Godfather

The main reason that we traveled home this weekend was to meet a very special little girl and Dan had the honor of becoming her godfather. Leah is our neice and joined the family on October 28th. She is beautiful.



This is probably going to end up being a double post, once on Sara's blog and here. But, Leah is special enough for a double post. Here she is in black and white taking a quick nap before her baptism ceremony.





I'm not sure which of these pictures I like better so I'm posting this one too. I find the differences in the picture really interesting. She's so peaceful. Sara, the bonnet you made frames her little face perfectly.



The ceremony was done during mass and was really nice being the day after Christmas. Here are the proud parents and godparents, with a couple of extra neices thrown in. Leah's godmother is a special friend of Sara's from High School.

Dan had some special time with Leah when we got home from the church. She seems to like his shoulder.

Here is the real reason this post is late... I forgot my camera cord so I couldn't access these pictures. Thanks to Sara, I have them now and can share.

Do you know how hard it is to get a good picture of 5 kids?? Well, I do! I still don't know which picture is the best. In every one there is a kid that looks good and another that doesn't look so good. I think they all look decent in this one. The feet make the picture Nora!

Then we tried for a whole family shot. I think we did pretty good. There sure are a lot of us.

Smile!

Alisa, those socks give me chills. I don't know how you wear those...

First Steps??

Not really... but kind of...

Tonight I sat on the floor of the kitchen, helped Ryan balance and then let go. He took 3 to 4 steps toward me without holding on to anything until he was close enough to "fall" into me. He did this a couple of times. So, I guess it doesn't really count. Oh well, I'm sure he'll be walking soon enough.

Here here is this evening.

Keep practicing Ry...

Crazy!

Yesterday we received a new dumping of snow. We've had a fair amount of snow so far this season, but had not yet spent any time playing in it despite Tyler's repeated requests for a snowman. Guilt got the better of me this morning so I told Ty that if he got ready early we would build a snowman before school.

Well, I learned a valuable lesson. Don't promise a snowman unless you've already tested the snow to make sure it is packable. This snow was not packable.

I decided that I didn't want to disappoint my boy so Dan agreed to locate the sled. Yup, that's right. At 7:00am this morning, before it was light, and still a chilly 8 degrees, Tyler and I were at the park making tracks in the new snow. I have to admit that it was a lot of fun. So sorry to those still sleeping in nearby houses... we couldn't help ourselves.

But then I got to work and realized I was wet. Very wet.

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Eve Tyler put out the reindeer food, set out the cookies and went to bed in plenty of time for Santa's arrival. You could feel his anticipation.

For the first time since Tyler has been old enough to enjoy the day, we woke up in our own home and had time to savor the morning. The boys had a blast opening their gifts. Santa brought bakugan, a zhu zhu pet, a hot wheels track, a power wheels, movies and so much more. These boys must have been very good this year. Tyler's favorite gift ended up being the My First Craftsman Pressure Washer. I'm still shaking my head.

Here is Tyler with his favorite toy.



Ryan loved Tyler's power wheels. We had a tough time taking his attention from it.

So, we gave him a turn. This could be trouble in the summer.

Then it was time to head out to Grandma and Grandpa Cs. Santa stopped there as well and left all sorts of goodies. Here is Tyler with a My First Craftsman Engine.

This is my favorite gift... it holds 120 Hot Wheels cars on the back of a door. I love organization!!

Ryan was having a great time as well, but it was more with the packaging than anything else. This bag was a big hit!

Whoops! Where did Ryan go?? Yes, he did this to himself.

We then went out to dinner. I've never gone out to eat on a major holiday before so it felt a little weird, but it was nice not to have to cook anything!!

After having a nice afternoon, we loaded up the boys and headed to Grandma and Grandpa Ws where there were cousins waiting!! Woo Hoo!!

This was the scene at about 9pm on Christmas night. It was Tyler's third round of presents and he was quite pleased.

All in all, it was a great holiday! Now it is time to find room for all the stuff... so much stuff...

Transportation Cookies

Christmas brings out the domestic side of Tyler. I must have done a good job of baking during the holiday season in previous years because Tyler was insistent that we do it this year. I have been seriously slacking.

I came home from work on Tuesday and Tyler came running into the kitchen begging to make fudge. I really wasn't into it and Ty could tell. "Please mama" he begged "if we can make fudge you can have all of my chocolate." How could I say no? We made fudge that night.

And, when we were done, he asked if we could make cut-out cookies. Ugh! I had already given myself permission to skip the cut-out cookies. They are so much work. But, here was this boy with such hope in his eyes. I told him we'd see if there was time on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve came and Tyler had not forgotten. The minute I walked in the house he was there asking if there was time. Not wanting to disappoint him, I pulled out my metal cookie cutters in wonderful Christmas shapes and right away Tyler said he didn't want those. He pointed to the cabinet where I keep the huge bin of plastic cookie cutters. I pulled them down and he started digging for the shapes he wanted. Here were his choices...


