Welcome Avery!!!!!!!!!!

On Friday morning Steve and Melissa welcomed their beautiful baby girl, Avery Elizabeth Stillman, into the world. We went and visited them last night. Steve and Melissa are doing great so far. The boys were a little crazy but Carter got an I love you into his future wife. Congrats Stillmans! We love you!

Riding Along

We went to the park last night to take another try at Tyler riding his bike. We have been practicing in our garage some and he seemed to be getting the hang of it. When we got to the park he got right on and started pedaling. He did a great job! He still needs a little help going up hills and he looks down at his feet instead of where he is going so sometimes we have to help him steer. However he has braking down and loves to go downhill really fast. Carter refused to even sit on his bike and just ran beside Tyler. We then went up to the playground and played for a bit before heading back to the car. Tyler was nervous at first about leaving his bike or "police motorcycle" at the playground but quickly forgot about it once he was running around. Just another sign of how grown up he is getting.

My Little Doctors

I wasn't feeling so great least night (who gets a cold in the summer?) so I went upstairs to rest after dinner. I hoping for a little quiet but the boys insisted on "helping"me. First Tyler let me know that I was in the hospital and I had to stay where I was. Tyler then thought he should brush my hair because my head hurt. Carter brought me a pillow from the couch to lay on. Then Tyler pulled my sheet up. After that they both brought me some "food". Next it was onto books, which I must say I loved. Tyler would read to Carter and I just by his memory and the pictures. The stories were even better that way. After some cuddling with me on the bed they then went to bed themselves with the thanks to Justin. Of course Tyler couldn't leave before he reminded me that I needed to stay where I was because they were taking care of me.

Getting Big

In the past week Tyler has grown up in front of my eyes - literally. We went shopping for some clothes for next summer (gotta shop the sales) and for some school clothes this fall. As we were going through the toddler section as usual I noticed that they didn't have his size. Time to head over to the boys section. An even more telling, he isn't even in the smallest size in the boys section. I wasn't sure I was ready for this.

However then I was driving to work and I noticed his straps were under his shoulders in his carseat. Yep he has grown to tall for his carseat. So it was off to buy a new one of those. I really wasn't ready for this. By law in Colorado once Tyler is 4 he can ride in a booster seat with just the seat belt. I am not ready for him to be in a booster yet, so we got him a seat that he will still be in the harness (for up to 65 lbs) and then can convert to a booster once he is a little older, bigger, and complaining about the harness. I think it will be a few more years. I have to hold onto something that resembles the little boy I see him as instead of the big boy he has become.

Feeding the Birds

On Friday I took the boys to the zoo. Like always the boys had a great time. As we were in line to get crackers for the giraffes they looked at the pictures. I told them some of the giraffe's names. They decided they wanted to feed Mahali (or who they call Holly). The first giraffe we found they decided was Mahali (its hard to tell them apart). The boys loved feeding Holly and giggled like they had never done it before. Then we go to pet an Albino Wallaby. The boys asked very nicely to go and feed the birds. I am glad we did as they both got to feed birds right out of their hands. They weren't nervous at all. In there they also got to pet a Breaded Dragon. From there we went and did our normal things - seeing the hippos, riding the carousel, etc. . The boys took great naps and we had a fun time. As much as we are ready for fall to come we will miss our zoo trips this winter.

Training Camp

Yesterday Justin had to day off so his car could get fixed so we took the opportunity to head up to Denver to watch some Bronco Training Camp. Carter had earned the award for doing so well potty training and it seemed like the perfect day. The boys seemed to like finding pictures of the Broncos and looking at sticks and rocks more than watching the plays. But they still had a good time and Carter got his first port-a-potty experience. After training camp we went over to the Stillmans new house that they were moving into in Denver. The boys seemed somewhat confused but decided that they liked their new house well enough and would want to visit again. They also helped by testing out their doorbell repeatedly and sneaking cookies. Luckily the Stillmans find them pretty cute.

Safety Patrol

Tyler has always been one to be safe and cautious. He does not like it if Carter has a toy in his mouth, because it could hurt him. He gets very upset if we act like we may leave him when we are going somewhere, or even if we would leave Carter. He is especially very safe in the car. He will tell us how we need to drive safe and not to fast or we will get a ticket. He will also let us know at least once on every car ride that he isn't tight enough in his carseat. The other day I stopped in our driveway and got out of the car real quick to help open the garage door. When I got back in I didn't put my seatbelt back on. Both Tyler and Carter told me right away that I wasn't being safe. The biggest part of the safety patrol is something both boys do - Carter learned it from Tyler. Whenever they see someone on a motorcycle or a bicycle they will look to see if they have a helmet on or not. They will then let us know if the rider is being safe or not. It has almost become a race to who can find the biker the quickest and let us know if they are safe or not.

What God Looks Like

Last night Bapa stopped by our house on the way to Denver to take us out to dinner (thanks Bapa!). While the boys were waiting for him to arrive they drew some pictures. Tyler drew a picture of God. This is what he thinks God looks like.

Weekend Tidbits

We had a great family of weekend of doing yard work and just spending time together. Tyler has continued to behave better so that always helps. On Friday night I ran some errands and came home to my boys doing one of Justin's favorite things.

On Saturday we were doing yard work right below Justin and I's bedroom window. This is when the highlight of my weekend happened. Tyler went up to our room so he could wave to us. Once he got up there he said hi to everyone and I asked him to come down. Before he did he says "Carter I love you." Carter then showed him the I love you sign and blew him a kiss*. My heart melted.

We also went to the park one night where the boys had a great time. They loved walking around the pond and then playing on the merry-go-round. It was a great weekend!

*A note about Carter doing the I love you sign. He loves to do it and shows it to me quite often. However when he tries to count with his hand it gets in the way. When he counts to two he shows his pointer and ring finger (like a baseball player showing outs). Carter notices this then gets outs his thumb to tell me I love you. So far he hasn't counted past two on his fingers.

Alli The Hippo

Tyler is always creating stories. Yesterday he found a wood chip and decided it was a hippo. He played in our wheelbarrow that was filled with rocks, dirt, and rain water and made it his hippo's home. Today when we went out he went straight over to get his hippo. He then told me his hippo was named Alli and it was a girl hippo. Before we could go run errands I had to convince him that Alli would be better off taking a little nap in the sun instead of getting in the car with him. I guess its good that most of the time when we go to the zoo the hippos are napping!

Today has been a great day for Tyler. We have been having a hard phase with him lately. He is getting angry easily, hitting, even biting sometimes. He isn't letting up on Carter when they are wrestling and Carter is done and he just gets in moods where he all of a sudden he has a ton of energy and goes crazy and can't settle himself down. So we made him a behavior chart. He starts out the day with five magnets and anytime he shows that he can't control himself he loses one. He doesn't get one taken away for going to time out, but if he hits me when I put him in time out, a magnet is gone, for example. If he has any magnets at the end of the day he gets a sticker and eventually the stickers add up to prizes. The first three days he didn't get a sticker at all. He then got a little better each day and start earning stickers and yesterday he received his first prize - a Popsicle.

Today he has been a complete angel. Not only is he showing self control, but he isn't whining, he is doing things the first time we ask, and just being a sweetheart. Carter was doing a puzzle and Tyler went right over to help him. Carter took a toy Tyler was playing with and Tyler asked him to not take the plane and offered him another one, instead of getting angry and grabbing or hitting as he would have done last week. I love days like this. Life is good.

Sleepy Head

This picture was taken a couple weeks ago, I had just forgotten about it. We were trying to keep the boys up all day as we were going to Heather's house that night and wanted them to fall asleep quickly there. Carter was having a little snack when I heard some snoring. I looked over and here was Carter. He still can't quite make it all day without a nap.

A quick potty training brag on him - the other morning at 6 am he came into our room saying he had to go potty. His pull-up was still dry and he went right away. Then he went back to sleep - can't get much better than that!