September

September has been a fun month so far!  We have finally made a couple of friends and we made some sock snowmen one day!  Here's Tyson with one of his new besties showing off their snowmen :)

 Here's my snowmen family--Lyndsay never thought I would make them and now here's proof!!  One craft down, and maybe no more to go--jk :)  It was fun and I'm sure I'll do more crafts!

 For Playgroup one day we went to Keeneland.  They were doing the yearling sales and it was so cool to see those horses!  They were pawing to get out and just antsy--you can tell they're not your average horses!

 Our friend Nate took us rock climbing one Saturday and it was absolutely gorgeous!  Here we are hiking through the red river gorge!  It is famous for its climbs.

 What a beautiful trail!

 My boys!

 I just thought it was so nice to be outside!  The weather was perfect, it wasn't too humid, and trees were everywhere!

 Here's Christian scaling the wall named "Animal Crackers"  We only brought pretzels to snack on...too bad!

 Here's our family!  Nate was so nice to let us use his stuff and his baby carrier!  Thanks Nate!

 So we finally got our second "car!" and I love it!!  So do the boys :)  Now Tyson doesn't have to ride his tricycle to the grocery store!

 We went to the Waveland Museum for Park day and it was yet again perfect outside.  I love the Fall!

 Here's my Monkey boy who picks out his own clothes now--T-shirt with khakis at the park and a polo rock-climbing :)  To each their own!  At least he can match!!

 My goof-ball Austin who is saying a few more words now.  At least he's attempting to copy sounds.  Every time the train goes by he says "choo choo!!"  Which is a few times an hour.  He's pretty cute!

 Whenever I pull the camera out he and Tyson both do this fake smile and say 'cheese!"  They're so funny and good!

I feel so lucky lately to be their mom.  They are the most loving and obedient kids lately which has helped so much in this transition.  Thank you Austin and Tyson!  I love you so much!

Kentucky Football!

Christian's professor kindly gave us four tickets to the first home game for the Kentucky Wildcats!  We tried to make it into a double date but finally decided to just go as a family and I'm so glad we did!  Luckily, Christian also scored some free t-shirts!  So  with all of the tailgating (I've never seen anything like it--just masses and masses of people and cars and tents and food--it was crazy but kind of fun!)

 Christian kindly dropped me and the boys off and walked an extra mile to get to our seats--and then he beat us there!  Somehow getting places with two kids can kind of be slow!!  They're pretty cute boys though!

   The weather was absolutely perfect--just chilly enough to make it feel like a football game, but not too cold for the kids.  The stands behind us were empty, which gave the kids room to play without bugging people and Tyson LOVED every second of it!  There were fireworks whenever we scored and we scored right before half-time which was perfect timing to walk home and get them to bed!  We really had a great time!  Thank you Babe!

Randomness

 Christian has been super busy with school, but still finds time to get the kids ready for bed--this is my sanity!!  I love this picture of all of my boys reading together!

 We've been trying to go on walks after dinner most nights.  Generally  Tyson rides the bike and Austin rides in the stroller, but it was switched this evening!

 Tyson was horribly sick a few weeks ago (high fever which turned to croup).  He said he wanted muffins for breakfast and lunch!  He was laughing since every time I tried to take a picture he would drink his milk--the Goofball!

 Here's the two boys on their sick day!  I pull the elliptical out if I let them watch a movie and it has been great!

 Austin is so funny!  He still can't really talk, but he can say Thank you, uh uh Go!!, Momma, Daddy, Ball, shoe (which he learned to get a fly away, and so for the longest time he would wave his hand whenever he said it, even if he meant his shoes!!)  purple, blue, and a few animal sounds and train noises :)  He loves to wear shoes and follow Tyson around.  He is always making us laugh and whenever he laughs it sounds like his uncle Ben--low and not like a little kid at all!  It's hilarious!  When he's done eating, he'll throw his food or spit it over his chair.  He also loves to sit on the counter and play with the spice rack.  What a cutie!

 Tyson started preschool this week (twice a week, 3.5 hours)  It starts at nine and I've had to wake him up every day, try to make him eat breakfast, and hurry him along to school.  He missed his first day since he was still sick and REALLY wanted to go his second day.  He slept the whole night (first time since he'd been sick) and when he would cough, he would tell me it was a fake cough since he was not sick.  He's so funny!  On the first day, he was still getting his strength back and so he spit out his yogurt all over himself (I was shoveling a bit fast) and then had to walk his bike the last two houses before we got there because he was too tired to pedal--poor thing!  He also got a special father's blessing before school and listened so well that afterwards he asked Christian "How do you learn?" and told me his favorite part was all the school parts!  He is also learning to read and is doing AWESOME!  He really is!  He'll point out words to me all the time now and begs to read to me. What a cute kid!