Yes, those are transportation themed cookie cutters. It seems that our "Christmas" cookies would be shaped like trains, airplanes, trucks, cars and fire trucks. This was his show so I let him have his choice.

Here he is cutting out his shapes. I wonder if I'll ever have cookies shaped like trees, stars, stockings and gingerbread people again...

Tyler didn't like my method of doing a whole bunch of one shape before moving on to the next...

He was very serious about his sprinkles.

The end result was a nice looking batch of vehicles. And one happy boy.

Yum!

I hope Santa enjoyed them.

Polar Express

All Aboard!

Last night, at 7pm, we boarded The Polar Express train with our friends (everything is better with friends). We've been looking forward to this night for months. I didn't realize how much Tyler was looking forward to it until he was talking to Grandma W Friday night. He was very animated in his description of all that was going to happen. I was worried he was going to be disappointed so I tried explaining that this was a real train. He wasn't getting it.

We arrived at the depot early. The boys passed the time watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" while the parents discussed our strategy. Luckily, the railroad had things under control so all went well. The depot itself was beautiful and huge. I wish I could go back in time to see it when it was first built. The heated wooden benches were gorgeous and there was marble everywhere.

Our friends really had it together and wore coordinating pajamas. Our family... not so much! I thought about it, but I enjoy my marriage so I abandoned that idea. They looked great!

Tyler was so excited. I can still feel his joy just looking at this picture. When we first got on the train Tyler announced that the train was going to slide on ice. Once again, fearing his disappointment, I told Tyler that not everything that happened in the movie was going to happen that night. When we arrived at the North Pole the train jerked and made an odd sound. Somebody in our car said we were stuck on ice. Tyler turned to me and said "we're on ice. I told you!"

Here is my proof that I was there. Ryan only took 2 really short naps during the day and the train left the depot at about his bedtime so we were concerned about how he was going to handle it. But, he did really well. This picture was taken at 8:30pm. He couldn't get enough of all that was going on around him. The female elves were especially interesting. He's quite the flirt.

Here are my boys having fun together.

The railroad did a really nice job. Before loading the train, the elves jumped up on the benches and lead the crowd in some Christmas carols. This elf is Jingle. There were countless elves running through the train, chatting with the kids, playing games, and singing songs.

The hobo even made an appearance.

And, of course, the conductor.

Finally we arrived at the North Pole. The boys were glued to the window as Santa presented the first gift of Christmas.

Then the big man himself came on the train for the ride back and sat with each child individually, giving them each a bell from his sleigh.

It was a magical experience complete with cookies and hot chocolate waiting for us in the depot when we got off the train.

Then it was back to the hotel... an adventure in itself! Everything is better in a hotel according to Tyler. Even Ryan enjoyed exploring the room. At 10:20pm it was finally time to turn out the lights and I was very much looking forward to some sleep. It was very dark in the room. After 30 seconds of peaceful silence, Dan said "he's standing up." I put on my glasses, looked toward Ryan's crib at the foot of my bed and then turned on the light. Sure enough, there he was standing up with a huge grin on his face. He should have been exhausted!! Luckily I was able to lay him back down, tuck him in and he didn't get back up. Crazy kid!

This morning I was awake with both boys very early. Tyler told me he was hungry so I said that I brought some cereal. "No" he said, "I want their cereal because it is tastier." "What?" I asked and he answered "it is hotelier." Ha! Yup, everything is better in a hotel, even cereal.

We did have a nice breakfast and headed to the pool. Both boys had a wonderful time in the water, but I think this smile says it best.

All good things must come to an end and this weekend was no exception. It was no surprise that Tyler didn't want to leave. We had to take some pictures of the room so that he could look at them later. Here is Tyler's memory picture.

We're home now and the boys are tucked into bed fast asleep. This ornament now hangs on our tree and will remind us every year of our ride on the Polar Express.

Our Tree

Two years ago we joined Aunt Debbie, Uncle Tom, Tori and Mia to cut down our tree. We started with breakfast and then drove out to the fields. We had a perfect day for tree hunting with lots of sledding along the way. This was a grand tree adventure. Tyler had just turned 3.

Last year Dan and Tyler picked out our tree while I was home with Ryan. There was no drama.

This year Dan and I decided that we were running out of time so we would just buy a cut tree on Sunday. Tyler was so excited to get the tree that he couldn't sit still. I was in the truck with the boys while Dan was locking up the house when Tyler asked if I thought they would have snow. That was when I realized he thought we were going on the grand tree adventure. I told him that this year we were going to buy a tree that was already cut. Tyler burst in to tears. I shouldn't have been surprised that he has clear memories of two years ago, but it never occurred to me that he would have those expectations. My heart actually hurt for him.

Some day he'll be mad at me because of this picture.


