MEAN Hornet

Last night I was sitting at the dining room table looking on the internet and Landon was playing in the dining room window (about 3 feet from me). He got real quiet so i looked over at him and he had something in his hands, i got up and walked to him and he was holding a HORNET. He had picked this live hornet up out of the window and the hornets stinger was stuck in his thumb. Of course i immediately pull the hornet out of his thumb and start yelling for Jason to come in here and kill it. His thumb was bleeding where i pulled the hornet out, so the hornet must have been stinging him really bad. That baby never even made a sound, he never cried or screamed one time! I immediately gave him some benadryl and kissed his thumb and was holding him real tight and all he wanted to do was go find the hornet!!!!! Jason was still looking for it and Landon wanted to look for it too. Thankfully we found the hornet and killed it and Landon's thumb is fine now. It was swollen last night, but this morning it is fine. We have a tough little boy...he doesn't even cry when he gets a shot, but it really horrifies me to know that he will pick up a hornet and get stung really bad and STILL want to go find it. This summer should be interesting!

Daycare Update

I just wanted to let you all know that daycare has been better the past few days. Last week they started taking Landon outside in the mornings so he can wave to me as i leave. He really likes to do this and there hasnt been any more crying! YAY! It is really funny, because as soon as we walk in his teacher will get up and say, "Landon is here, lets go wave bye bye to Mommy". He gets real excited ( he is the only kid that gets to do that). So thank you for saying a prayer for us....it is working!

Landon's First Fishing Trip in the Boat

This weekend has been messy and rainy, but Sunday Jason and I decided to take some chances with the rain (and Landon) and try a little fishing. When we first got there it was sprinkling so Landon and I sat in the truck, but after about 10 minutes the rain let up. I think we threw our rod and reels out about 4 times and called it a day! We rode around in the boat for a little bit, but we stayed close to the dock in case it came a down pour. All in all in was a good trip, we had fun and made some memories. Next time we go fishing and actually want to fish we will call Nana or YaYa :) I took these pictures of Jason and Landon while they were walking and talking. Look at their feet in the 3 below....they walk the exact same. It was so cute! The one below is my absolute favorite! He was really excited to be driving in the one above :)

Landon was saying "Cheeeeeeese" in the above!

I love the one shoe on and one show off....that is how he is 99% of the time.
We forgot Landon's fishing pole at home, so he used Daddy's.

Sleepy Baby...

Landon ate supper the other night and after supper i gave him some cheetos. His eyes were getting heavy, but he continued to eat. His bites kept getting slower and slower and eventually he fell asleep...
His teeth were clamped down on that cheeto and it was actually hard to get it out of his mouth! I guess he was saving it for when he woke up :)

Landon's Favorite Seat in the House is....

in the refrigerator! He LOVES to sit in the refrigerator and we have no clue why. Every time we open the door he comes running and plops his booty on the first step. Im sure he would sit there all day if we let him!

