Brrrrrr!

All I can say is... IT'S FREEZING HERE!!! We have been home bound most of the weekend. I think this morning they said 10 minutes to frost bite, that's how cold it is.

I finished up my last Christmas card Thursday! Yippee! I'm sure they'll be a few stranglers doing "New Years" cards but that's ok. Now I can get to work on all of my Christmas stuff, like finishing my shopping. I'll be on a mission tomorrow running around. I do have a senior photo shoot outside tomorrow - let's hope the wind dies down and it warms up! And I'm shooting a small wedding on Christmas Eve. day but the Christmas rush is coming to an end.

Cole has been glued to the Wii all weekend. That thing is great for days like these! Landry is busy rearranging and taking care of her babies. We had dinner & drinks with some friends Friday night. And YES I got my new car on Monday! I love it!! Merry Christmas to me!

Opps!

Yes I missed a week, and I heard about it! So here we go a 2 week catch up.

Santa did come to our house to check up on the kids and collect their Christmas lists. The boys (Cole & neighbor Sam) got a kick out of it. Sam's daddy had a "meeting"... and so Sam & Olivia came to our house while Santa made his rounds. Landry was initially very excited to see Santa and gasped and giggled as he walked in the door. That was until Olivia shrieked with terror and crawled up my leg. We tried getting a photo of Santa with the girls but unfortunately they weren't having it.

Cole was "star student" of the week last week at school. Which meant he brought home "Teddy" for the weekend. Teddy is a traveling bear, he comes to visit for the weekend with a travel bag full of essentials. P.J's, blanket, bib, bottle, etc... The star student each week is responsible for taking care of Teddy & entertaining Teddy all weekend. Teddy went everywhere with us and made it back to school safely on Monday, which we were happy to see. One less thing to remember when you're out and about!

Mommy asked Santa for a new car this year. And since Santa can't fit that in his sleigh he'll be delivering it early. We're picking it up sometime this week! I'm so excited!

It was actually pretty warm outside yesterday and that gave us a chance to get some lights outside. Cole has been on us about getting Christmas lights up. Good thing we did it yesterday because it is freezing out today and windy! Tyler and I had Tyler's company Christmas party last night. We had Abbey to babysit, which the kids always get super excited about. Cole really enjoys it because "she knows how to play the Wii!"

Cole finished up basketball on Saturday, and continued to be our little ball hog ;). As you will see we're still working on what it means to TRAVEL... He says he wants to do indoor soccer next - but we'll see!

Enjoy the mix of photos for the past 2 weeks!

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Thanksgiving Week/Weekend!

It's taken me 3 days to recover from being gone for Thanksgiving. It's Christmas card central at our house. I'm designing Christmas/Holiday cards like you wouldn't believe. I keep calling it "Christmas Chaos!" ;) Of course it's a good thing now that this IS my business and full-time job!

We had a busy but relaxing Thanksgiving in Burlington. Food, food, and more food. We had family pictures with my parents, a night at Fun City, Tyler gambled everyday..., and I tried to catch up on sleep. Making it to bed almost every night by 9:00! Who Whoa! The kids had fun playing in the leaves at Great Grandma Marge's. Cole went "deer hunting" or should I say "deer watching" with Grandpa Steve. There were no weapons involved. Cole was super excited to see "10 DEERS and a 9 POINT BUCK", as he exclaimed!

Well - I hear Santa is visiting our house tonight to get the kids Christmas lists. Should be interesting to see how Landry responds to him this year...! Enjoy the montage and Landry's SINGING! This is her favorite thing to do these days, belt Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at the top of her lungs.

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Ok so it's Saturday night - I'm blogging, the kids are in bed, Tyler's playing poker at the neighbors, and I don't have any of my Christmas stuff out yet... Oh well, maybe I'll get to it tomorrow. Gee, I'm starting to sound like a man!

