Kid Funnies

So Tyler is a pretty funny kid most of the time. He has some great comebacks that are hard to get mad at him for being a smart mouth! This week has been full of them, though I can only remember a few. I thought I'd better put them down while I still remember!

Last night on his way to bed I hear a quick "night mom!" to which I replied "Hey! Where's my hug and kiss??" and looked out the office door to watch him pass. Without even looking at me I hear "umm, they're gone." and off he went. Well thanks son!

Today he asked me if I was a doctor. I said "no" and then he asked "why not?" to which I replied "well, doctors have to go to school for a long time" His reply? oh yes, "well you've been going to school for a long time..." Yes Tyler, you're right, I have been going to college for 9 years...still no degree. Someday I will have one, and it won't be a PhD...bummer! :) I wish they could give me one for effort!

As Sydney was screeching at him today for taking her baby stroller, and I told him to give it back for the 100th time...he came up to me in the kitchen and said, "mom, can we take Sydney back to the hospital and give her back??" Oh boy, little late for that one kid!

Tonight was the kicker. As he's smart mouthing us from the back seat on the way home, mad because I told him no ice cream because he was making bad choices, we got into a discussion (more one sided as you'll see in a minute) about talking polite to grown ups. Previous to this conversation, Josh had asked him to stop doing something as well as to quiet down, to which he replied a flat out "no" to both. After I took away his ice cream privilege, I started to explain that to grown ups, especially his mom and dad, you don't say "no" when they ask you to do something. And lately is "I don't care". I told him that when he talks to an adult he never gets attitude and needs to use his polite words like please and thank you. Without skipping a beat after my 5 minute monologue I hear...."well then, can I please have some ice cream?!?" Wow, I guess I deserved that one. So much for that talk...don't think it sunk it. Needless to say, he still went to bed with no ice cream and further back talking the whole way there. Any suggestions??

On another note, Sydney had a Dr.'s appointment today for the 4th time this month. Every cold she gets is causing breathing problems so we've been in for plenty of breathing treatments. She is so sick of the nebulizer, the oxygen monitor (just the velcrow thing around her toe) or various shots (immunizations), nasel swabs (flu and rsv tests) that when the Dr. walked in the room today, she squirmed as fast as she could off my lap and ran under the exam table!! He laughed so hard and said no kid has ever hid under the table before! He knelt down and tried to coax her out, she replied, with a very grumpy look, "no!" so prego bellied me had to crawl under there and get her! So funny! She's not many steps behind her brother in the funny area!

Are you SURE?!?

These posts are going to be out of order but I do have to do the most important update first. On Tuesday I had my regular Dr.'s appointment. I asked if he could see what we were having, to which he replied "maybe" and proceeded to check. His machine is small and not great resolution. He thought he saw boy parts, we were told 8 weeks ago that it's a girl. He then turned on the blood flow and noticed that it was probably just the umbilical cord and that he would be undecided for now since it was in the way. Today I had my in depth ultrasound at the specialist. First on her list was to check out the sex. The techs in there like to double check the previous tech's work because they rub it in when they're wrong at 12 weeks on seeing the sex. Our tech was REALLY certain it was a girl! Well, low and behold, it's a BOY!!! We made her check at least a dozen times but the pictures we got are pretty undeniable. I'll refrain from posting them here for future embarrassment of the poor kid! He's already been through enough in his short 20 weeks! At any rate, here's our handsome little man!

Still cute as can be!! This was mid sucking motion, it was pretty dang cute!
To say Tyler was thrilled is an understatement! He's been saying all along that it was a boy and he was sure it would be a boy at the next appointment! Man we don't give that kid enough credit!! His name choices haven't been very many in the few hours he's known he's having a brother but he is sticking to the idea of naming him Santa, so he can call him Santa Baby, his favorite Christmas song. As I'm writing this post he's adding Brock to the list, which at least is a "name" and not just a crazy idea!!

Hooray for boys!!! Sydney's going to be well protected...and spoiled rotten!

Farewell Disneyland!

Over the last year, I'm sure many have noticed the excessive amounts of pictures taken at Disneyland. No, we're not that rich that we just go all the time, it was actually cheaper for us to get a season pass when Josh's family went last October than to buy 3 day hopper passes. Since Josh was, as of October 1st last year, employed in Visalia, we used that to our advantage to get the So Cal Discount pass. Well, as one last hoorah before the passes ran out, we took a trip. The trips we've taken over the year have been many, but usually only half day or for a few hours. I was actually excited to be there at night to experience the lights and the fireworks. Believe me, you CAN have too much Disneyland! Sydney was so proud that we let her walk by "herself" in the lines. I finally got smart and brought her her own leash so she could be down with Tyler rather than carried through the lines. Yes, I am a leash mom....ugh...
In line for some Peter Pan!

