Happy Daddy's Day!

I'm a day late (as usual) but I want to remember just how great dads really are, especially Ryan.

Tyler made Ryan a little tie in nursery at church to give to daddy and it says, "I love daddy because he takes me to get donuts"

Ryan has been excited to be a dad since we were first married. His first Father's Day was one that neither of us will forget, it was the day we brought Tyler home from the hospital. Somewhere in all of our nick-nacks we have a napkin from the hospital that day- a special treat just for the dads.

Ryan has been such a diligent worker even though his job is less-than-ideal. He is so willing to stick with it simply to pay our bills and keep me home so that I have a chance to try to raise our boys. We are hopeful that something better will come along soon so Ryan can have more time with the boys to be the dad he wants to be.

We love the traditions that Ryan has introduced to our family and the boys love them too. I think the boys' favorite thing is to get donuts with daddy early on Saturday morning (when he has the day off) or decorate sugar cookies for every holiday.

I love to see Ryan work and grow to be even more than he already is. He is way too hard on himself and he deserves more than just one day to say thank you! We love you Ryan...more than you know.

We are also blessed to have 4 other "dads" around! We have Batchu aka Grandpa Denos, Grandpa Igaloo aka Grandpa Crooks, Great-Grandpa Denos, and Popa (Great-Grandpa Dunn). I am so greatful that my kids get to see even their great-grandpas from time to time. We are blessed with a great heritage of love, compassion, kindess, and strength. We are truly blessed to have wonderful men to look to as examples of what is to come.

Tyler has even learned a story or two about Great- Grandpa Hammerschlag who he never got to meet, but now whenever he sees a lunar rover he says, "great-grandpa make it!" I love sharing our geneology and I'm even more impressed that Tyler can already remember these stories. I look forward to the day that Jacob can remember stories of his great-grandpa as well.

Picture Proof- He's a walker!

on my toes

Having two boys is really fun. I have a lot to laugh about and a lot to get grey hairs over. Here are a few of the boys latest

Jake:

split open his lip @ Heathers, rushed to 2 different ERs because the wait time was so long at the first. No stitches, just Motrin and an ice bag-- but fun none-the-less

Got stung by a bee at the pool while trying to be sweet and get closer to his brother. Screamed bloody murder while I tried to get the stinger out and it took forever! (really only a minute or so- but forever when your baby is in pain!)

Was "helped" to fall and scratch up his cute little face, cheek, eye, forehead while trying to push the trike in the back yard.

pukes still- all the time. for no apparent reason.

Tyler:

Sprayed sunscreen in his eyes while I took a 15 second potty break (moms should come with unlimited bladder space so we only have to pee once a day). Seriously screaming, red eyes, screamed even more while I flushed his eyes with water, screamed some more, then went on his bed and told me he was ready to sleep.

Tries to get himself drinks all the time. Usually ending up in spilled (fill in the blank). He will open the fridge, get out the juice or milk, get up on his step-stool so he can reach the counter and his cup and pour himself a drink. This is usually when I'm putting Jake down for a nap. He has done it successfully a few times, others...well, he's learned how to clean up juice spills ;)

Lets himself out the front door to wave at the "dump-trash" aka garbage truck...also usually while I'm in the shower or something else where I can't run after him.

Someday the boys will call me and tell me what their little boys are doing to torture them. I will smile and say, "I have no idea where they get such crazy ideas" when really, I know exactly where. It is in their DNA!

I am so grateful for days when I get enough sleep that I can just smile, give a hug to stop tears, pick up the pieces, and move on to some other fun thing. Today has been one of those days. We made and cleaned up messes, went for a walk, played at the water park with friends, survived the sunscreen incident, and have all been generally happy. The boys are still napping which is a good sign that we'll have silly boys to tire out before bedtime, but daddy will be home for dinner soon and we'll have a blast being together.

14 Months

Jake actually reached the 14 month milestone yesterday, the 15th.

Jake is coming into his own, developing quite the little (BIG) personality.

First and foremost he is finally walking! He is walking more and more from one thing to another. He still prefers to crawl, but he's getting there.

Jake screams "Dad!" like he's at a rock concert. My boys get really grumpy when they're hungry so we're usually sitting down eating by the time that daddy gets in the door and when Jake hears the door open he makes sure to let Ryan know that he hears him and daddy needs to come over and say hi!

