Fun with friends

Last week we had two wonderful outings with friends.  On Tuesday Emma and I met Marie and Evan at Tohono Chul Park for a fun outdoor story time.  The kids had a great time and really enjoyed the children's garden.

On Wednesday we headed to Maricopa to visit with our friends Keli, Tyler, and Mia who were in Arizona from Chicago visiting her parents.  We went to a park, went out to lunch, and then the boys played in the pool while the girls napped.  I would give anything in the world for them to live closer so that we could get together more than just a few times a year!

Tyler Brown and Tyler Posch as they like to call each other!

Our sweet little girly girls giving each other  smooch goodbye.

4 Year appointment

It has taken me a full week but I have finally gotten over the shock and have found the humor in our 4 year well child visit.  As you reread the last blog post about my sweet boy try to imagine the total opposite!!!  The appointment started off wonderfully, but made a rapid decline when I had asked the Dr. to check out what I thought was a hemorrhoid.   He has a tiny one but the problem he is having is from a small tear (this is pretty common but it causes some pain when he poops and he sometimes bleeds...grossed out yet!?).  Anyway, he DID NOT want her to look at it and caused quite a scene.  I actually had to hold him down for her to examine him.   Then to add insult to injury he had to get shots.  I knew he wasn't looking forward to this part of the appointment but never in a million years did I expect him to get up on all fours on the table and start screaming, "NO, NO I DON'T WANT ANY SHOTS!!!  GET AWAY FROM ME!  PLEASE LEAVE, I DON'T WANT ANY SHOTS!!!"  (I am using all caps to in small small way convey the shear volume of my child).  At this point I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, I chose to just slightly giggle!  I swear I am not the crappiest mom in the world but seriously what else can you do in this situation?  It was either that or start to cry myself.  I tried calming him but by this point it was useless.  We had to hold him down while he screamed loud enough to cause what I am hoping is not permanent hearing loss in my right ear!=0  Seriously though, he was not a happy camper.  After the shots were done the poor nurse stood there trying to apologize to me for slightly scratching his leg with the needle!  I was like, 'Seriously, YOU are apologizing to ME? I am the one who should be apologizing to you for my physco child! 

As soon as she was done he was totally fine.  He got totally calm and quiet and said, "Can I have my Matchbox car now?"   The poor baby (read that with a lot of sarcasm) was completely shocked that his heinous mother would not give him the car that she had told him that he would get if he was good at the Dr. office.  

As we left the office I called Marshall and informed him that he would be the one to take little Brown for his 5 year well child visit....I am not sure that I can go through that ordeal again at least not sober!=)

PS...He weighed 40 lbs and was 40.5 inches tall.  That is the 75% for weight and the 50% for height.

My Fantastic Four Year Old

Can you believe that our boy is FOUR years old?  I have a hard time even saying that!  Tyler has promised me that he will always be my baby, but if you spend even five minutes with him, you will soon realize that he just isn't a baby at all anymore.  He has grown in to such a big boy with a big personality to match it.

He is all boy....he is always on the go, he loves sports, cars and trucks are his favorite toys, and he is VERY rough and tumble.  But on the other hand, he loves to read, give hugs and kisses, help his mom and dad, and can charm the pants off of anyone!=)  He is so funny and loves to make us laugh.  I don't think I have ever been around a child who asks as many questions as he does...I just chalk that up to his brilliance!=)  Tyler has been blessed with the BIGGEST blue eyes which I am sure are going to work to his advantage in many aspects of his life.

I cannot even begin to tell you how he makes my heart swell.  We have always said that Tyler does everything on "Tyler time".  He may take a little longer than some kids to warm up to a new situation but once he has decided that he is ready he goes at his task full speed ahead. He really is an amazing boy.  I wish you all lived closer so that you could be here to watch him grow in to the little man he is quickly becoming.

We had his birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza (think Chuck E Cheese without the giant mouse) on Friday evening.  He had five little boys from school come and a few other friends.  He was very insistent that only boys and sisters could come.  The kids played games, ate pizza, played more games, ate cupcakes, played some more games, watched Tyler open gifts, and then played even more games!  Everyone had a nice time and Tyler really enjoyed himself.  The first thing he said on Saturday was, "Mom and Dad, since today is my real birthday can we please go back to Peter Piper and have another party?"

Eating his baseball cupcakes..I didn't get a picture of the cupcake cake=(

Friends from school, Anthony, London, and Tyler

Tyler and Kole

Riding the carousel with Daddy and Emma

Ready to dig in to cupcakes.

One of his favorite gifts...we are having lots of sword fights at our house now.

Happy birthday my sweet boy!

Our newest sport

Tyler is taking tennis lessons and he loves it!  They are learning the basics to the game and he is getting some more practice with his eye hand coordination.   As long as it involves a ball this boy is in to it!=)

Emma even got to long along this week and play ball girl.

