You Might Live in the South If....

....You have this conversation at the zoo:

Little Girl: What's his name? (pointing at Landon)
Me: His name is Landon
Little Girl: Like an airplane?
Me: Ummm...what?
Little Girl: Like landin' an airplane? (looks at me like "duhhhh!")
Me: (not sure how to answer) Oh...um...yes. Like landin' an airplane.

John Landin' Pfaffl?
I love it! :oD

Gosh Darn It

Did I really title this "Gosh Darn It"? I don't even SAY "Gosh Darn It"...Oh well. It's the first thing that came to my mind and so it must be. Let's press on! We have important business to discuss.

The reason I say gosh darn it today is because I am highly disappointed in myself. I watched Twilight for the first time tonight (yes, I am behind the times) to see what all the hype was about and I am sad to say that I am the newest member of the Edward Cullen fan club (*sigh*). I watched the movie with my mom, two of my brothers and my brother John's girlfriend (hee hee--still excited about that), so basically it was like watching it Mystery Science Theater 3000 style. A movie has to be flawless to slip through the cracks when we're all together and, come on, this was Twilight, for Pete's sake. EVERYTHING was funny: the random scenes where the vampires would fly through the air with serious looks on their faces...trying to take the dude from Can't Hardly Wait seriously as Edward's "dad"...the long staring scenes...the teen angst...and best of all the part where Edward announced that he was "a vegetarian" because he only ate animal blood--hahahahahahahahahaha! I still have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. It was a riot. When I close my eyes, all I see is Edward and Bella running up that giant tree at warp speed. How am I going to sleep tonight? And more importantly, why in the world do I want to see the sequel? Because I do--I really, honestly do. It's all Robert Pattinson's fault. (If you don't know who he is, you must live under a bigger rock than me.)

I still don't get it. When Edward first entered the movie, I thought, "Hmm..he's not that hot. Why is everyone so obsessed with this guy?"....but by the eeeEEENNNNNnnnnd (that was a sing-song-y "end" by the way) he was looking mighty fine if I do say so myself. Mmm-MMMM-Mmmm! Helllo! I think they put subliminal messages in that movie. Anyways, I've got to run for now (off to find a way to floof up Andy's thinning hair like my new celeb crush...maybe I'll paint his face white and line his brows, too).

Attempts at a Family Portrait

See why we need you, Anita?!! :oD

Maid Marian and Her Merry Men

A Robin Hood craze has hit the Pfaffl House. We watch the Disney movie. We look it up on You Tube. We're even reading the "chapter book". Landon will usually only answer me if I call him "Robin" and the rest of us have all been assigned our parts, too. Andy is the thumb-sucking Prince John ("too late to be known as John the First, he's sure to be known as John the Worst"--Appropriate, I think). My brother John is Little John. My sister Nancy is the chicken lady (none of us know her name) and I, of course, am Maid Marian (tra laaaa!). Landon walks around our house all day (Sherwood Forest, if you will) lamenting the arrows his dad threw into the fire and collecting coins from everyone to give to the poor. I'm enjoying the whole thing because, as Maid Marian, Robin Hood tells me he loves me "more than life itself" (instead of telling me I'm going to time out) and he tells me I'm a "lady of quality" (instead of telling me I'm not his mom anymore).

I am not enjoying the fact that all of my coat hangers are disappearing out of the closets, but I guess Maid Marian has to understand that Robin Hood needs his Bow and Arrow to be with him at all times! What can a lady of quality do besides cave? ;o)

St. Patrick's Day???

Do you know that on Friday the 13th of March this year our water heater that hadn't been working well for months "fixed itself" suddenly and has been fine since? Also on Friday the 13th of March Andy found $22.00 on a gas station floor and was prodded by everyone there to keep it!

It's true.

Now here we are on St. Patrick's Day, a day that's supposed to be all skipiddy-doo-dah and lucky and my poor Wittle Wan has been throwing up every hour since midnight. Yes, we are having our first battle with the "stomach flu" (probably thanks to the preschool visit, darn it. The teacher told us the kids had been dropping like flies all week--SUPER!)

This is a horrible way to spend St. Patrick's Day, but, hey! (This one's for Sharon) At least we're all wearing green! (*snicker, snicker*)

Definitely Andy's Son

Landon has recently decided that having people pull his finger helps him to perform his "#2's" better on the potty. He doesn't do this to be funny, whatsoever....and sadly, it seems like it really helps.
A few days ago, he told me he needed to go potty. He ran to the bathroom and worked on his business for a while with no luck. He called for my sister and when she got to him, he looked completely frustrated and put out.
"Pull my finger," he said.
"What?" answered Nancy, thinking she had heard wrong.
"Pull my finger, please", he repeated with a forlorn look on his face. What else could she do? She pulled his finger. He pooped, said "Thank you", and went on his way.
This has happened several times now.

What's a mother to do? He has backtracked a little with his potty "training" (if you can still call it that) lately and I don't want to mess up a good thing here, but COME ON!! Pulling his finger? I could clobber Andy for exposing him to that one! What happens when he goes to school and asks the teacher to pull his finger? (Something dads like Andy never seem to think about...). We took him to a preschool interview this week and I stopped him from proudly telling his trick just in the nick of time.

I can hear the teacher-to-parent phone calls now. *sigh*

Nancy

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather this week and went to a downtown park to take bridal portraits of Nancy. These aren't "THE" bridal portraits, of course--we were just messing around--but some turned out really pretty. Here are a few from the day!

HOW in the.....???

Today I noticed a strange phenomenon: My son has GROWN several inches. While this might seem like a normal thing to happen to a little boy who's about to turn four, I am astonished.

