A Visit to the Storybook Forest

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Our Weekend In San Angelo, TX

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The Langum Family went on its first big road trip this past weekend. We headed to San Angelo, TX to visit our family and to attend our Uncle David and Aunt Gaynell's 25th Anniversary of pastoring Word of Life Church. We had such a fantastic time getting to be there for their special event (not to mention it being Gaynell's birthday too!!)

We headed down to Dallas on Friday evening and had dinner with our friends Jim and Kim Sharp. We decided to only drive 3 hours our first night since it was our first road trip and we didn't want to push our luck with the entire 7 hour trip in one drive! The kids were SO excited to get to stay in a hotel. We stayed at the Westin and they even gave the kids a little kids' pack just for them with a night light, a rubber ducky for the bathtub and a treat! They thought they were so special. It took a little while for them to fall asleep because they were so pumped about their big hotel bed!

Our 4 hour drive from Dallas to San Angelo actually went better than expected. The kids never napped and got a little bored, but they watched movies and looked for cows and really didn't complain too much! We only had to stop once for a potty break.

The time we got to spend with our family in Texas was priceless. It has been almost 3 years since we visited with them...way too long! Tate and Smith warmed up to everyone really quickly. Tate was especially fond of Jason who she started calling her "little buddy". Smith was especially fond of Gaynell, or in his words "Guh-Nell". After she left for church on Sunday morning, he looked at me and said, "Mommy, Guh-nell's so pretty." They also couldn't get over all of the pretty things in David and Gaynell's house. Apparently, our house must be pretty bland!

The kids had the best time when they got to play with Gunner, Seth and Sterling on Monday afternoon. Jason's kids are 9 and 5, so they all played really well together. They played in the fort, on the plasma cars, colored pumpkins and just had a fantastic time. Tate was so sad when we had to leave that she even cried. We decided that we can't wait another 3 years to get together again. We just had way too much fun to put it off that long!

We left San Angelo around 6 o'clock Monday evening. Stopped to eat in Abilene and then put the kiddos in their pajamas for the rest of the ride home. Tate was asleep fairly early and slept the entire rest of the drive home. Smith watched his movie and then was snoozing soon after we turned the DVD player off. We arrived home a little before 1:00am. Needless to say, we were a little tired but the trip was well worth it!!!

There's Just Something About A Little Boy In His Underwear!

Especially when he's wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots! Ever since Smith started wearing big boy underwear, he loves to run around the house without clothes on. We rarely, if ever, let him run around the house in just a diaper, but for some reason it's so cute to see him around in just his undies. This day I had actually dressed him, went to do some laundry and came back with him looking like this. He said he wanted to be a cowboy and his clothes weren't "cowboy clothes"! So, apparently in his mind his Thomas the Train underwear qualified as "cowboy clothes" and that's all he had on when I walked into his room! These will definitely be pictures to show his future girlfriends!

Night at the ER

Who would have thought that I would be taking Tate to the ER for breathing problems? Smitty had RSV at 10 weeks and spent a week in the hospital. Ever since, he is our wheezy, respiratory guy. Luckily, it hasn't been nearly as bad as we thought it might be and he has no signs of asthma at this points, so we are very grateful. However, it was Tate that was having breathing issues last night. I had a feeling that she might not be feeling too hot, but didn't at all think we'd end up in the hospital! Jeff and I were fortunate to go to the OU game with Michael and Keysha, so our babysitter, Susi, watched Tate, Smith, Kennedy & Corbin for us while we were gone. When we got home, she told us that Tate hadn't felt too great and that she would cough a lot after she was running around. But I had never heard her cough yet. Then Tate came into our room at about 2:30am. She literally was gasping for air. Each breath was very loud and it seemed as though she would hold her breath between inhaling and exhaling. Jeff and I were quite concerned, so we finally decided to take Tate to the ER. I get more nervous when it comes to breathing issues since our scare with Smith. So, I got dressed, put Tate in the car and headed for Integris. Of course, once we got there she was much better! Isn't that always how it works! The doctor came in and diagnosed her with croup. He said it's very common for kids with croup to seem better once they go outside in the cold air. I guess it helps to shrink their swollen airways. So, some steroids, a breathing treatment and 3 1/2 hours later, we were back in bed at 6:30am!! What's weird is that she never really had the barky, seal-sounding cough of croup before we went to the ER. It was just her breathing issues that sent us to the hospital. Today, she's had more of the cough, but at least she can breathe!

Fun Time with Friends

Today, the Curtis Crew came over to play. Tate and Smith were so excited because it's been awhile since we've had a playdate at our house with Kennedy and Corbin. The kids had tons of fun. It's funny that Tate and Kennedy have played together for over 4 years now and Smith and Corbin have basically known each other their entire lives! We are finally at the point that they can play by themselves and we barely even see them. This has been a work in progress! Keysha and I were used to playing referee, but now we can sit back and relax and enjoy our own little grown-up 'playdate'!! The girls enjoy playing dress up and kitchen and store. The boys play great together too...they're just boys and somewhat out of control. The problem usually comes when the boys want to play with the girls. It depends on the girls' moods as to how well that goes over!! However, these days are lots of fun and enjoyable. My how time flies! I can actually still remember the day I met Keysha when Smith was just born and she was still pregnant with Corbin! I love that we'll have these memories to share with the kids as they grow up together!