Today we got to play in the SNOW! We didn't get much - but enough for the kids to have fun in. Landry just wanted to eat it and Cole wanted to put it in a bucket and "save" it. He'll be disappointed tomorrow when it's a bucket of water. (It's suppose to be 50 degrees)

This a.m. we had practice/scrimmage. Landry wasn't very happy about sitting in the stands. She wanted to be out on the court with the big kids. She took off a few times sprinting out on the court. I got tired of chasing her so Tyler ended up carrying her while coaching. She LOVED it - she watched those kids like a hawk.

We had a busy week and were pretty shot by Thursday night. Of all nights... it was about 2:15 when our lovely neighbor dog started barking uncontrollably. Let me just say, there are only 2 neighbors in our whole development that don't fit in. One lives right beside us. He's a divorcee that I think is having a mid-life crisis... He loves to go out all the time - gets drunk - comes home - lets his dog out - and passes out on the couch while his dog is outside in zero degree weather barking like crazy! Our bedroom and Cole's bedroom are on that side of the house so it was like the dog was sitting next to our bed, it was so loud! So after 2 hours of non stop barking and Cole waking up, Tyler decided to do something! He decided he was going to call the neighbor and let him "have it"! So he pulls out the phone book and dials the number. I'll remind you - it's about 4:20 a.m.... Here's Tyler's conversation.
"Mike" - Hello?
"Tyler" - Yeah, is this Mike?
"Mike" - yes
"Tyler" - Would you shut your ?!?&*...(explicit) dog up, that has been
?!?&*... barking for 2 1/2 ?!?&*... hours!
PAUSE...
"Mike" - Ah, What dog...?
"Tyler" - Is this Mike Barker?
"Mike" - yes
"Tyler" - that lives in Grimes?
"Mike" - yes
"Tyler" - that lives on Norton?
"Mike" - no
"Tyler" - Oh, OK - sorry
CLICK

Cole and I were upstairs dying laughing - I was laughing so hard I was crying. Cole was giggling like a little girl. Yes - meanwhile the dog is still barking non-stop! So after a child being woke up, wrong phone #, and a sheriffs call the dog was finally quite at 5 am. Needless to say none of us could go back to bed, it had been to exciting of a time. Cole came home from school that day and went to bed at 5:30 he was exhausted!

He told me on the way home - If that dog starts barking again tonight I'm going to be sooooo mad! (I was just glad he didn't add the ?!?&*...(explicit)in there! ;)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm a day late on getting this update out... Landry caught some kind of bug and was sick yesterday and recovering today. She had a high fever all day on Sunday and did nothing but lay on either Tyler or I. Her fever finally broke early this morning. I stayed home with her and she seems to be doing much better. Cole was bummed that "Landry got to stay home and he didn't"...again that "life's not fair thing" stinks!

Tyler and I went out with some friends on Saturday night. We went for dinner and then to the piano bar. That's always a good time.

I'm neck deep in photos and Christmas card designing. It's crazy - but I'm glad everyone is doing this early! Maybe I won't be designing cards up to the day of Christmas...? I HOPE! I've signed on to do a few weddings this summer. I've had lots of experience with wedding photography as I assisted a wedding photographer during the summers I was in college. It was fun and exciting... stress filled but exciting.

Cole has 1 more weekend of basketball practice and then we start games. Hopefully I can get some video of the chaos.

A few pics for this week!

Winter...?

I think winter has arrived in Iowa. We went from high 70's early to mid week and then WHAM! 30 degree weather. What can we say - it's IOWA! Speaking of IOWA - how about the Hawkeyes! Yea!

Cole started basketball on Saturday. He really enjoys it. After practice he told Tyler he needed to "go home and rest from basketball". It totally wore him out. When he got home he actually went up to his room and laid on his bed to rest.

Landry continues to call call Tyler - "Tyer" (no L), and when she says momma she says it so fast it comes out "mya!" So we are Tyer & Mya. She's too funny, last night she decided she was going to take Cole's room over. She crawled up in his bed and got all comfy and watched TV.

Just a few pics this week of Cole at basketball practice. And 1 of Landry and Olivia (next door neighbor girl), they got to play together on Saturday while I went on a photo shoot!

Happy Halloween!

