MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and safe travels!

Love,

Lee, Darcey, Tyler, and Brady

You might also want to check out our ElfYourself dance at:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/U4iZegTDSjYJYxU7

VIDEOS

Here's some videos of the boys. You may need to take some time to view them all.

This is Tyler pushing Brady in the swing. He hears Bailey come down the stairs and says, "There's Bailey. I hiding." He then wants to grab his own camera, since I've got mine. This is very common. He also thinks that I am just wanting to take a picture, so he stops and poses with his smile and wink.

This video shows Brady smiling and laughing. Such a great sound!

This video was taken right after he told me that these cookie balls were poop. I started to video in hopes that he would say it again, but he never did.

This video is pretty quiet, but shows Lee and Tyler "shoveling up a snow man." If you listen really close, you can hear Tyler singing Frosty the Snowman.

These videos are pretty embarrassing for myself, but Tyler's pretty funny in them, so I had no choice but to put them on the blog. They are of him dancing to his favorite two songs.

This one is Down by Jay Sean. I do sing along to the song, so please try to ignore my poor singing skills and just watch Tyler dance and listen to Tyler try to sing along!

This one is Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus. Tyler does know the words to this song. Listen closely. This shows me singing AND dancing. Again, please ignore me and watch and listen to Tyler!

This is his awesom elf hat. Very funny!

I am planning on posting even more cute videos soon, but that's what I've got for now. Hope you enjoyed them!

SNOW FUN

2 weekends ago, after our first big snow storm, Lee got the chance to take Tyler outside in the snow to play. They first had to go shopping for some new snow boots. He found some at Theisen's that are a size (or two) too big, but Tyler can walk just fine in them and hopefully they will fit him again next winter! They then wanted to go sledding. Lee took Tyler to this big hill that's by the highschool. Lee forgot how bad it sucks to walk up such a big hill, especially when you're carrying a 35 lb. child! They went down once and Tyler got a bunch of snow sprayed up at his face, so he was done. That was it. One time and done. Hopefully he will want to go down again soon. So, they came home and played outside. They needed to shovel off the back deck, so they ended up making a snowman back there. Tyler has his own shovel and loved helping his Dad work. He would tell everyone (and me over and over), "I shoveled up a snowman!" He was so proud of what he and Lee did! I am very glad that we live where our kids can experience all four seasons and lots and lots of snow. All of the seasons are fun in their own way, and I remember loving the snow in the winter. I'm glad that Tyler and Brady will be able to love it as well!

Getting dressed and ready to go!
They are both so excited!

"Shoveling up a snowman!"

They are having so much fun! Brady and I were inside taking these pictures through the window. We had some Hot Chocolate ready for Lee and Tyler when they got inside.

The two of them with the finished product. Frosty the Snowman!

BRADY

Our little boy, Brady. He's such a sweetheart! Brady is such a happy baby. He is unhappy when he is hungry or tired, and that's pretty much it. He is on a somewhat routine. He's awake for a couple hours and then ready for a nap and that continues throughout the day. He is sleeping awesome! Right now, however, he is wanting to go to bed so early, which makes him wake up a bit earlier. Lee gets up for his feeding in the middle of the night. I wake up with him for his morning feeding and I can usually get him back down for awhile, so that I can shower and get ready for the day. If he doesn't want to go back to sleep, he is just fine with sitting on our bed while I get ready. He's so content with laying on the floor and sitting in his bumbo or on our bed. He really is a happy baby. He loves his sound machine and a nice quiet room to sleep in. He abolutely loves his big brother, his mommy, and his daddy. He is starting to "stand" on our laps. He is getting sooo close to rolling over! He actually doesn't mind tummy time. He loves to hear different noises that we can make with our mouth and loves to see different facial expressions. He has got the most wonderful belly laugh! His laugh and smile is contagious. He is growing like a weed. We took him to get weighed and measured tonight. He is 15 lbs. 3 oz. and 25 inches long! Brady will be 4 months old on Christmas Day. What an exciting and terrific four months it's been! We are very lucky that he is ours--he's a great baby boy!

Brady loving bath time!

This picture was on our Christmas card. His smile is always so huge!

Brady enjoys watching his lamb go round and round.

