A Crazy Fun Life...

Monday Musing | More Photography Fun

2011-05-23T12:42:00.002-04:00

This was kind of a laid back weekend for us. We got a lot of work done in the garage and can almost fit both of our cars in the garage. This will mark the first time since moving back to Va that we can both park our cars in the garage. Yippee!! Now if we can just KEEP it clean and de-cluttered...well, that's another story. :)

I also had my second mentoring session with Beryl, from Be Young Photography. While she is a fantastic photographer, she is also a wonderful teacher and I learned SO much from her and am so happy to have stumbled across her Momtography 101 Class. When I ended up not being able to take that class, due to a scheduling, she offered the option of a one-on-one mentoring session. While this was a bigger financial investment on my part, I am so happy that I went for it, b/c I think than it will turn out to be an in-valuable opportunity.

For the second half of our mentoring session, Beryl came to our house and we did a mock photo shoot.
I'm so excited with how these images turned out. We started in the front yard, but quickly moved around back to the play set, when the boys started to get restless...it was fun for them to play, and I got cute shots....of Tyler and Kate at least. Luke just wasn't interested this time!

Working with Beryl was amazing and I'm so excited to be on my way to making my photography dream a reality!

Monday Musing | More Photography Fun

2011-05-23T11:31:00.003-04:00

This was kind of a laid back weekend for us. We got a lot of work done in the garage and can almost fit both of our cars in the garage. This will mark the first time since moving back to Va that we can both park our cars in the garage. Yippee!! Now if we can just KEEP it clean and de-cluttered...well, that's another story. :)

I also had my second mentoring session with Beryl, from Be Young Photography. While she is a fantastic photographer, she is also a wonderful teacher and I learned SO much from her and am so happy to have stumbled across her Momtography 101 Class. When I ended up not being able to take that class, due to a scheduling, she offered the option of a one-on-one mentoring session. While this was a bigger financial investment on my part, I am so happy that I went for it, b/c I think than it will turn out to be an in-valuable opportunity.

For the second half of our mentoring session, Beryl came to our house and we did a mock photo shoot.
I'm so excited with how these images turned out. We started in the front yard, but quickly moved around back to the play set, when the boys started to get restless...it was fun for them to play, and I got cute shots. Beryl is a FANTASTIC teacher. I can't speak highly enough about her. Not only is she a great teacher, she's a wonderful lady and photographer, too. ;)

Monday Musing | Tyler's T-ball Debut

2011-05-09T16:05:00.001-04:00

This past week our family became an official baseball family, with Tyler playing his first t-ball games. They were fun...kind of long...but still so fun to watch these little 4 and 5 year olds get their introduction to baseball.

Tyler's first game was so cute. He did very well hitting the ball...

but needs a little more focus when base running. Haha, we'll get there though.

We also had our first t-ball pictures taken. I was pleasant surprised at how well nine 4, 5 and 6 year olds did with their team photo...not too shabby! :)

Katelyn | Milestones

2011-04-26T06:39:00.001-04:00

Birthdate - July 26, 2010
Weight - 7 lb., 11 oz.

Length - 21.5 inches

1 month old:
Weight -
Length -
milk protein allergy diagnosed

First Smile - September 4, 2010 (6 weeks old)

Slept 8 hours - September 4, 2010 (6 weeks old)

2 months old:
Weight -

Length -

4 months old:
Weight -

Length -
constipation issue recognized, saw surgeon to "widen" opening

Rolled from front to back - November 27, 2010 (4 months old)

Rolled from back to front - November 28, 2010 (4 months old...but doesn't do it often, b/c she can't be on her tummy very long or will spit up).

Sitting with hands (for brief moment) - December 20, 2010 (almost five months)

Sitting unassisted - January 19, 2011 (almost six months)

Bottom two middle teeth (came in together) - January 19, 2011 (almost six months)

6 months old:
Weight - 15 lb., 10 oz
Length - 26 inches
Notes - reaching for and grabbing everything, showing interest in food or drinks, trying to push up on knees, sleeping 13+ hours each night, tolerating milk proteins more, still having some constipation issues - probably will re-visit surgeon this month.

Says First Word: "Hi" on March 17

Rocks Forward onto Tummy: April 24

9 months old:

Weight: 17 lb, 4 oz

Length:

Notes: Sits unsupported for as long as you let her, and will rock herself forward to her belly. But, b/c she doesn't like being on her belly, her smiles promptly turn to wails. She does however, like to stand so we've been giving her lots of "standing time" rather than "tummy time". She may be one of those babies that skips crawling and goes right now walking. Not sure I am ready for that, though. :( She is getting much more hair...so her bow's don't look as ridiculous. ;) Has been babbling for awhile, but we now hear "hi" and "bye-bye" frequently. One of Lucas' favorite things to do with Kate is sit beside her saying "bye, bye, bye, bye" until she repeats it to him. It's adorable. We have also heard "ma-ma" and "da-da" come out a couple of times. Could be coincidental, but they were appropriately used. Her digestion issues have eased up considerably, and we were able to avoid another trip to the surgeon. Perhaps this is due to the HIGH fiber breakfast concoction I made for her, consisting of a mixture of pear, strawberries and oatmeal cereal! She is quite regular now. LOL

Top Left Tooth Came in: April 30, 2011

Lucas is 2!!

2011-04-25T22:26:00.004-04:00

OK...so this is a VERY long overdue post, especially consider Luke is going to be three in less than two weeks. Oops...such a bad mommy, blogger, mommy-blogger! Man, sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging. But, I'd much rather be living life than just watching it pass me by, so if I have to "catch-up" on some blogs here and there (a lot more "here" recently, I will admit), that's fine with me. This blog is more of a memory book for me anyway! :) I am going to back date this though, so it fits into the time correctly. Hehe Oh my goodness, doesn't he look like such a little baby still?!? I think when I took this picture I thought he looked like such a big boy, but now...not so much.

So...on to Luke's 2nd birthday. Of course it was a train party. As is customary, we had a party at our house and invited all of the boys little friends, and several of mommy and daddy's too. Because let's be honestly...at this age, the parties are really for Mommy and Daddy, right? I don't think Lucas really even knew it was his birthday, except for the fact that we sat him in front of a cake and sang Happy Birthday to him. :)

Four Month Darling

2010-11-26T22:10:00.001-05:00

Dear Father Time,

Can you please slow down...just a little? I can't believe how quickly my little girl is growing and I will admit, it's making me just a little bit sad. I know that this is likely the last little baby in our home, so I'm trying hard to cherish and savor every little moment with Kate, but with our crazy, fun life...that is sometimes hard. It seems like each time I look away and turn back she is growing, changing discovering something new. I love watching all of these changes and discoveries, but at the same time, it reminds me of the fact that this is likely the last time I will watch a child of my own go through these moments.

So...if you could slow down...just a little, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Mommy to Katelyn (and Tyler and Lucas, too, b/c they are growing just as fast!)

This month Kate grew so much, physically and developmentally. She is near the 70th percentile in all categories for her growth and is progressing wonderfully in her development. She is SO close to rolling over (she has done it once on her own, but I think maybe we had put her down in the perfect position to make it easy for her to flip herself. Now she just needs to figure out what to do with her shoulder) and is trying to sit on her own, too. She enjoys being in the bumbo and is always trying to sit forward in her swing. She smiles frequently and her laugh is SO cute. With these chubby little cheeks smiling at you, what could ever be wrong?

She is sleeping through the night (mostly, unless mommy has been careless about what she eats) and her tummy issues seem to be easing up some. She is tolerating milk products in small doses (although I still haven't tried to eat ice cream or drink a glass of milk) and we're still avoiding too many constipating foods, to try and keep her regular.

In other exciting news...WE'RE MOVING.

Yes - again...I know, we're crazy. Not only are we moving with two small boys and a newborn, we're doing it during Christmas. But...the opportunity fell into our laps and we decided to put our house on the market, to see if we'd get any interest. Well...not only did we get interest, we got a contract in one week! So, we decided to bite the bullet and make the move. We are super excited about the new house, as it is the perfect place for us to raise our family. We had always hoped to move into our "forever home" when the kids were younger, so they could make most of their childhood memories in one place and with this home, we can do that. Ironically, with this move, we will continue the pattern of our children being born in one home and celebrating their first birthdays in another. For now though, we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas in our new home.

Merry Christmas to you all, if I don't post again before!

3 months of bliss

2010-11-05T22:18:00.000-04:00

This is the best way I can explain these past three months. Katelyn is such a joy and having a daughter is such a blessing to me. I love my boys DEARLY, but there is something about having a daughter that is special for a mom...at least this mom. :)

Kate continues to grow fabulously and is sleeping like a champ. After a rough go of some acid reflux, we've finally gotten that under control, as well as determining that she has a milk protein allergy. This is more of a problem for mom, as what I eat is what affects her most. So, no ice cream, milk, or cheese (among many other dairy products) for this momma. :(

She is starting to "talk" to us and is spending more and more time awake during the day "playing'. She really likes her play gym and enjoys watching the boys, play too. They continue to be so great with her. I love watching their relationships develop.

Happy three month birthday baby girl...we love you SO very much!

October Fun

2010-10-24T14:17:00.004-04:00

We've been all kinds of busy having lots of fall fun lately....three visits to various fall festivals/pumpkin patches in the past two weeks! Our first outing was to Cox Farms.

We went with their buddies, Austin and Logan. They always have so much fun together, with the big boys and little boys just 2 and 3 months apart from each other. This foursome always produces a lot of energy, but it's so much fun to watch them all together. They enjoyed big slides

and a petting zoo with some friendly goats. Well, Luke didn't think they were so friendly, but Tyler loved them!

In fact...he was in such a hurry to see them, that he wandered over there all by himself and gave momma quite a scare when I realized he was not longer at the slide with us! I looked over to the goat cages and there he was asking for some food to feed them. But, Luke did love the wooden train he could climb through and the small pond where he could throw rocks!

Two Tremendous Months

2010-09-30T16:10:00.002-04:00

Wow!! I'm pretty sure this is probably the same thing I say each month that passes by in my newborns lives, but still. WOW!! I can't believe how quickly these last two months have gone by. I will say that of the three, Kate has been my most "difficult" baby, if you can call her difficult. But really, she is not. She is a great sleeper and eater and just happens to have a fussy bit each evening. She also has some reflux, which we are controlling with medication, b/c otherwise our fussy evenings, become full blow fussy DAYS. And, we have had a few of those, when mommy decided maybe the medicine wasn't necessary. Oops...guess that's not for me to decide. Anywho...when she has gotten her regular doses of medicine, she has been a fantastic baby (you know, aside from those few evening hours).

She also sleeps very well at night. From our first week home, she was going 4 hours minimum, sometimes 5 or 6 and by 6 weeks was progressing to 8 hours on some nights. Just recently, two days before hitting her two month birthday, she went 12 hours between feedings. Wa-hoo baby girl!! That's what momma likes. :)

Her well check is not until next monday (a week after she officially hit two months), and I'm so excited to see what she will weigh. I'm guessing close to 12 lbs...if not slightly over. As you can see by these adorable cheeks, she does love to eat.

Yesterday I did her a mini-shoot for her two month pictures. As you can see above, she is doing very well at holding her head up. But, this is not surprising since she has been trying to do that since the day she was born. She also has been flashing little smiles here and there for us too. I can't wait to see what these next months will bring us. You are such a wonderful addition to our family baby girl...we love you so much!!

Score!!

2010-09-19T16:53:00.002-04:00

So, over the summer we ventured into the world of swim team, and this fall Tyler has officially made me a soccer mom! Now that he's turned four, he's officially old enough to join the thousands (literally) of other kids in our area who play soccer in the fall. I was a little leary of having him on a team, not because I didn't think he'd be able to kick the ball (b/c he actually kicks it very well), but more so because I wasn't sure he was old enough for a structured game (with competitors and a referee!...really for 4 year olds?). But anyway, we decided to try it. Yesterday was our first match of the season.

The first two practices were a little hairy, so we weren't sure what to expect on Saturday. It could have gone much like practices where he sat on the sidelines and watched, b/c he didn't think he could do it like the coach wanted, or he could have not wanted to get off of the field. Care to guess which one? It was a little of both actually. Here he was mad that he wasn't in...but later on he was sitting with me upset, b/c he didn't think he was doing well enough! But honestly, for the first time participating in a structured sporting event, he did pretty well.

Here they are in pre-game...coach is giving them the run-down on rules of the game. I mean really, with just two practices under our belt, this could be interesting. Luckily this is a U5 team, so a few of the kids have played a couple of seasons already.

Hoping he remembers he can't touch the ball with his hands.

It's ok to use your head though!

Here they are pointing to their goal. Not that it helped much...each team scored at least one goal for the other team. One thing I really appreciated about the league is that for the U5, they do have referees to help them learn the rules of the game, but they do not actually keep "score". So, there is no real winner or loser at the end. Helps to not defeat the kids spirits at such a young age, I think.