Of all of the trips we've taken, Sydney has never been on Dumbo! What kind of parent would I be if I didn't take her on?? Ok ok, the real reason was that the line is always over an hour long but when you go on the OFF season, you don't wait in any line for more than 10 minutes, so she was granted the opportunity of her first Dumbo experience.

Now that Tyler is tall enough for some Matterhorn, Josh was excited to take him on. He's been able to go for the last year but we've gone a lot in the summer and it's not worth the wait in line!

He was a little anxious but when his Uncle Jason told him he'd beat up the "white bear" when the lights were off, he felt better about the situation. He's still talking about how he didn't see Jason jump out and beat him up and jump back in!

I'm glad Tyler's actually seen a lot of Disney movies now that he can get into the characters! Sydney still hates them. I can't blame her though. It is a little odd to see giant animals/people walking around!

Monster's Inc ride is always a favorite!

And it wouldn't be a good Disneyland trip without a big kid ride for the big kids themselves! They haven't quite grasped the concept of "going for the kids" yet. It helps when you walk right on because of a stroller pass (wonderful thing!) or no line!

Tyler was sick by this point and asleep in the stroller. Sydney LOVED the spooktacular fireworks that they put on that night. With a big full moon and flying ghosts, she clapped and called everything "pretty". Disneyland doesn't do anything halfway. Their fireworks show was amazing! We didn't stay for Fantasmic, I had had it and the kids were both out by the time we got in that area to watch so we took the tram back to our hotel. It was a great 2 day adventure, had a great time with family and I'm glad to be home and in my own bed without another Disneyland trip planned for awhile!!

So long Disneyland! It's been a fun year!

"I LOVE Homework!!"

Today during Sydney's nap, Tyler and I decided to get working on his first homework "assignment". Each year his teacher puts together a laminated book that the kids get to take home at the end of the year. This is one of the many pages we'll be making over the coming months. We had such a good time doing it! Tyler colored all the extra things he could find on the page. We had to print out pictures of his favorite food, show, and things he likes to do because, well, I'm artistically impaired! And, that's what the teacher's example looked like so I went with it! Some of the kids have brought in sheets that their parents actually drew those things, I'm not that good!
He was SO excited to show Josh when he got home! Again, won't take a picture with me, the one who helped him with it for 2 hours!!! Not bitter, I promise.

After finishing he made sure to tell me that he LOVES homework!! We'll see how long that lasts! Maybe we have a few years of excitement left in him!

I thought he did a good job. I even let him cut out the pictures! He wrote the first three letters of his name and I helped him write the last two. He's learning so much!!

Some of the things in the first few weeks of preschool:

He loves to RUN to the building from the car, as well as from school to the car.

He's able to pick out his name in the list to put on the board to "sign in"

He can tell you the whole Pledge of Allegiance! I don't think I even knew it at that age!

He never knows what he learned that day but loves to tell me which kids got time-outs, when you ask if he did, it's always a big fat no! (thank goodness!)

He's finally starting to learn kid's names rather than just playing with them without finding out that small detail. There's only 8 girls in a class of 22 and he's befriended 3 of them, and a few boys of course. One is his girlfriend, so he says...aye!!

When getting in the car the other day, he told me that he ALMOST got in trouble that day. When I asked him why, he said that his teacher told him to stop doing something so he stuck his tongue out at her!!! What?!? He's been doing that with us so Josh is quick to punish him, thought it was working...I think the teacher getting mad at him helped, he hasn't stuck it out at me since!

I've gotten used to getting up in the mornings to take him to school, I'm even on the volunteer list to go to the pumpkin patch next month!! Come on, do you really think I would miss it?? Not so much to be there, but who will take pictures of it if I'm not?!? :)

Fair Season is Among Us

When I left for college, my family decided to be a fair-going family. Why they chose to do fun things as soon as I leave, I try not to think about, then I'll just take offense to it. They had the fairs ranging from the small Carruther's fair to the Big big big big Biiiiiiig Fresno fair (sorry, couldn't contain myself) mapped out on weekends, ready to hit them all up. They kept talking about the Carruther's fair and all the homemade food made by the different churches and organizations that they just loved. I was very cautious of this one, I hadn't even really heard of Carruthers! So, as soon as we moved back, I couldn't wait to hit up the country concerts in Madera, the food in Carruthers and the quilt shows (for my mom of course) at Fresno. This year my mom has been talking about the Kerman Harvest Festival. She grew up there, used to go to the parades and the festival every year and they took us as kids. To be honest, I don't remember a single one, sorry mom and dad! So since tonight was the only free admission night, we decided to head out there. I thought it would be something like Carruthers....but I was wrong. Not going to lie, it was worse! Kerman has evolved from a little country town to...well, I won't go there. At any rate, there was some homemade food, ok, maybe one booth of homemade, and some rides for the kids. And you can't beat free admission! Sydney was excited by the dog ride that was in front of her. That was before she realized she was too small to go and the other three kids got to go!

