Happy Birthday Lanman

Still catching up from February for what was probably the most important thing we did.  My sweet boy turned 9 and we celebrated for a full week.  First with family...















and then with friends.  Landon wanted some friends to spend the night for his party but I helped it along with a theme.  :)  I went with army/camo and it was so easy.  The day before the party, I went on the hunt for anything camo and ended up buying camo face paint and found the boys camo tees that were on sale at Academy for $2.33...score!! Then I found other cheap goodies like glow sticks, mini nerf guns, headlamps, etc.  And decided that would be the grand prize from the scavenger hunt.

 

I don't know if it was technically a scavenger hunt per se, but close enough.  I set up clues that would lead to a "boot camp" station where Ash and I would lead them in some drill...They LOVED it!!

 








After they completed their "drills" and got their prizes, they got dressed in camo and had a nerf gun fight outside.  They finished that pretty quickly since they couldn't see the nerf bullets to reload...oops!





So we headed inside for some pizza and cake and let Landon open his presents.  Boys will be boys so dinner was rowdy to say the least.
















Our gift to Landon was a laser tag kit that was immediatly put to use along with all the nerf guns and a few more nerf bullets...although it was too dark for any pictures.  But I did snap some afterwards of some very sweaty stinky boys!










This is probably the only sleepover where kids had to take showers, but I was so grossed out by the thought of them sleeping like that, that I insisited!  ha  After they were all cleaned up, they headed down to the basement to play some more and finally sleep.




 Party was a success and my sweet boy is another year older.  I have to say that this was the hardest birthday yet because I realized that in just another 9 years, Landon will be leaving my house...what!?!?  These first 9 years flew by and I really got choked up by that thought.  So my daily prayers now consist of time slowing down!  :)  He is growing by they day and is the sweetest, most considerate, smart, funny, witty, etc etc son/brother/cousin/friend.  I am in owe of his maturity and his ability to handle situations flawlessly.  I think I may start going to him for advice.  :)  He loves school and excels in math and science.  He loves to read and is currently reading Harry Potter.  At almost any given point in time, you can find him playing any sport there is, but this past year he played football, basketball and lacrosse.  If he's not physically engaging in sports himself then you can bet he's playing it on his some sort of game device.  I love this boy more than I could ever even try to describe in words.  He is the light of my life, the apple of my eye and I am humbled that I call him my son.  I love you Landon!!

 

Run Landon Run

So, I'm still throwing it back to February for this post.  Back in early February, Landon participated in the Kids Mercedes Marathon on a very very cold winter morning.  In fact, I think it was the coldest day of the year...seriously!  It was in the teens when we arrived and in the twenties when we left...brrrr!  Grandaddy and Sue came down to witness the big event themselves.  So we all woke up early and bundled up to head downtown for the race.







The Kids Mercedes Marathon is where the children run the last mile of their 26.2 miles that they have run throughout the school year in P.E.  But the last mile is quite an event.  They all get an official race bib as well as an official shirt to wear along with some other goodies donated by sponsors.  Then they line them up by grade and from there by chutes.



They are all so excited that the beginning is chaotic with kids pushing to get the lead and others falling down.  Landon fell down this year and was trampled on, but got right up and kept on running.



He ended up running a 6:32 mile and finishing in the top 20 of his entire grade.  It was hard for me to believe with that time that he didn't win, but then to realize there were 20 other kids with a time around that or even less...amazing!





Once they finish, they are awarded a medal and can proudly and officially say they ran the Mercedes Marathon.  :)  So cool!!

Throw Me Somethin' Mister

In an attempt to catch up on the past few months, I am going to totally ignore the fact that I haven't posted a single thing since January.  My phone and my camera are telling me its now or never...I am out of picture memory and every time I go to snap a picture, I am instantly reminded that  (A) I can't take any new pics unless I delete an older picture and  (B) I haven't blogged in forever which is why I have so many old pictures.  I have sat down probably 10 times in the past week to write a catch up post and get totally overwhelmed by how much I need to get on here.  Anyhow, for this post, I'm taking it back to February.



I grew up in Mobile, (well not entirely, but I do still consider it home) and us Mobilians take Mardi Gras very seriously.  In fact, as we so often like to correct point out, Mobile is the original Mardi Gras!  And it is serious down there...school lets out for the whole week.  Back in Birmingham we aren't so lucky, but this year, Presidents day fell on the Monday before fat Tuesday and the kids and I got a long weekend.  So, in a celebratory spur of the moment decision, I decided to pack the kids and myself up to head down to Mobile and celebrate Mardi Gras, by myself, meaning without Ash...yikes!

The ride down was rough and the minute we finally got into our hotel room, I had a meltdown and called Ash crying "why did I do this to myself."  Luckily, my sisters and their respective crews arrived shortly after and my kids were instantly entertained and that much easier!  :)







We all said our hellos and freshened up and made our way to parade #1.  We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel downtown and it .was . perfect!  The hotel courtyard faced the street on the parade route.  So, we would catch a parade and then walk the 50 yards to the hotel elevator back to our rooms until the next parade.  I'm not sure how many parades we ended up seeing, but after the first one, my kids were already pros!













Even Lynlee got the hand of it.  One of the days was windy and was blowing the trash all over the sideawalk which entertained her as much as the parade!  ha!



We never left the hotel premise, grabbing room service when we were hungry and snacking on moon pies and candy in between. 









Before we headed back home, we headed over to catch a visit with my PawPaw.  He is 98 years old and still lives at home by himself...he is amazing and we love him so much!! 




It was a perfect quick getaway that I can't wait to do again next year, errr with Ashley! :)