night-night with baby

I think Tatum got 5 new babies for Christmas and she loves all of them. She took a pretend "night-night" with one of her babies on Ty's bed. She told me, "night-night, light off, bye-bye mommy." I think she laid in there for 10 minutes with the light off.

Christmas part 2, 3, 4 and 5

We had several Christmas celebrations this year. We hosted the Swapp Family for Christmas Eve. We had a great time and Ty had fun playing with Addison. I am so bummed that I was to busy to take any pictures. It was the first time in 29 years that I didn't celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We weren't supposed to see my family on Christmas Eve or Christmas but my dad surprised us on the 24th for a visit and then my parents came up on Christmas morning for a surprise visit, there's just something about seeing my parents on Christmas that made me so happy. We went to Pat's dad's house for a wonderful breakfast that his step-mom made and present opening on Christmas morning, my parents surprised us and came to see the kids, then we went to Pat's Aunt's house on his mom's side of the family the rest of the day. We had a great time seeing all of the relatives and ate some delicous food. I think I gained at least 5 pounds.The pictures are in reverse order in which they happened.

Ty and Charlie were obsessed with looking at the moon.

Ty with his great uncle Dave.

Tatum and Della watching Caillou. This was the only way for me to get a break from holding Tatum all night, she wouldn't let me put her down.

I am not sure who put the boys on the pool table, but they sure had fun.

Tatum and Great Aunt Chrissi.

Grandma Maggie, Taters, Great Aunt Mary

Papa Tom holding Tatum...it was a shock to see Tatum just laying their on his lap, this girl doesn't not stop moving (unless she is watching Caillou of course!)

Consoling Ty and trying to explain to him that there are no more presents for him.

This is Ty's favorite present from Santa, Handy Manny fix-it motorcycle.

Ty opening his first present from Santa. When your three year old tells Santa that he wants a huge train for Christmas and you don't get it for him, you might be in trouble. Every present he opened, he said, "I hope this is my big train, maybe it's the next one." I just assumed that Ty told Santa what he wanted and forgot what he told him...nope, he remembers everything!

Ty putting out the cookies and glass of water for Santa. Pat was trying to convince Ty that Santa might want a beer waiting for him but Ty thought water was a better idea.

Ty wearing the stockings.

Ty enjoying the view from Grandma Maggie's house.

Both Ty and Tatum got ponies but they soon had to be taken away because Ty was using it like a bat or hitting Tatum with it.

I am not sure who looks cuter...

in a tutu.

Ty

OR

Tatum?

Christmas at my parents

We celebrated Christmas with my parents, sister's family and grandparents today. My mom made a wonderful brunch and then the kids enjoyed opening presents...I did too! I am bummed that I didn't take many pictures this year but I got a few to share.

Tatum being fed as usual by my mom.

My nephew Kaeden opening his present

Ty showing his Old Papa all of the presents.

dressed and ready to go

We headed to my parents today to celebrate Christmas and I thought I should get a picture of the kids before they spilled on themselves or looked to tired.

Yep, I am cute!

Thanks to Tatum's two Great Aunts, Chrissi and Mary, Tatum is ready to party in her little red skirt and her sparkly red shoes!

decorating the tree

That's the tree before we fluff it.

Ty admiring his Christmas tree. He was trying to smell it...

Staring at the ornaments. He did a really good job of not touching them after I put everything up.

We have a fake tree but it doesn't matter to Ty. He was so excited to put up our tree. It was such a magical family moment, ha! Trying to put the lights and ornaments on a tree while you have a 1 and 3 year old trying to grab ornaments, wrap themselves up in the string of lights, while I am shouting, NO at them, it couldn't get any better than that. I finally put a show on for Tatum and that kept her occupied and I quickly put up the lights and ornaments while Ty watched.

a little snow

Last night it snowed and I thought we better play in it right then because it might not be there in the morning. Ty loved shoveling the snow off the driveway and Tatum was very fascinated with the snow. She could barely move with all of her snow gear on.

A mess

Pat and I were getting ready on Thursday for our weekend away in San Francisco and the kids were quietly playing in Tatum's room...this is what we walked in on. They emptied Tatum's drawers and Ty's response was, "Oh sorry mom, it was an accident."

I want to dress like a mommy

Both of my kids were wearing my vest yesterday and when it came time for Ty's turn, he said, "I want to dress like a mommy too!" And then he ended up hiding in my vest.

november randomness.

I thought that I would blog more now that volleyball is over but I seem to be just as busy with parent-teacher conferences, family, and holidays. Ty had a family birthday party and then last week he invited a few of his friends (Ben, Riley and Addison) over for a little birthday celebration...it was pretty much like a play date with cupcakes with red frosting.

Tatum and Ben

Riley and Ty

Addison loving that cupcake!




Last Wednesday my kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving Feast where they dressed up like pilgrims. Pat had an early release day so he brought the kids over to mommy's classroom to join us. Of course, Tatum loved all of the food.

Tatum immediately befriended this little girl in my class because she kept feeding her!

Ty enjoying some pumpkin pie.

The kids love playing "ghosts."

This was Tatum right before she ran into the wall...I forgot to stop her because I was too busy taking pictures.

Seriously, can these two be any cuter together? They love each other so much.

This melts my heart!

