Tyler's Birthday!

I can't believe it, my boy is 4 years old already. I remember back to the day I had him and the first few moments of his life that almost took him from us and I thank God for my little miracle. What a joy he is to us. His generous spirit, his infectious laugh, and his need for affection are the things I love most about Tyler. He is my gentle soul (albeit a little stubborn).

In the beginning of the week, Grammie and Gramps brought over their presents which were a huge hit. He got a ball you could ride on (which was his favorite) , a soccer ball, and a few shirts. He also got a T-ball set so now we can teach him how to play some sort of sports instead of how to dress a Barbie. He is definitely all boy but he has been influenced by his big sister to play a pretty mean game of "princess."This was one of his favorite toys, too. It's a little snake thing that acts "real" by pulling the almost invisible string attached to its nose. This little guy had no idea what he was in for when he became Tyler's pet. He was dragged down the hallway and roughed up so much I had to superglue his eyes back on and he's only belonged to Tyler for a few days! Earlier in the week, we celebrated cousin Ethan's birthday who is almost exactly one year older than Tyler. Tyler loves his cousin so much and looks up to him quite a bit. Here they are playing on the slide at the park by Ethan's house.

Then came the morning of Tyler's birthday. He got a few gifts from mommy and daddy that he opened before Mikayla went off to school for the day.
Later in the morning, we had his little party. I told him that he could invite 4 people so he chose who he wanted to spend his birthday with. I asked my friend, Aly, to make his cake and she did such a beautiful job that I didn't want to cut it. She based the cake around 2 of Tyler's favorite cars, his "dirt track McQueen" and "The King." Look how adorable it is...
Thanks, Aly, it was a huge hit!! Here are all of the kids on the "picnic blanket" in the living room since it was raining outside. I was disappointed that they couldn't bounce in the bounce house but I promised Tyler that we could do it another day.
Blowing out the 4 candles on his birthday cake.
After Tyler's party, Will took him to Disneyland since he got in for free and they spent the whole afternoon riding on rides and taking in the shows. That night, we went to Mikayla's school fundraiser at Red Robin. Tyler got his very own ice cream sundae which he gave to Mikayla after he only ate one bite. Mikayla spent the whole time looking for friends (that's another whole blog entry) and all in all, we had a good time finishing up a great day.
Happy Birthday to my precious Tyler...

You're FOUR!!

At the Lake

Last weekend we went to the lake with my sister, her family, and my parents. We have been meaning to go out on my sister's boat for some time now but never planned it but this weekend we saved the date! OK, so the water was a little dirty looking but the kids had so much fun swimming, especially with their cousin's life jackets.This was where we sat. It was so crowded we could hardly find a place to sit...well, not quite. As you can see, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves, which is why the boys eventually went from here......to here. I guess it was about 10 degrees cooler by the water but the girls stayed back at the original camp. Bryan and Cara brought their boat and I couldn't wait to ride. I think I was more excited than the kids to catch some waves. Mikayla would scream every time we went fast over a wave and my dad and I are convinced that Bryan is now the favorite uncle to my kids. Do you think Mikayla likes it?
Lynnea thought that squeezing Auntie Cara's lips was pretty fun. She had just gotten a diaper change which is why she has no shirt on. All in all, we had a relaxing day full of sun and family. The perfect day.

Finally...a watermelon!

In our little vegetable garden we've had a watermelon vine...a big watermelon vine. For quite a while it just grew, and grew, and grew, and eventually it took over my garden, stealing space from every other plant in the bed. Then I trimmed it about a month ago. When Mikayla came over to investigate the clippings, she gasped. She said, "uh, mom? I think you cut this one a little too early." There, in her hands, was a small watermelon that still looked like a cucumber. I felt like crying...all this work and I chopped off the fruit!! Frantically, I looked for another small blossom, fruit, anything! I finally found one, in the back of the garden. I nurtured it, watered it, kept the bugs off of it (my pride and joy) and, about a month later, this is what it became......and boy, wasn't it delicious! Tyler could barely hold it and we all had to take pictures of it.
Then we cut it. Even though it had seeds the size of small M&M's, the work of de-seeding was worth it. We have several more on the vine so we're excited to finally have some fruit for our labor, so to speak.