A Day in the Life of Tyler

First things first. I gotta get my milk for breakfast and do my morning stretches... at the same time. How else do you expect a 23 pound kid to open the fridge?

Next, I sharpen my teeth on the granite. Yes, Mom yelled at me to stop about 8 times before she took this picture. 

Then, if its a nice day, we are off to the park!

And if I'm lucky, Mom will take me to Burger King and get me some nuggets.

Then Mom says she needs to run errands. Errands are boring, so I take a nap instead.

When we get home, I play a little hide-and-seek with my sister. We like to hide in the kitchen cupboards. Sometimes I ask mom to get her sun hat so I can be in disguise. You can't even see me right!?

Late at night, I like to hop on my car and go for a ride. But Mom said it was too cold and dark so she wouldn't open the garage door for me.

I remember those nice warm days when I'd catch a ride with my sister.

Or the time my friend let me borrow his awesome big wheel. Those were the days!

But for now, Mom says it's time to go to bed. So I'll chill and watch one of my favorite shows before Mom takes me up to my room and I do everything I can to not fall asleep.

Thanks for joining me! 

Funniest Home Videos

I think this could possibly make it on to America's Funniest Home Videos. All it needs is some funny commentator explaining the video. I have no idea why Ava thought it was more fun to be drug around the floor then to ride on the thing. And of course, her friend thought it looked so cool she would join her. Silly girls. :)

Cuddles

Possibly my absolute favorite thing: 

Seeing my kids cuddle.

Almost every morning when I shower I let my kids watch TV. That's the only way I can ensure no one and nothing gets hurt while I'm away. Almost always, when I return, I find them cuddling. 

I LOVE IT

So sweet!

This wasn't a TV morning. Ava wanted to make a bed for Tyler and covered him with 6 blankets. He enjoyed the pampering!

Ava will specifically ask me to put Tyler on her lap before I get in the shower.

Notice Ava holding his hand in this picture.

These are the moments that make being a mom worth it.

Emergency Room

Tyler didn't make it to his second birthday before needing a trip to the ER. Is anyone surprised? :) He was standing in his high chair when he slipped and hit his head against the granite counter. He needed 3 stitches. 

Waiting in the emergency room.

Although he was pretty tough and stopped crying shortly after hitting his head, he hated being held down by the nurses and screamed the entire time. : (

Below he is enjoying a popsicle post stitches.
A much happier boy.

He cut his head on January 4th so it's been a few weeks. It's healing nicely.

GRATEFUL

I am incredibly grateful and have to thank God for sparing my life, the lives of my children and our home tonight! The kids and I returned home after being gone for the day. I pulled the car in the garage and left the kids in the car while I went inside to drop a few bags. I noticed an odd smell in the garage but didn't think much of it. The moment I opened the kitchen door I was overwhelmed by an intense gas smell. I looked at the stove and saw that the knob had been turned on. The house had been filling with gas for the past 5 hours!! I immediately turned off the stove and opened every door and window in the house. I then took the kids to the neighbors and waited for the gas to dissipate.

I did three things I should not have done with a house full of gas. I opened and closed the garage door, I turned on the kitchen light, and I turned the knob on the stove (which could have make the ignitor spark). Recently, a house in the area exploded from static caused by a phone call. I can not express how grateful I am that our home did not explode. I am truly, extremely grateful. I am grateful for every day I am given and for my two beautiful, happy children.

Indoor Sledding

Who needs snow to sled? Sledding is much more fun... well at least it's a whole lot WARMER... inside! Also, mom doesn't need a gym membership when she can pull 50 lbs of kids around! The kids may never want us to buy living room furniture for fear of losing their gymnasium.

Originally I just laid the tablecloth on the floor. Ava was going to have a picnic, or so she said. Instead, she did some interpretive dancing, swimming, ballet and break dance spinning. Also, she chose the background music: our piano.

When Justin and I were tired of pulling them, we told them to slide on the tablecloth. Tyler cracked us up. It's not in the video, but he would "slide" way too early and end up on the carpet about 3 feet from the tablecloth. He would then inchworm his way to the tablecloth instead of getting up and running the extra distance. :)

Christmas!!

A tad bit late but here is our Christmas recap.

We all opened our Christmas Eve pajamas. We had ham, cheesy potatoes and baby spinach salad for our Christmas Eve dinner. We realized later Christmas day that Tyler and Ava had switched pants. Notice how long Tyler's are and how short Ava's are. :)

Santa came to our house!
And yes, the tree returned! We had to take it down again about an hour after the presents were opened. :)

My favorite part about Christmas morning was seeing Ava's excitement as she waited 20 minutes for Tyler to wake up. He hadn't been feeling well so we let him sleep. When Ava woke up she ran straight to our room and said, "Can we go open the presents!?" I interviewed her while we waited. I loved every minute of it. Also, notice her awesome hair. :)

Ava got a "Littlest Pet Shop" shop and a TON of little animal sets. They were mine when I was a child. She loves them, and we both couldn't be happier.

Tyler did not eat any paper this year, but he did use his teeth to get the wrapping off! :) Tyler's theory: "When all else fails, use your teeth!" Unfortunately, unwrapping presents is not the only time he applies this theory. ;)

Here are a bunch of videos for the grandparents.

Merry Christmas!!

A couple days ago Ava asked, "Are there any more presents in the yellow room?" The room where we kept all the presents. :)

Let It Snow!

Today was our second snow of the winter. Here is a picture from our first snow day earlier this winter.

The kids begged to go out and play today. The high was 32 degrees! They lasted a whole 3 minutes and then Tyler cried for about 10 minutes after while he thawed out.

Ava really wanted to build a snowman. I caved. (I really don't like the snow or cold weather!) We made a small one really quick. She was happy.