Hanging out with the Schrandt's

On Saturday we headed down to Cedar Falls to hang out with Jon and Brooke.  It has been FAR to long since we've gone down to see them, and we were so excited!  We started out early, that's easy to do when Landon is up at 5am, and got down there around 9am or so.  After a little catch up, Brooke, Landon and I headed out to do some shopping. 

After we shopped the morning away, the guys met up with us.  The took Landon back to the house to settle in for a nap (which did not happen).  That meant it was time for Brooke and I to do some serious shopping.  Or, shopping in nice stores in downtown Cedar Falls without little fingers touching expensive things! 

All the time we were shopping, Ms. Elke was hanging out with her beau Rosco.  She just loves him.  I mean seriously, L.O.V.E.S. him!  Almost as soon as we hit Airline highway in Waterloo, she starts whining - she knows exactly where we are going.

By the time we finished shopping, it was time for supper.  Sunday (today), is Jeremy's birthday, and he chose Texas Roadhouse to eat at.  No complaints here!

 

Dinner was so good.  No kidding, I ate so much that I am literally still FULL this morning.  Oh yes, the treadmill and I will become good friends again this morning!  Good food, good company, good time!

After super we headed back to Jon and Brooke's for a little unwind before heading home.  Landon played with Rosco.  He just loves Rosco and has talked about him since he woke up this morning.  So cute!

  

  

  

Thanks for a great time Jon and Brooke.  We love you guys!

Just checking ...

my email before heading off to daycare!

SUPER Sunday!

SUPER Sunday was SUPER busy!  After sleeping in until 7:00 this morning (Jer's turn to wake up with Landon at 5 am), I woke up feeling refreshed!  I got ready, spent some time with the boys and  then it was time to get started with meal prep for the week.  I had some bananas that needed to be used up (I am so picky about my bananas), so I baked a couple loaves of banana bread as well as some muffins.  Most went into the freezer, except a few muffins.  We just don't need it sitting out, you know? Shortly after I got started my sister stopped by.  Needing a few things from Huber's we all hopped in the car. 

It was such a nice day, so bright and sunny.  My sister said it was so bright you could almost use two pairs of sunglasses!  Huh?!?

 

  

Ha, isn't that picture of Landon just the cutest one yet!

Once we got home, it was back to business.  I got three meals prepped and ready for this week.  That is such a great feeling, as I have some busy days ahead of me at work.  While I was working on that, Jodi stirred up a SUPER big batch of cookies and baked them.  They involve oatmeal, chocolate chips, raisins, walnuts, coconut and a whole lot of goodness!  I have not tried one yet, I'm saving one for when I sit down and watch the Olympics in a few minutes.  Oh, I heart the Olympics!  Almost all the cookies went into the freezer as well.  Jeremy will be going on a Jeep expedition in Indiana next month and I want to be sure to pack plenty of goodies for the guys!

And the baking was complete, Jodi and I hit up the elliptical and treadmill, rotating every 15 minutes.  We did this yesterday for  one hour, and today for one hour - it feels so great to work up a sweat!  Then it was supper, clean up, finish up tax preparations and finally time to relax! 

Show me your beads..

Mardi Gras anyone?

 

Yup, he's a Merrill

I've heard these stories since the day I met Jeremy.  The one's of him and his brother Oliver taking things apart, just to put them back together "better."  Everytime we go to visit Jeremy's Grandma Virginia, she comments how much Landon reminds her of Tim, Jeremy's Dad.  Last night, Landon proved to me that he too is a Merrill.  Aww, the things to look forward to...

By the way, Landon's comment, "I fix it."

Drinkin my coffee

Just sittin, drinkin my coffee, watching the day pass by

Just kiddin mama, there ain't no coffee in there!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I sure enjoyed spending this day with my loved one's. My husband picked up on some recent hints and got me a snuggie!  Not just any snuggie though, an Iowa Hawkeye Snuggie!  I know, but seriously, these things are great!  Didn't get a picture.  We'll see if I can do that this week. 

Most of this morning was spent cleaning the house and catching up on laundry.  We also had a visit from Grandma Merrill, who brought over a special Valentine for Landon.  After lunch we all took a nap, mine was much shorter than everyone else's because I needed to hit the treadmill.  It always feels good to work up a good sweat. 

My parent's invited us over for supper this evening.  Eryn and Nolan were there and as always, Landon had a great time playing with his cousins.  We missed Randy and Cathy, but watched for them on TV.  They are in Florida at the Daytona 500.  Hope you got to enjoy some special time with the people you love!

Saturday morning date...

Jeremy and I headed to Waterloo yesterday morning to do a little shopping at Menards.  Sheet Rock was on sale and the basement is just about ready for sheet rock so we hooked up the trailer and headed south.  Thanks to Auntie Jo Jo, Landon stayed home.  It was much easier that way. 