Dear Ty,

Dear Ty,
Happy 3rd Birthday! We love you so much! We can't believe what a big boy you are now. You amaze us at what you know and how quickly you will learn something. It took two weeks for you to learn all of your sounds (thanks to the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD and not to your parents who are teachers, ha!) and can sound out some basic words. You still are a skinny little guy (about 32 lbs) and a very picky eater. I am hoping that one day you will outgrow having a hotdog for lunch and dinner everyday. We are still working on "poo training" you but I am pretty sure that it will be very soon! We love how you LOVE everything. You appreciate anything that we give you, even if it is just a dollar store toy. "That's awesome" is what you say when you like something right now and what you like the most is anything with Lightning McQueen. Your daddy and I love watching you play and take care of your sister. The other day in the car you said to her, "Tatum you are my favorite girl and I love your hair," that melted your mommy's heart. I love how you love her. I hope you two are best friends growing up. We love you Ty, YOU are our favorite little boy!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

being away from the family

I left yesterday to coach my team at the NWAACC volleyball championships in Oregon. I called Pat last night to see how the kids were and this is what he says.

Do you really think we should have a third kid? I said, maybe but why do you say that? Well...Pat had parent-teacher conferences last night so Pat was trying to get the kids fed before his dad got to our house to watch the kids. Ty ended up have an accident in his unders while eating dinner. So Pat took off his unders not knowing that he had pooped too. Pat told Ty to stay right there. Acting like a little boy he listened to his daddy, not really! He ran into our room and onto our bed and sat and rolled around on our bed getting poop all over. So Pat was trying to wipe him up and realized he had poop in his hair and on his feet. So Pat through him in the bath and of course since Ty was in the bath, Tatum had to get a bath too. Pat was trying to hurry because he needed to go to conferences but it really was a mess! I was laughing so hard when Pat was telling me this story, I just wish there was a video of it so I could have seen Pat's reaction!

I miss you babe, thanks for doing everything while I am coaching!!! You are the best husband! No I am not trying to suck up and feel bad for always being gone, really I am not!

Ty's 3rd Birthday Party

We celebrated Ty's 3rd birthday party today with family and a few friends. Ty woke up from his nap and saw his Cars decorations and said, "Wow mom, this is awesome!" Ty got lots of Cars, a new bike, scooter, backpack, Cars wall stickers, giant pillow, tray (all of which are Lightning McQueen), playdough, paracuthe man, and Cars race track. We served hot dogs and gogurt for the kids and the adults had Pat's wonderful homemade chili and pulled pork sandwiches and salads. After everyone left, Ty did about 100 laps around the kitchen on his new bike and he went to bed laying on his new pillow the sleeping with The King car.

Ty's Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake

Ty loves the movie Cars. After we went to his buddy Xavier's birthday party and he had a Lightning McQueen cake, Ty insisted on having a Lightning McQueen cake too! My intention was to make a double-layer cake and then carve it to the shape of Lightning McQueen. Well... when I tried to get the cakes out of the pan the middles stuck to the pan so I improvised. I ended up putting the sheet cakes side by side and making them a checkered flag and using the Lightning McQueen cake pan that I got from Lianna and put that on top of the flag. I made a marhsmallow cream fondant that was very sticky but very easy to make to make all of the cakes. It took a lot of time and there are a lot of imperfections to the cake but it was worth it. Ty was amazed at his cake and that's what matters the most.

Ty is "reading" me directions on how to bake the cake.

I made a huge mess, used every bowl we owned when making the fondants, I think Pat thought our kitchen was never going to be the same. If you don't know Pat, he can be a little anal and when he saw the mess, he tried not to start convulsing, hehe.

I layered the cakes with whipped frosting first and then I cut out squares from the black and white fondants to make the checkered flag.

There it is, not perfect but Ty loved it!

sittin' with daddy

Tatum does not sit still so when I saw her actually sitting with her daddy I had to capture the moment.

taking care of her baby

Tatum loves her babies or her "dollies." She likes to give them bottles, carry them, and feed them.

Love that crooked smile!

monkey see, monkey do

I love the fact that my kids are close in age and they now will play together...some of the time anyways. But one thing that I LOVE is that Tatum wants to be just like her brother. Anything and everything that he does or says she does too including wanting to wear Ty's unders, lay on the bed just like Ty, and even pretends to go potty just like Ty (yes, standing up!).

melting my heart

Ahh, giving each other a kiss...melts my heart!

Tatum loves sitting at the big table now, she is just tall enough that the table is a chin rest.

Pat was sick last week and Tatum was trying to check Pat's temperature. She calls a thermometer a "mommamameter."

a date with my little man and Disney on Ice

Today Ty and I went to Disney on Ice for a little date. Ty had a great time and he loved seeing all of the cars from the movie "Cars." The other great thing about today is Ty went all day in his unders including the hour drives to Disney on Ice and back home, the show and visiting my parents and then dinner at a Mexican restaurant. So I guess he is almost potty trained. He still won't poo on the potty but I am thrilled on his progress!

I realized after looking at all of the pictures of Ty, he doesn't look that happy but he really did have a great time!

Ty picked out a Lightning McQueen car and a Tinker Bell for Tatum. Tinker Bell's wing kept falling off and Ty said, "These wings are driving me nuts!"