Really? More snow?

I'm already tired of the snow. Actually, it's just snow that affects traveling. The rest of the winter it can snow all it wants and Tyler and I will just stay inside and watch movies. We are supposed to get another blizzard. It's going to dump everything on us for three days...or something like that. Great for those staying in town and wanting a white Christmas. Not so great for the other 99% of people who will be traveling. I'm trying to not think about it too much. Today, I am focusing on making these bad boys. And if they turn out, I will need willpower to not eat all of them.

Let's go back to our last blizzard which was like two weeks ago. Pioneer shut down so Dan got a snow day. We have been having some phone issues so here he is trying to fix the problem. How convenient that the shelves were right there for him to lay on. It may look like he just fits, but let me assure you, he had to squeeze himself in.

It was also the perfect time to make some cookies. Tyler really got into cutting them out and frosting them. Oh, he was pretty good at eating them too (we all were!).

Every year for Christmas the mall has a train for the kids to ride in. As soon as Tyler saw this he wanted to ride it. He is really breaking out of his shell lately because he just climbed in with boys he didn't know and even rang the bell. It's exciting for me to see him interested in doing things and having fun.

Last night we went to a light display that you drive through. We figured Tyler would enjoy it and he really did. It is so fun to do these things with him...it really makes them more fun. Tyler kept asking, "more lights?" =) I know the pictures are hard to see, but I thought I would post them anyway. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of Tyler!

A monkey, a cat, and some snow

Wow! It's been a long time since I updated. My pictures start back at Halloween! Before we get to those, let's talk about things Tyler is doing. Tyler is really soaking up words now. I am constantly reminded to watch what I say...and it's not like we use bad language over here, but it sounds much different when an adult says, "what the heck?" than when a 3 year old says it. I also love how he asks what a words means, we explain it, and then he just gets it. Yesterday I was thinking back to last December when we started his speech therapy. He spoke NO words then. None. Zip. Nada. Now he strings words together and is really picking up on getting the sounds, within the words, correct. He is continuing to meet or exceed his speech goals. Very exciting! It's so fun to be able to understand what he is thinking. One funny thing that I remember from last week was we were in the car and I think I switched lanes to pass someone and Tyler said, "Beep beep! Coming through!" Made me look to see how fast I was going. =)

His main interests right now are cars, pointing out letters, cars, colors, animals, cars, counting, and cars.

Let's move on to Halloween! I was very blessed to not have to pay for a costume and instead was able to borrow this adorable monkey costume from someone in MOMS Club. I wasn't sure how Tyler would feel about putting on a costume but he really loved it!

We decided to go trick or treating at the mall. What a horrible idea. I think he came away with 7 things in his bag and we had to stand in this long line that snaked around the mall. Luckily, he thought it was fun but next year I think we should do something different.

For his friend's birthday party he was supposed to dress up like a cat. The invitation very nicely included tips on how to do this with things you already own. I dressed him all in grey and white, gave him a nose and whiskers with eyeliner, and completed the look with a sock as a tail. He thought he was pretty awesome! I'm pretty sure he'd dress up like a cat everyday if he could.

(I always seem to snap the picture during the "ch" and not the "ee" part of cheese)

We spent Thanksgiving with Dan's family. I had my camera with me, but did not take any pictures of course. I did take pictures when we all went to Chuck E Cheese though. This was the first time where Tyler actually got into the rides and games. That makes it much more fun for me.


Enjoying a roller coaster ride with cousin Brandon

We have been getting snow dumped on us last night and today. We headed outside to play for a bit...Tyler has been very excited about it. I decided to put him to work right away!

Pictures!

We had some family pictures taken last week by some friends of ours. They do a preview of pictures on their blog before they upload the rest to their website. They just got our preview out tonight! So excited about this! Of course, I hate the way I look in pictures but I think Tyler is always adorable! =)

Go here to see the preview http://smidts.blogspot.com/2009/10/thorpe-family.html

Family trip

A couple weeks ago we went on a family vacation to Wisconsin. We stayed in a condo that was just south of Wisconsin Dells (although, we only went to the Dells once while we were there). Since we've been back we've been battling some sickness but I think things are starting to improve...at least for me they are! I finally have enough energy to update the blog. Bet you didn't realize blogging required energy!

First, Tyler's speech is really improving. He puts a lot of words together now. He is missing "filler" words like a, the, I, he, she, etc (or, they get lost in his jabber. maybe they are there!). But I can understand longer strings of words now which is nice. Last week at his therapy we got a progress report (since the therapy is through the public schools, we will get these often due to parent teacher conferences). I was really pleased to see how much he has improved since he started in August. He is moving along at a good pace. His teacher is really great at getting him to cooperate. Sometimes he doesn't want to say the words or will bury his head into me. She is very patient with him. (I should also clarify that his progress is with getting the endings onto words...that is really what she is measuring)

Tyler also LOVES letters. He knows all of his capital letters and he loves to read them off of things. It's interesting to be in the car, going down the street, and hear him say P-A-W-N. He is also really good at writing the letter T (for Tyler of course!).

Second, back in September I headed to Michigan for my annual get together with my two friends from college, Carrie and Kelly. This year we got together at Carrie's house and we participated in a grape stomping contest. The pictures from that are on Carrie's blog http://carriemilesblog.com/2009/10/11/grape-stomp/ It was very interesting! It wasn't what I expected and it was exhausting for my arms.

Okay! Now for pictures from the Wisconsin trip. The first thing we did was go on a train ride on the MidContinent Railway. Tyler really enjoyed his first "real" train ride.

Some views from the train.



Another day we went to Devil's Lake State Park. The fall color was so beautiful while we were there. We decided to climb up one of the big hills on our way around the lake. The trail was quite a climb. I really felt like the stone steps would never end. I was really impressed with how well Tyler did climbing up the stairs.

