A Week With the Veuleman Clan - Day 7

Today is Saturday.....

Our week is coming to an end, and here is how Landry spent most of her day.

Yep, that's right, on the floor. Since we did not get much sleep last night, Landry was EXTREMELY tired. We would be on our merry way, just walking around the conference and Landry would suddenly throw herself on the floor and lay there for a while. This happened about every 5 minutes or so.

But she did look totally cute in her Tiger's cheerleading outfit. She got lots of attention from college students. Some she was not too sure about.

This was her in mid-sprint when she realized she was surrounded by strangers.

There was also a small play area in the church and we stopped to play for a minute.

After lunch, Landry and I headed back to the hotel room in hopes that she would take a nice long nap. She fell asleep before we even left the parking lot, but woke up when I was transferring her from the car to our hotel room. She decided she wasn't tired after all.

After letting her play for a little while and giving her a bath, I laid down in the bed with her once more, pretty much re-living the night before. I finally had to "tackle" her onto the bed and hold her down for a while until she was still enough to fall asleep. Sounds mean, I know, but I knew she needed sleep and was not giving up until she got it.

She slept until it was dinner time. We went and met Cory and all the college students for supper at the mall food court. Landry ate a wonderful combination of pizza and green beans, and then she got to ride the carousel. I have lots of pictures, but Cory has the camera for now so I'll have to post those tomorrow.

Tonight, we left the conference around 10:00 again. But when we got to the hotel, something amazing happened. I changed Landry into her P.J.s and brushed her teeth. And even though minutes earlier, she was wound-up, walking around with my bra around her neck, she laid with me in the bed and did not move a muscle. She was asleep within minutes. Thank you Jesus!

What a week!!!

A Week With the Veuleman Clan - Day 6

Today is Saturday, but I'm writing about Friday. Sorry I'm late.

Today was one of those days. The kind of day where you think, what was I thinking.

As I mentioned before, on Friday we left to take our college students to a conference. Friday was pretty much dedicated to getting packed and out the door. Not such a bad start. Just look how relaxed Landry was.

Well, as any of you with children know, packing for a little one can be a little challenging because there are so many things you have to remember to pack. Forgetting one little thing could be disastrous. Forgetting one big think, say a pack-and-play, could even be more disastrous. Guess what I forgot. I'll tell you a little bit about our night a little later.

Our trip up to the conference went fine. We had our trusty DVD player and Baby Einstein DVDs to keep Landry content. And we stopped at an area to eat where the grown ups could have chicken and Landry could have a Happy Meal. I tore up half of Landry's hamburger into pieces for her and laid the other half on a napkin. Guess what she went for.

We finally arrived at the conference after receiving bad directions. I was supposed to get there early to take pictures, but that definitely didn't happen. That is when I start thinking, what was I thinking. Months ago, I agreed to be in charge of photography for this conference. At the time, I was not sure how everything was going to work out with Landry, but I am always of the attitude "it will be fine." Today I am of the attitude, "We'll not attempt this next time." Cory is doing an excellent job of taking care of Landry while I am trying to snap pictures, but I have a feeling this is stressing us both out a bit.

Last night, we did not leave the conference till 10:00. Cory and the students are staying at a church and Landry and I are staying at a hotel. But like I mentioned before, I forgot the pack-and-play and Landry thinks a big bed is just a trampoline. As Landry and I attempted to lay in the bed to settle in for the night, Landry started bouncing and clapping and singing and rolling, and kicking and poking my eyes, ears, and nose, and pretty much anything else she could possibly think of to keep herself awake. She finally gave in at 11:15. That is when I finally was able to take a shower and prepare for the next day. Now here is Landry in the bed of the hotel. If you can't tell, she is sprawled across the whole thing. I slept in the bed with her. I wonder why I didn't sleep very well.

A Week With The Veuleman Clan - Day 5

Today is Thursday...

I'm going to be brief tonight because I have lots to do before tomorrow. And sorry, I don't have any pictures to post today. I know that is most upsetting for the Grandma's.

Landry slept in till 9:00 this morning, which is always a little bit nice for me because I can get some housework done before she wakes up. Also, she seems to wake up so happy when she is really well rested.

Thursday is the second day of the week we go to the library for story-time. Thursdays are geared for 18-month-olds to 3-year-olds. It's very similar to Monday's, just a little more advanced. Before this week, when Landry and I would go to story-time, she enjoyed it, but she didn't participate too much. She was so intrigued by the other children, she would just stare at them instead. They would always sing songs she knew the motions to, but she acted like she had never her the songs in her life. This week, a change has taken place. She has gone from the one who sits and stares, to the one that all the other children watch. She acts like she is in charge, going to the front of the class, doing all the motions and waving to everyone. It is super-cute.

