Holy crap where has the year gone??!! I can't believe it is already December and Christmas is right around the corner and so is Landon's 6th birthday!! So much to do in so little time!! November was a fun month for our family. Zach got a job with the census which will go through the end of July or possibly a little longer which we are very thankful for. Ironically, my dad also got a job with the census which he should be starting this month sometime IF he passes his back round check. We will keep our fingers crossed!! :) Just kidding Dad!! We had such a great Thanksgiving with our wonderful families and friends.


Zach and I also celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Thanksgiving. What a wonderful way to celebrate our anniversary!!


Landon did a little swimming in 60 degree water...


Dylan and I did some Christmas ornament pottery painting...


And just did a lot of spending time with family and friends.

We are getting ready for Christmas which is going to be on a smaller scale this year since Zach was out of work for most of 09. We are so lucky that we have such a wonderful family support system around us and we were able to make it through these tough times because of them. We appreciate you all more than words can express!!

Landon's birthday is the 29th of this month and I think I am more excited about his party than he is!! I found a company that rents bounce houses for super cheap so we are getting a sports themed bouncer for his party. We will have the bounce house the whole weekend of his party so I can't wait to get my turn in there and get some exercise!! :) We are having a small party with just family and a few neighborhood kids so it isn't too chaotic. Can't wait to share the pictures!!

We hope November was great for all of you!!

Made it through the first quarter at least

Tuesday night we had our first parent teacher conference for Landon. Directly from the mouth of his teacher, "If I could hand pick my students, Landon would definitely be one of them." Wow do those words make me smile. I am so glad that Landon has taken to school but honestly I really didn't have any doubts that he would. Aside from the little "situations" in his after school program, he has been absolutely wonderful in class! Let's hope he continues to enjoy school through out the years as much as he does now. I probably shouldn't hold my breath but a mom can hope can't she??!!

Not Me Monday!!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week to see more!

I most definitely did not laugh when my oldest son got in trouble for singing this version of Yankee Doodle Dandy: "Yankee Doodle keep it up Yankee Doodle penis", at his after school program and say, "well it could have been worse." Nope...not me!

I have not been wearing my favorite pair of maternity pants (my last child was born 2 1/2 years ago) once a week to work because they are so comfy. Nope...not me!

I certainly did not sterilize one of my children's paint brushes to use to brush egg whites on the pretzel sticks I made for the kids a couple of weeks. Nope...not me!!!

Last but not least I did not use a binder clip to hold my pants together last week when the button came off. Nope...not me!!!

So there you go...those are some (I can't remember them all!) of my imperfections for the last couple of weeks!! Not too bad considering...

2nd week of School

Last Tuesday, the beginning of the second week of school for Landon I get this call...

Me: "Hello?"

After School program lady: "Mrs. Wentz?"

Me: "Yes."

After School program lady: "Um Landon took out a red and silver Swiss army knife holder (me thinking, "oh shit. Landon's second week of school and he brings a knife!")and took something out and swallowed it.I asked him what it was and he said that it was his purple vitamin that his mom said he had to take."

Me: "Oh, that is his allergy pill that I gave him this morning to take before he left for school. We tell him it is a vitamin so that he will take it."

I must tell you now that there was a big meeting the day of school and all the parent's were told that no kids are to carry medication on them (inhalers excluded) at any time that the nurse was to hold that. It was a very serious conversation and they take this kind of stuff very serious.

After School program lady: "So you do know what it was that he took then?"

Me: "Yes and I am sorry that he had it at school." At this point I was going to tell her that I was not the one that was with Landon while he was getting ready for school and I was not the one who took him to school that his father had apparently slacked on his duties but I decided that she didn't really care who was to blame. She seemed pretty disturbed that a kindergartner had a pill in his possession and was probably what kind of pills my son was peddling to the other innocent children.

After School program lady: "I need you to know that all medication needs to be administered by the school nurse and at no time is a child to have any medication in their possession during school hours."

Me: "Yes I understand that and I promise this will not happen again. Thanks for the call."

And that was the end. I picked Landon up later that day and Zach and I had a little talk with him and I think he understands now that when mommy gives him medicine to take at 7am that he shouldn't put it in a "pill container" (aka: Swiss army knife canister) and pull it out at school. I guess only time will tell if he does truly understand. Now I wait patiently by my phone...

Toby, Louis or Dylan???

