A New Year

Only 5 days into 2011 I am finding myself realizing just how much my boys are growing up.  In 10 days Tyson is going to be 7!  In a month Charlie is going to be 3!  I can't believe how fast time is moving.  I stopped to think just how much has changed in the last couple weeks and made a list. 

* Charlie is no longer sleeping in his crib.  Tyson is sleeping on the top bunk and Charlie on the bottom.  It is so cute.  (FYI - they have their own rooms but choose to sleep together)

* Charlie is no longer drinking milk out of a soft top sippy cup.  He doesn't like it much, but I had to do it.  He really was still drinking it like a bottle. 

* Charlie will start preschool in a month.  Four mornings a week he will go to school.  I have so many mixed emotions about this.  I know he will love it and he will learn so much.  He is a sponge right now so I know it is good for him.  But selfishly I am so sad that my baby is going to school.  How is it possible?

* Tyson is completely dressing himself.  This probably isn't a big deal to many of you, but it has been a really hard thing for him to be able to do without help.  He puts on his own shirt, pants, socks, and shoes. 

* Tyson is losing his top front tooth.  I think kids look so much older when they have those two really big front teeth.

* Tyson makes his own peanut butter sandwiches when he gets hungry.

* They both are trying to see along to every song they hear.  Tyson gets the words in pretty good (his favorite was the 12 Days of Christmas), but Charlie really only gets the last word and hums the rest of it.  I love hearing it no matter how bad it is!

OK I have to stop it is making me too sad.  Keep in mind these are changes that have happened in only the last couple weeks.  It is too much at one time, but bring on 2011!  I can't wait to see what is in store for us!

Christmas 2010

There is something about having two boys, one 6 and one 2, that makes taking pictures at Christmas virtually impossible.  I do it every year.  I take my camera with such good intentions of taking more pictures than I did last year.  And yet again I failed.  The celebrations start slow and end with a bang at my sister Kelli's house for the Baldus side.  I did pretty well on Christmas Eve, so-so at the Lundstrom side, and zero at the Baldus side.  Pathetic!  But the boys were so into it this year.  Tyson was so excited for Santa to come with his Dora Dollhouse. (yep, my 6 year old boy wanted a Dora Dollhouse and he got it, judge if you want but he loves it!)  Charlie opened his presents in the exact opposite way you would think.  I expected him to tear into them with all the craziness he possesses.  But he went slow and steady and was just so excited for everything that he opened.  It was a great Christmas!  Here are a few pictures I did take.

Charlie LOVED Santa!  He kept screaming "Hi Santa!" and giving him hug after hug.  It was cute!

Cousin Love!

  Braydon just goes with the flow!

My Birthday

This is the first birthday that Tyson has really enjoyed making me feel special.  Joel and Tyson went shopping for me on Saturday.  Tyson walked in the door with some yellow flowers he picked out yelling, "Mommy, I have a surprise for you!"  Next I was ordered to my room so he and Joel could make me yet another surprise.  Due to the fact that our bedroom is right off the kitchen I got to enjoy the sounds of him and Joel making me a cake.  He stuck through the whole cake making process and wanted to sit by the oven door until it was done cooking.  When I knew that it was clear to come out he yelled, "Mommy, we made a cake for you!"  Joel quietly reminded him that it was a surprise and that he can't show me until my actual birthday.  Later he comes running out of his room with two boxes of Hot Tamales (my fav).  He runs right over to me, gives me the two biggest kisses and a hug, hands me the candy, and yells, "Surprise, Happy Birthday!"  (so you can tell he is not the greatest at keeping a secret)  Finally the day had come.  He helped Joel frost the cake and put the sprinkles on.  He was so excited.  When they were all done he carried the cake to the living room to show me.  He was soooo proud.  "Happy Birthday, Mom!"  It was the best birthday ever.  Oh, and I got to take a really long nap with Charlie while Joel to Tyson to a birthday party.  What a great day!

Charlie

So yesterday was Charlie's last day at his Children's Day Out.  He has been going there since he was 18 months old.  It was harder for me then I thought it would be.  This makes us just one step closer to him going off to preschool.  As you can see he was totally stressed out about it too!

How old does he look???