Tyler's first goal...he did a great job kicking it down field and into the goal!

This little one couldn't quite remember that you can't touch the ball with your hands! :) She tried to pick it up and run with it, each time she got close to it.

Kate, hanging out with daddy, enjoying the game. Too soon baby girl, it will be your turn...and with two older brothers to teach you all about the game, I bet you're gonna be an awesome soccer chick!

Look at that form! Ready...

Set...

Kick!

Kate's Newborn Photos

2010-08-27T11:32:00.001-04:00

We had a family newborn session done with Kate at the end of August and the pictures turned out SO good. I love the hat and diaper cover, I'm so glad I found someone to make them. They look so great in her birth announcements.

A "One"derful Month

2010-08-26T06:41:00.002-04:00

Wow...it's hard to believe that just a little over a month ago we were still preparing for the arrival of our beautiful baby girl as she spent her last days inside my cozy belly. I'm telling you, she HAD to be running out of room. Look at that belly!

and that now, this little hours old baby...

is this one month old darling already pushing herself up!

When I learned that the precious baby I was carrying was actually my first daughter, I was overcome with emotion. I was so very excited to be having a daughter and to have the opportunity to be a momma to both sons and a daughter. I LOVE my boys to death, and there is nothing more special that being their "momma", but to be able to experience all of the things that a mother of a daughter experiences has me very excited, too. I'm not sure I can even begin to explain the love I feel for this little girl...I look at her face and see mine (literally, b/c I really do think she looks so much like me!)
, but also all of the promise that the future holds for her. Her first steps, first day at school, graduation, marriage, her own children. I'm just so excited for her.

With each child I've been scared of what the introduction of another child would be like. When pregnant with Luke, I really wondered how in the world I would be able to love another child like I loved Tyler. But I can honestly say that I have never one time even questioned my love for either of my boys. It's an amazing feeling actually! And because of that, this time while pregnant with Katelyn, I didn't have the fear of how could I love her as much, b/c I knew I just would. It's quite amazing how with each child, instead of having to share the amount of love my heart can hold, I actually believe that my heart has tripled in the amount of love it can hold. I honestly think I love Les, Tyler and Lucas MORE with the addition of Katelyn to our family. She just seems to have completed us. If no more babies are in our future, I think I'm okay with that.

But still, as I sit here, I have tears in my eyes just knowing that I'll never experience these times again. Her first month is over and with that, all of the firsts she has experienced during that time.

Times likes her first family picture...

being welcomed home by her brothers...

her first bath (which she didn't exactly love)...

the first time she slept in her crib (ok, so she's not quite asleep yet)...

her first photo session with mommy...

and a professional photographer...

and other firsts I couldn't capture in a photo like her first smile and first time sleeping through the night. It's been a month of firsts, and we've loved every minute of it. Although I'm sad to see the first month go and know that she'll never be this small again, I'm excited for all of the other firsts we will experience in the months to come. Happy one month birthday baby girl! You are such a blessing to mommy and our entire family. We love you so much.

Cavity Free are We!!!

2010-08-19T15:37:00.001-04:00

While I was in the hospital having Katelyn, there was a news story on the Today show that prompted me to call and set up dental appointments for the boys. I had been meaning to do this for Tyler since last fall, but then I got pregnant and it slipped to the wayside. The news story said children should have their first dental appt when they get their first tooth, so I realized Luke was overdo for a check up too. I've heard great things about a local pediatric dental group, so we decided to check them out. They were fantastic!! They have a large open area with the chairs were the hygenists do the cleanings, so that if you have multiple kids, they can actually all be seen at the same time. I was able to sit there and watch Ty and Luke at the same time, so we were in an out in less than 45 minutes. Not only was the staff super efficient and speedy, but they were so friendly and patient, too. Tyler was squirmy and Luke was a little uneasy with the "stranger", but both of their hygenists were so great with them. And the Dr. was wonderful, too! Final results?? Both boys were 100% cavity free. Good to know all that ice cream they ate with Nana and Pap this summer didn't have any negative effects. :)

Here are the boys checking out the awesome fish tank in the waiting area. They had 2 nemo fish and a Dory. Big hit!!

They gave the boys these cool sunglasses to wear, to protect their eyes from the super bright light.

Not only was this our first trip to the dentist, but it was my first outing with all three kiddos all by myself. Luckily Miss Kate behaved herself, too!

All-in-all it was a great visit. Hoping our visit in February goes as smoothly.

Our baby girl is here!

2010-07-28T11:21:00.000-04:00

After 39 long weeks, we finally have met our precious baby girl.

Katelyn was born Monday, July 26 at 11:12 in the morning, weighing 7 lbs, 11 oz and measuring 20.5 inches long. That's exactly how long I was when I was born, too! She's longer than either of the boys have been. Let me tell you, this little gal has completely grabbed us by the heartstrings. She is amazing. Here she is just a few hours old, being introduced to everyone. Can you see Luke's face? He was so excited to see Mommy and meet baby Katelyn.

This weekend, daddy was scared of having a little girl and today, holding her...he looks as comfortable as can be. Everyone told him that having a daughter was amazing, but I'm not sure he really got it. I think he gets it now, though and it is so beautiful to watch. Hmm, makes me get teary eyed just thinking about it!

The boys are in love with her, too. It is so precious to watch. Tyler is the proudest big brother and very protective of her already. And Lucas just loves her to death. The smile on his face when he looks at "baby" (as he is calling her, hopefully we'll get him to say Katelyn before too long) is so incredibly precious. He really is taken by her. I remember Tyler not being too interested in baby Lucas, but Lucas is so VERY aware of her...in fact, I'm thinking we are going to have a little trouble helping him to understand that she's not quite ready to play with yet!! Poor little girl, with Daddy and these two older brothers, she's going to be one very loved and VERY protected girl.

We are so excited to welcome this little girl to our family and can't wait to watch her grown!

Almost here

2010-07-23T22:41:00.000-04:00

Our precious gift from God is almost here!

The countdown has begun...oh who am I kidding, I've had this countdown going for weeks. But I can really countdown now, b/c we know that baby girl is going to be welcomed into this world for sure on Monday morning around 9 am! I know after she is here I will miss this (being pregnant and feeling her all cozy inside of me), but right now, I'm so ready for her to be out here with us and to hold her in my arms!

Tyler's Monthly Faces

2010-06-06T22:35:00.002-04:00

4 Years Old

3 Years Old

2 Years Old

18 Months Old

One Year Old!!

Eleven Months Old

Ten Months Old

Nine Months Old

Eight Months Old

Seven Months Old

Six Months Old

Five Months Old

Four Months Old

Three Months Old

Two Months Old

One Month Old

Birth Day: June 5, 2006

A Jumpin' Good Time

2010-06-05T20:45:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that this little guy...

is now this not so little guy?

For T's fourth birthday we celebrated with a party full of friends at Jumpin' Jimmy's. It was a GREAT time and all of the kids had a great time. This was the first time we did a party away from the house and the extra expense was so worth the convenience of going somewhere, messing up their facility and coming home to a still clean house! Plus, being 34+ weeks pregnant, having no prep or clean-up was almost a necessity this year. :)

And honestly, it was such a hit with all of the kiddos. They really loved all of the bouncing...

They even had a Scooby Doo house. :)

Daddy took a turn coming down with Luke. He was having a hard time climbing to the top, so Daddy helped him. They both had a blast!

and the timing was perfect. Just as they were all bounced out, it was time to head to the party room for pizza and cake.

Since he has become a huge fan of Scooby Doo, we HAD to have a Scooby Doo cake.

He loved it and did a great job blowing out all of his candles! Wonder what he wished for?...probably to watch more Scooby Doo shows! :)

This little girl even came dressed for the party!

They had an awesome throne for the birthday boy. All of the kids had a lot of fun sitting in it.

A great day for a great little boy. Happy 4th birthday Tyler...we love you so much and have loved every minute of the last four years with you!!

New Rooms for the Boys

2010-05-03T19:42:00.057-04:00

With little baby girl coming this summer...isn't she cute?

Anyway...with new baby girl this summer, we had to do some rearranging of bedrooms in our home to make room. Well...I guess we didn't HAVE to, because we did play with the idea of putting the boys in a room together, but since they are both such great sleepers, we decided that putting them in a room together might just be begging for sleeping troubles. And, since we were fortunate to have bought a home with unfinished space for a 5th bedroom, we decided to finish out that area to give us room for all of the kiddos upstairs, and still have a guest room. Our old guest room is the only upstairs bedroom with direct access to the hall bathroom that the kiddos will share. I didn't want baby Kate being bothered by Tyler needing to use the restroom in the middle of the night, so I vetoed the thought of leaving everyone where they were and just transitioning it into the nursery. And, b/c I am fearful of Lucas having easy access to a bathroom in the middle of the night, we couldn't just move him into that room and leave Tyler in his current room. That being said, we had no choice but to move Tyler to the old guest room, Lucas to Tyler's room and put Katelyn in Lucas' old room. Yes - musical rooms it is! Haha!!

It was a bit of work to get it all prepped and moved, but I am so pleased with the results. I love walking by their rooms and seeing how it all worked out. I love how much more of a home a coat of paints makes a house feel. After a year and a half, I'm truly feeling at home!

So, for the room makeovers - I gave each of the boys a coat of blue paint and then a bold stripe through the middle of the room.

Tyler - of course - chose red...

and it was green for Lucas!

Katelyn's room got a fresh coat of a beautiful light green with a brink pink stripe...so cute! I LOVE it!

Blog Hop: Before & After

2010-04-29T22:44:00.001-04:00

It's time for "Before & After" again. To join the fun, post your SOOC (straight out of the camera) photo, as well as your edited version. Be sure to visit Pixel Perfect to see other fun edits, or to link your own.

SOOC:

Edited (with Adobe Lightroom):

Katelyn's Monthly Faces

2010-04-27T20:20:00.000-04:00

9 months

8 months

7 months

6 months

5 months

4 months

3 months

2 months

1 month

3 weeks

Birth Photo: 07/26/10

A Day at the Farm

2010-04-23T17:23:00.001-04:00

Today we visited a local farm/park with some friends and the boys had a blast running around and seeing all the baby animals.

The boys were very intrigued (okay, Luke was just downright scared) of this beautiful peacock. He actually climbed back into the stroller!

Tyler loved the fact that the ducks had their own bathtub!

Luke was in heaven with all of the different things to climb on. Here he was checking out the baby lambs.

And Austin climbed up to get a better peek, too.

Trying for a portrait...he make such funny faces!

Climbing, yet again!!

His take at a portrait went a little better.

He really was fascinated by it all. Definitely got my exercise in today!

The baby pigs that Tyler loved!

Luke on the other hand, was a little terrified by their momma. He wanted to be NO WHERE near their pen. Climbed right back up and buckled himself, in!

He thought the baby goats were just the cutest. I think he was the cutest. :)

Taking a wagon ride...Oh, and having a snack, too.

We had a great time. I highly recommend heading out there for a day if you're looking for something fun to do with the kiddos. Free parking, free admittance (only a small fee for the wagon ride) and very nice people!

Blog Hop: Before & After

2010-04-22T22:14:00.004-04:00

I found a cool little blog hop yesterday that looks like so much fun...perfect for me as I love to take and edit photos. To join in the fun, post your SOOC (straight out of the camera) photo, as well as your edited version. Be sure to visit Pixel Perfect to see other fun edits, or to link your own.

SOOC:

Edited (with Adobe Lightroom):

Lucas is 2!!

2010-04-15T22:25:00.003-04:00

OK...so this is a VERY long overdue post, especially consider Luke is going to be three in less than two weeks. Oops...such a bad mommy, blogger, mommy-blogger! Man, sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging. But, I'd much rather be living life than just watching it pass me by, so if I have to "catch-up" on some blogs here and there (a lot more "here" recently, I will admit), that's fine with me. This blog is more of a memory book for me anyway! :) So...I am going to back date this, so it falls into the time-line, appropriately!

So...on to Luke's 2nd birthday. Of course it was a train party. As is customary, we had a party at our house and invited all of the boys little friends, and several of mommy and daddy's too. Because let's be honestly...at this age, the parties are really for Mommy and Daddy, right? I don't think Lucas really even knew it was his birthday, except for the fact that we sat him in front of a cake and sang Happy Birthday to him. :)

Lucas is super into trains right now, so the theme for the party was "Two-Two, All Aboard for a Happy Birthday!" Again, I tortured myself and made the cake. I know, I know...Wegman's does an awesome job, but I really do enjoy it. OK, maybe I don't act like it while I'm making it, so I guess it's the satisfaction of how it turns out that I like. ;) Oh, and they do taste pretty yummy, too!

Luke had a really great time with all of his little buddies. The weather was fabulous (maybe even a little TOO hot - at least for early April), so all of the kids got to play outside and had a ball.

