Potty training - check!

Do I dare say it?  I think that Landon is 100% potty trained!  Seriously, in the past two days, Landon has gone from occasionally going, to being completely independent and going without even telling me.  We haven't wore diapers for a few days and he has not had any accidents.  Wheee!!  I don't even need to ask him if he has to go, he just goes himself.  He is even sleeping with his "big boys" on.  I went to put a diaper on him at night and he refused.  "I'm a big boy!"

Today, Landon was getting ready to go with Grandma Debbie to give the horses a bath.  You have to wear your cowboy boots for that didn't you know?  He did eventually put his clothes on, but I managed to snap some pictures in the meantime.  How could I resist not sharing these with you.

His special gift for being potty trained - a new case loader.  He is in heaven. (And so am I)

The fruits of our labor

This is the tomato plant that Landon and I potted earlier this summer.

Now look at it, we've got tomatoes!  I learned that the deck was radiating way too much sun which does not make the tomato plant look pretty, but I moved the plant, and it is improving.  Give me a break anyway, this is my first attempt at growing vegetables fruit.  Tomatoes are fruit right?

The fruits of our labor (pun intended).

Potty training time

You see that?

Yup, that's big boy underwear.  We are in potty training mode!  Landon has been doing well.  If he has a diaper on, he will pee in it.  If he has big boy's on, he will try not to pee in them.  He really enjoys running around with no pants/underwear/diaper on at all.  That's when he does best and will go to the potty himself.  Otherwise he forgets all about it.  We're working on it!

Where the clouds going?

Landon:  "Mommy where the clouds going?"
Mommy:  "Um, I don't know, they are just floating along."
Landon:  "But where they going?"
Mommy:  "To get closer to the sun."
Landon:  "Why?"
Mommy:  "Because they are cold."
Landon:  "They need a blanket."
Mommy:  "You can't cover clouds with a blanket."
Landon:  "Yes you can."
Mommy:  "No you can't."
Landon:  "But they need a blanket when the moon comes out."
Hmmm....

Landon, Landers, Lando, Tugger

He has many names, and many faces, but this one is priceless.

Our weekend

Where to begin?  Our weekend was jammed pack with activities around the house.  For days, well over a week, Jeremy has been working on laying the floor tile in the family room.  It is coming along, but ugh....  I have helped out when I could (which isn't much), but I am so ready for the basement to be complete!

For all of you out there who have done any tiling, they say the hard part is the grouting.  And we will have a lot of grouting to do!

Aside from the regular grocery shopping and house cleaning, I also took advantage of the super nice weather and did some cleaning outdoors.

I scrubbed the house down and power washed - yucky bugs, mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, and trimmed hedges.

I found a lot of time to play outside with Landon...

and Elke.  You want to dig a hole?  Why not.  What's funny is that Elke does not dig holes.  But when Landon starts, she wants to help!

As I mentioned, Jeremy pretty much worked on tiling all weekend.  He did take a break to cut some hay.  

All in all, it was once again a super busy weekend.  I can't wait for things to slow down and projects come to an end.  That will happen right?!

I almost forgot.  We worked on potty training a lot this weekend!  Yippee!!

The Mighty Mississippi meets the Merrill's

Mid-week, Jeremy said he was thinking of going to Dubuque on Saturday to pick up a part for his jeep.  Jeremy asked if Landon and I would like to ride along and go to the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.  I felt like a giddy little school girl!  I have been wanting to go there for some time -  I am a wannabe museum nerd!  I was literally counting the days to go and was up super early on Saturday morning!

We hit the road early and stopped to get the necessary Jeep accessories.  Then it was off to spend a few hours at the Museum and Aquarium.  

We got started right away.  I would have loved to spend more time looking at the various exhibits, but Jeremy and I just scanned them as Landon was already bored.  Hmm...  They are working on a new gulf exhibit.  That will be really interesting when it is complete. 

We hit up the second level and let Landon play in the kids exhibit.

We stayed on the second level and hit up a 3D/4D film.  Yes, 4D!!  The seats shook, water dripped from the ceiling, the wind gusted, it was awesome.  Not to mention, Landon reached out several times to try and grab fish that were floating by, and I totally bolted to the side when they threw the anchor out of the ship.  AWESOME!!

