our first disneyland trip!!!

well we survived our first trip with landen to disneyland. it was soo fun for me and joe to watch landen go on all those rides. he did really well and seemed to have a good time. a few rides he wasnt too thrilled about (matterhorn, snow white, pirates of the Caribbean). and there were a few rides he wasnt big enough to ride yet (space mountain, splash mountain, big thunder mountain, star tours, indiana jones). but everything else he had to be ripped away from at the end of his turn. he didnt quite understand the concept of getting off the ride and giving someone else a turn. he did really well riding in his stroller around the park for me since joe was in a wheelchair and couldnt help chase him down. we rode all the rides that we could at least once. the lines weren't bad at all, not to mention since joe was in the wheelchair we got to go in the exits and go straight to the front of ALL the rides :) we all had a great time and can't wait to go again. we plan to go another couple times this summer!!! so here's the pics that im sure you'll all waiting for

belated pictures

just his random cuteness with his new flashlight firetruck from auntie april

sleeping in his own bed for his nap all by himself like a BIG BOY!!!

enjoying the nice spring weather we had (that is now GONE)

updated pic of our house thats all framed!

he had been sick and decided this was the comfortable way to sleep on the couch that night :)

he's such a big boy!

well now that landen is TWO i figured i need to really get firm and teach him to take his naps in his own bed and get him to go to sleep at night without me or joe having to lay in there with him for half an hour. so yesterday i started being a mean mom and sticking him in his bed and taking him back there a zillion times after he keeps getting up. so he ended up not taking a nap at all yesterday. and then bedtime was over two hours worth of getting up and me putting him back. today for nap i put him in there and hid in his room behind his desk. so id put him back in the bed as soon as he'd hit the ground. i think he started to realize i was over there (even though he couldnt see me) and after only half an hour he actually stayed in his bed and took a nap!!!!! he's been in there asleep for about an hour now too! i even took pics to prove it :)
besides that things are going good here. im only babysitting three kids now instead of six. those extra three older kids were just too much for me so i told the parents i couldnt do it anymore. i really enjoy only havin a couple extra kids around rather than a full blown daycare. the house is coming along good, got it all framed and are starting the plumbing and electrical stuff. joe's knee is healing well and he's doing physical therapy three times a week now too. he actually drove himself to therapy yesterday and made it all the way to blockbuster today!
well thats about all i have to report here. pics to come shortly (the site wouldnt let me add them at the moment)

just some random updatedness

well landen is officially 2 yrs old and his party was a huge success. he hadn't been feeling better so no luck getting good pictures of him eating cake and making a mess, cause he didn't want to have a cupcake. he got lots of adorable clothes and tons of awesome toys. like he needs anymore toys huh!?!? but he had a blast and grandma and grandpa brooks came all the way from san diego too! they even spent the night with us to be able to spend Easter morning with landen. it was so cute watching landen walk around the house (in his diaper cause he had a fever) hunting for candy and plastic eggs. we also went by our "house" yesterday and there's almost the entire first floor framed. we can't wait until it looks like a real house!!!

our new house!!

well it is official, we are having a house built here in bakersfield
we know we'd really rather live in san diego area, but the job market isnt moving very quickly for joe to get transferred down there
so we figure if we're going to be living here for a while we might as well take advantage of the booming housing market and jump in while to deals are still good
we have been looking for a few weeks and found this new development with a floorplan that we absolutely loved, it was soo perfect for us!
we found out all the details and after a few days of bouncing back and forth with different offers, the house is ours!
they just poured the foundation on monday and started on the framework today
they said it takes about five months, so we should be moving in sometime around august
the house will end up being a 2 story, 3000 sq ft, 5 bedroom, 3 bath, bonus room above the garage, den and formal dining
its a gigantic house in a really nice part of town in a fancy new gated community
i cant wait til its done and we get to move in!
until then just expect lots of pictures of the work in progress

my new job :)

well i have managed to survive nearly two years as a stay at home mom. its always nice to make money, but daycare is super expensive typically and i really enjoy being able to stay home with landen rather than sending him somewhere else and have someone else raise him. but landen is enjoying having friends come over every day and its nice for me too. i still am watching Joey who is about the same age as landen, and just this week ive added another little kiddo. his name is Jackson and he just turned 7 weeks old. his mom had to go back to work after her maternity leave so he's here hanging out with me all day. so far he's been a really good baby and landen loves helping with him. anyone who wants to know the secret to not going bonkers being home with two two year olds and a newborn.........get em all to take a nap at the same time!
the proof is in the pudding :)

Easter 2008

Got a couple pics of landen for Easter. isnt he the cutest thing in the world!!!