Lansing Hollow Farm

Dodging bullets.

2011-09-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

    I guess it's a good thing our moving plans came to a full stop. Schoharie county did not fair so well in hurricane Irene. We have friends who live in the area and have shared gruesome tales. One of the houses we looked at was in the flood. We actually looked at that house twice. The other was on the hill but the land was wet when we saw it in April. After the hurricane I have a feeling the downstairs was a mess.

     We on the other hand got off light. Our basement is unfinished and the water runs through it in heavy rain. We actually had less then we get every spring when the snow melts. Joe was thrilled with the waterfall,(the small seasonal stream that runs through the orchard is "Joe's waterfall".) He stood on the back deck several times a day to watch. Rory liked it once it stopped raining and he could walk over to look at it. The animals were all in the paddock with access to the barn. I tried to lock the chickens in but they kept slipping out so I gave up. They obviously did not care about the rain. Benjamin the rabbit was in his hutch until Sunday morning when I decided to put him in his winter abode, an area off the tack room that is about 5x10 ft. I haven't told him he has to go back to his hutch next week when the chicks get here. We lost only one tree, a nice sized maple out in our back pasture. I was very sad to find it Monday when I was checking the fence line with the boys. That in and of itself was hilarious. I have Joe running from puddle to puddle to stomp in them and Rory struggling to get through the field, some of the grass was as tall as he is. At one point he ripped his hand out of mine and turned around to go back to the house. Poor little guy couldn't see where the house was though so he was forced to return to his cruel mother.

All in all we came out nicely but I have to go.

Love Nikki

Happy Solstice

2011-06-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

   House hunting happened, we found a place we loved in Carlisle(Cobleskill). Then I found out they only have one occupational therapist in Schoharie county and limited speech therapist for Rory. So much for the new house with more space. I guess we are going to have to become minimalists. I have already started going through the stuff and made two trips to the thrift store.

     The cute little stallion from across the street came to visit Miss Lucy so we could have a baby horse next spring. Unfortunately Miss Lucy was not so impressed with Himself and she pushed the gate off the hinges and let him in with Dancer who decided he was all that. I guess we will just have a shorter pony then what I expected. Joe is thrilled. He thinks the little stallion is the perfect size. He goes over to the fence every afternoon to have a quick talk with Shorty and scratch his ears.

   Joe is finishing school this week and has his graduation ceremony. He will be going to a new preschool this summer and fall. We are very excited. I have decided to put Rory in starting in December. Rory was so upset this morning that he could not go with Joe.

    Ed is working at Siena College this summer. He loves it. He is really enjoying putting into practice the things he learned during the winter.

     I will snap some pictures of the boys this afternoon and get them posted tonight.

          Love you all Nikki and the boys

So........

2011-03-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

Yes the ball dropped again. Oh well you all still love me right? Winter is finally ending, I hope. We can see most of the yard and the pastures are slowly but surely getting better. Joe makes a daily forage over to the orchard to look at "Joe's waterfall" Please note we are talking about a very small stream of run off water from the neighbors pastures. He then proceeds to pick up snow and through it into the stream until his hand gets cold. We then go check on his rabbit Benjamin (Rosie went into the light - No I haven't quite explained that to him yet).

After feeding Ben carrots we head into the coop to look for eggs and throw the horses some hay after we tell the cows whether they are good or bad. I'm not sure what he uses to measure the cow's behavior but it varies from day to day. I just say they are messy.

Well Ed and I have been talking and we are going to look at a house on Monday. We adore this house but right now it may not be the best place for us so we have decided to be open minded and consider other possibilities. Who knows at this point in this market.

I will try to get some pics off the camera tomorrow and up load them.

Love you all Nikki

2011-02-01T06:45:00.000-08:00

Oh Christmas Tree !!!

2011-01-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

I don't think we made it into December before Joe started asking when we were going to get a Christmas tree. You all know the size of our house. Even with the changes we are still cozy, so the tree always has to come after Joe's party.

The following Friday (since I work on the weekends) we bundled up the boys. Loaded them into to van. Daddy got in his truck (no room for tree in van with boys) and we trundled off to Medusa (5 minutes down the road from our place) to Wright's Tree Farm. We have been cutting our trees there since the year Joe was born. Wow, that was a crazy Christmas, hormone driven crazy new mom, I made Ed cut a tree down the weekend before the holiday because I found out Joe was coming home and my addled brain insisted that we had to have a tree for his first Christmas.

Oops I digress...

Anyhow, we get to the farm Rory has a horrible cold so we keep him bundled near the car. Ed and Rory wait while Joe and I go tromping out to look at trees. So here's the thing, I told Joe he was going to get to pick the tree out. Not help, not look, not vote, but pick. We're walking along and he seems more interested in knocking snow off stuff as I am considering trees. I keep asking him what about this one and how about that one...what do you think of this one ? He takes one look at each of my candidates and says "No mom". "Alright" my slightly cold brain and even colder toes say and we walk on. We break through to a small opening were several trees have been cut and Joe walks to the next tree in line and says "This tree moms". (He sometimes calls me moms, who knows?) Anyhow, I size the tree up and even with my spatial issues I have a feeling this tree is too huge for my living room. I tell Joe it's nice but lets keep looking. Joe says "No mom this tree" I try to explain it's kind of big. his response, "Big tree for the big room." I can see I am not going to win that point so I try another trick: "What if you like the next tree better ?", and I start to walk on. At this point Joe plants his feet solidly and begins to scream "No this is Joe's tree. Joe wants this tree. Put the ribbon on this tree." We had a blue ribbon to tie on the tree so Ed could identify our choice. Score for Joe, moms puts the ribbon on the tree.

We walked back to the van and I explained where Ed could find the tree, smiled and explained if he changed trees Joe would probably never forgive us. So out he went to retrieve the monster. Back he came dragging it along with daggers in his eyes aimed my way for telling a four year old he could pick out our tree. All in all we guess it was a 9 or 10 feet tall. When we got home we fed the crew and prepared the tree stand.

Guess what happens to a tree stand for a 5-6 foot tree, when you pop a 9 footer in it ? Yeah it breaks. Mom and Joe head for Lowes to get a new tree stand. I might have gone a little overboard on the new one (It has a lifetime guarantee). Luckily while we were there it dawns on me that I might need a few more tree lights as well. I call Ed to ask him how many feet around he thinks the tree is at the base so I can estimate how many strings. He misunderstands and gives me the diameter, 8ft, not the circumference. Back home we go to decorate the giant tree. So the first string of lights is 16 feet long and barely makes it around the base of our tree.

Anyhow...

Who would of ever thought that the skill of tether ball from many years ago on the play ground would ever come in handy later in life? I had those lights swinging once I got up to the top of the tree. Ed was out of the room for about 10 minutes doing laundry and putting Joe to bed. When he came back down he demanded to know how a "hobbit" like myself had manged to get the lights that high up in the tree with no ladder ?

(Insert wife's smug smile here).

The ornaments were mostly put on by myself. Joe and Rory's version of decorating this year was to grab the shatter proof balls and lob them at the tree. If they stuck they would cheer ferociously. It was very cute. Once decorated I have to admit Joe picked out a perfect tree. Symmetrically it is perfect. Granted it takes up 1/4 of my living room, but it is beautiful.

Good tree Joe !

Love you all, Nikki

P.S. In the beginning my tree was decorated perfectly. Ornaments all spaced nicely nothing the same next to each other, I will admit I get a bit crazy about the ornaments and it takes me few days to get them perfect(We all have to have one crazy thing in our lives right ?) So by the time I took the tree down there were no ornaments from the floor to about three feet high.

Thanks Rory, good boy.

Must catch up...

2011-01-07T17:31:00.001-08:00

Rory's idea of a party.

One very excited birthday boy.

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue.

Eagerly awaiting his guests.

I am so far behind but December was such a busy month and too much goes on to skip or try to hit it with one blog so bear with me while I backtrack....

Joe's birthday party was the 4th. I was ambitious and invited a lot of people, a little over 30, knowing that because of the time of year not everyone would be able to make it. I figured this way we would have enough guests that conversation would be lively because anyone who has watched Joe open presents knows that it takes a while. Well we had quite the fun day, only one family could not make it. We were all quite cozy and enjoyed the good company. I was very happy that so many could make it. I hardly ever get out to see anyone so it was nice to see everyone at once.

Rory was a little stressed by the crowd but I fed him his sandwich (my sandwich) and he fell asleep. He was out for almost the entire party. Joe spent what felt like forever opening presents. He takes one small piece of the paper at a time so some of the other kids jumped in to help him. He didn't seem to mind but had no intention of changing his method of opening. Our biggest problem came in that he wanted to stop and play with each toy after it was opened. He was almost even more stressed by having to open more presents. All in all he had a wonderful day and he really loved having the other kids to play with. Rory was not quite as interactive as Joe would like him to be, so any opportunity to play with other kids thrilled him, especially if it was a wild ruckus. Next year I am going to attempt activities and games. Wish me luck...oh wait... maybe you should save those wishes for the poor kids.

Love you all Nikki

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

So it was cold and I was tired and this is the only picture I got of Joe actually trick or treating. Oops.

Rory sleeps through yet another year of trick or treating. Oh well better luck next year.

Have I mentioned how difficult it is to get pictures of two boys ?

Yet another try...

So this was actually last week but I thought it was super cute how Joe had to show Rory what the flash light could do.

Autumn afternoons

2010-10-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

Poor Joe had a bit of a flu at the beginning of the month. But never fear his Pasha, or as he has taken to calling her "Pasta" was there to snuggle and comfort him.

Rory in one of his new outfits that we got while school shopping at the out let stores. (Yes I know he's not in school yet but it was such a cute outfit.)

Jasper waiting for me to throw the ball for him yesterday while we were out raking leaves.

Poor Joe thought he had to protect the pile of leaves from his brother until I explained I had raked them up for the boys to jump in.

Hard at work. A few more pics of the kids and critters from yesterday are after this. We went out again today to get a few more leaves raked up. I ended up raking them into the pasture for the goats because I noticed a large amount of very black clouds heading our way. We lasted about a half an hour before the rain began to fall and I had to hustle the boys in. Of course I had taken so much time to bundle them up because it was very windy today so I had to un-bundle them. By the time they were down to one layer the rain had stopped and the sun was back with the wind still blowing. We opted to remain in the house since I saw some more clouds of a suspicious nature on the horizon. Maybe tomorrow we can get some more of those leaves up and out of our way.

Ed continues to do well in school. He had a bit of a wild ride home this week. His brake line on the truck somehow got a pin size hole in it and his brakes were non existent. Luckily he managed to get to some of the back roads and take his time. We are getting by with one vehicle for a couple of days.

Joe is looking forward to carving his pumpkin this year. I think he has finally gotten the Halloween bug. We will post pics when we get done with those next week.

Love from all of us.

2010-10-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

2010-10-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

Joe's new umbrella.

What can I say?

What do you mean this is Rory's toy, It fits me perfectly.

Kicking back, or trying to as you can see his brother is pestering him.

2010-10-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Finally a free moment to get some pictures up. Of course it has been difficult to get good pictures. Two bodies in motion do not make for the best pictures in the world but I am sure I will be forgiven.

My favorite season

2010-09-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

I love the fall, the weather is perfect. Temperatures that are so much more comfortable then August. A nice breeze that gives the horses an extra spring in their step. The color of the leaves exploding like fireworks in the trees. The bustle of getting the last of the harvest in and preserving everything. So far this year I have put up strawberry jam(early this summer), peach preserves, pear butter, lots of salsa, I am doing the concord grape jelly today. Probably apple butter tomorrow as well as freezing some tomatoes.

Speaking of tomatoes I made the best tomato soup last week. Nothing better on a cold wet fall day then home made tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich. Rory was impressed but Joe wasn't so sure about the soup until I called it ketchup soup. Then it was given a taste but may need a few more tries before it is fully accepted.

Ed has started school and is adjusting to the idea of being back in school. He is doing very well despite being nervous about it all. I am already making a project list of things that he can fix electrically speaking on his school breaks and next summer. Poor guy.

Joe has started his fall session of preschool and is loving it. Although he is home sick today. Poor kid had a stomach flu over the weekend and is now sick with a fever and sore throat. I know my guy is sick when he is willing to sit still on the couch with nothing on the TV. I gave in and let him have a DVD day today. So far we have watched his favorite Wallace and Gromit twice.

Well I better get my projects for the day started. I will post pictures as soon as I find the camera that I seem to have misplaced.

Love you all, Nikki

Just one of those days

2010-07-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

So Joe and I were out running errands on Thursday. When we got home Ed informed me that he took a picture I just had to see. He explained that he had gone into the back bedroom to grab something. He immediately heard a clang of the dog bowl and a few seconds later Rory grunting. He returned to find our son had sat down in the dog's food bowl and was stuck. Oops ! He now gives the dog's bowls a wide berth as he toddles around the house. Poor guy will never live this one down.

Love you all Nikki

Happy Birthday Rory

2010-06-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

Busy little man has lots to do in his day.

Crash.

The brothers getting along, yes we are finally starting to have a few of the difficulty's that everyone mentioned. Like wanting the same toy or attention at the same time.

12 months old. Poor kid is smiling like he feels great but he is actually running a fever today. We just got these pictures and I gave him some Tylenol for the fever. He is now sleeping in his swing. Probably just teething, but he has his one year check up tomorrow so if he still has the fever we will get it checked tomorrow.

Love you all Nikki

Pictures of our day with Thomas

2010-06-02T05:45:00.000-07:00

Guess who?

Nice view from the train as we rode along.

Joe and Grandpa on the train.

The Lansing boys big adventure.

Visiting Sir Topham hat.

The night before

2010-05-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Alright I think we have managed to keep the cat in the bag. Ed and I bought tickets for a train ride about a month ago. Of course Joe would be thrilled if it were just a simple train ride but I expect he will be over the top because this is Thomas the train and Sir Topham Hat will also be there. We will probably be badgered for weeks about going on anther train ride with Thomas but it will be worth it just to see his little face tomorrow at 3:00. And yes the camera will be ready and waiting to get the pics for all of you.

Until then hugs and kisses,

Nikki

Boys will be boys

2010-05-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

Remember this little guy. I took this picture back in August when Rory was a little over 2 months old. So scroll down and take a gander at my our little man's 11 month old picture.

As a certain obnoxious car commercial puts it, He's HUGE!!!!!!

This year's cow, Harley. Or as Joe says it Howie. By the end of the summer he will have the R and L down.

Joe helping daddy move rocks with his wheel barrow. Of course the rocks never quite made it were daddy wanted them but we managed to keep them out of the lawn so they will not be flying projectiles in the near future.

I walked over to the neighbors to check on something before I take the horses over tomorrow to have their feet trimmed. I took Rory over in his stroller and Joe walked. Joe has visited quite a few times to see the tractor and other fun boy stuff that Amanda's large barns have that we don't. So we were talking and as I turned the stroller so Rory was out of the sun and she could get a better look at him she stopped talking in mid sentence and exclaimed Wow, Rory has gotten really big ! Now being the person who hefts him around I knew this but looking at him from a fresh set of eyes and looking at these pics I now realize my baby almost looks like a little boy. I hate how quickly it goes. Of course Amanda thought it was funny considering how Joe was running like a wild man playing with her Jack Russel Terrier and Rory watched every move they made. Especially the move were Joe and Waylon (the Jack Russell terrier) tried to crunch all the tiger lillies. I tried to stop this action for about 2 seconds but decided not to waste my energy since Amanda was laughing so hard Joe just kept right on stomping the flowers for his latest girlfriend. All the way home he talked about Miss Amanda. I can see myself struggling in the future to get the boys to help with farm chores but Miss Amanda will probably get more offers for help then she can shake a stick at. Oh well, boys will be boys.

The boys are both sleeping so I am going to treat myself tonight. (Translation I am either going to read my book uninterrupted or watch a movie that does not have single animated character in it. Or maybe I will catch up on my sleep. Yeah...right.)

Love ya Nikki

Some more pictures.

2010-05-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

Rosie the rabbit.

Rory checking out the grass as Joe laughs.

I accidentally got the "after" picture in front of the "before" one.

Rory really enjoys his meal times - the "before" picture.

May 1st on the farm

2010-05-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

Are you sure they aren't giant dogs mom?

Jasper's favorite game.

Music soothes the wild beast.

Joe's favorite game.

2 happy brothers !

I can hardly believe how big they are getting. We expect Rory to be running around by this time next month. He is very ambitious and wants to keep up with his brother.

We are doing well except for a bit of a nasty flu that came through last week. The boys both had fevers and were extremely congested. We all seem to be on the mend but it has taken a while. Joe has missed almost 2 weeks of school.

Ed went out to Hudson Valley Comm College last week and got his fall schedule. It will work very nicely with my work schedule. He is really looking forward to getting started. (And yes a little bit of that might be just getting a break from being Mr.Mom.)

I, on the other hand, am looking forward to only having to work for 3 days a week and getting the rest of the week to spend with the boys and doing my farm chores. As usual, our spring to do list has grown considerably. It always starts out so reasonable. Oh well. One of the unexpected projects was the front porch had to be finished. We had a very small amount of the old wood work left there that had questionable peeling paint. Of course NY state in their infinite wisdom is passing a new law that will make it more expensive and a bigger pain in the ........ to get rid of material with lead paint. So we had that ripped out before they could make life more difficult. The porch is now done. We have built in shoe shelves and toy shelves as well as a corner window seat. Guess I may be working 4 days a week to build the savings back up.

We are expecting the next cow any day now. Everything is all set up for him. I hope he likes the goats because I have no were else to put the rotten buggers. They keep slipping under the panels and getting into everything. We also got a rabbit. I will post pictures of her tomorrow. Hopefully.

I better run, it's getting close to bed time.

Love you all Nikki

The Lansing boys playing

2010-04-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

Oops.

2010-01-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to post pictures of Joe's first day of school. So here he is, our sweet little man with his freshly combed hair.

Yes the backpack does seem to be bigger then him.

Sleeping Baby

2010-01-26T08:41:00.000-08:00

What a cutie!

Waiting for the rain

2010-01-24T12:28:00.000-08:00

So we're supposed to be getting monsoon-like rain tonight and tomorrow. Oh joy...as long as it doesn't all freeze and turn to ice I guess that will be just fine.

Joe and I went across the street yesterday afternoon to watch the neighbor move her manure pile. I know you are all sitting there asking yourselves if I have lost my mind. But, know this: it was the highlight of Joe's day since Amanda rented a Bobcat to do the job. Joe was transfixed as the little machine went back and forth, scooping and dumping. He took a short break from the action to sit on Miss Amanda's tractor. He was quite cute as he moved the wheel about pretending to shift the gear's and shouting down at the dogs to get out of the way. His only dilemma was that he could not watch the little skid-steer (Bobcat) and sit on the tractor at the same time. (There was a big wooden wall in the way.) We were over there for about an hour. I tried my best to make a graceful exit but to no avail. When he realized I intended to take him home he became tearful and insisted we should stay. Poor little guy; if it had been a little warmer I would've let him stay a bit longer but his little cheeks were quite pink and I was freezing (Not having the luxury of a snow suit like Mr Joe).

His day (and mine) still had more excitement in store, while we were eating dinner the large wooden wall that had been blocking Joe's view was brought out and dumped in the burn pit across the road from our front yard. I was almost as excited as Joe when I saw this happening. (Now Amanda only has to get the floor in this barn leveled and get the footing and the indoor riding arena is ready to be used!!!! Yea !!!!! I cannot wait !

Rory is doing well, working on crawling, he can get himself up but ends up going backwards. In the next week or so I am sure he will find his forward gear.

Well I better run out and put the horses in so I don't get drenched if we ever get this rain.

Love you all,
Nikki

Winter Wonderland?????????

2010-01-19T07:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm getting sick of winter a bit early this year. Just another indication of why I need an indoor riding arena. Not to mention Joe would love to have someplace to run around. He hasn't had much time to play in the snow due to illness but who knows maybe this weekend after the big storm we are expecting on Friday we will go out and make him that snowman.

Life has been pretty quiet here. Rory and Joe were sick with colds. Rory is still getting over his. Joe sailed through his without a Dr. visit but we took Rory in last Monday after a rough weekend. By Sunday he was wheezing every time he exhaled and if you listened with a stethoscope you could hear the wheeze on the inhale not to mention the lack of air flow in the bases of his lungs. His pulse ox was low at the Dr.'s, but he was bright and cheery. After an albuteral nebulizer he was doing great. So we got a machine and picked up his drugs, (also had a really bad ear infection). Poor little guy couldn't sleep in his bed had to sleep in his high chair for a week because he was so congested.

Joe was home from school for another two days last week, Thursday and Friday, stomach bug. He has recouped and is cruising around the house looking for trouble. This morning he headed out for school, he was quite the little independent man about getting ready. He did not want to do anything but play with his toys and when I tried to dress him he informed me, No I do it momma. I finally got him dressed, fed and got his boots and coat on with him saying "No stay home" the entire time until he saw the bus. Then he couldn't get out the door fast enough.

Joe insisted I take this picture yesterday.

Love you all Nicole

Christmas

2010-01-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning was entertaining. Joe kind of gets the concept of unwrapping presents and seemed to enjoy the whole thing. Rory as you can see was really interested in his presents but it was more in the paper then what was under the paper. He came around pretty quickly to playing with his new toys but at first he was kind of appalled with the idea that I had ripped off the pretty paper and had thrown it away.