What do her teachers think?

So, today Tate brings home her bag of papers from school and is so excited to show me something she did at school today. She pulls out a piece of purple construction paper with magazine clippings all over it. I ask her what this paper was all about and she just giggled. I then start to look at all of the different pieces of paper that are glued all over the construction paper and that's when I find the title of the page...Things I Like. Then I begin to take a closer look at each of the pictures. There is a large picture of a woman sitting in a yoga pose. There is an ad for a Temper-Pedic bed. And then I see it...an ad as well as 2 coupons for Monistat! At this point, I am laughing so hard there are tears in my eyes. Then I notice that one of the coupons is for the Monistat, but the other coupon is for any K-Y brand item! Tate is totally cracking up and I ask her if she knows what this is and why she put it on her paper. She said she liked it because all of the colors were so pretty. I can just imagine her teacher's thinking "Well, she must see that in her mommy's bathroom and her mommy must really need those coupons!" Needless to say, that purple piece of construction paper will go in Tate's "Treasure Box" which is where I put special art work, projects, papers etc. that I want to keep. 15 years from now I will pull that out and I'm sure we'll have quite a big laugh over it.

Smitty Turns 3!!!!

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Well, I can't believe it...my baby is 3!! I told Jeff that for some reason this birthday is sad for me because I really no longer have a baby. I could still consider Smith a baby when he was 2 and in diapers, but now that he's 3 and potty trained he is definitely a toddler and this mommy knows that the baby years are officially gone. (sniff, sniff)
Smith was so excited about his "Super Man" birthday party, or as he called it...his "Super Smith" birthday party. We decorated with Super Man, Smith wore his Super Man shirt and I even made a cake with the Super Man symbol on it (just call me Martha Stewart!)

We all ate a fabulous lunch thanks to Jeffrey. Smith opened his birthday presents in .5 seconds! And we ate cake...most people had blue teeth afterwards from the blue icing (okay, so I guess I'm no Martha Stewart. I'm sure her blue icing wouldn't have turned everyone's teeth blue!) Smith's favorite part of the day was playing with all of his new toys once everyone left. He loves his new pirate ship, remote controlled dump truck, and his play shotgun and cowboy hat.

Tate was very reflective at the end of the day and said, "Mommy, I just can't believe Smitty is 3. He's just so big." in her sweetest little mommy voice! Melt my heart.

Smith's 1st Day of "School"

Since Tate started Pre-K, Smith has been quite confused! He wakes up every morning and asks "Where's Tate?" Then when I tell him that she's at school, he gets very sad and says "I want to go to school too." So, this morning He was quite excited when I told him that he was going to go to school today. He thought I meant that he was going with Tate and he was way pumped about going to "big kid school", but he was still excited when I explained that he was going to St. Mark's (his mother's day out program). I made a big deal about him getting to move up to a new class since he was potty trained now and that his teacher was going to be Miss Laura. I packed his lunch bag and he carried it around the house for 15 minutes before we left. Then he even reminded me that we needed to take a picture of him for his first day of school! Good thing he's on the ball!

Splash Park

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It was Labor Day today and we woke up with zero plans. In a way, it was very nice to not have a schedule of events, but we also wanted to spend a fun day with the kiddos. So after their naps, we decided to go to the Splash Park. The Splash Park is great for 2 reasons...Mom and Dad don't have to get wet and the kids wear themselves out! Bonus! The kids were so excited and had a ton of fun. Jeff did get involved with the spray gun so he did end up getting a little wet, but Mom was able to sit back, relax, take pics and watch the kiddos have a great time.

Kids Say & Do the Darndest Things!

Smith and I were driving out to my mom's house today to go play and pick up Tate. As we turned off the highway and were about 5 miles from Grandma Jacki's house, Smith starts yelling that he has to go potty. I asked him if he could hold it, but he says "it's starting in my underwear", so I knew the answer was "No!" I pulled down a road and parked off to the side. We got out of the car and Smith peed in the grass for the first time! As he's standing there, he looks up at me and says, "Mommy, I'm like God. I'm watering the grass!" He really got a kick out of standing on the side of the road and "watering" in the grass. Then he said that he needed to go poo-poo. Of course, I snatched him up, buckled him back in his carseat and told him he couldn't go poo-poo right there and that he'd have to hold it until we got to Grandma Jacki's. At this point, I'm a little panic stricken, but we were only a few miles away so I thought we could make it. At about the one mile mark, Smith starts yelling, "I can't hold it!" I encourage him, "Yes you can buddy we're almost there!" Then he says it again, "I cant' hold it mommy!" So, I said, "Come on Smith, just squeeze your cheeks...we're almost there!" To that comment, Smith puts his hands on his cheeks (the ones on his face!), does the Chubby Bunny look and says, "Like this mommy!" Apparently that worked! I laughed the rest of the way to Grandma Jacki's but Smith was able to hold it until we got there! Praise the Lord!