The Itsy Bitsy Spider

You know what's odd? I haven't taken any pictures this month. No pictures for June. We've been busy, but not with picture worthy things I guess.

I thought maybe I would give a speech update on Tyler. He says a lot of spontaneous words now. I think it's to the point where there are too many to name. His phrases have picked up but most of them still involve "Mommy this" or "Daddy that". They really want him to say more phrases that involve descriptive words (like big, small, etc) or verbs. Colors don't count because he says colors for everything so we're trying to move past that. His favorite word is definitely, "nope!". He picked that up from me and now if you ask him a question that's his answer. If you ask him a question and his answer is yes, he will only make an affirmative sound, not say the word. After harping on him for quite awhile about this I realized that's exactly what I do. Having a kid is a great way to learn your habits! Another word he knows really well is chocolate. Can't imagine who he picked that up from!

He occasionally requests to do Itsy Bitsy Spider with Dan. I think Tyler recognizes that I can't sing and Dan can, so Dan is the lucky one to do this all the time. I think Tyler is going to be able to sing because he doesn't sound that bad with Dan. I like the look Tyler gives the camera at the end.

May was busy!

I'm so glad May is over. It was fun but it was very busy. I'm now ready for the summer to slowly creep along. Does that ever happen? It will be Christmas before I know it. A few weekends ago Dan and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. We dropped the kid of with the grandparents (yay!) and headed to Maquoketa Caves State Park. We hiked and explored caves for a few hours. The weather was perfect and the park was gorgeous. When we were done we headed to a bed and breakfast for some relaxation. It was a great weekend!

Dan heading into the main cave which is big enough to walk through (my kind of cave!).

This is called balancing rock or balanced rock or something like that. Not sure if you can tell in the picture how it looks like it's ready to roll off down the hill.

Here I am!

This is called the natural bridge. I decided I needed to be in the picture so you could get a feel for how big it is. Can you see me? I'm the small speck of blue in the center of the photo.

Dan crawling into a cave. Crawling into caves is not my thing.

It had rained a lot that week so the park was very lush and green. It was so nice to be outside!

Last Saturday Dan ran his first half-marathon! It was in Des Moines and is called Dam to Dam. He had been training for awhile for this race. He did a great job (just beat his goal time by 30 seconds). It was exciting to head downtown and see him run for the finish line. It was NOT fun trying to find him after that. =)

Here he is running towards the finish (you can see him between the two women in the foreground)

Tyler checking out dad's medal

Done! I'm so proud of him!

Tulip Time

On Saturday I went to a nearby town for their annual Tulip Time Festival. It is held in Pella which is a dutch town and every May they have this festival. I have always wanted to go and this year I got to go with my friend and her two boys. It was a long exhausting day filled with food and fun. I think if I go again I will go on Friday though. It was so busy on Saturday which made it hard to push around strollers.

Luckily, my friend had been there before and pointed us in the direction of this canal. It's not very long but it's not something you usually see in Iowa. Definitely reminded me of San Antonio! (except this canal had a sign that said, "Canal is chemically treated. Please do not touch water.")

Here is Tyler enjoying the canal. Don't worry, the stroller brakes were on!

Enjoying some tulips.

Some floats from the parade. Tyler did eventually get into the parade by clapping, waving and of course naming all of the colors he saw. That kid and his colors!

For Mother's Day I had requested that we go on a picnic. There is a large lake nearby that has plenty of different options for picnics. It was a little chilly but it turned out to be a nice time. Two memorable things happened there. 1. Tyler originally sat at the picnic table next to daddy but then got up and moved around to sit next to mommy. Such a nice Mother's Day present. 2. We couldn't figure out what to pack for Tyler since all his favorite meals need a microwave. I suggested a peanut butter sandwich with no crusts. He ate it! Very exciting to have another option.

Before I do a recipe at a Pampered Chef cooking show I like to test it out at home. I'm going to start making a trifle at shows but I didn't want to make it for just me and Dan because it serves 12 people. Like we need 12 servings of yumminess sitting around! So I made it for my MOMS Club yesterday. Oh man, was it good. And easy too! I love easy recipes that look like they're complicated. Here is the Strawberry Cream Trifle:

Baking and the park!

