The Phillips Family

28 months!

2011-09-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

Well 28 months last week! I have been a major slacker and I apologize! It has been crazy around the house and work schedules. This month is going by too quickly! I can not believe Jalen and Landon are just 2 months shy from being 2 and a half! It is so crazy to me how fast they are growing. They are growing into little boys and it breaks my heart. The only thing I want to move quickly are the 2 year molars and the hitting/pushing! They do more hitting/pushing with each other than anything. All day I hear "No! My mommy!" "No! That is MY milk!" "NO! Go away!" Along with the shoving. I find myself all day repeating myself and teaching them that is not nice and putting them in time outs for hitting. Landon likes to mock me. His favorite thing to do randomly and he thinks he is being funny by saying "Noooooo" really loud followed by "no pushing." Oh and Landon thinks if he says please to anything, he will get it. Sorry sweetie, but you are not having a cookie before breakfast. The joys of toddlerhood.

Even when there are times when they stress me out, it all changes by the cuddles, singing, dancing, and just saying sweet things. They are talking more and more with sentences and it is so nice to have a back and forth convo. I can ask them what they did today and I get an answer. Both can walk up and down the stairs with out holding onto the wall or rail. They love eating cereal and then drinking the milk from the bowl. Jalen likes to read through a book or magazine while eating because daddy does it. haha.

They are wearing 2T and 3T. Jalen is wearing a size 9 in shoes and Landon an 8 1/2. They sure are my growing boys. You can tell they are growing because all they want to do it eat! Jalen likes to dress himself and pick out his and Landon's clothes. They are both independent and will say "no help." If they need help they will ask. Sometimes, I have to interfere because I do not have the time to stand there when they try to put on their shoes.

Jalen is already a pro when it comes to recognizing his left from his right. When in the car, he will say "turn right to grandma's" or "go straight to Target" Yes both of my boys get excited to go to Target. Landon will wake up in the morning asking to go to Target. He gets excited if he sees a Target from the back seat. Momma taught them well.

It is running late and I am sleepy. I will post some pics here sometime this weekend.

"Whoa park!"

2011-08-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

I always know when I find a good park when I hear Jalen and Landon shouting in the back seat "WHOA! That's a big park!" or "Whoa! Look at that park!" They love going to the park! They enjoy to climb, run, swin, and go down the big slides. Some parks make me nervous when Jalen and Landon have no fear on climbing on some of the stuff there. Since fall is aproaching, there will not be much park time left until next spring. Need to enjoy it while we can.

Jalen driving the "truck."
Landon checking out the little girl.

Landon was asking me "where did the girl go?"

Loves to run and chase.

They can do this for hours!

They love each other!

Chores

2011-08-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Jalen and Landon LOVE to help! They enjoy helping around the house. However, when it comes to them, they want to be independent. Jalen especially wants to get dressed, put on socks and shoes, comb his hair, and even sometimes wiping his butt all on his own. I always step in on the butt wiping part. LOL
They love getting the dog's food and water.

When they make a mess, they grab the mop and broom.

After doing chores, he likes to watch Chuggington.

Jalen cheesing for the camera. Ignore the unmatching Pjs. Jalen decided to take off his pants and pee on them instead of the potty. :-)

Pictures of my brother's return

2011-08-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

With all the flight delays, we were all just hanging out at my parents. It was amusing that my parents had no idea who was going to walk through their door later in the evening. My grandparents came down from Chicago to visit with the kids, but also to see Matt. They were in on the surprise too. Here are some pictures from that day.

Julie and Jalen

They love playing with the blocks. More like stacking them and building houses. Landon stopped for a peek at the camera.
Would you like some salt?

What do you do with a line of blocks??

You ram it with a toy!

He's home!!!!
Jalen loved wearing the boots.

Soldier Jordan

Today my mom is throwing a "welcome back" BBQ. I will have lots of pictures to share I am sure. Stay tuned.

My brother surprising mom

2011-08-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

My brother is home from Iraq on his 2 week R&R. My mom had no idea he was coming home. It was a great surprise that my brother, sister, and I pulled off. Welcome home Matt!

Horay!

2011-08-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

Some pictures

2011-08-13T19:26:00.001-07:00

I have been a major slacker updating my blog. I have been really busy at work and at home. Here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Holiday World

2011-07-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

We took another family trip to Holiday World this summer. This park is clean, free parking, free sunscreen, free drinks, and a lot of fun! It was really hot so we spent most of the day at the water park. Here are some pictures from the other day.

Summer fun

2011-07-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

The boys are having a blast enjoying the summer weather. This year they are able to do a lot more than they did last year.

So far this summer:

They have gone swimming many times at grandma and grandpa's house. Jalen is my little fish and knows how to swim with his arms and legs. His favorite thing to do is jumping in the pool.

Riding their bikes. Jalen likes to hop on the back and have Landon pull him. Landon works the pedals really well now.

They saw their first movie, Cars 2! I took them to the IMAX and they saw it in 3D. They had a really good time and actually sat down most of it. Of course the popcorn helped. Here is Jalen before we went all ready.

And of course, MANY trips to the park. Today they met some friends from one of my mom groups and had so much fun. Here is a picture that my friend Kelli took.

Right now they are really into playing with each other outside and playing games. They love playing "duck, duck, goose," catch, and just chase each other around. Can't wait to enjoy the rest of the summer with the kids.

Family vacay to Chattanooga!

2011-06-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I have been a major slacker updating our blog. We just got back from a wonderful family vacation in Chattanooga, TN. I have some family there that we stayed with and visit. We all had a blast and it was so nice to be able to spend time together all week.

We started our vacation early in the morning at 5am hoping the boys will go to sleep most of the way. Jalen and Jordan went back to sleep, but Landon stayed awake. He kept saying "lots of light," "It's night night," "Hi mommy!" This went on and on for about 2 hours and he went back to sleep when we got to Louisville. That Monday we went to visit J's family in a small town that is just north of Nashville. We stopped at Dinosaur World before we headed to his family to let the kids run around. Jordan LOVED it. Jalen was unsure about the dino's and Landon kept saying "raaaawr."

That Monday night we stayed the night in a hotel to let the kids swim. We still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us and we knew the trip would be better if we took it slow and not drive the whole way. Tuesday we made it to Chattanooga and finally got to see my Aunt and Uncle. I have not seen them in years. The kids made themselves feel right at home and was loving their backyard.

Wednesday, we took the kids to the Creative Discovery Museum. This museum was really neat and was all hands on. It was great for all ages. Jordan and my cousin Jonathon ran around by themselves, while we took Jalen and Landon around. Their favorite place was the water river and play house. Jordan enjoyed the outside play area.

My hoola-hoopin stars.

Thursday we took the kids to the aquarium. They have a really neat and HUGE aquarium there. The kids had so much fun!

Petting the sharks.

The last day of our trip, we went to Lookout Mountain. We went to Rock City and it was so beautiful there. Strollers were not allowed due to all the tight squeezes and steps. The kids all had a nice work out. Even the adults too! :-)

Landon taking a break.

With my Aunt and cousin.

How to worn a toddler out...

2011-05-24T08:12:00.000-07:00

Bouncertown!

Brotherly love...

2011-05-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

These boys LOVE to give each other hugs and kisses.

Jalen and Landon are TWO!

2011-05-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

We have now entered the terrific twos! There won't be any "terrible two's" in this household. :-) I can't believe how much has changed since day one to now.

Some of the other moms on my local board have used this format for updates. So I have decided to use it too.

Age- 2 years

Weight- Jalen- 29lbs, Landon- 25lbs. I do not have my paper with me to know the exact weight.

Height- Both are 35 inches

Size- Both are in 24mos/2T and in a size 5 diaper. Landon however still fits better in an 18 month pants, but they are getting too short. He has no butt.

Hair- Jalen-4th haircut; Landon-3rd

Teeth- They have all of their teeth, but their 2 year molars. I believe Landon is getting his because he is constantly drooling and having fingers way back.

Sleeping- We have been lucky with this since they were 6 weeks old. Rockstars!

Eating- They both LOVE food. Landon is eating much better now since his tubes surgery. Landon's favorites are all fruits especially raspberries, pasta, green beans, scrambled eggs, yogurt, and raisins. Jalen's favorites is bread! This kid LOVES bread! He also likes fruit, no veggies, pasta, and pretzels.

Movement- I can't keep up! They are constantly running, jumping, spinning. They both love to dance. Jalen is my dare devil and enjoys standing on furniture and jumping off. Both are able to climb the rails to the slides. They are also becoming pros going up and down the stairs with out help.

