Not moving, then painting!

We have been living in our current house three years to this day (well yesterday - today is Leap day) and it is a record for the Roemers. We lived in northern Virginia for 7 years and moved 4 times and then finally moved down to South Carolina. I love change...in fact, I crave it. I love rearranging furniture, love to buy new things for the house, and my most favorite - changing a paint color - it really can redefine an entire living space. I have taken on a huge painting project - the kitchen/living area and am going from a golden brown color to an icy blue/green. It has really changed the feel of our entire downstairs. And speaking of feeling, Landon backed right into the freshly painted wall last night and had paint all over his hand and back of his pajamas...no need for scolding...he was crying before we even knew what was happening.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall...

Well, this time not 99 bottles... and not on the wall... instead three bottles sitting on the pantry floor. They were there because we emptied out the cooler from our bbq on Saturday and Chase with his "what can I get into that I am not supposed to" radar found the bottles. And as he is sitting in the pantry, winging around a bottle, Landon runs in and decides to take over my role and take it away from him and as they are playing tug of war, Chase decides that Landon can just have it and there goes Landon with the bottle flying into the tile floor and the bottle breaks and there are my two little boys, sitting in a puddle of beer and broken glass at seven o'clock in the morning. Thankfully, neither one was hurt... and Landon learned a valuable lesson: never spill beer on yourself because it smells bad and you will have to take a bath right away!

Chase

Chase is coming up on 11 months and I feel like I have not dedicated one entry that has been all about Chase. Chase is an amazing little man and is so completely different from Landon. He is much more outgoing, seems to be more patient (Landon tests this daily), and he is not as complacent - he likes things to be happening around him all of the time. And if there is nothing going on, he whines at my feet until I pick him up. And when I do, he snuggles his precious little face into my shoulder and melts my heart - is it too early to say "ladies man"?

At this age, he loves playing peek-a-boo, loves when I stack blocks so he can knock them over, loves walking around the living room table but won't even attempt to walk on his own, and is obsessed with the outdoors. If he is ever overly fussy, I just take him outside - it really is a cure for him. He loves playing "chase" with Landon - Landon will push around a toy and they both crawl to get it...and however and whatever they do to get there, they both end up laughing hysterically. And just yesterday, Chase actually was teasing Landon for the first time - offering up his cup of juice and just as Landon would grab it, he would snatch it back...I can only guess who taught him that. He loves music and loves to dance...he wiggles his whole body when he listens to music - in fact, I think his moves are better than Andy's!

And the most amazing thing about Chase is to see how so completely different he is from Landon, Andy, and myself...but yet is so much the same. And hopefully he will be walking soon...so we can ALL get around the same!

Just busy...

I have not been very diligent about writing lately...there has been so much going on down here. Andy was in London last week and my parents came into town to help me. Thank you both so much for your much needed help and visit - the boys miss you - playing playdough is just not the same without you both! And I really miss your dinners, dad! On top of all of that, I am really making a huge effort at trying to get Landon potty trained...not such an easy task I am finding. The amount of time I spend hanging out in the bathroom (which I am trying to get him to relax by talking, singing, reading) waiting for one eensy trickle of pee or one tiny poop to come out makes me wonder if Landon is even ready. It really is ridiculous. But he did poop today - and he worked hard for those "poop treats" - which he opted for M&M's - he informed me that the candy hearts are "too sour" - not sure he fully understands the meaning of that word! I am attaching random pictures of the past few weeks...Chase is finally pushing around his walker! It won't be long before he will be walking all by himself!

Braaaaake!

I was driving home from my sister's last night with both boys in the car...it was dark...and rainy...and I was looking for my exit (I am not familiar with her area) when all of a sudden...RED LIGHT! So of course I slammed on the brakes as something like "Oh Sh*t!" fell out of my mouth and we skidded to a halt. We all sat in silence for a millisecond as we watched the cars proceed through their green light, thanking my lucky heavens that we weren't in the middle of that intersection and then I asked if everyone was okay. And Landon's little voice from the back says..."I'm okay, mommy." More silence... and then "Heh, heh, that was funny, mommy! Car-slipped-on water....that was funny!" And then as if to remind me..."Red means stop...green means go, mommy."

Spring

Spring has arrived in the south... and I love everything about it... the feel of the bright sun on my face... the bold green color of lawns and trees making a come back... the sound of the birds chirping... and just spending hours and hours outside playing while losing track of time.

Landon and I spent the majority of the afternoon outside yesterday while Chase napped - I catching up on the outdoor "chores", and Landon playing around me. And while I worked, I was listening to Landon's play and found it pretty amusing... he found the power washer and began pushing it around (it's on wheels and probably weighs about as much as Landon) and he pushed that thing all around and was talking to inanimate objects and explaining that he was going to take their picture so "Say Cheese!" ...he took pictures of his Tonka truck, the bounce house, the car, trees... it really went on for a good half hour. It's amazing how their little mind works... and amazing how much our imagination fades over the years...

Doh!

The weather down here has finally warmed up and of course taking advantage of it, we were outside using playdough early this morning. I ran inside to get Landon a cup of juice and in my 30 second absence, Chase decided that the playdough would suffice for his lunch...I spent the rest of the time scraping playdough from the roof of his mouth with my fingernail - I didn't realize playdough could be so "doughy".

Charleston Trip

Finally, pics from our trip last weekend. We packed everything...minus the kitchen sink...but I realized as we were halfway there, we forgot the camera! So we picked up a disposable camera for the trip. We walked down to the River Park on the first day, visited Fort Moultrie, the beach, and the aquarium on day two, and ventured over to tour a plantation on our way home. It was a great trip - Charleston is an amazing city!