Not to be confused with baking IN the park. Tyler is really into helping me bake. It's actually gotten to the point that whenever I bring out a mixing bowl he starts saying, "help? help?" The other day we made these awesome Banana Crumb Muffins.

Tyler and I have been enjoying the gorgeous weather we've been having. I love temps in the high 60's and low 70's. In fact, I'm not sure why I even live in the Midwest. I don't like hot weather and I don't like cold weather (I like snow though!). Anyway, back to the point. We have been going on a lot of walks. Our walks take forever because Tyler wants to touch/pick up/throw/pull/smash everything he sees. We have a playground about a half mile away from us that we go to sometimes. I actually remembered my camera the last time and I took A LOT of pictures! Just for you guys!

In this picture he is chasing a bird. You can see the bird in the grass right above his outstretched hand. He gets really excited when he sees a bird and always tries to run after and catch them. He has not caught one yet. =)

Blowing bubbles (we take the wagon to the playground and load it up with toys)

Here is the playset. Last year he wouldn't climb up the rungs like that.

Last year he would gingerly walk down the bridge, then crawl up the other side (it moves). This time he ran right across! Freaked me out a bit!

Then he climbs up to the big slide

And heads down the slide!

There is a large open grassy area at the playground. I encourage lots of running and ball kicking. This usually makes for a good nap. =) He's actually very good at kicking the ball, running after it, and then kicking it again. (I try to play with him but he won't let me)

He loves swinging on the big boy swings now

I love spring blooms!

On to random cat pictures. This red cube holds some of Tyler's toys. It gets emptied everyday by Tyler so I guess Lisle decided to take advantage of it for a nap.

All the kids stretched across the couch

Reading

I just added a new sidebar titled "I Love Books!". It shows what I'm currently reading, what I've just read, and what's up next. I know I love getting reading recommendations from other people so hopefully this will bring attention to some new reading material for someone else! Oh, I should add that I got this idea from Kristin. =)

NKOTB

If you understand the title of my post, then you're cool in my book. If you don't, let me clue you in. NKOTB stands for New Kids on the Block. If I have to explain any further, that's just sad. =) Most of you know that I won tickets to their concert here in Des Moines. I took my, very excited, friend Brandi. Thankfully, she took pictures and has signed the rights over so I can post them here!

Here's all the boys!

And, what I consider to be an awesome picture of me and Brandi. The concert was SO MUCH FUN! If you have the opportunity to see them, I highly recommend it.

I have hardly any pictures from Easter. I did manage to snap a few in the morning when Tyler went on an Easter egg hunt. Here he is discovering that his egg is filled with marshmallows!

I tried to take a picture of him in his Easter clothes but he refused. Moving on to spring! I love when the trees flower. If you remember, I posted a picture of this tree in November because it was really holding onto it's fall color. Now it is flowering!

The neighbors Magnolia dwarfs it though.

Speaking of my friend Brandi, here is a picture of her daughter walking around the zoo with Tyler. Aren't they adorable holding hands?!

I'd like to give a shout out to Dan. For the past two years he has taken the day off of work, to stay home with Tyler, so I could go shopping with my friend Amanda for my birthday. Last week he did it again and I really enjoyed my day away. Thanks for making my 30th special Dan!

So much to talk about!

Let's start with food! There was a women's event at church last weekend (which was awesome!) and I volunteered to bake a dessert and a breakfast item. Since Dan and I have been counting calories (see below) I have not done much baking and I miss it. Even if I bake low calorie foods I overeat, so I try not to bake for just us. Anyway, when the opportunity came up to bake something and let other people eat it, I jumped at the chance! Tyler, of course, was my little helper.

Here he is sifting the batter for the muffins (I don't have a sifter, so I use a fork!) I left out the nuts, used mini-chocolate chips instead, and didn't sprinkle the sugar on top (I tried with my practice batch and it didn't turn out right).

The finished product, yum! How could you go wrong with chocolate in the morning? Tyler says, "Put down the camera, I want to eat them!"



Here is the dessert I made. It is a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Torte. It is one of my favorite Pampered Chef recipes. The chocolate layers are brownies, the middle is marshmallows with a peanut butter sauce, and then chopped up peanut butter cups on top with melted peanut butter drizzled over it. If you want the recipe, then host a cooking show! =)

On Sunday we had some yucky weather come through that left wet snow behind. Apparently one squirrel was starving and decided to feed off of our bird feeder. The feeder is actually squirrel proofed but that part doesn't work anymore so I guess it's a free for all for the neighborhood squirrels. I did enjoy how he hung upside-down to eat. Tyler though it was pretty funny too.

