Devin Things

Today at breakfast Devin told me he had a good idea: We should go to the library! I informed him that we were the same because I, too, thought we should go to the library today. He responded with, "It was my dream that we would go to the library! I'm so excited." Seriously. How can you not love that? Of course, the library didn't turn out like a dream because I accidentally bumped Landon, who then fell face first onto Devin's head. I quickly picked Landon up and tried to get outside before the screaming started, which made Devin run after me screaming that I was going to leave him. Landon did have a bit of a bloody nose, but this was stopped quickly and the joy of discovering books continued. Sorry to the school group trying to have story time. That's just how we roll.

Devin and Landon were playing while I finished up dinner. I heard Devin call Landon a name (which I cannot remember now. Dirt face? Idk. Somthing unsavory.), which I immediately picked up on because clearly this is an issue at our house and asked him where in the world he'd learned to say that. He told me he didn't know, but then conceded that he'd learned it from Mexico. He's all about passing the blame to sovereign nations. I have to admit that our usual penalty for name calling--standing in the corner--was not used because his answer distracted me so much I forgot about it!

In an effort to stop Devin from picking his nose I told him that it was gross because it was like he was eating dirt and dead bug parts. I admit that this was not the best idea. Because now he'll randomly ask, as he did on the way home from church Sunday, if he's eating bugs. (Heaven knows he back there searching during his down time.) Sunday's query turned into a full-on discussion of scorpions. All due to the simple question, "Mommy, am I eating scorpion legs right now because I'm eating my bogies?"

Boys are noise covered in dirt.

We sorely need a sandbox. And to finish the garden so this dirt can leave. (Thanks to Val for coming and taking some away yesterday!) 

I'll give you one guess about who poured dirt all over Landon. Mostly it was just hilarious because it.was.everywhere. And I couldn't get it out of his ears. Landon didn't care one bit. 

 

This post should also include a picture of the floor in Devin's room because every day after playing outside he empties his shoes onto his floor. I really need to remember to have him do this outside.

Weekend Campout

To start out the holiday weekend with some fun, we had a family campout in the backyard. 

We borrowed the Redford's fire pit to make the campout even more "real." Devin was beyond excited and danced around the tent saying, "We're going on a campout!" over and over. 

And even though we weren't in the wilderness, Landon still ended up covered in dirt. 

 

We had a hot dog dinner, set up the tent, and roasted marshmallows. I even sang and did the actions to a song from girls' camp. All the boys were impressed. 

Devin can put away the marshmallows and we think he ate around 12 or so. Some were roasted, some were barely warm, and some were straight from the bag because he was "checking to see if they were still good." He did pretty great at holding his own stick. Landon ate one marshmallow and it was a sticky disaster. After that, he got to gnaw on a cookie until bedtime. 

 

 

 

Ah, bedtime. We cracked glow sticks, sang songs, and told stories. Devin snuggled right down into his sleeping back and talked to Wolfie and Meow, Meow about his glow sticks. Landon, however, was not ready for the freedom of the sleeping bag. I thought he would be okay without the pack and play. I was very wrong. Granted the poor boy was exhausted, but it still took me about 10 minutes of laying by him and singing to get him to calm down. Then he only slept for an hour or so and woke up screaming. I figured he wouldn't calm down and because we weren't really in the woods and I could put him in his own bed, I did. Which meant I slept indoors. So, the campout didn't turn out quite like a fairytale, but we ended with pancakes and sausages in the morning, so we were all happy. Still grand family fun!

 

New (to us) Jeep

Some friends are moving and didn't want to take their Arctic Cat jeep with them, so they gifted it to us. In Devin's words, "That was so nice of Sister Savage to give us this jeep. That makes me so happy she did that." He just drives in circles over and over and over. Sometimes he lets Landon have a ride. Landon is sometimes brave enough to risk certain whiplash for the joy of riding with his big brother. Of course, a favorite activity is pretending to fix the jeep. It breaks down a lot in Devin's world.

Landon at 14 months

Hearing him say, "Hi!" over and over is pretty much music to the ears. He's starting to run, which makes his cheeks jiggle like Jell-O. Additionally, he likes to eat Jell-O and is doing well at feeding himself. He has a temper that usually resorts to biting when he doesn't get his way, even if this means trying to bite the cabinet. After shoving his face against the wood he gave me a look that said, "WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ME HURT MYSELF!? Just give me my water already. I refuse to say 'please' btw." Oh he's a tease, but he's so darn cute that I really have to remind myself that I also need to set the foundations for discipline!

Horse-o-Rama

Saturday we headed to the Horse-o-Rama. Devin was pretty disappointed that this event did not include him getting to ride a horse, but the petting zoo made up for the sadness. He also got to feed a horse, which he thought was pretty fabulous. Landon wasn't scared of the animals at all and wanted to get into the action. I was impressed by Devin allowing someone to touch him to have his face painted, though the paint didn't stay on for long. It was fun watching some of our ward members show their horses, and it was a great day to spend together as a family.