Milestones- Talking more and more in sentences. Having a real back to back conversation with them. Landon likes to answer "what" when we say his name. LOL They love to sing songs, count, and sing their ABC's. We are paci free! We took them away cold turkey on their birthday. It went really well. Too perfect actually.

Favorite toys/activities- Trucks, trains, puzzles...They both love to dance and jump around. Landon is obsessed with the park!

Dislikes - Not being able to play outside when it has been raining.
Words - They have too many! Over 150. They are talking in sentences and putting more words together now.

Yesterday we had their 2 month well care visit and everything went great. No shots, so that made both kids happy. They are doing everything they are suppose to be doing developing. Today we had their birthday party and had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect too! Thank you to all who made Jalen and Landon's day so special.

The shirts my friend Katrina made the boys. I LOVED them!

Their new tricycles!

The birthday cake that my good friend's cousin made.

Jalen getting shy when everyone started singing to him. Landon LOVED it!

Landon actually snuck up behind me as I was passing around cake and he grabbed a big bite. I missed it with my camera. However as always, Jalen followed and did the same thing. LOL

Presents time! Jalen LOVES opening gifts and knew exactly what it meant when I said presents!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

I hope all my friends and family out there had a wonderful Mother's Day! Mine was pretty good, but exhausting! The boys and I were outside all day and we celebrated their birthday at my parents so they can give the boys their gifts. Jeremy came over and cooked some steaks on the grill for dinner and then he had to leave for work. The boys opened their gifts and LOVED their new Buzz four wheeler. This post will have lots of pics from today so enjoy! Tomorrow Jalen and Landon turn TWO! How is that already possible? Landon also has his followup appointment at the ENT.

If you have a toddler, I think one of these is a must! They LOVE their bubble lawn mower.

My Jr American Idol

2011-04-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Jalen LOVES to sing! He sings and dances all the time. Landon on the other hand will dance all over the place and throw in a little Jersey Shore fist pumping. Here is my dramatic singer.

Sorry the pics are so big.

ENT update

2011-04-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

Landon did perfectly okay today at surgery. Dr. said he really well and will recover quickly. That was no joke since he was laughing and flirting with the nurses before we left. When we got there we went in the back and got Landon into his little gown. He looked so darn cute with it on. The nurses came in, doctor, and the anesthesiologist to all talk about what is going to happen and made Landon feel real comfortable and mommy too. Everyone was great there! Landon even walked with one of the nurses around the surgery area because he is a flirt like that. They took him and I was sent into the waiting area. It was not even 10 min when the ENT called me back to tell me that Landon is fine and went smoothly. I was sent back into waiting area until he woke up. Again, I waited for 10 min and was called back to sit with him while they monitored him for about 20 min. It was around 5 min and Landon tried to get up (very wobbly) and says to me "Let's go!" He was acting as if nothing happened.

I am so happy that everything went smoothly and I had a cheerful little guy all day! We go back in 2 weeks for a follow-up. On his birthday! AHHH I can not believe I am going to have two 2 year olds in 2 weeks! That was a lot of two's. Hehe. Here is a picture of my little guy.

Hoppy Easter!

2011-04-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

Our Easter this year was pretty low key. Jeremy had to work, my parents were in Vegas visiting my brother, and the in-laws were still in Tennessee visiting with family. The boys had an egg hunt inside the house. They loved it and enjoyed all the candy for breakfast. I did still make them some pancakes and eggs too. Here are some pictures and video from today.

ENT

2011-04-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

We took Landon to the ENT this past Wednesday because of all the numerous ear infections since September. He has had 6! When we first got there, they took us back into a sound booth to do a hearing test. Having a toddler trying to sit still was a little difficult for the nurse to get the best results. After the hearing test, we met with the ENT. He quickly said that he needed tubes. I know this is a quickly procedure and it's outpatient, but still makes me nervous for my little guy. The surgery will take place on the 25th. I hope this does the trick and see improvements soon afterwards.

Happy 23 months Jalen and Landon

2011-04-10T05:07:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh I can not believe they are a month away from turning TWO! I have been a major blog slacker since I have not updated this since last month. Sorry guys, but we have been super busy lately and it's not getting any slower. :-) Jalen and Landon have grown so much in the last month and it just boggles me how quickly they learn. Their vocab is going crazy with new words and phrases! There are too many words to even count. It is way over a hundred. They are talking a lot more in sentences now and using those vocal cords. They LOVE to sing and dance. Jalen's favorite is Flashdance "Maniac." I need to get a video of this because it is just too cute.

They are wearing 24mos-2T clothing now. Mommy needs to do some shopping for some spring/summer clothes. We have had some beautiful weather and today is suppose to be 85! The boys really enjoy playing outside. All of their teeth are in except their 2 year molars. I can not wait until teething is done with. Jalen has been so laid back, but Landon is always in a grumpy moods when he gets new teeth. Wednesday Landon goes in to see an ENT to see if he needs tubes due to all the ear infections.

Here are a few pictures from a few weeks ago. I promise to post more soon.

22 months!

2011-03-09T18:25:00.001-08:00

We are not officially 2 months away from Jalen and Landon's 2nd birthday! Time has flown by! Now that we are getting closer to May, I have started to plan their birthday party. I am really excited and I can't wait to see how everything turns out. These boys are becoming more into these little boys. They have two very different personalities!

Potty training is going pretty well. Jalen got really excited when he saw his Buzz lightyear big boy underwear. He just had to have them on right away, so off he went taking off his pants. It was funny when he tried to put the other pair on too. Double protection I guess. They are saying more words now and they love to sing. They both know their shapes and a few colors. They love books and playing with their trucks. We are also in trouble now with Jalen opening doors and the fridge!

Mommy is very tired right now and I think I am doing more rambling. :-)

Goofy boys

2011-03-09T18:05:00.000-08:00

These boys love to play with one another. Here is their favorite game to play.

Antibiotics makes me silly

2011-02-26T19:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging, but we have been dealing with sick kiddos. Landon just got over a double ear infection a few weeks ago, but is in teething hell right now. Jalen just got his first double ear infection and has been my little cuddle bug the last couple of days. Today was the first day all week that he was himself. The pictures below proves how silly my boy is. He is like this all the time. He decided the dog's water bowl was a hat.

Jalen and Landon also had their visit to the dentist and they both came out happy with belly laughs. They did really well with the cleaning and loved the balloon they got afterwards.

We are looking foward to the spring weather to return! We want to have more play dates outside!

Spring weather

2011-02-18T09:26:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days, we have had some beautiful weather. The other day got up to 68 degrees. I had been so nice not having to bundle up with winter coats and hats. The boys have been dying to play outside. My sister and I took the boys to the park the other day and had a BLAST! You can tell by the pictures below how much fun they had. Both boys wanted to slide down the bigger slides the whole time. They were in heaven. I am ready for the warm temps to stay, but unfortunately it still is winter and snow is in the forecast for next week. I can't wait for the outdoors to be our daily routine.

Chucke Cheese

2011-02-13T05:42:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from CC's. The boys attended a birthday party and had so much fun. They love riding the rides and playing the games. I am looking foward to the nice weather we are suppose to get in the next few days. I ready to take the boys to the park and play outside!

Right now we have two toddlers who are sick with the stomach bug. Jalen was not able to keep anything down and was making me worried. Thankfully he kept the gatorade down this morning. I felt so bad when he was begging for a drink since his belly was empty. I kept kept offering him a drink even though I knew it would all come back up. I just wanted to get something in his system. Landon has been fighting the flu from the bottom end. Those are not the greatest diapers to change. I hope my little guys are better tomorrow.

21 months

2011-02-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

Wow! Time needs to slow down! How are my little munchkins 21 months old already? It is so hard to believe that we are just a few short months from entering the TERRIFIC twos! It is amazing how fast these boys are learning every day. Jalen and Landon are so smart and picking up on so many new things. It is true that kids pick up fast on their surroundings and they pay attention to everything that you do. We have had a HUGE word explosion going on in our home. They are both starting to talk more sentences and their vocab is over 100 words now.

Potty training is going pretty well. Jalen will go on the potty about 5x's a day and Landon is hit and miss. Jalen is also doing well on letting me know when he has to go when we are out of the house. I am so proud of my little boys! I have no idea how much they weigh now, but I can tell you they are growing! They eat like grown men sometimes. HAHA!

They love coloring, stickers, ring around the rosie, hide n go seek, itsy bitsy spider, and Mickey Mouse! They are also doing really well with their manners. Landon will say please, thank you, and you're welcome. That comes out more like "you whelca"

Landon goes back to the doctor on Monday to get his ears checked out. He had a double ear infection 3 weeks ago. Depending if the fluids are draining, will determine if he needs tubes.
Here are some pictures that I took tonight. Landon was sleepy and did not want part of picture time. Jalen was all over the place with smiles.

