Canon Catch-up

Mommy is growing up and learning (after the 3rd child, no less) to keep things simple. So, this year, when the girls decided they wanted to dress up with stuff we already had and stuff they wear every other day anyway, I said yes! instead of searching the internets for new head to toe costumes. And little Simon, he's wearing the same lamb hat Joan and Charlotte wore with a few alterations. babies growing up... sniff, sniff...

Speaking of growing up...


The world is a stage


So as not to be out-done


So much love in this room

And finally, signs of a great Papa:
-chaperones the field trip to my least favorite place
-plays "ballerina music" during his game

Thanks to The Haneys...

this beauty is living in our dining room!

MVI 6267 from Alisha Landry on Vimeo.
Jude's aunt and uncle, Renee & Phil, gave us this awesome piano. It looks and plays like it's brand new! Thank you two so much for your generosity. We will take great care of it!

And Simon thanks you, too. He just doesn't know it yet.

Testing Vimeo

Trying to upload stuff always leaves me with a few more grays and others unable to view it on their mobile device. So, this is an experiment. But seriously, if these don't show up on your fancy iPhone or iPad, they have these things called computers that you should check out. Enjoy:

carley from Alisha Landry on Vimeo.
If I had my act together, this would've been added to this post.

Same video. Experiment, remember?

Charlotte's actually been in pre-school two mornings a week since August, but since she's the middle child, you're just now finding out about it. Oh, and at their school, they ride bikes in the hallway when they read lots of books. Makes sense.

Simon has two teeth and loves to bite. I'm super sore. We'll leave it at that.

The girls playing Mass. Translation (I think):

We be honored to love bath him.

We be kind to be the book.

No, turn it to the other side.

We be honored to come to tear.

You may close the book.

You may bring the book.
We be honored to [?]

We be honored to have a cup and stuff.

You may close the book.

before and after

Joan used to be a baby.

And now she's in Kindergarten. 

Simon used to be an old grumpy duck.

And now he's cracking up.

Charlotte used to be crazy. 

And now... well, maybe she still is.

Alisha: "Who's going to go first?"

Charlotte: "Me! 'Cause I'm the biggest!"
Alisha: "The biggest?"

Charlotte: "Yeah - of the unicorns."

meet simon.

On April 28, 2013, at 3:00 a.m., we welcomed our newest little guy,
Simon Jude Landry

Jude wore this home from the hospital 32 years ago. Fit perfectly.

Yep. We make the prettiest kids.

So thankful for Gigi's help.

The girls meet Simon for the very first time.

What I Wore Sunday & Easter Outfit OTI

It was so nice having my parents in town for Easter weekend - though I'm not sure "nice" is how they'd describe it... I was pretty grouchy and irritable. Many apologies, fam, especially since today is your birthday, mom. Hopefully your Lenten observations gave you much practice before you had to deal with my pregnitude. But as always, the kids soaked up as much grandparent spoils as they could before they left at noon.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Today I'm linking up with Grace and her faithful followers for Easter Outfit OTI and with Fine Linen & Purple for their What I Wore Sunday (tomorrow).

And good thing, because I look like an giant, dyed Easter egg...

See? Told ya.

Dress: Old Navy maternity. Sooo comfy and on sale!

Cardigan: free from a friend

Shoes: Payless

Hallelujah! He is Risen (and this post is published)!

While I was lying down...

... Jude was building this:

 tunnels connect each box

I spy.

This video is worth seeing from your desktop/laptop if it's not showing up on your mobile.

7 Quick Takes

1. I sortakinda (butnotreally) feel bad about unloading on you guys a few days ago. Sometimes, this nice clean white blog gets a little dirty. But if it makes you feel better, yesterday and today have been worlds better.

2. Not sure why today is better, though, because it's cold and rainy and officially potty training boot camp day. The run-down?
2:20 - pee in the toilet
2:25 - accident while eating reward candy
2:50 - accident 5 minutes before I planned on making her try
3:15 - sat, but no pee
3:40 - accident 5 minutes before I planned on making her try
4:00 - sat, but no pee
4:15 - sat, but no pee
And every moment in between:

3. I know there are lots of opinions on how to potty train, so my expectations for this weekend of nakedness are pretty low. We didn't have to do this for Joan, but I kind of think Charlotte needs a different approach since the whole I want to please my parents just because isn't really her style...

