new red dino

in case anyone was worried, new (working) red dinosaur was acquired from target today. we helped Santa out...even better, now that Christmas is over, spike was easier on our wallets. so, for any of you who are in dire need of a 27 inch roaring dinosaur, head on over to target in the clearance section. call us if you need directions once in the store, landon will hook you up. and in case you need the green one too, he'll direct you to toys r us.

even Santa has a hard time sometimes

so, anyone who has been around landon recently knows the ONLY thing he wanted for Christmas was RED spike the dinosaur from target to go with his GREEN spike the dinosaur from toys r us.

Santa certainly brought red dinosaur, but some snow must have gotten in his little legs because he's not working so well.

i've been about to lose it all morning looking at the disappointment on his face. he's steady looking into the sky thanking Santa, though and thanking us for promising to take him to target first thing in the morning to get a new one. i just hope they have one!

we're so blessed to have a child as wonderful as landon, who, despite how difficult life can be, seems to understand that things aren't always going to work out how we want and we just have to live with it!

my hope is that this will stay with him his entire life and that he will always believe that Christmas is about being together more than anything.

products for men

one of the suggestions from folks has been to try to come up with products for men in the Landon's Love line. You'd think this would be easy, but being a girl, i tend to flock to the "cute" and girlie.

At a conference regarding new Virginia Math SOLs I was introduced to wordle (www.wordle.net). It is the neatest thing. You can cut and paste any text and wordle will create an image using the text. You can choose your color and play with the design until you get something exactly right. The coolest aspect is that the more often the word is used in the passage, the larger it is in the image.

how does this relate to Landon's Love? In an attempt to figure something out for the manly men out there, i took the Landon's Love "blurb", as i like to call it and put it into wordle. So far, i've made shaun a shirt (just ironed it on) and it looked really cool.

I couldn't figure out how to attach an example, so you'll have to check Wordle out on your own.

www.wordle.net

Yearly Donation

I cannot believe it has been a year since the idea of Landon's Love transpired. It has certainly been an adventure starting Landon's Love, especially while attempting to manage every other aspect of life.

I never knew how much it cost or how much time it takes to start up a business, but here we are, a year later and i'm proud to say that despite all of the expenses, Landon's Love will donate over a thousand dollars to the UVA Fund in Landon's name to go toward genetic research and helping patients and families with genetic differences. In addition to the thousand that the business has donated, we have had generous donations made in Landon's name directly to the UVA Fund.

THANK YOU for all of your support, both morally and through donations. we certainly couldn't have done this without you!

we look forward to a new year, hopefully filled with new ideas and new journeys for Landon's Love.

We are very blessed to have such a wonderful son who has inspired us to help others.

Happy Holidays and may the new year bring you all peace and warmth in your hearts!

Cute new pics of Landon on Edenbrook's Blog

http://www.edenbrookfarm.blogspot.com/

check him out on their webpage also: www.edenbrook.org

it's been a LONG time

...since i've submitted anything. i'm sorry for that.

i guess i've really been struggling to find balance.

since school has started, we've had two big Landon's Love events...one more successful than the other.

1. Old Farm Day--tons of work to prepare and I think the event was too big a forum for Landon's Love.

2. Edenbrook Landon's Love Party--this was the perfect marriage of getting the Landon's Love message out there while folks enjoyed the most fantastic place--Edenbrook.

Other opportunities have come up, but honestly, i just couldn't mentally or physically handle the preparation.

I have been struggling to find balance, but the mission and goal of Landon's Love has never escaped me.

I am toying around with the thought of this blog...contemplating making it "public" as i've taken down pics, etc (in case you haven't picked up on it, i can be a little paranoid about putting pics up of landon on the internet, especially if it is public). now that the business is official, what is the purpose of this blog? if anyone has any insight, i'd love to hear.

Current Questions:

--Should i focus only on several products? (i have to find placed to store all of the things when they are not sold, plus, is it too overwhelming to customers PLUS--i want money to go to UVA rather than materials)

--what avenues do i have other than craft fairs and the internet to sell products?

new products

our newest product is a family game kit. it includes 3 games...what i'm calling:

1. Name-it, where you choose a card with a word such as "soft" and each person names a soft thing until no one can think of any more.

2. What do you think?, where you answer questions like, "What do you think food does in the fridge when the door is closed?"

3. If I could be...", where you choose a card such as "If you could be an ocean animal, what would you be? WHY?" Everyone playing responds and must justify his/her answer.

Each game is printed in color ink on white cardstock and stored in a box.

I gave these out for Christmas last year to many of you, I believe and I'm hoping that they will be popular for the sake of Landon's Love.

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in case i haven't mentioned, I am making the wire and bead hearts as pendants and ornaments now. this is a picture of a wire and bead key chain, but i just wanted to remind people what it looks like.

Our next big Landon's Love event is Old Farm Day in Fluvanna on October 3rd and then on October 17th the Veliky family is graciously hosting a Landon's Love party at Edenbrook Farm, where we go for farm therapy each week. We cannot thank the Veliky family enough for supporting us in our endeavor.

BIG hearts can come in little people

yesterday was our niece's 7th birthday. She will be celebrating with friends and family tomorrow at her house with a fun bouncy and slide, games, and cake....the usual birthday goodies. What won't be there may surprise you. A month or so a go she called and asked if we would be willing to set up a table at her party with Landon's Love products to give people the opportunity to buy something rather than get her a gift. We are so touched by this selfless request and so proud to have such wonderful young people in a world that seems so confused sometimes.

several weeks ago, my mom hosted a Landon's Love party and our other niece, also 7, spent her own money to buy her own Landon's Love products :-)

our boy is luckier than he knows to have such wonderful cousins!

long week

...to say the least. school has been exhausting and trying to get used to a new schedule has just about sent us all over the edge. I know things will feel more like routine soon, but for now it has been overwhelming.

each day when i get home i check the landon's love website to see if anyone has checked it out. Our highest amount was 80 one day! most days average 10 or so. With that said, it looks like i need to do a lot more marketing. now that i'm back in school i'm wondering how i'm going to figure that out. i have faith that it will, especially after reading about a woman who raised over 10,000 for the UVA breast cancer department.

i appreciate all of the encouragement from our family and friends. We would have abandoned this idea a long time ago had it not been for you guys!

5 Parties and a whole lot of generosity!

so, tomorrow is the big day...back to Walton i head...i will be fine once i get there, but i could feel the anxiety in my tummy the second i woke up today.

i go back with a warm heart though, that's for sure. we pulled off 5 Landon's Love parties thanks to our parents this summer. We hosted two and then Grandma and DD did two and Nan and Pop did one yesterday! I haven't figure the total cleared money that we have made, but it certainly exceeded our expectations for the summer! THANK YOU to all of your for your love and support through this process. I know the genetics department at UVA will be appreciative.

it should be interesting to see how i balance the intense demands of school and my love of this journey. I feel confident that Landon's Love (in more ways than one :-) ) will keep me grounded and make me realize that just because school is in session i don't necessarily have to live, eat and breathe school.

I committed to setting up at Old Farm Day on October 3rd at Pleasant Grove, so that should be fun. i needed to fill the form out before school started or else i would have hummed about it and never committed.

At yesterday's Landon's Love party we got some fantastic ideas for products...it was suggested to use the wire and bead hearts for pendants as well as ornaments. I made a version of each of these and they are very nice.

We sold out of chandelier earring, quote jars, ornaments, and wire and bead keychains! amazing! i cannot wait to make more...in fact, i think i might go do that now to rid of the thought that tomorrow at this time i will be taking in the sites of piles of clutter in a new room that i've got to get organized by thursday night's open house :-)

imbareissing (you're understand in a minute)

okay, so i was cutting and pasting some things from the website to make an invitation brochure and noticed that i had a misspelled a word on the website...that looks really professional! Good thing my main job is being a TEACHER! wow!

a life less ordinary

one of landon's friend's blog was featured on channel 19 last night! too cool. here is a link...she's a doll.

http://www.elenadoodle.blogspot.com/

www.landonslove.com

it's out there! Our website has been published! it is a work in progress, but at least people can access our stuff and they know how to order. we might upgrade later so that people can order online, but we have not educated ourselves on pay pal enough to do that yet. if you have suggestions for improvement, our ears are open!

summer nearing the end

when my bday rolls around i know it's almost time to go back to work. I know that teachers are extremely blessed to have the summer, especially when you have a child at home to spend the time together. with that said, it certainly is never easy going back.

typically i set very lofty goals for the summer...expecting the get tons of things done and then i'm disappointed when i don't finish everything i wanted to do.

this summer i had two goals: 1. spend as much time with landon as possible enjoying every minute no matter what we were doing (even if it meant spending HOURS on the elevator :-) ) 2. get Landon's Love up and going and have at least one Landon's Love party to get the word out.

I am pleased to say that both of my goals exceeded my expectation. i have enjoyed all of the time landon and i have had together...my stomach sinks each time i think about having to go back to work, but i know that the routine will be good for everyone, especially landon. in regards to Landon's Love, by the time i return to school we will have had 5 Landon's Love parties! In addition, we have received several out-of-state orders thanks to the amazing Gorsegner family (thanks you guys...we miss and love you).

i know that going back to work will be hard in many ways, but i am so pleased and thankful for the success that Landon's Love has had so far and i feel certain that it will keep growing. it has been wonderful to have the time to dedicate to a cause that we feel so passionate about.

my hope is that my next blog entrance will be an introduction to landonslove.com; it seems we're getting close to being ready to "publish" it.

amazing

i still get nervous when i talk about Landon's Love and show people products, but the feedback has been absolutely wonderful. I am overwhelmed by the generosity that we have experienced. I am proud to know such amazing people.

in an effort to save some money on printing catalogs, we signed up for a webpage last night. I can already tell it is going to take a good week or so to get it ready, but i think it will be a wonderful way to show people our products. We still would like for people to order by word-of-mouth or email as we don't want to have to give paypal or credit card companies a portion of the money that we want to go to the genetics department. our website will be www.landonslove.com. we haven't published it yet, but we'll let you know when it is ready.

also this week i checked out Pleasant Grove Farmers Market in Fluvanna. I really wish i would have investigated it sooner...it was darling and i look forward to setting up there next year. I love it because they ask for a flat fee rather than a percentage of your sales...there again, we want as much money to go to genetics as possible.

i need to keep my ears open to craft fairs and such during the fall and winter months--i think those would be great opportunities to get the word out and keep my life balanced between school work and fun.

this journey has been an amazing one and we thank you so much for your love and support along the way...we certainly could not have gotten past the 3am thought of "Landon's Love" much less this far without your support.

ps--we do have tshirts available if anyone is interested. $15

new projects

clipboards...this is the 12x12 size...i have small ones to work on as well which are 4x4.

ornaments...they are just like the magnets and pins, but they have a ribbon to hang as an ornament.

desk charms...just like magnets and pins except they don't have anything on the back...you can just place them on your desk or coffee table for decoration and inspiration. i think we will sell these in sets of three...or maybe as singles would be best...any suggestions are appreciated. (don't have a picture of these...sorry)

car fresheners...i gave these as Christmas gifts a few years ago...some of you may remember.

labels...i also gave these out for Christmas a few years ago...they are a great way to save money. instead of buying birthday cards, etc, just place a label on a plain card or directly on the gift to use as a tag. i'll try to get a picture up of these soon.

new pin display???

i found this little thing at joann fabrics the other day and thought i could use it to display the pins. i need feedback...is it too busy?

scattered or shall i say fragmented

with the realization that summer is half way over i feel myself becoming more and more spastic/scattered/fragmented...no matter how you want to say it i'm feeling a little nuts. each day i am eager to get up and make something for Landon's Love but it seems as if it just sits, which has become the latest problem. with the encouragement and guidance of ms. organization herself, i have been trying to organize and label things, but it still feels like there is stuff everywhere. i guess the point in me saying all of this is that i am finding it difficult to manage making stuff and storing it. i have investigated participating in several farmers markets to help with marketing...i'm sure fear more than anything is holding me back, but we've also been very busy with therapy appointments and activities for landon that i haven't committed to anything.

i've also been reading up on converting "Landon's Love" into a nonprofit organization. it is an incredible amount of information. i sure wish i could just pay someone to do it all for me, but i cannot exactly afford that. I keep being reassured by people who have investigated nonprofit and actually gone through the process that it is not as bad as it seems. my biggest confusions are: 1. now that i set this up as a "for profit" is it going to be a pain to change the status with the irs and the state? 2. how much is it going to cost to set up the nonprofit...because amazingly enough i think it will cost quite a bit more than it did to set up the for profit.

price update: i will reprint brochures, but we made the executive decision to charge 5 dollars even for the magnets, pins, keychains and ornaments. we have just included the sales tax in the price.

new products: i'm working on labels, quote jars, ornaments, clipboards, and "desk charms." i'll try to get pictures up of the new stuff soon.

as i type, landon is sleeping on my shoulder after a long day...it's simply this that reminds me that in the scheme of things clutter doesn't matter! (i'm sure shaun would beg to differ :-) )

i just re-read this before posting and i think the title of this post is not necessary...it is very clear simply reading it that i am all over the place :-)

brochures are out

i sent out a big mailing of brochures the other day. everything feels a little more "official" now. If you didn't get one or know of someone i should send one to, please email me (landons.love@yahoo.com or my school one) with the mailing address info. I'm trying to get a master mailing list together.

insomnia=new key chain???

i cannot sleep, so those who know me well know that i cannot just sit and do nothing...i have to DO something. I tried to make a pendant in the shape of the Landon's Love logo...i liked it, but i am afraid it will scratch people. I didn't know what to do with my creation after that, so i stuck it on a stick for some reason and imagined that people could use it as a plant stake and then i thought that was sort of weird, so i put it on a key chain. i'm still not so sure what to think of it...any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

tshirts, logo stamp, and big boy underoos

thanks to Grandma's help we found a place to get t-shirts made with the Landon's Love logo on them. I'm sure joe schmo off the street won't exactly want a Landon's Love logo shirt, but i know family has already asked for some, so i am really excited.

Landon and i took a trip to Office Depot today to order a rubber stamp with the logo on it. Let me just say it was an adventure...Landon was perfect...i think he had more patience than i did. after all that waiting today we're going to have to wait another 7-10 days for the thing to even come in! oh well. I ordered it so that i can make magnet, pins, key chains, etc. using the logo.

I've been going crazy today shaping, stamping and baking. Painting is my least favorite part, but i need to get a move on as we have several Landon's Love open houses schedules beginning in the next couple of weeks. I am really excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

on a side note Landon wore "big boy" undies today for a couple of hours and did not have any "accidents"!!! He discovered smarties yesterday at Nan and Pop's house, which he now calls Nan and Pop candy! He is a smart little booger as he realizes that when he goes to the potty he gets "Nan and Pop candy"!

quote jars

i think it was two holiday seasons ago, i put together some quote jars for my girlies at school. looking back, i think they were a little pathetic and rushed. I am taking that same idea and putting a little more time into them for Landon's Love. (so, girls, i owe you one of these once i have enough made :-) ) The quote jars are containers with various inspirational quotes and sentiments to set on your desk or coffee table. this time around the quotes and sentiments are typed on vellum and then attached using eyelets to patterned paper. I found these wonderful glass jars at Michaels as well as these darling decorated pots. The glass jars have lids and i attached a ribbon whereas the pots were so cute by themselves that i don't think they need anything...let me know if you think differently. i thought that it would be fun to let the customer choose which container. i plan to buy up all of the pots when we get back home from Michaels...i think they are a seasonal item. Let me know what you think...i have attached pictures below.

1st Landon's Love Party

so, we're trying out the Landon's Love products on family first...and we appreciate their support and feedback. The "party" was wonderful and we got some wonderful feedback. There were some fantastic ideas for future products and projects, suggestions for exposure, and indescribable support. Here are some pics.

The "finishing station"

Shaun had a wonderful idea, which was to set up a "station" that explained how the magnets, pins, and key chains are made...in other words, the process of making the products. He did good as usual with his suggestions :-)

table set up

a little closer view

I nearly thought i was going to get sick the entire day. i kept questioning myself and wondering if i even wanted to go through with the whole Landon's Love thing. My love for Landon and my determination to do something for him and others came through though. I appreciate everyone's support because if i didn't have it this project would have never even gotten past a 2am thought.

no mommy, ding

so i went to register the fictitious name today at the circuit court. of course i went around 11am, so the parking spaces around the court were full, full, and yes, full. that's okay though because i got to drive by where mommy and daddy got married and showed landon. we had to park in the parking garage, which was no problem for landon as it has "new ding" and "old ding." you just have to witness his excitement when he knows he's going to a ding...it's priceless. oh, and in case you haven't figured out what a ding is by now...elevator...which he will also say occasionally, but it is usually "ding." I prepped him the whole walk to the "new ding" saying, "once we get off of the new ding we're going to go for a walk because mommy needs to do something and then we'll go back and do new ding and old ding." well, needless to say, the minute we get off the elevator and he sees that we were not headed right back on, it was on! "no mommy, new ding again." he said it over and over. then he finally stomped his foot, growled at me and said, "no mommy, new ding one more time!" it was really quite cute now that i think about it, but in the blazing sun surrounded by important looking people i was pretty much over it at the time :-) to make this story shorter, Landon was finally appeased when we got into the circuit court and we were informed that we needed to go to the second floor...NEW NEW DING MOMMY! oh boy! does it ever end :-)

after registering the name we headed back and did new ding and old ding for a while. lunch was NOT happening as getting back on the ding was far more important. he did spare me having to walk across to the garage near south street or to the omni, so i appreciated that. after the downtown mall ding we headed to SPLASH (2-hour summer speech program) and guess what's there! "SPLASH ding"! i was about dinged out at this point, so i told him we could do it once before SPLASH and once after and that's it.

after SPLASH ding trip two we get in the car and not 2 seconds later he says, "um, what about michaels ding mommy?" "no, baby, not today." "what about doubletree ding?" "no baby, not today." "um, what about showroom ding, mommy?"

I think our goal for tomorrow is to NOT ride a ding!

as dinged out as i am, Landon is happy as a lark and that's what is important. even better, along the way i got to register our fictitious name, which i cannot help but laugh at every time i think about it.

new pics

it sounds like i need to head to the alb. circuit court to register a fictitious name (sounds sketchy :-)) and then we'll be set to go! this has certainly been a learning experience, but worth every minute.

here are some new pictures of products...i discovered some new colors i really like...i've been partial to green these days and found a nice green.

SO EXCITED!!!

We went to the bank today and we now have a business account! Things seem a bit surreal at this point. I am excited, but overwhelmingly scared. I keep trying to convince myself that it is all going to be okay, but i have had a pit in my stomach for days. I keep thinking that even if this company is a flop I followed my dream to do something for the person who means the absolute world to me!

Getting There more and more everyday

That title could mean a lot of things...

--Landon is making progress more and more every day. He is as sweet as he could be in these summer programs. SPLASH is a speech and language based program that he has tuesdays and thursdays until early July. He continues to go to the "farm" (Edenbrook Farm Therapy Program) every Saturday. We usually last about 2 hours there. He is receiving private speech therapy twice a week. We are looking into getting OT and PT for the summer as well. Our first playgroup is tomorrow at we are SO EXCITED!

--The other meaning of this title is that we are getting there more and more with Landon's Love! I picked up some receipt booklets today so that when people buy things i can give them a receipt. I got more labels today, which means that i could print off labels for the boxes that i put the products in. I am working on the first Landon's Love party. AND IT'S ONLY BEEN 1 FULL DAY OF SUMMER VACATION! If i keep this up i'll be thrilled!

the thing i'm most focused on now--setting up a website. if anyone knows of a resource that i could use to set up a website for the business, let me know!

Schools Out--Landon's Love is On!

...and Landon's Love is on in more ways than one! We have had such a blast so far on our first day off together!

I spoke with our SCORE counselor yesterday and he says we're a go on Landon's Love!!!!!!!!!!! We can start selling! i am so excited. i need to get receipts and start making some more things, but i could not be happier! and i've got the summer to work on stuff!

Thanks again for all of your support...we'll let you know when the first Landon's Love party is going to be!

Edenbrook Makes Front Page!!!!!!!!

I know this is a blog about starting up a "Landon's Love" business and all, but this is truly where Landon's love is these days...

http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/getting_back_to_nature_keswick_woman_opens_farm_to_children_and_families_se/40850

Edenbrook Farm--yes, we're talking about it again!

so, we've been driving everyone nuts about Landon's new therapy program--Edenbrook Farm Therapy Program.

It will be on the front page of the paper tomorrow and we could not be happier. We provided the writer with some information about our experiences there and cannot wait to read the article.

Vicky, her family, and her program are absolutely amazing. I'll leave it at that and let you see for yourself:

http://www.edenbrookfarm.org/index.html

...and Edenbrook's blog...

http://www.edenbrookfarm.blogspot.com/

here's a couple of pictures from Landon's experiences:

This is us with the duck that Landon named "quack quack"

Here we are transplanting the corn that Landon planted in the recycled water bottle during our first visit at the beginning of May.

Wow--what a busy month

I am so embarrassed that it has been over a month since i've posted anything. I'm trying not to use excuses these days for things, but I think it would have been impossible to have blogged between finishing up VGLA binders with some of my kids at school, preparing the others for the SOL test, starting a new farm therapy program with Landon and preparing for his 4th birthday! I'll get into the farm therapy program soon...it is FABULOUS and we're trying to spread the word as best we can.

nonetheless in the last month we have also been trying to establish Landon's Love as a business and let me just say, it has been one of the most frustrating things i've been involved with in a while. I'm sure trying to juggle too many things is the reason for the frustration, but also, they just don't make it easy to try to start a business!

the other night i registered the business and we now have an EIN as well as a sales tax number, so i think we are really close to being ready.

the main thing i need to do is to make some stuff! or else there won't be anything to sell!

the UVA lady has been busy with the children's miracle network telethon, so i have not bothered her lately. i hope to contact her soon.

i feel like there is so much to tell you guys...i've got to collect my thoughts a little more to figure out what else i've missed.

thanks for all of your support!

holding pattern

seems we're in a holding pattern waiting to hear from the CPA. i REALLY want to get this thing going, but i want to do it right. i guess that takes patience and i seem to be losing it! the end of the year craziness at school isn't exactly helping my mood or patience.

i have faith that "Landon's Love" will turn out to be all that we want and more, but i am just frustrated that we haven't exactly met our goal.