We finally made it to the top! The water was such a pretty blue-green color.




This is from the other side of the lake on our way back. We opted for the flat trail that time. We were all pretty cranky/tired/hungry at this point. But we stopped to take this picture so you can see the hill that we climbed to the top of, behind Dan and Tyler. And no, Tyler is not sleeping, he is being cranky and refusing to look at the camera.

The one thing we did do in the Dells is we went to the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory Interactive Science Center. I wasn't sure how it was going to be for Tyler since ages 5 and under were free. Usually if it's free for Tyler, that means there's nothing for him to do. Really, Dan and I had the most fun there. Tyler was okay with it.

He did like floating these balls in the air though.


And then we decided to cut off his head and place it on this table (I gotta say, the picture does not do this justice. It actually looked much better in person)


On our way home from our trip we stopped to visit Dan's Grandpa Joe. The last time we saw him Tyler was just a baby. It was nice to be able to see him again. The funny part was Tyler took to calling him Joe (minus the grandpa).

Random pics

I gotta do this quickly so there will be little text and many pictures! Tyler's speech therapy is going well. They are focusing on endings of words. I can see improvement each week. It's very encouraging.

I made these cookies last month. They are supposed to look like witches hats...can you tell? (it's a fudge striped cookie turned over, then a hershey's kiss placed on top-held in place by a dot of icing-then some orange icing around the base of the kiss)

Tyler enjoying a pile of leaves

We participated in the Heart Walk this year in honor of nephew Evan. It was a very cool rainy day. Luckily, we walked inside but only after Tyler got all wet and muddy. He thought the umbrella was really cool.

We also celebrated grandma and then grandpa's birthdays.

Tyler having fun on this scooter/car thing at a pumpkin patch.

Tyler helping me make some homemade crescent rolls. They turned out really yummy. He's quite the baster!

Birthday Celebration Part 2

This past weekend we went to Minnesota to celebrate Tyler's birthday with Dan's family. We had a fun time and Tyler LOVES playing with his cousins. Marisa also decided it would be fun to tie dye some t-shirts. Talk about a flashback to my Girl Scout days.

I want to throw this picture in first. We went to a zoo and this was the first time Tyler actually fed an animal. I think he saw his cousins doing it and was inspired. (notice the t-shirt!)

Here I am carrying Tyler's cake as everyone sings. I'm not sure if you can see it but Tyler has the biggest grin on his face.

Blowing out the candles

Opening his presents.

For Tyler's cake I decided to make a rainbow cake that I saw online awhile back. I took pictures of the process because I'm geeky like that.

Here is the batter mixed into 6 different colors.

The colors in the pans ready to go into the oven.

After I frosted it, it looked like this. I loved that no one could tell that the inside was a rainbow of colors. It was a fun surprise!

And then....I cut into it and this is what you saw! very cool! It turned out really well and I was pretty darn impressed with myself. =) It wasn't a hard cake to do, but it was slightly time consuming. Less time consuming than piping hundreds of stars all over a cake though. I did not miss piping stars.

Birthday Celebration Part 1

Last weekend we drove to Indiana for a few days. It was a pretty quick trip but we were able to celebrate Tyler's birthday with my family so that was nice. The weather was pretty awesome too! I have a lot of pictures so let's get to it!

His birthday breakfast at Bappa and Nana's house.

Tyler with Bappa and Nana (holy cow is it impossible to get a toddler to pose for a picture)

Then we went to Grammy's house. We got him a Curious George balloon which he loved (and still plays with)

Isn't the picture above impressive? Tyler is looking at the camera and smiling and George is turned just right so you can see him. Dan took the picture. It took about five tries before he got it though. One of those tries was this one which we thought was funny. The balloon is placed perfectly to make it look like Tyler has a monkey for his head.

Tyler was very into his birthday this year. He blew out the candles right away and looked thrilled when everyone sang to him. Here is a family picture!

Tyler opened his gifts like a pro.

Tyler with Uncle Brad (side note: this was after Tyler opened his presents and we discovered he was in such a great mood that he was willing to sit with someone and smile for the camera. Once we discovered that we had him sit with mom, dad, uncle brad, and grammy. We got some great pictures!)

With Grammy

Practicing his couch yoga

One day we went to Fair Oaks Farm. We had been there before but Tyler was pretty young. This time he was able to really get into it. It is such a fun place to go. It is a Dairy Farm and you can take a bus tour and see the whole operation. If you've ever seen the show Dirty Jobs, they visited here one time for a show. I won't go into details what the dirty job was.

Here is Dan timing himself to see how fast he can milk the "cow".

Here is my favorite part of the bus tour. The cow lazy susan. Okay, they call it a carousel. It's such an interesting process and I find it fascinating that the cows know what to do. I don't want to explain the whole thing but basically the cows get on, they get milked, then they get off. This thing runs all day except for a few breaks when they clean it.

Then we went to the birthing barn where you can watch a cow give birth. Since this is a dairy farm calves are being born all the time. We happen to get there as this woman starting pulling out a calf. Here's the newborn calf!

Awww...mamma cow licking off baby cow

While all that was going on there was another cow who has just given birth so we got to watch her baby try and stand up. He was so cute wobbling all over the place. I felt like cheering when he finally figured it out.

They have some fun kid stuff there, like this jumping thing. Tyler (and Dan) thought it was pretty fun.

Tyler was pretty excited about going on this train. I wasn't sure at first if he understood that we wouldn't be riding with him. He climbed in though and seemed happy until it started up with a big jolt. His face immediately went from happy to concerned. He didn't cry at all and even seemed to enjoy himself, but when asked if he wanted to go again he said, "down."