Corduroy’s Adventures with Landon

home, he was so excited that he climbed out of his Dad’s car, ran up the
sidewalk and steps into the house, and pulled me out of his backpack. I met his
Dad, his mom, his sister-Auburn, and his brother-Dalton right away. After
Landon changed into his play clothes, we played tag with Auburn
and Dalton. The
kids were laughing quit a bit as they were running back and forth.
Once tag was done,
Landon took me to see his bedroom and basement. There were a lot of toys in
both rooms. Landon decided I needed a bath, so he put me in a box and pretended
to clean me, and then he combed my fur to make me look sharp. I also met Auburn’s teddy bear, named
Purple Bear. I felt ready for my weekend at the Smith house.

Landon wanted to teach me to play Hi! Ho! Cheery-O, but his
brother and sister dumped all of the cherries on the table and floor. Landon’s
mom had to come help us find all of the cherries before we could play our game.
Thankfully, all of the cherries were found-some of them were hiding in funny
places. The game was a lot of fun, and Landon and I won!

After our game, we had
supper. Landon gave me a plate of food and some juice.



We then said good-bye to
Landon’s Dad, who was going to a men’s retreat, then the rest of us loaded up
into the family minivan and drove to McDonald’s to meet the Winnbergs. We were
able to play in a big playland with slides, ladders, and tunnels once we were
in the restaurant.



Landon’s mommy even bought us some apple pies to eat!!! We
had a lot of fun playing with Dylan, Megan and McKenzie.

We played for about an
hour before Landon’s mom told us we had ANOTHER fun place to go. We packed up
our stuff, jumped in the van and off we went to Pearson Johnson’s house to play
outside and have something called s’mores. I wasn’t sure what that was-so I was
pretty interested in finding out. Once we arrived at the Johnson’s, Landon let
me rest on one of the outside chairs-I was thankful, because I was already
tired from running around so much with Landon. He’s a busy boy!

Landon was able
to play with many friends while he was there. They played ball, and tag, and
swung on a big tire swing. They climbed behind the garage, and pretended the
bats were light sabers, but best of all-they ate these sandwich things called
s’mores! The s’mores were made of graham crackers, chocolate and
marshmallows all smashed together. The sandwich was a gooey mess-I was glad
Landon wasn’t holding me. Landon played for a bit more, then we went back to his
house.

Since it was almost
bedtime when we went back to Landon’s house, Landon and his siblings put their
pajamas on and we watched Arthur and Spot to help us calm down after such a
busy night.

Landon’s mommy had one more special thing planned for the
evening-Auburn was allowed to spend the night in Landon’s room!!! Mommy was
glad that we didn’t stay up and talk after she tucked us in. I think she was
tired. We fell asleep quickly she said.

Wow! Landon wakes up
early! We were up at 7:15 am!
As soon as Landon woke up-he started asking his mom if he could finger-paint
and play play-doh. She told him that he needed to be patient and maybe we could
play a little bit later in the morning. Landon took me back into his bedroom
and found me a pair of red glasses to put on. They made everything look red!
Landon put me in his mommy’s laundry pile for a picture with my cool glasses
on.

While Landon’s mommy was
trying to finish some chores-she let us watch a few Saturday morning cartoons.
We watched Dora and Tom and Jerry. Landon laughed A LOT while he was watching
Tom and Jerry. His mom could even hear him in the basement! We had breakfast
after the shows were over.

Once breakfast was over-Landon
and I dressed up like SuperKid and SuperCorduroy!

It was a lot of fun and we
flew all over the house! Landon asked his mom about the finger-painting and
play-doh playing again. She agreed that he could finger-paint (since he climbed
up in the top of his closet to get it). I sat in Landon’s room so I wouldn’t
make a mess. After he was done making his pictures, he told me I had to take a
morning nap. Thankfully-he only made me nap for twenty minutes. I didn’t want
to miss anything! Landon played for a bit longer, then we had lunch and
clean-up time. After everything was picked up, Landon, Auburn,
and Dalton laid
down to rest and take naps. Landon never fell asleep-so we were able to talk
with each other for quite a while.

When everyone woke up,
Landon let me play in with Auburn
in her room for a while. She has a neat doll house in her room. Once I was done
playing with her, Landon taught me how to play a word matching game on his
computer!

It was great fun! After a while, Landon’s daddy came home! Everyone
was so excited to see him! He let us watch a football game with him! Landon’s
daddy cheered for a different team than Landon and I did. It was fun cheering
together. Landon and my team won!

After the game was over, Landon put me back in his room to
rest until bedtime. I wondered what Sunday was going to be like? Would it be as
busy as the past two days?

Sunday morning, we woke up,
played a little, watched Little People while everyone else was getting up, had
breakfast and readied ourselves for church. I was able to go to Landon’s Sunday
School class-which is in the same classroom as our Kindergarten class! I
thought that was neat. We learned about King Saul and how he was not kind to
David, even though David did not do anything wrong. After we went home, changed
our clothes and started eating lunch (I sat on the cabinet), Landon’s daddy
told us that King Saul was jealous of David, and he explained what jealous
meant. I never knew what jealous meant before that. It’s nice to learn new
words.

