Just Me and My Boys

Outside Renovations at Uncle Tim's

2009-07-19T22:08:00.006-04:00

Uncle Tim had the outside of his house totally redone. New paver driveway, new sod, new landscaping, new swing, new horse shoe pit, and new paint on the house. We all pitched in. Even the little ones. Here's some pics.

Abby and Tyson found a worm and were torturing it.

Madison had to take an important call.

We're not sure if Kristyn passed out or was just resting.

Tyler's work was finally done and he got to go in the pool.

Back from the.....

2009-07-10T10:46:00.006-04:00

Hey everyone! I know I've been MIA for months and I'm sorry. It's just that I get sick when I look at the computer, watch tv, read, drive, etc. Pretty much all I can do is sit and stare into space! It's getting better now. I'll be 4 months on Monday and alot of the sickness is gone. Thank goodness! Since I blogged last we've had another ultra sound and things look great. Here's the newest picture of baby Tyrone. Just kidding, we don't know the gender.

See the baby waving?

We'll have another ultra sound in 5 weeks. They will write the gender in an envelope and I will give it to my sister and Mandy. They are having my shower for me. I will register for both genders and then be surprised when I get to the shower. I can't wait! My guests will find out when they rsvp. I hope no one lets the cat out of the bag!

The day after we found out I was pregnant, my mom and I chaperoned Abby's school trip to Sunsplash Waterpark. We had a good time.

Abby and I went on this ride together. You go down on a double tube that looks like a figure 8. She didn't like it last year and still didn't this year. I guess we'll try every year.

Tyson started running a fever and fell asleep. Poor guy! He had a lot of fun the first part of the day though.

Positive!

2009-05-21T22:47:00.003-04:00

If you read my earlier post about me thinking I was pregnant and my body acting like it was, but I really wasn't. You might be saying, "She really wasn't crazy!" No, I was! I got pregnant 2 weeks after I went to the doctor and found out I wasn't. Weird! So I still hadn't had a period since January and had no idea how far along I was since I wasn't pregnant March 17th. We went to the doctor on Tuesday and he did an ultra sound. We are 8 weeks 4 days in preg. mom talk and 2 months in normal talk! We are very excited! And yes, I have weened myself off the paxil and are praying for extra money to send Tyler to daycare. Just 2 or 3 or 7 days a week. No, really I think just 2 would be good. So anyway, we are due December 28th, but the c-section will probably be 10 days earlier. About the 18th. Of course, I will be trying to get my water to break starting in early November. Just kidding. Not really. So we'll have another Christmas baby! Tyler was born on the 6th. They will be 2 years apart. Tyson and Tyler are 1 1/2 years apart. We're hoping for a little Tyrone, in keeping with the Ty's. Just kidding, really. We both would love to have a little girl, but would be very happy with another boy. I am not going to find out the sex until my shower. So I'll have a little surprise! The throwers of my shower will know and when the guests rsvp, they will find out. Fun! Derek hasn't made up his mind yet if he wants to find out before then. He likes to know stuff! Can you believe we can find out in 4 weeks!? There is some new test they do for down syndrome and it also tells the sex. Now I know there are a lot of you out there who don't get the testing done because it's not like you would abort the baby if it had downs, but I choose to have the testing so that if I am having a special needs child, I can read and research it and be more prepared when the baby is born. I would rather not be shocked in the delivery room. I have been feeling nauseous and yucky all day every day for a little over a week. Today was the best day I've had. I have to eat ALL day long. Not because I'm hungry, but to try and keep the nausea away. I'm tired a lot. I try to put the boys down and take a nap every day. And the boys have actually tucked me in bed a couple times this week. Tyson is excited. He wants a girl. Tyler has no idea what's going on. Well, it's way past my new bedtime. I'll keep you posted!

Here's our fist picture of little baby #3.

This is a video of Tyson telling Mimi and Pa that there is a baby in mommy's tummy. But I didn't catch all of it! Darn it!

Happy Birthday Tyson!

2009-05-11T17:09:00.009-04:00

Wow! I can't believe my baby is three! It seems like we're always planning a birthday party. It goes by soooo fast. I really enjoy my time home with my boys. Tyson is a very sweet boy. He loves any sport. He is great at baseball, football, soccer and everything else. He wants me to watch everything he does. I hear, "Mama, watch!", all day long. He's learning how to share with his bully brother, who would rather hit you in face than look at you. Poor Tyson! Tyson is always saying, "Thank you mama, you're the best with me." and "I love you thiiiiiiiissss much!" and holding his arms open wide. He'll tell me something and then say, "that's a good idea!" He says, "that's weird." and "tool" (cool). He is also saying booty head right now, which we're trying to stop. His favorite toys today are his little skate boards (finger boards), his soccer ball and football, his bat and ball, his kitchen set, and his Diego boat. His favortie food is just about anything. He loves all fruit, all veggies, fish, chicken, etc. He doesn't care for pasta or ground beef. He LOVES to swim in the pool and jump off the edge. And he LOVES to go on bike rides. He pedals so well! He is such a sweet boy! Always wants to help me. He is a chatterbug though. I find myself asking him to be quiet several times a day. I have a hard time getting ready to go somewhere and listening to his constant chatter. Poor little guy! We are so blessed to have our little Tyson. He is wonderful! We always say, when we have more children, we want more Tysons. Happy birthday to our sweet Tyson!

I made him a special shirt with a 3 made out of balls on the front...

and a T on the back.

Tyson and Abby love jumping in the pool at the same time!

There he goes!

And here's trouble!

Cake time! I made cupcakes in cake cones. They were good! Can you tell they are supposed to be baseballs?

Tyler enjoyed his!

Awww. Kissin Cousins.

Present time! He loves everything he got!

What a wonderful day! Here's more pics.

To My Mother

2009-05-11T16:13:00.004-04:00

Dear Mom,

You ARE the most wonderful mother!

And you are the greatest grandmother to my boys!

You are a perfect example of selfless, unconditional love.

You are always there for me, whenever I need you, even if it's inconvient.

We have so much fun together, all the time.

We laugh, whenever we're together.

We finish each other's sentences.

We know what each other is thinking.

We are the same kind of CRAZY!

And I love YOU!

Thank you for being my wonderful mom!

I can't imagine my life without you!

I only pray that I am as good a mother to my children that you were/are to me.

Angela

The Beginning of Summer!

2009-05-06T11:07:00.007-04:00

Once these boys got a taste of the pool, they didn't want to leave it. The only thing is, Mimi and Pa's pool is not heated. Tyson doesn't seem to mind but he swims until his whole body is shaking with cold! Tyler is more like mama, he doesn't like the cold water. Tyson asked Mimi to turn the heater on. When she said she doesn't have one, he said, "Well, maybe you could borrow uncle Tim's." There's an idea! So we've been having parties at uncle Tim's house while he's at work during the day. We just call the night before and ask him to turn the heater on. What a nice uncle! Here's some pics. Good thing he has his floaties on so he doesn't drown in that pool!

Look at these two beautiful mermaids!

Tyler is warming up to the pool!

Sam is taking care of baby Jane.

Wow! What a big jump Tyson!

Later that afternoon, Mandy and I went to Target. It's always a big production for us to go anywhere because there are 7 kids and the 2 of us! That doesn't stop us though! And she's down one this week because the in laws came to visit last weekend and took one home. Can you find all six kids in the pic? Look carefully! And our friend Naj doesn't count.

There he is, sleeping in the cart! Poor Kam missed out on the slurpies!

Later that night, the guys had a basketball game. They are in a thirty something league. Their games are usually at 9pm but this week it was at 8pm. So we went and cheered them on! It was a little difficult to try and keep all those kids off the court and the extra balls they were playing with! But we had fun!

There's my man! #4 shooting the ball! What form!

And here's the chatting section, I mean cheering section. Are we winning? Are we home or away? It's over already? Who won? Oh, we did! Yaaaaaaaa! Gooooo Team!

Happy First Birthday Madison!

2009-04-28T22:37:00.010-04:00

My cousin's daughter Madison turned one last weekend. She was so cute! She had a pool party at grandma and grandpa's. Here's some pics.
My 5 yr old cousin Abby thinks she needs to carry Tyler everywhere.Tyson's ready to get the party started!Tyler was not happy in the pool unless Abby was holding him. It couldn't be uncle Tim or anyone else, it had to be Abby.

And now for the gifts! I made her a frame with a sparkly M in the middle.And a hair bow box. With hair bows! It was my first time ever making a hair bow. I was pretty happy with the way they turned out.
And here's the cute model!I made a box for my mom to give her gifts in.She bought these two cute outfits, which I took to my friend and got monogramed! Adorable!During the after party, Tyson was doing belly flops,and Abby was doing pencil drops.Someone left a pair of pink goggles which Tyson took ownership of. It worked out great for him since pink is his favorite color. A few weeks ago, I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted to have and he said pink! Oh, well!After Tyler had two baths, we finally left! He gave the birthday girl a sweet kiss goodbye. She was in her new jammies that my mom bought for her. My sister bought her the cutest bathing suit with a matching cover up and I'm so sorry I don't have a picture of it!And he couldn't leave his fave out! Abby!And this is what we got from Tyson. Nice!

Park Days

2009-04-28T14:40:00.000-04:00

We usually go to the park with friends once a week. Tyler scares everyone because he's a dare devil! He climbs up things Tyson is afraid to. And that's not the worst part. The worst part is when he makes it up there and then sits down and rolls over and starts backing up to come down. That's when you see me sprinting across the sand, yelling NO TYLER! You know what I'm talkin about Denise! She just sits there and laughs. No, I think she feels bad for me that I have to run to try and make it there in time. Sometimes, other parents are also running for him. I just hope I make it to him first so I don't look like a horrible mom. I'm sorry I don't have a pic of him climbing something. I'll try to get one this week. But here's some pics from last week.

Aww, isn't he cute rocking the baby!

Aww, he just wants to see the sweet baby!

Nope! He wants to yank her paci! Wolf in Sheep's clothing! That's what he is!

And he thinks it's funny! He's so doggone cute!

Tyson and HJ play so well together at the park! They both look forward to it every week!That evening the boys played b-ball with daddy. They are good!

After shooting some hoops, Tyson wanted to ride his skate board.

And of course, Tyler had to do it too!

Final Easter Basket Pics!

2009-04-27T16:02:00.004-04:00

Ok, this is the last of Easter! This is Easter afternoon. Tyson just got up from his nap and is finding his Easter basket. Then we were off to Derek's grandparents' house in Veince. And then we stopped at my parents house on the way home. It was a good day!

An egg of M&Ms! Yummy!

A train whistle!

And a mechanical toothbrush to wash away the sugar! That Easter Bunny is sooo smart!

Now, Tyson's basket had a nice liner from Nana a few days before Easter, too. But the night before Easter it was nowhere to be found and still isn't! I'm going to blame it on Tyler.

Have you ever heard of a Blog Shower?

2009-04-22T17:03:00.002-04:00

Well, have you? This is the second one I have seen and the first one I have participated in. It's a great idea. People become friends through blogging and they live all over. And instead of spending extra money on attending a shower in another state, you just get together on a blog and have a shower. I even got a party favor in the mail! Cold Stone Creamery gift card!!! It's the guest of honor's favorite! Neat, hugh? So, if you want to check it out go to: http://www.jennifersblogshower.blogspot.com/ I was a little late posting my gift. The shower was supposed to be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I just posted my gift today, Wednesday. Check it out!

Easter & Icecream!

2009-04-22T12:15:00.006-04:00

On the Saturday before Easter, we went to a park in Sarasota with my dad's family. We had a lot of good food, and fun! We had a big Easter egg hunt on the playground. Here's some pics.

Later that day, we went to John and Marty's (some of my mom and dad's good friends in Sarasota. They went to school together, so I've known them my whole life. Marty let Tyson and Abby help her make icecream after dinner! It was fantastic! We NEED one of those icecream makers!

This is a rocking horse that John made for Betsy, his daughter who is my age. I used to ride on it when I was Tyler's age.

Getting Ready For Easter

2009-04-08T09:48:00.004-04:00

This week is my cousin Abby's spring break. So she spent the day with us on Monday and we colored eggs. She was so excited to do it that she kept asking all morning when we were going to start. By the time we started, I was in such a hurry that I forgot to boil the eggs. I realized right in the middle of coloring. It was too late to stop then. So I just boiled them after we dyed them. Do you know what happens to colored eggs when you boil them? All the color boils off! So I had to re-dye them. I don't know how I forgot to boil the eggs. I've only been coloring eggs for 30 years! Oh well, they turned out fine. We had a few Easter egg hunts after naps. I made them wear bunny ears while they hunted. Here's some pics.

Miscellaneous

2009-03-30T20:53:00.006-04:00

This is how I found Tyler one day last month. He was crying because he couldn't get down off the box. He had opened one of my pens and colored his hands and mouth.

This is our little Orlando trip earlier this month for Youth Pastor Summit at Universal Studios. We left Tyler at home with Pa. We had a good time with Tyson. And we got to eat at the Cheesecake Factory!

Starbucks break.

Is my crack showing?

Cute pic of my cousin Abby.

Tyler sucking down Mate Ma's milkshake.

Tyson, Abby, and Maddison painting the walls.

Is he ever going to outgrow the baby doll stroller?

Box It Up!

2009-03-26T14:01:00.008-04:00

Most of you know that I love crafting. I came across these cute boxes and picture frames on Inger's blog (she's new on my blog list if you want to check her out). I think she may have gotten the idea from another blogger. It's hard to trace the origan. Anyway, I thought they were so cute and looked fairly easy, so I went to Micheal's and got everything I needed to make one. I loved making it and embelishing it and decided to make more. I would love to make and sell them. I can personalize them to anything you want. Check out my etsy store! http://www.boxitup.etsy.com/ Here are a few pics.

Swiper no swiping!

2009-03-24T17:02:00.006-04:00

So, I was reading Inger's blog, looking at all her pretty spring decorations and getting inspired to get mine out. I got up from the computer, went in the garage and brought some in only to find Tyler's latest mess. I can't take my eyes off that kid for a minute! He's bad, bad, bad! I guess it's my fault for not putting the latch back on the pantry door. It just frustrates me because we NEVER did any sort of baby proofing for Tyson. We just taught him not to touch things. Tyler's just not feelin it! Actually, he's feelin somthin, but it's not working. That kid! I'm just glad it was Oats and not something sticky! I'll just scoop those up and serve them for breakfast tomorrow! Just kidding!

Mama wants her medicine!

2009-03-18T10:03:00.003-04:00

Sorry I haven't written in so long! I haven't been feeling well. I've been nauseous, weird taste in my mouth, gained 10 lbs since January, I get so hot I feel like ripping my clothes off, tired, and more. You know what's worse than being pregnant and feeling crappy? Not being pregnant and feeling like you are! I haven't had a period since January 12. That would make me 9 weeks preg, if I were. But I'm apparently not. I went to the doc yesterday and he did an ultra sound and I'm not preg. He said my ovaries looked like they were on vacation. Derek asked if they left a note saying, Vacationing on the beach, wish you were here! He cracks himself up! I got some blood drawn for blood work. We'll see if that shows anything odd. My sister thinks my body is reacting like I'm preg because I haven't had a period in so long. That makes sense since my body is used to being preg. So here I sit with no coffee because it doesn't taste good. WHAT! Yeah, this 2 cup drinkin mama can't even drink one anymore. Now the other part to this problem is my medicine. Which I stopped taking a few weeks ago because I thought I was preg. Back in Nov. I went to the doctor with tons of stress and anxiety, mostly from Tyler, and not able to fall asleep for hours. She put me on Paxil and life was GRAND! I wasn't full of anxiety if my house wasn't spotless, Tyler didn't stress me to the point of yelling anymore, and I went to sleep when I hit the pillow! But when I didn't have my period and started having preg. symptoms, I weened myself off. So now not only do I have all those crappy preg. symptoms, but I also have the stress, anxiety, and I lay awake for hours at night scarred of every little noise. I was going to stay off the Paxil and try to get pregnant. But I think my sister was right when she said maybe this isn't God's timing for another baby. I think I'll start the medicine again!

I told you all this just in case someone needed a good laugh, or maybe someone has felt the same way and was too afraid to take medicine. Like for some reason if you love God, He should be enough for you and you shouldn't have to take medicine. Well, I love God, am a Christ follower, am a minister's wife, seek after God's will for my life, take my bible to the waiting room in the doctor's office and do my Beth Moore bible study, and I take Paxil! I don't in any way feel condemned by anyone, but I'm the type of person who wouldn't care anyway. But for all those out there who are afraid of being condemned, pray about it and don't worry about what other people think!

Sorry there's no cute pics of the kids! I'll update again soon!

Valentines Swap!

2009-02-04T22:47:00.007-05:00

If you read my blog, you know I participate in a blog swap for holidays. Well, we couldn't leave V-day out! I've been waiting by my door all week and it finally came today! And just so you know, it wasn't late, I was just super anxious. I found the package in my mail box this afternoon and had to restrain myself from opening it until tonight at church so my friend Mandy could take pics of me opening it. That might sound really weird to some of you, but everyone involved in the swap knows what I'm talkin about. It has to be well documented. So, without further a due....
WOW! I love it! The apron is totally me! And I just commented on someone else's blog that I need some of those spatulas and low and behold, look what I got! And that big one, well can you believe how awesome that is. It will double nicely as Mr. DoRight. Watch out my sweet little angels, mama's got a new spanking device! No, I'm just kidding, my children are PERFECT! They will LOVE the heart shaped pancakes I'm going to whip up on V-day in my new apron. Thank you sooooo much Glenda! I absolutely loved it all!
And for all of you asking, Are those guitars on her shirt? And is there a red stripe in her hair? Yes, both are correct. We got RockBand 2 for Christmas and I am now a Rock Star. So if I don't answer the phone when you call, you might think I'm changing a dirty diaper, doing educational crafts with my children, reading them books or feeding them, but really I'm on tour in my living room rockin out. Don't judge me until you've played!
I have added a poll to the right. Please vote on what color I should have done with my hair on Friday. I love having something different done with it!

Dogs and Turtles, Oh My!

2009-02-04T11:35:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I'm skipping ahead to now, but I will back track this week. We still have Tyler's bday, Christmas, New Years, and more to do. But I wanted to keep you afresh with now too. So, yesterday we went to the library and read to the dogs. It was so cool! There were 2 dogs there, Cramer and Miracle. They are specialy trained to go into nursing homes, hospitals, libraries, and for physical therapy. The kids got to read to them if they wanted to and just pet them if they can't read. It was pretty neat!

Last week, we saw our turtle again. We know it's ours because I spray painted his butt silver. Don't worry all you animal lovers, I didn't harm him. Just a little paint on his shell. It's what my dad always did growing up. Our turtle had yellow paint on him. So I'm carrying on the tradition. Here's some pics with our turtle. We need a turtley name. Any suggestions?

And here's some random pics of the boys from last week. I caught Tyson in mid air playing soccer. And yes, those are water shoes he's wearing. Hey, he wanted to wear them and we were just in our backyard. Don't judge! Nana sent a box in the mail. The 2 backpacks are from the box. They are so cute! And then we have some brotherly love! They are so sweet when they're not being rotten!

Thankful!

2009-01-29T23:39:00.001-05:00

I know it's a little late, but I just can't skip over anything! So here's Thanksgiving. We had a great one! We went to Derek's grandparents house on Thursday and celebrated with my family on Saturday. For Derek's, I made a custard pie for the first time! It's an old family recipe. And it's a secret, so don't ask for it! My dad is very protective of it. Anyway, it turned out great! Probably because Tyson helped me make the crust. And the weather that day was beautiful! We were outside the whole time. Here are some pics.

For my families celebration, I made home made apple dumplings. This was also something that my dad always made growing up. I have made them before, so it wasn't my first time. They came out great. I also made the table center pieces. I traced the boys hands and feet and made turkeys. They were so cute, but very time consuming! The day was fun filled! I made home made caramel sauce and had my grandparents play WII bowling to see who got to take it home. My great aunt Katherine won, but everyone did well! Then we got the parents to play Mario Cart on WII. That was a blast! Poor aunt Beth could not get the hang of it, but she sure tried hard! Here are some pics.

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Disney...Finally!

2008-12-18T12:51:00.001-05:00

Here are the pics from our wonderful Disney trip last month. We had a lot of fun and would love to go back in Feb. for Derek's and mom's birthdays. Don't forget that Disney is letting you in FREE this year for your birthday! Tyler got his 1st haircut while we were there. It went so smoothly! And he looked so much like a little boy afterward instead of a baby! He was so cute! Tyson's favorite thing at Disney was the Pooh Bear ride. Abby loved the rollercoasters, the Tea Cups, and race cars. She's a thrill seaker! Tyson gave them all a try, but it didn't go well! He's a little timid! Tyler was just happy that his Aunt Kristyn was willing to hold him the whole time.

I have sooo much catching up to do on the blog! But I'm going in order. And thank you to those of you who have kept on me to update! You know who you are, you pushy broads!

More Swap Fun!!!

2008-12-11T13:46:00.005-05:00

So, us bloggers did another swap. This one for winter. We didn't have to spell out winter, we just had to give wintery gifts! And boy did I get some good ones! I'm thrilled with ALL the gifts that were so graciously given to me! I do not know my giver, Windsor, but she did a great job! Here's a look at what I recieved.

She decided to spell out winter!

W - warmth of a candle - 2 really cute little votive holders with snowflakes cut out of them and 2 great smelling votives!

I - interesting reading - 2 magazines I will LOVE to look through!

N - nice warm socks - a pair of pink (my favorite color) striped, soft, sock slippers! Wonderful!!!

T - tea to soothe the soul - some yummy tea to sip on a cold day!

E - evening bubble bath to calm the day's worries - some great smelling bubble bath that I can't wait to use!

R - relaxing CD to listen to - Josh Groban's Noel, It came at the perfect time and we listened to it while we decorated the tree! I have already listened to this several times! Awesome!
Thank you so much Windsor! You were very thoughtful! I'm not sure you stuck to the budget though! I'm a lucky girl!!! And thank you Denise and Donna (and Caroline) for organizing the swap! Another great one!

3's About Me!

2008-11-19T10:45:00.009-05:00

My sister sent me this email and I thought I would post my answers. There's some cute pics of the boys at the end!

Three jobs I have had in my life:
1. Sales person at Express, Limited, & Ann Taylor
2. Personal Trainer
3. Assistant @ South Biscayne Church before Derek & I started dating (We worked together!)

Three people who e-mail me regularly:
1. Mom
2. Kristyn
3. Summer

My favorite foods:
1. Custard pie (My dad's secret recipe)
2. The spinach, strawberry, kiwi, maccadamia nut salad my sister makes me for my birthday
3. Roast baked in the oven with carrots and potatoes (my mom makes this for me a lot)

Three places I've lived (since high school):
1. Lynchburg, VA
2. Raleigh, NC
3. Venice, FL

Three shows that I watch:
1. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
2. Dora
3. Diego
My list used to read:
1. House
2. CSI
3. Reba

Three places I'd rather be right now:
1. Anyplace with Derek and Without my kids for a few days!
2. Is "sane" a place?
3. Shopping with my mom and sister With a whole bunch of money!

Things I am looking forward to this year:
1. Tyler being a more content baby
2. My anti-stress medication kicking in that I started last week
3. Christmas

Three things I dread having to do:
1. Cleaning the kitchen every day (my next house is going to be built without one)
2. Watch my Tyson grow up so fast
3. Digging something disgusting out of Tyler's mouth for the hundreth time

Three things I love to do:

1. Take beautiful pics of my kids

2. Make crafty things

3. Shop

Digging for Gold!

2008-11-18T17:39:00.004-05:00

***Caution...This post is not for the faint of heart or for those of you who get grossed out easily or even not so easily! Please do not look further if you don't want to be disturbed. If you are going to look, please keep this bible verse in mind. Judge not, lest yea be judged. Matt. 7:1***

Have you ever been to one of those places where you dig around in the sand looking for fossils or something?

Yes, this is how I found Tyler this afternoon. I always knew it would happen one day. I can't shut the laundry room door because then Hannah Lyn, my cat, won't be able to get in to use the litter box. I really do watch Tyler. I have tried to teach him not to go in there, but he is VERY hard-headed! God tricked us by giving us our submissive Tyson first. Then He threw us this little curve ball! I wouldn't trade him, but I would send him to daycare!

There are a few good things about this picture.
1. I just scooped the box last night and added clean litter.
2. There wasn't any poop in the box yet.
3. I don't think he ate much of it.
4. And last but definitely not least, My new anti-stress medicine works! Thank goodness it didn't happen last week before I started the medicine because it would have sent me over the edge for sure!

More Orlando Fun!

2008-11-14T21:34:00.006-05:00

Tyson and Tyler got caught up on their reading while on vacation!

Well, we've been home since Sunday night, but I'm just getting time to blog about the rest of our trip. We had a great time overall! The resort we stayed at had a lot of activities that you could do it you wanted to. I decided to get my butt up and participate in a Power Nature Walk one morning. I was really excited about the prospect of exercising. The resort would have been a beautiful place to jog every day, but I didn't. There was puppet making for Tyson to do at the same time as my walk. So, Derek stayed at the clubhouse with the boys, while I walked. That is, after we found the right clubhouse. What a fiasco! We drove up to the main clubhouse, decided it wasn't there, turned around and went to the activity center, decided it wasn't there, turned around and went back up to the main one. Got both boys out, the double stroller, and went in. Nope, not there! We headed back out. Meanwhile, Derek accidentally hit the panic button on the keys. Our van was honking and he couldn't make it stop. We were already aggravated that we weren't at the right spot and then for the alarm to be going off too! It was just too much! I have said before, watching my family is like watching a Freak Show! So, we get in the van and drive back to the other clubhouse in hopes of finding the Power Walk & Puppets. We get the boys and the double stroller out again. It was the right place. There is only one other person that shows up for my Power Walk. Thank God it's a women because our guide was a man and I would not have been comfortable taking off with just him! So we start with some light stretching on the beach area and move into a light walk. The guide told us little facts about nature as we walked. And I stress the word little. Let me just say, What a waste of time! There was no Power in our walk! We never even got our heart rate up! It was a total let down! I should have jogged on my own! In fact, we should have all just stayed in bed! No, Tyson made a lovely paper bag puppet named Jimmy. And you have to say Jimmy with a rough voice and the y has to sound like a long a. Go ahead, try it!

When you are in Orlando, you have to walk Downtown Disney. We took our own cookies and drinks but still somehow managed to get sucked into buying $7 M&M's. WHAT?! I didn't know they were going to cost so much as I was filling a bag with all the fun colors! Tyson played with the Legos, ate his expensive M&M's, and tried on different hats. And I ALWAYS stop by the Witch's Brew candy store and get a caramel, chocolate, sugar, etc, etc, apple. There are soooo many to choose from! Yum!

There was a Luau one night at the resort. We decided to go check it out. Good music and great dancing! Hula girls and a dancing man with fire!

Abby, Kristyn, and my mom came up on Thursday night to go to Disney with us on Friday.
Abby read Tyson a bedtime story.

I'm too tired to start telling about our day at Disney. I'll post about that next week!

Hello from Orlando

2008-11-04T19:08:00.004-05:00

What a nice feeling, to be on vacation! Just sitting around and not having to be anywhere at any certain time! We started out yesterday heading the opposite direction though. We had to drive down to Punta Gorda to vote early before we headed up to Orlando. Since we were going to be down there anyway, I packed a lunch and we went to Gilcrest Park after voting. It was a beautiful day!

The trip up to Orlando went ok. We were ready to relax when we got here. The boys were wore out!

At breakfast this morning, Tyson read over the Disney brochure. He tried to show Tyler.

We loafed around the rest of the morning.

This afternoon we went down to one of the activities our resort offers for children. Tyson made a candy tube with that candy that looks like sand.

Then we walked around the resort. Tyson and Tyler played chess with dada.

Then we went to one of the playgrounds at the resort. The boys had fun!

They were both ready for a bath when we got back to our place. So we put them in our swimming pool! Yes that is a bathtub!

Derek and I are planning on ending our night by sitting in the huge bathtub with the jets on, watching Baby Mama and flipping back to see who's winning the election, while eating cookies and ice cream! What a life!

Halloween Week!

2008-11-02T09:46:00.033-05:00

What a busy, but fun week! Well, most of it. We did have to take Tyler to the doctor to find out he has a sinus infection. Poor little guy! He was miserable most of the week. We took him on Monday and he started the antibiotic right away, but he wasn't feeling any better until Friday. He actually kept getting worse! They have both had colds for about 8 weeks! Tyson was crying and seemed to be in pain when he got up on Friday, Halloween, so I made an appointment for him that afternoon. That was really going to put a kink in our festivities! But after a morning nap, he was fine! I cancelled the appointment and we were off to see the wizard! They are both doing much better now, just in time for another vacation! We leave tomorrow for Orlando! If we can roll enough coins, we'll be going to visit Mickey while we are there! Tyson will love it! His favorite show, and mine too, is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Well, here's a look into our week! Hope you all had a great Halloween! And I hope everyone remembered the time change and wasn't an hour early this morning!

Our festivities started last Saturday when we went to Hunsader's Farm in Bradenton. We saw lots of animals, went on a hayride, saw a motorcylce show, etc.

Tyson was putting the pumpkin on Tyler's head and saying Party Hat! I have no idea where he got that, but Tyler seemed to enjoy it!

On Tuesday evening, we carved pumpkins at Mimi and Pa's. They had bought a pumpkin for Tyson and one for Abby up in North Carolina. I don't know how you all carve pumpkins, but my dad has always used power tools to do ours. We've had some pretty amazing ones over the years!

On Wednesday, we were supposed to go to Awana's at church, but my little guys were too sick to go. So, just Dorothy went. Isn't she the most perfect Dorothy you have ever seen?! Toto's not too perfect. Was Toto red?

On Thursday, the boys and I met Abby and her class at a local pumpkin patch. We picked out a really cool pumpkin. It had bumps all over it! Tyson and I loved it. Derek, not so much. He said it had zits. I thought it was so neat because it had character. Then we went with Abby's class to the park to play and have lunch. Aunt Beth packed us a great lunch. We had a lot of fun!

On Friday, we carved our pumpkin with Derek. Tyler joined in the fun this time. He was too sick on Tuesday to help. I traced Tyson's hands for our Jack!

After we were done with that, we got ready and headed up to Venice to trick or treat at Aunt Kristyn's office. Her face was painted like a kitty cat.

Then we went to Derek's grandma and grandpa's house to trick or treat.

We headed back down to Port Charlotte after that. We picked Abby up and went home to take a quick nap before heading out again for the night. Dad came over and rode with us up to Sarasota to grandma and grandpa Sommers'. Aunt Kristyn met us there. Tyson couldn't wait to get one of grandma's cookies!

And our last stop of the night was grammy's house. My mom was waiting there for us with some delicious pizza! This has been our tradition for 3 years! We go see all the great grandparents!

I didn't get a good picture of my Wizard of Oz group. I'm going to get them into their outfits again next week. So, keep an eye out for Dorothy, the Lion, and the Tin Man!

Halloweens Past

2008-10-22T11:43:00.008-04:00

So, is everyone excited about Halloween!? We are! Our crew is going to be the Wizard of Oz. Abby is going to be the most perfect Dorthy, Tyson is going to be the most wonderful Tin Man, and Baby Tyler is going to be the cutest Lion. Tyson was the Lion for his first Halloween. Wasn't he adorable!?

Derek's mom made the costume. I can't wait to see Tyler in it! She made the Tin Man for this year, too. Awesome job Nana! Thank you!

And we made Abby a little indian that year.

Last year, Tyson was Nemo. There is a little tail fin that you can't see in this picture that wiggled back and forth when he walked. He was so cute!

He got cookies at one great grandparents....

and cupcakes at the next! What a lucky boy!

He helped clean the jack-o-lanters out last year.

I made him one with his name. Is that a pumpkin in my shirt?

Too Young For Coffee?

2008-10-21T19:06:00.006-04:00

After dinner, I was cleaning up the dishes and Derek was playing with Tyson. Tyler was being too quiet, so I looked around the corner of the couch and this is what I found.
I wish I could say the mug was empty when I sat it on the coffee table. Or that I could say I found a big wet spot on the carpet where Tyler spilled it. But no. Neither of those would be true. I think he drank the rest of my coffee and I think he liked it! It was only a little sip. But the reason I didn't drink it, is because it had coffee grounds in it. Yuck!!! So we'll see how caffeine affects him! 10 months isn't too young, is it? Everyone needs a little pick me up sometimes!
Lip smackin good!
Already jonesin for more!

Opposites Attract

2008-10-17T10:53:00.009-04:00

Tyson and Tyler are soooo different! Tyson learned the word no so easily. Tyler knows it, but doesn't care. I could discipline Tyler all day long and he just comes back for more. Tyson never opened any doors, the china cabinet, the kitchen cabinets, the bathroom, etc. Tyler opens all of them. He's into everything and ON everything. He climbs on anything he can get his chubby little leg up on. And then he stands on the very top and when he can't get down himself, he starts crying. They are completely opposite! But they love each other so much! When I get Tyler up in the morning, he doesn't hug me or even look at me. He just cranes his neck around looking for his brother. He gets a big smile on his face when he finds him and sometimes lets out a little squeal. It's so cute! Tyler's not happy when Tyson is down for his nap. He usually ends up whining and crying until he wakes Tyson up. I'm so glad they love each other so much!

Tyler climbing

Tyson and Tyler helping me exercise

Tyson and Tyler playing sandwich with daddy. Tyson is the turkey and Tyler is the cheese. Daddy is the bread. It's an open face sandwich!

Playing in the rain

Sunny Days

2008-10-13T10:39:00.004-04:00

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street? Come on, sing with me! You all know it!

Mom and I bought Sesame Street Live tickets for Abby's birthday this year. We went to Ruth Eckerd Hall yesterday and took Tyson, too. They loved it! Mom and I did too! Tyson noticed right away that Ernie had the same shoes as him. Red Converse. I don't know if I would have ever noticed. He was so excited! I would recommend these live shows to everyone with a 2 and up! There was a lot of singing and dancing. Great fun! Here's some pics.

Sesame Street's new character: Abby Cadaby

Silent but Deadly!

2008-10-07T14:20:00.006-04:00

On Monday's I take my 5 year old cousin to the Y for gymnastics while my dad watches the boys for me. Well, he's out of town so I had to take them with me. Let me just say, NEVER AGAIN! I'm sure many of you know how small the waiting room is that you watch your sweet little one do their best to roll, swing, jump, balance, pay attention, etc. There are never enough chairs for everyone, so many parents are standing or sitting on the floor. Just crammed in like sardines! So, Tyson is standing in front of me and says, "I tooted." I said excuse you and then something hit me like a ton of bricks. His toots smell like something has died up there and sat for days. You really can't even use the word toot for them because they are way worse than a toot. I knew that everyone around me was about to get hit with it too. I saw the lady sitting next to me turn her head and start gasping for breathable air. I was sooo embarrassed! I think he did it 2 more times while we were there. As if that wasn't enough torture, he had to go to the bathroom. Have you ever tried to hold a 10 month old and help a 2 year old go to the bathroom without letting him or yourself touch any of the germ infested things in a yucky public bathroom? I was practically crying. While I was trying to take his pants and underwear down, Tyler was leaning out of my arms eating the toilet paper. I almost lost it. Has anyone come up with a good strategy for this situation? If so, please share it with me. I guess I could have asked one of the many strangers in the room to hold my baby for me while I took my 2 year old to the bathroom. No, too risky. Maybe next time I'll just take him outside and let him pee in the grass.

How Are You Deciding Who To Vote For?

2008-10-06T22:32:00.002-04:00

I was driving home last night when Focus On The Family came on the radio. I got home 5 mins into it and just sat in my garage to finish listening to it. Dr. James Dobson was reading his October news letter. It was about the presidential election. It was very interesting. I would urge you to read it before you make a final decision on who you are going to vote for. Go to this website to find the newsletter and election info. http://www.citizenlink.org/ He says at the end of it, "vote with your children and your children’s children in mind." That really hits home for me! What kind of world do you want your kids and grand kids to grow up in? Look at all the issues and each candidates view on them and vote accordingly. I don't vote republican or democrat, I vote christian. Neither party lines up with the bible perfectly, but McCain/Palin is closer by a wide margin! At the end of Dobson's newsletter he quotes Reverend Billy Graham by saying, "To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees." So let's pray! Pray that everyone would educate themselves on the issues and vote according to how those issues line up with what the bible says. That's all I have to say about that.

My Fall Swap Gifts Are Here!

2008-10-01T12:00:00.007-04:00

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I have been looking out my front door almost every hour for the past few days, waiting for my Fall Swap gift. What is it about waiting for gifts that makes you revert to acting like a child? It's so fun!!! One of the times I looked out this morning, it was there! On my front door step! I brought it in, grabbed my camera, and carefully opened it. I am thrilled with my gifts! Here's a look.

My boys were just as excited as I was!

Beautifully packaged!

F-Family album
She scrap booked it, all I have to do is add the pictures! I'm going to use it for the North Carolina trip we just took last week. Great job Jenny! I love it!

A-Autumn Candy
Such a cute little candy bucket! I love the ribbon handle! And candy corn is one of my favorite things about Halloween! My 2 year old son, Tyson, liked it too.

As he's shoving as many as he can fit into his mouth!

Who, me?

L-Little light
Love the copper pumpkin!

L-Leaf hand towel
This will definitely "fall up" my kitchen!

Thank you so much Jenny! I LOVE all my gifts! Thanks for putting so much time and creativity into it! What a wonderful Fall Swap! Goooooo Winter!

Feelin Crafty

2008-09-30T22:22:00.008-04:00

In order to get us in the mood for fall, one of my friends organized a Fall Swap with her fellow bloggers. There are 18 of us participating. The rules were to make or buy 4 small gifts coinciding with the letters F-A-L-L. The gifts plus postage were supposed to cost $25 or less. I only knew about 3 people involved and word around the blog was that there were some pretty crafty cats out there. So the search was on for 4 really creative gifts. The sign up came to an end and the names were drawn. I got one of my friends sisters. The pressure was almost too much! So here's what I finally came up with.

F-Family napkin holders

A-All occasion handmade cards

L-Lighted Monograms

L-Luscious Homemade Caramel Sauce

I finished the other initial for the lighted monograms and shipped them off to my Fall Swap friend. She was happy with everything! Shew! It was definitely a fun way to get in the fall spirit! I can't wait to receive my gifts! I will put pics on the blog as soon as I get them! My mind is already racing for the winter swap.

But that's not where it ends. Still feeling crafty, I decided to try a decoration I had seen on another fall swapper's blog. She had a picture of her fall decorations on her blog and I just couldn't help myself. I went to Micheals, got what I needed, and worked for a couple hours. I was pretty happy with the outcome. It's more of a Halloween decoration. Here's my rendition.

The blogger I got the idea from has a website with some cute stuff on it. Check it out. www.hogwashdesigns.blogspot.com/

North Carolina Fun

2008-09-29T18:28:00.009-04:00

Well, we're home. Our trip ended too soon, but don't they always! We had a lot of fun and relaxation. We stayed at a family members cabin in Maggie Valley. We've stayed there many times before, but never with our children. My dad had to tie pieces of plywood up around the stairs so baby Tyler wouldn't crawl right through the slots and fall down into the basement. He would, too! He's a little daredevil and everywhere! We could not have asked for better weather while we there! It was PERFECT! We had one day that was a little dreary, but that's it. We went on nice walks everyday. My dad has a walking stick and he made Tyson a matching one. He loved it! I packed Tyson 2 pairs of tennis shoes and when I went to put them on him in North Carolina, they didn't fit! Poor kid!!! All he wears in Florida are his Croc Flops. So, his aunt Kristyn took pity on him and bought him his first pair of red Converse. They are sooo cute! And he has always had a shoe fetish, so he LOVED them! I am a picture freak and took about 500. I won't bore you with all of them. Here are a few highlights! And yes, I take white shirts and jeans for the whole family everywhere we go, just in case I can get a good family shot! I'm obsessed! How bout that new family pic at the top of the page. I love it! I try so hard and that's what I get. It might be used for our Christmas cards, so pretend you didn't see it!

Fireproof Your Marriage!

2008-09-23T16:30:00.004-04:00

***Update to Love Dare start date! The new start date is Monday, September 29th.

Just a reminder to go see the movie Fireproof this weekend. It comes out on Friday. Hollywood judges the success of a movie by how it does opening weekend. So, we need to get out there and support this movie, this weekend! Get a babysitter and go! It's very good. Derek and I saw the sneak peek a couple weeks ago and it was great. A church, about the size of South Biscayne, did the movie. They did Facing the Giants, which was good, but Fireproof is better! Speaking of the movie, let's start the Love Dare girls! I am so excited! How about Thursday. Here's a list of who is taking the Dare. Angela, Summer, Brandy, Heather R, Sara L, Jen B., Mandy S., Janelle, Christy R., Robin, and Tricia. So spread the word. I'm in North Carolina, but I have my book with me. So, start the book Thursday and go see the movie this weekend!

Bye Bye!

2008-09-19T11:15:00.006-04:00

We are leaving for a much needed vacation this weekend. And you know the best thing about it? Derek's phone doesn't work up in the mountains!!! Life will be forced to go on without him. We'll have him ALL to ourselves! We're going to Maggie Valley, North Carolina. And the weather is going to be WONDERFUL! We might just get jobs up there and stay! Here's some pics from this week.

Tyson and Daddy grilling up some dinner

Tyler hanging out, waiting for a burger.

Tyson trying to punt the ball on top of the roof

My little dare devil

Flipin Around

2008-09-16T15:14:00.011-04:00

Tyson and I went to gymnastics this morning. He really comes out of his shell there. We have SO much fun! We look forward to Tuesday's all week! I'm going to be really sad when he's in the older class and I have to just sit and watch! Here's some pics and video from today. Table Top! Stretching

The Love Dare

2008-09-13T13:35:00.007-04:00

**Update to Love Dare Post

It's not like a book you sit down and read for long periods of time. It's more like a daily devotion. They are only one or two page devotions with a dare at the end and room for journaling. It shouldn't take very much time. 7 girls have already responded with yeses! I'm excited!

Remember the movie premier Derek and I went to last week? Fireproof. It was a great movie! It comes out Friday, September 26th. The movie is about a husband and wife that just can't seem to make their marriage work. She files for divorce. His dad asks him to take The Love Dare before signing the papers. The Love Dare is a 40 day challenge for husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love. It dares you to do things that you probably did when you were dating and you probably have let them fall to the wayside in your marriage. Whether your marriage is hanging on by a thread or healthy and strong, The Love Dare will help you learn the keys to finding true intimacy and developing a dynamic marriage. Will you take the dare with me? I went up to Sarasota yesterday and bought 5 books. I was hoping that some of you would take the dare with me. I am going to start it without telling Derek and see how long it takes him to ask What's going on? Poor Derek! He'll probably know somethings up the first day. I didn't tell him I bought the book, so please don't mention it to him. I will post some of my stories that happen because of the book and would love to hear some of yours too! Let me know asap if you want a book. They are normally $14.99. They were on special yesterday for $11.97 + tax = $12.81 I'm going to wait to start it with whoever wants to do it. I can always go get more books if I need to. I think this will sweep the nation after the movie comes out. I'm very excited to take the dare and also to have it later to give to someone else who really needs it! You can email me at dattfam@verizon.net or leave a comment on my blog if you want one! Show your man how much he means to you, take the dare!!!

The Night Derek Got Into My Pants

2008-09-11T22:55:00.001-04:00

Not that way you perverts! I AM a minister's wife! Derek came out of the bedroom tonight and said, "Honey, what do you think about these jeans?" I said, "They are a little tight across the front." He has lost 62 lbs in the last 6 months. He went on to say, "So maybe in a little while?" I said yes. And then he told me they were mine. I proceeded to call him a jerk! I also let him know that they are too big on me and I need new jeans. They are only a little big on me though. I'm not sure I like wearing the same size as my husband!

Peek a Boo

2008-09-11T13:47:00.009-04:00

Tyler started playing peek a boo a few weeks ago. It's sooo cute! But isn't everything a 9 month old does cute? Well, not everything. Like when he crawls around the house and puts every spec of dirt and who knows what in his mouth. That just grosses me out!

Tyler walks behind things across the tile floor. I, of course, think it's soo cute!

My mom and dad got this cute little wooden table at an Amish furniture shop in Sarasota. Tyson is such a big boy, sitting at the kids table for meals. And Tyler can't wait until he can too!

Tyson had a friend over to play a couple weeks ago and they sat at their table for lunch and ate out of their dishes. So cute!

My dad got this pic of Tyler playing in the clothes basket. Since I've already worn out the word cute, I'll just go ahead and say it, he's soo cute!

$1 movie rentals

2008-09-05T17:11:00.011-04:00

Ok. Does everyone know about Redbox? It is soooo cool! We have PayPer View and it's horrible. We never get to sit down and watch a movie, but we had time to one night this week. So, I looked at Pay Per View and there were about 10 choices and nothing good. We settled on one of their stinky movies and then couldn't sit down to start watching at exactly the right time. So we were out of luck. No movie for us. I know Video On Demand is sooooo much better. Mom and dad have that. There are a million choices and you can start the movie whenever you want and pause it when the phone rings and rewind it when you didn't hear what they said. But for those of us not fortunate enough to have Video On Demand, there is the Redbox. My cousin first told me about this a month ago but I had forgotten about it. A friend reminded me of it last night. It's this big red vending machine with movies in it. How cool is that? Supposedly they are popping up everywhere. I think the only one in North Port is at Walmart. But I read that McDonald's are getting them too. So, I went online, reserved a movie, paid $1.07 with my debt card, and Derek went to pick it up. He stuck his card in the machine and it spit out the movie! You have to return it the next day by 9pm or they charge you another $1. But it would take a few days to rack up enough charges to equal a pay per view or video on demand. We will definitely be doing this more often! Here are some pics of the kids. Tyler loves Hannah just as much as Tyson did when he was little and still does.

Tyson baking my grandma's famous cookies

I'm trying to teach the boys to work together to get the house work done

Tyler started saying mama a couple weeks ago. I was very happy since Tyson said dada first.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!

2008-09-04T23:57:00.000-04:00

As I sit here at midnight, today seems a blur. You know when you have an appointment that you have to rearrange your whole day in order to make it on time? That was today. Tyson, my 2 year old, usually goes down for a nap around 1 or 2. We had a hair appointment today at 2:30 in Sarasota. Now, this isn't just any old hair appointment. This is with my stylist who I have been using for at least 10 years and I have to book all my appointments a year ahead of time or I can't get in with her. So, think about a year ago. Tyson was 1 and we were on a totally different schedule. But it's not like I can just call and reschedule. My blondish hair would be half darkish and half fading blondish by the time I could get another appointment. Hopefully I'm not the only one who isn't really sure what color her hair is. Anyway, I had to put Tyson down early and he didn't want to go. So, he cried for a while before he fell asleep. He usually sleeps about 2 hours. Today we had to wake him up after about an hour. He wasn't happy. He was crying and I was flying around the house trying to get everything we needed to take with us. Sippy cups full of juice, snacks, nobody has had lunch yet, diapers, baby food for Tyler, medicine, they aren't feeling well, find Tyson's shoes, etc. As I grabbed the jars of baby food, one fell and shattered on the tile floor. I may have cussed at this point. No, I'm a minister's wife, I didn't cuss. As I was trying to get dressed, with Tyler, my 8 month old, crawling after me and trying to climb up my legs, my chest was tightening and I felt as if I were going to start screaming or crying or both. Does anyone else have this much trouble getting out the door? The night did end well though. Derek and I went to a private viewing of Fireproof. It was a great movie about marriage! I think it comes out Sept. 26th. Everyone should go see it not only to see a great movie, but to support the wonderful men and women of God who made it. More about the movie later.

Feast and Flips!

2008-09-02T22:08:00.000-04:00

We didn't use all the hamburger meat last night at our cookout, so mom put it in the freezer in the garage. Dad went out this morning and something caught his eye. It was the freezer door, open a few inches. We had to cook everything! So tonight we had: chicken, pork tenderloin, halibut, salmon, brauts, hamburgers, steak, fillet mignon, sweet potatoes, green beans, and company to help eat it all! We called in the big guns! The 2 biggest eaters I know, Jon Knott and Reppard Gordon. They got the job done! Tomorrow night we will have a 20 lb. turkey! Wow! What a lot of food. It sure was good!

Today was Tyson's first gymnastics class of the new session. He has had a 14 week break and he was ready to start again. He's been practicing all summer. He did awesome! I was so proud of him. My dad went with us and I think he was even prouder than I was! The instructor was impressed, too. He has come a long way since his first class!

Labor Day......Literally!

2008-09-01T22:42:00.000-04:00

Today was a great day of work and play! Derek and I got a lot done around the house that we've been wanting to do for a long time. He changed all the air filters, cleaned the kitchen, moved things around in the garage so I could walk in front of my van when I park, cleaned off the desk and emptied all the boxes from under the desk, hung hooks in the laundry room for my diaper bag, purse, and keys! I vacuumed, washed the dining room and kitchen floors on my hands and knees, did laundry, and more! It feels wonderful to accomplish things around the house! This evening we went over to mom and dads for a cookout. We had fun swimming in the pool and then had hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese brauts, and more! The boys were wiped out when we got them home! Tyler didn't even want to stay awake to nurse! Tomorrow is Tyson's first gymnastics class for this session. I think he is going to be even better than last session! He's been practicing this summer. I'll let you all know! Here's some pics from tonight!

Tyson and Abby flying high!

Don't forget Baby Tyler!

Tyler was walking his cousin Madison. It was so cute! I wish I had gotten a video! She is 4 months younger than him and out weighs him by far. What's up with all the big baby girls in his life? They make him look like a little runt!

Hot Hot Hot!!!

2008-08-23T21:17:00.000-04:00

And I'm not just talking about the temperature in my house. Our A/C went out sometime while we were sleeping on Sunday night. As most of you know, we are renting from Premier Homes. We called them around noon on Monday. The boys and I got hotter and hotter as the day went on. Finally after calling Premier a couple more times and not hearing back from them, I couldn't handle it anymore. It was 4:30 and I was losing hope. So I went in the house and looked at the thermostat. I called the number that was printed on it. It was a very recognizable a/c company in North Port. They were there in less than 10 mins. I had to agree to pay a $90 service call fee. They figured out it was the fan motor and they couldn't get it in until Wednesday. Tuesday was out because of the tropical storm. So I paid him and packed our stuff. We went to my mom and dads. We were still waiting to hear from Premier Homes. Derek called them again on Wednesday morning. He talked to the sales guy and told him to have the owner call him on his cell phone. The owner must not have received the message correctly and called the house. The 90 degree house, like we were going to be sitting there waiting for him to call while we were sweating our butts off with 2 small children. We never got that message. So Derek called the a/c company and they said they still didn't get the part and it would be Thursday. So, we stayed another night. That was 3 nights we had to stay at mom & dads, and one of those nights my grandma was there because of the storm. It threw the kids' schedules off and made me get up earlier than usual. And if you've noticed my new list of things I hate on the right side of the blog, getting up before 8:30am is on there. So Thursday morning the a/c company called and said the part was in and when did we want them to come out. Since repairs are not our responsibility as renters, Derek tried to call Premier again. He finally got to speak to the owner. He said that the a/c company we called was not on the list of approved vendors. Do you remember where I got that number? Ya, off Premier's thermostat. We never received an approved list of vendors. He said he would send a guy out to look at it. So he did and he must have gone and swiped the part from a different house of theirs because he had it fixed in about an hour. So Derek had to call the other company and tell them we didn't need the part we had waited 3 days for. Derek asked the owner of Premier how he was going to pay us back the $90 service fee charge and he said he wasn't going to pay us back because the company we called wasn't on his approved list. And we couldn't get a hold of him because he was out securing all his other homes for the storm and wasn't in the office Tuesday because of the storm. Well, that wasn't going to fly with me. Our rent was due this week, so we took the $90 off our rent check and I wrote on the back of the check that if it was cashed, they agreed to pay the $90. We took the check in the model home on Friday, with both kids, hoping to find the owner. I wanted to ask him what he had wanted me to do when we couldn't get a hold of him on Monday. He wasn't there so we left the check with our cell phone numbers. He called Saturday morning and I spoke to him. He said we needed to bring the full amount in or he would charge us a late fee. I asked him what he wanted me to do on Monday. Sit in a 90 degree house with 2 small children for 3 days waiting for him to call back? He just kept saying that he didn't know about it because he was out of the office. I told him that I understood why he was out of the office, but what should I have done? I asked him numerous times what he wanted me to do when I couldn't get a hold of him. He never answered my question. I told him that I called the company I did because that's what was on his thermostat. He didn't care. He said we needed to bring the full amount in. I told him we aren't paying anymore money and if he wanted to evict us, he could. He continued to argue with me and I told him to send us the eviction notice. He said he'd send out the letter. I know everyone is going through hard times right now, believe me, I know. That's why we are renting right now and don't own a house anymore. If he had been nice to me and showed a little bit of customer service, and maybe asked to split the bill, I would have considered it. My neighbor called the owner of Premier after all this happened to let him know what great neighbors we are and she would be really sad to see us move out. He told her that we shouldn't have called "any Tom Dick or Harry" to fix the a/c. She told him we called who was on his equipment. He was very rude to her and hung up on her. So now I pose these questions to you, What would you have done? and Who is responsible for the $90. Please vote on the top right side of the page.

The House That Cleans Itself

2008-08-22T22:08:00.000-04:00

That's the title of the new book I'm reading. I got inspired by Denise Logan to buy Redeeming Love. This book has been recommended to me by several people over the years. And everyone that has read it before, eventually reads it again. I can't wait to start that one, but right now I'm reading about how to keep my house clean. It's great so far. I get very stressed if my house is cluttered, but I'm a perfectionist. So if I don't have time to do it perfect, I don't do it at all. And if I don't know what to do with things, I don't do anything. And if I'm overwhelmed and don't know where to start, I don't. And then I'm so stressed because my house is a mess that I can't stand to be there. Does anyone else have this anxiety problem besides me? Well you'll be happy to know, I got help! Derek's grandma came over and helped me tackle my house a couple weeks ago. She made us empty boxes and find homes for things and she cleaned. It was wonderful! And can you believe she came back last week to tackle the garage?! I can actually park in there!!! I feel like a new women! I am happier at home, and it is easier to keep it clean. And this book I'm reading is only going to make it even better! I would recommend it to all you moms out there that don't have time to clean your whole house at once and don't really have a plan either. The author is Mindy Starns Clark. Overstock.com has the best price on it, I think. And shipping at Overstock is only $2.95 no matter how much you order! It's great! I'll keep you updated as I read. We took Tyson bowling a couple weeks ago. We had fun! On the way there, we asked him what color ball he wanted. He said orange like his shirt. When we got there, we asked the guy behind the counter for a childs ball and he handed us an orange ball! Tyson was thrilled! Here's some pics. Look at those cute little shoes!! Sorry about the video. I couldn't figure out how to turn it.

A Trip to the Hospital

2008-08-17T21:56:00.000-04:00

I was sitting at my mom & dad's house today, waiting for Derek to call on his way home from church. Ring, Ring. Finally, it's Derek calling. No, it's Najla, on Derek's phone. She said, "Hi Ang, I don't want to alarm you, but Derek's hurt and we're taking him to the hospital. He's ok. He hurt his leg." So, I'm thrilled that it's nothing serious, but I'm not thrilled that I have to go to the hospital looking like I do. I didn't shower yesterday because we went out to Boca Grande to swim with Abby at their vacation house. And I hadn't showered today yet because we were in mom and dad's pool all morning. I didn't smell, but I never would have stepped foot out of the house like that. So, I had to pull myself together, borrow some of my mom's clothes and go. No makeup, no shower, the sports bra I came over in, a tee shirt and moms jeans. It's ok, it's just going to be Derek and people I don't know. Or maybe not! Pastor John rode with Derek in the ambulance and Dan, another minister on staff, met them there. I didn't even try to explain why I looked so bad. I'm sure they didn't care! But I did! Anyway, back to Derek. It's not all about me! The church had back to school night last night. They gave away over 600 backpacks with school supplies and t shirts in them and still didn't have enough! They gave about 300 free haircuts and lots of free food. It's wonderful being a part of such an awesome church that God uses for His outreach. All that to say, Derek was moving the big salon chairs and the heavy bottom pedestal part fell off and hit his leg. The scary part, so I hear, was when he turned white and started sweating. They x-rayed it at the hospital and it's not broken. He got some pain meds and I took him home. He's doing well. Don't think I didn't get some pics for the blog! Here's some pics of yesterday in Boca and today at the hospital.

The Sweet Suite Life!

2008-08-06T11:53:00.000-04:00

Summer & Reppard picked Derek and I up Friday night for my birthday dinner. Tim, Heather, Sara & Robby met us up there. When it was time to leave, Summer & Rep said they weren't coming over to our house so we could just ride in the van with Tim, Heather, Sara & Robby. Tim passed the on ramp heading south and got on 75 north. I told him he was going the wrong way. I thought maybe we were going to University Pkwy or something. No, we passed it. Derek finally told me we were going to Tampa. He planned this awesome surprise trip. We were going to stay at a really nice hotel, the girls were going to see the live simulcast of Beth Moore Saturday morning and then we were going to meet up and go to lunch and see an Imax movie. So right away I ask, "who packed for me?" He did. I'm lovin the surprise trip, but my mind is racing about what he packed for me to wear, my makeup, my pillow, my face wash, etc. He got input from my mom on what outfit to pack. It definitely wouldn't have been my pick, sorry mom. I've only worn the shirt once. It's a little bit thin and my bust, well, busts out, so I wear a tank under it. The tank didn't get packed. They packed my jean shorts too. I wouldn't have picked them to go see Beth Moore in, but they were fine. If you want to see the outfit, it's the one I wore to Islands of Adventure three posts ago. I would have thought they would have packed a couple outfits to choose from, but that's ok. Sara had a tank I could borrow. Yes, I know what you're thinking. How in the world did Sara's tank fit me! It was one of those stretchy ribbed ones, Thank God! Before I went to bed, I decided to check and see what all makeup was packed. None! My makeup wasn't packed at all. Derek thought mom got it and mom thought Derek got it! Instead of telling Derek we had to leave right away, I sucked it up and used Heather's. My pillow wasn't along for the trip. So I didn't sleep well. When I got out of the shower the next morning, I didn't have anything to comb my hair with and no deodorant to put on. So Derek had to go down to Tim and Heather's room and borrow a comb along with the makeup. Other than that, it was a perfect trip! Just a word of advice girls, make a list of things to pack for a surprise trip. I have a list on the computer titled, "Things to take on a trip" But I guess Derek didn't know that. I love surprises, so it was all worth it! The Westin hotel was fabulous! Derek had upgraded us to a suite and it was bigger than any apartment we ever had. It was so big, it had to have a guest bath! And the view was beautiful! It overlooked the channel and the bay! I wish we could have stayed longer! Anyway, we got there around 11pm, got settled and then walked about 5 miles to get ice cream at Cold Stone. Maybe that's a small exaggeration, but it felt like it. We were practically running because they closed at 12. We got there with 5 mins to spare and I had the best ice cream I've ever had in my life! Chocolate cake batter ice cream with chunks of real brownie and coconut and caramel. It was like german choc cake. Yum! We rode the rails on the way back. The trolley! The next morning, Heather, Sara and I found our way to a church in Tampa to watch the live Beth Moore simulcast. It was wonderful! She spoke right to me! When that was over, Derek guided us over the phone to the nearest Firehouse to pick up lunch. There were a few u turns, but we finally made it! We took it back to the suite, ate, checked out, and headed down the rode to see Black Night on the IMAX. We paid for parking and got in line to buy tickets. Sold out! So we saw the regular movie half an hour later. Great movie! All in all, it was a wonderful surprise and a great birthday! Derek and friends did a great job pulling it off. Thank you all!!! I would put pics up of the trip, but no one had their cameras. Darn!

Turning 30's not so bad.

2008-08-05T22:04:00.000-04:00

I'm What?! 30!!! I can't believe it! It was weird turning 30. Age has never affected me before, but 30 was a little scary. I think I'm over it now though. I'm going to split this post up into a few posts. It's just too much for one. So all week, I was ready for a surprise party. I did my hair and makeup every day and wore decent clothes. Every day, I thought for sure it was gonna happen. I received my first birthday present on Sunday. Now presents aren't everything, but they sure do take your mind off your age! My mom brought a gift over for Tyson and Tyler to give me. 3 pairs of earrings! Which I needed! As most of you know, we got robbed Christmas before last and all my jewelry was taken. So, I have one pair of earrings now and they got left in North Carolina with all my toiletries a few weeks ago. So the earrings were a great gift! Monday, Derek's grandmother came over and helped me clean and organize my house! Tuesday night Derek surprised me while I was getting the boys ready for bed, he was making me smores. We have never made these before. I was very impressed with his homemade chocolate! I was shocked when I walked out. Wednesday was my actual birthday. My mom made a delicious roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, and Texas sheet cake. Mom and dad gave me a beautiful necklace and matching earrings. Thursday I didn't really get anything, so I am considering the nice shirt my sister got me for my birthday earlier this month, as my present for Thursday. I wore it on Sunday. Friday was my yearly birthday dinner at DaRuMa's in Sarasota. It's a Japanese Steakhouse where they cook in front of you. I Love it! I look forward to it all year! That's where the fun began! More later!

Family Reunion Ohio Trip

2008-07-21T11:52:00.000-04:00

We're home! Our trip was great! My dad, me and the 2 boys went to Ohio for dad's family reunion. On our way up, we stopped in Maggie Valley, NC at a relative's cabin. We will be going back there for a week in a couple months when Derek can go with us. The boys were great in the van. Tyson watched Cars about 58 times. I tried to interest him in another movie, but he just wanted Cars. Whatever kept him happy was fine with me. Tyler had his own dvd player too, thank you Ed & Tina! It was a life saver a couple times! He watched Praise Baby. I would go sit in the back and nurse Tyler every 4 hours and dad and I would take turns going back and feeding him food. We stopped at a few rest stops and played soccer, a few Cracker Barrels and ate, and a few Starbucks for a pick me up. We were in the van for a total of 42 hours on the whole trip! Yuck! We stayed with my aunt Carol and unlce Dave in Ohio. They live on a beautiful old farm. They have a big red barn, an old chicken coupe, and several other old white buildings I'm not sure what are. The land is beautifully landscaped with lots of trees and flowers. I was in picture heaven! I took about 700. I had to go buy another memory card! Tyson loved it there. We stayed upstairs and just let him go up and down whenever he wanted. Sorry mom! He loved all the land too! He ran like Forest Gump! He loved playing T-Ball too! The actual reunion was at dad's cousin Bud's house. Again, beautiful property! It was nice to see relatives and meet new ones.

Here's some of the not so good things that happened:

*The new car top carrier broke before we got out of Florida and we had to pull over on the side of 75 and put everything from the top into the van.

*My black flip flops that I was going to wear almost everyday, broke on the way up.

*Breakfast at the rest stop that was supposed to be wonderful, was horrible. We didn't bring everything we needed and the flies were so thick I couldn't see to eat my egg, off the skillet because we didn't bring plates.

*I apparently ran a red light in Georgia because there was a ticket with a picture of my van in the mail when we got home. We need those cameras at Veterans and 41!

*I left all my shower stuff in North Carolina on the way up to Ohio. Shampoo, conditioner, face wash, body wash, deodorant, comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, tweezers, and the boys shampoo and wash. And my jewelry except my wedding rings, Thank God!

Poor dad was introduced to hotel hell, Tyler's constant need to be held, and my need for major help. I was stressed because of the burden we were on him, but he says we weren't and he would do it all again, just give him a week to rest up first! All in all, the trip went well and was fun. I'm looking forward to our week in Orlando with Derek and our week in North Carolina with Derek. We miss him a lot! We got home Thursday and he got home Friday. He worked Saturday and left again Sunday. We're anxiously awaiting his arrival home on Friday. He is a wonderful husband and father. We couldn't do it without him! Well, I hope you like the pics!

The corn is doing well this year. Knee high by July!

Some of our Amish Family

Success!

2008-07-09T09:54:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted how our trip to Orlando went. I've been trying to keep Tyler happy and get ready for the next trip. If I leave the room, Tyler stands at the gate and screams and cries. As soon as I come in and pick him up, he's fine. And it's especially bad after the weekend because he's used to 24/7 attention over the weekend. He wears on me! Our next trip is to Ohio. Just me, the boys, and my dad. It's sad, but I don't care where we're going or what we're doing. I'm just glad that someone is going to be stuck with me and the boys 24 hours a day, every day for a week! Just as long as I don't have to try to keep Tyler happy all day by myself! Poor dad! I don't think he minds though! Enough about Tyler driving me insane! Our trip to Orlando, without Tyler, was wonderful! I think Tyson had a great time with just me and Derek. I know we had a great time with him! We went to Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios. We spent most of our time in Seuss Land. It was a lot of fun! Tyson only got a 20 min nap on the way up, so I was worried since we were going to see the fireworks that night. But he did great! You could tell he was really tired, but he didn't turn into a monster! We went to the Downtown Disney Fireworks with the Scott's, friends of ours, who were also up there. We had a great time! Getting out of the parking lot was horrible! We usually go see the Disney fireworks at 9pm and then get out of there. We were running late though, so we decided to watch the Downtown Disney fireworks at 10:30. Big Mistake!!!! We sat Still, I mean, Not Moving, for 2 hours in the parking lot. It was only because of Kevin's expert merging skills and Derek's expert advice that got us out of there. We had a lot of horns blown at us though! The hotel was just fine with Tyson. Except Derek made me sleep with Tyson this time, so I didn't get much sleep. He moves around a lot and I would wake up grabbing for him, thinking he was falling. I hate that! The next morning, we took our time getting ready and went down and had our hotel's breakfast buffet, which was very good! We couldn't wait to get back to see our little Tyler. He did great while we were gone. He had his first taste of formula and did just fine with it! I did have to pump while I was away, which really sucked! I was pumping leaned over in the back seat of the van trying not to let anyone see me as we were driving into Universal, paying for parking, and parking. The whole time cussing! Derek's driving didn't help things any! And then again on our drive out of Universal to the hotel. Sorry this is so long! Here's some pics from out trip!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Extra Bubbles in the Tub!

2008-07-02T12:24:00.000-04:00

Tyson loves his bath time! And his favorite song to sing is the little turtle song. Watch out for the surprise ending though!

Beach Day with Pa!

2008-07-01T23:07:00.000-04:00

We had a great day today! Pa (the nanny) came over this morning. He's working on a remodel on Englewood Beach and he had to go there today to take some pics. So we decided to go with him. It turned into a wonderful beach day! The water was the perfect temp, clear, and calm! I didn't wear my suit because I wasn't expecting to be down there long, or to get in. The water was way too tempting and I ended up going in my clothes! Here's a bunch of pics. I love the ones of Tyler! His first experience eating sand! Yes mom, I let him eat the sand!

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Chinease Torture

2008-06-27T12:44:00.000-04:00

We got back from our Orlando Trip yesterday. Derek was gone to SLU (Dr. Jay Strack's Student Leadership University) in Orlando from Monday to Thursday. So, I apparently suppressed the awful memories from a couple weeks ago in the hotel. Me and the boys met him up there on Wednesday afternoon. He was free after 3 to go to Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure. His ticket was included in the conference and he bought me one. We were headed for a great time! The drive up wasn't bad until about 1/2 hour before we got there. It started pouring down rain and Tyler got fussy. We were in stand still traffic because of the down pour. And we were about to go in the park? We got there, found Derek, fed Tyler in the backseat of the van, and the rain stopped! Great! By the time we gathered ALL our stuff to go in, it started again. So, we went to the ticket window and asked if we could use our tickets in November when we come for vacation. We only have until July 19th to use them. So we decided just to come back before then when we have a full day to enjoy and hopefully it won't be raining. We walked around City Walk for a few hours and had dinner at the Nascar restaurant. It was nice. Both boys were very good. Until we got to dinner. Tyler is a handful at a restaurant! He has to be held and not too close to the table because he has go go gadget arms and will pull plates, drinks, anything he can get his little hands on, off the table. And then he gets fussy. It's more trouble than it's worth to take him to a restaurant. Then we go to our hotel. Tyler is even more of a handful at a hotel! If you didn't read my earlier post about our trip to Indiana, I'll tell you about it. He started crawling a few weeks ago and we won't put him on the hotel room floor. So he has to crawl around the bed and be watched like a hawk so he doesn't fall off....again. We got him to bed, in the pack n play provided by the hotel, and got Tyson to bed. All was well until about 2:15 in the morning. Tyler started screaming. He NEVER wakes up in the middle of the night. We couldn't get him back to sleep, so I strapped on my breastfriend and topped him off. I thought he would shirley fall asleep then. No. Derek had to walk with him for a long time, in a 2x2 space. He finally went to sleep. But he was back awake at 7am. And this time he woke Tyson up too. Neither would go back to sleep. Derek was off soon after that to his conference and I was stuck in Hotel Room Hell thinking, "Why did I do this to myself again?" We wanted to come back again next weekend for the Disney 4th of July fireworks. It's a tradition we had before kids. And finally, after missing a couple years of it, we were going to introduce our kids to it! But I just kept thinking of how horrible it was going to be with Tyler. Until I had a brilliant idea! My mom and dad could watch Tyler while me, Derek and Tyson go! Mom happened to call and I told her my idea and I think she said yes. So, Derek and I are looking soooo forward to our day away with Tyson at Universal Studios and the Disney fireworks! Is that bad that we can't wait to spend the day without Tyler Baby? To get on with the story, we were on our way home and Tyler was fine for the first half hour and then he started fussing which turned into crying, which turned into screaming, which turned into all out wailing......for 2 hours! Just another great getaway with the Delagrange's.

Daddy and Baby Tyler having fun on City Walk.

Tyson needed something to do, so we bought him a ball attached to a string on his wrist, Genius!

Derek with his teammates.

Tyson with his future car.

Tyson shooting hoops! He's a pro!

Hotel Hell

Daddy and Tyson coloring at the restaurant right before we get on the road home. Little did I know!

God decided to bless us with some peace during lunch. Thank you!

The van ride home. God sent His wrath!

Tyler Baby Laughing!

2008-06-24T22:16:00.000-04:00

Who can resist a baby's laugh?

Tyson definately makes him laugh the hardest!

Where's my husband?

2008-06-23T10:55:00.000-04:00

So, Derek has been on a diet since February. He looks absolutely amazing! He is fading fast! He's lost almost 60 lbs. I'm starting to worry because he's catching up, or down, to me. We've never been this close in weight before. Not even the minute before I gave birth! It is a good motivator for me to keep up with my exercise and try to lose weight too. I don't want Derek to be able to borrow my jeans! I just find myself staring at him and shaking my head. If you haven't seen him in a while, you won't believe it! Here are some before and after pics.

We made it this morning!

2008-06-22T13:08:00.000-04:00

I'll start with, if you didn't read my blog from last Sunday, Too Late...Again, go back and read it. Although there was crying, blood curdling screaming, and gnashing of teeth, we made it to church this morning. We think Tyson is an atheist, so he hates to go to church. As if it's not hard enough for me to get myself ready and two small children by myself, I have Tyson crying and telling me, "It's too late." That's what I told him last week, so he'll probably try to talk me into it every week now. That's what I need. A little devil sitting beside me on the couch telling me, "don't go, it's too late!" All the volunteers at church know when we get there. T Rod once told me that he was in the sanctuary and said here comes Tyson as we were walking up the sidewalk. As horrible as it is to get there, once they are in they're classes and I'm sitting with my wonderful husband in the service and worshiping God, it's all worth it! And because Tyson is soooo good, ya right, he gets a donut as we leave. Please pray that Tyson finds Jesus soon!

Comments!

2008-06-21T10:08:00.000-04:00

Well, I didn't post a blog yesterday. As far as I know, my mom and dad are the only ones who look at it and they see us everyday. They check it about 10 times a day to see if I posted anything new, and when I haven't, they just look at all the old ones again. Thanks guys! So if you are looking at my blog, please leave a comment. Nana and Nonni? It's easy to sign up for a google name and leave a comment. But, if you won't, just email me and let me know you are looking! I would really appreciate it and it would motivate me to keep up with the blog. Thanks to everyone that does look!

Tyson is trained!

2008-06-18T17:33:00.004-04:00

So, I finally did it. I finally committed to taking Tyson to the bathroom whenever he needs to go. He would have been trained at 18 months, if I had kept up with my end of the training. I just didn't feel like having to take him to the bathroom ALL the time, especially in public! But I decided I better just go ahead and do it! So I put underwear on him one day and it was done! Poor guy! It was simple! I put the chair right outside the play room and he used it when he needed to. Dumping the silly thing and keeping it clean was really getting old though. So, I pulled the stool up to the big toilet and showed him how to climb up and sit down without turning around. It only took once and he was going all by himself. Now I don't even have to get up! He just runs in there and goes when he needs to! He's so good!

