Springtime Fun

We're soaking up wonderful springtime weather now and keeping busy as usual. Here's some of what we've been up to!

Dale took a business trip to Chicago for a few days and we missed him so much. Luckily we squeezed in a great family dinner at a Teppanyaki grill place (Mr. An's) the night before. It was Landon's first teppan experience and it was surprising a huge hit! He's has the most discerning palate which makes trying new foods a huge problem but apparently chop sticks are the trick! Landon also attempted to have daddy pack him up to so he could travel to!



We made a trip to the Renaissance Festival on a very hot day. It was my and Landon's first time and my mom was able to come to. There was tons to do. Some of the highlights were getting the big guy's face painted, man-powered rides, variety shows, bungee cord jumping, and of course, jousting! We had a great time, Landon especially loved it.

Landon and I have been taking trips to the fancy outdoor mall nearby (La Encantada) and having treats on the patio at AJ's. I bought my first cake pedestal so of course had to make a cake! And there's also a bad picture of a fun dinner we had at Oregano's.

Landon and daddy have been going fishing! Landon's been asking to go for a long time, and since Dale's been itching to go they finally made their first trip. It went so well they went right back the next weekend. Landon did wonderful and was actually to sit in his chair quite a bit (sitting still hasn't been his forte). Sad to report no fish have been caught but with a trip to a bigger lake soon their luck might turn around.

We had a fun morning at Pump It Up together, thanks to Landon earning a trip with good behavior:) He also had a dental cleaning and did awesome! Dale and I also squeezed in a date night to Cheesecake Factory followed by a fun music filled night at the Gaslight Theater where the held the "Big Band Experience".

Landon started swim lessons! We though it was about time he learned and he hasn't been fond of mom or dad teaching him so this is working out great! They taught him to float on his back by himself right away for safety. He's improved so much since this first lesson that he was just promoted to the next level class where they actually learn stokes and such.

We had a lovely dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant Macayo's where the have a cutout of the "World's Most Interesting Man". I got a kick out of taking Landon's picture with him, hopefully one day he will see it and appreciate it:) We also went to a school festival one evening with our friend's and "best bud" Luke. They had all the usual fair stuff and it was great just hanging out with friends.

Our friends, Dani and Trevor, invited us to their communities Easter egg hunt and festival in the park. They really had lots of fun things to do including a peek inside a real firetruck. Lots of our friends showed up and it was a great time! Also, later in the week, we got together and had a picnic with "best bud" Luke and our friends. It just adorable to see the boys play together, they get along so well!


 Here's come pictures from Easter Sunday. Landon got to go through his Easter basket right before church and grabbed lots of easter eggs at an egg hunt to church puts on annually after Easter Service. Instead of cooking an Easter brunch we went to the golf cafe right next to our house with beautiful views. Landon and I just happened to walk right into the start of an Easter egg hunt earlier in the week at La Encantada. We saw children gathering in the courtyard witheaster baskets and when we realized what it was Landon asked right away where his basket was. I had just shopped and had a shopping bag handy. Luckily, Landon doesn't know his easter basket for the hunt was a Victoria Secret bag:)


Soaking up this beautiful weather we've been making lots of trips to our neighborhood park via scooter or bike to have picnics. There was also a concert the market place by us last Thursday. Everyone pulls up lawn chairs and enjoys good music in the nice breeze. Landon tolerated sitting still for about 30 minutes until we had to give him an Ipad to play as a bribe for the rest. Also, our shower project is finished!!! It turned out amazing! It couldn't be prettier and it feels so good to get the project wrapped up and Dale's also installed recessed lights above it (as well as in the kitchen) to show it off. I'm so lucky to be married to such a great guy who also is so handy :)

Landon and daddy had a backyard campout! It was a huge hit. We had grilled cheeseburgers followed by smore's and daddy and Landon found fun stuff to do in their tent where the snoozed under the stars.

Finally, Landon and my mom and I made our way to the Children's Museum downtown. Wow has it changed since I was little! It was a blast for all of us. They have so many activities and experience you could easily spend an entire day their. And the best part is we were told they will be opening one in about 2 weeks 5 minutes from our house! A membership will definitely be in order!





 

More Musings

   Renovations to our house have taken over and are in full swing. After finishing our kitchen, we've moved onto flooring that has really worn out poor Dale. He's spent almost every free minute he has working on installing the new tile and his hard work has REALLY paid off! It looks so beautiful! I cant wait to have it all done and have our free time together to spend as a family. Here's some of the progress and other stuff we've been up to:

Its a perfect neutral color that will look great with anything! I added a picture I though was funny, Landon riding daddy's "horsey" (his leg) while he was trying to get pluming work done under the sink. 

