Dallas Adventure

On Monday we went to Dallas for the day. Our first stop was the Legoland Discovery Center in the Grapevine Mills Mall. This was a gift to all of the kids for Christmas. Jacob was so excited, even as we were waiting in line.

Everywhere you turn there are buckets of legos to play and build with.

We rode the Kingdom's Quest ride first. You sit in a little lego car and shoot bad lego guys with a laser gun. What is not great about that? Even Landon enjoyed it.

Our next stop was the Merlin's Apprentice ride. This was Savannah & Connor's favorite part of the day and we rode it a few times. I never got a picture of Connor though because he was always next to me on the ride.

You pedal with your feet like a bike to go up as it goes around.

Here are all the boys with the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki...made from legos. Savannah was a little freaked out by a lego man and wouldn't go near him.

We went into "Miniland," which is a lego model of Dallas and the surrounding area. It was really cool. They had the lights go dim every once in a while so you could see all the lights in the buildings.

They were also interactive. Dallin said that you could push a button to make the guys move in the Cowboys stadium.

You can't have Texas without oil derricks.

Rangers baseball stadium

Landon did not take a nap the entire day, until we left for the drive home at 5:00pm. Dallin and I took turns walking him around in the stroller trying to get him to fall asleep, but it never worked. We probably would have stayed longer at Legoland, but he was pretty done after about 4 hours.

Landon did like building the soft legos with Dallin in the toddler area.

Savannah attempted a castle in the Princess Parlor, but decided she was having way more fun in the play area. They spent a long time climbing, building and going down the slides in the play area.

The boys helped one of the employees build a huge wall out of the rubber legos.

We watched two different movies in the 4D Cinema. They're only about 15 minutes long, but were probably my favorite part of the day. The first one was "Clutch Powers." We got sprinkled with water and had a snow machine turned on us for a minute. The second movie was "Spellbreaker" about an evil wizard.

Jacob and Zach's favorite area was the race car testing. They had buckets of lego parts to build a car and then you got to race it on one of 3 different tracks. It was like the Pinewood Derby, but with lego cars...Jacob's dream race.

Our next stop of the day was the Sea Life Aquarium right next door. I was pretty impressed by how great it was for an aquarium in a mall. This is just a few of the many pictures I took.

This first picture shows how much Zach needs a new eye prescription. Any time he wants to see anything really well he has to tip his glasses up. He failed his eye exam at school WITH his glasses on, but luckily he has an appointment for next week. Landon liked the aquarium better than Legoland. It was quieter and had more for him to look at on his level.

We couldn't use the flash, so we had blurry kids in quite a few pictures. This was of the kids and I in the 360 degree tunnel. There were sharks and all kinds of fish.

They also had some really big sting rays.

Lots of the areas had glass on the floor to look through. This was on the second level looking down into a big tank. The kids were constantly getting down on the floor for a better look.

The kids all held the starfish. The spiral thing in Zach's hand (behind Jacob) is shark's egg.

My Uncle Craig lives a few minutes from the mall we were at. He called that morning and invited us to stop by for dinner before heading home. I had never been to their house before and it was so nice to visit with them for a while. All four of their kids were there too (other than Nolan, who is on a mission), although I think Ryan left before this picture.

Elise, Leila, Reed, Craig, Nadra and us

Landon especially loved Craig...maybe he reminded him of Grandpa LeSueur. Craig kept him entertained for us while we were there.

Landon fell asleep minutes after we left. But he only slept for an hour. We got stuck in traffic a couple of times and it took an extra hour to get home. The kids were NOT excited about that and were all pretty worn out. We were happy to get home and in bed.

Overall it was a GREAT day and we made some excellent memories!

Christmas 2011

We had a nice, quiet Christmas at home again this year. We even had a "fire," thanks to Netflix. I didn't take many pictures during the unwrapping so that I could really enjoy it.

I did have to get Landon with his stocking stuffers though. He loved his light up toothbrush and candy cane full of M&Ms. He carried them around the whole morning.

Jacob's highlights were lots of books and a Star Wars Monopoly game.

I somehow never got a picture of Zach with his stuff on Christmas morning. But he gathered a few things this morning for me to get a picture of. I made him a coin collecting album with official collecting materials. From Santa he got a Wii fishing game.

Savannah got a CD player for her bedroom, some drawing materials and fingernail supplies.

Connor got the stuffed rattlesnake that we wanted from Santa, with a tail that really rattles. He also got a snake encyclopedia from Dallin.

Landon got a cool ball toy that I got at a yard sale for $2. I have loved doing a lot of my Christmas shopping at yard sales and on craigslist.

We got a few movies, books and games for our whole family that the kids have already been enjoying tons.

I was going around collecting the last of the wrapping paper scraps when I found this in the kitchen.

There were a couple of presents that I forgot about until a little later in the morning. A friend gave me fake cell phones for all the kids. Her husband works at Radio Shack and they are the floor models that people can look at. All of them slide open and have a keyboard. Jacob was so excited for about 10 seconds until I told him it was fake. But Savannah and Connor have played with them for hours already.

