One Landes Place

One of the things I have enjoyed the most about living out here is the creative things my kids come up with to have fun. What once was a crazy busy day filled with play dates and Mother's Day Out is now filled with sitting on the porch, looking at this: A few weeks ago my aunt gave SB this wheelbarrow and told her it was to use in the garden. Once tomato season ended, she used it to roll through the field in front of the house and fill with wildflowers she picked. We've had the privlelege of spending this week with Uncle Gabe, Aunt Cheryl and their kids Iassac, Julia, and Caleb. Iassac and SB are two peas in a pod. Although they are 4 years apart, they play very well together and often run off and spend the day together. It is so sweet to watch SB with her cousins. She hasn't said much, but I know it must be tough on a 3 year old to not have many friends in a new place. Since we have lived here for 10 months, she has not had ONE friend come over to play. This wee...

Here are some pictures of Matt and his little helper cleaning up his aunt's yard in Rosenberg after Ike left. We ran out of things to do so I let her have all the Tupperware she wanted!

This is Sarabeth's first horse ride. Nugget is actually a mini horse, not a pony. He gets very offended by that. My dad has a horse ranch in central Florida where we spent last week. We had a blast and I enjoyed seeing my dad with Sarabeth. The trip was too short as always but we plan to go back at Christmas. I'll have more pics of the trip soon.

Today is my neices birthday, she's 3. Here are some pictures from Christmas, she's such a ham. I look at her so different now, paying more attention to how she is, knowing that I will have a daughter her age one day too! Fashion Diva! She wanted to put ALL the bows on her hat, one was not enough. Her new pink cowboy boots, all set for the rodeo. Sweet Cousins

This past weekend my mom and grandma came to visit and help out packing for our move next weekend. My poor grandma worked so hard and of course my mom played with Sarabeth all day! At one point during the day I heard my mom singing to Sarabeth, just as she did with me and my brother when we were small. I had struggled over the past few months to remember the words to any lullaby that mom had sung to us but as my mom sang, the words came back to me. It's funny how they make no sense at all as an adult! I mean really, who would buy their child a bird, expensive jewelry or a farm animal? I can just see some mom at Wal-Mart negotiation with her child that if they will just behave and be quite then she'll stop by the farm on the way home and let them pick out a new billy goat. Nonetheless, the songs soothed miss Sarabeth right into dreamland. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

I was so moved by the following email. I first have to preface that this email was prompted by the inevitable Christmas Chaos in the Landes Family. We draw names each Thanksgiving for who we will buy a Christmas gift for that year. This year someone forgot who they drew so the "secret" was out on who had who. Now comes the first email from Matt's mom to clarify the names: Hey Dears, Since there are two family members who do not remember whose name they drew for Christmas, I checked around and this is my best guess. Don - Tarah Betty - Phyl Phyl - Betty Billie - Don Gabe - Jake Cheryl - Matt Matt - Gabe April - Cheryl Jake - Billie Tarah - April If this is not accurate, PLEASE let me know ASAP. Dear Matt, Have I ever told you how much I appreciate you as a brother. Of all my family members I have always thought especially highly of you. Your generosity and the liberal way that you love those around you is wonderful. I just felt moved today to express this to you in a comp...

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox Matt and I went to Longview this weekend for our first baby shower. My girlfriends Callie and Ashley from high school hosted it. I had a wonderful time getting to visit with tons of people, some I had not seen in years! Matt played golf with an old friend from college and his wife came and brought their baby girl. My cousins Sarah and Paula came from Arkansas, a huge surprise! I also had a chance to visit with my longest friend, Michelle. She and I met the summer before kindergarten and have been friends ever since. She's one of those friends that you can lose touch with for a few months or even a year and pick back up where you left off. I was so blessed to have her there with her mom too! Michelle is expecting a baby soon as well. I just wish we lived closer so our babies could grow up together like we did. The baby was showered with tons of gifts, mostly pink things! The shower was beautiful, Callie and Ash did a great job and the food was...

