What I've learned about icing...

Ok, excuse me for a moment, but this post is not about Landon. This past weekend, I learned so much about baking and icing that I just had to share. I'm involved in hosting 2 baby showers in April, so I got the bright idea that I wanted to make homemade icing for the cupcakes, just like Rebecca. You remember Rebecca, she made Landon's birthday cake and treats.

So yes, she's awesome at baking and decorating her creations. She sent me her icing recipe and here's what I now know:

1) You MUST use powdered sugar (2 pounds of it!), and NOT regular sugar. It's extremely nasty if you don't.

2) Powdered sugar goes flying everywhere when you use the mixer with it, even if you've got a huge bowl and other liquids are on top of it. (I'm still finding bits of pink icing in random spots of the kitchen)

3) It's wise to wear an apron when making icing.

4) If you don't have enough powdered sugar, you're out of luck. It WILL NOT become thicker no matter what you do. You will be left with oozing icing.

5) This oozing icing will not go in the cute little decorating bag without making a mess.

6) The cute little decorating bag is not so cute. It got very sticky, and the icing slithered out of the small decorating tube.

7) Oozy icing does not go on cupcakes and stay there. It slides right off and does not make a pretty design.

So I failed at my first attempt to make adorable pink cupcakes for the shower. I had to do the old fashioned smear the icing on with a knife. I was disturbed beyond words, but they did taste good! Everyone loved them! Especially this cute little red head:

For my next cupcake icing experience, Rebecca is physically going to help me! I'm down folks, but I'm not out! I will not give up! And while going through this icing mayhem, I had a bright idea. Rebecca should host one of our Mom's Night Out and show everyone how to decorate cookies, cupcakes, and cakes! Sweeeeeet!

Landon's Latest Adventures

Landon and I stay super busy! We haven't had any one "Big event" lately, but a lot of activities going on. March is already looking to be slammed packed with fun stuff with 3 Easter Egg hunts planned, friends' birthday parties, and hopefully more outside time! He is so fun, and I keep saying, "This is my favorite age!" Uncle James calls Landon my little sidekick, and he really is. We do everything together, and I just love hanging out with my guy! Enjoy these pics from Landon's adventures!

Playdate with Ayla (Checkout Landon trying to do his open mouth funny face! Anytime a camera comes out...)

We had so much fun playing with Ayla, sharing snacks, and having lunch!

He LOVES the slide at Monkey Joe's! O got quite the workout going up and down with him a million times!

Daily event of "mopping" the floor for Mommy! (I swear, soon I'm going to wet it and put some soap on the floor!)

Playing at Cathy's house with our buds! (Ansley and part of Riley pictured)

Playing with gal pal, Macey! (She puts up with him trying to take out her bow just beautifully!)

Hanging with good buddy Cade at Cade's 1st birthday party (Their expressions are priceless)

Playing in the 2nd snow of 2010 (I think it's snowed more in GA in Landon's young life than it ever has in mine!)
Church playgroup at the mall (Sutton and Addison pictured)

He adores the mall carousel! (Good thing they have a frequent rider program...)

Playdate at our house with Ayla
Church playgroup at Imaginations at Play! (Sutton and Mommy pictured also)

He's learned how to grocery shop from the best! (I just don't see his coupon folder...)

Loving the large caterpillar! (Victory pictured on right)

More adventures coming soon! Thanks for checking in!

My son...the janitor

Landon loves all of his toys. But there are some things he loves to play with that are not really his toys. For a while now, Landon has been obsessed with brooms, mops, and vacuums. If a waiter is sweeping the floor at a restaurant, or we pass the cleaning cart at the mall, this kid gets all excited. He reaches for the broom or mop and points to it. When we were on the cleaning aisle at Kroger the other day, Landon almost catapulted out of the buggy to reach all the nice, new, clean brooms and mops. It would have made his week had I brought them all home!

Since Landon loves all these cleaning tools sooooo much, Mimi bought him a kid broom for our house, and of course one for their house. Landon loves to sweep the floors and pretend to be Mommy. (After all, he ALWAYS sees me cleaning the floors with all the messes he makes!) He loves to follow me around when I'm sweeping or vacuuming.

If Landon could tell us right now what he wanted to be when he grows up, I have no doubt that he would say "a janitor". I will be proud of Landon in whatever he chooses to do, whether it's sweep floors at the White House or be the President in the White House. For now, I just wish he knew how to sweep it all up in a dust pan! He likes things to be clean, and I'm so proud!

Dear Mr. Sunshine...

Dear Mr. Sunshine,

I miss you so much! I wish so badly that you would come back and sit in the sky. I REALLY want to go outside and play, but it's always raining, or it's cold. Even on the days when you are in the sky, Mommy still won't let me stay outside long. She says it's "chilly", but I know I could handle it. I am tired of my nose running and seeing Mommy come at me with the tissue. I miss the days when we could play outside, not be cold, not to have to wear all these jackets and hats, and not have a runny nose. I have this really cool red wagon that I love to ride in. I also like to swing and I love when Mommy strolls me around. We need the sun to do those things! Please, please Mr. Sunshine, come back soon! I will be very good, I promise!

