18 Months

Miss Thing!! Lets just say she has a Tude on her, thinks she is always in control, and wants to be the center of EVERYONE'S attention. It is amazing to me how defiant she already is. I did not think a child of 18 months could possess the skill of manipulation. She will look you in the face, laugh, and then do something she knows is wrong! Or she will try and fake you out, like when she is taking a bath and is supposed to be sitting down and half way sits, like we don't know the difference!!

But isn't she Precious and Adorable all at the same time!

Kaitlyn is such a tomboy and very, very, messy! I Zout her clothes still on a daily basis. The worst is when she puts her hands in her hair, ugh!! She loves Thomas and Dora and has a Dora doll she sleeps with every night. Since she worships Tyler she wants to play and do anything he does. Although she likes to wear bows and pink and points to girly things and says pretty. She likes to hug dolls although she really does not play with them to much which is fine with me.

She is such a fun baby! She loves to rough house and can hold her own, thanks to her big bro T! She is such a momma's girl, which is a good and bad thing. Tyler just wanted anyone to give him attention at this age, but from the moment Kaitlyn gets up it's "momma,momma". She is a smart girl and knows where it's at! Luckily she warms up quickly to others, as long as I leave the room that is! I am amazed at how smart she is! She picks up on everything. She can count to 3. This is because I am always counting to 3 before T gets in trouble. One day I said one, and she finished the rest. It was so funny! She repeats everything I say and her most common phrase is " I want ....". She is a sweet spirit and I am so blessed to have her as my daughter.

October in a nutshell

A pic of David Celebrating his Birthday! Lets not forget to mention him passing his Comprehensive exams!!! It has been a rough month, but well worth it in the end!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch. Tyler loves pumpkins. He got to pick a pumpkin at during his Pre School field trip and carried that thing everywhere including daddy's work.


Gotta love a girl and her boots!

Fun at the Magic House!
GO MIZZOU! We won the Homecoming game against Oklahoma!!!!




Trunk or Treat at Church. Best invention ever, much easier than going to random people's houses begging for candy! We had a great time with good friends from my work!

Our tame little Lion. I can't believe she left her costume on the entire time!

Tyler and his friend Pryce. In case you can't tell T is a snugly bear. Not as manly as Spiderman, but since a good friend let us borrow the costumes we went with it and they both looked great :)
We dressed up for a Halloween Party, fun!!! My friend Becky has actually been to China so the costumes were authentic!

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

Preschool!

Tyler before School.



He is not too sure of Preschool once he gets there! He ended up having a good day after all!


Lets just face it! I am not good at blogging! You must think we live a totally boring life because I never update the blog! Well, I would be a horrible mother if I did not document one of Tyler's milestones, Preschool!!

I have been dedicating time each day to Tyler's education. It has been rewarding and challenging all at the same time. I have enjoyed the one on one time and enjoy seeing Tyler's progress first hand after he has developed a new skill. If Tyler would focus and keep his attention on me during our whole lessons he would be a genius by now, he is very smart! Although he can get distracted very easily, being creative is the key I have found. Plus it is way more fun that way!

Tyler has a fabulous daycare provider who we are so blessed to have in our lives. I feel like Tyler has learned so much from her boys and their examples. He seems to do well there and gets along with the other children. Although when he is around me in a playgroup setting, etc his behavior is not always the best. I understand that he is 3 but I also know he is at an age where he can control his behavior somewhat. Tyler has always been social, he has social skills, I am not sure if they are good social skills, but he is very social!

I feel excited and blessed that Tyler has the opportunity to go to Preschool this year! They will be working on interacting with each other, making decisions, letter sounds and reading, and writing their name,etc. Today they are on a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch! They use positive reinforcements and acknowledge children that are doing well in order to teach each other good behavior. I went a little early the other day and was amazed at how good all the children were!

It is hard for me to imagine Tyler sitting quietly and following directions for an extended period of time! This experience has opened my eyes to realizing what he is capable of and I hope he enjoys learning and the friendships he develops during the years to come.

Tyler loves to do puzzles!
I am impressed at the structures he can come up with!

Family Pics!

I am sure most of you have already seen these on FB but I thought I would just post a couple of them on the blog as well as I am just now learning how to make a collage!!!

