Long time (long, long time) no blog!  Is this even a thing people do anymore?  I'm going to give it another go...  

Let's talk about this weekend! Goat has a new hobby, surf fishing.  This works out really well for me.  Beach time plus delicious fish?  Sounds like a win!  Goat, Tara and Landis headed to Melbourne Beach at early o'clock Saturday, and the girls and I followed at about 8, after only one pooping in a swimsuit incident.  Potty learning is such fun!  It was a beautiful day, and the kids had lots of fun splashing, digging and building sandcastles together.  Goat, Landis and I swam out a little ways while Tara stayed with the girls.  It was cold!  My wild husband decided to do some more fishing from chest deep in the water.  In all, he caught two fish, a Spanish mackerel and a bluefish.  Both were delicious for dinner that night!                           

The other excitement this weekend was the Melbourne Air & Space Show.  We had prime viewing from our front yard as the Thunderbirds performed feats of derring-do.  Evelyn and Landis were enthusiastic spectators, and Katie enjoyed it for the most part, but sometimes was scared by the loud sounds of the planes.  

Goat's new fishing rod arrived as we were watching the air show.  Fishing/lightning rod - carbon fiber conducts electricity very well, apparently...  

Landis the Scientist

While I made dinner, Landis was outside writing on the sidewalk with chalk.  He ran in and asked me to come outside to see a sentence he had written.  Here it is: "The SIINTIS Is Landis"  (The scientist is Landis.)  I had a little bit of trouble deciphering his writing, so he helped me out.  "In this word, the first 'i' says its name, and the next one says [short i sound]."  I love his spelling. And maybe we will have a scientist in the family in a few years!  

Landis Spells

I taught Landis the ASL alphabet way back when he was learning his letters.  Now that he is learning to read and write, he is obsessed with fingerspelling.  His little hands get tired quickly when he writes, but he wants to think about words and how to spell them all day.  I was sitting at the computer this afternoon, writing an email and drinking from a cup of water.  Landis came up, tapped my shoulder, and fingerspelled "Ma I hav sum wotr?"  ("May I have some water?")

He also likes to play a game where he fingerspells a word, and I fingerspell a rhyming word back to him.  This has the potential to keep him occupied for literally hours, which is extra nice on long car trips.

Other sentences he has spelled recently:  "The stor is in norf umaruku"  ("The store is in North America") as we were on the way to the store.  Yes, Landis, that is correct. And, "I olrede sed that" ("I already said that"), when I asked him to repeat himself.  Cracked me up, because he was really indignant that I hadn't heard him the first time, but instead of speaking, he spent minutes trying to spell out his indignation.  Funny boy!

Caleb

Caleb tells me that I don't update my blog enough.  "Look," he says, "there were 95 entries in 2009 and only one so far in 2012."  So here I am, updating my blog.

One of my favorite things about my brother Caleb is that he keeps me in line.  He always tells me when I need to do something or when I do something I shouldn't do.  He is very concerned with fairness, and points out things that go against his sense of justice.  Also, he is a fantastic writer.  His blog and his entire google account were deleted because he was not yet 13, but when he was blogging, it was one of my favorite things to read.  He just has a way with words!  He is getting close to 13 now...  Caleb is a really fast typer.  He has an A+++++ in his 7th grade typing class.  He types much faster than the requirements.  Caleb is a very good pet owner.  He takes good care of his dog Scruffy.  He likes to play on his computer a lot.  He also loves to read.  It's always fun to talk about books with Caleb - he really thinks about what he reads, and he has an amazing memory for the small details in the book.  He is great at building things and has an intuitive sense for how things work and how they are put together.  Maybe he will be an engineer some day.  Caleb is going to stay with us for about a week after Christmas.  I am excited to spend that time with him.  He is my favorite youngest brother, and these are just a few of the many things I love about him!

Finally Updating...

Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated this blog... Here is a quick rundown of what we have been up to lately.

