Ghost Story

Recently I was explaining ghost stories to Kyler and he gave it a try. I thought he was pretty successful with those expressive eyes and the way he used his voice to really sell the story. :)

 

Hope you don't have a nightmare about No-Noggin' after watching this!

(P.S. The story line is loosely based on a Curious George Halloween special.)

A Crappie!

3rd Birthday Party

I decided to do an airplane theme for Kyler's 3rd birthday party since he flew for the first time right before his birthday. I got some inspiration from the invitations online and created my own.

We decided to have Kyler's party at his Grandma and Grandpa Brack's this year since last year was at his other grandparents' house and we had celebrated his actual birthday with them on our trip. Plus, it was Memorial Day weekend so they were having a get-together with friends and family anyway. I decorated the dining room with a sign, balloons, and streamers.

His cake was a Jell-o poke and pour cake with blue Jell-o. I used colored whipped topping for the frosting, some 4th of July marshmallows for clouds, and his new Delta toy plane for decoration.

After watching his annual birthday video (something Brett and I put together each year), it was time to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out the candles. He loved the attention.

As you can see, we created a runway on the table with a black tablecloth and masking tape. Before we ate, it was littered with toy airplanes.

Kyler enjoyed opening his gifts. We hurried him along since it was a busy day.

The one thing he had asked for over and over again was a little cement truck. Any time we talked about his birthday party he would say that all he wanted was this cement truck. So we saved it for last and he was very satisfied.

We took a few family photos after the party. There are lots of little ones in the family. One of Brett's brothers has twins that are almost a year old and his other brother is expecting a little boy in about a month.

These proud grandparents have their hands full... and they are about to have one more little to hold.

You think maybe Brett takes after his dad? I just noticed that their hands are positioned exactly alike.

Baby sister was excited to get in on the birthday boy photos too!

When we got home, there was one more gift for Kyler. Brett built him a sandbox. Kyler helped with the finishing touches.

Papa brought just enough beach sand back to Kansas to fill the sandbox. He is a lucky boy to have possibly the only beach sand filled box in Kansas.

These two will have lots of fun out in the sandbox the next several years... and I will spend my summers cleaning up sand.

These happy faces make it all worth it though. Happy 3rd birthday to our growing boy!!

Our Little "Reader"

Kyler has been pretending to read his books a lot lately. He has always done this but now he thinks he is reading the words and will point to them as he narrates the book. He apparently pays good attention when we read to him because he gets a surprising number of words correct. Right now his favorite is the lone library book we have, "A Fly Went By." I took some video of him reading it. He even read it to his sister.

Answering Questions

Kyler can answer some basic questions about himself. He can tell you his first and last name, how old he is, and where he lives. He also knows the names of his parents and his doggie.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Tammy

Kyler is becoming quite the singer and actually did a great job singing "Happy Birthday" to his Grandma Tammy this year. I couldn't resist taking some video of it.

He's 2!!!

We had a great time celebrating Kyler's 2nd birthday. I was out of town Wednesday through Friday for work, so we didn't go overboard on his party this Saturday. He had a motorcycle theme with lots of orange and black decorations.

The party was in Papa's garage which seemed fitting for a motorcycle party. We started the party off by having Kyler open his gift from Great-Uncle Greg and my cousin Kyle since they had to head to the races... and ended up winning!!!

He was pretty impressed with the NASCAR wrapping paper, and he was pretty particular about how he unwrapped gifts so this took a while. He had to get every last bit of paper off.

Greg's gift won for the most unique. It was a little figure with a funny face that made some crazy noises and leaned back and forth as you shifted gears. It got a lot of laughs and I think it's gotten more play from the adults so far than from Kyler.

Then we were on to cake and ice cream. Grandma Debbie made the cake and did a great job, and of course we had to have Grandma Tammy make her amazing homemade ice cream.

Kyler loved his cake and enjoyed having everyone sing happy birthday to him. He was able to blow out the candles one at a time (after we re-lit them after his dad accidentally blew them out). I ordered him a custom birthday shirt that fit the theme too.

He had to help cut the cake of course. Instead of eating the cake and ice cream, he was so proud to pass it out to his guests. He was the only one who didn't clean his plate.

Kyler got lots and lots of new toys (good thing we're moving to a bigger house!) and had a hard time opening each gift since the previous one looked like so much fun. He is a very lucky boy and did a pretty good job saying "thank you" after each gift (even if his guests had no idea what he was saying).

Of course Papa took the cake for the biggest gift. Kyler got a motorized tractor with two detachable wagons. He did not want to get off of his tractor for a couple of hours. We wondered if he would sleep in the tractor. He was a little timid of making it go, but did manage to almost run into a few things throughout the afternoon.

Of course, the motorcycle birthday party would be incomplete without a couple of Harleys present. Jesse is a family friend who Papa texted that morning and he didn't disappoint. Not only did he bring his bike, but also got Kyler a matching purple toy motorcycle that he didn't put down for about 2.5 hours that evening.

