Busy Bees

                                                Recent Events:
          (Warning, there have been many, lol!)

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy for us, but it has been a good kind of busy.  Lots of fun and exciting things...

On 2/7, Landen sat on the potty for 3 minutes without screaming or pouting!

Ethan chose a rubber band gun as his toy to purchase.  He worked hard on his A.R tests all week to earn it!

On 2/10, we took the boys to the Lonestar rodeo and they loved it! We have been going since I was a kid and we've taken Ethan for many years.  Last year was Landen's first year and I don't think he was old enough to really enjoy it but this year he was in heaven!  Ethan was a lot more into it than he's ever been too.

This wasn't really an event...I just thought it was too cute not to share!



The super sweet lady who has been my hairstylist  for the past 6+ years and has also cut Ethan's
 hair since he was 1.5 years old is also very good friends with Ethan's first grade teacher.  His class has been having "mystery readers"come in and read to them.  Last week (2/16), the mystery reader was our hairstylist!  Ethan was so excited to see her and to make it even better, she wrote a book about Ethan getting a haircut to read to the class.  The book doesn't say that it's about Ethan until the end and as she was finishing up, Ethan stood up and said to his class..."Okay, I'll tell y'all the truth, it's about me!"  It was too cute and we'll be keeping the book as a keepsake for Ethan to look back on when he gets older.  Thank you, Ms. Janet!

The front of the book.

Isn't the drawing cute?

SO sweet!

On Friday (2/17), school was out due to PT conferences.  Ethan had been invited to a birthday breakfast play date at Chic-fil-a by one of his good buddies.  Of course, he was super excited to go and join in the fun!  So we made a day of it...

After, the play date Ethan snuck in a little nap and then we went to see the movie that he has been dying to see....

Landen decided to take his nap during the movie, which I expected and was perfectly fine with me.  But what I didn't expect was for the baby whale to die and Ethan to cry for an entire 30 minutes!  Bless his heart, I was trying to console him but I only had one arm (his brother was asleep on the other arm) and he was sobbing so loud the guy in front of us turned around and stared.  Anyway, we had a really nice day together, in spite of the tears. 

I had mentioned in a prior post that Ethan was attending Super Saturdays at WKU.  The final class was this past Saturday (2/18) and they had a really neat balloon ceremony to celebrate gifted and talented students.  Each student, as they let their balloon go, was to make a wish for what they wanted to be when they grow up.  

We are so glad that Ethan was able to be a part of this opportunity and hope that he can take part  in it again in the future!

And, just because I can't resist sharing Landen's adorable pout face with you.... this is him sitting on the stairs this weekend, unhappy.  The pout never last long, he's too happy of a boy for it to.  But it's sure cute when it does happen...xoxo!

Valentine's Day '12

So, we had a pretty low key but nice Valentine's Day.  Ethan's teacher, a couple of other parent volunteer's, and I organized the class party for Ethan's first grade classroom and I ended up being the only parent there to help his teacher with the party (unfortunately, the other two moms who volunteered had sick family members) so it was a little crazy but a WHOLE lot of fun!  We were so busy helping the students that I didn't take any pictures of the party.  I am hoping maybe Ethan's teacher will e-mail me her pics, thankfully she is always so good about doing that!  Ethan and I made him a cool robot box for his classmates to put his valentine cards in.

   
     And we made his sweet teacher a crayon wreath for Ethan to give to her.  We were walking to lunch one day at his school and he spotted a similar wreath on one of the other teacher's doors. He said "Mom, we have to make my teacher one of these!". I knew that I had seen the idea on Pinterest so I came home and pinned it, gathered my supplies from Hobby Lobby, and ended up with this...

   Anyway, Ethan was very excited to end the school day with being called to the office for his Valentine's delivery.  We sent him a Mario stuffed animal with a Mario balloon and a heart-shaped basket full of his favorite candy.  After Josh got home from work, we gave both boys their Valentine gifts from us.  Ethan was thrilled to find more Mario loot.  He loves to play Monopoly right now, so he got the Nintendo Monopoly board game, Mario/Luigi house shoes, and Mario band-aids (We can't ever find any band-aids in the store that have characters that he likes).

     Landen had just woke up from a very short nap and was NOT in a good mood (as you can tell from the pictures).  His V-day gift was everything Max & Ruby themed.  His favorites were the lift-a-flap book and the coloring book.  He will love the movies too as soon as he gets to watch them.

