Jo becomes George

Tyson is convinced he's 4. He's also convinced his full name is Tyson Jo Gardner. He knows Lexi's full name is Lexi Jo Gardner so he wants to be Tyson Jo Gardner. If you ask him daddy's name he will tell you Daddy George Gardner and mommy is Mommy George Gardner. I don't know why the kids are Jo and parents are George.

Thayne went to Arizona for an interview for a couple of days earlier in the week. 4 hours after he'd been gone I was calling the police. Tyson locked him and Lexi in the car. The policeman was very nice and helpful. A couple hours later I couldn't find Tyson at church. He had taken himself to nursery but it wasn't the nursery he normally goes to. Tyson also decided to poo in his underwear for the first time ever that night. Things seem to run so much smoother when Thayne is here and I'm so happy he's home.

Lexi does this funny plank thing with her legs. She makes them straight and crosses them. She does this all the time. I find her under the Christmas tree a lot.

We had a fun Thanksgiving with friends from our babysitting swap. The food was delicious. There are some wonderful cooks around here. We went to Bounce Magic one night with friends and all of us had a blast. We also did our yearly overnight trip to Palmyra. Tyson and Lexi both slept so well in the hotel this year. It was wonderful. We got our Christmas tree up and Thayne and Tyson decorated it. I love the way Tyson decorates our tree. He puts the ornaments on the string of lights and says, "wook, I made a train."

Let it snow!

We didn't get our first snowfall until December 1st. Buffalo sure knows how to snow with style. We made the national news with the first snowfall! Our house didn't get much but a few miles south of us got TONS! I was so excited to build a snowman with Tyson. He loves being out in the snow. Wherever we go he avoids the dry pavement and wants to walk through the snow. Sometimes it drives me crazy. The snow wasn't packing very well so we made a small snowman and then angels in the snow. Tyson also liked the hot chocolate that he got after. I was also really excited to go sledding. Too bad the hill that I like to sled down didn't have very much snow. It's interesting how one area of buffalo got around 3 ft of snow and other areas had very little.

odds and ends

I've decided I need to take more pictures of Lexi. It's so much easier to remember to take pictures of the singing, dancing, crazy kid than it is the well behaved baby that stays in one place. I'm sure that will change in the near future. October flew by this year. I can't believe the holidays are almost here. I love this time of year. 4th year has been awesome. Thayne and I have lots of time to sit around and dream and wonder where we'll be next year. Thayne went to Massachusetts last week for an interview but didn't like the program so most likely we won't be there. We're hoping he'll get into a pediatric residency but he didn't get as many interviews as he wanted. We'll see what happens. All in all, we feel really blessed and grateful for our family and our health. One of the dental students lost his wife to Leukemia this week. It breaks my heart to think about her husband and baby daughter and other family members left behind. I can't imagine where her husband goes from here. I really thought they were getting a miracle. There were so many of us fasting and praying for her. I have a testimony of the afterlife but what about the pain that loved ones experience until then. Thayne doesn't like it if I watch a movie and the spouse or child dies. It's one of my worst fears. We participated in a charity walk to earn money for this sweet girl that passed away. We pledged to walk 5 miles and then forgot to bring a stroller for Tyson. We didn't make it as far as we wanted to. I've decided that I'd like to do more of these things even if I don't know the people involved. The last few pictures are just odds and ends that I need to record. The first is a picture from the mall during story time. There are so many kids. Tyson finally sits mostly still during story time. He knows all of his capitol letters and the sounds they make. He is starting to put letters together and learn his little letters. Sometimes I get so excited cause he can read simple words but other times he pretends like he doesn't know anything. We were looking for shoes for Thayne and Tyson was having soooo much fun trying on shoes himself.

Tyson is definitely not 100% potty trained. He does great some days/weeks but other times he does horrible. This next picture was a day at church. Tyson had already peed through his church pants and the change of clothes I brought for him so this is how he went home from church. I regretted the saggy underwear that were packed for him this day. Any suggestions are welcome!

Halloween Fun

We were all crayons this year for Halloween. When I put Tyson's costume on him for the first time, he looked at me and exclaimed, "Look mommy! I'm Jesus!" I guess I did a poor job making our costumes (plus our costumes started to fall apart half way through our church party. I guess that's what happens when you decide to use iron on stuff instead of sewing). Cousin Ady and family came to visit us on Halloween week. It was fun to have them here and drag them along to everything. Tyson was defintely entertained the whole week.

My friend made this cute cabbage patch box. Lexi wouldn't keep the wig on so she doesn't look authentic. I wish I was more crafty and creative so I would come up with these ideas.

Pumpkin Farm 2010

I love going to the pumpkin farm every year. This was Thayne's first year. It was a really nice day so it was really busy. Our favorite part was the hay ride. We ended the day at Red Robin for my free birthday dinner.