 

  

It's amazing how much time you can spend at a Home Improvement Store.  Don't get me wrong, I love it - so much to look at!  We got everything we needed and then some.  Isn't that the way it always goes though?

 

 We also made a quick stop at Jeremy's Grandma's while we were in Cedar Falls.  It's always nice to see her, but our visit was very short.  Once we got home, the day was shot, so it was time to unload and unwind. 

cookies and valentine treats

After a 16 hour work day yesterday, I was looking forward to coming home from work tonight and relaxing!  Yes, I said 16 hour work day.  It began yesterday morning when I got up a little before 5 am, to stir up some cookie dough.  We had a cookie order, but miscounted the number of cookies we needed, so I needed to stir up some more dough.  I then headed off to my real job at 7:15 am.  I got done working at 5:30 pm, picked up some subway, and rushed home.  Jodi was already at my house, rolled and baked the needed cookies.  We frosted away until we finished at 9:00 pm.  Whew....It was worth it.  I think they turned out super cute.

So after my loooonnng day yesterday, I was forward to a relaxing night tonight.  Jeremy is taking a continuing ed class from 6-9 a couple nights a week for the next few weeks, so I was not going to make supper tonight.  Just bowls of cereal for Landon and I!  We got home from work/daycare and took a little strolll....

And then I remembered, I needed to assemble Landon's Valentine treats for all of his friends.  What was supposed to be a simple treat, turned out to be a little more work then I thought.  That's ok though!  Landon had fun helping assemble eating.

Inside each bag is gummy bears and teddy grams.  The note says, "I like you beary much!"

More snow!

Once again, we are living in a winter wonderland.  While the snow is beautiful, I am ready for SPRING!  This is what my car looked like after bucking the snow drifts in our drive way last night.  It felt like I was going through an automatic car wash - my car was floating along, I couldn't see anything, and I was not in control!

Since our little Elke Roo loves the snow and we were bundled up, we decided to go out and enjoy it.  

 

Landon wanted to shovel, but I couldn't find one, so we used the car wash brush instead!

After about 2 minutes outside, it was cold and windy, so we headed back in!

Today the fresh snow is blowing around.  No playing outside tonight, I've got cookies to work on!  I may be flying solo on this one, Cathy is hitting up the Florida beaches, and Jodi will definitely not be able to get down my driveway with her little car.  Pictures will come soon!

Super Bowl!

I can't believe that I am going to have to wait months to watch football again. :-(

Last night we headed over to our friends Reid and Karla's to watch the Super Bowl!  It was so much fun, and all the kids had a blast playing together.  The kids almost out numbered the adults!  Too funny!

This is what I made.  Mississippi Mud Brownies.  Yum!!

The kids table, minus a few kids!

 

For most of the night Landon was obsessed with Owen and Henry's tractors.  He played with this doll for a total of about 30 seconds, but it was too cute to pass up!

Bath time ROCKS, or not?

We have been struggling with Landon and bath time for a few weeks now.  For whatever reason, he doesn't want to have anything to do with getting in the tub.  My Mom was nice enough to pick up some bath crayons for Landon in hopes he would find bath time more fun again.  

Did they work?  Well, Landon did play in the tub for a little bit, and I didn't get wet, trying to wash him off while holding him back from getting out of the tub, so yup, they worked a little bit!

Weekly recap

Seriously, has it been a week since my last post?  That must be a sign of busy times!  Let me recap our week:

On Monday, my sister Jodi went to Mayo Clinic for a second opinion on her arm.  The Dr. agreed that it must have rebroke, but is healing just fine now.  Because surgery is incredibly risky, and may cause nerve damage, they agreed to just continue to let her arm heal as it is.  Jodi headed back to work on Tuesday.  The rest of the week was completely crazy for me at work and involved working late several nights.  Friday was like a dream - I packed my lunch and my supper, headed to work and put in a 9 1/2 hour day.  (Isn't overtime great, hahaha!!) After work, I headed to the grocery store all by myself.  That was the  dream part! I packed my supper so I wasn't tempted to grab fast food.  Then it was home to see my boys (and girl puppy) whom I was missing so much.  

I really fell of the bandwagon and didn't work out much this week.  Cathy and I are going to do the Prairie DuChien half marathon, which is on May 1st.  Twelve weeks away - This girl better get serious FAST!!

In other news, we have a new cookie blog called, three sisters baking!  You will have to go over and check it out.  We've got some orders this week, so we will be busy!

Baking day

Today was a busy baking day for us girls.  Unfortunately, my camera lens was incredibly dirty so my pictures of the cookies didn't turn out very good at all.  We have some orders this week so you will have to hop over to our blog, three sisters baking, to check out pictures of the finished products.

The kids had a great time playing together and enjoyed their cookies even more!

Ok, Eryn enjoyed the frosting more than the cookies!