Talking

Okay, so I thought I would take a much needed break from catching up and blog about Landon and his talking.  He has gone at his own pace with words.  I am not sure whether I am at fault or if it was just his natural pace.  From very young, I made it my mission to figure out what he needed.  I got amazingly good at reading his mind.  Through grunts, looks and other motions I always knew what he needed.  I would ask him if that was what he wanted for verification and he would let me know I was right, but I don't know if that was good or not.
I am happy to go with the, he wasn't ready yet and I provided for him as I could.
Anyways, he has really taken to try to talk lately.  It  has been so much fun.  He says new words everyday.  Not many sentences yet.  He is also missing some consonants when he speaks.  (I am not worried about that, I just am glad he decided to start talking!)
The other day, he woke me and James up by saying, "Time to wake up!  Wake up, now!"
Another day, I was making a baby blanket for an order in Texas and he came into my sewing room and said, "Here you go".  (I can't remember what he brought me... I think it was a toy)
I love his little voice.  I have been trying to get him to say, "thank you" and "I love you" for a really long time.  I have to say, the first time he said "I love you", my heart literally smiled.  (It kinda still does, I don't know if it will ever get old)
The best part is when he started singing songs with us.  We have sung to him since infancy, but he recently started singing with us.  One of the first nights he did, we sang, "I am a child of God" and he sang, "Child of Dog"
We laughed so hard, we barely finished the song with him.
He really loves all of the Leap Frog DVDs.  They teach, letters, numbers, counting, etc.  He counts to twenty (not in order yet) and when he gets into the teens, he says the numbers through his nose.  It is so funny!  I am not sure where this came from... I will try to get a video.
Today, we were watching a movie and when it showed the name of the store (Krolls) above the store entrance.  Landon started saying the letters.  I was amazed because it showed the letters for such a short time and he started saying them right when the movie moved onto to show other things.  He remembered all the letters except the 'S'.
Anyways, there is that fun snippet for you.

Landon's very own pool

We got Landon his very own pool.  It is pretty cool.  He had so much fun filling it with water and playing with the balls and rings that came with it.  I even got to sit in it with him and cool down after attacking the trees in the woods.

We have a cute video, but it won't upload : (

Landon's Jungle

I saw an idea like this on a blog and decided to make one fore Landon's room

 It is just card stock and scrap booking paper.  Each letter is hung on the ribbon by a paper clip.

I did this flower like thing on the end of each side of the ribbon.

And yet... more videos

Some of our best stuff isn't uploading : (

I got tired of getting the vacuum out to clean up after each meal in the dining room.  So I found an awesome deal on one of those little vacuums.  It is great for a quick clean up of large food objects.  Love it!  And... so does Landon.

This one was taken when he was smaller.  It was so funny to watch.  Especially later when the camera was off and he drooled on James's face.

I was watching this video with Landon earlier and he tried to lean upside down to watch it.  Funny kid.

We were watching General Conference and Landon was helping to conduct the music.  At this time, he loved to help conduct the music in Sacrament Meeting at Church.  He really loves music.

This was his birthday cake and some ice cream that he was eating.  Slurrrp!

Happy Birthday James!

James is really hard to get gifts for.  There isn't much that he wants or needs.  This year, when we were cleaning out the woods and brush, he found this really great walking stick for hiking.  (which we haven't done in a really long time)  As soon as I saw it, the wheels in my brain started turning.  I decided to carve the things he loves into it along with all the nicknames he has accumulated in his life.  (I might have missed a few)

I took it to my brother in laws house and he gave me the tool to burn into the wood.  When I was done, he helped me to wrap some leather cording around where we figure a good hand grip would be.  Well James really liked it.  I am so glad he found that stick!

 There is a trail in the woods, right by our house (really, just twenty feet past our property).  We went on a walk the other day and found Landon the perfect walking stick too!  I really think it must have been from the same tree even.  

Cinco de Mayo Birthday Bash

Every year, we throw a Cinco de Mayo party and then do birthday cake for James and Landon the last two years.  We have a Mexican feast and the whole family spends time together.  This year, we could only do it on a Sunday.