Shortly after lunch, Landon and his sister and brother took
naps. Landon took a really long nap this time. His mommy and daddy were glad
because he was going to go to big church with them later. When Landon woke up,
we had supper and put our church clothes back on. Once we were done eating, we
left the house and went to church. Landon took me to big people church, and he
was very good! His Dad and Mom said he was the best behaved while I was with
him that he had ever been!

While we were climbing in the
van after church, Landon’s Mommy told us that she had a secret to tell us once we
were home and had our jammies on. Landon, Auburn
and I were very curious what the secret was. Landon kept asking for mommy to
tell the secret before we arrived at the house-but he had to wait. I wanted to
know too, but I had to be patient with Landon. Once we went in the house, the
kids all put their pj’s on, had a snack, then climbed on the couch. I was
sitting with Landon. His Daddy and Mommy had their cameras out-it was a little
strange. I wondered why they wanted to have cameras out while they were telling
us a secret? Then, I knew…the secret was…Landon is going to have another baby brother or sister!!!

Oh, how exciting. Landon started
asking lots of questions. He found out that the baby is supposed to be born in
April. That’s only seven months away. He started running around the living room
singing “Happy celebration for the Baby!” over and over again. He even was
allowed to call both of his Grandma’s.

I think Landon was really excited. Finally
Landon calmed down enough that he was able to climb in bed. It was time for us
to sleep so that we would be ready for school today.

After we woke up, we played all morning. Landon ate some
lunch, put his school clothes on, and then put me in his backpack. He couldn’t
wait to tell all of you what fun things he did with me over the weekend. I
can’t wait to see what things I’ll do on my next adventure!

Leave a comment if you enjoyed the story!! (he, he) Also, check out the home page of daveandnic.com to see the video of when we told the kids.

prayer: the kids are not handling the warmer weather very well. pray that they will be able to make the adjustment.

playfulness: this is the second time i've typed this blog. auburn amazingly erased all that i had typed previously. i have no idea what she hit-she only hit one spot on the keyboard.

auburn found a fruit snack wrapper on the floor (thanks to her brother) and took it to dave. it was very cute seeing her walk across the living room. after giving the wrapper to her daddy-she tried to climb up and look in it. they then went to the kitchen for some more.

i forgot to blog about daddy's princess last sunday. she was wearing a sleeveless long pink dress, with matching hat, frilly socks, fancy shoes and a necklace. dave took one look at her and said "we need pictures." upon arriving at church, we pulled up to the doors where i usually get auburn out and take her to class. but sunday was different. dave told me "i'll carry auburn." so...i took landon and daddy and auburn went and parked the car and came in together. his little princess is becoming just that. she LOVES her daddy.

today, auburn figured out how to get on her bike and make it go backwards. she rolled over some laundry that i was preparing to do, and became stuck. although her problem solving skills are still developing, she understood that she needed to pick it up. the only part she didn't understand was that they were stuck under her.

prayer: dave's mom went back home today. please pray for her as she continues to adjust to life without dad, especially now that school is out and she is home a lot more.

playfulness: landon just finished putting his number caterpillar together (1-10), only he did it backwards starting from 10. i was quite surprised that he could count backwards.

auburn is trying to figure out how to get on her bike. she's trying to sit on it like a chair and it keeps moving!

prayer: mom will be traveling back home tomorrow. please pray that she does not run into a lot of traffic complications as she will need to get her rental car back.

playfulness: dave surprised me the other day by getting me a pair of gold, hoop earrings. i have been wanting some that would not cause an infection in my ears for over a year now. he's such a sweetie!

yesterday, landon had a rough day when it came to restroom functions. while sitting and performing the number one duties, he decided to see if he could hit the wall opposite the toilet-he could!!! then, to keep that from happening again, i allowed him to stand the next time, at which point he decided to try the number two duties while standing. yes, i got to scrub the floor for a second time. =(

auburn and landon received some nice new gifts for their birthdays. landon plays with auburn's barn animals and auburn plays with landon's truck. glad they both got something to play with!!!!  =)

landon also received a water gun from grandma s. i took some videos of dave and landon squirting each other with their respective water guns (dave has an entire arsenal of them).

prayer: my dad's mom is very weak. please pray that her surgery at the end of june will correct her problems.

playfulness: today at lunch auburn was eating a cheese sandwich with miracle whip. she was eating the cheese out of it and leaving the bread on her tray. landon decided that it would be fun to pick up the break and wipe her face with the miracle whip side. i took a beautiful picture of her with the white stuff all over her face.

auburn is trying to make goat sounds right now. she received some little people animals for her birthday, and she is copying the sounds that i make for her.

prayer: both of my grandmothers have not been feeling to well.

playfulness: auburn is getting around very well these days. she has even figured out how to climb up the front of my dresser. she likes to look at the pictures on the dresser and discovered that she can use the drawer handles as toe-holds to climb.

yesterday, we all went to the zoo. grandma got to see the kids enjoying the animals. on the way home last night, we stopped to get pizza at little ceasers, when we got home landon announced "i want some pizza on my spice pack!"