Daycare Days

Landon has been in daycare since he was 5 months old. I had the luxury of staying with my baby for 5 whole months. I know it is hard for all Moms to put their babies in the hand of a stranger and by all means they never do anything just the way you would, but i took it pretty hard. When he was in the nursery they didn't change his diaper enough, they didn't feed him at the exact times that i fed him, they let him sleep too much...in my mind they did everything wrong, but i accepted it and i knew he was being taken care of. I was one of those moms that would wake up an hour early so that i could feed Landon his cereal because i was afraid they wouldn't make it right...a bit much? maybe, but that was my precious little newborn child. When he first started daycare i cried everyday for the first week, i don't know if it was because someone else was taking care of him or if it was the fact that he smiled and practically waved goodbye to me, either way i was TOTALLY not ready for it. My boss actually told me not to bring pictures of him if i was going to cry all day, it was a joke we had between one another! He has recently moved up out of the nursery to the 1 & 2 year old room which i am really sad about. I ADORED his nursery teacher, her name is Mrs. Mary and Landon loves her. I ALWAYS take his little back pack with his name on it to daycare with some socks, a change of clothes, a snack (in case he doesn't like what they give him), some motrin, and a cup (because i am not fond of him drinking out of cups that other kids drink out of). Now i say always in all caps because i have done this everyday for the past 11 months. Well last week i was told by his new teacher that i didn't need to bring his cup any more because she doesn't do that in her class....by do that she means she doesn't allow cups from home. So of course i said ok and went on about my business (after I ranted about it to Jason and every other family member i talk to on a daily basis). So this week I brought his cute little bag in and his new teacher asked me if i had a change of clothes in there, i said yes, and she said well you can just leave his change of clothes here, you don't have to bring his bag we don't do that in my classroom! So immediately I thought this woman is targeting me, she hates me, what did i do to her. After feeling sorry for myself and wondering what i did wrong for 3 minutes....I started getting mad, really mad and here i am 3 days later and i am still mad! I know that being mad doesn't solve anything, but they don't know i am mad, so what is it going to hurt? Not to mention Landon has recently (as of last week) started crying hysterically as soon as he walks in the door and realizes where he is. NEVER, has he cried since he has started daycare and now he grips my hips with his legs and buries his head in my chest and cries big crocodile tears. I guess you can imagine what this does to me. I know what you are thinking...this is just a phase, they all do it. If i had a dollar for every time i heard that! I think daycare really is a good thing for a child, they learn social skills, it helps build their immune system, but i don't agree with some of their ways. Everyone please say a prayer for us in the mornings, well on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday (on Mondays Jason takes him and he doesn't cry and on Thursday's Nana stays with him)! Babies grow up so fast, before long it will be his first day of kindergarten, then junior high, then a senior, then college....i need a tissue!

Daddy's Little Helper

As I type the title I sing in my head "Daddy's Little Helper, Dah Dah, he loves helping you".....oh the joys of Barney! As many of you know we have a dvd player in our vehicle and every where we go we have to watch Barney. There is a song on there about Daddy's little helper and i have it stuck in my head now, thank you Barney! Sunday afternoon Jason hooked up the ice maker to our refrigerator and Landon helped him.

This is the first of many projects that they will work on together im sure! So cute :)

Big Shoes To Fill

Meet the newest employee of Wal-Mart Distribution.....

Jason got home from work Friday afternoon and Landon went running over to his boots and put them on. He loves to play in Daddy's boots!
In the below picture he was trying to take a step, but his little legs couldn't lift the big boot!

He loves his Daddy and wants to be just like him :)

The Lord Was On My Side!

We had our yard sale and the Lord was on my side. It didn't start raining until after lunch. We finally sold our refrigerator and stove and I made about $100 on clothing and knick knack stuff. It really turned out to be a great day. My step dad, Mom, and nephew came Saturday morning at about 9:30 am to help install our dishwasher. My mom and I decided to take the boys (Coden and Landon) to Tupelo so we wouldn't be in the way. We went to the mall where we spent a lot of our time and we also went to Kohl's, Toys R Us, and Walmart. Surprisingly the boys were REALLY good, neither one of them complained or fussed at all. Coden drove Landon around in the stroller with my help of course, and that was a sight to see. I think he only ran over my foot 4 times and my Mom's foot twice. We all had a great time! Thank you Adah for installing our dishwasher and thank you YaYa for taking us to Tupelo for a great day!

I wanted to share a funny story with you. Yesterday I was cleaning my kitchen cabinets out and Jason was hooking up the ice maker to the refrigerator. Landon was playing in the kitchen floor with some pots and pans and I noticed he kept pulling at the front of his diaper. I asked him what he was doing 3 or 4 times and he told me, only it was in jibber jabber and I couldn't understand him. I kept smelling something, so I checked the back of his diaper twice for poop, but there wasn't anything in there. After about 5 minutes he started biting the front of his diaper and then he would flop his diaper around. I told Jason to look and see if he had poop, he did and once again nothing there. Then Jason made the comment that there was probably poop in front of his diaper and that was probably what he was biting at and flopping around....sure enough, a big pile of poop had managed to move to the front of his diaper. Yup, worst Mommy of the Year....my sweet little baby was trying to tell me this whole time to get this poo-poo off of him and I didn't even have a clue!