Love independent reading

2011-02-08T09:07:00.000-08:00

Jalen and Landon love to be read to and just sit by themselves and read. There are times when I have seen them "read"to each other. There are a few books such as Brown Bear, Peek a Who, Mr. Brown Can Moo, and some others that they can recite. It is too cute. Landon's new obsession are bumble bees. He loves his Dr. Seuss books and laptop with all the bumble bees. He walks around the house going "Bzzzzz Bumblebee!" Here are a few pictures of my little guys reading.

Landon Jalen

Cabin fever

2011-02-04T18:36:00.000-08:00

Last Monday night, Indianapolis got our first big ice storm in many years. Everything was one big ice rink. There were kids ice skaing on our streets. We were all stuck inside for 3 days, however on that 4th day, we just had to get out! I took the kids to the Childrens Museum to burn off some energy. The main roads were pretty clear, but the side roads were still a mess. Is it Spring time yet?

We also had a word explosion the last couple of days. They are both speaking more in complete sentences too!

Here is Jalen eating his cranrasins out of his drum. Mmmmm
Landon likes to hide in the fridge and stove in his play kitchen.Jalen loves his Buzz. Landon playing in the choo choo train at the museum. Digging for fossils!

The adventures of potty training

2011-01-28T06:46:00.000-08:00

I think we have officially started the potty training fun! Jalen has been showing cues for several months now and would go in his potty a few times a day. He recently started to go more on the potty than what it was months ago. Landon had his first pee on his potty last night. He went up to the bathroom door and told us "pee pee." He was so excited! When he got done, he ran to Jalen and shouted "POTTY!" I think Jalen saw this as a cue, so he went to sit on his potty and went pee. I thought I would have to do this one at a time, but they have always enjoyed doing stuff together. Landon woke up dry this morning and peed again on his chair.

I am so nervous and excited at the same time. I know this will be a long process. Wish us luck!

Our Saturday morning

2011-01-22T06:07:00.001-08:00

Here is what are Saturday morning was like today...

LOTS of running around. I tried to get some pictures of these two booger heads together sitting, but they just got right up and ran away. I caught them together here! LOL Landon was not a fan.

Jalen does a little exercising with the shake weight. He even does the sound effects that it makes when daddy uses it. Play with the dogs. They love using the dogs as pillows and piggy back rides. They also love to play fetch with them too.Jalen building his train track. He built this all by himself.Then Landon came and took it apart. Notice Jackson likes to hang out with them too. I think he made it in all the pics.

Not every moment is hugs and kisses

2011-01-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

20 months

2011-01-09T06:08:00.000-08:00

I am a day late posting this, but having to work and two toddlers on my hand is a good excuse! :-) I can not believe my baby boys are 20 months old! They are just 4 months away from turning 2! How is that even possible? The holidays flew right past us and everything just seems like a blur. The only thing that I can look back on that seems like it was yesterday was their birth. These boys are the greatest gift to me! They make me smile everyday.

They are growing up too fast and WOW they are learning so much so quickly! I am loving how different Jalen and Landon's personalities are towards one another. I love watching them play and interact. They love to play hide and go seek, tag, keep away, ring around the rosie, itsy bitsy spider, patty cake, and so much more! I can not even imagine are life with just one toddler.

When it comes to weight, I only know how much Jalen weighs because he likes to step on the scale. He enjoys watching the numbers come on the screen. Yesterday he weighed in at 25.9 lbs. Landon is probably 23 lbs. Their vocab has doubled I think from last month. They learn words so quickly and repeating what we say. I made a list of words and they say about 75 words already. Landon talks in sentences, but I have no idea what he is saying 90% of the time. I usually can pick up here and there. They are still in 18-24 months clothes and size 6 shoes.

Landon has became a pro to tantrums. We have had none in public yet, but I know that day will come. I actually think the tantrums are funny because of the reason why he is throwing a fit. For instance, feeding the fish. I already fed them and he got SO UPSET because he wanted to feed them. Every morning when he wakes up, he goes to the fish tank and says "fish eat." I just ignore the throwing self on ground and arching back tantrums. Jalen always sits there and stare all confused to why his brother is doing this.

Taking pictures of them together is really difficult. You can see the evidence below. :-)

Fighting over the cup. Jalen took the green one from Landon because the blue cup was gone.
Tried again for a photo together.

He only smiles when the camera is away

Landon

Go Colts!

2011-01-03T06:28:00.001-08:00

We are going to the playoffs for the 9th consecutive year! We are playing the Jets Saturday night. GO COLTS!

Our year in review

2010-12-31T06:02:00.000-08:00

I can say 2010 was a very exciting year and even though it had its ups and downs, it turned out to be a good year. Here is our year in review.

January- First time meeting their Great Grandpa Joe in Chicago.

February- Their first Colts superbowl party.

March-First trip to the zoo. They even enjoyed many trips to the park. April- The climbing begins. At 11 months old, Jalen and Landon got their first tooth! May- First Birthday!June- Jalen got his first haircut.July- Our first family vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. They also began to walk and became pros after a few days.August- First trip to the state fair. They had so much fun riding the rides.September- Trips to the apple orchard.We went a couple times to different orchards and got apples. October- Happy Halloween!November- Landon got his first haircutDecember- Merry Christmas!
I look foward to see what 2011 brings us. Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T07:14:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. I was sick with the stomach bug for 4 days and felt miserable. That did not stop me from enjoying the season with my kids and family. The boys had a wonderful Christmas. All 3 kids enjoyed all their gifts and were so excited opening them up. This year was a lot different than last. Jalen and Landon ripped up that paper to see what Santa brought them. Our house is a mess with all 3 kids toys all over. Jordan is excited that he got the kinect. I think I will have fun playing that too. Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday with the new year approaching.

Christmas Eve

Jalen was getting excited for Santa.Jalen loves his Buzz he got from Uncle AnthonyJordan got the pogo stick he wanted from Grandma and papawFinally getting home, it was time to our presents at home. Jalen enjoying his new book.Jordan and his kinect Sometimes it takes two to open the big presents.Loving their new play kitchen.

MOPS service project

2010-12-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

For MOPS (one of the moms group I participate in) we have to do a service project. My group decided to make photo mat cards for the babies in the NICU. We have them completed and will hand them out this week before Christmas. We are delivering them to St. Francis where Jalen and Landon were born. They spent 3 weeks in the NICU and the nurses took good care of my boys. The nurses love it when volunteers come in and do stuff like this. I am so excited to give back and I think these photo cards turned out really well. Here is one that I made. They will place photos of the baby in the white holders with the ribbon and on the long rectangle square the birthdate, name, height, and weight will be written on. I think this will be a wonderful keepsake for the parents.

Christmas weekend at the Barnes house

2010-12-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had our Christmas celebration at Jeremy's grandparents house. The kids got some neat gifts and had a lot of fun. I think my favorite gift was the Glee cd! Jordan and I jammed it on the way home. Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Jordan showing off some gifts from grandma and grandpa.

This year was a lot different than last because Jalen and Landon were able to open their own gifts.

Landon stopped to check out what Jalen got. The musical nursery rhyme book that they love. Daddy!Grandma and Grandpa with their grandsons. Grandpa made these awesome rocking horses for the boys.Landon pretty much stayed on the whole time.

Rhythm Discovery Museum

2010-12-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

Today my mom and I took the boys to the Rhythm Discovery Museum downtown. The boys had a blast playing with all the different instruments, especially the drums! Landon did not want to put the drum sticks down. Luckily we were the only ones there when Landon decided to have a little tantrum because we took the drum sticks away and went to a different part of the museum. Here are some pictures and a video. Enjoy!

19 months

2010-12-09T00:03:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe how fast these boys are growing and learning! I am so proud of my kids. Jalen and Landon are growing more and more into little boys. It is amazing how much they can pick up and learn every day. Within a month, Jalen's vocab has changed a lot. He was my non talker and had more babble than words. Now he is talking a lot more. Landon's new word this month is "cool dude." He walks around with his shades and hat saying this. It is adorable. I need to get it on video. Both boys are showing more and more interest in reading and will sit through a book now. They love pointing and saying what they see on the book. They know most of the barn animals sounds when asked and their favorite is a dinosaur "ROAR."

I have no idea what their weight/height is, but they are in 18-24 mos clothes. At their 18 month Jalen was 24 lbs and Landon was almost 23 lbs. Both love to dance, jump, and climb. They love music and just acting silly.

Today we took them to Chucke Cheese. I think Daddy was caving for their breadsticks. The boys had a blast and wore each other and us out! They loved playing the games and riding the rides. Jalen LOVED Chucke. Here are some pics from today.Sorry it's blurry. He would not stop dancing with Chucke.