This is what it looked like without the 3D glasses.  Blah.

After the short 15 minute film, we headed to the main area and ordered some lunch.  Then, it was over to the aquarium.  I have to say this was probably the most fun part of the Museum.  Landon was absolutely in love and squealed several times!  He had people laughing!

When you walk in the front doors, there is a huge aquarium that is full of tons of fish, ducks, turtles, and yes, I even saw a snake.  It is open so you could put your hand in there, but I'm pretty sure that you would be kindly asked not to do that.  Landon did not want to leave this tank and tried to grab the fish through the glass.  So cute!

There are so many different tanks and exhibits throughout the two floors.  They even had a hands on kids show where you had to guess the animal they were talking about.  Guess what animal they had out when we were there.  Of course a snake.  Yup, I was out of there and luckily Landon and Jeremy followed!

Then we went on to see alligators and more!  This picture doesn't do justice.  This was a big guy.

A baby that was a couple feet long just chillin on a log. 

This turtle says - get me out of here!

It was a great time and I would love to go back again.  You could literally spend the WHOLE day there.  But we had things to do at home and I was missing the Elke, so we headed back.  On a side note, can you believe that Landon stayed dry all day.  Yippee!

Iowa sweet corn

Landon's first experience eating corn on the cob.

Indoor projects

Today was a holiday for both Jer and I, so we tried to make the most of the rainy weather and get to work on some indoor projects.  This including grinding the sealer off the basement floor.  Jeremy rented a floor grinder which worked really well.  It could run dry and and create dust that would go through the entire house, or wet and get the walls kind of yucky.  We chose the later.  Jeremy moped up the floor about a half a dozen times and I wiped down all the walls about a half a dozen times.  Everything is looking good.

Still finding ourselves with some free time this afternoon, we started to lay down the tile in the bathroom.  This is the easy tile project.  The tile is big, the area is small and there is no pattern.  The family room on the other hand.  I have a feeling when that time comes its going to cost me a lot of money. Buying beer that is. 

On an earlier day we played around with laying the tile out, so we were all ready to go.  I just needed to number the tiles and create my map!

Then it was time to get started.

Landon kept busy coloring.  To mix the mortar, Jeremy needed to run the drill.  Apparently, the drill was too noisy, so headphones were in order.

While not done, we've made progress. 

Happy Birthday America!

At least we had one nice day out of this three day, weekend.  Or, in my case two nice days out of my four day weekend!  On July 4th, the rain cleared just long enough for us to attend Festina's Annual 4th of July parade.  Do you remember last year? 

Once again, the parade did not disappoint.  I have to say I think it is one of the nicest parade's out there!  This year we got to watch Grandpa represent the Calmar Fire Department and Daddy with his jeep represent the Mississippi Valley Jeep Club.   

The kids anxiously await for the parade to begin!

The boys in their matching Thomas hats along with all their loot!

After the parade we headed home for lunch and a nap before heading to the Sabelka's Annual 4th of July party.  Due to the weather, it was held in their neighbors massive garage.  The kids had a great time playing and watching movies while the adults played cards, bags and consumed one or two adult beverages!

4 wheeling Landon style

• $5 - dirty, broken jeep at the Depot
• $25 - battery and charger at Walmart
• Priceless - the look on Landon's face when he learned he could drive his new jeep!

 Can you see the circles in the grass?  He hasn't quite figured out how to straighten the wheel out.

Where does he learn this from?

Click on the video to see Landon taking his jeep out for the first time.

Landon asked for the "mote" (garage door opener).  I think he has taken over Jeremy's side of the garage now!

It is true, one of the first things Landon said after he asked if the Jeep was his.  It needs bigger tires.  Like Father, like son!

Toy story 3

I took yesterday off work so I could enjoy some time with Landon.  After spending the day doing a variety of things, we invited Auntie Jo Jo to join us for a movie!  Guess what movie we saw?  Toy Story 3!

And he loved it!  And we loved it!  While I don't think it was the best Toy Story movie, the overall experience was so fun.  Have you seen a movie in 3D before?  It was amazing! 

It was like we had our own private showing.  There were only 10 people in the theater counting us.