Because I have cute kids

Ty was sick recently with strep, and the week before Noah had roseola... We spent a lot of time in the house for those two weeks and used up our fair share of Tylenol.

 Ty only wanted to sleep near us so Michael got kicked out of our bed and Ty slept nights in bed with me. Naps also took place in our room... a big change from our usual routine.

 The boys doing what they love most... Noah-eating, Ty-puzzles.

 This kid hasn't been the biggest fan of books (we will often go to read him one and he will immediately try to close the book), especially after seeing Ty's love for them from such a young age, but recently he will bring us a book and sit on our laps. He especially loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  

 Oh man, I think my favorite part of the day is going in to look at my kids sleeping. I can give them as many kisses as I want with no protests. Like look how cute! I love those thighs. He is looking so much bigger lately. 

My little rascals. They sure love each other. I cut Ty's hair before his birthday, but it's looking like it may need another cut, but Noah's is longer and starting to lighten up a lot since it's summer. I am torn as to if I should cut it or keep it long and let it get nice and light.. Any votes?

Noah has been calling my name lots. "MA!!" He will wake up early in the morning and start yelling for me. Sometimes he will say "Da" and he said "nana" (banana) the other day. He also signed "more" for the first time today. Yesterday we were eating dinner at Michael parents and he was finished, or so I thought, and out of his high chair but I was still eating and he kept trying to get up on my lap and started yelling "ME ME ME ME" hahahaha, We hadn't heard him say that word before but it was so funny! I doubt he knew he was talking about himself, but it was hilarious. 

Ty's Third Birthday Parties

I can't believe we have a 3 year old now. Ty is very independent. When we are home, he usually will play with Noah or on his own doing puzzles... that is, when he isn't watching a show which he also loves, but what 3 year old doesn't? We had originally scheduled his birthday party to be on the weekend, but Ty's friends couldn't make it, but when they could, some family couldn't make it, so we did two separate birthday parties for Ty this year. A family one and a friend one... I'll never do it again but Ty had a blast being spoiled. Next year we will switch to just friend parties for Ty.

 Before everyone arrived ^^

 Noah and Grandma Mendenhall. He is growing up so fast!

 Almost all of Ty's Aunties... (minus Breanne)... sorry for the funny angle girls.

 PUZZLES.. haha

 He's probably done both 20 times in the past 2 weeks.

Yesterday we were in church and Ty made his way to the row behind us with one of my Visiting Teachers and her husband. He colored a bit with them and then he somehow weaselled his way into playing on their iPad. The app he played was a puzzle game mostly scenery and more adult looking puzzles with maybe 30-40 puzzle pieces. Anyways, he was PRO... just putting them where they were suppose to go. They were both SO impressed and kept telling us how amazing he is at puzzles... We told them he does a LOT of puzzles at home. I love doing puzzles to, but it's hard to do them with kids who can grab the pieces and lose them, but now it looks like I might have a future puzzling buddy!! 

 Playing with his new train set from Mom and Dad :)

 Trying to get Ty to eat some cake, but he only likes the icing. 

 Noah on the other hand.....

 Ty loves his new baseball thingofamajigger... It can be used as a tball post, or it will pop the balls up and you can hit them. He was actually doing really well for his first time. 

 Noah getting in on all that ball action. 

And here are photos from his friend party. He loves Sully from Monsters Inc and Monsters University. He has these two little toys he carries around all day. One is from a Kinder Surprise, so it was obvious what I would use to decorate. I thought it turned out pretty good for my unimaginative, not-so-crafty self. 

 Pin the Eye on Mike

Ty before the party in our picture corner.. A lot of the posed photos I take of the kids are in this corner. 

I made little badges for the kids with their names and when they came we took their picture and I used my portable Polaroid printer to print off little pictures onto the paper and they are also stickers so onto the badge they went. SO cute! 

 All the kids with their badges. Minus Carter because they came a bit late. 

 Ty's awesome cake they decorated for us from Dairy Queen.. And is that "Happy Birthday Jw"??? haha 

Ty got lots of games for his birthday. DVD Bingo, which he LOVES, Snakes and Ladders, and Memory. So fun for him to be the age he can start understanding games. He loved having all his friends there to play with. Success!

Ty is THREE!

Happy Birthday to our sweet THREE year old, Ty!! He introduces himself always as "Ty Thomas" when people ask his name. Ty loves to be silly especially with his Dad. Ty LOVES the park and playing at all his Grandma and Grandpa's houses.. especially in their yards. Ty still loves puzzles so much. He just got two for his birthday and they were the first things he started playing with. He also loves to read books. He even has about 4-5 memorized fairly well. Ty is so friendly to everyone around him. Whenever we go out, he is always telling some stranger about what we are up to... "This is my Mom. She's taking me to a movie." or "This is my baby brother, Noah." or "HI doggie. I'm going to the park". It's so fun to see how social he is to everyone. He can also be bossy... whoops, that one comes from me. :) Ty loves all his Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents. He always talks about them and loves being around them. He's very lucky to have so many people who love him, especially his little brother Noah.  Ty is a wonderful exciting part of our family. We sure love you Ty Thomas!

This photo was taking in the spring in the coulees on all the ice along the river. (Film photo by Michael... we love his film photos)

I also just wanted to write down some stuff about Ty and where he is at:

-weighs 30 lbs
-speaks really clearly.. people are always commenting on how well he speaks for his age
-still take 1 nap a day for usually 1-2 hours
-WILL NOT potty train. I tried for 4 days but he couldn't be bothered to use the potty.. fingers crossed it will happen this summer so he can start joy school in the fall!!
-goes to sleep usually around 8 (sometimes 9 when he comes out of his room over and over again) and he wakes up at 7 on a good day... a few nights recently its 545-6am.
-still does not like any sauce or condiment
-loves eating foods as they are... carrots, peas, cucumber, cottage cheese, avocado, banana.... His main diet is just foods like that.
-as I said, he loves puzzles and books so much
-loves jumping on the trampoline
-bedtime routine is pjs, brush teeth, say prayers, read books, hugs and kisses from Mom and Dad.
-loves to sleep with his "baby" and two "lions"

I need to get better at writing things down that he says... recently: "Jody, when I get older I will cut your hair... won't that be fun?"

Park Lake Camping

We went camping with the Malmbergs for one night at Park Lake. It's a great campground! The lake is supposively nasty but the campsites are nice and big with lots of trees. This was our first camping trip of the year and it was a success... Besides the fact we tried to put our kids to bed early to get some quiet time but that backfired with the 3 year olds wanting to stay up because they weren't even tired yet. haha.

 Hot dogs for dinner and marshmallows for dessert. Thats pretty much what my kids will want to be eating all summer when we camp. 

 Munching down on the gooey goodness

Noah enjoyed the evening by hanging out in the stroller. 

Ty loves Cali so it was fun for them to run around and play. We brought their bikes so they liked practicing on them. I had to get up early the next morning because I won tickets to Ladiesfest, and 8k, here in Lethbridge at 8am. I ran with Cassandra and it was great because we are the same fitness level. It was hard, but fun to walk and visit sometimes. The next 3 days were brutal though with sore legs beyond belief. haha But it was so worth it!

G&G Smiths

We went over to my Mom and Bryan's place one evening for dinner. Here's some cute photos...

 The kids have always liked standing up here. 

 The kids love Brady (the dog) except for Ty. Ty always keeps a good distance between him and any big dog. 

 All the kids love their Auntie Cass 

 

haha, Maddy's face is the best here!!

Edmonton trip

We took a trip to Edmonton recently and it was a blast. We drove the full 5 hours with 2 kids without stopping *high fives all around*. Then we went to Chuck E Cheese and it was so much fun. Next time we will probably eat before we go because the food wasn't great, but there was so much for the kids to do (and us) and we all loved it.

 First night in the hotel. Ty got his own Queen bed (and Michael and I shared a King.... heaven!!)

 The next evening we went to West Ed Waterpark with the Robinsons and Nikki. It was a blast and after we all went out for dinner. 

 I couldn't stop taking pictures of my kids sleeping on this trip, haha. 

 I'm in love^^^ 

 We went up because Michael was at a conference for work so me and the kids met up with the Robinsons one afternoon at a park. Ty and Norah began their friendship.

 Another evening we took our kids to West Ed Galaxyland. The kids also loved this. Look how handsome my husband is please!! 

 On the Ferris Wheel!

 Can't wait to take them back when they are even older. I love theme parks, but Michael isn't a huge fan, but hopefully we can take our kids lots.  

 Our kids were in heaven. 

 "stay in there Noah"

Along with all this stuff we got to do, we shopped a bunch, ate an AMAZING meal at the Robinson's house after church on Sunday, and I got to go out with Jessica and Nikki one evening for dinner. It was so fun to visit with my Besties! We all enjoyed our trip to Edmonton, but it was nice to be able to get home to our own beds after 4 nights in a hotel. I should mention though it wasn't just one room. Our hotel room was a family suite so it had a separate room with a king bed, where we kept Noah in the playpen and it was nice because the kids were able to nap. We also had a kitchen and dining room!!