Tyler is 3!!

I  know every mother feels this way, but I can't believe Tyler is 3! He was so fun opening presents this year. It was the first time he really got what was going on.

 He made me laugh because when he woke up in the morning he ran to the table, sat down and said, "Where's my cake?"

 He had so much fun playing with all his cool presents.

 Grandma Red made him an awesome Thomas train hat.

Grandma Carlile took him to Toys R Us (it was so fun to have them in town) and he chose a couple of trains there. 

 On Sunday we had his cousins, the Boyers, and his friend Ellie come have cake with us.

 I'd spent SO much time last year on his Thomas cake, that this year we went simple and had Doggie Cupcakes.

 Easy, cute, and delicious.

 Too bad we realized later that we forgot to get out the ice cream!

 We love our Tyler. It has been so fun to see him learn to express himself and talk and watch his personality come out as he speaks more. He loves Thomas still, but equally loves Lightning McQueen now. He's a rough and tumble kid, but also very loving. Happy Birthday Tyler!

 One last picture, Rex enjoying Tyler's new pillowcase that Aunt Tami made him!

Baby Rex verses T Rex

I scored this awesome mechanical T Rex at a yard sale for $4and we gave it to Tyler for his birthay. Rex is fascinated with it and loves to play with it. I think it is so cute. 

We've Been to the Zoo!

Ken's parents came to visit for Tyler's birthday so we decided to take a trip to the zoo to celebrate his big day! Abraham was apparently very excited. 

 Our zoo has a pretty open system for the animals. Sometimes you may see a lot of animals really close up and sometimes they are roaming far away and you  don't get such a great look. We got lucky and saw a lot of animals really close up.

 Tyler was really loving these eggs for some reason. He kept asking if we could see them again.

 My kids thought the rhinos were dinosaurs!

 This is literally the only picture taken of me the entire time so I figured I'd better post it.

 Abraham kept a firm hold on Grandma and Grandpa the whole time. He snubbed Ken and I several times because he was only going to hold their hands.

 Rex did super awesome hanging out in the stroller.

 The boys trying to see if they'd fit inside the alligator.

 I loved this picture, not sure why but it just makes me happy.

 By the end of the day it had gotten pretty hot and we were all pretty tired and sweaty.

 Ever since we went Abraham keeps telling us he's having bad dreams about alligators eating him. Maybe I should blow up this picture and tape it to the ceiling above his bed!

We had a great time and the kids loved seeing all the animals and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Painting Cars

Grandma Carlile sent us these awesome wooden cars and some paints in a package. The kids have been begging us to paint them, so one night for Family Home Evening, we finally did. 

 The kids had SO much fun and spent a lot of time painting.

 Eventually all the cars ended up a muddy brown/black color, but the kids were happy and had fun, so it was all good.

 We only had each boy paint 2 and saved the rest for another day.

 Rex had fun watching and hanging out with Dad.

 I can't get enough of that happy baby!

9 Months Old!!

 I've tried to keep Rex in the same spot for his monthly pictures, but for some reason every single picture I took of him in the chair ended with his eyes closed. I took a lot and they all looked like these. So I gave up and took the rest in his high chair, his favorite place.

 Rex is still the happiest, most mellow baby ever. He's just so happy and so good. He loves to give kisses, very slobbery kisses.

 He's a very skilled army crawler now, but still refuses to get up on his hands and knees. He's trying hard to pull up on things and wants to stand up whenever possible. He says "Da Da" and "Ty Ty".

 He 's still a great eater, but has started spitting when eating (see above picture). It pretty much drives us crazy. We've tried ignoring him, turning his chair around, walking away, flipping his cheek, nothing seems to work. Hopefully its a phase he'll grow out of soon!

 He's finally made peace with strollers and will actually sit pretty well in one now. It has made it possible for us to actually go out and do things every now and then.

We love our sweet baby and are just so grateful every day to have him in our family.

Rex's Eye Surgery

Rex had surgery at Duke at the beginning of the month. He'd been losing his contact on such a regular basis that it was interfering with his sight and his progression in his eye. So, they went ahead and put a permanent implant in. 

He did really good. We were worried about having to brace his arms so that he'd leave his eye alone, but he left it alone on his own and we didn't have to put the braces on even once.

 We are so grateful that we live close to the Duke Eye Center where he can get such optimal care. People travel great distances to see our doctor there, he's the best!

By the time we were driving home Rex was his happy, smiling self! So, where do we go from here? He had to wear his eye shield for 2 weeks and get 12 drops a day. We have gradually reduced his drops and he is now only getting 3 a day. He gets a break until June 13th to let his eye heal, so no patching for a few weeks. When we go back in June he'll resume his patching regiment and also be fitted for glasses. We are hopeful this will be  a good change for him and his vision will take a big upswing!

Strawberries

 Strawberry season has seemed short lived to me this year, but there was one week when the strawberries were just huge! I couldn't help but take pictures of the big beautiful things!

 Rex thought they were awesome too!

Abraham's Art

Lately Abraham has been very interested in art. For a long time he didn't want to draw or color, but now he'll spend time every day drawing pictures. Here are a few of my favorites. He drew this first one at church. It was a picture of his lesson. He obviously got a few points wrong since it was supposed to be Jesus being baptized and the Holy Ghost descending as a dove, but I thought it wasn't too bad. I transcribed exactly what he told me. 

Here's the picture without the words blocking it:

This one is a race track. He named all his cars. 

 Again, here it is without the words. 

This one is a flower. Here's the story. He'd had kind of a grumpy day and I was pretty frustrated with him. I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and he brought me this picture. He said he wanted to cheer me up and every time he picked me a flower it would die, so he wanted me to have a flower that would never die. Now how cute is that? It makes me super happy to see him interested in art and I really hope he gained his artistic abilities from his Father and not me!!