My 3rd Mother's Day

I had an absolutely wonderful mother's day. Last year, Landon was just a day old so we didn't get to really celebrate it (we did, but you know what I mean). The year before I had hoped to have my little Samuel to hold on that first mother's day, but he was with Jesus. So, today we took a trip out to Samuel's grave so I could be with both my boys on mother's day. It was nice to be there with Landon. He even said, "brother" when prompted while we were there (well, it came out more like, "brovver"), it was so sweet.




I also got this pendant engraved with Samuel's initials on one side and his birthday on the other (I received the pendant at the hospital when we had Samuel). Seth also got me a new chain to wear with it - I absolutely love how it turned out.





We ended the night at a special restaurant (we went to our first date here), Abuelos. It was delicious! Landon even got some birthday Flan which he loved.

Happy First Birthday Landon!

It's always been a tradition in my family to have breakfast in bed on your birthday. So, this morning Landon got to have his first breakfast in bed on his first birthday. He loved it!

Graduation!

After almost two years of a lot of hard work and many late nights, Seth finally finished his Master's degree! We are so excited for him to be done. I'm so proud of him. Landon didn't know what to think of Seth's gown and hat, it freaked him out a little bit.



We traveled an hour and a half to the main campus for the graduation. It was beautiful!



It was quite the elaborate graduation with bagpipes and all.



Landon did well, although during the long-winded speaker he started shaking his hands which means in sign language, "all done."

Scary...

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

1 Banana
3-5 Strawberries
1 Orange
1/4 cup Apple Juice / Water
3-5 Ice Cubes

Blend well and enjoy!
Makes 2 servings

This one was refreshing today, it's hot outside!

Cousins

We went up to Iowa this weekend to celebrate both Clayton and Landon's birthdays. We had a great time and actually got a good cousins picture!

Prayer Request

Wow, this family has been through a lot this past year. Aimee delivered her baby girl, Kayleigh, in June - 3 months before her due date. This precious baby was born weighing 1lb 1oz and was 10 1/2 inches long. The picture on their blog of Kayleigh's hand in her daddy's reminds me so much of Samuel, he weighed just 5 oz less and was 1 inch shorter. Kayleigh is now 10 months old and had made a lot of progress, but during a recent surgery she was deprived of blood/oxygen to her brain and now cannot live for very long without life support. The family has decided to take her home to the room they had prepared for her and allow her to spend time with her siblings that haven't been able to see her since August (due to RSV season). I'm sure this family would appreciate prayers as they face these difficult days ahead.

Picture of the Day

Yummy Potato Salad Recipe

Ingredients:
2 lbs Potatoes (I used red, you can use whatever)
1 cup Mayo
4 t dill or sweet relish
4 t white sugar
2 t white oninon
2 t prepared mustard
1 t white wine vinegar
1 T minced celery
1/2 t shredded carrot
1/4 t dried/fresh parsley
1/4 t ground black pepper
salt to taste

Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool and chop.

In a large bowl combine mayonnaise, pickle relish, sugar, onion, mustard, vinegar, celery, carrot, parsley, pepper and salt. Mix well. Mix in potatoes and enjoy!

What to do if you don't have a double stroller...

Last night we had Layla and Finn over. We decided to walk to the park, but had three kids and two strollers. So, we improvised. The boys have a love/hate relationship. They don't like to share and someone usually ends up crying when they "play" together. They did surprisingly well though riding in such close proximity and we all had a great time at the park.

Our little baseball player

Orangamango Smoothie

Sorry, I'm been neglecting my blog lately. The weather has been so beautiful, who wants to sit in front of a computer screen anyway?!

In light of this spring weather, I thought I'd share this yummy smoothie recipe I tried today:

Ingredients:
1 Orange
1 Mango
Juice from 1/2 Lime
1/3 cup Apple Juice
A few ice cubes

Serves: 1

Landon and I both loved this!

