Time for some much needed updating!

Grandma: Hi Tyson how are you?
Tyson: Great! I am still three because I just had my birthday!

He says this to everyone and anyone who talks to him. I think he is proud that he is 3!

"Mom, I have to be careful because it is my birthday!!"

Life is busy!! So on august 3 we celebrated Tyson's third birthday! We went to Chuck E. Chesse's and had a great time! He wanted orange cupcakes with orange frosting. Can you guess what his favorite color is? He also got some great car stuff to go with the MANY cars that he has! It is so great to have him finally potty trained and not have to change two children's diapers!! Tyson is our character. You can always count on him for a laugh and for him to be VERY absentminded, especially when there is a wall near by!

I love the pictures that he will someday hate!!

We also have had fun outside with the water. The kids are always looking for an excuse to get wet and "water the lawn." Emma and Tyson we taking turns going under the water but Tyson thought it would be great fun to make the water come down on Emma who then screams and runs away. She makes Tyson promise not to do it again before doing it again. One should NEVER trust a little brother who promises to do something while laughing! He got her a lot before she finally gave up her game. It was fun to watch!

Big things are happening!!!

Things are busy around our house these days, but who's isn't? Tyson annouced about a month ago he wanted to go potty on the big potty. We have had our ups and our downs. He can stay dry but chooses not to. It is extremly frustrating. We have tried big boy underwear and he doesn't care that he leaks! Plus he won't poop on the potty either! Tyson still tries and I am extremely happy about it, I just wish we were done!! If I had is my way we would have waited until his birthday to start but he thought he was ready.



Now that Lily is fully mobile things are even more of an adventure. She loves the bathroom and wants to be there whenever Tyson goes potty. She also love to see the potty after he is done!! Lily is definatly a character and very strong willed. If you dare take anything away you had better give it back or she will give you an earfull and try to take it back! Her and Tyson have not been getting along lately. I cannot imagine why :). Tyson likes to be another mom. It is great we have three moms and a dad.

Lily loves to pull herself up everywhere now. She discovered that she can climb onto the downstairs couch when the cushins are off. Which thanks to the older kids is always! It is fun to watch her grow and do new things. It also makes me crazy because she love cords, stairs, couches, and beds. She also likes to pounce on people when they are on the floor, expecially mom and Tyson. It is great fun.

Stan is still self employed. It has been three months and we are still surviving! It is great. This is what he has wanted to do but I sure hope work picks up a little very soon! The kids love having him home for lunch but don't like it what he cannot play with them. They are adjusting well though.

Really funny story!!!

The other night at dinner we were asking Emma what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said to wants to be a nurse. Tyson pipes up and says he wants to be a nurse too.
Emma: you can't!

Tyson: Why not?

Emma: Because you don't have any thing to feed the baby with. (she is now pointing at her chest.)

I guess that is what she thinks I am since I nurse Lily. At this point Stan and I both start choking on our food and laughing. Emma is not sure what she said but smiles anyway. Tyson is so clueless it is really funny. It took me ten minutes before I could talk again. It was great.

Great Grandma Henkel

We had a great opportunity to go see my grandma this past month. I have not seen her in many years and is was neat. I also go to see my dad who was in town helping her get settled. Grandma just moved from San Diego where she has been living on her own. Her and her children decided she needed to be closer to family and be some where where there are people who can help her if she needs it which she totally doesn't. Grandma is 6 months away from her 100th birthday. She is an amazing woman. She is able to take her own medications, cook, shower, and clean completely on her own. The only thing that really gives away her age is her hearing or lack thereof. It was so good to see her. The kids thought it was cool to go meet her and show off for her. Now that she lives in Bountiful we well get to see her more often which is great!

Bananas, YUCK!!!

The other day we decided to branch Lily out and try some bananas. She loves all food. She eats her veggies just fine, but anything with chunks or bananas are a different story.

Arrg!!!