First snow

2010-12-04T07:41:00.001-08:00

Snow decided to arrive. December 1st we received our first snowfall. However, we only got some snow dust in our area. Now we have snow on the ground! The boys had a blast playing. Jordan taught Jalen how to make snowballs and then throw them. :-) Here are some pictures from earlier today. This was at 10am and more snow was falling from the sky and finally stopped early evening.

Ignore the muddy door from the dogs .

Jordan looking tough.

18 month pics

2010-11-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

My friend Sara is starting her own photography business and asked to take photos of the boys to build her portfolio and practice. She came to me at the perfect time since I needed these pictures done. Here are some pictures. You can see them all on facebook. :-) Btw, it is SO hard to get them both in the picture. They had too much fun running around her yard and playing with her dog.

Landon's first haircut

2010-11-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

Landon had his first haircut! Jalen is about to have his third. :-)

BeforeAfter

Holiday cards from Shutterfly!

2010-11-14T06:01:00.000-08:00

It is that time of year that I begin to start thinking about my holiday cards. Actually, I have been thinking about it for a while. :-) When it comes to ordering cards for the holidays, I love using shutterfly! I have used them before for cards and calendars and I have always been happy with my order. I still need to get the kids pictures done so I can work on my cards and get them out in the mail. I have a friend who is taking them this weekend and I can not wait to get my cards ordered and sent out. I received this Shutterfly offer about posting an entry about them, they will send me 50 free cards! I could not pass it up since I love their services.

I have a couple of backgrounds that I am thinking about using. Here are my favorite ones. You will have to wait to see which one that we picked. The backgrounds are the bright colored lights, Initially Yours Cocoa, and Mod Ornaments. In the past we got the calendars for grandparents and they loved it!

If you want to get on this great deal from Shuterfly, just sign up here! In about 24 hours after filling out the form, they will give you instructions on what you need to do to get the coupon code. Several of my friends have done this and have already received their code to get their free holiday cards! So it does work and this deal is to good to pass up! Look out for our pictures in the mail!

18 months!

2010-11-09T18:28:00.001-08:00

Jalen and Landon turned 18 months old today! The time is going by too fast for me! We are already in Novemeber and the boys are a year and a HALF! Are they really halfway there to turning 2?!? They are learning so much now and they are a lot of fun. I am loving this age! It is also a lot easier to communicate with them. Landon's vocab has went off the charts! His newest words this month are grandma, apple, brown bear (everytime he wants this read to him, he says "brown bear brown bear"), leggo (leho), turkey, stay, and a couple more that I am missing. Jalen still does more babbling, but he is excellent at following directions. If I tell him to clean up his toys, he will pick them up and put them where they belong. I love being able to talk to them and they know what I am saying.

Favorite things to do:

- They love dancing! They do the "maniac" dance, spin around, moves arms from side to side, up and down, twist, and just shake.

- Making dinosaur noises. They LOVE dinosaurs!

- Playing patty cake and ittsy bitsy spider. Jalen actually has the whole song to spider down. It is so cute watching him do the little spider and then all the other actions in the song.

-Climbing! They climb EVERYTHING! Nothing can stop them, unless you put up a wall.

-Chasing each other around teh house and playing tag and hide-n-go seek.

-Jumping on mommy, daddy, and grandpa. Landon loves playing on grandpa's lap and glasses.

- Interacting with people around them. They love waving hi to everyone and saying bye. They are my little flirts.

-Puzzles, blocks, leggos, and putting things back together.

Food- They LOVE to eat! If you are eating infront of them, you better share. They will hunt you down and stand there wanting some. Landon loves green beans, all fruit, and pasta. Jalen's favorites are grilled cheese, all fruit, and peanut butter. He does not like any veggies. They are becoming very good with using spoons and forks. They actually prefer to use one at every meal. Mom was brave the other day and they self fed themselves yogurt. It was a little messy, but that is all in the process right? :-)

Teeth- Jalen has 12 teeth and Landon has 10. Jalen has 4 on the bottom and Landon still has 2. Molars are finally all the way in!

Clothes- They are in 18-24 months. They can wear 24 mos in pj's. They mainly wear jeans in 18 months. Shoes- almost a size 6. I have a feeling new shoes will be here soon.

I am excited to see what the boys will learn this month! Thursday they go in for their 18 month well care visit. I will then have the stats on their weight and height. :-) Here are some pictures.

Playing with Aunt Julie's balloons. She turned 20 today!Helping with the leaves and grandma and grandpa's house.

Huge milestone!

2010-10-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

Just 9 days away from turning 18 months, Jalen pooped and peed on the potty today! I am still in shocked because potty training was not even on our agenda for a couple more months. This morning Jalen went and banged on the bathroom door. He has actually started doing this last week. This time I opened the bathroom door and off he went to sit on the potty. I then took off his diaper and he sat right back down. Just moments later, he pooped! I was so excited! I thought maybe this was a fluke, but then after lunch he went back to pound on bathroom door. I put him on the potty and he peed! So maybe Jalen wants to learn and we should pay more attention to his cues. I am so proud of him. He was so excided and did his happy stomp dance. :-)

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween. We did Alvin and the Chipmunks this year. They were too cute! Trick or treating was a success! It only took 2 houses before they "got it" and figured it out that each house had candy to pass out. Jalen was so excited! He loved holding his little bucket and knocking on doors. Landon even said "teet teet" for trick or treat. We ended the night with TONS of candy! Jordan, mommy, and daddy has lots of goodies to eat! Here are some pictures from today.

Landon was not a fan of the hay.My little Alvin.Jalen running up to the house to get candy.Landon found a sucker.Jalen trying to get the sucker out.

Childrens Museum, Zoo Boo, and Halloween sneak peek OH MY!

2010-10-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Since we got the Children's Museum membership last month, we have been there already 4 times and going again this Friday with some friends from MOPS. The boys love it there and learn something new each visit!

Landon playing with the sand.
Jalen likes to pour the sand and he even got a taste of it too. There was a cup in their sand box, so he filled it up with sand thinking "I wonder if this stuff is any good." The look on his face was priceless when he came walking towards me. (No, I would not have let him tried sand, if I was standing next to him watching him do this.)

Jordan was being attacked by T-Rex! Their dinosaur exhibit is pretty neat!

Jordan and Landon. Jalen was sleeping. :-)

My 3 awesome boys!

The next day we went to the Zoo for their Zoo Boo. Landon was getting upset here because Jalen was holding his hand to get him down. He wanted to stay.

Boo!

Landon with the elephants and ducks.

Jordan being silly!

He loved being a drama boy with all his expressions.

Their favorite part...petting zoo!

Sneak peek FAIL! :-) Jordan forgot his brown pants, Landon was tired and restless, and Jalen saw a kitty that he wanted to play with. :-) Hopefully Halloween we can get better pictures of my Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Sick :-(

2010-10-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

The stomach bug traveled around the house. From talking to friends and other MOPS moms, we believe the source came from our MOPS meeting. It was that night when all of our kids started to throw up in the middle of the night. The first night was Jalen, then Landon, next night was me, and day number 5 was Jeremy. It was so sudden and both boys felt fine too. No fever and was happy before bed and after. They woke up upset because I think they were mad at the fact they were woken up by the bug. This was the first time that the boys caught something and got sick. :-(

The other day, Jalen was not looking so good. He was running a low grade fever and was just not himself. He started pulling at his ears, so right then we thought ear infection. We got both of them checked out at the pedi and it turns out it was just teething. They did get their flu shots so that is a BIG check! They go back to Dr. in 2 weeks for their 18 month well care check up.

I should have lots of pics from this weekend. We are going to the Childrens Museum, pumpkin patch, zoo boo, and a birthday party. Maybe even a Halloween preview of costumes.

This day 2 years ago...

2010-10-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I found out we were expecting! We were so excited and ready to start the journey of having a baby. We later found out in January, that we were not expecting a baby, but BABIES! :-)

Here is Jalen and Landon a year ago.

Here they are today. What a difference two years make!

New haircut

2010-10-10T05:38:00.001-07:00

It was time for haircut number 2 for Jalen. Landon still has not had his first. We took Jalen to the barber shop this time. Daddy was getting his done, so we went ahead and had Jalen's done too.

Before...

After...

17 months!

2010-10-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

Time needs to slow down! These months are going too fast for me. I can not believe we are already in October. When the days go by, they are making my kids gets older. It is hard to believe that they are a month shy from 18 months. We are almost to the half way point of having TWO two year olds! Their 16th month was exciting and they have learned so much.