Landis will be starting kindergarten next year. He has had a wonderful first experience with school at Space Coast Early Intervention Center, and is really looking forward to kindergarten. He has been having lots of fun doing gymnastics, and this summer we plan to do lots of swimming! He has gotten so tall recently, and really looks older all the sudden - maybe it's the two teeth he recently lost? He recently had a scary injury - he fell while jumping on his bed, and needed 6 staples in the back of his head. But the staples are out now and he is doing just fine. He still needs reminders to slow down and think before he does dangerous things.

Aaron Scott will also be making a big move in school next year - to middle school! He has had a great 6th grade year, and stays busy with Boy Scouts, cello, church activities and lots of reading when he is not hard at work with his classes. It's hard to believe he is getting so old. It seems like only a few years since I met him for the first time as a cute little preschooler. He's still pretty cute (don't tell him I said that!) He is an extremely active boy, full of energy. He has really enjoyed the outdoor adventuring aspect of Boy Scouts, and takes great joy in hiking, camping and exploring the outdoors. He is such a smart and fun boy, and I feel so lucky to be a part of his life.

Goat is still working at Avidyne, designing flight systems for small planes. He has been fortunate to have some really wonderful co-workers and an amazing boss. Recently, he joined a Crossfit gym, and we have embarked on the Paleo Diet. I'm still a bit ambivalent (I love bread!), but we are both seeing results - weight loss and feeling more energetic and healthier. Goat always has a project or 6 going, and some of his recent projects have been improvements to his boat. We are looking forward to spending time out on the water as the weather gets warmer and enjoying the new stereo system and new (working!) depth finder. He also recently purchased a Hayabusa, a very fast motorcycle. It's pretty snazzy, although it makes me nervous that he felt the need to bypass the limiter that reduced the top speed to 188 miles per hour. Yikes!

I will be graduating from UCF with a BA in History on May 3. I am so relieved to be completing that (long) chapter of my life. I'm not yet certain what I will do next, but I am excited to move forward. This semester, I have been driving to Orlando twice a week, about 1 hour 15 minutes each way. It is exhausting! I know some people have a daily commute that long or longer, but I don't know how they do it. I have also been volunteering with Rolling Readers, a local organization that works with public schools to promote literacy, and the Florida Historical Society. This February, I participated in the Month of Letters Challenge and wrote 44 letters to family and friends. If anyone would like to send or receive a letter, let me know! Once I make it through these last few crazy weeks of class, I am looking forward to catching up with the beloved family and friends I have been neglecting in the end of semester rush, and being able to spend more time with my husband and boys.

We have been incredibly blessed to have the support of many wonderful people, family and friends, as we learn and grow and move through new seasons of life. Thank you all. We love you so much!!

A Conversation With Landis

Landis started laughing across the living room from me, so I asked him, "Landis, what are you giggling about?"

"Monni, I just had the funniest thought in my mind. Do you want me to tell it to you?"

"Yes, please tell me."

"I just thought, what if I ate candy for breakfast? That is the funniest thought I ever had!"

Landis quote of the day: "Monni, you know what would be a really not fun pillow? If they made pillows out of working fans. Instead of going to sleep, you would die horribly!"

Chalk writing

Landis loves being outdoors, and lately, he has been very interested in writing. So we have been going outside most days to write and draw pictures with his sidewalk chalk! Today, Landis wanted to write the names of his two youngest uncles, Josh and Caleb. He still has a little bit of trouble with the orientation of his letters - he wrote his J and S backwards - but he is getting better and better at writing!

P.S. Caleb, now you have to update your blog!

I have really weird brothers.

Flip!

What am I going to do with my little wild thing?

Landis Bakes Banana Bread

Landis got to spend some time with his Uncle Paul this morning while I was volunteering. When I returned home, I asked him whether he had been good for Paul, and he claimed "Monni, I had the best behavior of all time!"

Peter and the Dragons

By Landis Ludwig

Peter lives with his Monni and his sister. And he finds the eggs.