I was going to post some pictures of my kitchen tonight, but we are getting new counter tops too, so I will just wait until we get them put in so you can get the full effect!

Is it Friday yet?

I haven't posted in a couple of days because it has been chaotic around the Hall house. I had planned to have a yard sale Saturday, but it is looking like mother nature doesn't want that to happen. I went through our closets, drawers, and spare bedroom AKA the junk room. I have been collecting stuff for my yard sale for about a year now and the day i finally decide to have one, there is a 70% chance of rain. I don't know if I should chance it or not, but as soon as i decide i will have it another day, the sun will come out! We also got new appliances for our kitchen. A stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher. My plans were to sale the old fridge and stove in the yard sale, so for the time being the old appliances will be sitting in the middle of my kitchen. I am really excited about my dishwasher because i have never had one before, but my stepdad is going to come and cut out a hole for the dishwasher which will take about 2 cabinets away. Those of you that have been in my house know how small my kitchen is, so 2 cabinets is alot of storage space that i will miss! I love to remodel my house and if i had the money, i would remodel the whole thing inside and out. Jason, on the other hand, doesnt care a thing in the world about it. He would keep the house exactly the same for...well, forever. On top of all the chaos in our house, our washing machine over flowed. I put 2 large rugs in the washer Tuesday and i was in the kitchen cleaning up. Landon got real quiet and i could hear what sounded like the little pitter patter of feet splashing in water. So I walk in the laundry room and Landon is jumping up and down in the water that is up to his ankles...I quickly ran to the washer and turned it off. Bubbles were coming out of the top and water was GUSHING out of the bottom, not like sprinkling out of the bottom, like a dam had broke and water was invading the house type of gushing. I quickly ran outside in a panic to find Jason (who was fixing the lawn mower and weedeater that had both broke) and I yelled that the washer was over flowing and I couldnt get it to stop. He looked up at me calm as a daisy and said "Mandy, just turn it off". I love my husband (sarcasm inserted here). Now i know i have done some questionable things in my time and I have had some blonde moments, but did this man just tell his panic stricken wife, that is out of breath from running through the yard, and that had on her bright blue pajama pants to just simply turn it off? OBVIOUSLY, I had already tried that, but did the water slack up any? NO! So while we are outside having this discussion, Landon is beating the door down because he thinks that Mommy and Daddy are outside playing without him! We got back in the house and got the shop vac out. We filled this 8 gallon shop vac up 3 times. Luckily our house is a little uneven so the water sort of stayed in the middle of the floor. Finally, after about an hour, we got the laundry room cleaned up. We were going to have steak and baked potatoes that night, but i went to subway and picked up some sandwiches instead. So the moral of the story is when one thing breaks, everything breaks, that is just life so make the most of it! Oh, and never underestimate a panic stricken woman running through her yard with bright blue pajama pants on!

Tennesse Family Fun

Jason, Landon and I went to Tennessee this past Saturday for Mother's Day. We went to my sister's house first to visit. My nephew, Coden, who is almost 5, got a wii system. He loves to play Guitar Hero, which he calls the rock star game and might i add he is really good at it! He gets into it big time...he will dance and bang his head like rock stars, it is hilarious.

Landon was walking around dancing to the music!

Next, Krissie and I played...she is good at it as well! Me, on the other hand, not so much.

I had the giggles and every time i would laugh, i would miss a note. I laughed ALOT! It was alot of fun though. Fun times!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is really a special day for me. Being a mom is so rewarding and I truly treasure every second of it...it can be frustrating at times, but i love my son more than anything in this world. Jason and I are both blessed with wonderful mother's and we are so thankful that they are both involved in our lives and in Landon's life. At times we take for granite the time we have with them, but i realized Sunday at church that our time is limited so we need to make the most of every moment. To me, a mother is what keeps the family together, keeps the family strong. Daddy's are truly amazing too, but there is nothing like a Mother's love. I always heard the saying "a Mother's work is never done" and even though my Mom worked soooo hard my whole life, I never understood that saying until I became a Mother! We are chefs, taxi drivers, doctors, dentist, therapist, mechanics, nurses, teachers, principals, maids, and in my case keeper of the fruit loops! When Landon gets older, I want him to be able look back and think that he had an awesome life and I want him to see that his Daddy and I did everything for him. I want him to appreciate me like I appreciate my Mom. I love you, Mama and Mrs. Carolyn. Happy Mother's Day to all you awesome mom's!

