Baby Bryce is One!

On the 16th we celebrated Baby Bryce's First Birthday!  It's hard to believe he's already one, until you pick him up, he's definitely a big boy!  The theme was "Little Man" and there were mustaches everywhere!

The kids enjoyed playing and bouncing, and everyone had a great time!

As always, the cake was the highlight!

He wanted that flame!

The birthday boy blew kisses to the camera when he posed with us!

Bryce sat happily while Brayden and all of their cousins helped open the gifts!

To Tyler at Two and a Half

Tyler,

You are such an amazing little boy and turning into a big boy so quickly!  Your language has taken off in the last month.  You are talking almost completely in full sentences now.  Your cutest new words include: disgusting (said with much enthusiasm), really (pronounced weally and said earnestly), and when asked what a turkey says, you answer "Dobble, Dobble" (very mater-of-factly.)  You love to tease, and you announce that now.  "Mommy, you bad-bad!  ...  Teasing!"  You introduce me to people, even though they already know me, like Ms. Sue, and Jenn, Dylan's mom, "This my Mommy."  as you give me a little pat, like you are proud of me.  I love it.  Yesterday you introduced Aunt Jenny to everyone at Grandaddy's house for the Redskins game, starting with the dogs, "That's Riggs.  That's Beau-Beau, Beau-Beau-Bear."  You give kisses and hugs pretty quickly these days and everyone loves it!  You are imaginative, have a long attention span, and are fairly patient; you'll wait your turn when asked to and give people a chance to do something you've requested before asking repeatedly.  When you ask for something, and are told no, you barrage us with, "Please! p.l.e.a.s.e.  PLEASE! PLEASE!!!" in all different manners of urgency, hoping to get us to cave.  It works on Timmy better then on your dad and I.  You love running errands with Daddy and have been accompanying him to Toys R Us pretty often these days.  You wander around showing him toys, but not only have you not begged him for anything yet, you've also turned down his offers to buy you something.  You don't argue about going to school any more, and you haven't cried at drop off in weeks.  Even when you weren't happy about being left at school, you would run to Ms Sue when she opened the door and give her a huge hug.  When Jenn picks you up after school you run to her and give her a big hug too.  You have friends that you clearly care about seeing and you frequently ask about: Brayden, Dylan, and Stella, who you will agree is your girlfriend when asked.  You sit at the table most of the time while Timmy does his homework and you color in your book and try to get your mark on Timmy's papers!  You like to eat proteins and carbs, but that's it!  Your grumpiness has faded a lot and really only shows up during the morning rush.  You still don't like to walk up the stairs on your own, especially when you are tired, "Pick me up!" you demand.  You refuse to take even one step and I regularly have to make two trips when I have stuff to carry, just to come back for you!  You are a creature of habit, in the morning's when I ask you if you want Chocolate Milk, you tell me, "and vitamins!" In the evenings when I tell you it's time to go to bed, you mime brushing and say, "Teeth! Teeth! And Water!"  Once you are both ready for bed, it's your self-appointed job to turn the lights out.  Then you run at Timmy full steam and tackle-hug him while laughing your head off.  It's not Timmy's favorite game, but I've told him you're just loving on him.  Once you are both standing again, you dance around together like maniacs, watching your shadows from the nightlight dance on the closet doors.  I love it.  I love you, my sweet Ty-guy.

Halloween 2013

Halloween was a blast again this year.  Our first costumed event was last Sunday at a neighborhood block party.  The kids decorated a goody bag, did a mini scavenger hunt, played tug-of-war with the spider web decorations, and of course played some version of good guys and bad guys.

We had planned on Tyler being a TMNT too, however, the costume I bought him did not fit.  Daddy came to the rescue and took him costume shopping at the last minute.  Tyler was quite pleased with his Iron Man costume and joined in the fun as soon as he arrived.

 Wednesday evening we decorated our pumpkins.  Timmy was very interested in it this year, his class has been learning all about pumpkins for a few weeks now.  He managed to clean out the inside of the pumpkin without really touching it, he is still part mine!  Tyler was not interested in the cleaning of the pumpkin at all!

look at that face!

Tyler was more interested when it came time to decorating the pumpkins.  Timmy helped carve it, pull the pieces out, and put the teeth in.

slightly more interested, anyways...

On Halloween we were all invited to a party at one of Timmy's classmates houses.  Which meant it was time to get ready almost right after school!

The party was really fun!  Stephanie had food in the front of the house and Spooky Land in the back, complete with witches, werewolves, and fortune tellers all handing out candy!  Nate and Dylan were there as well, which was super exciting.

Tyler unmasked himself dozens of times, "It's me!"

Authentic TMNT food!

After the party we headed to Grandad and Susan's for dinner and trick or treating with Brayden and Bryce.  I was more upset that we didn't have four Ninja Turtles then Tyler was, so everything worked out just fine!

This little Ninja Turtle crawled away!

The kids loved trick-or-treating, but Timmy definitely had the most stamina!  He kept going for a few more blocks after Iron Man caught a ride on Daddy's shoulders and the other Ninja Turtles crawled into the wagon!

We wrapped up the evening at Grammy and Pawpaw's with a few more neighbors to trick-or-treat.  By the pile of candy in the kitchen, I'd say the night was a success!

I woke up to find this awesome surprise in my email, a mom who coaches the after school dance club is a parent in Timmy's class.  She came in and taught the kids "Thriller" yesterday!  Timmy starts out towards the back left of the screen, then cuts across to the right hand side, threatening to go entirely off screen.  He just happened to be wearing a mummy shirt yesterday too, fittingly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Sio4rxefg&feature=youtu.be