The Holidays 2010

So, I feel absolutely AWFUL that I haven't blogged in almost a full two months!!!  The holidays were just crazy busy for us and I let blogging fall to the "back burner".  Anyway, I am just going to jump right in and try to catch you up to speed....our Thanksgiving was wonderful!  More of my family was able to get together than usual and some family who had never laid eyes on Landen got to meet him.  Both of my boys tried some new foods at their Thanksgiving meal.....dressed eggs and turkey.  Ethan is very picky about his food and really surprised me by trying these foods!  I honestly thought I was going to have to take the plate of eggs away to keep him from making himself sick!  It was no surprise that Landen tried them though, he will eat ANYTHING! He now eats 2 containers of baby food twice a day and usually cries for more.  He loves table food of any kind and every time he sees you eating he thinks he should have some.  That's not even mentioning his snacks such as yogurt melts, vege sticks, etc.  He is now taking mostly whole milk.  We still put formula in 1/4 of his bottle but will stop doing that soon. 

We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas!  It was Landen's first Christmas and we got a lot of snow!  On Christmas Eve we go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast with my dad's side of the family.  Ethan was so excited for the Christmas festivities to begin that he could barely sleep.  Landen was a little more laid back about the whole thing but still really enjoyed tearing the paper off of his gifts.  After breakfast we went back to my grandparents house and spent time with cousins that we don't get to see very often.  On Christmas Eve night we go to my mom's parent's house and spend time with more cousins.  By the end of Christmas Eve both boys were exhausted and it didn't take long for them to go down so that Santa could come.  My parents and Josh's grandmother came over to stay the night so that they would be here when the boys found their gifts from Santa.  Santa brought Ethan a kitchen (it was a blue kitchen at Josh's request), a snowball gun (Ethan's odd request), a telescope, a Nintendo DSi, and a remote control Lego train.  Ethan cooked us food on the kitchen all day and really enjoyed going out and playing in the snow with his new snowball gun!  Santa brought Landen a rocking horse, a dinosaur, a bat and wobble penguin, and a few other small things.  He loves his horse as long as someone else will sit in front of him and rock him on it, lol!  I can tell you this much, finding places to store Christmas toys after Christmas for one child is MUCH easier than finding room to store toys for two!!!  I still have a few things that just don't have a home! 

My Monkey

Three days after Christmas, Landen turned one!  It seemed surreal because it seems like he was born just a few months ago.  We could NOT imagine our lives without him!  He is such a joy to each of us.  Landen is such a wonderful little boy.  He smiles constantly and subsequently keeps us smiling constantly :)  He is crawling and cruising like a pro but hasn't yet took that first step.  He loves to waive bye bye, say "uh oh", and give fives.  He dances anytime he hears anything resembling music.  Our sweet boy loves to be read to and he loves to take puzzles apart......we are working on the putting them back together part.  He adores his big brother and thinks that Ethan should play with him at all times.  He is wearing 18-24 months clothes and size 4 in shoes.  We went for his one year checkup last week and he weighed 27 pounds and was 32 inches long.  Everyone is amazed by what a "great eater" he is.  We will be celebrating his 1st birthday with a party here at home this Saturday and I will do a post on it soon. 

We had a pretty quiet New Years Eve here at home.  My parents came over and a friend of mine came over with her two kiddos.  The kids all had a blast playing and Landen was right in there with all the bigger kids.  He was so excited that he stayed up until 12:30am!!!  We are so blessed with wonderful friends and family who made the holidays wonderful for us!  We are so thankful to God for a new year in which we are all healthy and happy.  We can't wait to see what 2011 holds for us and to spend another wonderful year growing, laughing, and learning with our two precious boys!!!! 

Ethan, Landen, and Alera bringing in the New Year

He was SO sleepy you can tell he is forcing his eyes to stay open, LOL!