 Here's his backpack that's too small for his folder--he still likes his Cat and the Hat Backpack though!

 You can tell he's a little tired still!  Poor little guy!

 Austin was having fun dressing up like a fireman one morning!

 He'll do anything to make someone laugh!

 Since the Temple is so far away, we haven't yet gone together, but instead have taken turns outside watching the kids.  The boys do great and it's actually kind of fun to make it a family day!  I always thought the Hanks were crazy--really they were just really smart!  This last time, Christian found an amazing petting zoo just minutes away which was free!  Hopefully we can still make it work once the weather turns cold!  I love going to the temple.  It is such an amazing place of peace.

 So on our way back, our wonderful neighbors stopped by and gave us this beauty--hand picked and hand dipped in caramel and drizzled with white chocolate and cinnamon--can you say divine?  It was so nice of them to share!! Thank you Bryn!

 We were SO blessed to have the Luff's come and stay with us one night!  They were our good friends from San Antonio and it was amazing to see them again!  I hope we see them again and again!  The twins were Tyson's first playmates!

 Jackson ran into the corner of the wall and split his head open.  Luckily for us, Christian had some lidocaine and I had some needles.  Our awesome neighbors (the ones who brought us those apples!) came and stitched him up.  It was a little traumatic but he was actually a champion through it all.  It was amazing to see people who hardly knew us be so willing to help us out.  We are so very very blessed!

Here's my amazing friend Courtney and her new baby!  Thank you so much for coming to visit!!

Also, Ben and Laura came to visit and since Tyson was sick, we just played games, worked on puzzles, and chatted the whole time and it was so fun!  I'm so grateful they took the time to drive all the way out to see us!  Thank you guys!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Tyson!

So Tyson turned 4 on Monday!!  He has grown so much over this past year.  I can hardly believe it!  This year, since all of the friends he wanted to invite either lived in Texas or Montana, we had a neighborhood party.  It was a blast!  Tyson really wanted a pinata so that our neighbors in Texas could "come and knock the candy out!"  Instead, we made our own and had our new friends here come.  It really was so much fun!  We missed our Texas friends, though :(

 Instead of the traditional cake, Tyson wanted a fruit pizza.  He proudly told me he had eaten the edges off when I was looking!  Oh well--my cakes will always end up a little strange!

 We had our neighborhood kids over which was awesome, but a little tricky due to the age differences!  We did fingerpainting (in bags) and built marshmallow towers--which actually was pretty entertaining!

 Tyson's new best friend worked on the Happy Birthday Poster with him outside.

 We also did "Red Light, Green Light", a balloon relay race, Freeze dancing, the limbo, a scavenger hunt puzzle (while people were coming) and of course the pinata :)  Tyson only wanted a pinata, marshmallows, and cotton candy--I tried for two of the three!

 Tyson was pretty disappointed that the candy didn't come out when he hit it. I had made it over several days to make sure it would be sturdy enough and then spray painted it and had Tyson fingerpaint on top.  Not even the thirteen year old could bust it!  We ended up having to set it on the ground and bust it!

 Austin trying to break the pinata!

 Then of course we had cake :)  He blew all of the candles out on the first try!

 We also had sugar cookie decorating for while we were serving up the cake!

 Even though we said no presents--every single person brought one.  Tyson was thrilled!

 He even shared his toys with Austin.  He is such a good boy!

Look at my big 4 year old!  I told him today he was my cutie-patootie and he said, "I'm not cute anymore, I'm big!" I told him he was a big cutie :)  Being 4 marks a new era of no more bum wiping, bed making, or dish clearing--I must say I'm looking forward to it :)  Happy Birthday my little big guy!

West Virginia

So during Christian's first weekend away, I decided I'd drive up to see my great friend, Misty Bingham!  She pulled me out of depression after I had Tyson and changed my whole San Antonio experience.  I will forever be grateful for her!

 We played the candy bar game--which Tyson devoured more than half of the candy much to the rest of the kid's chagrin!

 We also went to this beautiful lake and just let the kids play in the sand.  It was a perfect weekend!  Thank you Misty for letting us come!

The last night we had a GNO with Misty and her only girl!  We drove the town, went shopping, and ate ice cream and I loved every second of it!  Thank you Misty!  You're one awesome friend!