 This is Landon's two year old shirt I made him.

 Uncle Kim and Aunt Carol gave us their old swing set right before the party.  What a special gift!  Thanks guys!

 Landon's favorite movie at the time was How to Train Your Dragon.  So we made him a birthday cake trying to show the part where Toothless is stuck in that Valley.  I know, not my best work, but he LOVED it!

 He loved it when everyone started singing Happy Birthday, look at that grin!

He went right for the green fondant shrubbery. (yeah, I know, it doesn't look like shrubbery until you really use your imagination.  Good thing kids have a big imagination!)

Mother's Day Gifts

For Mother's Day, we pulled together and made corsages from scrap book paper...

 A cool picture collage with each families children holding a letter for our last name (we had to add a couple harts as our last name is six letters, but eight children were in the Marker family)...

 And we made some herb pots for Mom Marker

My Mother also got a last name collage, but not the other two gifts as she is not local... : (

Easter Egg Hunts

This is the Easter Banner I made:

Lots of pictures, sorry.  I had lots more, trust me.  This first bunch is the Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma Marker's house.  Lots of candy.  Daddy was happy.

 Hey, this makes noise when I shake it!

 How is that for an action photo?  

 Yes, that would be the color white in my hair.  Call me Rogue (X-Men reference)

 This is a pic of the Easter shirt that I made

Okay, the pics below are on Easter Sunday at our house.  We do a boiled egg hunt and then have some yummy egg salad sandwiches for lunch.  Oh, and I made Landon's Easter basket out of a stuffed duck toy.  

Blanket Forts

During the winter months, we have to get pretty creative with play time.  We do forts quite a bit.  

It is fun to snuggle up together on the floor cushions and read books or lay in the sunshine coming through the window and sing songs.

Working in the yard

This spring, I went a little crazy and hacked away at the little trees from the forest that were trying to encroach on our property line.  It was a lot of work, but it was great for arm toning.  There is still a lot that I would like to do, but once it got into the humid summer months, I decided to take a break.  We took at least nine truck loads to the dump.  Maybe more.  There are also still trees and brambles hanging out that didn't make it to the dump.  We also lined out our yard a little and planted lots of things.  Some were bought, some were transplanted from other areas of the yard.  It looked really nice.  Sadly, the deer liked it too much as well as the voles.  We shall see what survived next spring.  We figured out a trick for the voles (but it was a little too late for most of our flowers). Stick pinwheels in the ground.  When the wind blows, the vibration drives them crazy.  Much cheaper than other things we looked at, and it works!

For the deer, we got a tip about Irish Spring soap in panty hose.  It worked for a few weeks and then not so much.   

 Landon had a blast helping us get the branches in the trucks.  Often he would just grab one and take it all over the yard.

 Two truck beds full and a trailer hitch.  This was just one of two trips for that day.

 Our hostas were starting to sprout

 We planted some hyacinth 

 We think this is Angels breath

 Our butterfly bush.  Wow, it looks twice the size right now than it does in this picture.

 This is our patch of vinca and lilies.  We got a good price on lawn edgers and put them around it so that the vinca wouldn't take over the lawn.

 The vinca was in bloom and they are so pretty

 We got some great deals on flowering trees, so we also planted some of those.

 This drain is now covered with angels breath and lilies, you can hardly see it anymore

 Okay, so this pipe is the drain from our water system... We aren't sure what to do about it.  When it does a cycle (once a month I think) it just floods the area.  We put the pipe up because it was causing a big hole in the ground, but now all the grass is dying because it is too wet... Any ideas?

 We had a fire area in our yard in this big clay spot.  It was perfect until Landon discovered it.  Ash doesn't come out of clothing all the easily...  So, we need to move the fire pit somewhere else :)

We also made raised garden beds.  I can't believe I don't have any pictures!  I had some on my phone...

I can't seem to figure out how to get the pictures off my phone... Hmm..........