Happy Christmas! Merry Bork Bork Birthday! Part I

This is the last blog of the year!!! To send 2008 off right, I've decided to blog three times! Well, I AM gonna do three blogs, but it doesn't really have anything to do with ending the year. There are so many things to blog about I think it may be very difficult to manage in one entry....so consider this part 1 of a 3 part blog.

Landon turned two, two days after Christmas. Hard to believe that our little guy is two years old already. I'm sure twenty years from now, I'll still be saying, "It's hard to believe our little guys is 22." People always talk about how fast kids grow up, and before I had my own, I was always like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's totally true. It's unbelievable how fast they grow. It feels like I just blinked, and he's running, kicking a soccer ball, singing Away in a Manger, and terrorizing Stella.

We celebrated the two year mark with a house full of family and friends, some lasagna, fettucine alfredo, salad and bread. And of course, no birthday party would be complete without a cake. We were super lucky to have Aunt Lou to make Landon's cake this year. His "thing" right now is the Muppets and I was figuring I'd have a hard time finding a Muppet cake in a book at a bakery. I didn't even have to look! Aunt Lou's cake was perfect. It was DELISH! Not to mention adorable. It was her idea to put Happy 2nd Bork Bork Birthday on the cake, and from seeing the cake for the first time, he's been telling everyone that it was his "bork bork birthday." Hopefully it

will phase out and next time we have a birthday in the family, it won't be a "bork bork birthday." I'm sure it will pass just like the McQueen phase. There are a few more things he's interested in, a few that I feel I should steer him away from...like Yo Gabba Gabba. That's the weirdest show I've ever seen, but he's a big fan.

Speaking of Landon's "things," I thought I'd take this time to publish for keeping some of Landon's other favorites as he turns two intermingled among pics from the party. His interests will change just as fast as he grows, but as of December 2008, here are some of Landon's favorite things, and rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens didn't make the list. :)

Favorite Foods: cheese pizza (not spicy pizza), yogurt, cheese, grapes, apples, and pretzels. Notice not mention of one vegetable....we're working on it.

Things to do: puzzles....he LOVES puzzles. I credit LaVella with this. She has a lot of puzzles at her house from her years of sitting for lots and lots of kids. Landon is doing puzzles that say ages 3 to 7 and doing them by himself. She even has him learning the states in a U.S. puzzle. He's got the obvious Illinois, Texas, California, and Florida down, but he also knows Minnesota and Oklahoma. He also loves playing soccer, and will kick any kind of ball, be it a ping pong ball or a Christmas ornament. He loves to read books. He will listen to a story, but he also likes to "read" them himself, and sometimes makes up something that sounds a whole lot like what you read him last time you looked at the book. I'm amazed at his memory. Landon also loves to go to music class. We "sing with Miss Sarah" every Thursday evening. He's really starting to pick up on singing and dancing, which is very entertaining.

TV/Movies: Obviously, the kid loves The Muppet Show, which is very coincidental, because it was one of my favorites when I was young. That's actually how he got interested. I bought season one on DVD for Dad because we spent some QT watching Kermit, it ended up at our house, and I put it on one day for Landon after thinking about how much he liked Elmo and Bert and Ernie. And here we are with Kermit and the Swedish Chef on his birthday cake. He also likes the Playhouse Disney shows, like Little Einstein's and Mickey Mouse Club House. We watch some serious Blues Clues around here because it's free on demand, super convenient. He also really likes Finding Nemo at the moment.

Favorite Places: soccer games and soccer practice, Vella's house, Papa and Grandma's (either one) and outside. The kid would play outside in 20 degree weather if we'd let him.

Other Favorites: BITE (his pacifier) which definitely will not make the list on his third birthday, as we are about to part ways....keep your fingers crossed for us. Yellow blanket (which Uncle Rob and Aunt Melissa bought him when he was born) He didn't used to be picky about which blanket he wanted, but now it's got to be yellow blanket. Landon has also recently discovered the art of arguing. His favorite arguments: yes way/no way, did not/did too (only it's bid instead of did), love you too/love you more. And last but not least on the list, Papa....both of them. Landon is definitely a grandpa's boy. I've felt bad on more than one occasion for my mom and Chris when they enter a room and are greeted by, "Where's Papa?"

As you can tell from all of the pictures, a good time was had by all at Landon's party. Landon got a ton of loot, and now has so many things to play with he can't even decide where to start! Some of his favorites so far: the Mickey Mouse Club House from Aunt Kelly, Uncle Stallion, and Uncle Scotty, his basketball hoop from Uncle Michael, Mr. Potato Head, from Brett, Heather, Julia, and Liam, and a barnyard puzzle from Uncle Brian, Aunt Connie, and Heather. He's only had one day though so I'm sure the rest of it will catch his attention soon.

I was really looking forward to everyone singing to Landon, since he gets so excited singing the Happy Birthday song to other people. The video is priceless. You'll probably notice him singing along, and then blowing out the candle before the end. He just couldn't wait. Then when we lit it for him to blow out again, he wouldn't blow without being sung too. Thanks to Aunt Kelly and Uncle Michael for the camera work. Couldn't have captured it without ya. :) And so closes part I of our three part blog.....read on. :)