]]> 5/31/2005 8:11:00 AM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=215 215
prayer: auburn's iron is low. pray that we can get it up.

playfulness: today, landon used his "hook" to drag auburn across the living room floor. he stuck it in her back pocket and just pulled. she looked up at me with an adorable little smile as she was slid from point a to point b. what nutty kids.

landon is great at playing hide and seek. especially when you say, landon where are you?-and he yells his location out. tonight dave and landon where hiding in the kids' closet. i knew where they were, but wanted to see what landon would say. i stood outside the door and said "are you in the closet?" landon yelled -"yes!" and then turned to dave and said "you say yes!"]]> 5/27/2005 9:22:00 PM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=214 214

praise: we are all healthy.
prayer: mom s. will be coming up tomorrow afternoon.
playfulness: auburn is one today! it's hard to believe that we have no babies here anymore.

she is very mobile these days. soon i will have two to chase.

not much to blog about-the day has just begun.

uncle phil and aunt michelle dropped off her birthday present tonight since they won't be able to make it to the party. she received a cabbage patch doll-which she adores. at one point, the doll's face was dripping with drool as a result of being kissed so much. it took pictures of auburn hugging and kissing the baby. she even was dragging it as she walked along the side of the couch. very very cute!!!! good job uncle phil and aunt michelle!!!!

landon also liked the gift - but had to be satisfied with receiving the box. he ended up putting it on and walking around with it. he reminded me of the photos you see of people walking around with a barrel around them.

yesterday, landon insisted on wearing his cowboy hat, vest and boots to the park. at first i was tempted to be prideful and worried about what people would think if they saw my son dressed up like a cowboy, but then i remembered-he's only three-he's supposed to have fun like that. so to the park we went. he was thrilled to be "woody."

one of landon's newest funnies is watching his shadow. it is very comical to see him running down the sidewalk looking sideways at the ground so he can see his shadow run with him.

prayer: mom smith is going to be traveling up this weekend for auburn's birthday party (she turns one on thursday!) she needs to get a new car before then.

playfulness: landon REALLY wants to see and hold baby aubrey.

the names for the day-i'm landon, landon's daddy and i'm not sure who the rest of the fam is.

landon loves to jump in the piles of laundry-doesn't matter if they are clean or not. drives me nuts.

i feel comfortable saying that auburn is walking now. on a number of occasions today, she just took off across the room on her own. started doing it at about 3:30 this afternoon when we had some company over. she looks very cute! it's easier to notice how much skinnier she is than landon was at one when she is walking. their three and one year appointments are coming up-i'm interested to see what their measurements will be. (tall, i know.)

prayer: friend, amber, went to the hospital this morning. i'm assuming to have her baby. we're praying that aubrey comes quickly and that the labor will not be horrible.

playfulness: had the "pleasure" of waking up at 2:00 this morning to the sound of someone hurling right by my left ear. what a wonderful thing to wake up to. thank you auburn. glad we kept her home from church yesterday.

found landon dragging his sister by her feet across their bedroom floor the other day. she was just looking around. didn't seem to be bothered by it one bit. today, he tried to help her walk, but since she wasn't moving fast enough, she ended up falling down between his legs. barely fussed. she's becoming more tolerant to torture i guess.

auburn has taken a few steps toward some of her toys recently. she also is walking with her toy "walker". actually, it's more like cruising with it. she can move very quickly from her bedroom to the back corner of the kitchen when she's hanging on to her toy.

landon was reading one of his new books, panda bear panda bear, when he came to a water buffalo and asked what it was. when told, he repeated it back-but it came out butter waffalo.

prayer: wisdom regarding work opportunities and energy to complete assigned tasks.

playfulness: auburn is simply amazing. she found my headband in the bathroom this morning and immediately put it on. i hardly ever wear it, so i am surprised she knew what it was. she catches on to things so quickly. seems to be even quicker than her brother, who is seems to be very sharp.

]]> 5/12/2005 8:34:00 AM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=209 209 praise: the weather is so much warmer!!! dave's paper is in, and his final is taken!

prayer: the high school play is this weekend. dave will get caught up on his sleep.

playfulness: so much has happened. the first few things have to do with food. last week we were eating spaghetti-o's and landon called them spaghetti-b's. while dave and i were having cheeseburgers (kids had other stuff since we thought they wouldn't eat them), landon put a pickle slice in his hand and held it up in the air stating "i'm the pickle man" (this is what he calls the character for the big boy's restaurant. in regards to kids not eating cheeseburgers-auburn was reaching for everything at supper and being really crabby about it that night, finally i held up my cheeseburger for her-that was what she wanted after all.

taught landon to say "howdy pardner" when he wears his cowboy hat. he said it when dave walked in the other night, and received a chuckle for his reward. very cute.

another milestone in auburn's life: she started standing up from a sitting position in the middle of the room today. once she figured it out, she kept squatting and standing, and squatting and standing... you could tell she was quite impressed with herself.

today i had 4 friends with their kids over for lunch and to take pictures in our fully white blossomed tree (pics there last year were beautiful). after i had lunch made and finally got the table and chairs set up outside-it started raining. now, 2 hours later with everyone just having left, the sun is starting to shine.

