Kelner Family

Happy New Year

2012-01-28T16:12:00.000-08:00

Hmmm...Juice

It is soooo gooood.

These were some funny pictures from New Year's. The boys drank some sparkling grape juice and I showed them how to do toasts. Ashley and Malissa came over to babysit for them so Joel and I could go out with some of our very close friends (Bradbergs and Polly). The town may never be the same. What a great way to ring in the New Year.

We took the boys ice skating today. Joel and I made the grave mistake of thinking that we could put on skates too and skate with the boys. Yeah, that was not going to work and we figured that out pretty quickly once we couldn't get past the bridge without falling down. We both took our skates off and put our boots back on so we could help the boys. Tyler actually did pretty good without us. At least he skated better than either Joel or myself.

So Tired

2012-01-25T18:49:00.000-08:00

Deacon is trying to give up on his naps and for the most part, he's doing pretty good with that. He can get a little crabby toward the end of the day, but even that is getting better. On this day, he was up on the stool, eating a snack and just fell asleep. I'm suprised that he didn't fall off the stool.

A typical weekend morning at our house. Both boys tend to come to our bed around 7 in the morning. I love it and I know it won't last too much longer.

I'v decided to do a 1/2 Marathon in May. I'm working really hard on increasing my mileage. Unfortuantely it's very cold up here so running outside is not an option for me. So, I'm on the treadmill which I hate. I'm slowly inching the mileage up there, but I think I may have developed shin splints, Ugh.

Thanksgiving Stone Soup

2012-01-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

It is so hard to believe that Tyler is in Kindergarten. They had a program before Thanksgiving that the parents were invited to and I was able to make it to it. His teacher had made stone soup. Apparently, you put a real stone in the soup and the person that gets this stone has good luck for the new year. It took us a while to find the stone, but eventually somebody did get it.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving with just the four of us. A ton of food because I feel compelled to make everything that I would have had if I was home in Texas. We had sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, ham, green beans and for desert, pecan pie and pumpkin pie. Everything was so yummy and pretty much just Joel and I ate it. Except the pie, the boys have no problem eating pie.

Ty had swim lessons today and when I picked him up, his eyes were super red. He wouldn't stop rubbing them and he said they were burning and this was two hours after swim lessons. I'm going to have to go get hime goggles tomorrow if I can find any.

Snow Ball!

2012-01-22T14:06:00.000-08:00

Ty and Daddy have a snowball fight!

Manny enjoys snowball fights too. He loves to try to catch them.

If you won't throw me snowballs, I will catch the snow as you shovel it.

Adorable Deacon

Joel and the boys made a snowman.

Earlier today we took the boys sledding. It is amazing what a difference a year can make with these two. Ty was able to use his snow board and slid down the big hill and stayed upright all the way down. Deacon wanted to sled all by himself and loved it and the best thing of all, is they were both able to walk back up the hill with their sleds ON THEIR OWN! YEAH! No more carrying them up the hill. It was pretty darn cold, but the boys loved it out there. Deke did not want to quit.

I'm back!

2012-01-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

I love Deke's face!

Ty had no problem going to see Santa. Deacon was too scared to sit in his lap, so he just stood by Daddy and yelled at Santa what he wanted.

Such a cutie!

It's been a while since I blogged, but I'll try to get everything caught up over the next few days. I absolutely hate the computer that I currently have and its the one that hosts all the photos, so I tend to avoid using it as much as possible. It is just impossibly slow and it does this jerky thing when you scroll down. It also tends to overheat and will just shut down on me if I don't keep an ice pack on it. Needless to say, I get very frustrated with it which is why I haven't been using it. Too bad new computers are so darn expensive. :)

Anyway, enough complaining about my computer. :) The boys have been doing great. They pretty much got everything they wanted for Christmas and I did not go overboard on the toys. They mainly got clothes from us and Ty did get a foosball table. Technically, that's a family gift and we've all gotten a lot of use out of it. Ty is pretty good at it and has no trouble beating me at the game. He's been teaching Deke some of his moves and now they gang up on me when we play.

Fighters Unite

2011-11-12T17:45:00.000-08:00

This is one well-dressed Wolverine. I love that Ethan put the tie on to complete his look.

Very intently watching the Packers play.

A while back we had Ethan over for a playdate. Those three boys have a ton of fun. It's been a busy week this week. Ty is finally swimming. I was shocked to see how well he is doing. No life jackets, no noodle, no help from his teacher. It's pretty exciting to know that next summer, when I take him to the pool, he'll be able to go down that slide. He's really looking forward to that. Deacon is is swim lessons as well and doing ver well. Of course, he's not swimming on his own yet, but that will come. Ty is also doing very well in school. His teacher told me that he's doing really well with the reading portion of the lessons. Yay! I cannot wait for him to learn to read. He's anxious to learn as well and practices on the "books" that they send home. He'll then want to read the words he knows when we read him stories before bed.

Benefit

2011-11-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

The gang! We went to a benefit for a friend's mother this two weekends ago. We all went as flappers and gangsters. What a great time and what incredible friends Joel and I have been blessed with.

The boys had a blast with Kaia and Halle and I am going to frame that picture of all four of them. Hopefully when they are all older we can get another shot just like that. :)

All photos are courtesy of Jenna Loos. Sorry Jenna, I totally lifted these off your blog. Thanks for taking such great pictures.

Halloween

2011-11-06T06:04:00.000-08:00

The whole Kelner family gets into the action for Halloween. We have so much fun with it! The boys had a blast trick or treating and they brought up quite the load. We have enough candy to last us till next Halloween. I keep sneaking some of it off to work so we can try to get rid of it.

This past weekend I went to Hearts at Home in Rochester. I had a great time with some really good friends and learned a ton of things that I hope I can apply in my day to day life. It makes me miss my own family down in Texas a ton. Can hardly wait till March when we get to see them all again.

Fall Boat Ride

2011-10-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we got invited on the Sauke boat again. It was a perfect day for it. Beautiful, sunny, warm enough and the fall colors were so brillant. Good thing we went out when we did. Almost all the leaves are now off the trees.

We had Ty's parent-teacher conference today and that went well. Ty is where he should be and his listening skill have much improved. At the begining of the year, it was taking several reminders for him to listen, but now he's so proud to tell me that he had no reminders that day. She confirmed that it's gotten much better. She does a discipline technique called "Full Bucket". They have a paper bucket with their name on it and three stars attached to the bucket. If they hurt somebody or don't listen to the teacher then they have to go remove a star from their bucket. At the end of the day, they color in how many stars they have in their bucket and bring that home to the parents. Every day is a new day so they start every day with all three stars. If they lose all three stars, then it's called "tipping your bucket". The student has a conference with the teacher and they have to bring a note home to the parents that the parents have to sign. So far, Ty has not "tipped his bucket". And so far, he's almost made two weeks with completely full buckets. Only one more day. We'll see if he makes it.

I got to see Ty at his swim lessons today. He has improved so much. We go to the Dells tomorrow and I can't wait for him to show Joel how far he's come. I also can't wait to see how Deacon handles does there.

Halloween Costumes

2011-10-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

"Wolverine, get out of my house now."
"Ha ha, Batman, I'd like to see you make me."

"Oh, I'll make you."
"Bring it."

"Ka Pow!"
"Zoinks!" (Deke would have to throw a Zoinks in there :))

"Take that, Wolverine!"

"Don't mess with Batman."