Easter Party

The Easter party went great. We had 5 kids come from the neighborhood and 5 or so from my Sunday school class. I used resurrection eggs to tell the Easter story which the kids really enjoyed. They all listened really well and were a lot of fun. We had an Easter egg hunt and plenty of candy. All in all, it was well worth the time and effort! Pray for the little souls that heard the gospel that they might understand it and be saved.

Landon really enjoyed the aftermath of the party, especially the balloons...

11 months old!

I can't believe my baby is almost a year old! Time sure flies by. Here a couple pictures of our little boy.



Also... Please pray for our Neighborhood/Sunday school kids easter party which is today. I'm nervous since I'll be sharing the Bible lesson, but I'm hopeful that many will come from the neighborhood. Please pray that the gospel would go forth clearly and that the Lord would be working in these little hearts.

Our little Monkey

Sorry for the overload of Landon movies and not much else... It's my way of letting my family in Iowa keep up with the little guy. He's also at a really fun age where he is learning and mimicking so much. I love his hair in this movie too, he had just woke up from his nap.

Bat Boy

Out like a Lion

Well, March is supposed to be in like a lion and out like a lamb. Here in Tulsa, things have gone opposite. Last week, it was in the 70s, today, it looks like Christmas...

Ball Boy

Landon absolutely loves balls. It doesn't matter if it is a basketball or an orange - he loves them all! The other day he kept reaching for the fruit bowl full of oranges and I finally gave in and let him play with them. He thoroughly enjoyed taking them and throwing them one by one all over the kitchen floor. Of course, he hasn't learned how to pick them up yet.

A couple days ago we went to an Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game. They were playing the Lakers, so it was fun to see Kobe play. Landon had a great time. He really enjoyed all the lights, music and of course the basketball game. This is the best picture we got of him :P



Here is Kobe shooting:



Not long after we started heading home from the game, Landon got quiet and I looked back and this is what I found...



Then, tonight, he decided to say, "Ball," here's a little clip:

Sour Face

I let Landon try the end of my ice pop (which was pretty much just ice) and this is the face he made. He really liked it though and kept wanting more. (The background noise is my mom playing cards with my niece and nephew - we were in Iowa this past weekend).

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." - Matt 12:30

This passage really stood out to me today. We are to love the Lord with all of these different parts that make up our total being. Not just a portion of our mind, not just a part of our heart, not just a piece of our soul, and not with a some of our strength. Our love for Him is to be all consuming of our lives and being. This next verse sums up why we can love God this way:

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." - 1 John 4:10

My Goof Ball

I don't know why he was doing this lip smacking thing so much yesterday, but I thought it was funny so I got a little clip of it. At one point when he was doing it, I thought it seemed like he had something in his mouth and sure enough he had found a chocolate chip on the ground and was savoring it. Let's just say he was not a happy camper when mommy took it away!

Ambition

This picture reminded me of a motivational poster.

Menu Planning Monday

Here we go again. I've slacked off the last couple weeks, but now it's time to get back on track with my menu planning. It feels so much better to know what I'm going to cook and know that I have all the right ingredients.

M: Calzones
T: Seth has class so he'll grab something to eat and I'll eat a salad
W: Ham & Potato Casserole
R: Carne Asada Chicken for Burritos (Shawna's recipe)
F: Three Cheese Chicken Manicotti
S: Polynesian Drumsticks and Fried Rice (Shawna's recipe)
S: Going to Springfield to see a doctor about my joints, so we'll be eating out.

Thanks uncle Brady!

Uncle Brady taught Landon this little trick this past weekend...

Fun with Aydan

Landon had a good time with his cousin Aydan that visited this weekend. Brady and Mandy had come down for Trevor's first tournament game (which they won!!!) and we had a very nice time. While they were here, Brady taught Landon how to climb the couch (video to come), now I really have to keep an eye on my little guy!

Here are a couple pictures we managed to take of the two monkeys:




I was sad that this picture turned out blurry - I just love the two expressions here. It looks like Landon's about the take a big bite out of Aydan's head and Aydan knows it!

Landon enjoying a bagel

Valentine's Party

We had a Valentine's Party over the weekend for my Sunday school class and neighborhood kids. We had a good time.