We really are running out of time so rescheduling was not an option. Luckily there is a place not too far from our house where you can cut down a tree. Somehow this was acceptable for Ty. We passed all of the perfect pre-cut trees, tromped through the muddy fields and tried to find the best of the remaining scraggly trees. The trees were beautiful to Tyler.

Here he is with Ryan in front of our tree.

Timber! Nice job Daddy!

After the tree was wrapped up, we stopped to check in with Santa. There was one thing Tyler forgot to tell him at the party...

Dan has started a demolition project in one our rooms so the stuff from that room is dispersed throughout the rest of the house. This means there is no room for the tree! We got creative and squeezed it into the dining room.

Tyler had a grand time decorating the tree last night... sort of... he actually spent the time collecting all the "boy" ornaments to play with. I had no idea how many ornaments we have with wheels or wings or that make noise or light up! I know now!

The tree doesn't look fully decorated in this picture, but it is and looks really nice with everything turned on. We're already ahead of last year!

Here's another Tyler funny - On Monday I dropped the boys off at school. I had a feeling that something wasn't quite right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. As I was settling Ryan in his room I realized that I forgot their blankets. Grrr! The school has extra blankets, but I like my boys to have a bit of home for nap time. I told Tyler we had to hurry up because I needed to go home to get the blankets. He asked if he could come with me so I told him he could, but we needed to run. After thinking about it for a moment, he asked why we couldn't take the car. Ha! He sure does keep me on my toes!

Play Silks

Sometimes I get ideas that I should ignore. Unfortunately I usually don't. This is one of those ideas that should have just gone away.

I came across directions for making play silks using kool-aid. It sounded like something that Tyler and I could do together so I decided to give it a shot.

You start with plain silk.


And soak it. In a vinegar and water solution. I hate vinegar with a passion. It stinks. Really bad.

Then you put the silk in a vinegar, water and kool-aid solution. And, microwave it for 3 minutes. Let it sit for 3 minutes. Do that two more times.

Then hang dry.

Then wash. You are supposed to iron them. But, I don't iron.

The end result is some pretty fabric, two hours of my life gone, a stinky house plus a sink full of dishes. And, 6 more white silks!!

The good news is that Tyler had a blast.

That picture is him pretending to be a superhero. Did you notice that he's using a plain silk?? Thanks Ty.

Seriously, the boys did have a good time with them all weekend. They're great for peek-a-boo, using as parachutes, adding to the Thomas tent, hanging off of the refrigerator. But not worth two hours, a stinky house and a sink full of dishes. Did I mention that I hate vinegar?? This project didn't help.

I hope I learned my lesson. I probably didn't.

FIVE

Tyler is officially five years old today. FIVE!!

It doesn't seem possible that in this short period of time a person can go from this...




To this... my special boy who brings me daily smiles, joy, love... aggravation and frustration all at the same time. I couldn't imagine my life without him.

He's so grown up. He leaped out of bed this morning and told me that he knows how to turn on the kind of lamps we have in the living room. Rather random...

He got to pick one present to open before school. He picked the box with the batman wrapping paper. He's not a dummy! There were actually two presents in that paper, but he can identify clothes. Ty was quite pleased with his choice telling us that the bat mobile is the best birthday present ever. Nice job Aunt Donna!

Uncle Dave called tonight and teased Tyler asking him if was sure he was 4. Tyler said "my birthday is on Thursday, and today is Thursday, so I'm 5." Very logical.

Tonight we had Ty's favorite dinner... tortellini with butter and Parmesan cheese. Then it was time for the rest of his presents.

Tyler, you had better hurry up... Ryan found the presents!!

We had some silly moments...

And then cake.

Unfortunately we had a couple of "incidents" with the candles. I turned off the lights, we (I) sang happy birthday and as Tyler went to blow out the candles, his hat landed on the cake! I had visions of the hat catching fire and then spreading, but luckily that didn't happen. After rescuing the hat, and re-lighting the candles, Tyler bent down to blow the candles out again... and got a bit too close! Oops! I don't think he actually got burnt, but it scared him pretty good.

I read an article today about the number of Saturdays you have in a lifetime and then figured out that I have 676 Saturdays left with Tyler before he turns 18. (Yes, there is something wrong with me.) I intend to treasure this time and hope that it doesn't go as fast as the last five years.

I have to share more thing... on Tuesday, Tyler and Ryan came home to a large package waiting for them on the back porch. There was a note telling them to open it on December 1st. They did and discovered this beautiful Noah's Ark Advent Calendar.

Each day a door is opened to reveal an animal. On Tuesday, Tyler discovered a sheep. On Wednesday, a chicken. And today, a monkey (how fitting). He is loving the ark. I don't think Noah ever expected to become an action figure, but that is what has happened. Unfortunately, mommy has to play the part of the animal. "Baaa, I want some graaaaass."

I love the ark too. The boys will have a Christmas tradition to treasure... and I don't have to find a home for another toy!! Thank you Aunt Debbie, Uncle Tom, Tori & Mia!! It is a hit all around.