Landon's 4 Year Check-up

Landon had his 4 year check up with Dr. McKercher today.  He was a very good boy and looked so grown up in his gown.  He checked out just fine and is where he should be for his age.  He weighs 35 pounds and is 41.5 inches tall.  This puts him in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height.  He is growing up too fast!

Landon's Birthday Fun.

Landon had a fun-filled birthday weekend!  The day started out with the annual balloon delivery from Grandpa Ken and Grandma Debbie.  Landon gets so excited when the doorbell rings with a special package for him!

Daddy and Aunty Arin arrived at about 6 and the kids were so very excited.  Landon wanted to open his presents that he had been anxiously awaiting all day long.

Landon was thanking Kadence for the movie in this shot.

Landon was so very excited when he opened his "shake-bridge."  He had seen this toy on TV and had been asking for it for his birthday for over a month!

Kadence thought the "shake-bridge" was just as much her new toy.  They played really well together and we had a somewhat difficult time getting them to stop playing so that we could have some birthday ice cream!

We had some birthday ice cream.  Very yummy!

Sunday Papa Gary and Grandma Sue came to celebrate with Landon.  

Landon had a good time opening presents.

Kadence was excited to have her sticker book :)

We finally got to eat some birthday cake!  Arin and I had made this caterpillar cupcake cake which turned out pretty cute!  

In addition, there was football watching, football playing, a trip to the park, good food, and great family time.  Happy Birthday to my sweet boy.  

Happy 4th Birthday Landon Gary!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Where does the time go?  I can not believe my baby boy is 4 years old already!  We have been talking about Landon's birthday for a very long time, so the week countdown (in number of sleeps of course) has been very exciting.  Happy Birthday to the best little boy, I love you Landon Gary!  

Thank God for Moms.

I have been blessed to have my Mom here for the past week.  I am not quite sure how I would be handling this new temporary single parenting life had I not had her company and help.  It was so nice to have her around and the kids loved it of course.  Ryan and I even had a few hours to ourselves over the weekend when he was home which was much needed. 

I am so very sad to see her leave but feel lucky that she was able to come and spend some much needed time with us.  

Lets just hope the kids and I can make it through 2 more nighttime sleeps until Daddy comes home:)  Ryan and I certainly are not known for our great planning skills, but I just want to say...this sucks.

Daddy Time.

The kiddos have learned to really enjoy the weekends and the time they get to spend with Daddy.  They make sure to get a lot of snuggle time in.  Of course having Daddy around means more rough housing and wrestling which is definitely lacking during the week with mom's growing tummy.  With just 2 weeks down in this long 8 week process the kids are still adjusting.  It is obvious, although they may not know how to express it, that they are missing their Daddy.

It was a sad night when we had to say our goodbye's after just 2 wonderful days of Daddy.  Thankfully it was a fun-filled relaxing short couple of days.

After Ryan had gone, Kadence came out of the bathroom and with her big sad tear-filled blue eyes pointed to the chair and said, "I want Daddy to be sitting there."  Then next said, "Mommy, I want Daddy to take me to bed."  I think our little Daddy's girl is missing her Daddy time the most!  After reassuring her that in just 5 short (or long, but I wasn't going to be the one to tell her that) nighttime sleeps, Daddy would be back home, she was smiling and said, "tomorrow I talk for Daddy on the puter and he make funny faces."  We were back to being happy.

Onward until the next weekend, thank goodness Grandma Debbie was still here or Mommy would have been the one crying and pouting.

Happy Halloween 2010.

Happy Halloween!  Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend!  It was a beautiful day here in Sioux Falls.  We had a relaxing day with the family and the kids had a great time trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.  The best part was Daddy was home and Grandma Debbie stayed!

We started a new tradition this year and let the kids paint one pumpkin and we carved one pumpkin.  They LOVED the painting!  Kadence painted the pumpkin for the longest time and had a riot.

Landon thought the painting was very fun but lost interest a little faster.

Love how hard Landon is concentrating in this photo.

Here is my 2 1/2 year old.  This is a new stage we have been battling recently.  The picture says it all.

The kiddos with their pumpkins.  They were very proud.  Landon wanted a happy pumpkin, so that's what we did.  We had so much fun doing pumpkins this year.  Unfortunately, it is unlikely it will be warm enough to do this activity outside next year in Fargo...

Here's the kids all dressed up and ready to go trick-or-treating.

The kids both had so much fun trick-or-treating.  Landon loved ringing the doorbells and then would just stand there and look cute.  Kadence skipped along and was so happy between homes, but shy when the people opened the door-except for the house where she saw a kitty.

First Halloween Party.

Both of the kids participated in their first Halloween Party's.  Landon had a party at preschool and wore his costume for the day.  He was very happy to wear his dragon costume and it was adorable to see all of his little classmates dressed up in their costumes too.  

He's the cutest little dragon I have ever seen!

This little girl was pretty bummed when she couldn't stay for Landon's Halloween party at his school.  She was so excited when we dropped him off to see all of the little kids dressed in their costumes, but oh so very sad when she had to leave.  There was a little Halloween party at the gym the kids go to for gymnastics so we went home and dressed her up and headed over for the Little All Stars playtime.  

She was the cutest little ladybug I have ever seen and so very excited to wear her costume like big brother.

Kadence loves to jump jump jump.  She spent most of her time on the trampolines.  Such a cutie pie!

She also spent quite a bit of time swinging-her new love.

Then we headed upstairs and Kadence decorated her very own cupcake.  She had such a blast and felt so special.  

I was so glad the kids had so much fun celebrating today!