We had a lovely Christmas morning at home relaxing and enjoying the boys playing with the toys. We packed up the troops and headed for Ballston Spa: Grandma and Grandpa's house in the early afternoon for a lovely dinner. (and of course more unwrapping as Joe was an expert by this time)

The week following Christmas was pretty uneventful, except for a nasty cold we've all managed to come down with. Ed and I had it before the holiday and the boys after. Poor Joe was quite ill last Sunday, he stayed on the couch all day with his blanket and pillow. Monday I kept him home from his first day of preschool as a precaution.

Tuesday was the first day of school. He was not thrilled with getting into his School bus(Mini van with car seats) but he did. Off he went, and mommy and daddy settled in for a very long day. I never knew 4 hours could pass so slowly. He got home a couple minutes before 2 in the afternoon. He was all smiles.

The rest of the week was not so smooth, by Wednesday afternoon his cold was back with a vengeance, but seemed to improve by bed time and there was no coughing all night long so he went to school Thursday morning. I got a call a little after ten and he was saying no or all done to everything and was a little warm to the touch. I popped in the car and went down to get him. By the time I got there he was happily playing with the other kids but his nose was so congested and he had that glassy fever eye thing going on so I took him home.

He was not thrilled at first until he got there and realized mommy was going to let him watch Cars, (If I never see it again it will be to soon, but I know that is just wishful thinking).

Any how he is upstairs sleeping peacefully while I am blogging at 3 in the morning because every time I lay Rory down flat he starts to fuss because he has the cold now and the mucous plugs his nose and runs down his throat. YUCK. Poor little man. He can only sleep in his high chair, it inclines back so he is not sitting straight up but he can breathe very easily.

Well I gotta run out some more wood on the fire. Happy New Years to everyone,
Love Nikki

Happy Birthday Part 2

2009-12-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

"I never met a horse I didn't like."

Time to open another present !

Joe loading up his new wheelbarrow.

The next John Wayne !

Happy Birthday Joe !

2009-12-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

Yay ! Joe has finally decided to open his own presents. Although after a few packages he was ready to play with the gifts he had opened and leave the other packages for another day. We managed to talk him into opening everything eventually.

As you can see he had a few packages to open. Thanks folks.

We went with a home made cake this year. Mommy will have to work on her decorating skills.

Rory on the second when he turned six months old.

Joe enjoying the first snow of the year. Of course it had to start snowing when his teacher was here. Suddenly all his focus was on snow. We managed to re-direct him for a short while until she left and then I bundled him up to go out to play.

I will post some more birthday pics.

Love you all Nikki

The Christmas Train

2009-11-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

What's all the fuss?

Fuzzy, but if you look closely you can see Santa singing to the crowd from his box car stage.

One of the few pictures of the train that came out kind of clear.

Joe pointing out his two favorite things on earth: lights and a train. What a great idea putting the two things together !

As you can see from his face Joe was thrilled with the entire experience and has not stopped talking about the train.

So what's the deal ? The Canadian Pacific railroad sends a train out each year that goes from coast to coast making stops along the way and collecting food and donations for local food pantry's. We went out to Cobleskill last night to see the train with the boys. It was really fun to watch how excited Joe got over the whole thing. He wasn't sure what we were up to at first but once the train arrived it was game on. He sat on Ed's shoulders smiling, laughing, clapping and pointing. I do believe that this will be something the Lansing's will be doing annually. Well I've gotta go. Joe is helping and I have had to retype almost every word in this post because Joe is pushing buttons on the key board as I type.

Love you all Nikki

Couple of pictures.

2009-11-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

Greetings and salutations from the Lansing boys.

So, Joe has this thing that I kind of started where he pretends that a clothes basket is a boat. Only problem is he grabs the basket dumps clothes all over the living room and turns it into a boat. Makes daddy slightly nuts since he only rarely remembers to pick up the clothes and put them back in the basket.

Mom's answer: boxes make better boats !

Rory saw what was going on and wanted a boat of his own.

The boys & Grandma - Happy Thanksgiving !

News

2009-11-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note before I head off to bed. Rory has cut his first tooth. It is a bottom incisor. He seems to be very proud of it. I will try to get some pictures posted tomorrow.

Love to everyone, Nikki

2009-11-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

Hello, thought I would actually write a few lines and catch folks up on what we are up to.

Ed has been busy. He's rebuilt two rock walls, cleaned out the basement and stuffed insulation in every imaginable corner. Stacked a lot of firewood and has a little more. (He decided last week that he wanted one more load of wood). He has been organizing his music stuff, consisting of writing a guidebook for when he starts giving guitar lessons this winter. He will also be scrambling to do his financial aid for school come January. I know he will be very happy to have all that done and out of the way. Yesterday he took advantage of the great weather and cleaned the deck ceiling, it looks amazing. He was going to poly-seal it today but decided he might be pressing his luck and to do that project in the spring. On the inside he has been cleaning wood work and staining up a storm. The house really looks great. I have probably left out a ton of things, he is so busy I can't keep track of all his projects.

Joe is a very busy little boy. He sees his teacher 4 times a week, speech therapist 3 times a week, occupational therapist once a week, physical therapist once a week and he is going to be evaluated for his feeding. (He has a very nasty habit of stuffing way to much food in his mouth. You can watch him eat and he will take these little tiny bites but the minute you turn your head he stuffs the rest of whatever he is eating into his mouth.) He has also started riding Dancer more regularly. He sits up there on his saddle while I lead her around. He really loves it. I think next week we will move onto working with the reins. I will still be leading her but I want him to start holding the reins and learning to direct her. It's actually really good for his physical therapy. He has also been helping daddy with stacking the wood and raking leaves.

Rory.... what can I say he eats, he poops, he sleeps... No he is doing more then that. He rolls himself over. He chats up a storm. He watches Joe intently, his favorite thing to do. He's also playing in his little Einstein saucer - we call it the office. The other day he was avidly chewing on one of the toys, Joe became very upset and began telling him, "No bite Rory, no bite." I was thrilled, everything except Rory was perfectly clear. We are working on the R's.

Me, I have been working almost full time 11-7 shifts at work. Yuck. I managed to do some of the leaf blowing with Joe on Halloween and have done a few little projects here and there but pretty much feel like I am always trying to catch up on my sleep. I also started taking riding lessons again this fall. (Very happy to be riding again.)

Well Mr. Rory is telling me it is time to check the diaper again so I must go.

Love you all Nikki

Catching up with Rory

2009-11-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

5 months

4 months

3 months

2 months

Greetings from the Lansing Boys

2009-11-01T12:58:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, sorry for the lack of blogging. Mom says she has been a little off her game since she started working nights. Hopefully now that she is not working as many she will be able to do more blogging.

Daddy and Joe rake the lawn.

Happy Halloween!

Mommy's little monster.

Trick or treating was a bit of a flash back for mommy. Those of you from Washington will understand. It rained. Joe was quite the trooper. He didn't seem to notice the rain at first and it was warm so we kept at it. Rory was fast asleep in his stroller with mommy holding an umbrella over him. After a while I noticed Joe was saying something as he walked back down each driveway. As he got closer I realized he was saying Joe's house. I took this to mean it was time to go to Joe's house so home we went.

Hope everyone else had a less wet Halloween.

More Pictures From The Farm...

2009-08-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Joe, the aspiring artist / fireman.

The brothers take over Dad's chair.

When it gets this hot I need a drink !

Rory's First Video...A Star Is Born !

2009-08-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Pictures Long Over Due.

2009-08-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

Joe offers to share his meal with Rory who seems quite eager to take him up on the generous offer.

One evening Joe came to me in the kitchen while I was cooking dinner and in the clearest voice said Goggles. I have no idea were he heard this word from. None of his books talk about goggles, to the best of my knowledge he has never seen anyone wearing goggles. I was thrilled with his ability to pronounce the word so clearly so the next morning I went out and got him his own goggles. Hopefully he will not be expecting mom to run out and get him every new word he learns, since this week he is working hard to pronounce elephant.

I think the look in Jasper's eyes says it all, as Joe feeds Horton Jasper's dinner !

Two handsome guys !

My guys !

Crazy weather

2009-07-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

I swear the coasts have gotten a bit mixed up. Every time I talk to the folks on the west coast they are telling me about the hot and sunny weather they are experiencing. Meanwhile the overcast skies here are making Joe stir crazy.

We have had a quiet week. Joe had a fever on and off for the weekend so he went to the Dr on Monday. We are waiting for the lab results. The fever has been absent since Sunday but Joe is not quite his usual cheerful self so I think he is still feeling a bit off. Rory has had a bit of sore throat but no fever. Needless to say we have been trying to keep things quiet this week. Trying is the key word here. Tell me how do you get a 2 year old to slow down and recuperate? Oh well.

Ed and I are healthy, knock on wood. Ed has had some very exciting news. He registered for school and will be doing the electrical program at Hudson Valley in the fall of 2010. My fingers are crossed that someone will flake out and he will make it in this fall. Either way we are both very excited about the program.

Oops have to go I hear the little one squeaking for his dinner.

Love you all Nikki

Brothers & Best Friends !

2009-07-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

Just a short note, everyone is happy and healthy. Joe had his 1 year evaluation by his teachers and the state today and they are in agreement that he has made remarkable progress. He has a few points we still need to work on with him, but since last summer he has made incredible progress. He will be perfectly ready for pre-school next year.

Rory is doing well. He eats, he sh*ts, and sleeps. Do babies do anything else ? By the way, have you figured out yet that this post is being written by his Dad ? (the things I do for my wife, I tell you...).

Have a good day see you next time !

All quiet in the farm

2009-07-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

Auntie Amy headed home this Monday. We miss her but we know she was missing her little guys as well as her hubbie so it was time to send her home. Joe has been waiting every morning for us to go pick up auntie. Poor guy, what will he do with only 3 adults to wait on him hand and foot?

Rory is doing well. He had a bit of a tummy ache this evening but seems to have settled down. He is currently sleeping while Oma rocks him in the blue recliner that he loves.

The weather is not cooperating. Joe is running around the house like a chicken with his head cut off. All this rain has him very stir crazy. Today he got out half of his toys just to look at them. When we suggested he return them to the shelves his selective hearing kicked into high gear. Oh what have I gotten myself into, a household full of boys.

Well I have to go, time for my bed. Maybe I can catch up on some the sleep I have been missing.

Love ya all Nikki

Couple more pictures

2009-06-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

Just finishing cooking dinner for the crew but here are a couple pics of the boys. I'll try and get some more up and give you all an up date later.

Love ya Nikki

Weekly update

2009-06-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

So Auntie Amy is visiting from Portland Oregon. As you can see both boys are quite taken with her. Joe is so cute. In the morning when I go to pick Amy up and return home with her he acts quite shy for a moment then he starts dragging her from toy to toy. Rory is also impressed with her reading abilities.