now for the two hightlights of my week-dave bought me a pocket pc for mother's day!!!!!!! it even has my favorite game on it!! yesterday, i walked out in the living room after getting ready and received a warm response from landon. he looked up at me and said "you look so pretty!"

prayer: dave is pulling another all-nighter to finish his paper.

playfulness: auburn took her first steps tonight!!!! the most she took at once was five, but she really was walking independently!!!!!! she was getting so excited-arms flying and pure excitement in her voice. very, very cute.

landon, on the other hand, was a crank all day.

found out today that my friend, meredith, is expecting baby number three-due november 23.

on the way home today, i told landon that i might take him somewhere when we got back to "landon's house." i was thinking grandma's, but didn't mention it to avoid temper tantrums if we didn't go. his suggestion-"i want to go to dylan's house."

prayer: dave is working on his paper still.

playfulness: dave has the picture of my coat up on his blog-please go give your opinion after reading his instructions on his april 30th blog. http://www.daveandnic.com/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=181 

yesterday, i was calling auburn a chicken because she would sit down instead of walk on her own. after hearing this, landon said, "she's not a chicken, she's not an animal!!!!"

in my desperation for the kids to take better afternoon naps, i let landon take his on the couch yesterday. they both slept longer than usual, once again strengthening my belief that they need to be in separate rooms.

auburn has figured out how to take her pants off. it's very funny watching her push on the waistband and kick her legs until they are off. the funniest part is that landon has just recently figured out how to undress himself. auburn also knows how to get most of her shirt off.

while we were at my parents' house last evening, landon gave us all letter names.

tonight before bed, i tried teaching landon what offense and defense was in basketball. he understood to a small degree, but laughed while he was trying to "play" either. most of the time he just ran around in circles.

well, i have much to do.

prayer: auburn is dealing with a very stuffy nose again. pretty sure it's allergies. dave has a paper due a week from tomorrow (with a possible three day extension). please pray for him that he will not get a migraine as he will be staying up to the weee hours of the morning until it is completed. our pastor's wife was in a car accident yesterday morning. thankfully, even though her injuries could have been numerous, the Lord limited them to a badly broken ankle. she had surgery yesterday to have screws and a plate put in. please pray for her recovery as she is not allowed to walk on it for two months.

playfulness: auburn truly is saying her first words. they all sound similar, but her motions that go with them indicate that she is understanding what she is saying. "buh-buh" with a wave is bye-bye, and "ba" is ball. she loves to play with balls. she even tries to throw them and play catch. very funny.

another auburn "funny", (but kind of gross) she likes to try to put her hand in the potty while landon is using it. i really have to keep my eye on her. she is everywhere these days.

auburn is just full of new things. today, she picked up my brush and tried to brush my hair. she also blew her nose this morning. one frustrating thing-she loves to pull her ribbons and bands out of her hair.

my excitement for the day today was that i took our vacuum cleaner apart today to remove an embedded metal hair clip from the inner workings of the machine. took me an hour, but it is working once again (without a high pitched, metal-against-metal sound).

after watching the math circus, landon has assigned us all numbers: landon=1, me=2, auburn=3, dave=4. dave and i were discussing all of the different names that landon has given us, and how we can't keep them all straight. the amazing thing is, landon not only keeps them straight, but can flip between them in a single conversation. besides numbers, his newest thrill is opening and closing the power door next to auburn's seat in the van. affectionately known as "auburn's door."

prayer: been pretty tired. have all five kids tomorrow.

playfulness: landon is truly male. tonight, he was dancing and prancing around the living room-but insisted on not needing to use the bathroom. when he finally admitted that he needed to relieve himself, he grabbed a magazine (one from s&s-playground equipment), and headed for the bathroom. funny to see him walking down the hall clutching the mag.

nieces left their barbies her today. dave was wanting to show landon what boys do with dolls...

auburn has figured out how to undress herself. amazing.

prayer: my parents are flying in soon. dave is on his way to get them.

playfulness: landon has renamed each of us. the names are as follows: dave-mr. tiger, nicole-mr. bear, landon-mr. snake, auburn-mr. lion. i'm assuming this is a result of the zoo visit. tonight, the tiger was eating the snake, then the snake would eat the tiger or the bear, and so on. lots of fun running around and eating each other. much giggling accompanied the feast.

while making my salad for the seminary wives' salad buffet, landon picked up one of the dry maccaroni noodles and stuck it in my pocket. nice of him, wasn't it?

husband to have a new poll up on his blog concerning my spring coat soon. check his blog (http://www.daveandnic.com/blog/default.asp) until you see the poll, then please vote.

prayer: my parents are flying back home tomorrow night.

playfulness: landon just said "say 'take your shirt off landon', mommy!" after i said it, i asked, "why do you want to take your shirt off?" his reply, "because you said so!"

prayer: dave has a lot of work to get caught up on, and he has a paper coming up.

playfulness: caught auburn standing in front of the stove today, licking it. she did it long enough that i was able to catch it on video.

let three oldest kids play outside today. they were filthy by the time they came in. one by one, i had them stand in the tub to get the dirt off of their feet, legs, and hands. first jenna, she did fine. then, jordan, also fine. then, landon... he managed to fall in the water (miniscule amount) and get soaked. i had to change his entire outfit.

went to jordan's first soccer game tonight. what can you say about a four year old's soccer game?