Here is a picture of all the kids that were able to come:



Here's the Valentine's crafts they made:

Catching up...

I haven't been around much as far as blogging goes. So, here's a little recap of what we've been up to.

Mom, Dad, & Rebekah (sister) came down from Iowa to visit this past week. They were a HUGE help in house projects and it was a lot of fun to spend good quality time with them. Landon learned how to say, "Nana" which made my mom happy. I wish I had some pictures to share!

Seth and I went to an Oklahoma City Thunder Game and out to eat last weekend to celebrate our birthdays. It was our first date alone since Landon was born. It was a good game and they won! We had a nice time.



We have gone to the zoo twice in the last week. The first time it was Seth, Landon and I. Landon was only interested in the water fountain and we managed to get this silly monkey picture.



The second time was today. We went with April, Layla, and Finn. It was fun to watch Layla enjoy the animals.



Landon has curls! I don't know if they will stick around, but for now I just love them :)

Pray

**Update: The baby was born at 2:30am this morning. Tony came out and told them "she is beautiful and perfect." They named her, Alethia (meaning Truth) Joy. They are planning on having a memorial service at their church on Sunday. Keep praying for them. This is going to be a hard road for them to travel.

*Update: The baby has indeed gone home to be with the Lord. They have induced Charity so please pray for them tonight. Pray that the time they have with their little girl would be precious and the God of all comfort would be near their hearts.

Please lift my dear friends from Emmaus up before the Throne of Grace. Tony and Charity have just found out that their baby girl who was due to be born any day now does not have a heart beat. I can't imagine the pain they are feeling right now, but they desperately need your prayers.

This week's menu

M: Beef Stroganoff
T: Chicken Parmesan/Chicken Breast Cacciato
W: Salmon w/ Pineapple & tomato salsa
R: Soup La Angelena
F: Homemade Pizza
S: Oriental Lemon Honey Pasta
S: Beef Enchiladas

Is it really already Monday? Yes, it is... So, here is my menu plan this week. This blog is a good place to keep me accountable to faithfully doing this. The highlighted ones are the new recipes I am trying this week. Also, I was going to try to cook my enchiladas in the slow cooker - have any of you done this before? Any tips?

Recipe Review

I just wanted to let you know how the new recipes were that I tried this week...

Chicken Alfredo
This was ok. I have better recipes for sure, but this was very easy and comparable to canned sauce.

Chicken Cordon Bleu
This was simply amazing and what inspired me to write this post. You have to try this! I cooked this on Seth's birthday and he absolutely loved it. I took the commentator's advise and slapped some butter on either side of the chicken and dipped it in an egg wash before the bread crumbs in case you try it. I didn't have any bread crumbs on hand, so I toasted some toast and blended it in my Vitamix - worked like a charm.

Fiesta Salad
This was alright. I liked it better hot in a tortilla rather than cold.

Anyway, those are all the new ones I tried this week, I'll let you know my next menu on Monday.

Paci Mark

I just think it's the cutest thing when kids wake up with blanket imprints, crib rail marks, and pacifier marks. I think Landon's paci got a little off-centered while he was sleeping...

Menu Planning

M: Vegetable Stir Fry and rice
T: Toasted Subs and Salad
W: Chicken Alfredo with salad and bread
R: Chicken Cordon Bleu with green beans
F: Fiesta Salad with homemade bread
S: Grilled Cheese and tomato soup
S: Super Bowl Party

I'm slowly but surely getting used to this whole menu planning thing. It helps me so much with my budgeting. It helps to know exactly what I need to buy and keeps me from making multiple trips to the store :P I'm trying a few new recipes this week (all the ones with links), so we'll see how they turn out.

"More" Landon...

I've been trying to teach Landon some basic sign language. Today, he was really doing a good job signing "more." He loves those avocados!

Squinty Face

Landon started making this face one day when Seth was smiling at him. Apparently, this is what Seth looks like when he smiles! You can see his dorky little one top tooth smile too, silly boy.

Landon needs hair!

So I have been thinking about ordering this product, any thoughts?