It's A New Day

OK, so after my pity party yesterday I have some good news.  My computer did crash and had to be completely restored to the factory settings, BUT I had randomly done a back up of my pictures on November 8th.  I had  not imported any pictures since then.  They were all still on my camera.  So...I did not lose one picture!  I can't believe it.  Things like that never happen to me.  I am so happy about that.  So here are some pictures of my cuties that make me smile everyday, good or bad!

December 1st

So November has come and gone.  I did ONE post in November.  So sad.  I don't think I have all that many faithful readers, but to you, I apologize.  Where did November go?  It's kind of bittersweet to me because November wasn't all that great of a month.  Lots of not so great things have been going on around here.  WARNING:  I am going to bore you with some "feel sorry for me" stuff, so you can quit reading now if you don't want to hear it.  :)

Charlie has been fighting a cold since I can't remember when.  We went back to the doctor AGAIN and are now on a major antibiotic.  Hopefully this one will work.  He also came down with a small flu bug over Thanksgiving.  Fun times!  I have another meeting on Friday to finalize some school stuff for him.  I am not ready for him to go to school.  February is just around the corner.  He will be 3 and a preschooler, oh my!  What am I going to do?  Maybe get a dog.

We have had nothing but struggles with Tyson in school lately.  Why does it all have to be so hard?  Why can't, just once, the school doing something we ask?  His regular teacher has been gone since October, the class is a nightmare, Tyson has started crying and throwing fits to get out of math, and now bullying.  Really? In first grade?  It is so sad.  Such a hard thing to go through as a mom and dad.  I am feeling defeated and am counting the days for his regular teacher to come back and hopefully whip them all into shape.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Other then school, Tyson is blossoming like crazy.  It is so encouraging to see people we haven't seen in awhile and they tell me how much he has changed.  I needed that.

Joel is still crazy busy at work.  He is hardly home and when he is he has to do more work.  I am not sure this "promotion" is really a good thing.  He is holding on and we are hoping for some relief soon.  And to top all this craziness off, my computer crashed, so I have no cute pictures to post!

Now to end on a happy note because I really am a pretty happy person.  I decorated for Christmas this week and now Tyson tells me at least three times a day, "Merry Christmas Mommy!"  So cute.  Charlie now opens the pantry door, looks inside, and says "Hmm, let's see" just like Tyson.  It's all worth it!       

Halloween Weekend

Halloween this year was the best ever!  Last year we were all dying of H1N1 so it really couldn't get worse.  But this year really tops them all.  Since this year it was on a Sunday we had lots of options.  Tyson was out of school Thursday and Friday that week so I loaded up the boys and headed to Iowa.  I have always wanted the boys to be able to go with their cousins.  It was a first for both of them!  In Iowa it was all happening on Friday and in Manhattan it was on Sunday.  So the boys got to go 3 different times.  First up, Perry!  We met up with the Murphy's and Grandma and Grandpa.  Tyson got to help Grandma hand out the candy and he loved it.  He would yell at them to open their bags from halfway down the street, tell them to say "trick or treat", tell them to say "thank you", and then he would say bye to whatever they were dressed up as.  "Bye Batman, Bye Princess", and so on.  It was absolutely adorable.  Charlie had fun but was just as happy eating all the fruit snacks Tyson was handing out.  Braydon was Charlie Brown.  It was very cute!

Next up, Gilbert!  We met up with Grandma, the Hogge's (some of them anyway), the Buerckley's, and the DeBont's (most of them) and went out again.  Tyson ran from house to house with his cousins.  It was so much fun to watch.  Charlie hung out in the wagon most of the time so he could play with his cars.  They were more fun I guess.  For some reason I did not get a picture of Bella.  She was dressed as a super cute Elf. This was tons of fun too!

To top off our trip we got to watch Paige run State Cross Country!  I was so excited to get to go, I hate missing things as most of you know.  We woke up bright and early, decorated the cars, and caravaned to Fort Dodge.  The boys thought this was the best sporting event ever.  Tyson was screaming "Run, Paige, Run!" over and over.  He ran with us to try to catch her another time during the race and everything.  We are so proud of her!  His pride just shines through in this picture, doesn't it?

I did not take one picture of trick or treating in Manhattan.  Bummer!  But I did get a picture of the pumpkins my hubby decorated.  Pretty cool, huh?  The bleeding one had a large knife in his head, but we took it out for the pictures.  And the last picture is of the craziest flowers my husband has ever brought home to me.

Fun times!  Sorry it was so long, had lots to share!