This was taken in January. He loves Tony Dungee

This was taken this morning.

Tyler's latest tricks!

2008-06-18T11:25:00.000-04:00

Baby Tyler has made big strides the past 2 weeks. He had his 6 month check up on Friday. He is still very small, but the doctor is not worried. He's such a cute little peanut! He is ahead of schedule on his developmental skills! Probably because he can't wait to catch up with Tyson. In the past 2 weeks he has: gotten 2 teeth, started crawling the right way, started sitting without leaning on his hand, started using his walker, started using a cup, and started pulling himself up on things and standing. Oh and he started doing puzzles, just kidding!

Baby Tyler can't wait to get in and play with Tyson and Pa.

The first time with a cup. He doesn't really get it yet.

Tyson is teaching Tyler how to play with his dump truck. What a great big brother!

It's funny because I was just telling a friend at church Monday night that he doesn't sit upright yet. We went home and he did it!

Tyler practicing his standing.

Big brother love!

Tyler crawling.

Having a ball with Mate Ma!

2008-06-17T22:37:00.000-04:00

We go up to Sarasota and have dinner with Mate Ma, my grandma, on Thursdays. Tyson has so much fun with Mate Ma. He absolutely loves her! Mate Ma is how he says great grandma. Here's some pics from last Thursday.
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More Home Sweet Home!

2008-06-16T22:26:00.000-04:00

Ok, so we're at the hotel. We didn't rent a car because we were down town Indianapolis and could walk everywhere. Our hotel had a sky walk to the convention center and the mall. Great! Our double stroller was wonderful. I really think that I will take a stroller everywhere I go even when the kids are too old for it. I can't imagine having to carry my purse and coffee and or water and shopping bags. I know everyone says it's so freeing when your kids are old enough that you don't have to take a stroller everywhere, but I don't think I'm going to like it! The speakers were great at the convention. And trying new restaurants was fun. And walking everywhere was really cool. That is the most I have ever used crosswalks in my life! Nap time was awful. The boys don't nap at the same time unless the moon is aligned with the stars and the ocean and everything in between. And even when that miracle happens, Tyler only sleeps for about 20 mins. So, Derek had to take Tyler out of the room and just walk around the hotel while Tyson slept. Tyler had started to crawl the week before we left, which wasn't good. I wouldn't let him down on the hotel room floor, so he couldn't crawl the entire time we were gone. It was our arms or the stroller for him. Oh yeah, we did let him crawl on the bed. He only fell off once. Derek's mom lives about 2 1/2 hours from Indi, so she drove down and spent a day with us. That was nice. She sat in the room while Tyson took his nap, which freed us up to go to the convention together. We had to take Tyler, but at least we didn't have Tyson!!!! He was horrible. We didn't get enough sleep and he fell out of the bed about 5 times the first night. He was shouting no and whining a lot. But enough about our angel! We got to go and vote for Dr. Johnny Hunt for SBC President and he won!!!! It's now time to check out of the hotel. We had late check out which was 1pm. Great! The cab situation was about the same as coming from the airport. Derek had to convince the guy that we and our luggage would all fit. Derek said our flight was at 5 and he wanted to be at the airport by 2:30 or 3:00. Fine! I would rather get there just in the nick of time to board the plane. You know, when they're calling your name over the loudspeaker. But whatever! So we get there at 2:45. The cab drops us off and Derek has a funny look on his face. I ask him what is wrong and he responded, "You're going to kill me." He had been thinking of a different flight that he almost booked and our actual flight wasn't until 8pm. So we were 5 hours early. They wouldn't even check our luggage. So we had to walk around the airport with ALL our luggage for a while. Freakshow! The airport had a mini spa in it and Derek arranged for me to have a massage while we waited. That was great! I forgave him after that. But it only took up 1/2 an hour of our 5 hours of earliness. Well, we managed to board the plane and get home without any major meltdowns, from anyone! We were so glad to be home!!!

Tyler and daddy waking up.

Tyler catching a movie in bed.

Some hot guy I met at the convention. Don't tell Derek!

Tyson's first escalader experience.

Some brotherly love!

Lunch with Nana.

Hey! Don't forget about me!

A kiss for Nana.

Hmmm... I think I'll have the butter pecan!

Do I look like him dad?

Chilaxin!

I am 2, hear me ROAR!!!

Do I have a monkey on my back?

A dancing baptist!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T22:29:00.000-04:00

Aren't they cute in their matching outfits! My Boys!

Too late.....again.

2008-06-15T12:01:00.000-04:00

Do you ever get your whole family ready for church only to find that you're too late and your efforts were for nothing? That's how my morning went. Only, I don't admit it until I'm in the church parking lot. So not only do I waste all that getting ready, but I also waste gas there and back. I'm driving to church as Tyson is in the back nodding off to sleep and I'm 45 mins late. What do I do? Do I get both of them out of the car and carry both of them in and at least make an appearance? Or do I just drive through the parking lot, admit my defeat, go home, and try again next Sunday? Today I chose to just go back home and put Tyson down for a nap. It really stinks though, that I did all that for nothing. Maybe God was protecting me from something. Like maybe somebody was going to kill me in church today. Ya, not very likely! I don't think it was God, I think it was my poor judge of time and getting ready skills. Does this ever happen to anyone else, or is it just me?

Home Sweet Home!!!

2008-06-12T14:12:00.000-04:00

It is so wonderful to be home! Don't get me wrong. We enjoyed the convention, but if we go next year, hopefully we'll be kidless! We didn't find out we were going to the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis until 1 week before we left. It was our first trip with both boys and our first airplane trip with kids. We didn't start packing until Saturday night and we had to catch the plane Sunday morning in Tampa. And did I mention that Derek was at work Saturday night and Sunday morning? Ya! We would have never made it if my parents hadn't helped so much! Thank you mom and dad! So of course the kids got up early that morning, because I wanted them to sleep as late as possible. They wouldn't be getting naps. And Tyson fell in my closet while I was packing Sunday morning and split his lip open. The worst injury he's ever had, right before our plane trip! Wonderful! He was terrible in the airport. He was way overtired and his mouth hurt. So he was screaming NO at everything we said. And if that wasn't bad enough, we had Tyler crying and ALL our luggage, the double stroller, 2 car seats, 2 big suit cases, the laptop bag, the big diaper bag, my purse, Tyson's little suit case with his plane toys, and don't forget my breastfriend, which I can't nurse without. We looked like a freakshow! Everyone was praying as we walked by, "Dear Lord, please don't let them be on my flight!" Some people came up to us and told us it will get better. Why did they think it was bad? Just because we were all standing there crying? That's not normal? We finally got on the plane and I strapped my breastfriend on and nursed Tyler for takeoff. Tyson's ears hurt when we changed altitudes and he started screaming and crying. I felt horrible for him. So we land, get off the plane and they had our limo, double stroller, waiting for us. It was missing the 2 adult cup holders which we can't live without! So, I waited for them to check the luggage area meanwhile I found one stashed somewhere else on the stroller. They didn't find the other one. So we did without. We will be ordering the replacement asap! We got all our luggage out to the taxi waiting area and one pulled up. Poor guy! He was in a minivan and said he couldn't take us all and our stuff. Derek insisted that he could. So I strapped the car seats in while they fought it out! We squeezed in and Derek sat up front. The taxi driver said nobody has ever ridden up front in his cab before. He usually doesn't allow that. The fare came to $25 and Derek gave him $30 and the guy sped off and didn't offer Derek any change. Like I said, freakshow! Well, I have to go for now. There will be more about our trip soon!

My Boys

2008-06-06T11:02:00.000-04:00

Another great night! Tyler didn't get up to nurse until 7am!!!! Then Derek got up with the boys when they woke up and let me stay in bed till 9am. He always does that on his mornings off. He's so nice to me! He makes Tyson's breakfast and takes care of Tyler till I get up. He read to the boys this morning. They are so cute! Tyson helped dada put the laundry sorter together, too. I love my boys, big and small!!!! Which brings me to my next point. Stay tuned!!!

God made sleep...and it was good!

2008-06-05T11:02:00.000-04:00

Sweet Baby Tyler slept in his own room for the 1st time last night. I've been putting it off because he gets up to nurse at about 6 in the morning and I didn't want to have to trek across the house, because our house is a mansion and huge ya know! He is a morning person. So, I have to brake him of that and thought him being in his own room would help. No child of mine can be a morning person! I refuse to get up before 8:30am. So I heard Tyler crying at about 5:45 and went across the house and nursed him. I put him back to bed and didn't get up until 8:50 when my dad called. I couldn't believe it! Sleep, Glorious Sleep!!!! I don't know if he woke up and was crying and I just didn't hear him or if he just miraculously slept. He usually goes back to bed until about 7 or 8 and then he's bright eyed and bushy tailed. I on the other hand am ticked that he's up so early. He didn't get up until 10:15 this morning. I kept going in and checking on him to make sure he was ok. Hopefully we have found a new way of life! Tyson has always been a wonderful sleeper. He was getting up between 8:30 and 9am before we moved. When we moved to our new house, he got a new big boy bed and stared coming in my room around 8. I was very upset about that. I had Derek go to Home Depot and get those pull down blinds that block the sun, which Tyson has had his whole life. That made a huge difference. He didn't get up until 9:15 today! Thank you Jesus!!! My life is back on track!!!!

Movin and groovin with my new tooth

2008-06-03T21:45:00.000-04:00

Baby Tyler got his first tooth today! FINALLY!!! It's been right under the gum for a long time. He's not handling teething as well as Tyson did.

This is Tyler's way of crawling. He gets around everywhere!!! We can't leave anything laying around anymore.

My First Post....Who knew my 1 year old could count to 10?

2008-06-02T22:58:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this is my first time blogging. I didn't get my templet perfect, but if I wait till then, I'll never start blogging! Last month I was doing something around the house and thought I heard Tyson count to 10. I wasn't sure, so I just went about my day. That night I told my mom and sister that I thought I heard Tyson count to 10. They said, naa. The next day I asked him to count and by golly, he counted to 10. I couldn't believe it! I'm not sure what age children start counting, that wasn't the amazing thing. It's that nobody taught him how. I certainly didn't. I asked around and nobody else did either. Then I realized......Thank you Dora! Actually, I think it was a group effort. Thank you Dora and Diego! Who ever said that tv was bad for children obviously didn't meet Dora. And they obviously had more time than I do to teach their children to count. I guess I'm just lucky it's in english and not spanish. Maybe he can count in spanish, I'll have to ask him tomorrow!