His Monni tells him to go get some wood. He goes to the trees and cuts some wood down from lots of trees. When he’s coming home, he sees a big Monni Dragon and a Daddy dragon and says, “Dragons, can we please live together?” And the dragons say yes, so he brings them home with him and his Monni says “Whoa!” And he tells her these dragons want to live with us together.

Then, the dragons want to play something with Peter, and Peter says “What do you want to play with me?” and they say Whoopsie-Bumpsie, but really hide-and-seek. In story 3, the dragons want to play something with him.

Then, in Chapter 4, the dragon makes so many eggs and they all pop out and the eggs crack all at one time. Then, the little tiny baby dragons play with each other. Peter plays hide and seek with them. First he got to hide, then every dragon hides. The dragons like playing hide-and-seek. They had never played it ever.

A pterodactyl flies right over their house and everybody in the house says “look!” so everybody in the house gets on the dragons and holds on tight and Peter gets the pterodactyl and everything in the house that closes and shuts, like the windows, they close them and they let the pterodactyl fly around their house. I just told you story 5, the one where they bring the pterodactyl and get it and let it fly around their house. The pterodactyl is also big and strong. The pterodactyl could land down on the floor of their house and it could get one of the people. Then the pterodactyl they find could go down and scwoop with his right hand and pick up Peter with only one wing. He was that big!

The End

Landis just ran up and told me he wanted some Monni snuggles. I told him that I would snuggle him any time.

He thought about it for a minute and then said, "I want snuggles every all day and every all night!"

Landis' Important Job

Landis told me today, "Monni, I need to go to work."

"Where do you work, Landis?" I asked him.

"Oh, I work outside. They call me when there is a problem with rainbows and I fix them."

My silly boy

Landis took a long car drive with his uncle Paul today. Here is a conversation they had in the car...

Paul asked, "Landis, why are you so silly?"

Landis replied, "I will give you two reasons. Number One: I like being so silly. Number Two: I LOVE being so silly!"

Landis Quotes!

"Aaron Scott, I literally dropped your shoe on the floor."

"Monni, watch! I can literally fly!"

At the beach, Landis had to sit with me in the sand for a short time out after running into the water without an adult accompanying him. He asked, "Can I go back into the water after my time out?" I told him that would be fine, as long as he went with a grown up. He pondered this, then replied, "On second thought, can I have my time out in the water?"

Good try, Landis!

Landis, being the wild, active, crazy kid he is, has never been a big fan of bedtime. From early infancy, he would do everything in his power to keep from falling asleep. Lately, his strategies have evolved - he asks for just one more story, one more sip of water, one more hug, and tries to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. A few nights ago, he tried a different tactic.

I had just finished reading him a story and turned out the lights. He turned to look at me and proclaimed, "Monni, I don't need to go to bed anymore. I will be noc-turtle." (AKA nocturnal.)

"Landis," I asked, "won't you get tired if you don't sleep all night?"

"Don't worry, Monni," he reassured me. "I have a way to keep myself from getting tired- see!" With that, he jumped up and started spinning in circles on his bed. "Now I'm not tired!"

♥

Here they are - the two cutest little boys ever!

Please ignore the nerf darts, dinosaurs and army men littering the floor.

Child Lock

Our car has a child lock that can be used on the back doors of the car, so that the door cannot be opened from the inside. Since I don't quite trust Landis' impulse control, I use the child lock on the door next to his car seat. Sometimes, Aaron Scott or Josh or Caleb ride in the car with us, and sometimes their door is child locked as well. Lands has learned that the child means that the person in the back seat can't get out by themselves.

Landis usually doesn't nap, but it really helps him to be his usually happy self if he has a little bit of downtime after lunch. Today, I put him in his bed, read him a few books, told some stories and snuggled him for a few minutes. Then, I told him I needed to go to the kitchen to clean up from lunch. He was not happy with that idea, so he threw his arms around my neck, interlocked his fingers and said "You are child locked, Monni!"