Jake also screams...a lot...just to be heard. He will scream (and I mean SCREAM) if Tyler takes a toy from him, if he is waiting impatiently for his milk in the morning, or any meal. Sometimes he even screams just for fun with Tyler- they like to make a game of driving mom crazy.

Jake says "mom" a lot more and it is the most adorable thing that comes out of his mouth! He can scream "mom" too when he wants me to come get him out of the crib.

Jake makes cute little clicking sounds and kissing noises and he knows I think it's funny. He also grinds his teeth and the sound makes me cringe (he knows that too)

Jake has also started to stand up in his high chair- not cool.

He really likes shoes, not matter whose they are. He seems to think that he has to have on shoes to be able to walk. We love to see him work so hard and get from here to there.

What else is there to say about our sweet blondie? He is very passionate about life, he's got a smile that could melt a heart of ice and he makes our home a more complete place.

Love you Jake!

Steps!

I don't have pictures or video to prove it- but Jacob is finally taking steps one day before he turns 14 months old!

We were playing at the pool and he just let go of the wall, turned around, and walked to me. Then he did it a few more times. For good measure he did it again at a friend's house.

I think about 10 steps is his most so far- so many more to come!

T-H-R-E-E

Has it really been three years?! This handsome little devil turned 3 today at 6:15 pm.
There's a lot to love about Tyler and I'll try to write down just a few of our favorites - he's an excellent big brother (most of the time) he like to teach Jake how to do things, however his favorite phrase as of late is, "no! no! Jake"
- Tyler likes to ride his bike to get the mail and we always have to ride around the neighborhood twice.
- Tyler still gets up way too early, 6:30 am is the latest he's slept in in months and that doesn't happen nearly enough. He will either wake up Jake and play, come out to the landing and read books on the chair, or find a stuffed animal to go tuck into the guest bed ;)
- Tyler loves the pool this summer. He has forgotten his swim lessons, but he'll jump in and swim around with his life jacket on.

-Tyler is still very attached to his momma...it's a love/hate thing. It can be overwhelming sometimes, but I know I'll miss the chance all too soon. Tyler is also allowing (demanding) daddy to cuddle him for awhile each night too. He misses Ryan when it's a late night at work.
- Tyler is working on counting, right now it goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 11...we'll have to work on that a little ;)
- He could care less about the alphabet, but he's got "A" down, only 25 letters to go.
-Tyler still loves the park and anything outdoors


-Tyler has been loving to take showers lately. He'll go take a shower in our bathroom while I bathe Jake. But, it's not a shower unless the fan is on in the bathroom, he has to use daddy's soap (guy's bathsoap stuff that smells good), and he dries himself while standing in the shower still.
-As much as we hate how early Tyler wakes up we love laughing at what we hear on the monitor. We frequently hear Tyler "reading" his books. It is so cute to hear what he's picked up on. I can hear each page turn and he usually tells the story in order and fairly accurately. He even reads books to Jacob.

-We love the chance that Tyler is giving us to learn patience, to watch him learn and grow, to share his smiles, to show Jake the way to go, and we can't wait to see what we all learn in this next year. I'm sure I am forgetting a million things that this crazy boy does- but we've got forever with him to write them down.

Tyler's Party

We had a great Saturday. We celebrated Tyler's birthday today eventhough his actual birthday is tomorrow. Tyler helped me tidy up the house while Jake napped then we headed to Bass Pro Shops to check out the big fish tanks and shoot some guns. Jake got to practice his walking and Tyler loved riding the escalator since we didn't have the stroller with us!

Family came over around 3:30 and what was supposed to be a swim party / BBQ turned into hanging out at home because it was barely 75 today in Vegas! What a change. Tyler didn't seem to mind though. He just enjoyed having "lots of people" over for a party.
Heather, Taylor, Ben and Maddy came over so did Brittny, Justin, Ashley, and Emma. The kids loved the sand box and the balloons the best.

Our typical rule is that you don't have to share your new toys on your birthday...unless your little brother is turning blue in the face throwing a fit ;) Jacob was so insistent that he get to ride the scooter too. What a little 'tude this guy has! He wanted to be just like his big brother.