Outside, All the Time.

We go outside a lot. I've mentioned this. I take a lot of pictures. This is obvious. And when I get behind on blogging, all the days get smashed into one post. There is picture overload, but it's of the two cutest boys, so it's all good. 

On the first day of sprinklers Landon was ready to go while Devin finished lunch, which meant Landon found ways to make messes. Mostly I'm including these because I'm obsessed with my kid. No other reason, really.

Back to going outside. I really wish these pictures could do justice to the hilarity that was Landon wearing this 6-12m swimming suit. I hadn't switched over the clothes yet, so this is what he was stuck with. Because heaven knows after I dressed him I wasn't about to undress him, search for another swimming suit, and then re-dress him. So for this day, his baby belly hung out the bottom and the rash guard left a deepish imprint on his chunky thighs.

 We then spent a lot of time playing outside in the water trying to wear the boys out so they would take blissfully long naps. Landon still isn't loving the water on his face, but every once in awhile he'll venture over to the water. Devin, however, would play with water all day.

Another day, we headed out not intending to play in the water. Thus why Landon has no pants on. Man that kid seems to get the short end of the wardrobe stick! But he was wearing denim shorts and it's no fun to remove sopping wet Levi's. Anyway, he waddled around sans pants chasing birds on the golf course, practicing his newfound skill of going down stairs, and being generally adorable while trying to eat wood chips. Meanwhile, Devin and I played ice cream shop with the water bucket and discussed his upcoming campout.

 Before going in I forced Landon to perform tricks such as showing me how big he was and clapping. Devin was required to show me just how much he loved me. He likes to tease, but he really do love me a lot. I think. Most of the time!

Even though Landon doesn't descend the stairs with quite the same agility he normally does, I thought the grandparents would enjoy some live action Landon:

Side note to all this (really I just wanted to note these things down): Devin super impressed me this day with his grown up capabilities. When we decided to play with water I sent him in to get his sandals because I didn't want his shoes to get wet for the campout. He came back out in his swimming suit, which he'd found and adorned without any direction. This may not be big to some people, but it showed a lot of thought on Devin's part! Apparently this was a day for him to "grow up" (or maybe it was a day for me to "let him grow up") because he was in charge of microwaving the syrup at breakfast and operated it without a hitch (he didn't even lick the lid!), then during morning chores, though I'd only asked him to pick up the puzzles and other toys on the ground, he went the extra mile and pulled everything out of his room and into the hall so I could vacuum. Lots of muscle went into this and he did not want my help. I forget sometimes he NEEDS those moments of feeling super capable. I think I'm too OCD about things getting done my way, so I forget that he needs to develop his own way, too.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was wonderful. Rich really did spoil me by allowing me to just be alone with no responsibilities all afternoon! After church I just read and napped and read some more. And when I was called into the kitchen, there was a yummy dinner waiting. Rich did end up cooking for like 7 hours straight because the dessert I'd requested was more involved than I thought, and it takes so much longer to cook when you're not used to doing it whilst trying to keep a busy baby out of every drawer and to stop him from trying to play with the pizza cutter, but everything turned out delicious, so I say it was worth all his efforts ;) Love that man of mine! 

And I love being Mama to these two cute boys! Devin came home from the campout with flowers in hand pronouncing, "Happy Mama's Day, Mama!" Who couldn't love that?! What a lucky Mama I am.

Due to the amount of effort (and butter) put forth to make these delicious chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes, I thought I should have a pictures of them in all their glory. And yes, Rich did indeed pipe the frosting for these. I didn't do anything, in fact! They were so yummy. Rich may never want to cook/bake again, but he did a fabulous job on everything! 

Father's and Son's Campout

Devin was beyond excited for the campout. I told him about it at the beginning of the week, though I knew I was sure to be asked every day if today was Friday, in hopes this would help him behave better in an effort to "earn" the campout. Just so you know, this did not work. It was a rough week, and he just earned back the campout with his hard work on Thursday night. I wasn't trying to be the meanest mom, but I was trying to be an encouraging one!

Moving on from the discipline issues . . . As soon as Rich got home Devin was ready to go. He'd been packed since 9:30 that morning. And yes his shirt (and shorts) are on backward. Pretty sure the underwear was inside out. BUT he dressed himself. I couldn't bear to dampen his enthusiasm by making him turn his shirt around. To his credit his pants were on correctly earlier in the day but after playing outside in the water, this is how he redressed himself. 

 

I digress again. . . Once they were on their way and on the ranch, Devin got to drive. Clearly he needs to work on watching the road and not getting his hands tied up like pretzels. It's a long video. His face is full of joy.

After the driving they set up the tent and went to throw rocks. Much like last year, rock throwing was the preferred activity. However, Devin didn't like getting in the creek this year. Weird for that little fish of ours. He also spent a lot of time staring directly into the lantern. I'm guessing these types of decisions are what contributes to the inability to listen. Devin's report on the campout: lots of fun! He was beaming when he told me all about what they did.