It has been exactly one year to the day of our last family photo's which amazed me when I realized this. The kids birthday's were back in May and I was wanting to get their pictures done around then. I guess it takes me quite some time to get my act together and actually get the pics done! You would think I would have learned from last year and planned better! I was so disappointed to see I was not only a slacker last year but this year as well.
It is always such drama to get pictures done. First you have to find outfits, then plan schedules, hope the weather cooperates, make sure the kids don' t have any bruises, etc, etc! This year we of course had many bumps in the road but the mission was accomplished!! The pictures are completed.
A wonderful friend of mine offered her time and talent to take the pictures. I called her last minute and she was more than happy to take them. Talk about a true friend! We had an apt with a photographer but we decided to cancel due to the cloudy skies and high percentage to rain. Around 3pm it had cleared up the skies were blue. Our photographer was unavailable so I really did appreciate Emily's efforts! I was so ready to just get the pictures done and off my check list!!! Emily did a great job considering she had two children to work with that don't smile on command! David and I were not planning on getting in on the pics but we did stand in on few. They turned out great and I treasure pictures of my Children. They bring me so much joy and I could look at them all day long!!! A Lot of effort but well worth it!!

A Few Of Our Projects

Fun TuTu I made for Kaitlyn to wear when I get her pictures taken some day, lol! She can wear it to dress up with and maybe even for Halloween this year!

Crown molding before shot

Crown molding after shot.
Fun necklace to spice it up
Hair bows and such. Flowers on shirts, in your hair, it is all the rage right now!

This is not the exact dresser because I forgot to take a before pic. It looks almost identical though, it even has the same hardware.
Dresser after pic. I just wanted to change things around in our room for a more updated look. I wish I had an interior decorator to mix it up most days!

TV stand before pic. This is just a cheap piece of furniture from Wal Mart that I practiced on before I did the dresser. It did not take the paint as well since the whole thing is not real wood, but it turned out ok. Good thing it is in a corner where no one looks!

I also have a chair I got at Goodwill for $5.oo that I am going to refinish and put in the room. I may also do a picture frame to match the furniture while I am at it.

7 Years Latter

Once again my husband has out did himself! I came home from work and there was a thoughtful note waiting for me at the door. Then I opened the door and this is what awaited me!

Not sure if you can see this or not. It is a menu for the dinner we had. He came up with this clever idea to randomly make dinner for me 7 times and the meals are to correspond to the 7 years we have been married. He always comes up with the most ingenious ideas! For year one we had STL style bbq'ed ribs due to the fact we lived in STL at the time. He also had ocean waves playing since we were at the ocean that year. Then at the bottom of the menu he had fun facts which included popular songs such as "Shake Your Tail Feather"Nelly, who is a STL native, ha ha.
I am so glad it still feels like we got married yesterday and that we have 2 wonderful kids to share with one another.

15 Months and I'll Walk When I Want To!

My baby is barely a baby any more!! She is getting closer and closer to becoming a toddler. We will officially call her a toddler once she starts to walk a little more though! Kaitlyn has a personality nothing like Tyler! It does not matter if you tell her no or take something away from her, she is bound a determined to go back to what she was doing or will continue to grab at things until she wins! She can walk, although only performs if there is someone new to impress. If it is easier to walk somewhere she will amuse us and walk a few steps as well. She is more advanced in her fine motor skills and speech than Tyler was at this age, which I guess makes up for the fact she is not walking much. She has started to say new words more frequently such as up, yuck,milk, etc. I am amazed that at such an early age she will already zone out to the TV! Tyler still is not much of a TV watcher and will even turn it off when he is done (5-10 min later). She continues to ADORE Tyler and loves to by right by his side always. It is still hard to believe I have a blond headed child! She is such a pretty girl and I tell her that often!

Kaitlyn's favorite past time. She loves for Tyler to push her around in this thing. This is a must have toy for all kids. In fact, I wish I had 2 of them since it seems all the kids fight over who's turn it is during play dates!

Kaitlyn is finally 20lbs so we were able to turn her around, yeah! She was a little scared at first, but loves it now!