Daddy is a lumberjack

Tyson loves it when mommy and daddy draw pictures for him. He tells us what he wants and we do our best. (I've discovered Thayne is quite talented in this department. I think he could have been a cartoonist.) Lately he has been asking us to draw a "dennis" aka dentist. We then proceed to draw a person in a dental chair or a dentist with all his gear. Tyson then tells us that what we are drawing is not a dentist. We asked him what a dentist was and he told us it is somebody that chops wood. Hilarious! I don't know where he got this idea in his head but he is convinced that daddy chops wood at school.

check-ups

Tyson and Lexi both had their mid-year checkup this morning. I love that my Dr. makes me feel so good about my kids and my parenting. It also helps that they were behaving so well today.

Tyson at 2 1/2

Height: 37 1/4 (50th)

Weight: 30 lbs (50th)

Head Circumference: 19 1/2 (50th)

Tyson can count to 10. He recognizes the letters W, X, A, B, M, N, and H. Some of his favorite things are trains, cars, friends, going to the library or park, painting, Buzz and Woody, and his sister. He love to talk but recently if he doesn't know you he'll pretend like he doesn't even see you. He demands a lot of attention compared to his sister. He's pretty good at going potty. He doesn't take a nap but will stay in his room for 2 hours every day for quiet time. He loves breakfast but rarely eats a good lunch. He talks in full sentences but is hard to understand a lot of the time. He will do anything for a small piece of candy like an m&m. He still hates getting his hair cut and having his nails cut. He also doesn't like to brush his teeth. Thayne gets really frustrated when he brushes Tyson's teeth. He usually says something like, "Tyson, brushing your teeth is very important to daddy. We want to keep our teeth clean so they can be strong and healthy." Tyson of course doesn't care and continutes to scream and cry which makes Thayne upset. (It's actually kind of funny to watch.) Lately we made Tyson a deal. If he could open his mouth for 10 seconds and be happy while we brushed his teeth he could earn a sticker and when he got 7 stickers he earned a train named Diesel. It took him almost 2 weeks to earn Diesel but his teeth brushing has gotten much better. He keeps our house entertaining but is also the drama around here.

Lexi at 6 months

Height: 26 1/4 (75th)

Weight: 14lb. 7oz (25th)

Head Circumference: 17 1/2 (75th)

She's getting so big these days. I wish time would slow down. She's such a good baby. She puts herself to sleep and sleeps through the night most of the time. She scoots backward and can almost sit without help. She loves to watch other kids. She loves to eat rice or oatmeal cereal, carrots and other mixed veggies but doesn't like green beans. Her favorite thing to do is watch other kids. She likes to be on her belly or be held. She doesn't like the bumbo seat or her high chair. She's a smiley little girl just like her brother. She just brings us so much joy and is so pleasant.

The doctor kept making me feel good by saying I was so calm for a mother of two. I'm not sure what she usually sees. She kept asking if I get away from my kids a lot and if that's the way I stay so calm. The kids were both behaving really well which makes it easy to stay calm. I'm a slacker and didn't write down Lexi's 2 and 4 month stats so here they are:

Lexi at 4 months

Height: 25 1/2 (75th)

Weight: 12 lbs 9 oz (10th)

Head Circumference: 16 1/2 (50th)

Lexi at 4 months

Height: 22 1/2 (50th)

Weight: 9 lbs 11 oz (25th)

Head Circumference: 15 (25th)

new loves

Tyson started swimming lessons. He likes to play with the toys more than he likes to practice swimming. There isn't much structure in the lessons so we've been practicing on our own. Tyson has turned in to a fish! After swimming one day Tyson was a few feet away and I was changing and wasn't watching him super close. This is what he did.We love to watch the airplanes take off. There's a nice grassy area behind the airport. Tyson was crying in the middle of the night a couple nights ago. I checked on him and asked him why he was crying. I thought he was having a nightmare but he said he wanted to go watch the airplanes. My sense of humor was much better the next morning than it was in the middle of the night.One night while we were there, they let Tyson sit in a helicopter. He was in heaven.

dirty boy

"Never seen a horse with 2 rear ends!" All of you Aladdin movie-quoter's should know that one and this car reminds me of that quote. Don't know if it actually runs. It's always parked in the same spot when we drive by. There's actually a steering wheel on each end of the car. Tyson has gone through a dirty phase lately. Every time we go anywhere this is what he looks like when we're headed home. I don't mind so much. I think Thayne sometimes is a bit embarrassed over our homeless looking child. This day we were at the zoo. He was playing in the bone digging area. None of the other kids came even close to getting this dirty.

best friends

Tyson LOVES Lexi and she LOVES him back. It makes me so happy I had a second child. I was so nervous about 2. Sometimes I feel bad for Tyson because when he was a baby he didn't have an older sibbling to watch constantly and be entertained. Lucky Lexi!

I'm potty training Tyson again. He's totally getting it this time and it only took a day to feel like he was catching on. Doesn't mean we don't have accidents because we do. He really worries me when he doesn't use the potty for hours. I feel like we have to be on the potty every 10 minutes when that's the situation. Tomorrow we are venturing outside for the first time with no diaper. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty nervous. Here are some cute, random pictures of the family: