Thanksgiving 2009

We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving this year and had such a great time! All of my siblings and their families were together. It was awesome.

The nut cups



Some of the cooks and the carvers



The feast (minus Brooke's pies)



The family





The grandma's boy. Tyler only wanted my mom to hold him. He would hang on her legs as she tried to work in the kitchen until she would pick him up. If she tried to pass him off to one of us he would cry and throw a fit until we put him down, and then he'd hurry back to Grandma. (I think they had a secret pact to get my mom out of cooking. Hee! Hee!)



One night we went out to eat at the local bowling alley. Surprisingly the food was super yummy there.

Here we are waiting for our food.





Having a blast bowling.




Black Friday

My parents live in a small town "out in the middle of nowhere," which means that to get to a town with lots of good Black Friday deals, you have to travel 2-3 hours. So, after making our Black Friday lists (and checking them a bazillion times), we left at 12:50 a.m. (yes, that's in the middle of the night) and drove 3 hours to our Black Friday "pick city." We arrived at the mall at 3:40 a.m. and were some of the first in line to get in on the 4:00 a.m. good deals. We then headed to Shopko and waited in line for the store to open up at 5:00 a.m. (One bonus here is that Shopko handed out tiny maple bars and printed instructions on where to find the deals and how to check out.) We then headed to WalMart, Target and KMart before stopping to eat breakfast at Mc Donalds. We ended our shopping frenzy where we began--at the mall, where the rest of the stores had FINALLY opened up. We made it back to my parents house around 1;00 p.m. with a van full of good deals. It was such a fun day!

I don't have a picture to go with this year's Black Friday experience, but I'll include the one from 2 years ago. That year Brooke, Kimberly, Darrell and I headed out at 3:00 a.m. (sheesh, we got to sleep in that year) to make it to the 5:00 a.m. deals in a town 2 hours away. We had a great time and got lots of things that filled up Brooke's van. Brooke decided to get some toilet paper at Costco, among other things, as we headed out of town. She secured the t.p. on top of the van with bungee cords (there literally was not room in the van) and off we went. Imagine our surprise as we were heading down the freeway to find rolls of toilet paper bouncing off the van and on to the freeway. Kimberly, Brooke, and Darrell tried to salvage what they could (I was pregnant and stayed in the van), but alas, we never could find all of the rolls. Anyway, we had such a good laugh out of it and a great memory to talk about at subsequent Black Friday ventures, that I had to post about it here.

Here we are with some of our recovered t.p. Brooke has a prized one--it was very rare to find a roll with the wrapper still on.

Lovin' This Little Guy of Ours

It's fun to watch Tyler's personality take shape. He is a happy kid--except for an occasional temper tantrum when he can't have his way. (But hey, we can all relate, right?) Here are some recent pictures of Tyler being himself.

A couple weeks ago Tyler was "in" to little pieces of crumpled up paper that he'd carry around in his clenched fist. He wasn't picky--pretty much any paper would do: napkins, paper towels, toilet paper, notebook paper or old coupons.






He likes to imitate the things we do, including licking his finger when he wants to look through the ads, just like I do when I want to turn a page. (Wow, what he picks up!)

Here he is with the cell phone. Yesterday he ended his "conversation" by saying, "OK!"



He "helps" with cleaning too.



He gets out his play lawnmower to help vacuum (with paper in his hand).



Tyler is a tease (like his dad and Darrell's dad. Hmmm. I wonder if there's a "tease gene" in the family.) Whenever he knows it's time to go "bye bye," he runs away with a huge mischievous grin on his face and waits for me to chase him down.



Tyler loves listening to his "Toddler Tunes" or "Wee Sing" CDs and knows which button to push on the stereo to make the music come on. (Notice the paper in his other hand.)



He turns it on while we're watching TV and then bends down close to the speaker to hear the music. Here he is enjoying his "tunes."



This week's favorite is carrying around "chip clips," but an occasional coupon or tissue still makes their way into his hands.



We sure do love this sweet little boy. (Alas, I can no longer get him to smile on demand for the camera. Sigh! I guess he takes after his dad for that too.)



Here's a bonus picture that Darrell took after Tyler went to sleep a couple nights ago.

Introducing...

the newest "wee ones."



We went through another invitro fertilzation cycle in September/October, and we are so pleased that the ultrasound this week showed TWO (yes, two!!!!) healthy babies. What a blessing and a miracle.

I'm 8 1/2 weeks pregnant and the due date is June 20, 2010. The above picture was taken on the day of the transfer, but the babies now look similar to this.

We feel so blessed and humbled to be facing this new adventure and are so grateful to those who prayed in our behalf. Words aren't enough to say thank you enough, but thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

What a Difference 8 Months Makes

Last week we had such GORGEOUS weather that Tyler and I HAD to go to the park several days. I couldn't help think about the first time I took him there 8 months ago. My how he's grown!

Before (March 2009)



Now (November 2009)



Before



Now (He still tried to eat the woodchips, but I didn't get a picure.)



Before



Now (Look at him taking the stairs by himself and running everywhere.)

Tigger

Three or four years ago Darrell and I bought a Tigger costume on clearance after Halloween. This was before we even had kids, but we figured it would work for a future son or daughter's Halloween costume.

Well, the future is now the present, and Tyler was Tigger for Halloween. He didn't really like the hood and was always touching it or pushing it off, so we never really got a good picture this year, but here's the best we came up with.







We took Tyler trick-or-treating at the local downtown businesses. This is what he thought of standing in line for candy.



So I stood in line while Darrell chased Tyler around. Darrell did a great job of rounding up Tyler to get in line at just the right time to collect his treat.



We didn't take Tyler out trick-or-treating that night--we just stayed home and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Tyler LOVED running to the door when the doorbell rang and watching the kids in costumes.

(A few weeks ago we had a neighborhood fall festival and Tyler dressed up as Tigger for that too. Here's a few pictures from then. Tyler hadn't figured out how to get the hood off yet.)

These A Few of Tyler's Favorite Things

Tyler has tons of toys, and he DOES play with them...



but lately he's come across some other favorites.

Powerade bottle caps



AC adapters



a notebook and pen



milk cartons from the recyling box



Mommy's purse



dental floss, a toothbrush and chapstick



Daddy's belts





and a washcloth. What a kid!