Dollar Days!

The best part about the San Antonio Rodeo is that three or four days out of the month they have Dollar Days where hot dogs, drinks, cotton candy, carnival rides, and grounds admission all cost just a dollar each! (Parking, however, is a different story!)This year we got to go with the Riggs again and we had a blast!!Last year we brought "Flat Miley" with us everywhere as a favor to Lyndsay's niece. This year (in Lyndsay's own words) we brought "Puffy Kate!" She was adorable!!Tyson loved to see the animals in real life which he had only previously seen in books. Here he is checking out the pigs!The pig races were by far the most entertaining race I've ever seen! They were tiny and so much fun to watch race around the track!Here we are with the biggest cows the Riggs had ever seen! Mooo!The petting zoo was the best! There were pigs, chickens, lamas, donkeys, goats (of many different kinds), sheep, wallabies (thinking of you, Alisha!), ducks, and even deer. I was impressed that none of them showed any natural instinct at all besides hoping to be fed! It was amazing and Tyson loved it! The funniest part, though, was there was a gate behind which there were some ducks and Tyson kept climbing up the gate in hopes of reaching them! It was so funny!We had to take advantage of the giant boot at the entrance to the grounds! It was so fun for Christian to have a day off and for him to spend it with us at the rodeo! Thanks Babe! I love you!!

18 Months...Almost!

Happy half birthday to Tyson! He will be 18 months on the 13th and it really amazes me how much he has changed in so little time!
Here is a synopsis on Tyson. First, he is amazing! He learns so quickly and loves other kids. He is always trying to share his toys and snacks with his friends when they come over.

Example: A few weeks ago, my old roommate, Julie, came over and brought her little girl who is Tyson's age. As soon as she came in the door, Tyson ran to the piano and kept looking over his shoulder at her. Then, he ran over (well...walked as unsteadily as he could) to get his airplane toy, drove it up 6 inches from Alessa's face and pressed the button to turn it on. Then he just stared at her to see if there was any way she could even imagine a cooler toy! Alessa was groggy from her nap and was not impressed, so Tyson proceeded to get his shopping cart, truck, and another toy to show her. Later, he even tried to feed her his snacks (by hand). He just wanted to impress this little girl so much! It was so cute to watch but heart-wrenching at the same time to realize that for the first time in his life, what he wanted, I could not give him. I imagine I'll feel the same way when he turns 15 and wants to start impressing the ladies again! Here he is with another cute girl from our church! We have a friend, whose daughter by this age knew all of the States and capitals and where they fit on a map of the United States! While Tyson isn't as interested in his geography yet, he is picking up a few terms!

So far he can say fish, duck, milk, book, ball, sock, shoe, jacket, rock, tree, truck, car, bath, blanket, cheese, juice, cracker, cookie, pretzel (that one's new!), eye, no (he uses that one a ton!), mama (finally), daddy, green, purple, yellow, knock-knock, hello, bye-bye, please (prease), Jesus, bubble, hanger (strangely enough), whoa, uh-oh, bug, clap, lap, circle (although he doesn't know what it is) and snack.

He can also make the noises of a train (choo choo) car (beep beep), elephant, squirrel, owl, cow, sheep, pig, bird, dog, cat, horse, duck, snake, lion, bear, gorilla (more of an action), monkey, frog, and sometimes mouse.

He doesn't eat well (at all) but he has the sweetest temperament and is so patient with me. He has learned to leave his blanket in his crib (that one took a few tantrums) and loves to do things by himself. He also loves his shoes! Yesterday, in our rush to get to church on time, we forgot Tyson's shoes. When we were getting him ready for bed later that night, he saw them and wanted to wear them to sleep! We let him wear them for a little while but took them off before putting him in his crib. He wouldn't stop crying, so after a while I picked him back up and asked him what was wrong...apparently he was missing his shoes! At any rate, I'm glad I'm a mom! I love this little guy so much and feel lucky to be with him every single day!

Here is a video of him just the other day. I may be biased, but I think he's the cutest kid in the world!

Happy MLK Day!!

This year, to commemorate Martin Luther King, JR., we rode the bus to downtown and went to a sweet convention! Supposedly San Antonio hosts the largest march in the United States! Sadly, we missed the march, but we did get to listen to some great gospel music, listen to some speeches, and be reminded of the importance of leaving the world better than we found it. I found it very inspiring! We had pictures, but unfortunately I lost the memory card to the Blair's camera and now they are lost forever...bummer deal! Sorry Nichole!!

DisneyWorld!!

This year after Christmas (in order to miss the crowds), we went to the wonderful world of Disney with Christian's side of the family! It was so much fun!
Tyson loved playing with Christian's hat! I think it was worth the $5.00 just as a toy!
Tyson loved pushing around the garbage truck at Epcot! He really put every ounce of muscle he had into pushing that truck! He loves watching the real garbage truck come by during the week. Luckily for us, the garbage man will come by once or twice a week for probably his entire life :) We tried to take pictures of all of the grand kids together as a gift to the grandparents. We took dozens of pictures! This one is one of the better ones! The funny thing is I don't think it's even good enough to photoshop!!I think our family picture idea would have worked better if we had just stuck Evan and Tyson in this shopping cart! Look, everyone's happy and smiling all at once!One of the days we had a Girl's Night Out and all of the sisters and mom got to go to all of the countries without husbands or kids. It was awesome! I married into the best family! Here we are at Norway (mom's taking the picture) next to a nasty troll!In "England" they had the Beatles singing in concert! I loved every second of "Eight days a Week" and "She said She Loves You" and was very sad we only caught the end of the concert. I was thinking of my dad the whole time since he loved the Beatles growing up! It was very cool!Tyson had to catch his naps whenever he could and usually that meant I had to find a show where I could sit or in this case, go around and around "It's a Small world" until the park closed!By the end of the week, Tyson learned to like the rides (which made waiting in line more difficult) My father-in-law would run everywhere to get fast passes and most of the time we didn't have to wait at all, which was awesome! Here we are on the carousel which we probably could have done a million times without getting tired of it! It was definitely one of Tyson's favorites!Overall it was one of the best family vacations I have ever been on! There was no fighting and there were tons of games and fun and always plenty of oreos to snack on! Thanks so much for inviting us to come on such an amazing trip!

Happy Anniversary!

Christian and I have made it three years! Wahoo! These days every day is worth celebrating staying together! Three of the things I love about Christian:

1. He shaves even when he doesn't want to just to make me happy!
2. He makes sure he's doing his part and most of the time that means more than his share of taking care of Tyson, laundry, studying, and taking care of me!
3. He listens to my ramblings even when it is late and all he wants to do is sleep!

I know these aren't really romantic things but they are some of the simply important-to-me things that he does which I love. Thank you Christian for all of your commitment and love! I knew when I married you that you would never turn away from me. I am so grateful for that assurance and devotion. I love you!!