Geez....where to start....

Okay, so I knew it had been a while since I posted, but WOW...it's been a long time. I guess I'll start where I left off. The weekend after we got home from Easter we went to a birthday party for one of Jason's co-workers little boy. He was turning 4 and wanted to have a roller skating party. I have to admit that I had a giggle when the invitation came and the party was at the same roller rink I used to go to party's at when I was in elementary school...the place was a dive 20 something years ago...what was it like now?!? But, I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Skate2000! LOL :) The "new" owners had cleaned it up and it was actually a cute place to have a party. Ellery spent about 30 minutes watching all the other kids skate, she was by far the youngest one there. She smiled non-stop once she put her skates on. She loved it! Jason and I walked around with her each of us holding a hand. She has pretty good leg/foot control! It was a great way to get her ready for skiing....maybe next winter???? After all the fun she had, we've put roller skates on her birthday list for August!





We've been spending a ton of time working in the yard. We've done a lot more again this year. Ellery got a full set of gardening tools...complete with a shovel, rake, hoe, rollie bucket, hand shovel, hand rake and matching gloves. She's set to go! She's also quite the little helper....sometimes good and sometimes not-so-much.

"H" also made an appearance in this picture, so I better give an update on him. He's completely back to normal! He wants to play ball non-stop and is back to driving us crazy. He's come a long way since his stroke in December. Considering he was so near death, it really is amazing. He's put on a little weight....he was on steroids for about 3 months...so he's now BIG and TOUGH! Whenever he snaps at Lulu, the kitty, we say he has 'roid rage from stopping his steroids!


In the last month we've also added quite a bit of stuff to the backyard for Ellery to play with. We bought the "big climber" (that's what it says on the side and that's what Ellery and Reagan call it) from a guy named Bob. No joke, I paid him cash and took it out of a yard a few blocks away from him....I didn't ask too many questions! LOL :) The big climber has been a big hit. It's huge, about 8 feet tall, so it should be fun for a few years. We also got Ellery a little lady bug sand box to dig around in since 'Daddie's' garden is off limits now that it's planted. The garden is expanded again this year, it's now about 1/3 of our back yard. Jason has horseradish, okra, carrots, parsnips, radishes, 12 tomato plants (enough to feed an army), 5 pepper plants, beets, lettuce, cabbage, green beans and cucumbers....I think that's everything! Anyway, come and visit in July or August if you want to eat fresh veggies out of the garden! We also planted giant sunflowers around the perimeter of the back yard again, so it should be beautiful by Elle's birthday....hopefully it'll be nice enough this year to have the party outside.

We had to put up a new gazebo again this year. I ruined the one we put up last year....I put it up too early and it snowed again....and the whole thing collapsed...oops! Anyway, here is the new one, which we like much better than the one we had last year.

Ellery loves her "woo woo" kitty. Lulu takes a lot from her, she's so good. Lulu spends most of her time outside lately bird hunting.

Ellery and her 'rollie bucket'.

Jason has been fishing as much as he can. It seems like it's been nice during the week, but nasty on the weekends...so he hasn't fished as much as he'd like to. Here he is in a self portrait with a bass he caught near the damn. He leaves tonight to go fishing at Lake Rathbun for 3 days.

Ellery definitely has her own sense of style. A few weeks ago I had already gotten her dressed and she wanted her swimming suit on...both of them! She hung out like this for about an hour...until I made her take them off to change a poopy diaper. In the first picture she is doing a twirl for the camera.

I had a wonderful Mother's day weekend. My big gift was bikes for all of us, so we could start going on bike rides as a family. Ellery got a bike too, but she rides in a seat on Jason's bike when we go for a ride. I picked out a vintage style 1 speed! LOL I love it. It's powder blue with white fenders. Now all I need are tassels and a basket! Ellery got a pink and purple radio flyer tricycle. She can almost peddle already!

The week of mother's day I took Ellery to the arboretum to take some pictures for Grandma and Mema's. I thought they turned out great....if I do say so myself! We were the only people there and she had so much fun running around playing.