Landon- He is the TALKER! He loves to pretend he is on the phone and has conversations. They even end with a "bye bye" at the end. He loves to read books too. He is always sitting there content with a book talking and pointing. His vocabulary has grown with a few new words too. His recent new words from the last few months are... bye bye, night night, all gone, eye, butt, Jackson (dog, but more like Jack ehn), boo, juju (for aunt julie), and a couple more. There are words that he says too that I have no idea what they mean, but I am sure I will soon.

Jalen- He is does more expressive and point than talk with words. He babbles a lot and will point and try to say words to communicate. He is really good at following directions. Except when mommy tells him NO. He only listens to daddy for that. He can associate about 40 words and knows what it means.

They are both showing wanting to be more independent. The other day, they both insisted to put on their own shoes. This took a while and eventually mommy had to help. :-) They are wanting to use the fork/spoon more often too. Jalen has 12 teeth and both top and bottom molars are in. Landon has 10 teeth and only top molars are in. The bottoms are almost through.

I want to start weaning off the pacifier, but it is going to take some commitment from daddy. We will see how it goes. I want to start slow and only offer for naps and bedtime.

Jordan starts his football playoffs tonight!

Pictures to come soon! :-)

The Children's Museum

2010-10-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today my mom and I took Jalen and Landon to the Children's Museum for the first time. They LOVED it! My mom bought us a membership and we will be going there a lot. It is a really nice museum and one of the best in the country! There was an online deal for the membership for 50% off and it was hard to say no. I wanted to get them a membership so it was perfect timing. I took LOTS of pictures. We only did 3 exhibits. They were worn out after two hours. I am glad we have the membership to go back whenever and visit the exhibits we were not able to see. They have 5 floors!

Landon's favorite place was the Playscape area. This is designed for toddlers and babies. His favorite part was the water! It was the first thing he ran to and the last! We tried to get him to play with the other stuff, but it lasted for 2 minutes before he was finding his way back to the water. He loved splashing!

Jalen enjoyed the balls and ducks. He kept saying (waahh wahh for the quack quack noise)
"Can we have this in my room, mom?"
He was in heaven!

Landon looking over the bird house at the water exhibit. Can you guess where he went after going down the slide to get down? Yup, the water!

Where is Jalen?

They both enjoyed this thing. Jalen decided to crawl in the basket for a ride.

This was one of the few things that kept Landon away from the water. He was in love! "Mom this is easy to work! Can I drive a real one?"

"What do you want to build with these blocks behind us bro?"

Having a tea party with the Bears.

Landon enjoyed these globe balls in the mirror fun house.

Future Indy 500 drivers!

Time for a carousel ride.

They enjoyed these little bouncer ride toys in front of the museum store.

Can't wait to take the boys again! Next time, big brother Jordan will go too!

Fights

2010-10-04T16:00:00.001-07:00

The brotherly love fights have begun in our house! There used to be very little upsets when one takes the others pacifier or cup. Now, there is shoving and grabbing when one takes anothers toy. I know this is completely normal for their age and me as a parent needs to teach them that we play nice. Yesterday Jalen chased Landon around the living room for a cheez it. It is funny to watch when Landon has food, he knows what Jalen is after so he runs and zig zags around the living room and playroom. Jalen usually wins and that is when Landon gets mad.

Here are some pictures from my phone. Sorry it's a bad pic and we were in dim lighting.

This is when Jalen nonchalantly sat in front of Landon on the "cool car."

So Landon got off and then got back in front of Jalen. This made Jalen upset and they tried to push one another off.

Today they were fighting over the tent being closed or not. Landon zipped the ball tent closed. Jalen would then unzip the tent so it would be open. This made Landon VERY upset because he wanted it closed, but Jalen wanted it open. It is hard NOT to laugh, but the mommy in me had to break up the fight. I think Landon has an OCD with things being shut. Doors, gates, tents, and anything else that needs a top or shut.

Fall is here!

2010-09-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

I love fall! I love the weather, football, apple orchards, Halloween, hoodies, leaves, pumpkins, and bon fires! The other day I took the boys to another apple orchard here in town with some friends from MOPS. The boys had a lot of fun and Landon was awake to enjoy it this time. They slept for 13 hours so they were well rested! Here are some pics!

Landon enjoying an apple that he picked. They both loved eating the apples like a big kid.

Jalen hijacked his friends wagon. He is obsessed with wagons. This one had a door that he loved playing in.
Since we went at 10:30 am, it was cool outside and only in the 60's. The jackets came on.
Landon and Bruce were taking off the leaves off the tree.
Yummm! This apple is good!
David is unsure about the apple on the ground. Landon sees one way up high and Jalen is eating his apple.
"This one looks good, mom!"
"Yes mom?"

Group shot. This photo was taken by Amanda.My camera. I really want a new camera! Jalen and Landon have friends who are twins and they are a month a part!
After the orchard, we all headed to the park. Jalen was playing tic-tac-toe.

Landon loves any park with a car wheel!

That would be my climber. I had to stop him because he was getting to high.
I really hope this fall weather lasts. Usually fall does not last long because it wants to get cold too fast. The forcasters are saying we will be having a mild winter and I hope they are right. I want to be able to take the boys outside to play as much as I can before the freezing temps come rolling in.

Jalen's best friend

2010-09-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

He is crazy about Jackson! He loves to just lay on him and take naps. Here he is giving him a huge hug.

Chicago and the apple orchard!

2010-09-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend my mom and I took the boys up to Chicago for a much needed visit. It has been way to long for my grandparents to go with out seeing me...okay Jalen and Landon. We had a wonderful time with them and we were able to sneak in some time with other family too. Jalen and Landon were exhausted after this trip! They slept for 13 hours yesterday, but still wanted to sleep today. Tomorrow they will go back to their normal schedule and I should have my happy toddlers back!

I was able to take a few pics of the trip. I know Grandpa has some too since Grandma was always telling him to have that camera in his hand. So when I get more I will post them. **hint hint**

Jalen playing on the deck and great-grandma and grandpa's house.

Grumpy Landon walking up the driveway.
Landon and grandpa swinging.
Landon playing with the wheel. He LOVES these things at parks. Btw, the Bears outfit came off! My mom insisted to get them one. Today we went to the apple orchard with one of my local mom groups. They had a mom group tour today. Jalen picked some apples and then played in the playground with slides, swings, and hay. Landon was with my mom in the car sleeping the whole time. I wanted nothing to do with the orchard and was still tired from our trip. He was crying non stop and did not even want to be held. Poor guy is teething too. Hopefully he enjoys the orchard when we go Monday with my MOPS group. This trip I promise to get pics with the apples too. I was just too sad that Landon was not happy and he was missing the fun. Jalen had a good time though. :-)

Here is Jalen running around at the play area.

Riding the tractors. He was trying sooo hard to reach the pedals.
So he just stood up and drove/walk. :-)

Jalen and Landon graduated...

2010-09-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

From the NICU! Yesterday we had their 14 mos adjusted age development tests. Their corrected age is 16 mos, but were being tested at 14 mos. That is how old they should have been if born at full term. The therapists tested their gross, motor, language, social/emotional, and mental developments. Landon and Jalen are right where they need to be. They actually scored in the 16-18mos range for all developments. I even learned some skills that they can do that I had no idea they can. For instance, their was a baby doll and the therapists would ask to feed the baby. They both grabbed the spoon out of the other objects on the table and "fed" the baby. The therapist also said "comb the baby's hair." They picked out the comb from all the objects and then proceeded to comb the hair. Jalen even comb his hair too. :-) We do not have any baby dolls in our house since I have all boys, but I am thinking about getting one. They loved touching the body parts and saying what they were. There is no problem with boys having dolls!

I was happy that Landon and Jalen both cooperated since they only had a 20 min nap all day. Their sppointment was during nap time. We were there for 2 hours! My mom stayed in the room while I took one to do the testing. My mom was a champ and stayed in that room for 2 hours! She is a great help when it comes to the boys!

This appointment had to be overwhelming for them. They had to do puzzles, point to objects, climb stairs, walk backwards, stand on one foot, walk on a straight path, put coins in a piggy bank, color, find objects, throw and kick a ball, do gestures, stack blocks, put in pegs...it was making me exhausted. :-) I am just happy they were able to do everything and we do not have to go back! I did find it weird that they asked about potty training and if they knew what to do. They are only 16 mos. I told them we just bought a seat, but have not even tried and won't until 18 mos. I told them that they did know you sit on it since they proceeded to do that when I placed it in the bathroom.

So that was our day yesterday. :-)

Jalen and Landon being silly

2010-09-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here they are playing after pushing the tent over. They are a lot of fun to watch.

