We've got a 4 year old!

 Tyson turned 4 a few weeks ago.  It seems so much older than 3.  Maybe because we are closer to school age and he is getting so much more independent.  Since his birthday was on a Sunday, we went celebrated the day before and let him choose his activity. He wanted to go to the children's museum here.  Last time we went there was a huge dinosaur exhibit which he loved, but they rotate the big exhibits out and instead there was a construction zone.  He was a little bummed at first but then jumped right in to play. Camille love it as well so it was a good family outing!

This picture makes me laugh because Tyson did not want to smile and Camille was just happy to be along. She loved her pink hat and would not take it off!

We stopped at Burger King on the way home and he got a crown which he called his birthday crown. When he woke up the next morning and I reminded him it was his birthday, he told me he needed to put his crown on and ran to find it and continued to wear it throughout the morning. We had to talk him out of wearing it to church. (love Camille's cheesy smile!)

He wore the bowtie he got for his Uncle's wedding and looked so cute!  When they sang to him in Primary, he got to play an instrument with the song. He chose a little drum that went around his neck.  The whole image still makes me giggle. This big kid, with a small drum around his neck, and a bowtie with a very serious face, just pounding away on his drum.  I'm glad I get to be in Primary so I didn't miss it!

Don't look to closely at the cake!  He saw a football cake at Costco that he wanted, but I was not going to buy a huge cake for just our family.  I convinced him to let me try to make a cake in the shape of a football and that seemed to work all right for him.

Happy Birthday Tyson! May all your 4 year old wishes come true!

Must love Animals

Have I ever mentioned that Tyson loves animals?  Well he does.  One morning he came up to me wanting some paper and crayons because he needed to make an animal.  So he colored splotches of different colors on each paper and told me he needed them taped behind he ears and onto his arms. Ok.  I complied.  He then wanted me to guess what he was... Can you guess??

He is a peacock!! Pretty creative...or crazy :) but I love how his mind just goes and goes.  He then asked me what peacocks eat.  At our zoo, peacocks just roam around the sidewalks and eat crumbs left behind from people.  So of course...he needed some crumbs to eat too.

On Valentine's Day I was able to go in to Tyson's preschool and help with the party. I was pretty excited to get in the classroom and watch him a little bit.  This is the only picture I have from that whole day! I can't believe I didn't grab one of Camille or any of our pink plates, heart pancakes, pink milk, and presents for breakfast. Oh well!

Birthday Girl

More often than not, my birthday seems to fall on SuperBowl Sunday.  And this happened to be the year. Not only that, but I turned 30! Lucky me!  I am lucky though to have had my mom come out and share my special day, weekend, and whole week!  We went shopping and more shopping where she helped me pick out a new oufit and of course, the accessories (I don't she think she trusted me to get them on my own after she left town!)

We decided to make some Superbowl type food and throw and impromptu party with a couple friends of ours. It turned out to be really fun and the food was so good!  Thanks mom for coming out and celebrating with us even on your bum foot.  The kids have missed you!

I have lots to catch up on, so we'll just start small! Back in January, Scott's brother that lives here in Omaha got married! We were excited have his family come out here, some visiting for the first!  Mid January probably wasn't the best time to have a bunch of Arizonans out, but hopefully they didn't freeze too much and will be back! These pictures are from the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.  Tyson clearly enjoyed his meatball.

It sure was fun to go shopping for new dress attire!

Family Christmas

Christmas Eve and morning were spent here in our home. It was fun to have just our family together to create new traditions.  Here are the kids gathered at our Christmas Eve dinner!

It was so fun seeing Tyson come down the stairs that morning. I loved how he paused at the top of the stairs for a picture when he thought I wanted one.  When he came into our room that morning, I think he had forgotten that it was Christmas and once I reminded him, he was ready to go!  He had asked for a racetrack and was so excited that Santa delivered.  The day before Tyson had made a sticker picture and wanted to leave it to show Santa.  I asked him if Santa could take it and if we should leave a note for him.  All he wanted to say was:  "Just Look, Santa" (meaning...don't take my picture!)