4. I haven't even mentioned that we took a Spring Break trip to LA last week to see some fam and left the girls with my parents for three days. I still had to babysit little Evelyn, but the biological break was so nice!

brothers.

ice cream truck treats from uncle mark

Big Poppa & Tootsie

Papa John & Madelyn (sorry Gigi, not sure why I don't have a record of you being around - we all know you were there!)

5. Charlotte regularly asks me in the van to, "talk more about Jesus is dead," and wants a list of names of the people who hurt him.

6. I'm currently eating a shrimp pasta bowl that reminds me of that pasta place on Louisiana Tech's campus - inside Tolliver. Remember that place, Jill and Sara? Yum. And remember when we went on that crazy fast and at midnight on the last day, I had a 20 oz chocolate milk and 2 bags of peanut M&Ms? I heart college.

7. Struggling to find a last one, here. So let's just put us both out of our misery and call it quits. But not before you head over to Jen for the others...

Today is shaping up.

Why, child? Why must you make a choice that forces me to follow through with a threat which will inevitably make you furious?

Why can't you just pick up the toys so you can have a chocolate chip? Or deal with no chocolate chip because you didn't feel like cleaning?

You can't have both and you are in control of the outcome. You don't want to clean? Fine. But then you can't throw a screaming, crying, kicking, drooling fit because you didn't get a chocolate chip. That's all you.
...

That's what our morning looked like for 55 minutes (I know because I started watching the clock and took out the camera). But then I called her out on Facebook (for which I'm sure I was mommy-judged because you're only supposed to blog/tweet/post about how awesome your family is...), and I bet someone holier than me said a prayer and poof!, she was behaving again.

Then I received word that though we won't be getting a tax refund, we also won't be owing $10-12,000 to the IRS like we thought! A huge relief! We can manage what they're asking for!

Then we went to free play at the gymnastics studio & Chick-fil-a for lunch with friends.

The girls are now playing dress up quietly in their room (which is still clean, by the way) while I thank God, via the blog, for turning our day from this:

into this:

Quick Takes

Joining Jen & the rest...

1. Posting photos & whatnot of my Valentine's Day gift is always somewhat of a dilemma for me. Does anyone else feel that way? I feel like I'm either bragging or making someone else feel bad if they didn't receive anything when I do do it, but then it's like I'm acting like nothing special happened from my love if I don't do it. And then I realize I'm just too analytical and nobody probably even cares, anyway.

2. I found this 5-leaf clover the other day

but since we backed into our friend's car (thankfully no damage) and left a fundraiser without winning $10,000, it's apparent that it was one-leaf too many. 

3. The fundraiser was for the Catholic school about 30 minutes from here. After some discussion, prayer, & Open Housing, we've decided to enroll her there in the Fall, as long as they have a spot. Apparently, most of the Pre-K students will be moving up, which only allows for a few new students and I think there's already more applicants than spots right now. We have an interview in a week, and we're hoping to get in. If not, we'll probably be homeschooling Joan for at least Kindergarten and trying again for 1st at the Catholic School next year.

4. Originally, we thought about homeschooling Joan the first 2 years and saving money, then sending her and Charlotte to Catholic school once Charlotte was ready for Kindergarten. We're switching it up now because it looks like the classes stay full each year they go up and she might not get in at a later date. Even if we do end up needing to homeschool Joan, I'm sure she'll do just fine - the perfect candidate, really. Charlotte... notsomuch.

5. I have a sore throat that's been around since Wednesday (Lenten penance, I guess). Anything else I should be doing besides gargling salt water and downing warm honey, lemon juice, and garlic?

6. The flaps (technically they're Land Shark fins) on this huggie make it really hard to drink from a can, and only make me want a bottle of beer even more.

7. I love when Payday falls on a Friday!

Reality TV

When's someone going to start paying me for these clips?
Again, I doubt these 10 videos will show up on mobile devices, so head over and dust off your desktop for ultimate viewing pleasure. You're welcome.