Football!

2010-09-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

Go Colts! Boys are ready for football season! Jordan is out playing football with some friends, so he missed out in the picture.

16 months

2010-09-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

Landon and Jalen turned 16 months today! I can't believe how fast time is going. They are getting so big and learn so much every day. I love being able to talk to the boys and they understand me. I wish it was the same when they "talk" to me too. Jalen is a pro with pointing to EVERYTHING that he wants. It is pretty much to the food only. :-) They are so silly now and I am loving the interactions they have to one another. Jalen loves to sit on Landon and bounce. Landon thinks this is fun as well and will lay there for Jalen to do this. Jalen is obsessed with socks and shoes. He will either try to put the sock on you if it is your sock or he will put them on himself if they are one of his. Landon was barefoot the other day and he went to grab a sock to put them on his feet. This update is short and sweet since I do not have much time tonight, but will update more in a few days.

Here is Landon today being silly.

Jalen. He is in the need for his second haircut.

Their new favorite thing...flip the the tent and then play in the balls.

Double ear infection

2010-09-05T18:32:00.001-07:00

I took Landon to the doctor today because he has just not been himself and running a fever. Turns out he has a double ear infection along with molars and eye teeth coming in. Poor guy. I want my Landon back. Last night and all day today, he just wanted to be held and nothing else. There were times when you can tell he wanted to get down and play, but he just couldn't. Jalen was even taking care of him and kept petting his back and giving him his blankie. He even knew his brother was not feeling well. Here he is laying down watching Wonder Pets. The only thing that kept him occupied so I can put him down to get ready for work.

DIY onesie

2010-09-02T09:38:00.001-07:00

Here are the onesies I made for the boys. One of my local mom groups had a DIY onesie night the other day it was so much fun! This was my first time doing this and I think they came out pretty good for a rookie. I have lots of more felt left and I plan on making some more shirts for the boys. This project was super easy too!

Toddlers are BUSY!

2010-08-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

My slacking in blog posts are proving that I do not have the time that I used to have. They are both getting into everything (they love to explore), teething BIG time, and learning so much! They recognizing body parts (nose, belly button, teeth, mouth, ears, toes, fingers), associating words (sit up, sit down, up, down, come here, diaper, shoe, socks, paci, truck (varooom), car, elmo, milk, cup, so big, and so much more!) I can tell them to go get me a diaper and they will go where we keep them and bring one back. This makes it easier, when mommy is changing one and forgets to grab that diaper. :-) Never too early to put them to work if they can right? haha.

Since it has been a week, I will give the rundown in pictures of our week. I also started my MOPS group and I love it! Landon and Jalen had a blast playing with the other kids too. Here are some pictures.

Jalen enjoying his subway!
They were watching big brother, Jordan play football.

Jalen playing on the tractor at the library.

Landon met a girl at the mall.

They had their first dentist appointment! Everything went well. The purple gums Landon has where his molars are coming in are common. They did very well at the dentist. They say to take your child when he/she gets their first tooth. We were behind, but felt the need to get them used to going to the dentist.

Jordan received his hunters safety training certificate so now he can deer hunt with daddy this fall. He was excited that he got to shoot.

Jordan after his football game. Their team won. Score was 12-0. :-) This is his first year in tackle.

Parks=FUN

2010-08-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

Jalen and Landon LOVE going to the park. If they see a swing or a slide they get excited. I took the boys to a local splash park with some other moms from our local mom group and they had a ball! Here is Jalen chasing girls already. :-)

Landon loved the mushroom sprinkler.

We have a nice little park in our neighborhood that I like to take the boys to. Gives us a nice walk and it's only a few minutes away. I am already teaching Jalen that we slide down the slide, NOT climb up! He likes to show off his climbing skills. Here are a few pics.

Landon wanting to take the BIG step.

Weeeeeee!

Just some pictures

2010-08-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures that I was going to post with their 15 mos update. Landon and Jalen's molars are coming in and they are not fun! My poor Landon feels miserable and would scream in pain at times. Jalen is just a little clingy, but goes on his ways. He has never really shown any signs of teething. They just pop out and he feels fine. Landon is the complete opposite. He is always having his fingers in his mouth crying with pain and his gums are black and blue.

I wonder what is going through Landon's head right here with him sticking out his tongue.

Jalen sitting on his play chair correctly! Normally he just wants to stand and jump.

Boys eating waffles for breakfast! They LOVE waffles!

Crazy about "Ehmo" That is how they say Elmo.

Chinese by Landon

2010-08-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

15 months!

2010-08-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jalen and Landon turned 15 months! They are 1/4 of their way to turn 2! You can definetely say that I have two toddlers! They are into EVERYTHING and learning so much every day! Yesterday the boys had their 15 mos well care visit and they are right on track with development. Jalen is now 23 lbs and 31 7/8inches. Landon is 20lbs 12oz and 32 1/2 inches. They both grew 2 inches from their 12 month check-up and gained a pound. Weight is pretty steady since they are climbing, walking, running, dancing, and ab crunches. LOL! Landon does these ab crunch things when he bends over to pick something up. I think he thinks it is fun since he laughs most of the time doing it.

Landon is my talker! He can say teeth, baby, egg, daddy, mommy, papa, doggy, dog, ca(car), cuh(cup), bye, and he will try and repeat words all the time. Today he tried to say downstairs. It was dawhneh. Jalen just likes to babble and do high pitch screams. He does said momma, dadda, and hi. Both are now helping more around the house too. They pick up their toys when asked or they just bring them to me and I have a pile sitting next to me. :-) They love bringing me little trash they find on the floor or just even a book they want me to read to them. You can tell they have two different personalities and they are at a fun age. It is nice that communicating is getting easier. If they can not say it, they sure let me know what they want by pointing or doing a point with a grunt UGH noise.

Jordan goes back to school tomorrow and is SUPER excited! LOL! Okay, maybe not. He is starting 3rd grade. I am going to miss having him around the house during the day. He is a huge help with the boys and he loves his brothers so much.

I have some pictures to post, but they are still on the camera. I will post them tomorrow. :-)

Garage Sales!

2010-08-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I have been hitting up some garage sales this summer and have found some bargains! I am happy to have a husband who likes doing this and there have been times when he has dragged my butt out of bed. We pretty much have just bought clothes for the boys and toys. I love finding steals on toys and clothes! We have gotten lightly used Gymboree, Gap, Old Navy, Carters, Janie & Jack, RL, and other name brand clothes for as low as $0.25! Jalen and Landon are loving their new toys too! We are cleaning out all their baby/infant toys to more age appropriate ones. We probably only spent about $20 total for these below. Here are some of the toys we have got.

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Pony.

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn musical chair.

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn home.

Weekend fun!

2010-08-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the last day of our county fair so we went ahead and took the kids. Everyone LOVED riding all the rides. I used to be able to ride all the spinning rides, but now they make me sick! The boys had a blast riding the fair rides. Jordan rode all the bigger rides and had so much fun!

Jalen has learned how to open the doors at my parents and Landon learned quickly from his brother. Time to get locks for the doors!

This weekend, Landon decided he wanted to eat with a fork. He was so proud of himself. It was funny because there were times he would load up the fork and shove it in his mouth, but all the food did not fit in.

Holiday World

2010-07-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

This was the first year Jalen and Landon got to enjoy Holiday World and actually ride the fun rides! Last year they were only 3 months old and stayed back with Grandma at the resort. They had SO much fun going this year. They got to ride the real rides like big boys too and walk around the kiddie area at the water park. They LOVED the splash park section there. Jalen's favorite thing were the water guns and Landon enjoyed the water sprouts. We spent most of the day at the water park because it was HOT outside. The sun was blazing with the heat index it ended up being about 110 degrees!

I love Holiday World! The park is clean, free sunscreen, free unlimited soft drinks, free parking, and cheap and yummy food. Here are some pics from yesterday.

Boys eating some snacks at the water park.

Landon LOVED this ride. When the ride stopped, he kept bouncing up and down wanting to go again.

Jordan teasing Landon with an Oreo. Landon got what he wanted and ate the cookie.

Jalen playing with his "friends" at the splash park

Jalen and Landon playing. This splash park area was so nice and was not as crowded as the other parts of the water park.

Landon playing with the water sprout.Jalen playing

Jordan proving once again that he needs a hair cut, but he does not want to.

Weeeeee!

Next year the boys will be a little over two and will get to enjoy more of the water park and rides. They will get to ride the kid roller coasters! :-)

Summer fun with Grandma and Papaw

2010-07-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

This summer the boys have had lots of fun with their grandparents. This past weekend the in-laws took the boys for a couple of days. From the looks of all the pictures I seen, they had a blast! I was unable to go with them because of work, but Grandma took lots of pics of the boys.

