Cookies!

After our success baking Christmas cookies, Jodi, Cathy and I decided we really enjoy baking cookies, and we're not bad at it either!  In fact, Cathy and Jodi made a bunch of cookies on Thursday night to bring to Eryn's cabin fever on Saturday.  Cathy put her phone number on there and said that we are taking orders.  Cathy had a handful of inquiries on Saturday alone.

Next Saturday, us girls are getting together to bake a bunch of Valentine's cookies, as well as Super Bowl cookies.  Watch for that post next weekend!  Today, I was going to work on improving my frosting when Jodi called and asked if she could come over.  Jodi said that she wanted to bring some cookies to work to thank her coworkers for covering for her during her recent time off.  So, we whiped up a batch of cookies.  What do you think?  I think they are super cute!

If anyone is interested in some cookies, just let one of us know!  And, we need to start a cookie blog, so if you think of a cute name, send some suggestions our way!

Cheese + Tractors = Fun

As Jeremy was preparing his breakfast this morning, Landon decided to sideswipe some of the shredded cheese.  Perfect for hauling in the wagon and tractor bucket!

2 year check up

 

I picked up Landon a little early from daycare today so we could meet with Dr. Schilling for his two year check up.  We are a little behind on his checkups because of his broken leg this summer.  

Good Mom:  Brought camera for photo ops!

Bad Mom:  Forgot to bring the tylenol 

Good Mom:  Made a stop at Kwik Star and bought tylenol

Bad Mom:  Spent $6 on a bottle of tylenol when I have 2 bottles at home.  Grrr...

Never again will I schedule a Dr. appointment for 5:20 pm.  We were the last appointment, which meant, Dr. Schilling was behind.  It ended up not being too bad though as she was only 20 minutes late.  The good part about being the last appointment meant she had a ton of time to visit with us.  That was great!

It ended up that Landon didn't need any vaccinations this time.  We were all caught up unless we still wanted Landon to have the flu shot or the H1N1.  We elected not to do that.  Landon did need to get his finger pricked for the last of lead testing.  He did really well for that, and didn't start to cry until the lab tech wouldn't give him his finger back.  It was all better though once he got to pick out a sticker and a new toy.  VIP treatment when you're the last patient!

Landon is developing right on track.  He weighed in at 27 pounds, 10 ounces and is 34 inches tall.  He is right around the 50th percentile for both height and weight. 

Last day at backup daycare

Today was the last day at Landon's backup daycare.  Landon adjusted so incredibly well, I am so proud of how flexible he was.  I hope this is a sign that someday (in the very distant future) he will adjust to school well and make new friends easily!

We are very much looking forward to getting back to Bernice's and seeing how tan she is!  Every time we pulled up at Linda's this week, Landon said, "Cale here?" I know that he will be so excited to see his buddy Cale tomorrow!

Day #2 at back up daycare

This morning started off a little rough....I dropped Landon off at Linda's and he was not excited about staying.  After lots of hugs and kisses, Linda helped pry him off of me.  I think that Landon was a little scared as Linda's husband was getting ready to head out the door and this was his first time meeting him.  I called late morning to check in, and Linda said Landon stopped crying before I even pulled out of the driveway.  Mark told Landon about how he was going to go out and feed the cows.  I guess that got Landon's attention!  Anyway, Landon ate a good lunch, took a good nap, and had fun playing.  What a brave little boy we have!

First day at backup daycare...

So, today at Landon's back up daycare went GREAT!!  When we got there, Landon clung on to me and said, "No, No, No" over and over and over...He was really intrigued though because they live on a farm.  There were a lot of tractors, cows, bales, etc. around.  Now that I think of it, I think that was Landon's first time on an actual farm!  After talking with Linda for a few minutes, she asked Landon if she could hold him.  He agreed and we continued to talk.  About five minutes later, I told Landon that I needed to go to work. We said I love you, blew kisses and he waved me goodbye without a single tear.

I called in the middle of the day and Linda said he was doing great.  For lunch, Landon ate a whole grilled cheese and a whole serving of mixed vegetables!  It was a little girls birthday there and her Mom had brought cupcakes.  Each child got a half a cup cake.  Landon looked around at the other kids eating their cupcake, took a bite of his and said, "I don't like it."  He really does not have his Mom and Dad's sweet tooth!