Heather and Maddy (and baby Jason will be joining us in the next 3-6 weeks)

Spider man was everywhere :) Tyler really wanted a Spider Man party- so that's what we did. He was so excited about the decorations. He even helped make the cake and the frosting. So glad we could do something fun to celebrate.

Trying out the scooter in the backyard for the first time. Love making a kid happy.

Yes, the pictures are in reverse order but here he is opening his presents.

Oh! The "cooter!"

The Burnhams gave Tyler this awesome coloring caddy. It hold crayons, stickers, and paper. Tyler is going to be one happy boy at church tomorrow using his new coloring gear!

The Waites gave Tyler a magic marker coloring book and a sweet spider man toothbrush (he's been asking for a new electric toothbrush since Christmas)

A close-up of the cake...sweating?! I guess I didn't know that keeping the cake frozen would lead to it sweating as it defrosted. It still tasted good and Tyler got a kick out of it.

Some of the decorations and food prep.

All the balloons up on our ceiling. The birthday boy asked for balloons and balloons he got! We put really long string on the balloons so they could float up on our 2-story open area.

Spider Man table cloth and all!

Having fun just playing with Ashley, Emma, and Maddy in the sandbox. I think Maddy enjoyed having girls to play with and Tyler loved having friends around to share his toys with.

A little "before" picture of the cake. It was fun and fairly easy. I don't think cake decorating is in my future, but it was fun to try something a little different.

Journaling

In an effort to remember these moments of life here's another little peek into daily life with two little boys.

Ryan didn't have to go into work until 1pm today (but he has to work until 9pm). He ran off to a dentist appointment this morning around the same time that Jake went down for his morning nap.

As it goes, Jake decided it would be good to have a dirty diaper after I put him down for a nap which led to him being overly tired and extremely upset. It took nearly an hour to get him to sleep, by which time Ryan was home.

Typically, Tyler and I just have to find something to do around the house while Jake naps- but not when daddy is home. The boys got on their suits and went to spend some quality time at the pool. Tyler gets so excited to go to the pool with "just daddy" and he always comes home smiling.

We did lunch, played, and took afternoon naps for both of the boys (kinda). Jake just couldn't settle down for his afternoon nap either so we let Tyler sleep until 4 and then woke him up to go swimming again.

We had a quick, early, dinner then headed to the pool around 5 and ended up staying until about 7. Tyler met a little boy named Aaron from our neighborhood and the two of them just laughed and laughed. Aaron shared some toys with Tyler and the two of them just ran around jumping in the water, squirting each other, making up silly games, and just being happy. I LOVE Tyler's laugh- absolutely love it. I still think it is God's gift to me for putting up with non-stop crying for so much of the first year of his life...regardless- it is so pure and innocent and contagious.

I so enjoyed being a mom today. I got to just be with my kids. Tyler's laugh in the background while watching Jake learn and explore. Jake entertained himself with rocks and practicing walking back and forth between the pool and spa. Jake shares his smile with everyone and waves just to make sure they know he is looking at them. People (even punk teenagers) smile back and almost always have something sweet to say. It was a good end to a long day.

Note to self: remember this!

Tyler, saying prayers the other day almost made me cry. Whether he meant to or not, he reminded me of a very important lesson. It went a little something like this:
M: Tyler who's going to say prayer
T: I do it a-self (I'll do it myself)
M: Okay, let me know if you need help.
T: Dear(Heavenly) Father, thank you (for this) day. Thank you (for) daddy's work (job). Thank you (for the) food. Please bless daddy a feel better. Please bless Jesus a feel better. (In the name of Jesus) Christ, Amen.

M:Thanks Ty! Why did you need to bless Jesus?
T: a sad (he's sad)
M: Why is He sad?
T: He misses me.
(pause)
M: I bet he does buddy.

**** one of those moments. It is so easy to get caught up in the never-ending discipline of children that I forget whose they really are. I try so hard to remember that these sweet boys are mine on loan. That there is a Father in Heaven who does miss them, terribly. That he probably cringes when I lose my temper and get frustrated with them. I still question why I have been blessed to be trusted with these two spirits, but thankfully, there are small moments like this one that knock me back on track and remind me to be a little nicer, to try a little harder, and to love them oh-so-much-more!

