Yay for warm weather!

We are having typical midwestern weather. Each day you have to check the forcast because you never know what it will be like. I'm enjoying the 70 degree weather days though. Tyler is at a good going to the park age right now. It's a great way to tire him out for his afternoon nap too.

Most of you know that we sold our house already. It was fast! We are now searching for a house in Des Moines and not having too much luck. Every weekend we go down and look at about 4-5 houses. I'm sure something will pop up soon though.

Tyler is really enjoying puzzles right now. He loves to sit in your lap and have you hand a piece to him and finds where it goes. He also loves his shape sorter. He will, again, sit in your lap and you hand him a shape and he will put it in the correct spot. He also keeps you on your toes. The other day I went to get him from his room, where he was playing, and found that he had emptied 3 of 4 (the ones he could reach) dresser drawers. Everything was in a pile on the floor. I had to hide my smile.

As soon as he spots the swings at the park he points and jabbers excitedly. Funny enough though, he never really looks like he enjoys the swings...no smiles...but he always wants to get in it. He likes when I swing next to him.



For some perspective, here he is at 7 months swinging

And now at almost 20 months

Here he is holding is most precious possessions. His blanket, stuffed alligator (from Uncle Brad) and his snack cup (snacks are very important to him)

He loves to sit and play the piano

Here is a video of him playing. I will warn you, it's not very exciting

Happy Easter!

Or as our church says, "He has risen!" and then we all let out a, "woo!!" It's quite a tradition. Our Easter weekend consisted of, well let's see, working on the house, working on the house and working on the house. Oh, and we did go to church this morning and out to lunch. Our church has awesome drama's and today's was not an exception. I'm so glad Tyler is not old enough to understand that he was supposed to get a basket of candy and maybe do an egg hunt. Thank goodness he doesn't know how his parents dropped the ball this year. He still had a fun day though, I think!

Tyler and Lisle enjoying some fresh air and wishing they could go outside

Tyler looking adorable in his Easter outfit!

A lot of pictures!

Tyler turned 18 months a week ago. I can't believe how quickly this year is going, he's already halfway to two! He discovered one day how to climb up on the kitchen table chairs so that is his new thing now. If you're on the couch he wants to be on there with you. He still loves to read (and eat) his books. He is getting better at puzzles and likes to imitate Dan's animal noises when they read.

A couple weeks ago we went to Fort Myers, Florida. We met up with Grandma and Uncle Brad and enjoyed the warm weather and the beach. Tyler did really well. The sun was too bright for him so he didn't enjoy the beach too much unless we were in the shade.

This past weekend we were in Minnesota celebrating the triplets turning 3 and Owen turning 5. Five! Amazing! There are some pictures from their parties which were in an indoor play area that Tyler had a lot of fun in.

We (and by we, I mainly mean Dan) are in the process of getting our house ready to sell and are looking at houses in Des Moines, closer to where Dan works. I'm not looking forward to leaving friends but I am excited about all the things that Des Moines has to offer to do. We have to sell our house first and in case you haven't heard it's a buyers market so it's in God's hands.

On to the pictures!

Playing in the sand. He liked to dump it onto the blanket.

The view from our hotel room (it was screened in which was nice)

Tyler looking cool

Tyler with Uncle Brad

Tyler in the water

His new thing...sitting in the chair

Tyler loved this "roller coaster" at the birthday party

There was quite a bit of static, which made Tyler's hair look funny, so of course I took a picture.

Ariana

Brandon

Evan

Owen

Tyler with daddy

Tyler getting a ride on Owen's scooter

Tyler with mommy

Super Bowl

Our bible study always gets together for the Super Bowl. This year was a little different with two toddlers running around. One of our friends had his camera and took quite a few pics. I never even thought of bringing our camera! Good thing he was thinking. We, of course, had a ton of great food and it was fun hanging out with our friends!


Here is Tyler with his friend Emma and her parents.


Here you can see how red Tyler's cheeks get when he's tired.



What a goofy look! He's a good ball thrower.

Taking a walk in dad's shoes.

Tyler and Emma hanging out. I think she's in the process of standing up while Tyler is trying to pull his sock off.

Look! I'm Blogging!

Tyler has discovered the joy of reading. He loves to bring books to you and he will even turn around and sit right in your lap. Sometimes he even stays to listen to the whole book! Other times he is off finding another book to bring. If you tell him you can't read to him right now he will sit down and flip through the pages or start eating the book. All of our nice and new books now have corners missing and I know Tyler has consumed quite a bit of cardboard in the past month.

If you tell him to not do something whatever it is will become his new hobby. Like taking all the kleenex out of the box, unrolling the toilet paper, putting things (not trash) in the trash can, and just today he got stuck halfway under the bed as he was chasing after Libby. He keeps us busy!

And now....the pictures!

Look what I made him wear! Hahaha!

I just thought this was a funny expression

Christmas in Indiana. Checking out his new piano.

Surrounded by toys, looking a little tired? overwhelmed?

Enjoying his first taste of chili

He loves sitting on this

Can you read his shirt? It says, "My red hair gives me super powers." It's true!

We went to visit our friend Kara and her mom. Here Tyler is enjoying Kara's chair. If you saw the video of Tyler and his couch then you know about his love for furniture.

Here they are coloring together. Aren't they cute!?!

Lots and lots of pictures!

Let's see...Thanksgiving was fun. It was nice to be able to spend so much time with family. Since then we have been doing the normal December kind of things. Sending out Christmas cards, baking, going to parties and productions. Very busy! But I love the Christmas season and am enjoying each day.

Tyler now has two molars in and I just noticed today two bottom teeth are coming in as well. As you can imagine he has been quite moody lately but I'm relieved to know it's because of the teeth and not just a new personality. =) In just over a week we will be driving to Indiana to spend Christmas there. I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit but not looking forward to the drive!

Here is Lisle as our Bathtub Lifeguard. Ready to spring into action if needed.

Tyler playing on his new Spiderman couch

Owen and Dan at Thanksgiving

Ariana at Thanksgiving

Tyler helping with the Christmas tree. "What's in here??"

Helping decorate the tree

Tyler all lit up

Wearing his new bib from Boppa and Nana

This is the look you get after taking too many pictures

"I think the roaster makes a great chair!"

"What's all that white stuff?"

I guess he thought Mr. Bear looked a little hungry

All bundled up and ready to go

This is where is stood like a statue for about 5 minutes and then burst into tears. That was it for playing in the snow.

A video of him playing with his couch