Taking a drink break with Papaw.
Jordan pulling the boys on the tractor. Looks like they LOVED it!
My smiley Landon...ALOHA!

Landon getting some corn at Great Grandma and Grandpas in Vevay, IN
Cute picture of the boys on the boat.

Grandma and Papaw in the river with the boys.
Jalen chillin on the boat.
He received lots of beads for his smiles!
They enjoy it when Grandma and Papaw watches them while mommy and daddy has to work.

We have two walkers now!

2010-07-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

About 3 days after Jalen started to walk, Landon decided it looked fun and let go! He thought it was funniest thing and laughed the whole time doing it. He actually went across the whole entire room. Coming to his mommy was his motivation. It is so neat to see my two babies walk around now. Jalen is walking all over and doing circles. They are growing too fast on me!

We have been bottle free for about 2 weeks now. Dropping their last bottle was easy and they took the transition smoothly. Now I can get rid of the bottle rack sitting on our counter! Landon's new favorite word to say is baby. He says it all day long! This past weekend they went to a family reunion with their grandma and papaw. It was so hard for me since they were gone all weekend. I was not able to see them until Monday morning when they woke up. They were so happy to see me! I gave them LOTS of hugs and kisses! I really do not have any pics to post other than the two from my cell phone today. Here they are!

3 years ago today...okay yesterday since I am late

2010-07-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

I had this typed out, but did not post. :-)

I married my best friend! A lot has happened in the 3 years we have been together.

First family picture.

Then we built a home.

Our anniversary trip to St. Louis.

Birth of our twin boys, Jalen and Landon.

I can not wait to share more memories and have such an amazing family!

Jalen being my normal silly boy

2010-07-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

14 months!

2010-07-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

Happy 14 months boys! I can not believe you are growing so quickly! You need to slow down! Your personalities are showing more and more every day. I love watching you guys play and interact with one another. Jalen, you make mommy laugh everytime you stick out your tongue at me for no reason. Landon, you are my talker these days! Especially in the morning when you wake up. You love repeating words over and over. I love how you get our attention by saying dadadada....daddy and same as mamama...mommy! You also get your brother's attention by yelling Bubby across the living room. Both love Elmo, dogs, cows, ducks, and trucks. Landon you can play with your legos and trucks all day long. Jalen, you like to just keep mommy on her toes and climb over furniture and barriers we make. Obviously we just need to put a wall because you find a way to climb over. Especially your crib! I am not ready to put you in a toddler bed, so please stay put in your crib and I will get you in the mornings.

When it comes to food, you guys will just eat about anything. If you see food you get excited and make noises. Mommy and daddy can not eat unless you eat. Nice quiet dinners are out of the question when you both are awake. :-) Your favorite foods are bananas, raspberries, blueberries, pasta, grilled cheese, peas, mac n cheese, and goldfish. We are almost bottle free and just need to drop your night bottle. Jalen, I think it is time to give up your paci. Don't worry we will start slow and only offer during nap and nighttime. This may be a challenge, but we will succeed! We are 10 months away from turning 2!

Here is Landon playing with his favorite toy...Leggos!
Playing together. Jalen is actually leaving mommy a nice gift in his diaper while this picture was tooken. I think Landon was over there giving him words of encouragement.

A happy Jalen as always.

Mom, let us play and enough with the photos!

Mini vacay to Cincinnati, OH

2010-07-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I took a two day trip to Cincinnati for a little mini vacation with the kids. We also brought my sister in law, Dori because she has done so much for us with helping babysit the kids. Jeremy and I wanted to treat her as well. We started our trip at the Cincinnati Zoo. This was a really nice zoo and had TONS of animals. Unlike our zoo, there were LOTS of monkeys! I did get a nice workout pushing the double stroller up the hills. They had many hills at this zoo and there were times when my legs were burning! I am glad we got there right when they opened in the morning because the temps got up to 97 degrees! We were done by 1:30pm and then headed to our hotel.

Family pic at the zoo.

This gorilla was a BEAST!
Jordan's wingspan compared to a bald eagle.

Jalen was obsessed with the baby goats. He took a few steps here and little did we know this was the beginning. Yes I know he did not his sandels on, I washed his feet afterwards. :-)

After the zoo, we headed to the Great Wolf Lodge. This hotel was HUGE and super nice. We stayed in the family cabin suite. This room holds 6 people. The waterpark was very clean and so much fun! They had water slides for all ages! Jalen and Landon actually rode their first family raft ride. They actually enjoyed it! I really liked how clean the hotel was and everyone was super friendly! The food was actually pretty good too! We did buffets for both dinner and breakfast. We got Jordan the paw pass package and he loved it! He was able to get souvenirs from all over the hotel. He also enjoyed the arcade room they had. It was also HUGE!

The highlight of our trip was Jalen taking more than 2 steps! He has been so afraid to walk the last couple of months and only have taken 2 steps. Now he is walking across the room and thinks it is fun!

view of waterpark from glass window in hotel lobby. There was still lots of the park on the left and right side of the picture.

View walking in hotel room. Jalen and Landon looking out the cabin window.

Jordan's bunk. There was a bed on the right side too.

Daddy and Jalen in the pool.

Boys sitting on the steps about to go in the pool.
We had a great trip and looking foward to our next one again at this hotel.

Fourth of July weekend

2010-07-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! We sure did! We had cookouts, swimming, and enjoying the HOT weather. Every year my parents have a 4th of July party with LOTS of food. Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Jordan and I. He is in need of a haircut, but he thinks otherwise. Gotta love the Justin Bieber trend.

Jordan relaxing with a drink. (It is rootbeer) :-)
JJ sitting on the patio furniture with the grown ups

Now JJ is relaxing with a drink...milk

Landon just likes to eat...Picking food off of Aunt Julie's plate.

Yum!
Swimming is their favorite thing to do in the summer!

Landon cheesing for the camera. He loves playing with the pool rings.

Aunt Julie with her favorite nephews. :-)

One year pics

2010-06-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

My friend Melissa was in town for a day and asked to take pictures of the boys. I was so excited that she wanted to take them. I LOVE how they turned out and I am having trouble picking my favs. Here are just a couple. I will post more later, but here is a sneak peak. :-)

Ball pit and tunnel

2010-06-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

Grandma got the boys a ball tent pit with a 5ft tunnel. Last night I went ahead and set it up in my living room floor. The boys LOVED it! Jalen loved going in and out of the tunnel, while Landon played and threw the balls. First thing they did this morning was playing in the balls. This tent is made to be for outdoors, but inside won't hurt for a while. We may stick it in their play area and just leave it there. :-) Here are some pictures of them playing.

Landon playing with the balls.

Jalen giving me a smile in the tunnel.

Inside the tunnel.

First Haircut

2010-06-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

It was time to get Jalen a haircut. His bangs were hanging down to his nose!

Jalen Before...

After :-)

He looks so handsome!

I think he likes it too!

I can't keep up!

2010-06-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

Jalen is ALL OVER the place now! His favorite thing to do is climb! He will climb stairs, over furniture, boxes, crib, dogs, people...nothing will stand in his way! He does everything so gracefully now too. When he started climbing over the couches, he would fall. However, it did not bother him at all and now he does it with style and lands on the feet. Landon is his watch dog and just sits there quietely with some smiles. I have two boys with totally different personalities. Jalen likes to shake his head no and Landon likes to nod his with yes.

Jalen had a little fit today. He was upset because I told him to stay out of fish tank cabinet. So while standing near his toy chest, he started taking each toy one by one and throwing them on the floor. We had a nice little talk about how that was not nice. I am sure he understood all of it. :-) They are my little explorers and I can not get mad. They have a huge world around them and they are learning new things everyday.

Landon is now transitioning to one nap a day. Jalen still wants his two. He sleeps a lot better than Landon does during the day. When it comes to food, Landon will eat his meat and Jalen just spits it out. He will eat hotdogs though. They usually get their protein from beans. They LOVE beans!

I still can't believe how fast they are growing!

This weeks pictures

Jalen playing with his farm house

Playing together
Landon standing all by himself

Jalen wanted his brother to read him a bedtime story.
Landon smiles everytime when he sees the camera

Mom goes back to work=exhausted!

2010-06-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blog updates, but I have recently went back to work and I am so tired. When I get home, I just want to snuggle with my babies since I am gone more. I am currently working two jobs! I went from none to two! I am still doing work for the Census and I am working again at what I do best...hospitality. I was suppose to start off as PT, but they needed FT. So the last two weeks, I have been working 70 hrs/week. The Census job is about over for my area, however they are still needing help from others to get the job done. So I am going to help out, but not work as much. The pay is too good to let go.

