Happy Fourth of July

The big kid came home for the long weekend. It was great to have him around.  

Northwest Park petting zoo

Ice cream treats at the barn in Salem. 

A quick visit with Breton at Chipotle. 

Landon and Kona

http://youtu.be/ClZrdkyoArQ click on the link to see a video of Landon and Kona, our German Shepherd.

Landon has been sick for several days with a stomach bug. Yesterday he sprang to life and we headed outside to play with Kona.

The exchange at the first of the video is about a whale toy that was in the bushes. We recognized it as the toy that Adam threw into the roof from the pool....in 2009. The whale was black and moldy. The roofers must have thrown it off the roof.

Celebrity Day

Little boy has himself all styled, gleeked and ready to be PSY today at school. It's Spirit Week so he has to pay $1 to participate. His rolled up dollar bill was ready last night and tucked in his picket this morning.

Yesterday was Crazy Hair Day. I regret that I don't have a picture. Maura had about 6 hair bows in and Landon had a tall Mohawk.

Nemo

I know it's Spring....so snow pics should increase your appreciation of the warm air and longer days. This snowstorm was a big one, everyone had to help out to make us mobile again.

Gordie representing Cape Breton with that warm scarf from Mom! Everyone lives that scarf!

Breton

A sweet little boy came into our lives in November. On Saturday he came to visit. We are crazy about him! See how he's changed since November.

Pre flight briefing

Landon and Maura flew with Gordie last weekend. They just flew 20 minutes but in a beautiful airplane on a gorgeous day. Of course, having Gordie as pilot is quite the privilege as well. As Gordie was preparing the airplane to leave, Landon was giving me his last wishes. You know, just to be safe. He told me if anything were to happen to "tell all the future ladies that I was a hero".

An indelicate balance.

This morning Landon made a comment that I laughed really hard at, but Maura just shook her head and kept reading the cereal box. A few minutes later when Gord came into the kitchen I recounted the exchange to him. Landon who was within earshot, looks at both of us, shifting his focus back and forth erratically and says "laughing or spanking"?

Because it usually falls into one of two categories.

Do you want to know what he said? Maura told him a nice thing about his his grandparents and he said "you gotta love the elderly".

Performing Arts

Maura and Landon both took acting classes this year and they ended the program yesterday with a little show. It was so cute!!

Although Maura is the more animated performer, she is not appear as psyched as Landon to receive the coveted certificate of completion.

Mohawk

I took the two youngest into work with me this morning. Their behavior was amazing. There are two little Westies at work and the boy dog does not like Landon! In fact, he bit him last year. So there was some growling but no biting today. After 3 hrs at work we headed over to west farms mall to meet up with the aunts and cousins. Money from Nanny and Grandpy was burning holes in four pockets. At Rainforest Cafe Landon's eyes landed on an LED Mohawk headband and it called his name. Here he is wearing it proudly in Trader Joe's.

Christmas Spirit-ed

If you do not have a brilliant abundance of Christmas lights on your house, just know that Landon will judge you as having no Christmas spirit. None. The tackier your light display, the more Christmas spirit you will be judged to possess.

Here's a photo of Maura and Landon relaxing on the couch, playing a game on Maura's Kindle Fire.

Marry christmas

Landon brought home a present from school, wrapped in this paper bag. Look at the fancy font on the word "Marry" (sic). I think that when he realized he had to rewrite it, he abandoned the fancy notions and went with straight up normal handwriting.

We opened all our presents today, and the big Christmas dinner is tomorrow. This afternoon, Gord made the raviolis for tomorrow, Ash and I watched The Help. (have you seen it? Wonderful!) This evening we headed up to Windsor for dinner at our uncle and aunt's. Even if Christmas timing is a little wacky this year, it's fun to spread it out a little.

Merry Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas, Happy Everything

We celebrate Christmas today here at the Ramsay house. Ashley and Uriah came tonight, we wrapped up wrapping and I'm looking forward to opening presents and eating breakfast. Landon put his reindeer food out, we'll see if it's still there in the morning.

It is Friday and my kids are are making me......

With Gordo away for the past few days, I have been running.around.like.a.crazy.woman after i get home from work. Soccer for two kids, scouts for two kids, school open house (4 different dates), grocery shopping squeezed in there and it seems like I am never getting my house cleaned or tended to. So tonight, after getting home from work, I mustered my crew and gave them all a job.