They're getting fit at the same rate I'm getting fat. Awesome.

For reference, watch this.

If it's not one, it's the other...

"all da uder boys try to chase me, here's my mumber, call me maybe"

We have a thing for "Call Me Maybe"

And Taylor Swift, apparently.

"do dis"

"What you are doing?"

"Rapunzel said, 'I not like you.'"

"Amen."

7 Quick Takes

1. I'm going to give the Quick Takes another try. Honestly, it wasn't my favorite style of blogging and I felt like I was scrounging around to find enough things to fill the post. But it could've been my fault - it was a weird first try.

Can you spot him/her (I know nothing about animals)?
Pretty dead center of the photo jumping into the brush.

2. The last two winters, we've been able to spot deer in our backyard. This is mostly interesting because we don't live out in the country. In fact, we live on Main Street. But we lie to our children, like most good parents would, and say they're Santa's reindeers - the bad ones that made fun of Rudolph.

3. Did you notice all those leaves? This preggo certainly wasn't going to rake them. Instead, the nicer parent created fairytale trails for the girls. Nicer parent, indeed.

4. We made some purchases recently for the kids' rooms (still coping with buyer's remorse). Tomorrow, these fun FLOR carpet tiles should be delivered for the girls' room. We moved all of their toys into it and kept a nursery/guest room for the new babe. The arrangement doesn't lend itself well to just a regular rug in the girls' room, so we plan to make little paths with the tiles. We also bought bedding for our little guy. It's adorable. Pictures coming soon!

5. Joan needs to learn how to ride a bike. She got this sweet balance bike from her grandparents, but if I don't let her ride somewhere other than our narrow front porch, she'll never learn. She was obviously not prepared for the amount of work that goes into learning (nor was I): I give you Exhibit A

(and if you're viewing this on your phone and can't get the video to show up GET ON A COMPUTER! a phone is for CALLING people!

Ok, here's a photo for you, just in case.

6. Did you notice Charlotte's outfit in the last photo? She certainly has a style all her own. Exhibit B:

Polka-dot on polka-dot on polka-dot on rain boots -
and that's all without mentioning a swim suit.

7. These takes haven't been that bad. Thanks for bearing with me and be sure to check out everyone else's, too.

7 Quick Takes

A Christmas Miracle! I'm writing a Quick Takes post (the first time ever). And I'm choosing to do it after a 2 week Christmas-Extravaganza internet-hiatus. Surely the perfect atmosphere to keep things quick and random, right?

1. We've never lived close to our families, so Christmas morning has never been in front of our tree, with just our family. Instead, we choose to open gifts the day we leave for the holiday. This year it was December 15th. The girls get to open gifts from Momma & Papa and Santa drops off a gift wherever they happen to be on Christmas morning. It's not the ideal situation, but I don't see any kids complaining...

2. I'm super excited about adding a boy to the mix of cousins & second cousins. Totaling each of our sides, there are 24 girls in Joan & Charlotte's generation and only 9 boys. These don't show everyone, but just look at all those girls!

3. Joan & Charlotte had plenty of baking time with their grandmothers and though their diets for the last 2 weeks pretty much consisted of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and lots of scary dyes, I'm sure they'll live. At least until next Christmas...

4. The gift on the left is for Jude (my husband for the last 6.5 years & boyfriend for 1.5 years before that). The gift on the right is for Jason (my sister's boyfriend for a year). They're both from my parents. That's all. You make your own conclusions... 

Kidding, Mom. We know you love Jude!

5. Two questions: Does your mall have awesome things to do like bungie-trampolining, train rides, and indoor playgrounds like the one where my parents live? and Why am I always pregnant for the fun stuff?

You know, just dancing on a stage for the food court.

6. It might be too late, but this is our What I Wore To Christmas photo and we're all conveniently in coordinating colors.

6b. An appropriate time to sneak these in, too.

We really missed having Art & Chloe there, but are so happy to welcome their new baby Henry to the family!! 

7. It's not a Christmas post if you don't include a photo of Baby Jesus or Santa, so here goes...

Merry Christmas and check out everyone else's more appropriate Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary!