Slumber Party

We went out with friends and left all of the kids together with two babysitters at our house. At about 10 the sitters put the older ones down for the night. Some of the kids had to share rooms and Lucas and Tyler bunked together. We moved them to their own rooms later in the night but it was so sweet seeing them sleeping together for the first time.

"I Pirate Head!"

"Mommy, I pirate head!"

Lucas is doing so well with his speech. In the last few weeks his language has exploded. His teachers tell me he is talking like crazy at school. He regularly uses 4, 5 & 6 word sentences and will occasionally do 8 or more words. His speech therapist feels his strength has improved and his intelligibility is good. He's doing so well that we don't need to meet with her regularly anymore. We are working on some of his exercises like tongue clicking and lip pops and will check back in with her in March for another evaluation. Yeah Lucas!

Rice Christmas Treats

The kids love to make what they call Rice 'Christmas' Treats with Glammie.

Glammie gets a little sugar while the treats cool.

Happy Birthday Dad & Granny Re!

We celebrated Papa & Granny Re's birthday's this weekend!

I didn't take pictures but the kids had lots of fun running around with their cousins. Even Cole was getting in on the action.

Alien Invader

You can find just about anything at TJ Maxx.

Korte Rec Center

We took the kids swimming at the Korte Rec Center. It had been awhile since they'd been in the water so I wasn't sure how Tyler would do but they loved it.

They mainly played in the little kids splash section but Lucas did venture with us to the bigger pool a few times.

Tyler went down this slide a million times.

Tyler hates getting water in his eyes so he borrowed Delaney's googles.

Lucas usually laughs when he gets water in his eyes. It's fun to see how different their personalities are!

For The Record Books

Tyler had his four year appointment and here are the latest stats:

Height 41" (75%)

Weight 38 lb (75%)

Bouncy Birthday Bash!

Tyler celebrated his 4th birthday with a joint party with Delaney & Claire. All three have birthday's within 2 weeks of each other and they have many mutual friends so it was a lot of fun and so easy to share a party. The 4 year-olds (and Lucas) ready to party.

Many of the guest after lots of bouncing fun.

Tyler doesn't usually like bounce houses so I asked him several times if he was sure he wanted to have his party there or just do his own party and this is what he wanted. I still wasn't sure how he would do but I was surprised to see how much fun he had. He really loved climbing around and the three big slides but didn't want to jump around in the regular bounce houses.

Lucas loves jumping around and spent most of the party in the ball pit.

Left to Right: Uncle Jeff throws Tyler in; Uncle Jeff & Aunt Amy with the birthday boy; Aunt Erica chats with Lucas & Tyler.

Claire; Koen; Noah & Luke.

Jake & Julia; Landon; Bella; Ryan.

Happy Birthday Tyler, Delaney & Claire!!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Here is Brian's 4th Birthday video for Tyler. This is such a sweet tradition he has kept for the boys. Both Tyler and Lucas really love watching all of their past birthday videos. This year Tyler even helped pick out the songs for his video.

Overheard

Tyler: "I'm going to doctor you."
Then peering into my ears with both the otoscope and the tool for checking your reflexes
Tyler: "Oh Mommy, you have flute (fluid) in your ears. Now let me check your heart."
Pulling out the stethoscope and listening to my heart
Tyler: "It sounds good Mommy. You have Jesus in your heart."

Me: "Lucas, did you have a good nap?"
Lucas:"Uuuh, Yep!"
Me: "What did you dream about?" (Expecting an answer like Buzz Lightyear or Clifford)
Lucas: "iPad. I dream iPad."

Tyler Celebrates At School

Ms. Linda made Tyler a shirt with his name and 4 candles on it for his upcoming birthday.

Scary Monsters

Papa's back room was invaded by scary monsters today. Tyler and Lucas took turns (over and over and over) running into his office yelling and then running back out.

How You Doin'?

Baby Bella

Tyler loves babies so he was excited to hold new baby Isabella. Lucas asked to hold her also, but I was a little too nervous about that one.