How Do Big Families Do It?

Take a picture, that is! I tried sooooooooooooooo many times to get a picture of the boys under the Christmas tree. Was not happening! I was trying to get a picture to compare this year to last year. Last years picture is the one above. Way easier back then!


"What you must be crazy!"

"You know I don't sit still that long"
"Okay, seriously YOU have to be kidding me"
Carter...."I'm getting so bored"
"Maybe if I turn like this"
"Okay, lets try standing"
"I'm outta here!"
"Okay, maybe Santa will help"
"Come back here Santa...and Landon"
"Okay, give Santa a hug"
"Maybe the bus?"
"That goes zoom zoom real fast"

"And he's gone...for good"
I NEED A FASTER CAMERA!!

Watch out World!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for this year. Good health, lots of friends, TERRIFIC family and most importantly LOTS OF LOVE!
I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving and safe travels!

Our newest addition...

Carter has been begging us for a dog for a long time now. About a year ago, we told him once he turned 5. Well his 5 year old birthday came and went without getting a dog. So lately he has been asking if he could get one for Christmas. Without putting much thought into it, we kept brushing him off.

Well...wouldn't you know that at 9:00 this morning we get a call from Elinor saying that her nephew was down there with six golden retriever puppies. Thinking we would just "take a look", we went down there.

After seeing a little boy begging (see picture above, I can't get it to move) "pllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaasssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
(and their nephew practically giving the registered dog away)








and this cute little face
we now have our newest addition in the Paddack household.





Meet Oliver...

Grandma

It has been a year since I lost one of the kindest, funniest most WONDERFUL woman I know. I miss you Grandma, now more than ever. I wished I could have called you the other day when I watched a man win $100,000 on Wheel of Fortune and I wish you were here so we could talk about how crappy the Cowboys are playing. You are missed....always!!

What a Stinker!

We are babysitting Mason, Lindsey's dog, this week. Landon quickly figured out that he could throw his food to Mason and quickly finish his meal. He thinks it is so funny!

Happy Halloween

The boys had so much fun last night. We had Emma's family, The Tracer's and Travis over for hot dogs before trick or treating. Emma was Dorothy (Carter was very upset about this because he felt she should have been Princess Leia), Samantha was a cowgirl, Grayson was an adorable spider and my boys were characters off of Star Wars (go figure).
After trick or treating, Carter handed out candy forever at our house and Elinor's house. He kept calling the trick or treaters our "customers". At one time, we didn't have any at our door and Carter said "where are all our customers". Travis said "Carter, don't you know we are in a recession!

Old Videos

Landon loves his new bus. The only problem is that he does NOT like it when he runs into a wall and can't turn his bus around. This video was taken on a day he had not had a morning nap because we were keeping him up so that we could go somewhere.

Therefore....no nap + yellow bus hitting wall = first temper tantrum!





I never showed you his birthday cake videos. If you weren't there or haven't heard, he was NOT a fan. I think there were too many kids cheering him on and it scared him a little bit. Plus I have noticed he doesn't like "gooey" things on his hands. Ha ha
The first video is us singing to him and the 2nd video is us trying to get him to eat the cake, watch to the end because that is where he gets upset.

** Note...I think the videos got flipped and I can't change it. The first is him not wanting to eat it and the 2nd is us singing Happy Birthday.

Pumpkin Patch

**I will have a new pic of the boys together up soon. It is so hard to get a good one of the two of them together. I thought this one was too cute not to put up top for now**

Today we met Landon's BFF, Jaxon, and his Mommy at the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound. First we ate at the original Christina's.

The boys were really into the hay and not so much smiling for the camera...

Birthday Tradition

We carried on the birthday tradition last night and took Landon to Build A Bear and Chuck E Cheese. Landon made his first bear (with the help of Carter of course). We named him "Teddy" and put an A&M shirt on him. Carter's first bear had the same name and same shirt. Carter thought that was really cool!

Happy Birthday Sweet Landon!

OCTOBER 8, 2008



One year ago today, your Daddy and I went to see the high-risk doctor for a follow up appointment. We had gone three days before and you seemed to be doing good. However because of my high blood pressure, they needed to see me again. The Dr. quietly looked around on the sonogram machine and then turned it off and looked at us and said "we have to get the baby out now!". The placenta had been cut off and you were not getting any nutrients (which is a side effect to the high blood pressure). I was so scared and nervous. That night you came in to this world at a whopping 4 pounds 5 ounces. They quickly took you to the NICU where you remained for 5 nights. 5 nights, that's it! You amazed everyone! Your main issue was that your body was having a hard time controlling your blood sugar. It was too low, which could lead to serious brain problems if not solved. But you did it! And look at you now....