We opened presents inside and that of course was a hit for Lucas. He was amazed that it was all his! And of course, Big Brother was there to help him out. ;)

It was a wonderful celebration of the past two years we've spent loving and nurturing this special little blessing. I can't imagine our lives without him. Happy Birthday Little Buddy!! We love you SO very much.

Where have we been...

2010-04-14T21:59:00.001-04:00

Oh my, I really cannot believe it has been nearly (or over actually) four months since I posted last. Oops...sorry for anyone who has been checking in on us. We are all okay and doing well, anxiously preparing to add to our family. That's right...Tyler and Lucas are going to be welcoming a little sister to the family this summer and we are SO excited!

We've been up to lots more in the past several months, and I'll be sure to back-fill with some posts, soon. But for now, I just wanted to share our good news!!

Lucas' Monthly Faces

2010-04-10T08:45:00.000-04:00

2 Years!!

1 Year!!
1 Year!!

11 Months Old

10 Months Old

Nine Months Old

Eight Months Old

Seven Months Old

Six Months Old

Five Months Old

Four Months Old

Three Months Old

2 Months Old

1 Month Old

2 days old

Woo...Pig...Sooie (sorry if I butchered spelling, Pop and Aunt Rachael)!!

2010-01-23T21:16:00.002-05:00

Aunt Rachael sent the boys these adorable U of A (University of Arkansas for those of you who don't know that Pop and Aunt Rachael are alumni) t-shirts. Tried to get the boys to model them for you Rachael...haha!

Tyler did a good job. Now, let's add Lucas...

Aah yeah...doesn't really want to sit still.

"Ok Tyler, hold onto him".

"And Luke, you've gotta look at the camera."

And that would be the best we could do until the silliness began.

Uh-oh...Luke took a little tumble. Good thing daddy is around.

Who's that cutie in the toy box?

2010-01-14T14:10:00.001-05:00

It's Lucas!! As I was in the process of cleaning out our toy box, he decided to add himself. :)

Christmas in Texas

2009-12-29T08:58:00.004-05:00

This year we traveled to Texas for Christmas. Knowing that we were expecting (and expecting twins at that time...Wow, that got me choked up just thinking about it), we figured it would be a good long time before we attempted a Christmas trip to Texas again. With it being so far, we have to fly if we want to be able to spend more than just a couple of days there, before turning around to drive back. This flight with just the two boys tested our patience a bit, so we could only imagine what a trip with 4 young ones would be like.

Anyway, I digress...we traveled to Texas for Christmas and had a good time visiting with the family(ies). The kids had a great time opening their presents together on Christmas morning and playing with all of their new toys together. Well, most of the time, that is! :)

The best picture I could get of all of the cousins.

Having fun opening some "crackers".

Adorable masks that Aunt Rachael made. I was totally surprised that mine would wear them. Don't they look adorable?

Nick and Kalee on Christmas Eve night.

Opening their Christmas Eve gifts.

Nick and Kalee again...they are very easy to get pictures of, unlike all of the littler kiddos.

Nick and Kalee with Luke and Ty (notice the only two looking at the camera?)

Kalee and Lucas. He really liked her!

Anderson clan with our two cuties...they made a Christmas tree. :)

Santa came...

Boy did he come...

Daddy filming the action. The boys had such a great time opening and discovering their gifts, that we actually forgot to take pictures. Can you believe that?

He loved ripping the wrapping paper. Can you see his fat lip...he tripped up the stairs and got a nasty, boo-boo. In typical Lucas fashion though, it didn't really slow him down, too much.

The little "helpers" wanted to assist everyone else in opening their gifts, too. Lucas, of course, was the Lead Helper!

All in all it was a wonderful time and we were glad to be able to have everyone together. Maybe next time we do this, we can have everyone visit us here in Va.!!

Christmas in Virginia

2009-12-19T08:59:00.002-05:00

This year, we traveled to Texas for Christmas. Since we were not going to be home for Christmas Day, Santa made a special stop at our home in Virginia a couple of days early, since he knew it would be rather hard for us to get the boys gift home on an airplane. :)

They were SO excited about this toy.

Unfortunately, this was just a day after our first 12+ inch snowstorm, so taking it outside for a spin was out of the question. So...we tested it out in our basement!! Thank goodness it had seatbelts!! :)

Family Picture Favorites

2009-12-05T15:45:00.002-05:00

Here are my favorites from our family portrait session back in the fall, that I promised I'd post after our Christmas card went out.

And here was our Christmas card...if you like, be sure to look me up next year, so I can design a card just for your family. Sent With Love Designs

Birthdays Present fun

2009-12-01T18:08:00.000-05:00

The boys had a fun surprise today, when they received some birthday presents in the mail. So much fun to "re-celebrate" a birthday.

Luke running to me, for me to open his book and Thomas train.

He sat right down in my lap.

He loved "coloring" with his aquadoodle.

Tyler got to open his when he got home from school...he was equally as excited.

He wanted to play his fishing game right away. Too bad the kind of battery it takes was the ONLY kind of battery that mommy couldn't find. :(

Choo-Choo's and Fun in the Leaves

2009-11-19T07:56:00.006-05:00

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me, that I love pictures. I love taking them mostly...but it's hard to take a "family" photo of yourself. So, after lots of searching I finally found the perfect photographer for our family. This lady is awesome. Beyond her great photography skills, she believes that the images should belong to those who she photographed! This was a great plus for me, as I was hoping to use ~~one~~ many of the images from our session for our Christmas card. I was kind of fearful as to how the session would really go, since my boys no longer seem to enjoy being photographed. Well, not that they don't like it...they are just SO busy, that the thought of having to sit still, look at a camera and smile doesn't really seem to intrigue them much. But Carla was so fantastically patient with them. She really made our day fun and it totally reflects that in the pictures. She chose some great locations and really took time to get great images for us. Here's a peak at a few...I will share ALL of my favorites AFTER I send my Christmas cards out.

Happy Halloween from our Disney Kids

2009-11-01T11:38:00.000-05:00

We had a great Halloween with the boys. It was such a good time to carve the pumpkins with them and to take them both trick-or-treating.

Tyler dressed up as Lightning McQueen, surprise surprise! He had wanted Lucas to be a little Chick Hicks, but since we couldn't find a costume that would fit Luke, he was Tigger instead. He was so cute. The first time we tried the costume on him, he loved it. He did fuss a little when we put it on him to go out for trick-or-treating, but he got used to it and was just fine.

Tyler did so well, considering that his costume was a bit heavy. He walked up to all (except for the two with scary monsters handing out the candy) the house all by himself and said "trick-or-treat". By the time we were about back to our house, he was ready to ride in the wagon. Lucas did walk for a little while, and he walked up to several houses, holding his bag out and mumbling what I'm sure he thought was "trick-or-treat".

Tyler had such a good time helping us carve the pumpkins. Lucas wanted to help, too.

Our thematic jack-o-lanterns!

Howdy Partner

2009-10-29T23:47:00.005-04:00

Wow...it's been so very long since my last post. Not a lot going on...but at the same time, we're still very busy! I guess just with not as much fun stuff as over the summer. Last weekend we had family pictures taken for our holiday cards, which I am so VERY excited to get back. I may share a few...but you'll probably just to wait for our card...it's sure to be fabulous! Hehe. Well, maybe I'll share a sneek peak...we'll see.

Today though, we did have some fun. Tyler's school hosted their annual Harvest Hoedown. I volunteered to do pictures of the horse rides, so I was able to be there for the fun, too. And a full day of fun, it was. Each class got to search for pumpkins, take pony rides, play on a big tractor, sing some fun songs and enjoy rootbeer floats! It was a fun day for all.

Welcome Baby...

2009-10-12T10:42:00.008-04:00

My dear friend Brandi had her third baby less than two weeks ago. Surprisingly for her (but not me), she had her first little baby boy. Evan is such a sweetie and I was blessed with the opportunity to photograph this little guy this afternoon. He was such a great subject. Even with a bare bum and his first exposure to prolonged tummy time, he did wonderfully. Here's a peak at the photo's...hope you love them Brandi!

Click to view slideshow.

It's a...

2009-10-11T11:30:00.004-04:00

No, no...not for us. :) I had the pleasure of taking maternity photos of my dear friend Leandra yesterday and it was so much fun. While this is Leandra's first pregnancy, she does have a four-legged "baby" (if you can call a huge horse a baby) named Chili. I met her at Chili's barn and we had a great time with the photos. She thinks she's not photogenic, but I think she looked beautiful! Thanks for letting me shoot these special memories for you. Hope you like them...

View slideshow to find out if it's a baby girl or baby boy!!

Back to School

2009-09-19T23:13:00.000-04:00

Tyler went back to school this week. Even though it is not his first year of school, it was his first week in his new school. Last year he attended a local enrichment center for more of a "mother's day out" program a couple of days/week. As far as programs for 2-year olds who are not potty trained goes, there are not a lot of options. His new school has a 2.5 year old program (if potty trained) but with a summer birthday Tyler missed the cut-off. We really wanted him to get a christian pre-school education, so we made the decision to switch him to this program this year. It is a bit more intensive than his "play" program from last year, but I think that will be good for him...or maybe not (seeing as how he likes to play SO much). We'll see. they use a great curriculum and work hard to give the kids plenty of outlets for their energies (which we all know Tyler has plenty of). :)

He was SUCH a big boy on his first day, and so excited to go to his new school. There were NO tears at all...at least not from Tyler. I on the other hand admit to being just a little bit sad. Not so much at the fact that he was in preschool, but more so because he didn't seem upset to be away from me AT ALL. I guess I should be proud of that fact though, as I would much rather see him enjoying himself than sad and upset each time we drop off. He has always been a VERY social little boy and has been exposed to many different environments since he was just a baby going to our church nursery. Now, here's hoping that his socialness doesn't get him into to too much trouble in class.

Max wanted to wish him luck on his first day, too.

Such a big boy hanging his backpack on his own peg.

Finding his car...

and parking it to say "I'm here".

Ready to play...

With Mommy outside. Too excited to sit still for even just a second. Love his passion and excitement, but hope it doesn't get him into too much trouble.

With Daddy on Thursday before school.

We love you Tyler and are so proud of how brave you were this week. Hope you have a great year and learn lots!

Look Who's...Walking!!

2009-08-24T15:57:00.002-04:00

Yes, FINALLY!!! Lucas has decided to try out those two little things stuck to the bottom of his legs. Mmm, hmm...his feet! Didn't take much, okay it did, several months of nagging from Momma. Or maybe it was the two cute little twin sisters he had the hots for at the beach. Yeah, now that I think about it, I'm thinking Momma's nagging had nothing to do with this newly found talent and he was simply motivated by the fact that if they could do it, so could he!!

Literally, our first day of vacation the boys were playing next to a family with 15 month old twin girls who were toddling around ever so cutely. Of course, this only heightened my desire to see Luke walk. But, being perfectly happy to do things in his own time, it seemed as though we were still a ways away from seeing Lucas toddle anywhere on his two little feet. But...as it so coincidentally happened, the very next night, Lucas pulled himself up on the sofa of our condo and proceed to ~~walk~~ very nearly run across the room. He took 15-20 steps, and probably could have gone longer had he not run into a dead end. He wasn't quite smooth with his stopping and turning at that time. By the end of the week he was able to stop and start again and has now completely mastered all of the intriquicies of walking, from stopping and starting again, to changing directions mid-stream, to even standing up with NO assistance. WOW!! 2 weeks ago this little guy was still preferring scooting around on his knees, while scraping up his feet as his chosen method of transportation. And now here he is challenging his brother to races. OK, maybe not quite yet...but that day is coming!

Seems that the only "pictures" I have of him developing this feat are actually video or still shots from our new video camera. The video camera is awesome (thanks honey, I really do love it), but it's not quite as simple to download the videos and pics off of it as it is to get them off of the memory card in my camera. So, I will have to add some video to this post soon...I ~~promise~~ hope. :)

Congrats little buddy on your new feat. Just another sign of how quickly you are growing up!! Makes momma happy and sad all at the same time.

Happy Birthday Nana

2009-08-23T15:22:00.001-04:00

Last night we met my parents in Winchester (our half-way point for meeting up with my family. It's so nice to be able to take such a short drive to meet up for lunch or dinner like this.) to celebrate my mom's (aka, "Nana") birthday. We've been brave enough to take the boys out to dinner at a nicer (not Chick-fil-a or pizza) restaurant a few times this summer, and they have surprised us. When Tyler was Lucas' age, we got to the point where it was a little hard to eat at a sit-down restaurant. There just wasn't a lot to entertain him, so once he was done eating, he would want to be up and running around. Lucas LOVES to eat so much that we don't have that problem with him as much. He is normally still eating as the rest of us are finishing up. We did have one small catastrophe this time, when Luke smashed a plate on the floor. Our fault though, as it was holding the food he very much wanted, and we left it within his arm's reach. Oops.