This girl loves to bounce! She climbs on my bed and bounces and loves to get in the hiking back pack and bounce around while David cuts the lawn. It is so adorable!

Swimming is Kaitlyn's favorite past time. She will just lay there and wait for you to put her swim suit on instead of squirming around like when I change her clothes! She even kept her life jacket on when I said she needed it to swim! Don't worry, we had a smaller one for her. I just wanted to try this one on for fun.

Lake Visit

David spent every summer at the Lake with his family and cousins. He often recounts memories of swimming, boating, water skiing, and of course UNO games! He has never admitted that he has lost a match and was thrown in the lake though! Anyways, we were lucky enough to be able to spend time at the Lake of the Ozarks with my family and friends. David's family was very gracious to let us stay there and we thank them!
I was so pleased David said he had a relaxing time at the lake. That is not an easy feat with small children running around! My wonderful husband let me have the first night to spend with friends, which was very enjoyable :) The next day we spent time with my family and made wonderful memories! It is nice to have a gathering place away from home where you can relax and enjoy time together!

Mom and Neil enjoying the view.

Umm, where are the kiddo's?

Tyler loved the lake! It was like a giant wave pool. I was very nervous, but he is fearless. Kaitlyn really did not know what to think! She just held on TIGHT for the ride. This is the first time the kids have been in a lake and the first time in forever I have been swimming in non chlorinated water in quite some time!
Devin, Sang, and Chase getting ready to be hit by the waves!

Devin and Neil decided to go on a Zorb ride or something like that. You ride in this ball down a steep hill and they fill it with water so you end up soaked at the end. Interesting....

Best Buds! These cousins always have a blast together!

Three is a magical number

Um, no! I am not pregnant! I say 3 is a magical number because right at age 3 Tyler potty trained. I had so so so so many mothers tell me just wait until he is 3 and it will happen. As you know, Tyler is not ordinary by any means and does not fall into the usual category so I was a little skeptical. But sure enough, a few days before his 3rd Bday I let him run naked, a few accidents later, and he is potty trained! At first he would have accidents while playing with friends or if we were out of the house. But he has been telling me when he has to go while swimming and playing with friends, so I think he is good! He still has accidents at day care for some reason, so I am really trying to remind him over and over about this. You don't realize how nice it is to not change a diaper until you don't have to. It is so AWESOME!!! I hope, pray, hope, pray Kaitlyn potty trains earlier than Tyler. It would be so so nice ;)



Kaitlyn continues to be our little doll, princess, cutie pie, etc! She has started to say words and is very aware of her environment and is absorbing so much. She climbs all over the place, crab crawls, and scoots. She will take 4-8 steps if she feels like it and then she is back to crawling. At least we know she has the ability to walk if she one day decides that would be a better means of transportation!



I know I have been HORRIBLE about blogging lately! We have had a wonderful summer. It has been hot and sunny most days which makes for fun play dates and time at the pool. We have also been to 2 water parks which have been a blast. We are always on the go, I am just not to good at journaling about it. Here are a few pics from the times I did have my camera.


Here is a pic of my BEAUTIFUL, TALENTED, SMART niece Claire. We were so happy to be at her baptism last month and spend time with family.

Swimming lessons were the best money spent this summer by far! Tyler has always been so timid in the water and actually cried when we gave him a bath for the first year of his life! After swimming lessons he has been fearless and will actually get his head wet and go under water. He kind of makes me nervous with his new found freedom but I am glad he is able to enjoy himself more at the pool! His poor swim teacher really had her hands full with Tyler. He kept jumping off the side step when it was not his turn and was trying to push the other kids in the water. Well that is just a few instances let say! Don't worry, that will never happen again ;)

Fourth of July weekend was a blast. We spent time at Grandma and Grandpa's and swam at their pool, David and I completed a 4 mi run together, we had 2 dinners with friends and fireworks, we completed crown molding in our bedroom, and I refinished a TV stand (pics to come later). It was a relaxing weekend and we enjoyed the freedom to spend time with friends and family.

(Love this pic!)

(All American Girl!)

I just added this one b/c I thought it was cute that Tyler wanted Kaitlyn to sit right next to him at breakfast. Hopefully they will remain good friends for life!