These two seriously crack me up. Ty got his Wolverine costume this past weekend. Deke had a batman costume and he wants to go as Scooby dressed as Batman for Halloween. They've been putting on these costumes and having a grand old time making up elaborate stories about their characters.

1st Boat Ride

2011-10-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

We went on the Sauke boat in early September. It was a warm enough day and we stopped at a sand bar to let the boys play in the water. They had so much fun. When other boats would go by there would be some pretty nice waves. They loved them. They would sit in the water and wait for the waves to come in. They had so much sand in their shorts that when we got them home and bathed them, our bathtub was full of sand. We went out on the boat this past weekend and the fall colors were amazing. I'll post pictures soon.

1st Day of School

2011-10-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

Ty's Orientation Day

Ty's first full day. Waiting at the bus stop. His favorite part of Kindergarten is riding the bus.

Deke's mad that he doesn't get to ride the bus too. Actually, he's just goofing off, but he looks like he's really upset. :)

Here comes the bus!

I've been bad about getting photos off the camera. I've let it go for well over a month. So be prepared for some photos from a while back.

Last night, some good friends came out for a night on the town to help me celebrate my birthday. I had a blast. Today, the Sauke's had us out on their boat again. I found some photos from our first trip on the camera, so I'll have to post those soon. This was such a beautiful trip with all the fall colors.

Jay Cooke State Park

2011-10-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

While we were camping in Banning, we struggled to get Deacon to take a nap so we decided to go for a drive. Poor Deke missed out on some of the best parts of our camping trip. We stopped at Jay Cooke State Park, which was about 30 minutes away from Banning. Beautiful spot. I really want to go back here and hike more of the trails. As it was, Deke was still sleeping when we pulled up, so Joel and I took turns going to this bridge and looking at the view. After this stop, we went into Duluth. Another area I want to go back and visit again. Deke slept through all of this and didn't wake back up until we were pulling back into our campsite.

More Hiking Pics

2011-09-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

More hiking pictures from our time in Banning. Ty is loving school. His favorite part is the Y. :)

Hiking Pictures

2011-09-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

I just love this park so much. The boys really enjoyed the hiking as did I. I love the Kettle River here. It's a bit of drive, but just so pretty.

Today, Ty went to Heather's house since he didn't have school today. Heather was nice enough to take him and Connor to the Feguson's Orchard and even bought him some apples to bring home with him. Deke has throughly enjoyed the apples and has had three so far this afternoon. Came home, made dinner and then Nikki came over to get some of our left over dirt from when we dug the patio up. Joel helped her load that up. I just watched them shovel. I would have helped but we didn't have a third shovel. I was really bummed. :) Ty got to watch some Packer football and now it is time for bed.

Around the Campfire

2011-09-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ty was mad at me in this one. He looks pretty scary.

I made him laugh by showing him his scary photo above.

It is a tradition in my family to tell scary stories around the campfire. I decided that it was time to introduce the boys to story time around the campfire, but I kept them not scary. Or they thought they were going to be scared, but then the ending would be funny. Ty's favorite was "The Bloody Finger". You'll have to ask him to tell it to you sometime. He absolutely loved it and just got the biggest kick out of the ending.

The boys also enjoyed playing hide and seek when it got darker. Poor Deacon is not very good at hiding, but Ty is pretty good at it. Deke would never find him, if Ty wouldn't start laughing and give himself away. Deke was hilarious as the seeker. He'd look around a little bit and then say "I wonder where Twyer is?" Then he'd say "I guess I find him later" or "I look for him in the morning" This is what would set Ty to laughing and then Deke would find him.

Our last night there got pretty cold. It got down to 35 degrees that night. I did not pack for it being this cold. The boys had sweatshirts and pants and I had packed a pullover for Joel and myself, but I just was not expecting mid to high 30's. We ended up all piled on our queen sized air mattress in between the two sleeping bags. The boys were nice and toasty, but Joel and I were pretty chilly. I so wished I could have gotten a picture of the four of us crammed on that bed. It was pretty funny, although I don't think Joel, myself, or Ty got much sleep that night. It didn't seem to phase Deacon too much.

What Happens in Vegas...

2011-09-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

This past week, I got to go to Vegas for one night. And yes, made the most of it. I was up for a full 24- hours. I left the house at 3 am and arrived in Vegas at 9:30am. I went straight to the tradeshow that I was supposed to be at and stayed there until 5:30. Then checked into my hotel and met the guys that I work with for dinner at 6:30. They were nice enough to buy my dinner and they got me free tickets to a show. One of the guys that worked for Fastenal was friends with the person doing the show. Greg London, voted the best act in Las Vegas last year. He does impersonations and it was a pretty good show. After the show, we got to have drinks with him and his back up dancer. Pretty exciting stuff and I felt super special. The DM down in Vegas offered to drive me down the strip which is where I got all these pictures from. I made it back to my room at 12:43am their time which would be 2:43am central time. I was wiped out, but for some reason had a hard time sleeping. Hmmm, I sense a pattern here. I was up every hour on the dot and then finally at 5:30 I just couldn't sleep anymore. So I got up and felt safe enough to actually walk the strip. Nothing very cool to see at that time in the morning unless you count joggers and homeless people as cool. Did the show for a second day, left Vegas at 3:30pm and made it back home in my bed at 1am. It was whirlwind trip. Lots of fun and I learned a ton, but I am so glad to be back home.

Bathroom is done

2011-08-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

The bathroom remodel is complete. I love it! Joel did such an awesome job. We (I mean Joel) removed all the ugly teal green and black tile and put up wainscotting that he painted white. He removed all the wall paper from the walls and the ceiling and painted that a dark blue. He even painted the counter top so it looks like granite. It was a lovely pink color. Now if only we could have had time to do the floor and paint the cabinets. We might do that later, but we are taking a break from remodeling projects for a while. To see what it looked like before, click here.

Ty is a barber

2011-08-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

I bet you didn't know that Ty could give haircuts. Yup, last night he decided that his hair just wasn't short enough, so he gave himself a haircut. I was furious when I discovered what he did. We took him to the barber today and had them even it out a little bit. He still looks funny so I told him to just keep a hat on until it grows out.

On another note: Deke has finally learned how to pedal!

He's fearless! He wants to go to the top of this hill just like Ty. I only let him go half way up and he'll tear down it. I just know we are in for a major fall soon. I guess he'll learn to slow it down after that.

"Two more minutes" I told him it was time to go in and he said that he wanted two more minutes. This is what he says whenever he wants more time. He really means he never wants to come in.

And they're off! Deke is so proud that he can now ride this bike. I love how independent he is with it. He often stops it and has a hard time going again, but he doesn't want any help. He wants to be able to do it all by himself.

Bathroom remodel

2011-08-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

Before Photos

In the Process Photos

Finally, we are remodeling the bathroom! It's been a long time coming. We've had that horrible teal and black tile in there since we bought the house. A few of the tiles have fallen off during our time here and so it leaves a gaping hole. It's always been an eyesore and an embarassment for us, but now that's all going to change. By the end of the week, we are hoping to have it done. I cannot wait to post the AFTER photos!

T-Ball

2011-08-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

Oh, That silly Dekester

This is what he wore to Ty's t-ball game and then he'd go up to people and say "Arrgghhh". And yes, that would be people we didn't know. One of these days, I'm going to get him back for all the embarrasing stuff he's pulled on me. Sigh.

Ty on first.