The boys were even nice enough to take some pictures with Nana for her birthday. I can't believe Tyler looked at the camera and smiled like this...I guess it helps when Mommy's standing beside the camera making funny faces, though.

And look at Lucas just posing like a little angel. I'm telling you...this picture made her day!

So anyway, we enjoyed a nice meal with Nana, Papa and Aunt Jenn, and then stopped to have an ice cream treat before heading home. A bowl full of sugar (cotton candy ice cream with M&M's...his choice) is probably not the best idea for a 3-year old about to be cooped up in a car for an hour, though!

Happy Birthday Mom (Nana), we love you!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

2009-08-22T14:45:00.001-04:00

In previous summers we have visited the local minor league ball park with the boys...each summer they have been around, in fact. Both boys attended their first professional baseball game at just months old. But...this summer we sprang for a trip to the Big League ball park. The Washington Nationals built and opened a new ball park a couple of summers ago (this is their third season in their new home, I believe). Les and my father have been to a game there at least once each summer, but this was my first time, too. I LOVE baseball games. Not that the action of the baseball game is all that exciting, but I really love the atmosphere. And, it reminds me a lot of my own childhood, when we would take several mini-vacations to nearby ball parks throughout the summer. My dad was (still is) a HUGE Atlanta Braves fan, so we would travel to Pittsburgh or Baltimore (before the Nationals came to Washington) to watch a series. OK, enough reminiscing...hmm, wish I could find a picture from one of those trips. I just may have to do some digging. :)

Anyway, so this year we decided it was time to take the boys to their first "Big League" game. We knew that Tyler was definitely ready for the experience, but were a little unsure of what Lucas' interest level would be. He very much surprised us!

We were fully prepared to make it just a few short innings and say "we tried". Being a little shy of 17 months old, we figured this might be a stretch for Luke. Especially being an evening game, not starting until 7:30 pm (and bedtime is normally a little after 8). But, we don't want to not try these fun experiences with Tyler simply because it might become a disaster, with Lucas. That is not fair to Tyler. We ended up nearly making it through the entire game, leaving just after the 7th inning stretch. Now, this is not to say that it was an EASY time. It definitely was NOT. Having recently become very mobile (walking), Lucas really wanted to be down exploring, so we spent LOTS of time passing him between Mom, Dad and Aunt Jenn (who came with us, and who's extra two arms, and purse, came in very handy)...but unfortunately for Les (as it was very hot and humid), Lucas seemed to want to be a Daddy's boy, again!

Actually, I would have to say that the train ride was the worst part of the evening. It was nice to not have to worry about parking or to fight all of the traffic, but it was SO VERY hard to keep Lucas entertained on our laps for the almost one hour train ride into town and out! Tyler on the other hand, LOVED it...he's been asking to do this all summer long. Maybe we will drive next time...or maybe we will try the stroller.

Luke may not have had much understanding of the baseball that was being played, but he was working hard on becoming an expert on ball park food, sampling everything from chicken fingers and fries, to M&Ms, cotton candy and lemonade (and probably a few other things that I've forgotten about)! :) Keeping his snack cup filled seems to be the key to keeping this little guy happy. Come on though...shouldn't he be growing...he out eats his brother, for goodness sake.

I decided not to take my purse to the game, since we were riding the metro in and I knew I'd be carrying one of two boys (as we opted to leave the stroller in the car). Well, thank goodness Jenn took hers, because I ran out of room in the camera bag quickly. Her purse became the "mommy purse", I'm not sure we could have fit one more item in it!! Oh look, I guess he had some Cracker Jacks, too.

I think Tyler really enjoyed the experience and atmosphere of the big ball park. The one thing he was very confused about was why he didn't get to go play on the big field, too. We told him to keep practicing and that we'd love to be coming back here in 20 years, to watch him play on the big field.

All-in-all, it was a really good time and even though we were completely exhausted upon getting back to our car, I am so glad that were brave enough to attempt it. And it must not have been all that bad, because we have now decided to take Tyler and maybe Lucas to a WVU football game this year.

Thanks to the fact that my sister was along (who is also just as photo obsessed as I am....must be a family thing) I actually have some pictures with me in them! They aren't the greatest shots of the boys, in fact I am the only one looking at the camera in the first shot. But, these days I just accept that fact that I've got two little boys with minds of their own, so being in a shot with them is good enough for me. :)

And here's a self-taken portrait of Jenn and I.

The hard work of it all was so worth it in the end, as we now have a great memory of the boys being at their first big league game together.

Splish, Splash

2009-08-20T20:09:00.002-04:00

What a difference a year makes, and what a difference having an older brother makes! Last year when we visited this same water park with these same great friends, Tyler really wanted very little to do with the slides. I don't think it was necessarily the slides that he disliked as much as that he REALLY disliked the water at the top of the slides that sprayed him directly in the face; because, he would go down the one solitary slide that did not have a water spray at the top. This year however, he was EVERYWHERE. He slid down every single different slide they had (forwards, backwards and sideways), crawled through all the tunnels and threw himself under the water voluntarily!

And Lucas...well, let's just say that this kid is going to keep me...On. My. Toes.!! Yes, he is definitely trying to keep up with big brother and I am thinking he is going to be challenging his brother in the not too distant future. He had absolutely no hesitation to stand up and walk away from me, or dunk his head under the water. I see swim lessons in our future, if only to provide me some peace of mind. :) Had he been just a little steadier on his feet, he would have been climbing the stairs and going down those slides all by himself, without a doubt. They really did have SO much fun and I can't believe it took us to the end of the summer to make it there. But really, it probably wouldn't have been as much fun for Lucas earlier in the summer, as it isn't very "crawler" friendly.

Down By the Seashore

2009-08-19T09:47:00.001-04:00

**Note** Reading this post may result in bleeding retinas! Proceed at your own risk. Hopefully though, you will enjoy the stories and photos that follow. I may split these out into several posts, but for now, this is our entire week!

***********

We recently spent an absolutely fantastic week on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. We did have a few days of bad weather, but luckily they were generally isolated to the morning or afternoon. So, we were able to make it outside for at least a little bit each day. We spend almost every day playing in the sand and water, for at least a little bit...as this was Tyler's favorite part of the trip!

We split the 9 hour drive into two days on the way down, so that we would get into town a little earlier on Sunday. Saturday evening, we stayed in Florence, SC and had a VERY rough night. We know that it is always hard to get the boys to settle down and go to sleep when we all sleep in one hotel room. This is why we had decided that for all future vacations, we would stay in a condo/villa with bedrooms! Saturday night turned out to be even worse than we could have expected, because Lucas did not feel well...AT ALL. He was up until nearly 4 am!! I even made a desperate call to our pediatrician at 2:30 to get her opinion on heading to the emergency room. For our normally happy, carefree little guy...this was not normal behavior and even a little frightening, after the 4th STRAIGHT hour of crying. In order to not keep everyone awake, or wake Tyler, Daddy and I headed out for a drive. In all of my very planned out packing, see...

...I failed to pack any medicine for Lucas. While we were driving, we looked for a 24-hour pharmacy, but found only one...in a less than desirable neighborhood and opted not to stop. Upon returning to the hotel, we decided to try out the travel station across the street, completely not expecting success. However...Victory!! Yeah...an hour and a half driving around looking for a drug store and we only had needed to drive across the street. Oh well...Lucas fell asleep promptly as we started driving, so it did give him an opportunity for a little rest. Of course, he did wake up as soon as we turned off the car. One other thing that made the night very rough, was that Lucas wanted nothing to do with Mommy...yep, that right, it was ALL Daddy! Any time I attempted to take him he would scream...but hand him back to daddy and the screams died to slight whimpers. Daddy ended up sleeping with Lucas on his chest for most of the night. At some point, he was able to lay him in the bed, and this is how we woke up (sorry for the terrible picture, it's from my phone...didn't want a big flash to wake them up)

Luckily, whatever was bothering Lucas Saturday night passed, and the rest of our drive to Hilton Head was pretty uneventful. Lucas slept a lot...

I was SO pleasantly surprised at how well they traveled. With Tyler potty trained now, I was expecting a LOT of stops, but he didn't slow us down at all. I think we only made two potty stops not related to a fuel up (car or human) the entire three days of driving, and if we're being honest, even without Tyler we would have taken those stops. We did put a pull-up on him, just in case it seemed like it was going to be a problem, but he never went in them...even once! Lucas did get a little bored at times, but we had set the car up with his car seat was in the third row, so that someone (ME) could sit right beside him and entertain him, when needed. It really worked out pretty well. It actually wasn't that bad...being relegated to the back, I wasn't obligated to keep up a conversation with anyone, so when Lucas slept, I read...the Twilight Series (LOVE it), and finished the first book on our trip down. I didn't have much of a chance to do a lot of reading while we were at the beach, can't really take your eyes off of a 3-year old and a 1-year old long enough to actually get into a book, while on the beach and I spend more time napping on the way home.

Upon arriving into town, we checked into our unit and then grabbed a quick dinner and our to pick up some groceries. Tyler wasn't too keen on these plans, as he was SO ready to see the beach. After talking about it for days...we knew we HAD to take him to see the ocean that day, so we took a walk down that evening. It didn't matter to him that it was dark or that he had clothes on...he ran straight into the water!! He did get his shorts wet, but no problem...he just took them off and threw them to me, "here Mom".

Here are some of my favorite beach photos.

Our villa was located behind a small pond, which we learned the first day, was the home of the resident alligator...whom we named "Al".

Tuesday evening, we ventured out to Sea Pines for dinner and to see children's musician, Gregg Russell. He is a local favorite and a lot of fun for the kiddos. Tyler really enjoyed it and even went up to sit on the "kids only" stage by himself.

Les and I in front of the Harbourtown Lighthouse. We still did not make it up inside...maybe one of these years we will!

Lucas got a hold of the cup of ranch dressing and must have thought it was milk!

On Wednesday, we took a dolphin cruise to Daufuskie Island. The cruise was nice and relaxing and Tyler really enjoyed being on a big boat. Lucas wasn't too thrilled with it, because he was confined to our laps the entire time. We saw many dolphins, but I was not quick enough to capture the. Maybe we did on video.

On the island, we had lunch and explored a little. We found an old school bus that Tyler just loved to pretend he was driving.

Daddy and Tyler sat on an old dock and watched the water...

and I found some Adirondack chairs that made the perfect location for an impromptu photo shoot. Too bad my boys didn't have the same feelings!

I wanted very much for them to sit with me for one picture, but they just weren't having it...especially Lucas. He was downright MAD!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were filled with rain and thunderstorms, so we fit in as much beach and pool fun as possible. Friday we headed back to Sea Pines to have our family beach portraits taken...boy was that fun. Actually, it was fun, but it is SO hard to get these boys to sit still to take pictures. Tyler wasn't SO bad, but Lucas has finally decided that he enjoys walking and so now getting him to sit still...Ha!! Hopefully we will find a few that we like! I am all about the candid photos, so maybe they will be okay.

A cute photo of Lucas. I had to take one in this outfit (that Aunt Kerry bought for Tyler), because I have one of Tyler wearing this same outfit in Hilton Head two summers ago.

Saturday night, we were finally able to fit in a round of miniature golf. I REALLY wanted to take Tyler...Daddy wasn't quite so sure, as Tyler really knocks the you know what out of the ball with his little play set, at home. But, we bit the bullet and it was SO much fun. He really did well The water hazards caught his attention though, and for some reason he thought that the object of the game was to hit the ball in the water hazard, rather than avoiding it!

This was his reaction to us telling him NOT to hit it into the water. I really think it was just an excuse to be able to put his hands in the water to retrieve his ball.

Showing us his first putt putt golf ball...he actually kept a hold of this same ball the entire time.

It was such a great week, and we had SO much fun. Here we are donning our t-shirts from The Salty Dog, just before getting into the car to start our 9 hour drive home.

We did make the drive home all in one day. The 9 hour trip took us nearly 12 hours, but that is largely due to a stop for lunch and dinner and a stop at some outlets. It was actually a good way to break up the trip, and kept everyone from getting too stir crazy in the car. I don't think Tyler slept more than maybe an hour during the entire drive, but he did watch several movies, and even wore his headphones, so that not everyone in the car had to listen to The Incredibles.

Friday Fun

2009-08-07T13:19:00.002-04:00

This week was busy. Recovering from our church's VBS last week, and getting ready for our vacation next week. We didn't do much this week, so here are a few pics I was going to post last week!!