And while we are on the subject of changes....a picky-eater has emerged from my little angel and I wished she'd go away. When other people would complain about their babies not wanting to eat anything, I'd always say, "Oh sorry, never had that problem. Landry has always eaten ANYTHING." Not anymore. And I'm sure some of your are chuckling under your breath right now. Landry is now picking through everything I give her, so she'll only get the parts she wants. She is pulling the crust off of her bread. If something looks the slightest bit suspicious, she won't even try it. As a matter of fact, after story-time we had a luncheon with one of the college ministries and they were serving chili dogs. Now I have to admit, when Cory and I heard they were serving hot dogs, we opted for Subway instead. But we thought Landry might like at least one of the components of the chili dog. She did.....the shredded cheese. That is the only thing she would touch. No bun, no weenie, no chili. So now I will have to give her plenty of raisins to help out with her digestion.

After luncheon, Landry and I went home so she could take a nap. I baked the rest of the cookies I started yesterday. It made a huge batch. I sent them with Cory tonight.

Tonight Cory has a worship service with one of our college groups.... noticing a trend. I would normally go with him, but tomorrow we leave for a conference with all 3 of our college groups. I felt it best to stay home and prepare for that.

I said I was going to be brief, but I guess I fibbed.

P.S. The baby just kicked me a few times. What a sweet feeling!

A Week With The Veuleman Clan - Day 4

Today is Wednesday....

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!

Let me just start this blog by saying, I always have really good intentions. I love to try new things and love to surprise people, but sometimes my intentions get the best of me.

The morning started out great! I wanted to give Cory a nice birthday breakfast, so I snuck out to Panera Bread to get him a Four Cheese Egg Soufflé. This is probably Cory's favorite breakfast food right now. I thought about looking for a recipe to make one myself, but I thought better of the idea. I would hate for something to have gone wrong and destroyed his birthday breakfast. This would have been a time where my intentions got the best of me. Cory was very excited to wake up and find the Panera bag on his plate.

We enjoyed a morning together and then we had to go our separate ways, Cory to work and I had to go to the doctor's office to get blood drawn. I wondered how this was going to go with Landry by my side, but she did surprisingly well once she learned the needle was not for her this time.

Now for my intentions. I had this grand idea for Cory's birthday. Landry and I were going to make him a cookie bouquet. I had envisioned this cute little bouquet with football cookies and "DaDa" spelled out. I was going to do it LSU colors and even add some sparkly thingymabobs. I was going to let Landry paint the pot and even decorate a few of the cookies herself. I could just see it so clearly in my head. Ha! Ha! Ha! That did not happen. I spent all afternoon trying to make cookie dough, shape cookies, make icing, bake cookies with sticks in them, ice cookies, and on and on. But my intentions got the best of me. Still some of the things did happened according to plan.

Landry painted the pot

And helped me make cookies

Whew! That was an adventure in itself!

I did bake some cookies with sticks in them and made some icing. But the icing was my downfall. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but the icing was extremely sticky and did not want to spread. The cookies were breaking off their sticks, and although I had iced the cookies myself, you would have thought it was Landry. I was so frustrated and the time was getting close for Cory to get home. So I threw in the towel. Here is what I ended up with instead of the bouquet.

I used the pot with some artificial flowers instead, and Cory just melted at the idea that his little girl had made the pot for him. It's the little things that count.

On Wednesdays I have praise team and choir practice so we didn't have a lot of time to celebrate, but that is why we made sure we celebrated yesterday.

Cory is now at work again with one of the college ministries and I am looking at the sink full of dishes and the loads of laundry that need to be folded. All things that could have been done this afternoon if I didn't have such big plans all the time. It was all worth it though, just to let Cory know how much we love him and appreciate him.

A Week With The Veuleman Clan - Day 3

Today is Tuesday....

Another jam-packed day of excitement with the Veulemans.

Every morning after breakfast, Landry and I do a short devotional together. She has a book, God And Me, that has a toddler devotion for every day of the year. She LOVES it because it has lots of bright pictures of real children. When I read her devotion to her, I have to hold the book away from her until I am done and then I give the book to her so she can flip through all the pages. Today after doing her devotional, she worked on a puzzle.

I mentioned, yesterday, I was working on a project and I would tell you more about it today. Well here it is.....

Cory's birthday is not until tomorrow, but we had a luncheon today for one of the ministries we are a part of. So I wanted to surprise him with cookie cake. I had to bake and decorate the cakes yesterday afternoon and then find a place to hide them for the night. The only place I could think of was our old entertainment center that is now in our guest/store-all room.

I then had to hide the cookie cakes under the seats in the Exporer this morning in hopes that Cory would not see them or smell them as we drove for an hour up to the luncheon together. It worked out great and Cory was very excited and surprised when we started singing Happy Birthday and brought out the cakes.

Robby and Cory being crazy. Cory is being polite and serving his cake to everyone.

