In case Tuesday's video of Landon wasn't enough for you...

Here are two more from today:

Thanks, Aunt Alison and Uncle Joel!

My sister and brother-in-law sent a gift for Landon. Here are pictures, so they can see him opening and enjoying it. We're going to visit them soon, so Alison made him his own carry-on bag, and they filled it with fun stuff to do on the plane.

The bag:

A sticker book:

A magnet book:

Curious George Goes to the Beach:


They sent Goodnight, San Francisco, too, but I don't have a picture of that one.

A Magna Doodle:


And an airplane:


Thanks, guys!

Happy Birthday, Landon!

Happy birthday, Landon! Two years already--wow!

We spread out Landon's gifts throughout the day, so he could play with each one.

Opening lowercase Fridge Phonics letters first thing this morning:

A Sesame Street movie:

A t-ball set:

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In Landon's own words, "A bike!"

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And his very own banjo:

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Happy birthday, big boy! We love you!

Sandbox and a belated Mother's Day wish

We finally got our sandbox filled with sand today. The sand was wet, and we didn't have long until we needed to leave home, so we didn't let Landon get in. He did get to play along the edge, though, which was still a lot of fun for him.

Now that it's all set up, here's our new backyard play area:

I hope that everyone had a good Mother's Day. Since Sunday's a work day for us, we didn't do anything too special. However, Landon made me a card at church, and he and Tony gave me cards and soap and lotion. Also, for the first time, Landon spontaneously told me, "I love you." So that was a nice little gift.

Birthday party!!!

Today we celebrated Landon's soon-to-come second birthday with a Sesame Street party! Here are LOTS of pictures!

Making personal pizzas:

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Playing with Sesame Street toys while the pizzas baked:

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Eating pizza:

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Filling Oscar's trash can with trash and dumping it back out:

(In the background there, you can see the Big Bird footprints that we followed around the room.)

Sticking cookies on Cookie Monster's mouth:

The Elmo and Grover hats we made:

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The presents (the big Elmo is just a decoration, though):

Opening presents:

Sandbox from Gramma and Papa:

Cozy Coupe from Grandma and Grandpa (he calls it "Landon's Durango):

Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, and Elmo cupcakes:

A special one for my sister who lives far away and couldn't be here today:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALISON!!!

Eating an Oscar cupcake and ice cream:

What a mess!!!

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I think (and hope) that the party was a hit and the kids had fun. I know that Landon did! Happy early birthday to him!

Tractor

My Great Aunt Lois and Great Uncle Larry gave Landon this incredible John Deere ride-on tractor. Someone Uncle Larry worked with was going to throw it away, because his kids had outgrown it (This thing is worth $250 new, and it's still in great condition!!!), so Uncle Larry salvaged it from him, and they wanted Landon to have it. My parents picked it up from them last weekend and brought it to Landon tonight. It is definitely a big hit with him. He can't reach the pedals, but he still thinks it's a ton of fun. It's got a trailer to pull, too. I think it will be an even bigger hit next spring, but he sure is happy with it right now. We had to put the tractor in the garage and tell him it was sleeping to convince him to stop sobbing when it was time to go in for dinner.

Tomorrow's birthday party day! The house is decorated, and we're just about ready to go!

May Day

Happy May Day! We celebrated by making a spring flowers collage.

(Sorry, Landon had a very busy schedule today, so I had to take his picture while he was on a conference call.)

Instructions for this project are on the Spring page of Toddler Celebrations.

We've been very busy here this week mulching a play area in our backyard and preparing for Landon's birthday party this weekend. Pictures of all those things will be coming within the next few days.