What a GREAT week! It was a full week of fun. Pumpkin carving, trick or treating, and a rockin' PARTY at the neighbors house! After months of Cole flip-flopping on what he was going to be for Halloween he finally decided a week before he was going to be a pirate! Landry was a pink poodle, and an adorable one at that! She did wonderful trick or treating with all the big kids. Cole and his friends were always about 4 houses ahead of us, but we went with a huge group of people so it helped to have lots of extra eyes keeping track of them. Our neighborhood is crawling with kids, Tyler stayed back this year to hand out candy and we had at least 150 kids stop at our house.

Every year for the past 3 years our neighbors have had a huge Halloween bash. Tyler and I usually do a couples costume, but this year we decided to do our own thing. Tyler was Michael Jackson (if you know Tyler well... you know he can pull off a perfect Michael Jackson!) So Jamie (Landry's daycare provider - aka MAMIE...) and I were partners this year and went as saloon girls. It was fun getting all dressed up in the old time costumes. We had a blast - I'm sure the pictures will give you a good idea. There was a band at the beginning of the night and then we busted out the karaoke machine! We look forward to this party every year! It's a short walk home and it's with all of our best friends! If anyone needs costumes for next year - we're getting quite the collection!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wedding Day!

We traveled back to Burlington this past weekend for Blake & Rachel's wedding. Tyler and Cole were in the wedding and Cole did an AWESOME job as the ring bearer. He looked so handsome in his tux. He was tearing up the dance floor, he had been practicing his dance moves all week! It was a long day for him and he was a real trooper.

Landry wore a fancy dress finally, and didn't fight me too much about it! She looked pretty darn cute. She was hitting on all the little boys at the reception - a few sons of past high school friends! Wayne Thompson's little boy, Rocky and John Gerber's son, Gavin. She was not one bit shy with them... Kind of scary!

Then we blew all the way home today - literally. We are having high winds today. I was a bit nervous passing semis' on the interstate. Whole corn stalks were blowing across the road.

Here are some snapshot of the kids over the weekend.

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Pumpkin Patch Fun!

Sunday we headed out to our favorite pumpkin patch, Williamson Pumpkin Paradise! Cole always looks forward to going every year. It is a free for all there - a farm house with a HUGE patch and barn with animals, hay bales to jump off, and a corn pool to play in. Landry was in heaven. She RAN the whole time through the patch trying to pick up all the pumpkins. She would fall down about every 5 feet tripping over vines. She was a mess by the time we left, we came straight home and gave both kids a bath. Every year Tyler and Cole search the patch for the biggest pumpkin, I swear. 70 pounds of pumpkin later...we were ready to go. That pumpkin is always our "Iowa Hawkeye" pumpkin. It's become a tradition since Cole was born.

Grandpa Terry stopped in town on Sunday. He even got to go to Cole's football game! Cole was really proud of himself loved having someone there to watch just him!

We're gearing up for our big weekend in Burlington. Tyler's cousin is getting married and Tyler and Cole are in the wedding party. We finally found a dress Landry will wear, I HOPE! At least when I tried it on her she wasn't ripping it off. Thanks to Grandma Nelson - she found it and mailed it up to us! Hopefully I'll get some good shots throughout the weekend.

I'm also keeping extremely busy with the photography business. I had 12 appointments last week. And I'm excited to be taking a high school friends family pictures while I'm back in Burlington. I haven't seen her in a long time so this is extra special!

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That's not fair...

Cole's new saying... "THAT'S NOT FAIR" to which my response is aways - Life's not fair. It's not fair that I get to buy toilet paper, milk, and laundry soap at Target and he gets nothing! Believe me... it's not fair.

Cole's optional kindergarten class visited the fire station last week and I stopped by to snap a few photos. The kids had fun squirting the fire hose, climbing through the fire truck and riding in the ambulance.

Landry caught the yuckies that are going around. Plus an ear infection in both ears. Our first ear infection I might add. Cole got his 1st one right around her age also.

She loves ravioli as you will see in the slide show. She usually wears most of it, but has a great time trying!

