15 months old

playing with empty wine bottles. He often drags these out and carries them around









playing with Daddy's glasses...again. He just climbed up there and sat down...what a little monkey!











Daddy built tunnels with couch cushions and Landen had fun crawling through them







Licking the lid clean from a salad.
















Daddy and Landen watching Play House Disney one Saturday morning.







Mommy and Landen had a long day and fell asleep in the rocking chair. This was a rare event.






Jack Rodenbaugh is entering Landen and Taylor Blickenstaff.








Video 1 is a short video of Landen's favorite thing to do when I run the washing machine. You can hear his head bouncing on the door as the washer runs the spin cycle. Video 2 is about a month old, but it is cute video of Landen dancing and singing with some music Elliot had on.

Even though the dog days of summer have not been as hot as usual, they sure have been busy. We have had something going on almost every weekend in the last month. One of those Saturdays, Landen and I went to Kearney with my Mom and Grandma to find a dress for Grandma to wear to Adam's wedding coming up this weekend. (That is the reason we have been busy for a couple of those weekends.) During the week, I have been running after Landen even more now that he runs more than he walks. Now that I have reached my third trimester of pregnancy, I have been more tired and I feel like I have not been getting as much done as I should. (for example; my kitchen is a mess more often than it is clean and Landen been known to find a snack of toast or Cheerios that didn't get picked up after breakfast...oh well!) I feel like I fight a losing battle because just as soon and I clean something up, it is a mess again before the day is even over. I have a feeling it will only get worse when the baby comes in two months.

Landen is growing so fast. I'm just going to go through some of things he does now. One of the things I forgot to mention in my last post is that he likes to blow the crumbs of his toast around on his tray. Another thing he does while eating toast is pull the crust off. Sometimes he will eat it and other times he will leave it on the tray. He can be a picky eater one day and will eat anything the next. It seems like he doesn't eat meat very well, though. I hope that changes since he comes from a beef eating family! Another thing that he is picky about is that he has to have a fork or spoon when he eats. I don't discourage that at all and he is getting very good at using them. He even tries to pick up crackers with a fork. He does have some favorite foods that I can count on him eating when he won't eat anything else. He loves yogurt of any flavor, so I always stock up when it is on sale. He also discovered that he likes my chocolate malt-o-meal that I have for breakfast sometimes. He finally decided that he likes peaches and pears and will sometimes eat a whole 15oz can by himself.

Recently, Landen has figured out how to go down stairs on his own. I'm not so sure I'm really happy about that because I used to be able to leave him on the deck and know that he couldn't get down. Now he is off the deck before I reach the garden. It's really scary out front because he runs straight into the street and since we live so close to the school, there is a lot of traffic during certain times of the day. I'm trying to teach him to stay out of the street, but he thinks it's a game. Landen has also start whistling. I have heard him do it several times in the last three months, but it was mostly accidental when he was trying to blow on his pin wheel, but recently he has been whistling on purpose. He laughs at us when we whistle and then sometimes he will do it. He is very independent and he won't do what you ask him to do unless he wants to, especially when it comes to giving kisses. He also grabs our fingers and leads us to do something for him and gets very mad if we won't do what he wants or can't figure out what he wants. If he doesn't lead us somewhere, he brings things to us. He usually brings me his container of graham crackers or a plastic bottle to open. I pretend I don't know what he wants me to do with the bottle and he will grab my hand and put on the lid. As soon as I unscrew the lid he gets really excited and takes it from me to play with. That just reminded of another thing he just figured out. He can now use a straw to drink from a cup.

Also in the last month, Landen has had another molar come in. This last one made him really sick with diarrhea for about 4 days. It was really bad for two days with horrible diaper rash, and after that it was not as runny and the diaper rash was clearing up.

I'm going to finish with a list of words that he says (at least once) at 15 months (some of these he has been saying for a while): up, horsey, boo, nigh nigh, da da/daddy, um, mom, uh oh, yee haw, read (I think), open, ow, yay, I did it (I'm sure that is what he says anyway. It is in context because he says it when he stacks his blocks together and claps for himself.)
animal sounds: horse (eeeee), dog (pu pu pu), cow (mbooo), pig (he kind of snorts...we are teaching him to snort instead of oink)
signs: milk, more, done eating/finished (this one is funny because he just waves his arms as hard as he can), thank you, and blows kisses

First hair cut

Playing with Daddy.







Landon Christenson and Landen.










Sutton and Landen





























Before, during and after pictures of Landen's hair cut.




Landen helped himself to Cheetos all evening Saturday night.