Camille got some baby doll things and some dress-up shoes, hoping she'll leave mine in the closet from now on.  This girl loves to wear necklaces and shoes!  She's trying them on here...and also testing out the doll play pen, which she's convinced is just for her.

Christmas morning we had yummy french toast and sausage and enjoyed playing with our toys until church, which wasn't until 3:00.  

 The next morning we headed off to Utah.  We stayed through New Year's and had a really great time with Scott's family. We played lots of late night games, played volleyball, I snuck in some after Christmas sale shopping, and the kids just played and played with their cousins! I hardly saw Tyson!  Here is Scott, his Dad and older brother enjoying the BYU bowl game (of course).

Grandma Howard had bought all her granddaughters the same adorable dress and we knew we had to get a picture with her! Camille was not too thrilled about the idea of pictures at the moment although she looked darling!

I just realized that I am not in a single one of these pictures! I promise I was there making it all happen! :)

Finally I was able to publish one song from Tyson's preschool Christmas program.  The quality of my video is not great but I love how he was trying to make the girl beside him feel better. Enjoy!

Christmas Joy

We went to visit Santa at Scott's work. They always give the kids a nice toy and have cookies and crafts to do as well. Tyson loved talking with Santa and I alway laugh when Santa gives a big "humph" when trying to pick Tyson up on his lap. Camille didn't cry but leaned as far away from him as possible and would not make eye contact. I don't why this picture turned out fuzzy but you can kind of get the idea. Tyson had a preschool Christmas program which I was so excited to watch. He had been practicing his songs at home and knew all the words and actions. I have a video that I'm having trouble uploading...hopefully soon! Here he is with a cute friend of his that used to be in our ward and they are good buddies or a possible blossoming romance!
I love their Christmas Sunday attire and was thrilled I actually got a couple pictures of them both smiling together! Merry Christmas!

Tis the Season...

I'll have to do December in a couple different posts. I always forget how busy this month can be! We started off the month by decorating our Christmas tree. As you can tell by Camille's face, she was enthralled with it as it went up. She's been pretty good about keeping the ornaments on, only taking a few off every once in a while. (I don't know why she was carrying around a toothbrush)

I love this pic of her finger carefully touching the light.
And I'm loving Tyson's hair in this one.
She's so good at smiling at the camera and I love her sparkly shoes! This month I put Tyson in a 4 week "Iron Chef" class at the community center. I knew it would be right up his alley and when he got to wear a chef hat he was in heaven! He's getting ready to make pizza!

Forget the spoon, my hands work just as good!

Camille is waiting for the final project!

Ta-da!

The last week, they got to make Christmas cookies!

Just a couple of our many activites! More to come!

Tyson loves preschool! When I asked him what his favorite thing to do at preschool was, he said, "eating snacks." Each parent takes a turn bringing snacks in. This morning when I told Tyson it was preschool day, he jumps up and down and says, "Yay! Who's bringing the snacks today?" Oh, the important things. I believe/hope he is learning other things as well. :) He comes home with lots of fun art and pictures to share. He's a cute boy and definitely at an age that keeps us laughing. He talks non-stop about anything and everything and I need to do better at writing the funny things down. He's loves to imagine and pretend, loves to play with his animal toys and loves learning. He's got a quick mind that soaks things up and an amazing memory. I'm sure thankful for him and love him a lot!

Tyson's preschool picture-age 3

Such a Tease!

Camille loves to tease Tyson. Sometimes while my very orderly son is playing with something, she will sneak up, grab one of his toys, and run away as fast as she can with a sly smile on her face. It cracks me up everytime although Tyson doesn't think its quite so funny. Here in this video, they were playing something cute together and so I tried to video it but then she randomly decideds body slam him and continues to put her feet on his face. I'm glad Tyson tolerates it and will play along with her on the majority of occasions. She is 15 months old and is getting quite the fun personality. She is my shadow most of the day which can drive me a tad crazy someyimes, but she's often smiling and happy so its a good balance. (sidenote: the high-pitched squeal is Tyson as well as the constant "cheeeeese")