After lunch, Linda laid Landon down for a nap and he took a two hour nap without making a peep.  She said counting Landon, she had three boys yesterday who are all between the ages of 2-2 1/2, and they all love farming.  They stood by the window watching Linda's husband outside and conversing among themselves.

I had no doubt that Linda would do a great job taking care of Landon, I was just nervous how well he would do.  What a relief!!

The picture above is the picture he colored and brought home for me.  How sweet is that!!

Vacation is over :-(

I'm so sad my four day weekend has almost come to an end.  Bernice continues to bask in the warm Mexican sun, but I must return to work.  For the next four days, Landon will be going to a different daycare not too far from our house.  She is awesome, and I know that she will take excellent care of Landon, but I am so nervous.  I hope that Landon is excited to make new friends, but I just know how shy he is in new places.  Ugh, I am so nervous...

Lazzzzy Saturday...

Today, it was 38 degrees and raining. What an odd January day!

This morning was far from lazy, I was able to get the house clean, and get the laundry done.  Landon ran some errands with Dad, and then got dirty wrenching on the jeep down at the shop.  He had a blast (Landon, I don't know about Dad)!  After I got my chores done, my sister and I headed over to West Union to Hawkeye Food Distributions store.  Awww, that was so cool!  What a great place to get bakeware, frozen foods and many more things.  I will be making another trip back there soon!

When I got home, Landon and I put up some Valentine window clings that I picked up for $0.49!  Those things are so cheesy, but it's different when there are kids in the house. 

The rest of the day was pretty lazy.  A lot of internet searching and a little napping.  Sometimes rainy days are just what a person needs!

Vacation day #2

Today was equally as busy as yesterday.  First things first, Landon went in for a haircut.  This time went about as good as last time.  There was a little crying, ok, a lot of crying, but Jenny got the job done.  Despite all the crying, Landon managed to sit still and his haircut turned out great!

After the haircut, we picked up Auntie Jo Jo and headed to Decorah.  I had to do a little work, so Landon and Jodi got to play at my work.  After a few quick stops, we needed some groceries and were hungry, so we headed over to the Food Coop.  Yum-0!!  Landon ate a little grilled cheese, but quickly snatched up everyone's pickles. 

Careful not to eat the skin of the pickle though.  Not sure where his love of pickles comes from.  We eat a lot of cucumber, but neither Jer or I are avid pickle fans.

And milk, out of the carton!

And we had to finish with a yummy oatmeal chocolate bar!

After our lunch it was time to hit Walmart.  I tried to make that as brief as possible, because Landon was in need of his afternoon nap.  Landon fell asleep on the way home and once again took a fabulous nap.  This gave me the chance to work off some of the cals on the eliptical.  Tonight is going to be cleaning the house, laundry and catching up with Jer on his week.  Oh, and making guacomole.  My new favorite food!  Another busy day down in the books!

Vacation day

I took off work today and will be off work tomorrow to stay home with Landon.  Landon's daycare provider decided to ditch this cold, icy weather and head to Mexico.  What was she thinking!  Just Kidding!!  This means that Landon and I are getting in some quality bonding time. Oh, can't forget Elke too!

Our morning started out rather slow, not changing out of our jammies until 10 am!  We set up Landon's tent, lined up his movies (literally lined all 50 of them up on the floor), played with his remote control car, brushed teeth several times and didn't eat breakfast until 9:30 am!  Whew....The most exciting part of the morning for Landon had to be a new found love - Peanut Butter!  Landon has never had PB before.  He just always prefers his toast dry. 

Yesterday morning Landon decided he wanted cereal.  I was eating an english muffin with peanut butter. Before I knew it, there were little fingers swipping the peanut butter of my muffin!  So I took out the jar of peanut butter, put some on a spoon and let him have at it.  He devoured that spoonful and immediately asked for more.  I think he got his love of PB from his cousin Eryn.  She loved eating PB out of the jar at one point too.  I wonder if she still does?

