Super Bowl Party in Denver

"Man, this game is a nail biter!"

Last weekend, we flew to Denver to visit the Haleys (Jason, Julee, Chase, and Blake). They moved there from Santa Barbara a few years back, bought a beautiful house, and just put the finishing touches on a complete remodel of their basement (now known as Haley's Athletic Pub: a man-cave / bar / in home gym).

Landon had a blast playing with his buddy Chase (you may remember him from this shot)! And, Sean had a great time playing with his best friends too: James & JT flew in from Maine & Texas!

Where the girls at?
4 men, 3 boys, and 1 baby boy on the way (James & Lee are due in April) 

iPad entertainment

Lando...making himself at home at the Haley House

Coolest Basement Ever

Never seen an indoor bounce house. 

Gotcha!

Landon and some of the fellas, just watchin' the big game

Cheerin' on the Niners!

I love these guys.

My Little Seanie

Landon is growing & changing every day. More and more, I am seeing many of Sean's mannerisms, idiosyncrasies, and likes show up in Landon! A few examples...

1. Landon loves to dance. This little man cannot hear a beat without stopping, twisting, slapping his thighs, clapping his hands, and hoopin' and hollerin'. He dances in front of the TV, when I'm playing music in the kitchen, and in his car seat (my personal favorite).

2. Landon loves to throw stuff. And, this just in, he's learning how to catch! Here's a quick video clip of an indoor game of catch with Mama, with a necessary dance break, of course!

3. Landon now "kick kick kicks" a soccer ball. Sean was an amazing soccer player in his younger years, but I'm proud to help take credit for this one too! If Landon doesn't like soccer, I think our hearts will be broken...but that's for future Stace & Sean to deal with. For now, this little guy loves to 'kick kick kick' and even has a solid throw-in form in the making!

4. Landon loves to build stuff. I swear he's a little engineer in the making. He is really into his large lego blocks right now, and can build towers as tall as he is. He's displaying great patience, awesome hand-eye coordination, and improved motor skills.

5. Lastly, Landon likes order and putting things in their place. He knows that his sippy cup goes in the cup holder on his high chair tray. The other day, the top tray (with the cupholder) was dirty, so I fed him dinner on the main tray. You should have seen him: holding his sippy cup in both hands, examining the tray, looking for the cup holder slot. Eventually, he settled on putting the cup in the exact place on the tray where the cupholder would have been, but was definitely  not satisfied.

Learning Landon

Not Just A Pretty Face

Being a toddler is hard work. You fall (a lot) as you learn to walk, then run, then maneuver stairs, then tackle the play structure at school, and on and on.

Little LRG is tough, and has handled this uneasy phase really well. He hasn't had many big falls, and no major injuries to report to date. Today, we did get a call from school saying he tripped coming out of the sandbox on the playground and bit his lip. It bled, and hurt, so he cried. His teacher, Missy, text us this picture so we could have a look ourselves:

Within minutes, little man was calm, eating his lunch like a champ, then took his full nap, no problem. I was very happy that he recovered well, and had an uneventful rest of his day. When I got home, I was surprised to see this little face:

He is fine, and currently sleeping like a baby in his crib. Just felt compelled to share a bit of the 'not so pretty' side of being the parents to a toddler...bruises, swollen lips, and all!

Are you ready for some football!?

Let's Go Niners! 

The Wedding Wall

If you visited us sometime in the last 6 years, you know about "the wedding wall". It started back in 2006 with a few framed black & white photos of my sister & best friend's weddings in our hallway on Homer Avenue in Palo Alto, and grew into a collection of 20+ weddings that took over our entire first stairway in our townhome. I love this collection of photos, as they represent our family and closest friends on their happiest days. It was a beautiful reminder of the love they share, and the great memories we all made on their wedding days!

Now that we've moved into our new home, and started a family of our own, I am excited to fill our walls new with new photos & memories, so I will be wrapping and hand-delivering (or shipping) everyone their "wedding wall" photo & frame. Be on the lookout for yours!

And, to all of our friends & family who aren't married yet: don't worry, I'll bring my camera to your wedding...and I always share my best shots! 

Four Christmases

No, I'm not talking about the Reese Witherspoon & Vince Vaughn movie, I'm talking about Team Greenwood's Christmas 2012 travel extravaganza! We were lucky enough to celebrate Christmas with all of our families over the course of a one-week span! Here's the recap, the run-down, and of course the photo play-by-play. Warning: I usually don't leave home without my Canon 5D MKII, a few lenses, back-up battery, and flash! This trip, however, I gave myself a break. I used by point-and-shoot and my phone to capture some of the fun, and tried to do a better job of JOINING the fun, instead of being the one responsible for documenting it! So, enjoy the grainy, somewhat out of focus, lower quality photos -- I did!

Christmas #1: Weekend on the Central Coast with the Chappells
We get to do our annual kids Secret Santa gift exchange with Sean's brothers & sister, we skipped slaving over a big meal by ordering mexican take-out (delicious & awesome), and got to help our nephew Dylan celebrate his SIXTH birthday! Little man is in kindergarten now, and such a stud!

Christmas #2: Our Family Christmas with Landon on Nelson Way
Already blogged about this one...check it out here if you want to see Lando is some adorable Christmas footie pajamas.

Christmas #3: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day in San Clemente with the Greenwoods
Grandma Annie & Grandpa Bob outdid themselves once again, hosting us all for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas day festivities. Landon loved getting to see his "GG", Great-Grandpa, "Pops", Uncle John, Aunt Laura, Daniel, and getting to spend more time with Aunt Nicole & Uncle Matthew! We had beautiful weather the 2 days we were there, allowing Landon to play outside with his first golf clubs set! For now, he's the only baby at this annual celebration, so our little man is getting pretty spoiled!

Christmas #4: Hartman Family Christmas traditions in Chilly Philly
Last but not least, we left Orange County the day after Christmas to head back east to see my family. This Christmas was different because for the first time in our family history (33 years or so) we (Jerry, Becky, Haley, Stacy, Sarah) were not together on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. Somehow, we've managed to always be together, until this year. I was worried I would be sad, as it is sort of like the end of an era, but, surprisingly, our time together was like every year prior: we made the same food, wore matching pajamas (yep, that tradition is strong and not going anywhere anytime soon), made cinnamon rolls the morning we opened gifts, and more! It was wonderful because it was a reminder that it is the time we spend together that matters, not the day of the month! This trip was packed with great food, a trip to the Aquarium, Landon's first experience with snow, and a parents night out (thanks, Sarah & Josh)! Big thanks to Tom & Haley for hosting us all!