Thanks for all of your feedback on additional items to sell.

we'll get there and it will be from our faith and all of the support we have from you guys, so THANK YOU!

brochure and catalog

back in january when this whole idea emerged, i began working on a brochure. i've played around with it a bit here and there. Tonight i tried to finalize it. i'm sure i'll change it 100 times between now and when it is finally time to hand them out, but it was fun. I also worked on a catalog. Again, i'm sure changes will be made to it as well before it is distributed, but nonetheless it was a lot of fun and makes me feel like we're getting closer and closer.

i also have made labels for the pillow boxes that i bought for the magnets and pins, little "cards" describing why we started this in the first place to give to people when they purchase items. I also created small simple magnets with our logo to give to anyone who purchases something.

this is just too much fun.

i'm sure when school starts back up in a couple of days i will have to take a break from all of this, but i'm so appreciative that i was able to devote a good bit of time while i could.

my hope is that we can raise money to help people with genetic differences and also inspire others to follow their hearts and embrace their situations.

Meeting with the "UVA lady"

...as i like to call her! I took advantage of being off this week and tried to talk to as many people as possible in regards to "Landon's Love" as well as therapies for him, etc.

Today, I met with a lady from UVA who was able to tell me more about how we can donate to the hospital. It looks like we have two options...do everything through them or do what we had planned on doing which was to go through our CPA and lawyer to set up our own non-profit. She is going to talk to the genetics department to see what research they have going on and then she'll get back to us to make sure it is something we want to support. It seems very important to her that we know exactly what we are donating to, which is very much appreciated. We could also donate to a general fund at the hospital that would directly help patients, which is a nice option as well. There is something called "Research Day" that she thought we should attend...it highlights all of the research that is happening at the hospital.

Another thing she said is that no matter how we end up donating the money (whether it is through UVA or whether we set up our own non-profit and then donate to UVA) if we donate toward research for every dollar we donate it will be matched 30 times by the NHI. How awesome is that!

Although i felt a little more confused when the meeting was over as opposed to less confused, i still feel really good about it. The UVA lady (Amy) is going to talk to the genetics department this coming week and get back to us. in the meantime, i think we have decided to go with the plan of talking to our CPA and lawyer and setting up "Landon's Love" independently. This way we can sell stuff as we can and spread the word as we can and we don't have to depend on someone else to do it for us.

Amy was very encouraging and appreciative that we were doing this and wanting to donate to UVA. She gave me some ideas about some online places to sell as well. etsy.com was one of them. i need to check that out.

Alright, i'm sure i've confused enough minds...i know mine is sure thrown for a loop :-)

it seems we're getting closer and closer every day to launching "Landon's Love" !!!!!!!!!!

lots of thoughts, not much action

so, i've thought a lot of things i can make in addition to magnets and pins. I've even thought about making magnets and pins, but i haven't actually MADE anything since Spring Break started :-) It's like i have some sort of mental block or something. i really want to make stuff, but i feel like since i cannot sell it right now, what's the point in making it. maybe i fear finding a place to store it. who knows. hopefully i will get out of this funk at some point. at least i'm thinking about things!
One of the things i have accomplished is a list of supplies that i need to buy once all of the financial stuff is taken care of. It looks like my goal of a "Landon's Love" party by the end of April might not exactly happen, but we'll shoot for as close to that date as possible.
On a side note, i have been having TOO MUCH FUN planning Landon's 4th birthday party. it is hard to believe he is almost 4. anyway, we are going to do a robot theme and i am going off! i feel really good about the favors this year...it is important to me to give the kids stuff that won't take up too much space or stuff that is pointless. I think using this time during spring break to make stuff and plan his party has been one of the best things i've done so far this spring break. i need to remember this for next year! since i've done so much i won't have much to do in May!