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Football and Dresses

Cole had his 1st football game of the year last Tuesday. He was pretty proud as he scored a touchdown when it was his time to run the ball. It's at the end of the montage. I actually caught it on video. He is really liking football this year and is hanging tough. Another boy from the opposite team was "cheating" as Cole said... and was tackling him. But we gave him a huge lecture about being tough at the beginning of the season. It seemed to have stuck with him.

Landry is very antsy during the games. I took lots of snacks to the game and she got a little carried away with the chocolate cereal straws. You'll see the mess she made with them watching the game. She yells GO GO and GO COLE at the games, it's so cute. Could she be following in her moms foot steps as a future cheerleader???

I have also been search high and low for a fancy dress that she will actual wear. We have a family wedding to go to in a few weeks and I want her to wear a foofy dress. This is what she thought of the dress I brought home last week... needless to say I returned it the next day. She acted like it was attacking her. We'll see how she likes the next one. Keep your fingers crossed!

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Apple Fest

The kids and I went to the Penoach Winery Apple Festival on Saturday. My friend Kelly and her daughter Sayler went with us. It was a warm day for an apple festival -usually we're in our long sleeves. But I'm not complaining, I know in just a few short months I'll be whining about how cold it is. The kids ate lunch, picked out apples, went on a horse drawn wagon ride. Landry thought the horse were "doggies" and went absolutely crazy when she saw them. She yelled "DOGGIES!" at the top of her lungs. Kelly & I sampled the wine and I chased Landry non-stop. She is unbelievably BUSY!

Tyler and some other neighbor guys golfed in a tournament. Let's just say - they didn't win. I went out with some friends Saturday for dinner. We tried a new restaurant in West Des Moines called "GRAZE". It's actually owned by a chef from Burlington. He also is connected with Martini's in Burlington (the famous Chicken Lips!) So when we got there I told the chefs wife I was originally from Burlington and I was bringing my friends to try the chicken lips. We ended up with the best seat in the house called "Alice in Wonderland". And got "The Big Ass" dessert sent to our table at he end of the night. Anyone who has seen "the big ass" knows it's earned it's name! After dinner we ventured to another new spot called "Blue Moon" - it's a piano bar and totally FUN! If you've never been to a dueling piano bar - YOU MUST GO! There are a couple in town and they are a BLAST.

Landry is running around with all her babies right now being mom... and Cole is running the backyards with a gang of boys. The weather is beautiful and my house is clean - what more can I ask for!

The song on the montage is called "Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band. It's my favorite song right now. It's the one song I blare from my computer on a daily basis! I could play it over and over! The song is just sooo me, our neighborhood, town, our life!

Enjoy photos from the Apple Fest!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Family, Friends, and Beautiful Weather!

The weather here has been beautiful! Lucky for me I had 5 photography appointments this past weekend - and the weather was great. It was actually really warm.

Cole started flag football and dad is "Coach Tyler". So far so good. There are 2 other dad helping which Tyler is very thankful for. The kids seem to be understanding a little more this year. What a difference a year makes... We've notice a huge difference in Cole. He's actually listening and "getting it".

Landry has definitely turned into my girlie girl, but still likes to try on Cole's football garb, and race cars with Brady at daycare... (pink purse in hand)! She loves to push her babies around in the stroller. The other night she wanted them all in there. So Tyler piled about 6 babies & stuffed animals into it and she thought she was something else! It was pretty funny.

Grandma Karen came to visit this past weekend. Enjoy the Smilebox!

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Fall is here!

It's been a LONG week, and I'm glad it's finally over!
So much for knocking on wood last week. Landry & Tyler got the flu full force on Tuesday. It was not pretty!
Both Cole & Landry had their checkups on Monday. Cole's 5 year - he was 45 1/2"(93%) tall and 46 lbs.(80%). Landry's 18 month - she was 33 3/4" tall (95%) and 23 lbs. (30%). Landry grew 3" in 3 months!
I think fall has officially arrived. The weather is all over the place and I noticed the falls are starting to change. I love seeing the leaves change and smelling the crisp air! I can't wait to start roasting marshmallows and sit by the fire.