Ok, here are a few pics from our vacation in the Smoky Mountains. Matt and I took my younger sister, Lindsay, and met up with his 3 aunts and his mom for an RV trip through Tennessee. It was a great getaway before the baby comes and the cool thing about being in the RV was that I could eat, sleep, and pee whenever I wanted without making everyone else stop! Here's a little glimpse at how the trip went: Me at the entry of an old Appalachian home on the Cades Cove Trail. This is one of the few original structures that were built during the 1800s. It was very cool to walk through these and see how people actually lived back then. Matt on the Appalachia Trail. This trail runs from Georgia to Main and goes right through the Smoky's. There were lots of hikers on the trail. My sis Lindsay at Abrahms Creek. Very, very cold water! The Aunts and me in the creek. It felt so good to stop and wade in the water. It was really hot most of the day! Matt took this one morning around 6am. Th...

I had the pleasure of taking a quick trip to Longview this weekend to see my baby nephew for the first time. Here are some pictures from my trip. Future Football STAR! Aunt Lindsay, Mimi, Big Sister Rian and Baby Johnny This is my sister Haley and her two little ones, Rian and Johnny What a wonderful Maker we have! As I sat and held my new baby nephew I was captured by the details of his tiny body! Everything was perfect! I held him a lot and did not want to put him down. I missed him all the way home. I can't wait to have one of my own to keep! :)

He's here! We've waited patiently for my nephew John to be born. My sister Haley had some complications during her pregnancy, however he only came a week early. Baby John has been in the NICU since father's day when he was born, but he did come home to mommy and daddy today. He's the cutest little thing! He is welcomed by his 2 year old big sister Rian . She is so happy to have a baby brother. Here she is this spring at the Houston Rodeo. Baby girl Landes has lots of cousins waiting on her!

Today is 2 years since my sister Alayna passed away from cancer. I don't typically like to remember days like these but as I layed in bed last night, thinking about today I was blessed by her memory. I found myself thanking God for allowing me 19 years with her. So I decided to post a tribute to my sister just to remember her goofy nature and zany attitude! Oh how I miss her! For those of you that knew her, you could never forget her. She smiled through her sickness every step of the way. The song playing was her favorite among many. She always promised she'd come home (from the hospital), and although she didn't make it to her earthly home, she is sitting at the feet of Jesus in her eternal home. I know one day I will also, get to come home to you!

Phenomenon ! Matt and I spent Easter in my hometown of Longview , Tx . with my mom and family. It was a great time to visit with family and relax, except for we drove all over the place while we were there! My grandmother was in Tyler, about 45 minutes away from Longview , having open heart surgery the Friday before Easter. Not the exact situation I would have wanted, however my dad flew in from Florida to see her and I had not seen him in over a year. On the way to Tyler on Saturday, it started snowing! It was the coolest thing to see. I was really surprised to see how big the flakes were and how long it snowed, almost 2 hours! Of course it didn't stick, but it sure was neat to watch it. Matt took this picture in the parking lot of the hospital. The snow was coming down like crazy! This is me and my dad in the courtyard at the hospital. It was his first time to see me since we found out we were expecting. He is so excited to be a grandpa for the first time!

Actually, everybody say "April's Pregnant!" That was what Matt said when he "staged" a family picture this weekend at his aunt's. It was the only creative thing we could think of to announce the baby on the way. All of our siblings had used up all the cool ideas already so we decided to get the family together and take a picture and as Matt was taking the picture he would say "everybody say April's pregnant" It really didn't work out the way we wanted, this was picture #3. The first 2, everyone was just smiling like normal! It took us a few minutes to actually convince everyone that we were REALLY having a baby! It was a classic Landes moment. We were privileged to be able to tell my mom and Matt's parents in person as well as a few of our close friends. We too were very surprised ! We had been trying to get pregnant for about 8 months, mind you we have never been on birth control the 5 years we have been married. We were surprised ...