Way Back in the Day

This is so funny! My uncle emailed me this picture last week. This is Me (the witch), my sisters Sarah (bunny) and Melissa (Little Red Riding Hood), my cousins Nikki (princess) and Stevie (angel), and my Aunt Linda as a sexy cat! How fun!

"Mama, what's vacation mean?"

Well we survived our first family vacation. Tyler was very well behaved (at least for a 2 year old). He was even going potty on his big boy potty while we were there. We spent some time at the beach, went fishing, ate a lot of really great food! It was great! Thank you so much Aunt Kim, Uncle Mark, Becca, and Liz for letting us invade your house. Also thank you Aunt Melissa for being our tag along nanny.

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Roy is 31 today!!!! We celebrated by going to a Blues game(neither one of us likes hockey but the tickets were free and they were great seats). We also had a room at the Sheraton right across from the Scottrade Center. Thank you Roy for being such a wonderful husband and father! I love that you are so much older than me!

Let it snow!

Who says 10 inches of snow isn't fun? As long as it's on the weekend it's OK with me. I tried to upload a video, but I never can seem to get it to work. After all this cold, nasty weather we are so excited to leave for Florida on Tuesday! Snow on Sunday, beach on Wednesday what a lucky boy!

I Heart Turkey

OK no more sad posts. On Thanksgiving I was digging through my potatoes and I found a heart shaped potato. I can't bring myself to eat it.

Grandma Lorraine

Today our Grandma Lorraine died peacefully in her sleep after a long battle with cancer. She wasn't your ordinary grandma. Grandma was a spunky lady. She loved clowns and the Price is Right. She left behind 5 children, 10 grandchildren, and 1 great grandson. Today she was reunited with Grandpa Frank after 22 years. I bet she was glad to see him. We will miss you Grandma.

It's Amazing.........

For the last two weeks my grandma has been in the hospital and now a nursing home. Today she was given a week to live. I took Tyler to visit her twice last weekend and I was was amazed at how he treated her. They've become close buddies over the last two years. I watched her eyes light up when she looked at him. He sat on the bed with her and talked about Batman and candy. The rest of us looked at her with sad and concerned eyes and all he saw was his Grandma Dude. Today he visited her with my mom and she said he sat there and held her hand and asked where his presents were. He doesn't know anything about cancer or death. How wonderful. Thank you Tyler for your innocence and for loving your Grandma Dude so much.

Halloween Tradition

I think it's funny when I realize I have some sort of tradition and had no idea. I've been taking pictures of Tyler for the last three years with our Mr Potato Head Pirate Pumpkin. I think I will keep this tradition going. I like seeing how much he's grown each year. Where did my little Yoda go?

A Very Exciting Saturday!

Saturday we celebrated a few milestones for our little family. ~Roy and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary! Woo Hoo! ~ Tyler took his first trip across the state line. ~ We went to Eckerts farm in Grafton Illinois. It was actually a really cool way to leave the state for the first time. We had to take 2 ferries. ~We realized that he was getting too old to fool. ~ We went to Eckerts with the intention of going apple picking. He watches that show Caillou and there was an episode where they went apple picking so he was well aware of how it worked. So the last couple weeks we've been hyping the whole apple picking thing. Since there was a late freeze this year a lot of the apple harvest was ruined so the apples were limited. So instead of picking them yourself, they pick them and you buy them. So I thought I was being clever when I let him "pick" the bag of apples we were going to buy. It appeared to work until we were on the way home and he started screaming "I forgot to go apple picking!" It was kind of sad.

The FedEx Arrow

One of my customers told me that on every Fedex truck there is an arrow. I finally found it and now I see FedEx trucks everywhere. Everytime I see one my eyes go straight to the arrow. Did anyone else know about the this?

A Winery Wedding

On Saturday we attended a beautiful wedding at Hidden Lake Winery in Illinois. We were so excited to get away for a weekend and spend time with old friends. It was a great time. I only had a few mishaps(my hair went flat before the reception and I rolled my ankle twice). After a few glasses of wine I began feeling sentimental and couldn't help but to look around the table and notice all the happy couples. We are so blessed to have wonderful friends who all seem to be happily married. It could've been the wine. :)

Beans and Weiners

I read somewhere that sometimes you have to introduce a food to a child 11 time before they will accept it. With Tyler's limited food options because of his food allergies and his unwilllingness to try new things we are always excited when we find things he really likes. Tonight he tried Hormels Beans and Weiners for like the sixth time and was shoveling it into his mouth. I realize this is not the healthiest thing you can feed a toddler but he also ate a bowl of mixed veggies with soy butter. Thank you Hormel for creating one meal that doesn't contain milk or eggs!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Thank you Christopher Columbus for this Federal Holiday. Last year we started a family tradition of visiting Rombachs Pumpkin Patch on Columbus day. This year it was 90 degrees outside and it was very hard to pretend it was fall. Tyler still had a great time and was overwhelmed with all the pumpkins and "spookies."

Playdate (Practice for the Real Thing)

Everyone knows Mallori and Tyler are destined for marriage. Saturday they had a fun filled play date that surprisingly involved very few tears. The evening involved McDonald's, Play dough, and a little Jungle Book. A big thanks and shout out to Kelly for providing the location of the play date even though she isn't feeling well. Next time they can destroy my house! (In case you're wondering the fathers were at a bachelor party. That's right they are 30 and they were out at the clubs.)

Welcome to the Family!

On September 22nd Roy, Melissa, and I welcomed a new brother to the family. We are so excited to have Brandon as our new bro!

A Boot Story

These are Tyler's "Fight the Bees" boots. He wears them every day even though they are a size too small and smell really bad. It all started when Roy knocked down a wasp nest on our deck. In a frantic search for something to "fight the bees" with, he came running from his room wearing the boots and carrying a golf club. His feet have never smelled the same.

Our Blog Begins..........

I'm so excited to start posting all of the crazy things that happen in our house. Now I can just tell all my Tyler stories on here instead of boring my friends and coworkers!