I have been meaning to write this post last month but apparently it slipped my mind. Please forgive me since this is quite a funny story! My lovable, Rambunctious 2 year old son decided last month that his new name would be Toby. For the life of me, I can not figure out where he came up with Toby but every time we asked him what his name was he said very clearly Toby. We do not know anybody by that name and there are no kids in his daycare classroom named Toby. So strange but pretty funny none the less. He has become very attached to the movie Meet the Robinson's lately and the main characters name is Louis. Well guess what Dylan's new name is now??? That's right...LOUIS!! Louis just joined our family this week so we are trying to get used to this "new" personality. Yesterday, Zach was laying in bed sick and when we got home he called Dylan a few times to have him come see him. I told Zach to try calling Louis (you know, since that is his new name!) and sure enough, Dylan (aka: Louis) went running into the room! It was pretty funny but not sure if this is confusing the poor apparently already confused child. I guess only time will tell. Until then, we will love all of Dylan's new personalities all the same!!!

Landon's first day of School

Yesterday was a huge day for the Wentz family. Landon started Kindergarten!!! He was so super excited but he did tell us that Kindergarten is easy and he wasn't nervous at all. Good to know because I sure was! I had all these questions running through my head. Was he going to be able to take care of himself (kind of), was he going to get enough to eat? That's a whole other paragraph because my worries were justified! Was he going to be ok going from class to his after care building (it is on campus and the aids walk the kids to the building but still!!!)? I was so worried about him which luckily I had little reason to (other than his lunch choices) worry because he is quite a bright little boy. Which, by the way, his teacher confirmed to me in an email I got back from her today. So there...now I know it is true!! :)

Before Landon actually started school we told him that once a week he can buy his lunch at school and the rest of the week we will pack his lunch. Well, here is how the conversation went (mostly):

Me: "So Landon, what did you have for lunch"?

Landon: "Ummm...a chocolate muffin (kid after my own heart!), 2 crackers, 2 pieces of cheese, some pineapple and chocolate milk."

Me: "Is that all????"

Landon: "Yep and it was good!"

I thought I had done a good job teaching him how to eat somewhat healthy and then this is what happens when I don't have control of the situation! Shortly after we got home, I went to the store and bought all kinds of healthy snacks and lunch supplies so we don't run into (at least 4 days a week!) this issue again. I am happy to say that today Landon took a ham and cheese sandwich, cucumbers and tomatoes (which my husband replied, "lucky Landon" (very sarcastically of course)), yogurt, graham crackers and grapes for a snack. At lunch today I was thinking that maybe I packed him too much food especially since he ate 3 mini bagels with cream cheese for breakfast but after his lunch experience yesterday, can you blame me??? I didn't think so!!

Landon really enjoyed his first day of school and was excited to go back today so that made me feel a ton better. Zach made a movie of his first day and if I can figure it out, I will post it later. He did a really nice job. I took a couple of pictures of Landon the night before school (sleeping) and a few of his first day. I hope you enjoy!! Oh yea, Dylan had a melt down when we left to take Landon to school and threw himself on the floor in hysterics! We're not sure if he was upset that Landon was going somewhere without him or if he was having separation anxiety because I was leaving. Who knows!






I can't believe he is in Kindergarten!

Long time no blog!

Ok, I know, it has been FOREVER since I last blog and honeslty I have no other excuse other than being lazy. Weak, I know but points for honesty!! So what have we been up to...well my sister and I celebrated our 33rd birthday July 24th. I enjoyed a nice dinner that night with Zach and also went to see the movie Hangover which was hilarious! We had a small get together with a few friends and family at Dawn's house the next night. We had lots of good food and good times.







On July 26th, I took the boys to the Museum for the Youth out in Mesa. We had a good time but it wasn't as impressive as I had hoped for. The boys had fun though so that is all that matters!






















As you can see, the theme that week was monsters. We colored monsters, we dressed up as monsters, we posed with monsters and even put on our own puppet show with you guessed it...MONSTERS! A good time was had by all.

The rest of the week was spent doing the normal work, daycare and Papa and GG's. Nothing out of the norm there. We spent the weekend hanging out at home or swimming at my parent's house trying to keep cool. Last week Landon had been complaining about his lower back hurting but I didn't take it to serious until Sunday night. We were at my parent's house and Landon was really in a lot of pain to the point that he would cry when he moved. It really started to worry me so we went home and iced his back and called the doctor on call. They said to take him to the ER but we decided to wait until the morning to get him in to see his doctor. Monday morning we get to the doctor's office and Landon seemed to be much better and not complaining or having any problems moving around.