Other things that have been cute that I'll probably forget:
- Tyler giving Jake hugs and kisses each night. Ryan usually will read Tyler a few books in his bed while I read Jake a few books in the rocking chair. Tyler insists on standing next to Jake and I for prayers and then gives Jake a kiss on the forehead (usually, or eyeball...wierdo) and a big hug. Jake hugs Tyler right back and lays his head on Tyler's shoulder. Darling!

-Jake gets so excited to see Ryan and Tyler. He will literally squeal their names. Jake will usually escape upstairs after breakfast and open our bedroom door (oh help us- he can open doors!) and climb up on the night table and say "daaaad!!!"

-Today Jake woke up before Tyler for afternoon naps. We were playing for over an hour before Tyler woke up to join us. Tyler was still groggy and was just sitting still. I held him for a bit and rubbed his back but then I had to go do something. Jake came over behind Tyler and just rubbed his back and his hair. And he did is so soft and nice (usually it turns into beating to pinching). After doing that for a minute or so Jake rested his head on Tyler's back and gave him a big hug.

(disclaimer: then when we were at Target we let the boys ride in one of the carts with the extra part attached that they can both sit in and they kicked and pinched each other for the first ten minutes)

These boys are something else!

This and That

Our homemade pizza is usually pretty good. But we've taken it to a new level...grilling it! Let me tell you- makes all the difference in the world! It may not be a wood-fired pizza, but it is delicious! We made the classic pepperoni for the boys to chow down on...

And we did some fresh tomatoes and basil for the mom and pop. And maybe I had to try a bite before serving it...and maybe it was so good that I almost finished a whole piece before I was done cutting the rest :)

And what do you do when the pool is closed (AGAIN?!) now that it's stinkin hot...play in the kiddie pool and sprinkler! The boys enjoy playing in the backyard just as much as the pool and I don't have to hold Jake the whole time. I hope the pool opens up again soon. Today is supposed to be 108. Remind me again why I live in Vegas?!



And this one is just for viewing pleasure. I think Jake has figured out just how dang handsome he is with his new 'do. I loved it a little messed up after a long afternoon at the pool. And those blue eyes are always smiling.

No more goldilocks!

BEFORE

Sitting so well. He even let Barb put the neck paper and cape on him!

The first few snips! (then I had to help distract him and keep him in his seat)

No more curls!

Handsome guy!

We took Jake to get his first haircut from our friend Barbara at Sports Clips. Jake and Tyler loved the surroundings. They had ESPN on the TV, team pennents around, fun decorations, and suckers!

Jake sat so well being distracted by his (hair covered) sucker.

So sad to see my little boy gone- but what a handsome little guy he is!

Sunday morning

Squish face!

Darling brothers- Tyler teaching Jake the fine art of playing.

Just some more of our cute boys. These guys are such a riot. Church is always a challenge- I'm usually walking the halls with Jake and Tyler is trying his best to sit still in between begging for potty trips with daddy. It's times like these that I pray we get those points in heaven just for showing up!

I have been teaching nursery for almost 6 months now and we have exciting times in there. We are blessed to have a pretty mellow class usually. This last Sunday was interesting with so many people out of town we thought it would be good to combine classes. We started off with 8 and ended up with 17! It was insane- but good insane. Full, noisy, some fits here and there, but the kids were mostly well-behaved still.

We officially switched Tyler into my class because that is where he ends up anyway. He still struggles with separation and I'd like for Tyler to have a positive experience on Sunday and learn something about Jesus instead of freaking out and complaining from the moment he wakes up :)

Life is pretty good right now and although hectic, we are enjoying it, one day at a time!

Our Big Boy!

Jake has a typical boy fascination with hats. He loves to put them on and off...and on and off....

...and on and off....

Showing off his new big boy underwear. He has been 100% so far! Way to go kiddo!

This is usually where I find the boys hanging out. Either timeout for Tyler or Jake trying to go upstairs for books and bed.

We had a very exciting night to celebrate Tyler's first night wearing his BIG BOY Underwear! He was so excited. The boys enjoyed wearing their matching jammies from Great-Grandma Anita too.

Just some of the fun times with these boys lately. Love them!