Super Landon!

I have been having "one of those days" for a couple of weeks now. Life gets so crazy and hectic that it seems like I will never get caught up. Instead, my frustrations have overwhelmed me to the point where I just want to go to bed for a month and sleep it all off. You know?

Today was going to be a busy day. I hadn't been in to work for a week and I knew that my work was piling up on my desk {literally}. On top of that today was payroll and 1st quarter taxes needed to be taken care of. So, top of the list....log in some hours at work.

As today is the first day of the new month, it also means that it is the first day of the April menu. {don't ask....}I do my major grocery shopping at the beginning of each month and then fill in with the last minute items about once a week. Grocery shopping had to get done today because my cupboards were looking bare from using up everything last month. So, after work....off to the grocery store.

What? It's already 2:00 in the afternoon? I still have to put ALL of the groceries away, maybe I should eat some lunch, I should probably try to squeeze in a shower at this point too. Landon gets off the bus at 4:00. The Intermountain Gas guy apparently knocks on the door WHILE I am in the shower. Mackenzee apparently climbed IN the front windowsill to wave at him WHILE I was in the shower. Hurry through shower so that my daughter does not end up opening up the door for the strange man who apparently needs to talk to me. Run outside to find that he is marking the lawn with yellow paint for the guy who is installing the sprinkler system for us tomorrow.

Landon is home already? Grab the piano books, hop in the car....off to piano lessons we go. Halfway there Landon reminds me that we forgot to grab the videos we rented last week that are due TODAY. Sigh.

Run home, cook dinner, inhale dinner.....grab the movies so I can take them to the video store. Figure while I am out I should probably stop at Target to find the bday presents I will need for this weekend. Friend party...family party. Grab Landon to go with me so he can pick out the present for his friend.

Drive to Target first...oops! I meant to go the other way to drop the movies off first. Will have to take the long way home now. Get to Target...tell Landon we have to hurry so we can make it back home for bedtime. Grab the cart.....Landon says...

"MMmmmm....smells like popcorn." :0) And he giggles. I ask him if he wants some. He stops and looks at me shocked and wants to know if I'm serious.

SCREECH! What? Wait a minute. My son is with me at Target. He is actually ENJOYING going to the store with ME. AND...he knew that we were not going to be buying something for him. He was still happy....and he was giggling....and smiling....and he wanted to hang out with ME.

Of course we got some popcorn. AND a sprite. AND...I slowed down.

Why am I always in such a hurry? Why am I always looking ahead to the next item on my list of things to do? This morning as I was sitting at my work computer filing taxes {blech!} and feeling uber stressed one of my favorite songs came on. I listen to my playlist off of my blog at work, so I guess most of the songs I listen to are on my favorites list. BUT! The first song on the list is "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing". Anyway, the words, "Here's my heart....." made me stop for a minute. My other blog has recently referenced to my need for "water" but for some reason I was finding it difficult to find a source. I have felt tapped out and dried up offering my water to others.

ANYWAY....so tonight....my most amazing son and I....we have a most marvelous time. At Target. :0) We chatted about Bakugan, and Star Wars....Video Games, and honestly....even burps. I impersonated Darth Vader. Landon was impressed. :0) Did you know there is a new kind of Bakugan now that is a two in one? They are twice as powerful! AND....Target just happened to have two of them! One for Landon's friend and one for Landon. Lucky kid him! We wandered up and down the aisles looking at cute mom clothes and shoes, toddler toys, toothpaste, and even toilet paper. He did not complain once about shopping for the boring stuff and even suggested that I purchase a facial rejuvenator that he was sure would do wonders for me {because the commercial said so}. Just so you know....I splurged and bought it and my face feels wicked awesome. Landon even made sure we picked out some Dora toothpaste for Mackenzee because they were out of kid toothpaste. Did you also know that when people turn 16 they move out of their parents house and buy their own? I didn't know that. But apparently Landon has big plans to do this so that he can get away from Mackenzee. :0) Apparently it's a love/hate relationship.

After we dropped the movie off we stopped off at Artic Circle and went through the drive-thru window and go some ice cream. Did you know that you can make a killer ice cream mustache on your face if you smoosh your lips on the ice cream cone really hard? It's very rugged looking. :0)

We got home after bedtime. :0) But the best part of the whole evening was when he came to give me a hug goodnight and said, "Mom, thanks for EVERYTHING tonight."

You know Landon, it was all you. Thanks for wanting to hang with me. Thanks for giggling with me over the "Birthday POTTY" card. {get it?} Noah will love it. Thanks for helping me to find a present for baby Jeremy. Your vote of approval made it so much easier for me to decide. Thanks for thinking of your sister even while you had me all to yourself.

You are such an awesome kid. This is not the first time that you have somehow known that I needed a little extra boost. You have such a big heart and I am so glad that you have shared it with me. My cup may not be full, but the water you gave me tonight....made a world of difference. You are one of my bestest friends, Landon. You always have been. I hope you always will be.

Love you to the sky.

I'm Thankful for.....

So, it's the Family Home Evening just before Thanksgiving. What do you do? You talk about what you are thankful for. Having a 2 year old and trying to get her to participate makes FHE a little more difficult in the preparation dept. for me, but I much prefer her being a part of it, than to have her squirming away to play something else. So, go team!

Anyway...this year, with Landon being practically 8 I really wanted to help him understand what it meant to be thankful. So, as soon as he got off the bus I ran them to the dollar store with instructions to find things that represented the things they were thankful for. Check out what my kids got.....

My dear son Landon.....

He is thankful for skateboarding, riding bikes, and snowboarding (though he doesn't snowboard). He is also thankful for Superheroes, school, money, food, books, and sports. The M&M's represent Mom & Mackenzee. I thought that was cute. The things we couldn't find representations for we just wrote amongst the other items. We got family, friends, Primary, Our Country, Music, Prophet, Jesus, toys, house, art, tv, and Toby.

I think he did pretty good.

And not that she really understood the whole idea....these are the things Mackenzee picked, and which were honestly about accurate for what a 2 year old little girl would be thankful for! ;0)

Stickers, flowers, pink, food, money, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Choo Choos, ice cream, suckers, princesses, Toby, dancing, ba-ba's, and pretties (for her hair).

We did ask her who she loved and so we wrote down Mommie, Dada, Landon, and Kenzee. Yes, she said she loved herself about three times. ;0) And Landon wanted to make sure we wrote Jesus on hers to so that she would know "he existed".

So, after we did all of this, I did try to explain to Landon about being grateful for those things he was thankful for. That there were those among us who didn't have the things we did. Like our home, food, clothes. When you are young, you just assume that everyone has the same stuff. Like it's just a given. Everyone gets a house with their own room full of toys, right? Once I explained that it was not so, he seemed a little shocked. But, I am hoping with this realization he will be a bit more grateful for what he has and what he gets.

So, not to jump the gun here, as I know we are still two days away from the big day....but....

I am TRULY thankful to all of you! My friends and family. You make my world a little bit brighter. And thank you for letting me tell you time and time again that my kids are cuter than yours. I'm sure by now, you've seen that I was only being honest. But still...thank you! ;0)

Happy Thanksgiving!