Ten Reasons Why I Love My Landon!

10. I love it when I walk into your room do get you out of bed, you jump up and down like a wild monkey!

9. I love the way you laugh when you try to out crawl your brother as he is chasing you.

8. I love it that you are an awesome sleeper, giving Mommy lots of rest!

7. I love the way you LOVE to play in the bathtub and giggle so hard when brother takes a bath with you.

6. I love the way you point at everything. You love your pointer finger!

5. I love the way you always have an inside joke. I think sometimes you have a secret friend that we don't know about (or angel).

4. I love the way you think the cat, Cole, is your friend. Even though he doesn't agree.

3. I LOVE the way you give me hugs and pretend to go "night night" (as you are doing in picture #2 above). You are so sweet!

2. I love the way you LOVE your Mommy and you LIGHT up when I walk into the room. It makes me feel so special.

1. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it when you get so excited to see your brother. When we walk down the stairs (from nap time) and you see him in the living room, you almost jump out of my arms because you are soooooooooo excited to see him. When you are still in your crib and I walk in to get you, you always peek around me to see if brother is following. It is so adorable!

I LOVE you my sweet Landon. Happy First Birthday!

I know, I know!

Where have I been? I know, I know! I have so many pictures to show. I still have Carter's bday party pics to show. Plus I have so many pictures from our AWESOME trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley. I promise I will post them next week. Tomorrow we will be celebrating Landon's 1st birthday. Can you believe it? For now, I will leave you with this funny video. Landon is now eating table foods. We had to skip the 3rd jar foods all together. He will show you in the video just how much he likes them!!

I Have A Five Year Old!

My DEAR Carter turns 5 today! Wow, how the years fly. Today we cooked Carter breakfast...he requested eggs and bacon. Lots of bacon! Then we took cookies for his class. I told him tonight that he could pick anywhere to eat. Of course he chose Chuck E. Cheese. So we are going to pick up Emma and all go to Grapevine Mills mall to build a bear first and then eat Chuck E. Cheese. He is so excited! His party will be on Saturday. I don't know what he will do once this week is over. He has had so much excitement going on this week.

TEN REASONS I LOVE MY CARTER!

1. I love the way you tell stories. The adjectives you use and the excitement in your voice make us laugh.

2. I love the CRAZY things you say....I could write for days about your jokes you tell or your sense of humor.

3. I love it when I finish getting ready and you say "Mommy, you look so pretty". And you are so sincere when you say it!

4. I love it when you and your Daddy make projects. You always love to work his Daddy. You guys have a special bond that warms my heart.

5. I love it when Daddy is out-of-town and you sleep in my bed. Only that when I come to bed, there is no room for me because you have loaded about 10 stuffed animals all on my side.

6. I love the way you pick up your toys when you finish playing. I can even hear you tell your friends upstairs that "you must always pick up your toys when you are finished".

7. I love it that no matter how big you have gotten, you always run to me when you are hurt because you know that Mommy will make it all better!

8. I love to see you get excited about everything. I love to watch the world through your eyes!

9. I love the hugs that you give so often. You have always been a hugger and a cuddler. And I love when you cuddle, that you still twirl you hair like when you were little.

10. What I love you most for is how you are such a GREAT big brother. A lot of people thought that when Landon was born you were going to have a hard time adjusting since you were an only for four years. I always knew that you would adjust okay. I just didn't know HOW well you were going to adjust. You have never been jealous of your brother (not one single time) and you always want to include him in EVERYTHING we do. You are such a protector over Landon. You watch him like a hawk to make sure he will not get hurt. I love to watch you console him when he is crying. So many times I have watched you lean over to pat his head or rub his hand when he is crying. Half the time you continue to watch your show or play with your toys while you are doing it. You just instinctly know that you need to do it. That, more than anything, makes me so proud. It shows a lot about your character. There are times you are hyper (often) and a bit stong-willed (ha-ha) but it shows me that you truly have a kind heart and soul. And that says a lot!

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

My baby started kindergarten

Yesterday Carter started kindergarten. He was so excited. Carter LOVES to learn and he could not wait to get to school. He had a blast and talked about his day non-stop last night. He was only disappointed because he said they didn't do any "alphabeting" at school that day. I am telling you...he really does LOVE to learn new things. He just loves to soak it up.
No, I did not cry. I did tear up once, but that was because I was sad because he was looking a little nervous and I hate that feeling when you can't help them. However, he quickly got over that because one of his friends (from his preschool last year) is in his class and he was excited to see Luke.
Carter only goes to 1/2 day kindergarten, so Rich and I took him to lunch first.