Random pics from today

I had to wake up Tatum to go to the birthday party and she was in the head down, butt up position just like her brother! This picture of Ty was taken when he was nine months old. All the time I say how different the two of them are but then I get reminded how similar they are too!

Wearing mommy's shoes

When we first got the jumparoo out, Ty wanted to go in it but he has not interest in it at all until today when he randomly asked to go in it. I told myself, why not, just humor the kid and put him in it. Sometimes I just do whatever makes them happy!

Jungle Playland

Getting ready to go down the slide

Tatum's first ride down a slide, by looking at her funny facial expression I am not sure if she enjoyed it.

She is an animal, is was trying to climb up the slide.

Look at that face, "I don't want to go!"

Yeah, I finally decided to make an appearance on the blog in 2009.

Ty spent about 20 minutes riding that car, most of the time it wasn't even moving. He was happy as can be just sitting in the darn thing.

With snotty noses and all we went to Jungle Playland today for a friends birthday party. It wasn't too crazy there because our friends rented the place and so the only kids that were there were from the party. Ty is my timid boy when it comes to play structures. He really doesn't like going down big slides, he would just rather play in the balls, play in the toddler area and ride the car. I just love watching him play and have fun. He didn't want to go when it was time to leave. His stalling technique is to tell us he pooped so that we have to stay longer to change his diaper. We fell for a couple of times, so now if we don't smell it, we don't change it!

First pair of "unders"

Look at the cute little Thomas bum.
And Thomas jammies

Big boy in those "unders."

We went down to my mom's yesterday and even though Ty is not potty trained she couldn't resist buying Ty some Thomas the Train underwear. Ty calls them his "unders." Tonight we put them on over his diaper, he thought it was pretty cool.

On another note, Tatum has an allergic reaction to her amoxycillin so she has hives all over her body. But it's nothing a little Benadryl won't cure!

Playing with Xavier

Ty and Xavier giving each other rides in the wagon, they were almost too big for it.

Xavier is practicing his big brother skills so he will be ready for his baby sister in a couple of months.

Best Buds: We finally got them both looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.

Eating some ice cream.

Patiently waiting for their food.

Tonight Lianna, Steve, and Xavier came over for dinner. Ty and Xavier have so much fun with each other. They had the occasional tug of war over some toys but other than that they had a great time with each other. It was fun just chatting with Lianna, lately we just see each other at volleyball so it was good to hang out with the families. By the way Lianna, you look hot in those prego jeans, I wished I looked that good when I was pregnant!

Winter/Valentine Party

Holding some bowling pins, and checking things out.

Ty found a magnifying glass and he loved it!

Ty's winter party for preschool was cancelled back in December due to weather so they decided to have a Winter/Valentine party instead. There were a few games: bean bag toss, bowling, and decorating Valentines. Ty enjoyed doing the activities. When it was time to eat there were no kids at the games so he decided to play since he would have it all to himself.

Play date with the Swansons

Taking a little break from playing and having some juice. On a side note, in the background is a picture of the wall that I painted last week. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I painted the bottom half Cherry Chocolate and then put up a white chair rail. Anyways, just thought I would throw that in there.

A little fun with playdoh.

Tatum loved playing with Connor

My friend Lisa came over today with her two sweet boys, Quinn (3) and Connor (6mos). Ty had a great time playing with Quinn, they played trains, playdoh and worked on sharing...wink, wink. Connor is a wonderful baby like Tatum. The two babies just played and didn't even make a peep.

One like the other

Tatum got under her high chair to grab some food that was dropped on the ground. Yes, I let my kids eat food off the floor. She got stuck and it reminded me of when Ty used to do that. So here are the pictures of Ty and Tatum at the same age in the exact same spot.

Is she teething?

Tatum is chewing on the nob from one of the kitchen drawers.

I don't think there is anything she isn't chewing on right now.

