All I want for Christmas..........................

We finally got our tree up. We decided this year to pull the big tree out. That was a task! We (I) had to rearrange the entire living room so that it would fit.

We'd like to give a special thanks to Val & Phyllis. If it wasn't for you we'd have no Christmas decorations.

The boys decorated the tree (notice all of the ornaments are clumped down low) and they are very excited. Here are a few short clips of them giving their Christmas list.

**I had issues uploading the videos so you'll have to click on the links below to view them**

Ty's first take

Notice that Chase has things written down so he won't forget anything?

Chase's Christmas Wishes

I had Ty sit down so I could get more information from him on what he wanted from Santa.

Ty's second take

Enjoy!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I haven’t updated lately but lately it seems like we never get a chance to slow down.

Two weeks ago Ty was hospitalized for 3 days. He had a fever, he was having a difficult time breathing and he was very lethargic. Of course the day after they released him he was bouncing off of the walls. He did have one set back last Friday (high temps again) but for the most part he seems to be back to “normal”.

Luckily the week he was gone Chase was with his great grandparents so he was occupied. During his visit with Papa Don and Grandma Bea he made me this “beautiful” bird feeder out of their scrap pile and an entire roll of duct tape!



I placed it in my flower bed (behind the tall flowers) and the birds do enjoy it.



As you probably already know Papa Bob and Grandma Candy have a few “critters” at their house now. Ty’s favorites are Grandma Candy’s “monkeys”.



I have to say they are quite humorous to watch when they get to playing. This one is trying to learn how to sleep on the log. I’m sure he’d do better if the camera wasn’t flashing on him.



Then Papa Bob has his baby deer. He has 3 of them now and they range in sizes and personalities. The deer have been very good for Chase and his outlook on wildlife.



At the beginning of the month Brandon and Janet rode in the Van Meter Kid’s Day parade. They had a lot of fun (not sure who had more fun, Janet or Brandon).

The horse that Brandon is riding is 24 yrs. old.



Janet all decked out with Sis.



And of course we can’t forget Chase. He’s still enjoying Dozer.



Dozer says “feed me now!”



He will show at the fair on July 19th and I’m very excited for him. He has been very responsible for Dozer since he has gotten him.

Ty's Birthday

I’m not sure how I missed blogging about this but Ty had a wonderful party and he was surrounded by family & friends.



Aunt Heather made him the cutest tractor cake!



Time to blow out the candles!



What more could a birthday boy want? Why presents of course!



No birthday would be complete without presents.

Guess who is 2!

That’s right! Ty turned 2 years old today. Can you believe it? Neither can I. When people say that time flies they aren’t kidding.

He was tickled to death last night when I told him he got a card (from Val & Phyllis). He got mad at me when I didn’t get it open and to him fast enough. I think he probably held onto it for 3 hours and finally ended up falling asleep with it in the car. It is a bit wrinkled now.

I’m sure we’ll have lots of party pictures to share but thought I’d throw in some of his “baby pics” in this post.

Ty over the years

(I don't want to resize these top two pics so you can click on them to see the entire pic)

Grandma loved it when he wiggled his toes



The cutest little Santa I’ve ever seen!




An empty box and a cookbook (upside down). What more could a kid want?



1st Birthday pics







And here he is from last night. I’ve decided he’s going to either be a manager or a supervisor. When we get to the horse barn the first thing he does is grabs the crops and starts barking orders.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Saturday we got our first snow of the year. I couldn’t figure out why Ty was being so goofy and then it dawned on me. This was the first time he’d really “seen” snow. Last year he was just a baby and had no clue what it was but this year it was a new and exciting experience for him.

He was even more excited when he realized it was snowing out the front window just like it was the back window. I got a chuckle out of him and his excitement.

Chase was ready to go build a snowman and sled. I told him unfortunately that wasn’t the type of snow he needed for that.

We did get enough for my truck to slide out of the drive and into the road. Luckily my neighbor was nice enough to let me know what happened.

This morning Ty had another 1st! Those of you who have been around him know what a little purse digger he is. If he sees a purse he likes to rifle through it to see what he can find (right Aunt Heather). Well this morning while I was getting ready for work he snuck downstairs without me hearing him (he usually plays in his room) when I heard my cell phone alarm go off (a calendar reminder).

The next thing I know I hear it coming up the stairs. Ty was very sweet and brought it up to me. I was surprised he hadn’t messed with it but he hadn’t. As he handed it to me I noticed something red in his mouth. I thought to myself “oh no, he found a piece of cereal on the floor”. I asked him to spit it out and reluctantly he did. Was it cereal? Nope. It was Stride cinnamon gum.

Can you believe he was chewing cinnamon gum? Chase won’t even chew it because it’s too “spicy” for him.

Needless to say when I got downstairs the insides of my purse were all over the couch. It looked like he had fun.

This & That

I have some random pictures that I wanted to post.

This is Chase & Ty playing with Ty's new truck/trailer combo that dad bought him.



I sure hope it's not in their stars to be behind bars!



Psycho Kitty! This is a nightly occurance between my dog and cat. The cat (Bang) ususally starts it and the dog (Cy Cy) usually gets the brunt of it.

The Pacifier Addict

I’m still in the process of trying to keep the pacifier away from Ty at night. For the most part as long as he’s busy he’s ok without it during the day. Monday night I was able to get him to sleep without it but then around 2:30 am he woke up and started crying. I tried to leave him alone figuring he’d go back to sleep soon enough but he woke Chase up so I moved him into my room where he quickly fell back asleep.

I didn’t want this to become a habit (go to sleep, wake up crying, go to bed with mom) so last night I decided if he woke up crying I would move Chase out of the room instead. To my amazement he went to sleep and slept the entire night without the Nuk. Woo hoo!

This morning when he woke up I let him out of the crib to play while I was getting ready for work. As I walked into his room I almost fell to the floor laughing. His diaper bag was in his room (there are always Nuks in his diaper bag) and he was feverishly trying to get to the bottom of it to find a Nuk. He reminded me of a smoker who hadn’t smoked in days looking for a cigarette in the bottom of their purse. Needless to say I removed the bag from his room so he didn’t feel the “urge” again.

Dad is coming home on Friday so we’ll see if he sticks with the program or if I have to start it all over again once he leaves.