They also opened this later in the morning, and were SUPER excited.

Yesterday I took the kids to Target to use some gift cards they received. They loved picking out their items. Jacob & Zach combined their gift cards with money that they had been saving. Jacob got a digital Beyblade launcher, Zach bought Wii Super Mario Galaxy, Savannah got a play dough toy and Connor got a harmonica and a "grabber." Jacob had to hold Landon's balls for me because he just wanted to take them and run.
Savannah made us some play dough breakfast this morning...mmmm, yum.
This picture is from Christmas Eve. Savannah helped me make pies in the kitchen for hours (chicken pot pie, apple pie, and chocolate creme pie). She loved playing with the leftover dough.

I don't have pictures of Dallin and I, but Dallin got some movies, gift cards and a new outdoor antenna that he wanted for the house. I got some gift cards and Dallin gave me a nice new Nikon camera that I got to try out in Dallas. I LOVE it!

Oh Christmas Tree...Finally

Well we finally put up the Christmas tree on Wednesday. The kids (and mostly Dallin) had been bugging me about it all month. But I knew it was going to be hard having it up with Landon. He's basically banned from the family for the next week, with the playpen wedged between the couch and the half wall.

Connor and Savannah were great helpers while assembling the tree.

We let Landon see the tree for a few minutes, until he tried to start ripping the lights off.

Yesterday afternoon Dallin came home early and it was actually dry and warmer outside (in the 60's). We headed over to a park I had seen near our new church building. This section is definitely designed for older kids and they all had a great time. Landon was up and down in the swings the whole time.

There were a couple of spinning things that were a huge hit with all the kids.

Savannah was really scared to try this one, but loved it by the end.

17 months

As of yesterday Landon is 17 months old. We took him to nursery on Sunday, just to try it out. He was so happy to have toys instead of running up and down the halls.

He loves to be like the big kids and do whatever they're doing when they are at his level. He saw Jacob reading and went and grabbed a book to join him.

I get this a lot. He loves to be held so he can see what's going on, but then immediately squirms to get down so he can be off to get in to trouble.

Like this for example. My mom asked if he was getting into the drawers below the new TV. Yes, he loves to pull all the movies out whenever we aren't watching. So we constantly have the playpen blocking the drawers. The kids have just gotten used to not being able to see the bottom part of their show. Int his picture he's clapping at what a good job he did pulling all the movies out.

Landon has become very attached to his pacifier and blanket since his new tooth started coming in. Sometimes it's the only thing that will calm him down. For now I don't care, because I know it will be gone for good in a few months anyway, right after we move him to a mattress on the floor.

He loves spaghetti, lasagna, and any food with red sauce. Or smothered in ketchup.
Hasn't been sleeping as well, probably from the tooth. Been doing a little better this week.
Hates bananas.
Talks to you in his own language like you should totally understand him.
Loves to be outside, but hates to hold your hand.
Loves to antagonize Connor, especially while he's eating and can't leave.
Tries to do whatever the big kids are doing.
Loves to dance to music.
Wears 2T clothes and Size 6 shoes.
Gets comments on his orange, fluffy hair every few minutes when we go anywhere.
Has 17 baby teeth...the extra one has grown in completely sideways.
Gets SO excited when Daddy walks through the door.
Nicknames are "Boom Boom" and "Peach"
ONLY ONE MORE MONTH UNTIL NURSERY!!!

Night in Bethlehem

On Sunday a friend told me about a live nativity that was only about 20 minutes away. I've heard about a really neat one in Burnet, but that's an hour away and the wait is always an hour or so in the cold. This was at the Immanuel Lutheran Church (I think) outside of Taylor. We did have to wait for about 45 minutes, but they had us wait inside the church. Landon was not happy about that since he'd already been to church for 3 hours. I took him outside and let him run laps around a tree. By the time it was our turn to go through "Bethlehem" he was not a happy camper. He had also just tripped and was bleeding all over in his mouth. I tried to have him come with us, but it was kind of ruining it for everyone in our group because he was loud and all over and screamed every time I tried to pick him up. Luckily our friends were waiting for their turn and took him for a few minutes so that I could enjoy the rest of the nativity with the family. The kids all really loved the guards posted at the "gate."

At the end was the stable. They people talked as we went through the town, telling the story of that night. The kids all seemed to really enjoy it and I was happy to have a way to bring them back to why we really have Christmas.

Connor especially loved when the star lit up.

Dallin told me a little story about Connor when I had gone to take Landon to our friends. The guy that was leading them through Bethlehem had finished talking at one scene and said "Come. Let us go." It was all quiet and somber and Connor said really loud and happy "Come! Let's go!" Dallin said that everyone laughed and it was very cute. I think it was definitely worth it to take the older kids, but not a tired and hungry toddler. Next year I may find someone to watch Landon while we go.