Happy Birthday Tyler!

I can't believe you're two already! This past year has been a lot of fun, I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for you!



August 29th, 2006

Six Months (sitting up for the first time and a nice deer in the headlights expression)

One year, looking like such a big boy

18 Months, chilling in Florida with your shaggy hair



Today, at two years old

Busy busy busy

Two weekends ago we were very busy doing fun things with Boppa and Uncle Brad who came out for a visit. Saturday we went to the State Fair and on Sunday we went to the zoo. Tyler didn't seem overly excited about either of our adventures. We also have some pictures of Tyler with his birthday present from Nana, Boppa, and Uncle Brad. They got him a wagon. We have already used it for trips to the park and around the block. It was easier for me to pull than pushing the stroller.

Last weekend I drove to Michigan for a bridal shower. I did not have a problem driving seven peaceful hours in the car by myself. I had so much fun in Michigan. Carrie's family treated me like one of their own. I'm very excited about driving out in a month for the wedding!

Here is Tyler petting a calf at the fair

Enjoying a corndog. We also had a funnel cake with strawberries on top and some cotton candy.

Boppa, Uncle Brad, and Tyler putting the wagon together

Enjoying his wagon ride

Family picture! Boppa, Uncle Brad, Megan, and Tyler

I didn't get many pics at the zoo but I thought this was a great way for the lioness to welcome us. Great visual for the word "sprawling"

Me and Carrie!

We have carpet!

The carpet in the basement was installed yesterday. I really like how it turned out. I think it looks more like a finished space than just a room in the basement. Also what you can't really see in the picture is that Dan put on a fresh coat of white paint. The previous white was really dingy and dirty in some spots. That really helped too. Someday it would be nice to put in a drop ceiling (drywall would be even better!) but that's not in the budget right now.

Oh, and if you're wondering, the carpet is a Berber with an indented square pattern in it.

Before, the main room

After, complete with toddler and cat

The back room before

After

Dancing Maching Part 2 and 3

If you're wondering why he is standing in this spot it is because Dan is down in the basement painting and Tyler is dancing to the music Dan is listening to while he paints.

Dancing machine

I wasn't able to upload this video with the last post yesterday. Today it works though! Here is Tyler dancing to a very catchy tune.

Good weekend

Last weekend we were in Minnesota visiting the family. Saturday Marisa and I got a day off and spent it well. We started by going out to lunch, then shopping, then to a benefit auction/dinner for a friend of Marisa's. All in all, I believe we were gone for 12 hours. It was exhausting but nice! Thanks to Dan, David, Grandma, and Grandpa for watching the kids. =)

Lots of stuff happening this month so hopefully I will keep on top of posting pictures. Up next, the state fair (as long as we remember the camera)!

If it's been a while since you've checked the blog, scroll down a bit because I've posted more frequently than usual lately!

Owen and Tyler

Evan, Brandon, Ariana, Tyler, and Owen. Everytime I snapped a picture at least one person wasn't looking. And it was a different person each time!

Ariana loves to have her picture taken. Especially when you'll let her see it on the screen after you've taken it.

Balloon Festival

Last year when we went to see the hot air balloons, Tyler wasn't even a year old. He wasn't walking yet so he sat on a blanket while Dan and I watched the balloons. This year he noticed the balloons and even pointed at them. Luckily, it wasn't too hot and we had a gorgeous blue sky as the backdrop for all the colorful balloons. Enjoy the pictures!

And then, another picture of Lisle sleeping in odd places

Our new home

Hopefully you weren't expecting pictures of our newly moved into house. I won't take pictures until we have stuff on the walls and in our last house that took about a year. The house is starting to improve. When we initally moved in so many things went wrong. It was a tough week (this was last week). This week however things are better and we are settling in nicely! I really like living in Des Moines and having so much available and relatively close by. Like the 10 Targets I think we have. Or, which mall should we go to this time? I'm sure this will wear off at some point and we'll be saying things like, "I don't want to go all the way out there just to buy this." But for now, it's nice!

We have been very busy though with other things. The day before we moved was the annual lake get together with Dan's family. Tyler did not appreciate the water at first but he did seem to enjoy the boat ride.

We had the help of many friends/family who watched Tyler for us so we could attend to different house things. One day cousin Kari watched him and took these pictures. Not too sure what he's doing in the first picture...

Sporting a new look which will be all the rage soon

For some reason Lisle has taken to sleeping on top of the fridge. He didn't do this in our last house.

Tyler finally got the idea of blowing bubbles underwater. He really loves doing it now. It's so much fun seeing him learn new things!

