Halloween

It was so cute to see the boys work together to purchase our pumpkin.  Tyn was very into pushing.  

I had earlier made the mistake of asking Ked, "What do you want to be for Halloween?  Thomas?"  Of course that's what he wanted to be, and there was no convincing him otherwise.  (Until after he had the costume and realized how hard it was to do anything other than trick-or-treating in!)  He ended up deciding on Percy.  I'm not the crafty type, but I did enjoy making the costume.  Just took way too long.  Tyn is the cute spotted dog (made by Heidi for Davis years earlier), but the headpiece was too small for him, and he wouldn't wear it anyway.  Here, at Ked's preschool party.  

Tyn blended right in with the ghost bowling game.  I love how Tyn almost always uses both hands to suck his thumb.

Okay, so these next pictures of Tyn were actually taken a day or two after Christmas, but this is the outfit he wore (borrowed from a friend) for the day of Halloween (retirement/nursing home trick or treating) and our ward Halloween activity.

I thought it was just the perfect outfit for our little monkey!  Sam and I couldn't get over how cute he was moving around in this little suit.

 I'm a little red here from having just thrown Tyn upside down to get him to smile.

gymnast

I was trying to get video of something a little different, but this was pretty good too--the maneuver at 4 seconds.  At least his mother thought so.  Of course, she's biased. 

My dad was a college gymnast.  Maybe there are some gymnast genes in my little guy.  (He was better at landing the other times.)  Earlier, he had been bringing his legs from the back to the front going through the splits--never lifting off the surface at all.  

Tyndale, almost 15 months

Bible reader (and baby reader)

One day Ked asked me where his little Bible was.  (Thank you Gideons!)  I was distracted with other things, and after casually glancing around the room, I told him I didn't know.  After a few more more pleas for help in finding his Bible, I finally decided to stop being a lousy mother, quit was I was doing, and help him find it.  

The door to the balcony deck was open, and as soon as I found his Bible, he took his little camp chair out on the deck and told me he was going to read his Bible outside for a little bit.  And he went out and looked just like this for several minutes.  Melted my heart.  He wouldn't let me take a picture then (I spoiled the moment), but he did later when he was "reading" his Bible on the couch.

Ked dresses himself most days.  (One of those battles just not worth fighting!)  So this is what he wears almost every day--his favorite orange shorts and Thomas shirt.

 At about 13 months old, Tyn started climbing up on the couch with book in hand.  It's always this spot on this couch that he likes to silently look at books.  Love it!

 I am guessing by his facial and hand expression here, that he was saying, "Hi," to the characters in the book. That's his second word (after Uh Oh), and he waves to people as he says it, and always shows all five of his teeth with a sideways jaw smile as he says it.  (14 months)

Dragon's Tooth

Sam and I finally went on a hike that I've been wanting to do for a long time.  I'm not much into hiking--the endurance part--but I love when there are cool things to see, climb, and explore.  

Sam looking up at one of the "dragon teeth"--upright slabs of rock at the very top of the mountain. 

  

 At the highest point.  Climbing up was easy, but down was a little scary.  Really neat, though--could see the valleys on each side.  I think I was looking at a bird soaring.

 This was taken looking down at Sam from the little peak.   Great view!

 Both of us chilled and terrified by the very boisterous wind while sitting on top of the little peak.  It was a little scary!  We both really enjoyed the adventure together.  Not often we get out alone!

Sam went up with some guys a couple of weeks before.  Love this picture.   Mm.

Virginia Day of Service

For Virginia's Day of Service, our church congregation cleaned up some brush behind the food bank (along with donating supplies).  

 About half way through.  This was the only shot I could get of Sam (middle), since normally he was buried in the brush, hacking away.  After this he let me switch--I got to work while he watched the boys.  I miss this type of work.

 Tyn and Ked working hard.

The next day.  Sunday walk.

Tyn is a speed demon.  Loves running down the hill.  

almost 14 months

Joy

To Garden or Not to Garden

That was the question.

When my landlord showed me a place about 75 yards from our home where I could garden, I was ecstatic.  But then I doubted.  I figured that drought, fungus, bugs, and deer would rob me of any rewards.  Plus walnut toxicity, as the area is surrounded, and I pulled out about a dozen small walnut trees in prepping the soil.  And any financial investment we'd made and physical efforts we'd labored at would be wasted.  (Then again, is exercise ever wasted?)  But let's be honest, can I not garden when I have any square inch of open dirt?  