]]> 4/19/2005 9:05:00 PM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=201 201 praise: auburn seems to be feeling much better. she's eating better, smiling more, and playing independently more. we were given a large number of very nice clothes for her. i think we are close to being set for her through christmas.

prayer: my throat is still bothering me some. i have a mole on my neck that has been somewhat sore and i need to go to see a doctor. my friend, joybeth mccarnan, is expecting her first at the end of may. baby, jack, hasn't turned yet, and she has been told that he doesn't have much room to do so. as of right now, a c-section has been scheduled for the 17th of may (also landon's b-day). please pray that jack will turn. my other friend, marcia, is due in 2 weeks.

playfulness: yesterday, the family went to the zoo. husband's blog on april 16th(http://www.daveandnic.com/blog/default.asp) gives a good synopsis of the day. one definition needed though, biffed means fell off. the wheel did so at least three times. made the day interesting. today, we asked landon what his favorite part was, his reply, "the animals." also today, we discovered that he brought part of the zoo home with him. he had about 6 splinters in his right hand. i was able to get most of them out, but there are a few that i still need to watch and work at.

auburn loves to work on my computer while i'm typing. she giggles when i repeatedly take her hands off. sometimes, she even gets daring enough to try to take my hands off!

speaking of auburn, she loves to kiss her brother!!! very cute. she gives him a kiss goodnight every evening before bed.

i got a new coat. it's a very bright aquamarine color. i love it and thoroughly enjoy wearing it. the only problem with it is that dave dislikes it greatly.

landon has declared his car bed to be his "big bed" and the couch his "little bed." he wanted to sleep on the little bed tonight. can't believe he is going to be three, one month from today.

dave and i were in the 2 year old nursery tonight. the kids loved him. at first we were a little concerned about how the night would go. three kids began to cry when they saw us. by the end of the night, they were all laughing and having a great time.

gotta go!

]]> 4/17/2005 9:38:00 PM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=200 200 praise: auburn does not have an ear infection. landon was given a two-wheeled bike. he is very excited.

prayer: auburn has blisters in her throat and is on an antibiotic. i'm thinking that i might have the same thing.

playfulness: auburn is crawling!!! for real, not army-crawling. very cute.

today at kroger, landon helped an older woman get some items out of her cart and put them up for the cashier. later she dropped a quarter, when he picked it up and gave it to her, she told him he could keep it since he had been so helpful!!!  also, at the store, the assistant pharmacist complimented the kids by saying that they were very well behaved. (good thing she didn't see them at the next store!)

at the second store (bed, bath and beyond), landon picked up to chip clips, which i let him hold on to to keep him entertained. while i was searching for the "perfect" shower gift, he mananged to slip one to his sister. she coverd hers in drool and he rubbed his on the ground. so now, we have two expensive chip clips. (they are very nice though.)

also, concerning the chip clips, landon discovered that if you rub the handle of the clip on our refrigerator it makes streaks!  i knew that he was using the chip clip on the refrigerator, but i didn't realize it made marks-thought he was pretending (like usual). when i finally looked, he smiled and said, "i drew you a picture!!" 

prayer: dave is on his way home right now. auburn has the sniffles (i'm guessing allergies).

playfulness: auburn is such a mimic. i was chewing on my pen while working on our finances. she did the "gimme" motion with her hands, so i closed the pen and let her hold it. the clicker end immediately went in her mouth.

landon has not had an "accident" in his pants since yesterday morning. what a big boy!!!

last night landon and i were talking about calling daddy. he told me that he was going to say "will you please, please, please come home daddy." "then daddy will say, 'no, buddy.'" i thought it was very amusing that he understood that dave had to stay down there one more day.

while playing with the ride-in fire truck (also from our neighbor) landon said "i'm going to seminary!" then he would get out of the truck and run into his play house saying "i'm going home". he did this over and over. these new toys should be fun for landon and his cousins this week.

prayer: dave is on his way down to columbus for the weekend. pray for safety and a profitable trip. they are going to pick out dad's headstone today. pray for me and the kids as we spend the weekend without him.

playfulness: i have the three extra kids today. the oldest three are outside playing "family." landon is the dad, jenna the mom, and jordan (the oldest) is the little kid.

praise: dave is taking a vacation day tomorrow. we get to go visit the loves.

prayer: landon seems to either be coming down with something, or he has allergies.

playfulness: landon stayed dry for 10 hours today!!!!!  we're so proud of him!!!

landon likes to sing "my favorite things" from sound of music. last week he sang, "when the dog bites, when the bees sting, when i'm feeling sad, i simply remember my favorite things, and then i don't feel, so fat!"

auburn made daddy's day yesterday by giving a voluntary kiss!

prayer: took landon out in the damp, cold air today-pray that he doesn't get sick.