We did take time to hit the park and play some soccer, have a picnic lunch in the grass at the park another day, and try on some awesome super hero masks at Target. Also, Landon got some bedtime stories told by Papa while sleeping over one night!

Just before Christmas we were invited to my friend Kelly's wedding to her fiance Kenny. It was the most beautiful and fancy wedding Dale and I will EVER go to. I was very happy to go shopping for a bedazzled floor length dress for the occasion, and Dale rented a tux complete with a bow tie. It was held at the Ritz Carlton's Dove Mountain Resort and had breathtaking views everywhere you looked. The bride and groom flew in a band, Rabbi's, and a caterer from New York for the wedding so we knew it was going to be  a great night! There was a cocktail reception with the most divine hors d'oeuvres before the ceremony. Then a traditional Jewish ceremony followed by another cocktail reception before dinner service. The ceremony was beautiful and fun for Dale and I to see new traditions that come with a Jewish wedding. Really wish I would have taken some pictures :(. The dinner reception was held at the Resort's "Grille" which overlooks a golf course and sweeping mountain views and had the most beautiful table settings. The most fun part was watching Kelly getting lifted on her chair for the traditional Hora dancing. We watched the men dance in their circle for at least 45 minutes and it looked like so much fun! It was a night we won't forget, just wish I had taken more pictures!

We met Bob and Winnie at the Texas Roadhouse for dinner and loved our waitress was willing to make a celebrate Landon's birthday a couple weeks later. He rode on the saddle and LOVED the attention from everyone singing him happy birthday. We also got to go to Landon's "best bud" Luke's birthday party at Pump It Up. Luke's party was in the evening so it was fitting it was a glow in the dark extravaganza!

After a huge rain we stopped by a bridge for the wash to watch the water flowing. Its amazing how fast and hard the wash will  run sometimes after being so dry for ages! We've also done some bike riding and pet store shopping, the turtle are always entertaining. Since we connected a real computer mouse to our laptop Landon has really taken to using the computer, just games on PBS kids website of course. And Landon decided to make a phone from plumbing parts layering around.

Since it's been a little windy we've gotten our dollar kite out and had fun flying it, until it got tangled in our neighbors tree. Landon was invited to our friends daughters', Rozlyn, 2nd birthday party. It was a great time and was great to catch up with our friends. 

When Valentine's Day came I was excited to make it fun and special. I sent Landon off to school with a very heart shaped themed Valentine's lunch on Friday. Then made a heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast followed by a candlelit valentines family dinner. It was a huge hit with our little man and he proclaim it was the best dinner EVER! As for Dale and I, we celebrated Sunday night alone at Flemming's Steakhouse:)

Christmas & Party

We had the very best Christmas and New Year full of family and fun. Here's some of what we've been up to!

We treated ourselves to Baskin Robbins one afternoon after I picked Landon up from school. Landon had a birthday party to go to for his friend in his class Mia. We also made and decorated Christmas cookies with Grandma Debbie.

For Christmas eve we went to an amazing special service at our church complete with snow for he kids and hot cocoa for us big kids! We then came home and surprised Landon with one present to open which had a new Christmas movie, new PJ's and slippers to wear, and a box of candy to go with our Christmas eve  family movie night. 

Here's Christmas morning! I made Dale and I our traditional sticky buns and Landon his Santa pancake for breakfast, we opened presents then relaxed. We had my mom over for a big Christmas lunch the went to Taffy and Ray's for Christmas dinner and more presents. I probably should have taken some more pictures but Im not too upset I was living in the moment instead :)

At the mall, we got a free ride on one of those motorized animals they have. We went shopping at Party City for goody bags and odd ends for Landon's party. He grabbed these glasses when I wasn't looking and had them on when I turned around, it was so funny! We also got practiced shooting silly string webs his Aunt Christy and Uncle Will gave him.

This was our little New Year's Ever celebration. The sparklers were a HUGE hit! Landon couldn't get enough of them or the awesome firecrackers he got from Muzzy for Christmas.

 

We woke up to a winter wonderland New Year's Day! our house and backyard were covered so Dale had the awesome idea to go to an open field will a hill nearby and bring our sled! Dale has given me grief about bringing home this polar bear sled from Costco a few years ago and never using it so it felt great to have it handy when we finally needed it! We all went sledding down the hill, made snow angels, threw snowballs, and made a snowman. Its so incredibly rare we see snow and especially snow that sticks that we made sure to take full advantage of it. Landon was over the moon with the snow. I mean he couldn't been any happier, he was alll smiles giggles, and squeals. He had no fear with the sled and even attempted to go down the hill head first on his tummy which I'm thrilled I captured on camera! Luckily he wasn't hurt, he was still all smiles as a matter of fact. Make sure to check out the last two pictures here, its him with his face in the snow and the after picture. 