This was Tyler's crazy hair, for Crazy Hair Day!! It's so thick that I had a hard time keeping it crazy. :)

This kid is a mess! He LOVES his macaroni and cheese, and apprently thinks it makes a nice accessory...in his hair, on his eyelashes, all over his bib. Just a mess, I tell you. But at least he is eating, I'll take whatever mess he makes as long as he keeps eating!! :)

VBS 2009 - Kingdom of the Son

2009-08-03T20:20:00.003-04:00

Last week, we attended our church's annual bible school. This was Tyler's first year as a participant and my first as a lead teacher. Lucas spent his second year in the nursery "class". We started the week with me as Tyler's teacher, but oddly enough, that did not work out so well. So, Ms. Janet was gracious enough to take him the remainder of the week, and that worked out better. Because I was teacher a 3-year old class too, I was in the same rotation as Tyler, so I did get to see him playing and enjoying himself during recreation, snack and music. I think he had a lot of fun. Even though it seemed at times that he wasn't paying ANY attention at all, he did break out into song a few times here at the house...or has picked up singing a verse where I have left off, so I know it made some impact on him.

SNACK -- that is how you get this always on the go, ball full of energy to slow down. But...watch out, if you're not quick, he'll eat your snack, too!!

These are his buddies from the week. The little girl was trying hard to keep him standing on the stage. It didn't work!!

Our fun, loving, crazy, free-spirited little boy has hit three years old and is now VERY ~~stubborn~~ strong-willed, to say the least. Hmm, I suppose this should have been expected, considering his mommy and daddy. But, since we had had such an easy three years with him, I kind of was not expecting this. Oh well, if having a strong-willed child is the worst :)

Here is a short (short because this is the longest period of time he was in place the entire program) video of him "dancing" in the program.

Happy 15 Months!

2009-07-24T11:42:00.003-04:00

This adorable little guy is 15 moths old!!

Can you believe it? I hardly can. While he is still significantly smaller than Tyler was at that age, he is growing well. He continues to be beneath the 5th percentile for his weight, but is steadily going up on the charts for his height. He started around the 35th percentile, I believe, and is up to 55th. While some believe that most preemies catch up by age 1, I find that there are really a lot of different opinions on this. In fact, a friend who had a very early preemie (28 weeks) says she didn't notice her son catching up until he was nearly 3!! So, I guess there still is the possibility that Daddy's prediction can come true, and that Lucas will be bigger than Tyler. If his appetite and eating have anything to say about it, I'd say it is a definite possibility. This kid is an eater. He will eat nearly anything I put in front of him and A LOT of it, more than Tyler, for sure.

He is not yet walking, but crawls SUPER fast (I think he could probably win a baby crawling contest) and cruises very well. He nearly took off running the other day behind one of his push toy. He has take a step or two here or there, but I think within the next couple of weeks, he will be outright running on his own! That should make for a fun beach trip

Lucas' top two molars came in last week and boy am I glad that is over. (He now has a total of 10 teeth). Poor little one was so miserable. Unfortunately though, I think the bottom two have plans to move in soon. Hopefully for the sake of our vacation, that will happen within the next couple of weeks.

He is saying a few words clearly (mama and dada frequently), but he babbles constantly. And is a drool factory. He is totally having a conversation with us, now...if we could just understand it. :) He loves to play with his big brother. We are constantly amazed at how much he picks up from Tyler. He will "drive" cars along the floor, pretend to talk on a phone, build with blocks, "read" books, and sing with the SpiderMan microphone. They are so much fun to watch together.

I look for a HUGE explosion of new tricks to come from Luke in the next couple of months and figure by 18 months, we'll be able to report that he is running, talking and that we are loving watching him learn so much more!

We are so blessed that he has been SO healthy and that really the only reminder of the fact that he was 6 weeks early is that he is still a little small.

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On a separate, more housekeeping related note. I have installed a new commenting system. I like this system, because I can comment back to you, right under your original comment! It's pretty neat. You will be given the option to login using your Facebook account if you have one, or you can simply use your name, as before by inserting your name/email in the fields underneath the commenting box. Hope you will all leave me some comments...I love to see what you have to say!!

Road Trip

2009-07-22T21:48:00.007-04:00

Yesterday I left for my first "true" road trip with both boys, complete with an overnight stay in a hotel! (Sure, we've taken many trips to Nana and Pap's house in the past year, but those don't qualify as a "road trip" really, since it is just over a 2-hour trip and we stay with Nana and Pap when we get there.) This was the first time I have stayed in a hotel by myself with the two boys...maybe even one boy, for that matter!! Oh, and one more fun detail about this road trip...it lasted only 24 hours (from the time we left our house, until the time we got home)!! What was I thinking, you ask? Well, it was for my grandmother's 85th birthday. She is moving to an assisted living home today and this was her last night her home, as well as her 85th birthday. A birthday/relocation party was planned and I really wanted to be there for her. It was a hard decision for me to make, because I wasn't sure I could do it logistically, by myself. Les was unable to go, due to work commitments, so it was going to be just me and the boys! After really thinking about it, I decided it was worth any stress I might have (afterall, it was only going to last 24 hours, right?). So, on our way, we went! 7 hours in a car with two young boys and a stay in a hotel didn't make for a very relaxing trip, but it could have been worse. In fact, the most stressful time of the trip occured when we stopped at the hotel to check in and change clothes. I hadn't really thought about how difficult it would be to get two boys and all of our stuff into our room. To complicate matters, our key did not work!! After ~~running~~ struggling to get back downstairs with the boys and our bags to get a new key, and then back upstairs again we finally made it into our room...only to see that it had started to POUR rain, and I had no umbrellas. This was all compounded by the fact that I was on a pretty tight time-line at this point and didn't really have room for these small inconveniences! Luckily though, by the time we were ready to get back in the car, the rain had subsided. And unbelievably, we made it to the party only two minutes late!! Anyone who knows me, knows that I am rarely anything less tha 5 minutes late, so I'd say this was a huge success!!

The party was a good time and it was nice to visit with family. I am very glad we went. While, I am not sure I will be taking another 24-hour road trip any time soon, (we no sooner got there than we were turning around to leave) I can definitely see more road trips!! Now that I am home and unpacked, I can look back and say that it was actually fun to get out of the house for a little trip. For future trips though, I'd say a 36-hour trip (minimum) might be set.

While at my grandmothers, Tyler enjoyed exploring her yard. He found the neighbors grapevines,

and a field full of friends. Well...he thought they were friendly...they on the other hand seemed to be a little frightened of the small boy running toward them with a loud voice!! "Hi Cows!"

He was chewing his first starburst ever here. He REALLY liked it.

Lucas enjoyed the scenery, too! Luckily Tyler was too busy exploring on his own to realize that Lucas had taken his position atop Pap's shoulders. He also became best buddies with Aunt Carol.

Lucas wasn't exactly smiles the ENTIRE trip, but it could have been much worse. For the most part, a snack or drink, or maybe a little toy, would cheer him up pretty quickly.

And Tyler was happy to watch "The Incredibles" two times (with a short intermission of "Blues Clues" - which Lucas enjoyed, too).

All in all, it wasn't a terrible trip...maybe not something I would try again in just a short 24-hour period, but I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with myself for attempting such a trip, alone...and for having such a great time that I'd be willing to do it all again!! Where shall we go next??

Not My Child! Monday

2009-07-20T07:42:00.006-04:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! Except this week...it's Not My Child! Monday!! This blog carnival was created by MckMama, where everyone has fun telling all the things they did not (but really did) do over the past week. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I recently came across this blog and find it so uplifting and inspirational and I LOVED her idea for Not Me! Monday, so here I am joining in on the fun. Check out what I my children did not do this week!

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My child does not like to pee outside. He never pulls down his pants in the middle of our back yard, and aims on whatever fun object might be closest. And he has certainly NEVER stood at the top of our slide and peed straight down it!! Not my child!

My child did not call his adult male Awana teacher "God" for the better part of the year. Nope, not my child.

My baby is not a messy eater. He would never eat with his hands, he always uses a fork, correctly! And, if he did eat with his hands, he certainly would not run those messy hands through his hair. And...he definitely would not throw food on the floor deliberately, when he is finished eating. Not my child!

My child did not try to help me clean the toilet, before flushing!!!

My child did not hide-out with my nail polish, and in an attempt to paint his toes, end up spilling an entire bottle of nail polish on his legs...while sitting on my bed! Definitely not my child.

Hmmm...someone should really be watching that child!!

Best Buds & Crazy Hair

2009-07-16T23:38:00.003-04:00

Today was a busy fun day for us. After spending nearly four hours at the pool with Bryce, one of Tyler's best buds, the boys came home and took great naps. ~~Wisely~~ Luckily I had thought to take a change of clothes to the pool for Ty, so that when he fell asleep in the car on the way home I could easily transfer him to his bed. After previous pool excursions, I have had to wake him up to change him out of his wet swimming trunks, consequently interrupting nap time for the entire day!! I did forget to take a change for Lucas though, so he got to sleep in a dry swim diaper and a t-shirt. He didn't mind though, it was a little cooler for him on this HOT Virginia day.

We had been having some, quite unusual, but VERY pleasant weather over the past several weeks. Dare I say, "cool" even. Uhm, cool related to pool weather, that is. With highs in the low 80's and nearly no humidity, the pool water didn't hadn't a chance to warm up much, so the boys would end up shivering and miserable. That has made our previous trips to the pool rather brief! With the temperature reaching 98 whopping degrees today (hot, but not quite the blistering 100+ degree days we experienced for days on end while living in Texas), the water was quite warm. In fact, after spending some time in the big pool and then returning to the baby pool, it felt almost like bath water!

I was too busy ~~playing with the boys,~~ worrying about Tyler tackling Lucas in the pool, again (and chatting of course) to remember to take too many pictures (or to be brave enough to bring it that close to the water), but I did get one cute one of the boys as we were leaving. Tyler was having so much fun with Bryce that he climbed in their car to go home with them. Even Miss Amy suggesting a nap didn't deter him any...he just said "OK", when she told him he'd have to take a nap if he went home with them!!

All that swimming sure did work up an appetite for the boys, too. They woke up just long enough to eat dinner and play a little, before crashing again. This is the first night in MANY nights that we haven't had to perform ~~an encore~~ multiple encore bedtime routines with Tyler.

Lucas has always played with his hair when he gets tired. Apparently he was getting sleepy while enjoying his peaches!!

Homerun Derby

2009-07-15T14:48:00.001-04:00

Tyler had his own Homerun Derby a few nights ago in our yard. Armed with his bat, tee and a bucket of balls, he and daddy went out to have some fun. And oh man...this kid was cracking those balls. It was so much fun watching he and daddy have fun.

We picked up a toddler size glove for Tyler over the weekend and he and Daddy have fun playing catch, as well. He's slowing getting the hang of catching the ball in the glove. I just can't believe how much he is growing up.

Friday Fun - Pool Time

2009-07-10T11:14:00.005-04:00

Today Aunt Jenn came to visit and we went to enjoy a picnic lunch and some time at the pool. Tyler enjoyed his new goggles and practiced his swimming in his new swim vest.

He is still a little leary of "floating" in the pool in his vest, but is making great strides in his comfort. He would allow me to help him float on the water while he kicked his arms and legs, and even allowed me to take my hands off so he could float...but only for just a second, because he swallowed a big gulp of water and it scared him just enough.

Lucas loved being in the big pool in his floatie, but the water was slightly too cool for him, as he began shivering after just a few minutes in the pool. So, we headed back to the baby pool, which then felt very much like bath water!

The boys had a great time at the pool with Aunt Jenn.

Tyler looks like such a "big" boy walking out of the pool.

Wordless Wednesday - Keeping in Touch

2009-07-08T16:58:00.000-04:00

"I'm in here Mom. I'm sending Aly an email."

Happy 4th!

2009-07-04T23:05:00.007-04:00

Since moving back to Virginia, we have been attending an awesome fireworks show not far from our house at the Great Meadows, in The Plains, Va. Two years ago, we were new to the event and didn't know what to expect, so we only got there shortly before dusk to watch the fireworks. We learned later that we should have gone early to check out the kids activities. Last year the weather was not so cooperative, so again we headed out rather late. Both years we faced HOURS of sitting amongst parked cars, while waiting to get out of the parking lot.

This year though, we decided to pack a picnic dinner and go early to check out all of the fun. WOW...were we SO glad to have done that!! We were parked in one of the first three rows of the HUGE field and were out of the parking lot and back at our home less than 30 minutes after the show was over (it's a nearly 20 minute drive from our home, and we had to change a diaper prior to packing up the car!!) Yes...we will definitely be planning it that way for the years to come!

Not only did an early arrival assist in an early departure, be we had a lot of fun, too! The weather was as perfect as it could be. Warm, and slightly overcast (but not one drop of rain). The clouds protected us from the normally very hot mid-summer sun. It was nearly perfect weather!

Tyler played in a HUGE moon bounce and slid down this BIG slide. He was a little scared to do it by himself though, so Mommy went with him.

Both boys really loved the animals.

Years ago, before we had any babies of our own, Les and I were planning a visit to the Ivey family 4th of July reunion. This was the first year in a long time that Les and both of his sisters would be attending with their entire families. Their mother had always loved the family to wear patriotic t-shirts for the day, so I thought it would be cute to get the Old Navy matching T-shirts in matching colors for each family. I drove around to five (I think) Old Navy stores in the Dallas area looking for shirts in the correct sizes and colors for each family. Yeah, I know...kinda crazy, but it made a really cute photo. And so now, it's kind of tradition for us to have matching shirts each year.