playfulness: today, i let landon take an umbrella shopping with us. he was thrilled to carry it outside. only problem was-the wind was stronger than he was. we were walking up to the store and the wind whipped his umbrella around, throwing him on the ground and sending his umbrella sailing down the parking lot. thankfully for us, a nice gentleman ran out into the road and caught our fleeing umbrella. he looked just like all of the nannies that were blown away in mary poppins. i chuckled for a while (and am still chuckling) at the sight of him trying to hold on to the umbrella.

also today, landon was sitting on the potty when he declared-"mommy, i broke the potty!" he had managed to take off the lid while sitting.

auburn has a new nickname-JAWS. at lunch, i gave her a fork to become accustomed to (not flimsy plastic-but kid plastic). she bit a tine off. amazing. landon has used the same fork for over a year with no such incident.

prayer: sanity as i babysit.

playfulness: while babysitting, i am as close to having 2 sets of twins as i ever care to be. jordan is 4 (almost 5), landon and jenna are only 5 months apart, and phillip and auburn are only 19 days apart. this has proved to be interesting: two that are still not fully potty trained and two that are still not fully mobile.

yesterday, the 6 of us went outside. i had the two youngest in the pack-n-play. auburn was laying on her stomach watching us and phillip was standing up. he then decided to use her as a step-stool to see better over the side (stood right in the middle of her back). surprisingly, she didn't scream too loudly.

auburn had her first taste of dirt yesterday. while i was walking her around outside, she picked up a toy golf ball, and then decided to lick it.

my brother got my parents with a good april's fool joke. he is still having problems with his front teeth that he had knocked out and fixed about 4 years ago. yesterday, he called them up and said that his tooth broke off when he bit into an apple. they both fell for it, even began looking up phone numbers of dentists before he told them "april fools!"

once again, more things happened, but i don't remember....

prayer: dave's mom is traveling up today for the weekend. please pray for safety.

playfulness: i found auburn standing in her crib on tuesday. today she was walking around in it. she can now pull herself up to a standing position in about 5 seconds.

landon had the stomach flu this week. his fever got up to 104. nasty stuff.

more stuff happened, but i don't remember it all.

]]> 3/25/2005 8:06:00 AM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=193 193 praise: auburn's seventh tooth came in on sunday. it was a productive weekend in regards to her teeth.

prayer: dave's mom may come up for the weekend. please pray that she can borrow a vehicle to make the trip.

playfulness: auburn was playing with the cd's in the tower this morning. landon's comment, "she's playing with the abcd's!"

this evening, landon was playing with his palm leaf that he made in sunday school yesterday when he informed us that he could play ping-pong with it.

yesterday, landon fell down the stairs at my mom's (thankfully, he was not hurt). while i was holding him after the accident, he said to me between wimpers "i was not being careful." i almost laughed aloud and my brother had to leave the room.

tonight, auburn gave dave the "pouty lip about to break into sobs" look, and his tender side gave in. she got a "holdy" out of it. very cute.

prayer: dave is in ohio this weekend. pray for a safe return tomorrow afternoon.

playfulness: this week has been an eventful one. landon is potty training and doing fairly well and auburn is growing up.

landon's newest impersonations come from the american girl holiday movie. he has declared himself as samantha (?!?), i'm cornelia, auburn is "pridget" (bridget) and dave is uncle gard.

today, landon was playing with a raggedy ann doll (don't tell dave) and he decided that she needed to be fed, mommy style. (again, don't tell dave!)  =)

auburn started to wave yesterday. she also included the sound "bababa" with the wave. very cute!

today, her other top front tooth came through.

auburn has discovered that she loves peach jelly.

praise: we found out that a decent sized check we received (which we believed to be in error), was actually correct. pastor's message on prayer was excellent last night.

playfulness: landon made a birdie in the potty this morning. we were all elated! (see the feb. 9 post if confused about this terminology)

landon has switched from calling everybody by names from monsters, inc. to calling everyone by names from chitty-chitty bang-bang. landon is mr. potts, dave is the king, i'm jeremy (gender confusion, i guess), and auburn is jemima.

prayer: dave and nic are mildly sick and landon is starting to run a fever.

playfulness: auburn had the stomach flu yesterday and early today. her fever reached 102.7 yesterday afternoon. last night, i was handing auburn to dave while he was sitting on the couch. just as i turned her around and extended my arms, she placed a load of white liquid in his lap. i was quite proud of him, he laughed.

this morning, i was talking to my sister, michelle (who is in florida with her family right now). landon said to me "mommy, i want to go to florida." i explained to him that it would cost a lot of money to go down to florida and that we didn't have a lot right now. he promptly said "i have some money!" he then went downstairs and brought up some of his play money and commented, "here's some money, now we can go to florida!"

prayer: auburn had shots today and has been somewhat cranky.

playfulness: landon earned the right to watch something today-so he chose the "snake show" (a.k.a. swiss family robinson). before it comes on, there is an animated short of donald duck. landon calls him "mcdonald."

auburn is 30 inches long and weighs 20lbs. 13 3/4 oz. she is the same length that landon was at 9 months, but weighs about 2 1/2 lbs. less than he did. she's almost off the charts on height, but in the 75th percentile in weight.

one of auburn's favorite pasttimes is to take the cd's off of our cd tower. she's quite funny when she can't reach the next one up.