I was expecting whining and insubordination for some reason but they all reported for duty with fervor, zeal and determination (ish) . And by all I mean everyone but Landon. I forgot to include him.

So happy was I about my kids that I wrote a text to my husband and dramatically staggered it so that it said:
"Your kids are being"
it's always bad when the wife refers to the kids "your kids" isn't it?
Next text: "extremely"
..pause..
Text: "over the top"
....Pause....

....Pause a little more...

....ready
Text: "Helpful to me "

Don't you know, he was in the shower and got them all at once. No waiting with bated breath to see just what his kids were up to. But he was still happy.

So it's Friday and my kids are making me happy and proud.

How was your Friday?

Soccer practice

David is holding a soccer clinic for his siblings. He is exercising great patience with Landon. And great is the patience required.

Toads

I came across Landon at the front of the house holding a cute little toad, fully expecting me to want to hold it as well. I demurred and he continued showing me the jumpy little guy. An unexpected burst of tears erupted as he faced saying goodbye to the toad. I asked him why he had to say goodbye. His older brother had told him he couldn't keep it or it would die. In the video below, you will see how I was wiser than the older brother.



So I folded liked a cheap tent. I got the old aquarium out for him, we put stuff in there and he named the toad "cody" if I remember right. By the end of the next day we could all see that David was right, we would kill the poor toad if we kept it. So we convinced Landon to return it to the swamp and I do have pictures of that somewhere. My boy was pretty sad.

But a couple of nights later he found a toad that was fatter and made this video for you:

Spring Vacation

It's school vacation week! We made no plans to go away anywhere, just do some random projects at home like... make stuff, paint stuff, spread mulch, play Xbox, get the boys ready to go to Canada for the weekend. We made a list of things we'd like to do.

Top of the list was: Panera for lunch, 5 Guys for lunch, Chipotle for lunch. Whose kids are these anyway?! We did go to Panera for lunch, but out for lunch everyday- fuhggedaboutit!!! Ham and cheese at home kids! Actually sandwich making at 7 am is one of the things I love missing when the kids are on vacation. I make 3 different sandwiches (with love, mind you) and I don't mind it terribly but I love not having to do it. Here is what they take- no variation except bananas instead of freezer jam for Dave, occasionally.



Maura made this in Girl Scouts and I just love it. She has a great eye for design and unknowingly used the Rule of Thirds here, it always makes a design or photograph more interesting. Also, the fennel seeds remind me of picking Caraway seeds with my Grandma when I was a little pest.



Venom: He is one of Spiderman's archenemies so that makes him bad. He seems quiet and unassuming but the things I read about him are indicting and reprehensible. I can't believe it. One day as Landon was heading off to the school bus with Daddy, I kissed him goodbye and the just to be silly I also kissed Venom, who was being carried in Landon's fist. Then I heard a squeaky voice, "Aw, just what I always wanted, a family of my very own." Here he is, Venom, found in almost every seat you try to sit in.



Also on the list:


Not to be confused with the raw eggs.....






Finished products:




It can be hard to get the tip of the nose and the tip of the ears in the same picture.







After picking up apples with groceries, I tried to be strategic about how I stored them. I have a two tier stand that I thought would be perfect. The Macintosh can go on the bottom shelf so that a certain short person who eats apples indiscriminately, with careless abandon and foolhardiness will default to reaching for them on the bottom. (They are the smaller, cheaper apples). The Jazz apples go on the top where you would think he wouldn't see them or even notice that there is a top shelf. They are delicious, meant to be savored and appreciated. I'll be going back to the strategy drawing board because I found these labels he made and attached to each tray. Never underestimate the palate of a six year old.

The Macs:



The Jazz:



Yummy fresh pineapple:


Today we are going to visit Gordo at work. Before we leave the boys are helping Grandpa with some yardwork and I looked out the window to see Adam driving the Ranger with some stones in it. The stones in the bed of the Ranger, perfectly lined up is so 'Adam', he is very particular about aesthetics like that.



Before we take off.....
I've been enjoying this piece by Selah called "Beautiful, Terrible Cross"