It's a short post this week! To much to do!

Yea HAWKEYES!!!!

Miss. Thang

I have exactly 20 minutes to get this post done while Landry & Cole watch Diego. So here it goes...
A house of sickies again this week! Cole is still fighting something - not sure if it's totally allergies to blame. But both Cole & Landry go to doctor check-ups tomorrow. Cole's 5 year and Landry's 18 month. (Yes - Landry will be 18 months tomorrow - crazy, I know!) I had strep throat this week and am finally feeling better. Landry has had some crazy reaction. We think it's to whole milk but that's still to be determined also! Tyler somehow has narrowly escaped any illness. (Knock on wood - 2 children sick is enough for me. I don't need 3! ;)

Cole starts flag football this week. Tyler is the coach. Officially this time. He figured he might as well, he's out there every time anyway.

Landry's hair is finally getting long! Long enough for piggies. The first time I put them in she thought they were pretty funny and laughed at herself for 5 minutes and then ripped them out. Yesterday she left them in pretty much all day. I fixed them after nap but otherwise she's learning to leave them in. They are SO DARN CUTE! She has also decided to start calling daddy - TYLER! Every time... It irritates Tyler to no end!




Until next week! ENJOY!

Cole's Big Day!

Off to school! Cole started "optional Kindergarten" 2 weeks ago and so far so good. He was mostly impressed that the bathrooms at schools were separated. 1 for girls and 1 for boys. He goes to his daycare in the morning and the school bus picks him up at 12:05 takes him to the school and then picks him up after and returns him to the daycare. No more afternoon naps which has really been nice because he's totally wiped out when he gets home. I have to keep him busy when we get home or he crashes on the couch before supper. Here are 2 photos of the first day.



Cole's 5th birthday party was Sunday afternoon. We had 12 kids and an AMAZING balloon artist (Daniel Poe with www.creationswithatwist.com) come to entertain. The kids had a blast guessing his creations as he twisted. After that we had Spiderman cake, ice cream, and a SILLY STRING fight. The party was a success. Here is a short montage of his party on Sunday! Check out the Mario Kart the balloon artist made for Cole as his "special gift"! All I can say is WOW!

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I know - I'm always talking about our neighbors! But seriously we DO have the best neighbors! We went out for a couples night Saturday night. We went to Prairie Meadows to the horse races. My first time... although we did not win any money we had a great time trying. Sunday night we went to a neighbors house for a cookout. Let me just say when you need anything around here, there are about 12 people helping out in the blink of an eye. Like when Cole went MIA on Wednesday night outside (as it was getting dark). And your neighbors dropped everything to pitch in and create a mini search party looking for him. I was terrified and at the end of my rope. Only to find he was HIDING in the house under the table and had fallen asleep. They're not just neighbors - they are FAMILY. Thank you!
Here are some pictures from the past 2 weeks. In remembrance of our "bad day" on Wednesday night - Cole picked the Alvin & Chipmunks song "Had a Bad Day" for our montage! How perfect...

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TURNING 5! Party #1...

1 party down...1 more to go! This weekend we traveled back to Burlington to celebrate Cole's 5th birthday with family. Grandpa & Grandma Nelson hosted a sports themed party. I decorated a 3D baseball cake and lots of baseball cupcakes. We had all the things you eat at a sporting event - hot dogs, chips, pop, etc... Cole had a great time running around with his 2nd cousins. Cole also spent time fishing, 4-wheeling, and checking out grandpa's tree stand. I think he thought he was in heaven! He got lots of presents - 1 of his favorite gifts was a Wii game (Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games)! Cole was in ah of the Olympic swimming contests last week. He's going to be bummed that the Olympics are over tonight.

Landry spent the weekend handing out kisses left & right. She is my lover girl. Landry & I went to a bridal shower (Tyler's cousin Blake is getting married). Cole is the ring bearer in the wedding and Tyler is an usher. The wedding is in October and Cole is super excited. He really looks up to Blake - he is a "policeman"!