Keeping busy with playdates

This is a sign of having some fun: Every play food and toy is out

Tater and Scarlett

Ty and Addison eating their crackers

Today Pat's cousin Suzanne came over with her two little girls. It's been awhile since Ty and Addison had played together (they are only a week apart) and they played so well together. I had to give Ty "The Talk" before she got there: Remember Ty we share our toys and we take turns. When they left, Ty said to me, I shared mommy. It was so sweet, I just love him! Tater and Scarlett are just three weeks apart but Tatum is crawling everywhere and Scarlett rolls everywhere.

A much better day

Ty with his buddy Ben. All morning Ty said, "Yeah Ben, come to Ty's house." It is so fun watching my little boy get excited over the littlest things.

My sweet little boy was back for at least 95% of the day...phew! We had a play date today with his friend Ben and they played so well together. Tatum had a new friend over too, her name is Kinstrey. Tatum looked so cute today but I forgot to take a picture. Tatum is finally back to her normal happy self after having an ear infection last week that caused a few tears and some sleepless nights.

Every night Pat and Ty read books together. But lately instead of reading stories Ty wants his daddy to tell him a story. About what you ask? Duh...a Thomas the Train story! He is a little obsessed about his trains right now. Ty will tell Pat which train he wants the story to be about and Pat will be creative with the story and Ty is so captivated. Then Ty will tell us a Thomas story and it goes a little something likes this: "Once on a time, island of sodor, James...hahaha." It is so dang cute! When Pat is done telling/reading a story they end up laughing together because Ty is delirious and every night and Ty laughs so hard that he starts to hiccup and then they laugh even harder. I tried to capture the laughing moment on video.

It paid off

Tonight I was watching the nightly news and Brian Williams was interviewing our lovely president. I hadn't said a word and Ty looked at the tv and said, "Look mom, it's Obana." I was astounded that he remembered who that was because the only time we talked about him was on inauguration day. I thought it was pointless for me to talk about him, but obviously he pays attention to a few things I say which isn't very much lately.

Ty has been testing my patience and parenting skills the last few days, I hope it doesn't last for too long. Normally he loves Tatum but right now, he will go out of his way to push her down. If she is standing Ty will grab one of her feet and then she falls on her face, it's horrible. Tatum will cry and he will say, "it's ok Tatum, don't cry." My immediate instinct is to do the same thing to him that he did to her so that he knows that it hurts her when he does that but I have to tell myself to take a deep breath and don't immediately react. I know this is all normal stuff but I just don't like getting frustrated with Ty, it doesn't make me feel like a good mommy. I think part of Ty's frustration is that he wants alone time with mom or dad but Tatum only naps for about an hour a day so there isn't much alone time for him to play with me. So Ty is seeking attention but it's negative attention. So tonight I was so overly corny and cheesy with Ty about everything he did that was good, he totally bought into it. I just need to keep doing it. I am just thankful that my kids go to bed around 7pm everynight and I get some good quiet tv time at the end of each day.

Sibling Love

The pictures are in reverse order. This is when he was trying to shove her off.

This is Ty acting like he wasn't going to push her. Tatum is giving us her funny grin where she has an underbite and then you gotta love that crazy hair of hers. At the end of the day it's a mess and in her eyes. If I put a clip in it, her lovely brother will take it out and tell me that it's broken.

Well, I would love to say it is sibling love but it was actually sibling jealousy. Tatum was riding Ty's train and of course Ty had to ride it too. He hopped on and was trying to sneakily push her off. Tatum was oblivious, she loved the fact that Ty was on the train with her.

Happy 30th Birthday Lianna!!

Beers of the World

Ty trying to pull Grace.

"I will show you how it's done Ty."

Grace and Ty enjoying a wagon ride.

This is what Pat bought for the party. He was pretty proud of his selection of beers so they were displayed on our counter for a couple of days.

This was his favorite beer he bought.

Here they are watching the 3-D commercials

Tater found some beer...I had to tell her that she needs to wait another 20 years for some.

Beers of the World was our theme for the Super Bowl. We had three other couples over and they each brought beers from around the world. We had a lot of fun eating good food, watching the kids play and of course watching the Super Bowl.

No Tatum, that's Ty's!

Ty seems to think that everything is his, including Tatum's head band.