OKC Reunion

For the past three years, we've made a reunion out of the OKC Marathon and Half marathon weekend. We have several family members that run and the rest are there to visit with family for the weekend.

This year was wonderful. We left late Thursday night, due to a mix up with registrations...we got in line at 7am Friday to get vouchers for Jill's family so they could run. The vouchers were handed out at 9am, we were fifth in line and were able to get three - the exact amount we needed. After that, Bryan, Landon and I walked through Bricktown heading to IHOP. It was gorgeous out...windy, but nice for walking. Then we went back and wasted an hour at the conference center, waiting for the Expo to open at noon so I could get my race stuff.

After picking up my packet, we headed to the hotel and were able to check in early. Landon was out, so we all took a short nap while we waited for the rest of the family to arrive.
Friday night, we had a nice bbq dinner at my Great-Aunt Mable's house. We sat out in her beautiful back yard and visited, while the kids played. Aunt Mable had made a great apple pie - delicious, and there was also a beautiful chocolate mousse cake. Then it was back to the hotel so the kids (and Dads) could swim. Bry didn't last long, he headed back to the room to work on a presentation for work, so Trevor took over. I think Landon must have jumped in the pool to Trevor 300 times. He loved it. All the while, some young girls were checking out Trev. Too funny.

Saturday morning is always a brunch at my cousin's Suzie's house. (She's actually my mother's cousin.) They live in a beautiful house finished in 1903, with a huge wrap around porch. We had quiche, rolls, papooses and fruit. We didn't get to stay as long this year, because we got to see the Broadway show of Lion King.





It is beyond description! It was so wonderful. Landon loved every minute of it. We all split up into sections of 3-4 people, so we all had isle seats...it was just fantastic. They've engineered every animal so differently. Just amazing.

After the show, we headed to Celebration Station for Kallie's birthday. A night of pizza, putt-putt, and games. And then, of course, back to the pool.


Sunday was an early morning. Up at 4am to get to the run. (the run was horrible, stomach issues, plus wind, plus hills, much worse than last year.) After the run, I met back up with family - walked 10 gazillion blocks back to our car and then took an ice bath in Jana's hotel room.


We all went to Golden Corral for a late lunch, then headed back to Houston. Landon had (another) wonderful weekend with his cousins. I hate that we live so far away from them when he has so much fun being with them.

Potty in the Yard

While we were outside grilling last night, Landon asked Bryan if he could go 'tee-tee' in the yard...cause that's what puppies do.

At least he had some reasoning.

Another night down

Lan spent another night in his bed. He woke up once last night and when I got to the room, he wanted me to have El Toro (the bull he sleeps with.) LOL.

But yay! That's five nights in the bed.

Oh, and last night, Miss Cole thought she might have other plans, so I asked Danny's friend, Miss Tamra if she would watch Landon at the gym (for volleyball.) I prepped Landon on Monday, telling him that Miss Tamra would be there instead of Miss Cole. Well, plans changed, and Miss Cole was able to make it...so when we pulled up to the gym, Landon asked where Miss Tamra was...

I informed him that Miss Tamra wasn't going to be there, that Miss Cole was going to watch him.
Landon: "Oh, you didn't know Miss Cole was coming, you thought Miss Tamra was?"
Yeah, Kiddo, mommy was wrong. LOL.

Four days in the bed!

Lan made it another night in his crib last night (lol - sounds like I'm talking about my infant, huh?!) Nope, just my 31 pound, 3 year old.

Bryan bought him a new Transformer blanket for his bed. He loves it. When I laid him down last night, he told me to leave! LOL...because he wanted his daddy up there.

He woke up once, around midnight but slept the rest of the night. Yay!

Bedtime

We've been co-sleeping since Landon was born. At first, it was easier to keep him in the bed, since I was lazy nursing. After I quit nursing, we tried several times to get him to sleep in his crib, but he has horrible gag reflex, and would end up vomiting all over everything from crying when we left him. I couldn't stand to let him cry it out, only to end up throwing up on everything.

That plus we loved having him in the bed. Both Bryan and I enjoyed snuggling with him during the night. We liked having him close. Spending most of our day at work, and away from Landon, this gave us extra time to enjoy being with him. We realized that having him in our bed, let him learn to trust that we would be there for him, and wanted to be there with him. There's no greater moments, than snuggling next to your kid, smelling them, listening to their little breaths...enjoying being a parent.

When we got the new house last year, I couldn't imagine putting him to bed by himself upstairs. And I couldn't handle how that might make him feel...taking him out of our bed, where he was comfortable and putting him upstairs away from us. Landon is such a great kid (we're definitely blessed.)

But he's three now...three! My little boy is growing up. And we want to have another child, so we decided to stop co-sleeping. And Landon, I know, is ready for that.

On Friday, we spent the night preparing him for a night upstairs. One thing I was worried about was his attachment to my hair. (he tells me its soft like a blanket.) We bought several toys (bribery works - he potty trained in a weekend with it!) and set them up on his armour so that he could see what he got if he stayed in his room.

After a bath and a show (transformers), Landon said Good Night to Bryan and we headed upstairs to read two books and go to bed. Unfortunately, when we got up there, Landon cried and cried. Not what you think...he wanted his crib! His baby bed. BUT his crib hasn't been set up since we moved. We took the crib and made the full size bed in his room. So we spent the next hour taking the full bed apart and putting the crib back together. Luckily for us, Landon is still small and fits easily in the crib.

