"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?"

My bedtime converstation with Tyler tonight went a little like this...

Tyler:  "Mom, what are you going to be when you grow up?"
Me:  "I am already grown up, Tyler, and I'm a teacher."
Tyler:  "No.  I mean when you're 50, what are you going to be?"
Me:  "Well, Tyler, I will probably still be a teacher."
Tyler:  "I'm going to be a doctor."  (Which is what he's been saying since he was 2!)  "No, I'm going to be a dad."
Me:  "You can be a doctor and a dad, Tyler."
Tyler:  "Who am I going to take care of?"
Me:  "You mean as a doctor?"
Tyler:  "No, as a dad."
Me:  "Well....you first have to meet a woman that you love and then you have to marry her so that she is your wife, and then you and your wife can have kids and you will take care of them."

...Silence...

KIDSFEST 2012

This past Saturday we took the kids to KidsFest in Des Moines.  They had a great time seeing characters, superheros, jumping in bounce houses, playing games, getting tattoos, eating popcorn, and petting a snake!

Tyler said that his favorite part of the trip was seeing Spiderman.  I'm sure his "favorite" was pretty torn between Spiderman or the Star Wars guys.  However, I'm sure Brady's favorite was seeing Dora!

After a fun morning at KidsFest, we made it home in time for the kids to take a good nap.  Grandma Mary arrived shortly after nap.  My mom had been in Florida for the week before and had just got back to Iowa on Saturday.  Instead of going to her house and sleeping in her own bed after being gone for a week, she came to see us and slept on our couch.  She really missed those boys and we love to have her here!  She brought each of the boys back a new pair of sunglasses from Florida.  They think that they are pretty cool in their new shades! 

Here's some pictures of the boys at KidsFest.

Star Wars guys were the first "characters" that we saw. The boys were pretty amazed to begin with.  Brady didn't last up close for long.  He was a bit scared of these guys. 

Tyler, on the other hand, could have stayed and hung out with these guys the whole morning.  He was loving it! 

 Brady's very own "superhero," Dora!  As we were waiting in line, he would peek under the bar and yell, "Dora, over here! Dora, over here!"  He was so happy to see Dora!  And, no, we weren't the only ones with boys in line.  And hey, this kid is learning Spanish!  :)

 Tyler got in his hug first.  He was also pretty excited to see Dora.  He stood and looked at her for awhile after he gave her a hug and then he also gave her a high five.  He had such a huge smile on his face!

 Brady probably outwore his welcome with Dora.  And the people in line behind us were probably getting impatient.  He would give her a high five, and then hug, and then high five, and then hug, and so on, until we finally had to carry him away.  He waved and yelled 'bye' to Dora with such a happy face!  His day was made!

Brady hugging Dora.  He had such a happy day because he got to see and hug Dora!

 

 Tyler with Spiderman.

 And Brady with Spiderman.

 After looking at KidsFest information online, we knew that there was going to be this 8 foot tall robot there.  We showed the boys a video of this robot and they thought it was pretty cool.  The morning before we left, that was all Tyler would talk about.  He was just so excited to go to KidsFest to see the robots!  Well, guess what?  The robot scared him and made him cry!  He didn't like that the robot would walk towards us.  It scared him.  He actually said, "I want to go home!"

So, instead of continuing to watch the robot, we went back to the Star Wars guys!  :)

One last stop at the Star Wars guys before we left.  We had to dry the tears and make a smile on that face again!

CRAZY MAN UPDATE

Before Glue

Well, I already have an update on Brady, since the post that I just wrote last night.  Our Saturday morning ended up being pretty eventful.  I had written a grocery list this morning and at about 9:00 a.m. I sent Lee and the boys out to the store.  I was expecting about 45 minutes to get on the treadmill and then shower before my 11:00 appt. to get a massage.  At about 9:20 Lee calls my phone. 

In a panic voice, he says, "We really need to go to the doctor, pretty sure he needs stitches this time.  I'm in the bathroom at Hy-Vee.  I need your help.  He fell and hit his head on the door jam." 

So, I jump off the treadmill, put Cali in her kennel, and rush to Hy-Vee.  I ran into the store and back to the bathrooms.  They were not in there, so I had to call Lee.  He said that they made it out to the van and for me to hurry out.  I ran out and hopped into the van.  Brady's cut looked disgusting and I was very sad for him.  I asked Lee to tell me what happened.  Apparently both Tyler and Brady were trying to open the bathroom door at the same time.  Brady tripped over Tyler's foot, fell, and then hit his head on the door jam.  UGH! 

