Sweetheart Swing Prom

A friend and I came up with the idea a while back to hold a Prom.  Well, the day finally arrived and we held the dance this last Saturday.  We had so much fun!  Dave has never been crazy about dancing, but I put him in charge of the music play list and he got so excited.  (I was glad because the music was one thing I was really overwhelmed about.) I got excited and made a new dress.  It seemed to take forever, but I learned a lot in the process.  I even made Dave a tie to match.  So, here are just a few picts. of Dave and I before we left for the dance, and then at the dance in the picture area.  We'll definitely have to do this again! 

Family Pictures

My wonderful sister in law, Ann, was so kind to take some family pictures for us on Saturday.  Here are a few of my favorites. 

 Oh my heck, he looks soooooo grown up!

 Love his eyes in this one.

I think it is nearly impossible to get all 5 of us to be looking and happy at the same time.  But, we'll take the best we can get.  I love how these turned out.  Our last pictures of our family other than snapshots are before Greyson was born.  I think it was time.  Thanks Ann for your time and expertise.  

Easter and Greyson's Birthday

Oh what fun . . . Greyson's one!  I literally can't believe that!!!  Wade and Joan (Dave's parents) came down a few days early and we celebrated and then we celebrated again with my family on Easter weekend when we were all together already.  Here are a few picts of our festivities. 

 Chad wanted to have a piniata for the party.  I didn't want to smash up a $20 purchase, so we made our own.  It was a lot of fun, and a lot of mess.  It didn't last long once we started taking swings at it.  But, everyone had a lot of fun with it and I'll have to remember to do another one. 

 My parents put on an egg hunt at their home this year.  It was a lot of fun and everyone of their grandkids were there.  That doesn't happen very often.  Here is all ten kiddos (9 boys and only 1 girl) with my parents.  It was a lot of fun. 

In order to make it fair, my mom had printed a sheet for each kid with how many of each color of egg they were to pick up.  It was so fun to watch each of them refer to their list and search.  Of course, the littlest ones just loaded up and we had to sort them out later.  Here is Chad consulting his guide. 

Is It Spring Yet?

Greyson will be 11 months this weekend.  WOW, wow, wow!!!  That means that a year ago, my neighbor and I were laying out on the grass each day so pregenant and just waiting to pop.  And now, almost a year!  Crazy!  Greyson is busy, but he has his own style of crawling which doesn't get him very far.  He lays on his tummy and uses his hands to turn himself in the directions he wants to go and his toes to push himself, usually backwards.  When he gets up on his hands and knees, he only stays for a minute and shows no interest in using them to propel himself forward.  Although this method of crawling keeps him more confided and out of things, it also makes him pretty angry.  He wants to GO places.  But, he is still so fun and so sweet.  He has three teeth now, two on the bottom and one on the top to the left of where his front teeth should be. 

We have been wishing Spring to come our way.  Several days last week were nice and the boys even went outside to play in the backyard.  Even Greyson has spent a few afternoons outside and he loves it!  We did plant some seeds indoors to get them going for when it does warm up.  The boys had fun putting the seeds int he soil and we even have a few sprouts.  We also have several empty holes in our planter because I have yet to get to the store and buy my cilantro seeds.  Put that on my to do list. 

What we've been up to . . .

We have had a great January and are excited to see what February brings.  We have celebrated the new year, 2 birthdays, a pay raise and positive 90-day-review, snowman season, gone sledding, you name it.  Here are a few pictures to show our fun. 

Two silly boys!  Tyler came out one night with his jammies pulled up to his armpits, honestly not realizing anything was funny about it.  Dave and I had such a laugh that Chad joined in the fun. 

 Sledding!  I have promised the boys I'd take them sledding for a while now, but then the day turns into cachos and we never go.  One Saturday, we finally made it out and we had such a fun time.  I mostly sat in a chair and held Greyson, but I got to go down a few times.  Chad would have never left and Tyler could have been happy just walking on the trails.  Fun memories. 

 We've been parting!  Greyson looked so darling in this party hat, and surprisingly, he didn't try to take it off.  We also have a tradition of having a snowman party each January.  This year, we ate our snowman.  We had snow (mashed tatos), carrot nose (carrots), coal eyes (roast), and his scarf (rolls-you gotta think outside the box on this one).  We watched the movie The Snowman  and cut out snowflakes form paper.  Then we went out for Coldstone.  It is always fun and makes the cold seem a little less unwelcoming for an evening. 

 This is Dave's birthday party.  He turned 31!  Old man, huh!  :)  Happy Birthday to ya. 

Hope you all had a wonderful start to your year as well.  We enjoy reading about your happenings on your blogs. 

Tyler's 3rd birthday

It is hard to believe that it has been three years since I was in the hospital with this guy. My, how the time has flown. He is truly the silliest little boy, and also the grouchiest, sweetest, most destructive, etc. He makes me laugh every day! (And I can't deny that he makes me frustrated probably every day too.)

I love to make birthdays feel like they are a special day. I asked Chad if he wanted to help me decorate once Tyler was asleep, but told him that I wanted to keep it a surprise. All day, he'd say to Tyler, "I'm not going to sleep with you." Then he'd remember the "surprise" part and look at Tyler and sweetly say, "I'm just kidding." He did stay awake and help me and I think Chad was probably more excited about the party than Tyler. This year for his birthday, Tyler was very adament that he wanted a "Mater and the Ghostlight" cake. So, here is how it turned out.

I thought it was acceptable. It was supposed to be covered in fondant, but for some reason, the recipe that I used before with no trouble was a disaster. So, we went with plan B and I think it worked. The sucker hanging from his hook is the "ghost light".

Just had to put in this last little picture of Tyler being Tyler. He loves to "cook" things with me and I find bowls, little cups and everything you can imagine full of water all over the house.

Christmas and New Year Celebrations

I know Christmas was a month ago; I feel like things are finally getting back to normal and I am playing catch-up. We had a great Christmas. Our boys are getting old enough to be excited and look forward to the celebrations. Here are a few pictures. So I don't know where I went wrong, but my boys are afraid of Santa. In past years, Chad has expressed that he didn't even want Santa to come into our house. He never wants to go and see him, so when he told me he wanted to see Santa this year, I was blown away. Once we were there, it took him several minutes to decide to get near him, and no way he would sit on his lap, but he did talk to him. That is a big step.

For New Years, we went bowling. It was a lot of fun! This was one of our traditions when I was a child. The bowling alley did a count down at 8pm, and handed out noise makers and hats. Our boys thought it was the most fun. Greyson fell asleep at 7 and slept on coats on the floor. I don't know how anyone does it with little ones. But we had a ton of fun.

Dave, me and Tyler all decked out for the count down.

These were the hats the boys got at the bowling alley. I'm sure this picture was taken at about 12:30 after we celebrated till the real new year at my sister in laws house. I can't believe they were still awake.

We sure had a fun holiday and look forward to a wonderful new year!