Bunny Bonanza!

On Wednesday, we made our way back to the Heritage Farm Museum with my friend, Ashley, and her kids.  They were having a special event called "The Bunny Bonanza."  A bunny rescue league came to the museum with bunnies that people could pet.  It was a complete mad-house that day.  There were WAY too many people there and I lost track of Tyler a couple of times.  At one point, I thought that even Brennan may have left the building.  Thankfully, no one left the building and the boys did seem to enjoy the bunnies.  But, after about an hour, we decided to call it quits!  It was hard to get pictures because the number of people, but I did snap a few.  Brennan really enjoyed petting the bunnies.  They were really soft!

The boys sat down for a decent period of time to complete an art project.

Brennan liked the bunny mask he made and kept it on longer than you would have expected, considering it was obstructing his vision!

Hello Spring Break, Hello Snow

Hello Global Wierding!  From 50 degrees to snow in just two days.  Gotta scratch your head at that, but that's the story of March this year.  Yesterday was our first official day of spring break and we pulled out the snow gear for one last (I hope) round of playing in the snow.  Tyler was less than thrilled to be bundled up, walking around in the cold, wet weather.

Brennan on the other hand couldn't be happier and rolled a giantic snowball in my neighbor's backyard.

We made another snowman.  I did a better job at cleaning this one up, but Brennan insisted on giving him some crazy, unmatching eyes!

Tyler soon had his fill of outdoor fun, so we left Brennan to play with the neighbor's kids and headed in, just as the mail arrived.  There was an Easter package from my parents to the boys, containing a swim suit for each of them.  Tyler was very intersted in trying his on and wouldn't let me take it off.  Maybe he was trying to send a message about what he would prefer to do over spring break!

I just loved this shot... nothing says March 2013 like a bathing suit and a fire!  (Which, by the way is one of Tyler's favorite things... he loves when we make fires and calls them, "hot!")

Birthday Party Central

Many of Brennan's friends have started to turn 5.  We've been to a couple of birthday parties in the last few weeks.  Here are highlights from them.  Carter celebrated at the Heritage Farm Museum and Tyler tagged along.

Farmer Brennan!

Brennan put on a little puppet show for me.

Yenna had a bowling party on Saturday.  It was the first time Brennan went bowling and he seemed to really enjoy it.  In all, the kids did great taking and waiting their turns.  I don't know what Brennan loved more, rolling the ball or waiting for it to come back through the machine.

They had the bumpers up for the kids and you can see the metal ramps that make it easier for the kids to get their balls rolling down the lane.  Brennan used the ramp quite a bit, but also tried his luck trying to roll the ball down on his own.  He managed to get one strike and one spare all on his own!

After rolling the ball, he did a funny little wiggle, appearing to attempt to control where the ball rolled.  Thanks to the bumpers, he managed to score a 78 on his first game!

Toddler Playtime

Tyler and I have been out and about this week.  We went to the mall on Monday to have fun in the play area.  Tyler had a blast and climbed all over the equipment.

On Wednesday, we went to the Tot Drop-In at the Sterling Community Center.  It is open gym space with a bunch of toys for kids under 5.  We got there right when it started at 9:30 and Tyler could have entertained himself for the entire two hours!  Tyler loves Batman and Spiderman.  Anytime he sees the Batman symbol or anything spiderman, he runs straight for it, pointing and screeching.  It's really cute.

He really enjoyed the slide, and went up and down it repeatedly.

The jumbo foam blocks were intriguing as well.  There were some "older" kids turned the blocks into a castle, but Tyler just wanted to knock down their building.

I decided to switch Tyler to forward facing in the car (yes, I know the recommendation is to wait until they turn 2.)  He stayed rear facing four months longer than Brennan did, and his feet have been a little crunched.  He was very excited about his new view!

Snow Day!

We had our first "real" snow of the winter on Wednesday.  It was coming down pretty good, but it wasn't very cold, so it was extremely wet and slushy.  We got fully dressed in winter gear and tried to do some sledding.  While Tyler was out with us, we stayed in our own yard and had fun sliding down the slope of our yard.

Tyler wasn't very excited about being out on a sled and preferred to attempt driving his 4-wheeler.

I tried to encourage him to ride in the toboggan, but after one trip down the yard, he had enough.

Tyler wandered around a bit in the snow, but wasn't a very happy camper.  We ended up venturing out for a walk, and Tyler rode in the push car.  It was fun until we turned around to head home and were walking face-on into the wind.

We were able to make a little snowman.  Notice the arms, Brennan insisted on keeping them lopsided.

Brian was actually working from home during the snow day, so while Tyler napped, Brennan and I walked over to a hill on the common ground and had fun doing some better sledding than what our backyard had to offer.  I am happy that spring is on the horizon, but it was fun to get a little snow this season!  

Adjusting to the new norm

While Tyler could usually use to go down for a nap around 10:30 in the morning, I've generally been pushing him until closer to 1 PM, after lunch and after preschool pick-up.  Having him up all morning has been quite a change for me, since that means I've had to push my Kids Ministry work until the afternoon when Brennan is home (and Tyler naps) or after dinner when Brian is home.  Life feels a little crazier than usual these days, but I've been trying to make the most of the one on one time with Tyler and we've been enjoying our mornings.  We've gone on playdates, to the gym, the library and the mall (Tyler is actually doing a great job holding my hand and walking next to me!)  It's been pretty chilly, but we had one day of warmer weather and got to go out for a walk.  Tyler refused to ride in the little car, but pushed it a quarter of the way around the neighborhood.

 Before long, he realized he could move much faster without the car and just started taking off, running up and down some neighbor's driveway.  I think he liked the speed he could get coming down this one!

Later that afternoon, we were back out and the boys had fun playing with Brennan's new remote control car.  (Brennan controlled it and Tyler chased it!)

The boys have been out cruising in the truck, but Tyler has also been riding the Power Wheels Quad.  He doesn't steer at all, so I have to adjust his trajectory, but he hits the power and will cruise straight into anything in his path!

Tyler LOVES animals.  Casey is one of the regular dogs in the neighborhood and she is extremely friendly.  Tyler was so excited to pet her.  He kept saying, "woo-woo" for woof and kissed the dog multiple times.

I was thrilled that Tyler finally starting eating tacos this week!  This is Brennan's favorite menu item, so we make them just about every week and it's always a dicey night for dinner for Tyler.  But, finally, he went for them!

The other exciting news is that Tyler has been binky-free for almost two weeks!!  I had been working on reducing binky use over the last month, but the final step was taking it away from nap and bedtime.  Two Wednesdays ago, I decided to see what would happen if I just put him down for a nap without it.  To my delight, there was no crying.  He didn't go to sleep as quickly, but he did so without any real fussing!  I hesitantly decided to never turn back!  The downside is that he wakes up about an hour earlier in the morning, and as a result, he's been a little more tired/cranky in the morning, but I know we'll get through all this.  Brighter days are ahead!  Now, if I could just get Brennan to fully give up his thumb sucking!