Tyler on the puppy ride. Him smiling at Sydney kept her from crying!
Josh and the kids, Sydney's looking at the puppy ride, still bitter!

Our family picture!

I love my little girl! (and little boy, but he doesn't like taking pictures with me anymore!)

The only ride Sydney got to go on, I had to go too. Can I express how hard it was to even get on this one?!? I don't know what was going to break first, the little wooden car or my knees that were jammed up against Tyler's seat!

Tyler was happy to be the driver of this car, it had a police sign on the side so he thought he was hot stuff!

I was tickling her but still, she loved her car ride!

Sydney chose the pink elephant, but screamed when I didn't sit with her. The protection of brother was not enough so she got out and watched. Oh well...

Tyler's "hard core Harley" face! Classic!

All in all, it was a fun time. Pretty crowded by the time we left but it was a fun experience. Sorry mom, Kerman might get scratched from the list for next year! We tried!

Girly Girl

For anyone that spends any amount of time with Sydney, you know immediately that she is the biggest girly girl! She loves anything to accessorize; bracelets, bows, necklaces, shoes! And, she's the ultimate shopper. She does so well and even points at things and says "cuuuute" as we go by. A mother's dream...I know.

When I found out I was having a girl, I instantly had visions of bows and bracelets, frilly dresses, pigtails (I couldn't wait for her hair to be long enough!) and braids. Well, last week my fulfillment as a mother of a girl had been completed, I was able to french braid her hair! And, while she was looking every which way, it even turned out half decent! Ok, so I'm not fulfilled, there's still dance recitals (I can't wait to see her little 3 year old butt in a tu-tu!) prom dresses, shopping where she actually participates and date chats late at night to occur but I have awhile for those things! So, here's her braids! She is saying "ooooohhh pretty" with a face full of banana and cereal.

The finished product. I was pretty impressed. Although I think I'll wait til she's not as squirmy to have a next time!

It's a good thing I'm getting practice at all these things. And a good thing she loves dolls and all things baby as well because it appears as though we have another little girl on the way! I was so glad they were able to get a clear shot at only 12 weeks!! I can't stand waiting til 20!!

This was a shot at 12 weeks, she has the cutest little profile! The tech was really surprised at how clear her pictures were coming out. And she said she had the cutest little profile she'd seen in a long time...I'm sure she says that to every expectant parent!
Because of the clarity of everything, she turned on the 3D (or is it 4?? I don't even know) and I got a little worried that it would just be gruesome and lumpy.


I thought it was so cute! We couldn't tell if she was sucking her thumb or not but that is her fist up by her mouth and her legs, well, they didn't look like that in the other pictures! Oh well, have to wait for her to develop some more to get better shots on this one!

And, while I've known it's a girl for almost a week, I have yet to go shopping. Because it's so early I was just told not to paint walls pink (too late, have you seen Sydney's room?!?) she said nothing about shopping. My paycheck can't come any faster!! Good thing Gymboree is having a sale!!!

Some of the funny things Tyler has said in response to having another sister (he wanted a brother):
When first finding out, "I KNEW it was a girl, all along!!!" while jumping up and down
"I think the girl part will dissapear and it'll be a boy next time you get pictures" (uh oh, does he know something?)
"Can you just have two babies in there, and one be a boy?"
After saying "no" to the above question, "ok, well after this baby comes out, can you have another baby in there and make sure it's a boy?"
And finally "I like my sister, I take care of her and protect her. I'll protect my new sister too" awwwww.....
Ask him names for his sister and they include: Pooker (what?!?), Juliet (Taylor Swift's Love Story), Sydney 2, Lolly, and my favorite, Princess Leah.
None of the above are even an option!

Excitement in August

August was a fun month for us, so not quite the month I should have slacked on the blog posting because this is going to be lengthy and full of pictures!! Not like July, where I just decided to skip the postings all together. Just know that really all that happened was the 4th of July, the kids were adorable and Josh ran through fireworks. Luckily didn't get hurt but a typical Josh thing to do!

