Charlie "Helping"

The other day I was cleaning the house and Charlie was trying to help.  As you might notice looking at his left hand he might be getting a few bad habits from watching me.  Vacuum in one hand, soda in the other. Although, as you all know, if it were me it would be a Diet Coke instead of a Mountain Dew!

P.S. Please ignore the mess in the background.  Remember I was cleaning!

Happy 6th Birthday Tyson!

I really cannot believe that Tyson now has to use 2 hands to say how old he is.  Man time flies!  This birthday was really different for Tyson.  He was SO excited about it.  He talked about it for about a week before and since his birthday was a Friday it was really a birthday weekend for him.  He loved every minute of it.

It started with a bouquet of balloons Grandma Baldus sent to school.  I happened to be at the school when he got them.  He totally freaked out and had to show the entire class!  It was so cute.  Thanks Grandma Baldus!

When he got home from school that day he had a cookie bouquet waiting for him from Aunt Joellen, Uncle Ray, and Bella.  Again he freaked out that he had gotten cookies!  Thanks guys!

The phone rang all day wishing him a Happy Birthday too.  Talking on the phone is hard for Tyson, but he really did love getting all the attention.

Next the visitors came!  Grandma Lundstrom, Hoppa, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Ryan, and Braydon all made the long trip from Iowa.  Even Joey and Wrigley (their dogs) came to wish him Happy Birthday.  Tyson also shares his birthday with Hoppa Lundstrom, so we celebrated both when they all got here.  Thanks for coming to Manhattan to help us celebrate!

On Saturday we had his friends' party.  We invited the whole class because I couldn't pick and choose who to invite.  Tyson loves everybody, so that is who we invited.  Out of 20 kids in his class, 4 did not make it!  We had it at an arcade so the kids played lots of games, ate cake, and opened presents.  It was a crazy 2 hours but it was a lot of fun!  Thanks again for all your help Lundstrom's. (especially with Charlie!)

Operation Find Alvin

Tyson has been going crazy over The Chipmunks lately.  Since the new movie came out McDonalds has had them as their happy meal toys.  Of course Tyson wanted Alvin and of course we couldn't find him.  So thanks to the wonderful technology of cell phones Joel was able to text all of our family and friends to put out an all out search for Alvin.  After a search of at least 5 McDonalds in the Ames area Aunt Kelli had success!  This was the reaction we got when it finally made it to Kansas!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5l84-jxTC8&feature=player_embedded

I Did It!

I am so proud of myself today.  I let Charlie eat a bowl of Macaroni and Cheese all by himself!  Seriously, this is REALLY hard for me.  I think that Tyson was about 4 before I let him do it.  I might be exaggerating a little bit, but really I hate messes like this.  I don't do art projects, play with play dough, paint, or anything that is going to make a mushy mess with the kids.  I know this is not being a good mom, so I am really trying to do better.  Also, Charlie wants to feed himself and I know this is a good thing for him.  He is very stubborn too so he is currently not allowing me to feed him.  So as all "normal" parents do, I stripped him down to his diaper, gave him a full bowl of Easy Mac, 2 spoons and a fork (he wouldn't let go of them), and let him go!  (OK so I also had to put a bib on)  Yeah me!

 Here is the proof~

I think he had fun!

Thanks Great Grandma Baldus

We LOVE our new robes!

Christmas

One of the hardest parts of living 5 hours from all of your family is Christmas.  We can't imagine not spending Christmas with our family.  Sometimes mother nature tries to make different plans for us.  This year was that year.  But with a little planning and a lot of driving in not so great weather, we made it back to Iowa and spent Christmas Day with both families.  Morning with the Lundstrom family and afternoon with the Baldus family.  It was probably one of my most favorite Christmas' ever!  Grandkids doubled at the Lundstrom's since last year and the Baldus family has 10 grandkids ranging from 19 to almost 2!  It was so much fun spending time will all our family!

Tyson really got the Christmas thing this year too.  He asked Santa for the Chipmunks movie and could not wait to get it!  We made a gingerbread house, set out cookies for Santa, and even sprinkled food on the lawn for the reindeer.  He finally is singing along to songs and knows every word to Rudolph.  It is so great to hear him singing!  Really it almost makes me cry every time I hear it.  Every present he opened he LOVED and thanked them repeatedly.  It was awesome to see how far he has come since last year.

Charlie is just naughty.

Ava

Braydon