Happy 4th Birthday Landon!

Four years ago today, at exactly 3:44 PM, my life changed forever. I became a Mommy to a 7 pound beautiful baby boy. I was scared to death! But I was also happier than I have ever been in my entire life. At that moment, I couldn't imagine that it could ever get any better, but it most certainly has. The joy Landon has brought me over the last four years is truly undescribable. He is my life and I love watching him grow and experience new things. I just wish it wasn't going so fast. Four years has FLOWN by! So, Happy Birthday, Landon! Mommy loves you more than anything in this whole wide world! I look forward to every moment I get to spend with you!
When I get more time I will post some pictures of Landon "through the years." No time today, too busy celebrating with my little 4-year old man.

Cupcake Mania!

What do you get when you leave a 3-year old, his dog, cupcakes & icing in the room for just a few moments???






Thats right! Landon put more icing in his mouth and on the dog than he put on the cupcakes. It was too cute!

Happy 8th Birthday Lily!

Today is my dog, Lily's birthday! She is 8 years old (or 56 in doggie years). She is really my firstborn as she is the first pet I have ever had on my own. I got her in 2001, when she was about 12 weeks old and she was the cutest little puppy! She is a PAWS pound puppy, a mut really, and the nice ladies at the pound assured me she would be about 30-40 pounds full-grown. 80 pounds later, she is my big, beautiful girl. Her favorite person - my Dad. Lily and my father bonded the first moment they met. He would come and get her some weekends and take her to run at the hunting camp over at Bunker Creek and she thought she had died and gone to doggie heaven. She loved it and she loves him. I hate that she hasn't been able to see him in over two years. He still asks about her every time I see him.
Since Landon came along, I haven't been very good at celebrating my dogs' birthdays. I actually used to go all out for her birthday (remember that, Miche???) Ok... so I recently saw Marley and Me and it got me thinking about Lily's mortality and I really don't know how many more birthdays I might have with her. As you can see from some of the later pictures, she is getting pretty grey. She can still act like a puppy from time to time. So, here is a tribute to my big girl on her 8th birthday. I love you, Lily. Thank you for bringing so much joy into my life and loving me unconditionally (even when I won't get out of bed to let you go outside!) Enjoy the slideshow!

Cumulus vs. Cops for St. Jude's

On Saturday, I went to a charity basketball game benefiting St. Jude's Children's Hospital. It was Cumulus (our local radio station) vs. the Cops (OCSO). I didn't actually play as basketball isn't a sport I ever really got into (I actually don't even like watching it much) but this game was entertaining. There was also another VERY good reason to watch, one of the referees was Coach Lavin (the picture in the slide show says it all!!) And the cops also had a secret weapon on the roster in K-9 "Tyson". Who was going to mess with him??? Naturally, I was an aging cheerleader for the cops! It was so much fun and what a turnout. Nearly 1,000 people packed the FWB High School gym to watch the game and the total raised for St Jude Children's Research Hospital was $6681.60 which is awesome. And the Cops kicked butt with the final score 104-90, winning the "sprinkled donut" trophy. What a great community we live in that so many people will turn out for such a great cause! We already have the rematch scheduled for January 30 next year so hope to see you all there. Enjoy some of the pics!

One of those weeks...

Have you ever just had on of those weeks??? I will try not to go into too much detail because this could turn into a very long, rambling blog so I will just hit the high points...

MONDAY
-Got some troubling news from my best friend and my heart absolutely aches for her and she is a thousand miles away from me and I can't physically be there for her right now.

TUESDAY
-Work!!! Let's just say I was on-call and it was crazy!
-My mother locked her keys in her car and we had to be at a doctor's appointment in half an hour.
-Her doctor's appointment.
-When I picked Landon up from school, his teacher said "I need to talk to you." You know it isn't going to be good when the teacher says that instead of "I have something to tell you." Big difference! Apparently Landon refused to clean up his toys all day and would cry real tears anytime they tried to talk to him about it. He is so tender-hearted. Wonder where he gets that from? So, the whole way home he moped and wasn't himself at all.
-Got a call from the nursing home where my father is and he was not having a good day. He was hallucinating about some very disturbing things so I had to try to calm him down.
-Tuesday evening was more work!!! Ugghhhh!