Starting to "stand" on our laps.

Big smile with Dad.

With Grandma.

ALMOST rolling over!

Hey there!

Enjoying tummy time!

Smiling big with Mom.

Brady and his new Converse.

TYLER

Our big boy, Tyler! What do I say? The kid cracks me up! The things that come out of his mouth are hilarious. Sure, he still throws his fits here and there, which extremely frustrate me and require that glass of wine at night, but the smiles and laughs that he brings to my day are full of joy! Tyler is just beyond 2 years old. He is still shy at first when he meets people, but once he warms up, he is a stitch and will hug and kiss you good-bye when it is time to leave. He prays every night. He loves hot dogs! He also loves m & m's. He knows most of his colors. He can count to 10 and we are working on counting to 20. He loves to sing and dance. Right now he has two favorite songs: Down by Jay Sean and Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. I'm pretty sure that I know almost all of the lyrics to both songs. He loves fruit loops, apple juice, and chocolate milk. He loves his baths, but hates knowing that the day is over and he has to stop playing. He always wants everything, and if he can't have it, a fit is thrown. He just started to know what a booger is and his finger has traveled up the nose a time or two. He still is my shadow and goes wherever I go. (I take a bath with him in the bathroom with me.) Tyler loves choo choo trains and Mickey Mouse. These past two years with Tyler have been amazing. He's a terrific kid and I'm proud that Lee and I are his parents!

Tyler loves to put my headbands on. ALL OF THEM!
Lee always tries to get Tyler to nap longer than what Tyler wants to. On this day, Tyler woke up from nap, but Lee wanted to nap more. Lee went up to Tyler's bed and made Tyler sleep more by sleeping with him.

This is Tyler's picture-taking stance. He puts one leg back every time he takes a picture.

Our little Adidas man.

Tyler and my mom played with this pickle jar for probably 30 minutes last weekend. Tyler really enjoyed taking the lid off and then screwing it back on.

Such a sweetheart!

Whenever there is food...Tyler is there! This is him begging for some of Lee's pie. Also, he had just gotten his diaper changed, so the pants were left off, but the slippers needed to be kept on. He got these slippers from my mom for x-mas. He loves them!!!

We've received some gifts from Lee's aunts and uncles for Tyler and Brady. One that came in the mail the other day had styrofoam popcorn pieces. Tyler loved playing with and jumping on them.

BROTHERLY LOVE

I absolutely love the warm feeling that I get when I see the interaction between Tyler and Brady. Brady just loves to watch his big brother. If Tyler is in view, Brady will be all smiles! Tyler equally loves Brady and he loves the fact that Brady loves him! Tyler doesn't want anyone to hurt Brady, especially my brother's dog, Cash. He told Cash, "Hey, stop it!," if Cash got anywhere near Brady. Too cute! Tyler also always says, "Brady likes me." Tyler wants to be by Brady, hold Brady, help me take care of Brady, share with Brady, hug and kiss Brady, play with Brady, and love Brady. I am so proud and will continue to love watching them grow up together as best buds!

This picture was just taken this morning (12/22/09) before leaving for daycare. I had to get a picture of the both of them with their new Converse shoes on!
Tyler loving to hold Brady and Brady looks pretty happy himself!

Tyler loves to push Brady in his swing. Brady...doesn't like this so much.

This is Brady watching Tyler play. Look at how he looks at him!

Tyler being an awesome big brother by playing with Brady.

Tyler giving Brady a ride in his chair. They both seem to enjoy this.

This is Tyler sharing his duck with Brady.

Tyler's duck on Brady's tray. Tyler LOVES this duck and wouldn't give it to just anyone.

Again, wanting to push Brady in the swing.

Our First Christmas morning (12/19/09). Tyler got this BLUE aquadoodle from Santa Claus. He plopped down right next to Brady to try it out for the first time.

LEE AND DARCEY

Last Monday was our first day of real snow and last Monday and last Tuesday, Lee and I made some equally stupid mistakes!

So, I thought I'd share those with you...

