Life's moments...

Park

2011-08-30T12:12:00.000-04:00

Austin is chugging down the slide. I'm beginning to think I gave birth to a train and not a boy.

Fountains

2011-08-25T12:06:00.000-04:00

I took the boys to the fountains to enjoy the last bit of summer. We'll miss it but we are ready for cooler weather and Fall.

Since school has started we were the only ones there. With the sun, a cup and the water the kids had a blast.

My super cute almost 2 year old

2011-08-20T12:02:00.001-04:00

Dylan has been working on this sucker for a couple days. He looks so cute with his Mater teeth!

Volcano

2011-08-19T10:16:00.001-04:00

Austin is learning about Volcano's this week and wanted to create one at home. It was a big hit!

VIDEO!~

First day of 4K

2011-08-15T10:05:00.002-04:00

Austin was super excited to start school again. He has been asking for weeks when he can go back and today is the day.

He has come a long way from his very first day of school two years ago. He is no more that clingy little boy who wouldn't talk to anymore. I love you Austin! I hope you never lose your love of learning.

Our only issue was Dylan who wanted to start too. Next year little guy. This mama can only handle so much growing up at once :)

Camping

2011-08-08T14:40:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend we went camping with my friend Debbie and her family. We braved the rain and set up our tents hoping for a great weekend. We got just that. After a big rain shower came in and flooded our tent it ended up being a beautiful weekend.

The boys enjoyed throwing rocks. Made fishing a little hard at times :)

Our great view!

Chris soaking up and wringing out all the water in our tent. What we didn't get eventually evaporated in the heat.

We met wonderful people who took us on a boat ride. Austin told me it was his favorite part of the weekend. He LOVED it!

Our captains: Chris & Austin

Debbie & me

Austin really enjoyed fishing too.

More rock throwing. I believe that is Debbie and her Dylan out in the water. The water was really warm. So nice!

Dylan

2011-08-01T14:25:00.005-04:00

I love taking pictures of the kids when they are sleeping. They just look so cute and innocent. Dylan isn't one to willingly take a nap so he usually plays until he passes out.

He covered himself up and laid down to watch cartoons and passed out here.

Later in the day he passed out again.

Every morning we watch cartoons. Dylan moved all the toy bins to one spot to lounge on.

Oh I love this boy and his smile!

Sleep Over

2011-07-29T14:15:00.000-04:00

Austin had his first sleep over at our house. It went well considering their ages. Who would have thought they would fall asleep watching Shark week on the Discovery channel?

Austin tells me that Nathan is his best friend. If he becomes friends with someone else and tells me about it he will always add that Nathan is his best.

Austin and his posing

2011-07-24T14:05:00.001-04:00

Since its summer the kids don't have a bed time. They are usually both still awake when me and Chris work at night. They entertain themselves by climbing on boxes, jumping on bubble wrap or hidding in the boxes. They may even help every once in while by putting stuff in bags for us. Dylan has been throwing his toys in the boxes and we have to carefully watch for them when we are boxing things up to ship out.

Oh yeah, he's cool. haha.

Dylans big boy bed

2011-07-16T13:53:00.002-04:00

I debated for a while whether to get Dylan a full sized bed or a toddler bed. I wanted to get the boys bunk beds to share a room but I just didn't feel like Dylan was old enough to do that just yet. I had to make a decision quickly though because he refused his crib and we were going on two weeks that he slept in our bed.

He ended up loving his bed and we had absolutely no problem what so ever after we got it.

The wall color is different in each picture because one is a phone picture and the other is with my camera. The lighting wasn't so great either. His wall color is slightly lighter than this bottom picture. His bedding I got at Target. (2) 4 piece sets for under 8 bucks. Now tell me that's not a deal! and it matched his room.

Girl time

2011-07-06T13:36:00.000-04:00

Every time I see my mom we get our toes done together. Julie and Olivia joined us. We tried out a new place and they had cute little kid chairs. It's nice not to be around a bunch of boys every once in a while!

Fireworks!

2011-07-04T23:19:00.000-04:00

I forgot my camera so I took a few pictures with my phone before we watched the fireworks. We ended up watching the fireworks in a different city that we usually do to avoid lots of traffic.

Dylan sat stuffing his face with goldfish!

Jason, Amya & Olivia

These kids are so crazy! They had a blast playing with each other.

Dollywood

2011-07-03T22:48:00.000-04:00

Going to a theme park with little kids is crazy. Going to a theme park with many kids, insane! haha! In the end its all worth it. The kids wont remember the crazy, just the fun.

From the left: Austin 4, Amya 5 Olivia 5, Jason 12, Front: Dylan 1 & Cooper 2.

My mom and all her Miss Fanny from the farm glory.

I took a million pics of the kids on the little rides. Not one did any kids look at me.

Dylan being such a big boy! Daddy being a dork and grandpa chillaxing on the very mild unexciting ride.

It was hot out and the kids loved playing in the water. Too bad we did bring their bathing suits so they ran around fully clothed or in diapers. They loved it and it gave the adults time to take turns watching the kids while we rode the bigger rides.

I have a picture similar to this one here of me and my dad when I was about 15. It was nice to be able to take another in the same spot.

Julie & Mike

Austin, Chris, Jason & Mom

Austin & Chris in front row. My dad in the third row and I believe that is my mom on the left in the back row next to some unknown guy :)

Parrot Mountain

2011-07-02T22:28:00.000-04:00

My parents, sister Julie, her bf and her kids came to visit two weeks after my sister Melissa came to stay with us. We met them on their way down to go to Parrot Mountain and Dollywood.
Parrot Mountain was fun but super small. It was perfect for the time we had. They weren't kidding when they call it Parrot Mountain either. Its on a mountain with a very steep driveway. Kids thought that was cool though. I may have been praying for my vans life.

All kids except Cooper who was being a pooper :) No, he was actually being a two year old. :)

My Dad! Austin is feeding the bird.

Dylan was a little hesitant but was able to overcome his nerves.

It took a lot of perswaying to get Austin to feed the birds nectar.

Amya, Melissa & birdie.

Mountains

2011-06-27T21:41:00.001-04:00

We took my sister and her kids to the mountains for a hike.

This is still one of my favorite viewing areas. So pretty!

We don't get many opportunities for a family picture so we used having my sister around to take a few. Of course the sun was in our eyes.

Amya lil miss diva! She is the queen of posing. After a while Austin was copying her and striking a pose with her. So very funny and not very boy like!

Catching minnows.

Throwing rocks.

Striking a pose. This is one of his more manly poses. I wont show the rest. He will look at these when he's older and I will try not to embarrass him too much.

Sorry kids. This is your father. Gotta love him! haha...

The kids kept useing their binoculars (hands) to see through the water. You now may laugh.

The two cuties!

Hollywild

2011-06-26T22:36:00.001-04:00

My sister Melissa and her two kids stayed with us for about a month. I was so excited to be able to spend this time with them. We took the kids to Hollywild. It’s an animal park for retired animals. The kids really enjoyed it.

My favorite part of the day was riding in a very shabby looking bus and feeding the humongous cows. Their tongues were so neat!

I think the kids enjoyed petting and feeding all the animals the most. Feeding the ducks crackers was a highlight for the little kids.

Universal Studios

2011-06-09T21:08:00.001-04:00

I was kind of dreading going to Universal Studios when I found of how small it was and there were no kid rides.

The kids could ride almost all of the rides but the themes weren't always kid friendly. The one thing there that I loved was the tour of the sets.

I thought it was pretty neat to drive down Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives. It's where they film the outside scenes. The houses are not placed on the lane as they seem on TV.

There were many other places that we saw where movies and TV series were/are still filmed such as an episode of Bones (we are big fans) where there was a subway crash. They re-enacted it for us. Jaws, Leave it to Beavers house, and the trick or treating street from Parenthood. We also saw many stage studios where they film lots of different shows. Didn't get to go in but it was neat to see where it all happens.

See Dylan?

Our last thing to do in California was to see the Hollywood sign. We got slightly closer to it than this but this is the best picture of it I could take while in a moving vehicle.

The flight home the next day went better and with no puke.

Disney Day 3

2011-06-08T23:58:00.000-04:00

Today was our last day at Disney. I'm both sad and relieved cause I'm getting tired! I spent most of the day there by myself with both kids while Chris attended the E3 Expo.

The day went fairly well with it just being us and I only lost Dylan for about 40 seconds during the parade. We rode lots of rides and a few we missed the first day we were here. Austin told me his favorite ride was the roller coaster in toon town. It was pretty cool for a kid coaster.

While here Austins love for Captain Hook has grown. The boys were already huge fans of Jake and the Neverland Pirates but seeing him in person has just intensified their liking.

The submarine ride was very neat. The seagulls really talked.

After the park we walked Downtown Disney and watch the fireworks from there.

Disney Day 2

2011-06-07T23:41:00.001-04:00

Our second day at Disney got started a little later but we still made it to the opening of Adventure Park. We hopped on the Buzz Lightyear ride first to avoid the long line it has during the day.

They are working on a new area of the park and the theme is Cars.

Favorites of the day for the kids was Disney Jr live on stage. Dylan had a smile plastered on his face the whole show and Austin was excitedly singing and clapping.

I rode the Tower of Terror with Austin. We are all the way in the back on the left. We both had one hand in the air and we were holding hands with the other. See, fearless. That's my boy!

The kids can't get enough of spiny rides.

Dylan being shy. At least he wasn't terrified.

Austins burger.

Dylan's favorite movie is Monsters Inc. He enjoyed seeing them.

We rode the new Ariel ride that just opened last weekend. It was cute and the kids enjoyed it. Not worth the 85+ minutes tons of people waited in. We waited until it got down under an hour. It seems as though a lot of the park was under construction. It needs it though. It's way too small and needs more rides.

I love the look of the ferris wheel. It lights up at night. It's also a little scarey. See the ovals around the edges, the cages move around those while the ferris wheel moves around.

A favorite for me and Chris was the world of color show. By far the most amazing show at Disney. It's a water show with images projected onto the mist.

The kids missed the entire show. We had to hold them to see but they ended up falling asleep in our arms.

We got soaked during the show even though we were half way back in the crowd.

The images were a lot clearer in person. I was using my phone to take pictures.