Hopes for Spring Break...Version 2

So, the CPA said there is no way that she can meet until after April 15th, which is completely understandable, just a little disappointing. We emailed the lady from UVA who contacted us and requested a meeting, but haven't heard back from here. I just thought this week of Spring Break would be a good time to meet if she could. I'm sure Walton is getting a little sick of me coming in late or leaving early. Although we're not able to meet with as many people as we had hopes, I can always work on making things for whenever we are set to sell. I have some ideas for additional products. I posted a poll on the right side of the blog. You are able to select multiple answers. Please be honest.

This thing will take off eventually...I just feel like we're going no where at the moment.

Hopes for Spring Break

We are in high hopes that we can get the financial "stuff" out of the way during Spring Break when I am able to meet at any time during the day. I'm sure we cannot tackle meeting with the CPA as well as the lawyer in the same week, but at least we can get the ball rolling. I would still really love to have a "Landon's Love" gathering of some sort by the end of April, but the way things are looking, I need to prepare myself for the strong chance that it will be later in the spring.
Thanks to all of you for your continued support, love, and friendship.

Because sometimes others can express how you feel better than you can!

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain." --Tiffany (i'm giving you credit for this quote since you were the one to introduce it to me) :-)

"Making the decision to have a child--it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." --Elizabeth Stone

We feel this one is next one is especially fitting as March is the 1 year anniversary of Landon learning to walk! Hard to believe it's already been a year :-)

"The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water but to walk on the earth." --Chinese Proverb

life gets away from you...

it's already March. i cannot believe it! Even more so, i cannot believe it is a snow day! We have really enjoyed the day.
I attempted to get some stuff done in regards to the Landon's Love project, but i was put on hold. The CPA said we can meet with her about the project when we finalize our taxes...i guess that will make the process of finalizing our taxes more fun knowing that we will also get to talk about Landon's Love!
I did make a couple of magnets today. Not too many but for good reason. Landon has been much better about varying his activities...he'll tolerate some 1-2-3 work (of sorts, since i really don't know exactly how they do it at school), he's been playing games and doing sticker pictures. Moral of the story--i am happy i haven't gotten many magnets done because he's been interested in lots of things! in case you were wondering, he's not so interested in the snow :-)
We'll keep everyone posted on the progress.
I would love to have a "Landon's Love" Party by the end of April...we'll see.

It's good to know people :-)

We got some phenomenal information regarding what to do next yesterday...thank you berry clan! It looks like if we want to do things right we need to talk to a couple more people before going to the bank. Although it is a couple more steps it is going to help everyone in the long run.

It has been so encouraging to talk to people about this project. Landon is the most wonderful gift we have ever been given and we feel so blessed to be able to share his love with everyone while helping others.

Everyone has been so patient and supportive in this endeavor and we appreciate every single one of you!

Proud Poppa

Thank you so much my angel for expressing our love of this wonderful and perfect child through your beautiful and creative mind! Daddy is sooo proud of you! Eternally yours! Daddyo

more pics and work on the brochure

so, we still haven't made it to the bank. i hope to do that when i am off with landon on Wednesday. i feel like then, even though i haven't heard back from the UVA woman, we can start selling some stuff. at least if i go to the bank and set up the account the money will be in one safe place and when i hear back from UVA medical center i can just write them a check. during Winter Break i began working on labels, tags, etc and well as a brochure. some components of the brochure have never changed, but other parts of it i must have changed 10 times! it has been so much fun playing with it and manipulating it! here how i figure the next steps should play out:

1. go to the bank--i feel like once i do this we are good to go.

2. send out brochures--this gives info on how to order/buy etc

3. sometime have a Landon's Love Party--i just thought i could have stuff set out for people to buy if they want to...otherwise it will be a great chance to see everyone. THANKS by the way, for your feedback on the party idea.

It would be really nice to have another snow day this coming week to work on Landon's Love stuff, but (as a couple of you reading will agree) I really cannot afford to be away from school anymore at this point given all that is going on!

ice day #2--time to make some stuff!

With a second ice day, i had some time to make more magnets and pins. granted, i should have been helping shaun clean out the basement or clean my huge mess out of the "office," or bother to do some school work, but this was far more fun! it is not complete, but i also made a tic-tac-toe game out of the same materials. i thought i could make the x's and o's magnets so that folks could play tic-tac-toe on the fridge! I need to figure out what i am going to use for the board...maybe ribbon. we'll see :-)

heard back from genetics :-)

Dr. Wilson wrote us back and gave us the name of a woman in a different department to contact at UVA! Even though we didn't get an answer, I feel like we are a step closer than we were! If for some reason they close school tomorrow for bad weather and it is safe enough to drive in the afternoon we might try to go to the bank to talk to them about setting up an account, but we'll see if that happens! A 2-hour delay is a gift as well--it was just so nice to be home today with my boys :-)

Pin Pics

not on a roll, but at least i did something...

i cannot say i am on a roll, but i did make and bake some more magnets today. I only made "love" ones and ones with hearts on them in the spirit of Valentine's day i guess. still haven't heard from landon's genetics doctor to see where we can donate the money, but i sent a follow-up email today. I finally had time to talk to the bank and it looks like we have to go in to set up a savings account. i REALLY want to start selling some things, but i want it to look as official as possible...i don't want people to be disappointed or think it's sketchy. Thanks to everyone for your support. I find work and my constant exhaustion interfering with this whole project, but i just haven't been able to find my grove since Winter Break. I have faith it will come and I will feel better about this endeavor soon.

After some wear...

...it looks like i am going to have to add some more holes to the pins...i have been wearing one around to see how it would hold up and i think i need to add more holes so the the wire is more secure.

school is really interfering with this little project...i vote that i quit and just do this for a living! can anyone else back me up on that :-) i didn't get to make any magnets or pins this past week and the stuff i made last week still needs to be painted. i'm trying not to get too discouraged...after all, we still haven't heard from genetics to see what organization(s) we can donate to anyway.

i hope to get more pictures up before too long, but that would require me to actually have made something new :-)

Back to Reality :-(

• I haven't been able to commit as much time as I would have liked this week to the Landon's Love Project since school has started back, but I was able to accomplish some things.

• The boxes we ordered to put the magnets in came in today and I don't know if I am more excited about the boxes or the magnets that are going inside :-) The picture is above. I made labels with the Landon's Love logo and put the logo on the center of each box. I am very pleased with how they have come out.

• Between last night and today I made the first couple of pins. They are really cute...a lot smaller than the magnets. They are like miniature versions of the magnets.

• I have been using Microsoft Publisher to make a brochure, tags, labels, and I've started on a catalog, which won't be used until later, but it is fun to work on it!

• We contacted Dr. Wilson (Landon's genetics doctor) requesting information on what organization(s) are available to donate to, so we are anxiously awaiting his response.

• We had our (almost) 4 hour tour at the Kluge Center today, which would be a great organization to donate to if the genetic research thing doesn't work out. They had to alter his current braces as he had grown out of them in only 6 months--they are supposed to last a year :-)

• I know my time is a lot more limited now that school has started back, but I hope that I continue to utilize the random 25 minutes here and there I might have to make magnets and pins and solidify the plan for communicating all of this.

Thanks to EVERYONE!

...for your interest in the Landon's Love project. We are still in the process of figuring things out and deciding how we're going to launch this whole thing. We are EXTREMELY excited nonetheless.

I've begun working on brochures, labels, and tags. We really appreciate the ideas from everyone. I am so excited to see how this all plays out!

Next steps: We need to contact the Pediatric Genetics department at UVA to find out what organization(s) we will be able to donate to. We are also going to talk to Eleyne, who founded Horses as Healers (a nonprofit) where Landon does therapeutic horseback riding on Saturdays.

Thanks again and we'll keep you posted :-)

Landon's Love--First Project: Magnets

here are some of the first magnets made for the Landon's Love Project. I'd love to have my act together before we go back to school so that i can set up a display in the teacher's lounge, but we'll have to see if that happens.

So it begins...

so, here we are...a new year! I've already written 2008 on about 10 things today!

I've never done a blog before, but have really enjoyed reading blogs that friends have created, so we'll see how this goes!

One of the real reasons we were hoping to start a blog is to promote our newest endeavor..."Landon's Love." As most of you know, our son has a chromosome deletion (4p) and we have been wanting to "do something" ever since we found out. It has taken a long time to come to terms with everything that has been thrown our way in the past 4 years and we are finally prepared to "do something." Over this wonderful holiday break we have developed a plan--to make homemade things--we're starting with homemade magnets--sell them and then donate all of the proceeds to genetic research. It took about 5 days to land on the magnet idea, so this might be a long process!

I made the first batch tonight and I am REALLY excited! We're still in the process of determining a reasonable price and how are we going to get the magnets "out there" for people to see, but we are extremely excited and finally feel like we are doing something in the bigger picture.

I'm sure keeping up with "Landon's Love" will be a challenge once we get back to school and work, but just like our determination to be there for Landon in every way possible, we will do our best to develop "Landon's Love" so that its products can influence people the same way Landon inspires us every day!