We started out by making a trip down to San Diego for my niece's wedding. Yes, I said niece. Josh told his co-workers that it was a cousin because he felt old saying it but you know, I enjoy being an aunt of girls only a few years younger than me! It's kind of fun! And Josh is old, so it's ok. He's having a hard time turning 30 in a few months! Her ceremony was beautiful, and she looked gorgeous (I didn't expect any different) but because I was so far back in the crowd of people trying to get pictures, I don't have a single one of her! But, here's my kids at the San Diego Temple, that counts for something right?

Tyler loves hanging out with his cousins in San Diego. Him and his cousin Olivia sometimes have a love-hate relationship where he loves her too much and she starts to hate that he's an annoying boy, doesn't like everything to be princess and tries to turn her dollhouses into gruesome sites of dinosaurs, robots and pirates attacking. Really, who can blame her? That is pretty annoying! Luckily her big sister loves all things dinosaur and reptile! I didn't see him all weekend, which is where the lack of pictures of him comes in. It was pretty peaceful to just let him play.


Olivia on the other hand probably can't wait for Sydney to grow up a little to play with because she loves all things girl! Dolls, princess, accessories..you name it, she loves it! I also didn't see her much as my 11 year old niece took on the job of "babysitting" her all weekend. Her and her friends had her dressed up as a princess and carried her around on a chariot, really, I'm not kidding. It was pretty funny to watch, they enjoyed themselves.



With season passes to Disneyland, you can't really pass through LA without stopping, Tyler has memorized the freeway! So we spent the morning and afternoon there on our way home. Made for a late night but Tyler was in love.

I didn't realize Tyler could ride these rockets. For some reason I thought he had to be taller. So when we realized he could ride, I took him for one. He held on tight but was excited the whole time. Especially since he could see the whole park.

Afternoon was spent in CA Adventures. The kids love the Toy Story Mania ride there, and I have to admit, it's really awesome!

Sydney got all tuckered out waiting in line. Don't worry, she woke up when they made me face her forward instead of letting her sleep on me! Jerks. Not pleasant for her to wake up to, I'm sure!

Tyler's Disneyland face...no need for explanation!

In August we also celebrated Tyler's 4th birthday! I can't believe he's growing up so fast. He wanted a pirate party again at a place called Pump It Up which is a warehouse full of bounce houses. Since that's out of our budget, he opted for a swim party at his grandma's house. That went over just as well!

Sydney was a fan of the pirate scarves and beads. She called them her "pretties". And she made a dang cute pirate!

Josh was the official lifegaurd for all the swimming kids.

It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to!

Tyler's huge pirate cake that my mom made. She did a great job, and it tasted wonderful too!

Pirate candles are a necessity

Sydney looking like a hot mess after her uncle gave her some cake. Can't be seen without the pretties!! She's still wearing them...

She tried to steal a few presents and open them herself. Don't worry, I made her give them back!

For kids that watch a lot of Dora and Diego, a pinata was a must!!

Unfortunately after each kid had multiple swings, I had to come in and break the thing. I knew better than to give a metal bat to those kids!

Tyler's happy dance, the candy is out!

My brother, sister in law at their kid, in the pirate spirit!

The best family shot of the day

Cousin Jaclyn, sister in law Megan and me...this was like the 20th try. My brother just kind of holds the camera out and shoots so we're lucky no heads were cut off this time (and that we were all looking!)

Sydney tried on the pinata....and walked around with it, pretty funny.

Since she got a laugh, Tyler decided he'd better get one too!

August also brought the beginning of PRESCHOOL! I was excited for this day but realized that first morning a few things. #1-kid's hatred for mornings and school begin at a young age. #2-waking up and being ready and out the door for the day before 8 am is going to be my life for the next 20 years. #3-in response to the previous comment, that doesn't sound real fun. Not quite what I had in mind when I signed up for this!

He's such a big boy with his Stars Wars lunch pail! It was a must have...

Loved posing with his proud dad before heading out for the first day!

She was rudely awaken to take her brother to preschool...had NO clue that all of his toys were her's for the next 3 hours! Don't worry, she's since caught on!

I was so impressed at how well he sat and listened! Why can't he do that at home?!? I need to learn their tricks. Week 2 is down of preschool and he LOVES it. In fact he told me yesterday that he doesn't need to go to church anymore cause he has preschool every day. He's a little upset that there's no school tomorrow. He's already learned the pledge of allegiance, the whole thing, tons of songs and is counting to almost 30! I can't believe it. They're starting on writing their names, and the alphabet. He's such a smart kid these days!

Everyone was right when I was SO excited for the three hours a day, five days a week deal that the time will go by too fast and I'll want more. It's very true. I find so many things to do during that time that it's been crazy. Maybe this week I'll just take a nap with Sydney!