Pen Pals

One of my kids' favorite "jobs" is to collect the mail and to put mail in the mailbox. 

Almost every day Landon asks if he got any mail.  Almost every day the answer is no.  Except for the one day a month when his Big Backyard magazine comes in the mail or around his birthday, there isn't much in the mailbox for a soon to be five year old.  

A few weeks ago Chrissie shared on her blog that her girls now had pen pals and I thought this would be a great idea for Landon. Not only because he would be excited to put his own mail in the mailbox and receive something in the mail, but it would be a great way to work on letter formation and letter sounds (getting in school work without him realizing it is "school").

As I was thinking about a pen pal for Landon one little boy came to my mind, Sarah's son, Jack . Over the past year or so as we have become blog friends, we have read and shared stories about these two energetic life lovin' boys.  We know that if they lived in the same city they would be great friends.

Last weekend, Landon worked diligently on a letter and picture for his new pen pal Jack.  

He was so proud as he put the stamp on the letter, 

walked it to the mailbox, 

and put the flag up on the mailbox.

I am looking forward to the day Landon receives his letter - I am sure his jubilant shout will be heard all the way to Jack's Midwestern hometown.  

I am excited to see these boys develop a long distance friendship through the almost forgotten art of the handwritten letter.

Breakfast: A Tutorial by Landon

First, you place some bread in the toaster.

Next, you get a huge serving of butter.

Spread the butter on the toast. Make sure you have enough butter to cover the entire piece of toast.
Then you take the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle, not shake, it onto the toast.
Sprinkle enough cinnamon and sugar to cover the entire piece of toast.
Serve the cinnamon and sugar toast . (one for me and one for my baby sister)
Enjoy the look on your sisters face covered with cinnamon and sugar - her favorite part!

For Boys Only

In one month my boy is going to turn 5 (sniff, sniff - I can't believe he is going to be 5 - it just seems so old and well I want to keep my boy little)

We have been discussing options for his birthday party this year.  His ideas for themes were firefighters, pirates, swimming party, Harley Davidson (thanks to his uncle), Lightning the Queen (as he states calls him) and football. 

He would look through catalogs and discuss the ideas for his party.  He thought about it and talked about his ideas for about three weeks before he finally decided on a theme.

He decided to have  a football party and we started planning. We searched for ideas for games, invitations, goodie bag trinkets (no critters this year), and cakes.  

The time came to make his guest list and there was one thing he was very adamant about: NO GIRLS! I was very surprised so I asked him "Why don't you want any girls?" He said, "Mama, girls don't know about football except maybe Amiah (our neighbor and his good friend) she likes football but I just want boys."

So there you have it.... a football party for BOYS ONLY!

Retired

We have finally retired our dinosaur of a video camera.

No more:

- 8 mm tapes.

- time getting the tape in the correct spot.

- accidently  taping over a previous event.

- transferring taped events to DVD (oh wait we weren't so good at that anyway)

- large camera and camera bag

This weekend we played with the new camera at Morgan's gymnastics meet.  The video isn't great as we were getting used to the camera but  it was so nice to come home and download the video right to the computer. It was so easy... easy to share with friends and family and easy to burn to a DVD to have for future viewing.

The video is of Morgan's routines on beam, floor, and vault.  Lance didn't get video of Morgan's bar routine. She had started her bar routine and slipped off the low bar and had to start her routine over. When she fell Lance got a little flustered and forgot to keep taping her routine.

Morgan had a great meet this weekend. She placed 2nd on floor and beam, 3rd on vault, 8th on bars, and 5th overall for her age group.

Hands Down The Shirts Ever!

About three years ago I was invited to an at home clothing party.  I was pregnant with Mauryn so I wasn't going to purchase any new cute clothes for my soon to gain 65 lb body. 

The consultant and I were visiting and she told me how she would wear the shirts when she was pregnant and they would hold  their shape so she could wear them after her pregnancy. I was a little skeptical but I did find a cute t- shirt and decided to buy it.