In honor of Mother's Day, I would like to list some of the things I remember and appreciate about my own Mother.

1. She was never too tired to come home and play with my sister and me.

2. She always made holidays extra special, even though we didn't have tons of money.

3. She taught me love through the relationship she had with her Mother.

4. No matter how many boyfriends we cried over, she told us it was there fought and their lost.

5. She took our side, no matter what and loved us no matter how bad we messed up.

6. She would tell my sister and me that she brought us in this world and she would take us out....I believed that for a long time!

7. I would call my Mom every afternoon (at work) just to ask "whats for supper"....she would already have an answer.

8. She would get home at 5:00 in the afternoon, come home and cook supper, and hand wash the dishes. EVERY night...that didn't seem like a big deal then, but boy does it now!

9. She taught me that the best things in life are free....Money doesn't buy happiness.

10. My Mom tried to get me to watch her cook so i would learn how, but I never thought it was necessary....now Jason has to suffer.

11. Mom always has good advice, I don't always take it, but I usually realize that i should have.

These are just a few things that I love about my Mom, the list could go on and on!

The Things We Do...

This is what a typical night at our house consist of....

Oh the things we do....

Scrub a Dub Dub, It's a Baby In The Tub

Landon loves bath time. If you ask him if he wants to take a bath, he will drop everything he is doing and run to the bathroom! He even knows where his bath towels and wash clothes are. He also has to have every bath toy in the bath tub, including the shampoo bottles and soap bottles, even if it is a quick 5 minute bath.

The bubbles are courtesy of the Easter bunny!

Spaghetti Nights :)

We had speghetti Monday night, which is Landon's favorite meal. He gets that from the Hall side because I dont care much for spaghetti. Anyways, he is going through this stage where he hates to be fed, but he hasn't quite grasped the fork and he wants to do everything by himself....he wants to feed himself, dress himself, put on his shoes by himself, go up the steps by himself, he is 100% boy! Anyways, back to the spaghetti....I usually just fix him a little plate and put it on his highchair and he digs in.

At night time, Jason gives Landon a bath and I get him ready for bed. On spaghetti night Jason hates to give him a bath, can you see why? He is such a funny kid. Even though speghetti nights usually consist of 30 minutes of extra cleaning.....it is little things like this that i love!

I just wanted to throw these pictures in...This was after an oreo snack. I think he puts more food on him than in him!
I love this kid! :)

Let's Back Track.....

to Easter! This Easter was really alot of fun. Last Easter Landon was only 3 months old, so he wasnt that into it. I must say that the Easter bunny was really good to him. I use to love when the Easter bunny came, at my house it was almost as good as Santa, and that was something I remember about my childhood. So, I want Landon to have that same experience. Jason and I got up Easter morning and ran in the living room so we could get ready with our cameras (he had the video camera and I had the digital camera). Landon slowly walked in the living room (bless his heart he is like me in the mornings) and his reaction was everything I had hoped for and more....

He through his hands in the air and was dancing....he was really a happy boy!

This is what he saw...I told you the Easter bunny was good! Please notice that the Easter bunny brought Mr. Landon a potty chair. He is only 1.5 but he will tell you when he has used the bathroom, so the Easter bunny thought this would be a great time to bring him a potty....well this is what Landon thought about it....

I think he really understands that something goes in there, but he thinks it is a good place for toys. So i tried sitting him on there just to kind of show him....So potty training should be lots of fun!

I bought this cute little Easter outfit, but it was too cold to wear on Easter, so i just took some pictures of him in it on a warm day. When I first started taking the pictures, he was clearly not into it...

So I did what always makes Landon laugh (by the way he is sooo my son) I acted like i fell and hurt myself. That kid will cackle if you fall or get hurt. Now just to be clear, I am the same way, I always try to make sure the person that fell is ok, but i can't contain my laughter. He truly gets it honest.

The one above is my favorite!