Jalen and Landon are getting so big and I can't believe how much they are learning every day. We are so close to walking. They both will take a step, but then when they realize they are not holding on, they gracefully sit down. It cracks me up. They are also enjoying all the food they get now. I am still having to explain to Jeremy that crackers and yogurt is NOT a dinner or cake and ice cream. Yes he fed them that for dinner once. Their milk now, is like a snack. They can fully eat a full meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My grocery bill is starting to increase. Jordan eats like a teenager too! :-)

Smimming is their favorite thing to do! Here is proof! They both love going to grandma's and grandpa's to swim.

Landon is tired of smiling.

Swim fun!

2010-05-31T07:18:00.000-07:00

Here is Landon in the pool. He did this for about 15 min non-stop. He looked bored. lol

Am I in trouble?

2010-05-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

I have no idea where he got this from, but ever since last week everytime I would ask him if he is a good boy, Jalen shakes his head.

Lots of updates!

2010-05-18T19:10:00.001-07:00

Whew what a week it has been! Jalen and Landon turned one on Mother's Day and they are showing true signs of toddlerhood. :-) Even though they were born 6 weeks early they are growing and developing right with the one year olds. Last week they had their 12 month well care visit. They were not huge fans because there were 3 shots involved. It made me sad looking at them cry. It only lasted 3.5 seconds, but it seemed long. Jalen is 22 lbs and 30 inches. Landon is 19.8 lbs and 30.5 inches. They are loving all the new foods they have been introduced too. It is so much easier when they have teeth. Landon still only has 2 bottom teeth, but the upper gums are swollen. Jalen has 2 bottom and then 2 on top. He looks funny since the top middle teeth are not there and looks like he has one big gap. I did not even know these teeth were in until last week until I felt them/saw them. He has not shown any signs of teething unlike his brother who is fussy.

Landon and Jalen had a wonderful birthday party. They are blessed to have a huge amount of love from family and friends. No wonder they are always smiling and happy. Landon is still obsessed with eggs and he loves saying dog too. They are not walking yet, but are standing with out support and crusing furniture, walls, toys, and anything else they can hold on to. Here are some pictures. My posts have not been that long because I am working for the Census Bureau and I do not get home until late. Staying home all day with the boys and then working in the evening is making me tired. :-)

Jalen

Landon

Landon was not a fan at first. I think he was too tired.

Jalen enjoying his cake. :-)

Birthday Party...You can see Landon enjoyed his cake this time.
All 3 of my boys!
I think Landon was pointing at Daddy for "he did it"

First Birthday 015.avi

2010-05-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a video from their party. I promise to post an update from their 12 month appointment and their birthday week. We have been super busy all week and exhausted!

Happy Birthday Jalen and Landon!

2010-05-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today my baby boys turned one! This entry will be super short because I am exhausted! I will hope to update more tomorrow when I am awake. Here are a few pictures.
Jalen a year ago

Landon a year ago

Today

Happy Birthday sweeties! I was happy to share Mother's Day with your 1st birthday!

A year ago today...

2010-05-07T18:17:00.001-07:00

I was sent to the hospital and was told I am stuck until I delivered.

Landon's obession with eggs

2010-05-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

He loves carrying his easter eggs around. He loves to say egg when carying around his egg all around the house.

A year ago today...

2010-05-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

This was me.

We are a 1w1d shy from being a year that Landon and Jalen were born.

Baseball season

2010-04-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

Jordan (#8)is playing baseball again this season. He loves playing baseball. There is a huge difference in skill level this year from last. His coach actually nominated him to try out for the All Stars this year. He is very excited about. Try outs will be on the 15th. That is the days of Landon and Jalen's bday party, but it is during a time frame that Jordan can go. Here are some pictures from opening day. Jordan was 5/5, hit a double play, and the team won 19-9.

Jordan's favorite position...pitchers helper

Turkey Season

2010-04-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Jeremy killed his wild turkey on the first day of open season. I can care less about hunting, but it is his passion that he shares with his dad. When he got back to his dads, he wanted to take a picture with the boys. As you can see in the pictures, Landon has the same idea as me and not showing any interest. Jalen on the otherhand, was all about it. He was excited that this year he got his turkey. Last year, I went into labor and changed his plans. :-)

Jalen is hungry.

Landon looking at the other animals papaw has (chicken, live turkeys ;-), bunnies, hens, ducks, and dogs).

Landon decided to leave

My two little "walkers"

2010-04-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

I am sure we will be having some walkers soon. They have been cruising for a few weeks now and constantly using their walking toys. Here they are in motion. You can see in the background how messy they can get with their toys. :-)

Season of twins!

2010-04-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

This baseball season we are surrounded by other twins. Yesterday Jordan had practice and we saw 5 other sets of twins. There are identical twin boys on Jordans team. He is having a scrimmage game tomorrow against a set of twins. Plus that twin mom has another set of twin girls! While the boys were playing, these adorable 3 year old identical twin girls came to play with them too. I have never really paid attention to other twins until we found out we were expecting twins. Now it seems like we see twins everywhere. The best is that our neighbors right next door has boy/girl twins that just turned 2.

Here is a picture of the boys and my husband during practice. They love watching them play.

11 months old!!!

2010-04-09T08:13:00.001-07:00

Wow! I can not believe they are 1 month shy from having their 1st birthday! Time is going by too fast and I think that I why I was so emotional this morning. I can imagine what the morning will be on their 1st birthday. Landon and Jalen are getting so big and learning new tricks everyday. Picking the mod monkey theme for their birthday was perfect since all they do is climb. They climb on EVERYTHING! Landon even thinks he is Spiderman and tries to climb the wall. They are now starting to feel less interested in baby puree food and want table food. They are all about feeding themselves and eating off of my plate. They are not walking yet, but I see it coming soon. Landon has actually took a few steps, but fell. They do enjoy walking with their rider. Here are some pictures I took this morning. It is getting impossible to try and take their pictures. I was chasing them all around their little playroom.

Landon

Jalen

We have teeth!

2010-04-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

It took almost 11 months, but Jalen and Landon now have teeth! Jalen got 1 & 2 earlier this week. Landon just cut his first tooth this afternoon. I thought I was going to have toothless 1 year olds. :-)

Early birthday gift!

2010-04-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa from Chicago wanted Jalen and Landon to have their birthday gift early. They got them this awesome wagon. It is exactly what they wanted. They rode in this wagon before at the zoo and loved it! I just knew this was the kind they needed. It comes with a canopy for shade and cup holders. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Here is a picture of the wagon.

We have a tooth!

2010-04-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

It took almost 11 months, but Jalen has cut his first tooth. It's funny because Landon has been the fussy child with the swollen gums. Jalen has been acting as if nothing was wrong. Landon has had swollen gums for months now with excessive amount of drool with being fussy here and there. The tooth is still itty bitty. I will try to get a picture when I can. Here is a picture of my "not so baby looking child." And no we do not wear the hats that way. :-)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

Today the boys celebrated their first Easter. The weather was beautiful and everyone had a good day. Jeremy took us out for breakfast and then we headed to the Easter egg hunt. Jordan had a blast. Where we went they block off sections for age groups. This is nice so the little ones are not being trampled over the big kids. Jordan was suppose to be in the 5,6,7 age group since he is 7. However, he thinks himself as an 8 yr old since his birthday is next month. Plus he wanted more of a challenge to find the eggs. He did not like how his age group had the eggs all in the open. Here he is getting ready. (He was too cool to carry a basket :))

Sorry this one is blurry

After the egg hunt, we headed home so the boys can get their much needed nap. Jeremy and I cleaned out the garage until it was time to leave for Grandma and Grandpas. We had a yummy dinner and the boys enjoyed eating fresh sweet potatoes. Here are some more pictures from today.

Landon with his bunny ears

Jalen with his bunny ears that never really stayed on.

Boys playing nicely with their puzzle.

Warm weather

2010-03-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

"Let us out!"

It has been beautiful the last couple of days and it is only getting better! Tomorrow and Friday we are suppose to be in the 80's! Landon and Jalen are enjoying the sunshine! They love taking walks and playing at the park. Jalen is obsessed with the swings. If you stop swinging, he gets upset and kicks his feet to make it go. Today we had a nice picnic with Grandma. Jordan is also on spring break and we get to spend all week with him. Here are some pics from today at the park.

Jalen is my fish

2010-03-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

Every time we give Jalen a bath, he can not sit still. He moves all over the bath tub and splashes around. He has also learned to take a cup of water and spill it over the tub onto the bathroom floor. So now mommy has extra towels to clean it up. :-)