Landon's birthday finally came. We celebrated it with a special breakfast (choclate chip Mickey waffles). Grandma Debbie treated us to a super fun trip to Chuck E. Cheese and we celebrated with Daddy at a fancy dinner complete with a dessert and birthday serenade.

The big birthday party was the day right after where we partied at Pump It Up. Landon was beyond excited for this and it didn't disappoint. There was tons of his friends that showed up to play. He loved all of the attention he got which is what birthday parties are all about :)

On Dale's day off we went up to the top Mt. Lemmon to play one more time in the snow. Landon has the time of his life in this stuff and Im pretty sure he was meant for it. We found an excellent hill to sled down that was long and pretty fast. We couldn't believe our barely 4 year old wanted to go down on his own immediately and was all smiles zooming down super fast. He even spun around in circles going down and hits some bumps but loved every second of it. We also went for a little exploring and found some pretty cool stuff, had a snowball fight, and had a picnic on his sled.
We cannot wait for more snow to come again someday! We might even have to go driving north to find some more soon. But for now settling into our usual routines without the craziness of the holidays has us very happy!

Our December Frenzy

    December is always a very busy time but ESPECIALLY for us. See, a week after Thanksgiving we celebrate my birthday then three weeks later is Christmas AND a week after that is Landon's birthday!! And for the first time we are throwing him a big birthday party with lots of friends so we've really upped the ante for ourselves.

   Despite being overwhelmed at times getting everything ready and all the commitments that come with the holidays, we're still in the Christmas spirit. Even Dale has gotten into it this year eagerly decorating the front of our house like never before. Here's our month so far:

I made my first chalkboard art, a Bible verse inside a cChristmastree (this is the unfinished version). When most kids were afraid of the zipline at the Kid's Gym, Landon cracked everyone up with his one-handed thumbs up move. We ran into Santa at Home Depot and snapped a quick pic. And we sat down for a proper family gingerbread house building session. We put the finished gingerbread house on Landon's dresser in his room to admire, and while we were gone our dog, Ashton, ate parts of it off!

There was an arts and crafts festival at the Marketplace by our house that included an awesome setup of inflatables for the kids to bounce around on. 

We hauled our annual Christmas tree home from the lot to decorate. I don't think this year's tree quite tops last years. Landon was a great help putting ornaments on and was dancing around to Christmas music in his Christmas onesie! 

We had the best family date night one evening having dinner at Claim Jumper then going to see the Christmas performance at the Gaslight Theater. (A comedy dinner theater that puts on the funniest shows). We were nervous Landon wouldn't want to sit through the show but he LOVED it, so much so he insisted we stayed till the very end at almost 11 oclock!

A downpour of rain didn't stop us from waiting 45 minutes totally drenched for the annual Oro Valley Christmas Parade to start. They always have such a great parade with local organizations handing out candy to the kids along the way and Santa on a firetruck in the end. Having NO idea how hard it was going to start raining I didn't wear a waterproof coat or have a suitable umbrella for the rain. I found this tiny purse one in the truck and Landon quickly broke it leaving us with no umbrella. By the time the parade got to us we were freezing and I could have ringed out the water from my soaked through jacket and tshirt. When is came time to leave our truck tires got stuck in the mud where we parked. It was an adventure!

Landon and his classmates at school put on the most darling Christmas program! They had 14 songs/bible verses to sing and all the audience was blown away how well they did! Landon only attends school 2 days a week and told me over and over before the show he didn't remember "his songs" so I didn't have high hopes for this but his teacher deserves an award for what she managed to get 26 three year old's (who mostly attend part time) to do. We also made time for a family hike down to the wash just after it rained to do some exploring. 

Bob and Winnie invited us to go with the to the Church of Nazarene's FABULOUS Christmas show. This church must prepare all year for this spectacular show where lines to get into it are hours long. They have snow come down several times during the show and outside when your leaving. It was AMAZING. 

Our elf on the shelf has been busy, making elf sized pancakes for breakfast, dressing as superman hanging from the ceiling, even decorating Landon's playroom with tons of homemade paper snowflakes overnight! This is our first year with elf and although it totally thrills Landon, I have a huge appreciation for parents who do it and keep it exciting. It is so much work!

I can't wait for Christmas morning to see this little angel's face when he see's presents. We don't take one of these moments for granted, they are so precious!