Swimming and Muffin Tin Meals

Landon is loving swim lessons and he is doing very well, if I do say so myself.His teacher, Miss Christina, told me yesterday that she is going to try to teach him how to swim underwater the last two days of lessons. He is able to maneuver himself around on top of water and since it's easier to swim underwater, she wants him to try it out. I'm anxious to see how it goes--Landon doesn't like going underwater unless he jumps in and then pops right back up.
We've been very fortunate with swim lessons this year as there is only Landon and another little girl in his group, so he gets a lot of instruction and time in the water with his teacher. I'm so thankful that Landon is confident in the water (unlike me).


I was browsing through some blogs the other night and came across Muffin Tin Meals and thought it was an interesting way to serve little ones their meals. I didn't look too deep into the website, but got a general idea of what it was and we tried it out for lunch. Just a fun little spin on meals. :) Landon's muffin tin meal included cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, cucumbers, ranch for dipping, veggie straws, and a grilled cheese sandwich. (My muffin tin is clean--it just gets used a lot so it looks a little rough.) We'll definitely be serving up more MTM around here--maybe I'll even purchase a new muffin tin. :)

Things Landon Says That Make Me Smile

Landon says things all the time that make me smile. I know it's things that he'll probably never say again so I want to write them down. It will be fun to look back at these things years down the road and remember what he said.

• The other night after I had tucked Landon into bed and we'd said our prayers, he said, "Mommy, I love you a bunch and a little bit. Do you love me a bunch and a little bit, too?" :)


• As I was giving Landon a hug a few days ago I told him that he was the best boy ever. His reply, "You're the best girl ever." Sweet thing.


• Landon was putting a t-shirt on the other day and he accidentally put one of his arms through the neck hole, so it looked like he had on a shirt with one sleeve.

He started laughing when this happend and said, "Look Mom! I look like John!" I nicely told him that we don't know anyone named John and that maybe he was thinking about someone else. He got frustrated with me and we went back and forth about who John was. Finally he said, "Mom, you know that John from the book you read to me. You know...Jesus' friend." Then I realized that he was talking about John the Baptist. The picture below is what he was referring to.

I just couldn't believe that he remembered that story from one of his books as we hadn't read that particular book in several months. Landon definitely has a good memory.

• After a couple of hours of swimming and a bath, I got some Cocoa Butter and started putting it all over Landon's skin. He immediately wanted to know what it was, so I told him that it was Cocoa Butter. He said, "Oh, is it doggie butter?" --This is funny because our dogs name is Coco, so he thought that since it was named Cocoa Butter that it must be for dogs! Ha! :)


• We haven't had much going on around here other than swimming lessons, so the other morning when he woke up I asked him what he wanted to do for the day. His reply, "I just wanna go to Starbucks and get some pumpkin bread and then after that go get a snow cone--that's all." Silly boy! We really don't go to Starbucks all that often, however, we've been several times this summer with gift cards that David and I received at the end of the school year. Landon will be disappointed when those run out because we won't be visiting Starbucks much when they're gone. :)

Coconut Cookies

Landon loves to help me bake cookies, cakes, brownies...pretty much anything that involves licking a spoon covered in something sweet. The other day we made coconut cookies. It's summer time and anything that involves coconut sounds good to me!

I had my apron on while we were mixing ingredients and Landon wanted to wear an apron, too! This picture of him in the apron just makes me smile.
My little baker. :)

The finished product.

These cookies ended up being very tasty. They weren't too sweet and had a very light taste to them. I will definitely make them again...with my little baker of course. :)

Twins Visit

Today after swim lessons, Landon and I went to visit my friend Megan and her two week old twins. Megan was my teaching partner last year and she is so organized, so I know that raising twins will not be a problem for her! I wish I had her organizing skills...she makes everything look easy.

Megan and her husband, Marc, were blessed with a boy and girl. Maddox is on the left and McKinley is on the right. These sweet babies were so precious and I could have held and rocked them all day long. They are so tiny--it's hard to believe that Landon used to be that small, too.
Megan and her little babies.

McKinley...so precious.

I love the wrinkles on her head from laying on her hand.

Maddox...so sweet.

I will definitley have to make another trip over there this summer to hold these little bundles of joy.

Birthday Party and Playdate

Last weekend, our sweet little friend, Briley, invited us to help her celebrate her 2nd birthday! Her mom, Melissa, is the ultimate party planner and had everything so organized and cute! When I first met Melissa, Briley was just a newborn and Landon was just 18 months old. When I first met Melissa I immediately felt drawn to her. At the time I wasn't sure why, but earlier this year I found out why I had those feelings. Melissa had a little girl, Hadley, that went to be with Jesus in late February. Now I know why God placed Melissa and I at the same school and gave me those feelings. Unfortunately, we both wear the same shoes and belong to the same club. Melissa is still so fresh in her grief and my heart just hurts for her.

This is Briley...isn't she cute?

Landon really enjoyed playing in this little pool! The birthday girl eating her birthday cupcake.

Such a fun birthday party!