WEDNESDAY
-Good news is that Landon was back to normal and his teachers said he was his normal wonderful self.
-Ok, so compared to the first part of the week, Wednesday wasn't all that bad really.

THURSDAY
-As I was about to fix Landon dinner, my brother called and three of his children were at a "spaghetti dnner" at school and he was stuck in traffic and they were waiting with teacher to be picked up. Would I mind getting out in the traffic and picking them up?? Well, it only took ten minutes to get across the Highway to get to the school and then then the teacher who was with the kids says, "I need to talk to you." Not again.... Anyway, they didn't get to eat and so we stopped at the McDonald's drive-thru on the way home... 5 happy meals!!! So much for a quiet evening at home with my Mom and Landon. But I also have to say that Landon enjoyed the excursion and is always happy to see his cousins and what kid doesn't like McDonalds.

Sprinkle throughout the week the fact that my dogs have been sick and decided to periodically throw up on my recently cleaned carpets. By the time Friday arrived I was ready for it. Friday went pretty well all around. I even got to see my Dad and he was doing much better. And I actually do have some fun plans for the weekend since Landon is staying with his Daddy.

So, next week has to be better, right??? That's what I keep telling myself.

On a positive note, K&B Toys has been having a "going out of business" sale and Landon's Gi Gi and I racked up some really cheap toys and games, including twister which is an absolute hoot to play with Landon.

Happy 30th Birthday Cathy!

Wow.... look who's turning 30 today! A very Happy Birthday to my good friend, Cathy! She is miles away in Honduras with her new little angel, Jenna (and her hottie hubby, Ken) so I won't be able to physically celebrate with her but I will be there in spirit, wiithout a doubt. She will also be home for a long visit next month and I can't wait!

So, Happy Birthday Cathy! In honor of your birthday I am posting one of my favorite photos (if you can call it that) of us from Downtown Disney a few years ago. Lookin' good!!!! As Samantha from SATC would say, "Welcome to my box!" Love you!

Jordan's Birthday Party

Don't beat your kids!!!

Landon and I were invited to the Niceville Children's Park in December to celebrate Jordan's birthday. It was a great time and, as usual, my friend Eva took some great photos. Including one that is a bit incriminating, but soooo funny!!!!

New Year's Day at The Zoo

Landon and I used our Christmas present from The Britts and went to The Zoo on New Year's Day. It was a bit chilly but I will take chilly over hot any day. Now, the Northwest Florida Zoo isn't the greatest. But Landon absolutely loves it! His favorite part - the petting zoo, hands down! We must have spent over an hour feeding the goats, cows and sheep. Let's just say they were fat and happy by the time we left. Landon just couldn't get enough. He loves animals! And he is so gentle and patient with them it is amazing! He also enjoyed the train ride and seeing the baby hippo! Can't wait for our next trip, which I'm guessing will be very soon and quite frequent since we have an annual pass.

Landon's Christmas 2008

I sure hope everyone had as much fun this Christmas as Landon did! On Christmas Eve, we went over to Landon's Godparents house. As always, the food was wonderful and the company was even better. It is so amazing to me to see the loving bond Landon has with Aunt Barbie and Uncle Tommy. He certainly is a great judge of character! Landon got to help Aunt Barbie and I set up and light the luminaries and he even got to open a few presents. His Godparents got him a year membership to The Zoo and a Thomas the Train set (his absolute favorite). He will enjoy them both very much there is no doubt! Then it was back home and off to bed so Santa could stop by. This is the first year that Landon has truly understood that Santa was coming to town and I loved seeing how excited he was about his arrival! It was one of the easiest times I have ever gotten him to go to bed! BTW, did I mention that it was 65 degrees!!! Christmas in Florida... gotta love it!

On Christmas morning, Landon awoke to discover that Santa had indeed stopped by our house and left him quite a few presents. His favorite, a remote-control monster truck. Gi Gi and I spent the rest of the day trying not to get run over by the Ford F350! Did I mention that Landon thought that was funny? Mommy might have to remind Santa of that next year! Anyway, he also got a Diego Scooter from Gi Gi, a cool walking and roaring dinosaur, a military playset and some trains from Santa. Plus a couple of DVD's and some neat stocking stuffers. Let's just say he made out like a bandit! I loved watching his expression each time he opened a gift. It reminded me how wonderful childhood is and it was by far the best Christmas present I could have received! I did get a nice belated Christmas present on Saturday when my Seminoles kicked some Wisconsin Badger butt!!