This one ended up being my favorite.

Ellery's favorite flower! She's picked all of them out of almost every yard on our block!

Jason outdid himself on mother's day. He made reservations for all of us to go eat at Eagle Ridge in Galena. They had the most amazing brunch I've ever had. I can't wait to go back for another special occasion....I think it's the only time we've ever spent $100 on two people for brunch! Ellery and Reagan were so good, we were pleasantly surprised! Ellery loved her neon colored fish shaped ravioli filled with blue colored cheese. It kinda freaked us out, but she thought it was great! :) After lunch when spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Galena shopping. It was a beautiful day and I couldn't have asked for a better mother's day! Thanks Jas!



We're really not always this "big"....we just got done eating and the camera does add 10 pounds....right!?!

There was a cute playground at the resort that we let the kids play in for a few minutes after lunch.

This is how my mother's day ended. Me and Ellery snuggled up in her 'rock rock' chair reading the bear hunt book. A perfect ending to a great day!

It was morel mushroom season since my last post. Jason had another great year of hunting. We had a great dinner of steaks and morels out at mom and dad's house with Matt and Em, while mom and dad were on vacation in Tennessee...BUT we did send them a picture of dinner to show them how good it was! LOL ;)

I'm everyone is tired of my rambling by now....I'm almost done. Frankly, I'm pretty tired of typing too. I skipped my nap today to update our blog! That was a sacrifice! ;)

I FINALLY was able to get a short video uploaded to our blog...I've tried several times with no success! So...here she is in her film debut on The Curious George. This is a video I took of Ellery a few nights ago. It was hot enough for me to fill up her little pool with water and but it at the bottom of her slide. It's a great, except her stupid mommy made a silly sound....oh well! Enjoy!

One last thing....I need to rant for a minute. All of you know where I stand politically and I know almost everyone who reads this blog disagrees with me. With that said....I can't keep my mouth shut on this one. I normally don't get into these things on my blog, but this one hits home!

Obama's universal healthcare plan.

It almost makes me cry to think about it. PLEASE, hear me out on this one. This issue is of the utmost importance to the Land family AND anyone who ever has been to a doctor. If the proposed plan passes, medical reimbursement will be cut by 30%! Every doctor and clinic will be forced to go "paperless" have an electronic filing system. I'm not against electronic filing...but, to force each clinic to do it in order to have a government run database on everyone is a ridiculous idea. This would have to been done at the expense of the clinic/doctor. To switch over the charts in a clinic the size of my dad's office would cost in excess of $100,000! AND it would be MANDITORY! This would in essence put Land Eye Center along with every other small health clinic out of business. He and all of his employees, including myself, would be without a job overnight. As if all of this wasn't bad enough, there is more. Under the proposed plan everyone would NOT get the healthcare you and I are used to. If any surgery or procedure needs to be done, it would have to be approved by the government. The government would look at the cost of the procedure, how old the patient is, and how much longer the patient is expected to live. The government would then determine the VALUE of a person's life to see if it is WORTH the cost. If you are a senior citizen in need of heart surgery, cancer treatment or replacement, would you make the cut? Would your life be worth it? Or would you be told that you've lived a good long life? What about your loved ones? Your family, your friends? What is their value? Personally I appreciate being able to call the doctor of MY CHOICE and making an appointment that works for me. Those options would be gone. Many times patients will be told they have to wait 6+ months to see the doctor. Could a cancer patient, heart patient or a child wait 6 months!?! This is scary stuff and everyone needs to know what is going to happen. Think about it and think about how it would affect your life and those around you!!!! Currently, no one in this country is denied care when needed. ANYONE can walk into an emergency room and receive care for any reason. The VNA gives shots to children for a $5 donation, if you can. We have taken Ellery to the VNA for her shots because our insurance doesn't cover shots. I don't know what else I can say to try to get everyone to understand how serious this is. Everything I've written is truth....look it up if you don't believe me.

And that's all I have to say about that....for now!