Now I need to prepare for the 2nd round... Cole's friend party next Sunday afternoon! Should have some great pictures next week! By the way - probably won't post next week till Monday night. Labor Day Weekend!!!! YEAH, long weekend!!!

ENJOY!

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Gearing Up!

Well - today we're recovering and gearing up for the first day of school! A little flu bug hit our household this past week and Cole came down with it last night. Just in time... but today he seems to be getting back to himself. Landry was sick Tuesday & Wednesday. And I was feeling it on Thursday & Friday. Cole was soon to follow on Saturday night. So far Tyler has steered cleared - knock on wood! Tyler also celebrated his 31st birthday yesterday! Grandpa Terry came to visit and he and Tyler played in a father/son golf tournament. We had a little dinner and Cheesecake Factory cheesecake to celebrate.

Cole will be attending Optional Kindergarten since his 5th birthday is in late August. He will go everyday, 1/2 days at the elementary school. It is just to prepare him for all day Kindergarten next year. He is raring to go! We had open house Thursday night. And he is excited as 3 other neighbors boys are in his class. (Poor teacher..!)

If you haven't seen it yet - the new LANDRY ANNA DESIGNS website is DONE! WoooHooo! I'm getting a great response, and keeping my fingers crossed. I am ready for the opportunity and challenge!
To check it out go to: www.LandryAnnaDesigns.com

A little something different this week - Enjoy!

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Bad things happen in 3's...???

What a week! My week started off just fine until WEDNESDAY. Long story short... I had taken the kids and a neighbor boy for a bike ride/run. On 1 of our last stops at the park for a drink we came upon a CRAZY situation! A dead body had just been discovered in the creek @ the park about 10-15 feet away from where we were taking our drinks. The cops had not even arrived on the scene yet. I was completely wigged out. I quickly rounded up the boys to get them out of there before they realized what was happening. Fortunately no fowl play was discovered and they think the 55 year old man had a health complication while riding his bike on the bike trail and veered off the trial into the creek. I just didn't not want the kids to see the body! Just as we were leaving the sheriffs cars arrived.

THURSDAY - I got a flat tire.. a huge piece of mangled metal stuck in it. 1 hour and some odd minutes later a repair man to the rescue... That's what you get when you visit multiple job sites everyday! I have had so many flat tires the past few years.

FRIDAY - We were outside visiting with some neighbors and the kids were playing. While jumping off a landscaping rock Landry dislocated her elbow. Not good... So we were off to the emergency room. Luckily it was a quick fix and she was as good as new. But she screamed all the way to the hospital - and Landry is tough - she NEVER cries!

So that's 3 - I'm good now right...?

LandryAnnaDesigns new website should be up in a couple days! I'm excited - I hope all the hard work will pay off!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dora!...and Diego!

Landry has discovered cartoons lately and has a fascination with Dora. Grandma Nelson of course jumped on the chance to get her a Dora nightgown. Landry went absolutely crazy when she got it and wanted to put it on "right now"! Cole likes Diego and lucky for us it's on right after Dora. So we get a good hour of quite in the house every on and then! Some pictures in the montage are Landry in her new nightgown and the kids watching Dora. As you will be able to tell - they are mesmerized...

Landry has shown interest in the "potty" the past few weeks. I know, she's only 16 months. But she has been going on the potty about 4 times a day for the past week. She gets so excited and knows exactly what to do! Tyler and I are blown away. I'm in no way "potty-training" but I will welcome the times she uses the toilet!

Cole is busy at daycare - they spent most of the day on Friday at the city pool. I picked him up around 4:30 and he was on the couch sleeping by 4:45. I can't wait till school starts and he's busy ALL day with no rest time. He'll be wanting to go to bed early for a change. He's my night owl and not a morning person.

I have been strapped to my computer this past week. The new LandryAnnaDesigns website is coming along. It's almost ready to be launched. I have a few more details to finish - but it's looking good. I ended up buying a website template and customizing it myself. If anyone has dealt with buying a website and having it designed.... it's very expensive. Plus I'm picky and wanted to be able to pick out colors, designs, etc. myself. I will send out the website address as soon as it is launched!
In the meantime I have been playing with photos and taught myself how to "spot color". It's my new favorite thing! Check it out!