]]> 3/7/2005 2:33:00 PM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=187 187 3/4/2005 11:10:00 AM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=186 186 praise: auburn is taking a nap! mom smith has her van back.

prayer: i'm still pretty tired-beginning to wonder if i'm coming down with the flu or something.

playfulness: last night, auburn and i went grocery shopping. on the way home, the men gave me a call. i asked landon if he had his jammies on yet. according to dave, when i asked that, landon looked down and then said "not yet." i guess you just have to imagine him looking down at his clothes to check. the mental picture is very cute.

well, i have much to do...more later.

ps. dave added a new unseen feature to our blogs. if you make a comment, i will receive an e-mail so that i will find out about it quickly. (instead of having to go and check the comments every so often.)

prayer: i'm very tired.

playfulness: i know this is early in the morning to be blogging, but landon had a funny this morning that i need to blog before i forget.

he came into our room asking where his alphabet puzzle was at. i told him it was behind the chair with his other toys. he went and looked, but couldn't find it. so, he came back in and asked if i would get up and get it. i felt like being a stinker, so i told him to ask his father. he ran around to the other side of the bed, and said "daddy, can mommy get up and get my puzzle?" even though i wasn't thrilled with his question, i had to laugh. he came back to my side and told me that daddy said i could get up and find his puzzle for him.

prayer: landon has a cold.

playfulness: this weekend, dave and landon went on a "great adventure" down to ohio. auburn and i stayed home. i was able to get many things around the house done. the pictures are hung in our bedroom (after sitting on the floor for 2 months), the taxes are done and filed, picture is hung in living room, landon's calendar is hung in his room, furniture was moved and vaccumed under, kitchen table cleared of paperwork, stairs are mostly cleared off, and upstairs room and storage are closer to being neat. it was quite a nice little break, but...

now i'm paying for it. landon woke up 3 times saturday night with nightmares about a blue frog on his back. so... that made him tired sunday morning. he then got sick in the van on the way home yesterday afternoon, and took a very little nap. because of getting sick, he didn't have a coat to wear for most of the ride home. as a result of that, he has a cold. this in turn, caused him to have a difficult time breathing last night, and i was up with him from 1 to 2:30 this morning. today hasn't been so bad, thankfully.

auburn, on the other hand, is doing just fine. she has perfected the art of her scoot (or army crawl). i think it very funny that she is doing the same thing that landon did. right now she has managed to pull herself up on top of a box with a guitar on it. she is quite entertained with bangin on it. now, as i write, she is trying to open the doors of our entertainment center. she is also jabbering up a storm these days.

now for the funnies from the "great adventure". on the way down, dave and landon were discussing what we get from cows. after covering all of the basics, landon asked dave "and what else?" to which dave replied, "what else?" landon's response, "butter, and what else?" dave-"what else?" landon- "toast." dave-"toast doesn't come from cows." landon-"maaaybee." dave-"i don't think so!" landon-"it might!" i'd like to see what cow flour would look like!!!

the blue frog story: landon was playing with dave's blue soap container during his bath saturday night. they were pretending it was a frog and dave put it on his back. for some reason that stuck in landon's mind, and he kept waking dave up during the night and telling dave that the blue frog was on his back. he even had to change where he was sleeping because he didn't want to sleep in the "frog bed".

prayer: my dad is still home sick. dave is traveling to ohio tonight (and possibly taking landon with him!)

playfulness: auburn finally got one of her two top teeth in yesterday!

this morning, i cut up some banana for auburn (which she loves). she thoroughly enjoyed it. then, while playing with her washcloth, she managed to completely dampen her hair and at the same time, spread banana in it. now, we have the crusty wet look for a while.

also this morning, she scooted from her room to my room. she's no longer a stationary child.

]]> 2/25/2005 8:21:00 AM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=181 181 praise: we are all healthy!!!! we also were all at church tonight (for the first time in a month).

prayer: mom smith's car broke down on sunday. she will most likely need to get a new vehicle. my dad's eyes were bothering him again today. his next appointment is next week.

playfulness: auburn pulled herself up this afternoon on a small stand and was able to get her feet under her. at that point, she started fussing because she was bending over and wasn't sure what to do next. it was pretty funny watching her try to figure out the next step.

tonight, landon and i were discussing his poor choice of behavior at church. after he told me what he did, he very solemnly said "that wasn't a very good idea." i almost lost it, but thankfully for the sake of instruction-i was able to keep my composure.

about two weeks ago, landon renamed all of us based on monsters, inc.  he is mike, i am sulley, dave is randall, and auburn is boo. saturday night, my mom called while she was watching monsters, inc. for the first time (i guess). she wanted landon to know that she didn't like who she was (landon had named her roz!) dad is george. along this line, mom was walking with landon in church and an older gentleman stopped and asked landon what his name was. he looked up and very seriously said, "i'm mike!" it cracks me up!  (he's done this on more than one occasion-in the grocery store, when meeting new people, etc.)