Ty loves T-ball. He is such a jock. I guess I need start figuring out when soccer is going to start because I know he wants to play that this fall and then we'll have basketball in the winter. He wants to play every sport that comes his way. He is so excited for football season this year. I let him pick the colors of his folders for school and he chose yellow and green. One guess why. That's right, those are Packer colors and he is a Packer fan. Why? Because they're the best team ever. Just ask him and he'll tell you all about it. All you Packer fans out there should be proud.

The Brick Brigade

2011-08-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

Deke getting the bricks for us

Hard at work

The Brick Brigade

The boys were really such a huge help with this project. Ty helped out with almost every aspect from the digging to the paver laying. Joel started the digging on Weds and got about 1/2 of it dug out. On Thursday when the boys and I got home, Ty and I started digging again and took the 1/2 to 3/4 of the way dug out before Joel got home. Joel then had the tough job of hauling bags of paver sand from the front yard to the back on Friday, but he did get some help from a neighbor. Still a very hard job to do. On Saturday we were able to start laying the pavers. We would load up the bricks in the trailer and drive them around to the backyard. From there, Deke was in charge of handing Ty and me the bricks and we would carry them to Joel, who would lay them down. I was doing that job all by myself earlier that afternoon while the boys took a nap. It was amazing how much faster it went, once they started helping. They really surprised me and they actually stuck with it for quite a while too. I think they helped us for about 1.5 to 2 hrs before they went back to playing. Those bricks were not light either. Each brick weighed 6lbs. I kept worrying that they were going to drop one of the bricks on their toes, but they never did.

We are really enjoying our new patio. Deke said the other night that it was a "bwetiful patio" and I totally agree. I think we've had dinner out there every night this week. Now if we could only get rid of the mosquitos...

Busy as a Bee

2011-08-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

My two dogs. They look so sweet when they are asleep.

Working on the patio. Even Manny helped with this project.

I love Deke's eyes. He looks like he is going to go ballastic on Ty

Shhh, I've got a secret.

We have been super busy lately. Joel finished the patio last weekend and it looks awesome. I'll post pictures soon. Everybody chipped in on this project. On Saturday, the boys were out there helping us haul bricks and suprisingly they were both a BIG help. Usually, they would slow us down, but I swear, this time I felt like they were really helping and we flew through that particluar area. I have pictures of this that I plan on posting soon too.

Ty got stung by a bee last night. I thought he had broken his leg the way he was caterwauling out there. And then after I get him in and calmed down, we discover another bee that was very attracted to him. I knocked it off him and it went right back to him and started crawling on his shirt again. I got it off him the second time and then squashed it. Poor Ty was really freaked out by it and it took a good 5 minutes to get him calmed down.

My Boys

2011-08-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

I love how close these two are. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of fights, but I believe that they fight so much because they play together so much. I love watching what these two come up with. Deke will follow Ty and play along, but only to a certain extent. He definitely has his own mind and is not scared to stand up to big brother.

The other day, they were both so incredibly good, I don't know what was up, but I would love more days like that. When we got home, I started dinner and Ty was all about helping me out. He washed all the vegetables for me and set the whole table. The really amazing part was how well the boys shared the stool we have in the kitchen. There are usually a few squabbles over the stool, even though I'll go and grab the stool from the bathroom, they will argue over the kitchen stool, so I was steeling myself for the argument that I thought was sure to follow when Deke got on the stool after Ty got down to hand me some of the freshly washed veggies. Ty turned around and politely asked Deke if he could have the stool back so he could finish washing the vegetables. Deke replied: "Of course" and hopped right down. When Ty got down to hand me more veggies, he told Deke he could get back on. This never happens. I'm still wondering if they were trying to butter me up for something. Then at the dinner table they were so polite. It reminded me of the Bear Family Politness Plan book where Brother and Sister decide to be Super Polite to each other so Mama Bear would get fed up with her plan. "Deacon, Will you please pass the salt?"

"Of Course, Tyler!"

LOL, Those two really crack me up.

The Grandparents--Say Cheese

2011-08-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

Take 1: Can't see Nana's face, Papa and Deke look like they wish they were somewhere else

Take 2: Ty is picking his nose, Deke looks like he's going to cry and still can't see Nana's face

Take 3: Finally we can see Nana's pretty face, but all the boys are looking elsewhere

Take 4: We just give up :) They all look like they are ready to kill me by this point. This really was like take 10, but I spared all of you those shots.

Ty was really not happy with me and refused to smile for me.

We started the patio today! I cannot wait to have a nice place to sit in the backyard. Joel has it all measured out and leveled or squared or whatever it is you're supposed to do to start this thing off right. We get the pavers, sand, and whatnot delivered tomorrow and then the hard work begins. We're hoping to have it done by Sunday.

Texas Trip

2011-08-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

These were from when we went to Texas back in late March. I really miss the awesome Tex-Mex. I've gotten on such a kick for the past two nights, we've had Mexican food. Fajitas last night and tacos tonight. Fortunately there is enough left over of the tacos, that I get it for lunch tomorrow!

Thanks to the thunderstorms, Ty's t-ball game was cancelled. He was so disappointed and upset that he didn't get to play tonight.

Dentist Visit

2011-07-31T18:14:00.000-07:00

These were from a while back, but when we took Deke to the dentist for the first time, he was a bit nervous. Big brother Ty was there to help him out and let Deacon sit in his lap so the dentist could clean his teeth. Love these two boys so much!

We've had a pretty great day today. The boys have played well most of the day, with Ty even sharing the candy he got from Sunday School with Deke. I should be putting them to bed now, but they are playing so great in their room, I kind of hate to interupt them.

San Antonio Trip

2011-07-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

So, I finally uploaded all the pictures from my phone. I have so many to share! These are from our San Antonio trip back in November of last year. Such a beautiful and romantic spot. I truly cherished the time that we got to spend here. This is after all where Joel proposed to me so it will always hold a very special place in my heart. I love the bridges over the river.

Playing with Friends

2011-07-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

This looks like trouble.

These are from Deacon's birthday party last Saturday. All four boys had so much fun playing outside. Swinging, sliding, sending big trucks down the slide. Boys are such a blast!

Happy Birthday, Deacon!

2011-07-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

Gavin, Deke's best bud.

Batman cake!

Concentrating on eating his yummy cake.

Present Time!

We celebrated Deacon's birthday on Saturday. None of the typical gang except for Tressa and Kelly could make it this time due to other plans. Fortunately, we were able to have the grandparents and Gavin and Ethan over to help celebrate. Gavin is Ethan's brother and only about a month younger than Deacon. It was the first time for us to have Gavin over and I know his mom was a little worried how he would do, but he did awesome. I talked to her tonight and she said that Sunday that was all the boys could talk about and that they wanted to come over again. I'm so glad that they had such a great time.

Deacon was super excited for his party. He was VERY wound up, but I was glad to see him taking so much pleasure out of it. He really wanted to make sure we had candles on the cake for him to blow out. Today was his actual birthday and he got a lot of phone calls from family members back in Texas. Everytime we would let him talk, he'd say "Happy Birthday to Deacon!" and "It's my birthday!" He was really eating up all the attention.

Lark Toys

2011-07-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

Joel took off on Friday and took his parents and the boys to Lark Toys. They had so much fun!

Today we had Deacon's birthday party. I'll post pictures soon. But I wanted to make sure to write down some of the things the Dekester said today. On the way into Hyvee, I was hugging him close and told him how much I love him. He wrapped those tiny arms around me and threaded his fingers through my hair and said, "Don't get made at me, then." I told him if he would listen, then I wouldn't get mad. :)

Then we went to Shopko later that evening and he was misbehaving, so I told him he was going to sit in a timeout when we got home. On the way home, I heard him in the backseat saying "You drive me nuts!"