Another cool thing I discovered is "wordle" go to: www.wordle.net to create your own.
Here's mine, I'm thinking about framing one for the playroom!


Enjoy the montage from the week!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Vacation Bible School Wraps Up!

Cole had a FABULOUS time at Vacation Bible School! He looked forward to it everyday. They had a little program today at church service so I took a few videos of our singer in action! Landry clapped and tried to sing along too. It will be no time before she'll be up there.

Saturday we drove to Cedar Falls to pick up our new furniture!! Whoa Who! After over 3months of waiting it's finally here! We are so happy to finally have it. We donated our other furniture to a neighbor who is going off to college. Leather furniture in a college apartment - I'm sure it will be the coolest hangout! We decided to make a day out of our trip so we stopped at the Lost Island water park. Very cool place - I highly recommend it! The kids had a great time. Even Grandpa Terry came and rocked the water slides with Daddy and Cole! Landry probably made 100 trips up and down the slide - she LOVED it!

Today we have about a million things to do around the house - so we're off to catch up!

The montage is a mix of the week. Cole had crazy hair day at school on Friday. He kept saying he was a "ROCKSTAR - BABY..."! ENJOY!

If you haven't visited the Landry Anna Designs website lately I encourage you to take a look (www.landryannadesigns.blogspot.com)! I added photography few months ago and the response has been overwhelming! I am so thankful... Check out the photography samples at the bottom of the site. We are starting to work on a "real" .com website. So stayed tuned for exciting updates on this new adventure!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Playing in Nature!

Thursday night I took the kids to the new Natural Playscape area at Jester Park. They had a hay-day playing with everything nature. We grabbed some food on the way there and had a picnic. Cole was so excited because about every 200 feet deer would pass in front of us on the road through the park. So we ended up seeing about 25 deer up close. Then when we finally made it all the way to the Playscape he got to stand pretty close to some bison & elk. The kids got totally soaked and had the place all to themselves. Cole could not stop talking about the whole experience on the way home.

All this golf must be paying off... Tyler played in a 4 man best shot tournament last weekend and - THEY WON! He and 3 other neighbors played in a fundraiser for "Operation First Response" (supporting wounded heroes and their families). And this weekend he played in the Jester Park Amateur and won 1st place in his flight. Way to go Dad!

Friday night Tyler & I went to a dinner/pool party at his bosses house. We stuffed ourselves with unbelievable food, sang karaoke (Tyler), and relaxed in the hot tub. Saturday I tried to catch up on projects that have been on my "to do" list for weeks now. Fun things like painting, and cleaning our closet.... BORING! Sunday we got to relax by the pool with the kids.

Cole starts vacation Bible school tonight - he's really looking forward to it. It's a whole "Power Lab" theme, which means playing with slime!

Here are pictures from this weekend and last!

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Growth Spurts & Growing Up...

Cole is turning 5 next month and sometimes I think I already have a teenager on my hands. Like when he's eating...ALL DAY LONG! These past few weeks I have been amazed at how much this kid is eating. Where is it all going? And what makes me even more sick is that he is as skinny as a rail! The other night he sat down and ate 3 bologna & cheese sandwiches - and wanted another one! I told him he should wait as I was sure he was going to blow up! The next night he ate 2 hot dogs - in buns! - and a huge bowl of macoroni & cheese. I hate to see what he's going to eat when he's 16! He also seemed to have skipped a whole size in clothes this summer.

T-Ball is over and now he is gearing up for Vacation Bible School starting next Sunday night. It looks like a ton of fun - I know he will love it! Then I think we will do more swim lessons until flag football starts in September. Which seems like so far off - but September is right around the corner! Cole's 5th birthday party is planned and it will sure be a great time for the kids. He is really looking forward to it. He has the last birthday of all his friends - it's killing him!

Speaking of growing up - I thought that you didn't try to ditch parents until you were much older - like middle school. Suddenly it's totally un-cool to hang out with mom & dad. Cole would move in with the neighbors if we let him. He beggs to go over to their house everyday. I think he's just bored with us... at least I hope that's the reason and not that we're already "un-cool"!