I called the clinic on the way to let them know that we were coming (again!-since he was just there on Wednesday with a cut on his head.)  Lee and Tyler dropped Brady and I off at the door and the nurse took us back to a room.  She got the cut cleaned up and told us that he would probably need a stitch or maybe two.  :(

A few minutes later the dr. came in and said that we would be able to take care of it with just glue!  Alleluiah!  I was dreading hearing Brady's screams and cries while he got the shot before the stitch.

So, now we are watching this kid like a hawk for the rest of the weekend to make sure that he doesn't hit his head again and open up the cut that is already there!

I did get home in time to get a shower in and made it to my much needed massage!

Oh my gosh, I think I'm starting to see gray hair because of this kid!

On a side note, today he has started to just go into the bathroom by himself to go pee.  We don't need to set the timer anymore! 

After Glue

JUST BECAUSE

These two, Brady and Cali, have quite the relationship.  They have the love/hate relationship that every 2 year old little boy should have with their puppy.  At the moment that I am writing this post, they are running around after each other.  I am hearing laughter and then a cry from Brady.  I am hearing a playful bark and then a wimper from Cali.  They love to play and harm each other.  Cali will be one year old next month, so she's still all puppy! 

In this picture, Cali was looking out the window at a dog that was walking by, and Brady was "playing dog" and decided to sit with Cali and also bark at the other dog outside.

As much as our kids love their dog, Cali, they still remember and miss our little Bailey.  In fact, tonight, Brady brought me the picture of Bailey.  I asked, "Do you remember who that is?"  He said, "Bailey."  And then he commented on how Bailey's tongue was out and laughed.  He also gave the picture a kiss and said, "miss you, Bailey."  It broke my heart! 

Tyler then commented from the other room, "Bailey was a better dog than Cali is."  I asked why and he said, "because Bailey didn't bite and Cali does."  I had to remind him that Bailey was old and that Cali is still a puppy.  She doesn't bite, she only nips when you are playing with her.  She will get better and she will be just as good a dog as Bailey was.

BRADY

Oh, our crazy child!  Yep--he's the second child!  And, yes, I was "the second child," as well.  Brady just doesn't have any worries or cares in the world.  He can climb, jump, fly off of or onto any piece of furniture or toy.  He is the definition of fearless!  BUT, he is also an amazing cuddler!

And, tomorrow, as he turns 2 1/2 years of age, I can finally say that he is officially a big boy!  For the past seven days he has been in underwear and going potty like a big boy!  It started last Friday when we got home from daycare.  I told Brady that we were done with diapers and fortunately he was on board with my idea and did an awesome job over the weekend.  He did such a great job over the 3-day weekend, that I felt comfortable sending him to daycare on Tuesday in underwear.  He went through the whole week with only 2 accidents!  Awesome!  We are there!  And I never again have to buy diapers!  Oh what a feeling!  :)

Tuesday night was the first night that he went #2 in the potty.  We ended up having a "poopy party" and went out to Hy-Vee to grab a piece of chocolate cake (ties in with the theme of the party) and strawberries.  We were so happy and proud!

Brady still loves to cuddle with his blankies and stuffed animals.

He loves trains.

He loves, loves, loves, Dora and Boots.

His speech is becoming more clear and he is talking about anything and everything.

He loves to eat.

He loves his dog, Cali.

He wants to do everything that his bigger brother does.

He loves to have me lay in bed with him.

He loves to do everything by himself and no help from me.

His dimples are amazing!

He is a wild man!

He loves to dance and listen to music.

In regards to his craziness listed above, last fall he fell while pushing open the front door.  He ended up falling and hitting his tooth on the concrete outside our front door.  He had a front dark tooth for a while and one of his front teeth is chipped a little bit.

And, just this week, I got a call from daycare, saying that he got a cut on his forehead that might need either glued shut or stitches!  He lost his balance going down the stairs and grabbed onto a picture frame instead of the railing.  The frame came down and hit his forehead, leaving a deep cut.  It was small, but deeper and she wasn't sure what to do.  This is the little mark on his forehead that you can see in this picture.  Lee and I both went to see him and Lee ended up taking him into the doctor.  Luckily, he needed nothing but a band-aid!

Brady is quite crazy, but he is funny, smart, very cute, and a very lovable, precious, little boy!