Roses

All you need to do is pay for transportation to and from Joplin, Mo for my mom and your roses can look like this too!

My silly kids

Watching his current favorite movie Sandlot

When I lifted him him in there I sure was thankful he doesn't sleep in there anymore!

Trying to convince his sister to go on the potty.

Dancing naked in high heels..life is good!

His prize out of the treasure box for being good.

Click here to watch a funny video of Emma...it will make you wonder if she is part puppy dog!

Our week in review

We had a busy week this week.  On Tuesday Tyler had his Easter party at school and of course little Miss Emma went along and acted just like a preschooler.  They did some arts and crafts and had a small egg hunt on the playground.

(Check out Emma at the end of the line).

We had a midweek Dr. visit because Tyler came down with strep throat.   He did make a quick recovery thanks to some strong antibiotics. We were all thankful that Emma did not come down with it as well.  The best part of being sick for Tyler was that he got to go to work with Marshall and watch movies while Emma and I went to the Y.

Saturday was supposed to be the town egg hunt and Tyler's second tennis lesson but it rained all day and barely got to 60 degrees.  We pretty much stuck around the house and got a few last minute things done for Easter.

Sunday morning we got up and the kids found their baskets.  They were both thrilled with all of the contents.  Tyler had requested a kite so he was so happy about the Spider Man one that he got.  They both got a new cup, bubble whistles, chocolate bunny, some treat filled eggs, a kite, and books.  Emma also got a toy Cinderella camera and Tyler got some Hot Wheels.  

After we were done with the baskets we got ready for church.  We went to the 7:30 service and unbeknown to me there was no Sunday School or nursery at this time.  The kids had to stay with us through the service.  They were a little restless but not too awful bad.  I am pretty sure that the choir was entertained when they looked out and saw Emma twirling around to the music in her "pretty dress."

After church we headed out to a park to spend the rest of the day with our wonderful friends The Valenzuelas.  We had just such a great time this year.  They always have games (softball, kickball, sack races, egg toss, and more) so Tyler was just in hog heaven.  The park has playground equipment so between that and pushing her doll around in the stroller all day, Emma enjoyed herself as well.

It was a wonderful day spent with dear friends!

Saturday Night

We had a wonderful family day on Saturday.  The day started with Marshall taking Tyler to his first tennis lesson (he will take some pics next week) while Emma and I stayed home and just had a nice morning playing with puzzles and dolls.  After naps we headed over to the East side of town to check out Trail Dust Town.   It is a replica of an old western town.  They also have a restaurant, Pinnacle Peak, that is a nice family steak house.

The kids had a blast as did Marshall and I.  We started the evening off with the free wild west show.  The kids were both so excited about it that when they asked for a volunteer at the beginning I actually thought that Tyler might go up there.  He refused but I did it!  I really thought the kids would get a kick out of me being up there but it freaked Emma out and she kept crying saying, "mommy come back!".  I made an ass out of myself in public but at least got a few laughs!=)

Tyler was in awe of the gun fight and Emma could hardly remain in her seat she was so excited about what was going on.

(She took her necklace off and was using it as a lasso).

After dinner we rode the train around the property.  The kids loved it and yelled "choo choo" loud enough for the engineer to hear it so that he would keep that whistle blowing.

They have a one hundred year old carousel there and lots of little shops and such.  We didn't get there early enough to do all of that and after the train ride it was time to start heading home. We are all looking forward to our next visit so that we can try everything out that we missed.

Bye Bye binkie

We did it.  We took the binkie away from Emma last night.  The "Binkie Fairy" wrote her a letter early in the week and explained to her that since she was turning two that she was no longer a baby who needed a binkie.  I read the letter over and over to her and we talked about how we were going to tie the binkies on balloons and send them up in the sky to the Binkie Fairy so she could give them to little babies.  

Yesterday was her 2 year appointment (she weighed 25.8 lbs and was 35 inches) so I thought that I would wait until evening to take it away in case she needed it to comfort herself after shots (she didn't).  Marshall went to the store and got the balloons then we tied them on and went out in the yard.  We told the binkies good bye and then watched them float away.  Emma kept saying, "bye bye binkies" and "binkies go up in the sky", but she never seemed upset.  

After they were out of sight we went back into the house and got baths and dressed for bed. When Emma went in to her room to get dressed she found a thank you note and the present, a stuffed Cinderella doll,  that the Binkie Fairy had left her for being such a big girl.

She went to bed without one bit of fussing and Marshall and I were both shocked at how easy she went to sleep without having it in her mouth--she was REALLY attached to it at bedtime.  When she woke up this morning she went to the backdoor and said, "binkies went up in the sky" but again seemed fine.  Nap time was a little sad today but she didn't ask for it, she just cried and and wanted some extra rocking and singing--after I put her in bed she cried for about 15 minutes before she fell asleep.  

This was pretty easy and I am thinking I should have done it months ago!  Now if I can just get her potty trained!=)