Christmas Eve Morning

Since we planned to drive to Tyler on Christmas morning, we let Santa come early to our house. Christmas Eve morning we woke Tyler up and gave him his presents from Santa....two books, a push car, a stuffed animal, a ring toy, and the best gift of all, a playroom! We cleared out all the furniture in our den area (stored it in Lamar's office at church) and turned it into a nifty little playroom for Tyler. He was really excited to get in there and play, but he doesn't like being in it by himself. We are still working on the whole, "play by yourself" thing!

A little shout out....

I have to give a little shout out to our friends Nick and Lindsey. Not only have they made our move to Austin easier by being such amazing friends to us.....but they have become another aunt and uncle to Tyler. He just loves them. The other night I got really sick from a new medicine that I am on and Lamar was working late, so I called them and they came right over. Not only did Lindsey help me feed Tyler his dinner, give him his bath and help me put him to bed, (which he gladly let her do) but Nick made me homemade chicken noodle soup. I couldn't have felt more loved.

To add to their amazingness......they brought Tyler his very first Christmas present the other day. It was his very first Truck Book. He loves looking at the pictures while I read it to him. Thank you guys so much for all your love! You are such a blessing to us. We love you too!

Sweet Daddy!

I love giving gifts at Christmas time! As soon as I buy someone a present I want them to open it right then. About 3 months ago I started working on a present for Lamar (from Tyler). It was a story book of pictures of just him and Tyler from the day before he was born, until now. The title was "My daddy and me" and it was written as if Tyler were telling a story about him and Lamar, and all their adventures together. I have kept this a secret for so long and it has been killing me. So...I made Lamar open it early. It was so sweet. Tyler helped him open it (he actually just ate the wrapping paper), and then Lamar read it. I had to show you these pictures because they are just too sweet. And I have to tell on Lamar.....he cried just a little when he read the story....doesn't that make your heart just melt!



And YES, Lamar is sitting in Tyler's bathtub. It's a fun little boat now that Tyler uses the big bath!

Tyler the Incredible!

Tyler has a new favorite hobby. He loves to hang on anything and everything....the monkey bars on the playground, the gate in our house, the stool in front of the computer, even the wrapping paper mommy is holding. He is sooooo strong! (Let's also mention how strong I am for holding him up....just look at my super huge muscles! HAHAHAHA! Ok you can stop laughing now!)

Santa is NOT our friend!

My friend Lindsey and I went to Starbucks yesterday to enjoy a nice warm drink in the chilly weather. To our surprise, Santa was there taking pictures for FREE! All you stay-at-home-moms out there know that anything FREE is GOOOOOD! So, we tried to get Tyler to take his picture with Santa but he was not too impressed. His look says it all!
(This is a picture of a picture...so it's not that great of quality. )

Tyler the orange nosed reindeer!

I don't know why his nose is always orange. We have moved to all green veggies so maybe we will see a change soon. Get off my back!

Let me introduce you to....

Our playgroup.....
We love going to playgroup on Wednesdays. Tyler has made some really good friends and I love the adult conversation. This week was the first week Tyler actually acknowledged that there were other kids there. I was so happy to see that he's not anti-social.
Calvin, Harper and Tyler loved playing in the little house. Tyler likes going in and out of the door over and over and over again.


My favorite part was when they all crawled through the tunnel. Tyler wasn't sure which way to go once he got in there, but he had a blast doing it. So cute!

Tyler wasn't really into posing for the camera, but Calvin and Harper were adorable.

Little Miguelito is all smiles. He is such a happy boy and he has the most beautiful blue eyes. I love to make him laugh. Tyler just loves taking his toys.


Brendan and Patrick couldn't join us this week, but I will post some pictures of them later. Trust me...you want to see these cutie twins.

Fun in the Sun...in December!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cold weather......but.... I live in Texas! So....we have been trying to make the most of this crazy December Texas weather. Last week we took Tyler to play at the park with our friends Nick and Lindsey. Tyler has so much fun at the park, even though he can't walk around, because he loves playing (eating) all the rocks,

he really enjoys playing in the rocking car,

He loved it so much he rocked himself too hard and fell down inside the car. Don't worry, Lindsey was there to save him. Just a tiny scrape so we just told him, "Be a man, rub some dirt in it!" (Our favorite movie quote)

I quite enjoyed myself as well!

he has a blast in the swing


and he loves to crawl through the tunnels with mommy.