Landry loves luncheon too. Especially when she gets to eat pizza.

After driving home from luncheon, Cory went back to work while Landry and I rested a bit and then went to a huge semi-annual kids consignment sale. I packed Landry a nice snack and strapped her in her stroller to face the crazy crowds that come to this sale. Unfortunately, I found everything overpriced and only purchased 5 items. And to top it off, as soon as I purchased these items, the downpour of the century took place and Landry and I had no choice but to get soaked.

Finally, we got home and dried off a bit just in time to take Daddy out to a pre-birthday dinner. He chose to go to Olive Garden, which I felt was an excellent choice. We had a great time! I would have pictures of Landry with alfredo sauce all over her face, but the rain prevented me from taking my camera in. The best part was that our waiter brought us about 25 Andes mints....Score! I guess he liked us because he didn't bring any to the table next to us.

We left dinner and went to Target, which was great until we discovered Landry left a surprise for us in her diaper. We decided it was time to go.

Again, Landry is now in bed and Cory and I are just digesting the busy day we have had. We wouldn't have it any other way.

A Week With The Veuleman Clan - Day 2

Today is Monday....

I was able to get up, spend time in the Word and in prayer, go jogging, and get almost completely dressed before waking everyone else up. It was very nice because there are lots of mornings that Landry does not allow this.

After getting Daddy off to work and Landry dressed, she and I headed to the library for story-time. We go to story-time twice a week usually, and we always have to get there early so Landry can

have time to climb in all the kids' chairs they have out. It's her favorite part of the library.

Story-time is a wonderful activity for Landry and I to take part in each week. It's more of an enrichment time with some stories mixed in. It has allowed Landry to interact with lots of different children and helped to develop her listening skills. Today was geared for children 0-24 months. Here is a video of Landry participating in some of the activities they did today.

The leader of the class is Ms. Lynn and all the children, including Landry, LOVE her.

After story-time, Landry and I had to run some errands. She was such a trooper because the errands took a little longer than expected. When we got home, it was lunch time. But when I asked her if she wanted to eat or take a nap, she signed "sleep". While she slept, I worked on a project that I'll tell you more about tomorrow.

Daddy made it home in time for supper. Tonight we had meatball subs. This is a page I stole from my mom's playbook. They are very easy and quick to make and Cory says they are better than Subway's.

Our family then enjoyed a little playtime together. Here are Daddy and Landry cutting up.

Monday night is also a work-night for Daddy. Cory is serving in 3 different ministries right now. Tonight is the worship service for one of them. Since it starts at 8:30. there is no way Landry and I could stay for the whole thing. It's way past her bedtime. But we like to go up about 30 minutes before it starts to visit everyone. You'll notice Landry is already in her P.J.s. This makes for a much smoother transition to bed when we get home.

Landry handed every one of the pool balls to C.J. so he could rack them up. Such a big helper.

The water fountain is always a big hit

She is never hurting for attention when she is around the college students. She thinks she is as big as they are.

Landry is now tucked into bed, I am getting some last minute things done before I hit the sack myself, and Daddy still has a few hours of work to go. What a day!

A Week With The Veuleman Clan - Day 1

Since we live away from so many of our friends and family and you don't get to see our everyday lives, I've made it a goal to blog everyday this week. I want you guys to get a chance to see what a typical week is like for us. Hold on tight, because this is going to be quite an eventful week. But we invite each of you to spend this week with us, via blogworld.

Today is Sunday...

This morning I decided to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast....not the super good homemade ones, but the ones from the can. I need to get someone's secret recipe so I can make the homemade ones. (Hint...Heather). Anyway, this was Landry's first ever cinnamon roll. In the picture, it appears she really likes it, however once all the icing was gone, she became disinterested and asked for cereal instead.

On Sunday, our most important event is going to church. I sing on the praise team and Cory teaches the college sunday school class while Landry goes to her sunday school class. This has been a challenge the last couple of weeks, because Landry likes to put on quite the show when I leave.

But After I leave, she is just fine and has a great time with her friends and her Sunday School teachers, Mrs. Donnie and Mrs. Raina

It appears that Landry has taken over the box of Teddy Grahams today in Sunday School.

After church, this is usually what we can expect from Landry on the way home.

And this is where you might find Daddy when we get home.

Now, normally, you'd probably find me on the couch or in the bed taking a Sunday afternoon nap, but today I decided to use the spare time to go to a fabric store to get the items I need to

finish a dress I've been working on. I got home just after everyone woke up from their naps which was perfect to spend a little family time. We ate supper together and then took Landry (yowyide) outside. I then bribed her with a popsicle to get her inside and then into the bath. She talked to Nana and Poppy on Skype and then it was bedtime. Now mommy and daddy are enjoying some down time. Getting ready to rest up for another exciting day. Stay tuned!