Great Grandpa Remi's bike was also present, and Kyler even got a ride on it as the party was winding down. He was pretty scared to get on but once he did he did not want back off. He is officially our little biker.

Some April Pictures & Our Weekend

Kyler was pretty understanding for the most part when I was working a lot before the tax deadline. He had his moments when he wanted to sit and help mommy though. Now that the deadline is over, he likes to go into my office, climb up on the chair, and do some work "wook" of his own. He pretends to type on the computer and will flip through my notebook and write in it with the pen.

This kid has always had interesting taste when it comes to food. Most kids seem to enjoy more bland diets, but not Kyler. He takes after his dad. He loves Mexican and can handle more spicy stuff than I can. When we have chicken, he always asks for barbecue sauce "ba ba tu sauz." And we have gone through more ketchup lately than ever before. Last night, Brett let him have a taste of his IPA (a really really bitter beer) and Ky asked for more "moe." We were hoping for a bitter beer face, not a two year old beer lover.

In the mornings, I have started giving Kyler cold cereal with milk on (I had been just giving him dry cereal). You would think he hadn't eaten for a week judging by how much he suddenly eats for breakfast. He asks for more and more, eating probably twice as much as me. Then when he's done he will pick up his bowl and drink the milk out. Can you believe how big he's getting? We only use the high chair about 1/3 of the time, and he doesn't even need a booster seat for our table.

We decided to give Ky his birthday present early. Since he's so young and will be getting plenty of goodies for his birthday, we thought we might as well give him a head start on his bike. He was so excited when I pulled out the box!

The bike we got is not the typical first bicycle with training wheels. It is called a Strider and it has no pedals or training wheels. It is really small and super light. The idea is for kids to learn to balance first, then pedal after. This way we never have to go through the traumatic experience of taking away training wheels. Right now he just walks with it, the next stage he will sit down and walk it, and then he will start to coast with his feet up. Eventually he will put his feet on the footrest bars and coast and balance for a long distance going pretty fast. Then it will be time to introduce a bike with pedals.

We took care of Frazier (my parents' dog) on Saturday while they were out of town. He and Kyler have quite the little relationship. The dog knows just how rough he can be with Ky and lets Kyler do pretty much anything he wants to him (as you can see by this picture).

We ordered a fire pit last week and it got it's first use this weekend. I happened to have some marshmallows in the pantry so we decided to roast a few. Kyler thought they were pretty good. He would laugh when we put them in his mouth - I don't think he's ever had anything so ooey gooey and sticky before. He has a mouth full in this picture.

And this is what Kyler has spent the past two-plus days doing. My aunt (mother of three boys) found a huge box of old Matchbox cars and brought about 100 to Kyler on Saturday morning. He spent the entire weekend playing with them. He uses a piece of trim as a ramp and slides them all out of the box, then turns the ramp so they slide back inside. He cried and cried when I shut the box last night and told him the cars needed a rest. When he woke up this morning, he opened the box right back up. As I've been writing this, he's been filling up a basket and bringing them to my room, lining them all up on my bed.

January 2012 in Photos

Kyler has started experimenting with high heels. 

He realized flats are much easier to walk in. This pair even matches his shirt. :)

He might wear Mama's shoes once in a while but he is still all boy.

Looking so grown up riding in the dune buggy on his own with Papa.

King of the Rock Mountain!

Story time with Dada before bed.

A Visit from Santa & Lots of Talking

We took Kyler to sit on Santa's lap for a picture over Thanksgiving weekend. He came to downtown Seneca on Friday night as he always does. Ky seemed to be excited to see him and kept trying to walk over to him but when I set Kyler on Santa's lap, he was not too happy...

On a brighter note, I thought I would add a video of Kyler saying all of his words. He also wanted to show you his "funny eyes" at the beginning. I hope you enjoy it as much as his proud parents do!

Book Worm

Kyler has always been into his books...

1 Week - He loved hearing us read to him

8 Months - Encouraging him to crawl by reading books on his tummy

9 Months - Playing in his room at our house in Lenexa

12 Months - Reading in the car

13 Months - Reading on a hot day at the apartment

14 Months - Looking at books in the book basket at our apartment

14 Months - Reading with Dad again at the apartment

14 Months - Reading with Grandpa at the apartment when they babysat

15 Months - Just Moving in with G-ma and Papa

15 Months - Reading a tractor magazine while camping at the lake

But he has turned into a total book worm lately. He will spend hours entertaining himself by looking at his books. He "reads" in gibberish and loves to have books read to him. It is really nice for me because I can get a lot done when he is home with me. But if he keeps this up we are going to have to take some trips to the library because his same books are going to get old fast!

Reading to Momma

Lining up all of his books

I guess I should have expected this since we had a book baby shower and his first birthday party theme was based on a series of books (Mr. Men).

Shower Invitation

Birthday Party Invitation

No complaints from me - I highly encourage my little reader to keep on reading!