And our 2009 4th of July Family Photo:

The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. From those hot summer days, long ago when we would sit on my Aunt Shirley's hill eating homemade ice cream, watching our small town fireworks...to now being able to make new memories and traditions with our own little ones, it's such a fun family day!!

Hope everyone had as great a day as we did!

A Day to Remember

2009-07-03T23:32:00.005-04:00

July 3, 2004 is a day I am sure to never forget. Sure there are many pictures in our home to remind me of that truly special day, but I need no pictures to remember how lucky I felt to be marrying the man I knew was meant to be my husband. I can't claim to remember every word of the vows we wrote for one another, but there are four special words that I will never forget, "Today, Tomorrow and Forever." I know words like these are easy to say on such a special day, but even now, 5 years after marrying the love of my life I still feel that those words carry the same meaning as they did when first spoken in our wedding ceremony. Or maybe, I feel that they carry more meaning now. I won't attempt to claim that we have a perfect marriage, but rather I think we are still perfecting our marriage. I know that we have both made the commitment to be with one another Forever and so with each misstep we make, I take comfort in the fact that we will use those missteps as a chance to learn and grow with each other.

It is such a blessing to know that I am forever with the man I was meant to be with. I know that I sometimes take this wonderful blessing, and man, for granted and can only hope that he always knows how much he means to me and how lucky I feel to be his wife.

Thank you Les for being the one for me and for always believing in me, and us! I love you Today, Tomorrow and Forever." Happy 5th Anniversary!!

No Words for Wednesday - Playtimes, Funtimes

2009-07-01T22:45:00.005-04:00

Saturday Sprinklers

2009-06-28T17:15:00.004-04:00

While watering the yard on Saturday, Tyler asked to go out and play in the water. So, we changed him into his swim trunks and sent him out to play.

Tyler decided to run away from the spray of water...

while Max was running right into it, and standing on top of it. He's so big he could completely block the entire sprinkler!!

All Star Boys

2009-06-28T00:01:00.003-04:00

The boys had a great time playing ball with Pap during their visit last week. Lucas took his first swings with the bat and Tyler practiced shooting "hoops".

Yummy in my tummy...

2009-06-27T11:27:00.033-04:00

Lucas is getting to the point where there is no point in even attempting to try to feed him, to keep him clean. Because even if I can get it in his mouth, he will almost certainly pull it back out, look at it and then put it back in himself. So, now I just let him feed himself, most often with his hands. I have introduced the utensils to him, but they more often end up on the floor than in his hands. This is what he looks like most evenings after dinner!!

But, I love these new bibs my friend recommended to me. They tie in the back, cover his shoulders and are long enough to cover his lap (and Tyler's, too). Prior to these bibs, food covered nearly all of his body, rather than just his face and hair, because he would rip the bib off and throw it on the floor. He'd be halfway through his meal before one of us realized he was bibless!!

Because we were laughing at Lucas, Tyler wanted to get in on the action too...and decorated his face, on purpose! He is normally a pretty clean eater. :)

A Zoo of a Day...

2009-06-24T22:51:00.008-04:00

Today was planned to be a trip to the zoo with the boys, and my parents, Nana and Pap. We were up, almost ready to go (I was putting the finishing touches on our picnic lunch) when I hear Tyler yelling "Mommy, you need to come wipe me off." Of course I assumed he was meaning to help him after having used the potty. WRONG!! Tyler had sneaked away to our bathroom and found my stash of finger nail polish. Being a curious three year old, you can only imagine where I'm going with this. Yes...he had brink pink finger nail polish covering about 90% of his leg, as well as huge spot on our bed.

Thirty minutes of scrubbing him down and one phone call to daddy later, we were packed up and ready to hit the zoo. (Daddy convinced me to have mercy on the little guy, because it was not fair to punish him for being curious and "accidents" like this will happen.)

I didn't have a chance to run and get my camera, because I didn't want him following me with painted legs...so I took a quick shot with the camera on my cell phone:

It was a great day at the zoo. I was worried that we may have packed up the kiddos and made the drive into the city for nothing though, we when got there and all of the parking lots were full. I had intended on being there MUCH earlier, but the little nail polish incident set me back quite a big. After driving to every lot and all the way to the top of the hill, we turned around and came all the way back down!! Finally, at the bottom, we lucked into a couple of people leaving as we were entering and we got a spot.

After watching the orangatans on the "O-Line" (this nifty rope that runs through the park and into their "think tank")...

we stopped at a picnic area to eat our lunch.

Tyler...studying his potato chips!

The mama and baby gorilla...do you see it there, right to the left of the mama? It was VERY cute. This was a favorite among Mommy, Nana and Pap!

Tyler though, preferred the elephants. This is the one exhibit he asked to go back to see a second time.

Mommy, Ty and Luke inside the Panda exhibit. I loved these, too! if you look closely, you can see the panda at the back (top, left) of the picture.

Tyler and Lucas, with Nana and Pap.

Tyler fell asleep after just a few minute in the car, but Lucas did not. He slept during our drive in, in the morning, and slept for about 5 minutes in the stroller walking through the zoo, but didn't get anywhere near his 4 hours of daily naptime!! He was barely able to keep his eyes open at dinner!

Tractor Tippin'

2009-06-22T23:21:00.000-04:00

We have had SUCH great success with Tyler's potty training recently. At the start of this journey I ~~thought~~ hoped it would be a quick process. Two weeks in, I was rather frustrated, wondering if he would EVER get it down. Some patience, and prayers, later I started to see that he was starting to pick it up. With a lot of encouragement (and some bribery), he finally got it all put together. And about 2 1/2 months after starting this journey I can proudly say we are POTTY TRAINED!!

Les thought it would be fun to set up a reward chart for Tyler, so he could see the progress he was making. The last accident he had came the day of his birthday party (June 13). The next day Les told Tyler if he went two weeks with no daytime accidents, that he could pick out a "prize". At first he had been saying he wanted a new Thomas track set, but a trip to Target reminded him of the "Tractor Tippin'" race track he had wanted. For the next week and a half, that is all we heard about. Every time he would use the potty he'd come running "I get Tractor Tippin'?". We'd have to remind him that he needed to fill up his chart, and when he did, we would take him to pick out his prize.

Yesterday Tyler finished his two week stretch...clean and dry for two weeks, even through naptimes!! Woo-hoo. He has even woken up dry from overnight a few times. It is so amazing that three months ago we were still in diapers about 90 percent of the time and now he is in big boy undies 90% of the time!! He was SO excited to be able to go to the store to buy Tractor Tippin' and bring it home to play with. It has been a huge hit!

We are on to reward chart #2, for Bolt, the movie. Because he is essentially potty trained (with the exception of nighttime, and that is something that they really have to grow into), we have decided that this chart is going to be a good behavior chart. I know, it's probably going to be hard to decide what exactly represents good behavior and I may have to narrow this down to something more specific, but I haven't yet decided what I want that to be, so for now...it's just good behavior. Last night and tonight he got stickers for doing a good job eating his dinner. This is something that we struggle with, with Tyler. Lucas, not so much! But Tyler is just SO busy that he hates to slow down long enough to actually eat a full dinner.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T22:23:00.000-04:00

I always love to think that I picked the bestest husband in the world, for myself. We are absolutely perfect for each other. Alike in enough ways to make us compatible, but different enough to make it interesting. And, in five years, we've learned what buttons not to push...although, we do sometimes...for fun, 'ya know? :)

But this post isn't about my wonderful husband (I'll save that post for our anniversary in a couple of weeks). This post is about how I lucked out in also finding the bestest father in the world for my kids. Those little boys ADORE their father, SO MUCH. From Tyler wanting Daddy to come home from work to "play with me" or the look on Lucas' face when he wakes up from his nap to find it's Daddy rescuing him from his crib, you can just tell how much they love their daddy. It is precious. And, as the boys get older and can do more "boy" stuff with their daddy, it just gets to be more and more fun!!

For father's day, we started the day with a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes for Daddy and his minis.

Then the boys ~~helped~~ opened daddy's presents for him. We got him the new Tiger Woods golf game for Wii and the special controler that goes with it. Until the boys are old enough to actually go out on the course with Daddy...this is the next best thing!

Then proving that he is the bestest father and husband, we spent the afternoon shopping and running errands together. I LOVE that he loves to shop as much as I do!

We love you Daddy...thanks for being our bestest Daddy EVER!!

Friday Pool Fun

2009-06-19T22:30:00.001-04:00

We had our first pool day of the season today, and I see many more in our future. Both boys loved it SO much. In fact, this was Lucas' reaction to sitting in his stroller watching Tyler play.

I did remember to take the float device for Lucas, but forgot to make sure it was all blown up before putting him in!! Yeah, he swallowed a little bit of water...but no fear, at least not for him, it was all okay. In fact, even once it was properly inflated, it was hard to keep his face out of the water. He was constantly either trying to climb out, or simply dunk his head face first into the water.

Tyler had a lot of fun too, playing with the many water toys we brought along. He also made friends with the lifeguards, who more than once asked him to "slow down buddy"! To encourage him to listen to them, I sneakily told him that they would make us go home if he didn't listen. To which the lifeguard replied, "nah, I won't send you home, but I'll make you come and sit here with me and watch everyone else have fun!" They were both really great with him. The other lifeguard even let Tyler help with the testing of the water in the pool.

Swimming sure builds up an appetite for Tyler. Luckily I packed a lunch for us to eat at the pool. I was sure it was going to be a fight (as always) to get him to slow down long enough to eat it, though. Boy, was I wrong. I only had to ask once and Tyler was hopping up to the table, ready to eat. And eat he did...his entire PB&J (and he wanted mine!), a yogurt stick, string cheese, my cheese and crackers, fruit snacks, a few potato chips and a granola bar!! All in a matter of about 15 minutes!! Lucas enjoyed his CC&J (cream cheese and jelly...his version of a PB&J, since he's too young for peanuts, just yet - he LOVES it!), some yogurt and cheese, too!

After lunch it was back to the pool for more fun. Not only does swimming build up an appetite, but, it also wears him out. When the 2:00 break rolled around, I needed to ask only once if he was ready to go, and he was out of the pool, grabbing a towel. They both were in their beds and down for the count less than 10 minutes after getting home. Both took a great nap and were back in bed for the night before 8:30. This is a MAJOR accomplishment!! Lucas is nearly always down before 8:30, but lately, Tyler has become a bit of a night owl.

It was such a fun day, and I see MANY more pool days in our future, this summer. Tyler even asked for goggles!! Next time I will be sure to remember them and his floaty swim jacket, so we can venture into the big pool. We tried today, but it was too hard for me to manage with both the little ones. Now that I've figured out how to make Lucas' floaty seat work, it might be okay with Tyler in his floaty jacket. We shall see.

Here is Lucas sporting Tyler's baseball cap, on our way to the car. Tyler was such a nice big brother to share. They are really getting along so well. I can't wait for Lucas to get just a big older, so they can really interact and play with each other.

Stay tuned for more summer fun stories...

Ka-Chow!!

2009-06-14T18:21:00.020-04:00

As much as Tyler loves his trains, he love his cars, too! Maybe more, even. :) When the time came last year to pick a theme for his party, he wasn't really old enough to get it and be able to tell me what he wanted. He had yet to discover "Thomas" or "Lightning", but he was into cars and trains, so I chose a simple transportation theme that had a little of everything and made a cute little train cake for him.

This year however, it took him less than a nano-second to tell us he wanted a "Lightning McQueen" party. It's amazing what an opinion a little three year old can have!! I started asking about 6 weeks before his birthday and asked him several times through the course of a few weeks. Each time the answer was a resounding "Lightning" and once I even heard him say "M-o-m...I told you I wanted a McQueen party!" This year, he kept reminding me that he wanted a "race-car" cake. That was that and I got to planning. Of course I made the invitations and Daddy found some REALLY cool party decorations and supplies, that he ordered on-line. We are so lucky that he is such a gread Daddy!! He did a wonderful job.

I'm not sure who was more excited for the party...Tyler, or Mommy and Daddy?!? I had a lot of fun designing his invitation and Daddy did great with the supplies and decorations. It was fun to decorate the house with all the neat decorations. We started outside with cool flags lining the driveway
and continued inside with an awesome backdrop of a CARS scene,
and some balloons and banners.

Unfortunately, I failed to think of taking the photo before a few of our guests had to leave. :( I'm actually impressed with the success of this photo, considering there are seven, three-year old boys in this picture.
The day was perfect!! The weather was beautiful. (It can be kind of hit or miss in June...hot, humid, stormy, it's a toss up...but low 80 degree weather, with an ocean-like breeze, now that is nearly unheard of.) The party was a lot of fun, too. With the weather being so beautiful, the kids were very content to be outside playing in the moon bounce, on the jungle gym or with one of the handful of ride-on toys that we own. Turns out they came in very handy!!