Haha, I know he learned that from me. I think I utter that phrase at least once a day :) I love my boys! They drive me crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Dinnertime

2011-07-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

Ty learns how to use chop sticks

Nana and Papa

The Bradbergs came over Weds night. They had never met Joel's parents before and since they couldn't be here for Deke's party, we had them over for dinner so they would have a chance to meet them. Joel's mom made Bulgogi for dinner and it was delicious. Ty loved it and even wanted to eat it with the chopsticks. The night before Nana made Om rice and it was super yummy. I love Om rice. It is my all-time favorite dish!

Nana and Papa Visit

2011-07-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

Joel's parents came up last Sunday. The boys have been having a lot of fun with them and keeping them hopping. I'm fairly certain Nana and Papa are enjoying their time with the grandkids, but I think they may need a vacation from their vacation after this week. :)

Good Times

2011-07-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

How cute are these two? It's probably not the safest thing to let them run around with a box on their head, but there were air holes. And we we were watching them...most of the time :)
Yesterday was a super busy day for the Kelner's. We dropped off a load of things at the Salvation Army. Yeah! Finally, moving stuff out of the basement. It felt so good. Then we went to a birthday party for Jakob. Yummy cake and ice cream. It was nice to catch up with the Yeari again. After that, I dropped Joel off at home so he could start smoking some ribs for the Bradbergs. They bought some ribs a few weeks ago and asked Smokemaster Joel to smoke them. He does some awesome ribs! I took the boys to get a haircut and then dropped Ty off at Ethan's house for a sleepover. Poor Deke was so sad to leave Ty there. He kept saying, "But I be nice." He so wanted to stay too. But he was happy to find out that his good buddy Connor was coming over later.
The Bradberg's came over around 5 and good times were had by all. Connor and Deacon have very similar personalities and they sometimes clash, but they played really well together last night. The Bradbergs brought a birthday present for Deke last night. It was an awesome Cars set. They had a lot of fun paying with that and then they started playing dress up. I love Deke's superman costume with the baseball hat.

These two are trouble

2011-07-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

I love listening to their interactions. Ty tries so hard to manipulate Deacon into doing what he wants to do. Today I bought Ty some new cleats for baseball. They look really cool although they are a little big. I picked up Deacon a pair of Fisher Price Roller blades for kids. (Both were garage sale finds) I have to admit that when I first saw the rollerblades, I thought of Ty, not Deke. Shhh, don't tell Deke. Poor kid, he always gets the shaft. I just know that Ty loves this kind of stuff and would be super excited about it. At any rate, I did the right thing and decided to give them to Deke.
I gave Ty the cleats first and sure enough, he loved them. "Thanks Mom!"
Then I gave Deke the roller blades. (Yeah, I know his b-day is in two weeks, I could have saved them, but I'm going to have a hard enough time keeping the Scooby Doo figures I bought him a secret so give me a break.) Oh, he was so excited. "I love them! Thanks, Mom! I love you!" I should give him stuff more often. Needless to say, Ty really loved them too. "Next time, can you get me roller skates too?" And then it started.
"Deacon, you think I should try them out first for you. You know, just to try them."
Deacon responds: "Yes"
But a few seconds later he must have realized what Ty had said because then he said, "No."
Ty then started in with "We should take turns. Here's what we will do, I'll go first and go around the driveway and then you can go and we'll just keep doing that, okay"
Deacon: "No, I not share."
Then Ty starts to pout. I don't know why unless he's thinks that the pouting is how he gets Deke to give in because Deke always does this. He says No and then relents and gives Tyler whatever he was wanting.
When we got home, Ty was done pouting and must have realized that if he helped Deacon, then he'd get his chance. So he helped Deacon get in the skates and helped him around the driveway. I don't think Deacon was in the skates more than a few seconds before Ty was asking him if was his turn yet. Deacon did give Ty a turn in them, but he made him wait a bit.

The Cities

2011-07-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

The first bridge site over the Mississippi

The Falls of St. Athony

On Saturday, I took Joel to the Cities as a mimi-getaway for his birthday. We had a nice hotel in downtown Minneapolis. It was on Nicollet Mall which is a very popular spot with tons of awesome resturants within walking distance. We had a great time just walking around this area. I was really wishing that I had some of my friends talents when it comes to picture taking. We had a few cocktails at 'The Barrio.' Excellent food and the best margarita I've ever had, but they are very proud of their food and it not cheap. Then we went to Brit's Pub for a few more cocktails and guess who turns up at the same spot without us even planning it? The Looses. That's just crazy. We hung out with them for the rest of the night. Got to sleep in, have a great breakfast and then headed back to reality.

A huge thank you to the Bradbergs for taking the boys for the night. Without them being willing to do this, we would never get the chance to do stuff like this. The boys got to go to the fair and had a blast. Although it was very hot, so meltdowns did happen, but all in all it sounds like the kids had fun. I kind of doubt the adults did...but I'm so grateful to them for taking them anyway. Check out her pictures here. That same evening, we went to the store with the boys and on the way home, Deacon kept saying. "I want to go to Connor's" He must have had a good time.

Taking a break

2011-07-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

Deacon contemplating his ice cream cone. I love Ethan's face in the background.

We got some ice cream before we left the fair. It was yummy! Ty and Deke both enjoyed the tractors and then Ty talked me into getting mini donuts. Ty ate the whole bag by himself. Deke was just interested in drinking the lemonade.

Fair Rides

2011-07-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

Gavin and Deke looking at the animals.

Deke, Ty, and Ethan petting the chickens.

Ty, Ethan, and Deke on the dragon roller coaster. Deke got off pretty fast. I think he would have been okay if Ty would have rode with him. He didn't cry, just looked a little scared.

Gavin and Deacon on the jeep ride. By far his favorite ride here.

Ethan and Ty on the Fun Slide. Ty is the one on the purple slide.

Ethan and Ty on the pirate ship. Ty was just barely tall enough to ride this one.

Ethan and Ty on the spaceship.

Deacon and Gavin on the spaceship. Deacon really did not want to do this ride "Too hot" is what he kept saying.

Ty really loved all the rides at the fair. Ethan and him had a blast trying to do as many as they could. For daycare day, they give each kid a pass for one free ride. They used up their free ride on the dragon coaster. Ethan and Gavin's parents bought tickets though and were kind enough to share those tickets with Ty and Deke. ( I did offer to buy our own tickets or pay them back for the ones my kids used, but they wouldn't let me.) In case you couldn't tell, Ethan and Gavin our brothers. They have an older brother who is 8 and in October, they will be welcoming a sister. So exciting for them. Ethan is one month older than Tyler and Gavin is one month younger than Deacon so they are very close in age. Ethan and Ty have been really close friends since they were infants. I remember watching those two play around in the infant room crawling after each other. Too bad, they won't all be in kindergarten together.

County Fair

2011-07-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

Deke dancing

Ty and Liliana

Both boys were super hot and sweaty

On Friday, the daycare did a field trip to the Winona County Fair. I took a 1/2 day off work so I could go along with them. It was a pretty hot and muggy day. Poor little Deacon does not handle the heat well at all. I guess its a good thing he's a Minnesotan rather than a Texan. He'd never survive the summers down there! The start of daycare day at the Fair with a Recess Music Program, so there was lots of dancing. Deke was all about it for the first five minutes and then the heat got to be too much and he just came and clung to me. Yeah, just what I needed a hot, sticky little boy clinging to me. Ty handles it much better, but even he started to lag after a while. After the music and dancing, we had lunch and then we went to see all the animals.