You see, Landon hates to eat. He really does. He is picky, for one thing. (Andy's son, for sure!) If you sneak in any vegetables, be ready to meet the gag reflex. A pea=throw up (even if he just THINKS he ate a pea!). An onion?: Better watch out! He inspects any plate put before him with a look of displeasure on his face. He takes the first bite with a snarl on his face while Andy and I wait anxiously for the verdict....He chews....He thinks....He inspects the plate..."What is that yellow stuff?" he asks us suspiciously. "It's just cheese", we answer (even if it's not really cheese). (pause, chew, chew)...."Otay."

Can I just say, I NEVER thought I'd cave in and play his reindeer games? Never in a million years! I was going to be the mom who said, "Here's your food. If you don't want it then don't eat!" I'm quickly learning that when you plan to be a certain type of mom before having kids, you usually end up being the exact opposite of what you thought you'd be. When mealtime rolls around, I think about how stubborn my son is (If I tell him "Fine, don't eat!", he will trot happily away and think nothing of it). I think about how cranky my son gets when his tummy is empty. I think about all of my deficiencies and can't help but thinking he MUST have some! I look at his skinny little legs running around all day outside with nary a nibble and I will do ANYTHING to get that kid to eat.

Part of the problem is that he is just too busy to eat. If he's doing anything at all, it's more important to him than food. I approach this with a sneak attack. I crank out grilled cheese sandwiches and scrambled eggs (which I have to call "buttery grilled cheese" and "buttery eggs" because the child is a butter FIEND! I am not kidding.) I am constantly chasing him with yogurt "popsicles" and fresh strawberries or spooning bites of oatmeal or cereal into his mouth as he plays. It never amounts to much in his belly, but it's something. At the end of the day (sometimes after attempting to shovel dinner into him during bath time, when he's most distracted), I mentally calculate what he's had to eat and breathe a sigh of relief when I remember he hasn't had his vitamin yet. He looooo-oooovvves his vitamins and so do I. Vitamins in place of food isn't the greatest plan, but right now they're our insurance plan. This stage is a tricky one for Andy and me and, I can tell, it's going to be a fight to the finish!

Daylight Savings

Yippee! Hooray! Tra-la-la! (Clicking heels together) I have never, ever, ever been as excited as I am today to lose an hour of sleep! I am not kidding--After the horribly long "Fall Back" period, I am ready for more sunshine in my life. It has been so terrible having darkness roll in at five thirty because when Andy finally rolls in at 8:30, it feels like the day has gone on forever. To some people, that might be a good thing, but when you're sick (and scared of being alone--shhh!) and trying your best to entertain and care for a little boy, a couple of extra hours of daylight seems promising.

Here's to a positive change for all of us this Spring! (Cartwheel) (<---As if!)

Drumroll Please!

I have decided that daffodils are hands down the BEST plant ever created!!!...at least for people like me who were born without their green thumb. Every year these flowers are trampled by kids and animals & run over by our lawn mower, but they still lift their bright yellow heads every March and make me smile. This year, the poor things bloomed and then were immediately frozen solid in the snow storm. Guess what? Within two days, they had perked up so much that you couldn't even tell we'd had a hint of bad weather. Daffodils are beautiful. They remind me of spring. They bloom no matter what and make it look like I know what I'm doing in the garden. I love them. :o)

I Don't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry...

...or PUKE, but as soon as I heard the words, "Guys! Hurry! I found a COCKROACH!!", I think I wanted to do all three! Today was a gorgeous day with a high around 80, so you know my yard was teeming with little boys. Everything was going well. There was lots of digging and swinging and running. I was sitting on my porch, thinking about how much fun it was to have a street full of little boys when they all came running from the side of my house holding a long stick with a big, fat (gasp, gasp, GASP!) ROACH crawling all over it (shiver, shiver!) What is that saying? "It's all fun and games until someone...whips out a roach"? Yes, I think that's it. In case you're wondering what my exact sentiments are toward these creepy crawlers, refer back to my post: 100 Things About Me and look for number 48 (should have been number ONE!!!!).

At any rate, these boys took my favorite flower pot (ACK!) and made a home for their new pet, "Cocker". Then, when Cocker kept crawling out, they opted to move him into Lanodn's sand box. They chased one mom with Cocker and then went after my stepdad's car as he drove by....and then tried to come after ME (I don't think so, you crazy little children--Let me eat my banana in peace)!

Why? Can someone tell me WHY in the WORLD....??!!! Never mind. Just never mind.

I am recuperating upstairs on my bed.

Blehh! Boys...

The Countdown Begins!

Until recently, my sister's wedding seemed soooo far in the future. Now it seems like we are having to rush to get everything done in time. What kind of rushing, trimming, cutting corners are we doing? Weeeellll, we have decided to try to make our own flower bouquets and boutonnieres! (No, we are not crafty. No we have never tried this before. And yes, we are probably a little bit crazy.) Here's our first crack at throwing something together. Let me know what you think of our efforts!

March...In Like a Lion!

You better sit down for this one (as if you haven't seen it on the news already!): WE GOT SNOW!! And it wasn't just the whisper of a frosting that we southerners usually call snow, either! It was real snow! Landon, of course was out playing with his friends all day long. Here are some pictures from the day. (They would have been better, but this snow was southern in one way: It had already begun disappearing by morning!) The first one is a picture of when it first started snowing. Also notice the lovely picture of the ingredients the kids were using (on the sewage drain mind you) to make SNOW CREAM (gag, retch!) and the indoor pictures of some of the neighborhood kids piled into my mom's dog cage (someone call DSS!!)