT GO ANYWHERE!  Later that night the kiddos, myself and the dog crawled into bed to watch a movie, cuddled and slept.  It was a good ending to the day.

A Landon Quote

Me: "Landon, what did you just jump off of?"  Knowing that he just jumped off the couch, which is a no, no in our house.

Landon: "I don't remember!"

I guess that's what you say when you know you are in trouble.