Melissa and I met up yesterday so Landon and Briley could have a playdate. Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out and I am so disappointed that I didn't. :( We met at our house and I picked up Chick-fil-a for lunch, then we let the kiddos play. They enjoyed playing with Mega blocks and playing chase! Ha! Briley is a book lover (I know her teacher mommy is proud), so we read a few books, too! Playdates are always nice for the mommy's because we get to visit and the kiddos wear themselves out! These two were definitely worn out by the end of the playdate! :) I like to think that mine and Melissa's sweet little angels in heaven were looking down smiling as they watched their siblings play together. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Landon thought it was so funny to carry vegetables in our shirts.
He loves picking the veggies and helping in the garden.

Swim Lessons

Landon started swim lessons this week and he has been so excited to go the past two mornings. We've done the mommy & me classes before, but this is his first time to do lessons without me. And I have to be honest, as I've sat back and watched him participate I've gotten teary eyed. He's growing up and doesn't need me as much as he once did...it is so bittersweet. I love watching him grow and develop his personality, but at the same time I want him to still 'need' me.

Landon before his first lesson. He was so excited! His teacher's name is Christina and she is so sweet. Landon told me that he likes her because she is nice. :)
My big boy being a good listener.

I'm excited to see how much he grows as a swimmer these next few weeks! Hopefully, he doesn't have my "swimming genes" because I'm definitely lacking there! That's a whole other post that I won't go into. Ha! :)

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

I feel incredibly blessed to have you as my dad! Thank you for ALL that you are. We love you!

This sweet little boy wants to wish his daddy a Happy Father's Day, too! We made David a Father's Day card and Landon drew a happy face with arms and legs! :) Definitely a treasure to keep in the memory box!
Landon is so blessed to have a daddy that loves him so much! Thanks for being such an awesome dad, David! We love you!

Snow Cones

One of my favorite things to do during the summer is to go get snow cones! Some of my favorite flavors are Tigers Blood, Bubble Gum, and Coconut. So yummy! We've made several trips already this summer to the snow cone stand...good thing they're inexpensive!
My happy little guy enjoying his 'd-illa' (aka-vanilla) flavored snow cone.
Each time we've been to the snow cone stand Landon has asked for a 'd-illa' snow cone. :)

I love summer time!

Sweet memories with sweet boys.

Full Days

Our summer days have been so full. I'm thankful for days full of friends, good food, and places to go. The past few days have been filled with things such as fried chicken, jury duty, Rainforest Cafe, limo rides, and pool days with friends.

Sunday night we invited several of our friends over for fried chicken and fried squash. The squash was from our garden and it was super yummy! It always makes me nervous cooking for several families, but everyone enjoyed and no one got sick from my cooking! :)On Monday, I had to report to jury duty and I was SO nervous. I've never been called to serve before and I just didn't know what to expect so I was literally shaking the whole time I was there. Even though I didn't get 'picked' to serve on the jury, I was glad that I had the opportunity to participate in the process despite my crazy nerves.Today we took Landon for lunch at The Rainforest Cafe and he was a little skeptical of the robotic animals at first, but he quickly warmed up to all the commotion in the rainforest.Landon dined on dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets--yes, I'm sure they were as healthy as they sound!Speaking of healthy eating...check out our dessert! This is layers of ice cream and chocolate cake and I don't even want to know how many hundreds of calories are in this delicious dessert.
This evening, we took a limo ride to Pizza Inn for Nick's 8th birthday. Nick is such a great kid and I'm glad that he invited us to help him celebrate his birthday!

David and Landon enjoying the ride. These two little boys were into everything inside the limo...they opened every compartment, touched every light, and found it difficult to sit on the seat as it was much more fun to crawl around! Ha! Landon and Luke are just 9 months apart and I'm sure they'll be the best of friends one day! :)
Landon was so tired the other day that he fell asleep on the living room floor, which NEVER happens. When he falls asleep somewhere other than his bed I know that he is super tired. Poor little guy.

Since school let out on Friday we have been on the go. In fact, I think this blogging session is the first time I've sat down since Friday--okay not really, but we have been super busy. Friday was our last day of school and we intended to go to New Braunfels to see my parents as soon as school let out, but things didn't line up on our end like we'd planned so we left on Saturday morning instead. Dad had a surgery scheduled for Monday morning and we wanted to be there a couple days before so that we could spend time with mom and dad. Prayers were answered and Dad's surgery went very well. The doctors said everything looked very healthy and they're confident that they removed all the cancer. Thank you, Jesus! Dad is doing great and he even got to go home today, which is several days before they expected him to get released. Yay! :)

We came home Tuesday afternoon so that we could get Landon's room ready for his new 'big boy' bed. We packed up the crib/toddler bed and made room for a bunk bed. Yes, a bunk bed...David convinced me that it was the way to go. Ha!
It's actually a pretty neat little set up and Landon LOVES it! It has a chest of drawers on one side and a set of stairs on the other. The full bed is a separate piece that has a head board and can be used independent of the bunk bed as he gets older. The full bed gives company an extra place to sleep with they stay with us. That's right Aunt Char & Aunt Brit--you won't have to sleep on the couch anymore when you come stay with us. :)

The stairs going up to the top are drawers! So cool, right?!?

This sweet little guy was super excited to go to bed tonight...he was ready to sleep on the top bunk. I can't wait to talk to him in the morning to see how his first night went in his 'big boy' bed. Sweet thing.