While we were at the park, this little girl came strutting into the rock area in ALL her DIVA glory! She was FAAABULOUS! I asked her mom if I could take her picture and she said it was fine. So here she is....Miss Diva Fabulous herself!

Disclaimer - The boys aren't in the pictures because they were too busy throwing the frisbee and playing basketball! Too bad for them!

My little dare devil!

My 10 month old cutie!

A few cute new pictures of my big boy!

Wearing my shirt from when I was in day care at Green Acres Baptist Church. I love this one.

Story time. Tyler's favorite toys are his books. He makes me so proud!

Snuggling after bath time.

Best Buddies!

"Helping" mommy with laundry. Tyler loves to take things OUT of the dryer as I'm putting them in. It's a little game we play EVERY DAY!

Turkey Day!

We spent Thanksgiving in Arlington with the whole Stockton gang this year. Our drive to Arlington was pretty smooth, no major problems. Tyler was pretty content in his new big-boy car seat. He likes being able to see us when we are in the car now.

Not only did we get to see Topher, Leya and Drew, but an added bonus was that my sister joined us all day Wednesday. Mande and I went grocery shopping and did lot's of cooking for Thanksgiving this year, and if you know anything about Mande and me, you know how much we love recipes and cooking, so this was great fun for us. We made my grandmother's famous Italian dressing, my Aunt Jennie's yummy sweet potatoes and Paula Deen's delicious pumpkin-pecan pies. YUMMO!

We all went to LynnAnn's house Wednesday night to have panini's and pals. It was so much fun to have all our friends in one house, just hanging out and having fun. I cherish those moments.

On Thanksgiving Day we woke up and played with the babies. Drew and Tyler were so cute in their matching striped PJ's.


Beth pulled out some old toys of the boys from the attic, and Tyler played with every one of them.


When the food was all ready we fed Tyler an entire Thanksgiving feast. He gobbled every bit of it and ate leftovers the entire weekend. He has found some new favorite foods to say the least!

Friday and Saturday morning we hung out with Bill, Sandra, Jo, and Suzy. We watched the Mavs (we aren't going to talk about that though), played with some leggos and introduced Tyler to Bill's Aunt Holyce for the first time.


Our Thanksgiving break would have been perfect, if it weren't for the amazingly beautiful, vintage lamp Tyler broke at Lamars dad's house. I still feel horrible about that one. Sorry Sandra.

3 is better than 1....I guess!

We have a winner, well 3 winners actually. After almost 9 months of zero teeth, Tyler got 3 at one time. Tyler has 1 bottom tooth and 2 top teeth in. If you look closely at the second picture, you can see he is working on his second bottom tooth. And if you look at the last picture, you can see the snot running out of his nose (a result from his ear infection/cold). Sorry.

Sweet friend vs. Nasty friend

I caught your attention didn't I. Well let me explain. Tyler had a sweet friend visit this weekend and a very nasty one as well.

First of all, his sweet friend.....Miss Laney Xian Ting Lewis! Kristin and Todd came to visit this weekend and Laney and Tyler got to do a lot of playing together. They are going to be such good friends...I just know it. And if they happen to fall in love one day, I wouldn't mind that either. (And with all the kissing that was going on this weekend, love is a very good possibility!) Let's take a look at how their relationship progressed this weekend shall we......
First, the leary looks.....

Second, the hand holding....

Then, dinner and a movie....


Next, a little huggin'....

And finally, some sweet kisses....


They were so cute together. I just wish we could all be together more often!

But then....his NASTY FRIEND came to visit. His blasted ear infection is back! In the same ear too! There is nothing that makes a mom want to cuss more than when her baby is in pain and sick. Did you know an ear infection ALWAYS comes with a virus. It's like they are a team or something. You can't have an ear infection without a virus. THAT makes me want to cuss too! So not only does his ear hurt, but his nose is runny and he has a nasty croopy cough. YUCK! We saw the doctor today and got an antibiotic for his ear, so we should see happy days again soon. The one good thing about having a sick baby....is they are so cuddly and needy. I love when Tyler crawls up in my lap, puts his head on my chest, and just hangs out for a while. So sweet!