When it was finally all together, we rocked and read two books...then Landon got in with El Toro, his Gator pillow and a blanket. As soon as I laid him down, he asked if it was 'wake time' yet. Uh, not yet. We did the "is it wake time, is it sunny day" for about 7 minutes, then three more minutes and he was out.

He woke up 5 times Friday night. I'd take him out of the bed, rock him for a little bit, then put him back in. He never asked for my hair, or asked me to stay. In the morning, Bryan went up and got him and Landon got Inferno - the transformer.

Saturday night, we read another two books, and then into the crib. Less than 10 minutes and he was asleep (I sit in the rocking chair til he goes to sleep.) He only woke up two times and this night, I didn't even take him out...he went back to sleep very quickly. That morning he got another Transformer, some triceratops thing.

On Sunday, for nap time, he asked to go upstairs. I put him in the crib, he told me it was sunny! I said, "Yes, but this is nap time, so you just need to rest for a little bit" Landon, "Oh, like school." Exactly. Then he told me to leave. LOL. I left and he was out - for three hours!

Sunday night, we did 2 books and right into the crib. Asleep within 5 minutes. And he didn't wake up AT ALL! Not once. At 6:30, he woke up asking for Mommy wanting to know if it was Sunny Day? Sure enough...he got a bouncy ball with blue glitter in it.

I can not believe how well this is going. I know there's going to be nights where it's not this easy, but Landon is such a great kid, I have no doubt we'll be able to get through those nights and move on.

* The crib has several pros over a full size bed. Landon feels secure inside the bed. Also, he can lay in there, and understands that we can't lay in there with him. And, of course, he can't have my hair while he's laying in there! I can't believe after three years, we're finally getting use out of that $600 bed!

Easter Weekend

At the last minute, we decided to head to West Texas / New Mexico for Easter. What a great decision. We had a wonderful time.

We left Thursday night, late, arriving in Muleshoe about 6:15am on Friday. After a short nap, we went out for breakfast. I thought the temps were going to be close to 70 all weekend, I knew it'd be cold in the morning, but figured it'd warm up quickly. yeah, that didn't happen. It was in the 30s with an even lower windchill. Brr.

After my sister treated us to breakfast burritos, we went back to work in the yard at her house. They live in the house we grew up in, and ever since we've lived there, a horrid vine has grown in the back yard. Nothing kills it. Nothing. The vine has now gone along the side of the house and all through a ginormous rose bush. While my brother-in-law and nephews worked on some dog pens, the rest of us worked on pulling up the vine. We started around 10:30, Bryan broke the hoe, so we left about 2:30. My hamstrings were already screaming.

Got to my mom's house, my sister and her kids were there. Landon was in cousins heaven. Bryan grilled steaks, although he didn't quite get them cooked to every one's liking. Apparently, they don't enjoy bloody steak. After nuking them in the microwave, everyone had some great dinner.

Saturday was our run in the cemetary. 10 miles in about 30 degrees...with wind and rain drops every once in a while. Bry headed to golf in Muleshoe. Bryan said it was cold and when they finally decided to play, there was a downpour, so they headed back home, soaking wet and freezing.


We had a bowling birthday party to go to after that. Great fun. The kids bowled on two lanes with bumpers and the adults bowled on another two lanes. I opted out, until my aunt threw her ball backwards, then I took over for her. That hurt the legs.

It started pouring after that and was back down in the high 30s. We went over to Leal's for dinner, then back home for rest.

Sunday finally warmed up, to the 40s that is. It may have been in the 50s by the afternoon, but there was still a strong wind. After church, it was out to my aunts for Sunday Dinner. Sharon made turkey, ham, dressing, macaroni and cheese, a casserole with mashed potatoes, broccoli, and my mom made a salad and pink fruit salad. For dessert my mom had made cream puffs. Jana had told her the night before not to be stingy like Grandma was, and to go ahead and make plenty extra so we could all have two. There were plenty, that's for sure.


All the ladies hid the eggs after lunch. The kids had a great time hunting...their favorite was confetti eggs, which they all started smashing on every one's heads. Abby, my niece, accidentally used a hard boil on her brother's head.

After visiting in the afternoon, we loaded up and headed out. We stopped in Muleshoe to visit with Jill for a while, Landon and Kallie played...then it was on the road again. Bryan made it to Abilene where we stopped at a Hampton Inn. Wonderful idea. Lan woke up in the morning and said, "what happened?" looking around at the hotel room. We were glad to be well rested, and enjoyed the continental breakfast.

We hit the outlet mall in Cypress and bought a few things, then home sweet home. Lan was so excited to see his toys again. I was so glad to see my bed again.

It was a wonderful weekend. So glad I have such a great husband who doesn't mind driving us 11 hours to see family. He truly is wonderful. I'll have to tell him that. LOL.

Rock You!

Sprinkler

Today it definitely isn't warm enough for this...and Saturday, it was questionable. It was about 80 degrees and in the sun, it was quite warm. Landon got this for his birthday and just HAD to play in it.

Bubbles

He knows the lingo

• On our way to volleyball on Monday, Landon spots the gym before we even get there. In his car seat, he says, "I think Mr. Danny's here, I'm gonna check it out."


• Playing with Grammy, he wanted her attention, so he says, "Hey, watch this, boy." (Just exactly like Bryan would say.)


• His favorite saying at the moment is from donald duck: "hey, what's the big idea?"