Out with the old...

From Summer 2009

It's been a busy weekend around the Land house! On Friday, I went BY MYSELF to a car dealership in Little Rock and negotiated and purchased my own, (used) new minivan! 31 and officially a minivan person... But I'm excited! I was able to talk them into a price we can afford and still got a color I like and most of the features I hoped for - none of the bells and whistles but we are putting in leather thanks to a little help from my dad :) I will not be sad to see the Aztec go - she's been a good car for us and amazingly made it up to 160,000 miles but it's a new day and we need room for THREE car-seats! I'm thinking "Fiona II" for the new family truckster in honor of my old Acura of the same color...

Tonight, we did something else new and possibly stupid. We took the twins out of their comfortable cribs and introduced them to twin beds. Well, kind of twin beds. Kendal found a GREAT deal on a twin bed set on Craigslist and picked the furniture up today in Hot Springs. To save space in our garage that's packed with new furniture for Evie's room, we decided to put the new mattresses on the floor in the nursery and let the twins try sleeping in their new "big" beds. They were excited at first, then thought it was a game, then got mad when we tried to leave them alone in the room. Crying ensued, they figured out how to open the door to the nursery, they tried to play with their dollhouse in the dark... But now, two hours later, all is quiet... Too quiet I wonder? I'm going to peek my head in there in a bit to see how they've arranged themselves - I'm expecting to find both in the same bed! We're planning to give this a week, then introduce their real beds with rails. We may never sleep again!

From Summer 2009

From Summer 2009

Donut Date

From Summer 2009

I very clearly remember driving to church one Sunday several years ago and passing the local Donut Palace, looking longingly out my window. Seriously - it's a big deal for our small town to have its own donut shop! Anyway, as I drove past I thought about a family I was close to growing up (the Howtons) who ate Shipley's donuts together every Sunday morning before church. I wanted so badly to have kids of my own I could take on a "donut date" before church - a simple yearning, but one that at that moment was incredibly powerful and seemed more than a little unattainable with all the problems we'd had conceiving.

Now nearly three years later, I got the chance to take Carlisle and Jackson on our first "donut date." My pregnancy cravings certainly did not hurt in the decision to introduce this new tradition to the twins. I was worried taking them by myself but tool on the challenge and it was well worth it! The kid love their donut holes and chocolate milk, so we had a sweet feast together before wiping the sugar off our faces and heading to church.

From Summer 2009

Carli Clowns

From Summer 2009

So this post is all about Carlisle, but we snapped some really precious pics of our little ham today and couldn't resist sharing :) This morning, Carlisle woke up VERY happy and VERY talkative and decided that Kendal's cowboy hat was her favorite new toy. Later on, after I took the kids on a wild goose chase to a friend's birthday party (we never made it, darn those online directions!) I tried to make up for the mishap with Sonic. Jackson liked his vanilla shake pretty well (but shared most with Gabby our dog) but Carlisle ate (and often wore) every bite... Yum!

From Summer 2009

From Summer 2009

Welcome Home, Brandon!

Kendal and I are so excited to share that our dear friends Patrick and Jenn welcomed their beautiful son, Brandon, home yesterday! Brandon was adopted from South Korea and, while the process was long and often complicated, he is now in their arms and home with his family. They posted the most amazing "Gotcha Day!" video on their blog that documents their first meeting with Brandon - you'll melt when you watch him wrap his arms around his daddy! Congratulations to the Marshall family - we love you and can't wait to meet Brandon!

Swingset Fun!

From Summer 2009

Yesterday we went over to our best buddy Will's house to play on his new swingset! It was hot as can be, but the kids could have cared less. They ran around, played, climbed, swang, screamed - it was a blast! Will and Carlisle even took turns pushing each other on the swing... pretty cute! Thanks, Will and Mary E., for the great play-date!

Beach Trippin'

From Ft Morgan 2009 - Beach Pics

I think we may have just had the best Land family vacation to date! It's amazing what fun (and chaos!) you can have with six kids (four two and under) and eight adults in one house for seven days - but it worked out great! Kendal's family took us all to Ft. Morgan for a sunny week on the beach. The drive down was long, but we were able to break it up with a day in Hattiesburg. My mom got the kids a babysitter (a girl I used to babysit!) so we could all go to a wedding (for another kid I used to babysit!). We had a great time and I loved spending a "night out" all dressed up with my hubby, parents, sister and her BF Matt. We even got in two visits with my grandmother, which was wonderful!

The next day, we headed to the beach. Caught the ferry from Mobile (that was traumatic, but we made it to the other side!) and had just a fantastic week of surf and sand, shopping, home-cooked meals and even some long naps!

Surprisingly I'm sure, I took a LOT of pictures! I've tried to sort them below by category - enjoy if you have the time and the energy :)

Family Pics:


Beach Pics: