Landis Bakes Banana Bread

All Dressed Up

... and ready to go shopping at Sam's Club?? Landis has the weirdest uncles!

Old Family Picture

Goat, Aaron Scott, Landis and me at Landis' first birthday! Landis and Aaron Scott have grown sooo much in just 2 years.

Birthday Party Pictures

Landis had a great 3rd birthday party! He had so much fun with his big brother, uncles and friends.



We had the party at a local park, and Landis had a blast running around near the lake...


...and climbing trees with his friend Guinnevere!


Caleb had fun climbing too..


...so did Josh and Aaron Scott!

Landi's First Haircut!

Before and after pictures.. He looks like such a big kid now!

Big boy bed

Landis got a new big boy bed! He loves it. He picked out his own sheets - Thomas the Tank Engine, of course! He loves to snuggle his Monni or Daddy in his new bed and get lots and lots of books read to him before bedtime. When Aaron Scott was here last weekend, they tried to have a sleepover in the big boy bed but they were both too excited to sleep!

I can't believe how fast my little boy is growing up. He gets bigger and more independent every day. It is so much fun to watch him grow and change!

Happy (belated) birthday, Josh!!

Josh turned 13! He is now officially Landis' favorite teenage uncle (Paul turned 20 just a few days before Josh's birthday.)

We love you, Josh!!

Happy (belated) birthday, Paul!!

Happy birthday, Paul! You are strange, but we love you - even when you are wearing a smelly camouflage suit!

My Long-Haired Hippie Boy

Mom, avert your eyes.









Landis' hair is getting LONG. He was bald for the longest time, and with his blond hair he looked bald even after his hair began to grow. No more!

Now all I need is to find some masculine or at least gender neutral contraption to keep the hair out of his eyes. Somehow, as much as my husband likes long hair, I don't think he would go for ribbons and bows in his son's hair. There must be something out there. I can't be the only mom of a long haired little boy to ever experience this quandary...

Funny story - Landis went grocery shopping at the Downtown Produce Market with his Grandma and Papa the other day. (If you live in the area and haven't shopped there yet - go! Best store ever...) We do almost all of our meat, cheese and produce shopping there, and they know us by name. The cashier recognized Landis and was ooh-ing and aah-ing over him, and said, "Wow, his hair is getting so long, just like his Dad's." My poor father-in-law spent several years in the Air Force and is less than thrilled that his sons and grandson have long hair. He offers to take Landis for a haircut almost as often as my mom reminds us that it would be no problem at all to take care of Landis' tresses while she's outside cutting Josh and Caleb's hair. Goat and I found that conversation hysterical. Don't worry, Nonni and Grandpa - soon enough Landis will be in the teenage rebellious stage and decide to shave his head...

Sleeping Baby

Happy Birthday

Caleb!!! We love you. Have fun being 9!

Poor Landis

He inherited all of my worst characteristics.


Here we have Landis "Not a Morning Person" Ludwig in his favorite shirt.

As he says: "Is my favorite. Josh got it for me! Has al'gators on it. Also helmets."

Everytime he wears it (and he wants to wear it every day, and gets up set when it needs to be washed) Landis wants to call Josh to thank him and have a chat about the Gators. Funny boy...



One time when Landis was about 6 months old I tried to wake him up in the morning before he was ready. I talked to him, gave him kisses and rubbed him back, but he didn't so much as move a muscle. I flipped him over onto his back. He didn't flinch. I grabbed his arms and pulled him into a sitting position. His eyes remained resolutely shut as he flopped forward back onto the bed. I took off his pajamas and dressed him. Nothing. Picked him up and popped him into a sling. He made a slight grunt, the only sign of life so far. Walked out to the car and put him in his carseat. He rested his head on the side of the seat and kept sleeping. Arrived at our destination, pulled him out of the carseat and back into the sling and started walking around. He woke up an hour later, when he was good and ready to be awake and not a moment sooner.

He got my sweet tooth...

Me: What do you want for breakfast?

Landis: *noncommittal shrug*

Me: You can have cereal and fruit or eggs and toast.

Landis: OR Landis could have candy!

Blue Eyed Boys

Gratuitous cute pictures of our adorable blue eyed boys!


How did they get so cute????

Silly Ludwig Brothers

The Ludwig brothers are so silly! While Aaron Scott was here last weekend, I asked him and Landis to sit down together on the couch so I could snap a picture of the two of them. They sat down, and decided to show their brotherly affection by elbowing each other in the ribs.

What in the world are we going to do with these silly boys?!?

Awww!!

Landis just came prancing into the living room from the back of the house, gave me a hug and told me "I love you Monni! I love my Daddy! I love Caylo! I love Josh! ..." He proceeded to name all of the people he loves - his parents, brother, grandparents, aunt and uncles.

Could be be any sweeter??

Merry Christmas!

I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season with family, friends, food and fun!  We are in Gainesville spending some time with my parents and brothers.  It has been a fun visit, filled with music and presents and the pitter patter of tiny little feet in giant combat boots.  

Landis just took his evening bath with Uncle Caleb.  It was a very loud, splashy and fun bath.  Uncle Josh is practicing his piano.  He is getting to be a very talented pianist.  Caleb wants to make sure that everyone knows that he is both a talented pianist AND drum player.  The 2 big uncles are out and about.  John has seamlessly rejoined Paul's busy social life.  Goat is, unfortunately, working on his truck.  The ball bearings went out as we were driving up.  We were able to make it under our own steam, but Goat has had to spend most of the day replacing the bearings.  All 4 of his brothers-in-law have helped him throughout the day.  They were kind of cute, all crowded underneath the truck.  Awww, male bonding!  

The Benton uncles are using this visit to make sure we are raising their nephew right - as a Gator fan!  Paul dressed Landis up in his Gator Gear, and Landis has learned good Gator Chomp technique.  Maybe one day he will be able to attend a game with his uncles.  

We will be heading home later today or early tomorrow.  I don't know what Landis is going to do in our boring house after spending so much fun time in Gainesville!  We are looking forward to spending some time with Aaron Scott while he is still on his school break and seeing Goat's parents, (who are in Arizona visiting his Grandmother) his siblings, and all of our friends.   

If you've ever happened to encounter a mother in the presence of an adorable baby, you may have witnessed the ridiculous, cooing, nonsensical language that comes naturally to many women and is almost universally loved by babies. It's hard not to coo and wax lyrical about each tiny feature when faced with an adorable little face, and the fact that it is rewarded with sweet toothless smiles only reinforces the behavior.

Unfortunately, while Landis has grown from a tiny infant to a tall and very verbal toddler, I have not yet stopped cooing over each of his adorable features, especially his very blue eyes. As Landis was hard at work building a train track, I kept talking about his big blue eyes, and just how cute they are, and how nice it was that he had gotten blue eyes just like Daddy. I thought that he wasn't really listening, but he got up, ran across the room and tugged on Goat's pants. Goat turned around, and Landis said, "Daddy, thank you for my eyes."

We just about fell over laughing at that one, but I think I'm going to have to stop telling Landi how cute he is quite so often. I don't want to raise a vain little boy - even if he is the cutest toddler in the world!

Landis is cracking me up lately with his quirky little mannerisms and figures of speech. He is such a funny talking boy!

He is always curious about our destination whether we travel by car, bike, or walk. He announces our arrival with a cheerful "Made it! We made it!" C'mon Landis, it's not that scary riding with your Monnie. You don't have to act so relieved.

His new favorite phrase is "I don't like it." I'm hoping this isn't his favorite for too long, but it's a definite improvement from "NO!" It's sometimes quite funny. Tonight at dinner, he had his first taste of brussel sprouts. We went to the grocery store earlier this afternoon and he helped me put the brussel sprouts in the produce bag, counting as we went. I told him we would eat them for dinner, and played up how yummy they are. However, his reaction was what you might expect from a 2 year old. He took a bite, chewed once or twice and deposited it directly back on his plate. His commentary: "No more. I don't like it!" He had the most serious look on his face, and it was all we could do not to laugh. Other times it's not quite so endearing, as the phrase seems to accompany all of his temper tantrums and fits.

He's recently learned the word "something." When he has a mystery object in his mouth, he's learned that answering "something" to our queries about the nature of the object elicits quite the entertaining response, even if he's only chewing a grape or a piece of cheese. One evening recently he came up to me, pulled on his left earlobe and announced that he had "put something in ear." Goat and I rushed about, finding a flashlight, shining it down his ear canal trying to get a glipse of "something" and debating whether we should take him to the ER to have "something" extracted. He finally confessed, to our relief, that "something" was the tip of his pointer finger. Little stinker!

One of the interesting things about venturing out in public with a potty training, verbal child is the inevitable conversations in public bathrooms. Landis has learned that a proper conversation has 2 sides, and waits politely for a response after he makes a statement. If a response is not forthcoming, he assumes he wasn't heard the first time and repeats his statement louder. So, there are 2 possible types of bathroom conversations. Either we carry on a 2 sided conversation about our various bodily functions, or Landis carries on a 1 sided conversation at an increasingly loud volume. I usually choose option 1 - it's better that the conversation only carries to the adjoining stalls!

It's so much fun watching my little boy grow and learn, and there is never a single dull moment!

Velociraptor Shoes

Thanks Uncle Paul! I love my new shoes!













I'm even faster than usual in my velociraptor shoes.















And I can put them on and take them off all by myself!

Check out the bottom of the shoes. These are going to leave the coolest footprints next time I go to the beach!