Christmas Recap

We had a great Christmas with both sides of our family. It was so nice to take a break from the business of life and just enjoy our time with everyone. Landon did well in the car on our way to Iowa and back and slept for a good part of the time. It was nice spending time with my family. On Christmas Eve we had a nice meal, read the Christmas story, then my dad brought out his guitar, we sang songs, and opened our one gift of new pajamas. Christmas day we slept til 8:00 - a lot later than a few years ago ;) and opened presents. It's funny how Christmas changes so much. I really didn't care if I got a thing. It was a lot more fun to watch my niece and nephew open their gifts.

I didn't really get any good pictures of Landon's first Christmas, hopefully others did so I can steal some of theirs! Seth surprised me with a Vitamix Blender which I am very excited about! This thing is two horsepower and can blend anything without skipping a beat. I'll have to share new recipes I'm trying in it.

Landon got a little basketball hoop which he loves, a new front tooth (yes, on Christmas day), clothes, toys, and a new teddy bear from his brother, Samuel. Seth and I decided to start a little tradition of giving a teddy bear "from Samuel" to each of our children on their first Christmas.

We did miss our little Samuel this Christmas. I couldn't help but think about how much fun he would have had this year from the excitement of everything. How he would have probably helped his little brother open up his gifts and would start getting to the age where he could play and talk with his many cousins.

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with Seth's side. Like I posted on Saturday, it was 72 degrees, beautiful weather! That is one thing I like about Tulsa, you get those days every once in a while even in January. We had Shawna, Rex, and family at our house. At one point while they were here, Miles, Landon's cousin was enjoying jumping off this rider toy over and over. He is one fearless little boy.

72 Degrees Sunny and Clear

Need I say more... :)

Merry Christmas!

Stranded

We left for Iowa yesterday. We stopped to see a couple good friends that were back from Japan for Christmas. It was so good to see them after almost two years! We continued on our trip to Iowa thinking that Landon would do better at night and we could get there at a somewhat decent time. When we hit Kansas City, however, the weather started to really get bad and by the time we were 10 minutes north of Kansas city we were going 35mph and still slipping around so we decided to stay at a little town just outside of Kansas City. It was a bummer because we could have stayed in Topeka for free, but oh well, we are a little over an hour closer so it's alright. We are just hoping for good roads this morning. The sun is shining and the snow has stopped, so we just hope thesnow plows have come through!

Here are couple of pictures taken this morning with our computer because I forgot to bring my camera :P

Labor of Love

This song was sang this past Sunday at our church and and can't get it out of my head. It is so crazy to think that this is how the maker of the universe came into this world. He was born in a cold, dark, dirty stable because there was "no room" anywhere else for the Lord of all to be born...

Niagra Falls

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! Seth took the computer last weekend while he was away in New York for his cousin's wedding. After the wedding, Seth and his brothers went to see Niagra Falls. I had to share some pictures because it looks absolutely beautiful! Isn't the Lord a great creator?! I would love to go some day :)

Seth, Brian, Brady, Justin


I love how this bird is just sitting there staring at Seth


Don't you love the frozen blades of grass? Although I would rather go in the summer, so that I could really enjoy it!

I couldn't figure out how to open this toy for Landon to walk behind, but that didn't stop him from pushing it!

Mexican Hot Chocolate

I found this recipe on the back of a Nestle's Hot cocoa packet. If is VERY yummy! I absolutely love hot chocolate though. Instead of being a coffee drinker, I'm a hot cocoa drinker. Only in the winter though, my summer craving is a Quick Trip frozen cappuccino or a cherry limeade from Sonic.

Anyway, if you like Hot chocolate, you will love this.

Mexican Hot Chocolate:

One Hot Cocoa Packet
1 cup of milk (or a little more to fill up your cup)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix it all together, add whipped cream, dash of cinnamon, and a few chocolate chips and voila! Amazing hot chocolate!

Pulling Up

Our little guy has figured out how to pull up! He is literally into everything now two feet and below. I really have to keep my eye on him! Here is a clip from tonight...