TYLER

Where do I even start with this kid?  He is absolutely amazing!  He is a four year old that is loving school, friends, family, and life! 
Tyler has just recently started to somewhat sleep in!  :)  We are still waiting for it to get even better, but we have been having to wake him up at 6:45 on some week day mornings and if we're lucky, he will sleep 'til 7:00 on the weekends.  Otherwise, it is pretty much like clock work and he is up by 6:30.
He loves to watch some cartoons--Bubble Guppies, Team UmiZoomi, and Dora.
He can sit and watch movies now.  He likes Toy Story, Cars, Rio, and many more.
His favorite things to play with are airplanes, dump trucks, trains, pretty much anything with wheels.
He loves to play with his "DS."
He loves to sit and listen to his music on his CD player.
He loves to listen to music from Pandora either on the computer or on the TV and dance to it.
He loves to play matching games with Grandma Mary.
He loves to learn. He absolutely loves going to preschool two times a week. He enjoys practicing writing his name. He likes to do number and letter flash cards with me. We make it into a game and he loves it! He is one smart four year old!
The second we get home from anywhere, he changes into pajamas.
He has good moments and not so good moments with his little brother.
He is still a sensitive kid. He gets his feelings hurt easily.
He just recently realized that band-aids are okay and they can help your boo-boo.
Tyler is wonderful! The things that he says are hilarious and real. He is such a sweet and precious little boy.
Lee always says that Tyler may look like his dad, but he is his mom.

OUR LITTLE VALENTINE'S

We really had a fun-filled Valentine's Day this year!  The boys loved it and Lee and I also got to enjoy it!

My mom was here last Thursday and Friday to stay home with the boys since we did not have daycare for those two days.  It was a good thing that she was here, because the boys and myself were sick all last week--it made for a really long week!

Anyhow, they were able to get their first Valentine's presents from Grandma Mary while she was here Wednesday night until Saturday morning.  She gave them each a new outfit, some candy, and a kid sized bags set, which they love to play!  She also gave Lee and I a gift card for Olive Garden for Valentine's Day, so that we could go out to dinner on Friday night and she could stay home with the kids.

Turns out, Olive Garden is an incredibly busy place on Friday nights.  It was a hour and 15 minute wait, that I wasn't going to wait for!  Luckily some friends of ours were also planning on going out that night just a couple minutes from the Olive Garden, so we met up with them and enjoyed a dinner and night out with them.

 Grandma giving the boys some Valentine fruit snacks.

 Tyler, with his best buddy, Grandma.  She does everything that these boys want her to.  She will play any game at any time, draw any picture, read any book, and is always 100% focused on the boys.  I'm pretty sure that she doesn't sit down and relax until the boys are tucked in bed at night.  Thank you, Grandma, for everything that you do!  We love you, Tyler and Brady 

 The boys playing their new bags set that they got from Grandma for Valentine's Day.

 They have actually gotten pretty good!

 Grandma and Tyler playing a game at the kitchen table.

 When we got home Tuesday afternoon, I let the boys open their Valentine's bags.  They each loved their musical card.  Brady's is Spiderman.  Whenever he opens it, he dances along!

 Tyler's card is Lightning McQueen.  It plays a song which he knows by heart, because it used to be the ring tone for my mom when she called me.  He loves this card and opens it frequently to sing along. 

 I got them each their own "police/racecar helmet."  I think it's whatever you want to make it!  Tyler's been running around the house pretending he's a racecar driver doing obstacle courses.  I wanted their valentine gifts to let their imaginations run wild.  They have done exactly that!

 Brady runs around the house in his helmet as well.  Pretty sure he just copies whatever Tyler does.

 The other thing I picked up for them was a mask.  Tyler has said that they are Spiderman and Batman.  They both think that they look very scary in these masks.  :)

I love how they are playing and being imaginitive with their new gear!

 I made the boys a heart shaped pizza.  They loved it!

Lee and I did our traditional Valentine's dinner.  We figured out that this was our 9th Valentine's that we have spent together and have spent having the same dinner.  We sit, talk, and enjoy steak, twice baked potatoes, sweet and sour green beans and a dessert.  This year was Angel Food cake with strawberries.  Delicious and perfect!

 Tyler had his Valentine's Day party at school on Wednesday.  He had a great time at his party.  His teachers painted a heart onto his cheek, so he wanted me to take a picture of it.

 Our candy basket was full by the end of the day on Tuesday.  It is now over-flowing since we have added the candy that Tyler brought home from his party today.

 Tyler painted me a picture for Valentine's Day.  He did all the painting and Lee added the names.  :)

Besides the painting I get to enjoy a one hour massage next Saturday and also received a flowering plant!

Little guy, Brady, enjoying a ring pop on his train table.

***I probably should mention, that we DO put Tyler in an outfit for the day.  However, the second he walks in the door from daycare, he changes into pajamas!  He loves his pajamas!