I am so thankful that the weather was so beautiful, because I am not sure our house could have held up to the energy of 13 little kids. The three sweet little girls wouldn't have been a problem, but 10 boys, hmmm!!

We were inside for lunch (which turned out SO well...I decided to make brisket for the adults -- something I've never attempted before and my husband thought I might be a little crazy for taking this on. He is from Texas afterall...and a connoisseur of BBQ! Apparently it hit the spot for everyone, though...because there were not even a few straggling pieces left!! Darn it...I was REALLY hoping for leftovers for dinner. Guess I'll be making that again soon.) and made it through that without any major incidences,

but I did decide to return back outside for the eating of the cupcakes!! That was, maybe, the best idea of the day.

After burning off a little more energy (and sugar from those gobs of icing with cupcake), it was time for Tyler to finally open his gifts.

It was a struggle to convince him that we did not need to open every single gift right when he opened it, and to move on to the next gift. But eventually we made our way through them all. He got some really neat gifts, most of which we have already played with!!

I said before that three was hard for me, because my baby is growing so quickly and fastly. But this means that he is beginning to understand so much more and makes days like these so much fun!!

Last Day...

2009-06-12T16:25:00.000-04:00

Today was Tyler's last day of school. Parents were invited in for a short program to celebrate the end of the year. It was a very cute presentation of the alphabet song and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", which Tyler actually sang very nicely! He even did most of the little hand motions they learned to go along with the songs. I was so proud of him. I thought that I was videoing their performance on my phone, but it got tired apparently and pooped out before I could save the file. Man, that really made me sad -- Friday was just one of those days for me, but more on that later. This is a happy post!! Well, mostly.

After their performance, Tyler gave each of his teachers their gifts. He really enjoyed class with Ms. Belinda

and Ms. Marie.

Afterward, we had yummy cupcakes (which were of course -- EVERYWHERE!!) and visited with his little buddies one last time. Hopefully we can make some playdates for him to catch up with his friends over the summer. He attempted to pose for a picture with mom...but this was as close as we got to him actually looking at the camera. :)

All Aboard

2009-06-12T00:29:00.001-04:00

Our little guy Tyler is SO into trains. One of the most frequently used phrases in our home is "Momma, will you fix the track?", of course referring to his play train track, where he could literally spend hours make-believing his way through the train yard with his "friends" Thomas, Percy and Gordon, to name a few!

Through perfect planning (OK, so maybe totally coincidentally), we were able to take Tyler for a ride on a "really big" train the day after his birthday. A nearby town was hosting a train festival...that's right an entire city block closed off and devoted to ALL THINGS TRAINS!! He was so mesmerized watching the train come down the track.

Tyler really enjoyed looking at all of the electric train exhibits (just like Grandad's). But hands down, the biggest hit of the day came when a big train pulled up to the station and we told Tyler to go ahead and get on!! With his ticket hand, he hopped onto the train and found an empty seat.

It was just a short trip (a few stops up the track and back) on the commuter train, but Tyler had SO much fun. He would go back and forth between Les and I, so that he could check out what was outside of each of the windows.

He loved the fact that there was a special place just for his very own cup (which was Thomas, of course).

He enjoyed it so much that as soon as we got off, he asked to go for another ride! And, he continued talking about riding the train again for at least another whole day! Daddy must have had fun, too...because he told Tyler that maybe someday we could take a trip on a train!

Lucas had fun too, but being in the "I have to know and see and touch everything" stage, he was a little difficult to contain. He really wanted to be down on the floor exploring! It was a pretty clean train, but my somewhat OCD self could not allow him to dust their floors with his hands and knees. Since we obviously could not take our stroller or a car seat on the train with us, it was a long 45 minutes trying to keep him entertained.

We can't wait for next summer's festival. With Lucas being two, and able to walk and talk, it's sure to be a blast!!

Daytime Playtime...Funtime!

2009-06-11T21:06:00.009-04:00

This is Tyler's last week of pre-school. On Monday his school held a fun-day, filled with hair and face painting, fun games, good food and LOTS of little kiddos.

Daddy even took the day off to come with us. I set up a booth to showcase some of my products in the vendor area, so Daddy got to have lots of fun with Tyler.

He had a great time having his hair painted orange (we had to talk him out of the pink) by his teacher Ms. Belinda, a tatoo applied by Ms. Luz, and later having a dragon (with sharp teeth) and a snake painted on his cheeks by Ms. Annabelle.

They also enjoyed some hula-hooping...

playing tug-of-war with some of his classmates...

and shooting some hoops!!

It was a really fun day and are so glad that Daddy was able to come and share it with us!!

Tyler's Birthday

2009-06-08T23:46:00.000-04:00

With Tyler's big party not planned until next weekend, his actual birthday was a quiet day. He still had another week of preschool, so first things first, we got up and dressed for school.

And of course, I had to take a birthday picture. But, he was in a bit of a silly mood, so this is the best I got from him. Yes...it is June 5 and he is in pants. It was only in the mid-50's on our way out the door!! Brrr...where is that warm weather? Maybe we will get lucky though, and not have blistering hot weather for his party next weekend!!

I sent cupcakes in for his class to help celebrate his birthday. He was very excited about these and wanted one for breakfast. And guess what...I gave in (just a mini one though)!! It was his birthday afterall!!

After school we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch with Tyler's little buddy, Bryce. He was very excited to go play with Bryce, so not much eating happened. But, they had fun.

Later in the evening, we ventured out to Toys R Us, to give him the opportunity to pick out something to spend his birthday money on. This is what he chose!! It has been a huge hit.

We also let him open Aunt Kerry and Uncle Tim's present early (well, not really early, but before his party!). He was super excited about it, too!

Play Room!!

2009-06-06T00:13:00.001-04:00

Well, it only took us (me) four months to get our playroom all put in order. I was determined to have this job completed before Tyler's party and achieved my goal nearly two weeks before the party. YEAH!! I am SO excited to have all of their toys have a home now!!

Ultimately we plan to finish out one of the two unfinished rooms in the basement into a true play room for the kiddos, but until Les can teach himself how to dry-wall...(nope, not kidding) our rec room is multi-purpose. :)

Memories...

2009-06-05T23:56:00.005-04:00

How can it be possible that it was three years (and one day, to be technical) ago that we were spending out last night as soon-to-be-parents, chit-chatting (into the wee hours of the night when we should have been savoring our last night of uninterrupted sleep) about what the next day (our scheduled induction with Tyler) would hold and our expectations of parenthood?

I remember that night and the following day...days as if they were yesterday. (Some may question if this is really true, considering for the past three years, I have had a very good case of "mommy brain". But "mommy brain" doesn't seem to extend to the memories of one's children.) Nope...I can remember those days as clear as they could possibly be. Days filled with excitement, diapers, fears, lots of pictures, hopes, visits to visit Denny (our wonderful lactation consultant) dreams, more diapers and possibilities. Nights filled sleeping sitting up, to hold a tiny Tyler affected by acid-reflux. How is it possible that it has been three years since we became this absolutely wonderful and blessed journey of parenthood??

After an uneventful pregnancy and an easy labor (relatively speaking...as easy as labor can go, I mean), I have to admit that I was a little fearful of what bringing a baby home would be like. Well, those fears were completely unwarranted. Aside from acid reflux and some early nursing issues, we were SO blessed with a wonderful, easy going baby. Sleeping 6 straight hours the night we brought him home from the hospital (yes, I was blessed with sleeping babies...he is 3 and still gives me a good 2.5-3 hour nap daily!) and through the night by six weeks really helps a babies demeanor. He was always so happy and pleasant. He was such a joy that by 10 months we were talking about baby #2 and by the time he was 14 months old, Tyler was on his way to becoming a big brother!!

And while we have had our shares of ups (learning to walk and talk) and downs (learning the word "no" and numerous busted eyes, lips and noses) through the past three years, nothing has been more wonderful than watching Tyler grow! I thank God every day for the blessing of becoming parents (to both our wonderful little boys!).

So, here we are wishing Tyler a Happy 3rd Birthday today!?! The thought of three has been hard for me. Harder than two, or one even. One was bittersweet. Bitter for the fact that my baby was a whole year old (not four months or 11 months), but 1!! But, also fun for me, because it was amazing to watch him learn and grow. Two years old was very much the same. He was beginning to become a big boy, but if I looked closely enough, I could still see the baby in his face.

Now, at three years old...he's not a baby anymore. He's a little boy. No more diapers (and barely any more pull-ups), no more paci's, no more bottles (he does still have blanky, and I'll probably really lose it when he gives blankey up)...he even wants to drink out of "mommy and daddy" cups. I'm beginning to hear "No Mommy, I can do it" gradually replace the utterings of "Mommy, help me please". My little dependant baby, is becoming an independent little boy. And while it really is such a blessing to be able to watch him learn and grow, each new challenge met, means one step further from being my little baby.

While I sit here having many of the same thoughts of excitement, fear, hopes, dreams and possibilities for Tyler's future, my mind is now also filled with the memories of his past three years (and my eyes are filled with a few rather large teardrops, blurring my vision. I guess that means it's time to wrap up this walk down memory lane).

We love you Tyler, our little boy!! Happy Birthday.

Birthday Boy!!

2009-06-05T09:56:00.002-04:00

I am still working on my post for the birthday boy, but for now, here's a cute picture of Tyler earlier in the week! Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!! We can't believe you are 3!!

Ice Cream Social

2009-06-02T22:19:00.008-04:00

Mommies were invited to join the kiddos for ice cream on Monday at Tyler's school. Next week is technically the last week of school, but next Monday the school is sponsoring a "fun day" with lots of outdoor play and recreation. So the end-of-year celebration for his Monday class was yesterday. It was a fun time, but you can imagine what kind of chaos ensues when you put 12 two and three year old kids, sugared up on ice cream, popsicles and cookies in a room together!! WOW!! My hats off to his two teachers, Ms. Luz and Ms. Marie. I was ready for a nap after only 30 minutes with these little energy-filled lovies!

Still, Lucas and I did have a lot of fun sharing ice cream (okay, Tyler didn't really share very much ice cream, but Lucas did get a cookie!)...

and painting (okay, I didn't do much painting either...but he wore enough paint for both of us!!) with Tyler.

Tyler's good friend Aly is in his class. Her mommy and little sister Ava were around for the fun, too.

Our little cuties enjoying their treats...

Not Me! Monday - Photo Obession

2009-06-01T16:00:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama, where everyone has fun telling all the things they did not (but really did) do over the past week. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I recently came across this blog and find it so uplifting and inspirational and I LOVED her idea for Not Me! Monday, so here I am joining in on the fun. Check out what I did not do this week!

*****

I definitely did not help my son re-apply the lipstick and lip gloss to his face in order to take a picture after it had already all rubbed off and I realized I hadn’t snapped a photo. Nope, not me!!

I did not run to grab my camera before helping the little guy out from under his new Cozy Coupe firetruck. Nope, not me!!! (grr...my dSLR was too far away to get to, so I had to use my p&s. It looks like it's on the blitz.)

I certainly do not have an obsession with capturing all of the crazy and cute things my boys do on camera. I've never taken more than 1,000 pictures in a single month! Not me at all!!

This momma (who definitely does NOT have mommy brain) did not forget nearly all of the other wacky moments that would have made awesome Not Me moments from the past week. Hmm...not this momma!

Double Trouble

2009-05-30T22:39:00.005-04:00

This is what happens when I try to make a telephone call when my children are not sleeping!

Tyler gives Lucas a makeover (hard to see here...but he's wear a teeny bit of lipstuck on his mouth and forehead).

But oh my...Tyler did the BEST job on himself!

And then proceeds to get stuck hanging on to the sink, while attempting to look at this beautiful work in the mirror!

Two Boys + Playtime = Disaster

2009-05-28T00:01:00.001-04:00

I have two boys...I have always wanted two boys and I am loving every minute of it. Exhausting sometimes - Yes. But, I still wouldn't trade it for anything. I am learning though, that while boys are fun, they are also SO destructive. At least mine are!! Take for example, Tyler's train table. Tyler is ALL boy and loves anything with wheels, especially his CARS and his trains. He especially loves playing with both on his train table.

I think one of the phrases I hear most often in a day is "momma...can you fix the track". Or actually, this might be a close second to "NO LUKEY!" (we are still working on our nice, friendly, inside voice). Many times though...I am hearing "momma...can you fix the track", directly after having heard "NO LUKEY!"...so you can imagine that Lucas is often the responsible party in the destruction of the track.

But, what can I do, (aside from moving Lucas to another area of the playroom and giving him other toys to play with)? He is only 14 months old after-all, and just doesn't really understand it all yet. Besides, he just wants to be playing with his big brother, whom he absolutely ADORES (although, I'm beginning to wonder who adores whom, more).