Landry is talking/babbling like crazy! And she will attempt to say any and all words with great effort. It's so cute. She could live on "Crunchies" (which are like cheeto puffs - only for toddlers and have a lot less sodium in them!) And chocolate chips. She is hilarious - she will sneak into the cabinet grab the Crunchies and take off to hide so she can eat them. She even has figured out how to open the can with her teeth! She is very protective of them - she gets quite bent out of shape when Cole tries to eat any of them. Those are her snacks and she will let everyone know it!

It's been a long week. We had a cousins birthday party - Grandpa Terry in town - a neighbors birthday party - and a last minute visit from Grandma & Grandpa Nelson last night. It's to bed early tonight!

Here are some family photos I had a friend snap last weekend!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy 4th of July!

What a crazy week/weekend it's been! We have been scrurring around getting ready for our big 4th of July bash at our house. It all started last weekend when we decided it was time for new patio furniture... Anyone who knows me knows I just don't go out and buy the first thing I see. I like to shop around and weigh my options. -WHICH DRIVES TYLER INSANE! By Tuesday he was ready to kill me - I couldn't find anything that I was in love with after going to every store in town (and neighboring towns...)
I finally found something I loved and we had it delivered and assembled in the knick of time (thanks to some neighbor help! - I love my neighbors...) And no, I'm not drinking right now! HA! We were literally putting the last chair together 1 hour before the party.

The party was a BLAST! The kids were in heaven. They had their own food table - filled with cookies, candy, chocolate, and endless juice barrels! They ran from yard to yard playing. We did sparklers, fireworks, and the kids even watched 2 movies outside. Our neighbors projected a movie on the back of their house. By the end of the night (past midnight...) half of the kids were knocked out in front of the movie. This gave the adults a chance to let loose... It was a great time. Can't wait to do it again next year! - Or next weekend works too!

Thursday we went to a pre-4th of July part at Tyler's bosses house. INCREDIBLE house with infinity pool. Landry is a little fish. She loves water and swam around the pool like crazy. She was the hit of the party in her 4th swimsuit - she looked so cute. Cole rode the jet ski, shot water guns, and jumped over and over into the pool. Cole gets so excited when we tell him we're going to "Uncle Mike's House"!

So the rest of the weekend will entail - recooperating, and relaxing...
Tyler has managed to fit into 2 rounds golf in 2 days so far. I hope he's getting damn good by now... Golf, golf, golf... Oh - well, as long as it's not softball I'm okay!

Enjoy lots of photos from the weekend!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

THE BLOG...

I'm so glad I finally started doing this! I intended this blog to be for our family members to keep up-to-date on our lives, but it has turned into SO much more. I LOVE hearing everyone say how much they enjoy reading it every week. Even neighbors who see us everyday can't wait to see the pictures, videos, etc... I has been such a rewarding process. And I love that others are catching on. I too love to read what is happening in everyday life.

Life is busy and now I don't feel like I have to sit down for hours on end to scrapbook. (Plus, I recruited my mom to help keep up with their actual books! - Thanks, Mom... now, get back to scrapbooking!)...HA!

Cole really enjoys watching the montages over and over and OVER... It's great that the kids will always have this journal to look back on. I encourage everyone to jump on the bandwagon!

WHERE IS THE SUMMER GOING...Or has it arrived? I can't tell. It's almost July! And the weather in IOWA stinks this year! We go from sweltering hot and humid, to unbelievable winds, storms and cold fronts.

Cole's last week of T-Ball is this week. So in the spirit of the season ending I put a special montage together of his team. There is also a short video of Cole trying to make it till dinner last Sunday night. He plays so hard on Sunday that this is what we get around 5:00-5:30. One SLEEPY boy! And of course I added a few pics of Landry - or I would be in huge trouble from the grandparents!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Early 4th of July! We will have lots of pics next weekend as we are having a big 4th of July BASH at our house. And going to a "pre-party" on Thursday!