So thank you to some friends for introducing me to a deer fence (and sharing some supplies with me).  The deer only wreaked havoc once--before I put it up the 6 ft. mesh wall.  After that I only saw their hooves on the outside!

I eventually couldn't keep up with watering by hand (carrying milk jugs of water out there), and I didn't even begin to fight the pests, so it definitely didn't last as long as it could have, and the walnut toxicity did affect the tomatoes, but not completely, and it was still an abundant harvest!  Green onions, zucchini, yellow squash (waaayyyy too much--even after I took out a full grown plant), cucumber, tomatoes, peppers (red and green), and green beans.  It's always nice to have enough to share. . . I just don't like anyone to feel obligated to take it.  :)  I'd usually just bring a box to church and let whoever wanted to take it, and it always ended up empty.   We also had some sugar snap peas and beets on our deck in containers, and plenty of tomatoes and some little strawberries in the front.

Try again:  The cilantro needed more water, the onions and garlic seem to have disappeared, and the pumpkins didn't make it too far.  (Sad about the pumpkins.) Next year.  Plus, other friends have inspired to me to try lettuces!

Back in the spring, Ked loved to eat "vegetables from the porch"--sugar snap peas.

Tyn (~9 months) had Roseola, but you can't see his spots in the picture.  

Snuggler

If it's sucking the thumb that makes a baby more of a snuggler, please give me thumb-suckers for all of the rest!

Ked In Charge

When Ked dresses himself.

Remind me why we paid around $100 for a bed and mattress?  And why do we still have to leave a night light on and put a blanket over the window blinds (to keep car lights from shining through and bugging him) when he now demands to sleep with the lights on?

Ked was very excited about "ice cream on my fire!" for his birthday.  

We have a three-year-old!

Update

A week after his first rock incident, Ked threw another big rock on his toe.  Big black toe, eventually losing the toenail, which he was pretty upset about.  I'm afraid, however, that he's only learned that Injury = Video.

Ked started preschool with his friends.  A bunch of us put it together and are the teachers/supervisors.  A lot of the other mothers were early childhood education majors, so the two hours are fully formatted (and age-appropriately relaxed).  We started out last week at our house.  It was fun, but exhausting too!

Tyn:  After he was mostly weaned, he became Daddy's boy, which Sam loved.  Now he's back to Mama's boy as teething and sickness has encouraged a little more nursing again.  At least he is FINALLY mostly sleeping through the night!  To 5:15am at least, usually.  (That took some work!)

Tyn still doesn't like to eat much, and it's often only with great effort and patience that I can get him to.  (He does like munching on whole vegetables from our garden, however.)  Whoever says that a child won't let himself starve hasn't been around Tyn enough.  Nevertheless, his empty-belly body seems to have abundant energy (especially when he's really grumpy from hunger--that's when he throws his most elaborate temper tantrums).  Just like his big brother, he loves to climb up anything he can.  He has his own little "stomp dance" that he does on tables and desks.  When Ked was in this stage, I got rid of the chairs.  I don't think I can do that again.  Sometimes I just really need to sit down!

Having Tyn weaned makes it soooo much easier for us to get out.  We've enjoyed going to the river and to Dismal Falls.  The boys loved both!  The last time we were at Dismal, we'd been here a month, and I was exactly a month shy of delivering Ked.  We've grown!

I forgot Ked's swimming trunks, but he didn't seem to mind.  Both boys loved the little pools to play in.  

Youth Tubing and Temple Trips

This last week was a busy and fun one with two bigger activities with the youth from our church.  It has been reaffirmed to me that planning and executing activities is not one of my natural strengths, and it has brought a lot of personal weaknesses to the surface.  But I know it's all part of Heavenly Father's plan to help me stretch and grow, and it's definitely working.  Lots of room still for improvement and progress! 

I do absolutely love working with and being with the youth (and other leaders).  They are awesome!

The tubing was really fun.  Riding the lopsided tube resulted in a wild ride in the turbulent (but small) rapids with nothing but a life jacket.  I got some pretty good bruises and scrapes going over the big rocks.  And swallowed some water.  A little scary but the most fun part too!  Made me miss the ocean and getting pounded by big waves. Stupidity resulted in me also falling off one of the bigger tubes and going through the washing machine again, but it was shorter lived, being easier to get back on the tube.

The girls were really nice about helping me get back on my tube.  :)

The Washington DC temple trip was really neat.  A great experience for all of us.  

