The things he can do (Happy Birthday, Landen!)

My Landen, he turns three today.  Three!  And in his three years, he has proved to me that he is incapable of almost nothing.  I mean, really, the kid can do some amazing things - including stopping this mama's heart a few too many times!  He is mischievous.  He laughs at danger!  He is fearless!  His sense of adventure is inspiring (and kind of tiring!  Ha!).

He possesses so much joy and enthusiasm; laughing so easily, and excited for the simple things in life.   One of my absolute favorite things in the world is when I come home after being gone - for any amount of time.  He runs to me, open arms, squealing with excitement to see me.  That will never, ever get old.

He adores his brother and sister.  He is so trusting.  And for as tough as he is, he holds the sweetest sensitivity, too.  He is concerned if he thinks I'm sad and his little lip quivers at even the thought of being in trouble. I pray that he holds on to some of those characteristics as he continues to grow and lose some of this baby innocence.

So, in honor of this special day, I decided to make a list of the amazing things this crazy, sweet boy has accomplished in his short three years, because really, he is pretty amazing.

He can (in no particular order - and by his own proclamation):
1.  Do cartwheels and flips over the scariest booby traps ("It's easy, Mommy").
2.  Yield a sword that would scare away Captain Hook.
3.  Insert the word "tootie" into any conversation more than any person I've ever met!
4.  Dance like a crazy belly dancer (I'll try to find video of this).
5.  Jump off of the tallest mountains (i.e. arms of the couches).
6.  Climb the highest countertops - with NO chairs.
7.  Almost run faster than both mom and dad... almost.
8.  Swing in the jungle (i.e. on the top bunk of his bunk bed).
9.  Transform into a puppy who licks people (a lot) in an instant.
10.  Sing the Jake and the Neverland Pirates theme song all by himself.
11.  Help cook entire meals daily (really - every single day) with me.
12.  Be the best hider (and be amazingly quiet) when playing hide and seek.
13.  Spell his name and write an 'L' with ease.
14.  Draw beautiful rainbows on a white board.
15.  Eat an unprecedented amount of yogurt in one sitting (when I was taking a shower one day!  Whoops!)
16.  Completely navigate my phone to get to what he wants to get to (his favorites: Angry birds, Easy Bake Oven, and the camera)
17.  Make the best pretend chicken noodle soup.
18.  Let me take tons of pictures of him - he loves to say cheese!
19.  Run around naked more than any kid I've met.  He LOVES to be nakey!
20.  Be the best care-taker of Braeden's puppy (every day he make it his job to take care of it well while Braeden is at preschool)

And just a few more of my favorite things about him:

He absolutely loves his blankey and carries it with him everywhere.
He is so, so ticklish.
He loves to be close, following me from room to room every day and sitting next to me when I sit.
He asks every night if I'll lay with him.
He is always eager to help me.
He is so, so silly.
He daily makes me laugh.  He is SUCH a joy to be around.
One of my most favorite times is when we're lying in bed together at night.  We whisper every night to each other the same things.  "I love you.  I love you more.  You're my best friend.  You're my big boy (yep, he says it to me, too).  Jesus loves you.   Sweet dreams."  Every night.

I love this kid with all my heart.

Happy birthday, my big three year old boy.  I love you, Landen!!

Here are some of my favorite memories with my boy.












































And some older ones:

























Three years!  It's gone by so fast!

The in-between

I recently told Jon (and was reminded by another blog I read the other day) that just because I sometimes complain about feeling like a constant slave to my children some days (amen?), it doesn't actually mean I don't love or am not passionate about staying at home with my kids.  It may seem that I'm saying I don't like what I do, but that's not what I'm saying at all.  Confusing, right?  Daily there are hard times, but it's the in between times - in between the hard work, laundry, discipline, cooking, seemingly constant sickness, and refereeing fights.  It's the moments in between where I hear lessons I've worked hard to ingrain in their minds shine through in the words my kids speak to each other.   Or in the laughter that occurs while I work side by side with them to clean up their tornado strewn rooms.  Or every once in a while one of them tells me how much they love dinner that night and I'm thankful for the hard work it may have taken to make that meal knowing I did it for them.  It's because of those tough moments that my joy flows from down deep.

Here are some of the in between in our lives this past week:

Valentines day came and went with homemade Valentines, a dinner picnic in the living room, and A Dolphin Tale (Emerson had just finished reading the book, so we rented the movie).



Emerson's class recited two poems in front of the school.  She, of course, did great.


(I'm not sure if the above image will work, but I think if you click on it you will be able to see a video of the recitation!)

I finally brought my camera to gymnastics practice (it's so dark in there and I'm so far away from the action) and caught a few sweet moves (check out the air between Emerson and that balance beam!).



And lots of silly moments, too.









And the Friday Phone Pics!  (All of these are on Instagram.  If you are, too, my user name is sandra_kelly).




I hope you had a good week, as well, filled with some of that in-between stuff!  Have a fantastic weekend!

When it snows...

We play.  :)