Monday morning I dropped off Tyler and Brady at daycare. She lives in the country and they have a longer driveway, that in the winter her husband snow plows with their truck and blade. Well, since winter had officially begun, they had moved the truck/blade from the side of the house to the part of the driveway that we use to reverse in so that we can leave the driveway going forward instead of in reverse. Well, I had seen the truck there, but after dropping the boys off inside, I had forgotten about the truck and reversed as normal. The next thing I hear and feel is a little boom! Yes, I had reversed right into the blade! Our bumper is plastic, so it really is just a little gash in the bumper. Nothing serious! But, I wasn't sure how Lee would react, so I called him right away and he didn't answer. I had called again later in the day and still...no answer. So, I e-mailed him at work. At the end of my day, he had still not e-mailed back. UH-OH! I called him after work and finally got through to him. He was not mad! I made it known that this is now out of my system and I am now completely aware of the truck and it will not happen again!

Tuesday evening was the worst snow storm! Lee had to work until 5:00, which is when the weather really started getting bad. He decided to go out and start his car and move it closer to the door of the building. Since his front window was iced over, he drove nearer to the building with the door open and his head sticking out so he could see. Well, after this car drives for a certain amount of distance, the doors lock automatically. Lee parked the car, got out, and shut the door. Guess what....he forgot to unlock the doors! So, now his car was running and the spare key is back at home. Luckily he has a friend at work who was also still there and was willing to bring Lee to Newton to get the key and then take him back to Grinnell. Please remember that this all happened during an extremely bad snow storm. So when it usually takes Lee 20-25 minutes to get home, it took a bit longer on Tuesday night. So he had the drive to Newton to get the key, then he had to go back to Grinnell and then he drove our car back home to Newton. I'm sure the car was pretty warm when he got in it finally. It had only been "warming up" for a good hour and 1/2.

I love that we both make equally stupid mistakes!!!

POTTY TRAINING

A couple months ago we had Tyler go the bathroom on the potty a few times. Pee only, but he would also really try to go poop. Well, now and recently he really hasn't shown interest in the potty at all. We, of course, have been trying to bribe him.

"Santa will bring you more blue presents if you go pee and poop on the potty!"

He is also very into choo choo trains right now and is very excited to wear choo choo train underwear when he can. He would love to wear them now, but a diaper is a must!

Before I had my own kids, I always thought that if a child can talk and "knows" when they have to go the bathroom, that their parents should have them potty trained. I now know how hard it is to potty train and hope that what everyone says is true, "they will go when they are ready."
It makes me so mad, though....Tyler will tell us before he poops that he has to poop. We try to take him to the potty, and he throws a fit and won't sit on the pot. We then put his diaper back on and within minutes he has made a stinky! Then he will tell us, "need diaper change." If he can tell us that, than he needs to be going on the potty! He will also tell us after he has gone pee. "Peed, Mommy." So frustrating!!!

I realize that he only turned 2 just 1 short month ago, but I am so ready for him to be out of diapers and going in the potty!!!

CHRISTMAS WITH TYLER

I tried to wrap presents one day when we were home from work/daycare when Tyler was awake. BAD idea. However, I got 3 presents wrapped with his "help" and I thought that was pretty good. I made a better decision later and decided to do the rest when both boys were in bed! FYI: Not a good idea to wrap presents with a 2 year old by your side. We wasted a lot of scotch tape that day!

Tyler is really starting to love Santa Claus and understands that Santa will bring him presents on Christmas. BUT, when asked the question, "what do you want for x-mas," he has no idea how to answer. To him he has everything that he wants or needs, which is perfect. I wish it could stay that way forever, unfortunately I know that this will quickly change. Just because he doesn't KNOW how to answer doesn't mean that he doesn't answer. His answer to the question "what do you want for x-mas," is "blue presents!" We'll see what we can do!

Lee took Tyler to see Santa on Saturday. Santa was at Theisen's (hardware store!). This is perfect, though! There are no lines and no hassle. Walk into the store, see Santa, sit on his lap and your in and out in 5 minutes. Tyler of course said absolutely nothing to Santa, but he did sit on his lap and checked him out. Santa gave Tyler a candy cane, which Tyler kept calling a candy bar. When he came home he first told me about the candy bar (cane) and then said, "not cheese." This meant that he did not cheese for the camera like Daddy asked him to. This was definetely a highlight of Tyler's weekend, though!

