Taking a Break from Procrastination

Tyler is officially on break from school starting today.  This is going to be a long 18 days until school starts up again!  So, I decided to make a little project for myself.  I am planning on doing at least one project per day that I have been putting off/dreading to do.  At the end of break I hope to look back and be amazed at all the things I have accomplished around the house.  Check back often and see how it’s going. 

Today I have purged some of Tyler’s art projects and his art wall looks much nicer now.  I’ve also organized the shoes in our closet and found some to donate to charity.

15.5" of SNOW

The blizzard of 2009 left us with a lot of SNOW! Tyler missed 3 days of preschool and Daddy even stayed home on Wednesday. Tyler loved playing in the snow, but Drew thought the whole thing was strange and a bit uncomfortable. Looks like we'll have a white Christmas this year!

Frigid Fall Fun

We braved the chilly weather this morning to make our annual trek to Howell's Pumpkin Patch near Cumming. This year we had our friends Summer & Christian with us, too. All 6 of us had a fun time exploring the kids' play area, petting bunnies, feeding the goats and picking out mini pumpkins.

Fun with Drew

Drew and I are having fun playing while Tyler is visiting his grandparents in Peoria. Today we had a sock fight which made him laugh.

Happy Mother's Day To Me!

I am sitting downstairs updating this blog in relative peace & quiet as Brian is upstairs busy with the boys. I'm savoring the last bit of Mother's Day listening to all three of my guys laugh their way through bedtime routine. Well, no sooner than I finished the sentence and someone is crying. There is very little peace in a house with a toddler and a preschooler. I know everyone who has lived through these years says they go so quickly. I can already tell that the time does seem to go by fast. It's hard to believe Tyler is already 4 and "little" Drew seems so anxious to be independent. They both seem so eager to grow up and do bigger and better things. There is a constant battle in my head between letting them be adventurous boys and keeping them safely close to me. The day-in, day-out chaos of raising two little boys seems overwhelming, but Mother's Day gives me a chance to step back and put our crazy days in perspective. I know that someday soon I will miss this stage of explaining why shooting Spiderman webs at our Sunday School classmates isn't appropriate. And I will someday soon miss chasing Drew for the fifth time as he escapes the library via automatic doors. So, for now, I will try to cherish these days as much as possible and ask God to help guide me to be the best mom I can be for these deserving little guys.

Tyler Turns 4!

We opted for a few small birthday celebrations instead of a big party this year for Tyler. On the day before his birthday, we went to Adventureland on Opening Day to reward him for potty training success this past fall. Drew stayed with friends and the three of us had a fun (yet chilly) day.


We went to Happy Joe's with the Kinnison family on his actual birthday. Tyler liked his Lightning McQueen cake and playing games in the arcade. Drew's favorite game was Skeeball.


Tyler had a second celebration (& cake) on May 1st with Grandma & Grandpa Carlson. We were celebrating Grandpa Alan's 60th birthday, too. Tyler got his long-awaited Mack truck from the Disney Cars movie and was thrilled. You can tell how much Tyler likes a toy by how much he keeps it away from Drew. Let's just say Drew hasn't been allowed in the same room as Mack.

We made a little treasure hunt for Tyler to find one of his birthday presents. A series of picture clues led him up & down & all around until he finally ended up opening the basement closet to find a shiny red bicycle. He has had fun riding it up and down the block and is convinced that it goes much faster than his old bike.


Tyler is looking forward to his final 4 year old birthday celebration with Grandma & Grandpa Emanuel over Memorial Day weekend.

Almost Tulip Time!

We thought we were going to Pella's Tulip Time, but we were a bit early. One week early to be exact. Oops! We got a great parking spot right in the center of town and didn't have to battle any crowds so our mistake really was a blessing. The tulips were beautiful. I was trying to recreate the moment when we took some great pictures of Tyler walking NEAR the tulips at his first Tulip Time. Drew had other plans. He preferred to try to walk THROUGH the tulips which is generally frowned upon by the locals. We did get a few good pictures of Drew, though. Here is a side-by-side of the two of them. Tyler is on the left (2006) & Drew on the right (2009).








































Fun Tyler Quote as he was buying a Dutch Letter with Grandma Linda: "I want an S." Good choice, Tyler!

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful Easter weekend! We went to service last night at Hope which was a bit overwhelming, but it was so neat to see so many people hearing the Good News at once. Tyler made us proud by singing and doing actions up in the front of church with the other kids. There's no way I would have done that! Here's a snippet of his performance:

The boys hunted for Easter eggs at our neighborhood park on Saturday morning. Tyler was an excellent hunter, but Drew could care less about the eggs. Drew loved the bunny, but Tyler was a bit shy. Definitely different personalities!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the weekend:

Good Friday

A special thank you to my friend Molly for inviting us to a kid-friendly Good Friday service at her church. It was a nice to have a place where we were able to worship together as a family without worrying about disturbing anyone. Tyler loves to read his children's Bible and is really becoming knowledgeable about the stories and people. Maybe he'll follow in Great Grandpa Joe's footsteps.

Double Feature

We went to opening night at the Valle Drive-In in Newton with the Julianos and my parents. The temperature was cool when we arrived and got very chilly during the first movie, Monsters vs. Aliens. We also stayed for Hotel for Dogs since Drew had fallen asleep in his car seat, but regretted that decision on Saturday morning when it was time to get up. We our getting too old to stay out that late. :o)


Tyler LOVED sitting in the back of the CR-V for the movie. He kept saying, "This is awesome!"

Our Idol

Drew has recently taken to singing in Tyler's microphone:

12 pts in less than a minute

Watch out Kobe...here comes Drew! Our little b-ball star couldn't miss this afternoon.

Noon Year's Eve

It was our turn to host playgroup today and we chose to go to the Science Center of Iowa for Noon Year's Eve. Guess it was a good idea because everyone else in Polk County had the same idea. We played in the robot room for awhile and then raced rockets upstairs before counting down to Noon with the masses. We watched the balloon drop from above...here is a pic of Tyler keeping an eye on the hoopla below:


A few more party pics:



Daddy joined us for lunch with our friends at Spaghetti Works afterwards. Later that day, we partied again at the McHouchins house with other friends. Brian, Tyler & I watched the ball drop at home on the East Coast at 11 PM CT but no one was awake at midnight. Tyler was disappointed at the ball dropping...he thought it was really going to drop and break into pieces.