I haven't posted anything in a while for a couple reasons. One; I've been lazy, and two; I hadn't taken any pictures for a while. We haven't really done a lot since my last post. We have gone to the pool only a couple time lately because it has not been really hot and I just didn't think the water would feel as good. Either that or Landen's nap schedule didn't work with going to the pool. I still walk down town almost everyday to get my mail and/or groceries. It's about 6 blocks one way, so the walk is a good distance. I am sometimes pretty tired by the time I get home, especially if I get a lot of groceries. Last Friday, the 8th, I went to Lincoln with Connie and Larry. I had a lot of shopping I needed to do and we picked up some stuff for the new baby. Landen was really good and he even ate good. (he doesn't always eat good when we are away from home.) This past Friday, Elliot, Landen and I went to Kearney mostly to get out of town. Saturday was a busy day. In the morning we went to Kayla's bridal shower. Kayla is going to be my sister-in-law in September. That afternoon, she gave Landen his first hair cut. After his hair cut, he got to play with Kayla's nephews, Landon and Spencer. Landon is 2 months older than Landen and Spencer is 8 months older. That evening we went to a 50th birthday party for Mike and Patty Roskop. They own the dairy in Beaver City and I worked there feeding calves the first summer they were here. Both Mike and Patty turned 50 this month. Today we just stayed home and relaxed. My parents had to come to Arapahoe to get together with Kayla's family to do some wedding planning, so they stopped to see us before going home. Adam and Kayla also stopped by for a little while. Landen was really wound up and was showing off for Grandma and Grandpa. A couple of days ago he started trying to jump. Once he got both feet off the ground, but usually it's just one foot or just his heels! Today he discovered that he can walk backwards. He has walked backwards before, but only on accident. Today he was walking in circles in reverse!

Landen or Linus

I don't know how many of you get to see Landen regularly, but if you have seen him lately, you have probably seen him carrying his blanket and sucking his thumb just like Linus. His thumb seems to be a permanent attachment to his face anymore. He also throws a fit when I try to take his blanket away to get him to eat or play with other toys. His does have a back up blanket, but he prefers the white one. I do manage to sneak it into the wash about once a week...and it definitely needs it!


There's not much new around here. We did get to go to the lake again on Sunday. Landen really enjoyed the boat ride this time and he also got to swim a little. Here he is in the water with Grandpa.

I hope every one is staying cool...I'm looking at the thermometer now and it is 101 degrees at 10:43 in the morning. I might have to go to the pool today!

Norton Fair

Here are some good pictures from the Norton Fair tonight. The two girls in the pictures with Landen are my cousins. It worked out great to have them take him on the rides that I am too big to go on, but he is to small to go on alone. He had a lot of fun on the rides. He gets antsy while waiting for the ride to start, but once it gets going he really enjoys the ride. I think that he will have even more fun next year.

Fair and more

Landen was being silly at supper time.







Landen decided to climb into the sink after lunch to be cleaned up.








This is my cherry tomato 'bush'. I put a shovel next to it to give a little perspective to how big it is. The middle picture shows how the tomatoes look like a bunch of grapes. My plants got pretty big last year, but not this big.



Landen dumped his fruit puffs all over the floor and then laid down in the middle of them to eat them. (Erin, this reminded me of the picture you had of the triplets when they got into the puffs!)






Messy lunch!











Fun at the Fair!




We have had a busy couple of weeks since my last post. Friday the 11th, we ran to McCook after Elliot got home from work. Saturday morning I went to Norton to a baby shower. From about noon on I was in Beaver City helping with the rodeo queen contest. That evening I helped my mom with the harvest meal. Sunday evening we went back down to my parents' house for the harvest meal and so that Landen could get a ride in the combine before they were done with harvest. Tuesday evening, Connie and I canned four batches of apricot jam. It has been a good year for apricots. It has been several years since the trees around here haven't froze, so we have been taking all the apricots that we can get. Wednesday I had to help with open class entries at the fair as I have done for the last few years. I also took several things to enter. I went home in the afternoon and I was able to take a nap before going back for the carnival rides. For those of you who may not know, Furnas County has a home owned carnival and only local people run the rides and games. Landen enjoyed a few rides. He went on the carousel, kiddy swings, super slide (several times) and the Ferris wheel. Thursday it started raining before the events for the evening started, but since the grand stand event was the rodeo, the show went on. We went down for a while even though it was sprinkling the whole time. After we had been there a while, I realized that I had forgotten to put Landen's sippy in the diaper bag, so we had to leave early. Friday morning we left for Lawrence, KS to go to my cousin's wedding. We were there all weekend and drove home on Sunday. We had an incident on Saturday. Elliot and I did a little shopping in the morning before going to my aunt and uncle's house for brunch. Shortly before arriving at the house, Landen fell asleep and when we were getting out of the van (we drove my Grandma's van and she rode along) we talked about driving around for a while to let Landen sleep. We decided not to go anywhere and continued getting out of the van. I reached for the door lock to unlock the rest of the doors and heard it click and I thought Elliot hit the unlock on the remote, so I shut my door. Elliot's door was already shut and I heard him say "oh shit." I then found out that he left the key in the ignition and the click I heard was actually the doors locking! Yes, we locked Landen in the van with the windows tightly closed and it was probably 90 degrees or warmer plus the humidity made it feel even hotter. We didn't have the spare key so we tried a coat hanger for a little while. I finally just told my aunt to call the lock smith. Everyone there kept asking me if I was ok...I was perfectly fine. I knew the lock smith was on the way, Landen was still asleep and panicking or freaking out would not have made things any better so I stayed pretty relaxed. Landed did wake up a few minutes before the lock smith got there, but I just peeked in the window at him and he thought it was a game and was laughing. He was sweaty when we got him out, but didn't have a clue about what went on. Later that day we got to the chapel for the wedding and the doors were locked and they couldn't find any of the people with keys to unlock it. We finally got in about the time the wedding was supposed to start. It was stressful at the time, but I think they will look back and laugh at the whole day later on. This week we have been to the pool a couple of times. Wednesday night I went to my parents' house so that my mom and I could can some of the beans that I grew in my garden. Thursday I went to Norton for a doctor appointment. The baby is doing great. We also had an ultrasound today. The baby was very active during the ultrasound. He/She was sucking his/her thumb and grabbing his/her toes and the cord. It was pretty cute. That just made me more anxious for the baby to get here (of course that means it will be cold out and I hate cold weather). (NO, we are not finding out the sex of the baby.) I will try to scan the ultrasound pictures to post. They don't scan too well, so it may not work.

