3 Month Pictures

Here are Landen’s professional pictures. While Landen decided that he did not want to smile for the camera we still think there are quite a few good ones. Our friend Adam, who recently started his own studio, was the photographer. You can see samples of more of Adam’s work here http://www.arogersphoto.com/



Landen decided to see how the backdrop tasted. The fact this is a new backdrop only slightly mitigated the new parent "please don't put that in your mouth" cringe.


Julie and Mike decided that Landen shouldn't have all the fun. Here Julie proves that she doesn't always blink in pictures like Grandma W.




Here Landen is in his second outfit. Mike and Landen decided to show their Hawkeye spirit. Unfortunately the younger Mr. C had a bit of a melt down, so outfit number three was not used.

More Visitors

With all the recent snow a snowman decided to come visit the house.


Here Landen shows Mike what he can do with his hands.


Mike and Julie's good friend John was in town for business and thought he would stop by to say hello to Landen.


Aunt Jenny wanted to stop by and give Landen his Valentine's day present. It may be cliche but we still like to tell Landen his future is so bright he's got to wear shades.

Weekends

Landen tries to stay busy on the weekends.

Sometimes Landen stays entertained by playing with toys in his bouncy.


Grandma W is also known to visit on occasion. Here she is making Elmo talk to him.


After his last visit to Paradise Pizza, Landen thought we should go there again with our friends Joel and Nichole. At this rate Pizza will undoubtedly become his favorite food.


With their own little one on the way Joel has become more comfortable with the idea of holding babies. Landen proves to Joel that he doesn't bite.

Safe to go out

Now that Landen is a little older he is ready to go out and conquer the world. Of course living in Iowa, the term conquering the world in the Winter means going out to a restaurant and to the mall (baby steps).

Landen is excited to learn of the family's lunch plans.


Here Landen is having his first meal at a local restaurant "Paradise Pizza". While he's sleeping in this picture, earlier he did find the energy to flirt with the waitress enough to get the family a choice booth.


Here Landen is having dinner at the Jordan Creek food court. Landen loves to people watch at the mall. Some day Landen will graduate to a sippy cup like Jack.


In this picture Landen is hanging out with Anakarina. Adam, Anakarina's daddy says, "stay back little guy".


Proving that the mall is a local hotspot, we ran into Jimmy P and family on the way out. It seems like just yesterday their little girl was Landen's age.

Great Grandma Trap went back to Ohio

Great Grandma Trap started feeling much better after she left the nursing home and decided it was time to go back home to Ohio. Before she left we all had a family dinner together.

Here the girls pose for a picture. (We see which side of the family Julie gets the whole closing her eyes for pictures thing)


Uncle Rob makes the smart choice by using a cloth over his shoulder after seeing Landen drool all over Aunt Jenny's sweatshirt.


Here Landen finds out he may not see Great Grandma Trap until May.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays, it is sometimes called the Lunar New Year. This is Landen’s first Chinese New Year, the year of the rat. For Chinese New Year’s eve we celebrated having a dinner of hot pot with Grandma and Grandpa C.

Chinese Hot Pot at the Garndma and Grandpa C’s generally consists of a skillet or hot pot at the center of the dining table, while the hot pot is kept hot, ingredients are placed on top and are cooked at the table. Our hot pot dishes included thinly sliced meats (steak, pork, chicken), seafood (shrimp, scallops), mushrooms, yams, tofu, and rice cakes. The cooked food is then eaten with a dipping sauce. Hot Pot is always a nice meal in the winter since it tends to keep you warm and the meal is slowed down so you can enjoy the company of family.

There are two general varieties of hot pot the more typical type of hot pot is where everything is cooked in a soup, for the one we partake in everything is cooked on a hot skillet along with bacon. If you wonder which is tastier ask yourself would I rather have a boiled shrimp or one that has been cooking on a skillet with bacon.

Spending time with Grandpa C.

Here Landen is hungry for Julie's shirt.

Red envelopes or red packets (Known as 'Hong Bao') are often presented at social and family gatherings such as Chinese weddings or on holidays such as Chinese New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck. Here Landen is holding his first red envelope.

While he may be dreaming of a new toy or onesie this most likely will be going towards his college fund.

Landen's Activities

Here are some pictures of Landen that we like but don't necessarily have set events associated with them. Unfortunately we do not yet have any of Landen playing Ultimate frisbee.

Here Landen is found watching his favorite NFL team (The Browns)


Some may wonder how we know Landen's favorite team is the Browns. Here he is holding his Browns plushy.


Of course Landen also enjoys hanging out in his bouncy seat.


Here Landen is trying to play some video games.


When he tires of all his other activities at times he just likes to veg out.


Don't worry he is not really playing video games and watching TV all day, sometimes he likes to pretend he is E.T. and hide in his toys.