November... a Grab Bag of Emotions

I'm onto November, a month with a spectrum of emotions.  Grief, healing, holiday spirt, and some joy mixed in there.  

Landon was the much needed ray of sunshine throughout the process of us grieving Kevin.  He had no idea what was going on and we were all perfectly fine with that.  His infectious smile and big belly laughs allowed for us to let out deep breaths and smile when all we thought we could do is cry.  

The person we must loved seeing with Landon was his Uncle Jonathan.  They were quite the dynamic duo.  

Looking at cars.  What else would they be doing?

Enjoying a nice vegan meal together. 

Being a ray of sunshine is hard work.  

Trying to fill Grandpa's shoes. 

Oh, Grandma has poles!  Let me show you my moves. 

Model pose

Doesn't fit in my legs like he used to!

Beans, they're what for dinner. 

As you can tell below, he DID NOT want his hair to be crazy and fun.  This quickly ended bath time, however I thought the tantrum was pretty entertaining.  

I mean seriously, could you look any cuter Vedder? 

Rocking our new coat. 

Driving is serious business.

So, this year we were the annoying people who put up Christmas before Thanksgiving was over.  In our defense we're always in Ohio for Christmas and it eats into the holiday time here at home where we could enjoy the tree.  Also, Thanksgiving was so darn late this year! 

I know what you're thinking... how has Landon been with the tree.  Toddlers are very curious creatures and there are lots of small objects all over a tree, for easy picking.  Thankfully, he was very curious when we put the tree up and wanted to touch everything.  So we let him help us with the tree in the entry way, where all the ornaments are not shattering balls and then most of this tree was done after he was put to bed.  

There was some curiosity the next day though... 

No photos please...

 Here are the beloved Christmas card pictures.  I snagged this great idea off of pintrest.  Now on the picture on pintrest, they had a very woodsy back drop.  We live smack dab in the middle of a big city.  There are no sprawling woods for us to take a picture with.  So, we attempted to take the picture here first.  We were kinda mad we didn't think to do the garage first because he was so much happier in these pictures. Interest was lost towards the end.  Thankfully we were able to nab a couple half smiles.  

No clothes all day?  Ok!  I'll rock just a diaper until 5. 

We were so excited and thankful that this Thanksgiving we got to celebrate with my sister and her husband.  Kate and JJ drove down and spent the weekend with us.  It's always nice to be able to spend time with family on the holidays, especially when they come to you :) 

After completing my 5th half marathon!  I ran this race in Kevin's dad's name.  One mile for every month he battled cancer. 

We made entirely way too much food.

Vegging out after our Thanksgiving feast!

A little birthday stroll for JJ.  

October Told in Pictures

So much has happened in our lives, that time has slipped past us and I don't know how to even catch up in words so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking with some commentary in between. 

Another good friend tied the knot! 

After looking around at Landon's toys, and feeling like he deserved a little spoiling we made a trip to Toys-R-Us to find some more age appropriate things.  So, an hour later, we had to drag a kicking and screaming child away from this car.  We let Santa know that he really wanted this Audi for Christmas.  Maybe if he stays on the good list he'll bring it. ;) 

Not to worry though, he didn't walk away empty handed.  He did get a kitchen!  A toy that will grow with him and has already provided hours of entertainment.  Ask for his coffee and boiled corn, it's his specialty.  

No pictures please. 

A boy on the go!

Seriously, what's better in life then a slice of watermelon on the front porch?  (In October, in shorts!)

Cat walk. 

Vedder enjoying the first fireplace of the season.  

We had a special visitor in October, Aunt Moe came and Landon had a great time!  We shared with her our love of black beans, strolled through the Botanical Gardens and of course had a very special visitor, Doggie!

DOGGIE!!!

Botanical Gardens

Snuggles

Although you obviously don't see it in the final product, taking the holiday pictures can be a labor of love.  It always takes the two of us, a handful of dog treats, sweat, and I usually end up with 3 annoyed boys.  These pictures are a perfect example of what we go through...

In awe of these awesome Halloween balloons. 

The Atlanta Zoo, like many others, has a Boo At the Zoo and we of course had to take Landon!  He wasn't too sure of the massive crowd of people, and didn't love that I woke him from his slumber in the car.  

He did love the Carousel! 

While Kevin was in Ohio with his Dad, we sent this picture.  It's our "This is what we think of cancer face."  

Clearly, we keep it classy in our neighborhood.

Too much fun with the neighbors :) 

If you remember the Pumpkin Pickin' blog, here is the final product... Carved and lit up.  It was so large we had to use multiple candles in it!

Reading a book to grandpa via video. 

Landon was a little apprehensive about trick-or-treating, being that he has stranger danger in full force.  He warmed up to the idea of collecting sweets after he realized most people would allow for him to take as much from the bucket as he wanted!  He even cleaned one guy out!  And after allowing for him to taste one chocolate he was hooked.  

A truck, in a pile of pillows!  Pure heaven. 

Not sure what these two were doing but they seemed to think it was awesome...

JELLY CATS!!! (Or as Landon says, Telly Tats.)