Santa will be visiting Tyler's house 3 times this year. Since he just turned two and doesn't really understand that there is only one x-mas day, we can still get away with it this year. Santa will come when my mom and brother are here, my dad and brother are here, and then again when Lee's family is here. I hope he gets some blue presents from Santa on one of these Christmas days!!!

BACK TO WORK!

Friday, Dec. 11--Back to Work

I went into Tyler's room in the morning to wake him up. I told him that we needed to change clothes so that we could go to Andrea's and play with Natalie.

Tyler's answer: "No, Home!"

That made me feel extremely bad. That we couldn't stay home and play another day, but I knew that as soon as he started playing at daycare that he would be fine.

When we were getting ready to walk out the door that morning Tyler (again with no prompt from me) said,
"Mom work."
I said, "Yes, Mom's got to go to work."
Tyler: "Mommy teach kids."
Me: "Yes, Mommy's got to teach kids."
Tyler: "I teach kids, too, Mommy."
Me: "Okay, Tyler. Maybe when you get older you can teach kids."

I absolutely love the conversations that Tyler and I have!!!

SNOW DAY #3

Thursday, Dec. 10th--Snow day #3

Lee's back to work...

Tyler enjoying his breakfast with Santa Claus.

This is Tyler LICKING the chocolate mint cookie. "I like it!"

The morning starts off with a waffle breakfast for Tyler and Santa Claus. There's a picture on here to prove it. I told Lee that I am getting great practice of feeding two kids at the table, so when Brady gets to that point I'll be ready!

My big boy helping me in the kitchen. Putting the chocolates into the bowl!

Not really sure what we did on this day...they all kinda started running together.

I do know that during Tyler's nap, I started making chocolate mint cookies. He didn't take a long nap, so when he got up, I needed to finish making the cookies. I already had some rolled up on a cookie sheet.

Helping me unwrap the chocolates.

Tyler: "I help, Mommy."
Me: "Okay, Tyler, you can help."
Tyler went upstairs to get his stool and brought his stool into the kitchen. When he got up on the stool and looked at the cookie sheet...
Tyler: "POOP, Mommy!"
Me: (laughing out loud) "No, Tyler, that's not poop, it's chocolate cookies."
Tyler: "I like chocolate kee-kees (cookies), Mommy"

The chocolate cookie balls that Tyler thought was poop!

So then I told him that we needed to unwrap the chocolate candies and put them in a bowl. "I help, Mommy!" I was a little skeptical of him helping, because I was just sure that he would unwrap them and then eat them all! I was wrong. He helped and he unwrapped each and then put them in the bowl! AWESOME!

My little guy hanging out in his chair.

Look at that snow!!!

He's so focused on his pudding!

Brady's toys are making him laugh! Very cute!

This is Santa's breakfast. Waffle and Chocolate Milk--Same as Tyler.

Snow day #3=Success!

Side note: It drives me nuts that when I download the pictures they go from last to first and my writing obviously goes from first to last. However, I'm not going to take that extra time to fix it all and make the pictures go exactly with the story...sorry!

SNOW DAY #2

Wednesday, Dec. 9th--Snow Day #2

Another day at home and another day to make up at the end of the school year....in JUNE!

At the end of the night. Tyler enjoying some chex mix! Tyler's words, "I like this."

Lee had made it a point to get up when I usually get up, at 5:30, so that he could snow blow the driveway. I got to stay in bed, since we had known Tuesday night that school was cancelled for Wed.! When I heard Brady at 6:30, I also heard Lee downstairs. I was surprised that he was still home so I went to find out what was going on. He said that the snow plows had just gone by, so he was going to go snow blow the driveway again. When he tried to leave earlier, their was way too much snow for his car to make it through so he had to wait for the plows. So, he ended up getting out and once he got out to the interstate, he heard on the radio that I-80 was closed in spots around Grinnell. So...he turned back around and came home to spend the day with us!!! :)

It was great to have all of us home in the middle of the week! What a treat!

Our back deck all covered in snow.

Since Lee was home, I was able to get some other things done around the house other than taking care of the boys. I made some chex mix, cookies, and crackers! Yumm! I got some laundry done and the house cleaned up. It was a good and productive day!