Well I would love to write more but we are getting ready for the party so I must return to the kitchen.

Love you all Nikki

A quiet week

2009-06-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the handsome Lansing boys.

We are all doing well. We had a quiet father's day per dad's request we stayed in. The weather was semi cooperative. We were able to release Joe for about an hour in the morning before we got more rain. He stomped in puddles for the entire time he was outside. As you can see he adores his baby. Rory is doing very well. He even tries to sleep at night. Well he gets about 4 hours. We are working on that.

I will try and write more later this week. Right now it is time for Joe's shower. Yes shower, he loves it.

Take care Nikki

Joe's little brother arrived.

2009-06-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

Guess what mom and dad got me. Give up?
A baby brother! They have both been going on and on and on for the entire winter about this baby Rory thing. But they finally brought him home! Well actually mom and dad both took off for a day and I stayed with Oma which was a lot of fun. Then dad came home looking really tired and he slept for a long time then he went some where, then he came back and got Oma and I and we visited mom at this place with a whole lot of cool toys that had great buttons that I couldn't push. But that's OK because there was this other new thing there that was just for me, a baby brother named Rory. I really like him. Mom says to tell you she has some great pics that Oma took she just can't get them on the blog right now but will post them as soon as she can. Till then here are a few pics of Rory his first day.

After delivery, we were both a bit tuckered out but very happy to be face to face.

Later in the afternoon dad caught Rory with his eyes open again and snapped this one. A few details in case you haven't heard them. Rory was born June 2, at 10:51 am. He was 7lbs 6oz and measured 20 inches long. I'm not sure which boy was the easier labor. Rory was induced, I got lucky the pitocin worked quickly on me but I'm not sure whether I liked going from zero to full blown contractions every 2 minutes. (No I am not exaggerating, they started the drip and I started hard labor within 5 minutes.) Luckily it only took about 2 hours of this and it was time to deliver. What fun. PS any folks making cracks about when are we having our 3rd, be warned you will be picking your teeth up off the floor.

On that note I have to go wake up my beautiful 2 yr old and start getting ready for our evening meal. Love you all and hope everyone is enjoying life.
Nikki

Finished (pretty much)

2009-04-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is our new front porch. As you can see we took quite a chunk of the wall out and it now opens up to our family room. We still have a little to do, the entertainment center in the left of the picture is looking for a new home and the old table is also going to go. Then, Ed is going to build some window seats that will store the boy's toys out of site.

This picture was also taken from the front porch. We opened up the wall so we can walk straight into the new kitchen with groceries. Very handy compared to the old kitchen. Ed still has moments of standing in front of the stove when he will turn to me and say, 'remember when we stood here to do our laundry'.

Different view from the same area as above.

I took this one from the place where my old kitchen sink used to be. You can see on the porch why we are looking forward to those window seats to store the toys.

A view of the new kitchen from the old kitchen.

I have to apologize for the pictures. I realized after uploading them that a certain someone had been playing with my camera after he ate an apple so things are a little fuzzy, but you get the gist.

We are doing well - scrambling to finish organizing the little things that I have fixated on and are making me crazy before Rory is born. I am healthy but have developed gestational diabetes which is being managed with diet and exercise very well. A few more appointments have been added to my schedule but not to bad. We like my endocrinologist a lot. Very nice lady who was very patient with Joe while she explained the basics to Ed and I at the first appointment.

Speaking of fun things to do I have to go check my blood sugar and feed the two year old who will become very cranky if I mess with his schedule.

Love you all Nikki

Disaster Zone?

2009-03-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

So the guy at the storage unit gave us an extra week free to get our stuff out so we wouldn't have to pay for the whole month. Great, but we really needed 2 weeks, but never look a gift horse in the mouth. It always gets worse before it gets better. Uhhhh I am running out of ridiculous sayings. Basically for the next three days while we wait for the counter tops to get installed we are living in a storage locker/house. What fun. I swore I would never move again and yet this looks incredibly like the same kind of work. Oh well.

New room with windows framed and Eddie's beloved TV. View to the porch is a might bit scary but that to will get uncluttered once we have the dishwasher hooked up.

New kitchen cupboards with the crown molding.

The couch did make it into the room first but was followed with in seconds by the TV. Everything was dropped to mount it on the wall.

Well Ed and Joe are down at the storage locker getting one more load for today. I think I am going to go take a nap. Baby Rory has been very busy today and has worn me out.

Love Nikki

Kitchen cabinets have arrived

2009-03-06T17:59:00.001-08:00

You've heard of Jack in the box? Say hello to Joe in the cupboard. A handy storage unit for the 2 year old when daddy and Mike are about to lift the microwave into place and need a certain someone out of harm's way. Mommy would hold him but he has decided he is to grown up for that and mommy's other passenger is doing serious flip flops today. I guess Rory is excited about the cabinets too.

Hey mom thanks for the new toys. These cupboard thingies seem to be a lot of fun.

Look they have doors that I can come and go from.

So here they are pretty much in place. The dishwasher will be here on Sunday and is going on the end of the peninsula. The counters won't be here til next Wednesday or Thursday.

A view from where the wall to the porch used to be. Note the little man by the frig turning the lights off and on.

So Monday the contractors are trimming the windows and putting baseboards down. Installing the dishwasher I hope. I think we have to wait for the counters before we can put the rest of the counter stuff together, backing and crown molding and all that good stuff. Oh I have a little tiny bit of painting to do and Ed is going to be removing the last little scrap of the porch wall and may be putting the sheet rock up. We are definitely getting down to the end of this project which makes us very happy. Knock on wood it has gone smoothly and Ed has certainly learned a lot about construction but I am sure he is eager to get back to work.

Love you all Nikki

More from renovation land

2009-03-01T06:52:00.000-08:00

I am standing were my kitchen used to be. Prior to renovation this picture would of been of a wall.

Ed begins the tedious job of sand the floor. Check out our new windows on the left side of the picture.

Here is a picture taken the night before the sanding picture to show you what it looked like with out our new windows.

Mommy's little helper. We gave him this little roller while we painted. We painted everything above his head while he was awake and he 'helped'. Then when he was asleep we painted the lower half of the wall. It worked out very well.

Ed is finishing the sanding on the floor today. We had expected to be varathaning yesterday but had a little miss communication with our contractor. He recommended wiping the floor down with mineral spirits, Ed thought he meant with the mop that we were going to apply the varathane with. The floor got saturated, oops. This raised the grain of the wood so we had to go back for the floor sander. We decided this was not a bad thing this morning when we realized that the mineral spirits had pulled up a lot of dirt that we couldn't get out of the old wood floor. It looks a lot better. Time consuming but well worth the time since we do not want to do anything to this floor for quite a while.

Our cupboards are arriving this week and being installed. By Friday I expect we will have a kitchen. YEAH!!!!!

Gotta run, love you all Nikki

Hard At Work...

2009-02-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

How many guys does it take to hang sheet rock? Three. What was the funniest part was They would pass the drill down the line each taking screwing in the screws over there heads. For the first couple of times Ed would take his turn and inevitably with in a few minutes I would hear 'Damn' when I inquired he explained he had over screwed and gone to far into the sheet rock. From that point on if any one made this simple mistake they would laugh and say they had pulled an Ed.

Yeah Sheet rock Now the fun begins, sanding then more mud then more sanding then more mud.

More pics to come very soon.
Love you all Nikki

In the beginning.

2009-02-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

OOPS we made a mess. I have to run, Ed is calling for help. I will post more pictures tomorrow so you can see much we have gotten done. Just to give you a hint Eddie learned about mud and tape today. It was a rough start but with our generous neighbors help Ed has learned a lot and is not afraid of sheet rock anymore. Joe was very eager to help and just a bit miffed when he was excluded from the fun.
Love you all Nikki

Before

2009-02-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

Taken in the kitchen facing the porch.

Kitchen, disaster zone as we pack up everything to get ready for the demo day.

Taken from the hall facing into what used to be our laundry room.

Taken from the doorway of the living room as you enter the hall/office.

Demo began weekend before last but I snapped these pics so we could fondly(yeah right) remember our small rooms.

Love ya all and will post some demo pics next.
Nikki

Newest Lansing

2009-01-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

So we found out the newest Lansing is going to be a little brother for Joe. We're all very excited for the arrival of little Rory Michael, he is 11 ounces right now and appears to be in great health.

We're starting the renovations on the other half of the house this weekend. Our contractor was here earlier this week and put the cross beams in the attic this week, removing the old insulation and installing new insulation. The next step in the project will be us knocking the walls out so we have on big room and removing the ceiling for a lovely vaulted ceiling. It will be lovely when we finish it. Oh I almost forgot, we have to squeeze the stuff on the renovation side of the house into the other half while we do this. That in itself should be motivation enough to make this a quick project. We are going to be a little crowded for a couple of weeks.

Joe is doing very well and has learned a new trick. Now I know that every child learns to take off their diapers but how many figure out how to do it with out taking off their jammies ? This morning while I ran the garbage out and got the mail Joe managed to unhook one side of his diaper and shove the very wet diaper down the leg of his footsie jammies. Very impressive, or so he thought. Once it warms up I can see him stripping everything off and running about. Oh how I am looking forward to that...Not !

Joe is doing well with his teachers, he is becoming a lot more verbal and has even started asking for certain items without cues. Such as any and every ball he sees. The word is not perfect but clear enough that any one can understand him. Baaaaaaalllll ! He also has a phrase that sounds quite a bit like my turn. Of course this is used mainly when someone else has the ball he wants. His language is coming along well and his attention span is not too bad. He makes some eye contact but that is a constant work in progress.

Well I better get a few things done before lunch and nap time are here. Take care,

Love Nikki and everyone else here at the menagerie.

Welcome New Year (and all your projects)

2009-01-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

But mom we are snuggling, Jasper has to be on the couch right now.

See how cute we are, you can't possibly make him get off, right?

All right so the contractors have finished their work on the new bathroom/laundry/closet. Now I need to finish the painting. I will take pictures in the next couple of days for everyone. Then I get to paint the two bedrooms. Yeah, what an exciting life I live. After that I need to organize the upstairs and the downstairs so we can start the next project.
We ordered the new kitchen cabinets. I am looking forward to the job being done but not to excited about dealing with mess in between. Oh well such is life. At least when this is done we will not be doing any big interior projects for quite a while.
Love you all Nikki

Christmas 2008

2008-12-26T07:52:00.001-08:00

As you can see Joe had a very good time Christmas morning. The last picture is actually from the 24th. He crashed in his little chair before I could put him down for his nap. Very sweet.