They had pigs, goats, bunnies, chickens, cows, horses, llamas, ducks, turkeys, Pretty much any farm animal you can think of was there. Deacon really loved seeing all the animals. Ty liked it too, but he was just bidding his time until he could go ride the rides.

Beaver Valley Creek Trails

2011-07-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

Ty was super excited about finding this snail on one of the trails.

I decided to start another blog that covers our camping/hiking trips in Minnesota. One of my biggest peeves with camping and hiking around here is finding out information on the trails we want to do. The information from the state parks is scanty at best. I want to know what I'm going to see on the trail and find out if it is worth my time. Feel free to check it out at www.mntrails.blogspot.com. There isn't a whole lot up there yet, but I'm hoping by the end of this summer we will have a lot more.

On this last camping trip to Beaver Valley Creek we did a trail called Plateau Rock. I honestly thought there was going to be some giant rock up there that would offer some incredible views. I could not have been more wrong. First off this trail was incredibly difficult. Steep drop off on one side and sheer rock on the other side. Very steep and slippery, with no steps most of the way up. When you finally do reach the top, you can't see anything because of the tree cover. We followed the trail around the top hoping that we would find another way down. I did not want to go down the same way we went up. There is no other way down, but at the very end of this trail, we did discover a geo cache. It's a little box that was stuffed in a dead tree. When you opened it up, there was paper for you to sign your name and they had all kinds of little treasures that people had left in there. One of those treasures was a Scooby Doo sticker and a car. We had a hard time convincing the boys that we are not allowed to take the treasures out of the box. There was also a little snail shell in the box. Joel signed the paper and then put it back. As we were walking away from it. Tyler holds up a snail shell and tells me that he found it on the ground, it didn't come from the box. He is really a bad liar. All it took was "the look" and he admitted that it came from the box, so he went back with Daddy to put it back.

The way down from this trail was just as scary as I figured it would be. We took it slow and easy and we all made it down safe and sound. I would not recommend this for young kids though. There were several times when my heart was in my throat. I was very glad we had Deacon in the backpack carrier.

Garvin Heights

2011-07-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

The Cave

Oak Savanna

We took the boys up to Garvin Heights this morning. Joel had heard about an oak savanna that was there and these two big rocks called date rock. The Oak Savanna seems to be part of the main trail that runs from lower Garvin Heights up to upper Garvin Heights. We found a cave and the two big rocks that he had heard about. There is a small foot path to the left of the garvin heights look out. If you follow that around, you'll discover the cave down in a little area. The boys were super excited about the cave.

This evening we went over to the Bradberg's for a delicious dinner of grilled pork chops and corn. It was super yummy!

Beaver Valley Creek State Park

2011-06-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

We went camping last weekend at Beaver Valley Creek State Park. It was only for one night, but we did a lot of trails. Steep Rock, Hole in Rock, Plateau Rock, and Beaver Creek Trail. I got a ton of pictures of each trail. The ones above are from Steep Rock Trail. It wasn't all that Steep. I've climbed way worse. Pretty short trail with some great views. It was only .6 miles. The scary one was Plateau Rock, but I'll save that story to go with those pictures.

T-Ball

2011-06-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

We enrolled Ty in T-ball for the summer. It is every Monday night until mid-August. He LOVES it. Joel and him practiced in the back yard almost all of Tuesday evening. I think he looks so super cute in the hat. Deke comes with us to the games and is really good about cheering Tyler on. Two of Ty's classmates from school are on his team. Ethan and Hailey. Deke is really good about cheering for them as well and of course he is excited to see some of his classmates there too. Both Ethan and Hailey have little brothers that are the same age as Deke. What fun! I love living in a community where we know almost everybody.

Last of the Cabo pics? Maybe

2011-06-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

Whale slide at the hotel. It was super fast, but fun.

View from our patio

My handsome hubby :)

View from the air. What an awesome trip. I really can't wait till we go back.

Today we had Ty's t-ball practice. It is so fun to watch these little kids play. Ty takes it very seriously and it cracks me up to see him crouching down in the outfield expecting a ball to make it that far. But watch out if it does, he will be there to catch it. That is if he doesn't get bored and start dancing around. That happens too after a while.

More fun times in Cabo

2011-06-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

Mike and Jenna

I suprised Heather and Joel with the flash. Joel's face just cracks me up in this picure.t

Heather and John

Joel and I.

We went camping this weekend. It was a pretty good time. We are having listening issues with both boys so there was quite a few times when Joel and I thought we were going to pull our hair out. Some really awesome hikes though and the boys loved to hike. Ty rode his bike every chance he got. I'll post pictures soon.

Last of the Tidal Pool pictures

2011-06-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

This is the last of them, I promise. I just loved it here. I really wished we could have spent more time here.

Diversity at the Tidal Pools

2011-06-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

A fast moving crab. These suckers could move when they saw you coming and it was not easy to get a picture...at least of a live one.

Snails

Yeah, this is a dead one. No way could you get this close to one while it was still alive.

Tidal Pools

2011-06-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Jenna and the line of ATV's

Heather

Wave rushing in.

It's been busy since we've been back. Super crazy busy and I've been exhausted. Wished I could take a few days off to just recover from my vacation :)

My favorite spot

2011-06-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

Heather and John

This was easily my favorite spot. I loved all the tide pools and the crabs scurrying around. I wished we could have spent more time here. At any rate, be ready for a ton of photos of this because I just can't pick a favorite.

ATV Trip

2011-06-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

Jenna and Mike

Joel and Me

The gang: Jenna, Mike, John, Heather, and Joel

The Girls: Heather, me, and Jenna
This turned out to be suprisingly fun and probably my favorite part of the whole trip. We got filthy doing this ride, but I loved every minute of it.

A day at the beach

2011-06-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

One of the funniest things I saw on this trip was Heather getting taken out by a wave. It was too funny. I nearly peed my pants laughing at her. That was also when she lost the first pair of sunglasses. I thought somebody was going to have to save her. The waves just kept breaking over her. I probably shouldn't have laughed so much but I think she enjoyed it. If I would have thought she was in serious trouble, I would have tried to help her out and I wasn't the only one standing there laughing at/with her. These waves were huge here. I couldn't believe how big some of them were and they can easily knock you down and flip you around. Joel got flipped too and almost lost his pants, but it still wasn't as funny as watching Heather.

Joel and me

2011-06-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

Joel and I goofing off at the beach. Thanks to Heather, we got some good photos of the two of us. It does look like Joel is working hard to hold me up :) All those tacos...

Up and at 'em

2011-06-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I still do not understand, I was up super early almost every day of this trip. Joel was up early with me the first day, but after that he decided to let only the crazy lady get up that early. I would wake around 5:30am and be up and roaming around by 6 most mornings. But, I did manage to get some pretty awesome photos of the sunrise. I also attempted to jog the beach. I thought this would be some great exercise and it was, but it is incredibly hard to jog in sand. I'm not sure if I'll attempt that again. The food was incredible here. I probably ate my weight in Mexican food and if I didn't eat my weight, I'm pretty sure I drank it. :) Loved every second we were here and cannot wait for our next exotic vacation in 10 years.