Brady enjoying his time in the bumbo.

Wed. morning we ran out of apple juice. This was horrific for Tyler. Without me even prompting him at all. He said to me, "Mommy go to Hy-Vee get apple juice." I said, "yes, Mommy needs to go to Hy-Vee to get you apple juice, but we have to wait until the weather gets better." So, we did with what was in the house...crystal light lemonade! He loved that as well!

Snow day #2--Success and Wonderful to have Lee home with us!

SNOW DAY #1

Tuesday, Dec. 8--Snow Day #1

This was at the end of the day after giving Tyler a hair cut. That is the reason for the bare skin!

I was only hoping for an early out day on Tuesday, but we were out the whole day. First snow storm and already one day to make up at the end of the year!

It is, of course, my choice to either take the kids to daycare or have them stay home with me. Well, since I drive them out to the country, and school's already cancelled, it's probably the safest for me to leave them home with me.

Dinner time. He ate all his dinner, so he was able to get a chocolate pretzal and a couple m & m's.

So, snow day #1 was eventful!

First thing in the morning...
Me: Tyler what do you want for breakfast?
T: candy bar.
M: No, you can't have a candy bar for breakfast. What else do you want for bfast?
T: ham.
So, Tyler ended up having eggs and ham for bfast. He's, however, not the only one that ate. Tyler now loves it if his stuffed animal Santa Claus or Frosty the Snowman can eat with him. Not only does one of them have to sit at the table, but they need their own plate, fork, and sippy cup. I pretend feed them and Tyler eats awesome! Do what you gotta do! On this Tuesday morning, Frosty ate with Tyler. At the end of breakfast, Tyler told me that Frosty wanted a candy bar. Smart kid. He tried again, but again got shot down. No candy bars for breakfast, but since he ate all his eggs and ham, he could have some fruit snacks. AKA--chewies! Good Boy!

Wearing his hat after being upset that he couldn't go out and play in the snow.

Since Tyler is so used to rushing in the morning and leaving the house so quickly, he was ready to put his coat and hat on. And since it was snowing, he wanted to wear his snow boots. Well, we tried to put his snow boots on, but they didn't fit. Too small! So, now, of course, he really wanted to go outside and since we couldn't, he got very angry and ended up wearing his hat for a good chunk of the morning. I told him that we would have to get him new snow boots from Wal-Mart before he could go outside and play in the snow. So, when Lee got home later in the day, he told Lee that he needed to go to Wal-Mart to get new snow boots. :) Tyler's vocabulary has really gotten HUGE!

Once I grab my camera...He grabs his!

With being at home with me and Brady, Tyler really tried to get away with things that normally he would not get away with. If he new he was doing something wrong and saw the look on my face, he put himself in timeout! It was hilarious and very awesome! "I go timeout," he would say and then he chose a spot to sit in and stayed there for a bit until he was all better. This is very funny, because we don't usually put him in timeout and he is never in timeout at daycare, so for him to do this on his own was quite entertaining. Connected to that...if he did something wrong and I got upset, I would tell him that if he did it again that he would get his butt spanked. He would reply, "no, Mommy, no," and then "I go timeout." Wow! :)

My sweetie!

So, with Brady growing up, he really is liking to be in his room where it is quiet and his sound machine is on, to take naps during the day. So, with only me home with both of them, Tyler is always one step behind me. He's my little shadow! When I go upstairs to put Brady down for a nap, Tyler says "comin', Mommy." And I always reply with, "of course you are, Tyler." On this Tuesday, it was challenging for all of us in Brady's room when Brady wanted it quiet and Tyler wanted to play. I sent Tyler to go play in his room and when he was gone for that one minute (and came back with a toy to play with in Brady's room) Brady was close enough asleep that I could put him down in his bed. The next nap time for Brady, Tyler was told that if he wasn't quiet while Mommy was putting Brady down for nap that he would get his butt spanked. The rest of the naps here on out have been silent and very peaceful! I WIN! Tyler still comes upstairs with me, but he sits in the little rocking chair and rocks back and forth just like I do until it's time to leave the room.

Snow day #1=success!