I wasn't sure if I was going to post this or not because it feels like bragging, but I'm proud of myself and I want to share. =) I participated in a Biggest Loser contest with some friends and won! It was 12 weeks long and on every Monday we weighed in and the person in charge calculated our total percentage of weight lost and kept track of it week to week. At my final weigh in I lost a total of 22 pounds. I have never done anything like that before. I didn't even know I could lose weight! If you want to know what my secret formula was, it was counting calories and exercising. I know, who woulda thought?! I don't think I realized how different I looked until I went shopping for new clothes. It's been awhile since I've had so much fun shopping. I also want to mention that Dan has been doing this along with me (not part of the contest though) and has lost quite a bit of weight too.

Here is a before picture from last October. When I did my first weigh in for the contest, I was 10 pounds heavier than I am in this picture.

My after picture, taken yesterday.

Two things

First, Tyler said his first three word phrase yesterday (well, it probably wasn't his first, just the first that I understood). He was looking in a mirror and I looked at him in it and said, "I see you". Then he said, "I see Mommy." It was very clear because he worked on each word to make it clear. Three words!!!

The second thing is, last night he actually ate dinner! He hasn't had dinner in like a year. He'll eat typical things like grilled cheese, mac and cheese, and pizza but he never eats our usual meals. Most of the time he doesn't even try. If for some reason he does try, he usually gags and it comes back out. He always gets what we are having and if he doesn't eat it, he doesn't eat. Last night we had grilled bbq chicken, asparagus (it's in season now, buy some!!), and rice. He ate some of each! Dan and I were just staring at each other wondering what happened to our picky toddler. I'm not expecting it to happen again, but will be pleasantly surprised if it does!

What an amazing day it was! =)

Mmmmm...cupcakes!

Recently, a friend directed me to this recipe for a rainbow cake. I definitely want to make it someday so on Monday I did a smaller version with just green for a St. Patrick's Day party. They turned out pretty well and tasted great (especially after I added my homemade frosting)!

Last weekend I tackled a project that I have been putting off for quite a while. I finally got all these frames on the wall for our family photo wall. Now I need to print some pictures and then secure the frames to the wall so they're all level. It really bothers me that they're crooked.

Tyler's speech is really improving. He says a lot of words spontaneously and is saying more two word phrases. He doesn't get stubborn anymore when we ask him to say something (well, most of the time he isn't stubborn). He loves saying the colors of everything he sees. Yesterday we were sitting on the couch and I asked him to say "I love you" knowing he couldn't but I thought I'd see if he would try. He paused and then gave me a big hug. I guess he can say it after all. =)

San Antonio

Exactly a week ago I arrived home from my four day vacation in San Antonio. I really enjoyed the Riverwalk and even The Alamo was okay! =) It was nice seeing my Aunt Sandy and her husband again. I hadn't seen them since my wedding. I should probably just get right to the pictures. I have a lot to post.

I thought this tree was cool. You don't see these around Iowa.

A fun water feature we passed on our way down to the Riverwalk.

Standing on a bridge over the river. I love the colorful umbrellas.

In this picture you can see one of the boats that give a tour on the river. If you look at the table on the left, that is part of the restaurant where we ate dinner our first night there. We sat right along the river. I also managed to capture my mom taking a picture. =)

After this we got tickets to go on a boat tour. It's a great way to see the Riverwalk. This is an amphitheater along the river. It's pretty cool because the stage is across the river.

Another view from the boat

Another fun water feature as seen from the boat

Here you can see how the walkway is right against the river and in quite a few places there were no railings. I'm glad I didn't have a toddler to worry about.

Here you can see how the tables are right along the river (the red and blue is part of the boat).

Me!

The rest of the pictures are from a Chinese Tea Garden that we went to. It is located in what used to be a limestone quarry (which is evident in some pictures). The stonework in the paths and bridges was really amazing. Everything was so natural looking.

Me and Aunt Sandy

Up there is where you come in and you have an amazing view looking down in the garden. Look at all that stone work!

Color! We're currently missing color in our landscape here in Iowa.

I thought this bridge was pretty cool.