Trip to Indiana

Last week we were in Indiana visiting my family. We had a fun time. We went to quite a few parks, to the zoo, and went to visit friends and family. It was a busy week and we took a lot of pictures!

Every rest area in Illinois has a playground. Luckily the one we stopped at for lunch had a nice, new, playground that was perfect for Tyler. Tyler and daddy enjoyed racing each other down the slide.

The first playground we went to was in a neighborhood by my mom's house. They had this nice area that was supposed to be for Tyler's age (seen below). He tried it but decided he like the other side better (see next picture)

He thought he'd try this slide instead. The biggest slide at the playground! He only went down it once. I think that was enough for him. (He is in front of Dan climbing up the steps)

Playground #2 wasn't as exciting for Tyler. So he decided to swing with Grandma.

Then he got to meet his cousins for the first time. So did I! These are my step-sisters boys. Alex is on the left in the red and Matthew is in the middle. Aren't they adorable? The boys had a lot of fun playing together. It was nice to finally meet them and my step-sisters husband. Of course it was nice to see her again too. =)

Then we went to the zoo in Lafayette. This is the petting zoo part. I thought Tyler would really like it but he didn't seem too interested in petting any animals, just looking.

The day before we left we went to visit my friend from high school, Lissa, and her family. Here is Tyler and her daughter Emma playing. Don't they look really interested in each other?

Well, the car ride home was insanely long. We had to take a detour because of flooding and Tyler became a sobbing/screaming mess. We decided we needed a break from the car and then we realized we were coming up to Dyersville, IA which is the town where the movie Field of Dreams was filmed. We thought it would be fun to stop there and maybe Tyler would tire himself out and fall asleep (it didn't work).

Here they are with the field behind them. It wasn't quite the same effect without the tall corn. You can bring bats and balls and play on the field which is what a family was doing when we got there.

Making a run for first base. You can see the bleachers and the house from the movie in the background.

Running home! Look at that beautiful blue sky we had.

Holiday Weekend

A couple things have happened since our last post. The first is that we celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary. We spent the day at an amusement park in Des Moines riding roller coasters and eating junk. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a fun day! Then we ate at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. We stayed at a really nice hotel in Des Moines overnight. Then came home the next day. We're very lucky to have Dan's parents so close by and are willing to watch Tyler for us!

Then last weekend we went to Dan's parents house. Dan's brother and his family were in town also so everyone was together for the weekend. It was nice to see everyone again. We pretty much just relaxed and hung out. Oh, there was that storm that came through and the tornado siren went off and we all had to go to the basement. Grandma had to wake Tyler up and carry him down. He didn't seem to affected by it though. Luckily Dan and I just gotten home from his sister's house (where we had a Wii-athon). I don't think I would've enjoyed being in a car and hearing the sirens.



This is how Tyler wanted to eat his cracker

Tyler hanging out with Ariana



Uncle Dan reading to the kids

A family picture

You can see how shaggy Tyler's hair was getting in the above pictures. I went to get it cut and instead of just having it trimmed we decided to use the clippers and have it cut shorter. I like it better but he looks all grown up to me now.

A video of Tyler and daddy doing one of Tyler's favorite activities

Cranky Tyler

Last Sunday at church someone from the nursery had to come find us because Tyler had thrown up. We only got in about 10 mins of worship before needing to leave. He then had a high fever all Sunday and all Sunday night. Then Monday morning the fever was gone but we were left with an extremely cranky child. I'm wondering now if he has teeth coming in. I haven't felt anything poking through but I hope this crying/screaming at the drop of a hat thing doesn't last long. If it is teeth I pray all the rest are coming in at the same time so we don't have to go through this again. The dramatics involved in such simple tasks such as eating or picking up toys remind me of teenage girl drama. Not that I would know anything about that. I was a calm and collected teenager (anyone believe that?).

No news on the house search. We're going again tomorrow. I estimate we've looked at 20-30 houses. When we bought our current house I think we looked at 5. It's amazing how precise your "want" list can be when you've already experienced living in a house.

Last Thursday afternoon Tyler's friend Emma came over. When Tyler was six months old (and Emma around 3 months) this is what they looked like:

And now (I tried putting Tyler's arm around her but she didn't like it):

Tyler likes to show off his piano skills to the ladies (although in this picture he seems to be eating his fingers instead)

Tyler with his sad face (probably because we said, "No, you may not put Lisle in the toilet" or something else mean like that). Note the droopy cheeks.