well, it's 11:15 and both kids are finally in bed. it's been one of those nights. i need to get to bed (since my eyes are closing as i sit here).

prayer: auburn and nicole are still sick.

playfulness: tonight, dave held out his hands to try to motivate auburn to crawl/scoot toward him. landon saw them and ran up to about 4 inches away and then said "catch" and hopped into dave's hands. then he said "i hopped!" very funny to watch.

today, auburn picked up her juice cup and drank from it all on her own.

prayer: pray that those of us with head colds, will feel better soon.

playfulness: last thursday, landon was putting his letter blocks on the block wagon. instead of going a to z, he put them in z to a (without any hesitation). i don't know that i could do it as quickly as he did it.

this morning, landon had a banana that he wasn't eating much of. so...i started feeding it to auburn. he didn't like that too much, so i gave her half and put the rest on the table and told him to eat it or i was going to give it his sister. he climbed down from his chair, picked it up, and threw it in the trash.

today, at naptime, landon said "good night, mommy, i'm going to bed". i asked him if he wanted to go by himself or if he wanted me to take him. he said he wanted to go by himself and waved and walked into his room. repetitively he said, "good night, mommy" and waved. i finally asked him, "do you want me to tuck you in, or do you want to get in bed by yourself?" his reply, "tuck me in." when it comes down to it, he's not ready to be independent.

at lunch today, auburn had a bowl of macaroni and cheese (the bowl was one of those bowls with an attachable suction ring so the child can't pull it off of the tray and dump the contents). by the end of lunch, mac and cheese was all over her tray, the bowl was being waved around and the suction ring had been removed from the tray and bowl. landon loved it!

auburn has started to get up on her hands and knees. she's not real sure what to do from that point, but making progress.

dave gave me CHOCOLATES for valentine's day. he starting to have  a real appreciation for the role of chocolate in the life of females. =) he also gave me a video that i have wanted for a while.

last night, dave and i had the opportunity to go out for a sit down dinner at a local steakhouse. we haven't done that in a while. relatives provided the funds for us to go-what a blessing! it was very nice to have some time with just my husband.

]]> 2/16/2005 3:42:00 PM http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=pLink&id=178 178 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

praise: we made it safely down and back from columbus, ohio.

prayer: mom s. was sick with the flu on sat. please pray that none of us come down with it.

playfulness: auburn's fourth tooth (also on the bottom) broke through on saturday. the two on top that have had the appearance of breaking through at any moment-still have that appearance.

she is trying to figure out how to crawl, and coming very close! it's funny to watch her stare at landon. she so badly wants to try to keep up with him. it won't be long-then i'll never get anything accomplished!!!!

prayer: continue to pray for mom smith. monday will be the first "holiday" without dad; and being valentine's day probably won't make it any easier. auburn has had a cold for a week now, please pray that the rest of us don't come down with it.

playfulness: i guess i'll start with auburn. we learned a neat little trick last monday when i took auburn to the doctor for an "ear infection". doctor told me her ears look great and that it was probably her teeth that were causing her to pull on her ears. said the nerve to the teeth runs through the ears. she then proceeded to rub auburn's gums and sure enough, auburn started to tug on her ears. (her 3 teeth still have not come in).

auburn has developed a fascinating scoot. she puts one shoulder and her head to the ground, then digs her toes into the ground and pushes (with her bootie up in the air). today, she tried to pull herself on something for the first time. she got her hands up on top of a little chair and her torso off the ground, then started fussing because she couldn't get her feet under her.

right now, she is zonked on the living room floor. i heard her fussing while i was putting landon down for a nap, when i got out there to get her, she was just about out. i'll go put her in the crib after i finish blogging.

now, onto landon. this might be a little gross, but it was still funny. last night landon had a little accident in the bathtub. we got him out and got it out to put it in the toilet. as it was being flushed (which he gets very excited about doing) he exclaimed "it was a birdie!!"  i didn't think it looked like a birdie, but....

twice in the past few weeks, grandma has taken landon down front in our auditorium at church to see grandpa practice his trumpet. landon has been talking about seeing grandpa play his trumpet all day today. i told him that maybe grandpa would let him play his trumpet when we go over to his house. his eyes got real wide, then a smile slowly crept acrossed his face. he then began to jump in circles and say "i'm gonna play his trumpet!" "grandma and jordan and jenna are gonna watch me!"

if you've read previous blogs, you know that landon loves "mary poppins". today, he was singing "just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." on the way up the stairs, he decided to make a minor adjustment-"just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go up, the medicine go up, the medicine go up!"

yesterday, landon and auburn had the opportunity (which they probably won't remember) to meet my "college mom", mrs. cook. her youngest daughter just moved to troy, and she was up visiting this week.  she called me yesterday morning and asked if we could get together. it was very nice seeing her. it's been a few years since we had seen her.

prayer: continue to pray for dave's dad and family. the next few days are going to be difficult has they need to make some tough decisions.

playfulness: today, landon wrote a capital "F" all by himself without any instruction. he blurted out "mom, i made a f!" and it was PERFECT!