The doctor had Landon do a lot of little tests including running down the hallway. You could see Landon was favoring one leg more than the other and was sort of limping around. The doctor thought it was probably muscular but he sent us to the lab to have X-rays done. Off we went all three of us ready to tackle another adventure with my boisterous boys. Landon had to put on a gown and he looked so cute I couldn't resist taking a picture. See..

Isn't he cute???!!!

After all was done, we headed off to pick up some hummus and pretzel chips for lunch which we all love. The rest of the afternoon Landon laid on our bed with an ice pack and watched some tv and just rested. He did manage to make it outside to ride his bike with his friends early that evening so I assumed his back was feeling much better. The doctor called that night and said the X-rays came back normal so to just give him Motrin for 3 days and see if the pain goes away. If not, then we will get back in to see him and see what other options there are. It is now Thurday and Landon hasn't complained at all since and I have only given him one does of Motrin because I didn't want to mask the pain if in fact he was still having some. So far so good!! My dad and I took the boys to the water park this past Sunday just to find out that they don't turn the water on on Sunday's. Go figured! Good thing they have a nice payground there too!


This week we are getting prepared for Landon's first day of kindergarten next Monday. I can't believe this day has come! My baby is going out into the big world on his own and it makes me so excited and nervous at the same time. Landon is completely excited about the new experience and can't wait to have homework. I can't wait to remind him every year how excited he was about homework bacause I am certain that excitement will not last!!! Here is a picture of his new haircut that Zach gave him yesterday. He is all ready for school!!


Alright, I think I covered everything so far. I promise (or I hope to promise!!! :)) that I will be more dilagent with posting new blogs. Peach out!!

Landon and Katherine sitting in a tree

This is what I found in my car this morning:


That is what he did during his day at school yesterday while he was sitting next to Katherine all day. His words not mine!

Monday Night

This past Monday was pretty uneventful until we got home from a day at work (for Zach and me) and a day with Papa & GG for Landon and Dylan. Landon is really into his friends in the neighborhood right now so as soon as we get out of the car he asks if he can go see if his friends can play. Sure! Off he goes on his bike (with a helmet of course!) to see if Chance can play. About 10 minutes later Renee (Chance's mom) comes to the house with a crying bloody Landon. Apparently when he got to her house and she said that Chance was at another neighbors house, she suggested they go to that neighbors house to see if Chance was there. Landon hopped back on his bike and immediately ran into a trash can and flipped over his handlebars right onto his face. Zach took him into the bathroom to clean him up and see how bad the damage was and believe it or not, he only had two beat up lips. How he managed to avoid his nose and chin I have not idea. He also had a scrape on his hand but that was it.




Dylan and I decided to go in the bathroom to take a look at the damage and Dylan asked me to hold him. So I pick him up and he coughed a bit and the next thing you know, we are covered in vomit. Really?? This was beginning to feel like a bad sitcom. I guess Dylan ate too many grapes and drank too much milk at Papa and GG's because we were covered in grapes and sour milk as well as our bathroom floor. Good times. Dylan's crying because he has vomit all over him and we all know how he hates to be dirty. Remember Mighty Mud Mania??? Anyway, D and I head to the shower as Zach finishes cleaning Landon up and continuing to make dinner. Everyone was fine after the damage was all cleaned up and the boys enjoyed the rest of the night playing in the rain that we finally got. What can I say??? That's how we roll!

Mighty Mud Mania

This past weekend we took the boys to Mighty Mud Mania at a local park here in Scottsdale for what we thought would be a filthy fun time. Turns out neither of our boys like to be that dirty especially Dylan. Landon was somewhat nonchalant about the whole experience but Dylan cried and did his best to avoid the whole mud part all together.






It didn't work.




Since the boys enjoyed the mud so much, (notice the sarcasm??!) we decided that we would walk around until the pool opened up at 11am. They loved the slip and slide with bubbles down the hill but the lines were so long for the slide that they only got to do that once. We have shaved ice which was a welcomed relief to the extreme heat and got lots of free stuff from some of the vendors that were there. We spent the next couple of hours at the pool and little tots water play area which was more the boys speed. Sorry I have no pictures of that since we were all trying to cool off as much as we could. But I did get some pictures of the boys playing with a bunch of inflatable balls.





We really had a great time hanging out as a family and I am glad I decided to play hooky and have that experience with my boys.