So, even if it means me rebuilding the track (literally) 100 times a day (okay, maybe not THAT many...but it sure feels like it's every 5 minutes!), I still won't make Lucas leave Tyler alone, because all I really want is for them to become best buds and love playing with one another. Anyway, this is good practice for them both, right? Lucas is learning how to play and Tyler's learning how to play nicely.

This is the the track completely set up, with all trees, people and accessories we have!!

This is the remnants of my beautiful track, just about 10 minutes after putting it all together!!

Oh the joys of having two boys!! :)

The Potty Training Chronicles -- Curveballs

2009-05-26T23:17:00.005-04:00

Oh. My. Tyler. I love this little boy, but I'm telling you...he IS the cause of the strange, very light colored hairs I am beginning to find. Hmmm...or maybe it's just time for me to visit Bri!

Just when I thought we could proclaim that our potty percentage was a thousand, he throws me another curve ball!! After 5 days of ZERO accidents and two overnights of 100% dry pull-ups (which had me talking of ditching the pull-ups completely), today was full of curve balls. I can't quite figure out what exactly was up with him, except that maybe today was just too easy of a day for him. The weather was very rainy and dreary today, so I was complacent to just stay put with the boys and play indoors in our basement (which yes...is still a disaster area. And every time I take them down there to play any little bit of progress I had made instead becomes floor decoration...I will have that basement organized by the end of this week!!).

I digress...So anyway, I guess maybe for the past five days we had been very busy and on a tight schedule, so I (or Nana, with whom he spent 2 of his dry days) was much better about reminding him if I realized he had gone a long time without using the potty. Because this kid can hold it. (and I really am so grateful that he can hold it so long, because I was rather fearful of what our frequent trips to WV would become with a potty trained child. Previously I could make it from door-to-door in just about 2 hours, but was sure that I would be adding an hour to that trip with frequent potty stops. And to further add stress to our trip, our route to WV isn't exactly littered with fast food restaurants or gas stations, so we could have very well been looking for a nice bush. So far though, he has been great in cars. This past weekend he took a trip with Nana and Pap to southern WV. I had planned on putting a pull-up on him for the trip, but he snuck into the car before I realized it and I completely forgot. When I called to check in on them several hours into the trip my Mom mentioned that they had stopped just a bit earlier for dinner and to use the potty. It was then that I realized he had been in his underwear that entire time. Oops...I am so thankful there were no accidents!! But, as great as he is at being able to hold it, when it does hit him...it hits him fast!!

He is getting pretty adept at undressing himself to use the potty, but sometimes it is just not fast enough. I think that was our problem a couple of times today. He tried to go potty all by himself (without even telling me he was going!), but couldn't get himself undressed quickly enough.

Thankfully, he seems to have the #2's down. There are times when I can tell that he is thinking about it and I will remind him, but all-in-all, he is pretty good about making it to the potty.

I would LOVE to say that by three, we will no longer be purchasing pull-ups for Tyler, but we will have to wait and see where this journey takes us. Either way, I am still VERY proud of this little guy. Six weeks ago when we began this journey, I was certain that he was NEVER going to be potty trained and that I'd have to call his preschool director over the summer and tell her to give our spot to someone else. Now I look at my little boy and realize that he's not really that little anymore...in just nine days, he will be three years old. And if you ask him...that means he is a Big Boy!! It is hard to believe that it has already been three years since this little guy joined our family. But I'll save that reminiscing for his birthday post! :)

At the end of the day though (or anytime, really) Tyler knows exactly how to make me smile and forgot about any and all frustrations!! Just one look at both of my little ones and I am quickly reminded of how lucky -- no, make that blessed, I am to be living this life!!

Tyler's Surprise

2009-05-25T15:57:00.007-04:00

While the boys were with Nana and Pap this weekend (attending cousin Micah's first birthday party), we had planned on using the time sans kiddos to paint our powder room and to finally organize the toy room. But, after a few minutes of logical thinking, we decided maybe it was a better use of our time to paint the boys rooms. (That playroom is GOING to get organized this week, though). I had really ambitious ideas (as always) of finishing both Tyler and Lucas' rooms on Saturday. It was the perfect timing for this task, as we wouldn't have to worry about disrupting naps and bedtimes.

I set out taping the room. I enjoy painting, but REALLY dislike the taping. I like my lines to be super straight, so I end up getting very annoyed with the entire process just minutes into it, because I feel like the tape isn't perfectly straight. So, as was the case with the family room, I gave up with the taping and decided to freehand it. Yeah, I know...probably not the best idea since as I mentioned just a moment ago, I like my lines to be super straight. But, as is often the case, I was too stubborn and impatient to wait on husband to help me tape and I didn't do the best job. So...for the second coat, we decided we should tape, and it really did look som much better. As always, I was unsure of the color (even after living with the sample colors on his wall for several months), but am very pleased with the outcome.

My grandest ideas of getting both boys rooms finished were completely unrealistic, however. Each of them is to have a blue room with a red (for Tyler) and green (for Lucas) stripe running through the middle of the walls. I had thought that even if I could get just the blue walls finished, it would be easy to later go back and add the stripes. Well...we ended up finishing only Tyler's walls. Sorry, Lucas -- I promised we'll get your room next.

Tyler was SUPER surprised at the completion of his room. For the past three months he has been looking at two VERY large blue blobs on his wall (our sample colors to choose from). He knew he would eventually have a blue room, but we hadn't told him that he would be coming home to the blue room. He was really excited about it. And so was I. It is amazing how much painting a room changes the look of it. I think I need to plan for another time for Nana and Pap to take the boys so I can finish up my list of rooms. We already have the paint for Lucas' room, Master bed/bath, and Powder room but I think I'll be adding the boys bathrooms, the guest bathroom and study to that list as well...and maybe the playroom and living/dining room too. Wait...that's the whole house! Okay, sounds like a plan to me. :)

There are a few more details to add, including the red stripe, some kind of window treatments, and Tyler's name letters (which I still have not found since moving into this house) for above his bed. But, for now...here are some pictures of the mostly finished room.

A Fun Comparison of Ages: 1 Year

2009-05-16T19:57:00.011-04:00

I love to compare pictures of the boys at the same ages, to see how much (or how little) they really look alike.

I can't believe how similar all of these poses turned out. I remembered some from Tyler's first birthday pictures (and we totally planned the football pose, so Daddy can have pictures of Lucas with a football in his office too), but most of these were pure luck!

Tyler will always be on the left in these series:

Birthday Pictures

2009-05-16T18:56:00.008-04:00

OK...so you know from my last post that I've been a tiny bit stressed out about getting pictures of the boys. I've tried several times and have had little success with getting a shot of them both. Finally...a decent one! But not taken by me. :(

I had hoped to be able to become victorious in the battle of the wills, but after many unsuccessful attempts, I broke down, took them out and let someone else take the pictures.

While I really liked some of the shots that I took of Lucas for his birthday (at the Cherry Blossom Trees and the ones of took of him in his diaper and birthday hat), I really wanted some more traditional ones (like we had done with Tyler and the #1 block). We also have a cute set of Tyler playing with a football from his one-year shots, and Daddy wanted Lucas to have a matching set, so that he could put them in his office. Instead of trying another harrowing shoot myself, I decided to have someone else to do the shooting this time.

It wasn't an easy time getting the pictures, but we got some decent ones. The hardest to get (as always), were the ones of both of them together and believe it or not, we ended up with only two choices!!! We just couldn't get Lucas to sit still even long enough to shoot the pictures. :-) He's a fast little bugger!

And, there some other cute ones:

Just to show you how he LOVES to make funny faces!

Mother's Day

2009-05-15T15:44:00.006-04:00

I had a really nice Mother's Day with my boys and my own mother. Ya'll know how much I love, LOVE pictures! So, of course on Mother's Day, what would I want more than a picture with my little loves? Well...that is much easier said than done, with these two on-the-go little boys! :-)

If I am behind the camera and I work hard enough, I can normally manage at least one picture of them both smiling and kind of looking at the camera. However, when I am in the picture...it almost never happens. We probably took close to 30 pictures and these were the best...yeah, pretty sad! Oh well, at least they are both in the picture, right?

"alright guys...look at daddy."

OK...so at least they are both looking...now let's try for a smile!

Oh well...one out of two isn't so bad. Maybe I can do some of my famous head-swapping and "pretend" like we actually got a good one. :-)

We also tried to get a picture with us and Nana, too.
After the 30 previous tries, we were short on patience. But, we got a decent one.

And a couple of just Nana and the boys...

Les isn't really a cook, but he wanted to make us a nice brunch...so a friend name Wegman helped him out a little...they did a very nice job!

Thanks honey...for a very sweet Mother's Day!!

Picture Perfect

2009-05-10T16:13:00.000-04:00

...or almost. I have been trying SO hard to get a good picture of both the boys together. This is the best luck I have had so far. I really want to get to the point someday that I NEVER have to pay someone else to take pictures of the boys. It is a dream of mine to be a professional photographer someday. Even if I don't actually own my own studio, I'd like to be able to take professional quality pictures of our families and friends. Although, Lucas is becoming tough! It's not that he doesn't give up the smiles, because really, this kid is ALL smiles, almost all of the time. But, he is just SO on the move these days that I pose him and by the time I get set back up behind the camera and ready to snap the picture, here is no Lucas to even take a picture of. He is so stinkin' fast. And Tyler...well, I can normally bribe him easily enough to at least allow me to snap a few pictures...I just have to be ready and on my game, because he doesn't give up the smiles forever! Well, the smiles aren't really the problem as much as keeping him contained and giving me genuine smiles. They have been making silly faces in the mirrors at school lately and this is Tyler's new favorite game. I get a couple of good smiles and then he is on to making faces at me!

Lately my photo shoots have been really stressing me out, because I REALLY want a good picture of both of them to frame and hang in the house somewhere. We have finally gotten around to hanging some photos and I have been reminded of the fact that we missed out on the opportunity to have newborn pictures of Lucas taken. With him being born so early, we were a little hesistant to take him out to have these done early on, and then ended up waiting too long to have them done. This makes me sad not only because we don't have them for Lucas, but also because I DO have beautiful ones done for Tyler, but looking at them reminds me of the fact that I don't have them for Luke. So, I was hoping that having a really good picture of both of them would make me feel a little better about this. I am also hoping that during our beach trip this summer we can have some nice family beach photos taken.

Here are a few of the other photos taken during my little shoot. Tyler actually cooperated a little, and I did get a few cute ones of him by himself. Lucas, you ask?? Nope...he was too interested in trying to sneak down the hill to check out the pond. :)

Tyler found a caterpillar and let him crawl up on his hand.
But then, he got kind of freaked out by it!

He threw it and it landed on his shorts...if you look closely,
you can see it hanging from his left leg!

And, I just thought this was a sweet picture of them both.

OK, so that great elusive shot of the two of them is still out there...guess I'll just keep trying!

The Potty Training Chronicles...Success

2009-05-07T23:08:00.001-04:00

OK...so this little guy just has a mind of his own (hmm...wonder who he gets that from?). Today was a SUPER potty training day, but I know, I know...can't get my hopes up, because as I just said, he does have a mind of his own and today's success BY NO WAY means that I'm throwing out (figuratively speaking anyway...)all the diapers and pull-ups.

But...today Tyler had not one, but TWO great successes!! After a tiny pee-pee accident (just didn't get the pants pulled down in time (he's still learning that part), I had stripped him down to get a new pair of undies. While upstairs, I hear him yell "Mommy, Mommy!", very frantically. Yep...I knew what this meant. "Yes, Tyler...", I call down the stairs. "Mommy, I poopied." "Umm...where?" I ask, with slight hesitation. "In the potty!!" he YELLS, very excitedly. I didn't believe it and ran down to see if it could possibly be true. Yep...there is was, actually in the potty. I truly couldn't believe it. And it wasn't one of his small attempts either. He actually went completely in the potty! Since it had been such a long time since he had done this for us, I had reposessed nearly all of his CARS. Normally, he only gets one car for each success, but because we were SO PROUD of him for doing this all by himself (he never even mentioned he needed to go), we gave them all back. As you can see...this made him very happy. Hopefully happy enough to remember to go poopy in the potty!

Later in the evening, we are again playing downstairs and all of the sudden he stops playing with his trains and announces he needs to go poopy, and starts running to the bathroom. This time he did have underwear on, but he was able to pull them, get on the potty and go down all by himself! I did have an accident to clean up though, as he was so concentrated on going poopy, that he forgot to aim down into the potty to go pee-pee!! Oh well...it is a process, right? I have given up on the though of this happening quickly (yep, we are into our 5th week of potty training). Now, I'm just wondering if maybe we can get it down by the time he turns 3. I know...that is only 4 weeks away. So maybe my goal should be mid-summer, as we HAVE to have this mastered by September, in order to attend his new pre-school!