Christmas time has been very entertaining with a two year old. I am happy to report that the tree stayed upright for the entire season and no ornaments were broken. Of course this year I invested in shatter proof ornaments and nothing on the tree was breakable. My glass ornaments are going to be on vacation for the next few years so that they'll survive. We worked this year on the one finger theory when touching the tree. This had some very funny stories to go along with it. The first night the tree was being decorated was the hardest. Joe was very excited and kept grabbing everything. Ed finally handed him one of the old bells that we hung on the tree which kept Joe busy for a while. When the tree was almost finished Joe lost interest in his bell and attempted to hang it himself, which required a bit of assistance. He then proceeded to grab a gold ball and try to yank it off the tree. This is when I stepped in and explained the one finger theory to the little man. He was very cooperative and gladly released the ball to touch it with only one finger. Smiling up at me with that angelic face I thought to myself this is going to be easy.

Yeah...right.

He moved to the other side of the tree and grabbed another ornament with both hands and began yanking with all of his two year old might. I exclaimed one finger in what might have been a bit of shrill alarm. Joe stopped yanking, still holding the ornament with both hands I could see the wheels in his brain turning as he mulled over my declaration. The light bulb clicked on and he let go of the ornament walked back to the original victim of his attack and proudly touched it with one finger while smiling up at me. This continued for the rest of the night with either his father or myself stating one finger and Joe returning to the original ball and touching it with just one finger only to grab another ornament a minute later.

After a couple of days he finally started touching everything with one finger when we were watching and when we weren't well the the tree had to fend for itself. All in all he was very good and never really posed any danger to himself or the tree.

Christmas morning Joe helped to open his gifts. We used a little bit of subterfuge by exclaiming that there were balls or cars in each package so he ripped away until he discovered the trick and let daddy finish. He was thrilled with everything he got and it was funny to watch him play with everything after wards. He could'nt decide what to play with so he played with everything at once. Quite the challenge but Joe is pretty talented.

Our new bathroom is almost done. I will be painting soon and then the next project begins.
Must go get lunch ready for my hungry crew.

Love you all and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Nikki

Christmas tree hunt 2008

2008-12-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the pictures I have to run get dinner started. Love ya Nikki

Weather and Renovations

2008-12-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

So, for those of you who might've heard about our area on the news, we are fine and our power is currently intact. Even if we do lose it, we heat with our woodstove so we will be warm and cozy in the candlelight.

Joe had his first oops that actually involved a little blood last night. He was getting off one of the table chairs and put his leg through the back while the other leg went were he wanted. The unfortunate outcome was the chair turned over and gave him a split lip( very small) and a fat lip(very big). He recovered quickly and was very pleased when mommy decided he could have pudding for dinner since his lip was sore. We have decided to sell the table and chairs and get a more solid set that Joe can get off of with out putting feet were they do not belong. He doesn't even seem to notice it this morning as he is running around the house playing with everything, looking out the window and wondering why it looks so funny outside.

Our contractor started work on the upstairs bathroom/closet/laundry room. Yeah I know, those of you who have seen our upstairs are probably scratching your heads wondering how we are going to fit any thing else upstairs. The contractor, Bruce, removed the closets from both rooms, leaving a temporary hole between the rooms. Then he framed a wall that runs between the front and back dormer, putting doors on the wall for each room. The ends of the room will become closets for each room with a half bath and the washer and dryer units. I can also fit all sorts of shelves in for storage and a dresser or two to conserve space in the soon to be very tiny bedrooms. When the project is finished we will be moving Joe upstairs. After baby #2 is a year old they will share a bedroom since all we do is sleep in our bedrooms and we spend almost all our time down stairs. I think IKEA will probably become my favorite catalog for all their organizational stuff. Toy storage has become my next nesting project. Of course I can't really start anything until we get the kitchen - family room done. So I have to plan everything out and wait. Slightly frustrating.

Other then that we have nothing much going on here. Oh wait, I forgot we are also looking at getting a wind turbine (More to come...)

Alright love you all, Nikki

Two whole years old

2008-12-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it has been two years since our little man came along. I think back to those first few weeks and can hardly keep from crying. (Of course that may be the whole pregnancy hormonal thing kicking in.) I remember the day I was discharged from the hospital I could barely breathe as I thought of coming home without Joe. Driving up to the hospital twice a day to visit, calling the nurse at midnight to find out if he had lost any weight - they weighed him at the beginning of the night shift. One of the doctors telling me he loved the fact that Joe seemed to defy every nurse in the NICU by ignoring all their dire warnings, they all told us little boys are slower to progress then girls and will lose weight at first and won't eat on their own. Not our boy he started eating the first day. He couldn't finish the whole thing on his own but he made it very clear he would not be needing that NG tube for long. He ripped it out every chance he got, much to his nurses chagrin. That should of been my warning sign for what was to come. Now he pretty much tries to climb everything. We have to run to keep up with him as he flys from one end of the house to the other trying to scale the walls almost everyday. No seriously, he puts the toes of one foot up on my baseboard and reaches up with the opposite hand feeling for anything that will give him a little of a handle. Good thing he doesn't know how thin our walls are and that with a little pressure he could punch his little hand through.

Well I am rambling so I will just say, Joe had a fabulous time on Sunday. We had a small party, just grandparents, Ed and Elsie and Auntie Andrea and Great Grandma Me'Me'. He refused to open a single present. Even when I tore a small piece and tried to interest him in assisting with all sorts of ploys. He stood in front of me signing open and pointing to me. So being the obedient mommy I complied and handed him his present after I finished removing the pesky paper from them. He loved everything but is particularly in love with the monster bowling from Oma, the snake from Auntie Amy and family and the chair Grandma Elsie got him. Of course the mini piano from mom and dad has been well used. Anyhow, hope you all enjoy the pictures and are having a great holiday season so far. We are getting ready for a big storm over the next two days. I hope it is only snow but they are saying we may get the ice instead. Yuck.
Any how Love ya, Nikki

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

Joe helping mom cook dinner on thanksgiving day. The rest of the door is waiting to be glued back on it became loose after being opened and closed several million times by one energetic little boy.

Couple weeks ago we had some snow. As you can see from the look on Joe's face the verdict is still out on whether or not we like this white stuff.

No I did not put the bowl on the boys head, it was his idea and as you can see Jasper finds it a little disturbing.

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving day here. Ed and Elsie came down for dinner. Joe had a blast running around entertaining his grandparents. He was quite fond of showing off his climbing abilities. Every time they turned around he was half way up some piece of furniture he didn't belong on. He really is amazing when it comes to scaling things that we think he can't possibly get up. Yeah right. As long as my little man has a toe hold and a place to get a bit of a grip with his fingers then he is on his way up.

Well I have to get going, bath time.
Love ya all Nikki

How's it going folks

2008-11-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

Howdy everyone? We are doing well, keeping busy with the usual chores. OK so I am not quite doing as many chores as I would like but hopefully the whole first trimester morning sickness thing will be over in a week or two. We are waiting for our contractor to let us know when he'll be coming to put the new bathroom in upstairs. Yeah no more traipsing up and down the stairs in the middle of the night. And even better we're putting the washer and dryer in the upstairs bathroom as well - No more hauling clothes up and down the stairs ! With any luck this project will be starting after thanksgiving and be done quickly. Then it is on to the next one... the kitchen. I just hope we can get all this stuff done before I deliver the next baby. My goal is no construction for a couple of years once the new baby is here. Well let me clarify. No indoor construction. Well it's time for me to get Joe to sleep.
Love ya, Nicole

Happy Halloween

2008-11-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

As you can see Joe had a great time trick or treating. He was a little unsure at first about walking up to strange doors and letting them put anything in his bucket but after the second house he decided this was a great time to be had by one and all and that we should do this more often. Everyone thought our chicken little was the cutest. Of course we agreed. Hope everyone else had a fabulous holiday. I will try and write more this week.
Love you all Nikki

Pictures

2008-11-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

Joe getting ready for a wedding of some close friends.

More halloween pictures to come.

Yes we had snow already.

Joe helping mom carve the pumpkin, by help I mean I took the seeds and guts out and he put them back in.

The boys having fun playing in the leaves.

2008-10-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

Meet Magic the newest critter at LansingHollow Farm.

Dad's shoes are pretty big but don't I look cute in them. Mom was a bit tweeked that she didn't get the camera in time to video me walking in them. He did an amazing job cruising around the house in dad's size 11's.
We are all doing well, for those of you we haven't told yet sorry you have to hear it from the blog but I can't keep anything straight any more, Any how I am pregnant. Due June 10th, although that will probably change with the next ultrasound I have. Other then that Ed is working like a mad man. Joe is practicing for his two's, haven't decided whether they are going to be terrible or not. I am pretty much sleeping most of the time.
I will try and post more often. Love ya all, Nikki

2008-09-25T05:33:00.000-07:00

We are not moving, heard some interesting things about the new neighbors we would be moving in next to and decided it is better to stick with the great ones we have here. We are now looking into getting some more work done on the house. Kitchen mostly but we also are going to put a bathroom upstairs as well.

Joe is doing well although he has had quite the haircut. I started out to trim it but after a few unfortunate movements and snips the only option left was to do a buzz cut. He didn't mind the clippers but it still took two of us and about a half an hour.

It's almost time for Joe's group so I will have to try and write more later... here are a couple pics of the little man.

Oh, and by the way...Oma's visit !

2008-09-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

Silly me ! I almost forgot the best part of August, Oma was with us so we could get stuff done. Yay Oma ! Thanks again! Make sure you scroll down-I put a new video on that's classic !

Love ya Nikki

What's up at Lansing Hollow Farm

2008-09-05T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, sorry for the dry spell. We have been tearing the house apart and staging it for potential buyers. It took us a while to get the new office area and all the computer stuff up and running but we are back on track now. We still have some painting to do but for the most part we have everything iportant done.

Home stuff...

Ed, with a little help from me ripped up the old bathroom floor and put a new one down. We took out the old wall board and replaced it. We had a new pedestal sink installed and now I just have to fix the wall paper border and paint the door trim. It looks so much nicer. Joe's room is the same, although we are going to be taking the crib apart and setting up a bed for him soon. The living room just needs a few paint touch ups and I painted the stairway, YUCK. The wide hallway between the living room and kitchen has been staged as an office and the porch is being used as a dining room. Kitchen cabinets need a quick coat of paint. Laundry room needs the most TLC, planning on attacking that on Sunday.

Joe stuff...

Joe is doing great. He sees his teacher three times a week and his speech therapist twice a week. Next week he is starting a play group that meets every week. He is starting to learn the sign language which is very exciting since this is the first effort he has made to communicate with us. He is so funny, when he gets excited about something he sees that he wants to talk to me about his little hands start doing every sign he knows and a few that are just plain made up and then he looks at me as if to say did you understand that? He now knows and uses the sign for eat, drink and more, he is beginning to understand change for his diaper and we are working on thank you and help as well. Oh and his favorite, all done. He is also using a few simple sounds for some of the animals, he calls Jasper, Ja Ja, he is even more thrilled when we call the dog that way. Tonight he wanted to sit in the driver seat of the truck and pretend to drive so he walked over to the door and pointed while saying "up". He has been saying up for a couple of weeks. After "driving" for a while he turned to me and said "Down", (first time). The N was barely there and he said it pretty quick but I was very excited none the less and made a pretty big deal about the word down. My son thinks I am fun but a little crazy I'm sure.