Picnic lunch and Frisbee after the long car drive.  

I loved watching them play in their suits and dresses.  My apologies to the parents for their muddied clothing!

Here we go again. . . the toddler stage of climbing!

A few days after Tyn turned one, I turned from my desk to see him just chilling on the couch.  It the next week or so, he's gotten up on the coffee table and over and into the bathtub.

This morning, Sam was working at his desk right next to the kitchen while Tyn was playing around.  Sam suddenly realized that Tyn had been awfully quiet, so he quickly peaked into the kitchen and found Tyn sitting merrily on the kitchen table, a ripe banana in each hand, chewing on both of them (eating the peel as well as the fruit).  Hey, at least he was finally eating!  I hope he will be easy on my and just require the pushing in of the kitchen chairs, and not their entire removal (as had to be done with Ked)!

Emergency Room... or Kitchen?

Sam brought a wailing Ked in from outside just before bedtime.  Apparently, after Sam had just told him not to, Ked threw a big rock up in the air. . . and then proceeded to duck under it.  The subsequent split in his head probably could have used one stitch, maybe two, but after assessing the situation and consulting with the man who stitched me and all my siblings up multiple times on the kitchen table (my dad), we opted for the easier, cheaper, and more time-efficient route--peroxide and super glue.  Hope Ked doesn't come to regret our decision (or our handy work)!

Ked watching a video at the end of the procedure.  The wound is hidden by his hair.

(I put the rock there just for the picture to show the size.)

Ked being silly while he displays the imfamous rock.

Tyn turns 1

I tried to let Tyn do some of his favorite things on his birthday--like play with the hose.  He has moved up from the 1st to the 3rd percentile in weight.  We've worked hard for the roundness of that little belly!  It's still a lot of work and patience to get him fed, but we are slowly seeing improvement.

Love the snaggle tooth.  Still working on getting a better picture of it.

In true Tyndale style, he only ate a few bites of his cupcake and smashed the rest.  

For days after, Ked begged me for "cupcake on my fire."

Can't get enough of our little snuggler!

Cars, Trains, and Bikes

Some friends just gave us this little car.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but the boys were sooo cute riding in it together.

Ked and Sam decided to make it a train. Ked did a great job pulling Tyn around. 

 Tyn loved it!  I love his smile in this shot.  (You have to zoom in to really appreciate it.)

Following in the footsteps of his brother, Tyn has become a trick rider at a young age.  

(Tyn almost 12 months, Ked almost 3 years)

Motherhood Badge of Honor

I once heard an acquaintance describe her motherhood badge of honor.  After comforting her crying child, she was left with the remnants of a runny nose on her shirt.  While she at first went to change the shirt, she ended up leaving it on, and felt that it was her badge of motherhood.  "I comforted my child today," it proclaimed.

Tyndale is a cuddler, which I LOVE, but it also means my shirts are frequently covered in marks of drool and slime.  And baby food, since I often feed him while holding him.


The terrain was hilly where we went camping recently, and beginning-walker Tyndale took a lot of falls.  After a particularly bad down-hill face plant, I quickly scooped him up and held him as he cried with his face in my shoulder.  I ignored his fists full of dirt and plant material and the wet debris all over his little body and just held him tight.  It took me a moment to realize that he had a bloody lip, but I didn't realize until much later in the day how much he had bled on my shoulder.  Call it my motherhood badge of honor.  I got to comfort my child.  (If you could see well, you'd also notice the remnants of his breakfast on my shoulder.)

Camp Out

We had our annual church congregation camp out, so we bought a new, bigger tent.  

(I LOVE being able to stand up in it!)

 Tyn was really excited about setting the tent up in our family room, just to check it out.

 Ked was just as excited about the box it came in.

 Tyndale loved walking around, exploring and eating lots of dirt.  I'm always amazed at the flexibility of his knees.

 Ked loved manning the fire, playing with sticks, eating marshmallows, and getting really dirty.  

It's a little scary having him so independent now, and wandering off.  I lost him a few times, one of those times just to find him back in our tent, taking care of himself.

 Tyn thought it was great fun that we were all sleeping together.  He lasted until 3am in his pack-n-play, and then decided we should party the rest of the night.  Ked agreed.  As tired (and frustrated) as I was, it was still tender when they snuggled up to me, even if it rarely lasted long.  Unfortunately we also woke up some of our neighboring campers.