Randomness

Tyler is in to fixing everything around the house. Once he's done with one "project" he asks me what he can fix next. There's no limits as to what he fixes, he's very talented and can fix cabinets, floors, closets, pretty much everything :) I was feeding Zac the other day and he was in the hallway talking to himself saying "I'm fixing this for Daddy". Our front door hits the wall and made a small hole in the wall. This is what Tyler was fixing. He had his screwdriver shoved in the hole and was hitting it with a hammer. He hollowed it out nicely for Dad and made a nice quarter size hole for Daddy to fix up. Gotta give him credit for trying!

I love our house and the big window that looks in to the back yard. I can make dinner and watch Tyler while he plays. He's starting to play really great by himself and with friends. I love watching what he's going to do to entertain himself! Here he is walking his tools around the yard and then sitting in his clubhouse yelling across the street "Catherine, Joseph, I'm in the back yard!" :)

Tyler has 2 lawnmowers and the other day he asked me where his weed wacker and blower were. He wants to be just like Dad. So he got a new weed wacker and leaf blower so he could be like Dad. He takes his lawn mowing job very seriously and knows the order in which you use the lawn tools. Lawnmower, weed wacker, blower he says as he follows what Dad does in the yard. My Mom said to me the other day that with 2 boys I'll never have to worry about mowing the lawn and I never thought of that. My sister and I always mowed the lawn, so maybe my lawn mowing days are over? Oddly enough I still enjoy mowing and every once in a while will tell Dave that I want to do it. Brings back memories :) We flew our Spiderman kite for the first time last week and it was a big hit! Tyler loved chasing it around and it was the perfect day to get it way high up in the sky. I forgot how much fun it is to fly a kite.

These brothers are starting to play with each other. Tyler is very gentle (for the most part) with his brother, except for this past weekend when he threw a boo-boo pack and it smacked Zac right in the face. Tyler didn't hit him on purpose, but Zac is learning that at any given moment objects can be launched from the stairs, across the room or an occasional sneak attack from behind the big chair. Zac didn't enjoy his first smack in the face very much and Tyler was very sorry for hurting him. Chalk it up as the first of many incidents.

Did anyone hear really high pitched screams on Friday night? I'm pretty sure they heard it on the West Coast and my ears are still ringing...Jill and Kevin surprised Alex and Sydney on Friday night and told them they were leaving to go to Disney World on Saturday morning. Insert high pitched screams and very, very, very happy little girls. It was awesome to see them react to the surprise. Here they are putting together the puzzle pieces they found on a scavenger hunt. The puzzle said "We're going to Disney World!".

I've been trying to capture Zac's sweet smiles and I'm not very good at it. Here's a few to hold you over until I write his 2 month update :)

And this past weekend, Mama got back in the groove. I ran in a 5k...just me, the cool morning air, pandora and my trustworthy sneakers that were worried I was gone forever. I'm back. Made me feel good.

Week in Review

Oh boy...it's been a crazy week. We had a birthday party for Juli which started off last weekend. Good dinner with friends, we carried on in to Saturday to have Dave climb Karen and Ben's tree to cut down some old branches. He loves this stuff. Get out the climbing gear and head up a tree = lots of fun for Dave. Then Tyler had some fun running under the hose with Dad = heaven for Tyler. Dave and I woke up Sunday at 6am and both didn't feel well at all. We spent Sunday fighting a nasty stomach bug (along with most of our friends and neighbors) and Dave was totally out of commission while I was able to keep the kids in track until Grammy 911 (Dave's Mom) came to the rescue to help us out - phew! Thank goodness for bubble guns. I laid in the yard and kept that thing blowing bubbles while Tyler ran around like a nut and I didn't have to move until Gram arrived. Dave was supposed to leave for CA on Sunday and had to cancel his flight because he couldn't get on a plane the way he was feeling. Dave's Mom stayed overnight and woke up with the baby so we could both get some sleep. I woke up on Monday feeling better and refreshed and Dave was still not 100%, but ended up going to CA on Monday.

So Tyler, Zac and I forged on through the week and by Wednesday night I was having a major breakdown. Our feisty 2 year old along with my lack of sleep had worn me down to the point of breaking. In between waking up to feed Zac, I was also investigating an alleged crocodile sighting in Tyler's room at 1:30 am one night. Thankfully, Grammy 911 (my Mom) planned to come down Thursday morning and stay until Saturday. My Mom arrived and the rest of the week was really good. We had some walks in the summer like weather, I got to fit in a run, Nichole and the girls came down for a sleep over, Dad came home Saturday night and April, Joe and Asa came for a visit on Sunday. All's well that ends well :)



















This kid is super chill...picture describes him perfectly :)



Tyler tests everything out for his brother



And he's already trying to watch TV

Easter Weekend

We spent Easter weekend at our parents houses this year. Lots of cuddles for the little guy, egg dying fun and an Easter egg hunt at Grammy and Pop Pops. Instead of dyed eggs we kind of ended up with dyed egg salad due to Tyler's experimenting, but that's ok.

We did have one hiccup that weekend. Our doctor told us to put peroxide in Tyler's ears every day until he complains of pain because he had some wax around his tubes that we needed to get rid of. It's been over a year since he's had an ear infection...these tubes have done wonders for him. So we put drops in on Saturday and no problem, he actually asked for more. On Sunday right before we were going to sit down for Easter dinner I did the drops again and Tyler freaked! Apparently, the wax was gone and they never described the level of "pain" that he'd complain of. Even with all of the ear infections he had I've never really seen him in pain, but this was terrible. He cried and screamed and said it hurt, so Tyler and I cuddled for dinner (both of us were in tears) until he felt better. Aunt Jill's strawberry shortcake along with singing Happy Birthday to Aunt Donna on the phone (with candles lit on our cake so he could blow them out for her) did the trick of making him forget about what happened, but it was terrible. I didn't like it one bit, but I guess we just chalk it up to another parenting moment under our belts. This job is tough...

Here's pictures of the happier Easter moments :)

Playing catch up

Need to catch up with a camera dump :)

Cuddles with Aunt Kris



Eating gummies with cousin Kyle



Nice weather and maternity leave with 2 friends means the baby brigade is out walking on the trail



Still fixing stuff. The other day he made me a bird house :)



More cuddles with Aunt Juli



Relaxing with Dad in the front yard



Mr. Potato Head



Uncle Paul "The Baby Whisperer" with Zac and Nash



Having a picnic dinner in the back yard



Showing off new big brother/dinosaur tattoo's that Aunt Doris and Uncle Ace sent. These were a huge hit! Thanks Aunt Doris and Uncle Ace :)



Lots blooming around here...the trees look so nice!



Peaceful baby :)



Tyler did an impromptu photo shoot of me the other day...here's a sample of one of his best shots ha ha! He's really getting in to this picture taking thing :)



Not really sure who this is. Maybe the Green Goblin?? With 2 boys I really need to brush up on my super hero knowledge! Super hero update: Thanks to our cousin Joe for letting me know this is The Green Lantern! I was too lazy to pick up the phone and call Dave at work to find out who this mysterious green man was :)



Super Grover! I definitely know this one!







And a few shots of our little pirogi. I have about 5,000 names for this guy already :)