I made taco chicken and potatoes for dinner and Josh and I exchanged small gifts.  We are so blessed to have our two sweet (usually, lol) Valentine's!

Our funny little guy...

Our funny little guy...

"Pants?  Who needs pants??"

There is actually a funny little story that goes with the above picture.  I could not figure out why on Earth Landen was taking his pants off and coming to me saying "pants" with a big sad face!  It was like he was sad that he didn't have them on but HE was the one taking them off.  I would put them back on and he would have them back off in less than 5 minutes.  After days of playing this game I finally realized, he was taking his pants off when he was wet or worse.  So, at his 2 year checkup the ped. said this was a sign that he was ready to potty train.  I had bought him a comfy, cute Cars potty insert seat a few months back and when I had put him on there before he hid his face and begged me to get him off.  This time he screamed like someone was torturing him! It was not fun for either of us. He couldn't even hear my feeble attempts at blackmail with chocolate because he wouldn't stop fussing for me to get him OFF!  I was feeling quite discouraged at our potty misfortune when I came across a blog comment that read "My pediatrician said something to me that really made me stop and think.  He said, "Start potty training at  2, end at 3.  Start potty training at 3, end at 3."  This is so true!  I mean some kids are probably ready at 2 but Ethan was almost 4 before he was potty trained and I had tried every trick in the book.  So why am I rushing Landen? He let me know when he was ready to give up both the bottle and the pacifier....he'll let me know when he's ready to start using the potty.  Of course, I will still try to work with him on it and encourage it but I have a feeling the more I try to force it on him the less interest he is going to have.  Anyway, on to more funny pictures...

Pretending to sleep

Working his new "fishing"puzzle

Saying "cheese" for the camera

Wearing his hat.  He walking around pointing to his head saying "hat".

In other news, we are so very proud of Ethan.  He is attending Super Saturdays at WKU.  It is offered by the Center for Gifted Studies and you have to have a teacher recommend you for it.  This past Saturday was his first time going and he loved it!  I didn't get any pictures because we couldn't stick around the classroom but there are 3 more classes and at the last one we are allowed to go into their classroom so hopefully I can get some then.

Yep, He's Totally Two!

At the risk of sounding very cliche', I cannot believe that Landen just turned two! I swear it seems like very recently that we brought him home from the hospital. It is very bittersweet, this second birthday that my boy just had. Of course, I am so grateful that he is growing, learning, changing, evolving into this wonderful little man. But, (as the song says...) I'm gonna' miss this. I guess it's different with your second because you already know how fast those first few years truly do pass. You know to savor every second for before long your sweet baby will be almost as tall as you, in first grade, very witty, and have a mind all his own. Still a wonderful stage but not the same kind of wonderful as the cuddling, needing Mama often, cutesy stage. Anyway, I want nothing more than for you to continue to grow and learn and change....I just wish a could take those special moments of the past 754 days and put them in a bottle. So that in a few years, when you are in fact that tall, witty, independent first grader I can take out those moments and relive them from time to time. Moments such as when you cuddle into my neck and squeeze me tight saying "mmm-mmm" .....a true hug. I cherish those. Such as when you say cheese for the camera...you're such a ham, when you say "hurray" after you've learned something new or done a good job, when you cross those arms across your chest , cut those big brown eyes, and stick that bottom lip out for the full pout affect....you are a professional pouter and it is adorable, when your big brother and you cuddle up on the couch and you plant a big fat kiss right on his cheek, when you pull your shirt up at nap time and bedtime for me to rub your back or tummy, when you blow me kisses, when I come to pick you up and you run to me saying "Mama" like my being there is the most wonderful surprise on Earth and you wrap yourself around my legs.....I could go on for days about the moments I would bottle. I may not be able to physically bottle them but they are bottled in my heart forever. You are one of a kind, Landen Tate Raines and you bring all of us more joy than you'll ever know.

THE 2nd BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF OUR "LANDY" (This is Ethan's nickname for you and Daddy has picked up the habit of calling you that too.) BOY: We celebrated at Hopscotch's Playplace on Dec. 31st

Ethan & Grammy playing with sweet Lexie

Landen  & Xander Sliding

Fixing Xander Pretend Lunch

I Love Your Expression Here... It's Pure Delight!

Getting More Food from the Pretend Fridge

You Were Being Bashful because We Were Singing to You

You Blew That Candle Out Like it was Nobody's Business!

Heaven Forbid....You had Cupcak on Your Hand!

Such a Big Boy Opening Gifts this Year

"No help needed Mom!"

Excited Much?