 

After a couple swigs of milk for Landon and a shower for Mommy, we headed over to West Union.  First stop was a visit to Jeremy's Grandma Virginia at the Good Samaritan Home.  It has been a few weeks since I've seen her and she called me last week asking me to find her a new robe.  You bet!  Landon and I brought over the softest, prettiest robe, and she loved it!  After an hour or so visit, Landon was getting antsy, so we headed over to Grandma Merrill's office. 

Landon has been to Grandma Debbie's office a few times, but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot Landon said, "Grandmum Debbie here."  Debbie treated us to a yummy lunch and then we headed back to the office to visit a bit.  By this point, Landon was getting extremely tired, so it was time for us to head home.  Landon fell asleep on the way home, and slept for over 3 hours.  That was a great time for me to get some work done.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!

My laptop is finally back and Auntie Jo Jo update!

My new laptop that my husband bought me for my birthday crashed back in December.  Crashed as in, the hard drive was completely gone.  Grrr.....Since it was only four months old, it was covered under warranty.  So, I sent it in, and finally got it back today!  Life is so much better when you can surf the internet from the living room chair.  And, it's Biggest Loser night, and that makes it even more special!

In other news, my sister Jodi was scheduled for surgery yesterday morning.  After she was all prepped and ready to go in, the Dr. decided that her arm never broke again and called off the surgery.  Um, hello, did you see those xrays?  If not, click here!.  Jodi was sent home and told she could go back to work next week.  Still in a lot of pain, Jodi is seeking Mayo Clinic for a second opinion.  Please pray the Dr.'s can give her some answers and she can begin to heal.

Platteville, WI Jeep Run

I've mentioned before that Jeremy belongs to a jeep club. Yesterday, they were doing a winter run and holding a meeting in Platteville, WI, and Jeremy asked me to come along. I admit I was reluctant, but it ended up being a lot of fun.

Jeremy hauled his jeep on the trailer. You always take a risk of breaking something, and since we were two and a half hours away, I thought that was incredibly smart!
Jeremy said there was going to be 10-15 jeeps present. There were probably more like 30!
Jer and I were ready to hit the trail!
Two things I was thankful for on this expedition. My ipod and an organic chocolate brownie energy bar! One thing I wished I had - a bathroom!!

There was a big hold up for a while, and Jeremy left the jeep to walk up and see what was going on. Good thing I download a podcast from Olive Garden. I learned how to make Chicken Marsala.
This was the hold up.

Here is a video of Jeremy trying to go through this "hole."
And this was pretty much my thinking at the beginning of the trip. At the end, I must say I understand a little bit more. But not completely!!

Rockin the Ropers!

During a recent trip to Vegas, Grandma Merrill purchased a pair of cowboy boots for Landon. Believe it or not, up until now he has been shy about wearing them. Well, last night he decided it was finally time to try them on. They are plenty big, so he will get lots of use out of them. He loved them!

This week in review...

Let me just start by saying that this week was action packed! December was filled with time off from work, between the holidays and burning vacation time, so Monday meant back to reality and a 5 day work week. Uggghhh....

Monday: I had to work late, so Mom picked up Landon for me. When I went to put the car seat in her car that morning, I realized Jer forgot to put the latch belt in my car, therefore, I could not put the extra car seat in Mom's car. I left my car with Mom and drove Jodi's car. At the end of the day, I started Jodi's car so it could warm up. I took the remote and locked the doors. Half an hour later, I locked up the store and went to unlock the car. No such luck. Apparently, Jodi's remote does not work when the keys are in the ignition. No spare key meant I needed to call a lock smith.

Tuesday: Hawkeye's win the Orange Bowl!! Totally fell asleep in the 2nd quarter..I tried to stay awake, I really did!

Wednesday: Jodi had her appointment in LaCrosse. She is set to have surgery on January 18th. They will put a plate in from her shoulder to her elbow, and screw the bone to the plate. It will be a fairly lengthy surgery, and she will have to spend 1-2 days in the hospital. Please pray that her surgery goes well!

Thursday: More snow. Brrr, it was cold and the snow was blowing. The good ol' Explorer bucked through some drifts on the way home from work! Watched the Texas vs. Alabama game. Again, fell asleep in the 2nd quarter. So sad...