Despite his busy schedule with teachers we manage to get ourselves out to the barn everyday to visit the goats, horses and chickens. Joe is very much in love with his critters and takes them all apples that have fallen off the tree next to the house. Of course they are not always appreciative of his efforts since tonight he has started throwing them in the water tank. The three horses spent 20 minutes trying to get one apple before they gave up and walked away. Well all but Dancer, she waited until I fished it out for her. Of course a few more apples went in the tank and the horses all tried in desperation to get them before they went in but Jasper actually jumped up and bit their noses from the opposite side of the fence if they tried to take an apple directly from Joe. So with me on one side and Jasper on the other Joe giggled as his horses bobbed for apples.

Well it is getting late here and we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

Love you all, Nikki

Joe's new favorite

2008-09-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

New Lansing Hollow farm site

2008-07-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

New driveway, the house site is actually over to the right and not in the picture. Can you say snow plow.
This will be our new view. Yeah mountains. Yes the pasture is part of the property. The horses don't know it but they are in for a treat.
Not sure why this one came out mini but it is the clearing that is by the creek. We are going to build a barbeque and a gazebo etc. etc. etc. in this area for entertaining.
And here is the gorgeous creek that runs in the hollow behind that wonderful clearing.

So I got the call this morning that our offer has been accepted. Of course everything hinges on the sale of our current home so all good thoughts towards that end are highly appreciated.

I will post pics of Joe when he falls asleep. I have to go upstairs for that.

Love you all Nikki

Change of plans

2008-07-23T16:11:00.001-07:00

The property that I posted pictures of is not going to be ours. To much money would of gone into the septic system. So we are still looking. There is a beautiful place in Medusa five minutes from us. We are waiting to get info on the septic system that is installed? before we make an offer. I am also going to check into what the costs would be to make changes to this house so we have a clear idea of options. Personally I favor the property in Medusa. It has a great creek running through it and nice pastures for hay.

Joe had his core evaluation and they are lining up a teacher and speech therapist for him. We should be getting started with all that in the next couple of weeks.

I better get going, Ed needs to get some stuff done and Joe fell asleep early tonight.

Love you all, Nikki

New property?

2008-07-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

Potential new driveway of property we are looking at. This view is looking towards the road.
This is as you are driving from the road about mid driveway on the left. It was a stream at one time until some beavers built a damn. We want to clean it up and make it into a nice pond.

This is at the property line, the pond to be is out of sight on the right.

We are going back out tonight with a neighbor who does land clearing, ponds and foundation work to get his opinion.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

Love ya Nikki

Happy Birthday to a whole lot of folks!

2008-07-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

July is a busy birthday month. So I am going to send a blanket happy B-day to everyone and best wishes for your special day.

Joe's intervention program sent out a person to collect info and get Joe enrolled. Her name is Kelly and she is a very nice lady whom Joe was very interested in. He was very helpful in taking her pens and playing with them. Our next move is to wait for the actual evaluation to take place. I should be hearing from them by the end of next week. Joe is doing well, we keep encouraging him to play with his puzzle box. He gets better everyday. He loves his books even if he doesn't always wait for me to finish reading them before he wanders off to get another toy. All in all we are looking forward to getting started so we can get some real communication skills started.

As some of you may know we have decided to start looking for property. This house is not set up to deal with Joe very well so we have decided to buy property and put a modular on it. I am hoping that the piece we are seeing tomorrow will be a good fit. We have both been out to see it but the owner was unavailable to show us the actual property lines so we will find out tomorrow exactly were they lie. The next move will be asking a neighbor of ours who does land clearing and ponds to come take a look at it. The area to the left of the driveway was a stream that was damned up by beavers. The beavers are gone but Ed wants to make it into a large pond. It would be great for fishing. I will get back to you all with the news there when we have more to share.

Work is about the same for both Ed and I, necessary. We are pretty much just maintaining the lawn and gardens as best we can. The lawn looks way better then the gardens right now but maybe I will get some time to catch up.

Our road is getting resurfaced, Yeah and Boo. Scratching your heads again, I am glad my poor vehicles will not have to bump along over shoddy patch work but shiver to think how much faster the local idiot is going to be flying past the house. I guess you just have to take the good with the bad.

Joe seems to be stirring from his nap, so farewell, so long auf wiederzehn.....

Nikki

Joe's Dr appt.

2008-07-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

Some of you already know that Joe had an appointment on Monday with his developmental pediatrician. This appointment was one that I scheduled because I was concerned with his lack of language and even regression in some cases and certain behaviors that he was displaying.

Joe has a diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified. Alright I know I have just caused more then a few of you to scratch your heads. Some of you because this terminology is bizarre bordering on terrifying others because Ed e-mailed you about autism. Well, you are all right it is scary and in a way it is autism. But please keep in mind it is only scary because for the most part all of us are not familiar with it, Joe is going to be just fine. Autism is now considered to be a disorder that is really a wide spectrum and all people who are autistic do not have the same symptoms. There is high functioning autism at one end and full blown autism(patient does not communicate with the world in any way.) Joe is in the middle of this. He does not attempt to speak to us or point at objects to make his needs known to us. For example when he has dropped something and cannot retrieve it himself his brain does not connect the fact that mom and dad always provide what he needs. So he does not get one of us to help him by coming to get us and pointing at what he wants, he simply screams in frustration. He also is not good with eye contact and occasionally flaps his hands. He will sit and stare on occasion retreating into his own world (not very often). These behaviors are all the pervasive developmental disorder, but the good news is he also has not otherwise specified. (This is a good thing) These are the normal interactions, when he plays puzzle with me, when he brings me brown bear to read to him, when he looks up and makes eye contact and smiles, when he laughs at the critters and claps his hands, When he listens to daddy play music and helps strum the guitar while daddy makes the chords, etc.etc.etc. . OK so now you are all asking what the heck happens now, well we are waiting for a letter or phone call from the intervention program that will include language therapy along with some behavior modification I imagine. I will know more when I hear from these folks and promise to keep you all up to date with the blog as we get started on our new adventure.

It has taken Ed and I a couple of days to digest everything even though I had a tiny voice in the back of my head saying wait a second didn't you learn about something like this in nursing school. But I didn't like that voice very well so I ignored it until Monday when I had to face the reality of life. Well reality is I can't wait to get started so Joe and I will be more able to communicate with each other. Fact of the matter is the same day we were in the office there was a four year old with the same diagnosis whose parents told us he had been in the same boat as Joe but now he speaks in full sentences and no one would ever know about his PDD,NOS. It's always nice to see that light at the end of the tunnel when you are just starting down it.

We appreciate all the well wishes that have voiced by so many of you. Thanks for your thoughts of well being as well as prayers.

Love Nikki and Ed

Picture time

2008-06-26T07:11:00.001-07:00

Great grandmas birthday party. May 2008.
Fun with dogs.
More fun with dogs
Can I see?
Worn out.

Grandpa and Joe and thunderstorms

2008-06-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Lansing and Joe enjoying a literary classic 'Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?'. So this was taken last Saturday when Ed and Elsie came down for lunch and a visit. Then Joe, Elsie and I went to the local craft show at the town library. Cute but it was very hot so we really enjoyed the grape snow cones more then anything else. Joe was very curious about the whole ice thing. He liked it in small amounts but was not willing to endure brain freeze so if I got a little to much in his mouth, out it came. Joe had his first look at alpacas, not really interested in them. I know his father was very happy about that.

We had a quiet father's day. The next day, Monday was a little more exciting. The weather report had said rain and thunderstorms. It was peaceful until about 6pm when I noticed the wind was picking up so I ran out to put the pony and goats in. Well just after I shut the goats in it started to pour rain/hail side ways. So I decided to wait it out in the barn. As I stood there watching out the door the maple tree ten feet away from me split in half and fell right next to our chicken coupe. It missed the horse fence by one inch. I took some pictures and will try to get them on the computer today.

So today, Ed stayed home to clean up the mess so we could get in and out of the barn without difficulty. Our tree guy is coming over to see if the rest of the tree is stable or not. I am hoping it will be OK but this is wishful thinking. We will probably have to take the rest of the tree down very soon so that it does not fall on the barn.

Hope everyone else is doing well and that your trees are happier then ours.

Love ya Nikki

House Cleaning

2008-06-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

Joe has decided to help me this morning while I do my house chores. It is amazing how one 18 month old can undo so much in such a short period of time. About the only thing I can say is my floors are clean and the dusting is done otherwise the house looks worse then when I started. There are more baby toys and dog toys out on the floor then when I started. All Joe's books have been removed from his shelf in the living room and tossed over the baby gate. In Joe's room he opened his dresser drawers and removed the clean clothes and put them in the dirty linen bin. Oh except for the the PJ bottom that I tossed at the bin this morning and missed. That one is still hanging from his book shelf. Go figure. All his stuffed animals are spread around the house, Jasper helped him with this chore. What a good dog. I guess it's a good thing it is a rainy day so we can start this process over and clean up again. I'll try and get a video of himself helping.

Daddy on the other hand is getting a lot more done then mommy. He is almost finished with the fire wood that was stacked on the side of the house and is planning to move onto the wood out in the pastures that needs to be picked up. Of course the lawn is always on his list and looks great.

Mommy is struggling to keep up with the garden, both flower and veggie. The strawberries are flowering and I am concocting a type of screen to keep the birds away from them. So far it is all in my head. I will have to make it a reality this weekend to keep those darn birds away from the fruit. My mulberry tree will be bearing fruit soon which will help. The birds love these berries and there is an abundance of them. Personally I am glad to let them have them. I am not that fond of this fruit, not very distinctive in flavor. The rabbits on the other hand are posing a whole lot of trouble. I am not quite sure what I am going to do about these little thieves. To bad they won't eat the burdock's. Those are every were and I wish they would just go away. Guess I am going to have to take them on too.

Alright, I better get started in this house project.

Love you all Nikki

This was last week

2008-05-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

Busy little bees

2008-05-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hi all, yes Oma I will run upstairs to the other computer when I get done here and post a new video.
But first... a few notes on what we are up to.

Eddie- work, work and more work. He is currently out mowing the lawn. Tomorrow he is building boxes for the chickens to lay their eggs in.