Disney Day 1

2011-06-06T23:34:00.001-04:00

I was a little skeptical that Disneyland could be as magical Disney World especially when we walked in and saw that the castle was five times smaller. It sure didn't disappoint. Today was truly magical and fun. It was by far our best day in California.

The kids got in a full 12 hours of much needed sleep last night. I still had to wake Dylan in the morning. He's been so tired since we've been here.

I was excited to take the kids on one of my favorite childhood rides, It's a Small World. It was under construction in Disney World so we weren't able to ride it there last October. They kids loved it!

The new ride this year is a Star Wars ride that has a crazy long line. We quickly got in line to get a fast pass so we wouldn't have to wait 2 plus hours. After we got the fast pass we were able to ride a bunch of rides with little wait.

The Star Wars ride was defiantly not worth the wait. I'm so glad we didn't wait a crazy long time for it.

The parades were fun. The kids loved watching them.

Toon town is better here. The kids loved every part of it. Dylan was able to ride nearly all the rides except for a few. One thing that I absolutely love about my kids is how fearless they are when it comes to rides. They love them. The faster the better.

Even the haunted mansion which i think is scarey they are fine with. When we got off that ride Austins exact words were, "That was awesome!" He said that about the coasters too.

Space mountain is one of our favorite coasters. Its completely dark nearly the whole ride. Austin liked sitting in the front screaming for joy. He is totally our child.

Dylan enjoyed the rides where you sit in a boat or a car where you look around such as It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, or the Winnie the Pooh ride. He would point and shout, "Look!"

Dessert

At the end of the day we stayed and watched the fantasmic show. It was very fun to watch. The kids were falling asleep and barely hanging on at that point. After the show ended we stayed and watched the fireworks. They kids drifted off to sleep during them. It was so magical!

LegoLand

2011-06-05T23:11:00.001-04:00

We arrived at LegoLand today when they opened.

We immediately went to the first ride we saw. Big mistake, because so did everyone else. That was the longest line we waited in.

At every other ride we waited an average of 15 minutes.

We rode a few rides and then the kids wanted to play in the water area. There were two areas for older and younger kids. Austin played at both but ended up in the smaller area with Dylan most of the time.

We had to drag them away from there after a while to rides some more rides.

There were lots of neat lego structures there that either sang or talked. There was a lady who was watering flowers out her window off a second story and she would drop water on anyone who passed under her and then would say, 'opps, did I get you?' Very neat and fun.

The miniature lego town was indeed small with working parts such as cars and boats.

The kids met bob the builder which they really enjoyed since they watch his show.

We also saw a 3D bob the builder movie.

To end the day we rode a robotic arm ride where it would fling you around Depending on how tall you were and what level you wanted it could go really fast and crazy spinning you this way and that.

On the way back to our homtell or I should say before we even left the parking lot, Dylan was passed out at 6:15pm. 15 minutes later Austin followed and they both slept for the remainder of the day/night.

San Diego Zoo

2011-06-04T23:21:00.000-04:00

Austin woke up this morning singing, "I love trash, anything dirty, dingy and dusty." Complete with a grouch laugh at the end. We woke up later than we planned, got ready quickly and headed to the zoo. The zoo was huge. We walked most of it and missed a section because we were too tired and the kids were getting bored because there was just so much of it.

The ducks were definitely the favorite. There were baby ducks swimming with their mommies. They were so close you could touch them. At one point a duck flew from one side of the bridge we were on and landed on the other side in the water. The other ducks disliked that duck because he was mean and was chasing them. Finally they all ganged up on him and made him leave. While flying back over he nearly hit the top of Dylan's head. The kids thought it was great being splashed with all the commotion.

The kids also like the petting area where they got to pet goats. Dylan was super excited about it. It was cute watching him pet them gently then light up with a huge smile.

Austin loved being able to see a Zebra.

After the zoo we left back to our 'hometell' to rest up. The kids passed out on the way back. They napped for a while then went swimming. The weather was cooling down,but the kids didn't care. We relaxed the rest of the day and prepared for the rest of our trip.

Tomorrow is Lego Land. We are all super excited!

Sea World

2011-06-03T23:01:00.000-04:00

Today we went to Sea World. We made it out the door at 9am CA time and somehow we made it to the park just as they were opening after a quick breakfast. The kids wanted to ride some rides first. Their rides are for really little kids so they enjoyed them.

Our first show we saw was the dolphin show. It was good with lots of dolphin/human interaction. Dylan really enjoyed it especually the divers. Austin was only slightly amused with the show and asked when we could ride more rides.

The pre-show before the sea lion show was really funny. The guy was imitating dance scenes in well known shows such as dirty dancing. The actual Sea Lion show was fun and cute. Dylan once again liked it more than Austin.

Dylan really liked watching the untamed Sea Lions. They were very entertained watching people feed them. Even the boys fed them an didn't mind touching the fish.While Chris was getting those fish he was attacked by seagulls. I about died laughing, of course!

After we rode those exciting 5mph rides again we went to the shamu show.

While the whales were fun to watch the show its self was rather boring. The kids weren't impressed at all. They might have been if we were in the splash zone but we decided we liked being dry.

The penguins were neat to watch and so were the sharks and turtles. There was an area where you could touch or hold a star fish. Chris and Austin was the only brave ones who did.

The kids really enjoyed the play area. There were ropes nets you could climb and a really neat bounce area for Austin and a baby one for Dylan. The floor where Austin jumped reminded me of waves.

We skipped the water area. It was a little on the chilly side. The high was 72 with a cool breeze. The kids met Elmo. Dylan has never wanted to meet those big furry dressed up grown ups before, but today he was. He loves Elmo so much that he sucked it up and over came him fear. Elmo gave him a high five and he stood with him to get a picture. So proud of him!

We watch the Elmo 3D movie. It was cute other than the first five minutes of it. I nearly thought I was going to fall asleep during it. Dylan finally realized why we kept putting those glasses on his face and left them on and enjoyed the show. Austin loved the show and told me he just nearly missed touching everything.

We rode the sky tram. That was nice, breezy and cold but also fun and relaxing. To end the day we saw the circ show. These guys were the only entertaining part of the show.

Overall we had a really nice day. The park wasn't busy and we drank about a gallon of slushies.

After we left we headed to the beach to touch the pacific ocean. We couldn't travel all this way and not. We braved the very cold breeze and walked around while tossing rocks into the ocean. We picked a couple to take home to paint and put in our garden. After we touched the ice cold water, we left for dinner.

We ate at The Spot. Not as good as we thought it would be but we found out that Dylan our very picky eater loves french onion soup. For dessert we ate some gel-lotto. Kids loved it of course and we headed back to our "hometell" at 1am body time. With not much sleep the kids did awesome!

Vacation in CA

2011-06-02T23:56:00.000-04:00

Today we left for our family vacation to California. Chris really wanted to go to the E3 convention so we worked a vacation around it. We bought a city pass which included a pass to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, 3 days at Disney and a day at Universal Studios.
We knew this was going to be a lot for us so to make it harder we threw in Lego Land too. We left at noon today and had it planned out that we would be in LA by bed time. That didn't work out so well. Our first flight went well after we dealt with trying to prove Dylan's age to ride as a lap child.

We had a 2.5 hour lay over in Tennessee where we planned on eating and letting the kids run around on the play ground they had.

That layover ended up doubling. The kids ended up playing a very long time and Austin made a friend. His friend was on the same flight as we were on. They wanted to sit next to each other so we all sat close by so they could. He spent the whole 4.5 hour flight to LA coloring, watching movies and playing with action figures with his new found friend.

Dylan was supposed to nap on the flight but since it was delayed he took the nap before and woke as we were boarding. He ended up watching a movie and did great all through it. When drinks came around we got him an apple juice and he sat between us happily drinking away until I felt something warm on my leg. At first I thought I was just getting hot from sitting so close then I though maybe he was spilling his juice but nope it was supposed to be cold so it must be... Yup pee. I still have no idea how that even happened. Faulty diaper? After a quick run to the bathroom with new clothes things were going great again until we started to descend.

My ears were killing me. Dylan started to cry so I knew that was his problem too. We gave him more apple juice to drink to help because at this point he was screaming. It worked and he calmed down, for about 5 minutes. We just landed and we were waiting to taxi when he projectile vomited all over me and Chris. I laughed. People probably thought I was crazy but seriously, at this point I had to. When I informed the flight attended about the seat that had the soggy safety instructions sitting on it she was not laughing. Matter of face she had pissed off written all over her face.

So now we had to get our luggage and our rental car. We were three hours behind schedule with an hour and forty minute drive to our hotel. It was 11pm in LA, 2am body time. Kids were exhausted, luggage accounted for and we find out renting a car requires driving to get there. The airport was crazy busy and we have more luggage than we can handle while hauling sleeping kids around so I stayed put while Chris went and got the car. I some how had to move two car seats, three suitcases and a double stroller with our sleeping kids to the side of the road where chris could pick us up. He could not sit there unless I was right at the road. I was not laughing at this point. In the end we got to our hotel safetly at about 4:30 am body time and way behind schedule.

Zonked out!

2011-05-25T17:51:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Chris!

2011-05-24T17:44:00.002-04:00

We celebrated Chris's birthday with lots of balloons, carrot cake, ice cream and of course presents!

Dork ;)

The boys licked the fish off the cake haha! It was fun!

Zoo

2011-05-21T15:22:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite places to go with the kids is the zoo. This year was a lot of fun because Dylan is big enough to be into it.

The kids enjoyed everything about it even the snakes!

I tried getting the traditional picture with the elephants this year but it didn't turn out so well. The kids kept sliding off. Austin was the only one who manage to stay on long enough to get his picture taken.

Juice box break.

Austin insisted he sat on the lion.

So of course Dylan had to do the same.

The kids enjoyed watching the turtles and alligator.

Austin was happy he finally got to play at the park outside of the zoo. He asked the whole time we were in the zoo even after he played in the park inside of the zoo.

Video: Dylan's favorite were the ducks and chickens. He would quack at the. At one point he was mad that he couldn't get past the fence to go get them.

Austins K3 end of the year program.

2011-05-20T15:17:00.001-04:00

When Austin started school two years ago he was a much different child then he is today. He was extremely shy and for weeks would cry when he had to leave to go to school. Not long after he really bonded with his teacher and he was doing great. When his first Christmas program rolled around he went back to being extremely shy and just stood there not singing through out the program. A year and a half after his first time on stage in front of people this is him now...
If you don't want to watch all of it make sure you see the part starting at 3.30.

Mother Day

2011-05-08T21:52:00.017-04:00

This morning I got to sleep in until 9:30. I really did try and sleep in more but it just wasn't happening. I awoke to the dish washer running and Austin watching cartoons. Dylan was still in bed. That's not a surprise. He likes to sleep in. Austin gave me a hug and told me that he made me chocolate covered strawberries with Daddy. Chris laughed and told him he wasn't supposed to tell me that. So me and Austin sat on the couch eating them together. He told me that they weren't just for me, they were for me, him, Daddy & Dylan. How nice :)
Chris made waffles for breakfast. He went to go wake Dylan up while me and Austin were sitting at the table. When Chris came back he asked how they were and Austin yells out, "What's that horrible smell?" as he is laughing.
After breakfast we left to go pick strawberries. The kids had a blast. I though Dylan didn't like strawberries but he sure liked them at the farm. We had to make sure that we picked out all his half eaten ones out of the basket.

This is the face Dylan made after the first bite. I promise he liked them! I think he was just a little surprised at the taste.

He liked carrying the bucket around until it got too heavy.

Austin is posing for me.

Austin wanted to take our picture.

Milking the cow

The kids were hot and tired after that so we went and had a late lunch and saw a movie. When we were in the car after eating Austin was sucking on his mint. He took it out of his mouth, stuck it to his forehead and said, "Look Ma, I'm a doctor!" He sure knows how to crack me up!
It was such a nice day being together. My favorite part of the day was Austin telling me, "Happy muders day!" One day he will get that right and I will miss it. One day I will miss this so for now I will enjoy all these wonderful moments.

Austin- New bike

2011-05-04T01:23:00.000-04:00

Sporting his footie monster pjs with his Agent P rain boots on a sunny evening. I told Chris to get a picture so we could tease him when he's older :)

Dirt

2011-05-02T01:13:00.000-04:00

We finally got the dirt to finish our garden.

We had a slight problem getting the dirt to our garden. We didn't want to drive around on our lawn after we've spent a lot of time and money making it look nice so we did this...

It worked! The kids wanted to help a lot. It made the process slow but we eventually got it done. Dylan raked it and Austin shoveled it. At time Dylan would pick up a clump of dirt, put it on his rake and toss it over.

Dylan

2011-05-02T00:57:00.000-04:00

Random pictures I took of Dylan while he was playing outside.

Screen door

2011-05-01T00:44:00.006-04:00

With a not so childproof grill on it. They broke it in just a few days. He sure is cute though huh?

Umm, yeah. You could say silly too.

No wonder it broke.

At least they had fun.

Sprinkler fun

2011-04-26T22:30:00.000-04:00

Summer is in full swing here and I can tell already its going to be a great one. I am amazed everyday at how well they play together. I thought that I had them too far apart to really bond and be buddies but I was wrong. Day by day I see their relationship grow. They really enjoy being around each other and having fun.

Dylan is learning a lot lately. He is acting more grown up. He's still refusing to talk but he understands everything we say and lets you know when he dislikes what you've said. We are working on the talking. It's a difficult barrier he is giving us that we are trying to break through.

I hope that their bond sticks. I really try hard to work with them to build good relationship skills with each other. Dylan is starting to grasp the concept of sharing which is helping out a lot.

Video of them running around.

Easter

2011-04-24T21:44:00.000-04:00

We make a quick weekend trip to spend Easter with my family. I knew the kids would love being surrounded by lots of family. Austin got spoiled with lots of bike rides with Grandpa and they both got spoil with all those slurpees! I don't even remember Dylan throwing a tantrum the whole time we were there because there just wasn't time for it!

Getting a picture of them together just wasn't happening.

Digging into their baskets

Chewing on their suckers

Easter egg hunt

There were TONS of eggs. We were down two kids due to a very serious sickness so the eggs were overwhelming.

I organized a different egg hunt for the older kids. They had to find their color egg and get the clues inside to find their prize. It worked out well.

All the kids baskets were over flowing and had to be dumped for more.

After a while we had to send the older kids out to collect the rest of the eggs. There were just too many!

It was lots of fun and the kids had a great Easter. We even got to spend the day with Chris's mom, sister and nephew. After the kids opened all the eggs and divided the candy between them they had enough candy to last them months!

Molly

2011-04-10T21:41:00.000-04:00

Laying in her sunning spot annoyed by those pesky birds. She's so adorable. Totally love her!

Dinner

2011-04-09T20:51:00.000-04:00

Tonight we decided to cook our dinner over our camp fire. The kids really enjoyed it especially the smores. Chris cooked the wieners and I cooked the marshmallows. I cooked the corn on the stove to save time.

Dylan was so cute while eating his corn.

He hoards food in his chair cup holder. Notice all the marshmallows in it. He'll take a bite and put it in there. It became a gooey mess.

We're looking forward to many more camp fires in our back yard!

Dylan- 19 months

2011-04-08T20:40:00.001-04:00

This big guy is just a day shy from 19 months. He acts more like a 2 year old if you ask me. Tantrums are his middle name and if you shout candy he comes a runnin. He knows the good stuff.

Height: 34.6 inches (93.23%)
Weight: 30 lbs (89.14%)

She's still got it

2011-04-07T20:34:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Molly's 10th birthday this spring. Even though she compares to a 60 year old human, she's still got it.

That's a bird that she caught outside. She doesn't travel far from the house. Just a couple feet. She mainly sits on the deck listening to those pesky birds chirping. One day I think she had enough and took matters into her own paws. RIP little birdy.

Planting

2011-04-06T23:02:00.000-04:00

My boys are funny sometimes. There are times when they hate to get dirty and then there are times when they dive right into the dirt. They loved planting flowers this year.

They both got a pot and seeds.

Austin was glad to help Dylan out a little with his.

I believe only one pot of flowers are actually growing. Oh well... they had fun.

My handsome boy

2011-04-05T22:53:00.001-04:00

Need I say more?

Swim Lessons

2011-04-05T22:28:00.000-04:00

Austin started swim lesson at the beginning of April. He did really well and was moved into the intermediate class on the first day.

He came in knowing how to doggy paddle, float on his back with minimal support and go under without holding his nose.

Dylan snacking while he watches Austin swim.

After one month of swim lessons he learned one stroke, how to move his hands to stay floating on his back and how to swim with his head down in the water.
He liked to race the other kids when they were practicing and was always used to demonstrate what they were going to do next. (Austin on kick board) It was so nice watching him do something that he loved and with lots of confidence.

Backyard

2011-04-04T16:03:00.000-04:00

Dylan likes any game with a ball. Basketball is his favorite.

He often has some crazy moves.

and always with his tongue hanging out!

Austin is goofy.

Getting a nice picture....

is only possible if I take a goofy one first.

He sure is cute either way.

Dylan just wasn't having it.

Fire Pit

2011-03-25T15:31:00.000-04:00

My parents came for a visit and brought along my niece Amya. Austin really loved having everyone here.
After building our garden bed last weekend digging our fire pit was the next thing we wanted to do in the backyard. Austin was really into it. He has a little plastic shovel and he dug with. I think he might have been the only one who didn't stop for a break.

Even Amya was digging.

After we were done the kids jumped while we got the fire ready.

My dirt covered boys.

Time for smores!

My husbands normal face.

His dorky face. :)

The guys got a little crazy with the fire.

The kids.

Slippers

2011-03-23T15:24:00.001-04:00

Dylan loves slippers which is kind of strange because he likes to be barefoot.

When I put his slippers on he will walk around a little then take them off and immediately want them back on again. It's tiring.

From the time these pictures were taken (March 23) to now May 9th. Dylan's feet grew 3 1/2 shoe sizes. His feet are out of control!

Projects

2011-03-20T15:09:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend we decided to get some projects done around the house. It was a really nice weekend so the kids played outside at the water table.

They were getting so wet that I had to take off Dylans diaper and put regular underwear on him so he didn't have to carry around a 20 lb diaper. Shortly after that Dylan poo'ed his pants. He was dripping wet and we were far from the house so I decided to try and clean him up there in the yard with a leaf and water. Not fun!

Here is our garden we built on the side of a hill. It's not fully complete in his picture. Eventually we will add stone steppers going down the side on it.

Second project was adding sand to the kids play set. We put a tarp on the bottom.

The kids were excited about it.

and played with it until dark.

Breakfast outside

2011-03-14T13:17:00.000-04:00

We are really enjoying all the nice weather. The kids have been eating breakfast and lunch outside every nice day. It helps keep my floors clean and the kids enjoy the sunshine.

My favorite part about our house is sitting on the back deck and listening to the birds chirping. I have been leaving the door open so I can hear them while I cook and clean.

As I was cleaning up inside I saw Austin cleaning his brothers face after eating leftover half-birthday birthday cake that we celebrated and ate the night before and ate again after breakfast, and lunch and dinner until it was gone. We were celebrating Dylan's & Austin's half birthdays.

Best Friends

2011-03-09T20:54:00.000-05:00

Austin & Nathan

Games, tag & a dance party!

2011-03-04T22:34:00.000-05:00

It's been too long since we last had a game night with the kids. Tonight it felt great to be able to spend time with the kids as a family and do something they loved.

Austin is at a perfect age for all the kids games. He caught on in seconds and played the games with very minimal coaching. What surprised Chris the most was his knowledge of identifying all his numbers but what surprised me the most was his great attitude he had after he lost a game. At one point after we played the Lady bug game he said that it is all right that him and Daddy lost because we're all winners and then preceded to high five everyone.

By far Hungry Hungry Hippos was Dylans favorite game. He cried when we switched games but quickly stopped when he saw we were playing a different game.

After games Austin wanted to play tag. We usually play this or hide and seek all the time. It's always so much fun racing around the house. The coffee table is usually the safe place but only if its Austin using it. He will still get us if we are there.

When we recuperated from tag I decided we needed to have a dance party. After the first song Dylan was tired so he grabbed the pillow and blanket and laid on the floor watching us.

Crazy sweaty Austin!

Dylan watching his silly brother dance the night away!

It didn't take long before the kiddos were snuggled in bed. What a great night!

Bikes and backyard

2011-03-03T21:28:00.001-05:00

We have been having some really nice weather lately. Everyday after Austin get home from school and after Dylan's nap we have been playing outside. It starts off with riding bikes in the driveway or coloring with chalk. We usually end up going in the backyard after the boys are tired of driveways toys or they start arguing over things.

Dylan enjoying the nice weather while Austin was at school...

On this day after Austin got out of school the kids were playing not so nicely. A lot of it had to do with they were both tired.

Notice how Dylan kicks his legs out front? He is fast on his little scooter. He is just the right height to swing his legs back propelling him forward as fast as that little scooter can go. If he had wheels that didn't give so much resistance that boy would be flying!

Back to the boys and their crabbiness...
Austin wanted to set up cones and weave through them. Dylan decided that he didn't want to weave but ram right through them. This created a little conflict between them so we had to quickly move to the backyard to burn off some more energy in a wider space where they didn't have to be near each other.

Austin carefully setting them up while Dylan rams a cone...

and another one...

and another one.

What was I doing? Sitting on my beach chair taking pictures of course! HA! I was talking Austin through the conflict in between taking pictures. It's not so easy talking to Dylan about it and I was getting no where with all their crankiness.

While in the backyard I sent Dylan over to the soccer net to throw balls while Austin went on the swing.

Dylan will continually throw every ball in the net, move the net and start all over again.

until of course he finds his belly button!

Today...

2011-02-28T21:01:00.014-05:00

Its rare that I actually blog on the actual day things happen now so consider this a treat! My life is consumed with cleaning, taking care of the boys, more cleaning and then working at night. At one point or another during the week I always feel like I am behind on something so blogging always takes the back burner until I can think that I am caught up. Or pretend cause you know sometimes its just easier to try and forget about that laundry pile on your bed that needs to be folded so instead of folding you just end up putting it back in the basket until the next day when you dump it back on your bed again and think if its there it will force you to fold it before bed but it doesn't work cause you just end up putting it back in the basket again until the next day when you start the process all over again.

Anyway...

After spending all day doing laundry, cleaning and taking care of the boys I decided that work must wait for the moment so I can remember some cute pictures of the boys that I took today. I did get Chris to help me fold 4 loads of laundry after the two I folded and not including the load still left in the dryer so that we could all pile into bed and watch Megamind together.

Now tell me, do they really look 2 years 11 months and 3 days apart? No, I didn't think so. However they are approximately 6 lbs & 6 inches apart.

Today I was feeling on my A game. I was cleaning and getting things done and feeling good. Those days come and go through out the week and usually happen when Dylan lets me sleep until 9. Austin never sleeps in. He always wakes at 8 or earlier. I just don't know what is wrong with that kid.

While I was feeling great and giving my house a good cleaning I came across this behind my chair while I was vacuuming...

...my lovely artist. Dylan.

A few more of the kids after dinner.

This was nice. I should do it more often.

Biltmore House

2011-02-27T20:21:00.001-05:00

Thanks to a great friend we got to visit the Biltmore house over the weekend. We always wanted to go but we could never spend the money to do it. It was off season so there wasn't any flowers in the gardens but it was still nice to get to see the house and taste their wine.

Before we could see the inside of the house we looked around the property. We got a tour of their winery which was first a dairy. After the tour you were able to try their wine. You stood at a bar and they gave you a list. I had a hard time choosing which ones I wanted to try. You were able to try them all but I had kids and the house to walk through so I needed to be able to function. I thought it was cute that they had grape juice for the kids.

I had to stand really far back to fit the whole house in. I believe to the right is the stable? or another part of the house? not sure.

The view the family bedrooms had.

I can't remember which room this was but I loved the cradle.

Bowling alley. I would have hated to be the servant to set those pins.

Indoor swimming pool in the basement. Kind of creeped me out a little.

The main kitchen. I believe there was three total. Pastry, Rotisserie and the Main.

These were all the pictures I took. The rest of the time I was chasing ofter Dylan or holding a very heavy sleeping Dylan. I can't imaging living in a house where you could actually lose a kid for a day or two. I really enjoyed listening to the history of the house while being there. Thank you Debbie for the tickets!

Molars

2011-02-25T17:52:00.009-05:00

Dylan has been having a rough week. Earlier this week I noticed he was getting in two molars at the same time on the top. They are about half way through right now and he is really feeling it.

After Dylans nap today he wouldn't stop crying so I gave him some medicine to help dull the pain and gave him a popsicle. I grabbed the camera to get him to give me a smile and this is what I got...

Poor baby!

Then Austin wanted me to take a picture of him doing a pose so I did...

He's weird, I know.

Dylan wanted a turn again. This time for the first time ever he smiled and said cheese!

I love Austin in this picture. It really shows how goofy he is. Dylan was in the middle of saying something along the lines of, "DAAAA!"

Austin posing again...

and again.

Showing a little brotherly love.

and weirdness.

I love these boys!

As promised...

2011-02-19T17:51:00.000-05:00

Chucky Cheese...

My camera broke again. Ever since Dylan dropped it back in the Fall Chris has repaired it many times. I only had my phone to take pictures for a few days before Chris fixed my camera once again.

Austin loved the race car. He was determined to drive it by himself even though he could barely touch the pedal.

The air hockey table a a big hit.

I survived Chucky Cheese and the kids had fun. Phew...

Austin 4 years 4 months

2011-02-12T20:35:00.002-05:00

Height: Just over 40 inches
Weight:34-35lbs
Wears 4T and some 5T.

Sometimes I can't believe I am already the mother of a 4 year old. He's growing up so fast. It's very exciting watching him grow.

Overall Austin is a very well behaved child. He likes to please and is easy to satisfy. He keeps his toys neat and will clean up after himself if he is told to do so which he isn't told very often because he just doesn't make messes like his brother does.

He is defiantly a computer and video game junky. On a regular day he is only allowed to play on those while Dylan naps or after Dylan goes to bed if its not a school night. He also gets to play while we are out such as when we are at a restaurant or a store while he sits in a cart. It keeps him entertained and I don't have to hear a million times, "Can we go now?"

The kids are opening their valentine mailboxes that they got a small prize in for two weeks until Valentines Day. I think next year I am going to limit it to one week.

Other than video games he does enjoy drawing and writing. He likes to draw our house and rainbows. He also likes to write everyone name especially his own name since he can write that from memory and doesn't need to be told what is next.

He is also learning letter sounds. I have been teaching him three letter words such as cat and having him sound it out. Its all very fun and exciting.

His relationship with his brother is pretty good. They do bicker. Well he does. Its usually because Dylan is getting into his stuff.

Austin is into posing and asking me to take his picture then he wants to look at it. Its all very entertaining.

He still loves puzzles. We don't get to put them together as often as we used to because of Dylan. This night we stayed up late and I help him put together a 150 piece puzzle.

Another picture of him posing.

Something I have written down in the past week about Austin that I want to remember...

We were putting the kids to bed. I gave Austin a kiss on his cheek and he wiped it off. I called him a stinker so he wanted another one. I said nope then I zipped my lips. He stood up on his bed and unzipped my lips in the correct direction.

I was laying in Austins bed with him like I do every night. He talks to me saying silly things such as what he wants to ask Santa for but then after thinking about it he tells me he forgot what it was. Tonight I was laughing at him so he told me not to laugh. Then he breaks out his spider fingers and pretends he is getting me with a spider. Now how can I not laugh at that?!?!

At bath time Austin puts two balls on top of his head and said to Chris, "Hey look! I'm Mickey Mouse!"

Austin likes to play hide and go seek. He will count to 5, 10 or 16 depending on how patient he is. When it is his turn to hide me will hide in the same spot that I just hid in. If he does happen to hide in a spot that I can't find him in he will yell out something like, "I'm here!" He does that probably because that is what I have to do to give him hints where I am at.

When I hide Dylan will out me if he sees where I went. I covered myself with a bunch of blankets on the couch and Dylan kept uncovering me while laughing a huge belly laugh.

Austin was driving his train on the cabinet. I said, "Austin, what did I say about your cars?" Austin replied, "But this is a train." Chris laughed. Btw, what I say is cars are for the floor. I should say the same about trains now.

Austin was laying back in my Chair when Dylan came over and started pushing the buttons to the chair to make it either recline or sit up. Austin said to him, "Dylan stop! I'm going to break your arm!" I found it funny because I jokingly told that to the boys if they touched the power buttons to the chair. Austin evidently didn't think it was a joke. Opps.

I was purposely singing off key in the car and Austin said, "Mom Stop! Your annoying! Are you a coconut?" Hmm.... Coo coo? Nuts? Yes I just might be! He then went into a long spiel about monkeys and how they like coconuts and how they chase after him and he needs to run fast or else they will get his coconuts. Coo coo? Nuts? Why yes he just might be. Like mother like son.

You've got mail!

2011-02-10T21:34:00.007-05:00

The boys got their Valentine Day cards from Grandma in the mail today.

Dylan studies Austin and will do whatever he does. That is why he is looking at him like that in the photo.

They were excited to get mail.

and even more excited when they saw the dinosaurs and stickers.

Austin asked to go to Chucky Cheese so he will probably use a portion of his money there. I secretly dislike that place so I will admit we never really go. I might have to suck it up this once.

Thank You Grandma S!

Circus

2011-02-05T20:19:00.006-05:00

We took the boys to the circus since they loved the Monster truck show so much. We had decent seats other than the fact that we were squshed in with a lot of distractions around us from the people who showed up late in front of us who had to get up 5 minutes later for popcorn to the man beside me who took half of my seat as well as his to the people behind us who spilled their whole drink into our diaper bag and on the kids coats.

I didn't get any pictures of the kids but I did manage to get a few of the show. The kids liked the show and would have liked it more if we didn't have all those distractions. I think the next time we go we will spring for the front row seats like we did last year.

This man is crazy. That thing he is standing on rotated around like a Ferris Wheel. He was jump roping on top as it was going around at one point during his act.

Overall the kids had fun and the adults were glad to get home, put the kids to bed and relax.

Stickers

2011-02-04T21:07:00.000-05:00

Dylan has developed a love for stickers. He likes to stick them on himself, unstick them and restick them back on. I put stickers on his face and he left them on for a very long time.

He's so adorable!

D & the phone

2011-02-03T21:18:00.000-05:00

beep, beep, beeeeep, beep...

Sometimes I wonder...

How they pick things up so quickly!

Monster Trucks

2011-01-30T17:11:00.001-05:00

We took the boys to see the Monster Jam. I knew that Austin would love it. It was a nice surprise when Dylan loved it too maybe even a little more. The show had long periods of time when the trucks weren't doing anything. It got a little boring. When the trucks actually ran they loved every minute of it.

When Austin got excited from the trucks jumping he would beat his fits in the air in front of him.

There was this boy that sat right behind us who was very loud. We had to wear ear plugs at all times because of him. He was having a great time so it was no biggie. At half time Dylan peeled his eyes off the trucks to watch the kid.

Right before the trucks jumped over the cars they would get really loud and made Dylan jump every time. Then he would look back at me with a huge smile. It was so adorable.

Rice

2011-01-29T16:13:00.000-05:00

I was trying to remember what Austin loved doing at Dylan's age and then I remembered he loved playing with rice. So I got out some of our sand toys and the bag of rice from my pantry and let them have at it.

Austin was still sick in his photo but he enjoyed playing in it. Notice the tattoo on his arm. He loved it. It came in a pack of Mario & Luigi trading cards.

Dylan of course ate it.

After playing with rice for a few days I decided to get a little fancy and color the rice. I had to get small white rice so I went through my coupons and handed them to Chris to pick up after work. The rice ended up being free! I love great deals.

I wanted to experiment with a bunch of different colors. I made orange, blue & green first. It came out great! Then I tried pink. It failed so I tried purple instead and it turned out kind of bluish. Then I did black and yellow which turned out good.

black, purple & yellow

The boys played with it by the window so they could enjoy the sunshine we had that day. Dylan played with the orange, blue and green.

Dylan was really into his work.

He loved the spinning wheel. We had to buy new ones this year. Our old ones wouldn't spin anymore. The trucks were also a big hit along with shovels and measuring spoons/cups.

Dylan and his crazy morning hair.

I should probably mention the huge mess that Dylan would make when he was not fully supervised. Austin did really well at keeping it in the box. After they were done I got out the broom to sweep into a pile, scoop what I could up then I vacuumed the rest. I can handle a five minute clean up when it keeps them entertained for hours.

How to dye rice:
1/2 cup of white vinegar in a jar with a lid. Put in food coloring. I used a gel kind I use for my cookies. About 3-4 drops. Pour in 1 cup of white rice. Put on lid and shake until it is all well mixed together. Let sit for 5 minutes. Drain in sink then lay rice out on newspaper or paper towels. I used a flattened cereal box with paper towels to dry them on. You can put it in the sun to dry quicker. It took about 30 minutes for it to dry indoors.

Family Activity

2011-01-23T15:05:00.002-05:00

We like to go bowling on Sunday afternoons when you can play for a buck a game. This was the first time that Dylan really wanted to play. He even lasted longer than Austin. I will say though that Austin was sick and I didn't realize it was as serious as it was at the time. His Tylenol wore off while we were there so he stopped after the first game and played a little towards the end.

When Dylan threw the ball one of us had to make sure to give it an extra shove so it would make it down there.

Austin has a mean throw and anyone within 5 feet of him beware!

Chris was trying to cheer him up but it just wasn't working. Poor kid was coming down with a virus he picked up from school.

Sometimes Dylan felt the need to sit down and roll the ball.

He always watched his ball.

He liked to get his own bowl but didn't do it often because the bowl return thing scares me with how fast the balls whip outta there so daddy supervised this time.

We also needed to be careful because he thinks that he can just throw the ball anywhere.

He clapped or said, "uh-oh" depending how he felt he did...

and watched the whole time. Pin clearing and all.

Austin trying out the ball holes but would still throw it with that body turning whip.

It would hit from side to side until it made it to the end.

Dylan being silly on that yucky floor he just wouldn't stop touching.

VIDEO- Austin throwing his ball. This throw was a little toned down. I think he was getting tired. It was towards the end.

VIDEO- Dylan rolling his ball from a sitting position.

My puzzle boy...

2011-01-21T14:52:00.000-05:00

Austin still enjoys puzzles. We don't get them out that often because Dylan has a hard time playing nicely. He always wants to throw toys all over the house. He is going to be a great pitcher one day. So for now they only come out during nap time or on non school night when Austin can stay up later than Dylan.

This is an easy puzzle for him but he likes it. He also likes footie pjs. He would live in them if I would let him. On some days he protest against getting dressed.

I started Dylan with wooden chunky puzzles. He does all right with them but expects them to go in their place if he pushes hard enough.

Favorite driveway activity

2011-01-19T14:00:00.001-05:00

We got a couple days of spring like weather so we took advantage of that and got outside to do what the kids love to do. Ride their bike/4-wheeler.

Austin actually wanted to smile for me.

saying uh-oh. His most used word. "Dow" (down) is becoming his next most used word. He uses it when he wants down or up.

Dylan likes to scare the bejeezus out of me! He has even flipped that 4 wheeler over backwards before. Austin has too but he wasn't sitting on it correctly and he is too big for it. After this picture I made Dylan get down and then he sat on it backwards like he was trying to do this time.

Big shoes to fill...

2011-01-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

My husband is a wonderful man but boy, he has some big feet!

It's so cute watching Dylan walk around in his Daddy's shoes. They are like ~~little~~ BIG anchors on his feet that he drags around.

Notice the cut under his eye: Dylan vs. a musical toy. Musical toy won. Enough said.

I'm a little snowman...

2011-01-13T21:01:00.000-05:00

Monkey See Monkey Do

2011-01-12T13:20:00.002-05:00

Caught in action! Dylan likes to put my laptop on his lap, open it up and press lots of buttons. I have to be careful if I walk away from it when its not locked that he doesn't get a hold of it and go crazy. Silly boy!

SNOW!

2011-01-10T18:26:00.001-05:00

We woke up to SIX inches of fluffy white snow. You would think that would be no big deal to us since we used to live in MI but its a whole different story when you only see it once or twice a year. Oh and everything CLOSES!! Schools were closed for a week and Chris had 2 1/2 days off from work. There was no way Chris could leave the house for 2 1/2 days (he still had a heck of a time on the road and even just to leave our neighborhood) and 4 days until I could get the van out of the driveway. Everything froze over and there was no way we were going to try and shovel ice off a long sloped driveway.

First day of snow we played outside off and on all day. The second day we went out for maybe 30 minutes and after that we were done.

The first thing Austin wanted to do in the snow was make a snow angel.

Then we made good use of our slopped front yard.

This is Dylan. He wasn't too happy to be going down. The first few times the sleds went super slow so he wasn't going fast.

Austin is sledding in my sled I had from MI. It has brakes so I felt a lot better with him using that sled.

This is the only time Dylan enjoyed sledding except for the few times he went down with me.

Chris on our neighbors tube that he put a huge hole in. He ran it over a log and put it into a tree in the woods.

Dylan taking a break. He was getting tired and wasn't crazy about the snow.

Cleaning off the trampoline

Chris got his butt stuck on the slide while he was cleaning it off. Dork.

Austin and Sasha (our neighbor) jumping.

Videos!
Chris sledding. Don't worry, I wasn't dumb enough to do what he did. Surprisingly he didn't hit a tree. It was neat to watch :)

Me sledding from the front yard into the backyard. I tried this path with the green sled a couple times and ended up going between the house and bush every time. I only hit the corner of the house once. A few times I ended up turning backwards through that area and freaked myself out so I started using the other sled. I got the path packed down enough that I was making into the middle of the backyard.

Chris tubing- I promise you I didn't burp at the end of this video. I was trying not to laugh at him. We were having a little too much fun.

Dylan 16 months

2011-01-09T19:58:00.005-05:00

I thought I better do a sixteen month post since I didn't do one last month. He is changing so much its hard to keep up with it all. Sorry if its long but I am going to try to be detailed.

Dylan is cute, fun, full of smiles, into EVERYTHING, hates the word no, says the word, "Uh oh" about 100 times a day and is the best lil snuggler.

He's likes ride on toys, Mr. Potato head and little chairs that he can sit on. He uses the ride on toys as stools to climb. It doesn't always work out for him because they move so he has to keep turning it until he can get it to stay still long enough to climb.

His favorite food is still bananas. His second favorite food is some noodle dishes and than bread. He also likes broccoli. If its anything else he will not eat it. He loves to drink just about anything as long as it has a flavor. He also loves junk food especially chocolate.

He is starting to become more independent. About a month ago he wouldn't play in his room alone. Now he will go in there and play by himself. Austin will often go in there and play with him. One day I left an air mattress in his room. Later that night I went up in his room because the boys were so loud with their laughter. I found them jumping on and off it.

Some nights I go to bed later because I work with Chris. It's fine unless that night falls before a school night where I have to wake up early and get the kids dressed and out the door at a certain time. Earlier that day I mentioned about the kids jumping on the air mattress I was desperate to lay down but decided it would be safer if I closed us in his room where his toys are just in case I passed out. I ended up falling asleep when I was trying not to. I had a dream where I was fighting to wake myself up. When I woke, Dylan was passed out beside me and I felt completely unrested.

At 15 months~
Weight- 27lbs (I think that falls in the upper 80th percentile)
Height- 33 inches (97th or 99th percentile I believe)
Clothing- 2T (He can no longer wear 18m and 24m is getting really snug. He can still wear 24m jeans with no problem.)
Shoes- 6
Diaper- 5

He was sick at his well check so a week later when he was better he went in to get shots and his stitches out he weighted a pound heavier. He went back in two days later because he had a reaction to one of his shots. It looked liked he had the world largest mosquito bite. His upper thigh was red, swollen and very hard. It didn't seem like it bother him unless you touched it. We are guessing that he is allergic to a preservative in the medication. The thing is, he has had this shot twice before and will need to have it once more when he is four.

Dylan can say many words but his daily vocabulary consists mainly of, "uh-oh" and "What's that." He also says, "Da-do" a lot. He says Daddy more than Mama and still doesn't call Austin anything but understand who we are talking about when we say Austin or brother. The longest sentence he put together was 4 words long but I can't remember what it was. We were driving home from seeing family over Christmas and he asked me a question. I believe he was asking where daddy went but I can't remember the exact way he said it. Chris went to pump gas.

He does understand a lot. More than I thought. I started testing him on what he understands and was really impressed. I started asking him questions and he would respond to me by shaking his head yes or no. I would asking him things like if he wanted a drink or if he wanted to go in his room and play and he would shake yes to those. If I asked him if he wanted down when I was holding him he would shake no and he always shakes no when I ask him if he wants to go to bed. He still will not say yes or no. We're working on it.

When we were visiting family my sister asked the kids in the van who wanted a slurpee and Dylan raised his hand up. He was the first one to respond so there was no denying that he knew what she said. I'm defiantly not worried about his speech. I know he can talk and understand. He sure knows how to babble a lot. Austin was just like him and by his second birthday I couldn't get the kid to be quiet.

Dylan's personality is very outgoing and refreshing. He will run, laugh, yell, smile, and giggle all through out the house. He likes to explore and get into things. He can tear a room into pieces in five seconds. He is fun but boy is he work.

One thing that I enjoy the most are his cuddles. He will snuggle up on the couch with me to watch TV. He loves soft blankets and pillows. I often tickle him while he lays with me to make him laugh. Hearing his giggle is the best sound ever.

Nap/bedtime is starting to be a little challenging. He is starting to resist more. I used to be able to rock him in my arms and lay him in bed to have him fall asleep. Now he knows what is about to happen so he will fuss in my arms so I end up laying him down only to have him cry. He will cry 10 minutes or so until he falls asleep. For his nap I have more success in getting him to sleep without any crying.

Austin went to a regular bed at 18 months. I don't think we will be able to switch Dylan at that age. I think we will have a lot more difficulty getting him to bed if we did. For Austin it was easier because he hated being in a crib. We tested Dylan out with his mattress on the floor and realized he doesn't hate his bed but just the fact that he has to go to sleep. He is also a wild sleeper so he needs those bars to keep him in.

The boys play rather well together. They have their fair share of hitting and times where they don't play nicely but overall they do as best as they can. Dylan is still learning how to share and Austin is not very understanding in that area. As Dylan gets older I am allowing him in Austins room more to play and Austin doesn't like that. He would rather go into Dylan's room to play that way Dylan can't mess up his toys. For a four year old Austin keeps his room is spectacular condition. Hardly a toy out of place. Totally opposite of Dylan at this point. I allow Dylan into Austins room so he can play with the trains. He started saying, "Choo-choo" while he plays with them. Its so cute! I am finding it challenging to not only teach Dylan the importance of sharing and taking care of toys but also teaching Austin patience while Dylan learns these very important lessons.

I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as they say. Things are getting easier. As I think that during the day my thoughts turn to potty training and I begin to shutter. When that day comes I will no longer be saying that. But for now, lets not think of that!

Dylan,
You are such a big boy full of laughter, spirit and always on a mission. You keep things fun and messy for sure. You just started to stick your finger in your belly button. Its one of those cute moments I can't get enough of. Your big brother is your best friend. You want to do everything he does. You love your cat and beam with joy at every chance she lets you pet her. With how wild you are I can't believe how nice and gentle you are with her. You love your Daddy but most of all you love your Mama. There is no denying you are a Mama's boy and I am enjoying every minute of it. I can't say enough how much I love you my sweet boy. I can't imagine life without my boys. You and your brother bring me so much happiness. I love my evenings after bedtime but there are many nights before I go to bed when I miss you two. I will often go to your rooms and check on you and think about all the fun things we can do the next day. I love you my sweet baby boy.

Love always,
Mommy

Valentines Day Decorations

2011-01-03T14:44:00.003-05:00

We took the Christmas decorations down over the weekend. Austin was sad about it so I let him keep his tree up in his room to use as a nightlight and we started decorating for Valentines day to get his focus off of Christmas. I cut out a bunch of hearts from my cricut then I let Austin write or draw on them.
His writing is getting so much better. I just noticed the other day that he can type his name out on the computer without help when he plays his games. I was impressed!

He made me take a picture of his with his hand on his head so he could see what he looked like. He's so silly!

I was busy with Dylan when Austin said, "Look mom! I wrote Aunt Julies name!" I already had her name spelled out on a paper for him so he knew how to spell it. I was shocked that he got the spacing right. It doesn't always happen that way. If he runs out of room he will either squeeze it in or finish writing it on the back, below or back at the beginning. He is getting a lot better in knowing to just start over and give himself more room.

I have to remind him to hold his pencil/marker correctly. He likes to hold it up high.

He wrote out Aunt Melissa's name all on his own. On the reverse side of the paper he was being silly and wrote it really big until he ran out of room so he flipped it over and wrote it the best I have ever seen him do.

Our finished project! He stuck a good majority of them on including the ones way up high. I had to stand on a chair and lift him up. He enjoyed that!

Junk in the trunk

2011-01-02T13:30:00.001-05:00

Dylan was walking around the house stomping his feet and being silly like normal. When he walked by us we smelled his stink. He has had the poos all weekend so we were dreading changing yet another stinky diaper. Chris went to unzip his footie pjs while he was standing only to discover he didn't have a diaper on! His poo ran all down his legs and puddled in the feet of his pjs. That is why he was stomping his feet.
Chris found his diaper in the leg of his pjs. He made of joke and said his poo was so powerful that it exploded right off!

We were happy that this was the last of the explosions!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-30T02:10:00.001-05:00

We made a long drive to be with family over Christmas. We drove 26 hours in seven days and I couldn't have asked for better children. That's not to say it still didn't wear us down.

The night before Christmas Austin hurried to bed ready for it to be the next day. He woke up bright and early waking everyone in his excitement.

The kids started tearing into their gifts right away. Christmas is much more exciting for me as an adult. I loved it as a kid but there is just something so different watching your own kids excitement over something as simple as goofy glasses.

Austin loved his Disney puzzle so much that he was hugging it calling them all his friends.

After all the Santa gifts were opened we went over to my grandfathers house. He would be the kids Great-Grandpa.

We exchanged gifts.

I love this picture of the boys.

My grandpa has a great sense of humor! My mom really wanted a KitchenAid mixer so he bought her a wooden spoon with the KitchenAid logo on it. He told her he thought she said she wanted a beater so she got one. She later got her mixer.

Great-Grandpa opening his gift from all the grand-kids. It's a ornament from Bronners with Great-Grandpa written on it with all 9 of his great-grandkids names on it.

After that we went back to my parents house so the kids could open up their presents from their grandparents.

Let me just say this. Grandparents spoil. Enough said.

Dylan opening a Toy Story 4-wheeler.

Two days later we drove another 2-3 hours to go visit Chris's parents. The kids opened more gifts and we spent some time with them. There were many favorites with the kids. Austin loved his talking Woody doll. They both love the tent and tunnel. They play in it daily in Dylans room. Dylan loves his little people cars and his keyboard.

Visiting Chris's Grandma in the nursing home.

The trip was extremely exhausting. We are so happy to be home and to sleep in our own beds. It took a good three days for everyone to recover and to clean and organize the explosion of gifts. In the end its all worth it to be able to be with family but we're so glad it's over! haha.

Naughty Michelle!

2010-12-25T02:07:00.000-05:00

Michelle was supposed to be back at the North Pole on Christmas day but instead wanted in on the fun and started opening the presents.

Austin had so much fun pretending. Kids imaginations are amazing!

Bronners

2010-12-24T01:57:00.004-05:00

This year we made our traditional trip to Bronners to see Santa and to each pick out a special ornament for our tree.

Austin picked out a basketball ornament. Dylan's was a banana as it's his favorite food. I can't remember what Chris picked out at the moment. Mine was a smore to show my love of chocolate.

The kids with Santa

Changing it up a little.

The kids loved looking at all the decorations and we managed to escape at the beginning of a meltdown and with only 1 broken ornament. I have to give them credit. They did amazing for being in a car the day before for 11 hours straight and going on very little sleep.

Day ten

2010-12-20T01:46:00.003-05:00

Dylan got his stitches taken out today. I took this picture a few minutes before we left to get them out.

He watched as the first two were taken out. He cried a little when the third was taken out. It was located in an area that was not completely healed yet. The fourth I could tell was slightly painful but not that bad. He did amazing. I sure hope that was the only time we will have to go through this.

Update: 11/3/11
Dylan's finger looks amazing. I can hardly tell he had stitches. His finger was a little sensitive and I had to remember when I washed his hands to be careful but now it looks as though it never happened. We are so thankful things turned out as they did!

Hollywild

2010-12-20T01:12:00.001-05:00

This year we went to Hollywild. It was so much fun! There were cows as tall as our van!

When you first enter you are taken into a large area where animals such as deer run around your vehicle. You have to drive extremely slow and try to get them to stop so you can feed them.

We bought a bag of food there and the animals didn't care all that much for it. We had stopped at Target right before and had got a bag of animal crackers for the kids so I got that out and the animals LOVED it. The humongous cow loved it so much that I thought he was going to get into the van with us. I had to stop feeding him because he had his entire head in our van.

Oh and he slobbered too!

After we parked we walked around feeding the animals. Austin even got to bottle feed the babies. Both kids had so much fun. There were tons of laughter and smiles.

VIDEO~ Austin bottle feeding the animals.

After feeding the animals we stood around the big bonfire roasting smoores and drinking hot chocolate. We can't wait to go back but not until it warms up!

Tick tock tick tock...

2010-12-20T00:16:00.002-05:00

Austin wanted to show me his tick tock dance. He cracks me up!

Video~ Tick tock dance.

Austin's Christmas Program

2010-12-19T23:52:00.001-05:00

I was so excited to see Austin's Christmas program this year. He would sing some songs around the house but I never knew exactly what songs he was going to sing. I was surprised how well he knew the lyrics and we had fun singing at home together.

Dylan waiting for the program to start.

Austin & Nathan. Little Sheppard boys.

Austin did so much better this year. He participated and had fun. I'm so proud of him!

We have the whole thing on video and as soon as Chris gets the video ready I will post it.

My silly boy

2010-12-18T23:48:00.001-05:00

Getting into cabinets again. He always knows how to make me laugh!

Santa visit 1

2010-12-17T23:30:00.000-05:00

Austin was really excited about seeing Santa this year.

Waiting in line for his turn...

Talking to Santa about his trains.

Dylan was not having it.

Austin was really nervous but more excited to meet him. He really wants to go to the North Pole.

Basketball

2010-12-17T00:00:00.012-05:00

Austin just completed his first season of basketball. It was his first team sport he has participated in. It was challenging at first to get him to join in but after a few weeks and many bribes he finally played.

The first week he wouldn't play. The second week he joined in on some practice and on the third when they started playing games he wanted nothing to do with it. By the fourth week I was tired of going and having him sit on the side lines so I gave him no choice but to play and guess what? He loved it! He had so much fun that he looked forward to playing the next week.

To make sure he continued to play I bribed him with an icee from Target from then on until the end. After every game he would want to call grandpa and tell him how many baskets he made. He was so proud of himself and would beam with pride when I told him how proud I was of him.

He averaged 2-3 baskets during each game and many more during practice.

Blocking. At first he would yell at the person throwing telling them, "No no, don't shoot! Don't shoot!" to get them not to make a basket. I had to keep reminding him not to say anything and just use his arms and jump when they shoot.

Dylan watching from the side lines.

Huddle. Austin is number 4. Second on the left.

Hands in.

His medal for finishing

His certificate.

He was so proud!

Michelle

2010-12-15T22:34:00.006-05:00

This year we started the elf on the shelf tradition. Austin named his elf Michelle. Sometimes I think he was calling him/her? Michelf. Everyday Michelle would be in a new spot. We were not allowed to touch him or he would lose his magic.

Sometimes he would be good and sometimes he would be naughty. He tp'ed the tree twice. Once at home and once at his grandparents house when we arrived. We used unrolled tp for three days! Couldn't let that go to waste. He drew on the boys pictures that were hanging on the wall with dry erase markers. This was his favorite because Michelle gave him a mustache. He also dumped a box of coco krispies over and made a krispy-angel.

A couple times Michelle brought him a present from Santa for being such a good boy. It encouraged him to be nice to his brother but he does pretty good in that area anyway.

He loved his present so much. He was vary appreciative. We had such a great time watching all the cartoons I remember watching as a child. Children are so much fun!

There's always a party going on...

2010-12-14T22:25:00.002-05:00

in our cabinets! Dylan likes to party in there while I make dinner. After dinner I have to go around picking up everything that was in there to put it back.

1 ER visit, 4 Stitches & the details

2010-12-13T21:35:00.015-05:00

This last weekend was a rough one for us for sure. Between Friday through Monday we had three doctor visits, 1 ER visit, three sinus infections, 1 ear infection, 1 lose of voice, I lost count how many prescriptions (9 or so) and 4 stitches.

I warn you now. If looking at stitches on a wee lil finger will make you nauseous please don't look at the last picture. I do everything I can when changing his bandage not to pass out!

The story that I dread thinking about again but I must do it.
On Friday we were at Sears getting a couple things for the Christmas party we were supposed to attend the next day. We were headed to the top floor. Chris took the kids up the escalator while I took the stroller up the elevator.
When I reached the top floor a few seconds later I heard a horrid scream. It took me a second to realize that it was my child's scream. I ran in the direction of the escalator. At that moment the only thing I remember was looking in Chris's eyes. He was in shock. He had Dylan in his arms and he was holding his hand. As I ran closer I noticed a lot of blood so I ran to the nearest check out where I asked the girl if she had a towel. She was taking her sweet time and I said (As best as I could. I lost my voice), "Please hurry and just give me anything, my son is bleeding!" She gave me paper towel and I ran back over to Chris.
I grabbed Dylan and sat on the floor holding him while he screamed. After getting some of the blood off I noticed the meat of his middle finger was hanging out. I told Chris he needed stitches and we need to leave now and that he needs to go pull the van up to the door. I carried Dylan downstairs while lots of onlookers watched us as we left. I was trying to keep it together but I was crying. I was hurting for my little boy. One of the worst feelings in the world is seeing your child hurting.
On the way to the hospital Dylan screamed the whole way. He was fighting me with all his strength for me to let go. We both just sat in the back seat crying together.
He calmed down just as we got to the hospital. They sent us back and waited for someone to come and ask questions and do things like his weight and so on. We were then sent back to another room to wait for the nurse and the doctor.
In this second room we waited about 15 minutes for a nurse. He asked us what we were there for, looked at it then left. We waited over another two hours for them to come back in. By now Dylan had passed out from exhaustion and had waken back up and was getting fussy again. When we finally seen the doctor he told me he needed 1 stitch. The nurse reassured me that it would look a lot better when it was done. He probably said that to make me feel better because I was on the verge of crying again. (Give me a break! :) I was sick and emotional)
Two nurses came in and wrapped Dylan up like a mummy to hold him down. One held his hand and right side of his body, the other on his left holding him while I was give him kisses and rubbing his cheeks.
He screamed again through the whole process. I get extremely queasy with blood so I was amazed that I was able to watch a good portion of the procedure. I did feel a little nausiated when the doctor gave him a shot to numb his finger so I looked away. When it was time to make the first stitch I watched parts of it all the while I was kissing Dylan and trying to comfort him as best as I could. By the time that was done there was so much blood that I wondered if he could even see what he was doing. I watched him put in three more all the while Dylan was screaming and fighting the two nurses.
The doctor left as quickly as he came in. The two nurses wrapped his finger up and gave me brief instructions then left. I held Dylan to my chest and comforted him. When he calmed down I noticed the floor was splattered with blood and the bed had a little blood on it as well. It's amazing how much blood can come out of a little finger!
It wasn't until after everything happened that I learned what happened. I only knew that it was the escalator that caused it. I thought maybe he fell on it and got his fingers pinched between the stairs but I knew Chris had carried him because I saw them go up so I wasn't clear how that all happened.
What happened was after Chris got to the top of the escalator and stepped off he set Dylan down and looked over to make sure Austin got off all right. Dylan being his curious self he is reached down to touch the escalator. (He gets excitement from touching shiny metal things. No kidding.) As Chris looked back over at Dylan he noticed he was bending down to touch it. Chris reached his arm out to pull Dylan's hand back and at that moment his finger got sucked into the area where the stairs go under the floor. Chris pulled his finger back and heard it rip.

I took this picture for Chris while we were waiting for the doctor. We couldn't bring Austin back so Chris waited out in the van with him.

Waiting some more for the doctor. I was trying to make him smile and he loved playing with my phone so we compromised with my phone skin. We also watched Mickey Mouse on my phone and played a game. I was doing everything I could to keep him occupied so he would let me hold his hand. I even let him watch Sponge Bob on the TV in the room that played it over and over. What a nightmare that was!

The picture I took to tell Chris we were finished! We were so ready to go home!!

Dylan was really exhausted and hungry when we left. We fed and put him to bed when we got home. He slept until 10:30 the following day. I was on pins and needles waiting for him to wake and was expecting a crabby little boy. He woke up mildly happy. He was irritated that he had a bandage on his hand and wanted it off. I had to watch him constantly the first day because he was pulling and biting it.

He loves playing with his little people. This is the morning after it happened.

He wasn't unhappy in this picture. He was being crazy with his tractor.

and knocked his horse out so he put it back.

Eating a sucker as my attempt to distract him from his hand.

Three days after it happened. (Click if you want it enlarged.)

Appointment is scheduled for the 20th to get them taken out. I am extremely anxious for that day. I just want this all behind us and for my little boy to be all better! It could have been a lot worse if it weren't for Chris pulling his finger back when he did and that is something I don't like to think about but I must be thankful for.

Gingerbread house

2010-12-06T20:49:00.000-05:00

Every year we make gingerbread houses. I have always bought the kits but this year I decided to make my own. They turned out great! When I was making the dough I made the mistake of not reading out the ingredients before I started and ended up with way more dough than I needed. Chris told me it looked like a pile of reindeer poo when I had it wrapped and sitting in the refrigerator!

Austin decorating gingerbread men with royal icing.

and some sprinkles too.

(Almost all) Our candy!

I think their house turned out great. I love the gummy bear that is sliding down the snow hill!

Super Hero

2010-12-05T20:27:00.000-05:00

Austin has been running around with his Spiderman hat/cape for the last few days. It's getting harder to remember his toddler years. He's such a rough tough boy now. I love this new fun stage he is going though.

Cookies once more

2010-12-03T20:07:00.005-05:00

I baked my third batch (over the last few weeks) of Christmas cookies today. Austin kept asking me for more cookies so I gave in. I'm sure if Dylan could talk better he would be asking for more too. I think they would live off of them if I would let them.

After decorating the cookies I gave Dylan a taste of the frosting. There was no stopping after that. He started following me around with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth wanting more.

He' so funny!

Next up is cooking and decorating our gingerbread house. I wonder how much decorating the kids will do compared to eating.

Mmmm...

2010-11-30T21:08:00.003-05:00

Dylan is still a picky eater but when he likes something you will know it! How?? Listen carefully.

Video!

He was eating vanilla yogurt, blueberries with graham crackers. He was in love :)

Mickey & New Hair do.

2010-11-29T20:47:00.000-05:00

Dylan has developed an attachment to his Mickey. It's so sweet to see how much he loves him. If I ask him if he wants his Mickey he gets excited and when he sees him he will give a big smile, opens his arms wide and grabs a hold of him with a big hug. At bedtime he will hug his Mickey while I rock him to sleep in my arms and at night in bed he snuggles him.

Dylan with his new hair do.

I'll confess. I cut his hair myself. It needed it and Austins didn't. I didn't want to go through the hassle of just taking one child to get their hair cut only to be there two weeks later for the other so I just did it.

Carrying his Mickey around...

Slicked up. Took this with my phone so the quality isn't as great.

Backyard fun!

2010-11-22T20:20:00.009-05:00

Chris trying out his new toy

The kids like playing at their new "park" as Austin calls it.
Dylan loves the slide.

Austin loves this swing.

Chris made a huge leaf pile for the kids to play in.

They both had a lot of fun playing in their new backyard. Dylan was so busy that he nearly went the whole day without a nap. He crashed around 5.

Potty Time!

2010-11-21T20:02:00.003-05:00

I am tired of trying to catch my blog up so I am going to give up and back blog when I have more time. I am just falling more behind by waiting.

Today I pulled out the potty and gave Dylan a quick lesson. Of course he doesn't understand but he did learn the word potty and pee-pee. I am not potty training him right now. I am just teaching him what it is and if he wants he can sit. No pressure, its just for fun with lots of praises when he sits with a couple potty dances involved. I did the same with Austin starting at 18 months. Austin was ready at 2 and trained quickly.

At first he showed a lot of interest in sticking his foot in the potty. I finally figured out he was just trying to get his foot over it to be able to sit down. He didn't master that today so I had to help him every time he wanted to sit. He sat on it for a while drinking his drink and playing with a car.

He ran around naked for a while trying to slide down his slide which didn't work out so well with a naked behind. If he left the room he carried his potty. If he felt the need to sit he would stick his foot in trying to adjust himself to sit so I had to come to the rescue.

At one point I got out a pair of underwear and he knew immediately what they were for. He tried getting them on so I helped him. He ran around with them on and when he wanted to sit again I pulled them down and he sat. He then got up and ran around with them around him knees. Its was all very entertaining.

picky picky

2010-11-20T20:54:00.000-05:00

Dylan has a very selective diet. If its red he will eat it. Green? probably a good chance. A cookie? defiantly. Candy? heck yeah. He still isn't letting me put anything in his mouth. If I try he will give me a look like I am a crazy woman. He has super strength alligator jaws. Don't even think about forcing him to eat anything. You will lose. Everything has to be evaluated by him and if he is thinking about eating it he will stick out his tongue and lick it.

You see he has no problem with spaghetti. It's red. He loves tomatoes. It doesn't matter if they are chopped or grilled he loves them. He's a dipper and loves his ketchup. Fries? Maybe a little to go with the ketchup.

Quick note to self before I forget. Dylan has been bottle free for about two weeks now. He dropped it without much fuss. I think it was harder for me than him.

Bowling with the boys

2010-11-20T18:00:00.000-05:00

My camera has been broken for about a month now. Dylan dropped it. That has been part of my reason for not blogging. Its all very depressing and I feel like I am missing out on capturing a ton of memories. We have the part to fix it now so I am just waiting on Chris to find time to do it.

Here are my only two non blurry photos from my camera.

Austin did really well. He bowled a 77 & 74 with bumpers. It hit the bumpers about half the time. Dylan liked to go out and watch the ball after Austin bowled. We had a hard time keeping him put when we bowling. He found out real quick not to walk on the lanes after he made it only six inches before he fell on his butt.

Austin had fun, Dylan got wore out and we (me and Dylan) had a great nap after that!

Clubhouse

2010-11-19T21:39:00.000-05:00

After many days of building the boys "clubhouse" its finally finished!

Austin calls it a clubhouse. He says its like Mickey Mouse.

We now have an almost completed backyard. Next up is a fire pit and a large shed. Probably wont get to that until spring.

My little cookie eater

2010-11-18T21:44:00.001-05:00

It's not even Thanksgiving and I have already made Christmas cookies twice in the last two weeks.

Dylan has a new love for cookies.

Hmmm...

2010-11-15T17:39:00.000-05:00

Not real sure how this happened.

Grandpa & Dylan

2010-11-15T15:45:00.000-05:00

Dylan thought it was funny to shove a little Buzz Lightyear into Grandpas mouth...

and do this.

There were many laughs...

and smiles...

and a little bit of pain (poor Grandpa)

but in the end, Dylan made it all better with...

his kisses.

Universal Studios

2010-10-21T20:15:00.000-04:00

On Monday we spent a half day at Universal Studios and the other half at Blizzard Beach. I was surprised that I liked US because I thought it was going to boring since they have more shows and less rides. We ended up going back to it later in the week to enjoy what we missed.

What I like most about Universal Studios was the buildings. There was just so much to look at.

Austin still talks about meeting Handy Manny. (a month later)

I was really excited to go to the Honey I Shrunk the kids playground because I remember playing here when I was a kid. It's still neat but not nearly as cool when your an adult! :)

Chris waited in line over and hour to meet Buzz Lightyear and Woody! I took the kids to a show and got in line with Chris when it was over. My excuse was, "We just had to go to the bathroom." It saved the kids a long time in line. This was the only character we waited this long for. The second longest was Ariel. 25 minutes maybe but we were lucky to see her so quickly. The rest were about 10 minutes wait.

♥Of course Chris has to meet his hero! ♥

The entertainment in line for the Buzzlight year ride. We waited in line 90 minutes! I know, CRAZY! But it was really fun! We rarely waited in line with the fast passes and child swaps so I guess this didn't kill us all that much :)

Tower of Terror...

I got the kids to ride on this (except Dylan of course!) Austin was barely tall enough. They both did decent the first time. By the second time they were pros and enjoyed it.

I didn't get any pictures at Blizzard Beach. It was hard enough chasing three kids around in a water park full of people. I did however get pictures at Typhoon Lagoon we went to a couple days later.

Animal Kingdom/ Disney Quest

2010-10-20T21:01:00.002-04:00

We spent a wonderful BUSY week at Disney. The first day at the parks we went to Animal Kingdon. It was really fun and probably my second favorite park. (Nothing tops the Magic Kingdom!) We didn't get to do everything here but we did see the majority of it.

We started the day off with a safari in Africa.

We saw lots of animals up close.

and a few got in the way!

The kids were excited!

We saw elephants...
\

Austin LOVES elephants as you can see by his elephant imitation. Silly boy! I so love him for that!

Amya & Grandpa waiting in line for a ride.

I love this picture because this is their first up close reaction to the characters.

This was also the ONLY time Dylan got close to them. He bawled two seconds after this.

Showing off their Mickey ears.

Meeting Pooh

Eeyore

T-I double grrrr...

3D Movie- It's Tough to be a Bug. Loved it!

The park closed at 5 so we went back to the hotel to swim before we headed over to Disney Quest. See that water squirting from Mickey?? Austin loved to swim under it and get soaked. It came down super hard and almost hurt when it hit you but he loved it.

He's so crazy!

Disney Quest! Its a HUGE arcade. We had the water park & more tickets and it allowed us entry into here as well. There was 4 floors of games and the best part is never having to deal with money! Just sit and play so it made it super kid friendly.

Kids on a virtual roller coaster ride.

It was so cute watching the kids on this. They were in a virtual world where they were flying on a magic carpet. When they moved their heads so did they screen to make it seem as though they are really there.

Video~

10/10/10~Actual day at park.

Dylan 13 months

2010-10-19T09:43:00.007-04:00

My once laid back baby is no more. He is an attention seeking hog. If your not paying attention to him he's mad. The minute you look his way and flash him a smile he is happy. If you pick him up he is over the moon. Such a happy kid as long as you make him the center of attention. There are times when he plays alone but its not that often.

He enjoys snuggling up with me which wasn't always the case when he was younger. Since he was an infant we always called him baby. I would hug and rock him and say in a sing song voice, "My baby." Today (10-19) he was extra snugly and he climbed up onto my chest to lay down and he said in a sing song voice, "baby..." He did that twice. It was so adorable. Later that day as we were laying in bed after nap time he laid in my arms again and this time he said, "my baby, my baby." He just melts my heart.

Since a very young age he has enjoyed leaning back and hanging upside down. Its so silly to watch him. At first he always did that and had this old man trying to talk sound come out of his mouth but now its mostly just laughing.

During meal time Dylan has been fighting us a lot. He hates it when we feed him and has been like this since he was 8 or so months. I was giving him a lot of finger foods to keep him happy so he could feed himself without much mess but then he wasn't getting a very good variety of things so I just gave him his plate with a fork and he went at it like a pro.

This was his first time with a fork and bowl. I was testing the waters.

and he did great!

Which makes us all happy.

Random things...

Wakes 7:30-8:30am
Naps once or twice a day for a total of 3 hours.
Bed time 7:30pm
Weighs 28lbs
Loves to clap. If you say yay, he will clap. If he hears clapping on TV, he will clap.
Will no longer pester Molly our cat (most of the time).
Hates it when you say no.
Starting to not get into as much stuff as he used to.
Loves it outside.
Words he says: Mama, Dada, weeee, kitty, baby, baba and I am sure there are a couple I am forgetting. I am thinking he is going to be like Austin and not say a lot until he is two. I remember as soon as Austin turned two its like someone flipped a switch and he was saying ten new words a day.
Still hates the grass but is starting to get brave and army crawl backwards on it until its time for his hands to touch and he backs out. I don't know why he just doesn't walk on it.
Loves pinwheels.
Loves Mickey Mouse
18 month clothing is starting to be a thing of the past. Most pants he wears are 24 months but are too long. He's a little meaty in the mid section but is starting to thin in the face.
This month his feet grew and he wears a 5.
Loves his Mama & Dada and will cry when one leaves. He was 11 months when he did that when I left and now its also when Daddy leaves such as when he goes back to work from lunch.
Likes to do what his brother does.
Gives open mouth kisses when asked.

Dylan,

I'm sure not hating those extra moments in the day where we give hugs. This last month was kind of rough for us as we are trying to re-figure things out a little. Your changing so much and what I learned is you just need extra lovin'. We spend two times a day laying in bed just being silly or hugging. You love the attention with no distractions and it works! I teach you new things in those moments such as where your belly is or the name of every part in my mouth. I think your going to be a Dentist. So interested in teeth and the tongue or anything else to do with the mouth!
I have had a lot of moments in the day lately where I stop and think about you and your brother. I am so thankful for both of you and in those moments I want to cry for happiness. For every challenging moment there are 5+ good ones and it makes it all worth it! I love you boys so much. Your new found neediness has been a true blessing as it has allowed me to bond with you even more. I look forward to our moments together and I hope that we can always have a close bond. I love you Dylan with all my heart. You will always be my baby. Even when your 40!

Love Always
Mommy