Love,

Landon

Remembering when Mr. Sunshine was in the sky...

Come back, Mr. Sunshine!

A Grandma's Love

(Dec 25, 2009)

Sadly, we lost my beloved Grandma this weekend. Grandma was 91, and oh did she live a wonderful life! I was so blessed to be incredibly close with my Grandma. My parents were 21 when I was born, and I spent a lot of time over at my Grandma and PawPaw's house while my parents worked and had date nights. I spent many summers with them too when school was out. I have so many fond memories of doing things with them. Gardening, cooking, playing, we did it all.

I loved going with Grandma every week to get her hair done. Afterwards, we would always stop at Dairy Queen to get a blizzard. My Grandma had a HUGE sweet tooth, so of course I indulged her by agreeing to some ice cream! Everytime I went to Grandma's house (even if it was just for us to go eat dinner), there would be a small treat for me in "my drawer" of her dresser. Sometimes it was some stickers, or a yo-yo, or markers. I loved the anticipation of running back to the bedroom to see what she had gotten for me this time! She did the same thing for my brother years later. When she moved out of her house in Stone Mountain to come to Snellville, we found a huge bag of small toys and goodies that she had stashed away.

Even after Grandma lost a lot of her independence, I still loved visiting with her, and I will cherish all of our chats. Now that I have a child, I understand more this love that comes from grandparents. Nothing makes Landon's grandparents light up like seeing their grandson! I joke all the time that Mimi and Papa love Landon more than anyone else!

Landon is so blessed to have such a wonderful Grandma and Mimi. They already lavish him with the same love that Grandma gave me. Words cannot express how happy I am that he will have a close relationship with them. There's something about a Grandma's love...My grandma said to me recently that she always thought of me as her's, and yes, I was her's. She was my second Mom. Even though we were 60 years apart, I loved our bond. Was I the spoiled first grandchild? Probably. But I was definitely loved beyond my wildest dreams.

I can't wait until Landon is older and I can tell him all about his fantastic great-grandmother. I have so many stories to make him laugh and keep her memory alive. I can't wait for Landon to truly experience his grandparents' love for him. It's amazing, and I'm so blessed to have had it for so long!

Grandma, I will miss you so very much. Please hug Grandpa for me and enjoy all the ice cream you want!

Look who's walking!

This was taken a little over a week ago, and he's getting better and better everyday! Don't worry, I've got my running shoes ready!

A VERY different New Year's Eve...

Here's Landon this New Year's Eve! Look how happy! However, that was not the case last year...

Here is Landon last New Year's Eve...
Last New Year's Eve sweet little Landon was 5 weeks old and had what we thought was a bad cold. He was very lethargic and not his happy little self. When he woke with a fever during the night, I called the doctor's office first thing that morning. I knew that fevers+little babies=no good. However, I was not expecting to hear, "You need to bring him in right now." Ummm, ok. So we hopped in the car, and I was surprised when they took us right back. Let me back up to say that I honestly thought that Landon had a cold and they would give him some kind of antibiotic and send us on our merry way.

The next surprising thing we heard was, "You need to walk over to the hospital and have him admitted." WHAT???!!!???! I wish there would've been a video camera in that little room, cause you would've seen Kris and I's mouths drop to the floor. Needless to say, they ran all kinds of tests, including a spinal tap (which scared the pee out of me), to rule everything out. Apparently, it can be so many bad things when little babies spike fevers. He was finally diagnosed with RSV, and we were told he would be in the hospital at least 3 days.

Happy New Year to us, right? As a new mommy, I can tell you that being in the hospital with my helpless little baby was so very hard (and you know I shed some major tears). Kris and I prayed together many times over Landon, and we knew that God would take care of him and guide us to the right decisions for him. Luckily, Landon had a mild case of RSV, and we were able to get a room with a bed in it so that we could stay with him the whole time. Poor Landon had an IV in his head (less chance of him ripping it out) and a breathing tube around his face and nose. Kris and I took turns holding him 24/7 while he slept and tried to get better and received breathing treatments around the clock (Those are fun in the middle of the night!). It was also the worst sleep of our lives! Landon was on a breathing monitor that was sooooo sensitive, so anytime we moved, it BEEP BEEPED like crazy. It must've gone off every 5 minutes. Landon slept through it all!

We are so blessed that Landon turned out to be just fine, and that God was watching over us. I learned a lot about being a mommy in those few days. I also learned that I will give anything in the world to take away my child's pain, and I would gladly trade places with him when he's sick.

So this New Year's Eve is quite different. Landon woke up with no cold, no fever, and a whole year older. And he's definitely a lot happier! Once again, Landon won't be sleeping at our house for New Year's Eve, because he'll be sleeping over at Mimi and Papa's! Happy New Year and may your family be as blessed as ever in 2010!