I wore that t-shirt throughout my entire pregnancy. As my belly got bigger, the shirt continued to stretch with my belly.  

When my pregnancy was over, I was able to wear the t-shirt and it had its original shape. It did not look like it had been stretched to its limits during my pregnancy.  Now that is some shirt!

I wear one of their wide strap cami's almost every day. They look great under a long sleeved t-shirt or sweater or on their own with a pair of capris or shorts.

 The cami's  are soft, comfortable, stretchy, LONG, and just plain wonderful.

Not only are the cami's amazing, but their dresses and shirts are wonderful as well.

From now until February 25, the Layers basics are on sale. Head on over and check out their website. You will not be disappointed!

First Born

I thought I would join in the fun with this Meme about my First Born. 

1. WAS YOUR PREGNANCY PLANNED?
No

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
Shocked, excited, nervous

4. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
I was 25 when I found out I was pregnant and 26 when I gave birth

5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
I had a feeling I might be pregnant so I purchased two tests and took one right away and one the next morning.

6. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
I told Lance after I took the second test

7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
No, I wanted to be surprised

8. DUE DATE?
November 3, 1999

9. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
I didn't really have any morning sickness. I usually felt yucky in the evenings.

10. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
I didn't have any particular cravings but I wasn't much of a sweets eater until this pregnancy

11. WHAT IRRITATED YOU?
Nothing really

12. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX?
Female

13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
No, I was excited to be a mom and just wanted to have a healthy baby

14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN DURING PREGNANCY?
80 pounds - I was a big girl!

15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
Yes, I had two showers

16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
I knew about both of them

17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
At my first ultrasound they discovered that the placenta was covering my cervix, but thankfully the placenta moved and it wasn't an issue. I did have high blood pressure and retained quite a bit of water. I was put on bed rest at 38 weeks. After I gave birth, the placenta would not deliver so the doctor had to manually extract the placenta - OUCH! Way more painful than childbirth.

18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Ridgeview Medical Center, Waconia MN

19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
It was 17 hours from the time my water broke at home until she was born

20. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
Lance

21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Lance, doctor, nurse

22. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
Natural

23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
Yes, I had an epidural after quite a few hours of labor. My cervix would not dilate so they were starting to prep for a possible c section but once I got the epidural my labor progressed rapidly and I was able to deliver naturally.

24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
8 lbs 4 oz

25. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN?
November 12, 1999

26. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
Morgan Elizabeth

27. DID YOU NAME THEM AFTER ANYONE?
We liked the names

28. How old is YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY?
9 years old

It is Handy to Have a Doctor in the House

For those five of you who read this blog on a regular basis, you know that our little Mauryn is tiny in stature but strong in her will.  Mauryn is a bitty ball of fire that is constantly in motion. One of her favorite things to do is climb - table top, counter top, etc...  

Last week one evening, she had climbed on the counter and was scurrying to get off the counter top (she heard me coming back into the kitchen) when she toppled over with the chair she had used to climb onto the counter.  I picked her up and checked for blood right away. I could tell she had bit her tongue but couldn't see any other signs of injury. She was very upset and it took a while to get her calmed down.  

Once she was calm, I noticed her shirt had quite a bit of blood on it. I knew she bit her tongue but it hadn't bled very much.   I had her lift her head and noticed a cut on her chin.  I placed her in my arms and carried her upstairs to our room for Lance to look at her. 

When I reached our room, I was pretty insistent that we get Mauryn to quick care. I knew she either needed stitches or skin glue for her cut.  Lance took a look at her chin and agreed she probably would need skin glue.

Instead of taking her into quick care, our resident vet went to his truck got out some skin glue and fixed our baby girl up.  Mauryn was a wonderful patient. She laid completely still while Lance applied the skin glue.

Mauryn proudly displays her "owie" on her chin that her daddy "fix up".

Sometimes, it is handy to have a doctor in the house, (even if he is a vet)  when it saves you a hundred dollar trip to quick care.

before

getting ready to apply to skin glue

all done