To top it all off, we went to visit Ms. Gini in her new home which is absolutely beautiful and perfect for her! (Even though we hate how far away from us she is now!) We enjoyed our visit with her so much and can't wait to see her again, as always! Then we stopped by to see Grandpa Wagner and wish him a Merry Christmas! Then Landon's Dad came over and he and Landon played with, guess what? That's right.... that darn monster truck and they had a wonderful time. Such a nice holiday!
Can't wait til next year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Landon and I (Lily & Lucy too). Thank you so much for the many ways you have touched our lives and we are looking forward to a wonderful 2009. Love to all!

Landon's Early Christmas Present

Some of Santa's Elves stopped by on Saturday to assemble Landon's big Christmas present from Mommy... a 12' trampoline. To George, Tony, Bill & Gail, I cannot thank you enough and thank you for being adamant that Landon have it assembled by Christmas!!! You guys are just the sweetest, most wonderful friends.
Ok, some of you may be thinking I'm crazy for buying something "dangerous" for Landon, but either you were deprived as a kid and never got to jump on one or you need to lighten up! I had a blast on trampolines as a kid. Trampolines with NO safety enclosure by the way. And I won't even mention some of the crazy things we did on trampolines and I survived. Anyway, this one is awesome and Landon and I have already had hours of fun on it! I even had a little fun on it all by myself. I'm guessing we will have years of fun on it together and I'm looking forward to every second!

Babysitter Jackpot??

I may be on to something....Those of you who know me, know that I hesitate to leave Landon with a babysitter that is not a relative. And those of you who know me also know that Landon is extremely attached to me!! (I'll admit it, he's a Momma's Boy and I wouldn't want it any other way!) In 3 years, he has only stayed with one babysitter who wasn't a relative and that was Ms. Gini (whom he adores!) So, since his Dad hasn't been available for several weekends, I decided to take the plunge and try a new babysitter. By new, I mean it would be the first time he stayed with this person without me around. So, he stayed with Uncle Tommy, his Godfather, for a couple of hours this past weekend so I could go to a Christmas Party. Boy, was I pleasently surprised! He didn't fuss at all when I left and Tommy said he was "perfect" while I was gone. So, maybe this is the nudge I needed to start accepting some other invitations. I know some of you will be happy to hear that!

BTW.. these photos have nothing to do with the post but are too cute not to share!

FWB Christmas Parade

Landon got to ride in his first parade last night and I think he enjoyed it. The weather was great and the parade moved swiftly. Landon and I rode in the big Sheriff's truck and Landon threw candy and waved at everyone. Of course, most of the candy he threw landed right outside the window and one of the walkers had to kick it over to the crowd. But Landon didn't seem to care. His favorite part was probably waiting for the parade to get going. He got to stand in the back of the truck with the coolers of candy. I would like to thank all of my wonderful coworkers who were kind enough to give him candy and Coke. (Don't worry, I'll get even!) They were all conspiring, including Landon, to get him candy when I wasn't looking. But the eveidence was all over his mouth. I had a little trouble getting him to go to sleep last night but then again, how often do you get to participate in your very first parade?

I want to be a Toys R Us kid...

... and so does Landon! We took a spontaneous trip over to Pensacola today (Since gas is so low we can do that now!) Our first stop was the big Toys R Us store. Landon has never been to a Toys R Us store and I haven't been in almost a decade. He stepped inside and said, "Wow!" I thought we would never get him out of the store. But they had some great sales and I was able to convince Landon that if he found something he liked, he could ask Santa to bring it to him for Christmas. It worked MOST of the time. I loved watching him wander around the store, saying "Mommy, look at this. Isn't this cool!" It was just the cutest thing in the world. I was able to get a few Christmas presents for him without him knowing and I found several things for the little boy we sponsored for Christmas. All in all a great trip!!!

Welcome Baby Carter!

Talk about a baby boom! Yet another little bundle of joy has arrived this week. My friend Heather and her husband Scott welcomed their second son, Carter McKenzie Powell on December 3 at 12:33 pm. He weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. (so tiny) and was 19 inches long and is just an itty bitty little bundle of sweetness. Carter will join big brother Parker who is 15 months old (bless you Heather!!!!) Welcome Baby Carter, your Aunt Nic Nak loves you!!!