Happy Birthday Part 2

"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 !

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

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.

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

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

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

5 months

4 months

3 months

2 months

Greetings from the Lansing Boys

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...

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 !

Pictures Long Over Due.

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

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 !

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

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

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

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

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.

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)

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