Fourth of July Weekend

We had a really good Fourth of July weekend. We went to the parade Friday morning and then walked around the park after the parade. There were lots of food booths and other activities going on in the park. After lunch we went home so Landen could take a nap. While Landen was sleeping, Wendall, Elliot's friend Sean and I went back to the park for the free watermelon feed. Elliot stayed home with Landen. Elliot smoked a brisket in his homemade smoker and we had that for supper. While the brisket was in the smoker, we sat out on the deck, listened to music and enjoyed the beautiful day. As you can see in the pictures, Landen had a pop sickle that afternoon. Surprisingly, it wasn't all over him when he was done. We went to the fireworks show that night and Landen LOVED them. He was pretty tired, but it was worth it to keep him up. We lit a few fireworks when we got home and then Landen was definitely ready to go to bed. Saturday we all slept in and just relaxed in the morning. That evening we went to my parents' house and helped my Mom take supper to the wheat field. After we ate, Landen and I rode in the semi with my Dad to take a load to the elevator. Landen really enjoyed the ride. He was pretty wound up after the truck ride and it was fun to see him being so silly. It rained Saturday night, so my Dad couldn't cut wheat on Sunday so we got to go to the lake in the afternoon. Landen was a little cranky because he didn't get his afternoon nap, but he still had fun. Maybe next year he will get to ride the tube with Daddy!

Enjoying the summer!

First boat ride.










We found this cute little chair at Target and Landen loves to climb in and sit down. The other day he climbed in with his blanket and sat and watched TV while sucking his thumb...of course, he saw me get the camera out so he doesn't look as relaxed as he was.









Landen loves to play with the hose. He can drink from it and he just likes to experiment with it by sticking his finger in the end to see what happens. He only had a small dry spot on his back by the time he was done playing!



Not only am I bad about posting updates, I have even been bad about taking pictures. I realized that I went over a week without taking a single picture. The weekend of the 21st and 22nd we went to the lake down in Norton where my parents were camping. Shortly after we got down there I realized that I had forgotten Landen's life jacket so I was mad at myself because he wouldn't get to go out on the boat. Luckily, there were so many people camping that weekend that we were able to find a life jacket for him. He didn't like the life jacket at all, but as soon as the boat started going fast, he forgot all about it and just enjoyed the wind and water in his face. He was even trying to lean over the edge of the boat to get the water. When we were about done, we decided to let him get in. Elliot just put him over the edge of the boat and held on to the handle on the back of the life jacket and Landen just floated and splashed and loved every second he was in the water. I knew that he would like the water because he loves the pool. He thinks it's funny when he gets splashed and he really wants me to let go of him in the water...until he falls and gets a mouth full of water. He really likes it when I go to the 4ft area and go in shoulder deep and walk backwards the length of the pool. He kicks and giggles the whole time.

Last weekend we went to Kearney Friday afternoon to do a little shopping. Saturday we just stayed home. Sunday was Elliot's birthday so his parents took us out for supper. Elliot wanted to go to Republican City to Old Mexico so when we were done eating we drove around the lake to see how full it was. It was so nice to see that much water in the lake. It made me want to go out on the boat again. Hopefully we will be able to go this weekend. My Dad just started harvesting wheat earlier this week, so we might not get to go. Tomorrow should be fun with all of the fireworks. Landen has been interested in the fireworks going off in the neighborhood, so I think he will love the big ones (provided he isn't too tired).
Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!