Me- gardening, the flower beds are going to be my focus in a few minutes. They desperately need weeding and I am going to expand the front bed and move the rock wall so it goes around the corner of the house. That little project will probably be stretched out over a week or so. I am also putting the veggie garden in. I have most of my seeds planted in jiffy pots and they are sprouting on the front porch. The garden finally got tilled 2 weeks ago and I raked the rows out and have been weeding it. Oh yeah my number one chore, chase my little cowboy all over heck and gone.

Joe- Teething and walking and whining and then laughing when I come to his rescue. Poor little man has a full mouth of canines and molars that all seem to want to come through his wee little gums all at once. Oops gotta run. I smell something that needs to be changed.

Love you all Nikki

Happy Mother's day weekend to all.

2008-05-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

Thought you could all start the weekend with a good laugh.

I decided that since it is mother's day weekend I would make a lemon meringue pie. Ed is not a fan of this dessert so I justified the decision with it is my weekend. Good for me.

So I head into the kitchen with Joe in tow. We juiced the lemons and zested them. OK I did this while Joe pulled things off the counter and closed the refrigerator on my hands. I poured my ingredients together and whisked until things boiled, then I carefully tempered the egg yolks and was so proud when they did not scramble. I whipped my meringue into beautiful white peaks and browned it perfectly in the oven. Alton Brown would of been proud of me.

My pie cooled and I just cut into it to have my first piece only to discover I had made a wonderful lemon soup. Oh well practice makes perfect and I will enjoy my soup pie.

Joe has had a good week. He had a fun moment with Daddy this week. They were in the music/office room and daddy picked up his guitar. Joe immediately picked up a guitar pic and cruised over to do some strumming. Papa was very proud.

It is getting late, especially considering Joe woke up at 3 am and did not go back to sleep until 6am. He was chattering away laughing and having a good old time.

So off to bed I go, Love you all Nikki

Greetings

2008-05-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, thought I would take a few minutes to let you all know what we are up to.

Ed is back to work and wishing he was home working on the orchard or one of our many other projects. Otherwise work is work, a whole lot of chiefs who have no idea what they are doing while the few Indians know exactly what needs to get done and exactly how to do it but the ignorant chiefs keep getting in the way. I bet we can all identify with his pain, but a pay check is handy so ... hi ho hi ho it's off to work we go.

Joe and I are trying to get the gardens ready for planting, flowers and veggies. The flower beds are pretty much ready but the veggie garden is in sad shape. I have someone coming with his rototiller but I need to pick up rocks before he comes and get some big ugly weed stalks out of the way as well as check to see if any of my strawberries survived. Unfortunately only one of my blueberry bushes survived. This makes me very sad.

Well I must go, Eddie has cooked dinner for me and I am very ready to put my feet up and relax. I had a long day at work and am so glad to be home with my boys and can't wait to snuggle up with Joe.

Love Nikki

Fishing with Grandpa Leslie

2008-05-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

Are you sure I should take the pole grandpa? Maybe you can show me how the first time.
Cool, I had know idea this pole would get such a neat thing out of water. I wonder why I don't have one of these in my bath tub?
Joe offers his sharp little teeth to assist grandpa in tieing the new hook on.
Fishing is cool but Joe is easily distracted by other fun things like rocks and grass.
All this fishing can really make a guy thirsty, of course mom is going crazy for this stupid trout that is seven feet off shore swimming back and forth in front of her so dad sits with Joe while he drinks a bottle in his new van.

I never did catch that trout, guess I will have to go back another day.

Love Nikki

Joe finds a treasure

2008-04-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ed and I can't stop laughing when we watch this. Love ya, Nikki

Baby Joe Enjoying The Good Weather !

2008-04-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Watch & Enjoy !

Lovin this whole warm weather thing!

2008-04-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

This is the closest I could get to Joe sitting in his chair, that is until I gave him a bottle.
The boy standing - no assistance, with his dog.

Hello, I didn't have time to wait for a video to upload today so here are some pictures I took of Joe towards the end of last week. He is doing well, he walks with a one finger hold all over the place. He is doing most of the balancing but the additional security of knowing that mom or dad are available to pull on should he need us seems to comfort him.

Ed and I did some work outside today. OK so Ed did a lot of work outside and I puttered around doing little things and running over to put Joe's hat back on or take the pointy stick away. I will try and get outside tonight and take some pictures so you can all see how hard Ed has been working. We are clearing out our old overgrown orchard. The poor fruit trees are being over grown and choked out. I want to start putting some of the wheel-barrow loads from the stalls in there to improve the soil so I can plant a shade garden next year. We are also going to put a bench under the hickory tree. It will be great when we get it done.

Ed also has started splitting the firewood for next year, he is really getting a lot done, oh I think I already mentioned that. Oh well, hubby needs all the cheers he can get for his hard work. Soon he will have to get the lawn mower out as well. Spring is here - Finally!

I have been doing the usual, house work and have actually found the time to work Lucy every night this week. With any luck I will be able to continue this and start riding her soon. The other critters are also doing well. The horses have almost finished shedding, thank goodness and the goats are quite happy to be out and running around the pastures. Joe loves to watch them play.

Oh, I almost forgot, one critter is making Ed and I crazy right now. Miss Pasha keeps finding ways out of the yard. She has gotten out four times now and she takes off to play with all the other neighborhood dogs. We now have to let her out and watch her like a hawk and bring her back in. Little twit, she has a 3-4 acre yard to play in and she insists on sneaking out of it. Hopefully we will be able to fix her little wagon and let her out with us when we do yard work. Jasper on the other hand is so good. Miss Pasha sneaks out and he stays in even though some of the places she has gone through he could use. Oh well, that's the difference between a terrier and a shepherd mentality.

I have to go out and put the horses in for the night. Hopefully I can get some more pictures later this week and maybe even a new video.
Love Nikki

Oma's begging for pics, how about a video !

2008-04-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Time Marches on....

2008-03-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

Joe's first carousel ride. They have a beautiful old carousel at the museum in Albany that cousin Fabs was kind enough to take us to. Joe was a little hesitant but tolerated the whole thing rather well. I got a few smiles but for the most part he had the look of contemplation on his face. Actually I should clarify, while on the merry-go-round he was not sure but watching it go round with all the cool lights and movement and music was right up Joe's alley.
Joe's Easter basket and first pair of sun glasses.
Joe looking cool.
What we woke up to this morning. Yuck. I am so ready for warmer weather.
My boys snuggling in for one last winter day. Hopefully last.
I am tired and sick as is the little man who did not sleep very well last night so forgive anything that doesn't make sense in this entry. Ed has been sick for the last week, I thought Joe and I had lucked out and skipped this icky upper respiratory infection. No such luck, it hit us both like a brick wall yesterday. I have not had body aches like this since a 1000 pound horse rolled over on me. Poor Joe had a rough night but seems happier this morning. He is crawling around pulling himself up and walking along as he holds the edges of stuff, occasionally letting go but quickly grabbing back on to whatever he had a hold of. The above picture was taken shortly after he decided that he had done enough for the morning.
He took his first steps on Saturday the 22nd but has not been to eager to repeat the ordeal. He does like to grab mom or dad by the hand and go. He will drag us all over the house as he investigates every little nook and cranny.
Love you all Nikki

Snow is more fun with a sled and a dog.

2008-02-28T07:26:00.000-08:00

I would love to write more but can't someone needs my attention. Enjoy the pictures.

Love Nikki

Almost walking on his own.

2008-02-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. We are all doing well here. I have a bit of a cold but am managing to shake it off. Joe seems to be holding his own although he did sound stuffy this morning. I took these pictures yesterday as he proudly motored himself around the livingroom with his alligator push toy (thank you Oma for the cool birthday present). He hasn't quite managed the turn yet but is getting the idea. I am just glad I don't have to hover over him any more. I had quite the back ache for a week or so following the little man as he charged across the room with alligators clack, clack, clacking away.

His father of course thinks of this as training for his future chore of mowing the lawn. Well I better get going, little man is getting bored and needs a change of scenery.

Love you all Nikki

Eating

2008-02-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

So if you look real close you will see a banana in his hand.
Examining banana
Yeah.
For those of you that think I am crazy to be so excited about a banana, let me explain. Little man has not eaten anything by himself until this so I am pleased to see he will be trying to feed himself in the future.

Gotta run daddy is calling, probably a poopy diaper to be changed.

Love Nikki

Latest tricks

2008-02-02T06:35:00.001-08:00

A little trick he learned from Pasha the staffie bull, put your head down and push and all will be right with the world.
Ahhhh, today we tried something a little different.
Please note the little man is not only pulling with arms and pushing with his little legs but he is biting the couch for a little extra grip.
My boy is just so impressed with himself and as far as I am concerned he always has good reason to be. Of course my opinion might be slightly jaded being his mum and all.

Love ya all, Nikki

Merry Christmas

2008-01-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

Alright I am a little late posting this but so be it. This is Joe on Christmas eve at Grandma and Grandpa Lansing's house. He had quite a good time as usual his paparazzi was present, that would be grandma, mom, auntie Andrea and auntie Cece. We had a very nice visit with everyone and ate some great food. Before heading home we stopped by Verne and Dianna's, Grandpa and Grandma's good friends. Joe discovered how cool trucks are when Dianna's granddaughter brought some out for him to play with. He was fascinated and pushed the truck up and down until he had worn himself out. Time to head home.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Joe got a very cool puzzle from Auntie Amy and her family. He hasn't quite got the whole put the piece back in the correct slot concept but is working on it.
Right now dropping it somewhere in the vicinity will do. Well as usual I will try and do better about posting but make no promises(after all I am not a politician... get it I don't make promises I can't keep. OK bad joke.)

Take care Love Nikki and the crew at Lansing hollow farm

One Year Old.

2007-12-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

Hello again, we are so excited about our boys first birthday that we can hardly contain ourselves. It is amazing how quickly the time goes by and how he changes day to day. Sometimes he even amazes himself. As you can see getting him to sit still for a photo has become a bit of a challenge but we enjoyed it all the same.
We had his birthday party on Saturday. He was not so sure about the whole opening process but liked the end products as you can see.
Silly mom thinks she is going to get me to look at the card and help unwrap these things. Why do that when I can play with the camera and aunt Cece while mom does all the work.
The cake was hilarious, most of it was simply squished and admired for it's painting abilities until he decided that it was not such a pleasant sensation to be so darn sticky...
So we unstuck the boy and everyone said their good byes to the birthday boy as he soaked in a warm tub. All in all Joey had a great time. He was thrilled to have so many folks admiring him. Despite skipping his afternoon nap he kept a very chipper mood right until the end when he decided it was time to be cranky simply because he was so over stimulated. But this did not last for long, a bottle and some mommy cuddle time and he was out like a light. Of course it was only five o'clock so mom had a long night when he woke up completely refreshed and ready for action at nine. No worries, a birthday only comes once a year so we stayed up and played and watched Christmas cartoons. OK I watched the Christmas cartoons. Joe played with his new toys.

Love you all Nikki

A couple of firsts...