Cabo at sunrise

2011-06-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

The beach at sunrise. It was amazing! We had a blast on this trip. The boys seemed to have a lot of fun at Uncle Bubba's. Although they both seemed to be pretty excited that we were home. Get ready for a ton of photos to be posted.

Wine Tour

2011-06-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

I went on a wine tour last weekend with some great friends. We had a blast! Great wine, great food, and great company. We leave for Cabo in two days. I am so excited. Of course, I am already missing my boys, but they will be in good hands. Uncle Bubba and Aunt Lu are taking them for the week and my parents are coming up to visit them as well. They are really looking forward to spending time with their family next week. I'll have a ton to post when we get back.

Frog

2011-06-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

The boys caught a frog this weekend. They were quite enthralled with it.

Naked Cowboy

2011-06-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

These boys are just too funny. Deacon wears the frog boots everywhere! The other day we were going to go for a bike ride and both boys went and grabbed their boots. Deke got the frog boots and Ty got his snowboots. I had to go make them change. You just can't ride a bike in those boots.

This and That

2011-05-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

Ty's friend Ethan comes over for playdates on a pretty regular basis lately. Ty's also gone over there for an afternoon as well. Ethan is such a polite little boy. They even include Deacon in on their play. It helps that Ethan also has a younger brother that is only a month younger than Deacon. In the picture above they dressed up in superhero customes. Ty was bumblebee and Ethan was Spiderman.

I LOVE it when Deacon puts on his snowboots with his shorts. It just cracks me up. In this one, he even found some huge gloves that he took outside with him and kept putting on. Yesterday Joel and I took the boys and headed to the Cities. I wanted to do a little bit of shopping and we decided to visit the Loos clan while we were there as well. Always a good time to hang out with them. The four kids get along so well. Two more weeks to go and we will all be hanging out at a beach in Cabo. I just cannot wait!

Cowboy

2011-05-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ty's favorite teacher had her last day on Weds. Ty wanted to write a thank you note to her. He wrote the 'thank you' at the top and the 'I heart you' and his name at the bottom. He also drew all the hearts. He dictated the rest to me and I wrote that for him. I thought it was super sweet.

Sunset! The color were so vibrant last night.

Mama, don't let you babies grow up to be cowboys! Both boys found cowboy hats at a garage sale. Ty's been wearing his all afternoon. In the bottom picture he was getting tired of me taking his picture and refused to smile for me.

More party pics

2011-05-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

Ty's 'mad' face :)

The kids has so much fun at this party and I had a blast getting the pictures.
Ty has a favorite teacher at his school and today was her last day. Apparently, Ty is also her favorite. She told me yesterday that out of the past three years of teaching, Ty is her absolute favorite and that if she ever has a little boy, she wants him to be just like Tyler. What an awesome compliment. It made my day. `Normally, I think that most people that don't have kids yet look at mine and think 'my kids will never behave like that'.
Joel has been in the Cities with some co-workers for the past two nights for training. I had the wives of those co-workers over for dinner last night. It was nice to get to know some of them a little better. I'll definitely have to try to have them over again.

More Party Pics

2011-05-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

The Loos' girls. Are they not two of the prettiest girls ever? I'm normally very happy with the fact that I have two boys, but being around these two makes me wish sometimes that I did have a little girl.

Tyler with baby Jonah. He has such a sweet side to him and is so gentle with kids that are younger.

Okay, does he not look like he is 10 in this picture? Geez, he looks so much older than 5.

The Red Door

2011-05-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

Our playhouse was very popular during the party. Up to 7 kids would manage to squeeze into this tiny little house and then explode out of it and take off in a thousand different directions!
Tonight, Joel headed to the Cities for training. So it me and the boys for two nights.

My favorite pics from last night

2011-05-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

I love that it looks like she is totally pushing him down in this photo. She didn't, it just looks that way in the photo. Connor was the monster and they were all trying to get away from him. (I mean to say that Connor was playing the role of "monster", not that he is a monster. He's one of the sweetest boys ever!)

Uggh! Boys! (Kaia and her Sister, Halle are the only girls in our group)

Oh Connor. Too funny!

These two are the oldest in the group and you will do as they say. (Don't worry,the younger ones totatlly hold their own even with these two staring them down :))

MMM, Nutella

2011-05-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

Tyler is turning into such a big boy. He made lunch for Deacon and Connor. Nutella sandwiches. Connor got to where he only wanted Tyler making it for him.

Holy Deacon, Batman

2011-05-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what he was crying about. Deke just loves dressing up as batman and he's so super cute in the little outfit. He makes Tyler play Robin. It's hilarious.

Fun Times

2011-05-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

In the picture above, they were dancing around the living room. They do this weird thing where they just circle around and around. Not really dancing, but it makes them happy. They've also gotten into this thing where they love wearing their winter hats (and pretty much nothing else). Deke has a batman one and Ty has a spider man one.
Okay, so time for a sweet story about the Deacon since I made him sound like such a terror in that last post. Yesterday, both boys got to pick a treat from our treat jar (it includes fruit snacks, stickers, stuff like that) Deke picked first and he picked this Power Ranger Sticker. It was the only power ranger sticker that we had and of course this is the one Ty wanted. Ty was pretty upset that he couldn't have it and was starting to go into serious pout mode. Deke asks him: "Why you crying?" He knew it was because of the sticker because Ty did ask if he would trade and Deke said no originally, but when he saw how upset Ty was, he handed the sticker over to Tyler so Ty wouldn't be sad. I thought it was super sweet of him. These boys can be so protective of each other.
Today, Deke was being stubborn about getting ready to go to the store, so Daddy told him that he just wouldn't go unless he put his pants on. Tyler was over there arguing with Daddy that Deke couldn't do that by himself. Deke was getting pretty upset as well because he really loves to go to the store, so Daddy did help him put the pants on, but then wanted him to put his shoes on. Deke was again getting worked up even though he knows how to do this. So Tyler put Deke's shoes on for him so he wouldn't get left behind.
On another note, Scooby died over the weekend. We picked a new fish tonight and his name is...Batman.

Sleep over

2011-05-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Playing Whac-a-Mole. Yeah, a game with hammers, that encourages you to hit these little moles. Just what these boys needed and of course, they wouldn't hit each other, right? Right. This game did not last very long before it ended up on a high shelf. (and they lost the privelage of this game, thanks to the Dekester)

Watching Scooby Doo Camp Scare. Connor is so funny because during the scary parts, he'd hid behind the big truck he has on the chair with him.

And here we catch Deacon in the act of hitting Ty with Lightening McQueen. Just kidding he didn't hit him, but probably because he got yelled at before he could. Mom ruins all the fun.

And the afternoon after Connor left, they are both konked out. I understand from Heather that Connor also took a nap that afternoon. They wore each other out. Deke is really not as bad as I make him sound. He can be super sweet most times, but he does have a little bit of the devil in him. We had a blast with Connor and loved having him over. They all three shared a room and suprisingly we did not have any problems with that at all.

Last of the Hike pics

2011-05-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

Last of our hiking pictures. Had John Bberg's birthday party last night. It was so much fun. Neither Joel nor I wanted to leave. Finally around 10:30 we decided that we probably should get the kids home in bed. It was quite the late night for them. I was hoping they'd sleep in today, but they were up at 7:15. I shouldn't complain because that's really not that bad for them. Normally they are up around 6:30. Today, we get Connor! We are all excited to have this energetic ball of fun over. I'm sure I'll get a ton of great pictures of the three of them.

White Water

2011-05-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

One of the many flowers that Ty picked for me during our hike.