So, as I go through my day I come across things things that should be put on the shopping list but don't every make it. Then I go to use it and realize I really need a new one but it still doesn't make it to the list or if it makes it I forget while we are there because I have three wonderful appendages all desiring my attention. For example, I need a new egg pan or to find a way to not get a good coating of egg on the bottom of the pan that leads to frustration when I cannot get it off. I love eggs but don't love cooking them. We usually have breakfast for dinner once a week and the always involved eggs. So when I pull out the pan I remember I need a new one but don't want to buy one and still have the same problem I guess. This is where I could use some advice from the wonderful cooks out there who read this. How do you not get the eggs to stick to the bottom of the pan? It is the pan or is it the way you cook them? Please help!

Busy busy busy

We had a busy but great month. The busyness started with Emma's birthday! She is five!!! We took her and a friend to Jumpin Jacks and they had a great time!




Lily started cereal this month too!! Then last night we tried a bottle and she took it!!! I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Freedom is close at hand. I am getting excited to go out at night totally free without having to keep track of time to get home.

For my mom's birthday my sister and I decided to buy her a ticket to come see us. She spent time in Washington and then came here. We had a blast! We painted the living and dinning rooms. They look great!!! Now comes the really fun part of accessorizing.





Mom wears the breath right things to help her breathe and night and after she left Emma and Tyson we laughing and playing really well. When I went to check on them this is what I found. When I asked them what they were doing they said they were playing Grandma. I laughed to hard I started to cry. It was great. If only grandma could have seen it.

Christmas Pictures

Here are the Christmas pictures.

Thanks you ma'am. Call if you need me again.

(so cute)

Don't forget Lily

Christmas Jammies



Emma seeing Santa at preschool

Belated Christmas

Ok so I am a little late with the Thanksgiving and Christmas post. We had so much fun that the fun hasn't stopped yet!! or the busyness! So for the short version.

We spent Christmas day here. It was the first year we have had Christmas eve and morning at our own house and it was awesome. We had cheese fondue thanks to a friend and it was great. Tyson loved it. He ate more than Stan and myself. Emma was not into it at all!! You would have thought it was green or something. It was really funny.

They got their christmas jammies and went to bed without any hesitation!!! The morning was great. Lily slept through it all so we could really enjoy Emma and Tyson. They had so much fun!!! Then we had breakfast and went to Grandma Skeem's for the weekend and had a great time with family there.

The best part of our vacation was when Emma threw up!!! First Tyson over Thanksgiving now Emma at christmas!! I am tired of my kids throwing up at other people's houses!! Other than that, it was a great time.

For New Years we went to my cousin's house and had a sing star/american idol/guitar hero/ wii party!!! We played so late and we did not want to move the kids so we decided to spend the night. BIG MISTAKE!! Tyson decided to throw up again!!!!!!!!!!!! We are not spending the night at anyone's house anytime soon. I hope we are done with all of this!! Luckily by the time we decided to venture home, Tyson stopped throwing up, took a nap in the car and was a new kid when we got home. I am glad the throw ups don't last very long at our house. But it was a great holiday season!!!

Here are some much anticipated Thanksgiving pictures especially for Grandma!!!!

Tyson is really serious about his root beer float!!

Emma and Macay

This is all of the wonderful kids in one house for the weekend minus the two newborns!!!

Gavin

Wesley loved holding Lily and she liked him too!!!

Happy Birthday, Emma

I cannot believe that my Emma is 5 today! She is so fun to be around. She lights up any room that she is in. Emma also is learning and growing leaps and bounds every day. It is really neat to see it happen. I love how good she is with Lily and Tyson. Emma is such a huge helper. I am glad she came first.

Happy Birthday Emma

Wedding gifts

I never thought I would ever be grateful for duplicate wedding gifts until last night. I was in the middle of making waffles and I burnt one. No one burns waffles, unless it is the last one and you forget. Stan also came home from work about the same time so I thought I must have missed the light and is started cooking again. But the next waffle took 20 minutes and it was still not done. I remembered that I had recieve a waffle iron for our wedding and hadn't used it yet. So I pulled it out and dinner was saved. Who says duplicate wedding gifts are no good. Thanks to whom ever gave it to us 6 1/2 years ago.