2007-12-04T07:28:00.000-08:00

As you can see the first airplane ride was not a big deal. Joe had a bottle at take off and slept all the way to Washington DC were we ended up sitting in the airport for 7 hours because United airlines are incompetent. But I am not going to get into that. Joe tolerated the wait very well he smiled and played and entertained all the strangers who stopped to say how cute and charming he is, Unfortunately he used up all his energy so that by the time we got to Oma's and he met Angie, Bobby and Eileen he screamed for about 20 minutes straight. He did settle a little and play with cousin Bobby and Angie and he was pretty good for Auntie Eileen when she held him but they did not get to see him at his most charming and rested self. I guess that means they will have to come visit us at Lansing Hollow Farm. Yeah!

Joe also met his cousins, He was really quite fascinated and became very fond of them in the short time we had. Even now when I try to show him pictures of his Cousins on their blog he looks around the room as if hoping they are here in person to play with(by with, I of course mean beside) . It was really sweet he mauled Paul a few times but no harm was done to the hearty little 4 month old whose curly locks were just to much to resist. Cousin Luke was really wonderful with Joe he shared toys that up to this point had been exclusively his at Oma's house and even helped me feed Joe. I can hardly wait to get these three back together.

So technically this is not the first snow but I was not about to take a preemie out in the snow for pictures last year. So here is Joe's first time experiencing all that is snow. This face lasted about one minute and then my little man's hand got cold and he started screaming at me to get him the heck out of this cold wet stuff and back into his warm house! I don't think snow is going to be appreciated until next year when he can walk.

I would love to stay and post some more but between decorating, cleaning for the birthday party and trying to get Christmas cards done I am a little busy this week.

Love you all and hope your holiday season has been as happy as ours.

Nikki

Peek A Boo

2007-11-12T06:47:00.000-08:00

Hello, is anyone out there?
Oh there you are. I learned that I can play hide and seek with out mom's help this week. I just grab any old thing like the blanket or sheet on a bed that is already made and if they won't come off then I grab dad's flannel and the game is on. Of course mom has to start saying 'where's Joe' the instant I cover my face or it is not as fun.
Then I pop out and everyone is so surprised to see me that I generally start the whole thing over again.

We are all doing well, just getting geared up for our trip to Washington. Traveling with an 11 month old is not very high up on Ed's list of things to do but he is making the best of it. The travel part is not bothering me, it is the time change and little man's schedule that concern me most. We are either going to have a very happy trip and one confused little man by Friday or a grumpy little man who can't figure out why mom doesn't want to wake up at 4 am and go to bed at 5 pm. Aside from these little worries we are both very excited to be seeing friends and family, as well as introducing everyone to Joe.

Love you all and those on the west coast we will be seeing you very soon.

Nikki

11 months old today

2007-11-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone we are having a great day. Well we were until about two minutes ago when cranky tired baby showed up. I am not sure were Joey went but in his place I have a very cranky little man who is telling me that I should not be on this computer and that he needs all of my attention. It is a real shame because before he showed up Joey and I were playing a rousing good game of peek a boo with one of his blankets. Hopefully my happy boy will return after he gets a morning nap.

Love you all Nikki

PS I saw a couple of snow flakes this morning when I was out at the barn.

Two days in a row!

2007-11-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

Good morning,
This is my foot,
Well I've been sitting in the same spot for two seconds, gotta go!
Oh yeah, here's a picture of mom's new truck. She loves it but I am still deciding.

Hi everyone, pretty shocking. I actually managed to get on the blog two days in a row. Hope everyone had a great weekend. We kept busy; Grandma Elsie came down Saturday and watched his cuteness while daddy and I worked on projects out at the barn. We had to put a divider in one of the stalls to separate the goats from the pony. Miss Parfai is a bit of a monster about sharing space with anyone. She's been in her own stall and the girls have been staying out at night, but it is getting chilly and it's time the little queen bee learned her place. So into a pony stall she goes. I put her in the round pen with Dancer who will not put up with her attitude but does not hurt her. Although Miss Parfai would beg to differ, she got more exercise that day than she's probably had in a year.

I'm still working on more projects than possible before Joey's party but I know super Ed will step in and save me from myself. The porch is finished and the old vinyl tiles are off the kitchen floor, now I just have to paint the stairs, touch up the fireplace wall, place the stair treads, remove the old staples, patch the holes the electricians made... you get the idea.

Of course it is so easy to get to all this done with little Joe around because he never demands attention. Yeah right! Well I better get going and pick out which project is next on my list.

Love you all Nikki

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

Not quite crawling yet but getting there soon, he hopes!

Daddy's favorite Giraffe!

Joey and Jasper, goodness I don't know how professional photographers do it,

It never fails, baby looks at the camera and puppy looks away or vice versa...

What a cool Holiday. I used to love it as a kid and now that I get to dress my own kid up it is even more fun. We had a quiet holiday since Mr. Joseph has recently started skipping naps some days and going to bed at 7pm. Of course I was hoping he would take a nice long nap so we could go to the party at the fire house but alas it was not meant to be.

Grandma Elsie came to have dinner and Joe was dressed in his costume charming us with all his wiles. Which is quite easy when it comes to mom, grandma and dad. We are basically wrapped around his little pinky. After dinner I took him to the local cafe to see everyone and then we headed home because he started screaming at the top of his lungs for his bed time.

Here's some pictures of the boy and his new dog.

Love Nikki

It's been awhile

2007-10-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

Not completely my fault that it has been so long since the last post. We had a thunderstorm and the cable line got struck by lightening. Unfortunately we had everything but the cable plugged into the surge protector. Our computer was not so happy. It took a while to get the repair folks out here. Then I was just busy with all sorts of stuff that was not so fun.

Many of you know that we had to put Cole down at the end of August. He started having some issues with aggression, he attacked Pasha twice and chased one of the cats. Unfortunately unbeknownst to me he got the cat Owen also, pounced on him. The cat died a day later from internal injuries. We decided it was better to be safe then sorry and Cole had a lovely last week getting everything his way. We all miss him terribly but know that it was for the best.

Pasha and Moreau seemed to revive well and were having a good time running about. Poor Moreau was getting stiffer and stiffer so we took a trip to the vet to get her some drugs for her arthritis. We discovered that she had lost 10 pounds in 7 months. After the blood work came back the Dr figured it to be a tumor so we started her on drugs to encourage her to eat. This worked for a couple of days and then she started leaving food in her bowl. Last Wednesday she would not eat her breakfast at all and when she was out side she fell over and could not get back up with out my help. When she fell the second time and started panting heavily in pain I knew it was time. Our vet made time for me and let me bring her straight in so she would not suffer. I am trying to see the bright side that she had a good long life and was healthy and active right up till the end but some days are harder then others. I know they say that dogs do not grieve but I have to disagree, Pasha seemed lost. The only bright point was a puppy that came home on Friday night. Jasper has given Pasha a new lease on things and she is running around like the crazy puppy she once was.

Joey is thriving and growing and oh yeah his birthday present came a bit early. She is the cutest little pony. I will post pictures of everyone.

I better get back to my house work. I promise it will be much sooner when I post next.

Love you all, Nikki

Joey's first fair

2007-08-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

We took Joey to the Altamont fair on Friday. What a hoot. Well it was for me any way. Having grown up in Washington state in a small town that was known for it's fair it was hilarious to see how the other half lives. Needless to say it does not hold a candle to the Puyallup fair but it was perfect for a first fair for Joey.

The petting zoo was not as interactive as the one I visited as a child but it was a lot more exotic as you can see by the picture of the camel. Of course when I was taking his picture he would not look at me or the camel but once Ed walked him around the corner he caught site of it and was fascinated. Nothing else was worth looking at in his opinion.

Ed could not believe I was paying for a pony ride but it was a great photo opportunity and who knows one of these days I might actually get his scrap book started.

Fact of the matter is that aside from the camel and the pony ride Joey pretty much slept in his stroller except when we sat down on the bleachers at the horse show to feed him but still it was a fun day and I know that next year will be even more exciting.

On other fronts we are still waiting for Joe's new teeth to make an appearance. We have plenty of angry red bumps in his poor gums and a cute little man who is stuffing everything into his mouth and rubbing his gums to make them feel better. My fingers are crossed that they will pop through this week and give him a little relief. Through it all he is very sweet although his temper is a little shorter some nights so mommy is not getting as much sleep as she would like.

Well I'm off to the barn to get some cleaning done since I worked all day yesterday.

Love you all Nikki

Howdy Folks.

2007-08-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Great day for a ride. Joe's idea of a ride is a trip around the back yard. Start em young I say, although I am sure both grandma's are cringing. Joe and I are still trying to talk daddy into a smaller pony since dancer is a little wide for Joe, but at the rate he is growing who knows maybe we shouldn't bother with the mini version.

His grandma Elsie and I weighed him today out of curiosity, 22 lbs. Holy cow I hope he slows down soon, otherwise the clothes I bought him for winter will fit him in September.

Oh well, such is life with a growing boy.

We finally figured out which teeth are coming next and giving him so many problems. The upper eye teeth are on the way. He has very prominent swelling and redness there. Poor baby.

Speaking of which my little cowboy is calling.

Love you all Nikki

Bath time and other stuff

2007-08-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, Joey had an early bath today due to an outstanding painting session with his banana and rice cereal. It was everywhere, hair, nose, ears and toes. So we had some fun in the tub as you can see by the pictures. Splashing is a new talent he has acquired and he is becoming very good at it. He even gets me on the rare occasion. This is always delightful since he smiles about getting mommy wet.

Well I have to go, I have just been informed that it is time to try that crawling thing again. We aren't making much progress but we are having fun working at it.

Love and kisses, Nikki and Joey

Guess what I ate today?

2007-08-09T15:56:00.001-07:00

I know it looks like he was not that impressed with his newest food due to the fact that he is wearing a good portion of it, but Joey loves sweet potatoes. Yes, some of it is indeed up his nose. What can I say my boy has talent. He was none to pleased when I cleaned it out. He laughed while I cleaned his face, right up til I got to that cute little button of a nose then I was no longer a fun mommy. Oh well, can't win every popularity contest. At least he doesn't have orange crusty sweet potatoes hanging out of his nose.

On that note have a great evening...

Love Nikki

PS here's another really cute picture from the seventh.

Happy 8 months

2007-08-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it but my son is 8 months old today. It seems crazy. We have been cleaning out all the nooks and crannies in the house getting ready to have a garage sale. In the process I have run across two items that simply blow my mind. One is his premie diaper, I can hardly believe those used to be to big for him and the second was his ankle bracelet ID from the NICU. It fits on my thumb. When I look at Joey now I can hardly remember the little elf that came home with us. Here is his one month old photot and his current to give you all a walk down memory lane. Gotta go the elf has turned into an imp and wants attention.

Love Nikki