I picked up Ty early today with the plan of going for a bike ride around the lake, but it was super windy so we decided instead to go to Wal-Mart and pick up ingredients for cupcakes. I made them from scratch. They were okay. The cupcake part wasn't quite as moist or sweet as I like, but the icing was super sweet so it kind of balanced. The boys didn't seem to care as they all three ate two a piece.
I made Ty mad at me today by getting on to him when he started picking on Deacon. He's such a funny kid because he disappeared into his his bedroom and I could just hear him in there talking to himself about what happened. Obviously not too happy with the situation. I went back there so I could better hear him and I heard him saying how nobody likes him, not even Mom. He then turned around and saw me and told me that I "wasn't his best friend anymore." I told him I understand that. Then he tells me that he's "my best friend,but I don't want to be his and that he wanted to be alone for a little while. No problem. When you're ready, I'm going to be out here making the cupcakes. Funny, how quickly he got over it. Before I even made it out the door, he was beside me and telling me he was better now. Yeah, I bet you are. Nothing like the promise of a cupcake to make one feel better.

White Water State Park

2011-05-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

More hiking pictures.

Inspiration Point

2011-05-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

The view from the top. I'm super scared of heights so this one nearly gave me a heart attack. Especially if Ty got too close to the edge.

Hiking

2011-05-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

We went up to Inspiration Point. Very steep and a lot of steps. Beautiful views though when we reached the top.

Hiking

2011-05-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Took the boys on a hike today. We went to White Water. This is such a beautiful park and so close.

Deacon

2011-05-07T16:33:00.001-07:00

I'm doubly blessed to have yet another awesome son in Deacon. Not quite as sweet tempered, but still very loving. He gives the absolute best hugs ever. And I love to hear his little boy voice say "I wuv oo soo much." He is a little spitfire and is always on the move. It was hard to get a good shot of him because he wouldn't sit still and then when he would he would glance up super fast, give me his super adorable grin and then look back down before I had the change to snap the image. He has the cutest freaking dimples and he does manage to get a way with a lot when he flashes them at me.

Tyler

2011-05-07T16:23:00.001-07:00

He is such a handsome little boy and so incredibly sweet. He is always picking me flowers and bringing them to me to put into a vase. He tells me I'm beautiful every morning before I leave for work. Often times, out of the blue, he'll come up to me and give me a hug and tell me that he loves me. I'm truly blessed to have him for a son. I so enjoy the times I get to spend with him, rather it be hiking or biking or just hanging out in the back yard. Or occassionaly if the weather is bad, watching a movie with him. I know that those hugs and kisses will eventually go away as he gets older, but for right now, I'm going to treasure every one of them.

More Biking

2011-05-07T16:00:00.001-07:00

Biking

2011-05-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

We went garage saling today and Ty got a new bike. It's a mongoose and he loves it. It's still a little big for him and he needs a littl help getting on, but once he's on it, he's fine. That means that Deacon also got a new bike. Ty's hand-me-down. It must be tough to be the younger kid. You never get anything new. I did manage to find some Scooby books so Deke was thrilled and seemed happy enough with what he got.

My new camera

2011-05-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

So for mother's day, the boys got me a camera. I LOVE IT! I'm turning into a bit of freak with the camera always on me and really annoying my boys, but I'm sure it will wear off eventually. It's Canon Rebel TI1 (I think.) All I know is that I think it takes great pictures.

Baseball

2011-04-20T15:54:00.001-07:00

A video of Tyler playing baseball with my parents. He can play and play this game and basically the adults are the ones that have to finally say enough or we tag team each other out for him. We got him enrolled in T-ball this year. I think he'll really enjoy that and Joel and I are excited to watch him play. The games will be on Monday evenings throughout the summer at the ballpark. If you live in Winona, feel free to come by and cheer him on.
Deacon also has been doing good. He has quite the sense of humor on him and loves to tease his big brother...or his mom. The other day, it was just Deacon and I in the car and he says: "Your car yukky. You clean it." It cracked me up. Yes, the car is cluttered..with their stuff. So I told him to clean it and he just laughed and laughed at that one. What a little character.

Sisters

2011-04-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

Love these girls and miss them so much!

Photo Booth Part 1

2011-04-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Vernon, Stephanie, and Allie

My mom and mother-in-law. Super blessed that they all get along so well.

Melanie and her Mom

Melanie and Chris

Joel's Parents (George and Yu)

More Photo Booth Fun

2011-04-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ty and my parents

Meghan and George

Meg, George, Joel, Deacon, and me

The boys and I

The whole family!

Reception Part 2

2011-04-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

Meghan and I in the photo booth. This was so much fun!

Brothers! Joel, Vernon, and George

The Reception Part 1

2011-04-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Meghan, Melanie, Stephanie (Vernon's Fiancee), and me

Good times at the Reception

Melly's Wedding Part 3

2011-04-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

Introducing the newlyweds, Melanie and Chris Gravell.

Hey, What's that up there? Yup, definitely starting to get bored. Ethan, Chris's nephew was awesome. I loved listening to him talk to Ty. Such a great kid. They had another little boy, Jude who is 6 months older than Deke and he was a pretty cool kid too.

Melly's Wedding Part 2

2011-04-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

I love the converse sneakers they wanted the boys to wear. It was too cute. I think Ty was starting to get bored here.

Melly's Wedding Part 1

2011-04-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

This was an absolutely gorgeous wedding! Melanie was a gorgeous bride. The boys did good, but they didn't dance at this one. They made friends with an older boy who thought dancing was lame. Therefore, Ty thought dancing was lame, plus they got to play outside at this one and so they spent all their time running around the grounds. Enjoy the photos. These were all taken by my other gorgeous sis-in-law, Meghan. I had a great time getting to know her better on this trip. She is a blast to hang out with and I'm hoping that soon her and George can come up for a visit. I'll have to take them out in Winona. Houston, Austin, they ain't got nothing on Winona. :)

Fixin' to Go to Texas

2011-03-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

Just a few more shots of my boys :)

Figured I'd better start working on my accent so I fit in when I'm there :) Better stop saying "soda" and start calling it "coke" and I need to brush up on the "ya'lls"

"Are ya'll fixin' to head down to the corner store for some cokes?" Man, after living up here for 6 years, I really notice the accents when we go back. At the doctor's office last Weds for Ty's 5 year well-checkup. Dr. Wilfhart asked Ty if he drank any pops. Ty looked at me confused as to what "pops" were. So I said "sodas" so he would understand. Dr. Wlfhart then asked me if I was from around here. No, but I have at least stopped calling all soda pop, "cokes" so I'm making progress. Don't know if I'll ever call it a pop though.

Boys are loving the bunk beds. They have been in there playing since we got home. I've overheard them pretending it was a boat and around 6:30 Ty comes out of the bathroom, dressed in his pj's, teeth brushed and ready for bed. It's been a crazy day, but its ending well.

Getting ready for the wedding

2011-03-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Joel and I bought the boys some suits. They'll be wearing a checkered shirt for the wedding, but the whole suit was the cost of a pair of black pants so we thought they could wear this outfit for Easter. They looked super cute. They were both so excited to try them on when we got home. I had to get some shots since they looked super cute. Unfortunately I was trying out a new (old) lens and it didn't turn out quite as good as I'd hoped so I made them all black and whites since they looked better that way. At any rate, I like them and that's all that matters. Deke is such a character in every shot I get of him, he's doing something crazy.
We leave for Texas in 4 days. I'm so excited and cannot wait for the warm weather down there. We got the boys bunk beds and Joel and Ty are busy trying to get that together tonight. Ty had his kindergarten roundup today. So hard to believe that he starts Kindergarten next year. He really can't wait for school and was telling us how he is ready now and wants to go there everyday.

New Floors

2011-03-11T17:18:00.000-08:00

These show our new floors pretty well. Joel did such an awesome job with it. I'm still amazed at how great they turned out. In the bottom photos, Deke was playing with a bag. He enjoyed putting it over his head and then pretending to get us.

Brothers

2011-03-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

How cute are these two? In the middle two, the were watching Daddy finish putting in the floor in the kitchen. The brad nailer kind of, sort of scared Deke, so Ty had his arms around him while they watched. I'm not really sure how scared Deke was of this or if he just overheard Joel telling me that David is scared of it, so he thought he should be too. At any rate, I love how Ty really looks out for his baby brother. It is so awesome to see these two develop their relationship. They're not always this loving as there are plenty of times when they fight with each other, but I have no doubt and have seen it in action that they will also stand up for each other. I've seen Deke get onto another kid that is trying to take something from Tyler and I've seen Ty do the same thing for Deacon.

35MM Camera

2011-03-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

I have this really nice 35MM camera that I just started using again because my digital camera crapped out on me again. I love this camera even though it is really old school. Here are some of the photos that I got off of it. I know for those of you that are really into photography, these aren't that great, but I am having to re-learn a lot of what I used to know so I realize that they are over exposed. I still love these and I think I'll get better as I use it more. It sucks that you don't have the instant gratification of being able to see the shot you took, but oh well. One of these days, I may get a really nice digital camera. In the meantime, Heather took pity on my being digital cameraless and gave me one of her digital cameras that she doesn't use anymore.
We had our big winter blues party this past weekend and it was blast. There was only one sad note to the whole thing and that was that we also turned into a good-bye Bob party and I'm going to miss him a lot. He's moving to Colorado and while he is gone, he is not forgotten. He is going to be greatly missed around here.

Home Improvments

2011-02-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

We finally had it with our dining room carpet. It had a big yellow spot from the Manny chewing up yellow food dye on it and then last weekend, orange paint ended up on it. We've wanted to replace the carpet for a while so the orange paint made the decision for us. Joel has been working so hard on it and its almost done. He finished grouting today and it should be completed tomorrow. The boys were anxious to help and fortunately Joel is an extremely patient man. I'll have pictures up soon of the finished project.

We're now working on the kitchen, so I'll post the pics when we are completely done. The dining room is now a mess due to the fact that we had to pull most things out of the kitchen. (Love how I use the word "we" when it should be "Joel"). The work has been non-stop and I'm amazed at how much he's done already and with zero help. I think I did maybe 30 minutes one day and I felt like an old woman when I got up. He's been putting 6-8 hours on it every day. Staying up to midnight or later and not complaining about it at all. He is truly an amazing man.

Sleepover

2011-02-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

We allowed Ty to invite one of his friends over for a sleepover. He really wanted four boys to sleepover. Ethan and Cale from daycare and Connor and Jakob whom we've all seen on this blog in the past. He was very torn when we told him he had to chose one. Mom didnt' know if she could handle more than three boys. He ended up chosing Ethan because Connor and Jakob have been to his house before and Ethan never has was his reasoning. It went so well. Ethan was very well behaved and listend beautifully. Also very polite. Always said thank you and was really good with Deacon. I'll admit that was my big fear was that those two wouldn't want Deke to play with them, but that fear was misplaced. Ethan has a younger brother as well that is almost the same age as Deke and he was always really good with him. At one point in the evening, they all got dressed up. Ethan was batman as you can tell, Ty was superman and Deke was of course Scooby Doo.
Bedtime went way better than expected. Ty and Deke are sharing a room right now because they want to. Joel and I decided to let Deke sleep in the same room as Ethan and Tyler and see what happens. It went better than it does with just Ty and Deke. They were all three asleep before 8:30 and normally I consider it a good night if Deke goes to sleep before 9.
Hopefully, we can have Ethan over again.

Presents

2011-02-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

Ticket Blaster. At Chuck E. Cheese the birthday boy gets to get inside this tube that shoots these tickets all over. You catch as many as you can. He got one that was worth 200 tickets which basically gets you a toy that you could go the $ store and buy :)

Ty opening up his presents. His friends were very generous and he got a lot of very cool toys for him to play with. They all know him very well too as he got gifts that were monster trucks or trucks in general and a spider man book. He was very excited about them all.

Today, we got home and Joel was going to go get the mail when I reminded him that today was President's day so no mail. Ty started asking me about where the presents were. I didn't know what he was talking about thinking he meant his birthday presents. Joel finally figured out that he thought we had said it was Presents Day. I kind of like the idea of a day devoted to presents.

Cake!

2011-02-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

So good! I love Deacon's face. He went to town on that cake.

Happy Birthday Tyler

2011-02-20T15:43:00.000-08:00

He dressed himself and came out and told me "I wanted to look handsome today." I think he always looks so handsome.

Ty's had a ton of fun at his birthday. I love his face in the last picture. He was making a wish before he blew out the candle. I asked him what he wished for today and he told me that he wished that when I get sick that he hopes I feel better. I'm not sure how true that is, but he's stuck to the story so far. He had a friend spend the night last night and it went so much better than I had anticipated. I was expecting it to be a little chaotic, but it never was. In fact, bedtime went way better than I expected. Even better than it goes normally. I think Ethan had a postive effect on our bedtime experience.

It is so hard to believe that it has been 5 years. The time is flying by way too fast and I sometimes wish that I could slow it down just a little or that I would appreciate this time a little more. I try to remind myself to treasure these moments. The moments when he throws his arms around me, when he kisses my cheek, when he tells me that he loves me and that I'm the best mom ever. I know that these moments are very short-lived. All too soon, it won't be cool to be seen with his mom, much less show her that he cares. It can be easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and not slow down and listen to his stories or to stop and play when he asks me too. It takes a lot of reminding that he won't always be this young, that he won't always want to spend time with me. I'm sure the next 5 years are going to go by even faster than these first five.

2011-02-12T19:05:00.001-08:00

This is the better one. He's on the bunny hill and Joel is following behind him. You can see at the end he almost fell, but caught himself. He's already better than either Joel or I.

Ty's first time skiing

2011-02-12T18:54:00.000-08:00

Ty did awesome! It's hard to see in this one, I do have a better one, but that little tiny black dot going down that big hill is Tyler. Our good friend, Bob, went down with him seeing as neither Joel nor I were qualified. Bob was so good with him and so patient. Joel and I skied too, but were just not good enough to get him on and off the lift. We were out there from 2-7 and Ty never wanted to come in. We had to force him in for dinner and he wanted to go right back out as soon as he was done. After the last run, he asked if Santa could bring him skis next year for Christmas. It's a shame this is such an expensive sport. Hopefully I can get a group together next year to this again. It's just such a good deal with the group rate.

More Science Museum Photos

2011-01-25T18:35:00.000-08:00

A few more photos from the museum.

It's been a long week. Deacon got a little sick on Friday and was fussier than normal. Plus he wasn't sleeping all that great and still isn't so the nights have been hard as well. Fortunately he does tend to just be fussy at home. I took both boys to Wal-mart with me this afternoon and didn't have any issues at all with either of them. Normally within 5 minutes, I'm questioning why I brought them both with me.