Friday: Auntie Jo Jo spent the night. Yay!! Ate some yummy steak burritos from a guy named Chili, and I made guacomole. Yum-O!!

Saturday: Up and at 'em early. Jodi, Cathy, Eryn and myself hit the road at 7:30 am to go shopping in Rochester. Those girls are so much fun. We all found some great deals! My favorite purchase...a valentine collar for Elke! Ok, so Elke now has more collars than I have purses. In her defense, or mine, I don't own a lot of purses!

And then, it was home to watch the Cowboys pull off a win. Yup, didn't stay completely awake for this one either. Seriously, I can not get enough football this year!

Sunday: Catch up day. Get groceries, clean the house, six loads of laundry, read up on potty training, sneak in an hour and a half on the elliptical/treadmill, and now it's time to relax. I made turkey breasts and roasted brussel sprouts for supper, and am enjoying the Cardinals vs. Packers game. Go Kurt Warner! I hope this week goes by just as fast!

Basement & New Year's Resolutions

We (I should say Jer) have been working on finishing our basement more seriously in the last few weeks. We built our house five years ago, and haven't needed the space, so we haven't done anything with it. We've saved the money and now decided to jump in and finish the basement, or at least a good portion of it. Don't get your hopes up, we don't need any extra bedrooms, just want to get the space done! Jer has been working on the electrical and last night Randy came over to work on plumbing.

Family Room
Another part of the Family Room - This will all be cabinets and work space.
Free Bar if anyone wants it, otherwise it will be going on Craig's List!
Bedroom #3
Bedroom #4 (or gym) on the left and bathroom on the right

In other news, what's your New Year's resolution? Last year, I decided that I need to get in shape. In February, I started a program called the c25k. It is suppose to take you from the couch to running a 5k in 9 weeks, by integrating running and walking. You can find more info at http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml. So I started the program, and just kept going. It's almost one year later, and I won't say how much weight I lost, but I feel so much better! I love to work out now. I love to run, and run almost every day. When I'm not running, I use my new elliptical. Ok, it's not new, but new to me. Another nice score at the Depot! Thank you to my Mother-in-law for letting me borrow her treadmill. This year's New Year's Resolution is to run a half-marathon with my sister-in-law! EEeeekkkkk...

Hackman Christmas (quilts involved!)

Last night we headed over to my Aunt and Uncle's and had our 4th and final Christmas for the holiday season. I love getting together with the Hackman side of the family. There are so many people, and so many kids. It's lots of family, lots of food, and lots of conversations everywhere! Landon had tough decisions picking out his Christmas gifts from Great Grandma. He picked two "Cars" cars and a pig! Thank you Grandma!

Landon's cousin Aiden. Isn't he adorable!!

Christmas was especially special this year, as each of the older grandchildren got a handmade quilt that Grandma made. Grandma had each quilt in a pillowcase with a number on it. Each grandchild drew a number from a hat, and that is the quilt that you got. After that, if you wanted to trade with anyone, that was your choice.

This is the quilt that I got. I LOVED it!! Very beautiful, and I hung on to it for probably fifteen minutes. But then, I traded...
My sister traded her quilt which was mostly blue tones, for this quilt. Jodi really loved the quilt I had though. Grandma then came over and said to Jodi, "You got the only quilt that I hand quilted." Sold, I wanted that quilt. Besides, the quilt that I originally had is the exact same pattern of the quilt that Jeremy's Grandma Virginia made for our wedding. Did I really want two quilts of the same pattern, even though they look very different.
Nope, I really wanted the quilt that Grandma hand stitched, and Jodi really wanted the quilt I had, so we switched. In the end, any one of us would have been happy with any one of the quilts. They are all so beautiful and Grandma put so much time and love into each one of them. She has litteraly been working on these for years!
The grandchildren with their quilts. Unfortunately, there are several grandchildren missing. Also note, my sister-in-law stepped in for my brother who had to go out on a service call.
My quilt hanging in my dining room. Thank you Grandma (and Grandpa), I love you very much! This is a Christmas that I will always remember!